Resources

Sorting through the sea of technology service providers is an extremely daunting task. I’ve listed a few of my favorites here to get you started.

HostGator

Pros: Fast; Affordable; Unlimited Disk Space; Unlimited Bandwidth; Free 24/7 Phone Support; “Green Hosting”
Cons: Phone support could be better

PremiumThemes.net

Pros: Very professional designs; Lots of selection and variety; Reasonable prices
Cons: Prices start at $59 per template, but you can join the Premium Themes Club for access to all themes for 1 year; Extremely limited selection of free themes

WPThemeShop.com

Pros: Great designs; clean code; very friendly developer; Free Wordpress themes available!
Cons: Limited selection; Requires $20 payment if you want to remove link to developer’s site from footer

FreeWPThemes.net

Pros: Great designs; Over 200 themes available; Completely free, elegant Wordpress themes!
Cons: You are required to leave a link to the developer’s site in the footer (not a big deal, but if you want a website that looks more professional, this probably won’t work for you)

Basecamp – Project Management

Pros: Incredibly easy way to collaborate on projects; Allows you to upload files and track revisions; Integrates with several popular services
Cons: As you add projects, the service becomes more expensive, but well worth it

FreshBooks – Online Invoicing

Pros: Amazingly easy way to create estimates, invoices, and recurring billing; Integrates with most major online payment systems (PayPal, Authorize.net, Google Checkout, etc.) so customers can pay you immediately; Provides a customer login system so customers can view and print invoices and payment history; Can send customers invoices through postal mail if they prefer; Automatically sends customers late payment reminder emails; Great phone support!
Cons: Does not serve as a full replacement for something like Quickbooks – it lacks inventory, payroll, and many other features, but if you just need something simple, it works well

Eventbrite – Event Management and Ticket Sales

Pros: The easiest way to sell tickets for workshops, conferences, concerts, or other events; Simple attendee management, including automatic attendee lists and name badges; Widgets for promoting your event on Social Networking Sites and your own website; Supports several payment types, including PayPal and Google Checkout, as well as offline manual payments by Check or Cash
Cons: Requires customers to go to the Eventbrite website to purchase tickets; Eventbrite fees are in addition to merchant processing fees

Guthier Consulting