| I get many requests about the systems I use | | | | |
| in running my own eBay and internet business. | | | | Website design |
| | | | |
| To give you the answer in one place, here is | | | | I use Macromedia's Dreamweaver to design |
| the software which I use daily in my own | | | | websites, and indeed to create eBay auction |
| business. | | | | description pages. Dreamweaver is a premium |
| | | | web design product, and unless you're going |
| I should point out that much of my own | | | | to do serious website design I wouldn't |
| activity is now to do with selling digital | | | | advise you to acquire it. |
| information via eBay and from websites i.e. | | | | |
| ebooks and software, which is why some of the | | | | It comes in boxed form, and Macromedia will |
| software programs I use are concerned with | | | | channel any UK purchasers to a UK based |
| this activity. | | | | reseller. The cheapest way in the UK is to |
| | | | get it from Amazon. |
| General productivity | | | | |
| | | | Image Manipulation & Optimising |
| Shortkeys | | | | |
| | | | I use Paint Shop Pro for picture manipulation |
| This is lovely utility which saves me hours | | | | and for optimising. This is important for |
| of time each week. It is perfect for those | | | | auction pictures, as eBay have a size limit |
| occasions when you are required to key in | | | | of 50KB on any pictures which you want to |
| information to websites. For example, how | | | | upload to their Picture Service. |
| often do you key in your name and address, or | | | | |
| a username and password, or an email address? | | | | The authors, JASC, have just released Version |
| | | | 9 of this software. I find Version 8 is |
| With Shortkeys, you associate 3 or 4 unique | | | | perfectly acceptable for everything I want to |
| keystrokes with a string of frequently used | | | | do, and it's cheaper than Version 9. |
| information. Let's suppose I want to have a | | | | |
| shortkey for my email address, and I set this | | | | You can't now buy Version 8 from the author's |
| as ##z1 in Shortkeys. Whenever I am required | | | | USA site, which is unfortunate as this was |
| to key in my email address, in Outlook, on | | | | the cheapest way of buying the product before |
| web forms, in Word documents etc, I just type | | | | Version 9 came out. |
| in ##z1 and Shortkeys instantly replaces that | | | | |
| with my email address. | | | | The good news is that Version 8 is currently |
| | | | half price at the author's UK site, as you |
| There is an uncharged version called | | | | can see here: |
| Shortkeys Lite which has a limit of 30 items. | | | | |
| The full version of Shortkeys allows you an | | | | It's available for trial at the UK site, and |
| unlimited number of items. | | | | I recommend you test it to see if you can |
| | | | work with it. |
| You can get it here: | | | | |
| | | | Website upload |
| Download Accelerator | | | | |
| | | | Cute FTP is probably the best known FTP |
| If you regularly download ebooks or software, | | | | software. I have used it for several years |
| and it seems to take forever, you will find | | | | and have been very satisfied with the |
| Download Accelerator is a useful addition to | | | | software. |
| your portfolio. Download Accelerator | | | | |
| increases download speeds by up to 300%, | | | | Website hosting |
| regardless of the speed of your internet | | | | |
| connection. I don't know how it does it, but | | | | ProWebSpace are excellent and reasonable web |
| I guess 89 million users can't be wrong! | | | | hosts which I have now been using for over a |
| | | | year. I transferred to them from another host |
| You can get Download Accelerator on 14 day | | | | with whom I was having lots of problems. Now, |
| test here: | | | | I have a better service, and it's at one |
| | | | third the price! Of course, you can get web |
| Ebook Production | | | | space for nothing from a variety of ISPs. |
| | | | Take a look at |
| Acrobat Adobe | | | | |
| | | | You only need companies like ProWebSpace if |
| I create all my ebooks in pdf format as this | | | | you intend to "go commercial" in your |
| file can be read by anyone with Acrobat | | | | internet activities. If you do, it's |
| Reader, and this includes Mac users too. The | | | | important to have a paid service as this |
| way I create an ebook is to write it in | | | | gives you the right to kick b**t if ever you |
| Microsoft Word first. Once I'm happy that the | | | | experience hosting problems. If you would |
| Word version is exactly how I want it, I use | | | | like to know the hosting company who I moved |
| an integrated converter which takes the Word | | | | from, email me. If you think you need |
| file and converts it automatically into a pdf | | | | professional hosting, this is definitely |
| file. This conversion preserves everything | | | | where I would start. |
| which appeared in the Word document, | | | | |
| including headers/footers, page numbers and | | | | Newsletter and other Mailings |
| web links. | | | | |
| | | | As my newsletter has grown, I've tried |
| You can read all about Adobe Acrobat here: | | | | various ways of managing my mailing lists. I |
| | | | currently use Press-Manager, and have found |
| If you are considering developing your own | | | | their service to be very easy to set-up and |
| ebooks using Acrobat, the most cost effective | | | | to use. It's a web based service, and all |
| way of purchasing it is to buy online from | | | | mailings are performed from their site. This |
| Adobe's US site, and select the download | | | | means there's no software to be installed, I |
| option. To buy the download version this is | | | | can manage my mailings from any PC and my ISP |
| the place to start: | | | | no longer bears the mailing load. |
| | | | |
| At 167 Mb, Acrobat is quite a large software | | | | Autoresponding |
| product. If you would therefore prefer to buy | | | | |
| the boxed CD version, the cheapest way in the | | | | You may know that the use of autoresponders |
| UK is to get it from Amazon. Covers | | | | is one of the keys to marketing on the |
| | | | internet. I use Promasoft, and have found it |
| It is a fact that showing your ebook in 3D | | | | can easily handle everything I want. |
| form so it looks like a book really helps to | | | | |
| boost sales. Compact Draw is the software I | | | | I hope this glimpse into the systems and |
| use to create my ebook covers. You can try it | | | | services I use has been helpful. |
| for 30 days here: | | | | |
| | | | Good luck in your own internet business |
| Website creation and maintenance | | | | developments and in your eBay selling. |