Business Software and Tools

Web Hosting Companies

Rocket.net

We’ve been hearing great things about rocket.net from other agencies. We are currently testing the rocket.net agency plan on a few test sites. So far, we are impressed with their speed, security, support, and ease of migration. I plan to post more details after we have tested Rocket.net on more sites. 

Flywheel

Flywheel is the agency hosting platform of WPEngine and is our preferred hosting provider. They offer fast, reliable, and secure hosting services. Plus, their customer support is top-notch. Anytime we have an issue with a website, one of their experts is available to chat within a minute or two. We only want the best website hosting services to make sure our client’s websites are always up and running smoothly.

WP Engine

They offer excellent uptime and helpful customer support. They offer a free Global CDN, automated backups, and automated SSL on every plan. Use this link to get 2 months of free hosting with WP Engine. 

Website Content Creation

Open AI & Chat GPT-4

GPT-4 from OpenAI is a revolutionary language model that can generate human-like text. It excels at three unique aspects, making it more advanced than its predecessors: creativity, visual input, and longer context capabilities. Read our blog post about how GPT-4 is revolutionizing digital marketing. 

Jasper.ai

Are you struggling to create content that resonates with your audience? Are you finding it hard to come up with new ideas or simply don’t have the time to write? If so, you may want to consider using an AI content writing tool like Jasper. We all suffer from writer’s block sometimes. But AI tools can help you generate high-quality content quickly and easily, freeing up your time to focus on other tasks. You should always have a human guide and edit your content, but Jasper can help you come up with ideas when you’re stuck.

Another favorite tool is WordTune editor because it can give you variations of each sentence when you want to word something differently but are not sure exactly how you want to say it.

SEO Content Writing

Surfer SEO

If you’ve ever tried to find something online, you’ve experienced the power of search engine optimization firsthand. That’s because when you type a few keywords into a search engine like Google or Bing, the results are ranked using a complex algorithm that takes into account dozens of factors. One of those factors is the quality of the content on a website. Surfer SEO is a tool that helps you write search-optimized content.

Important note regarding using AI tools for SEO content: You should only use these tools as a guide and make sure you write content for humans to read rather than bots. Google’s new “Helpful Content Update” targets sites creating content for search engines, so sites with content written only for SEO may lose ranking. Focus on people first when writing content for your website.

We have a detailed post about some of the best AI Writing tools available. 

Search Engine Optimization

If you’re like most people, you probably don’t spend much time thinking about search engine optimization (SEO). But if you’ve ever tried to find something online, you know how important it is. Search engines use algorithms to index and rank web pages, and if your content doesn’t match what people are searching for, it’s likely that your page will never be seen.

Local SEO

BrightLocal

When it comes to tracking local search ranking on Google and Bing, BrightLocal is the name of the game. We use BrightLocal to help our clients get the visibility they need to succeed. BrightLocal provides detailed reports that show how your ranking is improving over time. Plus, they offer citation builder campaigns and reputation management. So if you’re looking to get ahead in the local search rankings, BrightLocal is the way to go.

For more local SEO tips, see our complete guide to Local SEO Software. 

Organic SEO

Rank Math

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an essential part of any web agency’s toolkit. And when it comes to SEO tools, RankMath is one of the best. RankMath helps our agency to get our clients’ websites to rank higher on search engine results pages. And that means more traffic and more business for our clients. But SEO is not a one-time thing. It’s an ongoing process that requires constant attention. When using AI tools such as Rank Math, remember to focus on people first when writing your content so that your site won’t be affected by the helpful content update that Google will be rolling out soon.

Keyword Research Tools

SEMRush

With SEMRush’s keyword research capabilities, we help improve our clients’ search ranking by finding high-impact keywords and phrases, along with search volume data and competition levels. This information enables us to develop targeted content strategies and improve their search engine rankings.

Keywords are the heart of SEO. Without proper keywords, your website will never be found by people searching for the products or services you offer. But with the right keywords, you can rank high in the search engines and attract a steady stream of targeted traffic to your website. Of course, finding the right keywords is essential to success.

Semrush is currently offering a 2-week free trial. Try Semrush 14-day PRO trial here. 

Keywords Everywhere

This handy Chrome extension provides instant keyword ideas and related search terms as you browse the web. Just enter a seed keyword and see a list of relevant keywords and phrases, along with their monthly search volume.

We use the Keywords Everywhere Chrome Extension or the free Keyword Surfer Chrome Extension when searching Google and SEMRush for detailed keyword research.

Graphic Design Apps

Adobe

We use Adobe Photoshop, Acrobat Pro, and Illustrator for editing and creating website graphics. Here’s a link to a free trial of all the complete Adobe product suite. 

You can read about some other AI image generators available here.

Email Newsletters

ConvertKit

ConvertKit is a great tool for managing your newsletter subscribers and turn them into loyal customers. With ConvertKit, you can easily segment your list and send targeted emails based on their interests. Plus, ConvertKit integrates with all the major email providers, so you can be sure your messages will always reach your subscribers. ConvertKit also offers a wide range of landing page templates that you can use to grow your list even further.

Podcasting

BuzzSprout

If you want to start a podcast, you can’t go wrong with BuzzSprout. They offer everything you need to get up and running, including a WordPress plugin that automatically publishes new episodes to your blog. And if you’re not a fan of WordPress, don’t worry – they also have a standalone app that’s just as easy to use.

Video creation software

We love creating videos for our clients. And we’ve found that the best way to do that is to use the right tools for the job. That’s why we’re big fans of Loom and Pictory.

Descript

Descript is a powerful video editor that revolutionizes the editing process by automatically transcribing your recordings and allowing you to edit them like a document. With its intuitive interface, you can easily arrange visuals like you would on a slide, making video editing faster and more efficient. By combining cutting-edge transcription technology with a user-friendly platform, Descript streamlines the creative process, enabling users to edit and perfect their content effortlessly.

Loom

There’s nothing quite like seeing something for yourself. That’s why, when it comes to explaining how to edit websites, we often find that a video is worth a thousand words. With Loom, recording a screencast is quick and easy, so we can show our clients exactly how to make the changes they need without having to rely on lengthy written instructions. Plus, the videos can be easily shared via email or social media, making it convenient for our clients to reference them at their leisure. In short, Loom has become an invaluable tool in our business, and we’re grateful for all that it helps us accomplish on a daily basis.

Pictory

Pictory is ideal for creating short, engaging social media videos. With its drag-and-drop interface, it’s easy to add images and text to your video. And the built-in templates make it simple to create stylish videos that will grab attention on social media. We use Pictory to create videos from blog content to post to websites, YouTube, and social media.

FlexClip

FlexClip video editor is one of the favorites on this list. It’s easy to use and includes 3500+ templates to get started, so even layman video creators can feel confident creating their first video. You can also create videos from scratch. The drag-and-drop video editor lets you highlight text and drag it onto video frames, then add images and video from its extensive library. Once we have finished editing our video, we can export it directly to YouTube, among other options.

Accounting and Payroll

FreshBooks

There are many accounting and invoicing solutions on the market, but we’ve found that FreshBooks is the best fit for our needs. Not only is it easy to create and send invoices, but it also helps us track receive and track payments and keep up with our income and expenses. The software is user-friendly and has a wide range of features such as online invoices, making it ideal for small businesses like ours. They also have a neat feature for adding online payments to websites.

Gusto

We use Gusto for our payroll software. Gusto makes it easy to pay our team and stay compliant with tax laws. It offers direct deposit and generates paystubs and tax forms. We’ve been using Gusto for over a year now and we haven’t had any issues. Overall, we’re really happy with Gusto and would recommend it to any small business looking for a good payroll solution.

Business Telephone and Text Messaging

OpenPhone

OpenPhone is the business telephone solution we use at our web agency. It’s great because we can forward our calls to our cell phones and see that it’s a business call before answering. We can also set business hours and do not disturb if we’re in a meeting. It’s great for voicemail, and business texts.

These are just a few of the tools and resources we use at Roe Digital. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions about any of our recommendations.