E-MAIL ACCOUNTS.  It is definately worthwhile having your private e-mail account separate from your business e-mail account, and probably another one too for use by people who are just going to send you lots of stuff you won't even want to read!  However, remember to empty ALL of these on a regular basis - returned mail will often mean that you are knocked off of lists you wanted to be on, such as safelists etc.  Not only will this set up  mean that you are able to ration the time you spend answering business e-mails to a sensible portion of the day, but you won't have to traipse through loads of irrelevant e-mails just to find a message that you've been sent by a friend or family member!  However, do remember to keep in touch with your friends and family as well as your clients - all work and no play is certainly not what it's all about!  Here are a few well-known and reliable sources of free or low-cost e-mail accounts:

• Your Internet Service Provider (ISP).  Most ISPs offer at least one e-mail account when you set up your internet access, and many offer to set up several accounts for you, especially if you upgrade your service level.
• Hotmail.  The free service allows you a limited but adequate amount of web-based memory space in which to store your emails.  Extra storage space and services are available at a modest cost.
• Yahoo.  As Hotmail.

BANK ACCOUNTS.  There are many different bank accounts available for online business, and which you need will be determined by what you want your business to be able to do.  If you are promoting an affiliate programme, it will probably have a preference for which bank to pay your commissions into, although some just send you a cheque directly.  If you wish to set up a business which is able to accept credit cards you will need a "Merchant Account".  Both of these services, and more, are available from all of the following online-bankers:

• Clickbank.  Probably the most popular among affiliate programmes as it sends out cheques twice per month.  Some suggest it is worth having a clickbank account anyway as a means of saving money on your own online purchases.
• Paypal.  Another very popular choice with affiliate companies.  Paypal also allows you to pay for goods using your accrued commissions.
• Stormpay.  The third of the 'Big Three banks popular with affiliate programmes.  Like Paypal, Stormpay allows you to spend from your account if you are in credit.
• Worldpay.  The most comprehensive service-provider for online businesses, but is oriented more to those with a product to sell, rather than those who are selling affiliateships.  However, a popular image with shoppers who want the security of a big-name bank handling their payments.

AUTORESPONDERS.  Autoresponders send your prospects and clients an e-mail automatically when they make a purchase, send you an e-mail or sign up for your mail-list.  Most will also send a whole series of e-mails at intervals you choose, which is useful when you realise that the average customer will need to be contacted about 7 times before making a purchase.  That's the AVERAGE - some will buy first time, but for many others it will be the tenth or twelfth occasion they read your message that prompts them to act!  Sources of free autoresponders are:

• Your Affiliate Programme.  Some of the affiliate programmes on this site (eg. TrafficOasis, MLMDynamite) offer you the services of an autoresponder as a part of the affiliateship deal.
• Getresponse.  Certainly the market leader in autoresponder technology.  The free responder has some useful features and is sufficient until your business (and your mailing-list) grows.

FINDING AND REGISTERING WEBSITE DOMAIN-NAMES.  If you are going to set up your own website you will need four things.  The first is a domain-name(the title of your website, which is typed into the search bar on your browser).  Finding these can be slow, but it's usually free at the registration sites.  Once you've found a domain-name you'll need to register it, so that nobody else can use your domain-name for their website.  Checking and registering domain-names can be done at the following sites:

• BizMint.  A convenient way to find out which short, snappy domain-names are still available.  This site has thousands of one- or two-word domain-names in it's list.
• Go Daddy.  The cheapest place to check and register domain-names that I have seen anywhere on the web.  If you find a cheaper one, let me know HERE!
• 000domains.com.  Just slightly more expensive to register the names here than at GoDaddy, but this site has a feature whereby you can check the availability of up to five domain-names at once.

WEB DESIGN AND HOSTING.  The third and fourth elements you'll need before you can upload / publish your website (make it available for people to read on the internet) are a website design package and, finally, web-hosting.  The function of a website design package is, I hope, obvious.  However, there are lots of things you should consider if you wish to do this yourself, and The Traffic-Jam Formula gives you substantial guidance on this.  If you want a free copy of this ebook for reference only (ie you cannot resell it!), send me an e-mail HERE - you'll get the relevant e-mail within two weeks.  Finally, the function of a web-hosting provider is to take the website you have designed and load it onto the internet for you so that, when they type in your domain-name, your customers will be able to see your products.  Here are some providers of website design and/or web-hosting services:

• GeoCities.  Yahoo's GeoCities provides free webhosting but with little support - definately for those who know what they are doing, or for just a short time as your company is set up.  However, you cannot choose your domain-name, there is no design facility and you get pop-ups advertising other web-pages, which will certainly dent your credibility!
• Go Daddy.  GoDaddy has various levels of service and can include a website-design facility as part of the deal, or can sell you a website-design programme if you'd prefer to take your time.  Once again, the cheapest (paid) competitor in this market that I have found.
• Kiosk.  Kiosk are probably the host with the best reputation and a great record of up-time.  They also include lots and lots of features even in with the basic hosting packages, including leads, autoresponders, advertisement tracking and more.  Currently they are giving away a 2-week trial-membership for $1, which is unbeatable value.
• WebsiteWizard.  This is probably the most complete start-to-finish website package, from domain-name registration to website design and hosting, all for a single monthly fee.  The place to go if you like everything in one place.

ADVERTISMENT TRACKING TOOLS.  One of these tools is essential if you are advertising in more than one place, especially if you are paying for the privilege!  The easy-to-read statistics provided by these tools will allow you to identify which adverts are successful and which are not, so that you can replace those which aren't working with others that are.  This way, you will get the best bang for your advertising buck!

• HyperTracker.  The tracking system from the makers of Getresponse and Website Wizard.
• AdTracker.  One of the oldest and most established, although still bang-up-to-date, advertising campaign trackers available.

WRITING TOOLS.  If it isn't your intention to be an affiliate for your whole career, or even any of it (!), and you decide instead to market some kind of book or other information-based product, you'll need a means of writing it so that it can be read by those not using the same computer format as you (ie Mac users need to be able to read your book if you write it on a PC, and vice versa).  The following programmes are campatible with both systems:

• Adobe e-book Writer.  The e-book programme from one of the most respected text-editing software companies in the business.  Frequently used because the reader programme is a free download from Adobe's website.
• e-BookGold.  This programme creates professional-looking e-books by turning HTML pages into a downloadable executable files.

E-BOOK COVER GRAPHICS.  Selling a computer programme which you intend to distribute by electronic download is all very well, but sometimes customers are reassured by being able to see a representation of the package, ie the "box" it comes in or the "front-cover" if you're selling a book.  If you can't show them what the product looks like on your website, you'll cut your sales down to less than half.  Looking at it the other way, using this programme, where appropriate, will more than double your sales!  Look at the websites for ANY of the information-based products or computer programmes offered on this page - I can tell you now that they ALL have an image of the box or front-cover somewhere on the site!  To use this winning tactic you can use the following programme:

• DynamiteCovers.  With DynamiteCovers you can show your electronic product to your customers with a professional-looking, three-dimensional cover, case or box.  This product is extremely versatile and works well, but is the only product that I've been able to source to carry out this function.  If you know of another, let me know HERE.  Thanks.

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