Resources
From one business owner to another, these are some valuable resources I have used to cut costs and make my business run better. I hope you find them to be as valuable to your business as they continue to be for mine.
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Anti-virus software – www.eset.com
I'm on a computer about 8 hours a day and sometimes more and I visit a lot of sites and I receive a TON of email. I've done the other software programs and what I like about NOD32 is that it doesn't bog down your computer with a billion heavy programs that seem to always get in the way of something or another. This program is affordable and it also is very good at what it does.
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Invoicing – www.freshbooks.com
Can't say enough about this program. If you do regular invoicing to your customers and client and fight to get them out the door or to follow up on them if they are paid or not, then this is for you. Totally awesome.
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Printing – www.vistaprint.com
I've saved a lot of money with printing when it comes to business cards, letterhead, and envelopes. Its quick, easy and inexpensive. -
Office Suite – www.openoffice.org
I got tired of dealing with one license or another of Microsoft Office and started using Open Office. It's free and it works with Office document extensions and files. It's easy to install and doesn't take up as much resources in your computer.
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Merchant accounts – www.milleniumbank.com
When you are ready to sell something online, you'll need a good merchant account. I mean after you have graduated from paypal or google checkout. These services are ok, but ultimately diminish the user experience by making the user jump to another site to put in a credit card. This company is competitive and they also have good customer service.
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Data back up & recovery – www.mozy.com
I've used this twice now. My computer got a virus and windows backup-restore point is a joke, so this service is so worth it. It backs up your computer as you go so its always current given that you have an Internet connection when and where you work. -
Domain Registration – www.godaddy.com & www.namecheap.com
I abandoned other registrars a long time ago. I've used godaddy for like 8 years but just found namecheap and I've now started using them too because they offer free protection from the who-is scrapers who go after your contact information. Godaddy charges for this service. Both are very good registrars and it just depends on your purpose for registering a domain name.
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Payroll – www.paychex.com, & www.quickbooks.com
Having employees or even subcontractors is part of being in business. I made the mistake early on of not doing payroll correctly and learned my lesson. It is worth it even if you are a very small business with only 1 or 2 employees.
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Customer Relations Software (CRM) – www.sugarcrm.com, www.salesforce.com
A must have piece of software for your business. It makes keeping track of contacts and leads, opportunities, projects, support issues and keeps all of it in one place. If you have multiple users in the sales process, then you need a CRM and I'd check out both to see what fits your needs better. BTW, both now offer free versions of their software.
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Telephone services VoiP/PBX – www.vocalocity.com , www.mainstreet.com
I've saved a boatload of money by using this service vs. trying to buy an expensive phone pbx. You get all the features of an expensive system for a very affordable price. You can even use a soft phone that can turn your computer into a phone saving you even more.
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Soft Phone – www.counterpath.com
They have several available. The X-Lite is free and the Bria is still only $50 I think.
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Website Templates – www.templatemonster.com
When you want a really cool, functional design for your website and don't want to spend thousands on a custom job, then template monster is for you. You may not care so much about being totally unique as long as your site looks professional and you can still customize the look of any template. -
Email Marketing Service – www.constantcontact.com and www.getresponse.com or www.awebber.com
Each one of these has their unique benefit. Constant Contact is great for managing and sending information to your existing customers and new visitors to your company website who sign up for more. The other two, getresponse and awebber are great if you will be doing more aggressive email marketing to large lists of people or prospects. Or if you are working a landing page in your marketing plan where you'll be doing lots of follow up emails and auto-responders. -
End the spam that you receive – www.spamarrest.com
We all hate spam. Nobody likes getting it. I don't mind getting solicitations myself if they are relevant to what I'm doing in business, but spare me all the other pills, scams and slimy email. Spam arrest can do just that. The real people who want to communicate with you will go through a simple 'extra' step to say they are for real. It works. Think of all the time you'll save and time is money.
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Hosting – www.hostgator.com, www.superbhosting.com, and www.liquidweb.com
Now my company hosts websites and we're good at what we do for our clients, but if you are looking for a great company to host your site and email, I recommend any one of these three. They all have excellent reputations and I've personally work with all of them.
