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Tools and Resources for your Business There are a lot of online tools that I use in running my business. Tools which at one point I didnt know existed, and when I found out about them, I said HOLY COW!!! THAT SAVES ME HOURS OF TIME AND THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS!!! So, heres a big laundry list of tools I use to run my business, and just in general good internet websites to know about. If I have a start next to something, that means I cant live without it. Password Protection Bookmarks *delicious I never organized my bookmarks, I just knew that I can go to a certain computer and find what I need. I learned it the hard way, when my iPhone with the most important bookmarks died on me. Now I organize everything online and I can access it from any computer or phone. If you want to subscribe to my bookmarks -http://www.delicious.com/igorsoshkin
News I Read FireFox Plugins *Firebug If you are a website developer, you will appreciate this. *Delicious Firefox plugin for my bookmarks *Download Helper Download any video or audio file from any website. What would I do without this.
Newsletter / Mass Mail *Mailchimp The best of the best of the best email mass mailer out there. 1000 first users that you add are free. I will have more tutorials on this later. *Whitesmoke Free online grammar checker. I highly recommend using it when you send out your mass emails.
Testing/Tracking Video/Audio/Picture *Vimeo Excellent Video Player. Uses Amazon S3. Their Plus Subscription has powerful statistics. YouTube Good for marketing your videos and getting traffic from them Audacity free audio editing Jing free screen capture/sharing tool JW Player free flash player Super free video conversion tool (the best free video converter converts from anything to anything) Download VSO Image Resizer right click to resize/save images to a different format OnlineVideoToolkit How to do video with a Flip camera LiveFaceOnWeb.com Pay to have an actor create a video and appear on your site TubeMogul.com Free Video Distribution service (free alternative to traffic geyser) *iStockPhoto free stock photos sxc.hu free stock photos Amazon S3 I use them for streaming video and for reliable image/file/video hosting. Pixlr Image Editing Free alternative to Photoshop. Amazing online image editingfree.
Outsourcing Remote Desktop / Screen Sharing / Collaboration The ability to connect to another computer and see the screen on that computer and work on that computer is super useful. It makes your home (or work, or media) computer always accessible. Its convenient. It makes it easy to give an employee (maybe one in the Philippines) access to your software so they can do your work for you. Here are 4 tools I use in my business to connect to other computers and share screens. The 4 tools are: Remote Desktop Comes with Windows *Skype I use this for very quick screen sharing *Logmein.com I use this for my personal PCs, so I can access my office, home from anywhere in the world. Adobe Connect Now shares screen, mic, web cam without installing software. CrossLoop Great for doing tech support (or getting tech support) *Teamviewer Great for doing tech support (or getting tech support)
Phone Calling/Recording *Ring Central I use this for my main office line. It offers unlimited toll free and for some reason only with Ring Central people feel comfortable leaving a voicemail. *Skype I use this for my personal business line FreeConferenceCall a whole suite of phone services conference lines, voice boxes, broadcasts Pamela Skype recording plug-in PhoneTag.com intercepts voicemail, transcribes it, and texts the voicemail to you (voice recognition to text) Google Voice If you can get in MagicJack.com A usb device that gives you VOIP for dirt cheap. My partner, Dan, uses it exclusively at home. K7.net Free incoming voicemail and fax service AuctionAudio.net or AudioAcrobat.com 3-way in phone conversations to record
Project Management Graphic Design *Ravenconcepts I use Yana to do my important projects which must look good. Logos, Brand Identity, pure Graphic Design. *99designs.com People will compete to create a logo/design for your website (cheap graphic design work)contest for cheap graphic/design work DoMyDesignStuff.com Great graphic designer DesignGuruRyan Another great graphic designer Kuler.com free Adobe recommended color pairings and design templates
Content Creation Online Survey Tracking/Creation Online File Storage/Backup *DropBox.com Free file storage, sharing and remote backup from a folder on your desktop! GET THIS YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT Mozy Simple online backup solution SugarSync Online File syncing/storage Backupify backup your online life!
Random Coolness Evernote free note taking tool (puts notes on your desktop and online, indexes images/pdf to make them searchable) Fatwallet.com get great deals on stuff Gliffy.com free flow chart design alternative to MS Visio Filezilla best free ftp client The Paypal Button Andrew Lock says that if youre doing more than $3000/month in paypal, you can click this button and theyll charge you less transaction processing fees Kayak.com travel prices aggregated Web-Appointments.com let people schedule appointments with you when you allow them to Doodle.ch Group date picking (when works for everyone?) HandWrittenresults.com Send hand written thank you letters to your list! Ted Inspirational video presentations from great minds! Windows Notepad Replacement A better program than what comes with standard windows. RescueTime Auto tracks and categorizes computer usage. Usable with employees. LastPass Password Manager Keeps track of all login info across computers. Ill never (hopefully) be without this again. Kunaki awesome CD/DVD creation/fulfillment service.
iPhone Apps for Business - Seriously if you dont have an iPhone for your business. Stop and order one now. Dropbox My files are synced throughout all my computers and my iPhone. Logmein I can remotely login to any one of my computers through my iPhone Mailchimp I use this for checking out reports on my email campaigns AppAdvice News about new Apps for the iPhone / iPad Tweetdeck Twitter client Facebook Facebook iGoogle RSS My RSS news Techmeme Techmeme.com/river is my daily checker MyWi Jailbreak only - Makes my iPhone a hotspot whenever I need to get online from a hotel My3G Allows me to have face time with my daughter when I am away on the 3G network, no WiFi needed. Skype I use this to accept phone calls for work
There is no links as you need to download them through iTunes or App Store on your iPhone. Video Speedup You know how people have been creating these 45 minute marketing videos recently. No more! speed up online video Install, watch video, make it play faster. Who knows why people think a 30 minute video of just them talking is appropriate. You get 10 minutesMAXto hold someones attention. Another source is VLC player
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