Digital Resources I Love – A Short List

If only I had a dollar for every time someone asked to pick my brain…

I’d be able to take at least a month off.

So, here’s a collection of my favourite digital things. Website themes, content resources, hosting, legals… all the good things that make your business look fab. Everything you need besides a whip-smart copywriter to ensure your communications are glitter-bomb good.

I’ve used every one of these products and services or recommended them to my satisfied clients. I might be an affiliate for some of these links, but I think they’ll rock your business like they have mine.

Elegant Themes

Elegant Themes creates beautiful themes. Their Divi theme helps owners build mobile responsive, robust websites without knowing any code. The best thing about Divi is not being locked into a WP framework you might be bored of in a year, you can simply pull the whole site apart visually and put it back together. There are online support forums, loads of free layouts to play with, and bonus: your favourite copywriter is Divi competent so I can even content upload and help you design page structures that will convert beautifully.

Siteground Hosting

Sometimes the price difference between amazing hosting and really awful hosting is only an extra $20 a year. That’s four coffees. A slow host will not only mean Google sneers at you but you may also spend time frustrated with downtime. 24-hour support, fast turnaround times, live chat, and excellent customer service means a great all-around experience.

Legal123

These easy to deal with legal professionals were a godsend. When a client finishes spending a few thousand dollars having their entire website presence rewritten, the last thing they want to do is spend another $900 a pop on a website privacy policy. However, every Australian website should have a Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. You may also need Client Agreements or Contracts – these guys do it all. You can purchase done-for-you or templates for everything legal you need for Australian business

Acuity Scheduling

Because who has time to email back and forth seven times to sort a good time that suits everyone? Well, I made time for the first year before getting myself onto this baby. Acuity is easy to set up for even the most technophobic, cost-effective to manage, looks great, sends your people appointment reminders and instructions when you need it to and generally saves you hours of what I like to call ‘faff’ time. You can install it on your website so when someone buys time with you, they’re instantly transported to your Acuity calendar where they can choose a time that suits you both. Hooray for less faffing!

Crazy Domains

Because while website themes, hosting, copywriting, graphic design, marketing advice, and business coaching are all things you should invest in, buying a domain name shouldn’t break the bank. In fact, my 37 domain names barely scratch the lower limit of my business credit card and they’re all through Crazy Domains. Go to town!

BloggersSEO

It’s time to wipe everything you know about SEO from your mind – chances are it’s wrong, or misinformed. You wouldn’t go to a plumber for a new logo, right? So why would you get SEO knowledge anywhere else other than directly from the experts? The self-confessed nerds at BloggersSEO are some of the most knowledgeable, quick to respond, and kindest tech geeks I’ve ever worked with and their new courses are the flipping bomb.

Grammarly

If grammar, spelling, and punctuation constantly trip up your online communications, I’m about to save your life. Grammarly proof-reads live as you write – in Word, on social media, and on your website. There’s a fabulous free version and the premium is even better. This one’s a no-brainer.

Creative Market

Creative Market is like an online version of your favourite pretty shop – like Typo, or The Store – where you apologise to your credit card before you enter. A veritable treasure trove of design elements, illustration, filters, graphics, images, and oh, so many fonts. It’s delicious and beautiful and, heck you’ll be wanting one of everything.

Active Campaign

Active Campaign is like the big sister of your MailChimp campaigns. They not only provide an excellent platform for automations and funnels, there’s also all kinds of tricky elements allowing you to track, integrate other programs, and design some beautiful email marketing campaigns with a little more intuitive interface than you’d be used to with MailChimp.

Hemingway

The Hemingway Editor allows you to easily spot common sentence structure and copy issues to creating compelling content. It highlights complex phrases, sentences that are too long, and, most helpfully, adverbs and passive voice! While you should never rely on an app or program alone to proofread and copy edit your work, running your copy through Hemingway is a good start.

Last Pass

Do you have a social media person, a web designer, a developer, an email campaign sorter-outterer, or a VA? Are you one of those people that writes all your passwords on tiny scraps of paper and then promptly loses the lot? LastPass will keep your bevy of hard-to-guess goodies in one spot all hidden behind a super heavy, very tightly closed virtual door. Bonus: there’s a free version!