Website Basics

To have an effective, yet basic, online business of your own, you are going to need three things: your own domain, hosting for that domain, and an autoresponder.

  • I register my domains at 1and1.com.
    The prices are reasonable and, if you purchase hosting with them, you can get one or more domains free as a part of that account.
  • I host my websites at 1and1.com, as well.
    I like the simple backend interface of 1and1.com. It is easier to navigate than GoDaddy.com was. Also, their hosting packages are very reasonably priced.
  • I use Aweber to manage all my email marketing.
    Aweber is one of the most popular autoresponder systems used by Internet marketers. I love that I can manage unlimited email lists, each one branded individually. Also, Aweber offers a blog broadcast feature where you can broadcast your blog’s RSS feed to subscribers, setting it up to go out automatically. If you need to get started on the cheap, however, MailChimp is another very good option.

For a content management system, I prefer WordPress — the self-hosted version. If, however, you want to have an externally hosted blog with a built-in community, that is easy to use, Tumblr is a good choice.