As the year draws to a close, I think it appropriate to highlight the web-based products and services that have had the biggest impact in helping me to manage websites in 2008. Most of them have been around for several years; some really came into their own this year due to feature enhancements; others seemed to be there at just the right time. Every single one has become an indispensable part of the arsenal of tools I deploy when building and managing sites.
Magento
Magento has a level of polish and sophistication hitherto non-existent with open source e-commerce solutions. It might well be said that in the e-commerce world 2008 was The Year of Magento. Launched in 2007, Magento’s adoption curve went vertical this year. It is among the best designed open source products I’ve ever used and it is leaving all other products of its kind in the dust. The coming year looks to be very bright indeed.
Mailchimp
Managing e-mail lists, creating and sending promotions, tracking responses, and staying away from spam filters has been an important site management tool – and a growing burden – for many years. Mailchimp makes what was once a dull process easy and – dare I say it? - fun. In 2008 they added a host of improvements that made the competition look like, well, chimps (or chumps), and it looks like that trend will continue in 2009. I know of no other service of its kind that is as flexible, reliable, and easy-to-use – or as reasonably priced.
Odesk
Despite having an ever-changing and yet still-frustrating user interface that often seems to hinder rather than help, Odesk remains my go-to resource when it comes to finding administrative and technical resources for staffing projects. Odesk simply provides a better set of tools for managing remote staff than any other site I’m aware of.
Pingdom
Pingdom does one thing well: monitor websites for downtime and alert you when that happens. If you build websites for a living or even if you simply manage your own, there is absolutely no excuse for not monitoring them. None. Pingdom relentlessly checks your site for uptime issues and manages to do with with style.
Skype
Skype has been around for several years. It’s unfortunate but since Ebay took over the UI has stagnated. (I’m still waiting for an iPhone Skype client). It may very well be that the company will have to be sold in 2009 for service advancements to occur. Still, next to e-mail, Skype remains the communication tool I used most in 2008. Where else are you going to get unlimited incoming & outgoing phone calls plus voicemail for $60/year?
Freshbooks
If you’ve bought into the concept of migrating to cloud-based applications it makes sense that small business accounting should be one of the apps you migrate, particularly if your staff is in the far-flung corners of the globe. Freshbooks makes tracking it all a lot easier and lot more flexible – and mobile – than any desktop application could ever hope to be.
Basecamp
Managing projects and communication channels between groups is Basecamp’s bailiwick, and it does so quite well, though not without a degree of frustration. The folks at 37Signals, developers of Basecamp, seem to be drinking a little too much of their own Kool-Aid and have stubbornly kept their product’s feature list and user interface near the level of an unadorned prototype. Why no iPhone interface when some of their other products have it? Why can’t I just post items to it via email, instead of having to post via the web all the time? Still, I can’t seem to get away from this product. The problem with it and applications of its type is that they’re so important that I’d rather trade fewer features for a track record of reliability, which Basecamp clearly has.
Rimuhosting
I first encountered Rimuhosting several years ago when I was looking for a Rails-ready environment at a reasonable price. Though I don’t use Rails anymore, I’ve stuck with Rimuhosting. Why? Because I’ve learned that, though the number of options available for VPS hosting are legion, the value of reliable hosting and maniacally fast support is far more important the small cost savings I’d obtain elsewhere. The folks at Rimu have done right by me every single time. I wouldn’t think of hosting anywhere else.
GotoWebinar / GotoMeeting
With travel costs skyrocketing in 2008, web-based meeting and conferencing platforms really took off. GotoWebinar might have a buttoned-down, corporate feel, but there’s no denying its utility when it comes to getting people around the globe together for online meetings. Their pricing also blows the doors off WebEx. Now, if they would only support Linux users.
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