ToDo for iPhone.
This simple yet powerful app turns your iPhone into a personal to-do list and task manager. It helps me keep track of everything from my weekly groceries to a detailed checklist of everything I need to accomplish in preparation for a conference call with a freelance client
POLL AND SURVEY TOOLS
- Google Forms – here’s how to create a self grading Quiz using Google docs
- PollDaddy – Here’s a PollDaddy embedded in a blog post.
- PollEverywhere
Writing a plan for a new business doesn’t have to mean reinventing the wheel. Check out Bplans.com for sample business plans representing nearly every industry—from caterers to construction companies and beyond!
List.ly
This is Pinterest for “word people.” Collect content from all over the web and organize it into lists. I’ve begun building a series of liststhan I can use internally and share with colleagues—tools for editors, writers, and things I just want to remember for myself. Our VA will likely join me in doing the same soon so, if you’re looking to become a better writer, be sure to follow both of us!
GoogleAnalytics.
The original must-have website analytics platform that every website owner relies upon for data like page view statistics, goal tracking, audience demographics, site behavior, traffic acquisition, and thousands of more granular data points. Use GA to analyze every facet of your website, app, and optimize how you drive traffic into your business.
Bit.ly.
Bit.ly is useful for coding links and tracking the activity on custom short links for your business. For example, I Use Ripl which adds my personal brand to all of the links I share across my social media channels and I’m able to take a look at the data behind which links get the most clicks and why.
PRESENTATION TOOLS
- AuthorStream – – A site where you can host your presentations and share with others. Check out this Authorstream embedded in a blog post here!
- Fotobabble – lets you create a talking photo. Excellent for speaking practising. Here is an example of a Fotobabble or check out links in comments here.
- Glogster – lets you combine images, video, music, photos and audio to create interactive posters. Here’s Glogster’s embedded in a blog post. Learn more about using Glogster with students here.
- Google Docs
- Prezi – is an online presentation and story telling tool that uses a single canvas instead of traditional series of slides. The images, text, videos and other objects are placed on the canvas and users can zoom in and out. Here’s a Prezi embedded in a blog post.
- SlideShare – A site where you can host your presentations and share with others. Ideal for those who want to embed Presentations in their posts and websites rather than upload their PowerPoints directly and insert as a link. It’s also an excellent site for locating Presentations created by others. Check out a SlideShare embedded in a blog post here!
- Scribd – allows you to upload your MS Word documents, PDFs, PowerPoints and then share them within an embedded viewer on your blog. Here’s an example of a Scribd embedded in a blog post – check out the Scribd as it contains cool tips for backing up your blog!
- VoiceThreads – Creates an interactive slideshow using images or videos. Allows others to leave comments on each photo by adding text, audio or video. You can check out the VoiceThread in our post for advanced bloggers.
- Voki – allows you to create talking avatars. Excellent for speaking practise and engaging students. Here’s a Voki embedded in a blog post.
Want to crowdsource your business funding without giving away equity? Launch a funding campaign with Kickstarter: a free to sign-up crowdfunding platform that helps you recruit micro-donors for your business. You can incentivize your donors with future products or gifts of your choice, and Kickstarter will take a small percentage only if your campaign is fully funded.
Google Documents (Text, Spreadsheets and Forms)
Being that Google has as part of its mission ‘making the worlds information universally accessible’, it is not great surprise that one of the ways this can happen is to embed that said information in a blog. Here we show how to embed a form. Embedding other Google documents follows a similar (though not identical) process. We choose embedding a form because Google forms are a relatively unknown feature, and yet can be a useful resource to capture data.
How exactly?
From within Google Drive, click on File > New > Form. Follow the directions to create your a form. Hold on (exclamation mark would theoretically go here), how is that an explanation? Well, it is a part of the process that is technically outside of the remit for this blog post. Sorry. It is not overly complicated. You can do it.
After creation, at the bottom of the form click the button “Send form”. On the new pop-up window click the “Embed” button, then copy and paste the displayed embed text into your blog (as before HTML view). You can also change the size of the form that displays in your blog from this popup.
Canva
I love Photoshop and most of Adobe’s other products, but making an image in their software isn’t a matter of a few clicks, even for the most adept user. If you’re not a Photoshop guru, or you can’t afford the software, Canva is a great alternative that is already used by a number of reputable businesses.
Not only is it completely free (you only need to pay for any stock photos you use), but it also requires minimal learning, has a number of templates, and is chock-a-block full of free graphics, icons, and shapes. And, if you really do need inspiration, take a look at their new, free online design school, packed with design tips for non-designers.
Narrow.io.
Created by content marketer, Sujan Patel, this online business tool can help you build a targeted Twitter following that regularly engages with the content you create & share. It automates and streamlines the process of engaging with your target market, based on keywords and hashtags you identify with.
LastPass Password Manager
I’ll be honest, the idea of this site really didn’t appeal to me before I started working at Palo Alto Software, but since then, I’ve come to love it. In fact, I’d go so far as to say I don’t know what I’d do without it (I’d have to remember my passwords again?!). I love that you can also create folders and share them with other LastPass users—giving access to only those passwords you want to share, and keeping the important stuff private.
SLIDE SHOW TOOLS
- BookR – Super easy slide show maker.
- Flickr – Flickr is a PhotoSharing website for hosting and sharing your photos online. SlideShows of photo sets or tags can be embedded into blog posts.
- PhotoPeach – lets you quickly upload photos to make great looking slideshows and even simple quizzes. Here’s a PhotoPeach embedded in a blog post and here’s instructions for creating PhotoPeach quizzes.
Pingdom Website Speed Analyzer.
Pingdom has a nice free tool to troubleshoot slow load times on your website. Aside from just checking how fast a page loads on your website, Pingdom will send you email alerts if your servers are down, and will also show you the exact web elements, based on content type like specific image files, CSS, and HTML that are causing your site to load slowly.
Google Alerts
If you’ve got a Google account, you’ve already got access to this handy tool. Google Alerts will allow you to monitor any mentions of your brand, your own name, your competitors’ names, and anything else you wish to keep track of. As soon as new content relating to your alert is indexed, Google will notify you by email. This is a good way to stay on top of the news, but also to ensure you’re proactively monitoring your brand’s presence.
Wishpond.
This lead generation and online marketing platform is great for small to medium-sized businesses that are looking to generate leads through social contests, landing pages, conversion-optimized popups, and forms. They also have an awesome email and automated marketing platform built-in. If you want more resources for increasing your lead flow, I highly recommend checking out this list of lead generation tools over on the LeadBoxer blog
Twitter Lists
If you haven’t yet experimented with this feature, go, now. It’s a great way to “collect” all those people whose thoughts, links, and commentary you want to stay on top of. I’ve got lists for colleagues, great writers, people I want to reach out to, and companies that produce products or services I want to stay on top of.
Unsplash.
Similar to StockSnap, this site publishes a slightly more limited catalog of beautiful, free, hi-res images that you can also use without worrying about copyright infringement.
QUIZ CREATION TOOLS
- QuizRevolution – allows you to quickly create quizzes with images and/or videos.
- PhotoPeach – lets you quickly upload photos to make great looking slideshows and even simple quizzes. Here’s a PhotoPeach embedded in a blog post and here’s instructions for creating PhotoPeach quizzes.
Keyword Planner (Google).
I’ve frequently covered how important this free tool from Google is, in validating business ideas, deciding which topics to blog about, which keywords you should be targeting for your webpage, and so much more. Use the keyword planner to check average monthly search volume for different sets of keyword groupings, and that’ll give you a very quick sense to whether or not there’s demand for the product, service, or content you’re wanting to offer with your online business
Headline Analyzer Tool by CoSchedule.
The CoSchedule team is doing something right. They have tons of great online business tools, including this one that gives you a quick SEO analysis of how your potential headline ranks on a scale of 0-100. It goes a step further and also helps you boost the effectiveness of your blog post titles with powerful word and phrase recommendations
VIDEO CREATION TOOLS
- Animoto – great site for quickly creating professional looking videos from your images. Here’s an Animoto embedded in a blog post. Learn more about using Animoto with students here.
- xtranormal – lets you create 3D animated videos. Here’s an xtranormal embedded in a blog post.
DocuSign.
If you need to make your contracts extra official, I definitely recommend using DocuSign to quickly draft up legally binding contracts in seconds (from their awesome template library) and save yourself from the pain of unnecessary legal fees. This company is here to stay and is constantly innovating with new tools and services designed for everyone from freelancers to contract-workers and full-time employees
VIDEO HOSTING WEBSITES
Here’s some of the popular site used by those who want to embed their videos within embedded players rather than uploading them directly to posts as links.
Virtual Private Network from CyberGhost
Small businesses that concerned about security (and you should be) need to implement personal virtual private network (VPN) services. These services hide online activity from snoops, and limits who can and can’t access network content. Most VPNs are pay-to-play but there are a few services, such as CyberGhost$2.75 at CyberGhost, that give you a bit of protection at no cost.
CyberGhost is the best free VPN service on the market. It offers reliable connection speeds and excellent network security, plus it works on most modern operating systems (OSes). It’s somewhat difficult to configure, especially for really small businesses; and if you need Mac or Linux support, you’ll need to upgrade to the paid version. But if you just need something simple, easy, and free, then CyberGhost is a great tool.
My very first online store ran on Shopify. Beyond just their easy-to-build online business storefronts that you can host on your own custom domain, they’ve released a suite of other online business tools and integrations that allow you to sell your products directly on Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, and you can even embed shopping carts directly into your existing website.
With low monthly and per-sale transaction fees on top of a free trial, Shopify is a great option for selling products online without going through the complicated process of custom-building an online store directly into your website.
Even if you’re not on Yelp, your customers might be talking about you there. Claim your free business profile to post pictures and business information, see what customers are saying about you, and respond (politely, please!) to your critics.
Do you wonder whether all of the time, energy, and money you invest into marketing your business online is even working? Use Hubspot’s free marketing grader tool to find out how well your blog, social media, and other digital efforts are generating leads, and see how you stack up to the competition.
Searching online for information about developing your business idea can result in a lot of conflicting information. For straightforward business education and advice with no agenda, start at the U.S. Small Business Administration’s website—SBA.gov. Here you can find information about writing business plans, tips for entrepreneurs, and trustworthy information about how to finance your business, and more. It’s an incredible resource for rookie and veteran entrepreneurs alike!
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