My Arsenal of Affiliate Tools (Arsenal 1)

Aloha!

Listed below are a few items out of my arsenal of tools that I use in my online career as an affiliate marketer. As my arsenal grows, I will create more posts to keep you updated.

Each item listed below is a tool that I use on a daily basis, and a tool that will help you make more money online. If you’re any type of affiliate marketer, you will be familiar with (or get familiar with) the items below and use them to your advantage.

- AWeber Email List Building ($19/month. FREE TRIAL!)

For me, this tool has yet to pay for itself, but I see the payoff coming. I’m building email lists both on this site, as well as many others, and it won’t be too long before the $20 bones a month ends up paying for itself in the click of a (send) button. If you’re broke, like I was and still sort of am (curse you big corporations and your 5-star legal counsel!) then feel free to sign up for the free trial run of the software. I probably did two free trials of AWeber, and then canceled prior to the renewal date before I felt like I could really afford the service. If you can’t afford it, well, I understand. But don’t be hatin’ on it, just cause it’s $20 a month. The service is worth it.

- Thesis Wordpress Theme (Dev. Edition $190. Get It Now.)

Thesis has been an invaluable theme in my Arsenal of affiliate tools. Let’s face it. Most new affiliates (probably you) start websites with Wordpress blogs. And they launch lots of them. I used to do this, and still do start new blogs every once in a while. Wordpress is the easiest CMS (content management system) in the world, it’s free, and it’s instantly deployable. Once you have installed Wordpress though, you need to find a theme that doesn’t look ridiculous. This used to be a pain for me. I would spend hours upon hours of browsing “FREE Wordpress Theme” websites, only to download them, install them, and be let down by underperforming, dirty-coded themes. Sound like you? Buy the Developer version of Thesis, and use it for all of your future blogs. It may seem basic, or boring in the beginning, but it’s easily customizable, and the search engines eat it up!

- Keyword Elite ($190. Get It Now.)

I won’t try to sell you on this tool, and don’t buy it if you can’t afford it, but I’ve found it to be pretty interesting and valuable. I could definitely see it paying off if I did more Search Engine Marketing with Adwords. Keyword Elite costs like $180 bucks (yeah, it’s pricy), but it’s a good tool to generate some ideas and do research on keywords, adwords, etc. Visit the sales page and check it out. Just don’t buy it if you can’t afford it.

- Google Analytics (100% Free. Start Using It.)

If you own a website, you need Google Analytics. Let me reemphasize the “need” part. Google Analytics will provide you with the most vital statistics and information that will help you optimize your site for maximum traffic. Find out who’s going to your site, what browser they’re using, how long they stay, what pages they access, and much more. Again, Google Analytics are 100% free, and they can be installed simply by uploading a file to your server to verify that you own the site. Priceless tool, all for free. Get Google Analytics.

- Google Webmaster Tools (100% Free. Start Using It.)

For more information on Google Webmaster tools, you can read a post I made earlier about the power of this free information source. Quickly, though, GWTools let you see what terms your site is ranking for, the clickthrough rate of your organic rankings, and tons more like monitoring your unreachable URL’s and unfound URL’s. This is another tool that you need to use if you want to make money from your website. Monitor your vitals with Google Webmaster Tools.

- Wordpress (100% Free. Start Using It.)

Wordpress is the easiest, most flexible, helpful, free, CMS (content management system) in the world. Everybody from noobs, to the pro’s use Wordpress to publish content online. Wordpress can be used as a blog, or as a website to promote your niche product. Learn more about Wordpress, and download it for free here.

- Max Blog Press Ninja Affiliate Link ($90. Get It Now)

Turn your ugly, long, jacked-up affiliate links into smooth, sexy, eye-friendly click-candy with MBP Ninja Affiliate Link maker. This tool is for Wordpress blogs only. If you don’t understand what the tool does, it lets you turn ugly links like this: http://www.blabla.com/affid:2345blabla/asdfiewla/234881864yourbankmakingoffer.php to this: http://www.blabla.com/yourbankmakingoffer. This increases conversions, makes it so people can’t steal your affiliate commission by swapping out their information, and makes your site a lot prettier to the search engines. Get MBP Ninja Affiliate Link Here. The Tool Costs like $90 bucks, but it’s worth it. I wrote a more extensive post about MBP Ninja Affiliate Link here.

- A Big White Board To Hang On Your Wall (6 X 4 Feet or so)

Yeah, that’s right. Get a white board mounted on your bedroom wall, and start writing down your notes, goals, and whatever else you feel like writing. The nieces and nephews will dig it (and annoy the heck out of you in the process), but it’s all good. The $200 you may spend on the board will pay for itself after you start writing down and acting on the amazing ideas that it lets you write on it. These bad boys are pretty hard to find, and super expensive to ship if you buy them online, but I found that mom and pop office supply stores tend to have them for decent deals.

- Google Alerts (100% Free. Start Using It.)

Have you ever wanted to be emailed any time somebody said anything about you? Say for instance, your name is “Jeremy Blake” and you want to be alerted any time the Google Bots run across the term “Jeremy Blake”. Well, you would simply go to alerts.google.com and fill out the form. Use your imagination to realize all of the things that this could help you out with. Start Using Google Alerts!

- Crazy Egg (Free Trial Version. Try It Out.)

Crazy Egg is an awesome analytical heat mapping tool. If you want detailed information on where your users are clicking on your website, and where they are coming from, then you may want to give Crazy Egg a Go. They have a free version that you can try out.

Let me know your thoughts on these tools. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Have a tool that I should add to my arsenal? Let me know!

Tagged as: Affiliate Tool Arsenal