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Genie Retainer ServicesThe 'Genie Advantage Resources' List
This "Rolodex" of Tools, Software, Service Providers and More Is A True ASSET. I Update It Periodically. There Are Certain Tools and Service Providers That I Treat A Bit Hush-Hush and Reserve Only For Clients...
Basics / EssentialsDomain Names - I buy all of my domain names from this one site.Hosting - Your pages and files have to be hosted somewhere. I've hosted with 4 or 5 companies over the years. THIS is the one I've stayed with for the past 4 years and recommend to clients. They are one of the top leading hosting providers in the world, offer 24/7 customer support and some of the best pricing. PayPal.com - Even if PayPal doesn't become your primary merchant account, it just makes sense to setup a Business Verified PayPal account immediately so that it's on hand as a back-up (especially since some customers will certainly ask to pay you via PayPal). And even if you're only marketing online as an affiliate, most merchants pay you quicker (and some even require) PayPal. OR... even if you're not selling anything online, you'll find that paying freelancers and buying various services will require a PayPal account. Spend the 10 minutes and get a free Business Verified PayPal account live right now. ***HOT*** Product Delivery / CRM / Affiliate Tracking / E-Commerce Platforms - One thing is for certain... you need and want an affiliate program. I'd argue that possibly the single greatest benefit of business online is the ability to leverage affiliates. It doesn't matter what your product or even business model is. An affiliate program will very likely multiply your sales. I'd run one even on a blog or forum and would DEFINITELY have one for all products and services. Of all the systems that I'm aware of (Infusionsoft, 1ShoppingCart, etc) none even compare to THIS one. It's the service that many of the biggest players in internet marketing are also quickly changing over to ... and it's what my sites have switched over to (with one exception that I'll mention below). It's by far the most accurate affiliate tracking with the newest technology "bells and whistles" built-in. THIS service also handles product delivery, customer management and so much more. Without a doubt, for direct response marketer, particularly information marketers, this is an outright Winner. For other business models, it may or may not be what's needed. Research it. Contact their support/sales to find out if it's a match for your needs. ... CONTINUED ... - My sites exclusively run via the service I recommend above OR with RapidActionPro.com's script. I have an affiliate program for a smaller project at MoneyNowGenie.com catering to the "internet marketer", "business opportunity", "make money online" audiences. That affiliate program pays INSTANT commissions. Meaning as soon as an affiliate qualifies for a commission, it is paid immediately to their PayPal account. THAT function is only possible because of RapidActionPro.com. I was part of the beta-testing team when this very smart technology launched several years ago (you'll find my testimonial/endorsement on their webpage). Since then, it has had a lot of very slick 3rd-party add-ons and continued upgrades. It's an impressive self-hosted software (ie: pay once) and for single-sale (ie: no shopping cart, no multiple quantities buying), it may be a great way to get started. And it DOES give you the option of having your affiliates enjoy instant commissions (THAT is a powerful affiliate recruiting incentive). Email List Management / Autoresponder - For 1001 reasons, you should avoid self-hosted solutions. Which leaves you with 3rd party service providers only. There are numerous quality providers and all the "top players" are pretty much exactly the same price range. So it's more or less a match of features and personal preferences. I've used Email Aces, Imnicamail and 1ShoppingCart's emailing list in the past ... none of which I'd recommend. For 5 years, I've kept our leads/clients lists with these guys. They provide innovative features for email marketing which I've yet to find any of the other major providers. Other quality choices include iContact.com and MailChimp.com. Skype.com - Don't even think twice. If you are NOT yet using Skype, you're missing out. As a business owner, this "phone" and "instant messenger" tool should be installed and running anytime you're in the office. FREE. I can attribute AT LEAST $100,000 in revenue in my business because of this communication tool. Toll-Free # / Virtual Phone System - There is NO logical reason not to have a toll-free if you're doing business internationally. Not to mention the other benefits a small business can enjoy with a virtual phone system. For 5+ years, I've exclusively used OneBox.com. Gmail / Google Account - A Gmail account is possibly the best free email service available. You should avoid using Hotmail, AOL and Yahoo (especially Yahoo). Each is notorious for their over-sensitive and inaccurate email spam filters. From over 10,000+ online sales, I can tell you that on our end... nearly EVERY support ticket from a customer asking about why they didn't get an invoice or their download link or a reply to a support ticket or their affiliate details etc comes from a Yahoo user. The next biggest offenders are pretty well Hotmail, AOL and select other ISPs. Gmail's spam-filter system is quite accurate. At some point in your online promotions, it might make sense to have a Gmail account (in my case, I forward Gmail to my POP3 account and view all my gmail via Outlook). Regardless of whether you ever use a free Gmail account (which I'm SURE you will), you will CERTAINLY want a Google Account. This takes care of both. TIP: At bare minimum, a Gmail address should be setup that you can then use to subscribe to all of your competitors' email lists... regardless of your industry, if you find a competitor has an email list, you should get your special "spying" Gmail address subscribed. Then log in from time to time and get a feel for what kind of promotions they are mailing out. Social Network Accounts (FREE): These days it just makes sense for nearly every B2C business to have an account on at least 1 or more of the social networks... whether you're an image consultant, realtor, dentist, information marketer, speaker or hair salon... you should setup (and learn the basics of) an account on: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn. NOTE: Links to my own Facebook and Twitter accounts are at the bottom of this page. Marketing+Sales, Business Dev Tools and SoftwareTriggered and Interactive Sales***HOT*** Website Jukebox - This is an AWESOME tool. It's a true "Genie Advantage". If you've sold or ever tried to sell anything online, if you've used audio or video in your offers... actually, just watch the demo here instead of having me try to explain the benefits. You'll SEE it immediately, I'm sure. Let me tell you this though: in this resources list, there are 2 "advantages" I've decided not to give to you here. My clients, as needed, get access to those (and anything else I do)... but I had to reserve those 2 "advantages" for my own uses. (Sorry). THIS was going to be a 3rd item. As you'll see, this gives you the ability to easily create triggered events for very efficient sales message delivery. Transparent Player - Similar technology (from the same publisher) as the website jukebox. This is worth having in your arsenal for sales pages, squeeze pages, training, content delivery and more. But you may not need it until your business matures a bit and you might not use it too often if you have the website jukebox. Video: Recording, Editting, Streaming... Screen Recording - For 3 to 4+ years, I've used Camtasia Studio. A bit of an investment but was well worth it (and still is well worth it). It allows for easy screen capture so you can create tutorials for your staff, freelancers etc or explain concepts to partners or create training for your affiliates or, of course, content for your leads/buyers if that's relevant in your business. It's a very professional but easy to use suite. HOWEVER, since Jing was introduced... I rarely even start up Camtasia and I certainly don't recommend Camtasia anymore other than to advanced users. Jing is a FREE tool and *dead simple* to use. There is a Pro version that's dirt dirt cheap and I recommend you make the upgrade. Both tools are fantastic but I would say Jing Pro is a must! (BTW... both products are published by Techsmith). A few video related sites you should know about... UStream.tv is a great network to stream live trainings or meetings with (and so much more). Amazon's S3 storage allows for fast loading of videos that won't bog down your servers (since the videos are hosted on their servers). Lots of other benefits for heavy video users. Tube Mogul gives you mass distribution power complete with data/analytics about your videos. If you have trailers or commercials or content videos that you want to get onto the major video networks AND have data about it, Tube Mogul is a leading service to use. Audio: Recording, Conference Calls, Editting, Streaming... I've done a lot of teleseminars and interviews over the years. I've also created audio info-products and audio training programs. Here are some of the sites/software I've used (and recommend!)... My first interviews and teleseminars were via FreeConference.com. A lot has changed with them over the years but it's still a service worth knowing about. I then started exclusively using FreeConferenceCall.com for all of our conferences and phone interviews. It's a free service. Great service. Some of the later interviews and audio info-products were quickly done using an add-on for Skype. It's as simple as pressing record and let's you capture a Skype conversation (1-on-1 or a Skype conference call). On that note, I'll again recommend that you install and use Skype. Grab this add-on because there will be discussions (between partners, your virtual assistants, staff, etc) that you will want to record. Audio Acrobat - I developed the full 72-interview series "The Future of Information Marketing: Pros, Cons and Predictions" using Audio Acrobat. The simplicity of this service is fantastic and it's very low-cost. Instead of forcing my guests to dial into a conference line (as with the above), I simply call them up and dial into the AA system and start recording. The audio is immediately then available in streaming or MP3 format AND full player stats are provided (so I know how many times the audio was played). Very very simple to use service. Highly recommended. It's a GREAT way to record essential phone conversations and create interview-format info products (if that's your business model). Total Web Audio - No competition, this is the best choice for audio recording, editting and audio streaming (including triggered events). Audacity - FREE and should be downloaded/installed on your computer. It's actually a very professional audio recording and editting software. And it's entirely free. It lacks many "advanced sales" and conversion features that, Total Web Audio has but it's a very useful tool none the less. (NOTE: If you have Total Web Audio, you are unlikely to use Audacity as that will handle all your audio needs.) Sales Conversion, Profit Boosting technologies... Buy Now Wizard - This software (ver 1.0), associated graphics and concept was one of my products. It was created out of a need for my own offers (as I used and still use the fear of loss functions it provides). I've since sold all assets associated with Buy Now Wizard. At the time of me writing this, the new owner and their team are updating it and planning the v2.0 release. If you understand the importance of fear of loss (scarcity, urgency) in sales and the important of really grabbing a visitors attention then you'll love this tool. I attribute the success of dozens of our sales and promotions to functions such as the limited inventory counter, a count-down timer, social proof counter, a true one-time offer. Those are just some of the functions Buy Now Wizard provides. ExitSplashGenie.com - This tool is used extensively in our sales funnels. Just about every offer and promotion these days will have at least one exit splash action in the funnel. ExitSplashGenie.com gives you a second chance to capture a leaving visitor's attention... once they've clicked to browse away or to close the window (with your content or sales offer on it), you can use this smart technology to then present an alternative webpage for them. That page could contain a "before you go" type message, a survey, a video better explaning the product, a freebie incentive to try to capture them as a lead instead or whatever makes sense in your business. This is a very powerful tool when used right. Virtual Smart Agent - Similar to the ExitSplashGenie.com software, in the sense that it gives you a chance to re-capture an exitting visitor. However, in this case a "live chat customer support" type window pops up and can present a coupon, discount, alternative special offer etc to your visitor. Check out both tools and see how they function. Be aware of their differences and you'll be better able to figure out which you can start using in your funnels. Keep in mind that if you have a lead capture or sales site (regardless of your product or industry)... the majority of your visitors will LEAVE without filling in your lead capture form or without buying your product. What are you doing right now to try to re-capture at least some of those exiting visitors? In my test, as much as 22% of our opt-in leads came an exit capture. Similarly, 1 in 5 of our sales on promotions came from an exit offer. Those leads and sales (approx 20% in both cases) would have been entirely lost. NOTE: Buy Now Wizard (see above) also has an exit-window technology ... yet another way to try to re-capture exitting visitors. Advanced DHTML Popup Pro - This is best and most complete software dealing specifically with DHTML layer "pop-ups". These include hover boxes, footer-ad bars, exit windows and more. I won't get into what DHTML is... instead browse their site and check out their various examples. ***HOT*** Objection Handler is ridiculously under priced. 10 bucks I think. It's an incredibly high value tool for the money. No doubt you should grab it. It allows you to pop-up an exit survey. BUT, you can also tie it to an incentive. Ie: Fill out this quick feedback survey and we'll give you X. (That X can be a discount, coupon, free consultation, content, sample, whatever). The software let's you quickly create a multiple choice + open field survey. Not overly simple to install but once installed, the software is quite simple to use. We've used this in lots of places and always pulled in very very valuable feedback... on salespages, we'd give the leaving prospect a related digital freebie if they told us why they weren't buying. On affiliate pages, we gave a free copy of the product if the leaving affiliate-prospect told us why they didn't enroll as an affiliate partner. On lead capture pages, we gave the opt-in incentive away as direct download if they told us why they didn't opt-in. There's an endless amount of uses. And the market research data we were handed each time was worth THOUSANDS (literally... seeing as we then implemented the changes and saw sales/lead conversions increase). So for $10 don't even think twice... definitely make sure you grab and *use* this software. Optin Quiz Generator is actually a very smart lead-capture strategy. But the software does a lot more. Skim their sales page for full details. This strategy is a great way to create an interactive site and use the quiz results or "analysis" as the opt-in incentive while learning a lot about your market base. An opt-in quiz concept could be used beautifully by health, wellness, skin care, personal development, image consultant, fitness instructors and any products/services where an "analysis" can be tied in. Click Tracking, Conversion Tracking There are countless solutions for tracking: self-hosted software + 3rd party services. I'll mention a couple that I've used (for my own business or with clients). (1) VisiOlo ... a relative "new-comer" with a lot of promising features. Full sales funnel conversion tracking. Ideal for direct response marketers and single-sale (vs. ecommerce site) sales funnels. $1 trial account let's you play around and explore for yourself. (2) Google Analytics. You're likely familiar with Google's tracking program. The pros? It's a very professional system for FREE. The cons? Google sees all of your conversion and ROI data. If you're also a Google Adwords advertiser (or plan to be), that's not really a healthy combo. For sites you plan to heavily market via Adwords, I'd recommend NOT using Analytics. Customer Support Management Regardless of your business model, you need a customer support desk system. There are plenty to choose from. If you receive a lot of inbound support queries then keep researching as both of my recommendations are for low usage. For companies that have a lot more customer support volume, there are much more robust systems, with all sorts of real-time knowledge-based, customer support person management, communitites and rating systems (so your customers can help each other, taking some of the work off your team) etc etc. However, if all you normally see is a couple of dozen support tickets per week (or less!!) then either of these 2 systems will work great. osTicket and MyContactStation. The first one is free, the other is practically free. Productivity, Staying Organized ToolsFastStone Screen Capture - I use my screen capture software A LOT. Everything from taking screen captures for my virtual assistants, for partners, data from membership accounts for JV partners, examples and content for my reports ... but mostly for my swap files. Anytime I see an effective landing page, a great function on a website, I screen capture it. Same with great formatted sales letters and more. This meant I needed more than just the very basic functions. I shopped around and in my opinion, FastStone is the best. It's also DIRT CHEAP. They have a free version, but you'll probably want to just go ahead and buy the full version. It does A LOT.RoboForm - Time saver!! It's out of control and DISGUSTING how many membership access codes and passwords and logins I have. My first few months (years ago), I used to write these on pieces of paper. I then "upgraded" to keeping them disorganized in a word .doc. I then thought I got smarter by having an "organized" spreadsheet based on categories. Ridiculous ideas and very time-costly. Now I use RoboForm. I never have to look up or even enter a password. There's a free version. If you're playing the "what was that password game"... STOP IT! You're wasting time pointlessly. Get at least the free version and see if you're ever willing to go back to that archaic world of remembering/entering passwords manually. ActiveCollab - You won't need this until your business matures. But once you have a growing team of virtual assistants or various freelancers, sub-contractors, employees, joint venture partners, advisors etc ... having a professional "virtual staff room" where you can delegate tasks and organize exactly what's needed to be done by who and by when, and keep track of the conversations without trying to wade through the last 3 months of back and forth emails and Skype messages etc... ActiveCollab is your best bet. Misc Websites and ToolsThis is a growing list of websites with utilities or tools or some "cool" factor that can benefit your business... BrowserShots.org - Multi browser testing. Test all of your webpages here OR (what I prefer) is make sure you have FireFox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Safari installed and instead test your pages there. However, BrowserShots.org will give you previews on older browser versions allowing you to test backwards compatibility of your pages. If you have a web-designer/webmaster ... they should be taking care of this for you.Google Alerts - Google Alerts is a simple but very nice little service that will notify you anytime a website/content is indexed by Google matching your chosen keyphrases. Example: I have Google Alerts setup for key-phrases such as "Rob Toth" allowing me to periodically skim through the new pages and discussions that are tied to my name. Similarly in a niche business, we monitor the business name. We also monitor a list of about 20 keywords relevant to that niche. Human Search Engine / Time Management - Okay not quite but... if I need an answer to a question but don't want to weed through pages of articles and am not interested in becoming an expert in that subject X ... I use Yahoo Answers, JustAnswer.com or a relevant discussion forum OR I post the question to my Facebook status and I tweet it to my Twitter followers. However, if you don't have a sizeable audience on facebook/twitter, then that last one won't work for you. The point is, instead of always sticking with Google and doing 15 - 30 minutes of "homework" to find an answer... instead do 2-3 minutes of work and post your answer in the places where the experts on that topic hang out. Let THEM point you in the right direction. Internet Marketing NewsWatch - If you're wanting to keep a pulse on the internet marketing industry, particularly the online information marketing industry, this is probably the best news portal for it. I've had IMNewsWatch.com as my homepage in all 4 browsers (I run FF, IE, Chrome and Safari) on all 3 of my computers since the first days of the site's launch. It may NOT be even remotely as useful to YOU if, let's say, you own a bricks-and-mortar pet shop and simply are looking to market online... but it's still a site worth knowing about to hear of new software, services in internet marketing and find great articles and resources re: selling/marketing online. |
