Vonage
If you aren’t down with VoIP yet, where have you been hiding out? With Vonage expect to pay $30 per month (actually mine comes out to $32.50) and relax with unlimited calls in the US. Get rid of that outdated land-line and upgrade to an Internet phone connection. It’s faster, clearer, and cheaper.
Blinksale
One of the best online invoice systems on the market would have to be Blinksale. With their user-friendly and intuitive design / functionality, you can easily send professional invoices to all your clients. And when it comes time for taxes, just print out an excel sheet that the system can produce for you.
Media Temple
I’ve used a lot of hosting companies over the years — most of them have been very disappointing and unreliable. But Media Temple has never let me down (well, at least not with their dv (dedicated virtual) servers.) Their customer service absolutely rocks! 24/7 I can give them a call and they’re always up for helping me out with anything. I highly recommend them as your hosting provider. [*** If you only have one small site and don't expect a ton of traffic, then go with Godaddy basic hosting package.]
IContact
From newsletters to surveys, IConact makes it super easy to build a list of subscribers for any sort of content that you wish to share. I use them for my monthly magazine and their service has been on point. Packages start at $9.95 and scale up from there. If you’re thinking about starting a newsletter or online mag, then give iContact a shot.
SkypeOut
For $29.95 use Skype to make unlimited outbound calls from your computer. I like to use this service in conjunction with my Vonage because there are times when I don’t have my business phone with me — like in a café or on the road. All I need is an Internet connection and I can use my SkypeOut to make unlimited calls. Also, I can use an app called Audio Hijack Pro to record any Skype call. (podcasts, conference calls, etc). If you run windows, use Hot Recorder to record.
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Yeah!! Thank you for this awesome advice. I’ve used iContact for a client and thought she paid much more for it.
Nice list David! I’d like to add Highrise (http://www.highrisehq.com) to the list. Yes, I’m sure everyone knows about 37Signals, but this product is just essential to our daily operations.
Too bad audio hijack pro is for macs only, looks like a nice program!
Chris if you run windows, use Hot Recorder to record.
Avi, good pointer. Highrise is a great app.
Gina, yeah iContact is great and my friend, Ryan, who runs the company is determined to make sure that it remains a top-notch service!
David–Thanks for mentioning iContact and spreading the love.
Cheers,
Ryan
Blinksale is good. No question. But for online invoicing I can also recommend Time59 (www.time59.com). It allows you to track time and expenses. These items then flow into its invoicing function. It also has complete accounts receivable functionality. Worth checking out if you bill clients for your services.
I had heard of iContact and I like their website, but I never new they started at $9.95! Thanks!
Agree… lots of options for online invoicing. If you want a single view of everything from one screen — from customers, to invoices and items that you still need to bill, try out SimplifyThis.com, which is a very intuitive, web-based application that lets you easily invoice your clients by email and get paid faster online.