How about a Small Biz Hot Deals Thread?

[Pronet]

Hey all,

How about having a sticky hot deals thread or better yet a separate section? I'm sure you're familiar with all the hot deals on the internet but rarely I find this for small biz related products and services that we could use in our daily operations. It takes a lot of time and effort to find the best deals in these areas and I'm sure we can help each other to minimize the overall cost of our business operations. The whole idea is for each other to quick locate a right place to buy the product and services w/o the long research you normally have to do.


Every business operation needs:
Where's the best place to do our printing (cards, brochures, ads, etc)
Best places to post yellow pages ads
Buy promotional products
Best place to do logo designs etc...
Cheapest place to submit for Search Engines
Cheapest place to host websites
Or just really "hot" deals we could use in our day to day operation.
Answering service
Etc...


This could be a great resource for all our us without searching thru all the various forums and threads. I know some of these have been discussed but it would be great if all these are on a single thread.

Of course, they have to be genuiune deals and not used for spams.

What do you think? Moderator?

[wholesalewhere]

I agree. It's another fatwallet forum site for small business owner. It can be good reference guide.

[rabithan]

<!-- EDIT: Please read the forum rules: No spam thanks -->

[harold]

Hot deals posting would swarm the forums and eventually reduce the site focus, visitors and frequency also.

I am a very old fatwallet member and these days never visit them. First I used to read "Hot Deals" section every day (every few hours in the begining).Then I stopped and was reading "Finance" section. My frequency of visit to fatwallet is now once a week and only the "Finance" section. Also my experience is, I used to buy every damn thing because it was a good deal. Now I do not visit and do not spend. When I need something, I just do a comparision shopping and search FW.

[wholesalewhere]

me too, harold. I didn't surf the finance section, but now i switch to slickdeals.net. When i need somthing, i just do a search on fw.

[Evan]

Being a web/graphic designer myself, I'm going to refrain from answering those several questions regarding web hosting and printing.

Best places to post yellow pages ads: I'd say try using online directories, most people reference websites like bigyellow.com because it is much easier to type in the information you know and get an answer than to go through a bunch of pages. Plus, I did this and have yet to be charged! You can make your company appear further up in the listings, however, by paying money per click. I don't find the yellowpages to be the most reliable form of advertising anyways.

Buy promotional products: I'd search eBay for custom pens, pencils, or other little things. I've bought stuff from eBay sellers who own their own small shop and have received great deals that I couldn't find from other businesses. Most are also more flexible than bigger companies because they don't have a thousand customers to deal with at once.

Answering service: This can be difficult to get because if you purchase something that is actually connected to your phone system it will cost you a ton of money, plus you may need to hire people to do the prompts. Your best bet may be to use a site like uReach.com or some other type of free 1-800 # service which gives you a voicemail box, fax number, etc. Some also have "virtual extensions" which will call a different number, and if not there go to their voicemail. I haven't used this, but it isn't the cheapest. I've seen it sold for around $20 a month.

[Pronet]

Evan, great info. I could see how this thread to go the way of spam heaven. I guess if we word it "right" we can give the readers some good ideas rather than direct link to the spam.

So, here goes my little input w/o doing the spam. While I was searching for business card printing, I found about.com is very useful site. Not only they have great business related articles, their advertisings next to these sites actually do offer some greating printing offers. I had my very high quality biz cards printed (both sides) for only $49.95 for 1000 pieces. I have yet able to find it this cheap anywhere else. The service was also excellent. I was able to do the whole design thru online. They also do postcards and brochure all very good prices. If look through about.com, you will many printers advertising w/ pretty decent pricing.

Since I'm FW'er myself, you know what my price range is.

The place is overnightprints.com. I'm not affliate w/ them whatsoever. I just thought they are "cheap" place to do our direct mailings.

As for answering services, I was looking for a real person answering the phone but not a high tech phone system. I think there was a place someone posted for $39.99/month. I have not gotten to that stage so have not really looked into it but I'm sure I will have to in near future.

Anyone used guru.com or similiar site to find answering services? I know they're out there.


Anyway, I think this can be very useful thread if it is done right. It took me a long time to find the printing deal I was talking about. This could shave a lot of time for ppl that truly interested in getting these services.

[harold]

I am not recommending nor advertizing this service. Just want to share my experience in using the accessline. (www.accessline.com , http://www.findmephone.com/).

They assign a telephone number local/toll free and when some one dials
you can provide a ring order and number of rings.

Let's say search order is Office,Mobile,Home,Voice Mail and 3 rings each.
It first dials your office number, after three rings it tries mobile number and home and finally Voice Mail. You can even see on the internet who is calling
and listen to voicemails from internet.

We can even change the search order. I am not using this service now as I have to pay for this.
Used this with my ex-employer and they paid the bills, so not sure what are the $$ involved.

[Netrepreneur]

I use a very flexible, extremely affordable toll free # service that I route to my cell or office, depending on my needs. They offer toll-free lines for just $2 a month (that's not a mis-print), and 6.9 cents a minutes (it's a toll free line, remember). The set up fee I think was $5. The best part (to me anyway) is that it is all totally done online. You can go to the site, pick a number, "buy" it (it's really on lease) and have it ringing to your phone in minutes. They have great campaign features...really too much to mention. I must add that this is truly a screaming deal, and I am not associated with them, so I make no money...but if anyone is looking for a toll free #, this IMHO is the best way to go.

By the way, I used to work at fullfillment / call center company, and I know how much they charge for toll free lines, and how much the phone companies charge to switch destination numbers - and the worse part, it took days to switch.

If you need a toll free number you owe it to yourself to check out kall8.com.

Okay, now my best kept secret is out!