Software Reviews

Top Online Business Software Reviews

Click below to find comprehensive product reviews, testimonials and my personal review of the ESSENTIAL website products needed to run your own website.

I’ve selected 8 essential categories and compared them to others in the market. I’ve reviewed 15 products, all are excellent products and services. I’ve made my final judgment on the basis of personal experience, feedback from other website owners and the general quality of the product on offer.

In addition to the essentials, there are a meteor shower of supporting materials such as books, cd’s, dvd’s, courses and seminars available designed for your particular business. If you wish to view my mini-reviews of supporting material please visit Online Money Tree Blog

Business Plans
Accounting & Budgeting
Keyword Research
Website Development
Logos
Website Hosting
Ezine Creation
Autoresponders
Payment Services

Business Plans: Business Plan Pro & Business Plan Premier

You can start up a business without a plan. Yet be aware that 70% of small businesses fail within the first year – a statistic you don’t want to be a part of. It’s better to plan for success in the beginning than aimlessly wander to failure.

Business Plan Pro	Business Plan Premier
Key Features:	Key Features:
More than 500 sample business plans Includes 9,000+ industry profiles Two business books included Import from QuickBooks	More than 500 sample business plans Includes 9,000+ industry profiles Two business books included Import from QuickBooks Import from Excel Collaboration tools Business valuation analysis Plan vs actual financial tools
Key Benefits:	Key Benefits:
The Pro version provides everything needed to start and grow your business, the premier version is better suited to a medium to large sized business that is interested in presenting to third parties and providing more variation and flexibility in reporting. The Pro version goes well beyond providiing mere business plans, it comes with a range of other supporting benefits that compliment your start up phase. Items such as logo design and a legal guide to starting up are worth more than $99.95 alone.	Business Plan Premier provides slightly more features in forecasting, funding, plan vs actual financial analysis and a few extras for collaborating with team members. Much more advanced and caters for the established business, can be upgraded to in the future if you choose.
Rating/Price: RRP $99.95	Rating/Price: RRP $199
Personal Recommendation:	Personal Recommendation:
Clearly I believe the Pro version is all that’s needed. I use it and find that I haven’t yet looked at all the features. There are so many. I’ve allocated one less star only because of the slightly better features on the premier. Yet in all reality you only need this version if your starting out.	If you already own a large business and you don’t have a plan, then you have done well without it. However, I think it would be time to get one for the sake of the future. Premier is ideal.
Click here to read more about Business Pro	Click here to visit Business Premier

Accounting & Budgeting: Quicken Home & Business Vs PeachTree

Money is the lifeblood of your business, knowing where you are financially at any single point gives you greater control and the power to make good decisions.

Quicken Home & Business	PeachTree
Key Features:	Key Features:
Easily track business expenses to help maximize tax deductions Simplify tax preparation Collect payments with customized invoices and estimates Create reports and graphs Tech support	Easy using the Setup Guide and 20 instructional demos Create invoices, writes cheques, and records customer payments Tracks customer invoices from billing to payment with easy-to-use screens 35+ customizable reports and financial statements Quick & Easy Startup
Key Benefits:	Key Benefits:
The ability to plan and manage your investment is profound with software such as Quicken and PeachTree. However, the ease of use is essential when it comes to accounting software. Quicken achieves this and allows you to budget and manage your personal, investments and business all in the one software.	Slightly cheaper in price and designed specifically for the business owner, it provides much more for those with their personal and investment budgets well under control. It’s balance is slightly off and isn’t as smooth or as easy to navigation through as the Quicken software. The key to this software is that it will get the job done and it will cost you a little less.
Rating/Price: RRP $89.99	Rating/Price: RRP $69.99
Personal Recommendation:	Personal Recommendation:
Quicken is my faviourite, however both achieve the same objective. Quicken is slightly easier to use and is easier on the eye, and it intergrates with a range of other software programs. Its also well regarded by bookkeepers so if you get one they will be able to sit down without having to fiddle around learning new things, well worth the $20 more.	Great software as well, provides budgeting and accounting software and includes all that’s needed to manage your internet business, with invoicing and reporting software without the more complex features reserved for large businesses.
Click here to visit Quicken	Click here to visit PeachTree

Keyword Research: Wordtracker & Keyword Analyzer

Understanding what your target market wants, what your competition is doing and how to attract more customers is easier on the internet with keyword tools by finding out exactly what people are looking for online provides much opportunity for you and your particular industry.

Wordtracker	Keyword Analyzer
Key Features:	Key Features:
Research & discover latest keyword searches Find unique keywords for your industry Will return all case forms eg. PeTs Exact terms Singular words eg. Pets as Pet Plural aswell eg Pet as Pets Check competition PPC campaigns 300 million searches database See the number of times a keyword is searched Mange keyword projects individually Keep up to seven different keyword lists at any time Assign a name to each project Select the project you want to work with currently Empty the keyword list Import keywords into the list Export keywords from the list	Comprehensive compeition analysis of top ranking Google websites Discover new keywords using keyword analyzer. Import keyword list from Wordtracker Easily delete unwanted keywords Exact terms Singular words Plural words Mispellings Search related keyword fields Scan competing PPC campaigns Excellent training and support Free software updates Ability to see what other countries are searching for Adsense artbitrage
Key Benefits:	Key Benefits:
WordTracker has the #1 database for search terms, they cost more to use, but the quality of the keywords and the ability to dig deeper into niche keywords. With over 300 million searches listed on the database this the best tool for keyword research.	Pay once! for the software, it is excellent for the home business owner as isn’t something you need to keep forking out to maintain, the compeition anaylsis tool is a handy addition. Overall, it provides quite a few extras that makes Wordtracker seem even more expensive.
Rating/Price:	Rating/Price:
1 day $8.26, 1 week $27.52, 1 Month $55.05, 1 year $275.24	RRP $97 USD
Personal Recommendation:	Personal Recommendation:
Wordtracker is the excellent for serious business owners, consultants and seo organizations, the cost of this service is a little steep compared to Keyword Analyzer, but you get more high quality keywords when you dig deep. I would recommend Wordtracker to someone who is already operating an internet business and wants to find more keywords for there list. Believe me, you will need it more then 1 day.	I highly recommend keyword analyser, it effectively does the same job as Wordtracker, it costs less and it has several other time saving features that puts it far ahead. In comparison, Wordtracker has the better keyword database, so you will find more niche keywords with them.
Click here to visitor Wordtracker	Click here to visit Keyword Analyzer

Website Development: SiteBuildIt! & XSitePro

You’re not in business without a website. These software packages give you all the tools you need to create your own professional website from your own home. It commonly costs thousands for someone else to do it and besides you still need to learn how to do it yourself so you can answer their questions. These programs allow you to do it quickly, cheaply and with great quality.

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Key Features:	Key Features:
Brainstorming & researching tools Web/html/graphic designer Host of your website Domain name annual renewal (automatic) Submit unlimited URL’s to Search engines Ranking Reports for search engines Unique keyword search reports for search engines Ranking reports for directories Unique keyword search reports Search engine optimization (SEO) SBI! Tips HQ and Resource HQ 4 Traffic HQ’s Pay-per-click research and mass bidding Click-in and click through analysis E-zine subscription and delivery Value exchange Form builder (contact us forms etc) Link Fix it! (No more bad links) Monetize it! – Optimizing your site for performance Site selling supply (assess competition) Private SBI! (Support forum) Action Guides and Video Guides	Change your website in minutes not days Add Google Adsense in two clicks Upload your website to the internet in one click Automatic site map updates, add Google Sitemap aswell Keyword and website reports Hide unattractive page urls by creating redirect pages Easy to create Links page for SEO Create SEO friendly navigation menus that update themselves Add an articles and privacy page in minutes Spell checker Keywords automatically entered into your pages No need to learn HTML code, just write cut and drop SEO page analysis, see if your doing it right instantly Add forms, affiliate links and buttons in two clicks A ’suggestion list’ for SEO Stores all your passwords and usernames Create hover ad’s and pop-ups easily Add attractive and shape effects
Key Benefits:	Key Benefits:
SBI! Makes it easy to design your own website and gives you access to all the advanced sections of website. The support is second to none and the all-in-one price gives you every thing you need to run a successful business from home or office.	With a little less emphasis on support, XSitePro is for the slightly more advanced internet entrepreneur. If you understand the basics of internet marketing, then this software provides more flexibility in it’s design compared to SBI! I personally started with SBI which taught me everything I know about running a successful website. Yet I moved to XSitePro because its more designer focused, something that I needed.
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Price: RRP $299	Price: RRP $199
Rating: (Highly Recommended)	Rating:

Logo: LogoYes & LogoMaid

Your logo represents your business in a memorible visiual form. It’s important that it captures your market’s attention and portrays you as professional, reliable and an expert in your field, even a little playful if possible.

LogoYes	LogoMaid
Key Features:	Key Features:
5 steps to create your logo 20,000 symbols to choose from Customize your logo Clean, uncomplicated logo design Resize without losing detail Works in black and white Professional looking Logo + biz cards Logo + Postcards Logo + brochures Logo, biz card, brochure package Best logo voting. Revise your logo if you change your mind	Over 3600 unique and non-unique logos Customizable Responsive support Delivered in a variety of file formats Ventor (resizable) and bitmap file options Download link open 48hrs Customizable text Customizable text & color Brand new logo design Non-unique means others can use that logo aswell Unique means you buy it you own it for keeps
Key Benefits:	Key Benefits:
LogYes has a warm, softer and more corporate feel to its designs, the ability to customize a set logo still allows you the create a unique look and feel. With my huge amount of time spent online I have never seen any of there logo’s on other peoples websites and I really take a close look at logos. The reality is I probably have seen some, but the ability to customize from this sexy program makes it very difficult to identify the final product. You can also send your logo to your friends, family or target market and have them vote on there favourite. If you choose one and change your mind later you can always go back and have it revised. Very flexible and easy to use. I used them for several websites now.	I purchased one logo from Logo Maid quite awhile ago and used it a property company. The logo was perfect for the because there designs are very sharp, shiney and cater to a younger and technology savvy generation. If you want your customers to view you as a sharp and fast moving business then Logo Maids designs are your best bet. Their are many different logo companies around by these two represent the largest and best. All over designs fit within the softer design of Logo Yes and sharp design of Logo Maid. While logo software exists, going out and getting a logo designer for $200-500 doesn’t make much sense. These designers are great, but not necessary when your first starting out.
Price: RRP $99 per logo	Price: Non-unique starting $19, Unique starting $99
Rating: (Personal favourite)	Rating:
Visit LogoYes	Take a Look at LogoMaid

Website Hosting: Lunarpages & Gate

Hosting puts your website online for the world to see, some hosting packages will include domain names with them like the companies below. Yet reliability is what you pay for, so be sure to select a company that has good customer support and good uptime.

Lunarpages	Gate
Key Features:	Key Features:
Free domain for life with 12 month subscription 250 gb storage 2500 gb per month bandwidth 30 day money back guarantee MySQL database 10 Add-on domains Award winning toll free telephone support Unlimited E-mail accounts Unlimited E-mail autoresponders Unlimited forwarding osCommerce shopping cart included Cube & Zen shopping cart included 3 Blogs, 6 Content management tools Website templates	5 gb storage 200 gb bandwidth 500 mailboxes 1 gb mailbox storage $1 domain registration first year $25 Google Adwords credit CreateIt! Online – create a 5 page website Unlimited E-mail autoresponders MySQL storage/database 24×7 toll free phone support Email support Virus and spam filter Community forum
Key Benefits:	Key Benefits:
This service provides more then enough space and transfer capacity then an average website would need. Most hosting companies would NEVER need this much. For example, one of my website has over 90 content and picture rich pages and my site only requires 4 MB of space. 1 gigabite is a 1000 MB so you do the math. Hosting is a rather simple serivce you pay someone to put your website up and keep it up. Lunarpages offer award winning support and more than enough space for your website, supporting both unix and windows. One a personal note be aware of companies that offer large storage and transfer capacity for a small price is certainly attractive but they are generally betting that you wont use all of it, because if you do they take your website down and if all there clients used that space or even half of them they would have to close down.	With over 75,000 customer all over the world Host is certainly one of the largest and best hosting companies you can find anywhere. They cost alittle more then Lunarpages and if you sign up annually thats only by $3.60! They certainly are my preference for Hosting, there storage and bandwidth are certainly more realistic and sustainable for the price and they offer great support if you need it. If you after website hosting as a stand alone product Host is the best place to use. However, if you want to go down the other path and have a package all includes hosting and website as well as everything thats needed to promote your website, I would scroll back to SiteBuildit! They include hosting in there website development package. Yet, for hosting by itself use Host
Price: RRP starting $7.95 per month for 12 months	Price: RRP starting $9.95 per month, $99 prepaid annually
Rating:	Rating: (Highly recommended)
Take a look at Lunarpages	Visit Gate

Ezine Articles: Article Announcer & Ezine Queen

I’m yet to find another like it. It gives confidence, credibility and clarity to your writing. Shows you how to attract high quality traffic from your articles to your website, where you convert them into sales. It will greatly improve your writing ability and submit you to over 90 article directories.

Article Announcer	Ezine Queen
Key Feature:	Key Feature:
4 Audio CD’s & Guide How to hire a ghostwriter Generating traffic via the search engines CD ROM Video Tutuorials Workbook & Guide Article creation & submission software & scripts Think Tank Forum Step-by-step guide to creating articles Article creation software Search engine tactics	275 page binder book with all Ali’s strategies and techniques Digital version of the binder How to build an email list guide Resource libary access, updated with advise, articles and guides Swipe file with templates, sample articles Audio program for email and article campaigns – Jason Potash 3 month trial of the mindset group – excellent support
Key Benefits:	Key Benefits:
Article Announcer is highly geared at automating the article creation and submission process. While the guides are simple to use and make submission easy. They don’t do everything for you. You still need to write the thing, but with that in mind the program provides excellent advise on hiring a ghostwriter, even though more could have been discussed on recruiting and training such a person. It still gives you an all-in-one package for article creation and submission. The best part is that articles don’t cost you anything. To get highly targetted taffic to your site its easy once you’ve purchased this package and if you intent to write yourself. I believe this is one of the best investments you can make for internet marketing, articles are by far the cheapest way of getting attention and sales in the long-run.	An ezine is another word for electronic magazine, it represents everything that is communicated electronically, email, articles, broadcasting. What I love about the Ezine Queen is her wonderful personality. Its infectious and comes through in her writing. You can’t help be inspired and thats exactly whats needed when creating articles and email campaigns. Ali Brown was an advertising copy writer before she become the ezine Queen and her guide ‘Boost Biz with your own Ezine’ is a comprehensive and entertaining way to create email marketing campaigns and articles for submission. While the Ezine Queen focuses on all thing e-communications, she doesn’t focus on articles alone, but what you find is that she will improve your ability to create anything in e-communications in particular building your subscriber list and article creation.
Price: RRP $379	Price:RRP $497
Rating: (Cheaper and more specific)	Rating:
Click here to visit Article Announcer	Visit the Ezine Queen

Autoresponders: Aweber & Get Response

Everytime someone makes a request, sends an email, buys a product and so on, this tool generates an instant message from you. Autoresponders take all the manual labour out of managing your ezines and email marketing. It automates the process and allows you to monitor and track the results. Very useful when you have 100 plus customers on your email list.

Aweber	Get Response
Key Features:	Key Features:
Unlimited autoresponders. Unlimited personalized follow up messages. Unlimited message length, unlimited changes, integrated HTML creator and/or plain text message capability. Unlimited campaigns. Templates pre-designed HTML to allow larger fonts, bold, colors, and images. Fully customizable. Unlimited personalized broadcast newsletters and segmented broadcast capability. Easy web form generator allows easy addition of opt-in forms to your website, pop-ups, pop-overs, hover pops, and exit pops along with split testing of different forms. Name, date, geographical, 25 custom fields, and more personalization features. Graphical account statistics and reporting. Automatic undeliverable email handling. Automated ad tracking features. Complete 24/7 control over account, via an online control panel. Integrated CAN-SPAM compliance checks FREE unlimited customer support.	Unlimited email marketing campaign Unlimited follow-up autoresponders Unlimited message length Different lanuages to choose Personalize your own custom pages Use personal branded domain names Can-spam protection Multiple list from thousands of names List segmentation and targeting Tracking and sales monitoring Reports delivered to your inbox Include Audio and Video delivery Password protected online control panel Bounce-back management Free 7-days a week email/phone and live chat support
Key Benefits:	Key Benefits:
I’ve used Aweber for awhile and found there service excellent, I used them initially because they have been around quite awhile and are considered the best in the industry by many internet marketers. I now use 1shoppingcarts services because it worked out easier to have an all-in-one package, but I would definitely go back to Aweber if anything unsavoury should happen to 1shoppingcart in the near future.	Get response, I haven’t had the opportunity to try them myself, however my business partner has been using them for quite a few months now. He hasn’t had an problems and we did a quick comparison and their was very little difference between both of them.
Rating/Price: $19.95 per month paid monthly, $53.85 quarterly, $101.70 half year, $170.40 yearly	Rating/Price: $17.95 per month
Click here to visit Aweber	Visit Get Response

Payment Services: Paypal & 1ShoppingCart

If you selling anything online, I recommend having both services, you want to give customers as many options as possible when it comes to paying you. Paypal is a third party payment service, where as 1shoppingcart is an ecommerce management and merchant integration facility, however, I’ve put them together because they ultimately do the same thing – allow you to receive payments online. If you have the capacity I also recommend looking at Paypals Virtual Merchant, which allows customers to pay by phone, fax and mail order in addition to online payments.

Paypal	1ShoppingCart
Key Features:	Key Features:
No monthly fees No set up fees No cancellation fees Free for buyers Simplifies shipping & Tracking 100% protection Basic understanding of HTML for Standard Paypal SOAP API programming required for Paypal express Virtual Terminal options – payment via phone/fax/mail order Merchant services No personal information shared with end user Send to over 103 countries	No programming skills required No software required Easily add to your website Accept multiple currency payments Client management & reports Fraud protection with encrypted images Inventory traffic Export orders to Quick Books Taxable or non-taxable products – includes tax table Product up-sell capacity Custom ‘Thank You’ pages Sales analysis tools Customize look and feel Run multiple websites from one account Tracking software – PPC, conversion rate Split screen testing Rotate 3 different landing pages Multiple payment options including Paypal Recurring Billing for membership or recurring products
Key Benefits:	Key Benefits:
Over 100 million accounts are currently open with Paypal, so to not have it as a payment option is crazy. They only charge a percentage plus a cent free from each transaction making it well justified. Some people use Paypal by itself, however, this isn’t necessarly the best option, especially when someone hasn’t got an account and has to go through the sign up process which is alittle time consuming. However, an excellent option when your customer already has an account with them.	The largest shopping cart service on the internet today. They are a solid company with options to add a merchant payment service easily. In there professional service they offers simple merchant integration facilities, form creation, ad tracking, autoresponder, ebook delivery, affiliate tracking and internet marketing software. If your looking for a complete package that contains everything you need to sell online, 1shoppingcart offers it in there professional package. The other option is getting each product individually from different suppliers which can get messy. This will save you time and money.
Rating/Price:	Rating/Price: (For the professional)
1.9% to 2.9% + $0.30USD per received payment. Exchange rate + 2.5% for multiple currency transactions.	Starter: $29 per mth, Basic: $49, Professional:$79 per mth
Personal Recommendation:	Personal Recommendation:
Great for when your customer has a Paypal account already set up. Difficult when they don’t. Your losing customers if you don’t have it.	The most reliable and comprehensive payment recieving service available, it isn’t cheap but having it will give you alot more sales and far less headaches if you have the all-in-one package. Getting a similiar service set up by a professional will cost you at least $5,000 dollars.
Visit Paypal now	Click here to visit 1ShoppingCart

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