When growing a business, time is money.
Leveraging the right set of tools can make you more productive, so you can grow your business FASTER.
I am often asked about the tools I use to manage and grow my online business.
In this article, I will share the exact tools and services that has helped me build a strong 8 figure online business while saving me a lot of headache and time.
Note: Not all tools that I use are free.
I pay for several business growth tools and services because they streamline my workflow and help me be more efficient. Instead of looking at them as costs, I look at them as investments.
I firmly believe that having the right set of tools give you an unfair advantage over your competitor, and it plays a crucial role in your success.
Before I share my ultimate growth toolkit, I do want to disclose that some links in this article are affiliate links. Meaning at no additional cost to you, I will receive a small referral fee if you decide to purchase the products using the links in this blog post.
Regardless, I only recommend products / services that I use personally and believe will add value to my readers (not because of the small commissions).
With that said, let’s look at the tools I use to grow my online business.
Table of Content
To make it easy for you to browse, I have broken down this article into important categories:
- Website Builder / Platform
- Hosting + Performance
- Security
- Themes
- Writing
- SEO
- Traffic & Lead Generation
- Analytics + Monitoring
- Business Communication
- Extra Website Tools
- Productivity
- Personal Development
- Hardware / Devices
Website Builder / Platform
There are a lot of website builders and blogging platforms that you can use to build your website.
However my preferred tool of choice is WordPress.
It is the most popular website builder in the market … seriously over 34% of all websites use WordPress. I use this free content management system to build all of my websites.
I have written a pretty detailed article on why you should use WordPress?
A lot of the tools that I will recommend later in this toolkit are built specifically for WordPress powered websites.
WooCommerce – A free eCommerce software that makes it easy to sell products and services online. It is developed as an extension of WordPress.
MemberPress – One of the most popular WordPress membership plugin. It is also the easiest to use and the most robust when it comes to features.
Hosting + Performance
Bluehost – One of the oldest web hosts around the web (started in 1996). I use them for hosting my smaller websites. Bluehost’s shared hosting is a great place to start for beginners.
SiteGround – A highly specialized hosting provider that has grown into one of the most popular and highest rated. All of their servers are optimized for WordPress speed and security.
WPEngine – A VIP WordPress hosting. Best for a business who does not want to deal with the technical side of running your blog.
MaxCDN – My top CDN (Content Delivery Network) choice. They accelerate your site giving you an edge in SEO and User Experience.
WP Rocket – Quickly improve your WordPress website’s speed and performance. It’s the easiest and most beginner-friendly caching plugin.
Security
Sucuri – A website security service with web monitoring and malware cleanup. Having helped numerous people, it is hands down the best and most cost effective in the industry.
VaultPress – A WordPress backup solution that creates real-time backups of your entire site. You will need a JetPack subscription plan to use VaultPress.
Themes
Divi – A powerful page builder with limitless design possibilities. For a single price you’ll get the Divi theme, the Divi page builder plugin, and all other Elegant Themes products.
Astra – A multipurpose WordPress theme that comes with ready-made templates. You can easily customize these designs using any popular drag and drop page builders.
StudioPress – A theme company behind the popular Genesis framework. They have tons of great premium themes available for businesses at an affordable price.
Themify – A popular WordPress theme shop that offer a built-in Themify builder. While the builder comes with promising features, there is a learning curve that can leave a new user frustrated.
Beaver Builder – A premium drag and drop page builder plugin. It comes with pre-made templates to help get you started. The ability to customize every little detail makes it the perfect solution for WordPress users.
CSS Hero – A premium WordPress plugin that allows you to design your own WordPress theme without writing a single line of code (No HTML or CSS required). You have the ability to undo changes which is extremely helpful for beginners.
Writing
Grammarly – A popular online grammar checker tool available as a browser add-on. One downside of Grammarly is that you will have to switch to the text editor for proofreading.
SEO Writing Assistant – A content optimization tool created by SEMRush. It allows you to check your content in real-time for SEO suggestions and improve the overall SEO score of your content.
PublishPress – Lets you create your own custom statuses and comes with a feature called ‘Custom Statuses’ which lets you define the stages of your workflow.
SEO
AIOSEO – An SEO plugin that will improve website’s search rankings, so you can get maximum traffic and grow your business.
SEMRush – Use it to find organic keywords and search terms that you can easily rank for. It also allows you to research your competitors and how you can beat them.
Traffic & Lead Generation
OptinMonster – Convert your website visitors into subscribers and customers. I built this plugin, and I use it to grow my email list.
WPForms – Create a beautiful contact form, email subscription form, payment form, and other type of online forms with just a few clicks.
RafflePress – Launch viral giveaway and contests with just a few clicks. RafflePress helps you turn visitors into brand ambassadors.
TrustPulse – Instantly win user trust by sharing social proof using less-intrusive but highly effective popups.
SeedProd – Give your business a big head start by helping you build an audience before your site even launches!
LiveChat Inc – One of the best live chat support software for WordPress websites. LiveChat Inc integrates with popular CRM software.
Constant Contact – Easily manage your email lists, contacts, email templates, marketing calendar, and more. (Alternatives: SendinBlue & Drip)
Buffer – A web based status scheduling service that allows you to post across various social networks. You can use one single dashboard to share on all your networks.
Analytics + Monitoring
MonsterInsights – The best analytics solution for your WordPress site. It allows you to easily install Google analytics and shows you helpful reports in your dashboard.
SEMRush – Use it to find organic keywords and search terms that you can easily rank for. It also allows you to research your competitors and how you can beat them.
Pingdom – One of the most popular performance monitoring tool. Pingdom’s mobile app alerts me when my website goes down or something strange happens.
Business Communication
Nextiva – The best small business phone system from both features and pricing point of view. It’s easy for small business owners to manage the unified communications like a pro.
G Suite – Google’s productivity suite for businesses. It allows you to use calendar, Google Drive, Docs, Photos and Gmail with your own domain name.
Zoom – A powerful contender in the webinar software industry. It allows you to host highly interactive video conferences and meetings with HD quality audio and video.
LastPass – A password management tool that uses a master password to manage your password vault. Share passwords with team members without having them actually knowing the password.
Slack – A group chat software that allows you to message in real time between teams with the ability to archive and search all messages.
HelpScout – One of the leading help desk and customer support software for online businesses. It allows you to properly assist your customers and blog readers.
Extra Website Tools
WP Mail SMTP – Easily send WordPress emails using a secure mail transfer protocol or SMTP. This ensures that your WordPress emails are delivered using the standard mail protocol.
Insert Headers and Footers – Stay organized by storing all your footer and header codes in one place. It helps prevent errors and you can upgrade or change your theme without worrying about the code being erased.
Call Button – Adding a call button on your website makes it easy for people to contact you using their smartphones.
Thirsty Affiliates – An affiliate link management plugin that allows website owners to add, manage, and easily insert affiliate links into posts and pages.
SearchWP – The most advanced WordPress search plugin that helps improve on-site search for your website in minutes.
Uncanny Automator – Use your existing plugins, sites and apps to build powerful workflows that do everything automatically.
Productivity
Asana – A project management tool puts conversations and tasks together so that you can get things done without switching back and forth between email and actual tasks.
Time Doctor – A productivity tool that monitors your behavior, shows time spent on websites, social media, applications, and idle time. It’s also great for time-tracking hourly employees and contractors.
Google Docs – A word processor included as part of Google’s G Suite. It brings your documents to life with smart editing and styling tools to help you easily format text and paragraphs.
8 foot wide whiteboard – Whether it’s presentation planning, strategy outline, or designing, it gives me the space and the freedom to move around and draw out whatever I need.
Personal Development
Audible – Download the books you’d like to read and listen to them when driving or flying. By far the best decision I made. AudioBooks rock!
Feedly – Stay up to date with the latest news and trends. Feedly is the best way to read all your favorite blogs and news in one place.
Hardware / Devices
AirPods – Listen to audio and voice much easier and without the hassle of cords. The AirPods automatically connect and can easily be set with any Apple devices.
Logitech BRIO webcam – A great webcam that has a 4K image sensor that automatically adjusts to light exposure and contrasts and has 5x zoom.
Dell USB 3.0 HD / 4k Triple Display – A docking station that connects your laptop to up to three additional monitors, various external devices and the internet with a single cable.
Bose QC35 Series II – Headphones with noise cancellation, dual-microphone system for clear sound and voice pick-up, as well as Bluetooth pairing.
Smart Standing Desk – A fully adjustable standing desk with four programmable height settings to suit a range of sit-stand needs.
Microsoft’s Ergonomic Keyboard / Mouse – This keyboard brings a design that encourages natural hand, wrist, and forearm positions. The mouse is durable and lightweight that delivers exceptional control.
Tripod – A universal smartphone compatible tripod that is designed for the most secure hold when capturing images and videos. The clamping mount adjusts tilt angle to avoid glare.
