Beach Web Design
Beach Web Design Shop: Useful products for Startups and Small Businesses
Welcome, and thank you for visiting my website shop.I'd like this to be a useful reference for anyone who's thinking of setting up a small business, as well as hopefully making us the occasional commission! My customers are mostly small businesses and startups (like me), so I've featured business products and services they might find useful and informative, as I have. If there's another type of product you'd like to see investigated and reviewed on here, or if there's a useful product you'd like to recommend, please use our contact form.
Free Business Cards
When I looked for free business cards on the internet I found two websites that supplied them. One was DCP Print, and all the others turned out to be VistaPrint. I ordered a set from each of them on the same day. Postage for DCP Print was £6.99 and postage for VistaPrint was £3.95. Both arrived with the right picture and text printed on them, well within their delivery time. The cards from DCP Print arrived a week earlier and had a cellophane outer wrapper. The box from VistaPrint arrived in the rain and had no cellophane, but although the outer box was wet the cards inside were dry. So I'd say packaging and delivery was better from DCP Print (and also more expensive), but the cards themselves were not as well printed. The picture on the DCP Print cards did not look as good as it did on the computer screen, whereas the VistaPrint cards did. But on the whole, I am pleased with both of them and would recommend them to any business start-up. Plus, VistaPrint now send me special offers for notepads, rubber stamps, etc. Today, thanks to their special offers, I ordered a free notepad, free rubber stamp (Christmas special with a penguin on it), free return address labels for envelopes and free fridge magnets. Postage was £8.31. I almost ordered printed letterhead paper as well for £37.49 instead of £49.99, which for some reason would have brought the postage down by a pound, but changed my mind at the last minute. Their site has some interesting quirks in the way the prices seem to change depending on how you access it so try to do it all within the same window.
Recycled paper and other Office Supplies
Euroffice
Euroffice sell recycled plain and laid printer paper, along with lots of other office supplies. And look at these fantastic little safes! I want one!
Ink Factory
Ink Factory sell printer cartridges, including some that are recycled or partly recycled. I've found them to be very quick in getting their orders delivered, and the 'long lasting' cartridges really are long lasting. This banner is like a lucky dip: sometimes it's parrots and sometimes it's penguins. What will it be today?Ink Club
I don't know much about them but the special offer looks good to me:Business and Website Law
Legal and Business Document Templates
Microsoft Word Templates - Download over 1,250 ready-to-use business/legal forms. Download Demo.Simply Docs also provide unlimited use of their business and legal document templates for an annual subscription of £35.
Net Lawman provide much more situation-specific legal documents. They charge a set rate for each document and also charge by the hour for more individually tailored legal work. See my Website Legal Documents page for a listing of web and e-commerce legal documents.
Business Insurance
Businesses may require several kinds of insurance, eg public liability, professional indemnity, employer's liability, office contents, business travel, commercial vehicles, etc.
I found Hiscox Insurance were very helpful on the phone, while Decision Finance had a very useful interactive website.
About Affiliate Links - Advertise on Your Own Website
Note: Affiliate Links are a way of making small amounts of commission by providing links from your website to products and services that you recommend. When you are planning your own website, try looking for affiliate programs on websites you use that are related to your business, and you will probably find something that would interest your customers. So as a start-up business dealing with website services, these are some of the products and services I recommend. Some of these links are to products I've used and others are good jumping off points for research and comparison shopping. Where I recommend a service (or not) I will tell you why.*
* Please note: these are only my own opinions!
Artificially Intelligent Banner from Amazon
Amazon are beta testing these banners, which will aim to display ads depending on the preferences of visitors to this website. I'm really curious to see what they come up with:
More Products and Services for your Website
Beach Web Design, PO Box 178, Exmouth, Devon, EX8 1WT