Tools
I’m often asked what Internet business tools I recommend. Shopping carts, email list managers, payment gateways—choosing a good one can feel overwhelming.
Finally, I put together this list of products that I use, trust and rely upon. I’m also an affiliate for every product here, which means that I am paid some fraction of the sales price if someone clicks on one of my links and purchases one of them.
My criteria for a service or tool on this list?
- I’ve researched, compared, and tested it thoroughly,
- It is “best in class” in terms of features or ease of use,
- I confidently recommend it to clients, and
- I use it myself.
Essential Online Business Tools
1shoppingcart. The cadillac of shopping carts, a must-have if you’re running more than one site, or offer a lot of products. Lets you do more things, more easily, than any other cart out there. Not template-based; can be adapted to any kind of site.
e-junkie shopping cart. Terrible name… but the perfect starter cart for selling information products. For an astonishingly low monthly fee you get secure download links for pdfs and other digital goods.
Paypal. An inexpensive and reliable internet payment gateway with shopping cart. Also higher-end options, up to full merchant account with payment gateway. Very easy to manage.
AWeber. The workhorse of email list management and marketing services, with a mind-boggling array of features to enhance the effectiveness of your marketing.
Freshbooks invoicing. Every other product on this list, I use and rely upon. But Freshbooks, I love. The ease of time-keeping, estimating, and invoicing has revolutionized my business. I adore Freshbooks!
Westhost web hosting. Good prices with a wide range of goodies included. And, the absolute best tech support I have ever encountered. By phone, email or chat, the Westhost folks are there for you 24/7.
Godaddy domain name registrar and web host. I don’t bother with any other registrar these days—Godaddy offers the best combination of price, search, and domain name management features. Also, decent and super-cheap site hosting.
Thesis Theme for Wordpress. Versatile, easy to use, thriving user community.
IThemes. Reliable premium Wordpress themes designed for a variety of different purposes—news, business, real estate, online gallery, etc.
Robert Middleton, marketing genius. Author of several excellent products in addition to the original Infoguru Marketing manual, which IMHO is the single most useful marketing guide for independent professionals ever written.
Amazon. Need I say more about this one? Good prices, good service, good user reviews.
