Aspire Web Studio

Which web host should I use? Where should I register my domain name? Can I accept credit cards on my web site affordably? It's my job to guide your project to success, so here's my list of the best third-party products and services for web sites, many of them surprisingly affordable.

Web Hosting and Domain Names
E-Commerce
Advertising
Images
Fonts
Search Engine Optimization
Creative Inspiration
Software


	Hard Hat Hosting - Virtual Dedicated Hosting and Domain Names Step-up to the speed, simplicity and flexibility of a virtual dedicated server from Hard Hat Hosting. Their plans are approved for use with LiteCommerce and because they are smaller than most web hosting companies, you'll receive the personal attention and support you need to get your web site running smoothly. Plans start at only $17.11 per month. Domain name registration is also offered for $16.95 per year. Tell them you were referred by Aspire Web Studio.
	Aspire Web Hosting For small brochure sites (without e-commerce or databases features), I offer a scaled-down web hosting package that provides the same speed and reliability of a virtual dedicated server for only $10 per month (or $100 per year). This plan is perfect for those who don't want to setup or manage their own web hosting account and includes: 50 MB of disk space 1 GB of data transfer per month 1 POP3 e-mail account (e.g. yourname@yoursite.com) Free setup and management Please contact me for more information.


	PayPal Merchant Tools PayPal provides you with a merchant account and payment gateway all-in-one, saving you the hassle and expense of setting up two separate accounts. It's also pre-integrated with most shopping cart programs, making setup a breeze. Depending on your needs, you can sign-up for an account with no monthly fee, or get extra features for only $20 per month.
	Lite Commerce - Shopping Cart Software This shopping cart software can be fully-customized to match your store's design and layout. While some shopping carts only allow you to change colors, font styles and a few of the graphical elements, this solution keeps the design of your cart separate from the functionality, so a greater level of customization can be achieved without any advanced programming. And at only $95 with no monthly fees, it's very affordable on just about any budget. (Note: Extra fees may apply if you need assistance in installing or configuring the software on your web server or if you want to add-on additional modules.)
	GoDaddy SSL Certificates GoDaddy offers the most affordable SSL certificates in the industry, at only $19.99 per year. (Note: You do NOT have to sign-up for GoDaddy web hosting in order to use a GoDaddy SSL certificate. I recommend Hard Hat Hosting for your web hosting needs.)


	AdButler Manage and serve advertisements on your web site. Create logins for your advertisers so they can track the real-time status of their campaigns. Try it out for free, then upgrade your account for $5.95 per month to receive all their features and remove their ads from your rotation.
	Vertical Response An online tool to send HTML e-mail campaigns and manage your mailing lists (including opt-in and opt-out forms). Send as many e-mails as you need and never worry about being blocked by ISPs or spam software. Use the included templates to design your message or import your own HTML. No monthly fees, only pay for how many messages you send (about a penny each).


	iStockphoto Download royalty-free photographs, vector illustrations, icon sets, and Flash files for only $1 per image. Higher resolution files are just $2 and $3 (but you probably won't need them, unless you're doing print work). We love their search capability that allows you to search by color and keyword at the same time! And their rollover previews make finding that perfect image even easier.


	MyFonts Search, purchase, and download fonts from hundreds of foundries and type designers in one place. Also offers a unique font recognition system, "What the Font", that can help you to identify a font you've seen used somewhere.
	Abstract Fonts Search thousands of freeware fonts by keyword or browse by category or alphabetically. Offers custom online previews using a word or phrase you supply. You can also find fonts based on their similarity to another font. Best of all, they're all free for commercial use!


	SpryDev - Search Engine Optimization (Austin, Texas) SpryDev offers many free SEO resources, as well as paid services to help you increase your site's visibility in the search engines. They guarantee you will get at least as much additional business from your web site as you spend on their services, or they’ll work for free until you do! They also offer a free web site evaluation.
	Google Information for Webmasters With Google being the most popular search engine, it's a good idea to review their guidelines and make sure you're not using any questionable techniques that could lower your ranking or at worse, get your site banned from their index.
	SOFTplus GSiteCrawler A free software program for generating and managing Google Sitemaps.
	Search Engine Optimization A page I've put together with tips and suggestions on how to increase your site's ranking in the search engines.


	The Webby Awards Links to some of the best designed sites on the net. It'll be sure to give you some ideas for your own site. And when you're finished with your masterpiece, be sure to enter it for consideration in the next Webby Awards!
	Before & After Magazine This magazine for graphic designers uses practical projects to make graphic design understandable, useful, and fun for everyone. We always keep plenty of copies of this magazine in our office. Download their articles in PDF or subscribe to their glossy print version for $36 per year.


	Adobe / Macromedia Offers a suite of tools for web design and development, including: Dreamweaver — powerful HTML and script editing Flash — vector-based animation Fireworks — similar to Photoshop, but geared specifically for creating web images, including drop-down menus, slices, and rollovers FlashPaper — similar to Acrobat, converts documents to Flash or PDF format Contribute — allows several users to easily maintain a site by making edits in a browser like interface ColdFusion — for creating dynamic sites that interface with a database
	Bebosoft Forms To Go This tool allows you to take forms you've created in Dreamweaver (or any other HTML editor) and automatically generate PHP code to process the results. You can have the form results sent to an e-mail address or directly to a database. You can specify a confirmation e-mail to be sent to the user and create custom error messages. They offer a freeware version with limited functionality, as well as a full-featured version for only $18.
	Zoom Search Engine This software enables you to add powerful search capabilities to your web site with a minimal amount of effort. While other solutions don't always seamlessly integrate with your site's layout and design, this software allows you to design your own search and result pages in Dreamweaver (or any other HTML editor), and then it's simply a matter of cutting and pasting a few lines of code and making a few edits to the included style sheet. A free version is available for non-commercial use, Standard Edition $49, Professional Edition $99.
	iDC File Manager If your web site needs to distribute or share files with customers, suppliers, remote workers or just internally, then iDC File Manager is the perfect solution. iDC File Manager is a web-based file management system that allows you to store, manage and share files between multiple users. The Pro Version includes all the features you need for only $61 and includes free setup and installation on your web server.

If you have a resource you'd like to suggest for this page, please e-mail me the link along with a brief description of why this resource would be valuable to my clients.