The Best Affiliate Marketing Tools I Actually Use (Tested & Approved)
Welcome to the toolbox! I’m so glad you’re here.
When I first started my journey toward building a home business, I spent way too much time (and honestly, way too much money) trying to figure out which tools actually worked and which ones were just noise. It can be incredibly overwhelming to navigate all the different softwares, platforms, and resources out there when you’re just trying to get your ideas off the ground.
That’s exactly why I created this page. Think of this as a curated list of my absolute favorite "must-haves." These are the resources I personally rely on to keep things running smoothly, from SEO and content creation to stay-organized essentials.
I’ve done the trial and error so you don't have to. My hope is that these tools help you skip the frustration and get straight to the part where you’re building a business you love. Take a look around, and I hope you find something that makes your day-to-day a little easier!
Websites & Hosting
I've been building websites for myself and for clients for over a decade and feel like I have about seen it all. I've seen the good and the bad and feel strongly that I now utilize the easiest and most user-friendly platforms there are.
WordPress + the Divi Theme + Kinsta Hosting
This combination is great for certain types of websites and businesses. I use this combination for this website and a couple of others. Why WordPress, the Divi Theme, & Kinsta Hosting?
WordPress & Divi make things so simple and easy - see my review here
Kinsta is the best WordPress hosting solution - see my review here
Kinsta improves your sites security, speed, and performance - which is so crucial for your SEO and ranking your website
Kinsta has the best support that I've ever experienced with a hosting provider, which I cannot express how grateful I am for that
If all you need are landing pages to build unique and amazing funnels, the HBA Funnel Builder is the best solution. I use this for a few funnels, like the All-in-One Business that I love to promote. Make sure to read my full review and how to map your funnel ahead of time! And there are a few amazing benefits to getting this...
The HBA Funnel Builder is only $25/month - which is SO much cheaper than any other funnel builder out there
It has the best affiliate program opportunity I've ever seen online. 80% commissions with some amazing upsells.
The support and community are wonderful and love helping. Even the owners love answering questions.
You get all the training you need to learn the platform and loads of funnel templates to get you going the same day.
WordPress Plugins
I've done loads of WordPress maintenance and support for clients over the years, so I get pretty serious about plugins and making sure that I and the client only use plugins that are necessary and beneficial. Too many plugins can be very troublesome, break things, cause confusion, and most importantly, can slow down your site. So here is what I use for almost every site and try to never use anything else unless absolutely necessary. Be sure to read my article on the 7 WordPress plugins you must have. These all make the list. 🙂
This plugin is awesome at taking care of nearly all of the technical SEO issues that can come with using WordPress. It can be a bit complicated if you don't know SEO, so feel free to reach out if you're unsure how to use it.
Compacts CSS & JavaScript to speed up your site
Helps other page load and other speed issues
Integrates with the Imagify plugin
Takes care of nearly all technical SEO speed issues to help your SEO and ranking potential
Yoast is super helpful for all things SEO across your site - from generating your SiteMap, Schema, and managing all on-page SEO for your posts, pages, categories, and much more. Also check out my Yoast comparison post!
Very easy to use & helps the SEO of your site very quickly
The free version does just about everything you need. I almost always just use the free version.
Includes Schema markup to your site
This isn't a requirement, but it's a plugin I love using. It does what it says... it makes links pretty. 🙂 For instance, the affiliate link I use for the All-in-One Business is "https://academy.samcart.com/referral/aio/201207" ... So instead I use Pretty Links to assign this new link - "https://thehomebusinesschallenge.com/all-in-one" to go to that longer, much less pretty link.
Makes pretty links! 🙂
Using shorter links that include your domain can help people trust your link and it looks better if you are using that link anywhere like social media or YouTube
The free version should do everything you need
This free plugin is safe and trusted and does two very important tasks - controls any redirects you need and can help you spot any broken links that are getting traffic. The latter isn't the best method for tracking broken links but can come in handy in a pinch. This is used differently than Pretty Links because this controls redirects from any pages you either delete or change the URL slug so Google knows about the change and you don't lose any SEO power.
Free and easy to use
Create redirects so you don't lose any SEO power if you delete or change a URL slug
Email Marketing
I used to not have strong feelings about which email marketing platform you should use. They were all quite similar and all would end up costing a lot of money with their "success tax" - where they charge you more and more as you grow.
Now, there's only one choice I recommend...
HBA Emailer
You're not going to believe this... but the HBA Emailer comes WITH your HBA subscription. So for as little as $10 / month, you get a complete, amazingly simple email marketing platform. Yes, at no extra cost and you'll never have to pay a "success tax" as you grow. It's incredible. I always hated paying those large monthly fees for emailing. Now I don't have to!
Advanced enough to do everything you need
Reliable and scaleable
Pay as you go ($15 = 15,000 emails)
Training & Courses
There is a popular phrase online entrepreneurs like to use - "learn before you earn." It's sound advice if you have the luxury to do that, but most people don't. If you're like me, your online journey started or is starting out of a nearly desperate need to improve your life and situation... or in my case, compleeeetely desperate! Haha!
So, I when I'm helping people who are just starting out online, I flip that phrase around and say, "let's start earning, and then start learning." The biggest goal in the short-term is to start getting some money coming in. Once that happens, it opens up so many doors and you can scale and grow and start bringing your passion to your online business and have the luxury of learning and training where you need to. This helps alleviate some stress as well which will help you be more productive overall.
With that in mind, there's only one training that I recommend:
The All-in-One Business is a $25 business that you can use to turn around and start making money right away - which you need! This platform also upsells to the Home Business Academy, which gives you all the training you need to succeed online. So this opportunity not only gives you what you need to start making money right away, it also leads right to the place to start scaling and growing. It's perfect.
Everything you need to start making money right away
Perfect upsells to scale your business, your knowledge, and your sales
The best community and support you'll find online - at no extra cost
Want to Learn More About the HBA?
Mindset & Community
If you have been working online for any amount of time, you know how truly important and invaluable it is to have a great community, support, and a positive, healthy mindset in order to succeed. It's likely you're on your own trying to do all of this online stuff. I certainly was. And the years when I was alone and struggling and desperately trying to make things work took a toll on me both mentally and physically. So if you're working hard, make sure you take the time you need to keep your mind healthy and get the right people around you to support you. And for me, there's only been one place I needed for this...
You've probably already seen me mention the Home Business Academy because of the business opportunity it provides and the amount of training you receive as a member - which is all the training you need to succeed online. But there are a few additional benefits to being a part of the Home Business Academy...
Weekly Mastermind training and support
Amazing community full of people who love helping others and would love to help you succeed
Daily morning mindset group calls
An entire mindset training section to help make sure you take care of your mind which leads to more success
Traffic & Leads
Outside of advertising on platforms like Facebook, Google Ads, etc., organic social media posts, and SEO, there are a couple of additional traffic and lead generation options that I like to use from time to time.
If you're looking for training on running ads or organic lead gen strategies, you can find all of that inside the Home Business Academy.
Solo Ads can be effective but use with caution. You want to make sure you work with a good seller. Udimi offers a lot of options, so check reviews and spend sparingly until you feel comfortable and find good results. Also, make sure you send people to an opt-in so you can then have those people in your own automation. That's where Udimi and solo ads can be most effective. Solo ads can lead to sales, but the leads are what you typically should expect. Sales are a bonus. Read my full Udimi Review here.
Easy to use and find good sellers
A decent option for generating leads
This is a good option for you if you are an affiliate marketer because it emails to subscribers who are interested in business opportunities and is its own great affiliate program opportunity. Check out my full review of My Lead Gen Secret here.
Gives you 100 - 200 new leads each day
Great addition for affiliate marketers
Email up to 9,000 subscribers per day
Other Tools & Platforms
I've been building websites for myself and for clients for over a decade and feel like I have about seen it all. I've seen the good and the bad and feel strongly that I now utilize the easiest and most user-friendly platforms there are.
If you have a website that you want to rank well on Google or other Search Engines, you have two options... Either hire professionals or use Semrush to help you knock your SEO out of the park. Not only will it monitor your site and show you everything you need to fix and improve, it will also give you tons of tools to take your SEO to the next level. It's been my number one SEO tool for many, many years. Read my full review on Semrush here as well as using Semrush for small businesses and how to scale with Semrush as an agency.
Find and monitor any and all SEO errors and issues on your website
Get all the tools, training, and resources you need to improve your SEO
This is the future of online forms and quizzes - so you might as well get in on it! It's amazing. Instead of the boring forms asking for information, you can create videos and personally ask your audience questions... and allow them to reply with text, audio, or even video! How valuable is that?! It's such a great way to interact and get to know your people. And this is one of my new favorite tools. Read my full VideoAsk review!
Use video to ask questions
Receive text, audio, or video replies
The best way to interact with your audience
Don't tell anyone, but I hate social media! Haha. Well, perhaps that's unfair. But I did things wrong when I started and I tried to learn everything when I started working online. And it was hard to keep up with every platform when all I really wanted to focus on was websites and SEO. But social media is such a great way to connect and communicate with your audience and customers. ContentStudio makes my life a bit easier because I can manage everything in one place and schedule posts. Read my full ContentStudio review!
Manage your social media platforms in one place
Schedule posts
Research trends, influencers, and much more
Beacon is a great tool to help you build PDF's, eBooks, and more. These are great to use to build free opt-in lead magnets. Unless you're a magician with Adobe Illustrator or are able to hire a professional, Beacon is a great option that I've used a lot - even to create internal team training PDF's and checklists.
Easy to use and convenient
Create PDF's, eBooks, and more