The web-based business tools I use and love. Support them, support this blog, support my Starbuck’s iced green tea addiction.

URL & Hosting

Domain + Hosting (Bluehost): The best hosting I’ve used thus far (and I’ve tried a lot!). Bluehost has a great  reputation and for around $65 bucks you can get unlimited hosting for a year plus a free URL just for signing up! Also when some of my sites have crashed and I’ve called up Bluehost freaking out, the nice and helpful peeps on the other line have been more than generous in walking me through, step by step, what I did wrong and how to fix it – no problem is too big or too small for the fine folks at Bluehost to help you out with.

Website Theme

PageLines: I recently got my blog redesigned using the super simple and very snazzy PageLines framework. It has an incredibly easy drag-and-drop interface that I can use to tweak all sorts of areas of my site on the back-end. I highly suggest PageLines if you’re looking to build a professional blog or website, it’s so easy even I can use it!

Phone System

Radical, mobile phone service (Grasshopper): This is the phone service I use on VirtualZeta and so far the results have been amazing. Grasshopper is reliable, inexpensive and very professional. You can get 1-800 numbers, hire professional voice talent and find pretty much anything the heart could desire phone system wise! Plus the number(s) you get can all be forwarded to your cell! It’s the perfect option for the on the go entrepreneur who wants to live like a digital nomad while running a perfectly polished company.

Project Management

Managing it All (BasecampHQ): Basecamp is what I’ve used since the beginning to manage my team, business and clients and to make sure my virtual staff is on task. It’s great for keeping track of people all over the world in one simple online application and it also works well for the solo entrepreneur or blogger trying to organize your time and projects. The best part about Basecamp is that it scales as you grow and allows you always keep site of the micro/macro goings on of your business through your computer or smart phone.

Invoices & Billing

Get paid (Freshbooks): You know what the great thing about Freshbooks is? Their customer support team came to town they took me to dinner, seriously. Why? Because they really wanted to get to know their customer base, so they arranged a dinner to say thanks to the entrepreneurs and freelancers that supported them. Now that is just cool. The second amazing thing about Freshbooks is that it is the simplest way to bill people I’ve ever come across, whether you need a recurring monthly billing solution or to send out individual invoices Freshbooks makes it happen & makes the process as smooth as butter.

Email Service

Stay in Touch! (Aweber): What’s the point of working really hard to get people on your website if you can’t stay in touch with them? Be smart from the start and use Aweber – my email newsletter service of choice. Aweber is cheap, it’s super simple to use and it delivers beautiful emails automatically! You just set it up, add some text and voila! you’ve got yourself an email newsletter that people can sign up to simply. Trust me, Aweber is must have when starting your own blog – set up an email newsletter today and you’ll thank me later.