Recommended Online Marketing Resources

Here, I try to maintain a list of all the tools, books, and resources that make my life as an aspiring online marketer much easier. The page is still in (very, very heavy) development, and I am working hard to add at least one new resource per day, so be sure to check back often!

Sucuri — Website malware monitoring and removal service. The company provides a free scanner, which checks your website for a variety of attacks and harmful modifications (e.g. malicious javascript and iframes, suspicious redirects, whether your website is blacklisted with Google, etc.) If you sign up for the paid service, Sucuri’s awesome security team will run your website through their premium scanner every 6 hours, followed by a very thorough cleaning if necessary.

When the TimThumb security vulnerability became public, many of my WordPress-based websites were overrun with massive, widespread Javascript infections (followed by prompt Google blacklisting). I needed most of the sites to be operational within 24 hours, so I took the bullet and signed up for Sucuri’s paid monitoring solution. In less than 2 hours, all of my websites were clean and good to go. I was initially a little skeptical, but these guys are the real deal, and they certainly know what they’re doing.

Instantestore — A robust, 3rd party e-commerce platform. It’s the engine behind my parents’ bagel e-store (which I maintain), as well as my own side project, Molded with Love (still under development). It has all of the features you’d expect in a full-fledged, externally-hosted platform (e.g. automatic notifications, integration with a variety of payment gateways, shipping services, and Google Analytics, gift certificate options, etc.) Here’s why instantestore is my shopping cart system of choice:

• Great support — I’ve always received a helpful response in 24 hours or less, and the reps really go out of their way to make sure your problem gets resolved. One time, I sent them a list of templates changes that I wanted to implement (mostly CSS formatting), only to wake up the next morning with everything already finished (and at no extra cost!).
• Customization — You can customize basically any element of your store, whether it’s the product page URL, template color schemes, product layout, etc. Almost nothing is off-limits. Moreover, if you have a custom request (e.g. I wanted all products where I didn’t charge for shipping to automatically include the text “Free Shipping”), they can usually implement it for little extra cost (my customization was a one-time fee of $50).
• Store Templates — You have a HUGE selection of templates to choose from, and they’re always adding more. If you have the cash, you can also request a completely custom template that the team will design from scratch. So far, I’ve only used existing templates, but it’s good to have the option in case your traffic picks up and you’re looking for custom branding.
• SEO friendly — The platform automatically generates an XML sitemap along with a robots.txt file. You also have the option of customizing your page titles and meta description tags, the URL of every page, page headers, etc. What’s more, the software has a built-in SEO wizard that evaluates whether your store is fully optimized based on your selected keywords. To be honest, I’ve never used the wizard, but it’s a welcome addition for folks with limited SEO knowledge.

Just Host — my preferred web hosting service. It’s relatively inexpensive (currently running a deal for $3.75 per month), and their tech support staff is phenomenal. When I installed Backup Buddy and started receiving error messages about missing PHP modules (i.e. something that I have no control over), the admins went in and made the necessary adjustments on the server where my website was hosted. In the year and a half that I’ve been using their services, I’ve never really had any major problems.

Full Disclosure: Please note that some of the links are affiliate links and I will earn a commission if you purchase through those links (at no extra cost to you). These are all things that I have experience with that I am recommending because they are helpful and are companies that I trust, not because of the commissions that I may earn from you using these products. Please do not spend money unless you feel it’s for something you really need and will help you reach your goals. [Credit: Pat Flynn]

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