25 + Tools We Use to Run Our Blog and Magazine
Here is a list of tools and resources we use at 30 Day Books that allow us to run our business smoothly and effectively!
Websites
We use Wordpress: www.wordpress.org (self-hosted website) for all of our websites. Easy to get started, and excellent security and support.
Themes
Authorlicious: This is our very own WordPress theme custom built just for authors, with Amazon integration and built in book marketing principles. We use this to build author websites for all of the authors we work with. You can get your own copy HERE.
Thesis: For our other websites, we love to start with a blank slate, and use Thesis: a fully customizable WordPress theme that allows you or an author website designer to design a site that looks and feels exactly how you want it to. It also boasts improved site loading time and SEO: HERE.
WordPress Theme Market Places
- Themeforest: www.themeforest.net
- Elegant themes: www.elegantthemes.com
Web Hosting we love and trust
Mailing list server (to send out newsletters/ updates)
Mailchimp is fun, fairly easy to use, and free to get started.
Backing up your computer
Backblaze has saved our ass a few times now! Don’t delay, back up today :) For $5/ month, it gives us great piece of mind.
Backing up your site or blog
Back Up Buddy saves a copy of your site to the cloud while you sleep. You don’t even have to ask it to!
We also use DROPBOX to keep a copy of everything on the cloud, and share documents.
Pop Up form (to encourage visitors to sign up for an email list)
Pop Up Domination claims to get you 500% more email sign-ups. We use it on a few of our sites and we definitely saw a huge improvement in the number of site visitors that signed up to Magic Mondays and who subscribed to The Write Life Magazine subscription list. It works!
To create The Write Life Magazine:
We use a combination of Adobe InDesign for layout and Mag+ to publish to the App Stores.
To manage our social media
I use Hootsuite to keep track of social media mentions, and Buffer to pre-schedule tweets in advance.
To manage communications
Both 30 Day Books and The Write Life Magazine require collaborating with a number of writers, authors, and creatives all over the globe. I use SKYPE to call globally and do video conferences, as I love to be able to connect with people face to face (and it’s free to call internationally!)
Other than Skype, Google Hangouts are a great way of chatting via IM and jumping on group calls, too. There is the added benefit that the calls on Hangout are recorded, if you wish to share the conversation or interview later on.
For written communication with collaborators, I use Google Drive (formerly Google Docs) to share and edit documents online.
To make and receive payments
- Paypal is an easy and reliable way to send and receive money online.
- We also use Gumroad to list our products with, and handle payments through their system (it’s very pretty!)
For site analytics/ statistics
We use a combination of Google Analytics and the WordPress plugin, Jetpack, to track our traffic stats and analytics.
Books on blogging
- Blog, Inc: Blogging for Passion, Profit, and to Create Community, by Joy Deangdeelert Cho
- Problogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income, by Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett
- How to Build a Blog: Create Awesome Content and Build Community, by Danny Iny and Sean Platt
>>> It’s your turn! What are the tools that you find super useful to run your own writing and publishing life? Leave a comment!
And Calibre and Sigil to create/modify ePub files for iBookstore, Kindle…etc. ;)
http://calibre-ebook.com/
https://code.google.com/p/sigil/