Resources & Tools We Use
We get questions a lot about the products, tools, and services we talk about and recommend. You’ll find exactly what we use and why…
Websites & Hosting
I’ve been building websites for myself and for clients for over a decade and feel like I have about seen it all. I’ve seen the good and the bad and feel strongly that I now utilize the easiest and most user-friendly platforms there are.
WordPress + the Divi Theme + Kinsta Hosting
This combination is great for certain types of websites and businesses. I use this combination for this website and a couple of others. Why WordPress, the Divi Theme, & Kinsta Hosting?
WordPress & Divi make things so simple and easy – see our review here
Kinsta is the best WordPress hosting solution – see our review here
Kinsta improves your sites security, speed, and performance – which is so crucial for your SEO and ranking your website
Kinsta has the best support that I’ve ever experienced with a hosting provider, which I cannot express how grateful I am for that
Kajabi is my absolute favorite platform that I have ever used. It does it all – your website, landing pages, memberships, online courses, email marketing, coaching platform, funnels, storefront, etc. etc. It’s simply the best – and has one of the very best affiliate programs too! I use Kajabi for three of my own websites and recommend it to clients to that I know it would help and save them money each month.
A truly all-in-one platform for your business
Everything seamlessly integrates together making everything from building a page to email marketing very easy
The support and community are top-notch and absolutely amazing.
Things don’t break – making security and development a weight off your shoulders
If all you need are landing pages to build unique and amazing funnels, the HBA Funnel Builder is the best solution. I use this for a few funnels, like the All-in-One Business that I love to promote. And there are a few amazing benefits to getting this…
The HBA Funnel Builder is only $25/month – which is SO much cheaper than any other funnel builder out there
It has the best affiliate program opportunity I’ve ever seen online. 80% commissions with some amazing upsells.
The support and community are wonderful and love helping. Even the owners love answering questions.
You get all the training you need to learn the platform and loads of funnel templates to get you going the same day.
Not Sure Which Platform To Use?
Take my free quiz!
I’ll ask you a handful of questions to get to know you and your business a bit. Even if you’re brand new to working online, I will help you find what you need to help you save money and find success as quickly as possible – which is the biggest goal when you’re working online. So take the quiz and let’s get you going!
WordPress Plugins
I’ve done loads of WordPress maintenance and support for clients over the years, so I get pretty serious about plugins and making sure that I and the client only use plugins that are necessary and beneficial. Too many plugins can be very troublesome, break things, cause confusion, and most importantly, can slow down your site. So here is what I use for almost every site and try to never use anything else unless absolutely necessary.
This plugin is awesome at taking care of nearly all of the technical SEO issues that can come with using WordPress. It can be a bit complicated if you don’t know SEO, so feel free to reach out if you’re unsure how to use it.
Compacts CSS & JavaScript to speed up your site
Helps other page load and other speed issues
Integrates with the Imagify plugin
Takes care of nearly all technical SEO speed issues to help your SEO and ranking potential
Yoast is super helpful for all things SEO across your site – from generating your SiteMap, Schema, and managing all on-page SEO for your posts, pages, categories, and much more.
Very easy to use & helps the SEO of your site very quickly
The free version does just about everything you need. I almost always just use the free version.
Includes Schema markup to your site
Makes pretty links! 🙂
Using shorter links that include your domain can help people trust your link and it looks better if you are using that link anywhere like social media or YouTube
The free version should do everything you need
This free plugin is safe and trusted and does two very important tasks – controls any redirects you need and can help you spot any broken links that are getting traffic. The latter isn’t the best method for tracking broken links but can come in handy in a pinch. This is used differently than Pretty Links because this controls redirects from any pages you either delete or change the URL slug so Google knows about the change and you don’t lose any SEO power.
Free and easy to use
Create redirects so you don’t lose any SEO power if you delete or change a URL slug
Bloom is a simple, lightweight pop-up and opt-in plugin from Elegant Themes (the people who make the Divi theme). And if you’re using Divi, Bloom integrates perfectly with it and comes free with Divi. It’s not as user-friendly as I’d like, but does what I usually need. If you need more advanced pop-up and opt-in options, I typically will recommend OptinMonster. It’s quite robust but does a lot of cool things.
Connects directly with your email marketing provider
Simple and lightweight
If you want some dynamic social media share buttons across your site, Monarch is my favorite option. It’s simple and lightweight and made by Elegant Themes (the company that makes the Divi theme). Also, it’s free if you own Divi.
Free and easy to use
Lightweight with plenty of options
Email Marketing
I don’t have strong feelings about which email marketing platform you should use. For the most part, what’s most important is that you use what you’re comfortable with and what gets the job done. However, there are three exceptions…
1) If you use Shopify, ActiveCampaign is the right choice. It’s the only platform that directly integrates with Shopify which will make your life and automations so much better.
2) I don’t advise clients to ever use MailChimp. It’s grown a lot over the years, but at some point you will likely outgrow the platform and it will be a nightmare to switch. It’s better to start with a platform that you know you can grow with.
3) If you go with Kajabi for your website, memberships, or online courses, it already has a great email marketing platform built right in and integrates with everything you do on Kajabi – one of the many reasons I love Kajabi. This combo also saves you a lot of money.
ActiveCampaign is the platform I use the most outside of Kajabi. It’s a must-have if you have a Shopify store. It’s not the prettiest platform but has a lot of great, advanced features ensuring you can do what you need to for all of your email marketing goals.
Advanced enough to do everything you need
Reliable and scaleable
This is one of the more popular email marketing platforms. And great if you’re just starting out because it’s free up to 300 subscribers. That means you don’t have to worry about another monthly payment while you’re still figuring things out and building your business. So if you’re not using Kajabi or Shopify, ConvertKit might be exactly what you need.
Easy to use and scales with you and your business
Completely free if you have less than 300 subscribers
Training & Courses
There is a popular phrase online entrepreneurs like to use – “learn before you earn.” It’s sound advice if you have the luxury to do that, but most people don’t. If you’re like me, your online journey started or is starting out of a nearly desperate need to improve your life and situation… or in my case, compleeeetely desperate! Haha!
So, I when I’m helping people who are just starting out online, I flip that phrase around and say, “let’s start earning, and then start learning.” The biggest goal in the short-term is to start getting some money coming in. Once that happens, it opens up so many doors and you can scale and grow and start bringing your passion to your online business and have the luxury of learning and training where you need to. This helps alleviate some stress as well which will help you be more productive overall.
With that in mind, there’s only one training that I recommend:
The All-in-One Business is a $25 business that you can use to turn around and start making money right away – which you need! This platform also upsells to the Home Business Academy, which gives you all the training you need to succeed online. So this opportunity not only gives you what you need to start making money right away, it also leads right to the place to start scaling and growing. It’s perfect.
Everything you need to start making money right away
Perfect upsells to scale your business, your knowledge, and your sales
The best community and support you’ll find online – at no extra cost
Mindset & Community
If you have been working online for any amount of time, you know how truly important and invaluable it is to have a great community, support, and a positive, healthy mindset in order to succeed. It’s likely you’re on your own trying to do all of this online stuff. I certainly was. And the years when I was alone and struggling and desperately trying to make things work took a toll on me both mentally and physically. So if you’re working hard, make sure you take the time you need to keep your mind healthy and get the right people around you to support you. And for me, there’s only been one place I needed for this…
You’ve probably already seen me mention the Home Business Academy because of the business opportunity it provides and the amount of training you receive as a member – which is all the training you need to succeed online. But there are a few additional benefits to being a part of the Home Business Academy…
Weekly Mastermind training and support
Amazing community full of people who love helping others and would love to help you succeed
Daily morning mindset group calls
An entire mindset training section to help make sure you take care of your mind which leads to more success
Traffic & Leads
Outside of advertising on platforms like Facebook, Google Ads, etc., organic social media posts, and SEO, there are a couple of additional traffic and lead generation options that I like to use from time to time.
If you’re looking for training on running ads or organic lead gen strategies, you can find all of that inside the Home Business Academy.
If you’re looking for good people to run ads for you, I’d highly recommend TiakiCreative.com, who I do SEO consulting.
Solo Ads can be effective but use with caution. You want to make sure you work with a good seller. Udimi offers a lot of options, so check reviews and spend sparingly until you feel comfortable and find good results. Also, make sure you send people to an opt-in so you can then have those people in your own automation. That’s where Udimi and solo ads can be most effective. Solo ads can lead to sales, but the leads are what you typically should expect. Sales are a bonus.
Easy to use and find good sellers
A decent option for generating leads
This is a good option for you if you are an affiliate marketer because it emails to subscribers who are interested in business opportunities and is its own great affiliate program opportunity.
Gives you 100 – 200 new leads each day
Great addition for affiliate marketers
Email up to 9,000 subscribers per day
Other Tools & Platforms
I’ve been building websites for myself and for clients for over a decade and feel like I have about seen it all. I’ve seen the good and the bad and feel strongly that I now utilize the easiest and most user-friendly platforms there are.
If you have a website that you want to rank well on Google or other Search Engines, you have two options… Either hire professionals like my team at TiakiCreative.com, or use SEMRush to help you knock your SEO out of the park. Not only will it monitor your site and show you everything you need to fix and improve, it will also give you tons of tools to take your SEO to the next level. It’s been my number one SEO tool for many, many years.
Find and monitor any and all SEO errors and issues on your website
Get all the tools, training, and resources you need to improve your SEO
This is the future of online forms and quizzes – so you might as well get in on it! It’s amazing. Instead of the boring forms asking for information, you can create videos and personally ask your audience questions… and allow them to reply with text, audio, or even video! How valuable is that?! It’s such a great way to interact and get to know your people. And this is one of my new favorite tools.
Use video to ask questions
Receive text, audio, or video replies
The best way to interact with your audience
Don’t tell anyone, but I hate social media! Haha. Well, perhaps that’s unfair. But I did things wrong when I started and I tried to learn everything when I started working online. And it was hard to keep up with every platform when all I really wanted to focus on was websites and SEO. But social media is such a great way to connect and communicate with your audience and customers. ContentStudio makes my life a bit easier because I can manage everything in one place and schedule posts.
Manage your social media platforms in one place
Schedule posts
Research trends, influencers, and much more
Beacon is a great tool to help you build PDF’s, eBooks, and more. These are great to use to build free opt-in lead magnets. Unless you’re a magician with Adobe Illustrator or are able to hire a professional, Beacon is a great option that I’ve used a lot – even to create internal team training PDF’s and checklists.
Easy to use and convenient
Create PDF’s, eBooks, and more