MaryEllen Tribby: Vendors that Help Your Business Grow

There are two main questions I get on a regular basis from my high-end consulting clients.

The first is about how I structure my day. They ask because they are amazed by my ability to get all the important tasks done, and done well.

The second question is who are my vendors? Whom do I trust with my business?

Think about it. They pay me $25,000 to spend a day and a half at their business location and these are the questions they are asking.

Clearly both are very important and actually business changing.

So today, I am going to give you a cheat sheet of some of my favorite vendors and services.

But before I do, there is something I want to be very clear about.

I am recommending them first as a client. This means these are the services I use and I pay for.

And second I am recommending them as an affiliate.

Just like I teach in my world class online business program Inbox Empire, if you believe in a product, it is not only ethical to make money from them, it is also GREAT business sense.

Services You Need

• Your domain name: You need a website regardless of your niche or industry. The first step in that process in purchasing a URL or domain name. For example, I buy all of my URLs (like WorkingMomsOnly.com and MaryEllenTribby.com) from Go Daddy.When purchasing URLs, please remember to buy the dot com (.com). If it is not available, DO NOT settle for the dot net (.net). You will end up sending others your traffic. However, once you get the dot com, it makes sense to purchase the dot net just to protect your investment.

• Hosting: You need a place on the Internet to store all the files for your website (hosting). I use HostGator. I have used many other services in my years in business, but HostGator is where all of my personal sites are hosted. They are inexpensive and very reliable. No hosting is perfect, which means your site will go down occasionally. But I can literally count on ONE hand the number of times my site has been down in four years.

• Email Newsletter/Customer Relationship Manager: You should be emailing your customers regularly (and many of you are doing this as part of the Inbox Empire course). Do NOT use your personal email. Use an email newsletter service to manage this for you.When I started my own company, I used Aweber. It is easy to understand as a non-technical person, and it is inexpensive. It did everything I needed. As my company grew, I switched to Infusionsoft. Here is where I want to be very clear. Infusionsoft is much more expensive and much more complicated. It’s more complicated because it is a very robust system. It pretty much does everything I will ever need in business including reporting. However, if you are not a technical person, you will most likely need someone helping you with this system.

• Website Software: Please just use WordPress. Make sure you go to WordPress.org (not dot com). WordPress.org is free and it is an open source system. It is easy. Once your site is up, you should have no problem updating your own inbox magazine and everything else you want to update on a regular basis.

• Landing Pages: In order to make money with an online business, you will need to do two things: build a list and sell products. These means you need squeeze pages and sales pages. The best tool I have found to do this is LeadPages.

• Website Security: Periodically you should scan your website for any malicious software installed by spammers (“malware”). This is the scanner from Sucuri I use to check all my sites.

• Teleseminars and Webinars: I do multiple coaching calls every month, and the best tool I’ve found to manage the calls is Instant Teleseminar. It lets you hold, mute and un-mute callers. It also records the call so you can post the MP3 of the calls for your students to listen to later.

I have disclosed this about myself in the past and I will say it again. I am a techno neophyte, and if I can find my way around these systems you can too.

Here is the bottom line. Technology is only going to get easier and better, so start embracing it today. This way your business can grow faster and give you the freedom you have been searching for.

I remember years ago when I was still with Agora. We were in a big meeting in France with all the folks who ran Agora companies, and Mark Ford was speaking. He said that if you want to stay ahead of your competitors, you need to find ways to do things that are cheaper, faster and easier.

Well, the tools I recommended to you today will do just that!