Resources and Tools

I thought it would be helpful to share with you all of the online business resources we use to help grow The Entrepreneurs Library. The following is a massive list of nearly every tool our team utilizes every day in order to make work easier when it comes to running a podcast, promoting to the masses, and working as a team. I will continue to add to this list as we learn more tools, but you will hear Wade talk about this web page very often. I suggest you save the link for your convenience.

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, we will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase. Please understand that we have experience with all of these companies, and we recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions we make if you decide to buy something. Please do not spend any money on these products unless you feel you need them or that they will help you achieve your goals.

WEBSITE HOSTING & BLOGGING

Hostmonster: All of our websites are hosted on Hostmonster. It’s incredibly easy to use with 1-click automatic WordPress installation and excellent customer service – via phone and via chat. They also offer lots of added services for as little as 3.95 per month including WordPress and a gallery for social media plugins, unlimited email and Domain hosting. We ofcourse have a much larger hosting package because our sites have hundreds of thousands of files.

Organic Themes: Instead of spending thousands of dollars of a fresh website design we used the WordPress templates of Organic Themes. This company creates beautiful, minimalistic designs for any website or blog. The themes are very easy to implement and manage with little to no need for experience in website development. Their instructions are flawless too.

WP Fix It: The people at WP Fix It are our saving grace when it comes to WordPress errors and bugs. They will solve 99% of WordPress issues for $39 each. The site handles and fixes problems like platform issues, Plugin issues or any general issues with WordPress. We simply cannot stay funcitoning without them so I highly recommend using them when needed.

Disqus: Blog comments are very important to us and we chose the best in the business. Disqus is a very powerful WordPress plugin that makes commenting very simple and interactive. The design of the plugin is very professional looking and fits within any website. Our favorite feature of Disqus is the widget display of the most commented on posts.

AppSumo: Everyone needs a set of online tools to grow their website traffic and we use the plugins provided by AppSumo for ours. The plugin apps are free and offer some very unique and simple ways for visitors to interact with your site. The apps include heat maps to see where your website clickers are from, has optin apps to help increase daily web mail signups, and a highlighter share app for visitors to share your website content on social media.

Pretty Link: Everyone needs a set of online tools to grow their website traffic and we use the plugins provided by AppSumo for ours. The plugin apps are free and offer some very unique and simple ways for visitors to interact with your site. The apps include heat maps to see where your website clickers are from, has optin apps to help increase daily web mail signups, and a highlighter share app for visitors to share your website content on social media. All the links used in this resource page are generated from Pretty Link.

PODCASTING

Podcasters Paradise: We wouldn’t be here without Podcaster’s Paradise. This podcasting program developed by John Lee Dumas is the educational backbone of our podcast and taught us everything we know about podcasting. The best part about this program is the networking opportunities with the over 1,000+ podcasters using the program.

Libsyn: Similar to Hostmonster, Libsyn is the hosting service where all of our podcast audio files are stored, managed, and fed to our media channels. We chose Libsyn because of their amazing customer support and footprint they have in the market of podcast hosting. Not only do they provide hosting they are also available to teach their customers the best ways to analyze their stats as well as improve their podcasting efforts. Our favorite thing about Libsyn is the fact they integrate with all the major social media platforms and build mobile apps for podcasts hosted on their platform.

Music Radio Creative: We can’t say enough good things about Music Radio Creative. These guys are the masters of creating the intro and outro jingles for our podcast. With your package you get a branding specialist who will help you craft the perfect audio inserts. If you are looking for a very professional product, these are the guys to go for.

Adobe Audition: When it comes to production software we are Adobe people. Audition allows us to edit our audio files at a very professional level so we can produce the best sounding clips possible. Although it may seem overwhelming Adobe Audition is much more simple than the other DAWs out there. Plus with the new creative cloud from Adobe the software stays up-to-date with improvements and fixes. You can get it for $19/mo.

Heil PR-40 Microphone: Just like everything we do here at The EL, our audio quality is expected to be of the highest possible. The Heil PR-40 is an outstanding microphone if you want a nice warm sound yet a microphone that can be driven by pretty much any pre-amp. We use a pop-filter on ours and get zero breath and lip sound in our recordings. If you wan to sound like a professional host this must is one of the best out there.

GRAPHIC DESIGN

99Designs: If you are very serious about your graphic design needs this is the place to find a design. At 99designs, hundreds of talented designers compete in contests to deliver the best design for your creative needs—from logos to business cards to full website concepts. We use this when we are looking for the absolute highest quality in graphic design such as The EL logo.

Canva: We love to design images and Canva makes it quick and painless for us. With Canva you are able to create graphics in drag-n-drop interface that has thousands of templates, fonts, and images. You can use Canva to create designs for your website, Facebook page , posters, flyers, and more. Our favorite feature of Canva is the pre-sized dimensions for every type of post.

123rf: Stock images are very important for our blog posts because we do not do our own photography. There are many options out there, but 123rf is the most reasonable for us when it comes to price. Millions of stock photo images for sale, some are free. The most valuable part of 123rf is the ability to purchase different sizes from S to XXXL and not just a one-size for all.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

Hootsuite: With the amount of posts we make on social media we have to use a social media management system and Hootsuite has been our go-to. With Hootsuite you can manage all your social media sites in one place inlcuding Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest. The analytics of Hootsuite are our most favorite feature, but everything else has left us with no complaints as well.

TweetAdder: When it comes to Twitter we post between 25 and 30 tweets per day so mass scheduling is very important and TweetAdder has been the most flawless for us. As a Twitter management tool TweetAdder will aslo help you increase followers at a faster rate. The software can automatically build up a following on Twitter and allows you to instantly direct message people that follow your account.

Hashtagify: #Musthave! Hashtags determine the virality of all our social media posts and Hashtagify is how we determine the popularity of a hashtag. Hashtagify will help you get the most out of your hashtags in order to reach more people on Twitter. You can view the highest trending hashtags happening on social media and you can search for specific ones that fit your niche. The coolest part about Hashtagify is when you search it will show you other relevant hashtags and the most recent posts using the specific hashtag you are searching for.

EMAIL MARKETING

Infusionsoft: Infusionsoft is the powerhouse email hub that connects all of our lead generation campaigns. We like it better because it is designed specifically for small businesses when it comes to customer relationship management and email marketing. The system keeps track of sales and marketing including management of sales leads and customer behavior as well as social media functions, web tracking and lead capturing.

Mailchimp: Mailchimp is a mass email system that helps in sending mass marketing emails to your customers with automation and personalization. We use Mailchimp to send out our good-looking weekly digests. The system is very user friendly and has tons of pre-made templates you can use for newsletters and more.

LeadPages: All of the beautiful landing pages you see stemming from The EL website are built and managed on LeadPages. LeadPages is a landing page development site where you can create and edit content online. They also have special programs to track email and other customer information. The part about LeadPages is not only how simple their landing pages are to implement, but how beautiful all the templates look. Amazing stuff here!

OptinMonster: We use OptinMonster as a secondary lead capture widget. We like to use this alongside LeadPages because it offers us more intuitive ways for our website visitors to optin on our website. Based on the package you choose you can feature optins in blog posts, at the bottom of your website, the corners of your website, or as a pop-up ad.

TEAM COLLABORATION

Dropbox: Running a podcast and website involves thousands of files that require large amounts of storage so we turned to Dropbox for help. Dropbox is our collaborative backup folder for sharing all our files between the whole team online at any time. You can backup photos, videos, audio, and documents online from virtually any type of device. Our favorite thing about Dropbox is how simple and easy it is to use. At 1 TB for only $99/yr, we love it!

Evernote: We take lots and lots of notes, but hate writing it down on notepads. Evernote is a web-based note-taking and organizational program that delivers on its promise to make the information you need available to you and your team anywhere. The new Work Chat functionality makes this killer Web app more collaborative than ever.

ScheduleOnce: Scheduling our interview appointments and meetings has never been easier with this awesome tool. ScheduleOnce is a web-based scheduling app that integrates perfectly with any calendar and is so easy to share with your clients or guests. You’re provided with special link for you clients to easily access AND book an available time on your calendar in seconds from any device.

Fascination Advantage Report: Unlike personality tests such as Myers-Briggs and StengthsFinder, the Fascination Advantage system by Sally Hogshead is so far the best we’ve come across. We use this system to not only pinpoint each one of our individual strengths, but to build our own unique personal branding statement. The results from this assessment go above and beyond when it comes to describing how the world sees you rather than how you see world. Click the link and enter code ELPodcast to receive a free assessment on us.

EDUCATION & PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

Blinkist: Ironically enough Blinkist is one of the ways we are able to digest books at such a rapid pace. As an online book condenser, Blinkist gives you the ability to read a nonfiction book in 15 minutes versus the hours and days it would normally take to read it. The books are summarized by humans and it saves us invaluable amounts of time by giving us another view of a book.

MentorMojo: Self-education is a major part of our success and we use MentorMojo to enhance our overall business skills. The site requires a monthly membership of $29, but they offer short, step by step video courses on how to start, grow, and scale any type of business. The courses are taught by many of today’s successful entrepreneurs. In our opinion it’s a much more affordable AND convenient way to get some quality business and personal development coaching.

Social Marketing Tribe: Conferences can only flood us with tons of information and new platforms, but Social Marketing Tribe is the accountability program that keeps our online marketing efforts on task. The program will not only help you build and develop your social marketing skills, but will give you access to thousands of other experts who are implementing the same marketing tactics. The community of experts will help keep you accountable and show you exactly how to effectively use social media. It’s like having an endless slew of social media workshops in your pocket.

Social Media Marketing World: Social Media is obviously our most vital of business practices and Social Media Marketing World is where he go to learn what’s new in the industry. SMMW will teach you how to be a better social media marketer with advice from the top experts in every type of field. For us it’s a great way to make some contacts for developing more innovative ways to marketing our website and podcast.

Podcast Movement: Networking, networking, networking! This is what we are all about and Podcast Movement is where we get to learn from and meet other podcasters in the industry. Their seminars are designed to interact with other experts in Podcasting to teach you how to podcast in different industries: business, sports, entertainment, etc.. This conference is a prime opportunity for us to create partnerships and long-term relationships with other podcasters from all walks of the world.

EXTRA HELP

Fiverr: When we are in need of quick, less important creations, we turn to Fiverr to find help. Fiverr is a great place to fulfill odd jobs or random requests. The beauty of Fiverr is that you can find some very high quality work for very cheap. Work can range from video production to content writing and website development to social media advertising. Our favorite thing about Fiverr is the small amount of effort it takes to get something done without having to train someone.

Elance: Although we try to do as much as we can in-house, we still need outside help and Elance is our saving grace. Especially for larger, long-term projects that need extra helping hands. If you are in need a virtual assistant or temporary freelance specialist, Elance is an excellent platform for posting jobs, interviewing, training, and managing outsourced employees.

Cheers to your success!
Cody