A new term is sweeping education, and some say it’s the future of learning. “Edupreneurs” are people like you and me who build educational programs for learners of all ages to reach their personal or professional goals. Edupreneurs provide encouragement and support so that these skills can be learned with ease by anyone interested. We are “education entrepreneurs.”
My first website launched back when I started blogging well over 25 years ago – even before most Americans had heard about the internet changing our world forever! And now there’s more than one way—podcasting on iTunes, creating a YouTube channel, writing books, and creating your own online courses.
The internet is the most incredible tool in education to help learners grow and succeed. My first website was launched when I knew that this new technology would revolutionize how people get information. This led me to start this website specializing exclusively in providing expert knowledge-based services online for others like myself.
Marketing has always been about selling products, but in recent years I’ve noticed more and more marketers developing info products on how to package up your knowledge for sale. The problem is that these focus heavily on just packaging instead of creating great educational materials, which are key when learning anything new or different from what you already know – not just marketing techniques! Sorry not sorry if this offends anyone’s business model sensibilities…
With the internet, it’s easy to serve your students and make connections virtually – so maybe you’re a coach who has been doing 1×1 sessions or perhaps group workshops but are getting really sick of all travel involved. You can easily create digital products to grow and scale your business in a way that wasn’t previously possible!
Some people might think that starting an education-based company is daunting, but it’s not really once you get into the swing of things. What started out as one thing turned into many other projects because there are so many opportunities to explore outside academe and traditional teaching!
The idea for this guide is to provide resources on what technology platform is best suited based on your goals as an education entrepreneur or business owner who wants to share your knowledge with the world. There’s no one size fits all solution here–every person has different skills, so it only makes sense then we should use multiple tools instead of focusing on just 1 tool.
You can download the free guide in PDF format below!
As an edupreneur, I’ve started collecting a list of resources for various aspects related to my site and the business. My company does not carry any sort of inventory, so these services support us in our model. And I am sharing that list with you here!
Some of these links are affiliate ones, which means that if you buy something from them, I might get a commission. Of course, running websites isn’t free, so doing this helps support my site while supporting some STEM Education outreach initiatives!
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post below are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Domain Name Search
Artificial Intelligence Content Tools
Jasper AI (affiliate link)
Web Site Hosting and Domain Registration
BlueHost: I’ve used BlueHost since they opened up shop for purchasing domains and also for web hosting. Any time I have had a technical issue, support has always been responsive and helpful. You can register any .com there and several other TLDs (top level domains). Several newer domains and those from some other countries cannot be registered through BlueHost. For those, I recommend NameCheap to register the domain then use BlueHost for web hosting. (Affiliate Links. Thank you for your support.)
NameCheap: I use NameCheap to buy most of my domains now. They’re a bit cheaper and also offer many TLDs that you can’t purchase through BlueHost, GoDaddy, etc. Affordable prices and stellar support at Namecheap (Affiliate Links. Thank you for your support.)
Blogging (self-hosted)
WordPress.org: Hands down. Self-hosted WordPress is the way to go for your blog. It does require a little bit of technical skills, but it is definitely something anyone can learn!
Blogging (hosted)
WordPress.com: This is WordPress’ free hosted blogging platform. There are some limitations with using the hosted version of WordPress, like you can’t upload themes, run any ads, etc. But it’s great to get you up and running.
Blogger: This is Google’s free hosted blogging platform. It’s easy, free, and gets you up and running in no time.
Wix: This is a website service, so they have templates, e-commerce, and more for a monthly fee.
Squarespace: Similar to Wix, Squarespace offers website hosting, templates, and more for a monthly fee.
WordPress Themes
Elegant Themes: The Divi theme is a really popular and easy to use theme for your self-hosted wordpress blog. I’ve used quite a few themes over the years and I find this one to be the easiest to customize and look professional without having to hire a professional designer. It’s click and drag and gets the job done. (Affiliate Links. Thank you for your support.)
SEO & Keyword Research
Some of these sites are pretty expensive and not really good for anyone just starting out without a lot of money coming in yet. There are free ways you can use each of these, so I suggest starting there before making a large purchase.
Yoast Plugin: Really, there is no other SEO plugin for your WordPress site. Really. I just use the free version and it’s done what I need it to do.
Moz Pro – Understand your visitors, track your rankings, optimize your site
Ahrefs – Monitor search traffic, research your competitors, monitor your niche
SEM Rush – SEO audits, Keyword Research, Backlinks. It’s expensive though. I use the free trials as I need it.
Search Metrics – This is an enterprise solution, so probably not the best for just starting out. But as you grow and scale, this is a great option!
Screaming Frog – This is another one that’s better for small and medium sized enterprises. They make a website crawler to analyze your site.
Ryte – Improve your online visibility by analyzing your site. This helps you find errors, plan and write better content, and evaluates your search performance in Google.
Tube Buddy – A free browser extension to help you find keywords for your YouTube channel. Part of the service is paid now, but you can easily get started with the free version.
Answer the Public – this site allows you to type in a question and it will generate a list of similar questions that people type into Google. As of Jan, 2020 you can get three lists per day.
Email Subscriptions & Marketing
MailChimp: There are so many good email marketing tools out there, including aWeber, GetResponse, and more. If you’re just starting out, use MailChimp. It’s free to a certain level of subscribers or activity and I am all about keeping costs low when you’re just getting started out. If you have an email list over 2,000 subscribers, this might be a different conversation depending on what type of marketing you’re doing with your website. Bottom line, if you’re just starting out, MailChimp is your goto. (Affiliate Links. Thank you for your support.)
ConvertKit provides some more advanced functionality with segmenting lists. As you learn more about email marketing, you may want to consider using this robust service (Affiliate Links. Thank you for your support.)
Video & Screen Casting
Blue Yeti: This is the microphone I use for any videos, podcasts, or any audio that I need to record. Easily records just you or you and the person sitting across from you while drowning out some of the background echo. (Affiliate Links. Thank you for your support.)
Adobe Creative Cloud: If you’re serious about making the best videos and audio, editing the best audio, or creating the best video, Adobe CC is the way to go. There’s a discount for students and teachers too!
Movavi: This is what I currently use to edit videos. If Adobe CC seems a bit overwhelming to you, Movavi really simplifies it for you.
Screencastify: A Google Chrome extension that allows you to record your screen. There’s a free version that allows you to record up to 5 minutes of video.
Screencast-o-matic: A more robust screen capture option that integrates with Canvas, Moodle, Google Classroom and more
Loom: Another option for making quick videos of you and your screen. Offers a little more with the free version than some others do.
Video/Audio Storage & Display
Amazon S3: You can use Amazon S3 to host very large files such as video and podcasts. You can use the Amazon Cloud content distribution network (CDN) to deliver your content at high speeds. This isn’t necessary to get your site up and running, but when you’re ready for video / podcasts, Amazon is here for you.
YouTube.com: YouTube isn’t a traditional video hosting platform like Vimeo or Amazon S3. You can put your content on their platform and it must align to their terms of service. YouTube also allows you to monetize your videos through ads. You can also build your own community on the platform.
Vimeo.com: A great option to host your high quality videos without ads.
Podcast Hosting
BluBrry: I chose to use BluBrry because of the Power Press plugin and it’s integration in WordPress. I highly recommend this if your website is using WordPress. It also offers plans that fit the frequency of my podcast. (Affiliate Links. Thank you for your support.)
Libsyn: Another great podcast hosting platform. The analytics for your podcast are a bit better here, but overall the analytics around podcasting on any platform aren’t that great just yet.
Anchor.FM: This is a free podcast hosting service that helps you monetize your podcast. In return, Anchor takes a portion of your earnings.
Podcast Recording and Editing
Blue Yeti: This is the microphone I use for any videos, podcasts, or any audio that I need to record. Easily records just you or you and the person sitting across from you while drowning out some of the background echo. (Affiliate Links. Thank you for your support.)
Audacity: A free, open source audio editing software that works on most operating systems.
Online Courses
Thinkific: This platform allows a lot of flexibility. If you plan to actually give instruction in your course, this one looks like a much better option. (Vs just creating a self-paced e-course where you as the instructor are not involved.)
Teachable: Teachable is a platform that allows you to really teach anything. As an educator, the assessment pieces aren’t as strong as Thinkific, but it does the job!
Here’s an article comparing Thinkific and Teachable. It was written by Thinkific, so keep that in mind when reading through it.
Learn Dash: A WordPress plugin to help you create your own LMS right in WordPress.
Member Vault: Online learning management system that has a free tier up to 50 students.
E-Commerce
Shopify: (Affiliate Links. Thank you for your support.) It’s an e-Commerce platform. Not a blogging platform, so don’t expect the same features you get with WordPress. This is a great way to get started with e-commerce since they handle all the technical things you need to consider when accepting credit cards over the internet.
WooCommerce: This is a plugin that you can use with WordPress to offer e-commerce on your wordpress installation. You have a lot more freedom to customize than Shopify.
1ShoppingCart.com: This is another platform where you can set up your online store. Like Shopify, they will handle the technical aspects of credit card payment processing.
Etsy: Etsy is an e-commerce marketplace, much like Amazon or E-bay, but their focus is on hand-made and vintage products.
Merch by Amazon: You can create products and sell them right on Amazon
Social Media Management
MeetEdgar: This platform is nice since it recycles your social media posts. You can save a few hours a week by using this platform. It works well if you already have a lot of content. If you don’t have much to cycle through yet, you can set up feeds from other sites if you’d like. They also have military pricing. It’s a bit pricey for anyone just starting out. This platform works with Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
CoSchedule: Another platform to schedule out social media posts. There’s a lot of different plans available, but not one in particular for educators or those just getting started. Make sure you review all the different offerings!
HootSuite: Great to see all of your social media content in one place. You can set up feeds based on keywords as well as schedule posts on your social media
Pinterest Tools
Pinterest is a great site for any sort of education blogger or education entrepreneur. Why? There are tons of teachers on Pinterest every single day! I found this WordPress plugin called WP Tasty that was designed for food bloggers to get more traffic through Pinterest. I’ve been using it for over a year now, and Pinterest is now my 2nd biggest source of traffic to my website. I highly suggest this plugin to make the most of your blog posts on Pinterest. (Affiliate Links. Thank you for your support.)
File Storage
DropBox: File storage that makes it easy to share files and take them with you wherever you go
Google Docs: Google’s version of file storage. Easy to share documents and take them with you wherever you go.
Project Management
Google Keep: Note-taking platform to keep all your project notes in one spot.
Trello: Good project management platform that helps you track workflows. Works really well to track where you are with multiple projects.
Asana: Another great project management platform.
Digital Product Distribution
DPD Cart – DPD is a tool to use for digital / information products. If you’re selling eBooks, software, any sort of digital download, this is a great way to automate it so you don’t have to manually distribute as your orders are coming in. You can integrate it with PayPal and Authorize.net as well.
Before you invest here in a tool, make sure the other tools you have don’t already offer this service. Digital products can also be delivered through your e-commerce platform (Shopify, WooCommerce) as well as your e-mail management system (ConvertKit).
Electronic Transactions
PayPal – PayPal is probably still the most widely used platform to send and receive money. You can invoice as well as set up payments.
Authorize.net – This can be used in place of PayPal for completing transactions. You’ll receive a mobile point-of-sale app, a seal for your website, and additional fraud prevention tools.
Stripe: Online payment processing for businesses. Great for offline transactions as well.
Measuring Website Traffic
Google Analytics – Using Google Analytics is a must for any and every website you have. It’s free to use and it helps you determine whether or not your online marketing strategy is working. You can tell what keywords people use to find you, what sites are referring people to you, and a lot of other really valuable pieces of information. You can set up goals to work towards to constantly improve your website traffic.
Google Webmasters / Search Console – This free tool is the best way to manage your presence in Google search. This is a tool to see what search phrases your site pops up in Google search and how people might be coming across your site. This is another must have for every website you own.
Graphics
Canva – I am definitely not a graphic artist, so I need all the help I can get. Canva is a quick way to create social media graphics, ebook covers, website banners, and more. (Affiliate Links. Thank you for your support.)
And most importantly… never stop learning! I hope to see you in the Facebook group!
This list is a work in progress. I plan to keep adding resources here as I use them and am able to provide some valuable feedback on them. While some of the links above are affiliate links, I only recommend products that I have actually used and like what the product offers to make running my websites easier.
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the free guide are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
