I LOVE technology tools. MY online business is all about helping women build a more successful online business – making more money, while having more time and location freedom!
In order to do my job, I have a few technology tools that I use to manage my business, my staff, and my life.
- Canva For Work – Canva has a free version as well that many people may find perfectly adequate, but I now use Canva to do so many things in my business. I use Canva to build graphics, design sales images, and design and create all my course worksheets! I save myself thousands of dollars in graphic design each month with Canva For Work. It allows me to create PNG (transparent background) images. I have been able to upload my own branded fonts and have a designated “brand kit” in Canva that allows me to just go in and pick my personalized fonts, colors, and images. In addition, with Canva For Work, you can just click “resize” and it will allow you to change the size of your images. If you’re just getting started – the free version may be a fabulous place to start. As your business grows, you can expand. With the free version, you can’t personalize fonts, upload brand colors, or resize images, but it is a great place to start if you’re watching your budget!
- Active Campaign/ConvertKit – After five years, I am leaving Infusionsoft. I looked at both Convertkit and Active Campaign. Both have TREMENDOUS capabilities and each may be a great fit for an online business. If you are building a business that is meant basically to sell online products through automations – without anything from you, Convertkit is GREAT at that. It has tremendous if they buy, or if they open this email type features to walk a prospective client through an automated sales funnel. Convertkit is simpler than most automated programs – and is easy to implement. ActiveCampaign has more substantial tagging, more integrations, and is often a better fit if there is going to be a sales process that requires any human interaction from you or your team! After running them side by side for about a month, I ended up going with Active Campaign! So far, I LOVE it. It integrates with AccessAlly – my new membership site. It is easier to use than Infusionsoft, and does most of the same things. If you’ve been looking to uplevel your email marketing game – I’d strongly recommend both Converkit and ActiveCamapaign! They are both often cheaper than the most inexpensive versions of MailChimp – and do so much more!
3. Samcart – Samcart is a NEW technology tool in my business. As I grow, I am looking for more solutions that will increase my conversions, increase sales, and simplify my life and business. Samcart has been around for a few years, but has really made a concerted effort to expand its services in 2016. Samcart is an order form/sales system that allows you to set up monthly membership payments, create simple, high converting sales pages, and a system to follow up on sales. They offer systems to reach out to customers whose credit cards were declined. They offer payment processing through both Stripe and Paypal – giving your customers the ability to choose how they pay you.
4. AccessAlly – For years I used Customer Hub (the membership platform with Infusionsoft). I have been unhappy with Customer Hub for an extended period of time. It is clunky, and it allows VERY little customization. In addition, Infusionsoft has not made many upgrades to the system in the three to four years I have been on it. I wanted a program that would better allow me to drip content, more design alternatives, and to host my own content. The design is fabulous and you have tons of options!
5. Leadpages is one of the technology tools I log into time and time again – each and every day! We use Leadpages for my opt in designs, my sales pages, my webinar pages, almost everything!! It is quick, simple, and easy to use! About a year ago, Leadpages upgraded to a drag and drop builder. Rather than being locked into just templates, you are finally able to customize colors, design, and function – in the best possible way! Leadpages has the ability to collect opt ins through text messaging (a great option if you’re using public speaking to build your business)!
6. Screenflow – I don’t think that there is a week that goes by where I’m talking to someone about their online business, and I don’t recommend Screenflow! Screenflow is a video recording and editing software. I use it to record me talking to the camera. I use it to record me teaching with a slide deck. It also allows you to record BOTH at the same time. So you can see my computer screen and me teaching – all at the same time! It is one of the simplest editing softwares and you can do full video production with this software that is only $99 (NOT $99/mo – just $99). I LOVE Screenflow!
Technology tools are a huge component of building or running an online business. You can’t really scale any business, never the less an online business without really good systems! These technology tools will help you build and scale your online business with ease!