Top 10 Best Products
By: BigHosts.com Staff
October 11, 2007
Every Builder Needs Tools
Just like a carpenter, every website owner needs a set of tools to build, maintain and improve their property. Our staff, with over 20 years of Internet experience, has put together a collection of favorite products that can help you improve results. Whether your site is for business or pleasure, for profit or free-of-charge, there is something on this list for everybody.
1. Best Hosting: Webhostinghub.com
If you are just starting out online or looking to transfer an existing website, Webhostinghub offers one of the best values in web hosting. There is more than enough space and monthly bandwidth to comfortably host most sites, and features such as Fantastico make it really easy to offer more website functionality to your visitors. For a limited time, the cost on a 3 year contract is only $3.95/month. Visit our Webhostinghub.com Review for more information.
2. Best Domain Services: GoDaddy
Their Super Bowl commercials are corny, but GoDaddy does offer an extensive set of services at very good prices: buy a new domain or expiring domain on the Domain Name Aftermarket; park your domains and earn revenue with CashParking; or purchase web hosting and a domain together -- domains are only $1.99 with a hosting account. Read our GoDaddy review to learn more.
3. Best E-mail: Yahoo!
We recently used Yahoo! Business Mail to establish e-mail accounts for one of our new ventures in financial services. The set-up was especially easy since we already used free Yahoo! mail. There was no messing with server settings; the new accounts simply appeared as an option next time we logged-in to our free accounts (with no ads). By purchasing a domain at the same time, we were ready to start sending communications from the business that day, which was really convenient. Learn more about Yahoo! Business Mail.
4. Best Website Advice: Bryan Eisenberg
Sure, there are many website development pundits out there, but we found Bryan’s advice on creating persuasive architecture and copy to be invaluable. We studied his latest book named “Call to Action” and added many of his suggestions regarding waypoints, points of resolution and points of assurance to our own development best practices. These phrases refer to specific methods that are very effective in persuading website visitors to take the actions you desire. Here’s a list of Bryan’s books at Amazon.com – they are worth the investment.
5. Best Search Engine Info: Search Engine Land
We have been reading the gospel of Danny Sullivan and his team for years. No other website provides this level of in-depth news and useful commentary. There is also an unparalleled amount of advice and tips that are contributed by expert search engine and social media marketers. If you want to improve your own results, join the daily newsletter; it has been instrumental in our success.
6. Best Paid Search: Yahoo! Search Marketing
While Google Adwords is the largest and most popular program for purchasing paid search ads, don’t overlook Yahoo! In fact, we have found better value for each marketing dollar as a result of lower cost-per-click charges and good conversion rates. Sign-up today and receive a$25 credit.
7. Best Website Ads: Google Adsense
Placing Google ads on your website to make more money won’t necessarily garner the highest payout, but it is quick to set-up and easy to use. One of the secrets is integrating the ads into your layout to avoid “banner blindness.”
8. Best Internet Provider: Comcast High-Speed Internet
OK, before you start throwing things, we realize that most people don’t like the cable companies -- but they are a necessary evil, especially if you plan to work at home. It’s also fast; we average 2-4 megabytes/second in download speed which is about twice the speed of Verizon DSL. Our downtime has also been very good in the past year, probably a total of one day or less. Comcast isn't perfect, but it sure beats dial-up and DSL.
9. Best Lifesaver: GoToMyPC
Have you ever rushed through work to leave for vacation and realized you forgot to upload that new offer to the website? Did you leave the laptop at home to get truly disconnected while away? Well, with GoToMyPC, there are no worries. You simply stop in to the nearest Internet café by the beach, access the home computer, and make that change. Signing-up is fast and easy, plus it’s only $20/month.
10. Best Timesaver: Roboform
Are you still typing in passwords for three different e-mail accounts, plus Facebook, MySpace and a boatload of other sites? Please, stop and get Roboform now. Roboform will remember all your passwords and save time everyday. It’s also really easy to add and subtract passwords as well as back them up periodically. Roboform has won numerous awards and is an absolute must-have for anyone who uses the Internet. It’s also free. Remember never to save sensitive passwords (like for banking accounts) in any type of program.