mattgsilver

My ToolBox

People are always asking me, “what software are you using?”, “how did you do that?”, or “where did you get that?”.  Well, here you can find the answers.

My toolbox of software is constantly changing and evolving, there’s always something new out there, and I can’t profess to know it all.  But here you will find products and software that I use and endorse.  Now I won’t tell you it’s the “Best” or the cheapest.  I don’t have the time to try, compare and test everything and I won’t promise you that it’s the end all be all.  I have tried a number of programs, systems and software, and  I can tell you, if you don’t already know, that there’s a lot of CRAP out there.  I’m sure we’ve all wasted more than enough time and money on it all.  Lord knows, I unfortunately still do.  But that’s the price you pay when you’re always searching for the next great thing.

These are the things that I have found to work for me and my business.  Everyone is different, so you might say, “hey Matt, I think this or that is wayyy better.  Well it just might be.  It also might be that it has a lot of bells and whistles I don’t care about or need.  You gotta do what’s right for you.  I’m always open to your comments, feedback, and suggestions.  So please leave them!

Alright then.

Hosting:

• Hostgator.com – I think they’re one of the best for blogs and basic sites.  Unless you’re doing product launches, then you’ll want something more robust that can handle an onslaught of traffic.

Software:

• WordPress.org  – that’s what this blog created on.
• Magic List Bot – really killer software for adding a popup opt-in to ANY webpage you send people to.



If I had to actually keep track and remember all my passwords…. I’d go crazy.  This is a MUST for pc users – I hear 1password is almost as good for the mac.  But seriously, for managing all your passwords, filling forms and generating good passwords, this can’t be beat.



You can make just about any type of button in like 2 minutes – without a graphic design experience, without any software, without any skills.  Amazing.



Manage all of your affiliate links, cloak and redirect – and if an affiliate link changes or you want to send them somewhere else… piece of cake.



If you are doing any kind of video marketing, this is your tool.  This puppy will post to a ton of video sites, blogs and bookmarking sites.  They just added transcription services as well.  Great service.  I used tubemogel for a while as well.  It’s another great service, not as expensive, but not as robust either.






I know a lot of people use iContact and there’s a few more out there.  I started with Aweber, haven’t had any issues with Aweber, and continue to use Aweber.  Why fix something that ain’t broke?



I usually write and create my own content, but this has filled in a few gaps for me.

WordPress Plugins:

I use a ton of plugins on my sites.  These are what I use on this blog.  On my real estate blogs there’s even more (and some are top secret)
• Ad-minister (v. 0.6) by Henrik Melin, Kal Ström.
• Akismet (v. 2.3.0) by Automattic.
• All in One SEO Pack (v. 1.6.12.1) by Michael Torbert.
• cbnet Ping Optimizer (v. 2.3.3) by Chip Bennett.
• Datafeedr Random Ads V2 (v. 2.0) by Datafeedr.com.
• Downloads Manager (v. 1.0 rc-1) by Giulio Ganci.
• FeedWordPress (v. 2010.0623) by Charles Johnson.
• FLV Gallery (v. 1.4) by Russell Todd.
• Free Traffic Getting SEO PluginTM 2.0 (v. 2.0.3) by Jeff Johnson.
• Google Analyticator (v. 6.1.1) by Ronald Heft.
• Google XML Sitemaps (v. 3.2.4) by Arne Brachhold.
• Hello Dolly (v. 1.5.1) by Matt Mullenweg.
• JavaScript to Footer (v. 0.4) by Vladimir Prelovac.
• My Page Order (v. 3.0a) by Andrew Charlton.
• NextGEN Gallery (v. 1.5.5) by Alex Rabe.
• NextGEN ImageFlow (v. 1.3.1) by ShabuShabu Webdesign.
• Plugin Central (v. 2.4) by Vladimir Prelovac.
• Plugins list (v. 1.0) by Davide Benini.
• Post-Plugin Library (v. 2.6.2.1) by Rob Marsh, SJ.
• Pretty Link (v. 1.4.50) by Caseproof.
• Recent Comments (v. 2.6.2.1) by Rob Marsh, SJ.
• Recent Posts (v. 2.6.2.0) by Rob Marsh, SJ.
• Similar Posts (v. 2.6.2.0) by Rob Marsh, SJ.
• Simple CAPTCHA (v. 1.5.1b) by Zorex.
• Smart Ads (v. 2.2) by John Kolbert.
• Sociable (v. 3.5.2) by Blogplay.
• StatPress Reloaded (v. 1.5.21) by Manuel Grabowski.
• Twitter for Wordpress (v. 1.9.7) by Ricardo González.
• WordPress Database Backup (v. 2.2.2) by Austin Matzko.
• Wordpress Gravatars (v. 2.7.1) by Rune Gulbrandsøy.
• wordTube (v. 2.3.1) by Alex Rabe & Alakhnor.
• wordTube-FlowPlayer (v. 0.99beta4) by Marc Schieferdecker.
• WP-Cumulus (v. 1.23) by Roy Tanck.
• WP-DBManager (v. 2.50) by Lester 'GaMerZ' Chan.
• WP-PageNavi (v. 2.73) by Lester 'GaMerZ' Chan & scribu.
• WP Auto Tagger (v. 1.3.2) by iDope.
• WP JW Player (v. 1.4) by Mario Mansour.
• WP OnlyWire Auto Poster (v. 3.0.8) by Özgür Koca.
• WP Super Cache (v. 0.9.9.3) by Donncha O Caoimh.

Programs I recommend:

I’ve been in a bunch of coaching and training programs.  Some are pretty bad.  I think these are pretty good.  Most of these are for getting traffic, SEO, list building, PPC, and blogging, etc.  Have your wallet and credit cards ready.

• Traffic Python – this is a killer program for generating traffic without costing you money.
• www.Stompernet.com – The original Stomping the Search Engines.  You can’t beat $1 to get in this program.  Helped immensely with my SEO skills.
• ListBuilding Club – build your list and fast.



Anik Singal’s program is the A-Z of affiliate marketing.  Do it right the first time.



The end all be all of PPC as far as I’m concerned.

Gurus I listen to:

If you haven’t heard of these guys, look them up and learn something.  These are masters of selling, NLP, social marketing and copywriting.  You should be ripping them off as much as possible.

• Ed Dale
• Jeff Johnson
• Perry Belcher
• Frank Kern
• Chris Carpenter
• Eban Pagen
• Dan Kennedy
• Craig Garber