The Tools I Use
These are the tools and resources I use on a daily basis to support my own online efforts. Some of these I’ve been using for years now, some I’ve just becoming familiar with (but loving them already!). Some of these links are affiliate links, meaning that I get some percentage from the sale if you buy the product through these links. But note this; I NEVER promote any product if I don’t think it’s worth your time and money. Fair deal? Hope you find something helpful from the list! :-)
Image by atomicShed
Blogging
- WordPress: The best publishing platform out there, Period. I’ve used and build sites on top of many CMS’s and publishing platforms but this is really the only one you ever need.
- Headway Premium WordPress theme: Headway is the theme I use with Nomad Couch and I’m totally in love with it. It’s the most usable and easy to configure & modify theme I’ve seen anywhere. SEO options are also fantastic.
- Thesis Premium WordPress theme: Some people say it’s the best SEO theme out there. And they’re probably right!
- WooThemes: One of the best places for finding quality WordPress themes.
- Elegant Themes: Another great source of quality WordPress themes.
Top 10 WordPress Plugins
- All in One SEO Pack: If you’re not using premium WordPress themes like Thesis or Headway, this is the one you need to get installed. It brings you a whole lot of SEO tweaking options for your blog and posts!
- Disqus Comment System: A “global comments system”. Read and manage all your blog’s comments from one place. You can also access comments that you’ve left on other blogs if they use the system on their site. A fantastic way to keep on track about where and what you’ve commented on the web.
- Maintenance Mode: Like it says; put’s your site in a “maintenance mode” and shows your site visitors the default template (page) that you’ve defined in the settings. This is a great plugin when you want to tweak your site for a while and show your visitors some “Hold on, we’ll be right back” notification page. Your visitors see the notification page, you see the “real thing”.
- Topsy Retweet Button: Adds the Retweet button to your posts.
- What Would Seth Godin Do: Show a specific message to the new user on your site. Show a different message for returning visitors. You can set the message to appear on your posts or pages (or both).
- WordPress Database Backup: It’s a good practice to keep a backup of your blog posts on a separate place (if something horrible happens and your host server dies..). I’ve set it up so that it emails me the NC backup’s every single day.
- WPing.FM: Uses your ping.fm account to sync (publish your new post subject with a link) all your selected networks (Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed, etc.) when you publish a new blog post.
- WPtouch iPhone Theme: Lay out a nice iPhone optimized blog theme for the readers, visiting your site on their iPhone.
- MailChimp: Form for accepting Email-list subscriptions to the MailChimp service.
- Contact Form 7: A contact form plugin, that’s really easy to configure.
Hosting
- Bluehost: The only host I use nowadays. Easy to set up, tons of features and easy to use 1-click installers (e.g WordPress). Great support!
- Amazon S3: The Amazon Simple Storage Service. If you got big files you’d like to share (audio, video, etc.) but you don’t want to have to deal with bandwidth problems on your own server, here’s a great place to store and stream those files from.
Product Distribution & Shopping Carts
- 1ShoppingCart: Won the Top 3 Digital Product Sales Channel comparison I made. If you want to go pro, this is the sales and e-product distributing product for you. Has amazing set of features like an excellent shopping cart, email marketing, huge amount of payment channel options (PayPal Standard, Pro and +50 other channels), affiliate program tools and lot more.
- E-Junkie: Came second on the product sales channel comparison. If you’re on a tight budget, this one might be for you. Has good amount of features and the price is low (starting from $5 / month).
- ClickBank: Came third on the comparison. Especially popular among affiliate sellers. There’s a cost per sale involved and the feature set is limited. Most e-sellers start with ClickBank. I’d recommend you try E-Junkie or 1ShoppingCart instead.
- Lulu.com: Another channel for selling and distribute your digital products. They offer a Print On Demand service, so your clients can order your book in a hard copy form. There is a cost per sale involved though.
- PayPal: The “De Facto” payment channel on the Internet. Basically, this is the only “must have” element on your sales site if you want to start accepting payments. Integrates with all of the above mentioned distribution channels.
- Gmail: The only one you’ll ever need. Period. Have multiple other Email accounts elsewhere and would like to read them all from your Gmail account? Here’s how you can do that!
Email Subscriptions & Marketing
- MailChimp: This is the email opt-in service / email marketing product I use with Nomad Couch. It has great features and the basic account is free (0-500 subscribers, 3000 mails/month)! Great when you’re just starting out and want the price to go up only when your client / subscriber count goes high enough.
- Aweber: Probably the most popular email marketing service out there. Great features and reasonable prices.
Website Analytics
- Google Analytics: Free (and very good) website statistics tracking service from Google.
- Woopra: Offers a great desktop client (Win, Mac, Linux) for monitoring your website traffic.
Outsourcing
- Odesk: The only service that I’ve used (so far) for outsourcing work. One of the top 3 outsourcing sites in the world.
- eLance: I’ve heard good results from using eLance. Give it a try? Probably the most popular outsourcing site in the world (but the competitors are right on it’s tale!)
- Freelancer: Yet another top 3 outsourcing site in the world.
- Guru.com: They claim to have over 1 million freelancer’s at your disposal. Not sure if I buy that number.. but hey, it might be worth a try!
- Rent a Coder: The smallest site out of the 5 (by looking at the unique visitor count / month). But yet again, heard a few good results from here as well.
- Craiglist -Manila: Searching for a VA from the Philippines? I’ve heard quite many encouraging stories where small business owners have found their VA’s through Craiglist.
- 99Designs: Need a design for your website or logo? Submit your design brief through this service and get tens of design concepts from different designers. They compete from your money, you pick the winner!
Files and Documents
- Dropbox: Sync and share your files online. Basic account (free) gives you 2GB of file storage space. For $9.99 / month or $99 / year, you get 50 gigs. And there’s even more available if you need it.
- Google Docs: Store, edit and share your documents for free. You get 1GB of file storage for free. For $5 / year, you get 20 gigs. (80 gigs go for $20 / year). Not a bad deal!
Other Useful Tools
- MindMeister: Brainstorm and create mind maps online! One of the most useful web apps I know. There’s also a iPhone version available!
Make Great Video and Screencasts
- Camtasia for Mac: Make screen captures.
- Camtasia for PC: Make screen captures.
- Omnidazzle: Draw on screen.
Making Video Interviews
- Skype + VodBurner (PC): $9.99 / month for the pro version (removes vodburner water marks from the recorded video calls and bring a few other great extra features):
- Skype + Call Recorder (Mac): $19.95. Haven’t tried this one myself, but I know many people record their video interviews with this great software.
Internet Business Courses
- The Interactive Offer by Clay Collins from Project Mojave: Hands down, The BEST Internet business course available today. I took part of Clay’s previous business course like this (called Project Mojave) and it was one of the most information full, “hands-on” business course I’ve ever taken. This is Clay’s next course, born from the same formula and I can promise you. You DO NOT want to miss this. By the way, Clay is the Guest of June here at Nomad Couch! Remember to check the interview later on this June!
iPhone Applications
- MailChimp: For monitoring Email campaigns and lists. (Free)
- Analytics: For monitoring your website statistics. Fetches data from your Google Analytics account. ($6.99)
- WordPress: Manage your WordPress blog on the move. (Free)
- Ego: Get a quick glimpse on your favorite web stat numbers. Stats for Google Analytics, Feedburner, Twitter, Ember, Mint, Squarespace, Tumblr and Vimeo. ($4.99)
- CheckCB: Get sales stats from your Click Bank account. (Free)
- Lulu MyRevenue: Get sales stats from your Lulu.com account. (Free)
- MobileNotifier: Get sales stats from your 1ShoppingCart account.
- Evernote: Good ideas always appear when you’re on the road. Use evernote to catch those thoughts! You can book notes in text, audio or picture forms.
- Skype: I don’t think this one needs introductions. A MUST for every nomad who’s running a coaching based nomadic business. Calls through WLAN are totally free. For 3G calls, you might have to pay in the future.
- Google: Puts Google Apps right in your pocket.
- Dropbox: View and share your Dropbox documents.
- MindMeister: Brainstorm and create mind maps.
Got something you’d like to add on this list? Just post your suggestion through the comments and I’ll add it (if it’s good, of course!). Thanks!
