Below you will find some of the best tools and resources for starting a movie website and maintaining one, whether your goal is for providing your own insights into the film world and/or to operate it as a business. Instead of searching the net for them we have compiled the best of the best in a comprehensive list on this page. Now you can get your movie website up and running even quicker.
Website Building | Content Delivery Network | Organization | Collaboration | Communication | Affiliation Automation | Branding | Community Building | Traffic Monitoring | Finances | Reading
Website Building
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Popular Online Publishing Platforms
WordPress is the Number One publishing platform and Content Management System (CMS) amongst movie bloggers, next to Blogger. WordPress was written about here: Start a Movie Website: Introduction. Free themes and new version upgrades keep making it better and better. Blogger and Tumblr take all the structure and back-end headache out of the equation but are limited in their revenue earning potential. Blogger was written about here: Start a Movie Website: Introduction. Other publishing options abound as well.
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WordPress Free Themes Directory
This is where I began – way back when – after I had WordPress installed when I purchased my first domain name. The first free theme I ever used was the Misty Look theme, found in this directory. Free is OK if you are a beginner but if you want to be taken seriously and make money online, have a custom site/theme made.
Price: Free
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GoDaddy
I have bought all of my domain names through GoDaddy thus far. I have called them on the phone, talked to a live people, and was even able to obtain a refund on a hastily bought domain name. GoDaddy and their services were written about here: Starting a Movie Website: Choosing and Registering a Domain Name.
Price: $12.99
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NetFirms
NetFirms offers lower base prices for domain names than GoDaddy.
Caveat: Domains .com, .net, .org, .info, .ca, .co.uk, .org.uk, .us, .name, .biz, sale pricing is $7.99/year* for the first year. Second year and Domain renewal is $11.99/year per year thereafter.
Price: $7.99
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HostGator
The hosting company I am using right now. I am usually able to get a Live Chat going when I need to talk to someone immediately. Check out these posts for helpful hints and stories on selecting a web site host: Starting A Movie Website: Select a Website Host, Hosted Websites vs. Free Blogging Services: The Great Debate, and Choosing the right Website Hosting Company is Essential.
Price: Varies
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MediaTemple
The host company I would probably be with right now if I weren’t so used to cPanel. When they say 24/7 service, they mean it. I called them at 3 am and there was a live person there to help me.
Price: Varies
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Content Delivery Network
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Amazon CloudFront
A pay-as-you-go Content Delivery Network (CDN). With a CDN, you ensure that your visitors get your website pages, pictures, posts, and other data routed from the nearest server location instead of a single host and central location. Your site and its content load faster. Period.
Price: Pay-as-you-go
Max CDN
Like other CDNs, its a highly-optimized network of servers all around the world working together to distribute content (CSS and Javascript files, downloadable objects, etc) through hundreds of servers instead of a single host. Some of the sites that I frequent employ this service and it offers pay-as-you-go-pricing as well.
Price: Pay-as-you-go
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Organization
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Google Calendar
Google Calendar solves every scheduling problem that you have.
It makes it easy to schedule and coordinate meetings, tasks and events.
Price: Free
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Remember The Milk
Remember The Milk is a great online application for remembering and keeping track of your to-do list.
Use it to keep track of our tasks and divide them up for yourself or your team members.
Price: Free
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Mozy
Mozy is a solutions for storing and saving your data online.
Compared to most other backup services, Mozy is reliable with affordable prices.
Price: $5.99 (monthly)
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Collaboration
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Google Docs
Google Docs is a collaboration tool. Everything is done in real-time with no delays. You can organize documents, spreadsheets, presentations, forms, and drawings in neatly organized folders. If you have multiple writers and contributors to your website, this can help you keep everything straight between everyone.
Price: Free
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Gliffy
Gliffy is a online contact form, site map, and website wireframe designer. Use it to make your ideas physical for others to see while keeping them organized. Click the “Try it Now Free” prompt then click “Website / Software UI Design” and you will see what Gliffy has to offer.
Price: Free
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Adobe Connect Now
ConnectNow is a screen sharing service.
If you are working on anything image related you may find this effective because it allows you and your team to work together.
Price: Free
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Communication
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Mailchimp
MailChimp is one of the most trusted newsletter services.
Its fully featured, customizable, and provides analytical reports.
Price: Free up to 1,000 subscribers
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Skype
Skype is one the best and most popular voice-over-IP services. It’s free, available on most mobiles and allows you to easily communicate whenever you need.
Price: Free
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Hootsuite
Managing social networks made easy. Manage your multiple social networks on a single dashboard, whether its Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or LinkedIn. They are all available to you for easy manipulation in the same place at the same time.
Price: Free
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Youtube
Start a YouTube channel there for free (written about here: How to Create a YouTube Channel that Drives Traffic to Your Website: Introduction), upload movie trailers, movie clips, interviews, TV commercials, etc to your account and embed them on your site. Create video movie reviews, a screencast, upload and post them to the world.
Price: Free
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ScreenFlow
This program is for the Mac and lets its user easily make screencasts and brand them with logos and so forth with a very low learning curve. This program in combination with uploading the finished product to YouTube can be a powerful one-two punch.
Price: $99
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Affiliation Automation
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Ninja Affiliate
If you’re having trouble “affiliatizing” your website, Ninja Affiliate is your answer. This neat WordPress plugin allows you to enter keywords and then automatically links those keyword to your affiliate links.
Price: $97
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PhpZon Pro
PhpZon Pro completely automates the process of posting pictures, star ratings, prices, product links back to Amazon.com from your post. Instead of finding, saving, uploading, and then hyperlinking a photo you want to link back to Amazon from your site manually, PhpZon does it all for you.
Price: $79 ($63.20 when you use this code: E907DB07EB)
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Branding
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LogoNerds
This is where I went to get the logo made for this website. For just $27 dollars you can have a logo made and get revisions on that logo six times before your transaction is complete.
Price: $27
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99Designs
Hiring a freelancer is inefficient; using the power of the crowd is much more effective. 99Designs allows you to crowdsource your web design and logo needs. It may be cheaper than a freelancer and could provide better results.
Price: Varies
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Conduit
Conduit lets you brand your business online by creating a custom toolbar with posts, key features from your website, and social components. By using Conduit you can potentially build brand awareness and profit from every toolbar download.
Price: Free
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Community Building
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Facebook Fan Page
Facebook offers free web pages you can use to lead discussions on any subject you choose e.g. your website and your website’s subject matter. You can brand it with your logo and your site’s RSS feed so that members of the page can see every new post your site published.
Price: Free
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vBulletin
A sophisticated bulletin board system that offers a large wealth of options, more than you well probably ever need. This is a great way to keep your audience engaged beyond your website’s posts and build a community.
Price: Varies
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Traffic Monitoring
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Google Analytics
Probably the industry standard, the numbers that everyone expects and the ones that are universally accepted. Google Analytics updates its stats on your site everyday and in real-time once you put their code in your footer php file. GA shows you what posts are popular on your sites, what search engine is sending you the most traffic, it links up with your AdSense account, shows you your unique pageviews, etc. It’s a most.
Price: Free
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Clicky
Clicky is another website analytics tool. Like Google Analytics, this tracking service gives the user real-time tracking and in far greater detail that Google Analytics currently offers.
Price: Free (up to 3,000 daily page views)
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Finances
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QuickBooks
Quickbooks easily lets you keep track of all of your profits and expenses for your website in one quick and easy package. It comes with tutorials to get you up and running so headaches are virtually non-existent.
Price: $179.99
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Reading
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Website Optimization: Speed, Search Engine & Conversion Rate Secrets
This is search engine optimization (SEO) first step, your bible BEFORE and after your site comes online. Definitely before you make your first post. A great book (written about here: A Professional Web Designer’s thoughts on Websites, SEO, SERP, HTML, and Search Engines) to make sure you get the most organic search engine out of your website and every post.
Price: $26.08
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Crush It!
Crush It is all about finding your passion and profiting from it online. Gary Vaynerchuk shares his insights into social media, the tools he used to make a million dollar empire, and how he used them. He also shows how he made a brand out of himself and how you can as well. An inspirational, quick, and informative read.
Price: $13.59
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Entrepreneur Magazine
This is the perfect magazine for those seeking current, in-field knowledge about running your own business. The magazine contains interviews, advice, and stories from other entrepreneurs and industry leaders. There are also articles on technology and social media.
Price: $11.97 (yearly)
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Inc. Magazine
Inc. is more tailored to those already successful in business. The magazine provides stories to inspire you to succeed and allow you to learn from others.
Price: $12 (yearly)
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