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Resources

As this blog gets bigger and bigger I find I am forever sending people the same links over and over. So here it all is in one place.  If you want to use the tools I use then this is the place for you. Some of these tools are free, some are not. The ones’ that are not – some of them are affiliate links – I will get paid if you use the link to buy the product. That said I only list products that I have personally used here.

Blogging and Website Development

  • WordPress - where would be all be without it – well I’d still be struggling with that old copy of Dreamwaver which is gathering dust on my hard drive!
  • ElegantThemes – these are paid but at less than $20 a year for over 30 themes currently they are crazy cheap!  You will either love or hate the designs.  Note when you buy it sets up an annual subscription in Paypal which may want to remember to cancel (or not the guy is forever turning up new themes). 
  • xHeader – classy headers even for the design challenged.
  • Catalyst Theme - my favourite theme – the one that does everything that Thesis promised to – easier, cheaper and a whole lot quicker. This blog is running on it. 
  • Thesis – this blog isis no longer running it – but it was a steeper learning curve than I expected.

Monaco Resort, Nelson, New Zealand

Hosting and Domains

I live in New Zealand – I don’t host in my own country because its so much cheaper to do so in the US!

  • Hostgator – I’ve been with them for nearly three years – they deliver for me end of story;
  • QiQ – UK based company which offers some excellent deals from time-to-time – worth it for IP diversity.
  • I register domains at GoDaddy. I do  NOT recommend their hosting, and their continual up sell is super annoying – use coupon code emma30 to get $10 dot coms for $7.60. If you are after your own country’s TLD (e.g. ca, au, nz etc) then check your local registrars they may be cheaper than  Godaddy for the specialist countries. However they will invariably a (lot) more expensive than a dot com.

SEO Keyword Research and Competition Analysis

  • Google’s own free Adwords Tool. Its not perfect – you might want to check out as well – but it does have a lot of data behind it!
  • Market Samurai. This tool replaced a number of more expensive tools that I had previously bought – not strictly necessary if you are subscribed to The Keyword Academy but I use its a rank checker on a monthly basis to know how my sites are doing and I like the competition module as well as a more in depth take after I’ve used Niche Refinery. If you are not subscribed to Keyword Academy you need need this tool!

Article Marketing Sites

Quality article marketing and guest posting are pretty much the same thing these days. And they work big time. In addition to the Web 2.0 properties mentioned above I use the following:

  • PostRunner – part of The Keyword Academy – basically worth the monthly price by itself. I posted a detailed Postrunner tutorial here.
  • I am also using BuildMyRank – they are using a RSS and bookmarking to ensure that your links get and stay indexed.
  • I was a beta tester for SEO Cobra – hard to get into – you might want to sign up for my newsletter to get a heads-up when it happens. 
  • EzineArticles – one of the few sites which will get you actual visitors not just the SEO benefit of a backlink.  I posted a review of EzineArticles here.
  • I use friend’s sites including The Best Article Directory and Post Your Own Articles. I know they know how to do SEO and have good editorial standards.

Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, Wellington

Website Management

  • OpenOffice – for every site I have a spreadsheet of details – OpenOffice does everything that Excel does – for free.  I also use it to create pdf invoices for clients.
  • I have hundreds and hundreds of passwords – I manage them using Roboform - cheap at the price, I also have the portable version so that I can access all my passwords from a single USB drive regardless of which computer I am on.
  • I use affiliate links quite often – particularly on this page! I use a piece of software called PHP Link Cloaker which means I can update links in one place and also give you nice tidy links not crappy looking affiliate links! There are free ways to do it to but this one was recommended to me  over a year ago and I’m very happy with it.
  • Backups – I use SugarSync to backup my laptop to website somewhere in the “cloud” and certainly not in the town I live in. This seems a very good idea because  I live in an earthquake prone country. Plans start from free.
  • Although its getting better – you still need an ftp client from time-to-time to transfer files to your hosting I use Filezilla – its free and it works.

Email Marketing

  • On this blog you can subscribe by email or RSS using Feedburner - it the best price – free!
  • For other sites and for clients I use the best email marketing system out there Aweber – its not free but very reasonably priced and comes with  a huge number of videos and how tos to get you started.

Learning to Make Money Online

  • I make most of the money from this blog from affiliate sales of The Keyword Academy - that’s not because people sign up for the free trial (that earns me 33cents). But because they keep on renewing their subscriptions for months, even years. They do that because, like me, they find the value offered and the tools, are worth more than what they pay for.
  • I started off freelancing and still make some of my cash freelancing with my SEO and writing skills. If you want to learn how to do this seriously check out Monika’s e-book Freelance Superstar

Learning to Write for Websites and Backlinks

Using the methods I use  I write a lot. I also outsource – but it really is worth learning how to write fast and good enough articles for yourself as well, then you will know what you expect from outsourcing.

  • You really need a decent typing speed, I taught myself before computers but if you are not doing 80wpm check out a typing tutor program such as Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing 18 to get you up there. Alternatively some people swear by dictation software and particularly Dragon Naturally Speaking .
  • If you are stuck on ideas for articles than the  7 Minute Articles is really for you – and yes I do write articles that fast (with research, and without plagiarism).
  • Once you are making some cash then check out The Content Authority – its a start up from two of the Keyword Academy members  so they know exactly the type of articles you want.  At 1c/word they are even cheaper (and usually faster) than Textbrokers which I also recommend

Hardware I Use

  • I am running  this business on a HP ProBook 4510s Notebook PC about to be upgraded to Windows 7 (currently WinXP). I use an external keyboard and monitor and mouse and its fantastic!
  • I recently bought a Canon PowerShot SX20IS camera for all those stunning photos you see around here.

Working on the HP5410s Taken by the Canon 20IIS