==== Originally published on the IT Arsenal Newsletter ====
Hello!
This months post is a quick delivery of 10 useful tools for coaches and online business [made up of 5 WordPress plugins and 5 web apps] for saving you time, getting you more traffic, and/or making life easier!
Also, if you’re just starting out or even have been in business for a while, we’ve launched a guide for learning everything you need to know about the technology you use to run your online business. The culmination of two years of feedback, research, and writing, all for free. Check it out -> The Definitive Technology Guide for Online Business
Enjoy!
-r
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5 of the Most Useful Web Apps and WordPress Plugins
WordPress plugins
1. YoastSEO – Yoast is a de-facto SEO resource. He writes great instructional posts, and has put together a SEO WordPress plugin that’s been downloaded over a million times. It helps you tweak your page titles, and analyze your content in the compose screen of a post/page. It’s a must.
2. Gravity Forms ($40 value!) Consider yourself my client, because I have a developer license to use on unlimited client sites for this plugin. Gravity Forms is the best forms plugin available for WordPress. Use it for reliable contact forms and much more with their add-ons. NOTE: The link downloads a fully functional unlicensed version, you’ll need to purchase Gravity Forms for updates, and/or add-ons. https://itarsenal.com/downloads/gravity.zip
3. Social Floating Bar – There are thousands of sharing plugins, this one shines above most. I choose this over Digg Digg because it’s more mobile friendly.
4. Imsanity – A plugin that automatically crops your image uploads to be web friendly, increasing speed, SEO score, and backup reliability for your site.
5. SumoMe – From the AppSumo team, a suite of tools to grow website traffic, invaluable for list building, marketing, and more.
Web Services
1. BoxShotKing – Designer level box art (the stuff you can use for guides, booklets, announcements, information products, and the like) that takes minutes to produce, all created through an easy to use website.
2. ScheduleOnce – A meeting and appointment scheduling system done very well, that seamlessly integrates with Google. See my implementation here: https://itarsenal.com/scheduler Now works with Outlook
3. Boomerang – Killer feature = having an e-mail you file away automatically come back to your inbox if no one responds. Requires: Google based web mail.
4. Buffer – This web service lets you batch post your status updates and links, but then trickles them out over time to your audience on various networks. If social media seems tedious to you, this is a shortcut to getting in, writing 10 posts, and looking like you’ve been “staying with it” for days and days.
5. TheNounProject – Icons are one of the easiest ways to put together much needed graphics for newsletters, downloadables, blog posts, and more. TheNounProject makes tens of thousands searchable, and easily downloaded and attributable, it’s like a graphics easy button for your website. IT Arsenal is working on a WordPress plugin for TheNounProject.
*CloudFlare – Bonus! – Cloudflare may be a bit more technical to setup but helps speed your website up, protect you from hackers, and if you pay for website bandwidth can save you money as well. It’s what is called a content delivery network of sorts, it makes copies of parts of your website, and loads them fast without having to tax your web server which can get bogged down with multiple plugins and many other things.
I’m happy to chat anytime about where your online business is headed and what troubles you’re facing, reply anytime! Check out the IT Arsenal blog, or say hi on Twitter.
I hope this e-mail was useful and I want to know if it wasn’t.
-r
