Resources
These are resources which may be of use to our clients:-
Amazon Simple Storage Service
Amazon (S3)
Amazon provide an extremely useful service for people selling downloads. If you have an Amazon account you can sign up for free to the Amazon Web Services (AWS). You can then use Amazon’s huge resources to store all your download files securely. Most hosting packages are not suited to selling downloads because the web space, bandwidth and processing power required are really designed for simple web sites rather than storing huge audio files and then allowing them to be downloaded.
With Amazon you only pay for the space you use to store your files and the bandwidth for downloading and uploading them. The costs are tiny compared to most normal hosting packages and Amazon’s service will deliver the files from the user’s nearest location making it much quicker.
Obviously when each download is a sale then this is just part of the cost of the sale but it is far more preferable than trying to do it from your own website hosting account
(wp e-store above can link directly to Amazon files and provide encrypted links so only the person who bought the download can access the file, so the two systems work very well together)
Web Hosting with 1&1
Web Hosting is a commodity. You can get it for free or for thousands of ££s depending on your needs.
What you need to know is that
- they are flexible
- they are reliable
- they can provide you support 24/7
- they have the range of services you need
- they are good value
In my experience 1&1 fall into this category and I use them for my own sites as well as numerous client sites. They are one of Europe’s largest web hosts and offer a large range of services with a very simple pricing structure. They do very cheap packages that are good value. I have found that other hosts may offer cheap packages but as soon as you start adding in the extras then the costs mount up.
I recommend that all clients sign up for hosting directly and therefore they own and are in charge of their own domains. This way you can be certain you are in charge of your destiny. I have had dealt with situations where this was not the case and the client was locked out of their own site because the developer owned the domain and had gone on a round the world trip without updating their credit card details. The bill didn’t get paid and site was shut down. Seriously – Always contract directly with your host.
The package I generally recommend is called 1&1 unlimited at £6.99+VAT per month. (By default you get the Linux version do not opt for the Windows version)
1and1 2016 hosting
Web Hosting with NuBlue
For clients with more advanced or specific requirements I’ve worked with NuBlue for over 3 years now and found their service to be excellent.
Their technical support has enabled us to do solve some more complex requirements and they area also experts when it comes to Magento hosting.
Stock Photo Libraries
Having photos on web sites greatly enhances the site however getting good photography can be difficult unless you have deep pockets or photographer friends.
Using online photo libraries is a great way of getting around this problem because you can get photography that is free of any extra charges once you have purchased a licence for the use you require.
I use istockphoto, fotolia and 123rf and prices can range from a few pounds to many tens of pounds usually depending on the size of the image. The images are not exclusive so there is a chance that one of your competitors may use the same image but it is unlikely.
Read the licence or usage rights carefully because they usually exclude you from using them in logos or to create products or templates which you then sell on. But for putting a nice atmospheric image on a page or illustrating a point its just fine. For extra money you can buy exclusivity or to use the image in a commercial way.
In case your thinking of “borrowing” an image from someone else’s site then put aside a few thousand pounds for when they knock on your door asking for payment. That is, unless you want to go to court. If you’re in any doubt, there are companies whose main business model is based around finding offenders and charging them. With services like tin eye it is relatively easy to find if someone else has used your image. A famous photo agency once requested £400 for the use of two images for a client who had felt it was OK to borrow them. Whenever I am supplied images I will always check that you have the rights to use them so as to keep you out of trouble. Otherwise we can use Stock Photography.
Simply Documents
Looking for legal documents, terms or privacy policies. Simply Docs provides a set of templates at very reasonable prices. If you really want to hire a lawyer then get one, if you don’t then these make a good start.
Mailchimp
Never send bulk emails from your own computer, use a third party email marketing system like Mailchimp which can manage your lists and also makes it easy to send them.
*Footnote
In the interests of absolute transparency some of the links above generate small commissions for n8tive, we’re not going to retire on them. The prices are the same if you click on these or go directly.
These links were set up in May 2018 and prior to that we have never earned any commissions from any recommendations we made. The purpose of providing these links is to make it easy for clients to access the services that we believe provide the best value, quality and reliability for money.
We only recommend services that we genuinely believe are good and indeed have tried and tested ourselves, this is why the list is quite short and precise. It is not in our interests to recommend on any other basis because if a service is bad it reflects badly on us.
If you feel uncomfortable about this which some people may do you can bypass and search on Google for them. The prices will still be the same. If you have any queries please don’t hesitate to call us to discuss and we can still help talk you through the sign up processes where applicable or even do it for you.
N8tive
