Weekly Web Tools

If you're a WordPress user, you know how crucial it is to find a reliable and powerful page builder that doesn't require a long-term commitment. Well, look no further! Spectra Page Builder is here to revolutionize your website-building experience.In this episode, we'll dive deep into the features and benefits of Spectra, a lightweight and lightning-fast alternative to other popular page builders like Divi, Elementor, and Beaver Builder. I am going to be checking out this tool as well as a theme they have called AstraBut before we get into the nitty-gritty of Spectra, we'll touch on the renowned Astra theme, known for its speed, versatility, and customization options. I plan on switching to Astra myself and experimenting with its powerful tools in the future, although it may come with a slight learning curve.Speaking of other page builders, I'll also share my experience with Divi, a fantastic tool that offers a plethora of templates for quick website creation. Whether you prefer customizing existing templates or building from scratch, Divi has got you covered.However, website building with page builders can sometimes introduce a new language to navigate. I'll share my recent frustrations and the journey to find a tool that simplifies things without sacrificing functionality. Enter Spectra, a game-changer in the WordPress ecosystem.But what sets Spectra apart? It integrates seamlessly with the default WordPress editor and enhances the functionality of Gutenberg blocks.There is a monthly price as well as a lifetime pricing.Are you tempted to give Spectra a try?Before we wrap up, I want to express my gratitude to our amazing listeners. Your support keeps us going, and we can't wait to bring you more exciting web tool recommendations in future episodes. Stay tuned and remember to follow us on Apple, Google, Spotify, Amazon, and our website to never miss an episode.Value For ValueIf you found this episode valuable, please share it with a friend and if you feel so moved, consider buying me a coffee.Disclosure: Some of these links may result in me earning a commission.I never recommend anything without checking it out.

Enter VoomlyVoomly is perfect for content creators, digital marketers, video marketing agencies, and Ecommerce and online store builders.You can turn your video into a funnel and grab email addresses from viewers, and segment them by creating what I call a "pick your own ending" feature. It really had me going, "WHAT???" when I went to their site. The best part is you can use their 30-day trial to see if it's for you. If you like it plans start at free, or $9 and go on up.Check it out (aff)But Why Not Just Use YouTube? It's Free!While YouTube can be a powerful platform for marketing videos, it also comes with some disadvantages. Here are some of the drawbacks to consider:Ad saturation: YouTube is filled with advertisements, and viewers have become accustomed to skipping or ignoring them. Your marketing videos might get lost among numerous ads, making it challenging to stand out and capture the audience's attention.Competition: The platform is incredibly competitive, with millions of creators and businesses vying for viewers' attention. Getting your videos noticed and recommended by YouTube's algorithm can be difficult, especially for new or smaller channels.Content restrictions: YouTube has community guidelines and content policies that can limit what you can show or say in your marketing videos. If your content goes against these guidelines, it may be demonetized, removed, or even result in channel strikes or suspensions.Limited control over the viewing experience: Once viewers are on YouTube, they can easily be distracted by other content or recommended videos. This can reduce the chances of converting them into customers or driving them to your website.Audience targeting limitations: While YouTube offers some targeting options for ads, it may not be as precise as other advertising platforms. This could result in your marketing videos being shown to viewers who are not your target audience, leading to lower conversion rates.Brand association: Your marketing videos might appear alongside user-generated content, including videos that may not align with your brand values. This association might impact your brand perception negatively.Lack of ownership: Your content is hosted on YouTube's platform, and you have limited control over potential changes to the platform's algorithms or policies. A sudden algorithm change could significantly impact your video's visibility and reach.Data privacy concerns: As a marketer, you might not have access to as much user data as you would on your website or other owned platforms. This can limit your ability to understand your audience fully and retarget them effectively.Limited customization: While YouTube allows some customization for your channel, it may not provide the full branding experience that you could achieve on your website or dedicated landing pages.Using Voomly you end up with insights about your potential client that you can't with other video tools. Take it for a ride and let me know what you find out. I'm definitely checking it out.

You are on a tight budget, so you use YouTube for your video. However, now your viewers are subjected to ads, recommendations, the title at the top, and the YouTube logo.Just when you want them to take action, they get distracted and go someplace else. This is where Killer Player comes into play.It lets you remove all of those items and put your video into one of their five premade themes, AND with unlimited colors, you can have it fit your brand.Best of all, it's budget-friendly where you can purchase Killer Player ONE TIME and have LIFETIME access to future updates.The software has been around since 2015, so you know you're not going to get hosed when YouTube changes something.Check it out at https://supportthisshow.com/videokiller (aff)

I discovered Product Lift on App Sumo and thought, "Yes, FINALLY an affordable roadmap."This is a great tool for harvesting feedback. You can get it from customers, teams, stakeholders, or in my case, a podcast audience.It makes it so easy to get feedback but also build roadmaps, publish changelogs, vote and discuss, and more.There is a free version on their site, but I recommend (while it is available) purchasing it on App Sumo. Their regular price is $48/month, and you can buy it for $49 FOR LIFE.Here is my affiliate linkCheck out this video from the founder

If you're using bit.ly and sharing those publicly, you're not doing your brand any favors. Today I introduce you to Switchy. It makes it super easy to track your links (in and out) as well as makes QR codes, and Smart Pages (think Linktree) while enabling you to place pixels, and more.As I record this, you can get Switchy on App Sumo for a one-time purchase of $39. The starting price on their website is $47/month so it's a steal.I love that you can tie a domain to it, and even the core domain can be redirected. See, www.supportthisshow.com will go to my buy me a coffee page whereas www.supportthisshow.com/switchy goes to either the App Summo deal (if it's still there - an affiliate link) or their website.I recently discovered you can use it as a Linktree alternative and make what they call "Smart Pages" Check out a casual video I did on this for the member of the School of Podcasting. WATCH VIDEOIt also allows you to:Place a pixelDo A/B Split testingGeographic splitsExpiring linksUse a chrome extension to make linksI'm thinking it will soon do your laundry.Check it out at www.supportthisshow.com/switchyTOPICS01:42 What's so great about this tool? 04:13 You can also add a redirection based on location.06:02 How to make a direct link to your website.07:18 You can get it for $39 a month or a lifetime deal.08:56 You don't really need support because they have a great knowledge base.Mentioned In This EpisodeSwitchyTidy CalAcuity SchedulingPower of Podcasting Smart PageSchool of Podcasting

There's no doubt about it, email marketing is still one of the most effective ways to reach your target audience. But if you're a solopreneur, you might be wondering how you can get started with email marketing without spending a lot of time or money.Enter MailerLite. This powerful email marketing tool is designed specifically for small businesses and solopreneurs. It's easy to use and very affordable, making it the perfect solution for anyone just getting started with email marketing.With MailerLite, you can create beautiful newsletters, automated emails, and targeted campaigns that will engage your subscribers and help you achieve your business goals.My favorite option is I'm sending out a survey where my audience can click on what they want to see in their email and when I create the email, I can say, "Only show this section to people who like this."You can see the form herePricing Email Marketing ToolsI had tried Sendfox, and it worked, but I had to have support help me if I wanted to clean up my list (they have to do it)I tried to get them all on the same playing field (3000 subscriber list)Convertkit is $42/month for 3000 subscribers .014/per subscriberAweber was $30 for 2500 subscribers .012/subscriberMailchimp is $34/month for 3000 subscribers or .011/subscriberMailerlite is $25/month for 2500 subscribers or .006/per subscriberMailerlite is serious about delivery as well. You have to apply and be used to use it.Here is a demo of my using the dynamic tool.So if you're ready to take your email marketing to the next level, start using MailerLite today!In full disclosure, I am an affiliate, but you can see where I am putting my money where my mouth is. :)

Making your company stand out does not mean you need to write your customer's name in the sky. Sometimes it's just doing the little things that nobody else is doing. Mentioned in this episode: LoomSchool of PodcastingThe Low Bar of Customer ServiceFor my first job out of college, I was a copier repairman. And then later, I got into customer service, I would actually go out, set up the copy machine, and teach them how to run it. And I was amazed at how low the bar was for amazing customer service, I would ask somebody, Hey, would you like me to kind of check back with you in six weeks? And they'd be like, "Yeah, that'd be great." I would ask, "What's a good time?" We would end up agreeing on Wednesday morning at 10 AM on a Wednesday six weeks from now. When I would call back when I said I would the customer would LOSE THEIR MIND. Really, that's where the bar is? I want to talk about a video tool I found. But the first thing I want to talk about is, when you are looking at any tool, sometimes we kind of get a little crazy by looking at all the features, and all the things that can do. And one example that for me didn't work was vid yard. And it was this kind of YouTube-looking thing. But you could see how far people had watched. And at the end, you could have it redirect to a website where you wanted them to go in to make a long story short, I found their interface beyond confusing, I actually ended up doing the coding. And if you are new to the show, I kind of know-how to code but I try to avoid it at all, like my audience doesn't like to code. So I don't want to to I have to type in a bunch of JavaScript. And it was crazy. It was nuts. But I bought a year's worth of this expensive tool. And for me, it just didn't work. And it dawned on me that all these features that that particular service had, I was never going to use. So I found a really cool tool if you want to stand out with your clients. And I'm here to tell you, you're going to hear people say things like, I can't believe you made me a video. And it's so inexpensive, and it's so easy to use. LOOMThe tool I want to tell you about to get to the point is loom. It's $8 a month. And I went over and looked at their feature set, the thing I love about it is this, you can do a call to action. So when somebody clicks play, you can have a little button at the top that says Click here for more information, or click here to try it for free or whatever. And if you go to web tools, radio.com. And look at episode six, you will see or you'll see in your show notes, all the link to a video that I made in loom. And it's amazing. And at the end, people can click on that, which of course, you could put in some sort of trackable clicking device, you can actually edit the video a little bit. I had one where I kind of started off and then botched it and then just restarted without hitting stop. And I was able to go in and trim the video I'm seeing on their website, they say you can actually have filler word removal. I did not know that. And custom branding. And if you're using this with a team, they have a huge amount of tools that you can use with this. And it's absolutely amazing. HOW I USE ITSo what I love about this is somebody will sign up at the School of podcasting. And I will get the notification that hey, you have a new student, I will go over I will get their name, I will get their email and I will make them a loom. This also works on your phone, by the way. So if you're out and about, like I can't get back to my computer, you can just do it right on your phone. And I'm here to tell you, even if it's just to say, Hey, it's Dave, I see you signed up at the School of podcasting. I just want to say thanks so much for signing up. Please let me know where you are in the podcasting process. Whether you're starting if you have an idea or whatever, blah, blah, blah, thanks so much. So that took what 20 seconds, and you hit it and you hit send. And it's there and you can go in and see how it's not quite as cool as some of the other ones like I can't see how far they watch but I can be notified when they watch my video.So think about this. I send a video. "Hey, Diane, thanks so much for this and that yeah yada, yada, here's some information. If you need more information, let me know. I know you're close to ordering something." And then you see that Diane has watched your video, you can actually call Diane on this thing called the phone (remember that?) And say, "Hey, Diane is just Dave checking in. Just wanted to see if you had any questions or if you got my video yet. And she will say of course Oh, actually, I just watched it and you're like, Oh, cool. Any questions. It's $8. And so it's the little things that we can do that make people just lose their minds. Because nobody else is doing this yet. I want to be transparent here. loom just added an affiliate program. So you will see that if you go to your description if you're in an app, click on that video you will see my call to action. It'll say something like check out loom and when you do, you'll be using my affiliate link to go order loom. It's a really great tool. There are all sorts of different uses that you could use for this. But for me, it's the best eight bucks I spend every single month. Check out the Loom Video.

The title of your podcast episode or the title of your blog is "Grandma's China" important and should be seen as a HUGE opportunity to grow - and yet I see people write titles like this:Web Tools Radio - Episode FIVE. ARRRGGGHHH!!!! You are BLOWING it. Headline Studio Pro Makes It EasyHeadline Studio pro makes it so easy to create headlines for your blog and podcast that are data-driven and help you make headlines you KNOW will bring more traffic. It can help you find great keywords that are popular but yet have lower competition. As I write this I got a Black Friday deal at $99/yr for 10 headlines a month. I love that it not only helps you write better headlines, but it TEACHES YOU WHY. This way you can write better headlines in the future. Here is a video I did (a quick 2-minute overview).Check it out at https://supportthisshow.com/headlinestudio

Today Dave shares a great alternative to Freshbooks, and Marcus has some great plugins to help you pimp out Elementor *Sponsor: School of Podcasting* ------------------------ *Mentioned In This Show* ------------------------ And.co - Manage Your Business Better *And.co* ( https://app.and.co/signup?ref=dave-5c031 ) Animentor – Lottie & Bodymovin for Elementor https://wordpress.org/plugins/animentor-lottie-bodymovin-elementor/ Charts and Graphs for Elementor https://wordpress.org/plugins/charts-and-graphs-for-elementor/ Flexible Elementor Panel https://wordpress.org/plugins/flexible-elementor-panel/ Don't have Elementor? Check out *HERE* ( https://supportthisshow.com/elementor ) ------------ *Your Hosts* ------------ Find Marcus Couch at www.marcuscouch.com ( http://www.marcuscouch.com/ ) Find Dave Jackson at www.schoolofpodcasting.com ( https://www.schoolofpodcasting.com/ )

Many of us know typeform for their cool interactive forms. They are they team behind Video Ask. This tool makes it easy to get written, audio, or video testimonials. *Check out this testimonial* ( https://www.videoask.com/a1lu4szcon3354oybput43xlu8011atpnqhgnnxf ) from Shane Whaley from tourpreneur.com *The Free "Start" Plan Provides:* 20 mins of video or audio processing per month VideoAsk branded All core features Voice-text transcription & captions Zapier integration *The $30/month "Grow" plan provides:* 100 mins of video or audio processing per month Partially Videoask branded Conditional Logic Data export Redirect to URL Net Promoter Score Custom variables (hidden fields) Respondent tracking Video length control APIs & Webhooks *The $50/month "Brand" Plan Provides:* Everything in GROW, plus: 200 mins of video or audio processing per month Add your own brand/s Domain white labeling Priority support There are yearly prices for yearly payments. For more information see supportthisshow.com/videoask ( http://supportthisshow.com/videoask ) --------------------------- Marcus Couch's Plugin Picks --------------------------- Customer Reviews for WooCommerce -helps you get more sales with social proof. Free ( https://wordpress.org/plugins/customer-reviews-woocommerce/#description ) and Pro plans ( https://supportthisshow.com/cusrev ). Disable Lazy Load ( https://wordpress.org/plugins/disable-lazy-load/ ) - Simple plugin to disable lazy-loading images feature in WordPress 5.5. WP Visualize ( https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-visualize/ ) - lets customers visualize your themselves with your products! Check our Marcus at www.marcuscouch.com ( http://www.marcuscouch.com ) --------------------------------------- Subscribe to the Show and Tell a Friend --------------------------------------- The website is webtoolsradio.com ( http://www.webtoolsradio.com )

Weekly Web Tools ran from 2007 to 2017, and after letting the show take a nap for three years, I'm itching to occasionally talk about some cool stuff on the internet. Well after letting the show take a nap for three years, I'm going to being it back on a more regular basis (still won't be weekly). So if you see the artwork change in your favorite podcasting app, it's not a mistake. We got a new coat of paint, some new music, and after we wrap up some things on the website, we'll be back. Currently we are using *PodcastPage* ( http://www.schoolofpodcasting.com/podcastpage ) to manage the podcast website.

I've been using Convertkit, but I have enough subscribers that it is now costing my $50 a month. I heard about Send Fox at App Sumo.  This is a new system but is part of App Sumo (not just something they are promoting). The price as I record this is $49 for lifetime access up to 5000 subscribers. You can upgrade for $50 to get another 5000 subscribers. At the $150 you are up to 15,000 subscribers and the branding for send fox is diminished.  So I purchased the package.  First Impressions It is super easy to use, and you can make your own great-looking landing pages. You can make some pretty boring looking forms. The automation makes it easy to deliver lead magnets. They do integrate with Zapier, but I found it frustrating that as of now (10/2019) when using Zapier I can specify which email list to add the person to in Send Fox.  Going In You Know... I knew this was a newish company. I knew they didn't integrate with any plugins, etc at this point (they are working on that). They do (naturally) integrate with Sumo king (the pop-up tool, etc).  Going Forward Because I have had some nice forms on my website I'm not canceling my Convertkit yet. The minute they integrate with my tools I will ditch convertkit. Until then I just manually export and import into Send Fox and send all my emails from there.  If you are brand new to email lists, this might be a perfect fit that will have you set for a very long time.  MORE INFORMATION For more information check out Send Fox This is episode 365 of Weekly Web Tools  

I keep seeing these widgets that show that "so and so just purchased this products X amount of time ago." Provely.io is a new competitor and has an opening sales for as little as $8/month while their grand opening sale is going on. https://useproof.com/ appears to have more features, but it's $29 a month and has a limit to the number of visitors http/www.provely.io shows when people purchase, a few less features, and you can get it during their launch for $17/month ($8/month if you choose yearly). This also enables you to simulate purchases to get the ball rolling.

My Favorite Tools From 10 Years Social Warfare Plugin - The best tool for sharing things. I love that I can specify the tweet text and the image for Facebook, Pinterest, etc. This is once I don't wince when the subscription payment comes through Convertkit - I like MailChimp, Aweber, but I switched to Convertkit last year, and I love the marketing tools that I can use and the ability to make my own landing/sales pages. Siteground Web Hosting - 10 Years ago I would've sung the praises of Hostgator, and I thought Bluehost was OK. I do not recommend them at all, and I like Siteground. Their support is so much better. I also love Godaddy support, so I created coolerwebsites.com which is my GoDaddy reseller account Divi Theme (Elegant Themes) - The most flexible WordPress theme I've used and still fairly easy to use (there is a bit of a learning curve, and you probably won't use all of its features). I DO NOT recommend Appendpipity themes. They were awesome, but from what I can tell, the lights are on but nobody is home. I am interested in checking out Thrive Themes, and Themify (very divi like) Speaking of Websites and Wordpress Management, I LOVE ManageWP and recommend it to everyone who has a WordPress site. Bonjoro Is a cool Video Email service that pays for itself every month I have someone share how cool it was that I sent them a personalized video Kit.com is a great way to bundle Amazon products. I tried Fresh Store Builder and it was OK. My favorite is EasyAzon for Amazon Tools. ( I use this on bestpodcastinggear.com/shop ) Acuity Scheduling is the best tool for Scheduling Appointments. I love that it works with Freshbooks so I can have people book consulting time, get paid upfront and have an invoice in my billing system. For Membership Websites, if you are using Wordpress I loved Digital Access Pass. If you want your membership site separate from Wordpress I love Thinkific. In regards to project management, I love todosit.com For automated Tweeting, I like Social Jukebox If I was creating an Affiliate Program, I would use iDev Affiliate For Chat on a website, I love https://www.tawk.to/ Nimble is my favorite contact management Tool Optin Monster continues to reign as the king of Pop-Ups and Opt-ins Freshdesk is a GREAT Support tool if you want a ticketing/FAQ all in one My Typos were decreased by using The World's Best Grammar Checker  which is Grammarly For Webinars I use Zoom.us My favorite Affiliate Network (their new interface is AWESOME) is shareasale.com The Last Episode of This Version of Weekly Web Tools On July 28th, 2007 I started Weekly Web Tools as I was doing web design using Dreamweaver and I just started using Wordpress. I was my target audience. I was a person who wanted their websites to Get more traffic Convert When people arrive Look Good doing it Communicate better with our audience I use to run into tools all the time, there were new things happening on a regular basis, and I could find great tools from companies (not marketers) and creating the podcast was pretty easy. Fast forward 10 years later and instead of companies, tools are being launched by marketers who often would release a tool for a small period of time, and either pull the tool, go out of business, offer no support, raise their price, and in the end it was hard to find solid tools that I could recommend to you and be able to sleep at night. My last episode was the straw that broke the camel's back. I found what appeared to be a cool tool, only to find to "Companies" who appeared to have stolen the code from each other, and one didn't work (its has since been fixed). So I spent the better part of two hours trying to figure out if I liked the tool. To put it into a single question, after 10 years, I think I've found all the tools that I like, and I don't see a lot of creativity to make new tools that grab my attention. I always thought I would get more input from the audience on what tools they used, and I did from certain people, but all in all, it was a very, very low percentage. Plans For The Future I don't plan on releasing any new episodes for the rest of 2017 unless something crosses my path. I plan on rebranding the podcast to be called "Small Business Tools" and it will be moved to a "when I have something to say" schedule. I'm also shutting down the Patreon account. I could switch to a patron account, where I am paid when I put out an episode but I've decided just to close it down. Thanks to My Patrons Josh Rivers from CreativeStudio.academy Ileane Smith from www.ileanesmith.com Scott Johnson from Computer Tutor Podcast

I found proof software, which is a script that puts a notification at the bottom of your screen showing you that someone signed up for your product and how long ago. The idea is "Everybody's doing it" so there is a fear of missing out tactic. The weird thing is their plans start at $29/month, and if you go through your 1000 unique visitors they automatically upgrade you to the next plan that is $79/month (you do get notified that you're over quota, and I'm not sure if you can shut off the service completely). See https://useproof.com/pricing   FOMO? Fomo is a product that looks exactly the same except they don't charge on the unique visitors, but how many times the notification is shown (which to me sounded like a better deal). Except there is an issue, you can't order it (at least not no 9/28/17) See https://www.usefomo.com/pricing There is a weird discussion on the history of these programs at https://www.producthunt.com/posts/notif Become a Weekly Web Tools Supporter Keep the lights on here at weekly web tools by going to www.weeklywebtools.com/support and become a supporter to receive additional tools

I found a great plugin for $29 that is a super powerful ad rotation system, but it also will help you design the artwork. So you have all the things you need in one place.  You can sell ads based on Pay per click Pay per view Pay per time Group ads into a group and put them anywhere on your site Trigger when a where an ad shows up.  FREE STUFF This month at If you go to Themeforest.net  you will see in the middle of the page they give away a free Wordpress theme, free music, free Adobe templates, free 3d art and more. No shenanigans. They give away one free item a month

I came across a couple of companies that if you're constantly looking for royalty free items without breaking the bank, you might want to check out. GraphicStock Graphicstock was not a concert in the 70's for graphic artists. It's a website with 380,00 images that you can get access to for $99 a year (kind of). You can download as many images as you want and those are yours forever. There are photos, illustrations, and vectors. You can sign up for a 7 Day free trial and take as many images as you want to. Check it out at graphicstock.com VideoBlocks With this site, you have access to 115,00 studio quality HD Clips. There are great looking stock videos, motion backgrounds and After Effects Templates. The price of membership is $149/year. Their website is videoblocks.com Here again, they offer a 7-day trial. AudioBlocks I love this site. Their sounds sound great. There isn't any cheesy music that was created on a Casio keyboard 9 years ago. They have music, sound effects, and loops. The interesting thing is most places will put some sort of beep or branding when you listen to their samples, and they don't. Their price is $99/year for unlimited downloads of any of their 100,000 tracks. Here again, they offer a free 7-day trial to download as many as you want that you can keep. See audioblocks.com Envato Elements This is an impressive amount of photos, graphics, icons, and templates for $29/month Check it out at https://elements.envato.com/ Discourse: For Those Who Want a Cool Group Without Using Facebook. Discourse is a from-scratch reboot, an attempt to reimagine what a modern Internet discussion platform should be today, in a world of ubiquitous smartphones, tablets, Facebook, and Twitter. If you wanted to create a community and didn't want to use a Facebook group, this would be something would want to look at. Don't get shocked when you see the $100/month price tag. That is if you choose to have them host it for you. It's open source, and you can use the software for free - you just have to install it.  https://www.discourse.org/ Support the Show Become a Patron! see www.weeklywebtools.com/support

Stencil  is a cool website that focuses on making social image FAST. They have an extension for Chrome and Firefox. Once you add the extension to your browser, you can highlight a quote on any website. Click on the Stencil icon extension on the top right of your screen to add to the Stencil canvas to create an image. The quote pops into the canvas! They are integrated with buffer, so you can schedule an image (again the focus on fast, and convenient). You can create up to 10 images for free per month. The first paid plan is only $9 a month and for that, you can create  50 images per month from over 1 million images, 200K icons, 575 templates, and you can upload your own fonts. You can even create logos and watermarks. The Unlimited plan is only $18/month If you decide to go with the pro account ($9/month) and you're If you're at all unhappy with your PRO account within 7 days of upgrading, they will give you a full refund. I'm assuming that is the same for their unlimited plan as well.  Take it for a test drive at https://podclick.me/stencil Pushbullet  This is a cool tool software/app. That allows you to share text, links, images super fast. Check it out at www.pushbullet.com

I spoke about Bomb Bomb in a previous episode and recently found Loom. As the Bomb Bomb account, I use is $50/month, I wanted to see what I got for $0 with LoomBoth Bomb Bomb and Loom: Integrate with Gmail Can be sent via a link (as you end up on a page) Both integrate with other apps (but Bomb Bomb integrates more). Bomb Bomb Can: Do a video autoresponder Segment different recipients and send email You can customize the page that people are taken to watch the video. Can track if someone has not only opened your email, but you are notified when they click the video Loom Can: The page has a place where you can not only watch a video, but there is a chat box and a text box if you want to put links that you mention in the video. This might be good for teams. Conclusion: In the end, Bomb Bomb has more polish. They appear to have more features as if they've had a few years head start (they did). If you have it in the budget and would like a video autoresponder, check them out. If you just want video email and don't care that the first frame of your video is awful (and want to kick the tires on the idea) then check out Loom. In both cases, I've found video email gets great results. Weekly Web Tools Supporters had access to a behind the scenes video of Loom. See www.weeklywebtools.com/support

Wordfence is a plugin that helps stop people from hacking your site. Today I read you all the different things that it blocks.

I was looking for a tool to make a directory of websites. To make a long story short, they are very hard to find. Almost all directories are created to help you find some address so it can be a local business directory or real estate, etc. I wanted something to list websites at Podcasting Resources.com  Then I remembered I had purchased a theme a while ago from PremumPress called "Responsive Directory Theme" which I don't feel is available anymore. They too have niched their directories into coupons, dating sites, instead of a once size fits all. I will say the tutorials to get up to speed, and the ability to somewhat customize the look is good. If you're looking to make a directory listing that is not zip code related, good luck. The PremiumPress Themes are $80.  Web Directory 2.0 For Wordpress   There is one thing that makes it easy to find something you're looking for and that is to buy a product, and whatever you are looking for will jump out of the woodwork. This was the case with Web Directory 2.0. It is an all in one directory script, and for me, I like the looks of it as you can turn off the ability to submit a listing (as I just want my listings) you can charge (but I'm not ) for listing. The only thing that would be nice is a place to have advertisements, but I can always add an advertisement rotation plugin for that. The plugin is $34. Aparg SmartAd - WordPress Ad Management Plugin This Aparg Smart Add is sweet, you can create video ads, pop-up ads, adds that you can put in sidebars, you can have images, code, etc. The plugin is only $30, and if you are a person that is selling ads, you can limit their view and have them expire. It looks super flexible. It doesn't facilitate the sale of ads, but controls the view of the ads. For me, I'm not selling ads on my site, I would more than likely put affiliate products.

Facebook Messenger WordPress Plugin Based on Facebook Messenger, this plugin runs like an instant messaging system. After setup, which is normally less than 2 mins, the blue badge of Facebook Messenger and the button Message Us on Facebook will appear on your pages. Your customers find it convenient to ask about your products or services. This plugin is sure to help your business with time and cost saving, yet obtain a prompt reply to visitors. And what else, from those received messages, you will be able to build a rich customer base for online marketing and remarketing later on. Here is a quick video CLICK HERE for More Information. In the month of May 2017, you can download it for free Note an Evernote Fan? Check Out Simple Note Special thanks to Scott Johnson who produces the Computer Tutor podcast where he gives weekly computer tips at www.computertutorflorida.com if you ever need some work done on your computer, Scott can often fix your computer remotely.  If you found all the options of Evernote a little overwhelming, when all you want to do it sync some notes in the cloud, then you might want to check out Simple Note.  Another bonus of Simple Note is you can share a list, post some instructions, or publish your thoughts with other Simple Note users (like your family) Scott is using it for simple things like a grocery list that is shared with his family, as well as notes that come up during the day.  One key point about Simple Note: backups, syncing, sharing — it’s all completely free Become a Weekly Web Tools Supporter Thanks to everyone who helps pay for the podcast hosting, web hosting, email list, and all the other things that I use to create the podcast.  Go to www.weeklywebtools.com/support

I've used Covideo in the past, but I had to go into my Gmail when I used it and change some settings that set off all sorts of security warnings. Their answer was to send it through their website. In the end, I ended up not using it and eventually unsubscribed.    I tried creating videos in Camtasia and uploading them and sharing them on a Google Drive. That strategy was free, but it took forever. So the BIG thing that bomb bomb delivers on is speed.    Their smallest package allows you to send video emails to 2500 people (unlimited emails and videos). It does not give you the ability to auto responders (drip), or create landing pages.    The individual plus plan $69 a month ($49 if you purchase a year) allows you to create landing pages, and send auto responders. It also gives you email and phone support. The smaller package you just have access to their tutorials (which are very good).  Check it out at www.weeklywebtools.com/bombbomb Speed Up Videos For Free As I was watching the tutorials for Bomb Bomb at 2X, I was euphoric I had the Video Speed Controller extension. It works on any HTML player (including Netflix).    Clean up the Typos In the past, I've told you about Grammarly, but somehow I was not using it to its full potential. Now when I start an email message, a Facebook post, a forum post, etc. Grammarly is there to make sure I don't look like an idiot. As I type this now, i see that I have six issues in the above paragraphs that I will troubleshoot before publishing this. It's a great tool to stop those of us who are spelling challenged.  Thanks To Our Supporters Josh at www.creativestudio.academy Ileane at www.ileanesmith.com Scott at www.computertutorflorida.com

Today we look at a cool tool that is a combination between tweetdeck, and meet edgar (or social jukebox). It is super versatile. See video at  www.weeklywebtools.com/352 www.weeklywebtools.com/eclincher

Maybe you are a creative person, and you came up with a great product. The bad news is you're not a sales person, and you need some help with your marketing. Script Engage can help with this. Here is how it works. You enter your target audience (the avatar) and fill out a survey about your audience and what your product does. Script Engage has Copywriting Templates that then take the information you've entered, and created great Sales Copy that is going to convert. In watching the video, I like the idea. I don't buy into the "click a button and it's done theory." There was a tool I looked at previously called Script Doll. This is very similar, but the interface seems a little easier to use (not that Script Doll was hard) I think the bottom line with tools like this is they well take you further than you would on your own, and then you can add the special details that are specific to you and your product. Check out the video www.weeklywebtools.com/351 Keep Your Wordpress Websites Up To Date I let an old website die on the vine and it got hacked, which lead to more of my sites getting hacked. Here is what I learned. The site lock protection that Host Gator sells for $10 is good against "baby" issues, if you need a real person to clean your site, you are looking at $80/month per website. For the record Site lock's support was great, but I was not happy when I found out the service I bought was more reactive, than protective. I ended up using Sucuri who I've used in the past. Their support is good, and it is going to cost me around $200 a year.  It's a pricey lesson learned. So always keep your site up to date. I'm using manage wp for that, as I can login and update all my sites in one place. Also on my " do not use this anymore" list is bluehost. My sites are taking 10-15 seconds to load. When I get on their chat and wait 30 minutes, they are no help. I can barely do a post. I've heard alot of good things about Siteground as of late (and I have my Godaddy Reseleler at www.coolerwebsites.com) If you use this link, you can save 10% off Managewp.com Support the Show at www.weeklywebtools.com/support

Today I have two tools for GMAIL and they can save you some time and money. Canned Responses Do you have an email that you send over and over to different people. Now you can do that with Google Canned Responses.  Go to setting and then go to the labs tab and you will see where you can enable it. (Supporters have a video showing your how to set these up. Become a supporter today for as little as $2 a month) GMASS for Gmail  Send email campaigns from within GMAIL and get reports on how the campaign delivered. Technology in place to ensure you don't exceed GMAIL sending limits.  Built in follow tool allows you to get the most of your campaigns. Do a mail merge with Google Sheets . Check it out at www.weeklywebtools.com/gmass

Today we have an easy way to create support and educational videos and some tools for finding the best hashtags   Thanks to Mark Johanssen of podcastgeargroup.org for the tip on this. Tools mentioned today www.screemailer.com www.ritetag.com www.hashtagify.me 

Got a cool tool you use? SHARE IT 888-563-3228 Thanks to Daniel J Lewis of The Audacity to Podcast for sharing this tool. It's called Themifyflow which is from the Themify people who make premium themes and builders. Themiflow is more of a frame work, it's open source and powerful. Check out this video I'm Tired of Todd Gross Todd Gross is the new Nickleback. He was cool at first but over saturation is leading me to hate him. He seems to be THE GUY to promote every single marketing tools (and I understand, his job is to do voice over, and video work, but apparently he will promote anything - which I feel is bad for HIS brand). Today I play a clip from a video that is built on the backend of Facebook. Is sends automatic messages if you leave a comment. It even will switch up its messages if you leave two responses (cause people will never figure out that they are talking to a robot). My point is I know two companies now that have had tools that worked with Facebook (three if we count Soundcloud) and Facebook changes their backend on a regular basis and it breaks stuff. Support the Show Go to www.weeklywebtools.com/support and shop, donate, or become a Patron

Lead pages has now got into the email list game with DRIP its super powerful, comes with a clean drag and drop functionality (18 different triggers) so it so its kind of Convertkit on steroids. The weird thing is (apparently) you can't order month to month. There are no options on their website. You can only order annual packages. You can try it free for three weeks.  Easy Quiz Player - Make Lists Building Fun This is a great looking, powerful tool to create quizzes. These can be text, photos, videos, scales, and order questions. It looks great and professional. The best part if you can (with the pro plan) keep track of high scores and have tools to let the visitors brag about their score and invite their friends  Then you can later export the names and addresses. This could be a fund way to drive traffic and grow your list. I could see trying it for a month to see what happens Check it out at www.easyquizplayer.com Become a Weekly Web Tools Supporter Go to www.weeklywebtools.com/support and join for as low as $2 a month.  New Show on the Power of Podcasting Network: Alexa Cast If you've been thinking about getting an Amazon Echo or Dot you can talk to Alexa, check out the Alexcast at alexacast.com to help you get the most out of your Amazon Echo, Tap, or Dot.

Got a Tool? Call in 888-563-3228 Sometimes we come across a tool that makes you ask, "What's the catch?" This week is one of those. Sponsor: Golance.com Freelancers get paid as early as one day after job completion Employers see certifications, reviews and more to get the best candidates. Zero costs for joining, posting or applying for jobs. Get referral commissions Work. Hire. Live. goLance Around The World. www.golance.com Build Bundles of Amazon and Other Affiliates Products For me, I do the Best Podcasting Gear where I want to group products together. Now I can group items together, and provide a "buy all" button and put in my own personal description. You can then put this widget anywhere. here is an example I made in a few minutes.   https://kit.com/podcastcoach/solo-podcaster   Start Podcasting Today  www.schoolofpodcasting.com/start

Call in your Web Tool 888-563-3228 This episode is sponsored by Golance Work. Hire. Live. goLance Around The World. www.weeklywebtools.com/golance If you are a web designer and have been thinking about adding mobile apps as a service to your customers, then today we have a tool for your. Mobimatic Make Mobile Apps in Minutes You can build apps for iOs and Android and Web Apps. Build apps with a drag and drop interface and  point and click. Easily build apps for restaurants, stores, bars, Coaches, gyms, Marketers, Media Organizations, Schools Governments and Churches. Build and unlimited number of apps Add unlimited pages Contests Coupons Add your QR code, Your website blog Your Podcast Get analytics on the app and audio updates. Each app has its own unique dashboard. To make it super-easy to find and manage, each app you build and sell will have it’s own unique admin panel, enabling you to keep an eye on your overall operations with just one glance From this back office, you can easily edit and update apps, send push notifications and in-app messages, manage coupons and special offers, track your user base and easily view sales and app owners can have a personal at a glance view from this dashboard.  You can give your users access to this dashboard and charge them for the privilege… Or why not offer an extra service and manage it all for them…and charge them a monthly fee! (For hardly any extra work on your part!) Weekly Webinar Coaching Training Library of tutorials The entire back office is fully White Label*… meaning our name and logo will not be anywhere. Your customers will never know we exist. Leaving you looking the ultimate business professional that you are.  24/7 support and a 30 Day guarantee Check out this video More information about Mobimatic Divi 3.0 Allows You To Edit From the Front of Your WordPress Website I've been a big Divi fan, but the latest version of the popular theme allows you to edit your site from the front end, so no more switching back and forth check out this video

I've used Schedule Once. I switched to Appointlet because I wanted to charge people for my consulting calls. Appointlet was $30 a month. It was a fee I would put up with to avoid chasing down invoices. Then I heard about Acuity Scheduling. If you are a person that books their time, this is HANDS DOWN, as in no contest the best scheduling tool. Here is why. I can create multiple types of appointments (if I want to go there each with their own time constraints) It syncs with any calendar out there (both ways) I can customize my schedule page, and it embeds in everything (they even have a Wordpress plugin) I can create coupons and/or products to upsell. I can have a separate link for each appointment type. For me I have one link for consulting (which involves fees) and another for interviews (which are free) It integrates with a ton of stuff. For me, it creates a client, and an invoice in Freshbooks. It accepts a stripe and paypal (I'm using both). The best part is all of this is $10 a month. If I go $20 a month I get reminder emails and text message If you go to the $36/month they take off the " “Powered by Acuity” on scheduling page. In three words. I love it. There is also a free plan, and a free trial. Check it out at acuityscheduling.com Freshchat Simple Light Chat System I've been using tawk.io for a while as my chat system. It works. shows me what people are looking at, and I can load it on multiple websites. It also acts as an app on my computer. Recently the people who created Fresh desk ( a ticketing and support system I love) released Fresh chat. This is super simple, light and fluffy. You can edit the text and appearance of your chat box, specify what information you need before you join the chat. With freshchat they say "With contextual information available in Freshchat, you can make a decision to manually or automatically, and send targeted messages to the people who you think are interested in your product." Right now it's free, and while I like the interface and tools, I didn't see anything that inspired me to move off my current system, but I need to kick the tires a little harder to make sure I'm not missing anything. Check it out at freshchat.io

Check out the Demonstration of the Xmas Widget    Call in your favorite web tool at 888-563-3228   Support the show at www.weeklywebtools.com/support

Call in your Tools 888-563-3228 Hotjar Hotjar.com is one of the jaw droppign tools I've found in a while. If you want to know what is going on with your website, this takes ALL the guesswork out of it. You have heat maps, Recordings of your visitors (like I said, no guesswork) as well as suveys and polls.  The best part is you can try it out for free. Check it out at www.hotjar.com My Top Tweet Want to know what got the most tweets? Mytoptweets.com goes over the last 3200 tweets and gives you the results. Want to know what the top tweets of your competitor is? Yep, you can see that too. Check it out at www.mytoptweets.com 15% off Dedicated Wordpress Hosting Check out my new Godaddy Reseller account at www.coolerwebsites.com and use the coupon code weekly5 to get an additional 5% off our already low prices (plus a free domain with web hosting purchase) Thanks To Our Patrons Thanks to all of our patrons at weeklywebtools.com/support become patron and support the show and get access to additional tools

Call in your web tools at 888-563-3228   Full show notes at weeklywebtools.com/342

Dave explains how Zapier seems more "business oriented" see Zapier and ManageWP - Automation and Time Savings Both IFTTT and Zapier have free versions.  Dave uses Zapier To add customers from Appointlet to his Freshbooks Adds new students from Thinkific to Nimble Then adds a task to Nimble to check on the entry It will tweet out when a new episode is out from Weekly Web Tools For more information go to zapier.com Manage WP is Wordpress Automation That is Awesome Check it out at www.weeklywebtools.com/managewp Support The Show. Visit www.weeklywebtools.com/support

Freshsales.io is a free CRM tool. For me I wanted a tool that was a simple place to store my contact, and track tasks and this will do it and send me email reminders when a task is due. It also has a mobile app. They have an extensive knowledgebase, but for me, I want a video tutorial that I can play on 2X to blow through the video manual and get to work. I know why companies don't do this.    1. English may be language number two for them.  2. They have to update the videos when they update the software. For me, I found it frustrating. In all not a bad tool. I wil lstay with Nimble as it checks my social sites as well and does everything (maybe not territories) that freshsales.io does.  Support the show at www.weeklywebtools.com/support

Full show notes at weeklywebtools.com/339

If you are looking for an “Add to Calendar” button or a “Subscribe to Calendar” button or an API for on the fly event creation or an Event Manager for your website or newsletters, then look no further. AddEvent offers an easy, convenient way to create event buttons. It's easy to use and install. So if you want people to add events (Webinars ) to their calendar via your web, or social media, this is a cool tool. The cost is $4.80 when purchased for a year.  Check it out at addevent.com Special thanks to Daniel J Lewis of www.theaudacitytopodcast.com I'm looking to get into short codes more in Wordpress. What is your favorite Short codes plugin? Let me know 888-563-3228   Become a patron at www.weeklywebtools.com/support

Today I found a plugin that stops your wordpress site from looking like Wordpress without changing and file structure, etc It's called Hide WP. and it's $23   Did you know you can get free stuff at Conde canyon every month? Check it out   Support the show become a Patron

Today I'm talking about a membership platform called Thinkific. I heard about it via the Membership Guys who run the Membership academy (not to be confused by Marcus Couch Membership Coach ) . Here is my problem. I'm using Value Add On. I really like it. One of the reasons I purchased is was the price $37 a month. Their support is good. The bad news is you have to use JVZoo to accept paypal through them. JVZoo takes 5% in  addition to the paypal fees. This is not surprising as Thinkific does the same thing and they cost $49  If you want no transaction fees you have to upgrade to the $99 a month, which means you would have to sell over $1980 for that to make sense. So I plan on doing the $49 a month. So it sounds like a dead heat, but its no JVZoo does something I don't see anyone else doing and that is when you setup a product that is recurring, you have to put in the total number of payments. For example if you purchase a three month subscription to the school of podcasting it says on the checkout page "Includes 3 months of service. Future Payments: $483.00 will be billed every  3 months for 18 payments or until cancelled." But when someone sees they might make 18 payments of $483 they cold feet. This is a deal breaker.  So I've been trying out Thinkific for a few days, and here is what I like so far. I'm using their free service. It is super easy to make a course. I mean watch 20 minutes of videos and you are off to the races. I like that they have a built in affiliate program. They also have built in reminder emails for members. It integrates with all sorts of email, zappier, google analytics, etc.  You can sell individual courses or bundle them together. You can have one set fee, or a subscription.  The dripping feature is super easy, and choose what is protected and what is not is super easy. It works with Paypal, and Stripe which is awesome.  I love the student experience as when you get done with modules it takes you to the next, and always shows you where you are in the course. You can even put in quizzed and certificates if you want.  Here is what I don't like. When you upload a video, there is no text on the page. Just the video. There is no player speed, and I want to put links to the things I mentioned in the video. I'm also a little worried about how much you can customize the look of things, but I'm in the free version so when you upgrade you get more tools.  Their discussion board for each course is pretty ugly. No other way to put it. Functional yes. Pretty? No.  The key when dealing with a membership site or plugin is knowing the features to want for me it was. Work with paypal and stripe Make it easy to sign up and cancel (no need to email me) I want to be able to sell courses one by one, or bundled.  I wanted an easy to use affiliate program. (JVZoo makes people send messages to their phone to confirm them. I like the security, but giving a phone number to be an affiliate seems a bit over the top).  So for now I'm moving ahead with Thinkific. If it turns out that the JVZoo affiliate will still get credit if I use Stripe, then I may stay there. Like I said the problem with Value Add On has nothing to do with the platform (I actually like it alot) but it has to do with having to use JVZoo. Here is a quick video http://intelliplayer.com/watch/76ba31g62   For more information go to Thinkific.com, or Valueaddon.com   Call in your favorite tools and hear your voice on the podcast 888-563-3228

This is a quick tool to help you make lead magnets.    The trick is to wait for the pop up window that provides a one time fee pay model.