Digital Marketing Apps & Platforms: My Complete List of Recommendations

In this post I share my complete list of apps, platforms and services that make up my digital marketing stack. I’ve created this list based on my own personal experience of working in digital marketing over the past 12 years.I personally use each of these recommendations and am available to answer any questions. I will include concise details of what I use each of these recommendations for and why I use them. Where available, I’ll also link out to my quick start video tutorials that show you step by step how to implement and use each of these recommended solutions.I’ll update this post regularly, so make sure to subscribe to my newsletter to stay updated.

1. WordPress.org — Website Content Management System

WordPress is an independent, open source, secure, popular and well supported content management system. I use a self hosted WordPress installation to build my websites and manage the content on those websites. A self-hosted WordPress website is not the same thing as a WordPress.com website. Watch my video WordPress.com vs WordPress.org to understand the different. 

WordPress is free to use. You can download the latest version at WordPress.org, but you will need a website hosting plan to host your self-hosted WordPress website. For hosting recommendations continue reading this article.

Quick Start Video Tutorials

Watch my free video series on WordPress to get up and running fast. Learn how to setup your own self-hosted website using WordPress.

2. Dreamhost — Domain Registration & WordPress Hosting 

Dreamhost is my go to service for domain registration and website hosting for my entry level WordPress sites. 

Their domain registration is affordable, secure and well supported, plus they offer domain privacy as a free add-on, which means that they will keep your personal details private when you register your domain with them and enable this feature. 

For website hosting, Dreamhost offers their popular WordPress Basic plan starting at only $2.59 per month which comes with a pre-installed self-hosted WordPress site. And if you need more power, then you can always upgrade to their DreamPress or WooCommerce Hosting plans which start at $10.00 per month.

With their impressive customer support and award winning control panel, you will not be disappointed by Dreamhost. I’ve been a happy customer since 2007.

Here is my Dreamhost review video to help you get started.

Quick Start Video Tutorials & Sign Up Link

Watch my free video series on Dreamhost to get up and running fast. Learn how to register your own domain names and manage your own hosting using Dreamhost.

3. WPX Hosting — Premium Managed WordPress Hosting

For more advanced WordPress sites, my preferred managed WordPress hosting service is WPX Hosting. They specialise in managed WordPress hosting and their 24/7 live chat support is absolutely outstanding. 

WPX Hosting offers everything you need to give you peace of mind. All their plans include unlimited inbound site migrations, SSLs certificates, DDoS Protection, Malware Scanning & Removal, custom CDN and automatic backups. 

If I have any issues with my website, WPX Hosting chat support answers within seconds to assist me in getting my issue resolved. I highly recommend their services.

Getting Started

Get started with WPX Hosting by creating your account using the link below. If you’d like to see a quick start video tutorial, then leave a comment at the bottom of this post. 

4. GeneratePress — Lightweight & Responsive WordPress Theme

GeneratePress is my preferred and recommend baseline WordPress theme that I use on most of my sites. It’s the perfect foundation for any new website. The themes is secure and stable, light weight (less than 30KB), secure, search engine optimised and accessibility ready. 

The base theme is free, but to unlock all the premium features, I recommend purchasing the GP Premium add-on for $49.95. At that price you can use it on unlimited amount of websites and you get a year of support and updates.

If you want your site to be secure and load fast, then it’s important to have a lightweight, secure and updated theme. I highly recommend using GeneratePress.

Getting Started

Get started with GeneratePress by downloading the theme using the link below. If you’d like to see a quick start video tutorial, then leave a comment at the bottom of this post. 

5. Thrive Themes — Drag & Drop Editor, Email Opt In & Sales Pages

If all you need is a simple and minimalist site, then GeneratePress alone can do the job, but if you’d like to add a visual drag and drop editor, some email opt in forms, and some ready to use page templates, then I highly recommend Thrive Themes.

Thrive Themes offers a selection of plugins that will add additional features to your WordPress site. I’ve had a Thrive Themes membership for multiple years now and it’s a small price to pay for all the functionality their plugins add to my websites.

My favourite and most frequently used Thrive plugins are Thrive Architect, Thrive Leads and Thrive Comments. Thrive Ultimatum is also useful for adding count down timers and Thrive Quiz builder lets you create and add quizzes to your sites. 

Thrive Themes used to sell their plugins as individual products, but now they only option they offer is their Thrive membership, which gives you access to their entire suite of plugins.

Quick Start Video Overview & Sign Up Link

Watch my free video overview on Thrive Themes to get up and running fast and sign up for your Thrive Themes membership using the link below. Learn how to built landing pages using the Thrive Themes visual editor and collect emails addresses using Thrive Leads. 

6. ConvertKit — List Building & Email Marketing

One of your most valuable assets that you’ll be creating for your digital marketing efforts is your email list. Have a subscriber list that you own (your own house list) means that you have a direct line to your existing customers and prospects. With the rise of social media and online ads, email marketing is still one of the most effective methods of generating sales online, but if you don’t have your own email list, then you have nobody to email.

My preferred and recommended email marketing platform is ConvertKit. This platform is powerful, yet simple to use. Their clean user interface makes it easy to use their advanced features. ConvertKit lets you capture email addresses to build your own list of subscribers, you can tag and segment subscribers, you can setup sequences of emails that automatically send out to a specific group and you can even create powerful visual automations, which is great for creating sales and onboarding sequences.

And if you’re just getting started, then ConvertKit is perfect. They recently launched a forever free plan that includes unlimited landing pages, customisable CTAs, signup forms, 30+ premium landing page templates, unlimited traffic. customisable domain setup, a list of up to 1,000 subscribers, unlimited email broadcasts and subscriber tagging.

That’s more than you need to get started with email marketing and if you already have a list, then you can level up your email marketing with ConvertKit’s additional features like sequences and automatons. 

There are so many email marketing platforms out there to choose from, but my honest opinion is don’t waste your time with any of the others. Go with ConvertKit, get started today, keep it simple and stay focuses and growing your list and regularly sending out emails. 

Quick Start Video Tutorial & Sign Up Link

Watch my free video tutorial on ConvertKit to get up and running fast and sign up for your free ConvertKit account using the link below. Learn how to build an email list and level up your email marketing campaigns.

7. Spotlightr (previously VooPlayer) — Video Hosting & Embedding

If you’ll be creating, publishing and embedding private videos, then VooPlayer is one of my favourite options. VooPlayer offers video hosting as well as a feature rich online video player that lets you create video chapter markers, opt in overlays, custom video thumbnails, amoung other features. 

You can also use the VooPlayer video player to embed videos that are hosted on either YouTube, Vimeo or Dropbox. The Dropbox option is a great solution if you don’t have an existing Dropbox account. VooPlayer is still a fairly new app, but has been around for a few years and the developers keep adding additional features. 

Getting Started

Get started with Sotlightr by signing up for your account using the link below. If you’d like to see a quick start video tutorial, then leave a comment at the bottom of this post. 

8. Vimeo — Video Hosting

If you’ll be creating, publishing and embedding a lot of videos and and you need to have the ability to embed your videos on a protected website, like a membership site or an online learning portal, then Vimeo as a premium video host would be your best option. 

Vimeo has been around since 2004 and is a solid and trusted solution in the online  video hosting space. They offer a free plan, but if you’ll need to embed protected videos and need a fair amount of hosting space, then you’ll want to opt for one of their Pro, Premium or Business Plans.

Some of my favourite Vimeo features include that you can replace an existing video with a new version of the same video, which will then automatically update wherever you’ve embedded that video, a custom video thumbnail creation feature that lets you easily pic a frame of your video to set as your featured video thumbnail and you can limit your videos to only be embeddable on specific domains. These are all must have features if online video is an integral part of your business.

Getting Started

Get started with Vimeo by signing up for your account using the link below. If you’d like to see a quick start video tutorial, then leave a comment at the bottom of this post. 

9. YouTube — Video Hosting & Video Traffic

YouTube was founded in 2005 and bought by Google in 2006 for US$1.65 billion. Ever since buying this video hosting service, Google has been growing YouTube into an online video giant. 

YouTube is the second largest search engine online and YouTube videos are tightly integrated into Google’s search engine result pages. What that means is if you search for “How to make banana bread”, then you will be guaranteed to see YouTube video results show up on the first page of Google. And with 2 billion monthly active users YouTube attracts more than a few eyeballs.

It is for this reason that YouTube is a great content platform to publish public videos to build an audience. You can publish videos as unlisted, but those videos can still be accessed by anybody that has the specific video link, so YouTube is therefore not ideal for hosting videos that need to be protected and embedded on a private web pages like a membership site or a online learning platform.

If part of your content marketing strategy is publishing regular videos that can be accessed by anybody, then publishing videos to YouTube is a great option. Just make sure to optimize your videos and link back to more valuable resources on your own website to refer some of the YouTube traffic to your own website.

Getting Started

Get started with YouTube by signing up or accessing your account using the link below. If you’d like to see a quick start video tutorial, then leave a comment at the bottom of this post. 

10. Zoom — Online Video & Audio Calls 

In an attempt to curb the recent coronavirus pandemic, the amount of people working remotely and working from home has increased drastically. With this change many new users have become familiar with the video communications app Zoom.

I’ve been using it for many years and it’s been my preferred app for online video calls, virtual client meetings, strategy calls and online mastermind group sessions. If you need to get onto a call with an individual or with your remote team, then Zoom is a great app to do just that.

My favourite Zoom features includes being able to share not only my screen, but a specific window on my screen. This lets me share exactly what I want the others to see and not necessarily my entire desktop. 

Zoom makes it simple to schedule new meetings and generate an invite link which you can share with other participants. To join the call the other participants simply need to click on the link, and assuming they have the Zoom client installed on their device, the app will launch and they will able to directly join the call. This often makes me feel like I’m in the matrix connecting digitally to a secret online meeting environment. If you think about it, it’s quite mind blowing how we can connect and communicate with apps like Zoom.

Zoom also integrates seamlessly with my calendar scheduling app, Book Like A Boss. When a customer or prospect uses my online calendar to book a call with me, then a Zoom meeting link is automatically generated via my Zoom account and included in the calendar invite which is added my calendar and the calendar of the individual who has booked the call. This feature is super convenient and saves me the effort and time of setting up the meeting and adding the link to the calendar invite manually. 

With Zoom, you can also record your meetings either locally on your machine or (with a premium account) in the cloud. And the simple controls let you start and stop the recording as you please. 

Zoom offers a free plan, which lets you have unlimited 1-on-1 calls, but group calls with 3 or more participants are limited to 45 minutes. If you need to have longer group calls and need the functionality of being able to record into the cloud, then a premium plan is well worth it.

On their Pro accounts you can also use Zoom Webinar to run your webinars using the same Zoom experience that you are used to from Zoom calls. If you’re looking for a great webinar solution, then make sure to check this out.

Getting Started

Get started with Zoom by signing up for your account using the link below. If you’d like to see a quick start video tutorial, then leave a comment at the bottom of this post. 

11. Skype — Online Video & Audio Calls 

Similar to Zoom, Skype is another option for conducting online video and audio calls. Skype has been around since 2003, was most recently purchased by Microsoft in 2011 for $8.5 Billion and is a well known app and brand.

Even though I use Zoom for most of my online calls, Skype does come in handy when dealing with contractors and virtual assistance, as well as conducting calls with specific individuals that do not use Zoom. Over the years Skype has evolved, but the latest version of Skype works well and is simple to use. 

Unlike Zoom, on a free Skype plan, there is not limitation on group calls, which is great. Skype also lets its users purchase Skype credits, which lets you make phone calls internationally to both landlines and mobile phones, which when needed can be very useful. 

Skype also lets you purchase a Skype phone number, which you can use with online listings. When customers or prospects phone your number the call will come through on your Skype account.  

Getting Started

Get started with Skype by signing up for your account using the link below. If you’d like to see a quick start video tutorial, then leave a comment at the bottom of this post. 

12. Airtable — Planning, Collaboration & Online Forms

Founded in 2012, Airtable is a cloud based relational database app. It’s a super-charged hybrid between a spreadsheet and a database. 

Airtable is great for storing, organising, sorting, grouping, analysing, and sharing all types of data. The use cases of this app are only limited by your imagination and creativity.

You can create your own customer relationship management (CRM) database, you can use it as a project management app, you can create a visual database of anything your heart desires. I use it to tracking finances, recipes, wildlife in South Africa, my personal possessions, my clients, my content marketing schedule just to name a few.  

Once you get familiar with using this app, you will quickly realise how simple and intuitive the user interface is, how powerful the features are and how snappy the data processing is. 

In Airtable you start out by creating you Workspace which contains all your bases (i.e. databases). Each base is made up of tables (i.e. like a spreadsheet table). Then each table can have different views, which can be a grid view, a from view or a kanban view. 

A grid view looks like a table, which you can sort, filter and group. A form view is a form that you can customise and embed on a website, so that users can submit data into your Airtable. And a kanban view (looks a lot like Trello) and lets you create a pipeline, flow or process, which is ideal for creating different stages within in a project or different stages within a sales process.

Airtable also offers add-ons called “Blocks” which let you visualise your data using charts, graphs, maps, etc. You can also integrate with an SendGrid which lets you automate the sending of emails. You can also integrate Airtable with a wide selection of other commonly used web apps using Zapier.

If you’re not familiar with Airtable, then I definitely recommend you give it a try, because if you’re anything like me, you might find some great use cases for this app within your workflow and business.

Getting Started

Get started with AirTable by signing up for your account using the link below. If you’d like to see a quick start video tutorial, then leave a comment at the bottom of this post. 

13. Asana — Project & Task Management

Asana is the project management app that I use and recommend. This cloud based web app offers all the features needed to effectively manage projects and tasks, especially if you are managing multiple team members.

Asana makes it simple to create a projects, parent tasks, sub tasks and then assign each task to a team member, as well as assign a due date for each task. Each task has a comments feature where team members can post updated and communicate with each other.  

Each team member can view a list of all their assigned tasks and sort them by due date to focus on tasks that need to be completed next. 

Each project can be viewed either as a list, board, timeline, calendar or progress report. It’s also possible to have a task show up on multiple projects, which can be very useful. 

One of my favourite features Asana is the timeline view, which lets me plan out projects and due dates weeks and months in advance so that the entire team can see what’s coming down the pipeline and what we’ll be focusing on next.

If you’re looking for a powerful and full featured project and task management app, then make sure to check out Asana. A free plan lets you use most features, but with a paid plan you can unlock all the features including the timeline.

Getting Started

Get started with Asana by signing up for your account using the link below. If you’d like to see a quick start video tutorial, then leave a comment at the bottom of this post. 

14. Dropbox — File Sharing & Collaboration

Familiar to many, Dropbox is my trusted and recommend app for cloud file sharing and collaborating. Whatever project I’m working, I’ll create a production folder in Dropbox to store all project related files that other team members need to access.

Selective Sync is a Dropbox feature that lets you sync files into the cloud and then have them removed from your local machine. This is particularly useful if you need to save disk space on your local computer. 

Another great advantage with Dropbox is that many other apps integrate seamlessly. One example would be uploading videos from Dropbox to Vimeo. In Vimeo, you can simply click on upload and then upload files directly from Dropbox. Another example would be backing up WordPress sites into Dropbox using the All-in-One WP Migration plugin.

You can also setup automations using Zapier to upload files into Dropbox or to upload files from Dropbox to some other destination. Whether I use the Dropbox desktop client or the web client, the user experience is generally quick and efficient, assuming I have a fast internet connection, which is highly recommended when syncing larger files.

Getting Started

Get started with Dropbox by signing up for your account using the link below. If you’d like to see a quick start video tutorial, then leave a comment at the bottom of this post. 

15. Dropbox Paper — Writing

One other (lesser known) feature that I love about Dropbox is their cloud writing application called Paper. It’s a simple web based word processing app that making writing simple and fun. The minimal formatting options keeps things simple, yet the basics are all included like embedding images, videos, check lists, tables, horizontal rules, and code. 

What I also absolutely love is you can copy a URL, highlight some text in Paper and hit paste, to make link the highlighted text out to that specific link. It’s a quick and simple way of adding a link to your document.

Once you’re done writing your document you can export it to PDF (.pdf), Microsoft Word (.docx) or Markdown (.md).

I recently switched over from Google Docs and now write all my document drafts in Paper and am absolutely loving it.

Getting Started

Get started with Dropbox Paper by signing up for your account using the link below. If you’d like to see a quick start video tutorial, then leave a comment at the bottom of this post. 

16. Canva — Graphic Design

In the past I’ve used various different apps for graphic design tasks including Photoshop and Pixelmator, but I’ve recently switched over to using the web app Canva, which is a cloud based graphic design platform that makes it simple to create social media graphics, presentations, posters and other visual content.

You can get started by using Canva’s free plan, which gives you access to a basic set of features and lets you create and export graphics. The free plan is ideal for individuals and small groups working on quick projects. This plan gives you access to 8,000+ free templates, 100+ design types (social media posts, presentations, letters, and more) and hundreds of thousands of free photos and graphics. 

To unlock Canva’s premium features, like creating your brand’s visual identity with logos, colours and fonts using a Brand Kit, you’ll need to update to the Pro ($9.95 per user per month) or Enterprise ($30 per user per month) plans.

By providing ready to use templates using the correct dimensions for specific use cases, Canva makes graphic design simple and efficient. The app also makes it simple to duplicate an existing design, makes changes to it and then export specific images from your collection either as png or jpg files. 

I’ve started using Canva to create my featured images for my blog posts and my YouTube videos, which has drastically simplified my workflow. If you’re looking for a simple and effective web app for graphic design, then make sure to give Canva a try.

Getting Started

Get started with Canva by signing up for your account using the link below. If you’d like to see a quick start video tutorial, then leave a comment at the bottom of this post. 

17. Helpscout — Customer Support

When providing customer support to a small group of clients, it’s common to simply use email to receive and reply to support requests. If you however increase the number of customers that you serve and/or you increase the number of team members that are responsible for replying to support requests, then it’s highly beneficial to implement customer support system using help desk software. 

The app that I use and recommend for online customer support is Help Scout, which has been around since 2011 and has been refined into a reliable and affordable solution.

With Help Scout, you can have all your support emails get forwarded into a Help Scout mailbox, which creates a new ticket inside that inbox. Once a ticket has been generated, it can be tagged using custom tags, assigned to a specific team member and the status of that ticket can be updated as it gets processed.

Help Scout also lets you create a Doc Site, which is an online knowledge base containing support pages and articles. You can use these pages to list answers to frequently asked questions or you can document specific support processes that help customers resolve common issues. 

Another feature that Help Scout offers is called Beacons. A Beacon is a widget that you can add to specific pages of your website. This widget provides 3 simple to access features to your web site visitors. 1. You can let a user ask questions and have the widget display pre-written answers from your docs site (i.e. your Knowledge Base). 2. You can let a user fill in a form and submit a message via the Beacon. This message will be captured as a ticket inside of your Help Scout mailbox. And 3. Assuming one of your support agents is online, you can let a user initiate a live chat via the Beacon to get live support while they are on your website or sales page. 

All of these features are managed via your Help Scout dashboard and all your support agents (team members that are responsible for replying to support tickets) process tickets within a unified mailbox, which means that the entire support team can stay up to date with new tickets coming in, newly assigned tickets, and any notes that other team members have added to a specific ticket.

Help Scout even includes a feature that lets your customers rate the support interration and reports let you evaluate the overall performance of your customer support team.

If you’re ready to level up your customer support, then I highly recommend implementing Help Scout as your help desk solution.

Getting Started

Get started with Helpscout by signing up for your account using the link below. If you’d like to see a quick start video tutorial, then leave a comment at the bottom of this post. 

18. Zapier — Integration & Automation

If you use multiple web apps and like the idea of automating basic recurring tasks, then Zapier is a great solution. Zapier lets you setup “workflows” or “recipes” called Zaps that can run automatically based on specific conditions.  

Zapier can also be very useful if a specific app or platform you use does not have a native integration with another app in your marketing stack. For example if a specific email marketing platforms doesn’t integrate with a specific shopping cart platform, then Zapier could be a way of integrating the two apps. 

You can use hundreds of apps to create Zaps within Zapier and for many of them you can create endless combinations of automations. Zaps span across all type of categories including project management, note taking, email, news & RSS, file management, eCommerce, notifications, customer support, backups, human resources, video, forms & surveys, social media, meeting management and real estate. When a zap is run, it counts as a task.

Zapier’s forever free plan lets you run 100 tasks per month, for $19.99 per month you can run up to 750 tasks per month, for $49 per month you can run up to 2000 tasks per month, for $299 per month you can run up to 50 000 tasks per month and for $599 per month can run up to 100 000 tasks per month. 

If possible it’s highly recommended to use apps that integrate without the need to use an app like Zapier. If you do however have recurring tasks that can be automated using an app like Zapier, then this solution can save you hours of time and leverage your productivity. 

Getting Started

Get started with Zapier by signing up for your account using the link below. If you’d like to see a quick start video tutorial, then leave a comment at the bottom of this post. 

19. Screenflow — Screencast Video Recording & Editing

If creating screencast videos is part of your business or if you need to do basic video editing, then my preferred and recommend app for MacOS is Screenflow. A similar app for PC would be Camtasia.

Screenflow is a powerful and easy to use app that I’ve used for years. In order to use this app you will need to download it and install it on your Mac. It makes it easy to create screencast videos and edit those videos. A screencast video is a recording of your computer screen, which is perfect for recording tutorials, lessons and presentations. 

Screenflow also gives you the ability of recording the video from your webcam, the audio from a selected microphone (this can be your built in microphone or an external microphone), the audio from your computer (i.e. sounds that your computer plays through it’s speakers), as well as the screens of iOS devices like an iPhone or iPad. 

After creating your screen recording, you can edit it within the same app, add overlays, transitions, call outs, etc. and then export your final video to upload it your preferred video hosting platform.

Screenflow does offer a free trial that you can download. There is no time limitation, but the videos that you’ll export will be watermarked. In order to remove the watermark you will need to purchase a Screenflow license for $129. 

Screenflow is one of those apps that I’ve used for years and without thinking about it, I purchase the upgrade as soon as it comes out, because the value I get out of this app well worth the investment. It simplifies my workflow and makes creating and editing videos simple and efficient.

Getting Started

Get started with Screenflow by signing up for your account using the link below. If you’d like to see a quick start video tutorial, then leave a comment at the bottom of this post. 

20. Geru — Funnel Mapping & Planning

If planning and mapping out email and sales funnels is part of your digital marketing efforts, then you should definitely check out Geru. Geru is my preferred and recommended web app for mapping out and planning online funnels.

Geru is not an app that lets you create landing pages and email opt ins, but rather an app that you use to plan, map out and simulate the performance of a funnel that you are thinking of creating.

Geru offers a selection of pre-built templates that you can draw inspiration from or you can create a new funnel from a black page. The drag and drop interface lets you connect entry points (Organic Traffic, Paid Traffic, Email Traffic & Direct Traffic) to landing pages, opt in pages and sales pages. You can also add email sequences and retargeting campaigns into your map where needed.

One of the best features of Geru is the funnel simulation. While creating your funnel map you can define the prices of products that you offer, you can define the estimated amount of traffic that you’ll be sending into the entry points, and you can define the estimated conversation rates for each page, which includes opt in conversation rates, email click through rates and sales page purchase rates. After filling in all your estimates, you can simulate the funnel and it will give you an estimate of the revenue that will be generated. By using this feature you can experiment with different ideas and options to see how certain changes will affect the revenue outcome.

It’s highly recommended to map out and plan your funnel accurately before you get to work setting it up. Having a clear plan to follow will make the setup process quicker and simpler.

Getting Started

Get started with Geru by signing up for your account using the link below. If you’d like to see a quick start video tutorial, then leave a comment at the bottom of this post. 

21. iDrive Cloud Backup — Backup Solution

iDrive is my tried, trusted and recommenced cloud backup solution. This app runs automated backups into the cloud and lets me backup the contents of my Mac, as well as the content of external hard drives. 

I use Dropbox for file sharing and collaboration, but Dropbox is not a true backup solution. iDrive on the other hand is a single solution that lets you protect all of your PCs, Macs, iPhones, iPads and Android devices and back them up into a single account!

Don’t underestimate the importance of backups. You hope to never need them, but when you do, then you’ll be glad you’ve got them. Protect yourself against data loss and ransomware, by backing up with iDrive.

Getting Started

Get started with iDrive by signing up for your account using the link below. If you’d like to see a quick start video tutorial, then leave a comment at the bottom of this post. 

22. Harvest — Invoicing & Time Tracking

Harvest is one of the web apps that I’ve been using the longest — I’ve been a paying customer since 2011 and have never looked at any other options. 

Harvest simplifies and streamlines the process of creating estimates, sending out invoices and getting clients to pay invoice on time. Harvest offers integrations with Stripe and PayPal, which makes it simple for clients to click a button and pay an invoice online. 

Another great feature that I regularly use, is the invoice reminder emails. If an invoice is showing up as overdue, Harvest makes it easy to send a reminder to your clients in a few simple clicks.

Getting Started

Get started with Harvest by signing up for your account using the link below. If you’d like to see a quick start video tutorial, then leave a comment at the bottom of this post. 

23. Google Sheets — Planning & Projecting

Google Sheets is my preferred and recommend spreadsheet cloud solution. It’s simple to create a new document, plan, project and organize your data, collaborate and share your final creation with your team, client or the world. 

I use Google Sheets for a wide selection of projects including financial projecting and reporting, KPI tracking and project planning. 

If you have a Google account, then you have access to the suite of Google Apps including Google Sheets. 

Getting Started

Get started with Google Sheets by signing up or accessing your account using the link below. If you’d like to see a quick start video tutorial, then leave a comment at the bottom of this post. 

24. Final Cut Pro — Video Editing on Mac

If video is a big part of your work and your on a Mac, then look no further than Final Cut Pro as a professional video editing application.

Way back I started editing videos on Microsoft Movie Maker, then I moved on to iMovie and then I switched to Screenflow (which I still use — see point 19 above).

I recently decided to download the Final Cut Pro Trial a give it a try. From struggling to edit 4K footage in Screenflow, my experience of editing 4K footage in Final Cut Pro was an absolute dream. I quickly learned the basic shortcuts and before I knew it, an edit that I had spent hours on in Screenflow was done and dusted in less than an hour in Final Cut Pro (FCP). Not to mention various other great features that come with FCP.

If you do a lot of video editing and you’re on a Mac, then I highly recommend checking out Final Cut Pro. I’ve been kicking myself for not having switched sooner. 

Getting Started

Get started with Final Cut Pro by buying this app using the link below. If you’d like to see a quick start video tutorial, then leave a comment at the bottom of this post. 

25. Book Like A Boss — Calendar Scheduling 

Scheduling meetings can be a time-consuming task if back and forth communication is required. If you regularly schedule meetings or calls with customers or prospects, then using a scheduling app is a great solution. 

Book Like A Boss (BLAB) is the scheduling app that I use and recommend. It lets you connect multiple calendars, set your availability and create unique appointments that you’d like to let users schedule with you via the app. 

Lets say you want to let prospects schedule a 45min discovery call either on Tuesday or Wednesday and you want to let active customers book 90min strategy sessions Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. No problem … BLAB lets you easily create different bookings where each booking will have its own unique link or you can embed each booking on a unique page on your website. 

One of my favourite BLAB features is the Zoom integration, which automatically schedules a Zoom call inside your Zoom account and adds the Zoom link into the calendar event that gets added into your calendar and the calendar of the person scheduling the call.  

BLAB has recently also expanded their functionality to include integrated payment for those wanting to sell and accept payment for appointments or consultations via their platform, as well as group bookings for those needing to schedule group calls with multiple meeting attendees. 

This is one of those apps that can safe you or your personal assistant hours of time and many back and forth emails. 

Getting Started

Get started with Book Like A Boos by creating your account using the link below. If you’d like to see a quick start video tutorial, then leave a comment at the bottom of this post. 

26. PayPal — Accepting Online Payments In All Major Currencies

PayPal has been around since 1998 and is almost as old as the Internet itself. PayPal is a tried and trusted online payment merchant that lets you send and receive funds securely online. In 2002 PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion, which made it the primary payment method for the eBay platform.

PayPal is still going strong and is still a frequently used payment option online. I’ve been using it for over 12 years and it’s a platform that has been instrumental in letting me make online purchase and receive payments online.

PayPal lets you accept payments in all major currencies and you can easily exchange funds from one currency to another within your PayPal account. Here is a videos tutorial showing how this is done. 

One major benefit of using PayPal is that it’s a known and trusted online payment merchant. Not everyone online uses PayPal, but by letting customers pay you using this option, will simplify the checkout process more many potential customers. 

You can easily integrate PayPal with numerous eCommerce solutions including WooCommerce. I’ve been using PayPal together with Harvestapp to let customers pay invoices, which generally works really well.

You can also embed PayPal buttons straight onto your website, which lets you accept payments. 

Getting Started

Get started with PayPal by creating or accessing your account using the link below. If you’d like to see a quick start video tutorial, then leave a comment at the bottom of this post. 

26. PayFast — Accepting Online Payments in South Africa

PayFast is similar to PayPal, but focused on the South African market. This platform lets you accept online payment and credit card payments. There is no setup fee or monthly fee, but instead you get charged a percentage of each transaction.

PayFast integrates with eCommerce solutions including WooCommerce and you can cash out fund to all major South African bank accounts.

Getting Started

Get started with PayFast by signing up for your account using the link below. If you’d like to see a quick start video tutorial, then leave a comment at the bottom of this post. 

27. Google Analytics — Track Website Traffic Metrics

Google Analytics is the popular and free online website analytics software. Used by millions of websites, this app lets you track website traffic metrics. 

Google Analytics is very simple to setup, but it needs to be configured correctly to help you track your unique website objectives. If you need to collect data to understand the story behind your website traffic, then Google Analytics is a great solution.

Getting Started

Get started with Google Analytics by signing up or accessing your account using the link below. If you’d like to see a quick start video tutorial, then leave a comment at the bottom of this post. 

In Summary

The world of digital marketing apps, services and platforms keeps changing at an accelerating pace, so it’s important to stay on top of the best solutions to make up your digital marketing stack.The vast majority of recommendations that I’ve mentioned on this page have been around for quite some time and are both reliable, effective, affordable and well maintained.I will keep updating this post regularly as I find new and better solutions and as I create and publish more quick start video tutorials, so make sure to subscribe to my newsletter below to stay informed.If you have any questions, leave a comment below and I’ll do my best to help.

__CONFIG_group_edit__{}__CONFIG_group_edit____CONFIG_local_colors__{“colors”:{“635a9″:”Accent Color”,”cd03b”:”Border”},”gradients”:{}}__CONFIG_local_colors____CONFIG_group_edit__{“jusikoti”:{“name”:”Quote”,”singular”:”– Text %s”},”jusikwfb”:{“name”:”Quotation Marks”,”singular”:”– Image %s”},”jusil3f2″:{“name”:”Quote Box”,”singular”:”– Content Box %s”},”jusilagm”:{“name”:”Quote Block”,”singular”:”– Content Box %s”}}__CONFIG_group_edit____CONFIG_local_colors__{“colors”:{“5815c”:”Border”,”ab96e”:”Accent Colour”},”gradients”:{}}__CONFIG_local_colors__

Get the Posmay Media Newsletter

Weekly insights & the latest content straight to your inbox. 

[tcb-script src=”https://f.convertkit.com/ckjs/ck.5.js”][/tcb-script]

    SubscribePowered By ConvertKit

    Photo of author
    Digital Marketing Strategist, Vegetarian & Creator. Passionate about tech, ethical business, nature, travel, music & mindfulness. Growing my agency Posmay Media. » Let's connect via WhatsApp, Email, LinkedIn or X