Every great entrepreneur has a set of essential tools that help them grow their business. There is an overwhelming amount of tools for bloggers out there at the moment. Some are invaluable, some not so great. Whether you are just getting started or are looking to up your blogging and business game, these tools are a great place to start.
Here is my list of essential tools entrepreneurs can use to grow their business.
This page may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase or sign up for a service with my links I make a small commission at zero cost to you that allows me to keep bringing the best content to you.
I’ve added a tool for the most important tasks bloggers and entrepreneurs have to do on the regular. From creating and sharing content to keeping track of paperwork and monetizing your site, I’ve got you covered.
Grammar and Spelling Checker
Every post I write is checked by Grammarly and I truly believe all business owners and bloggers will benefit from installing Grammarly. I have a degree in English and have been writing for over 15 years and there are still grammar or spelling issues I miss. Nobody is perfect, right?! And it’s great to have Grammarly installed because it relieves some of that pressure of the feeling that you will miss something. Grammarly highlights Grammar and spelling mistakes and all you have to do is hover to select a change if necessary. So easy!
A Great Planner
While I love a good digital planner, I also have to have a paper planner. I am a pen and paper girl at heart. Something different just happens when you take pen to paper and start to plot and plan those goals and the steps you need to reach them. My go-to paper planner is Erin Condren’s signature Life Planner. Eric Condren has planner styles, stickers, inserts, wall calendars, accessories-you name it. All perfect for organizing those big plans. When you sign up for their newsletter they will give you 10% off of your order. People that have used the Erin Condren Life Planner have seen massive jumps in their productivity levels, myself included.
A Domain Registrar and Host
If you are starting an online business, blog, or website you need a domain registrar and host that is easy to use, reliable and has great customer service- Namecheap delivers on all of these items. I use Namecheap on this site and on all of my other websites. I also recommend Namecheap to all of my clients who are starting new sites or looking to move hosting from an existing site. Namecheap has something for every budget, offers security at a great price (a must if you are selling anything), and a great WP app to get you started in minutes with your self-hosted site in WordPress. Namecheap’s new business hub has everything you need for your online business all in one place.
Free Quality Stock Photos
Writing a blog post? You need stock photos. Posting on Social media? You need stock photos. Creating images for Pinterest? You guessed it, you need stock photos. You get the point. If you own a blog or a website, you need a good resource for high-quality stock photos. I love 123rf for their flexible plans that will fit every budget.
Tools To Share Your Content and Grow Your Business
When it comes to blog traffic, Pinterest always wins this game. If you have a blog, you need to be optimizing Pinterest for its unmatched ability to drive insane amounts of traffic to your blog. How? Consistently posting and using tribes to share your content are two of the biggest ways to massively increase your blog traffic and grow your business. Tailwind lets you schedule your Pinterest posts to specific boards, find tribes that will share your content to niche audiences, and lets you add content that will auto-post on repeat along with posts you schedule. This is a truly invaluable tool for my business and for any entrepreneur’s business. Oh, and did I mention their free plan is amazing? Yup. It totally is.
A Way To Manage All That Paperwork
If you are an entrepreneur or a solopreneur you probably know that paperwork can pile up and become a complete disaster to navigate really quickly. Having a great bookkeeping tool is an absolute must. Enter Freshbooks. FreshBooks is the #1 cloud accounting solution designed exclusively for small business owners who bill for their time. 10 million businesses use FreshBooks to make paperwork a breeze. Take advantage of Freshbooks free trial and see how much more time you have to do the things you love in your business when you have the very best accounting and billing tool on your side.
Monetization Tools
When you are ready to start working with affiliates my go-to for finding high-paying, quality merchants is Share a sale. Share a Sale has every merchant you can think of that will perfectly fit your brand and niche. You can also sort merchants by highest commish payouts. BONUS TIP! Once you sign up as an affiliate for Share a sale and If your business is a good fit for Grammarly (pretty much every business who writes anything online is!) you will automatically get $25 added to your commission account. Free money? Yes, please! Also, it’s a company that you can be proud to rep, see my thoughts on Grammarly above.
Another great option for an affiliate program that I love is Freshbooks. It’s a priceless tool for any business owner and they are running a great affiliate deal right now that will have you earning money fast.
Killer Content
We’ve all heard that content is king. There is nothing that will grow your business faster than consistently posting high-quality content that your readers are searching for. Creating content is one of the biggest things that entrepreneurs and bloggers say they need help with. Why? Because creating quality content takes up a big chunk of time. If you want great content that is keyword considerate, is relevant to your readers and will help you engage with and grow your business you have a few options.
One, you can write it yourself. While this is a fine option, it can consume a lot of your workday and leave little time for creating products or promotion. Two, you can hire a content writer. Three, you can use done-for-you content, commonly known as PLR. This is by far the most time-friendly, money-saving way to consistently add fresh content to your website. Want to know more bout using PLR? Check out our 1o ways you can instantly start using PLR to grow your business. While you are here, head to our PLR Done-For-You content shop and see what we are currently offering! We are adding new PLR content each week so be sure to sign up below so you can be notified when we add new PLR packs and offer coupons.
