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7 Essential Resources for Small Business
So you want to start a business but you don't have a lot ofmoney? Start your business online, and it won't be a problem. There are some pretty terrific resources you can use. Some ofthem you have to pay for, but they are inexpensive and can getyou started quickly and easily. 1. A domain and web hosting. If you want others to see you as aprofessional and take you seriously, then you need to invest inyour own domain and web hosting. Purchased separately, the cost can add up very quickly. Here aresome very low cost solutions to help you put your name on themap. Dot Easy - http://www.doteasy.com - For only $25 per year, youcan purchase your own domain. The web hosting is completelyfree. Although this hosting account is stripped of all the bellsand whistles like CGI, you still get 15MB of bannerless hostingfor free, and if you build minisites, this is a really cheap wayfor you to get started. Buy a domain a month, and before youknow it, you have your own empire of products set up for a lotless than if you had bought all of this separately. Go Daddy - http://www.godaddy.com - Although as far as I knowthey offer domain names for the cheapest price on the Internetat $6.95, their service is pretty good. I buy all of my domainshere, and I've never had any problems. Free Web Space - http://100best-free-web-space.com/ - If moneyis a real problem right now, but you still want to make a goodimpression, then this site can help you find the most affordableweb hosting or even bannerless hosting that's free. Remember, you get what you pay for, so eventually, when you canafford it, upgrade. There are some good budget web hosts outthere like Dot Easy, but for the most part, you get what you payfor. 2. Web Site Creation Tools. There are some fantastic tools on the Internet you can use tobuild your web site, and they're all free. Considered to be the best HTML editor online, Front Page 2000will give you hundreds of scripts, as well as a free FTP clientyou can unzip into the directory and upload your files directlyfrom the HTML editor. There are four different modes, including beginner and expert,so no matter what level at creating HTML you are, this freeeditor will definitely help you. You'll find it here: http://www.evrsoft.com. While you're there, make sure you check out the free metatagcreator, as well as some of the other great free online toolsyou'll find there. 3. Scripts. If you want to get the most from your web site, scripts willhelp you do this. You don't have to be an expert in installationeither. You can quickly and easily learn how to install them. Itaught myself from reading some of the webmaster sites online. You have two choices when it comes to installing scripts on yoursite: You can install them yourself, or you can use remotely hostedscripts. Remotely hosted scripts are great when you don't have aCGI bin on your site. This site is offering scripts for free:http://site-by-design.com/affiliates.php - Scripts include:Autoresponder Script, Fly-In Ads Script, Paid To Read EmailsScript, Safelist Script, Rotator Script, Homepage TrafficScript. Definitely worth a look. Two resources that offer a wide variety of scripts in differentformats are: http://www.cgiextremes.com/ http://www.hotscripts.com If you want remotely hosted scripts, the best sites I have foundare: http://www.cgispy.com http://www.bravenet.com 4. Autoresponders. Autoresponders will help you in two ways: youcan use them for your opt in lists and ezines, and you can alsouse them to follow up with your customers. With opt in lists and ezines, an autoresponder will save you thetrouble of handling subscribe and unsubscribe requests, whichcan become very tedious after awhile. This will allow you toautomate the mundane part of building a relationship with yourcustomers and newsletter subscribers, providing you with thecredibility you need online to make the sale. Two sites that offer free autoresponders that are very reliableare: http://www.getresponse.com/ http://www.sendfree.com/ Please note: when using free autoresponders, the site owner willsend his/her ads with your messages. This is valuable messagereal estate. It's better to pay for your autoresponders, ifpossible, so that you can place your own ads in the headers andfooters of all your messages. 5. Online Tools. There is a whole host of online tools you can use to help youwith your business including email formatters, newsletterformatters, sales letter and press release formatters, as wellas wizards to help you build your web site. Below are some of the best: Pertinent Inc. - http://www.pertinent.com - Offers a free pressrelease creator, as well as a sales letter generator. Free Online Wizards -http://www.thesitewizard.com/wizards/index.shtml - This siteoffers everything from a wizard to help you syndicate yourcontent to form creators and drop down menu creators. Lots oftips and articles too. Email Formatter - http://www.formatit.com - Tired of gettingemails with a ton of >>>>> in them? You can use this site tostrip those tags out, as well as reformat your emails to anywidth. Great for formatting articles too. 6. Business Software. You can find thousands of dollars in free software to help youbuild your business by searching through software sites online. My favorite is Freeware Home: http://www.freewarehome.com.You'll find over 7,000 applications at last count here, andthey're all free, full sized versions of the program. Two applications you won't want to be without are: Open Office - http://www.openoffice.org - Formerly Star Office,this open source application is the best rival to MicrosoftOffice. You can use it to do everything from convert yourdocuments to PDF, to word processing, spreadsheets, andpresentations. There's also a version for MAC, making this amust see application when you can't afford other expensiveapplications. Banana Cash Books -http://www.banana.ch/banana4/eng/bc4_cashbook.shtml - Althoughthis single entry accounting program accepts just about anycurrency, if you want to use the accounting method the IRSrecommends for small business, this nice little free programwill definitely do the trick. 7. Business Education. Once you have your business up and running, it's a good idea tostay up to date with your business and marketing knowledge. There are a lot of great ways to do this including forums,article directories, mailing lists, and newsletters. There are also some great resource heavy sites out there you canbenefit from. Below are three of my favorites: My 1st Business - http://www.my1stbusiness.com - Run by BenBotes, you'll find plenty of ecourses, seminars and morecovering small business, ecommerce, marketing, and other topics.You need to sign up for an account, but it's free, anddefinitely worth a look. Free Marketing Resources - http://www.jdbmail.com/ - Run byJimmy D. Brown, one of my all time favorite marketers, and quitefrankly, one of the best, you'll find audio, ecourses, and otherresources in plain English that can teach you how to marketonline. Jimmy doesn't just teach you what to do; he shows youhow to do it, and he spells it out. It doesn't matter if you area complete newbie, or if you have been marketing for some time.You'll benefit from Jimmy's excellent teaching. Ebook Directory - http://www.ebookdirectory.com - Run by NoelHynes, this is the most comprehensive collection of smallbusiness and Internet marketing ebooks on the Internet, andthey're absolutely free. You'll also find plenty of other ebookshere including motivational, writing, and a whole lot more. There are plenty of free resources on the Internet to help youbuild your business. The trick is learning when you should buyproducts and services for your business and when you can get afreebie that will do the job just as well and sometimes better. A quick search of Alexa, http://www.alexa.com, will help youfind some of the best. Jinger Jarrett is a former military journalist and newspaper reporter who teaches and consults on article writing. You can get her latest ebook, (it's free), "100+ Best FREE and Paid Resources for Writers, Internet Marketers, and Small Business
MORE RESOURCES:
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