When you are new to how the web works its natural to gravitate towards free web tools and services. Lacking a clear understanding of how most of these things work, free tools give you the option to try before you buy. Having tried quite a few free and fee-based services online, I now have a listing of tools that I highly recommend and do not mind paying for.
Hostmonster Web Hosting
A good web host at an affordable price is hard to find. As a web designer I’ve seen the kinds of outrageously priced low quality hosting companies that some of my clients opt for because of limited knowledge and/or false advertising. I am currently a loyal customer of Hostmonster.com and I recommend them to clients whenever possible. They meet my 3 basic requests: good price, professionalism, and accessibility. I host my 15+ websites on two Hostmonster accounts. For each account hosting is about $80 for the year and $10 to register each domain. This package includes unlimited space, domains, and email accounts along with one click installation of popular scripts like word/press and 24×7 customer support. For more information and/or to sign up through me visit Click Here.
Overnight Prints
For networking events and marketing material I use overnight prints. I custom design my business cards and postcards in my home office. I then upload the graphics directly to the overnight prints website and have my cards shipped to me within a week. I like the diverse options they provide as well as having access to their monthly promotions. Ordering at the right time I can have high-quality prints at costs that most of my local printers cannot match. For more information and/or to sign up through me visit Click Here.
iStockphoto
If you want your products to look high-quality, you need high-quality images. For over 4 years now I have been using istockphoto.com as my source for low cost, high quality stock photography. I am always receiving compliments on my design presentation and I can attribute much of that to the photos available on iStockphoto. I can’t open a magazine and/or walk in a department store without seeing at least one familiar promotional photo, which always reminds me that I have access to the same services that fortune 500 companies are using every day. For more information and/or to sign up through me visit Click Here.
Madmimi
As a web entrepreneur one of your biggest goals should be to get customers to regularly return to your website. There are different ways to encourage return business. One of the most commonly used internet marketing strategies is email marketing. I currently use two different email marketing services, one of which is madmimi. I like madmimi for several reasons. Their website is user friendly for beginners, they have nice looking / easy to customize templates, and they are very affordable.
For more information and/or to sign up through me visit http://madmimi.sistasense.com.
eJunkie
If you are in need of a low cost service to securely sell your digital products and/or services online, I highly recommend ejunkie.com. I have tried other ecommerce and digital download services, but I always return to eJunkie. In my opinion, eJunkie offers the best price. It’s easy to use and full of features. I use eJunkie to sell eBooks and eCourses, in addition to my graphics design services. Via eJunkie I can send out updates/newsletters to customers, manage my affiliate program, create promotional discount codes and build an eStore to display all my products. For more information and/or to sign up through me visit Click Here.
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Did you like this article? It is featured in the August Money and Power issue of SistaSense In Print Magazine.
If i switch my hosting from justhost to hostmonster, will they transfer all my files and emails and domains. because i had someone hack into my website back in April. and they still have yet to solve the problem with taking my email from the spam list. so when my customers receive my emails it goes to the spam folder.
I normally transfer all my stuff myself, so I am not 100% sure they offer this service BUT I think they do … I would recommend checking the details on the website. Hacking unfortunately is the negative side of hosting websites and aren’t directly related to your hosting – we all either by ourselves or with the help of a web designer / tech person have to be diligent about keeping passwords, wordpress installs, and scripts up to day/secure to avoid hacks as best we can. -lh
Due to a layoff and the inability to find a job, I have been basically forced out there to take a real shot at turning what is normally my side hustle into a full time business. Being laid off hasn’t been all bad, it did allow me the time I needed to help guide my oldest child through his jr and senior year of high school and help position him to receive an athletic scholarship. Though I am grateful for that time being available my financial stability has taken a beating. So I would like any advise that you can give me on how to make that transition as painless as possible.
I don’t have a lot of time to do research or anything like that because this wasn’t supposed to happen for a few more years. But I find myself here now and I would like to makes use of my 14+ years of sales and consulting and make this business truly work for me. I have another son entering high school next year and I would like to be financially stable so that I can be available to help guide him as well.