My Favourite Online Marketing Tools

One of the first hurdles any business owner has to jump, is choosing the right software and tools for their business to run on. Here’s a breakdown of my favourites for your consideration.

Website & Email

Squarespace

You can have full creative control of your website, without learning to code. It also has the SEO structure you need built in.

By using their standard templates to get you started, and the drag and drop options, you can design and build simultaneously. The software also allows you to adjust the layout for mobile, so you have control of what shows above what when the screen slims down. It takes away half the hassle so you can fully embody your brand, without the limitations.

Squarespace also owns Acuity Scheduling, and has purchased Google Domains. There’s options to allow you to setup proposals and invoices that could replace options like Dubsado too. This just means it can help keep your ecosystem small if you can benefit form those functions. The best part is that they are sold separately as upgrades, not elevating the base cost.

Start with the free plan, then upgrade once you’re ready to launch.

Shopify

This is my website choice for eCommerce brands. With the amount of inclusions built in, from reporting to subscriptions to Shop Pay, it’s one price for a consolidation of tools. It allows you to run a far more sophisticated order fulfillment process than Squarespace does.

The new horizon design option has removed the need to rely on a template. As much as most brands benefit from a design professional to make a truly standout website, you can get started here without one, to lower your startup costs.

Interact Quiz Builder

Create quizzes to test your customers, ask them questions to offer them the best solution and to create quizzes to generate leads. With templates, and conditional logic, it's a simple builder, but with lots of grunt.

You can embed your forms or send people directly to a URL, and start tracking performance and easily integrate with your other tools too.

Kit (formerly ConvertKit)

Email marketing is made simple, with templates, automations, and subscriber tagging. It allows for comprehensive sequences and the usual campaign sending.

The ability to sell products, and a Creator Network are also great for those with larger consistent lists.

Project Management

Notion

I like to use Notion as my second brain, dumping all my ideas, and content outlines, so it's all in one place, and is easy to sort through.

I also use this for my client dashboards.

ClickUp

If you’re managing a larger volume of tasks, ClickUp can make this process much simpler. Manage internal and client projects with an easy to use system. I especially love the recurring tasks, sharing documents, Gantt charts and overdue task reminders.

Podcasting Software

For Recording Interviews: Riverside

Record your podcast in up to 4k, with separate video and audio tracks for each person, to make editing super simple. It's also easy for your guests to navigate so they show up in the best mood to record.

The software creates a download for you as you record and saves to Google Chrome. I’ve had a few guests lose internet connection or their computer run out of battery and we didn’t lose any of the recording.

For Editing: Descript

Being able to edit via the transcript is a game changer for me and has sped up my editing process by hours per episode. You can also record in app if you’re creating a solo episode, including with a screen recording.

It's also super simple to create clips by copying and pasting the transcript into a new composition, so you can edit clips from the episode for different platforms, with full reign to change the orientation, or add graphics.

For Publishing: Spotify for Podcasters

With the acquisition of a few key industry tools, Spotify now offers a free podcast management tool including RSS of audio to other platforms, video within Spotify and a few other perks like the ability to receive messages or to host a private paid feed.

Online Education & Communities

Mighty Networks

This platform allows you to offer both courses and community in one place. Mighty Networks communities is how I’ve met many of my online friends. The host is able to start threads, or allow everyone to start them, so everyone can comment like a private social network. The courses are setup with individual access, so that you can sell those as upgrades as needed. On the higher end plan, you can also offer your own app for speedy access.

The best part about our modern online business era is that there are multiple tools for every type of software. You can shop around and evaluate each option for your unique structure and customer.