Online marketing tools (or lack thereof) won’t make or break your business.
And they won’t make you more money.
But the right marketing tools WILL make your online money making efforts more effective and efficient.
The following list of internet marketing tools have been tested by me personally and got my seal of approval.
My Best Online Marketing Tools
These are my top internet marketing tools that currently power Traffic Generation Café.
Why did I choose to host such a high-trafficked blog like Traffic Generation Café with a smaller hosting company?
Because they are unlike any other hosting company I’ve dealt with in the past.
Their customer service is great, their loading speeds are incredible, their plans will fit any need, and they are not Hostgator. (that’s a very good thing!)
If you are fed up with your current host, I highly recommend you check out A2 Hosting.
Special offer for Traffic Generation Café readers: Set up your A2 Hosting account here - plus get 20% off with HOSTFAST coupon code.
I love Genesis Framework - it’s simple, clean, SEO-friendly, mobile-responsive, and flexible for you to design your perfect website with. Or leave it alone as is, if you are so inclined.
Highly recommended for a novice and an experienced blogger alike.
Trust me, I learned the hard way how important a good theme is to a success of a website. Don’t waste your precious time and resources as I did.
You need to build an email list. Even if you don’t really understand why, just trust me on this.
And Aweber is be the only autoresponder I’d consider for many reasons.
Aweber offers a $1 trial month for all new customers. You’ll have access to all features a paid account is entitled to: unlimited lists, email campaigns, automatic follow-ups, broadcasts, and many, many more.
If after 30 days you don’t like them, just let them know and Aweber will give you your $1 back. Guaranteed.
Keyword Research: Market Samurai
Market Samurai is the BEST KEYWORD RESEARCH TOOL I’ve ever used, bar none. Still.
Goes way beyond simple keyword research with competition research, rank tracking, domain research, and more.
SEO/Competitor Research: SEMRush.com
You know how different rank checkers ask you for the keywords you’d LIKE to rank for and then tell you where you are ranking for them?
Well, SEMRush checks the first 20 spots across Google to tell YOU what you are currently ranking for. This is priceless.
You can learn about different keywords you didn’t even know you were ranking for.
It also tells you which keywords bring the most traffic to your blog, so you can quickly tell which ones you need to push up in the rankings to bring even more search engine traffic.
Take a look at my SEMRush Review to learn more about the tool.
Start tracking your competition with SEMRush.com
WordPress Plugins
Thirsty Affiliates Plugin - this plugin converts any keywords on your blog into money-making affiliate links, creates professional redirects, adds NoFollow (NEVER forget to do it!), opens links in new windows, AND you can easily insert banners already linked to the product site with your aff link with a simple click. Also check out my post about the best Affiliate Marketing Programs and how to find/choose them.
Social Warfare - have you noticed those snazzy-looking social-sharing buttons throughout Traffic Generation Café? That’s Social Warfare - my favorite way to add social sharing buttons and Click-to-Tweet calls to action throughout my blog posts. Not only does it look good, but it’s also extremely lightweight and plays nicely with most other plugins you might have.
Video Marketing
ScreenFlow
Screen recording and a whole lot more. Used by most pro video marketers and yours truly.
ScreenFlow makes editing video easy, so I can focus on creatively telling my story and not the tech side of things.
Start using ScreenFlow today
Bamboo Pen Tablet
Turns my computer into a virtual canvas, allowing me to create digital artwork with the touch of a pen.I use it to draw on the slides while recording the screen with ScreenFlow; turns boring “I’ve seen it all before” videos into interactive gems.
Spruce up your videos with Bamboo Pen Tablet
Marketing Courses
Blog Post Promotion: the Ultimate Guide
by Kristi Hines - this is an ebook that is packed with actionable advice on how to promote your blog.
Kristi Hines of Kikolani.com is certainly the best expert in the field and she doesn’t hold anything back as she shares how she promotes her blog, contest entries, etc.
Start promoting your blog with Kristi Hines
Should you choose to go through my affiliate links and help me to turn Traffic Generation Café into a thriving business, I want you to know this: I truly and sincerely appreciate your business.
PS Please read my Affiliate Disclaimer
(or don’t, either way… as long as you know it’s here…)
Yes, I own/use/recommend all the products/services above and hope that you will as well.
Gasp!
My recommendation is ALWAYS based on my belief that the product and its author will provide excellent and valuable information or service.
In some cases, I will be compensated should you decide to purchase that product based on my recommendation.
In some cases, I will receive the product for free for review purposes.
Always, always, always do your OWN due diligence before making any purchases.
Never purchase anything you cannot afford.
Most people don’t do anything with the products they buy, so most of the time, their typical results are zero.
Don’t do drugs, stay in school.
There is no such thing as a Silver Bullet.
I bet this disclaimer would make a good rap song…