After over 30 years of working in digital marketing, I’ve used many tools and services. Here are my picks for the most robust plugins, trusted service providers, and time-saving tools. Some are just recommendations, and others are affiliates. Affiliates are marked as such.
As a small business owner, when starting or growing, you need to make decisions on where to host your website, which tools you should use, and/or which plugins to install. I’m here to help! At the bottom are tips with links to blog posts to help you decide. As always, if you need help, feel free to book a call before you spend money or make a major decision for your business. Better safe than sorry later!
Here are my recommended vendors in the digital marketing tools and tech space.
Web Hosting
(Affiliate)
Basic Website: $100/m
Includes: migration, security, updates, minor updates, and full management.
WooCommerce/Membership: $300/m
Includes: migration, security, updates, minor updates, and full management.
(Affiliate)
Basic Hosting: $9.95/m
Does not include security, updates, or management. You would need my $75/m WordPress Maintenance Service.
Ecommerce
(Affiliate)
SEO & More!
(Affiliate)
I’ve used and tried many SEO plugins for WordPress, and I found All-In-One SEO to be the most robust. I inherited it when I started managing a client’s website, and was impressed by…
- How easy it is to use.
- How thorough the setup is.
- If you’re local, it validates everything.
- How easily the AI features create optimized meta descriptions, headlines, and SEO titles.
- AND MANY MORE COOL FEATURES!
As an SEO pro, I highly recommend AIOSEO!
Local SEO
(Affiliate Link)
Review Plugin
(Affiliate)
Time-Saving Tools & Plugins
(Non-Affiliates)
Tools
Social Media Management
(Affiliate)
Email Marketing & Automation
(Affiliate)
Google Workspace
(Affiliate)
- Professional Branding: Establish credibility with a custom business email address.
- Real-Time Collaboration: Teams can co-edit documents, spreadsheets, and presentations simultaneously, eliminating messy version control issues.
- Appointment Booking with Google Calendar: This is why I, Giselle, got Google Workspace. It’s saving me $200/m from the old platform I was using.
- Centralized Cloud Storage: Secure, scalable file management through Google Drive keeps your business data synced and accessible from any device.
- Seamless Communication: High-quality video conferencing with Google Meet and team messaging are integrated directly into the ecosystem for frictionless remote work.
- Enterprise-Grade Security: Protect sensitive company information with robust security and admin controls, two-factor authentication, and data loss prevention.
- Maximum Reliability: Keep operations running smoothly with a guaranteed uptime SLA and built-in offline & online capabilities.
- Built-in AI Assistant: Utilize Gemini AI to draft content quickly, summarize long email threads, and accelerate daily administrative tasks.
- Cost-Effective Scalability: Consolidate multiple expensive software platforms into one flexible subscription that easily scales as your team grows.
- A Growing List of AI Tools: These tools help you save time and money! My favorite tools are Gemini NotebookLM, Pomelli, and Flow.
How Much is YOUR TIME worth?
If you’re not sure what you need for your business or which tool to use for what, I can help you! I’ve been doing digital marketing for over 30 years! Take advantage of my expertise and experience with a FREE Discovery Call.
Tips on Why You Need These Tools
- Why I Prefer WordPress
- Why You Need to Ensure Your WORDPRESS WEBSITE is SECURE.
- How to Grow Your Social Media Following and Get Exposure
- Should I Have a Blog on My Website?
- How Much Should a New Business Have in its MARKETING BUDGET?
- 3 Elements of an Effective Website that Produces Results
- GOOGLE and AI SEARCH: How REVIEWS Factor In
