Essential Accounts for Internet Marketers

Posted by James in Affiliate, How To, List Building, Marketing, Product creation, Resource, Review, Video, Web 2.0, productivity

New to Internet Marketing?

I get a lot of new people asking me what they need to get started as an internet marketer. I have compiled a list here of the accounts and other important programs I use often in my business and if you have these things you will be well on the way towards being an effective ‘IM’er’. In a previous post I covered some of the equipment you need to get started for internet marketing.

Google has some good stuff

Google provide some of the best tools Internet Marketing experts rely on. Start with a GMAIL account. To discover why this is so powerful check out my how to use Gmail lesson. Next you should grab a Google Analytics account for tracking website traffic. The Webmaster tools account will help you with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Google AdWords will be good for paid traffic (PPC).

Send and receive money safely online

Grab a PayPal account. It is owned by eBay and is very secure. This will be the fastest easiest way to buy the things you need and to receive money for your first information products. You can receive one time payments and recurring products with PayPal.

Professional grade email auto-responder

To build your client list you will want to use a professional grade email service including an auto-responder / broadcast service like Aweber. Auto-responders are automated email delivery systems and this is how you van setup systems that work 24/7. Aweber work very hard to negotiate high delivery rates with ISP companies so that your emails get through. The easy to use wizards will help you configure the essential elements of your account including setting up a decent followup series. Externally hosted they are web based so you can log in from anywhere and manage your client base. They have very good tools for creating sign up forms and templates for email broadcasts.

The most powerful yes easy to use shopping cart and automation system

To integrate PayPal and your Auto responder (email broadcasting service) and include affiliate management you should get Nanacast. This system will process sales, giving you the option of up-sells, down-sells and more. You can set up different payment structures and integrate it with your list building software of choice. It replaces the need for many other items and will scale with you since it is externally hosted and requires no script installation or on-site maintaining.

Domain Names

To control your brand and have ownership of your sites you need to have your own domain name. DO NOT build your entire empire on Facebook or any other external site because they can go away anytime and you risk losing everything. Make your site the central hub for your business. Too many people have lost a business because they made poor choices relating to ownership and control. Buy all of your domains from Namecheap. They are very easy to use, highly competitive for price and all round awesome people. If you have a few entities consider making an account for a few different entities so that you spread your risk a little.



Reliable Internet Marketing Web Hosting

I have many servers with Hostgator. The best type of account for new – intermediate internet marketers is a reseller account. This will allow you to have a C Panel (Individual Control Panel) for each domain you host. They have the ability to install Wordpress blogs easily. This means you can sell hosting to others and give them access to JUST their account and no others. These accounts will handle many domains and are really well priced. If you plan on having a very big site like a busy membership or an authority blog with lots of traffic you may want to consider a Dedicated server. I run several just so that I have no other marketers on my IP address. This means I will not get any penalties from the search engine for the silly actions of others. (Rare but possible with shared servers). Hostgator also run a sister company called SEO Hosting if you need multiple IP addresses. I have several accounts with them also.

Communicate with Skype

I use Skype everyday as an effective communication tool. It works over the internet connection so you can Skype to Skype internationally and locally for free. You can set up normal phone numbers and voice mail services like a regular phone plus make regular phone calls using Skype credit. The call costs are very low and it is easier to be on calls hands free using the computer monitor speakers or a headset. There are several call recording applications you can use to record Skype calls making it the ideal way to conduct interviews.

Snag those screen shots

I love a tool called SnagIt by Techsmith. It works really well for Windows and now they have a beta SnagIt for Mac. Using this tool you can take screen shots and dress them up with notes, squiggles, cropping, re-sizing and more. It is the perfect way to make simple banners and compile information products with visual instructions.

Manage everything

I LOVE basecamphq for managing my projects, outsource team, partnerships, virtual assistant and special clients online. It allows file uploads, whiteboard brainstorming, todo lists and milestones. You can exchange messages in there and segregate projects between different users. You can add ‘Campfire’ to that for live chat. You can use an iPhone application (called sherpa) that allows you to view all the projects on the go.

Firefox Browser

Serious IM’ers use Firefox because of the add-ons. You can use toolbar bookmarks to arrange everything you use often,. There are a bunch of awesome add-ons firefox works with to automate, systematize and speed up your effectiveness. I have posted about firefox bookmarks before. I use S3fox, SEOquake, Onlywire and Wordtracker add-ons.

Social Accounts

When you first get online as a professional internet marketer you should immediately get the social accounts with your own name. You need the following accounts:

- Twitter

- Facebook

- LinkedIn

- YouTube

- FriendFeed

Round 2

These are not all the accounts you will need however they are a great start. You will then want to expand to a second round of important accounts with: Squidoo, Tumblr, Ezinearticles, StumbleUpon, Technorati and more….

Keyword research and niche market finding tool

Grab a FREE trial copy of Market Samurai when you can since it is a one stop tool for finding keywords and easy key phrases to target. This tool is great for paid traffic and also SEO (Search Engine Optimization). It works on Mac and PC. I wrote more about Market Samurai here.

Capture sound and pictures

I use Camtasia Studio for screen capture and editing. For audio you can use Audacity. When you have these you are able to create content and this is a major step in making serious money online an an Internet marketer. I’ll cover content creation in future lessons.



Questions and Comments

Do you have a question about setting up for Internet marketing? Need to know more about anything above or other accounts you may or may not need?> Just post your question below:

Tags: affiliate software, autoresponder, aweber, camtasia, facebook, hostgator, hosting, how to setup internet marketing, internet marketer newbie, james schramko, nanacast, shopping cart, snagit for mac, squidoo, tumbr, twitter

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