The best business tools to run a successful online business


These Are The Best Tools I Recommend To Effectively Start An Online Business

I never imagined starting a website or even having the, mostly trial and error opportunity, to test and use a tremendous amount of online business tools. After all, I certainly was not techy nor remotely interested in a digital mostly virtual business… fast forward to now… I love it!

Back when I founded FocusOnStyle.com in 1999 it sure wasn’t as easy to start or build an online presence  as it is now. I have gone through countless design iterations, platform changes, content migrations, server changes, mailing lists, funnel builders, landing page makers, you name it.

This is a list of what makes my life easier now, and hopefully yours as well. Some recommendations are proud partner links and that by no means is why I list them… it’s because they work!  If you need our eyes on your business, please apply for a First Impression Session, here.

Best Business Tools & Resources List:

 Optin Pages, Sales Pages, Funnels, Newsletters, Video Hosting…

Kartra is genius.  Through the years I have Used Infusionsoft, Ontraport, Mailchimp, aWeber, Constant Contact, Leadpages, Rocket One Click, and a slew of other products all rigged together. Yes, it was a pain in the neck, but the only way to do it at that time.

Kartra is an all in one solution designed for marketers by marketers.

Plus Kartra has dynamite “done for you” email funnels + landing pages, video hosting, membership sites, and everything you need to efficiently run an online business. Kartra is our all-in-one software of choice.

 Try Kartra for Free with our partner link, here.

 Graphic Design…

There’s nothing that lowers your brand value more than cheesy graphics. If you don’t have the eye nor want to hire a graphic designer, no worries, there are mays to make ugly graphics a thing of the past. I was a die-hard Photoshop user for years and can’t remember the last time I opened it any more… there are faster ways to get things done.

Canva  We add our fonts and brand colors, upload my photos and have everything we need for creating graphics for social media, blog photos, video covers, Keynote slides, PDF book covers, you name it.

Check out Canva, here.

PicMonkey has a terrific retouching tool to naturally correct photos, as well as shape makers, frames, and now layouts and effects.

PicMonkey’s Photo Touch Up editing makes those effortless retouching dreams a reality.

Love it…
 Check out PickMonkey, here.

Snappa is similar to the above but has a slight more “business” edge. You can also upload your custom fonts and I like the variety of graphic design template options.

  Check out Snappa, here.

PlaceIt.net and Envato–  If you need professional product mockups… think your course pages in a computer graphic or a PDF cover in a tablet, PlaceIt.net is where you get it done. Its parent company, Envato has gazillions of video design effects, web page designs, plugins.. and a never ending resource of graphic design for almost everything.



Check out PlaceIt, here.

SmartMockUps is a fantastic resource to also create mockups for your programs, book covers, PDF’s, wherever you need your “asset” displayed without having to hire a photographer.

Check out SmartMockups, here.

 Transcription + Video Captions…

Rev.com Oh boy, we’ve gone through many routes on transcription and Rev is most definitely the most reliable, accurate, and cost effective compared to hiring a free-lance transcriptionist or using an ai service. We use Rev for human transcribed video captions. If you are more comfortable speaking than writing, you can use Rev as well for transcription, and if you’ll edit them anyway, their ai is pretty good. 

 Check out Rev, here

 

 Streaming Video- Livestreams…

Ecamm Live is a streaming service that is both economical and constantly updating for livestreams.

 Check out Ecamm here.

Zoom- is a streaming service that is the best we know of this date for delivering live content and meetings.

Check out Zoom, here.

Streamyard is a streaming service that allows you to broadcast to multiple platforms as once.

 Check out Streamyard here.

 

Websites / Web Hosting / Server...


Nexcess and Liquid Web– I’m almost afraid to jinx myself But Liquid Web and now its WordPress version, Nexcess have been terrific. I have hand MANY web hosts and servers since 1999 and Liquid Web/Nexcess is by far the best and most helpful and incredible support team.

Check out Liquid Web, as well as Nexcess for WordPress and their Shopify hosting.



Astra–  is a WordPress theme that is highly customizable and optimized for website speed. In fact, we use Astra on this site and have been very happy with the results. Highly recommend Astra for entrepreneurs looking to start a new site, or migrate to a more modern theme.

 Check out Astra, here.

 Membership Programs…

Wishlist Member is a robust membership software for WordPress that we have been using for years. You can drip content in a private membership program site or “protect” certain pages on your blog to be for members only. Wishlist Member also accepts payment although we do not use that feature.

 Check out Wishlist Member, here.

Outsourcing Virtual Team and Free-Lancers...


320x100 Get More Done, Together

Fiverr- I was slow tom get on the Fiver movement but love it.

The key to successfully using Fiverr is to be extremely specific on individual tasks and look for free-lancers with a five star or close to it rating. We redesigned this iteration of FocusOnStyle with the help of specific contractors on Fiverr.

 Check out Fiverr, here.

The Best Business Cards and Online Printing...


Business Cards, MiniCards, Postcards and more

Moo.com– My first “real” job was in PR with an in-house printing service which gave me an appreciation of good quality printing stock. Moo.com has the classiest most beautiful business cards. Anytime I strayed and printed elsewhere, those flimsy cards end up in the round file. Moo is simply the best online printing resource.

Check out Moo.com. here.

Press Release Distribution To The Media...

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