Recommended Jewelry Business Helpers – Stuff I Can’t Do Without

I sometimes get asked what tools I use so I compiled a list of tools I use every day or at least every week!

For email followup and email newsletter delivery: You know those emails you get from me?  They are all delivered by autoresponder.  The service I use is Aweber.  Pretty much standard in the industry for getting your emails through the spam filters.  Very important that you don’t just send them from your email program.  If you’re looking for a free service and for a small number of subscribers, I recommend MailChimp.

Be sure you’re not planning to grow so big you’ll need Aweber though.  I used MailChimp for awhile, then realized it didn’t have enough “power” for my needs.  It was a huge pain trying to get subscribers to move to another mailing list (becuase you need to convince them to do it.  You can’t just import them for legal reasons)

Secure form fill-in and password remember-er: I use Roboform – I’ve used it for at least four years and I couldn’t do without it.

Website Builder: As if you didn’t know, I always recommend SBI! first and foremost.  You can read more about my work-at-home story and about SBI! here.

HTML Editor: I use Dreamweaver.  It’s a pricey option, and has a pretty steep learning curve, but now that I can use it I get really irritated trying to use anything else.  It’s well worth the money when you can afford it.  If you do the tutorials, you’ll pick it up quickly.

Tip: I got a copy of Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 for a third of the price of the current version so it pays to shop around.  If you try Ebay you can sometimes find earlier software versions for good prices.

Photo Editors: I use two main photo editors.  For color corrections and quick cropping and fixing for jewelry photos my first choice is Picasa, a free product from Google.   For everything else, I use Adobe Photoshop, another pricy choice, but you can get lower priced earlier versions from Ebay and other places.  I’m using an older version and I like it just fine.

Domain Names: I get domain names from 1and1.  They have a first year deal for $6.99 for a .com, $8.99 per year thereafter.  I’ve used them for years and I like ‘em.  Never had problems with them, and you can set your domain to auto-renew or not.

For Keyword Research on Steroids: I use Market Samurai when I’m doing brainstorming and niche market research.

For Non-Sbi! Webhosting: There are times when you need outside hosting – even when you use SBI! If you want a forum, or a blog-style blog, or e-commerce shop, you need to host that elsewhere and use  Infinit! (an integrated tool that comes with SBI!) to put it under your SBI! domain name.  For outside webhosting I use Momwebs.com.  They have unbeatable prices and even more unbelievably, they have great service too!  This website is hosted on Momwebs using a 1and1 domain.

For saving on paper: I use FinePrint to format my printing so I can use less ink and less paper.  The free trial is fully usable forever.  I use the free version myself.  The only difference between the paid and free version is the “Printed with Fineprint” footer on the bottom.

For Screenshot Video: I use Camtasia 6.0 from Techsmith. You can get a similar free product called CamStudio. I tried it and didn’t like it as much as Camtasia, but hey – it’s free.

For Keeping Track of my Projects, I use a system called GTD (from the book “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity“).  It’s a great system.  Highly recommended.  For the actual nuts and bolts of keeping track as per the GTD system, I use ToodleDo combined with an IPhone app called Pocket Informant.

For Surveys: My survey service of choice is SurveyMonkey.  They have a free membership that will give you 100 survey responses.

I’ll add more to this list when I get time.

(P.S. Some, but not most of these links are affiliate links.  This means I get a small commission if you choose to buy one of the affiliate products.  Any commissions help support this website and keep my son Edgar in peanut butter).

All the best,

The Results Report Resource Links

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