These are some of my favorite things 🎶. I’m always delighted to share channels, methods and tools that save me money or make marketing just a little easier. First, three favorite platforms, next WordPress plugins and finally Google Extensions.
A2 Hosting
I switched to A2 after a decade at another hosting service. The old company was charging hundreds for SSL and other services I didn’t need and wasn’t using. It was time to bite the bullet and move on.
I am so glad I did. Within the first week, A2 reached out with a list of links to fix, saying I could fix them or pass along to my webmaster and if not, in another week they would go ahead and do it.
Now, that’s a prime example of great customer service! My old hosting company never did that for me. If you are interested, give them a call.
If you are interested, give them a call. If you click this link and buy, I may get credit on my account.
Looking for even more marketing tools & courses? Just a click away.
Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM allows you to connect with your customers through multiple channels, centralizing information to empower your sales team to have contextual, meaningful conversations with your prospects.
It’s a great way to set reminders for follow-up with your prospects and clients. Record and view all interactions in one place.
Grab the free version (aff. link).
Zoho’s platform offers email, project management and integration with 45 applications to run your business.
Should you buy anything beyond the free bundle, I may be compensated at no extra cost to you.
Missinglettr Social Scheduler
An all-in-one social marketing platform – but what sets it apart is that it automatically grows your brand with each piece of content you publish.
Missinglettr suggests posts you might want to curate and share as well as suggesting your content to others.
Use my referral link to get a $50 credit towards your subscription!
Canva
Over 85 million users in 190 countries create content with Canva.
Make logos, brochures, ads, videos and ebooks with templates, illustrations, photos and video. Start with the free version.
Design collateral from business cards to posters and letterhead with free assets.
Create images with sayings for print-on-demand products, such as t-shirts, mugs, and bags.
Take advantage of free tutorials in their design school.
Use my referral link and we’ll both be rewarded with credits towards premium photos.
WordPress Plugins
| WordPress Plugin | Plugin Description |
| Akismet Anti-Spam | Used by millions, Akismet is quite possibly the best way in the world to protect your blog from spam. Your site is fully configured and being protected, even while you sleep. |
| Better Click to Tweet | Add Click to Tweet boxes simply and elegantly to your posts or pages. All the features of a premium plugin, for FREE! |
| Cyfe | This plugin lets you see your WordPress data inside your Cyfe all-in-one dashboard. |
| Easy Digital Downloads | Sell your digital products the simple way. Easily build an online store complete with a cart system, checkout forms, reports, coupons, and more! |
| Easy Twitter Feed Widget | Add twitter feeds on your WordPress site by using the Easy Twitter Feed Widget plugin. |
| EWWW Image Optimizer | Reduce file sizes for images within WordPress including NextGEN Gallery and GRAND FlAGallery. Uses jpegtran, optipng/pngout, and gifsicle. |
| HubSpot All-in-One Marketing | Connect forms to HubSpot CRM and email service. HubSpot’s official WordPress plugin allows you to add forms, popups, and live chat to your website and integrate with the best WordPress CRM. |
| Login LockDown | Limits the number of login attempts from a given IP range within a certain time period. |
| Really Simple SSL | Lightweight plugin without any setup to make your site SSL proof (recommended by my hosting company). |
| Social Warfare | A plugin to maximize social shares and drive more traffic using the fastest and most intelligent share buttons on the market, calls to action via in-post click-to-tweets, popular posts widgets based on share popularity, link-shortening, Google Analytics and more. I like the way I can have my Twitter handle automatically added to any shares with this tool. |
| Sucuri | The Sucuri plugin provides the website owner the best Activity Auditing, SiteCheck Remote Malware Scanning, Effective Security Hardening and Post-Hack features. SiteCheck will check for malware, spam, blacklisting and other security issues like .htaccess redirects, hidden eval code, etc. The best thing about it is it's completely free. |
| TablePress | Embed beautiful and feature-rich tables into your posts and pages, without having to write code (recommended by my WP theme's creator). |
| Unsplash | Source for free images uploaded into pages & posts with attribution (and nofollow link). Sweet! |
| Updraft Plus | Backup and restore: take backups locally, or backup to Amazon S3, Dropbox, Google Drive, Rackspace, (S)FTP, WebDAV & email, on automatic schedules. |
| W3 Total Cache | The highest rated and most complete WordPress performance plugin. Dramatically improve the speed and user experience of your site. Add browser, page, object and database caching as well as minify and content delivery network (CDN) to WordPress. |
| Yoast | The first true all-in-one SEO solution for WordPress, including on-page content analysis, XML sitemaps and much more. |
WP Plugin Consideration: The availability or stability of WordPress plugins may change over time. Also, WordPress may issue a warning for possible errors. I like what MaAnna Stephenson of BlogAid, self-proclaimed “geek who can still speak in plain English,” says about plugins when asked “how many plugins can I use?”: “The answer is, as many as you need. And that is the key. Every plugin is a potential security hole and one more thing you have to keep updated and rely on always being available and working. Only use the ones you need and don’t use plugins for things you could manually do on your site. If you’re not using a plugin any longer, deactivate and delete it. Be sure you know what all of your plugins do and that none are overlapping each other in function.”
Google Extensions
| Google Extensions | Description |
|---|---|
| Auto Text Expander | Create shortcuts for frequent formfills and responses, such as your guest post pitch. |
| Bublup | Collect content to share with one link, such as an Instagram bio link. Great for portfolios! |
| Click to Tweet | Create Click To Tweet shareable links to promote, share & track your content on Twitter. |
| Google Keep | Save things to Keep with detailed notes and labels for retrieval, synced across all of the platforms that you use — including web, Android, iOS, and Wear. |
| Keyword Surfer from Surfer SEO | See search volumes directly in Google search results. |
| Loom | Record your screen, voice, and face to create an instantly shareable video. |
| MightyText | Send & receive text messages on your PC or Mac from Android. |
| Mix | Discover, save, and share interesting things you find on the internet (formerly Stumbleupon). |
| MozBar | SEO toolbar for Page & Domain Authority, keywords, identify link types & export to CSV. |
| Noisli | Listen to your own personal sound environment to relieve stress |
| Pinterest save button | Save what you find into searchable pins & boards. |
| Polls for LinkedIn | Enables polls in LinkedIn to capture professional insights, opinions, and sentiments |
| RetailMeNot | Automatically apply coupon codes & cash back offers to get the biggest savings at checkout. |
| Similar Web | See website traffic and key metrics for any website, including engagement rate, traffic ranking, keyword ranking and traffic source. |
| Twitter Screenshots | Easily capture beautiful, high-resolution screenshot images of Tweets right inside the Twitter website |
| WebRank SEO | Provides Alexa Rank, Website Security, Server Location, Whois Lookup, Pages Indexed and Backlinks in Google & Bing. |
Affiliate Disclosure: I may be compensated (by credits or ¢¢) should you take an action (such as purchase) through an affiliate link. In general, I recommend products and services that my clients, expert colleagues or I have used. As always, affiliate links do not add cost to your choices. Also, when considering any new tool that may affect your business, consult with your IT or legal team as necessary.