Gift Basket Business and Related Links of Interest

We have compiled a listing of what we think are helpful links that can assist you in running your business or maybe just other helpful information. We have tried to sort them by categories to be a bit more helpful. If nothing else, in this day and age of technology, you need to protect yourself on the internet from computer hackers by getting ZoneAlarm Pro, stop spam from filling your in box at Mailblocks, and stop viruses dead in their tracks with Panda Software Anti-Virus protection.

Sales and Marketing

Increase Your Website's Search Engine Ranking - Links Manager is without a doubt the best and easiest way to improve the ranking of your website so you can get more customers to buy your products

eBay! - A good avenue to help sell your gifts or other products is putting them on E-Bay as an auction. This can be a great way to market and move excess products and also can help boost sales during the off season. We all know how important that is to our industry.

eBaystores - Set up your own online store within the E-Bay community. Great exposure and you can manage and move quite a large number of products. Very easy to do.

ACT! - A great program to help you stay in touch with your customers. We have used this program for over 7 years to manage all of our customers, vendors, and appointments. You can easily mail merge, e-mail, Fax, and do marketing to your customers. If a customer sends a gift to somebody on the 12th of May for a birthday gift, you can have it automatically prompt you to call that customer a week before the event and ask them if they want to send it again...A GREAT program.

Excite.com - A quick and easy way to get to the top of the heap for internet advertising. I would suggest only using it for keywords related to your area or a specialty. Narrow the search terms to make it affordable.

SubminFire - A great way to get your website noticed. For a small fee, they will submit you to a HUGE number of search engines and directories.

Overture - Pay per click advertising medium. A great way to get up an running, but keep your search terms narrow in scope and go after your specific market niche.

Gift Basket Companies - By sending only 2 gift baskets(now this is a novel way to advertise, sort of a barter system), you can get your phone number and an linked image(200x200 jpg) on a website that is specific to the gift basket industry. This site gets over 9,000 visitors per month and you can get listed in your home state. An inexpensive way to get noticed on the web.

Kanoodle.com - Pay per click advertising. Fast to get business and traffic to your website, but again, keep your search terms as specific as possible.

LinksManager - A dramatic way to improve your website's ranking in the search engines. They have a FREE trial version also. This software can automate the process of getting other companies to link to your website and bring more business your way.

Gourmet Gift Baskets

Gourmet and Snack Unique Gift Baskets

Business Operations

Cardservice International. - Start accepting credit cards. They will work with all types of businesses and home based also. Make sure your business acts like a business and can accept credit cards, many corporate orders will only pay by this method. Avoid late payments from your customers and you can get 50% deposits easier and faster for those large orders.

E-LOAN - A great place to go for business loans, and even personal loans, From business, auto and even mortgages, they can work to get the best rate and approvals.

BizHosting - Get a web site for your business up and running quickly. You won't need a webmaster to get started with the easy templates they have. Also a BIG PLUS is their ability to set up a Credit Card Merchant Account for you. An ideal place to start for a home based business.

4LowRates - An invaluable online resource if you need funding for your company or even want to refinance an existing loan or find the lowest rates for house mortgages.

Paybycheck.com - Like the name says, now you can get paid faster from customers who don't have credit cards or people who are up to their credit card limit but still want to buy from you. The money goes instantly into your account.

ASAP Checks - The real place to get your checks and other business forms to properly run your business. Much cheaper that getting them from your bank, and faster service also. Checks for Quicken, QuickBooks, VersaCheck and many more.

Computers and Related Technologies

Mailblocks.com - Stop spam from filling your in box, Period. This products works. About 95% of our e-mail used to be spam for products that we didn't need or want, not anymore. Stop the schemes, medical miracles, and many viruses from getting into your computer.

ZoneAlarm Pro - Stop hackers from getting into your computer - A must have firewall, especially if you have high speed cable or DSL service. Works at home or while you travel. If you don't have this or another firewall, you are setting yourself up for major computer problems.

CreditReporting.com - You KNOW how important this is with today's identity theft problem. These guys can stay on top of it for you.

Panda Software Anti-Virus - A really great anti-virus that updates EVERYDAY! If you don't have a good anti-virus program and keep it updated against new viruses, you are committing computer suicide.

Net Nanny If you're not watching--who is? NetNanny - A must if you have children. Protect them from not letting them access web sites that have adult content.

Other Business Resources

Photos.com - Thousands of stock photographs that you can purchase for a VERY REASONABLE price and use in your catalogs or websites. No need to hire a photographer for special shots.

LogoWorks! - A very inexpensive way to get an updated image for your business. These guys can give you the professional image that you want to portray to that ever important corporate client. Really great pricing for professional designs.

StockMyStore.com - Thousands of products that sometimes have EXTREMELY good pricing and very low minimums.

VistaPrint - Printers of brochures and catalogs. Hint - they quite often offer specials to get FREE business cards.
You can't beat that price.

Job.com - I think the name says it all. This is for those of you who only run your business part time and are looking for a chance to move up in the corporate world with a steady paycheck with a company in your area.

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