Resources

People often ask me about my favorite resources and online tools for websites, printing, and productivity so I’ve compiled the list below. I use ALL these products myself, and a few of them (marked with asterisks) are affiliate links.

Company Description Cost
Hosting & web set-up
Green Geeks* This is the company I use to host my websites. Their customer service is excellent, their pricing is competitive, and one domain is included in the hosting cost … plus most of their servers are powered by solar panels. $4-7/mo
WordPress It’s free to install, great for SEO, incredibly versatile and easy for my clients to learn. FREE
Genesis framework* I use the Genesis framework for all my own sites, as well as all my clients’ sites. It’s fast, mobile-responsive, easy to learn, and has lots of customizable features. $59+
WordPress Plugins * almost all of these are included for my clients’ websites
Back-up buddy Backs up your website as often as you like. Never lose a post! $79+
SeedProd Coming Soon Create beautiful coming soon pages to collect e-mail addresses and share social media while your site is being built $29+
Popup Ally* An easy way to capture e-mail addresses without bugging people every time they visit your website Free+
Testimonials Widget Your customers have great things to say about you. Why not share their feedback with the world? Free
MailChimp integrated with MailChimp for WP MailChimp is easy to learn and free for most businesses, and the integration into websites is seamless Free+
Image selection
Shutterstock My go-to site for stock images. It has everything you could possibly need (at a price) $29+
Death to Stock Photo Gorgeous, royalty-free images delivered to your inbox Free
Design Seeds Looking for a color palette for your brand, your website, or even your living room? Get inspired here! Free
Communications
Basecamp I use Basecamp to keep all my client communication organized. It’s wonderful because I can check up on clients on my phone and I get e-mail notifications when I need them. $20/mo+
Dropbox Easily share files between users. This is especially useful for really large file sharing (for example, I send full book files to publishers through Dropbox). Free+
Google Drive Use Google docs & sheets to collaborate with team members and clients on text documents and spreadsheets. Use Google forms to collect information as a survey or contat form. Free+
Productivity
Evernote A great way to write blog posts or keep lists that are accessible from my phone AND computer Free
Pocket The solution for having 30 tabs open all at once (which I am prone to doing) … save the link in Pocket and come back later to read that article. Free
Quicktime I screencast all my client tutorial videos on Quicktime. It’s much easier for me to show clients how to complete tasks than to try to write up lengthy tutorials! Free (with Mac)
Printing
UPrinting Great quality, competitive pricing, huge product selection.
Moo The gold standard for gorgeous business cards.
Scheduling & Time Management
Google Calendar I’ve been organizing my life with Google Calendar for over a decade and it has yet to disappoint. I’m not kidding when I say I have about 10 overlapping calendars to keep myself organize! Free
Schedule Once Don’t you get tired of e-mailing back and forth to find a good time to chat with your customers? This provides them your availability and integrates seamlessly into your calendar. $5/mo+
Doodle Need to find a time for multiple people to get together? I use this for business and personal use. (My friends think I’m crazy for scheduling dinners this way, but it works!) Free

Do you have a favorite tool I should check out? Contact me to tell me about it!