Here are some companies whose products and services I highly recommend.
Internet Design, SEO & Inbound Marketing
Blue Host: This is the web host I use. Great price, fantastic customer service.
Headway Themes: This is the software I use to design WordPress websites and blogs with. If you want to create your own website and blog designs, start here!
MailChimp: This is a great way to publish your email newsletter. It is easy to use, offers numerous how to videos, and is free as long as you have fewer than 2,000 subscribers.
Noble Samurai is the product to buy when you’re serious about keyword research.
HubSpot: This company offers comprehensive marketing software that grows “traffic, leads and sales.” A major element of HubSpot’s approach to marketing is to provide an abundance of really high quality information, tools and training for free. I have learned a tremendous amount about inbound marketing from these folks, and I recommend their materials highly.
Jing enables you to take pictures of whatever is on your computer monitor.
Audioboo provides a way to record and upload audio to your website or blog.
Join Me is a free program that enables you to share your computer screen with others. This is the software I use to train my clients how to use their WordPress website.
Screencast-O-Matic enables you to create simple videos. (I used this in combination with Jing to create my video on SEO.)
Writing & Publishing
Jennifer Omner/All Publications: Talk to Jennifer when you need a design for your self-published book.
Clive Pyne Book Indexing Services: If you have written a nonfiction book, and you need an experienced indexer, talk to Clive.
Portland Writing Resources: Portland, Oregon, offers numerous resources for writers of all genres and experience levels. Here is a compendium of the writing organizations, book publishers, writing classes and independent bookstores that make Portland such a great place to be a writer!
Portland Song Circles: Portland also provides some wonderful opportunities to make music together–not just as professional performers, but as a community. If you like to sing or play an instrument with others–no matter what your skill level is–here are some great places to go.
Deborah Dewit is the Oregon artist whose beautiful painting graces this website. She has created a whole series of paintings around books that I just love.
Inspiration is a great mind mapping tool that you can use to generate ideas with. Once you’ve used the creative part of your brain to generate ideas, you simply toggle a switch and your pictures turn into a written outline.
Freelance Writers Den is a new community for writers of all backgrounds and genres. It offers numerous trainings, how to’s and support.
