Category: Online Marketing

Top 10 Tools Entrepreneurs Use When Working From Home

So, you want to be an entrepreneur who works from home. Wonder what are the tools used by entrepreneurs to scale their business right from the comfort of their coach?

Carry on reading and tell me what you think!

Best note taking app: Evernote

There is no doubt Evernote is the best (and highly recommended) note taking app for entrepreneurs.

I use this all the time to keep notes and ideas — and as an entrepreneur, ideas worth a whole lot of money and more than you can imagine!

More about Evernote here.

Best blogging software: WordPress

Blogging is a greta way to showcase your talent and skills in the online world. While there are many blogging software in the market, WordPress is definitely the best option for you to get started on the right track.

Free Tutorial

Want to start a blog but no idea where to begin? Click the button below to learn more about blogging and how you can start a blog under $30.

Best web hosting service: BlueHost

If you are just starting out, you don’t need to spend hundred of dollars in web hosting. Getting a shared web hosting from reliable web hosting providers such as BlueHost will get your home business started in no time and minus the massive startup cost.

Disclaimer: BlueHost web hosting services starts at $2.95 per month and comes with unlimited bandwidth, 1-click WordPress installation and website builder (at no cost to you).

Get started with BlueHost (or check out their web hosting offers).

Best email marketing service: AWeber

Starting an email list as early as possible is an important step to grow your audience. As a matter of fact, it is one of the best investments you can do for yourself especially when you are working on a side hustle like blogging and website creation.

AWeber is highly affordable (starts at $19 per month), comes with awesome visual builder, hundreds of email templates and a cool support team to help you get started without any hassle.

More about AWeber and professional email marketing solution.

Best website analytics tool: Google Analytics

Google Analytics is undeniable the most used tool for entrepreneurs who have a website. With Google Analytics, you get important information of your website visitors including geolocation, time spend on site and many more information.

Plus, the free tag is definitely a no-brainer for anyone!

Register for a free Google Analytics account.

Best webmaster tool: Google Search Console

If you have a website, it is obvious that you want to rank well on search engine result page. However, the first step is to ensure that your website is known to respective search engines such as Google. This is where Google Search Console comes into play.

With Google Search Console, you will be able to notify Google on changes done to your website so that it can start indexing your site. Once your site is indexed, your website will be visible on the search pages.

Get started using free Google Search Console.

Best free SEO plugin: Yoast SEO

I have been using Yoast SEO for ages and it has never failed me — not even once.

Once the plugin is installed on your WordPress site, you can easily configure it to start ranking well on search engine. Here’s the Yoast SEO guide I’d published sometime back.

Best WordPress theme: Thrive Themes

Thrive Themes is perfect and I mean P-E-R-F-E-C-T. Thrive Themes comes with tons of features that allows you to create custom website designs without hiring a website developer (and potentially paying thousands of dollars).

Website templates are built from ground up with speed, conversion and security in mind. Plus with the Thrive Membership (review) that costs you as low as $19 per month, you get 9 powerful Thrive Plugins to make your entrepreneurship life much easier when you are working from home!

See why more than 17,338 entrepreneurs use Thrive Themes and products in their every day life.

Best live chat module for website: Tawk.to

Let’s face it. What are the chances that website visitors will search for your contact form, open up the link, fill up the form and press submit? Wouldn’t that be easier if you have a live chat module that allows them to talk to you directly?

This is where Tawk.to comes into play. It is a free live chat module for websites and you can opt for paid version if you require additional features. I even use Tawk.to for my digital marketing website.

More about Tawk.to.

Best payment gateay/service: PayPal

Okay, I hear you — PayPal is expensive and bla, bla, bla. True enough!

However, PayPal is a great option especially when you are living in countries where Stripe is not available. PayPal allows you to receive and send money in just a few clicks, and it works perfectly well with most banks in the world.

It is also very secure and you don’t have to worry about hackers (unless you share your password)!

Get paid working from home using PayPal. Learn more here.

What are the tools and software you are using as an entrepreneurs?

Leave a comment below and share with me the tools you are using daily in your entrepreneurship life.

May 19, 2024
6 Freelance Business Ideas That You Can Work From Home Today

Make money. Freelance business. Work from home.

These are just the few things that are constantly lingering in our mind. As a freelancer, you are always finding for more freelance business you can work from home.

Well, we can’t say no to those extra income, right?

In this post, you will discover some of the best freelance business you can start right now (with minimal or no cost at all).

1. Freelance writing

Do you like to write? If you like writing (and a taste for additional income), freelance writing is the best freelance business you can start right now.

You can sign up for freelance job portals such as this one, and getting started is easy — like dead simple and no investment cost.

You can easily earn at least $3 per article and scale all the way up to few thousands in just a few months.

Read: The complete guide to freelancing

2. Freelance graphic designer

Do you like Photoshop or editing images? If yes, this is a great freelance business you can start from home.

Again, it is very simple to get started and the cost of starting ip is literally zero.

With freelance graphic designing, you can easily earn at least $10 per image creation.

3. Freelance data entry

If you are fast with typing and keyboard stuffs, data entry is a great place to start your freelance business from home.

Freelance data entry are calculated based on number of hours you work and at the very least, the charges is around $5 per hour.

With zero cost of investment, consider freelance data entry to earn some extra income.

4. Freelance editor

If you have eyes of a predator, freelance editing could be an excellent fit for you.

Editing is what you will do on a daily basis and this is a very lucrative freelance work indeed!

From video to manuscript, you can earn at least $50 per project and cost of investment is zero.

5. Freelance proofreader

Freelance proofreader is very similar to freelance editor. You are required to proofread documents, content and many heavy content-based matters.

Usually, you can earn around $50 (or more) per project and just like the rest of the freelance business, there is no startup cost required.

6. Freelance marketer

Freelance marketer is easy to start and takes literally no cost for startup. When I first started my digital marketing agency for small businesses, I was skeptical on the success level. And little did I know, it is now a big consultancy agency in Malaysia that is striving very well!

You don’t need a lot of money (or any money at all) to become a freelance marketer. You can work on the side while waiting to start your own enterprise.

Want to know how to start a digital marketing agency (minus the cost)?

Talk to me today and I’m happy to help!

Are you ready to get started with freelancing?

There is a lot of freelance business that you can work from home — pick one and try it out. Give it a few months before deciding if it is the right one for you.

Tell me what you think in the comments!

P.S. Photo credit: Edubirdie

May 19, 2024
Thrive Architect vs Divi Builder: Which is the best visual builder for web developers?

When it comes to developers tool for web designing, both Thrive Architect and Divi Builder are receive equal shares of likes (and dislikes).

The biggest question would be – which is the better choice for website developers? Which tool is a better option for designing websites faster, more effective and most importantly, cost efficient?

Let’s dive into the comparison of both Thrive Architect and Divi Builder, and ultimately deciding which is the best for website designing projects.

What is Thrive Architect?

Previously known as Thrive Content Builder, Thrive Architect is a WordPress editor that allows you to customize any WordPress website in real time.

Thrive Architect is a standalone WordPress editor plugin and it is also apart of the Thrive Themes plugins when you sign up for the Thrive Themes membership.

Read more about Thrive Themes membership here.

What is Divi Builder?

Divi Builder is pretty similar to Thrive Architect in many ways and the most visible one is the WordPress drag and drop editor. Divi Builder isn’t that popular compared to Thrive Content Builder (on papers) for many reasons.

One of the main reasons is of course, due to the indirect competition from Divi 3. Divi 3 (or Divi 3.x) is a WordPress theme builder that allows website developers to build website faster and more efficient.

Read more about Divi from Elegant Themes here.

Thrive Architect vs Divi Builder: Which is better for a web developer?

This is a tough call, but let’s compare them side by side, shall we?

1. Visual builder

When comparing Thrive Architect vs Divi, both are pretty close in terms of functionality. This is how you can use Thrive Architect for building custom WordPress designs.

Using Thrive Architect, you can customize everything under one roof using the super intuitive visual builder. Thrive Architect is green in colour and I think that gives a nice view for the eyes as it is not overly empowering after a long usage.

On the other hand, Divi Theme Builder is also a greta choice in visual building tool. It works similar to Thrive Architect in many ways — and I know it is one of the most popular developer’s visual builder tool for many.

Divi Theme is considered more robust especially with the functionality that you will get in just a few clicks. Take a look at the image above and judge for yourself!

2. Speed — Thrive Architect vs Divi Builder

Speed is all about efficiency and which is faster? If you are using a shared web hosting service, website loading speed should definitely be your top concern!

Lucky for you, both Thrive Architect and Divi Builder are both very effective in terms of website loading speed.

But make no mistake — both of these visual builder can easily create massive page size which affects your loading speed. Therefore, I highly recommend you to use elements that you really need to reduce the webpage size.

The clear winner for for speed is Thrive Architect as it comes with a nice ‘Remove Theme CSS’ which helps improve the website loading speed. Take a look at this video to under how this option is implemented.

3. WordPress support — Thrive Architect vs Divi Builder

Last but not least, developers are going to have a massive head if there is no support for the visual builder tool.

On the surface, both Thrive Architect and Divi Builder comes with unlimited support (as long as you are paying for the tools). When deciding on support level, my bet goes to Thrive Architect as the support forum is massive. Click here to see their forum.

Thrive support team are working around the clock to answer all the questions you had in mind and that is a feature worth mentioning. Compared to Divi Builder, they have a support forum but it is not as great as compared to Thrive’s in many ways (feel, support level, activeness of the forum etc.).

4. Pricing — Thrive Architect vs Divi Builder

Last but not least, pricing is all that matters, right, right?

How much does Thrive Architect costs?

The smallest plan starts at $67 for a single website and a full year support.

In terms of pricing, you can also consider getting Thrive Themes membership that comes with 10 premium Thrive Themes and 9 Thrive plugins including Thrive Architect. Read more about Thrive Membership here or see the pricing table below.

As a website developer, signing up for Thrive membership is definitely the best bet money can buy (and it’s really affordable too!).

Get the latest Thrive Membership discount here.

Divi Builder on the other hand is priced differently and very attractively (I got to say).

Divi Builder or Divi 3.0 pricing is indeed very interesting. For only $89 per year or $249 one time payment for lifetime access are definitely more interesting compared to Thrive Themes (or Thrive Architect) in anyway!

Unlike Thrive, Divi does not limit you to how many websites and domains you can use. Therefore, you are to use it as much as possible and this means unlimited usages to all Elegant Themes WordPress themes and plugins.

Check out the latest discount or try Divi Builder for free here.

Thrive Architect vs Divi Builder — Which is better for web developers?

This is a tough call. On one hand, Thrive Architect and Thrive Membership comes with massive features and benefits which web developers can leverage almost instantly. On another hand, Divi Builder comes with a simple pricing structure which is very interesting especially for freelance web developers who are on a budget.

Click on the buttons below to choose your option now!

What do you think? Leave a comment below and tell me what you think!

May 19, 2024
Why Should I Start An Email List?

May 5, 2024
Web Hosting Today: How Much Should I Pay for Web Hosting?
If I’m new to the blogging industry, my first thought would be how much should I pay for web hosting before going through other questions such as how much can I make from blogging and how to find relevant keywords to rank on Google.

In this article, I’ll share with you some simple guidelines in terms of web hosting pricing, so that you won’t get cheated or disappointed.

The different types of web hosting (and pricing)

Web hosting comes in many forms and here are the most common ones that you will come across.
- Shared hosting
- Semi-dedicated hosting
- Managed hosting
- Virtual Private Server (VPS)
- Dedicated hosting
- Cloud hosting
Let’s go deep into each of them, and how much you should be paying for them monthly.

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting or shared web hosting is the most common and cheapest hosting package you can find in the market.

Shared hosting is best for beginners who are just starting out in the blogging industry and doesn’t require much server performance.

Question: How much should I pay for shared hosting?

On average, you will be paying anywhere between $2 to $15 per month. Major web hosting companies such as BlueHost offers shared hosting as low as $2.99 per month.

As shared hosting is the lowest tier in the hosting world, you can easily start a blog on a shared web hosting without burning a hole in your wallet.

Question: How to choose the best shared hosting service?

Do not be tempted with the super low price for shared web hosting services. Low prices often results in overselling the server (cramping 10x more customers into a server than what the server can take) which leads to massive performance issues such as server uptime.

Only bad web hosting companies will oversell the servers to maximize the profit. Paying a few dollars extra every month for shared web hosting could easily give you peaceful sleep at night and close to zero downtime. And if you are looking for a good web hosting service, I recommend using my own shared hosting service here, Host With Me with 60 days money back guarantee (no questions asked).

Semi-dedicated hosting

Only a handful of web hosting companies like this one offer semi-dedicated package. Semi-dedicated hosting is very popular especially for website owners who are not entirely newbie/beginner and would prefer a stronger server to manage the traffic.

Semi-dedicated web hosting is best for website owners who doesn’t want a sardine-packed server which will affects the website performance (loading speed).

Question: How much should I pay for semi-dedicated web hosting?

Semi-dedicated web hosting will costs you around $15 to $25 per month. You are still using a shared web hosting environment but you will be in an environment where there is lesser accounts which helps a lot in terms of website security and server performance.

Question: How to choose the best semi-dedicated web hosting?

For me, it is all about the reviews and performance. If you are looking for a good semi-dedicated web hosting, HostWithLove (starts at only $14.93 per month) is the best in the market in terms of performance, pricing and stellar support.

Do you really need a semi-dedicated web hosting?

Probably not. If you are using a good shared web hosting, it is much cheaper (affordable) and much similar to other performance metrics such as uptime and support.

Not sure where to start? Try this web hosting service for only $6.99 per month and with 60-days money back guarantee!

Managed Hosting

Managed hosting is popular, and I mean P-O-P-U-L-A-R especially for enterprise and medium/big websites.

Managed hosting is often the best option for you if you are geeky, dead serious about website performance and security matters.

Examples of managed hosting are managed WordPress hosting and managed Magento hosting.

Managed hosting (for example managed WordPress hosting) comes with WordPress optimized environment (shared) and virtual private servers (VPS or dedicated servers).

Question: How much should I pay for managed hosting services?

Managed hosting services are often priced at a higher range and you should be expecting to pay around $15 to $30 per month for a small to medium website.

Question: How to choose the best managed hosting service?

WPEngine is often regarded as one of the best managed hosting service for both small and enterprise websites. WPEngine pricing is often priced higher than most of the managed WordPress hosting in the market but they guarantee excellent performance, great support and security features. WPEngine pricing starts at $30 per month and comes with inbuilt cache plugin and integration with MaxCDN (click here to see how you can get 2 months free web hosting with WPEngine).

FlyWheel is another great option when it comes to managed hosting services. FlyWheel pricing is much affordable at only $15 per month and they provide pretty much similar features as WPEngine except for the Content Delivery Network (CDN) services which is an addon feature. You can register a free account with FlyWheel using this link.

Editor’s Note

Looking for a managed hosting that works on Google Cloud Platform? Try Kinsta highly optimized servers for super fast website loading speed and performance.

Virtual Private Servers (VPS)

VPS is a great web hosting solution for both small and big websites. VPS allows you to have 100% control over the server and you will enjoy 100% of the server performance.

While VPS is a powerful web hosting solution, it is also one of the most expensive solutions as you have the server all to yourself.

Question: How much should I pay for a Virtual Private Server (VPS)?

VPS costs as low as $5 per month for unmanaged VPS and above $10 for managed VPS.

What is the differences between unmanaged and managed VPS?

Unmanaged VPS means that you need to do all the coding works. As VPS doesn’t come with cPanel or WHM by default, you would need to install everything through coding. Unmanaged VPS is often considered messy because you need to have the expertise to maintain and manage your VPS. Unmanaged VPS starts around $5 per month on Digital Ocean.

Managed VPS is a web hosting option where everything is managed by a third party (in this case, it is the web hosting company). You don’t have to install anything, including maintenance and security features. Cloudways is a best option for affordability and performance for managed VPS. Cloudways pricing starts at $10 per month.

“While VPS is a powerful web hosting solution, it is also one of the most expensive solutions as you have the server all to yourself. Meaning, that you must do a proper research on VPS hosting providers before buying anything.”

Question: What is the best Virtual Private Server (VPS)?

There are a few answers to this question and here goes.
- Digital Ocean if you know coding and server maintenance
- Cloudways if you are looking for affordable managed VPS service
- SiteGround offers decent pricing and performance managed VPS service
- FlyWheel offers value-for-money managed VPS services for WordPress
- WPEngine if you are looking VPS solution for enterprise
Dedicated Hosting

If you are looking for massive server performance and high traffic website, dedicated hosting is right for you.

Dedicated hosting works like a Virtual Private Server (VPS) and the only differences are the performance and pricing structure.

With a higher price tag, dedicated hosting offers the best server uptime and performance beyond most of the competitors.

Question: How much should I pay for dedicated hosting?

On average, you should be expecting to pay at least $100 a month for a dedicated web hosting service.

The good side about dedicated web hosting is that everything is unmetered. From bandwidth or visits, you don’t have to worry about being overcharged.

Question: What is the best dedicated hosting service?

Most dedicated hosting in the market today are pretty much on par. If I have to choose, it would be the following:
- BlueHost offers the cheapest dedicated web hosting with serves around the world
- SiteGround offers decent dedicated web hosting with live chat support and databases around the world
- FlyWheel offers cheaper dedicated hosting solution for high traffic WordPress websites
- WPEngine if you are running on WordPress and cares a lot about server performance
Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is something new and rather than being hosted on one single instances of a physical server, hosting is delivered on a virtual partition which draws its resource, such as disk space, from an extensive network of underlying physical servers.

Cloud hosting is a great option especially when dedicated hosting pricing is too expensive for you.

Question: How much should I pay for cloud hosting?

The cheapest cloud hosting service is BlueHost at $9.99 $6.95 per month. There are also higher range cloud hosting which is around the $100 per month mark.

Question: Which is the best cloud hosting service?

The answer is simple. If you are looking for super cheap cloud hosting service, BlueHost is definitely a great option. At $6.95 per month, there is no denial that it is going to be really easy on your wallet.

If you are looking for more server firepower, Kinsta is a great option as it runs on Google Cloud Platform. You can try Kinsta for free here (limited time only).

Alternatively, SiteGround also offers affordable cloud hosting which starts at $80 per month.

Summary: How much should I pay for web hosting?

The answer to this depends heavily on your needs. For example, shared web hosting is a great choice for bloggers and beginners who don’t want to spend a whole lot of money. VPS and managed hosting on the other hand are better fit for bigger websites and enterprises who run their business online.

Not sure where to start? Start with shared web hosting and scale from there on!
May 4, 2024
How To Manage A Blog To Success

Are you ready to manage a blog to success?

Starting a blog is more than just talking out your credit card, installing WordPress and publishing blog posts on a regular basis. It requires a lot of work especially in managing the blog and making it a huge success.

How to start a blog fast?

Starting a blog is always the first step and it is often the step which is overlooked by many beginners.

Most of them start with free blogging site such as Blogspot only to discover that their blogs are deleted without notice after 6 months of hardwork.

If you want to manage a blog like a professional, then here’s what you need to do.

The last step involves installing WordPress, a good WordPress theme like this one and essential plugins for SEO and email list building.

The process of starting a blog is very short and it doesn’t take long. With this guide, you can easily start a blog under 5 minutes.

Manage a blog: Traffic versus conversion

In blogging, I am a huge believer that conversion matters the most. You may have 10,000 visitors a day but if you are not converting them into sales, you are not getting any richer (anytime soon).

When it comes to managing a blog, focus on conversion because conversion is going to help you make money and fast.

When you manage a blog and aims for success, always focus on conversion as this will help you drive more sales and help you grow your blogging business.

What type of content should I be publishing?

I love to answer this (even though I had answered this probably thousands of times). There must be a healthy mix of self-promotional, knowledge/information and comparison posts.

Self-promotional blog posts can be considered as sales posts. These content are focused heavily in closing sales and selling the benefits of a single product. Here’s a sample of a self-promotional blog post: Thrive Themes Review

A knowledge and information blog post is slightly different where it is meant to share information and provide education. Affiliate links are located within the blog posts to encourage readers to click on and with the hope of getting some commission generated from the sales. Here’s a sample of a knowledge and information blog post: How To Start A Web Design Business With No Experience (And From Home)

Comparison posts involve comparing two or more products of the same nature. As buyers, we are often making comparison before making a purchase. Thus, publishing comparison posts allow you to have a better chance of converting website visitors into paying customers. Here’s a sample of a comparison blog post: Beaver Builder vs Divi vs Thrive Architect: Which is the best site builder for you?

Are you ready to manage a blog to success?

As a recap, managing a blog to success is simple and comes with these several steps.

Always remember that the success of a blog is measured through the revenue generated from it and not through the traffic alone.

May 4, 2024