I have moved my posts

In case you haven't noticed I have moved all my post to my own site. I haven't post all of them yet, but over the next few days, they all will be posted.

Welcome

Hello world. Welcome to Manny The Truth. My goal for this site is for it to the biggest business directory and advice site in the world. As time goes on I will have business owners from all different backgrounds to give different perspectives about the world of business.

The main reason why I created this site is because when I started my business online last year, I had to go to many sites to get the infomation I needed to start my business. Some were good (a few were great), most were average, and some were awful. I personally got tired of spending hours online searching for info about business, so I created this site to give you the info you need to start your business (online or offline).

On this site you will find info about Web Hosting/Domain Registrating, Product Sourcing, Computer Software, Insurance, and many other categories.

Also I'm looking for someone that can draw me a logo for my site so if you or if you know someone that can draw, email me. If you have any feedback about my site (how I can improve the site, what category you would like more info on, etc) you can also email me.

Web Hosting

If your looking for a domain registrar and (or) a web hosting site there are plenty of companies you can go to. I will go into detail about all of them but if you want to check them out yourself I will give name them below

1&1 Internet Web Hosting and Domain Name Sales
aplus.net
apollo hosting
bluehost
dot5 hosting
dotster
EasyCGI (web hosting only)
Fast Domain
Fasthosts (UK)
FatCow
GoDaddy
HostDime
HostGator
HostMonster
HostRocket
ImHosted
In Motion hosting
iPower
iPowerWeb
IX Web Hosting (web hosting only)
JumpLaunch
JumpLine
Just Host
Lunarpages
Netfirms
Network Solutions
Nexx
Omnis
PowWeb
Pronet Hosting
ServerPronto
StartLogic
TechHosting
Web Hosting Pad
WebHostingBuzz
Yahoo
Your-Site.com

Over the next few weeks I will go into detail about all these sites and others that I find

Web Hosting Part 3

I spent part 1 talking about Go Daddy, now I'm going to go into detail about Yahoo Small Business (which is what I use) and if I haven't used to much space on this post I will give you other domain registrators.

You can choose from three options with Yahoo Small Business (Starter, Standard, and Professional). Features in Starter (29.96 a month for 1st 3 months then $39.95 after) include selling up to 50,000 products (you can only sell 50,000 in any plan), you can use 3rd party tools to customize your site (Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe GoLive, Microsoft FrontPage, Microsoft Publisher, etc). Upload product data, Import an existing product database, customize checkout page. You can use an affiliate program to promote your site or you can promote other people sites or services.

With Standard ($97.46 a month for 3 months then $129.95) and Professional ($224.96 a month for 3 months then $299.95 after) you get all the features of starter plus you can Up-sell and cross-sell during checkout, you can create gift Certificates. You also get Yahoo Web Analytics real-time reporting (Top traffic and sales sources, Shopping cart drop-off analysis,Bounce rate and exit-page analysis, Keyword conversion rates, Top-selling products, and Customizable reports and segmentation). If you want to see the difference between the plans click here

If you just want to web host, it's $8.96 a month for 3 months then $11.95 after. You can also sign up for Yahoo Search Marketing and get a $25 credit (if you are signed up with Small Business you will get a $100 credit). Also if you have looking to hire people for your business, you can post your company on Yahoo Hot Jobs

If you try out Yahoo Small Business leave me a comment on how you like or dislike it. On part 3 I will start getting into all the other domain registrators and web hosting companies.

Web Hosting Part 2

The first thing you have to do when you decide to start your online business is to get a domain name (If your not selling on eBay, Amazon, or any other auction site). There are plenty of domain registrators (you won't believe how many there are).

The first one I'm going to write about is probably the most one Go Daddy. Go Daddy is the #1 domain registrar in the world. You can purchase 1 or a bulk of domain names. I'm going to talk about the single domain. You have 3 options: The Economy Plan, Deluxe Plan, and Unlimited Plan.

The Economy Plan (10GB space and 300GB transfer) cost $4.99 a month for 3 months, $4.74 for 12 months, $4.50 for 24 months and $4.25 for 36 months. This plan features 100 email accounts, Free software, 10 MySQL Databases, 50 email forwards, forums, blogging, and photos, GoDaddy hosting connection, $20 Google Adwords credit, $25 Microsoft adcenter credit, $50 Facebook ad credit, and Google webmaster tools.

The Deluxe Plan (150GB space and 1,500 GB transfer) cost $6.99 a month, $6.64 for 12 months, $6.29 for 24 months, and $5.94 for 36 months. This plan features 500 email accounts, Unlimited web sites, 25 MySQL Databases, unlimited email forwards, plus all the features of The Economy Plan.

The Unlimited Plan (Unlimited space and transfer) cost $14.99 a month, $14.24 for 12 months, $13.49 foe 24 months, and $12.74 for 36 months. This plan includes free SSL certificate ($29.99 value), 1,000 email accounts, unlimited number of MySQL Databases, unlimited email forwards, plus all the features of the Economy and Deluxe programs.

If you need your site designed or need a logo for your site GoDaddy can help you with that also. GoDaddy has alot more features but it's just to many to mention. Just go to their site and see for yourself.

I was going to write about more domain registrators here but I took up all the room with GoDaddy. So I will name some more domain registrators in my next post.

Email Marketing

Once you have gotten your business up and going and you have gotten customers to sign up for your newsletter you need to find an email marketing company so you can design you newsletter.
Today I'm going to write about a few of them.


The first I'm going to write about is Constant Contact. Constant Contact will provide you with a customizable website visitor form, over 100 professional looking HTML email templates (newsletters, promos, invites, and more). List management and hosting (including unsubscribe and bounce management.). Automatic delivery in the correct format, HTML or text. Real time reporting (including who opens your newsletters and what they click on.).
You can try it out for 60 days (you can only use 100 contacts) and if you like it you can sign up for $15 (o-500 contacts), $30 (501-2,000), $50 (2,501-5,000) $75 (5001-10,000) $150 (10,001-25,000). If you have over 25,000 contacts, contact them for pricing. If you want to put up surveys on your site as well you can sign up for a free trial. If you get 0-250 responses it will cost $15 a month. 251-1,500 ($30), 1501-5000 ($50). If you have 5,001 or more survey responses add 5 cents per response. You can also prepay for 6 months (10% off) or a year (15% off). Your time period may be adjusted if you upgrade your account in that time frame. Prepaid is only available for the $15 survey option.


If you have an eBay store or sell on ProStores then you might want to try out Sales in A Click. Sales in a Click is a simple, affordable email marketing service that drives customers to your store every month automatically. You will keep getting sales from your valuable customers & prospects. They will upload their email addresses for you or you can do it yourself. You don’t have to write a thing. They write it and send it for you. Their seamless integration with the eBay store platform enables them an unprecedented level of automation, and is fully compliant with eBay Stores email policy. Just set up your account choose content criteria, specify your preferred schedule, and a professional looking email is delivered to your customers each month. You can try it out for 30 days. If you want to continue it will cost $24.95 for 6 months.


The last one I want to write about is OnMarketer. You have two options: OnLetterHead and OnMarketer. OnLetterHead is a one-to-one branded email solution. This software was created to work directly in Microsoft Outlook (OnLetterhead doesn't work with Mac). With this option you can have your own custom designed email with your brand on it giving each email your own personal touch. Now with OnMarketer you can send bulk emails and use mobile marketing. You can see real time reports that are easy to read and understand. Before you send out your emails you can see the likelihood of your emails getting thru the spam filters. If your emails are likely to be seen as spam you can make changes to your email and then send it out. There are other features that you can use, just go to OnMarketer to see more.

You can start a free trial of OnLetterhead (I don't know for how long). If you decide to upgrade, you can choose from 5 options: Gallery only ($228), Basic ($278), Starter ($478), Standard ($578), Professional ($678). With OnMarketer free trial you can send emails to 20 people and if you decide to upgrade you can also choose from 5 options Basic ($250), Starter ($500), Standard ($700), Professional ($1,000), and Expert ($2,000).

I haven't used anyone of these programs yet but if you like anyone of these try it out and let me know how your experience was. There are more email marketing programs I will be writing about those in the future.

Some other sites you can sell your stuff at

If you want to sell beyond eBay and Amazon, there are other places where you can sell your products.

You can go to a site called MyStore. It is an e-commerence provider offering selling support including hosting, design, marketing, fullfillment, inventory management, and customer management. What makes MyStore different from other marketplaces is you (the seller) will deal directly with your customers. You will have complete control of your stores content. There are no seller fees. If you want to check it out go to mystore.com.

Another option is ProStores. It is owned by ebay, so you will get the same features you get on eBay but you will have complete control over your site. You have 4 options to choose to from. The first one is starter. It cost $9.95 a month. If you want to have your own domain, it will cost you an additional $8.95. You can display between 20-250 products. You will have SSL security (so your customers info will be safe and secured). You can choose from 13 themes and layouts to give your store a professional look. You can use the logo generator to create your own logo in a matter of minutes. You can cross-sell your products to increase your sales. If you don't know how much to charge for tax you can use the tax caculator. You can create your own shipping rates and configure your own shipping methods and rates for each product. You can use ebay Sync to simutasly sell your products on ProStores and eBay. ProStores will automatically manage inventory on both sites. Your product catalog will be automatically submited to Google base You can upgrade your store without interuption.

The second level is Business. It cost $29.95 a month. You get all the feautures of starter, plus you can display up to 10,000 products. you get 24/7 technical phone support. You can create multipule user accounts if you have employees. You can use 3rd party feautures like
Adobe Dreamweaver to spruce up your site. You will have mutiple payment methods (real time credit card processing plus store card, check and money order payment options) . You can create a mailing list so your customers will know when you added new products. You will get SEO tools that will fine tune your store for maxiumum search engine visibilty. You can send your catalog feeds to Yahoo Shopping, Shopzilla, Shopping.com, and Google Base. You can automatically hide products that are out of stock. And you can utilize sophisticated web anaylics to analize traffic activity on your site.

The third level is Advanced. It cost $74.95 a month. You get all the options of starter and business plus you can display up to 50,000 products. You can offer coupons to your customers. You can create and manage promotions and merchandising programs for registured store members. You can sell electronic downloads like MP3 music, PDF documents, and JPG images. You can sell informational products, services, subscribtions, memberships, and downloadable content.

The fourth and final option is Enterprise. It cost $299.95 a month. You get all the features of starter, business, and advanced plus you can display up to 100,000 products. You can create mutiple buyer groups including retail and wholesale while providing unique discounts or pricing. You can create an affiliate program (you pay people to drive traffic to your site). If one of these packages intrigue you, you can sign up for the one month trial.

I had plan one writing about a couple more places you can sell your stuff at but ProStores took up most of this post. So I will write about those on the next post. As always leave me feedback on how well (or not) your doing on these sites.