Essential Services

Besides the software and tools which I have mentioned in my previous posts, there are a number of services which will greatly enhance your online business and bring you greater profitability. You can subscribe to these services when you are ready to move forward to the next level of your online business.

While most of these services are not a necessity for a beginner, web hosting is a must for those of you who are really serious about making money online. If you are short of funds in the beginning, make it your priority to get your own hosting once you have the funds for it.

Here’s a list of services which you will definitely find useful.

Autoresponders
If you want to build your own list, an autoresponder is a must. There are a number of free autorepsonder software and scripts around which you can probably try out in the beginning. One word of caution though, most of these software and scripts are very problematic. A paid autoresponder service is a must for those who are serious about building their list. You can check out my reviews on Aweber, GetResponse and iContact autorepsonder services.

Premium Templates & Themes Services
To stand out from the crowd, you need to give your website a high quality theme or template. Although there are many free high quality themes and templates available, they are already used by a large number of websites. It will be hard for visitors to differentiate your website from the hundreds if not thousands of websites out there using the same themes or templates. Premium themes and templates offer you the chance to get a high quality template or theme for a fraction of the cost involve in hiring a web designer. However, one setback is that these premium themes and templates are not restricted to you only. In other words, other people can buy them and use them on their websites too.

Web Design Services
If you can afford to engage a web designer to design and code your website for you, then by all means go ahead. Web design services do not come cheap and a simple website makeover can set you back at least few hundreds. Otherwise, going for premium themes and templates are the next best choice.

Web Hosting Services
As mentioned, you should get your own web hosting as soon as you can afford it. I have previous written a post on “Choosing A Suitable Web Host” and you can refer to that post when it is time to get your own hosting. Alternatively, you can check out my “Web Hosting Reviews” section for a list of suitable web hosts.

Outsourcing Services
Outsourcing is the key to growing and expanding your online business and generating more profits. Outsourcing will free up more time for you to focus your efforts into other more urgent and important parts of your business like marketing, etc. Stuff that you can outsource includes, web design, programming, content creation, graphic design and more. If you need to outsource, you can look for freelancers at Elance, Rentacoder and Scriptlance.

Keyword & Market Research Services
When it comes to keyword and market research, there are many free and paid keyword and market research services around. However, Wordtracker is probably the best of the lot offering both free and paid version of their keyword and market research service. For newbies, the free trial version is good enough to begin with.

WebHostingPad Hosting Review

WebHostingPad is a relatively new entry to the highly competitive industry of web hosting. Found in 2005 by a team of web hosting industry veterans, WebHostingPad has been gaining a lot of ground with their low cost web hosting package and quality customer service and support.

Besides web hosting, WebHostingPad also provide web design services to customers. WebHostingPad like a lot of other new web hosting companies has only one web hosting package in place. It is priced very competitive at a monthly rate of $4.95. Although their web hosting plan is low in price, it does not compromise in terms of features.

Read more

PowWeb Hosting Review

PowWeb has been providing quality low cost web hosting to webmasters and small and medium businesses since 1999. They are also one of the few web hosting companies that developed their own web hosting software automation to cater to the needs of their customers. Their entire web hosting infrastructure was built and developed in-house by their own programmers and developers giving them a huge advantage over their competitors.

Although PowWeb has only one web hosting package in place, their web hosting packages is tailored made to meet the demands of most webmasters and businesses. It is so popular that many competitors used PowWeb web hosting plan as a guideline for their web hosting packages.

Read more

MidPhase Hosting Review

From humble beginnings working from home to having their own data center, Midphase has come a long way since its early days. With over 120,000 customers and 75 staff worldwide, Midphase is considered one of the bigger web hosts around. Their strength lies in their ability to provide buget linux hosting plans with plenty of features commonly found in more expensive web hosting plans.

Midphase web hosting plans are very affordable and inexpensive and their most expensive shared web hosting plans is at a relatively modest $8.95 per month. It is no wonder Midphase is very popular among webmasters looking for a affordable but features pack web hosting plan.

Unlimited Web Hosting Package Features
• $6.95 / Month
• Unlimited Storage
• Unlimited Bandwidth
• Host Unlimited Domains
• Unlimited MySQL dbs
• Unlimited FTP Accounts
• Unlimited Email Accounts
• SSH Access
• Fantastico
• SSL Secure Server
• 24/7 Email, Live Chat & Phone Support
• 30 Day Money Back Guarantee

With unlimited storage space and bandwidth for all their plans, Midphase web hosting plans are definitely great value for money. They also won numerous in customer service and support which should bode well if you have second thoughts on their service and support level. Whether you are a new or experienced webmasters, you should seriously give Midphase some consideration.

Visit MidPhase Hosting

For a list of good and reliable web hosting services, check out my “Web Hosting Reviews” section.

Lunarpages Hosting Review

Found in 2000, Lunarpages started out with shared hosting services and later on branch out to include Windows, dedicated, reseller and most recently VPS hosting. From its humble beginning, it has grown a lot to become one of the largest web hosting companies around.

Lunarpages has 2 shared hosting plans and their basic web hosting plans start at $4.95 and $21.95 for their business hosting plan. Lunarpage is primary a web hosting company but they also provide domain registration service to webmasters.

Read more

IX Hosting Review

IX Web Hosting has been one of the cheapest web hosting providers since its inception. They are also the first web hosting companies to break the $4.00 a month barrier for a hosting plan. IX Web Hosting was first started in 1999 by 2 web hosting professionals. While their web hosting plans are relatively inexpensive, they did not compromise on the quality and features of their web hosting.

IX Web Hosting plans started at $3.95 for their most basic plan and up to $12.95 for their most expensive plan. The thing I like about IX Web Hosting is that their hosting plan includes a free dedicated IP address for their most basic plans which a lot of web hosts did not have. Their most popular web hosting plan “Business Plus” includes 8 free dedicated IP addresses and it costs only $6.46 a month.

Read more

iPower Hosting Review

With over 700,000 domains hosted on their servers, iPower is consider one of the biggest and most popular web hosting companies around for small and medium sized companies worldwide. Found in 2001, iPower web hosting plans and solutions are becoming the first choice of business and webmasters looking to leverage on the booming popularity of the internet.

Besides web hosting, iPower also provides web related services such as domain registration, ecommerce and marketing sevices. Their web hosting plans starts from $3.95 for a starter plan and up to $12.95 for their pro plan. Their iPower Pro Plan is one of the most popular choices for webmasters because of it pricing and features.

Read more

HostMonster Hosting Review

As one of the earliest web hosting companies, HostMonster has been providing affordable and features rich web hosting services to businesses and individuals alike since 1996. With over 400,000 domains hosted on their own servers and data centers, it is no wonder HostMonster is one of the biggest web hosting companies around. Their popularity stems not only from their competitive pricing of their hosting plan but also due to the fact they offer superior customer service and support.

HostMonster has only one hosting plan just like Bluehost. Their web hosting package is very affordable especially if you go for a long term package. Considering the amount of features include in their web hosting package, it is great value for money.

Web Hosting Package Features:
• $4.95 / Month (Promotion)
• $5.95 / Month (Regular)
• 1 Free Domain
• Unlimited Storage
• Unlimited Bandwidth
• Host Unlimited Domains
• Unlimited Email Accounts
• IMAP & POP3 Supported
• SSL Secure Server
• 24/7 Email, Phone & Live Chat Support
• 30 Day Moneyback Guarantee

HostMonster is a highly regarded web hosting company with excellent customer service and support. It is not strange considering both HostMonster and Bluehost share the same parent company. Their shared hosting plans are very similar in terms of pricing, configuration and support. However HostMonster has a slight advantage in terms of pricing as their hosting plan is slightly cheaper with their special discount thrown in.

Visit HostMonster Hosting

For a list of good and reliable web hosting services, check out my “Web Hosting Reviews” section.

FatCow Hosting Review

Found in 1998, FatCow is a shared hosting company which is very different from other conventional web hosting companies. You get that feeling the moment you arrive at their website. As you know, the web hosting industry is a highly competitive industry and FatCow really knows how to differentiate and set itself apart from its competition with its logo and slogan “Great Hosting Plans. No Bull”.

FatCow has only one shared hosting in place which costs $88 a year or $7.33 a month. At this price and with its features, this shared hosting plan is definitely worth a serious consideration. Besides web hosting, FatCow also offers other web related services such as domain, ecommerce and marketing services.

Web Hosting Package Features:
• $5.50 / Month (Limited Time)
• $7.33 / Month (Regular Price)
• Unlimited Storage
• Unlimited Bandwidth
• 1 Free Domain
• Host Unlimited Domains
• Unlimited Email Accounts
• Unlimited POP Mailboxes
• 30 Day Moneyback Guarantee
• 24/7 Email, Live Chat & Phone Support

FatCow is definitely worth a look with its highly affordable and featured rich hosting plan. At $7.33 per month, this is a no brainer for new webmasters or webmasters looking for a secondary web hosting account.

Visit FatCow Hosting

For a list of good and reliable web hosting services, check out my “Web Hosting Reviews” section.

BlueFish Hosting Review

Bluefish Hosting is a small web hosting company based in Sothern Utah. This web hosting company is different from other mainstream web hosting companies due to the fact it was started by some web hosting geeks to provide a more superior level of customer service and support than bigger web hosting companies.

Bluefish Hosting commitment to their superior customer service and support can be seen the moment you sign up for their hosting plan. Their support team will call you up to confirm your order and answer any queries that you may have. Bluefish has only one shared hosting plan for webmasters and it is priced very competitively at$6.95.

Web Hosting Package Features:
• $6.95 / Month
• 1 Free Domain
• 1500 Gig Storage
• 15000 Gig Bandwidth
• Unlmited Email Accounts
• Unlimited FTP Accounts
• SSL Secure Server
• SSI Support
• vDeck Control Panel
• 30 Day Moneyback Guarantee
• Toll Free Phone Support

However, one thing may not be in their favor is that their support time frame is limited between 8am to 6pm Mountain Time and they are also closed on Sundays and Public Holidays. For webmasters who are in a different time zone, this may pose a problem when you need to get your issues settle as soon as possible.

Visit BlueFish Hosting

For a list of good and reliable web hosting services, check out my “Web Hosting Reviews” section.

Next Page »