About This Toolbox

One needs a lot of resources for their marketing activities.

These are the tools and services I tested and happily recommend.

  • Most of the services are free of charge or do have a free version
    • Resources without a free option are marked with *
  • All resources are linked to their respective page
  • Please always check the license agreements prior to using any of them

If you feel that I can be of service, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Images

Regardless, if you blog, develop a website or do marketing:

You will always need images

Background Images

 

License agreements

Please read the license agreements before using any of these images. They may not be free for all purposes.

 

Audio &Video

Platforms marked with * do not offer free resources.

Audio &Video

 

License agreements

Wikimedia is the media library of Wikipedia.

Still, many of the media have a copy right or are only to be used under certain conditions.

 

 

Fonts

Fonts are a part of your corporate design. Choose them carefully.

Since some time ago font mix has been very trendy. If you use it, make sure it does not dilute your branding.

Fonts to download

 

Fonts for Your Website

Please check here

 

 

Creative Software

You need creative software.

There are many more on the market but I just tested these ones

 

 

More Information

I do not like Adobe's license policy.

Nevertheless, on my mind it is the Rolls Royce in the league of creaative software.

 

GIMP is free and available for Apple and for Windows.

 

The Snipping Tool is integrated in Windows and comes in handy to clip images for notes or ideas.

 

Learning &Inspiration

Charge Your Batteries

Building a business takes a lot of energy and additional knowledge.

 

 

 

Organisation

Find your Resources. Quickly.

  • Image Database
    • One way to find your images quickly is building an image database
    • I upload my images on a Wordpress database that resides on a subdomain
    • In this case you can organise the images with this plugin

     

  • CRM easy
    • This online solution lets you organise all your contacts and addresses and allows you to categorize them
    • Moreover, it allows you to automise newsletters (directly from your RSS feed if you want so) and to run marketing campaings
    • You can test it free of charge

 

 

Website Development

Fonts

  • Google Fonts
    • Google Fonts can be embedded in any website. Like this you make sure your website looks the same on each device.
    • The choice is really appealing; from the aspect of quality and quantity. The usage of Google fonts does not require a Google account and the service is free of charge.

     

  • Lorem Ipsum
    • This tool lets you generate texts so you can see what the font you chose looks like in longer text
    • The service is free of charge

 

Tools &Services

 

  • WorldService*
    • WorldService is a Swiss web agency. They specialise in CMS, WebShop and database solutions
  • E-mail protection
    • With this service you can encrypt your e-mail addresses which prevents bot from spamming you
    •  

  • Favicon Generator
    • The small logo on the browser (e.g. the multi-coloured G for Google) is called Favicon. This tool allows you to generate it for free

     

  • Google Analytics
    • This service requires a Google account.
    • It allows you to see which pages people look at, for how long and where your visitors come from

     

  • RGB To
    • On this platforms you can convert colour codes (e.g. from CMYK to RGB) without the help of a software

 

 

Wordpress

Wordpress

WordPress is the most powerful blogging software. Moreover, the company claims to empower 1/3 of all websites world-wide.

I have been using it for years and am still very happy with it.

Themes

The templates are called themes. There are thousands of them. You can use filters to find the features you are looking for

Performance

Wordpress has many advantages. Speed is not one of them.

Maybe your hosting company offers a caching function. If so, use theirs.

If not the following two plugins served me well.

 

 

Security

 

  • Akismet
    • No blog without Akismet. It prevents you from comments placed by bots that have nothing to do with the content of your blog but are likely to kill your reputation because it will place backlinks you do not want.

     

  • Search Exclude.
    • Search Exclude is a plugin that lets you hide certain posts or pages so they will not appear in search results.

     

  • Test Environment
    • Wordpress has many updates. If you do not want to test on your live system create a test environment.
    • Create a subdomain and install WordPress again.

 

Audience Management

  • Comment Reply
    • This will allow you and your visitors to follow up the comment and expand the conversation. If you host directly with Wordpress you do not need this plugin.
  • Lightbox PopUp
    • Let's say you have a new book or a newsletter that you want people to notice. A lightbox can be configured to pop up when the website opens.
    • There is also a pro version. It is inexpensive and the support of xyzscripts.com is impeccable.
    •  

  • Simple Author Box
    • Maybe you have different authors or guest writers. This plugin lets you create a profile for each writer and has many configurable options.

 

  • User Avatar
    • Not everyone who leaves a comment on your blog has a profile on Gravatar so their avatar will appear automatically. You can configure a guest avatar for these visitors.

 

Organisation

 

Marketing

Tools

  • E-Card Tool *
    • E-Cards «made to measure» with your image and your logo
    • E-Cards will draw more visitors on your website and the tool is seemlessly implemented. They also give your marketing something extra
    • Althought the website is in German the tool can be configured in almost any language
  • Mailchimp *
    • Mailchimp is probably the best known platform to design, schedule and send your newsletters
    • It offers a large amount of possibilities of when and how to send information
    • Unlike CRM easy it is NOT a crm platform

Services

  • Backlinks
    • Backlinks can enhance your Google ranking. I created a small e-book with some blog directories.
  • Fiverr*
    • If you need a short video to explain something you will find freelancers on Fiverr. Although not everybody is Einstein, there are some really good designers.
  • Professional Texts*
    • Teahon TCDM does professional copy writing. You'll get professional texts in English.
    • They also help you with social media