My Website Toolbox

Building and maintaining a website, setting up and managing multiple social media profiles and all of the other tasks it takes to run a business can be time-consuming and difficult to learn. The internet is full of courses, ebooks and webinars that can cost hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. Many of these products are well worth the time and money. I have also found many low-cost and free products that have proved invaluable to me in my business.

Problogger’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog

Being a great writer does not make you a great blogger. Blogging takes a different set of skills, combined with technical knowledge in order to make your blog effective. Darren Rowse’s popular blog, Problogger is the go to source for creating a successful blog. With his blogs, Digital Photography School and ProBlogger, Darren has made a six-figure living as a full-time blogger.

His book, ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income and his daily blog can help any blogger improve their site. I love the tips and information on his blog so much that I purchased his e-book Problogger’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog, which gives 31 daily lesson on how to improve your blog. I actually started this site by using the lesson found in Problogger’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog.

Scribe

Understanding the details, techniques and intricacies of SEO (search engine optimization) is one of life’s great mysteries. There are many self-proclaimed experts, but the leading authority on writing content for the web and SEO is Brian Clark of Copyblogger Media.

He is the man behind Scribe, a premium WordPress plugin that guides you through the steps of optimizing your website copy. Having well written SEO content on your site is the key to increasing your website’s traffic.

To learn more about Scribe, SEO and writing website content, click here to grab your free SEO report.

Thesis Theme

I am a writer, not a website designer. I have a miniscule knowledge of HTML, CSS or any of the other coding languages. But Chris Pearson does. He is the creator of Thesis, a premium WordPress theme that makes people like me look like website designers. There are thousands of free WordPress themes that are beautiful.

What makes The Thesis Theme for WordPress worth the money is the versatility it gives you to make changes to your website’s design without ever touching the custom file editor. You can change fonts, colors, sizes, column size and configuration with just the click of a button. Which is great for people like me. I used Thesis to create this site, as well as Just Chick Flicks and Corporate Concierge, Inc. For a real website designer, the possibilities are limitless.

Third Tribe

The Third Tribe was started by Brian Clark from Copyblogger, internet marketing guru, Chris Brogan, the Problogger, Darren Rowse and Remarkable Communication’s Sonia Simone. When a group of A- listers like these get together, you have to listen.

The Third Tribe is an online community of social media and internet marketing professionals. I have benefited greatly from the monthly seminars on topics like Five Strategic Ways to Use SEO for Public Relations, Advanced Link-Building Strategies for SEO and Traffic Jam: Brian Clark and Jon Morrow on Traffic-Building Strategies; Q & A sessions with the Third Tribe founders and the online forum of other business people.

Books…Books… and more Books

My nightstand, desk and bookcase are full of books. With each new skill I learn, there is a book that has helped me along the way. Even with the many excellent blogs available online, I still enjoy reading a book.