Web Hosting
If you thinking about starting a blog or website, there are several services that allow you to get started completely for free. The most popular are generally blogger and wordpress. You can easily find several others as well. Depending on your needs and goals, these are excellent options for getting started.
Most people think of these platforms as just for blogging. However, with the number of awesome plugins and addons and different customization options, you can create almost any kind of website using these free options. If you are really tight on starting capital, this is not a bad way to start until you can earn enough to go to a paid hosting solution.
While there are a few limitations such as not having a custom domain name, these are awesome free premium web hosting services for starting out.
Money Management and Banking
Mint.com- simple budgeting and planning
Mint is one of my favorite 100% free premium services for money management. It’s completely free and secure for all your money management needs. I use this myself for managing my own household finances. I can set budgets, track expenses, set up alerts to myself, as well as get useful tips on ways that I might be able to save money. They could easily charge money for the service that they provide, but it’s completely free. How awesome is that!
ING DIRECT USA – High Yield Savings with the Orange Savings Account
This is another free premium service that I personally use. While I also have a regular brick and mortar checking and savings account for my daily banking, online savings accounts generally offer higher interest rates. I have a savings account through ing direct for myself as well as a Kids Savings Account for my son. I particularly like the kids savings account as it has a number of parental options that allow you to teach your kid to manage their own finances, but at the same time doesn’t just hand over full control to your child.
Paypal
If you are running an online business, I consider paypal an essential banking service. Paypal is an awesome premium online banking service that allows you to easily transfer and exchange money using only your email. It makes it easy to make and accept payments. Most affiliate programs also offer options to pay you through paypal and some even offer lower payment thresholds if you are being paid through paypal rather than requesting a physical check.
Business Management
Shoeboxed
If you are running an online business, you are going to generate paperwork. You’ll have receipts, mail, business contacts, etc… Shoebox helps you manage all of these items so you can go paperless. It’s complete business management in the cloud. You can generate end of year expense reports for tax season and keep up with all your companies finances. The offer a completely risk free trial. For managing business finances, this is a great premium cloud service.
Patriot Software Online Payroll
If your business is starting to grow and you need to manage a payroll, you may want to start looking into payroll software. Patriot software provides full functioning payroll management software as well as money management software for your business. The service itself starts at $10 a month for a single employee and is fully functional. They offer a 30 day free trial so you can give it a spin and see how you like it.
Telephone and Fax Services
Ooma
This is my personal home telephone and fax service. It’s a completely free service, however does require the purchase of the equipment up front. I purchased my Ooma telephone modem from Costco for $180 plus tax. It’s since more than paid for itself. The phone service includes free, unlimited calling anywhere in the US and Canada, call waiting, caller id, and voicemail. Beyond that I can send and receive faxes as well. This is an awesome free service that I would recommend to anyone, even though you do have to spend some money upfront for the equipment. You can find it on Amazon here: Ooma Telo Free Home Phone Service or at your local retail stores.
eVoice® 6 Month Free Trial
eVoice gives an awesome deal that’s particularly good if you are starting a new business and want to give customers a way to interact with you directly. They offer a low cost toll free number with a 6 month free trial. Its definitely worth checking out. The way they can offer such a service at such a low price is that they are a virtual telephone service. These days, you really can’t tell the difference between a virtual phone number and a traditional telephone line as it is. However, with the virtual number, you have the advantage of being able to route the call anywhere as well as make and take calls using mobile apps. Your customer will never know the difference.
Final Thoughts
These are just a few categories and choices for you. There are many more free premium services and options that you can use that will help you save and earn money. My recommendation is to save where you can as often as you can.
Yes, some of the tips are really great to Earn Money. I think Ooma is best free service for everyone.
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Wow Richard, those are some awesome free services that you've shared with us.
Like you, I prefer to recommend free services when I can for those who are really on a tight budget but some services I highly recommend they actually spend money on.
I've never heard of Ooma but I use Google Voice which of course is free. It does everything Ooma does but fax and that is a service I don't need. Most places will let me scan my documents and email them to them anyway so the fax isn't necessary any longer.
A lot of these services I've never heard of while a few I have but just don't really need I suppose. But great list and I'll be sure to share this one with my friends.
Thanks Richard!
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Thanks Adrienne,
I have a google voice number as well, but my wife didn't like it and wanted a separate line for the house. Ooma works perfectly for that even though we had to buy the box up front. I think many companies are starting to realize that they can give away things for free if they have a great service. If people like their service, they'd be happy to pay to continue on or even donate some money to keep the service in operation.
Hi Richard, the list you have is a good start. From the technical standpoint, I recommend using a free blogging service first before venturing into hosting your own blog with unique domain name. Also, creating lenses or hubs can be good for generating side money.
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Hi Richard, I agree, it is much wiser to look around for software we don’t need to pay for before we invest in something expensive that could be replaced with a free software, or at least a trial. My favorite free software is the employee monitor software I use with my virtual assistants. It sends me information about their activities during work-hours, and I honestly couldn’t imagine working online with people working for me from their homes without this helping hand. It is actually saving me money and not to mention time.
Hi Richard, I agree, it is much wiser to look around for software we don’t need to pay for before we invest in something expensive that could be replaced with a free software, or at least a trial. My favorite free software is the employee monitor software from http://www.monkeymonitor.com I use with my virtual assistants. It sends me information about their activities during work-hours, and I honestly couldn’t imagine working online with people working for me from their homes without this helping hand. It is actually saving me money and not to mention time.