Save On Your Dream Trips

• I RECOMMEND: Top 20 travel deals of the week newsletter. Check out the Travelzoo Top 20(R) List!
• 4-star hotels at 2 star prices! Get up to 60% off retail rates at Hotwire!
• Find the Best Car Rental Rates in Top Destinations
• Hotwire: Save on Last-minute Weekend Getaways!

Services to Start Your Business

Setting Up Shop

Affordable Business Cards and More from VistaPrint:
FREE Business Cards!

80% OFF Premium Business Cards & FREE Return Address Labels!

50% Off All Postcards

Instant Temporary Business Card Maker: Businesscardland saved me when I needed cards within a few minutes. Luckily I had the business card paper on hand. It’s very easy and generates a PDF to print your cards out.

Buying Computers:

Want a Mac? Get free ground shipping on all orders over $50!
or Save up to $100 on a New Mac and Printer!

Phone Calls:
With Skype for Business
international calling is free when you call Skype-to-Skype using a microphone and your computer. With Skype Out and Skype In it’s also cheap to call and receive calls using your Internet connection.

You can also set up conferences and chats.

Faxing:
It’s affordable to get and send faxes by email as well as a toll free number. It’s a good deal when you buy 2 months get the 3rd FREE at MyFax.
I tried them, and it’s especially helpful for fax blasts.

Business Coaching

There are many business coaches to help you plan your company and get motivated. I personally know Starla Sireno and can recommend you check out Fearlessness, Inc. as well as workshops in the San Francisco area and elsewhere. Download for free:
The 5 Biggest Entrepreneurial Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)

Passion for Business Coaching offers classes from planning through marketing.

Find more coaching options in our See a short list of people we know.

SCORE “Counselors to America’s Small Businesses” brings you valuable insight from retired executives - at no cost - through the Small Business Administration.

Creating and Hosting Your Website

The following sites let you buy a domain name as well as use a wizard to set up your website. Or completely customize the site. Some also offer a “1-click” set up of services such as blogs.

Want to start selling right away?
Open an eBay Store or simply sell on eBay!

Creating Your Website

Please contact Susie for help from a consultant with setting up your website or social network.

For informational sites or e-stores compare Web Hosting packages from Yahoo!

Also BlueHost is a company I’ve used, offering easy web hosting for $6.95 along with a free domain. They also make it easy to set up a blog or a social network like Drupal and Joomla with "1 click."

For e-book downloads and affiliate programs 1ShoppingCart is a popular solution that also integrates email marketing at an affordable price.

Want a custom design and special functionality? Find designers, writers, and developers on Elance— which has been around for years as a resource for finding freelance talent.

Only need a social networking site? Check out Ning and KickApps, which let you create a community with forums, photos, videos and more. These are great for non-profits.

Only need a blog? Check out Wordpress.com. You can pay for an upgrade to customize the design or choose from a variety of offered designs.

Marketing: Comparing Email Newsletter and List Signup Services

I have experience with four popular email services: Constant Contact, Vertical Response, iContact, and AWeber. Some observations:

AWeber

AWeber has powerful features especially related to website signup and auto responders that keep pinging a customer or prospect with information or reminders. I’ve seen a lot of coaches and other service businesses relying on AWeber.
Pricing: Their pricing per month for the value you get with the auto responders seems like the best deal to me. You can send unlimited campaigns. If you’re doing a “tip of the day,” the auto responder would really come in handy.
Caveat: 1) Make SURE to create a password only for their site, as if you cancel the account they ask you for your password. I’ve never heard of such a thing. 2) If you want to upload a list of contacts, they send an email to each person asking if they opted in. The other services use your word that your list is an opt-in list.

Constant Contact

They’ve been around for many years and has matured with many email template options, surveys, and more. They have a deal for Email Newsletters - 60 Day Free Trial
.
Pricing: Constant Contact prices per-month, based on how many people are in your online list of contacts (i.e. how many people you’re mailing). Posting your newsletter on the web costs $5 per month, and is only viewable by people on your list; it is not indexed by search engines. If you have a static HTML site you could pretty easily save your newsletter and post them on your own site.

iContact

iContact is good for managing your email lists and newsletters. Get your free trial now!