We recommend these third-party services and products that our experience and
judgment suggest may be helpful to your business. These vendors have not
paid us to recommend their products.
Worth checking out:
Commercial sites often offer free newsletters or other no-cost help in addition to
their commercial services. Free or low-cost basic versions of their commercial products are also often available.
|
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|
Category/Resource |
Cost |
Description |
Our Experience |
|
Market
and demographic data |
| |
U.S. Census Bureau
|
Free |
Vast amounts of downloadable
census data
|
Great free resource, requires
Excel skills. |
| |
Local Chambers of Commerce
|
Free |
|
Quality of data and assistance
varies. |
| |
Local, regional or state
economic development councils
|
Free |
|
Widespread, often overlooked. |
| |
Your community's official
website
|
Free |
|
Quality of data varies. |
| |
DemographicsNow |
Commercial
|
Online market segment and
demographic analysis reports |
Great customer
service and training, affordable,
very easy to use |
| |
AnySite Online
|
Commercial |
Online market segment and
demographic analysis reports |
Affordable, can be a challenging
for some users. |
| |
|
|
|
|
Financing resources
|
| |
Small Business Administration
|
Free |
Many free small business
resources ranging from business
planning to business financing
|
|
| |
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Business planning resources |
| |
SCORE
|
Free |
Service Corps Of Retired
Executives. An SBA-affiliated
group of former executives
who volunteer as business
counselors.
|
Great resource, although
quality varies by local
chapter. |
| |
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|
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Sales & marketing
|
| |
MarketingProfs
|
Commercial |
Free newsletter
|
The one marketing site we
have a subscription to. |
| |
Avidian Prophet
|
Commercial |
Outlook add-in for prospect
tracking
|
We've used this. Neat idea,
slow and less stable than
we'd like and doesn't always
display complete info. OK
tech support. |
| |
Branders
|
Commercial |
Promotional merchandise
w/ your logo (larger quantities) |
Lots of variety but minimums
could be lower. Pesky
salesforce. |
| |
CafePress |
Commercial |
Promotional merchandise
w/ your logo (smaller quantities,
on-demand) |
|
| |
Zazzle |
Commercial |
Promotional merchandise
w/ your logo (smaller quantities,
on-demand) |
|
| |
MarketWire
|
Commercial |
Press release distribution
|
Same value, less cost than
PR Newswire, BusinessWire. |
| |
PRWeb
|
Commercial |
Donation-based press release
distribution
|
Cheap and effective alternative
to MarketWire if you're
comfortable navigating the
press release process yourself. |
| |
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|
E-commerce
|
| |
MarketersChoice
|
Commercial |
Extremely easy-to-implement
hosted shopping cart
|
We use this. Can literally
set up in a few hours.
Can tweak to resemble your
site. |
| |
Pair Networks |
Commercial |
Web-hosting service |
Recommended.
Very responsive. |
| |
C I Host |
Commercial |
Web-hosting service |
Avoid this provider.
Extremely unresponsive in
addressing billing issues.
Hidden terms and conditions.
Poor Better Business Bureau
ratings. |
| |
Register.com |
Commercial |
Check availability of and
enroll domain names + web-hosting |
We use this. Not the cheapest,
but excellent support. |
| |
Yahoo Web
Hosting |
Commercial |
Web-hosting service with
e-mail, shopping cart, surveys. |
We tried this and cancelled.
Fine for a very basic site.
Most of the extras require
too much technical expertise. |
| |
|
|
|
|
Online
tools |
| |
SurveyMonkey |
Commercial |
Online opinion polls and
surveys. Basic version
is free. |
We use this. Easy
setup, very flexible. |
| |
ParaChat |
Commercial |
Hosted chat application.
Basic version is free. |
Easy setup, very flexible,
incredible support. |
| |
Constant Contact |
Commercial |
Super-easy email marketing platform |
Great system for sending newsletters. Very easy to use and excellent pricing. |
| |
eZineDirector |
Commercial |
Easy to use e-zine distribution
& list management.
Basic version is free. |
We use this. Inexpensive.
Easy setup, very flexible,
good support. Requires familiarity with HTML. |
| |
Invision |
Commercial |
Hosted message board and
chat applications. |
Good reliability, poor support.
Can tweak look and feel
to resemble your website
if you're not afraid of
a little HTML. |
| |
DietSite |
Commercial |
Online food/activity tracking
with dieticians available
to answer questions.
Can be branded with your
company name and logo so
that it's transparent to
your clients. |
Very responsive sales group. |
| |
|
|
|
|
Business management resources
|
| |
iBackup |
Commercial |
Automatic overnight backup
of your computer files. |
We've used this. Interface
is confusing, but it works. |
| |
Connected Data Protector
|
Commercial |
Automatic overnight backup
of your computer files.
|
We're currently using this.
Costs more than iBackup.
Very easy to use for smaller
businesses w/ no IT staff.
Restore process is extremely
simple. |
| |
Guru
|
Free |
Find freelancers
to work on sales, marketing,
graphic and logo design,
web design, etc. Free
to employers; freelancers
pay a fee to Guru, who handles
payment.
|
We use this. Great
customer support.
Results can be variable,
though, depending on the
freelancer. |
| |
WebEx
|
Commercial |
On-line
presentations and conferencing
|
Gold standard, and priced
accordingly. |
| |
FreeConference
|
Commercial |
Audio-conferencing
services. Basic service
is free.
|
Not a scam. It works. |
| |
|
|
|
|
Equipment & supplies |
| |
BodyTronics |
Commercial |
Pedometers, heart rate monitors,
etc. |
Very responsive sales group. |
| |
48HourPrint |
Commercial |
Printing - business cards, brochures, folders, etc. |
Excellent turnaround. Competitive prices. Good quality. Best if you are
comfortable doing the work yourself and uploading files. |
| |
PrintingForLess |
Commercial |
Printing - business cards,
brochures, folders, etc. |
Excellent turnaround and
customer service provided
by real people. OK prices. Great if you need handholding. |
| |
VistaPrint |
Commercial |
Printing |
NOT recommended. Unsatisfactory record with Better Business Bureau.
History of recurring unauthorized credit card charges. |
| |
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