Ultimate Resource Guide

When I first started online back in October of 2008 I was really confused and didn’t know where to start. In fact, it took me months of searching to find not even half of the resources and tools listed below! The last thing I want is for you to experience the same thing as me which is why I created the Ultimate Resource Guide. Listed below are over 100 of the most useful tools, websites, applications and products that you can use right now to become more successful as an internet marketer. Here’s the breakdown:

• Webhosting
• Domain Registrars
• Email Services
• Payment Processors
• Market Research Tools
• Product Creation Tools
• Website Tools
• Graphics Tools
• Social Media Tools
• Productivity and Management Tools
• Testing, Tracking & Analysis Tools
• Outsourcing Resources
• Royalty Free Content
• Blogging Resources

Webhosting

HostGator – HostGator is my #1 choice for online web hosting. I’ve been hosting all of my sites through them for almost a year now and I haven’t had a single problem. Almost all internet marketers will recommend HostGator because of their incredible service and awesome prices. $7.95 per month will get you everything you’ll ever need to host unlimited domains including Wordpress blogs. It’s the perfect solution for doing business online. Sign up today and get your first month for only ONE CENT! Just use the coupon code: wordpress

Domain Registrars

Namecheap – Namecheap is the only company I go through to register my domain names. Their prices are usually a dollar or two below other Domain Registrars and their customer service is to die for. The process of buying a domain name is quick and painless and you can even load your account up with credits so you don’t need to use your credit card every time you want to purchase a domain name. Definitely my #1 choice for purchasing domain names.

Email Services

Aweber – The only autoresponder I’ll ever recommend to any Internet Marketer. Why? I fell in love with their reliability, customer service, ease of use and actual appreciation for their customers. Their prices are very reasonably priced, in fact, for what you get you should be paying triple! Aweber is FANTASTIC email solution and the back-bone to my business. I got started for only $1, why should you be any different? Get Aweber today.

Payment Processors

Paypal – Paypal is the most common form of sending and receiving payments on the internet. You can sign up for a free account in minutes and start accepting almost all forms of currencies immediately. Paypal charges vary depending on the account you have but are quite low (2.5%) compared to other services. Check out the fees they charge here.
2Checkout (2Co) – 2Checkout is what’s called a merchant account provider and is a definite must have if your business is doing more than a thousand or two per month. It’s reliability and reputation are second to none. Did you know that your sales could increase by up to 50% just by offering a second payment option like 2Co?
Clickbank – The most popular choice as a payment processor for internet marketers that also doubles as an affiliate network. Fees are a bit higher than other services (%7)  but definitely worth it considering you get a full featured affiliate network along with it.

Market Research Tools

Amazon Book Store – One of my favorite places to look for ideas for my upcoming products and services. Checking to see what kind of books are selling in what niches can give you an almost unfair advantage over your competition. It’s also a great place to introduce yourself into a new niche and get familiar with the types of information around.
Amazon Magazine Store – A fantastic place to look for hidden niches overlooked by the gurus. There are many niches that are like diamonds in the rough, just waiting for you to discover using the Amazon Magazine Store. Look for categories with 5 to 10 magazines and a strong readership.
For Dummies Books – Dummies.com has spent millions of dollars and months or even years researching and developing books to guarantee their success. Chances are, if they’ve published a book on it it’s a good niche to go after.
Google’s Keyword Suggestion Tool – This is a fantastic tool to steal keywords from your competition and target with SEO or PPC. Just enter your competitor’s website in the box and search. You’ll get a list of all the keywords they are targeting and what you’ll have to pay to outbid them if you’re using PPC.
Google Insights – Take a deeper look into your niche and find out what it’s all about. Using this tool you can get insider information on the interest in the niche and even geographical information.
Google Trends – See a niche’s history with stories to go along with the up’s and down’s of it’s history. You can also get information on what cities search for your niche the most so you can target them in geographical PPC campaigns.
Google Adwords Keyword Tool – Excellent for determining the Global Monthly Search Volume for your niche. Can tell you if a certain niche has enough searches per month to be worth your time or not.
Wordtracker’s Keyword Suggestion Tool - Use this tool to generate extra keywords you may want to consider when making you list of keywords to target. Displays results by daily search volume, not monthly.
Wordtracker’s Gtrends Keyword Tool – Tracks the daily search volume for certain keywords and also gives insight on the trends of the niche, the competition rate and the search volume.
SEO Book’s Keyword Suggestion Tool – Very similar to the other tools listed. Gives you search volume information and additional keywords to consider.
SpyFu - A definite must for any internet marketer. Spy on your competition and find out what’s working for them so you can steal it. Free and paid versions available.
Niche a Day - Want a hot niche delivered to your inbox daily? Of course you do! Niche a Day is exactly that and comes with the top keywords to target for each niche.

Product Creation Tools

Camtasia – Camtasia is the most professional screen recording program out there (that I know of). I have it and use it to record how to do things on the computer, going over Keynote presentations or anything like that. It’s the creme de la creme of screen recording applications but if if you don’t want all the technical features or the price that comes along with it check out Jing (below).
Jing – Jing is TechSmith’s latest creation which is like a baby version of Camtasia. Don’t get me wrong though, it’s a work of art and deserves a silver platter on your hard drive. There’s also a Pro version which is just as good as Camtasia but not nearly as expensive!
Insignia 720p camcorder – Basically the best HD camcorder you can get for the price. It’s small, light and extra portable. It shoots in 720p High Definition and boy does it look absolutely wonderful. Check out some test footage here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SmcjdhGGxE
Flip Mino HD – The more popular choice that is also super HD and is super easy to carry in a small bag or purse.
Open Office – The alternative to Microsoft Office which in my opinion is just as good. Although I don’t use it to compose it has an excellent .pdf writer that has a ton of great features. Ideal for your next ebook!
Free PDF Convert – The ONLY tool I need that converts my Word documents into .pdf files. Just upload your file, enter you email address and within 5 mins your .pdf file is emailed to you. I love it!
Audacity - A must have for recording and editing audio files. Absolutely ideal for editing your next audio product.

Website Tools

Kompozer – A great application developed by the creators of Mozilla Firefox which allows you to edit and create HTML files. In non-techie terms: This program creates websites!
Adobe Dreamweaver – A much more professional HTML editor developed by Adobe. Not necessary but it definitely has its perks.
Filezilla - If you have a sales page or squeeze page to upload to the internet Filezilla is the client for you. Connect to your server via FTP and get those files live ASAP!

Graphics Tools

Copy and Paste Graphics 2 - A absolutely wonderful package put together by my buddy Aurelius Tjin who is a graphics GURU. If you want to increase your conversions and appeal to your customers even more Copy and Paste Graphics 2 is perfect for you!
Icon Pot – Here you can find a bazillion icons to use around your computer or on your websites. Just make sure you’re not infringing any copyrights!
Header Ease – The title says it all. Instantly create unlimited header graphics for your websites without using Photoshop!
Web 2.0 Covers – I love this graphics pack. I used it for The Seven Day System, 13 Product Creation Mistakes and almost all my other products. Each graphic took me literally 5 minutes to create with only clicking a few buttons on my mouse and I didn’t even have to use Photoshop!
Gimp – Gimp is the free alternative to Photoshop like Open Office is the free alternative to Microsoft Office. It’s a really easy to use application compared to Photoshop and it’s free!
BannersMall - If you want banners created for your product, blog, whatever… Banners Mall is the place to go. They offer exceptional service and always deliver. Their work is amazing!

Social Media Tools

Facebook – The king of social networking. If you don’t already know about Facebook where have you been in the past 5 years?!
Twitter – The king of MICRO-blogging. A fantastic way to find new people in your market and connect with them.
Linked In - A more professional social networking tool that focuses more on the business side of things.
Mashable - Social Media and Networking news. If something’s going on in the social networking world, it’s on Mashable.

Productivity and Management Tools

Roboform – Literally the best way to store all your passwords online. If you have too many to remember do yourself a favour and get Roboform.
Shortkeys – Do you constantly copy and paste on your computer? Do you always lose text that you routinely use? With Shortkeys you’ll be able to copy and paste all that text with out losing it. It’s an organized way to copy and paste.
Gmail – Gmail kicks all other email prover’s butts. It’s faster, easier to use, more customizable and more productive than any others such as Hotmail or an email you got from your ISP.
Digital Point Forum – A pretty good Internet Marketing forum that has a marketplace where you can get professionally made graphics for as low as $5.
Warrior Forum – The #1 forum in the Internet Marketing industry. Hugely popular and contains endless amounts of high quality content which is all posted by users.
Dictionary.com – The best place to go when you don’t know how to spell a word in the product creation process. Don’t get caught with spelling mistakes in your products because that’s just silly.
Bubbl.us - A brilliant mind mapping tool that can turn your thoughts into images in no time! And the best part? It’s free!

Testing, Tracking & Analysis Tools

Google Website Optimizer - Google recognizes the importance of optimizing your site for maximum results which is why they created this tool you can install on any website you own.
Google Analytics – Google Analytics provides in-depth analysis of your website’s traffic, content and visitors. A must have.
WHOIS - Need some info about the owner of a website? Use WHOIS to see who owns it and how you can get a hold of them.

Outsourcing Resources

Elance, Freelancer or Guru – Whether it’s outsourcing articles, blog posts, ebooks or anything else your heart desires, these sites can get you someone to do it all for you. (No, they can’t make you breakfast though )
RentACoder or Scriptlance – The best service when you’re dealing with outsourcing website development, technical computer stuff or creating a program.
Need an Article- Who needs to write articles when you can just pay for them?
Verbal Ink – Get any audio file transcribed into a .pdf document. Perfect for that ebook you created using your microphone
48HrBooks – Need your book published in 48 hours? Of course you do!

Royalty Free Content

PicApp- My number one favorite place to find professional photos to use in my blog posts and products for FREE.Click here for my review of PicApp!

Flickr Creative Commons - My second favorite place to find professional photos to use in my blog posts and products for FREE. Click here for my review of Flickr Creative Commons!
Gutenberg - Want an ebook but don’t have time to write one? Try Gutenberg and get one for free!

Blogging Resources

Wordpress Blog – Don’t have a blog? Get started now with a blog on wordpress.com. It’s free and powered by the most powerful blogging service on the planet.
Wordpress Self Hosted – Kevin Pasco dot Com is a Wordpress Self Hosted Blog. It’s still powered by Wordpress but instead of it being on Wordpress’ servers it’s on mine (Hostgator).
ThemeWars – ThemeWars is my favorite place to go when looking for a theme for my blog. They put two themes head to head and the winner goes on sale. Cool!
Wordpress Plugins – Adding a plugin to your Wordpress blog is like adding an app to your iPhone, it’s a special add-on that makes the experience x1000 better.

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