PotPieGirls Internet Marketing ToolBox

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You know the commercials – the ones where they ask, “What’s in YOUR wallet?” – well, I’m about to sound like that right now.

What’s in YOUR IM toolbox?

What tools do you use, day after day, in your internet marketing business? I certainly have some tools that after a LOT of trial and error have become things I wouldn’t consider doing a day of business without.

I started off in this business using nothing but 100% free programs, methods, and platforms to make some money online.

Guess what happened? I DID make some money! I remember the way I felt when I made my very first commission online – a $7 ebook payment into my Paypal account.

I was amazed and my first thought was…. “Oh my God, this really works!”

I was off and running.

Slowly, more payments started coming in, and since I had no overhead I chose to reinvest my earnings into marketing tools that will make my business not only easier, but better.

I still completely advocate Squidoo, free blogs, and article marketing as a solid and cost-free method to make money online. Those 3 things combined make a sound vessel to sail your business with. However, there are now things I pay for that have enhanced my business model and made it sooooo much better (and yup – a lot easier on me, too.)

What’s in YOUR tool box, PotPieGirl?

Autoresponder

I have used the free auto-responders that are available such as www.freeautobot.com. They’re fine. They work..and they’re “fine”. Yes, you are extremely limited with the free options, but for a $7 script or basic needs, they work just fine.

Autoresponders by AWeber” align=”baseline” width=”91″ height=”35″ hspace=”5″ vspace=”5″ border=”1″>I have since upgraded to aWeber…. I won’t go back. Oh my goodness, they sky is the limit with aWeber. The free 30 day trial impressed me enough to sign up on a monthly basis, but the more I use it, the more impressed I am.

In this business, there is nothing more important than your list. Capturing your visitors info and having contact with them is at the heart of all this.

Keyword Research

In the past, I about killed myself doing keyword research the free (and old-fashioned) way. I used free keyword tools such as this one from wordtracker and then would go hunt thru Google to see what my competition was and then make an educated guess from there. It worked fine. My friend, Luke, from SureFire Success System (an excellent system, by the way), has a free keyword tool that is one step better. Lukes tool also shows you how many searches a keyword receives and how many competing websites on Google. It works a bit better than fine. =)

Then, one day I tried the free trial from WordTracker. Holy smokes – internet marketing life will NEVER be the same. WordTracker gives you such better flexibility and results than any free research tool I’ve ever used. I highly recommend at least taking the free trial and playing around with it. You will be in awe – and, if you are anything like me, you will find yourself in there messing around with words for hours. I have found some really golden nuggets while playing with WordTracker. I love it – and I will never do old-fashioned keyword research again.

Domain Names

Yup, you read that right… PotPieGirl is now buying her own domain names! Since I’ve gotten such really great finds during my keyword research, I can’t help but make a real site for these hot little niches! Yes, I still make Squidoo pages and free blogs…and article marketing….but now all that work is to promote my actual web sites (that have an auto-responder opt-in box…gotta build those lists!).

I am in love with NetFirms. I am all about free things, but you can’t buy a domain name for free, can you? NetFirms offers domain names for $4.95! That is lower than I have found ANYWHERE.

Oh, wait! Speaking of domain names… I have found a cool little online tool (yes, it is free) that you can do while trying to think of domain names and to see what is available. This is yet another tool I can play with for hours.

Check out: BustAName.

Hosting

So, since I’ve let the cat out of the bag that I’m buying domain names and making niche sites, I guess you’re wondering where I am hosting my websites, right?

I’m not. Well, I don’t pay to have them hosted, anyway.

I’ll save that story for another day.

Brand New to Internet Marketing? Read my four-part blog series – How to START Making Money Online