It takes a ton of software to run an online business. In each category, there are several options. Some work better than others depending on your needs. The following are some recommendations.
WordPress is the standard in blogging. It used to be a lot more difficult to use, but now that they’ve added the block editor, it’s really straightforward and manageable.
I’ve become a fan of Squarespace. It is especially a great platform for someone who has a very visual website aesthetic.
In this category, I’ve experimented with a few.
This one is my favorite for several reasons – it’s easy to set up, easy to add more courses, and is cost competitive. They have various tiers (even a free version) and you can upgrade as your course business grows.
ThriveCart is an online shopping cart. It can be used for processing payments from a large variety of services, including traditional credit card processing.
Hands-down, Canva is the best. In my office, we use Canva every-single-day. Whether it is a social media post, blog post graphic, flyer, or a product picture, this is what we use. We upgraded to Pro years ago. This allows us to use the automatic background remover, gives us access to a huge library of stock photos, and allows us to upload additional fonts. I really can’t say enough about what a huge asset Canva is to my business.
For the Photoshop fans out there, yes, Photoshop is a lot more powerful. But you need the equivalent of a master’s degree of experience to use it properly. For what we need, Canva does the trick.
You can even start with a free account.
Visit Canva
There have been times when I’ve chosen to hire a graphic designer for a project – like podcast artwork, for instance. In that case, I’ve chosen Fiverr. It’s a great platform to find freelancers offering all kinds of projects and you can see samples of their work to help you choose the right artist for you.
Visit Fiverr
This site is a great resource for mockups. However, I’ve used it to create video outros.
Visit Placeit
I have tried SO many social media posting services over the years. The biggest problem I encountered is that each service would only connect with some of the platforms, but not all. I’ve used Planoly for Instagram, then I switched to Tailwind because it could post to both Pinterest and Instagram, plus it could create the Link in Bio page.
In 2024, I discovered Metricool. This could be my last social media posting app. It can connect to my website for analytics, plus, ALL of the social media platforms we use:
And it even connects to others that I don’t use:
You can start with a free account.
Since I run several brands – all with their own social media accounts, I’ve upgraded to a paid plan. It is absolutely worth it. What I love is that I’m charged per brand. And a brand includes all of the social media platforms for that particular company. Other competitors charge per social media platform.
There’s a social media planner and lots of analytics.
If you would like to check it out for yourself, visit Metricool.
In this category, different services are best for different types of businesses.