The following list of tools comprise the list of tools are what I’ve used to successfully replace my full-time income and then some. I’ve broken them down by their function, with a brief description as to why I recommend them.

I plan on expanding on each item in a full-blown review in due time, but as it stands, I own a lot of tools and haven’t reviewed every one of them just yet.

Since I change my mind on tools, I’ll be updating this page as time goes on and removing anything I no longer support, or adding tools. Bookmark it and come back before making a purchasing decision, hopefully I can be of some service.

And please note, these are almost all my affiliate links, so I will get paid should you choose to buy through my links (thank you for doing so, it’s how I support my family and I appreciate it very much).

Training if You’re New

We all have to start somewhere, right? I remember looking frantically online when I began for “the” place to start. I didn’t really find it but I did find a lot of helpful bloggers (see my blogroll or the search bar in the sidebar).

The problem was that the information was hit-or-miss, or you bounced from one to the next. So I decided to put together my own resources, and have begun publishing my own books.

In addition to my own books to centralize what I’ve learned, and to pass it along to you for your success online, I’ve included some resources that have helped define my business and take me further along.

There Are Only 2 Necessities

I list more than what you need but let me point out what you need to clarify:

1) Knowledge and Experience. If you don’t know what you’re doing, be prepared to waste a lot of time finding that out. I recommend some ebooks below that you can and should read (not all of them, just read what you need).

2) A Website. This means self-hosted, in my case I recommend WordPress (hand-coded HTML sites STINK unless you’re gifted at design! – why waste your time with Kompozer or DreamWeaver? Gimme a break – it’s not the 90′s).

Why self-hosted? Because you have more publishing control, and more control over the different aspects needed for good SEO. You’re not limited by some rule or need to show some advertisements, etc. that you don’t want.

So if you’re in this for profit, self-hosting is the way to go, my recommendations are below.

Everything else is “nice” and “optional,” but this is the stuff I’m using…

My Ebooks and Resources

Duct Tape SEO
I wrote this book for newcomers learning SEO and who want an easy, budget-friendly means to get massive FREE traffic to their websites.

I’m not a tech-head, but using WordPress makes my passive income much easier to attain. So I wrote Duct Tape SEO for those who want to learn and use WordPress to bring free traffic to their websites. In a “post-Panda” world, this is a strategy you can rely on without worrying.

Read more here.

Internet Marketing Starter Guide
This was my first e-book, written for one of my final clients, Matthew Cox. This provides a good orientation for setting up a WordPress website, along with initial ideas on making money online I’ve used to make a living.

It’s free to download.

The Commission Junction Profit Plan
This isn’t a PDF (yet), but it’s a blog series I did here at The Average Genius. In it, I lay out what’s made me the most money online so far: finding great affiliate programs to promote through Commission Junction.

Update: I am writing this up as a book, my “make money online” strategy, and have since refined the process beyond what is detailed in that series.

More details on that as the book nears completion.

There are also communities for training – forums and membership sites, and the only ones I’m familiar with enough to recommend are listed on my blogroll page. 

This includes blogs, free and paid memberships, and I’d suggest you pick one.  A community is important, and a blog can only provide so much of that.

Books That Describe My Methods at Affiliate Marketing (For the Most Part)

The Amazonian Profit Plan
This is one of the best books for online marketing using Amazon I’ve ever read. It describes a the entire process from soup-to-nuts on making a living by referring Amazon products, written by Paula and Wanda of the Affiliate Blog Online (in my blogroll).

It isn’t “cheap” but it’s well-worth the price. If you want to learn from people making up to $30k a month (who wouldn’t?), get this book. It’s one that very nearly mirrors my own methods of making money as a physical products affiliate.

Email Marketing Training

One of the time-tested ways of making money online is email marketing. Glen Allsop of ViperChill fame has made one resource a must-have. It’s a FREE video course and incredibly informative.

Before buying an email marketing resource, check this out. Cloud Blueprint

Google-Free Traffic (Not SEO Traffic, In Other Words)

The Ultimate Blog Post Promotion Guide

This is an e-book focused on getting traffic from a variety of sources, not from Google SEO. It was written by one of my favorite social media mavens, Kristi Hines of Kikolani.com, and taught me A LOT.

If you want to get some great ideas on social media and various traffic generation opportunities for free, get this book, it’s under-priced in my opinion and worth every dime.  There is one section on PostRank that is out-dated, because after this book was published, Google bought them (but you can still access their tools by following the links in this book).

I was amazed at the wealth of information on getting traffic that Kristi provides – I had a lot to learn, and still do: but this is a treatise on traffic that won’t risk your website or rankings.

Definitely thumbs-up for Kristi.

Keyword Tools

Market Samurai

I only use Market Samurai and a host of free tools. Have used a number of keyword tools in the past, like Micro Niche Finder, but Market Samurai does so much it’s ridiculous.

This will help you analyze competitors, track your rankings, find content, analyze backlinks – all for one low price ($97 if you buy in the first 7 days, otherwise the price increases up to $147 and even then it’s worth it).

Check it out for free for 12 days here.

The Necessities: Web Hosting and Domains

Once you know what you’re doing, you really only “need” web hosting and a domain to make the most of your opportunity online – make no mistake that this is “the” necessity. Everything that follows is sugar on top, but you need to have good hosting and have private domain names.

Domain Name Registrars

Namecheap and Internet.bs are where I buy my domain names, I like that they offer free private “WhoIs” protection so I can protect my identity online. Good prices and service at both.

If you want domain names that have some age and are selling at auction (because they provide additional value, like being a live, done-for-you website with traffic, content, etc.), then it’s hard to beat GoDaddy Auctions. Also try Flippa.com to see what they have on offer.

Web Hosting

Once you have a domain name, you’ll need hosting – and I never buy the two at the same place (it’s too expensive in most cases that way).

I’ve had the best experience from HostGator, in terms of support, training, up-time and overall management.

I use them for ‘reseller’ hosting and VPS hosting. Use the coupon code “TheAverageGenius” when ordering for 25% off your entire order at HostGator.

Website Acceleration

MaxCDN for a fast Content Delivery Network (they own ‘NetDNA’ which powers websites like Copyblogger.com and many others) offers the best price I’ve found yet.

I’ve tried some free options like CloudFlare, which didn’t consistently improve my website performance.

If you want your website to load faster and would like and added layer of security, give MaxCDN a look.

You may have some luck with CloudFlare, they have a free and premium service. I had issues on their free service, so maybe they give better support with the premium, I don’t know.

Just go to Cloudflare.com and they can answer your questions: but I will say they were EASY to set up (MaxCDN was a little more involved but I’m glad with my results).

WordPress Themes

I’d recommend you start off with free themes, they’re just fine for making money or a good impression, get them from within your WordPress site under Appearance > Themes > Install > Browse.

The premium themes I’ve used and enjoy most so far are:

Genesis Theme from StudioPress, which powers websites like ProBlogger.net and CopyBlogger.com, is a theme framework with tons of skins to choose from. The SEO on the theme as I understand it is pretty tight. Highly customizable, whether you buy a ‘skin’ or not, notoriously fast-loading.

Flexibility 3 currently runs used to run this blog and a number of my top earning sites, it’s highly customizable and easy to use, try it out free as long as you want.

Flexsqueeze is what I’ve upgraded to, and can’t believe it took me a year to finally bite the bullet and get it.  So glad I did, it makes stellar affiliate review sites, sales pages, landing pages (which I’ll use to build lists on those sites), and it now powers this blog.

It’s not as good as OptimizePress for sales/launching/membership/squeeze pages: but I like it for my affiliate sites which will also need a squeeze page of their own for their list-building (if you want a dedicated site for a squeeze page, I’d go for OptimizePress instead, but for affiliate sites, I’d say it’s “Flexsqueeze and look no further”).

Clickbump Engine is a set of 12 themes with cheap ‘skins’ you can buy in addition to the 12. It was optimized originally for AdSense but works decently for creating affiliate sites (and it loads fast, very lightweight).

Clickbump themes are SEO’d and fast to deploy – and they’re not just the “same old XFactor” theme you might be picturing. The new skins rock.  For local SEO and CPC marketers (like AdSense, Chitika, etc.) – this is the theme you want for fast deployments and for building a network of AdSense-type sites that work with high clickthru’s.

If you want to build a site for reviews, though – go Flexsqueeze.

OptimizePress is a theme to create sales pages, squeeze pages, sales funnels and any sort of ‘lead-capture’ type of page you can think of. If you’re hoping to create a membership site or sell your own product, capture emails, etc. – look no further.

I’ve tried the “Premise” plugin from CopyBlogger Media and the Flexsqueeze theme, and can tell you first hand, for a dedicated sales page and sales funnel launch sequence – OptimizePress has no competition.  (For affiliate sites with product review pages, I’d say Flexsqueeze is the WTG, it depends on your goals.)

SEO Tools

These tools make my life much easier, and rankings simpler to attain. They save time and serve my SEO needs well.

Market Samurai is my go-to tool for just about everything I need in getting the best keywords, checking my rankings and keeping a historical account of my progress and backlink analysis (it does more than this, though). Easily my favorite tool for SEO.

SEO Powersuite is a suite of 4 SEO tools, all of which you can download and try for free. Used by top SEO’s, I’ve used these tools for a lot of my SEO work, but here’s a tip: if you have Market Samurai, you don’t need SEO Powersuite, and vice versa. Having both is overkill.

Note: Any SEO Professionals really should get SEO Powersuite – their reports function (16 customizable reports) will keep clients happy, proving their ROI in hiring you.

Otherwise, for most IM’ers, the individual tools like SEO Spyglass may be more up your alley (all part of the suite). I use the professional version, but the enterprise version is best for SEO pro’s – you’ll thank me later.

Clickbump SEO is a WordPress plugin that offers the functionality of SEOPressor from Daniel Tan, but also adds in the feature of giving you LSI terms, which are terms related to your keywords that will help you rank easier in search (so the theory goes).

It’s also cheaper than SEOPressor (I have both plugins, but recommend Clickbump SEO). Essentially it performs an SEO audit of your posts/pages so you can button up the content and potentially rank higher.

In my own testing, it works as promised: I’ve seen ranking improvements using the plugin and recommend it highly.

List-Building Tools

I’d highly recommend list-building if you aren’t already. Really follow Glen’s videos (I listed them above) before you try this method.

As for ‘tools,’ I think you can do just fine with freebies like the Comment Redirect plugin for WordPress (to redirect a first-time commentator to your newsletter sign-up page).

In addition, use Aweber or a similar provider and they have plenty of their own tools at the ready. There’s really no need for expensive list building plugins, though I used to want Subscriber’s Magnet from MaxBlogPress.

I no longer recommend Subscriber’s Magnet because their pricing structure is absolutely ridiculous. Personally I love the results I get from Aweber and free plugins – although now as a book publisher, I’m using OptimizePress as well for this.

If you want your traffic to ‘go viral’ then you can use the Tweet And Get It plugin which is free to use and available from your WordPress plugin directory and dashboard. Or you can use the Pay With A Tweet service, for example, again free.

Some fancy-pants list building plugins tell you they’re going to “explode your list” with viral traffic, but honestly you can do a lot with simple tools like a Facebook fan page, a free giveaway (‘lead magnet’) and free technology or services.

This works especially easily if you use OptimizePress, and I’ve tried the top 3 sales and squeeze page generators: Premise, Flexsqueeze and now OptimizePress. OP wins in spades, Flexsqueeze rocks for affiliate sites and Premise is a joke, keep your money (really).

Best Outsourced Help

Elance. I’ve had the best workers hired there, I started there myself, and hands-down I’ve only ever seen good results from their market place. I’m not sure why that is, but I will tell you that you get what you pay for.

Hire graphics artists, programmers, virtual assistants or writers. Set your budget and see who responds (it’s an auction market).

You can also try the Warrior Forum’s Warriors for Hire section: you can find some affordable help there for a number of needs.

Lastly, if it’s something REALLY simple, like creating a Ping.fm account or Pixlr account – use Fiverr.com. (I only ever buy simple data-entry type of gigs there after a run of bad luck, though.)

Stock Photographs and Graphics

For graphics, I have to plug a friend of mine here, Selena of PLR-Diva.com. She’s done a great job on my book, Duct Tape SEO (the cover and banners).

For my other graphics like stock photos, I recommend Fotolia. I can’t find another vendor with better prices (until someone proves me wrong).

Link Building Tools That Work

The following is a list of tools I’ve used in times past of tools that have worked exceptionally well in my own link-building. I am only recommending those products I’ve personally used.

The Best Spinner
If you use any of the following tools, you’ll need an article spinner. The best one I’ve ever used is The Best Spinner V.3, it’s aptly named. Currently on sale (for October 2011) at $47 vs. $77 a year.

Magic Submitter is an all-in-one link submitter. It uses spun articles you create, along with social bookmarks, various web 2.0 websites and the like (even video and press releases).

This is the only all-in-one submitter I’d recommend, since you can easily program Magic Submitter using the “design” feature to build links anywhere you want.

I’ve tried SENukeX and it was good, but Magic Submitter is still the better tool.

All the other submitters of this type are either stupidly expensive or simply utterly lacking in capacity (I’d put SEO Link Robot in the “utterly lacking” category but only because it doesn’t do 1/2 of what Magic does).

If you only got one tool (besides The Best Spinner), I’d say Magic Submitter would fill your need since you can program it to submit anywhere.

Unique Article Wizard and ArticleRanks are the two best blog-posting networks I’ve used. Both have their strengths and both will get links and rankings. These both will use blogs and websites that have opted in to receive your content, in exchange you get to build links.

Article Marketing Robot was so effective at link-building using article directories that I stopped using other monthly subscriptions, with one exception (noted below). This is a desk-top software that submits spun articles (or not-spun articles) across the biggest selection of article directories you can amass in any one tool.

It has no competitor as far as submitting articles.

You can add most article directories to it you find. It’s well-supported, one-time-fee, and worth the money. I’ve several reviews on the tool and how best to use it in the drop-down menu if you hover over “My Tools” in the navigation menu at the top of the blog.

SocialAdr is my single favorite way to get social backlinks, since it presents a unique way to get social links from other users (leveraging their real accounts vs. needing to create hundreds of accounts).

I get links from a variety of places, including using the HMA proxy to perform blog commenting and to run some of these tools (I don’t want my competitors knowing a lick about me, including my IP address).

Article Marketing Robot is definitely worth it, though The Best Spinner as a spinner is still in a class all its own. If you only bought one tool and didn’t want a monthly, Article Marketing Robot could spin your articles and submit them, and it would get you pretty far up the SERPs.

Do You Need All These Tools? Isn’t There A Budget Solution?

Oh, yes, there is.

I wrote Duct Tape SEO largely in response to my own question:

Does SEO need to rely on all these tools and methods?

Nope, you can rank just dandy without all those link-building tools.

But I began in this business working on Elance and discovered for myself that these methods work great, despite what naysayers say otherwise.

Granted, it’s not “for everyone,” and I can tell you right now that quality link-building never uses spun content – it doesn’t need to.

If you want a more budget and Google-friendly way of building links that doesn’t rely on spun articles like the above, then by all means buy Duct Tape SEO and save yourself some money. (Shameless plug, couldn’t help myself.)

Thank you for reading my recommendations, and especially if you buy through my links. I hope to see you around the blog, and please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions:

James AT TheAverageGenius DOT net

(This list was last updated on October 1, 2011.)