These are our favorite tools for building and growing a business that we use and love. Check back often for updates!

Please note: some of the links on this page may earn affiliate income for PostingTips.com. You can read our full disclosure here.

To build your business, you’ll want to build up the following resources:

• A strong sales pitch, including
  • value statement
  • trust elements
  • a tested product or service that customers love
• A strong website
  • to be the base of your brand
• An active email list
  • so you can turn one-time buyers into lifetime buyers

We offer a lot advice on our blog about how to make it all work together; here are the tools you’ll need to establish these resources.

Tools to Help You Sell

Craigslist for Small Business

Not only are these great materials to quickly, efficiently, and profitably selling on Craigslist, they are great primers for selling any products anywhere on line. The lessons translate well. And with a 100% money back guarantee, why not try out the material to see if it works for you?

Logo Design

My sales went up dramatically when I added custom made logos to my business and websites. I wish I did it earlier! I guess I was worried that I’d spend too much money to get something I did not like. Fortunately, Fiverr has a bunch of professionals waiting to make you a great logo for $5! Try them out, I did and I love it.

Websites

There is a lot of thought and expertise that go into making a successful and profitable website. This is a list of tools that I have tried out and used

Dream Host Web Hosting

Nothing kills a website faster than a crappy host. I’ve tried dozens. Learn from my painful mistakes and try one of these that made the cut and just use DreamHost. Every new website I make is going on DreamHost. I’ll likely transfer the others there soon, too.

Why? Easy, affordable prices but with phenomenal customer service. Add in the 1-click automatic WordPress installation and my life just became so much easier.Check out my DreamHost Web Host Review

PS. If you’re interested, here are some of the things that can go wrong with web hosting. If you’re interested in having NONE of those issues, go with DreamHost.

WordPress Platform

Now that you have a host, you have to make a website. And the 100% free, easy-to-use WordPress system is used by millions of people. I use it for every website I own or make for others. There is nothing you can’t do with this system. It is infinitely customizable and had never ever let me down. There is an army of highly engaged people willing to help you for free. Highly recommended. I have written extensive free WordPress tutorials covering everything from why you should use WordPress, to what other business owners have to say about it to the particulars of installing it (one click), maintaining it, and using it.

Thesis WordPress Theme

If WordPress is the engine that your website runs on, a Theme is the sexy, shiny, captivating exterior. You just download and go. While 1000s of free themes are available in WordPress, I use the Thesis Theme on my websites because of its advanced capabilities like – world-class SEO, easy customization, the ability to build whatever kind of webpages I want with NO CODE, it’s incredibly fast, and there is a wonderful community that’s there to help me out – not to mention the hundreds of articles & videos out there. If you want to easily build a 100% customized website there really is no other choice.

Email Mailing List Tools

Email lists are a great tool for letting your favorite customers know about exciting new developments in your business.

Aweber Newsletter & Auto-responder

People ask why I pay for an email service. They are correct in wondering, I do know a number of other free tools out there. And as a developer I could literally build my own autoresponder. But for one, why would I want to spend my time doing that when it wouldn’t be as nice as what Aweber has. Secondly, there is that whole legality issue. Check my Aweber Newsletter Review for an in-depth discussion.

Gravity Forms Custom Form Development

Gravity Forms Review Websites don’t come any easier than WordPress. And awesome, custom Contact forms don’t get any easier on WordPress than Gravity Forms. You can easily build robust applications for $40 in a manner of minutes that would typically take a contractor weeks and thousands of dollars in web development costs to do. Sounds like a win to me!

Business Blog Training

I know that a lot of the readers here don’t want to click through a bunch of links to learn how to do something. You’d prefer to have a single resource at your finger tips. If that sounds like you, consider Problogger’s eBook written especially for business owners like you. Here’s my review.

SEO Training

Try checking out Aaron Wall’s training courses over at SEOBook. Inside their training program you’ll find hundreds of articles, advanced SEO tools, training videos, downloadable strategy guides, and other resources packed with practical tips to help you market your website, build viral buzz, capture top search engine rankings, improve website monetization, and increase conversion rates.