Take a Peek In My ToolBox
I get a lot of questions about my websites. What themes and plugins I use. How I got started… How to get traffic…
So, I thought I would share some of the tools and services that I use to make this and my other sites go around.
There are a ton of programs, tools and services to choose between. These are the ones that I find helpful to my online business.
If you have any questions what so ever, about any of these programs feel free to leave a comment below or contact me via the contact form. I will be happy to help you out, with any questions you might have.
Some of the links in this article are affiliate links, this means that if you click and purchase something I might make a commission, this helps me keep the site going, but doesn’t cost you anything extra. You can be sure though that I only recomend products and services that I enjoy myself.
Where It All Started…
Wealthy Affiliate
Wealthy Affiliate is a resource that I use almost daily. If I have any questions or any issues, this is usually the first place I search for information (often before Google).
This online community has over 800,000+ members from all around the world with the passion of online buisness. If you want to start with a blog or website, this is a great place to start. They will show you step-by-step how to set up a website, how to get traffic and how to monetize it.
They have a free membership and a premium one. With the premium mebership you get top notch training, website hosting and lots more.
It`s an excellent community to get started with an online business. If interested read my Wealthy Affiliate review here.
Website Hosting and Blogging Tools
WordPress
This is my preferred platform to build websites on. It is quick to set up and easy to use.
There are tons of plugins for anything and everything you want to do on your site. I build my sites on paid domains and hostings. But you can actually get started with WordPress for free.
For a One Stop Domain and Hosting Solution
BlueHost
If you are new to setting up a blog or website, getting domain and hosting with the same company is the easiest way to get started. With BlueHost you can get started for as low as $3.95/month. It’s a reliable hosting company used by many. It`s the easy way to get started with a website.
You can read my BlueHost review here.
Premium Themes
Studiopress
To dress up my site a little bit and get a good theme to work with I decided to go with Studiopress WordPress Theme called Aspire Pro. It`s a great theme to work with and customize and it comes with a Genesis framework.
WPZoom
Another premium theme I use on some of my other websites is WPZoom. It is also easy to work with. It comes down to two things. What do you want the site to do and how do you want it to look, then pick your theme.
Keyword Research
Jaaxy
This is my keyword research tool, my keyword analyzing tool and a big reason for reaching great organic rankings with my case study site. I use Jaaxy to get ideas but most importantly to analyze my keywords to see if it’s a good one to go ahead and create content around. It helps me see traffic potential and competition in a easy quick overview, a great time saver.
Jaaxy will give me a clear overlook of the keyword, search volume, competition and the ability to rank it. Want to know more about this keyword tool? Read my Jaaxy Review.
Keyword Researcher
This is an excellent tool to get keyword ideas, to generate new angles of an established niche.
I don`t use this much to analyze the keywords but it gives me new angles and ideas that I might not have thought of without this tool.
Collect Emails
Aweber
I have been using Aweber since 2008. It is a great tool to help collect emails and easily reach people on your list.
It has an easy back end to work with your lists. It also allows you to create nice looking forms and emails. Everything you need in an email subscriber service.
EasyAzon – The Easy Way to Monetize Amazon
EasyAzon
EasyAzon is a timesaver like no other when it comes to monetizing your site with Amazon. This is a tool I use ono my case study site, with great result.
This wordpress plugin can help you save time by inserting amazon affiliate links directly from your WordPress site. It can help you maximize earnings by monetizing traffic from around the world. It can also help you insert images, links and even price boxes fast and easy.
Images and Videos
StockUnlimited
Nice looking pictures on your website will make a big difference. If you purchase them you don`t have to worry about legal rights and you don`t have to wast time looking for them. I
found searching for free images to be a time hog. Today I have an account with StockUnlimited, so I know where to go for my images.
Canva
Canva is another great tool to help you create professionally looking images. This is great for blog post images, socialmedia, logos… anything image related.
Ads
Google Adsense
On this site, I have not implemented any Google ads (yet). But on some of my other sites, I use Google Adsense.
Media.net
I also use media.net on one of my other sites.
Ezoic
Ezoic is an ad testing platform, that does all the testing for you automatically. Saves you time and make sure best combination of ads are showing on your site… If you use ads on your site, I can highly recommend this platform.
Social Media Scheduling
Tailwind
Tailwind is a scheduling tool for Pinterest that will save you a ton of time and make the scheduling process easy. Spend just a few minutes a week and then have posts pinned multiple times daily. A tool I didn’t think I needed but wouldn’t go without today.
Testing
Google Analytics
This free tool is a gold mine when it comes to analytics. It collects a lot of helpful information that can help you improve your site. Do more of what`s working and cut back on what doesn`t.
Outsourcing
Upwork
For outsourcing some of my content, I use upwork.com. I have also used freelancer in the past but not for this site. I find both working well all though I prefer upwork.
These are some of the tools I use.
Hope you found these tools, services and program helpful! I know I do!
Nate says
Hi Vicky,
This is really helpful!
Thanks for sharing all the tools that you use, it should make it easy to replicate your success!
Vicky says
Thank you Nate,
I try to be as transparent as I can…
Vicky
Sasha says
Hi Vicky! Excellent information, thanks so much.
Just wanted to ask, how does pinterest help exactly?
Thanks
Vicky says
Hi Sasha,
You can post pictures and images from your website on Pinterest. If somebody finds the topic/image interesting they will click through to your website. Pinterest can be an excellent source of traffic to your site. Does that answer your question? Please let me know if you have any other questions,
Paul R says
Hello Vicky,
that logo you have on the menu bar is kinda neat, is that specific to your child theme? I’m using magazine-pro and was wondering if the same thing could be done, with or without some extra added code. Thanks