Tools and Resources

A website makes it real.

Grow your business with a website platform that you can easily edit yourself with their drag-and-drop feature.

Get a free year of Google Workspace with your domain and connect your domain to Bing and Google Search Console.

They now have email campaigns and scheduling tools too.

Their commerce feature has come a long way but you might also consider Shopify depending on the complexity of your shop.

Totally worth it to pay for the monthly subscription to have access to high-quality stock photos that aren’t overused stock photos from free sites like Unsplash, Pixabay, Pexels, Freepik, and Canva.

You get 10 free images when you sign up for an account and you can license multiple photos from the same photographer and models for a cohesive look.

PRO TIP: Use the same photos on social previews of pages and as images for social media to build a recognizable brand.

Most website builders have designer chosen fonts for their templates. If you want to create a specific look , a great way to elevate your brand is a consistent font on all print and digital marketing materials.

Adobe has a great list of fonts along with pairings when considering a mix of Headers and Paragraph fonts. They also make it easy to add to Squarespace and other platforms.

Since it launched in 2013, Canva has has been empowering everyone in the world to design.

This startup boasts 220 million users, 30 billion designs, 190 countries, and over 100 languages.

Initially built as an online design tool, teams can now collaborate and publish their designs straight from the platform.

Start from scratch or try one of their designer made templates and make it your own.

PRO TIP: The paid subscription is worth it!

Best case scenario, hire a photographer for a lifestyle shoot every 3-5 years.

Don’t use AI generated photos. It signals a lack in trust in where else you use AI. Where do you end and the robots begin?

Avoid overused stock photos from free sites like Unsplash, Pixabay, Pexels, Freepik, and Canva.

If you go stock, choose Adobe. You can license multiple photos from the same photographer and models.

PRO TIP: Get 10 free images when you sign up for an account on Adobe Stock.

Don’t overuse it but you can make key words in your posts stand out with a LinkedIn Formatter or Unicode text.

Most people on LinkedIN use their phones so the text is tiny. Formatting helps cut through the noise and make it skimmable.

Bold, italicize, underline, strikethrough, and add emojis. Plenty of options but my favorite is on Typegrow.com because it also has emojis.

According to the CAN-SPAM Act (and GDPR in Europe), you have to use a valid physical postal address. Violating this can man large financial penalties for EACH email sent illegally.

Most people don’t want to use their home address for privacy concerns. The easiest option is to get a PO Box at USPS or UPS.

In the past, I’ve paid for mailing service at a coworking space but USPS offers Informed Delivery® which emails a preview of incoming letter-sized mail and notifications about packages.

Or get a registered agent!

Including emojis in subject lines can grab your reader’s attention.

Check out emoji meanings on different platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Snapchat.

Review what emojis look like in different contexts like text, email, and websites.

Copy and paste what works for you and explore related emojis to your writing.

People, Smileys, Animals and Nature, Food and Drink, Sports and Activities, Travel and Places, Objects, Symbols, and Flags.

Using a booking link will save you time. If you have Squarespace they have Acuity built in to the platform but I still have a separate subscription for Calendly: https://calendly.com/dodgeashley

I like it because it offers multiple calendar types, availability types, and simple workflows.

Once someone books a meeting you can automate calendar invites, booking confirmations with zoom links, and traffic to your website.

Integrates well with calendars, Stripe, PayPal, Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Salesforce, Hubspot, and Mailchimp.

Calendly’s Analytics dashboard is a super helpful signal to the health of your business.

Pro Tip: Don’t embed links on your website. It often looks bad on mobile.

Find out what's possible
when work connects

Commonly used for collaboration, customer support, sales meetings, marketing events, and employee engagement.

Hybrid and remote work aren’t going anywhere asglobal teams stay engaged with reliable video conferencing, screen sharing, and persistent chat features.

They have cool deals with the MLB, Cricut, and other partners.

Pro Tip: Create recurring meetings so you don’t have to create a new link and send out invites every time.

Most business owners’ eyes glaze over when you start talking about SEO/AIO.

Get a free audit of your website from Seoptimer.com to see how you stack up against your competitors. Or try Semrush.com.

I’m happy to book a call and explain what it all means.

Pro Tip: You only get one report a day for free to be sure to copy the URL from your browser.