Google Stuff

Some of these services require having a Gmail account first. To get a Gmail account, you need an invitation, so ask Criss for a Gmail invite here. In all of these cases, having a Gmail account will make it easier to sign up.

• Blogger - owned by Google - free Blogging platform. Your web designer can make your Blogger page match your website (to a great extent). Eclectic Tech offers a blog directly on your website, and there's also a package listed in the Geekery section.
• Make sure you sign up for AdWords and use AdWords to enable Google Analytics -- in case you ever want to track an AdWords campaign through Analytics. I made the mistake of doing it the other way around and ended up with 2 Analytics accounts that can't be linked, and lost data when moving websites to the properly linked Analytics account.
• Firefox with Google Toolbar - there is an Internet Explorer version, but I don't think IE is the best or safest browser, and prefer to recommend Firefox. This is a pre-made bundle of the two items.

Payment options

• PayPal - payment processing service that will allow you to put payment buttons on your website. Go through the process to become a PayPal Verified Merchant before trying to put merchant services on your website. This is one of the best merchant services options until you gross between $3000-5000/month, at which point it may pay to look into other merchant processing services.
• Google Checkout - a newer alternative payment service, with similar features to PayPal.

Other

• Mailing List - autoresponder allows you to write emails for sequential delivery. You may want to discuss how to create good sales copy with marketing & sales specialists.
• Technocrati - Looking for places to post interesting content and an unobtrusive link back to your website for more info? Enter Technocrati, a blog logging service. Hunt for categories related to your business and share some expertise in exchange for putting your link out there. Don't offend anyone!
• Craigslist - available in many cities and areas around the country, Craigslist is an online classified ad venue.
• PRWeb - a place to submit (& find) online press releases
• Facebook - if teens & college students are in your target market, this is THE place to be, but it also caters to people who are not currently in high school or college.
• Myspace - if music bands, musicians, or movies are your thing, this is a must-go-to place. Many businesses in unrelated industries are also on Myspace.
• eZine articles - whether you need content for emailing out to others, or you need a place to send your tidbits of information, eZine articles is an excellent clearing house for medium to good quality content. Read submission guidelines etc.
• surveys through SurveyGizmo - They have a free online survey for up to 250 responses -- unlimited questions. If you think you could use a survey and think you need more than 250 responses, then sign up for a paid account, but otherwise it's one of the best free surveys I've seen.

Geekery

Too technical for the average person

• PHPBB - one of the most popular free software packages for creating online forums. Installation may require someone familiar with PHP, databases & HTML to set it up properly, but there are instructions for people who want to try it out.
• Google Map API - this is the programmer's reference page for Google Maps -- generally for geeks. If you need a Google Map on your website, it's not easy -- you probably want to seek out a programmer or install a program that has this feature. You can put a link to a Google map -- find the location, and right click on Link to this page on the right of the Google page above the map, copy the link. The link is very long.
• WordPress - free blog software that can be installed at your website domain. Installation probably requires too much technical knowledge for the average person.