7 Essential Resources for Home Business

So you want to start a business but you don't have a lot of money?
Start your business online, and it won't be a problem.

There are some pretty terrific resources you can use.
Some of them you have to pay for, but they are inexpensive
and can get you started quickly and easily.

1. A domain and web hosting. If you want others to see you
as a professional and take you seriously, then you need to
invest in your own domain and web hosting.

Purchased separately, the cost can add up very quickly.
Here are some very low cost solutions to help you put
your name on the map.

Dot Easy - http://www.doteasy.com - For only $25 per year,
you can purchase your own domain. The web hosting is
completely free. Although this hosting account is stripped
of all the bells and whistles like CGI, you still get 15MB
of bannerless hosting for free, and if you build minisites,
this is a really cheap way for you to get started. Buy a
domain a month, and before you know it, you have your own
empire of products set up for a lot less than if you had
bought all of this separately.

Go Daddy - http://www.godaddy.com - Although as far as I know
they offer domain names for the cheapest price on the Internet
at $6.95, their service is pretty good. I buy all of my domains
here, and I've never had any problems.

Free Web Space - http://100best-free-web-space.com/ - If money
is a real problem right now, but you still want to make a good
impression, then this site can help you find the most affordable
web hosting or even bannerless hosting that's free.

Remember, you get what you pay for, so eventually, when you can
afford it, upgrade. There are some good budget web hosts out
there like Dot Easy, but for the most part, you get what you pay for.

2. Web Site Creation Tools.

There are some fantastic tools on the Internet you can use to build
your web site, and they're all free.

Considered to be the best HTML editor online, Front Page 2000
will give you hundreds of scripts, as well as a free FTP client
you can unzip into the directory and upload your files directly
from the HTML editor.

There are four different modes, including beginner and expert,
so no matter what level at creating HTML you are, this free
editor will definitely help you.

You'll find it here: http://www.evrsoft.com.

While you're there, make sure you check out the free metatag
creator, as well as some of the other great free online tools
you'll find there.

3. Scripts.

If you want to get the most from your web site, scripts will
help you do this. You don't have to be an expert in installation
either. You can quickly and easily learn how to install them.
I taught myself from reading some of the webmaster sites online.

You have two choices when it comes to installing scripts on
your site:

You can install them yourself, or you can use remotely hosted
scripts. Remotely hosted scripts are great when you don't have
a CGI 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 Emails
Script, Safelist Script, Rotator Script, Homepage Traffic Script.
Definitely worth a look.

Two resources that offer a wide variety of scripts in different
formats are:

http://www.cgiextremes.com
http://www.hotscripts.com

If you want remotely hosted scripts, the best sites I
have found are:

http://www.cgispy.com
http://www.bravenet.com

4. Autoresponders. Autoresponders will help you in two ways:
you can use them for your opt in lists and ezines, and you
can also use them to follow up with your customers.

With opt in lists and ezines, an autoresponder will save you
the trouble of handling subscribe and unsubscribe requests,
which can become very tedious after awhile. This will allow
you to automate the mundane part of building a relationship
with your customers and newsletter subscribers, providing
you with the credibility you need online to make the sale.

Two sites that offer free autoresponders that are very
reliable are:

http://www.getresponse.com/50935
http://www.sendfree.com/

Please note: when using free autoresponders, the site owner
will send his/her ads with your messages. This is valuable
message real estate. It's better to pay for your autoresponders,
if possible, so that you can place your own ads in the headers
and footers of all your messages.

5. Online Tools.

There is a whole host of online tools you can use to help you
with your business including email formatters, newsletter
formatters, sales letter and press release formatters, as well
as wizards to help you build your web site.

Below are some of the best:

Pertinent Inc. - http://www.pertinent.com - Offers a free press
release creator, as well as a sales letter generator.

Free Online Wizards - http://www.thesitewizard.com/wizards/index.shtml
- This site offers everything from a wizard to help you syndicate
your content to form creators and drop down menu creators. Lots
of tips and articles too.

Email Formatter - http://www.formatit.com - Tired of getting
emails with a ton of >>>>> in them? You can use this site to
strip those tags out, as well as reformat your emails to any
width. Great for formatting articles too.

6. Business Software.

You can find thousands of dollars in free software to help you
build 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,
and they'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 Microsoft
Office. You can use it to do everything from convert your
documents to PDF, to word processing, spreadsheets, and
presentations. There's also a version for MAC, making this
a must see application when you can't afford other expensive
applications.

Banana Cash Books - http://www.banana.ch/banana4/eng/bc4_cashbook.shtml
Although this single entry accounting program accepts just
about any currency, if you want to use the accounting method
the IRS recommends for small business, this nice little free
program will definitely do the trick.

7. Business Education.

Once you have your business up and running, it's a good idea to
stay 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
can benefit from. Below are three of my favorites:

My 1st Business - http://www.my1stbusiness.com - Run by Ben Botes,
you'll find plenty of ecourses, seminars and more covering small
business, ecommerce, marketing, and other topics. You need to
sign up for an account, but it's free, and definitely worth a look.

Free Marketing Resources - http://www.jdbmail.com/ -
Run by Jimmy D. Brown, one of my all time favorite marketers,
and quite frankly, one of the best, you'll find audio, ecourses,
and other resources in plain English that can teach you how to
market online. Jimmy doesn't just teach you what to do; he shows
you how to do it, and he spells it out. It doesn't matter if you
are a 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 Noel Hynes,
this is the most comprehensive collection of small business and
Internet marketing ebooks on the Internet, and they're absolutely
free. You'll also find plenty of other ebooks here including
motivational, writing, and a whole lot more.

There are plenty of free resources on the Internet to help you
build your business. The trick is learning when you should buy
products and services for your business and when you can get
a freebie that will do the job just as well and sometimes better.

About the Author:

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