Don’t let technology trip you up!

There are a huge amount of incredible resources available to you as you build and grow your business online. However, knowing which one to choose and determining if you even need it in this stage of your business can take up precious time and energy that you likely don’t have at the moment.

These are some of our most-loved business tools and tech platforms that we recommend. Some of these links are affiliate links, which means we may get a commission if you purchase. However, none of the fees of these resources have been increased to compensate the WBH. It’s important to us that we don’t suggest anything we haven’t used or our clients haven’t gotten a huge amount of quality from.

You’re needs will change as your business grows and evolves but we’re advocates of starting where you want to finish, so that just as your business starts to pick up steam you aren’t faced with having to change your email marketing platform or other technology. To get a better understanding of what you need at each stage of the game, check out this episode of The Business of Becoming Podcast.

We’re always on the lookout for the next big thing that will save time and/or money and improve the client experience, so be sure to let us know in our online community of your discoveries!

Bluehost

We recommend building your website using WordPress and bluehost makes that super easy. You can purchase your domain name and host your website all in one spot.

WordPress

WordPress.com and WordPress.org: WordPress is the best CMS (content management system) out there — almost a quarter of all websites on the internet are now built with WordPress. Google also loves WP and favours WP sites in search results. WordPress is how my websites are built (custom templates). If you’re just getting started,wordpress.com is the way to go (and I provide theme recommendations below). If you are getting someone to build it and you’re super particular, wordpress.org will be your spot.

Shopify

Shopify is one of the best ecommerce solutions. It includes everything you need to run an online store. If you are keen on selling on your website, whether it’s hard goods or digital, Shopify is your one stop shop (no pun intended!)

BackupBuddy

If you have a WordPress website, and it’s not hosted on a platform like WP Engine, then you need this plugin. You could rely on your host to make sure they have backups on hand in case anything happens, but having your backups on a local computer means you can be back up and running faster if you need it!

PopupAlly Pro

If you want to create customized opt-ins (both pop ups and embedded opt in forms) that match the look and feel of your web site… then look no further. It’s got all the features you’d expect like split testing, exit intent popups, opt-in bars, and granular polite features to decide when and where these opt-ins show up.

Google Analytics

Ahhh, if there is one free tool we can’t live without it’s this one. Having Google Analytics installed on your WordPress site means you’ll know who is coming to your website, how long they stay, where they came from, and whether they joined your list and bought or not. This is all priceless information!

Broken Link Checker

No one likes landing on a broken link.

Yoast SEO Plugin

Stay current on SEO strategies and get your website ranking in search engines

Having a professional way to deliver emails is important. It is also the law that all business/promotional emails have an opt-out option. There are loads of options to choose from. We personally recommend ActiveCampaign.

Active Campaign

Active Campaign is our recommendation now. It has much more functionality than it’s competitors and is the platform that will truly grow with you. It gives you much more control and better allows you to automate.

ONTRAPORT

ONTRAPORT is a business automation software developer that specializes in assisting small businesses and entrepreneurs.This is the alternative to Infusionsoft, which doesn’t have as many of the bells and whistles in regards to automation, but it does have other perks. One of them is the built-in membership plugin that comes with their packages.

ClickFunnels

ClickFunnels gives you everything you need to market, sell, and deliver your products and services online using sales funnels. ClickFunnels is an funnel automation tool that streamlines your promotions. Pair it with Deadline Funnel, a countdown timer that adds urgency to tell your audience they need to act NOW, and sales will start rolling in while you sleep.

Deadline Funnel

Embed countdown timers in your emails that are automatically synced with your sales page timers to add urgency and get your buyers to take action, now.

Practice Better

Practice Better is a complete client management system for wellness professionals that allows you to organize client files, scheduling and booking and billing and payment all in one place.

Freshbooks

This is our personal favourite. Whether you offer services online or in-person, having cloud based accounting software is a must. Many of your clients will expect to be able to pay you online — and you certainly want to give them every opportunity to give you money! Freshbooks is an awesome option for creating estimates and invoices (including recurring payments.) You can keep track of your clients’ payment history and export all your finances when it comes time for bookkeeping.

Paypal

Use it for sending or requesting money and easily add Buy Now buttons to your website and sales pages.

Stripe

Similar to PayPal but with more functionality that comes in handy as your business grows and evolves. Whether you’re creating a subscription service, an on-demand marketplace, an e-commerce store, or a crowdfunding platform, Stripe’s meticulously designed APIs and unmatched functionality help you create the best possible product for your users.

Asana

The easiest way for teams to track work, and get results. Asana is a web and mobile application designed to help teams track their work You can read my full Asana review and watch a preview of how it works, but the best thing is for you to try it because it’s totally free. Asana is a web and mobile application designed to help teams track their work.

Calendly

Online scheduling platform. It’s so helpful to send your clients a link to your online schedule to have them book their own appointments. It also syncs with your personal online calendar to keep you organized and looking professional. Clients can book and reschedule at any time.

Practice Better

Practice Better is a complete client management system for wellness professionals that allows you to organize client files, scheduling and booking and billing and payment all in one place.

Canva

Editing app with many free images & design elements, plus $1 each for premium elements. You can create beautiful images, social media graphics, banners and even design PDFs and presentation slides. It’s equivalent to using photoshop and it’s a go-to for DIY graphic design creation.

Easel.ly

Infographic Creator

Grammarly

Spelling & grammar checking app so you put out your most polished written work, even emails!

Click To Tweet

Get more shares from your fans & followers; this plugin is one of the easiest ways to promote, share & track your content on Twitter.

WordPress.org Pin It

On-Image Hover & Post Button for Pinterest.

Dropbox

Cloud-based, automatic, file-syncing service that lets you bring your photos, docs, and videos anywhere and share them easily. It works great for swapping files and creating backups. Everything you keep in Dropbox is synced automatically to all your devices. The basic plan is free up to 2GB. Dropbox for Business free for 30 days.

Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3)

Since this online storage facility is provided by e-commerce giant Amazon, you can be rest-assured whatever you store at S3 is secured. The AWS Free Tier enables you to gain free, hands-on experience with the AWS platform, products, and services and includes up to 5GB of data storage.

Google Drive

Cloud-based storage system that is accessible to anyone with a Gmail email address from anywhere. You can create spreadsheets, documents, online forms, images and pretty much anything else. You can also host documents and share them with whoever you’d like. Up to 15GB of free storage.

That Clean Life

The best way to create beautiful meal plans, help your clients achieve success and grow your wellness business.

Lastpass

LastPass is a password manager and password generator that locks your passwords and personal information in a secure vault. LastPass autofills web browser and app logins for you, and generates new, secure passwords instantly. LastPass now requires email confirmation for all logins from new IPs

1Password

In our hyper-connected world, there can be way too many passwords to remember… and each service you use online should have its own password. If one of the websites you login to gets hacked, your other accounts might also be compromised. With 1Password you’re able to keep all your passwords secure, come up with new ones for each service, and just have to remember the main password.

Zoom

Zoom unifies cloud video conferencing, simple online meetings, group messaging, and a software-defined conference room solution into one easy-to-use platform.

Later

Founded as the first-to-market Instagram scheduler in 2014, Later has grown from a simple Instagram tool to the #1 visual marketing platform for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Later helps streamline your social media strategy so you can set yourself up for more sales and success. Features focus on visual scheduling, media management, marketing and analytics.

Hootsuite

Limited free plan allows 1 user with 3 social profiles and up to 30 scheduled message.

DocuSign

Unlimited document signing

Hello Sign

Allows you to have 3 documents signed per month, and is integrated with Google Drive

Promo by Slidely

For short intro or promotional & social media engagement videos

Screencast-O-Matic

Screen and webcam recorder for webinars & tutorials

Zoom

You can record face to camera or share your screen and record yourself teaching via powerpoint.

Vimeo

Video hosting and sharing platform which users can upload, share & view videos, and showcase their work. Vimeo is quickly becoming both a popular video share site as well as a social networking site for entrepreneurs and other professionals.

ScreenFlow (for Mac)

Video editing and screen recording software for Mac. Use it to record the contents of your screen when creating courses or training VAs or team members. You can also use ScreenFlow to capture video from your webcam and audio from your computer and external mic.

Camtasia (For PC)

This is a high-quality video editor and screen recorder. It’s a user-friendly favorite of course creators. Consider Camtasia if you’re thinking about creating online training courses with quite a few on-screen tutorials.

Help Scout

One of the first areas you’ll be needed to grow in your business is Customer Support. Help Scout is a customer support portal that was designed to make it extremely easy to provide incredible support to your audience. If you have an online training course, you will want to have support tickets available for people. Help Scout allows us to view tickets, assign tickets, see the last activity, and then close tickets when an issue is resolved. If you’re just starting out, keep this in your back pocket for the future.