Technology We Use

As a technologist for the past 27 years, I typically review many different products before making a choice that is right for us to use here at Thriving Now. Below are some of the tools and services we recommend.

ExpressionEngine — Web Content Management and Weblog Software
Our websites are powered by ExpressionEngine, a content management system published by pMachine. We have been very pleased with this software as it has evolved. While not for the rank beginner, if you want to have a dynamic, easily updated website, I strongly recommend having your webmaster look into this product. The company also offers hosting, if you don’t want to do the installation of the software yourself.

AudioAcrobat — Web Audio Playback and Telephone Recording
If you are looking for a service that allows you to add audio to your website, I encourage you to compare AudioAcrobat to other services such as InstantAudio and AudioGenerator and BYOAudio. AudioAcrobat offers more storage, much lower cost per additional gigabyte of transfer, and a lower cost per month ($99/6 months = just $16.50/mo). You can use the service to upload audio you record on your own computer, record directly to their service over the internet, and record by telephone. Using three-way-calling, you can also record teleconferences up to two hours in length. You can also set up client testimonial lines. Best yet, it is easy to integrate the audio into any website where you can paste HTML.

AWeber — Email Broadcast and Auto Responders
AWeber has excellent deliverability and pricing, as well as integration with PayPal and email parsing. We previously used Intellicontact; we switched to AWeber for greater system reliability, performance, required double opt-in, powerful autoresponders, and automatic newsletter generation from RSS feeds… all with lower pricing.

SEO Elite — Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization is complicated and many webmasters spend thousands on tools and services to optimize their placement. Brad Callen has a free e-book, Search Engine Optimization Made Easy which gives an excellent introduction to on-page and off-page search engine optimization techniques. He also offers a free series of lessons when you sign-up at his website. Even if you do not purchase his SEO Elite software, what you learn by reading his e-book and receiving his lessons is worthwhile to know as an introduction to SEO techniques.

Smugmug — Photo Sharing and Printing
I have been using SmugMug for almost two years to store and catalog ALL our digital photos. For a very low yearly fee, you get UNLIMITED storage for your photos. It feels so good to know that we have a backup of all the original images in full size. They offer a DVD copy service that will send you back the originals, whenever needed. Family and friends can download images, too, as well as order prints at a reasonable price. We password protect our SmugMug site to give us privacy.

Audible — Audio Books
I’ve been an Audible customer since the service was launched years ago. I love having an audio book or three on my digital media player so I can listen in the car, on the airplane, or shopping. If you spend ANY time in traffic and are not already listening to some of the 25,000 books available from Audible at a dramatically reduced price over CDs and tapes, I encourage you to check them out.

Skype — Free calls over the internet
Skype makes it possible for us to talk to clients from India, Europe, Asia, wherever… for free. While dial-up voice quality is “okay,” those using a broadband connection can hear very well indeed as we use EFT. SkyeOut can dial-out at your destination for just pennies a minute. Voice mail and SkyeIn are also available.

GoDaddy — Domain Registrar
Sometimes the low-price offering also has excellent service. We’ve been pleased with GoDaddy to register our domain names and transfer and renew domains we originally registered with more expensive registrars.

LogoWorks — Logo Design
When we were ready for a logo for Thriving Now (one that would work on both the website and our shirts), we looked into local design studios as well as internet offerings. We decided on Logoworks and their Gold package that gave us three designers offering multiple concepts and then unlimited revisions until we had just what we wanted.

VistaPrint — Business Cards
VistaPrint offers new customers 250 business cards for free. I ended up designing my own color card with a picture of our dandelion on a custom color background. VistaPrint also printed up our refrigerator magnets for a lot, lot less than any local shop could quote. We’ve been pleased with the service. The one time they made a mistake, they quickly credited our account and redid the printing as a rush job.