3 Services I Would Buy If I Had to Start Over Marketing Online

Last week’s post talked about services you can use to market online that don’t cost anything. If you missed the post it is here.  We live in an age of great opportunity online.  However, a business (hopefully) reaches a point where they need to invest in paid for tools.  Actually, any serious business needs to invest in tools, the reason for that is that it holds them accountable.  Free is great, but if one of the content sharing blog sites goes down, as a consumer other than leveraging social networks to commiserate with other free users, you don’t have many options.  Paid services are on the hook.  If customers aren’t happy the can pick up the phone and talk with someone who can help.

3 Services I Would Buy If I Had to Start Over Marketing Online

At some point as your online business grows, you’ll need to start investing in tools that will help your business grow.  Below is a list of 3 services I’d invest in if I had to start over again and what they cost.

1 – Domain Name

This is important for two reasons. 1) Control, 2.) Branding.  You own the domain name and that is a key element of your businesses brand.  Branding is re enforced when the address visitors are sent to is yours (as oppose to that of Blogger, WordPress, etc.).  Having a name that your business can call your own is a key fundamental.  And is worth the investment.

Investment: ~$10 depending what type of domain, you buy. Go with a .com if at all possible (I buy domains here).

2 – Website Hosting

This is space on a server somewhere on the internet that holds the files that make up a webpage or website.  Things such as HTML pages, images, email accounts, an more.  The advantage here is control.  One of the challenges with free services is that users are often limited in what they can put on the site (plugins, code, etc.), when you have a hosting account, there are virtually no restrictions of this type.  I would choose hosting here.

Investment: ~$4-$25 a month, depending on provider and plan selected. Note: Many hosting companies show per month pricing, but require you to purchase a year (or more) in advance to get that pricing, and then bill you annually.

3 – Email Service Provider

One of the most important assets you can start building early on, in my opinion, is an email marketing list.  There are many reasons for this, one being a controlled communication channel for those who have indicated they want to hear from you.  By default it is a more intimate relationship than those who might find you or your company on free social networks, and as with other paid services you have someone to call if there are any issues with the service.

Investment: ~$19/mo usually limited to the number of subscriber or sends per month.  The service I recommend for this investment is Aweber, (up to 500 subscribers), and offers student and non-profit discounts.

Bottom Line On Paid Services

Not every business is ready to pay for services out of the gate.  Sometime after an online business starts making sales, they should invest in tools that help them gain more control and put them in a position for future growth.  The services listed here are the ones I would use if I had to start over again.

For other recommendations see the recommendations page.

What say you? Chime in with your ideas and suggestions below.
Image Credit San Drino