My Top Recommended Tools For Online Entrepreneurs & Small Businesses

Welcome to the tools and resources page of EntrepreneurNut.com.

These are my top recommended tools, apps, and hardware for entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, and small businesses.

Several of these tools also have a free plan, so they’re good for both beginner and experienced entrepreneurs.

There are also some deals to be had on this page too. So, wherever I’ve been able to source a deal for you for these particular tools, I’ve included them on this page.

Recommended tools

Some of the links on this page are affiliate links. This means that if you use one of them and make a purchase, we will receive a ‘thank you’ commission at no extra cost to you.

This helps to support our free, education-based content. Any purchases you do make via our links is much appreciated and we thank you in advance.

After you’ve browsed my favourite tools list, make sure you check out my discount coupons and special offers page.

This blog is reader supported. Some of the links on this page may be affiliate links. If you click one of our links and make a purchase, we may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. In that event we thank you so much for supporting our blog, it means the world to us. Have a great day!

WordPress Hosting

WPX Hosting

WPX is currently my number one web hosting solution, and is the hosting platform I am using to host entrepreneurnut.com.

WPX Hosting support is outstanding, always answering support tickets via live chat in seconds. With WPX you get a free SSL, free CDN, daily backups, generous storage, RAM, and CPU, and the ability to host multiple sites.

WPX is not the cheapest option out there, but it’s definitely worth the money if you’re a serious blogger. If you need a more affordable hosting option, then use SiteGround.

WordPress Theme

Generate Press theme

Generate Press

Generate Press is now the WordPress theme I use on all my sites. It’s lightweight, fast, highly versatile, and very affordable.

On the Entrepreneur Nut blog I also combine the Generate Press theme with this Elementor page builder to bring even more design capabilities (see Elementor below).

WordPress Page Builder

Elementor

Before using Elementor I used to use the Thrive Themes page builder, and before that I used Dive. Both of those tools are good page builders, but they had too much bloat and slowed my sites down too much.

If you use a page builder then pretty much all of them will slow your site down to a degree, so it’s even more important to make sure you’re using a lightweight theme like Generate Press as well as a stellar hosting service that has a decent CDN. So, personally I’ve found the combination of WPX Hosting + GeneratePress + Elementor to work very well.

Yes, my site could be even faster without using Elementor, but I like having the extra customization and design options that Elementor brings.

WordPress Popups

ConvertBox

Using popups is a highly effective way to collect email addresses to build your list, or to recommend products.

I’ve tried countless free popups, none of which were good. I then used a paid popup tool called Thrive Leads by Thrive Themes. Thrive Leads is also good, but you have to pay a monthly or annual subscription to use it.

Wherever possible I prefer to pay a lifetime deal price for tools in order to keep my costs down over the long term. Fortunately, you can buy lifetime access to ConvertBox for a one-time payment. It’s also THE BEST popup tool I have used so far so the price is worth it in my opinion.

Deal Offer:
Get lifetime access to ConvertBox here.

AI Writer

Frase

Frase is an awesome tool I’ve been using for a few years. In my opinion, it’s one of the best content writers out there for SEO focused content that ranks in Google.

You can either use Frase to create article outlines for you if you prefer to write your own content, or you can use the built-in AI writing feature to write parts of or even the entire article for you.

Frase also has a built-in optimization tool that scores your article and then tells you if your article is under or over optimized. It’ll tell you the exact keyword phrases your article is missing and how many times they need to appear in the content.

If you have a content team then you can also easily collaborate with team members using Frase.

AI Text To Speech

Murf

Murf

On some of my articles on the Entrepreneur Nut blog we’ve added an AI narration option for people who prefer to listen to the spoken version of the article.

So, if you wondered which AI tool we used to do this, it’s Murf.ai. Murf’s voice overs are super-realistic, and what I particularly like about Murf is that you can further tweak the voices to make them sound even more human-like.

There are loads of use cases for Murf including video voice overs, audiobook narration, presentations, etc, but at the moment we’ve just been using it for blog post narration.

If you’re looking or a realistic voice over and narration software, then I highly recommend Murf.ai.

Domain Purchase

Namecheap

Namecheap

I’ve bought a lot of domain names from multiple registrars over the years. In my opinion, Namecheap is the best.

Namecheap is one of the biggest and most trusted domain name registrars out there. Their pricing is among the lowest in the industry and they don’t sting you with hidden costs, like some other registrars do. Namecheap also do not charge you for domain privacy.

Deal Offer:
Get up to 74% off your Namecheap domain name here.

Funnel Builder

Systeme.io

Systeme.io is an affordable all-in-one marketing platform that also has an excellent sales funnel builder.

There are a lot of funnel builder tools on the market. Some are great, but they can either be quite expensive or technical to use.

Systeme.io not only offers an affordable option (with a completely free plan), but it’s also very easy to use.

You can sign up for the free plan here.

Deal Offer:
You can get 40% off a paid System.io account here.

Email Autoresponder

GetResponse

GetResponse

I’ve used quite a few email autoresponders over the years, some are excellent.

Although I’m currently using a couple of different autoresponders at the moment, my overall favourite is GetResponse. GetResponse has lots of great automation features and it has a very respectable deliverability rate.

Unlike some other platforms, GetResponse is also affiliate-marketing friendly. They understand the affiliate business model and won’t shut your account down simply because you added an affiliate link in an email.

Email Delivery

MailReach email delivery

MailReach

Email is the most important part of your business. Email marketing gets more engagement and higher conversion rates than any other marketing channel, so it’s super-important you do what you can to ensure your emails actually hit people’s inboxes and get read.

Email service providers live Gmail and Yahoo are always upping their efforts to clamp down on email spam. While that is a good thing, unfortunately it can also make it harder for genuine businesses to reach their customer’s inbox, especially if they’re emailing form a new domain.

MailReach cleverly improves your domain and IP reputation, which significantly increases your deliverability rate. MailReach also has a good feature that lets you know if any words or elements in your email might trigger spam filters.

Since using MailReach, I have definitely noticed an improvement in my email deliverability.

Deal Offer:
Get 20% off your first month here.

Productivity & Project Management

Trello

Trello

I love Trello! Trello is a super-handy visual work management tool that allows you to easily organise and manage our projects.

Trello has a generous free plan, which even allows you to collaborate with your team members.

Trello gives you the ability to create project boards and set up columns and cards to arrange each task that needs to get done. You can assign different tasks to team mates, or just use your Trello account to keep yourself organised.

Google Workspace

Google Workspace

Google Workspace is another super-useful tools with a ton of features. You can use it from as little as $5 per month.

Besides using Google Workspace for branded email through Google’s email client, you also get access to lots of other cool features like extra Drive storage, Google Meet, more easily collaborate with team members, third-party integrations, enhanced security, and AI-powered productivity.

Commuinuty Building

Skool

Skool

So far, Skool is the best community platform I’ve used.

Personally, I hate Facebook groups. I find the lack of organisation in Facebook groups super-annoying. It’s a massive time-suck to sift through messages in a group to try to find what you’re looking for just because FB doesn’t organise posts chronologically. They do this to try to keep you on their platform longer. Frankly, it pi***s me off and makes my far less likely to engage in FB groups.

So, if you’re planning to build a community, I strongly recommend not to use a Facebook group.

The Skool platform created by successful entrepreneur Sam Overs, does an excellent job at community or membership site building, and has some cool features to keep your members engaged and participating. Besides other things, you can even host entire courses and other digital products on Skool.

This platform is definitely worth a look if you want to build a community.

Ebook Creation

Designrr

Designrr

Designrr is the leading ebook creation tool, and is what I personally use to create ebooks.

You can use Designrr to create ebooks from blog posts, Google docs, Word docx, even from PDFs if you are using content you have written yourself. Besides this, Designrr also has a built-in AI writing tool called WordGenie. WordGenie will not only give you title and headline options, but it will also create an entire ebook outline for you, and then write 100% of the content if you don’t want to write it yourself.

And, if you use Designrr’s premium plan, then you also get access to more cools features like, the ability to turn YouTube videos and podcasts into ebooks or blog posts. And, you’ll also be able to turn your ebooks into audiobooks if you’re using the Premium plan.

Deal Offer:
Designrr also has a lifetime deal on the Standard plan.

Design

Canva

Canva

Canva is another excellent tool with a generous free plan.

My team and I use Canva all the time to design blog post images, infographics, YouTube thumbnails, Pinterest posts, and more. However, there is a TON more you can do with this tool, and a lot of it can be done with their free plan.

Personally, I use Canva’s Pro plan because I use it all the time in my business, and I also need to use it to collaborate with team members. However, if you’re just getting started, or even if you’ve been running your business for a while, but you don’t yet need to work with team members then Canva’s free plan may likely offer you all the features you need.

YouTube Tools

VidIQ

VidIQ

VidIQ is the best keyword research and optimization tool for YouTube, in my opinion.

While VidIQ has a lot of features, their keyword tool alone is so good it’s worth the price you pay for VidIQ all by itself. VidIQ also gives you video suggestion ideas based on your channel and competitors.

VidIQ also helps you during the video upload process by giving you tag suggestions, and writing optimised video titles and descriptions for you.

One feature I particularly like about VidIQ is that it will show you what your thumbnail will look like when standing shoulder to shoulder with your competitors thumbnails for the same video. This is a great way for you to tell how well your thumbnail will stand out in the YouTube search results compared to your competitors.

Tubebuddy

TubeBuddy

TubeBuddy is another great YouTube tool that can help to boost your YouTube channel.

While TubeBuddy and VidIQ have have some similar features, they both also offer a few things that the other does not. That’s why I use both tools. However, you definitely don’t need both. If you’re on a budget, then choose TubeBuddy.

Personally, I’m using the VidIQ Boost plan and the TubeBuddy Pro plan because I use VidIQ a lot more than In use TubeBuddy.

The main thing I use TubeBuddy for is for their weighted keyword comparison tool. This handy tool will give you a score and tell you how likely you are to rank for specific keywords based on your channel, which is definitely worth the Pro plan’s modest price, IMO.

If you want to upgrade to TubeBuddy Legend, then you get lots more cool features including the ability to run A/B split tests on your thumbnails.

Video Editing

Camtasia

Camtasia

When it comes to recording and video editing I use Camtasia 2021 for Mac.

While there is a bit of a learning curve with any video editing software, it doesn’t take too long to get to grips with Camtasia.

While it has loads of editing features, personally, I only need to know how to use a small fraction of them so it does me well. There are also lots of Camtasia tutorials on YouTube for pretty much any feature and effect you can think of.

Video Hardware

Canon

Canon EOS M50 Mark 2

I use the Canon EOS M50 Mark 2 mirrorless camera to film my YouTube videos.

You get great video quality with this camera, and it’s also portable if you need to film in different locations. However, there is a bit of a learning curve with it.

While it’s not the most expensive camera out there, it’s also not cheap. So if you just need a simple camera to record in one static location (like at your desk), then go for something like this Logitech C922x Pro.

Audio Hardware

Rode

Rode Wireless Go 2

I’m currently using the Rode Wireless Go 2 to shoot my YouTube videos.

It’s a good mic, but in all honesty, I find it a little too sensitive for what I need it for. That being said, many YouTubers swear by it, which is why I decided to give it a go.

I think it’s an excellent mic if you film when you’re out and about, or if you need to shoot in multiple locations. However, if you mostly shoot videos from your workstation like me, then this is probably not the best mic to go for.

Other options to consider include the Rode Podcaster or the Blue Yeti.

Accounting Software

Fresh Books

FreshBooks

FreshBooks is an easy to use cloud-based invoice and accounting software.

It’s designed to make your life easier by helping you to manage and organise all your accounting activities.

The accounting and bookkeeping features you get access to with FreshBooks include invoicing, accounting, manage your expenses and payments, time-tracking, and reporting.

Deal Offer:
You can get 50% off your first 3 months of FreshBooks via this link here for a limited time.

Want More Tool Recommendations?

If you’re looking for a deal and it’s that time of year, then check out our hand-picked Black Friday deals here.

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