Tools We Use Everyday

Welcome to Mary’s Resources section, a tested list of the tools and their websites, that Mary strongly recommends for building and optimizing your business.

“I have tested every tool that is recommendation on this page. Many of the resources listed here are crucial to running my business.”

“Before jumping on the bandwagon though into these awesome resources, an important disclosure:”

“Some of the links below are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a small fee to recommend. This fee comes at no additional cost to you. Please know and understand that I either use these services myself or I have tested them out before recommendation. I recommend them because they are helpful and useful. I would never suggest it otherwise.”

Why We Use WordPress

I hear from clients new to the internet and web design: Why should I use WordPress?

Most people when WordPress comes up in a conversation, think that it is only a blogging platform but today WordPress has evolved to one of the best content management systems around.

One of the biggest attractions is the platform is free to use and a lot of the plug ins that are available very rarely have a cost to them. Due to the developer support network with WordPress, using it, you become apart of the wonderful community that supports this system and get a lot of support without the expensive cost factor. It is like having a bunch of developers in your back pocket with easy access.

What I like about WordPress is most of the themes that are available have wonderful design features and the biggest advantage is you get a responsive website with little effort that looks professional.

Hosting For Your Website

WP Engine is a managed hosting environment specifically designed for WordPress installations and plug-ins. Because they specialize in WordPress exclusively, WP Engine has always helped me when I needed it.

As also a managed WordPress host, Flywheel is going to take care of a bunch of the technical nitty-gritty stuff, so you can get back to doing what you love and growing your business. I have a number of clients on this platform and I am finding I really love the way they do business.

Many ways Flywheel stands out from other managed WordPress hosts is their plans start at just $15. Other managed WordPress hosts start at two or three times that! They also have dedicated resources. You aren’t sharing your server space with anyone else, leading to better performance and security.

Email Marketing

This is one of the most important tools for running a profitable internet business. Your email list is one of your most important assets and it’s critical to use the right service to manage it. Aweber is the standard used by internet marketers today.

Website Protection

Sucuri: Our websites are our business…and our livelihood! We certainly don’t want any intruders/hackers so we pay a yearly fee to make our websites so we are secure and know it’ll will be taken care of right away, with alerts/notifications letting us know the instant something isn’t right. Sucuri is definitely great for peace of mind and let’s you rest assured. These guys know there stuff when it comes to security and website attacks

Opt In Forms

Optin Skin: Never again are you going to have to rummage through theme files or learn HTML just to put an attractive opt-in form on your site. Our one-click placement feature means you can be up and running in minutes