Recommended Brands

ETHICAL BRANDS

We have been researching the best products, services, and solutions for decades. Our standards are extremely high. The brands that appear on this page are the ONLY brands we have identified to date that meet them – but there must be many others.

If you believe your brand belongs here – or you know of any that we should consider – please add a comment on this page or contact us directly.

Brands with a healthy living, sustainable, organic, or Fair Trade focus including:

• Eden Organic Foods @EdenFoods
• Kikkoman (famous for the Soy Sauce) @KikkomanKitchen @KikkomanUK – all soybeans non-GMO plus organic products
• Marcal Small Steps @MarcalSmallStep
• Seventh Generation @SeventhGen
• Dr. Bronners @DrBronner
• TheDirtDoctor @HowardGarrett Organic Gardening Products
• Natural Organic Warehouse @NatlOrganicWhse
• Arbico Organics ~ Over 30 years ago when I first got into horses I ordered predator wasps from Arbico to control flies. They have expanded to many additional pest control products.
• Ark Naturals @arknaturals Manufacturer of all natural health and wellness products for dogs and cats offering pet owners healthy products that will enhance the lives of their pets.
• Paw Naturaw @PawNaturaw and @Paw_Naturaw Raw whole foods in their organic state packed with nutrients and complex medicinal properties.
• Aubrey Organics @AubreyOrganics
• Got Matcha @???
• Desert Essence @desertessence
• Do you know of a brand that belongs in this list? Let me know!

Solutions that are highly beneficial to small businesses such as:

• Universal Business Listings @UBLorg – EVERY business should claim their FREE ADVERTISING on major local directories including Google Places, Yahoo! Local, Bing, SuperPages, etc. AND get into the major databases that feed cell phone and GPS systems.
• Experiment.ly @ExperimentsWork
• Hubspot Marketing Solutions, Lead Generation Systems – Highly recommended
• Social CRM Nimble @Nimble
• Hootsuite Social Media Dashboard @Hootsuite – THE best tool for managing multiple Twitter accounts
• CoTweet Twitter Management Solution – The EASIEST yet still powerful tool for managing multiple Twitter accounts (Sadly, CoTweet has been killed off.)
• TimePicks Online Appointment Scheduling @timepicks
• Piwik Open Source Web Analytics @Piwik
• PaySimple @PaySimple
• Kickstarter @KickStarter
• Knowem @Knowem – Every brand needs to protect their social media usernames NOW!
• ReadyTalk OS independent Web Conferencing @ReadyTalk
• Volusion @Volusion – One of the very best ecommerce solutions available.
• NameCheap @NameCheap – One of our domain registrars of choice

Do you have recommendations of others who belong in this list? Let me know!

Brands that sell products Small Businesses need:

• Signazon ~ Business Signs, Car Magnets, Window Graphics, Vinyl Decals – get ideas by browsing signs by industry for existing designs you can personalize
• ViewSonic ~ High Quality Energy Saving Computer Monitors ~ Interactive Commercial Displays ~ Digital Signage

Coops and consumer supported agriculture (CSAs) organizations such as:

• Local Harvest @LocalHarvestorg
• Organic Consumers Association @OrganicConsumer
• Texas Fruit Growers Association
• Do you have recommendations of others who belong in this list? Let me know!

Brands that sell products, services, or solutions bloggers and social media influencers use regularly

• ViewSonic Computer Monitors makes the Desktop Monitors including the best monitors for bloggers
• APC – best known for their Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) – EVERY computer user would benefit from one ESPECIALLY BLOGGERS – If you can’t afford a large one at least get one to protect your tower or laptop from most damage.
• Domain Registration: NameCheap @NameCheap is one of our  domain registrars of choice
• System76 – Manufacturer of Ubuntu preinstalled, optimized PCs, laptops, desktops and servers
• Feedblitz alternative to FeedBurner @Feedblitz @phollows
• TweetReach
• WordPress:  DIY Thesis Theme Framework
• WordPress:  StudioPress Genesis Framework – See Ron Cripps’ @AffiliateXFiles WP Genesis Review and Kristi Hines @Kikolani Thesis vs Genesis – Comparing Premium WordPress Themes
• Do you have recommendations of others who belong in this list? Let me know!

Brands that never compromise on quality

These brands are proof that you CAN still sell a quality product instead of cheap junk that fills up landfills and wastes precious resources!

• Electrolux Appliances / Frigidaire ~ Although publicly traded, they are included because they build QUALITY products that last and have a strong Code of Ethics relating to sustainability and human rights.
• Master Lock – building QUALITY locks that last and last since 1921
• Rada Cutlery @RadaCutlery – Best value kitchen knives and utensils without sacrificing quality plus packaged foods suitable for camping or storage. Recommended by Kelli of 3boysandadog @momof3boys3702 (see Kelli’s introduction to Rada Cutlery Video) and in @CrystalandComp’s Rada Cutlery Review – her Mom & her Grandmother use them! American made, Lifetime guarantee, their gift sets make perfect wedding presents, and they have fundraiser programs. SLP program suitable for home parties, swap meets, or reselling online.
• SAS Shoes - Comfortable from the minute you first put them on and wear like steel. I don’t know how they do it, but these shoes hold up through the way I abused them crawling in and out of computer room floors, rushing through the mud to a horse emergency, and wearing them every single day for years. There is no better shoe anywhere.
• Snapper Mowers – the brand that refused to compromise on quality and one of the smart brands that said NO! to Wal-Mart.
• Stihl International ~ Stihl USA ~ Family owned manufacturer of chain saws, trimmers, blowers.
• World Kitchen, LLC and its affiliates manufacture and market bakeware, dinnerware, kitchen and household tools, rangetop cookware and cutlery products sold under well-known and trusted brands including CorningWare®, Pyrex®, Corelle®, Revere®, EKCO®, Baker’s Secret®, Magnalite®, Chicago Cutlery®, OLFA® and OLO®.
• Does YOUR BRAND belong here? Let me know!

National umbrella groups that enable local groups such as:

• Construction Guild US
• Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) @BALLE_Network
• Do you have recommendations of others who belong in this list? Let me know!

Local groups such as:

• Local First @localfirst
• Local First Arizona @LocalFirstAZ
• Local First Chicago @local1stchicago
• Local First Indiana @LocalFirstIN
• Local Construction Guilds
• Some types of non-profits and good causes
• Do you have recommendations of others who belong in this list? Let me know! 

Dallas Small Businesses

• Dallas HVAC Heating and Air Conditioning Installation and Repair: DFW Air King owned by a fellow blogger and her husband

These are the types of brands I would love
to work with as a brand evangelist!

We will only consider evangelizing for brands we sincerely believe in and whose solutions, products and services we actually use. These are also the only advertisers we accept.

RESOURCES for finding the best brands:

• Unbiased data-driven product comparisons: FindtheBest.com search tool for finding Best Web Design Software, Best Blog Software, Social Networking Comparison, SEO Software & Tools, Computer Hardware, and much more.