Wendy Shepherd : Internet Entrepreneur

From Cubicle Slave to Next Internet Millionaire AND Viral Video Fever

Wendy Shepherd — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 07:06:57 +0000

Ahhh… movies. They can be inspiring and funny.
If you love videos, you will like one of the stories I mention below.
No matter what you do, whether it is movie related or not, you should try and set goals in life.

I want you to know that I have some free printable charts to help you write record your goals. It helps to have a visual of what you want to achieve in a week, a month, or a year. http://www.chartjungle.com/home.html

So, did you wake up today wishing that things could be different in your life?

Does your job depress you day in and day out? Are you bored?

Well then, I want you to read the two inspiring stories below, because there is hope for you to fulfill your dreams. I thrive on inspirational stories…

* Jaime Luchuck says she felt like a slave at work for years.

However, something happened that changed her life from working to fill somebody else’s bank account, to doing what she always wanted… finding a way and the courage to break free and reach for her ultimate goals.

http://www.wendyshepherd.com/pages/jaime.php

I’ve watched her get selected to be on the internet reality show called “The Next Internet Millionaire”. She has moved through the judging process while others were eliminated along the way.

She wasn’t there just for the money. Jaime new she wanted to learn everything that became available to her to from some of the web’s top internet business owners.

The reality of it is that the internet is a valuable tool, and Jaime felt so encouraged by what she learned that with her renewed vision she quit her job.

She wants to share her experience with people who also want to stop being imprisoned in their jobs. Therefore, Jaime has created a new book that shares her new-fangled knowledge and some of the wonderful tips and insider information she learned. She is also sharing her story of her near death experience, in the book called “From Cubicle Slave to Next Internet Millionaire”. Oh, and the cover of the book is beautiful and comes with thousands of dollars worth of special bonuses…

http://www.wendyshepherd.com/pages/jaime.php

** The other inspiring story is about Charles Trippy. He is also a contestant from the internet reality show The Next Internet Millionaire.

Charles REALLY knows his stuff about online videos. He is actually a self-made famous internet celebrity on YouTube.

http://www.wendyshepherd.com/pages/charles.php

He makes funny, quirky videos that become viral…in other words…people want to share them. This college guy has gotten so good at what he does that he has been approached to work with many television studios and gets contacted by marketing firms who want to pay him to create videos for them.

Charles is a different type of mellow fellow who breaks the mold in sharing information. With teaching people how to make videos, he strongly believes in making lessons entertainingly funny…not boring. Therefore, if you actively want to incorporate video into your business, are trying to share a memorable home video or simply want to have fun on the internet, you’ll want to learn from Charles’ experience…

http://www.wendyshepherd.com/pages/charles.php

Just remember, don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something. Rebel and find the tools to help you achieve your goals!

I have created two ebooks so far. If you are interested in getting a complimentary copy, let me know if you purchase Charles’ video lessons and send me your order number. If you do get Jaime’s book, you’ll receive access automatically to my ebooks within the bonus section of her website.

I hope you enjoy their stories as much as I have! Now, go reach for your dreams!!!

Take care,

~Wendy Shepherd

I’ve caught the ‘Twitter Bug’

Wendy Shepherd — Sat, 19 May 2007 19:06:06 +0000

Funny, when I hear the word ‘twitter’, I think of ‘twitter pated’.

Yep, Twitter is an addictive social networking outlet. It’s the place that let’s people say what they are doing RIGHT NOW in 140 characters or less. Posts are called ‘tweets’. Posts can be made via website, mobile phone text messaging, or via instant message.

Come Twitter with me… Click Here

Oh, and just so that you can see the worldwide view of the infection that is Twitter, go see Twittervision - Click here.

Do you run a Word Press blog? Well, there is a twitter plugin for that.

There is another little application called Twitterrific, which I haven’t played with, but seems popular.

Right now I am content on posting and will learn some of the ‘Twitter Lingo‘.

I wrote … Resale Mode …

Wendy Shepherd — Sun, 13 May 2007 16:37:52 +0000

I have finished writing and released the first version of my new ebook (digital book).

This ebook is about one of the first ways I started earning income online while I was able to stay home with my children. It includes information for people who want to learn how to resell online. There are also sections that include answers to some of the questions my website readers asked.

There are two versions of the ebook. One with information only and the other has some step-by-step directions on how to sign up for ebay and paypal and comes with five bonus printables.

The first 100 orders of ‘Option 2′ get a special deal…

… Resale Mode

If you are looking to earn a few bucks on the side or looking to have a full blown business, start with this ebook to save time researching how to start with reselling and auctions.

What will you find in this ebook?
- Reselling and Auctions
- Yard Sale Hints and Tips
- Selling Online
- Reselling Online Overview
- Start Up Costs
- Accepting Payments
- Creating Crafts To Sell
- Types of items to sell
- Marketing
- Safety
- Resources
- Answers To 14 Questions
- And More!

Just think, you can spend money on dvds, cds, etc. Or buy an ebook to help you learn how to earn money online from your home. … www.resalemode.com

*** If you or someone you know has been successful at reselling items, have them drop me a line and let me know their story. If inspiring, I would like to add it to the ebook and include a link to their online store. I will accept a limited number of these.

Please forward to this to anyone you think would be interested. I really appreciate it.
Oh… and if you do forward it, let me know! I would like to thank you!

What social networks do you use?

Wendy Shepherd — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 04:29:13 +0000

I have been curious about where my online friends go for social networking and for business networking. There just seem to be so many websites out there now.

My online friend, Karlyn, tagged me to find out, so I will post the few I have used, but note that I mostly use MySpace…

My Myspace
My Stumbled Upon
My Del.icio.us
My Tumblr

So, where is it that you hang out? I hope to hear from Arin, Mike, and anyone else who is also into social networking. Then, tag/post this topic to your own blog so we can see the echo effect of where your friends hang out too.

Giveaway and Watch Your Forums !

Wendy Shepherd — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 13:52:40 +0000

Giveaway:

The giveaway up on the main page for the book, The Online Millionaire, will end soon. However, I am thinking of keeping it up and running each month so more people have a chance to win this book. So, keep your hat on and watch your mailbox each month.
Watch Your Forums:

Webmasters and SEO experts always try and watch a website’s Page Rank. Anytime it goes down, it causes a lot of stress as to how to get it back up again. Every single link that leaves a website must be monitored constantly. Links that leave a website take away points for Page Rank.

The one place many people may not be watching carefully are the forums. Watching my own forums, I have noticed types of spam that need to be monitored. Depending on the type of forum you have, this spam can hurt your Page Rank.

One type of spam : Members who sign up, fill in their profile, with a link to their own website and never post anything. They merely wanted a free link.

Another type of spam : Members who sign up and post a question right away. They will then visit a day or two later and post an answer to the question under a different username. The first post with the question or the second post with the answer will generally have a website url in it.

I take the username and/or the website url of the user that was posted in their profile or the forum area and research the search engines. If I find other forums, where the user has signed up, I check to see what type of posts they tend to make.

Forum Example:

I hid the url, but would be happy to share it if you email me.

I took the name out of the url and searched for it combined with the word forum.

For example: If the url is http://www.wendyshepherd.com I would take “wendyshepherd” (with no spaces) and search for the words wendyshepherd forum and look through the results.

Usually within the first 10-20 you will find other forums with the same url being used with two different users who registered a day or two apart and posted a question and answer where the url is mentioned.

These are link ‘leaks’ that I am sure many websites are not aware of. When you are watching your Page Rank and how you rank within the search engines, you want to be sure you plug any ‘leaks’. Remove them quickly.

One more thing, make sure that you do NOT allow “guest posting”. I hadn’t been monitoring one of my forums and went in to find the forum was out of control with spam. I mean, I had to delete everything and turn the forum off with a ‘maintenance’ sign to get the spam spiders to leave it alone.

Now I require every member who registers to be moderated. I check the usernames and urls in the search engines and watch the forums for spam. If you can’t do this yourself due to time constraints, I would recommend hiring someone to check the forums weekly or monthly.

Link Sizzler

Wendy Shepherd — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 04:07:30 +0000

What have I been up to recently? I found Link Sizzler. For a week and a half I disappeared and found myself indulged in installing and creating logos for about 50 new websites based on the Link Sizzler software which was made available by Joel Comm. My first couple of niche websites are 500 Gifts and 1000 Baby Gifts . When I reached 50 websites I realized I needed a “home base” website for easy reference for all of them, so I built Sizzler Sites.

I have known Joel online for a while and we have lots of things in common, especially making money online and being super busy. He homeschools too. The first site Joel created with his software had 500 words and Joel sold all of the words in a short amount of time and shot up high in Alexa to #3. Since the site launched, over 33,000 people have visited! That’s an incredible launch. The advertisers on the website have been very happy with the traffic they have received and it is said this is a better way to advertise than Google Adwords. However, it’s a good idea to consider keeping many forms of advertising.

This new software toy gave me ideas and made my head buzz so much that I was hardly able to sleep! Ask Mike, he’ll tell you. What I see in this software is a great way for me to help promote the many, many people who come in contact with me looking for ways to get traffic to their websites for their products and services. Sometimes they can’t afford to purchase a newsletter spot or keep up with a monthly paid spot on my websites. They can now purchase a spot on one or more of my 50 Sizzler Sites for less cost. For a one time fee, spanning two years, their link will appear on the niche site getting continual traffic. The keywords or name links move randomly around the page giving more equal exposure than on link exchange pages.

I may plan content around several of these niche sites, including blogs to allow the members/contributors to inform visitors of updates for coupons, specials, new products, cool events, etc. The traffic is already there, so why not?!?

Link Sizzler was incredibly easy for me to install. In a couple of days it paid for itself and earned a nice profit, which was well earned for my time setting up the websites. The ideas for using Link Sizzler are unlimited. We are only as good as the tools we use. The cost was worth it since I was able to take advantage of a new viral tool faster than if it were available at a cheaper rate which would have allowed more competition in setting up these sites. Not to mention, I purchased from someone that I know, like, and trust.

I look forward to promoting those of you who advertise by buying a word on my Sizzler Sites!

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Comments: 1.

Gee Wendy, you must have blazed up the internet with all those new sites!

Comment by Barbara (Xerraire) — 7/20/2006 @ 7:08 pm
2.

This is a wonderfull job wendy,i admire your hard work i have gone through the websites they are wonderfull the idea is also wonderfull though it havent sink in my head how to get started and get the full benefits.or maybe its my location am in i need a teacher maybe to teach me more

Comment by swaleh — 7/31/2006 @ 6:06 am

The Apprentice

Wendy Shepherd — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 03:58:34 +0000

I have been watching ” The Apprentice ” again this season and have watched each season, except for the very first two. Monday (tomorrow night) , June 5th is Donald Trump ’s “THE APPRENTICE” SEASON FINALE and it will be the most star-studded Apprentice ever with Jason Priestly, Jamie Pressly, Michael J. Fox, Denis Leary, the Barenaked Ladies and many, many more! It will be rebroadcast on Wednesday. I am really excited to see this show since the last show left us hanging. There are two guys left, Lee and Sean. A sad thing happened with Andrea, a past Apprentice participant. She was selected as one of three to help Sean in the final task, but she had to leave and go to a doctor because she was coughing up blood in the last episode. I am anxious to see what was wrong with her. I hope she is alright.The Apprentice shares a lot of “lessons learned” in business. After watching the third season, which was my first time seeing the show, I gained an interest in Trump’s books. So, I purchased the book, ” How to get Rich “, which is now online. I read through it quickly and enjoyed it. Trump included business advice, including how to : invest wisely, impress the boss and get a raise, manage a business efficiently, negotiate anything, and much more.

I also read ” Think Like a Billionaire .” Trump gives more business advice about success, real estate, and life. There is a section of the book where he gives a day by day blow of what he does for a week. He tells the time of day and what tasks he did during that time. As I was reading this part, I realized how it was similar to an online journal or blog.

Now Trump has started a new website, called TRUMP UNIVERSITY . What better way to learn than by interacting online, eh? Trump University is a dynamic business education company that delivers the knowledge and experience of Donald Trump and his hand picked team of experts in a world-class curriculum. Topics include: real estate, entrepreneurship (that’s me), management, wealth creation, and career. Trump even has a blog! I have signed up for updates myself, and I do plan to hang out at the site to learn what I can.

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Comments: 1.

Wendy,
Thanks for telling us about Trump’s blog and e-mail blast. Hopefully, I can learn some useful things.

Ken

Comment by Ken — 6/6/2006 @ 1:14 am

Spyware , Adware , Scumware

Wendy Shepherd — Sun, 07 May 2006 10:23:04 +0000

This is an IMPORTANT COMPUTER TIP …

I have an important message to share with you. I felt strongly about it before, but now that it has happened to me, I feel even more strongly about it.

First, let me ask you the following questions:

1) When you go to http://www.google.com, do you see a popup ad while still in the search results at any time? You shouldn’t, because Google doesn’t support pops at all.

2) Do you get popups on a website with a competing company advertisement? If so, Why would that company advertise their competitors? Think about it.

3) Do you have a web search toolbar in your browser that you didn’t insall?

4) Do you have a web search toolbar in the top of your emails that you didn’t install?

5) Do you see icons on your taskbar or desktop that shows software you didn’t install?

I did. I also knew what was causing it due to working on the internet as much as I do. If you have ever heard of Spyware, Adware, or Scumware, you will know what I am talking about. These programs can record your every move – secretly gathering information about you including which websites you visit, which ads you click on, your name, age, social security number, credit card number, passwords, email addresses, buying habits and more.

These bad program are not picked up by anti-virus programs at all. So, since I found that I had it, and I was getting quite annoyed by the extra popups, and couldn’t guess what other information of mine was being stolen. So, I had to ask a friend of mine what the programs there were to help get rid of it.

I downloaded spyware software, try AdAware, and did a scan. This scan resulted in a few small things to have removed. But, it didn’t find the cause of my problem. I was still getting popups at websites I knew didn’t carry the popups. Turns out that I had 2 new spyware bugs. I decided to research the search engine to see what spyware programs others trusted.

If you really want to protect yourself, I highly recommend doing something about keeping your computer free of spyware/adware. The price is affordable, especially for this type of protection.

I even asked how I had picked this Spyware up. I was told ” It’s a Driveby. Which basically means you went to a site or a pop-up was displayed, an ActiveX component was installed; which in turned installed the Spyware. This is the 2nd most common way of getting it. The other way is by installing free games, etc. You may want to adjust your IE Security settings to a higher level. You will get message boxes when you go to sites but it should help prevent these from installing.”

I hope you found this information useful. If you feel that you have found it useful, please send this message to family and friends to help protect them. I am amazed at what comes out sometimes that tries to sabatoge our computers on the internet. Always read and be aware of what is out there. Search google for the latest computer threats. Educate yourself.

-Article Copyright © Wendy Shepherd - http://www.wendyshepherd.com
**May be reprinted with permission, credit, and link

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Comments: 1.

Wendy

What I do and recommend to all my friends and family (especially those I have had to visit and clean up their pc’s from this crap), is disable active X. This can be the best deterrant. What I do is go to (in IE) Tools >> Internet Options >>> Security >>>> Custom Level Button, and from there either disable or ask for Prompt. This way, by prompting, you can allow active X on sites you KNOW are safe, and click NO when the prompt comes for sites you are unsure about. This truly is one of your best defenses.

Another is to just forgo IE altogether. I get so weary of doing friends a favor and cleaning up their spyware because they are being repeatedly careless. I have installed FIREFOX for each of them.

Comment by Barbara (Xerraire) — 5/7/2006 @ 10:36 am
2.

Wendy
Good morning , I have been using ad-ware Se for a long time and it is great to have. I also use search and destroy another good one
I have Norton anti virus here, but sometimes Norton does not pick up everything
So I use both of the other also
Thanks for your blog
have a great day

Comment by Diane — 5/8/2006 @ 7:52 am
3.

Thanks for the heads up Wendy. This same thing happened to me a couple of months ago. It was awful. My pc had spyware that neither my antivirus nor my adaware picked up on and unfortunately, the spybot program I was already running missed it too. Programs began installing themselves left and right, faster than I could uninstall them. I brought my computer into my trusted tech, but nothing could be done. I had to get my pc wiped clean. I’ve since purchased a program called SpySweeper (webroot.com) which will help to make sure this doesn’t happen to my pc again.

Comment by Karlyn — 5/8/2006 @ 9:34 am
4.

One of the best ways I’ve found to protect yourself from things like this is to use Firefox instead of IE. Firefox automatically blocks 99% of popups (a few do occasionally get through, but I’m online for a good 8 hours a day and I get maybe one or two popups a week), as well as plugging the security holes that are wide open in IE.

It’s a free download from Mozilla, and while it’s highly customizable, customization isn’t necessary. You can truly download it, install it, and run it immediately.

I also use their version of Outlook, called Thunderbird. It’s also available free from Mozilla.

Comment by Jitka — 5/8/2006 @ 11:31 am
5.

Mozilla Firefox eliminates ALL of the popups I used to get with IE. It’s great and will help avoid so many viruses!!! Plus, it will import all of your setting and Favorites from Internet Explorer, if you’d like.
I HIGHLY recommend it!
www.firefox.com
www.mozilla.com/firefox

Comment by Ann — 5/8/2006 @ 9:28 pm
6.

Wendy,
I just installed www.mozilla.com/firefox as you know me I trust you and will trust anything you recomend.

Comment by SueWarmhold — 5/9/2006 @ 7:58 pm
7.

i cant ever get rid of popups

Comment by june snith — 5/12/2006 @ 2:42 pm
8.

I took switched over from IE to Firefox about 2 years ago. I was very happy with it till they came out with the latest version. When I uploaded to the latest version, I lost ALL background colors. I was so upset, I went thru my programs and reinstalled the earlier version. My colors came back and I went merrily on my way for several months. But recently, my flashplayer wouldn’t work anymore (despite upgrading to the latest of it), plus I was losing more & more audio everyday. Thinking it must be something wrong with my computer, I thought it must be time for a new one, not that I can afford it. Then, 3 nights ago, my computer crashed and wouldn’t let me online till i filled out some kind of profile for the latest Firefox version. In essence, my computer was being held hostage till I installed the new version. Which made me real mad. I installed it, got online, and sure enough, again NO COLORS! I was heartsick. So while online, i searched for a different browser to try and see if it was Firefox or my computer at fault. I decided on OPERA. I installed it and instantly got all color back AND all audio and applets and flashplayer stuff. I am ecstatic over it! It just saved me hundreds of $ I can’t afford, and opened up a big wide world I had been shut out of for way too long. I have nothing but praise for OPERA and now disgust for Firefox!

Comment by Peachbelle — 7/13/2006 @ 5:02 pm

Advertisers and Publishers Beware

Wendy Shepherd — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 11:39:53 +0000

Advertisers and publishers of websites need to beware of the companies they work with. When an offer comes your way to join an advertising company, make sure to research the company thoroughly. A fast, easy way to get feedback about the company or people involved is to search Google for their company name. I have been approached many, many times by companies that offer lead generation, or co-registration, etc. They want to have access to my visitors by having me sign up and put offers on my websites. I try to be very careful about what I place up. So, I research, and sometimes the results are not so pretty. Some of these companies are behind the spam that arrives in our email boxes.

Things to consider: Does the company or do their advertisers…

1) have a privacy policy that allows a visitors data to be sold? or used for spam?
2) fulfill their promotions to your visitors?
3) have only one registration page? or does the process go through a gamut of several pages for several offers?
4) make themselves easily accessible?
5) have testimonials? (make sure to check for any possible negative reviews through Google or another search engine)

Advertisers and publishers need to make sure that their name does not get ruined by bad practices of these companies. There are plenty of good companies that can help advertisers connect with consumers through a publisher’s website. Just research before you sign up with them.

Web Hosting

Wendy Shepherd — Sun, 12 Feb 2006 03:53:38 +0000

I have not been posting, emailing or keeping in touch as I usually do. This is due to a big change I had to go through with my web hosting. I have about 20 of my own websites, and about 20 or so client websites. Most of these websites have been happily housed on a reliable web host, which I liked, and had good customer service for several years.

Sounds rosy, doesn’t it? Well, good things obviously aren’t meant to last in every case. You should read this so that you can see the signs, problems and find a solution as I did…

I started having trouble with getting in touch with the hosting provider in late November, early December. I had to cancel a credit card since it was found to have fraudulent orders on it. So, I tried to update my billing information at this host. I also had to get a client’s credit card billing information updated for the same reason. I didn’t want our hosting accounts to expire and shut down our websites. There is no way for a customer to update this billing info themselves, so contacting the host directly is the only way.

January came around, and still no response, until… I received a message from the host that the emails I had sent were never received. I was told to send them again, which I did. I know of two websites that this host runs, and also sent the messages through those online forms. Extra measures were taken to also submit trouble tickets and try to call via phone. All bases covered, right? Something had to go through. No more responses again. *sigh

The emails I sent weren’t addressing just the billing information needing to be updated. I was trying to get some hosting accounts upgraded, bandwidth upgraded, etc. These are important issues, and customer service is the BIGGEST concern of all.

I am a patient person. I know I was trying to get these things resolved around the holidays. I figured this host perhaps went on vacation. I thought perhaps they got behind with the New Year tasks. Every scenario went through my mind. I am sure this host wanted my money. Or did it?…

By mid January, all of those scenarios went out of the window! There is no reason good enough to make a customer wait three months to get service.

I had started doing REAL research on hosting companies. In the beginning of January, I spent weeks reading message boards, rating sites, review sites, blogs, etc. Good reviews and bad reviews revealed why people loved or hated the host. I seriously looked to see who was behind each company. If I couldn’t find contact information, what their address was, where their hosting services were run through, etc. I wouldn’t even think about using their services. I wanted to make sure there were many avenues to try and contact the host.

Thank goodness I found Host Gator , who I thought would be good to host a few websites on. It had all of the right things I was looking for in a web host. I thought of hosting a few websites over there and spread my other websites over several web hosts. I was trying to stick with the idea of not having all of your eggs in one basket. However, I did dread the idea of having to move all of my websites over to any host manually, file by file. No matter, it had to be done.

Mid January, I started to set up a couple of accounts through Host Gator. Things were going nicely. I decided to move one of my client’s websites as well. Since he is not savvy with websites, I placed my own email address and phone number in the sign up form. The phone rang… “This is Host Gator. I am calling to verify this account…” They were calling to make sure the account wasn’t fraudulent since the name, credit card, phone number and email didn’t seem right. I was shocked, glad, and excited all at the same time. What company does that?!? It is a rare quality!

All was worked out and kosher. While talking to Host Gator, I asked some questions, told my scenario a wee bit, and got information that saved myself from a ton of unnecessary work moving all of those websites. Some of you reading this may already know this, but in case you don’t know… If the old host has a cpanel, it can easily be backed up along with the databases, script settings, email accounts, etc. all in tact. Backed up, zipped up, and uploaded to the new host’s cpanel as if nothing ever happened. The only thing that you have to do is ask Host Gator to move it for you, which they will do for free, and then change your DNS. I use ItsYourDomain for my domain names, so I just go in there and change the DNS myself. It can take up to 24-48 hours for this to go through, many times in a few hours.

As I am working this all out with Host Gator, I haven’t said ANYTHING to my old host about moving my websites. I suddenly find that my site, Dreamish.com, had it’s account closed. WHAT?!? Well… that had to do with not being able to update my billing info, now didn’t it! I lost my membership system that I paid to have installed on Dreamish.com and it isn’t retrievable. Ok… so now I am in a panic. I HAVE to move these websites off of the old host. I HAVE to let my clients know what is going on and have them moved from the old host.

An amazing little problem sort of bubbled up from talking with my clients. As I explained the details to my clients, I found that I wasn’t the only one who had to update my billing information. Quite a few of them had to as well. A few others said that they have never even been billed for their hosting accounts. Now I just find this outright strange. You see it coming, don’t you?… Many of us had to change our credit cards because of fraudulent charges on them. The only thing that we ALL had in common WAS this web host. Hmmmm… Now I am not pointing the blame directly at this host, as it could be the payment processor that is bad, or got hacked. It could have been the host’s billing area that got hacked, or the whole web host is hacked and that is why they haven’t gotten my messages. It could be people working for the host that were doing wrong. Again, every scenario went through my mind. No matter, they aren’t accepting anymore orders.

Due to the circumstance, I decided to move ALL of the websites to Host Gator right away. I didn’t like the other choices I had researched for other web hosts as much. I didn’t have time to research anymore. Plus, I felt that I was totally happy with Host Gator ’s customer support via online chat, phone, and email. I know where the company is located. I know where they host their servers from. I talk to people who comprehend what I am saying and who I find easy to understand when getting support. The billing area is easily accessible, where all of my hosting accounts are in one location. Another good thing, I can update my billing information easily.

After all of these years of working on the internet, it is rare to find good companies to work with. I have gathered a few that I use regularly due to their customer support, high values, ease of use, and affordability in comparison to their competitors. If by sharing these resources, I can help someone, I am happy to have saved someone the time and headache of researching for themselves. Cheaper isn’t always better! I have been there, used some of their competitors before I found them in many cases, and really love the following companies…

- Host Gator – my newfound favorite. Never have I found a web host like this as you read above. I have had a lot of more interaction with them via support than I listed above, and have not been disappointed at all.

- Its Your Domain – sticking with not putting all of your eggs in one basket… I never purchase my domain name from my hosting company. Can you imagine what would have happened if I couldn’t get through to that old host if they were hosting my domain names? I would be held in limbo. I probably would have lost my websites. It has happened people. So, go directly to the registrars. I have used ItsYourDomain for many happy years now.

- aWeber – my favorite newsletter hosting company. You should not host your own newsletter on your own website. I used to do so. It was messy, time-consuming, and a server load. aWeber makes sure they keep up with the latest that filters are requiring of them to make sure your newsletters get through. Undeliverables automatically get unsubscribed so that you don’t pay for subscribers that bounce. They have a flat fee for 10,000 subscriber increments. aWeber also provides auto responders for your use. Plus more that I suggest you check out for yourself.

- Template Monster – there are times that a web designer will benefit from letting a client select a template that they can already see and have tweaked to their needs. It can be very cost effective if money is an issue for a client or for your self. Template Monster has very professional templates to offer. Sometimes just taking a template and changing the images in it will make the website look unique enough.

- My Affiliate Program – I have been an Affiliate for many years. I was also an Affiliate Manager for a company who ran their website through a third party company. It was not an easy backend to use. I go to work for another company who used MyAffiliateProgram and was amazed at how user friendly the backend is. The tracking is really nice, uploading banners and such are easy enough to learn. This one is usually used by bigger merchants. Smaller merchants are offered a lower end version named Affiliate Clicks. I have used both and have been pleased.

- Revenue Magazine - This is the magazine that did an interview on me two years ago and a follow up interview for this year. The people who work here are genuinely friendly. I have had a subscription from the beginning. It is really useful to help keep up on the latest trends, issues, news, companies and so forth in the internet.

I will post these and any other companies that I love in the right hand column of WendyShepherd.com under the title of “My Favorite Services” for you to find anytime you need them. I placed them there for easy access. Only the best will be listed there after they are well checked out and I have used their services.

-Article Copyright © Wendy Shepherd - http://www.wendyshepherd.com
**May be reprinted with permission, credit, and link
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Comments: 1.

Wendy,

Sounds like you’ve been very busy, but not quite as busy as you could have been… I’m glad you were able to fully research your options and found a time-saving, life-saving (sounds like, anyway) web host for your sites. So, did you manage to get Dreamish transferred over, too? You sort of left us hanging on that one. Hope all is well and it’s not too cold up there!

Love,
Lee

Comment by Lee — 2/13/2006 @ 8:36 am
2.

Hey bro! Yes, I managed to get dreamish.com transferred over. I had the pages on my computer. However, I did lose the membership system that was installed. I do have a copy of the original files for it, but not the members. I just have to figure out how to install the thing, or pay to have it installed again. *sigh

It is VERY cold here. Do you want some snow sent down there to you? Love, ~Wendy

Comment by Wendy Shepherd — 2/13/2006 @ 10:18 am
3.

Seniorita~

You are a very smart persons. I no understand anything you say above! LOL!

Adios,

Juan

(*James, there you are being funny again. ~Wendy)

Comment by Jose Martinez — 3/18/2006 @ 1:59 am