Whether you’re gift-buying or treating yourself, Black Friday can be pretty amazing. But this year I’m focusing on my biz so instead of buying a new pair of shoes (or twelve), I’m going to take advantage of sales for my business – super responsible, I know.

Instead of making this post really long with every deal around, I’ve limited it to simply the essentials. These are the tools that I use, that I love, and that will help grow your business. These are the things worth investing in. These are the tools you should start using now to get ready for a big year in 2018. So if you need to spruce up your blog – or start your blog – here are the resources you need.

Black Friday Deals for Bloggers:

 

Envato Market – 50% off of Themes + Design Elements

If you need a new theme, have your eye on a plugin, or just need to spruce up your site, you should definitely check out Envato’s 50% off sale. Look at some of those prices – $14 for a theme? Yes please! This is where I get all my themes because the quality is amazing and the marketplace makes it sale. Not to mention you’re often supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs like yourself!

 

Convert Kit – FREE One Month Trial (offer ends November 27th!)

This is huge – Convert Kit rarely does free trials. Why? They don’t need to. The service is that good and because I use it, I know it works. When I first got it, it helped me start sending out content-upgrades which SKYROCKETED my number of email opt-ins. Before that, I was getting maybe 1 subscriber a month. After that, I started seeing 1 subscriber a day. Content upgrades are no joke and you need an email provider that can help you do them and do them well.

I could rant and rave about ConvertKit all day but I’ll keep it short and just share a few other reasons why I love them:

1. It helps get your emails delivered + read. ConvertKit does’t use fancy email templates, like MailChimp, and it’s for a reason. It helps get your emails delivered. The more design elements and html (like photos, columns, etc.), the more likely your subscribers email providers are to flagging it as spam and throwing it in their junk mail. Simple text is WAY more likely to be delivered straight to their inbox and read by the right people. Plus it feels much more personal which helps build connection with your subscribers.
2. Built in email courses + sequences. When someone subscribes, you can set up an automation on your forms to add them to a sequence right away – no work required. It could be a welcome sequence, an email course, a sales sequence. Sequences are how you connect, how you sell, and how you get people on your list to take you up on your offers. You need them to build a successful business. ConvertKit will drip out the emails in your sequence in the intervals you choose. It means that you can just set and forget. Plus they have built in features that make it easy to avoid spamming your readers, like turning on and off certain days for receiving emails.
3. You can tag your subscribers. This is HUGE when you get into selling and promoting to your list. You can tag people based on their needs or wants and then roll out emails that serve them best. For example, if someone opts-in to your vegan recipe freebie, you can tag them with ‘vegan recipes’. Then you target them with emails that speak to them. And when you launch that vegan recipe cookbook or program, you have a whole list ready of people you already know like that content and you can create special sales emails just for them. And this is only one example – there is so much you can do with tags and automations.
4. No duplicate subscribers. A lot of you want to be offering multiple content upgrades, but have you though about what would happen if one person signs up for more than one lead-magnet? Most email providers will count this as a separate email, and therefore add it to your number of subscribers. If this happens once or twice, no big deal. But if this happens a lot, it can really drive up the cost of your membership. With most providers, you pay per subscribers – and these duplicate emails can be costing you a lot of money especially as your email list grows and it’s harder to go through and delete duplicates. ConvertKit never charges your for duplicate subscribers which can be a big money saver.

There are so many other cool features in ConvertKit but I will let you see for yourself! The month is free so I highly recommend that you give it a try –  but hurry because the offer ends on November 27th!!

 

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Girl Biz Online – 20% off Stock Photos + Blog Planners

If you haven’t already seen it, this is my online shop! I’m currently running a 20% off deal on all of my stock photos and planners until December 1st. I have put so much time and energy into my products to make sure that they’re tools that can help your business.

I saw a real hole in the market for photos that look real and are fit for girl bosses, trend setters, and Instagram influencers – so I created them. I really tried to make images that you could be proud to show off and would help build reputation and engagement for your brand. These photos stand out and match current Instagram trends – plus they’re not half as expensive as some of the other stock photos out there. I don’t think you should need to spend an arm and a leg for great images.

My Boss Babe planner is also something I’m really proud of! It’s 30 pages and JAM PACKED with proven techniques to help you see big results. There are goal setting pages, weekly and monthly editorial calendars, a series planner, an email sequence planner, a blog post planner, and so much more.  I think it’s the tool you need for planning big results in 2018. My goal with this planner is to help part-time girl bosses make the switch to FULL-TIME girl bosses in 2018. If you want that to be you, grab the planner on sale before December 1st!

 

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InMotion – 25% off Hosting + Front-End Website Editor!

Most of you know by now that I host with InMotion and think it’s the best. I’m not super technical so if you want specs, you may need to look elsewhere, but I do know a few things that make it my number one choice:

1. 1. 6 websites and unlimited email accounts –  yes please! As a born entrepreneur, the possibility of using all of my websites and being able to create and store unlimited email accounts has me SO excited. I always have a new business idea on the brain and thankfully my plan, which isn’t very expensive, can support me as my biz grows.
   2. Great online support. Again, I’m not super technical so it should be no surprise that I’ve had to lean on their support from time to time.
   3. The front-end editor. I saved the best for last! WordPress themes and websites can be crazy complicated. It can involve coding and all kinds of tech stuff that many of us aren’t good at or don’t have the time to do. Boldgrid, which comes with pre-installed WordPress with InMotion, is an editor that basically eliminates the complicated technical side and let’s you drag and drop your website elements, code free. It’s really great for anyone who is new to WordPress or web design. These types of editors SAVED me when I was just starting out because WordPress was a complicated system that made me want to pull my hair out. Anyone else? Here is a quick video on what it looks like to design a website with Boldgrid. If you like it, you should definitely go with InMotion!

 

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Adobe Creative Cloud – 20% off. 

I LOVE Creative Cloud – I use it on a daily basis for tons of business tasks. Lightroom and Photoshop are essential for photo editing, creating graphics, and designing freebies. Since I invested in Adobe CC, I feel like my business has gotten WAY more proffessional. For example, see that blog planner graphic above? All done in Photoshop + Canva. All of the stock photos in my shop? Edited with Lightroom and Photoshop. These tools have really helped me step my game up so if you feel like you need to do the same, give them a try! It takes a bit of time to learn the ropes, but it’s worth it.

 

That’s it guys – those are my must-have tools for Black Friday. If you want to strategize and go big in 2018, get started with the essential tools now. Any one have any other essentials to share or any experiences with these tools? Leave your thoughts below 💕