Stuff we like
Clients often come to us for recommendations on a lot of other things related to the web. Sometimes they want to do things themselves, other times they prefer to just know more about the stuff that we use to get things done.
We decided to compile this list of web apps and software that we currently use or highly recommend.
Web Hosting
We also provide web hosting services for our clients, but for those who prefer to have full control over their hosting environment, these companies have been tried, tested and come highly recommended.
LiquidWeb – Solid VPS and Dedicated provider who we’ve used to host some of our biggest accounts. Their “Heroic Support” team is … heroic!
KnownHost – We’ve been with these guys the longest and we’re not planning on stopping. They’ve been great throughout the years. Tickets get answered and resolved in minutes and our VPS servers with them perform great!
BuyVM and RamNode – Unmanaged VPS providers. They’re always at the top of everyone’s list of providers and we couldn’t agree more. If you’re comfortable managing your own Linux servers, give them a try.
Project Management
Some of our clients prefer to work with us through a project management system to everyone in the project knows what they have to do. We have accounts with all three of these providers.
Basecamp – Well-known and probably the most popular online project management service.
Team Work – Our go-to project management web app that we use internally. A little bit more complicated to use than Basecamp, but we like the added features.
Website Monitoring and Security
We always set this up for our long-term clients and highly recommend you using one of these if you are serious about your website’s up-time.
Uptime Robot – Simple and free (with limitations)
Status Cake – They also have a free plan, but we recommend one of their paid plans for the extra features such as blacklist monitoring, etc.
Last Pass – A great way to manage company passwords. You can assign different access rights per employee so you can make sure that only the people who are assigned to a project will have the passwords to it. It also has login tracking and a bunch of other features. Highly recommended if you take your companies’ passwords and security seriously.
CDN and Web-based Firewall
You can’t be too careful when it comes to protecting your website. You also want to make sure your site reaches it’s intended audience at the soonest possible time. Having a good globally distributed Content Deliver Network is crucial in providing both of these services, specially for sites that get a decent amount of hits.
Cloud Flare – the most popular and largest (in terms of users). Their free service is sufficient for most users.
Sucuri – They’re security-first and CDN-second. We highly recommend them for larger sites that handle more sensitive data.
Internet Marketing
Internet Marketing is so broad (SEO, SMM, Email Marketing, etc.) that there will never be a one-size-fits-all solution. We use different combinations depending on our clients’ requirements.
Nothing really beats knowledge and experience, but the following tools make the job a lot easier. As long as you know what you’re doing.
Moz – Ahrefs – Word Tracker – Raven Tools – Drip Revolution – Link Emperor – SEO Powersuite – SENuke XCR – Traffic Travis – Market Samurai – Long Tail Pro – Mail Chimp – AWeber
SEM Rush – Track competitor keywords, check backlinks, get keyword rankings, and more.
SERP Book – Search Engine Ranking Position (SERP) tracker. It’s got a really clean interface and provides historical charts, categories, and it’s white-label so you can add your company branding to the reports.
