It's been a number of years since the web dented all of our lives. And chances are that if
you're reading this little tome, you've been touched by its power. Unfortunately, along
with all the power has come a lot of garbage. You don't have to look much further than
your e-mail in box to find promises of making millions overnight, spying on anyone, descrambling
cable TV signals for free or the ever-famous hot-underage-Swedish-girls-justwaiting-
to-meet-you.
Yeesh. It's enough to make you think that all this cyberstuff really is just hype.
It isn't, you know. The truth is that you really can make money on the web. And for a lot
less than people will try to sell you. Personally, I deal with clients who have lots of
money to spend on building their businesses. But that's only because they know that in
business -- online or off -- the more money you have, the faster things happen.
Assuming, of course, that you have people aboard that know what to do with that money.
Lord knows we've all seen what happens to a twenty-something when he gets his hands
of a couple of million bucks in cash.
At least we used to see it. Not anymore. If there's been any lesson we can learn from the
dot com meltdown, it's that no amount of money can substitute for smarts. And smarts is
free. It's just how you use those smarts that counts.
Right off the bat, let me tell you that you can't launch a business with no money. Sure,
there are ways to cut corners with nobody being the wiser, But there are certain things
that you're going to want to spend a little for. Not much. Just enough to be reliable.
Notice that I didn't say pretty, cool, or sophisticated When I say reliable, I mean reliable.
And among those, I suggest the following:
1. Web Hosting: This is critical, but you'd be amazed at how many dopes fall for the
old "HOST YOUR SITE FOR FREE" routine. It may have come from a Domain
Registrar, who builds in his hosting costs with his registration fee. Or it could be
some other black magic concocted in his back room. Who cares? The point is that if
you can rely on your site being up and running 24/7/365, you're sunk. No matter how
well your site is designed, nobody will see it if the server crashes ten times day.
Moreover, you'll piss a lot of them off, which doesn't exactly work miracles for your
referral rate. There are plenty of reliable hosts that don't charge more than $10 or $15
a month. That's worth it, for sure. For a reliable, helpful and responsive team that
Page 5!
Everything you reading about here was utilized for the production, sale and
operations of The Revenge of Brand X: How to Build a Big Time Brand? on the
Web or Anywhere Else. This is the book that can vault your business -- and save
you tons of time, money and expensive mistakes
Cheap But Good
Volume I
Rob Frankel, ? 2000
Rob Frankel
Contact: rob@robfrankel.com
http://www. robfrankel.com
packs a lot o value, I like the guys at WestHost. They're FrankelBees, so let them
know who sent you.
2. E-Mail Software: Yes, there are plenty of free or light versions of e-mail software,
but there's a reason they're free: they don't allow you to use the features that will save
you time and effort as your business grows. And let me tell you, e-mail is the
backbone of any web-based business, for all kinds of reasons. Mainly, it's the lifeline
to your user base (or if you're really slick, your branded community), along with your
vendors and affiliates (if you have them). The best one I've found is Eudora, for the
Mac, which is under $50. Eudora has a free version, but for full horsepower, I
recommend you spend the extra bucks. Remember, that having the ability to insert a
variety of your own hyperlinked signatures, pre-written templates, searching and
more will come in really handy as your volume of mail -- and purposes for mailing --
increases with business activity.
3. E-Mail Merge Software: As your business grows, you're going to want to send a lot
of people a lot of specific information about their relationship with you. Updating
subscriptions, earnings, order status are just a few things you want to personalize to
your community. But mail-merge software works the other way, too. When I was
pre-launching my book, The Revenge of Brand X, I used an great product for the Mac
called e-merge to personalize my e-mails to hundreds of editors. Because we did
such a cool job of low pressure, personalized approach, we got a tremendous amount
of positive response (about 25%!) and lots of book reviews. And most importantly,
we didn't get one "how dare you spam me, you pig" letter. The e-mail merge
software I use is under $100 and absolutely terrific.
4. Database Software: It doesn't have to be expensive, but it does have to be able to
organize and export data in a way that works with your mail-merge and financial
stuff. And don't get scared with the sound of a phrase like "database." Chances are
that nobody really needs anything more than a simple spreadsheet program that can
track records, sort them and link with other spreadsheets so that everything gets
updated accurately. If this didn't come with your computer, chances are you can buy
an office products package for $200 to $400, that includes everything, including that
all-important word processor (below). For my money, I like Microsoft Office as a
package for either the Mac or PC. Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint are all you're
ever going to need. But I'd stay away from integrating Outlook. Weird bugs.
5. Financial Software: Hey, if I told you I run my entire operation on a simple version
of Quicken (not even the special "made for office work" edition), would you believe
Page 6!
Everything you reading about here was utilized for the production, sale and
operations of The Revenge of Brand X: How to Build a Big Time Brand? on the
Web or Anywhere Else. This is the book that can vault your business -- and save
you tons of time, money and expensive mistakes
Cheap But Good
Volume I
Rob Frankel, ? 2000
Rob Frankel
Contact: rob@robfrankel.com
http://www. robfrankel.com
me? Well, I do. Probably because I don't need all the special forms and stuff they
offer. But even so, this stuff is rarely more than $45 off the shelf.
6. Word Processing: Get a good one, and promise me that whatever you write, you'll
run it through a spell checker before you post it to your site or send it out into the
void. Nothing says "unprofessional" quicker and more credibly than easily
preventable spelling errors. Grammar errors are pretty excusable, since most people
think the past tense of "bring" is "brang", but for torpedoing any credibility you may
have, spelling errors take the crown. Again, chances are that the word processor that
came with your computer will do just fine, as long as it integrates nicely with your
spreadsheet program, has a spell checker and can read other word processing files
without breaking into too much of a sweat. If you do happen to buy one, it's included
in Microsoft Office.
7. HTML Software: There are tons of these floating around for free. And even a
couple of web browsers like Netscape include basic apps along with their free
browsers. Of course, here you get what you pay for -- only the most basic HTML
functions. For the record, both my personal website and the site for the book were
done with Adobe Pagemill, which is about as simple - and at around $49 -- as cheap
as it gets. Although it seems tempting to use Microsoft FrontPage because of all the
"free extensions" that are included, you'll find that few web hosts enjoy dealing with
them and that in the long run, you're better off letting them link your clean HTML site
to their particular functional needs.
8. Graphics Software: This is really a judgment call. These days, there are so many
cheap and easy download sites with pre-fab art that you can probably get away
without anything too sophisticated. Again, chances are the stuff that came on your
computer will probably do the job, as long as it can save graphics to .GIF,.JPG and
.PNG format. Or, you can become a member of Art Today. I make no money from
this link, but it's SUCH A DEAL, I couldn't resist.
9. E-mail/POP Account: Probably the biggest myth online has to be the idea of free email.
If you want to stop the kids whining without prying open your wallet, free email
is just fine. The time they waste viewing the unwanted ads will keep them from
downloading pornography, I suppose. But if you're in business, you want a reliable
connection, preferably from a company that has scads of local dial-up numbers no
matter where your travel plans take you. If you really want to give yourself an ulcer,
try cheaping out with some local provider only to find yourself on the opposite coast
for a week, cranking up long distance charges just to get access to your e-mail.