Small Business Resources
For Starting on Online Business
There is no need to spend loads of cash to open an online business. With the right small business resources, you can get started for a whole lot less.
Being the penny pincher than I am, I have tons of advice. I am providing the best small business resources that I have found since I have been on the net.
Choosing a Business
Before choosing a business, naming the business or purchasing a domain, it is vital to do keyword research first to make sure that there is demand for that type of business on the internet and that the competition isn’t too stiff for entry. Here are some small business resources for doing keyword research:
Google Adwords: Keyword Tool
This tool makes it possible to search for keywords and to generate keyword ideas to use to attract visitors through the Google search engine. It is a free small business resource to use.
WordTracker
WordTracker goes above and beyond basic searches for keywords. It includes all of the major search engines and ranks the keywords in a manner that is easy to understand.
Site Sell
Site Sell’s Site Build It! is pretty awesome and extremely cost-effective. Their service includes the use of Brainstormer (teamed up with WordTracker and the Google AdWords Keyword Tool) for researching keywords and choosing a niche. It also includes Niche Choose It! which can be extremely helpful in decision making. It is the best small business resource for developing a website that works for you.
Domain Registries and Website Hosting
When you register your domain and choose a web host, I advise that you stay away from free hosting and website hosting companies that haven’t been around for very long.
Free hosts don’t really care whether your website is up or down and they usually don’t obtain backups, so it is possible that all of your sweat equity will be wasted if their servers go down. There are also many fly-by-night hosting companies that may be here to today and gone tomorrow. Companies like these are not reliable small business resources.
Also, if you register your domain with a company other than your web host, it takes some time to transfer the domain to the host, so it can delay your website development. Here are some small business resources for domain registration and web hosting that I have dealt with for years:
LeapGo
LeapGo, previously known as Professional Solutions Inc., offers domain registration, hosting, website design and development, graphics design, and search engine optimization services. Their service is awesome and they do have reliable servers and backup systems.
GKG
GKG offers domain registration, hosting and website development and design. I have only used their domain registration service, so I am not familiar with their quality of hosting, design or development services, but they have been in business for several years.
Site Sell
The Site Sell service includes domain registration and website hosting in their Site Build It! package. The company was established in 1997 and SBI websites are extremely reliable.
Website Design and Development
Be very careful when choosing a company to design your website. Most website designers do just that – design – with little thought regarding development. It is easy to blow your entire budget on web design and development without getting any results.
You also have to be cautious about website builders that enable you to build your own website. That is another industry that attracts “fly-by-night” providers.
If you don’t know the difference between design and development, you have to read this article,
“What are the differences between a web designer and a web developer?”
In my years of experience in internet business, I have only found two companies that I have enough confidence in to recommend for website design and development. Here they are:
LeapGo
The professionals at LeapGo are skilled in several areas including both design and development. If you choose to hire a designer and developer, you can rest assured that these guys know what they are doing.
Site Sell
Site Sell’s Site Build It! is a website builder that you can rely on if you want to build your own website. It includes a Video Action Guide that walks you step-by-step through the process of building and marketing the website. It is easy to use, even if you have limited computer skills. It is an excellent learning process, even for advanced website developers.
They also have a forum where you can get help if you need it, as well as coaching services and “do it for me” services for people who need more help or are pressed for time.
Content Development
Website content that is keyword-enhanced is imperative if you want to get traffic from the search engines. You also have to be careful not to overload your text with keywords. It is a time-consuming process and outsourcing it to a professional SEO writer might be beneficial. Needless to say, that is the service that I provide.
Website Content Providers
Website Content Providers provides content writing that is appropriate for effective search engine optimization. We also write articles for article marketing, offer ghostwriting services for eBook development, as well as providing professional writing for email marketing and press releases, along with our editing, proofreading and business consulting services.
Graphics and Photos
For photos and graphics for your website, of course you can source them through graphic designers or take your own photos; however, that can get expensive and time consuming. It is easier and more cost-effective to obtain them from a clipart or stock photo company who provides them royalty-free. Here are the ones that I frequently use:
Stockxpert
I absolutely love the photos that I got from Stockxpert. They are high-quality and relatively inexpensive and they have a great selection. They have lightboxes that allow you to choose the photos that you like and purchase them whenever you are ready. The price per photo is very reasonable when compared to other stock photo sites.
Clipart.com
Clipart.com has clip art, website graphics, photos, and illustrations, as well as fonts and sounds. I like using Clipart.com because it is on a subscription basis; therefore, you don’t pay individually for each graphic or photo which makes it a lot more cost-efficient when developing a website from scratch.
Email Marketing Services
AWeber Communications
Aweber is a full-service communications company that specializes in email marketing. Using their service, you can develop a signup form for your website to build an opt-in list, set up autoresponders and send professional email messages to your subscribers using their easy-to-use templates. Tracking tools are available along with advanced features such as split-testing, geo-targeting and segmentation based on activities.
Site Sell
A MailOut Manager is included in Site Sell’s Site Build It! package. It is really an all-inclusive small business resource for internet marketers. Using it, you can set up a subscription form to collect addresses for your opt-in list, you can send out professional emails by using the provided templates which are customizable, and you can get statistics related to your mailings. The package allows you to send 5,000 emails a month, without extra fees, and they carry over. If you need to send more, you can purchase additional email credits easily and inexpensively.
Ecommerce
There are many small business resources available for ecommerce that include shopping carts, payment options and so forth. Honestly, I haven’t used any of them except for PayPal which meets my needs perfectly. If you need a more advanced option, I suggest that you consult with LeapGo . They are very trustworthy and they won’t steer you wrong.
EBook Covers, Website Banners and Logo Design
There are many small business resources for obtaining eBooks covers. I have considered purchasing software, but really, graphic design is not up my alley. I have outsourced several projects that require eBook covers over the years, but the best deal that I ever got came from Bronson Dunbar . He is amazing and very affordable. He also provides basic website graphics and logo design.
Bronson developed the top bar of this website and the cover for the report "The Top 10 Reasons That Websites Fail" which you can get as a gift when you subscribe to our newsletter Internet Marketing Talk!
**Click Here to Get Recommendations for Small Business Software for a Start-Up Internet Business**
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