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AG Recommends – Tools and Resources to Power your Success

Welcome to AG Recommends – The Resource Section of Anjuli Gopalakrishna Training and Consulting. Here I have put together a curated list of tools and resources which I strongly recommend for building and optimizing your business. I have tested every recommendation personally and have used it successfully to achieve my business objectives.

*Many of these links in this resource are affiliate links, which means I may get a commission if you complete a purchase. With that said, none of the items that I refer are items that I don’t use or have used in my business.

Content Creation – Graphics and Video

Canva

Whether your next design project is a creative collage or a social media graphic Canva makes it possible for anybody to create amazing designs.

Canva – Power Tool for Small Business Owners

If you are a small business owner, soloprreneur, and you are not in a position to pay hefty agency fees to create professional graphics for your content marketing needs or even hire a freelancer to do the job, no worries. You can use this powerful tool Canva to create professional looking graphics using pre-designed templates which are fully customizable! This is one of my top entries in the ‘must have’ ‘power-tool kit”

Magisto

Make use of Artificial Intelligence enabled automatic editing software to create fully edited videos that tell powerful stories.

AI enabled video editor

We all know that video is the most consumed content of all and most expensive. It needn’t be if you harness the power of Magisto. Create professional videos just like magic, select from its many pre-designed editing styles, royalty free music and add titles and captions. Upload footage – still shots or video clips and Magisto’s powerful AI works for you to create a fully edited video This is one of my top entries in the ‘must have’ ‘power-tool kit” for DIY video content creation.

Wave Video

Making professional videos is a breeze when you use Wave Video’s built-in stock footage library!

Easy Video Creation Tool

If you are a small business owner, soloprreneur, and you are not in a position to pay hefty agency fees to create professional videos for your content marketing needs or even hire a freelancer to do the job, no worries. You can use this powerful tool Wave Video to create professional looking videos using their in-built stock footage library, which is fully customizable! This is one of my top entries in the ‘must have’ ‘power-tool kit”. Get 10% off Wave.video, an online marketing video maker! by clicking this link right here!

Ripl

Quick Video Creation, one-click posting on social media and analytics rolled into one.
 

Quick Video for Social Media

Ripl makes sense for you when you need to create quick, bite-sized videos on the go for posting on social media. The interface is easy to use. Use pre-designed templates for text animations and customize to suit your brand’s messaging. You can use your own branding as well with the pro features. Not too expensive either. This is one of my highly recommended entries in the ‘must have’ ‘power-tool kit” for quick video creation, one-click posting or scheduling on social media and instant analytics!

Content Curation

Feedly

Powerful Content Curation RSS feed based Tool for greater efficiency and control over content you choose.
 

Content Curation Power Tool

If you are a small business owner, Solopreneur, or anybody who needs to curate powerful content on a regular basis, then I hugely recommend you to use Feedly. A super power tool for smart content curation from your favorite trusted sources using their RSS feeds. Curate content suitable for your target audience and share the best and most updated content!

The Information

The ‘go to’ source for high quality news about the latest in technology.

The Intelligent Information Source

The Information made the cut to my list of recommended sources for intelligent news and information because I distinctly found the quality of their content much deeper than elsewhere. I know when I read an article or news here, it is time well spent. Specially if you are someone like me who is deeply interested in technology. This is Information that is deep, intelligent, informative and insightful. Go for it. You won’t regret it.

Listly

Your go to source for the most awesome Listicles!
 

Awesome Lists at your fingertips

Numbered lists are the most consumed online content. Who doesn’t love the top ten most amazing keto recipies or top ten places to visit or top ten restaurants or top ten whatever! Well this is your source to curate and publish great lists on your websites or even multiple platforms. You can even earn money by including affiliate links on your list! I found this Listcle source super cool! You will too. Try it!

Answer The Public

Your source for unlimited content ideas that will resonate with your audience.
 

Answer the Public is the best kept secret that the ace content creators use to come up with ideas that will resonate with your target audience.With this tool, you can fill your content calendar (fast) and say goodbye to writer’s block with endless content ideas based on meaningful keyword search. It’s a goldmine of consumer insight you can use to create fresh, ultra-useful content, products and services. The kind your customers really want.

Content Research and SEO

Buzzsumo

The Best in Class Tool to discover and research the most shared content and top influencers
 

Content Research Power Tool

Buzzsumo has to be the most powerful content research tool out there to find the most shared and trending content by specific topics or keywords, and to find the top influencers across all social media channels! Even the free version can give you sufficient value, and with paid version you can power packed features and get some serious competitor intelligence analytics too!! This is one of my top entries to the ‘must have’ ‘power tools’ to have in your kit!

Ubersuggest

The SEO tool brought to you by the king of SEO – Neil Patel

SEO Keyword Tool

To be found and ranked on Google, your business needs to get SEO (Search Engine Optimization) right! What better source to go to when it comes to SEO than Neil Patel – the King of SEO marketing! He has come up with a free tool for researching the top trending keywords in a specific topic and even throws suggestions giving their search volume, cost per click estimate etc. A fab tool and while you are at the site, you will learn loads from his blog!

SEMrush

SEMrush is a power packed social media content strategy and SEO tool for the businesses big and small.
 

SEMrush is an advanced tool and involves a learning curve for the uninitiated. However, it still makes the cut for my recommendation list as it is a powerful tool which can do a lot more than just SEO keyword research. It can truly help you to create and execute upon your social media strategy, competitor analysis, in-depth analysis, and insights. Try it for free and then take a call to buy it for the sheer value it will provide you! Or Simply type in your first keyword in the search bar above and dive into the keyword and SEO research insights for your business strategy! Power packed and one of the BEST SEO tools out there!

Yoast

Yoast is your partner in taking care of all your SEO needs!

Yoast – SEO Plugin

I know SEO scares a lot of newbies! But is a necessary requirement if you want your business to be search engine optimized. Even if you don’t know much about SEO, no worries! Because if you can get this one plugin installed on your website, then Yoast will take care of your SEO needs! It is easy to install and use. Get all your ‘meta tags’, ‘alt tags’ ‘anchor texts’ taken care of with this one super power SEO tool. This is one of my top entries in the ‘must have’ ‘power-tool kit” for small businesses.

Google Keyword Planner

Google’s own Keyword Planner tool to find what people are searching for on Google
 

Google Ads Keyword Planner Tool

This is a free tool which Google provides for its advertisers on Google Search. Search Ads can boost your discovery on Google Search Engines via several formats and placements. Even if you don’t want to go for paid ads, it is still a good idea to open an account with Google Ads so that you can use their free keyword planner tool to do your content research. Find the top keywords or phrases people are looking for on Google and align your business messaging and content.  This tool definitely makes the cut for my ‘must have’ ‘power tools’ kit.

Content Scheduling

CoSchedule

All in One Marketing Calendar

CoSchedule is a one-stop shop to manage and organize your marketing content creation, scheduling, posting, tracking – all in one place. It does have a bit of a learning curve, but once you get a hang of it, you may not need to use any other tool out there! Integrate all your social media profiles, and install the WordPress Plugin and you can manage it right from your website! Go on a free trial!

Loomly

Social Media Calendar and Publishing Tool

Social Media Marketing Calendar Tool

From all the social media calendar tools available out there, Loomly makes the cut to my list for its ease of use and competitive pricing. Even the base plan gives you solid value and once you are ready to invest, it costs you as less as $20/- per month to get the maximum bang out of your buck with power packed features to professionally manage your social media content creation, scheduling, monitoring, and collaboration. Go for a FREE trial and see its benefits for yourself!

Planoly

Plan your Instagram Calendar
 

Instagram Posts Planner

If your business is focused on Instagram as the main marketing platform, then Planoly is your best tool to adopt for planning, scheduling and posting your Instagram posts. Create a curated Instagram Feed using the tool both from desktop and mobile. Add well-researched hashtags, get inspiration, find reposts, Planoly offers a lot for the Instagram Peeps! I hugely recommend it.

Social Bee

Social Media Content Curation, Publishing, Scheduling made easy
 

The latest addition to my recommendations on social media tools that help to curate, schedule and publish content on social media channels. I am loving its user interface and powerful features. What makes this truly a winner in my eyes for small business owners and solopreneurs is its truly affordable price! At $19/Month, with SocialBee’s All-in-One Social Media Management Tools and Concierge Services, you could put your social media overwhelm aside and truly focus on your business!

 
 
 

Workflow, Project and Task Management

MailChimp

The Most Robust and Trusted Email Marketing Tool
 

The Email Marketing Power Tool

If you are a small business owner, solopreneur, freelancer or blogger, email marketing is your best tool to build your tribe. And Mail Chimp is decidedly the most reliable and robust email marketing and automation tool out there. Powered by Mailchimp you can send unlimited emails to your subscriber base of up to 2000 people for FREE.  Requires some learning curve, but totally worth it!

Zapier

Zapier – the easiest way to automate your work
 

Zapier Automation Workflow Tool

If you are a small business owner, soloprreneur, and you run a tight ship, then Zapier can automate lot of work and save you time and money! Connect the daily apps that you using Zapier’s powerful integration platform, write recipes of your own or explore from the many available on the platform and automate your work. Start with simple stuff and graduate to complex ones as you go. My number one recommendation to the ‘must have’ ‘power tool kit’ for workflow automation.

IFTTT

IFTTT stands for If This Than That – and it does exactly that with your workflow or tasks automation.
 

IFTTT – Automate your workflow for FREE

All that you can do with Zapier Integrations, you can do with IFTTT for Free, and that’s why it makes the cut to my recommendations for small business owners and soloprenuers who are looking to automate some of their tasks. Connect the most common apps that you use daily and create ‘if this then that’ kind of trigger and action recipes or choose from already existing applets. Unleash the power of IoT for your business. Try it.

Email Marketing and Automation

Trello

Trello’s boards, lists, and cards enable you to organize and prioritize your projects in a fun, flexible, and rewarding way. It’s FREE!!

Trello – Power Tool for Small Business Owners

I hugely recommend this tool to put all your ideas, projects, tasks organized in one place. Easy to use, track and monitor, Trello’s powerful features will keep you calm and in control.  Once you get hooked on, you will stay on this powerful platform forever. It allows for super easy collaboration. Has several integrations with different apps. It is FREE to use unless you go for the premium features. Try it for free and then upgrade if you see the value.

Dropbox

A safe and secure place for storing and sharing your important files

Store and Share Files in Cloud

If you are a small business owner, soloprreneur, you probably will quickly accumulate a lot of files with data, images, videos, PDFs and what not. Dropbox is your best bet to save the space on your hard drive and safely save your files in the cloud. The best part is when you can share files with your trusted people and collaborate in real time. With is a mobile app, you are synched from anywhere and anytime. This is one of my top entries in the ‘must have’ ‘power-tool kit” for smart entrepreneurs.

Online Webinar and Live Video Tools

Zoom

Best Tool in Town for Video Meetings and Live Webinars

Video Meetings and Webinar tool

I love Zoom for it’s easy to use interface and simplicity. You can invite up to 100 participants for 40-minute duration video calls for an unlimited number of times in the Free plan. And with pro-version, you can schedule and record your video meetings or hold webinars and create authentic content and invite even larger audience without a gitch. Inexpensive and Effective, Zoom is one of my top entries in the ‘must have’ ‘power-tool kit”

Branding Assets and Web Design Tools

99 Designs

Branding and Logo Design Talent for Small Businesses

99 Designs is my tried and tested recommendation for creating your brand identity assets. Whether it is designing a logo for your website or any other brand collateral, 99 Designs can be your go-to resource for getting professional designers for less. They have recently started with video making services for as less as $499 per video, which includes video scripting, on the spot filming and editing. Give it a try.

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