101 Free Online Tools - Your Small Business Toolbox http://101freetools.com/articles Mon, 08 Mar 2010 03:57:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 One Tool and Five Ideas To Add Video To Your Small Business http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/03/one-tool-and-five-ideas-to-add-video-to-your-small-business.html http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/03/one-tool-and-five-ideas-to-add-video-to-your-small-business.html#comments Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:39:22 +0000 Tonya http://101freetools.com/articles/?p=1088

This is one of those rare small business tool finds that’s jam-packed with so many features it’s REALLY hard to believe it’s free. Have you ever wanted to visually show your customers step-by-step “how-to” instructions on your website, blog or in an email?

Think about how many frequently asked questions can easily be solved if you could just show them how to do it?

Problem solved with the Jing project.

What is Jing?

Jing let’s you capture a screen shot of anything on your computer and best of all you can record straight from your computer too. If you have a microphone, you can even narrate your videos with audio.

Use this tool to make short videos of less than 5 minutes with a PC or a MAC. You can easily add colored text boxes, comments and yes even active links.

Once you have created your video or screen capture you can send a tweet with a built in Twitter button. Easy, easy, easy!  No uploading or anything complicated. Get this, Jing does all the work!  The tool will save the image, create a shortened url (web address), launch Twitter so all you do is type your 140 character tweet. You never have to leave Jing. All this for the low, low price of FREE.

The Jing Project does offer a paid version for an unheard-of low price, basically a steal…$14.95 a year. At that price they are practically giving it away software that adds visuals to your online conversations.

What’s the difference?

The free features include Jing’s branding on your videos, saved in the flash format only with 2GB of free monthly bandwidth.

The paid (pro) features include a button to allow quick and easy uploading to YouTube and you get a small video files in a premium video (MPEG-4 ) format. In addition, you can use a webcam to add a personal touch then seamlessly transition from the webcam to your screen.

Both free and paid accounts are hosted with Jing’s service screencast.com partner that comes with 2GB of storage space. If you want to hold on to your space for special videos and images Jing offers 3 other option to save your videos and images; save to your computer to your desktop, create an ftp or save to Flickr Yahoo’s free image and video hosting website and online community platform.

Convinced!

Ready to install Jing?

Before you do…Check out my top 5 ideas on how you can use Jing in your small business:

  1. Record a slideshow presentation with a strong call to action
  2. Provide daily, weekly or monthly tips
  3. Create a video tutorial to answer frequently asked questions
  4. Narrate a document pointing out key information
  5. Integrate video in your social media marketing on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook

These are just a few ideas I can think of for adding video to your small business using Jing. Tell me yours in the comments below.

photo courtesy microsoft.com


Copyright © 2010 Rising Star Ideas, LLC. All Rights Reserved

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Emerging business tools resource Tonya R. Taylor helps small business owners save time and money with social media and other FREE or low cost online tools. If you liked today's issue, you'll love Tonya's workshops, seminars and training products that BOOST profits and productivity. Click here to learn more about what's in Tonya's toolbox.

Feel free to reprint this article on your website, blog or in newsletter, just include all information including the About The Author and copyright.




If you liked today's article check out these related articles:

  1. Grow your business on YouTube, Facebook & Twitter
  2. 3 tools to turbo charge your social media marketing
  3. 7 money-saving ideas

]]> http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/03/one-tool-and-five-ideas-to-add-video-to-your-small-business.html/feed 0 3 tools to help your small business get paid faster http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/02/3-tools-to-help-your-small-business-get-paid-faster.html http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/02/3-tools-to-help-your-small-business-get-paid-faster.html#comments Fri, 26 Feb 2010 05:05:02 +0000 Tonya http://101freetools.com/articles/?p=1072 101 Free Tools

It doesn’t matter whether you are a solopreneur like me, a home-based business or small business we all want to know the same thing…How can we get paid faster? One sure-fire way to generate cash flow is to send your clients an invoice as soon as possible.

You could always use your favorite publishing software to generate a professional looking invoice. However with this option you miss out on some much needed additional features like setting-up recurring invoices, tracking, reporting and so much more.

But to really get the cash flowing fast you have to offer customers a way to pay their invoices as quickly as you send them. The most flexible options include accepting payments online via electronic checks, ACH funds transfer or credit card.

Simply stated, you need tools to help your small business get paid faster!

Me too!

Since American Express is my business card of choice, I was so excited when they announced their new invoicing service for small business owners AcceptPay. AcceptPay is an online tool for electronically invoicing customers and accepting online payments.

Great! I signed up right away.

AcceptPay has two options; a free lite version or a monthly fee full version. On the surface the free version appeared to be a nice option for a small business. Until I realized they restrict the number of monthly invoices you can email to 10, it does not include any reporting and you cannot accept online payments.

What’s the purpose of sending electronic invoices if your customers can’t make a payment online?  RIGHT!?

The full service version has a monthly fee of $20 plus you have to pay a number of per transaction fees. After taking a look at this option I realized with the features they offer you can get even more using the free version of PayPal minus the monthly fee.

Now don’t get me wrong I love and frequently use PayPal but there is an even better tool for invoicing your customers.  The best model I’ve seen for online invoicing is FreshBooks and I’m already using it.

FreshBooks is so much more than an invoicing tool. It’s an accounting system with simple services that help you manage your business. You can:

  • Use a secure web address to access your account, branded with your business name.
  • You can track time of your staff or a contractor with time sheets by projects or tasks. They will login using your branded FreshBooks web address.
  • Share documents with your staff and clients, set access levels to restrict who can see what.
  • Create support tickets to help manage additional time spent with customers.
  • Send snail mail invoices by the US Postal Service prepared by the FreshBooks team, just purchase stamp credits.  Invoices are sent via first class business mail within one business day.

FreshBooks has 5 different paid plan options and 1 free plan. The free plan is robust with only two restrictions; you are limited to 3 clients but you can invoice them as much as you need. Your emails will have an added signature at the very bottom that reads: “Save time invoicing with FreshBooks (www.freshbooks.com)”.  It’s so small you or your customers will hardly notice it. In my opinion that’s a small price to pay to create a free small business invoice.

For online invoicing and so much more Rising Star Ideas, LLC recommends FreshBooks.

How do you invoice your customers and how do they pay; check or online? Let me know in the comments below.


Copyright © 2010 Rising Star Ideas, LLC. All Rights Reserved

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Emerging business tools resource Tonya R. Taylor helps small business owners save time and money with social media and other FREE or low cost online tools. If you liked today's issue, you'll love Tonya's workshops, seminars and training products that BOOST profits and productivity. Click here to learn more about what's in Tonya's toolbox.

Feel free to reprint this article on your website, blog or in newsletter, just include all information including the About The Author and copyright.




If you liked today's article check out these related articles:

  1. 2010 Business Resolution: Save money – use free tools
  2. Who gets to keep the website after you divorce your webmaster?
  3. Business Resolution: Use free tools to grow my business

]]> http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/02/3-tools-to-help-your-small-business-get-paid-faster.html/feed 2 Can your small business phone service do these 7 things? http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/02/can-your-small-business-phone-service-do-these-7-things.html http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/02/can-your-small-business-phone-service-do-these-7-things.html#comments Fri, 19 Feb 2010 05:10:07 +0000 Tonya http://101freetools.com/articles/?p=1059

In this day and age many small businesses are operated from a home office. This setup has benefits that include a short commute, working in your sweat pants and very low overhead. All you really need are the basics; an internet connection, a computer and a phone. Sounds good, I’m in!

But the dilemma for me was how do I maintain a home phone and a business phone without co-mingling them?

Initially my solution included:

  1. a home phone number
  2. an office number
  3. a dedicated fax number
  4. a mobile (cell) phone

Great, problem solved!

Well, until I realized the phone bills were mounting and only one of the four numbers was getting any action.

Hmmmn, time for a new solution.

What I discovered, is a home business phone service can come in many varieties. Whether you base your requirements on price or features.   Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as a one size fits all solution. What works for me in my business may not work, so well, for you.

Here are 7 things my small business phone service can do:

  1. Allow me to choose the number. The number can be in or out of my area code and I can keep trying combination’s to score a vanity number. At any point in time I can change my number without any charges, hassle or drama.
  2. 2. Ring on multiple phones. Finally one number that can ring everywhere I am with no limits on the amount of possible phone numbers. On vacation. At a friend’s house. Long hospital visits. This feature is amazing! For certain people or groups I can set it to ring on one number or all numbers. I can set specific days and/or times for the phone to ring or not.
  3. Provide voicemail transcripts. When a message is left a voicemail transcript is created then emailed. Great, if I’m in a meeting I can check my voice mail simply by reading the transcript. No dialing or using cell phone minutes.
  4. 4. Create custom greetings. I can create custom greetings for a specific person, groups of people and a general greeting for random callers. I can create as many greetings as I have contacts they all work at the same time.
  5. SMS text messaging. I can send and receive SMS text messages. These messages can be sent to one person or multiple people at the same time.
  6. 6. Transfer a call. Not your ordinary call transfer, an uninterrupted transfer. Let me explain, say I’m in the car on my cell then I reach my office, with the push of a button the call will be transferred from my cell to the landline so I can just keep talking. NICE!
  7. Generate website widgets. This is the one of the coolest features. I can create call widgets to add to my website and blog. This will allow people to call directly from the website without them incurring any long distances charges. These widgets can be set to ring all my phones, none of the phones or a completely different number like an answering service. Or I can leave a voice message with specific instructions. I can add a different widget for each page or product with a different call to action message.

The seven things (they have plenty more) I described are all features of the free service Google Voice. Since I started using it, I was able to reduce my bill by getting rid of two phone numbers. Yippy, once again I have struck Google Gold! This is the small business phone service that has worked best for me.

Now don’t get me wrong Google Voice is not perfect. As a matter of fact there are some issues with Goggle blocking calls to and from certain numbers. In addition, I have created a “wish list” of services I am hoping they will include:

  • ability to receive a fax
  • ability to port an existing number
  • lower international calling rates
  • apps for other smartphones (they have them for an iPhone, Blackberry and Droid)

Google Voice is currently available by invitation only however you can request an invitation. While you wait, you may want to check out RingCentral and Toktumi they both have free trials and offer some really cool features too.


Copyright © 2010 Rising Star Ideas, LLC. All Rights Reserved

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Emerging business tools resource Tonya R. Taylor helps small business owners save time and money with social media and other FREE or low cost online tools. If you liked today's issue, you'll love Tonya's workshops, seminars and training products that BOOST profits and productivity. Click here to learn more about what's in Tonya's toolbox.

Feel free to reprint this article on your website, blog or in newsletter, just include all information including the About The Author and copyright.




If you liked today's article check out these related articles:

  1. One hell of an idea, but will you remember it?
  2. Boost your Focus
  3. Toktumi Office Phone System

]]> http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/02/can-your-small-business-phone-service-do-these-7-things.html/feed 2 Growing Social Network Numbers Quantity VS Quality http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/02/growing-social-network-numbers-quantity-vs-quality.html http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/02/growing-social-network-numbers-quantity-vs-quality.html#comments Fri, 12 Feb 2010 06:23:26 +0000 Tonya http://101freetools.com/articles/?p=1045

When growing your social network (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) community numbers is it about the quantity or the quality?

This conversation was started by John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing who sent this tweet:

“wondering if as your social networks grow they become less social – engagement doesn’t scale online much better than in person”

I’m thinking wow perfect timing; this has been a hot topic in my circle lately so I immediately tweeted:

“@ducttape funny about growing social network numbers, how “expert” status is based on them for me quality is more important than quantity.”

To my surprise, within minutes he responded with this tweet:

“@RisingStarIdeas I know, you’re right – social proof drives who gets asked to the dance, but soon you find no intimacy in that #socend”

Note: You can follow the rest of the conversation here

Unfortunately, on social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn some people tend to measure you by the numbers. Their social proof stems only from how many people you have accumulated.

The way I look at it, what does that kind of social proof, really prove?

Let’s start with Quantity

When it comes to Twitter and quantity I can think of a few ways to quickly increase followers:

  • Use a free or paid service that guarantee massive amount of followers some as much as 20,000 or more a month.
  • Randomly follow anyone and everyone with the hope they will follow you back.  There seems to be an Urban Legend stating as a courtesy you should follow someone in return for them following you.
  • Use a tool that identifies if an account has auto-follow activated then follow them.  The tool will automatically punish anyone who unfollows you with a reciprocal unfollow.

Though I am personally opposed to these tactics for my needs, using any one of them will boost your follow count. If you dare to try one or all, keep in mind there is no guarantee your paid followers will be interested in your tweets (messages). As a matter of fact, they can unfollow you at anytime.

Now let’s finish with Quality

When it comes to Twitter and quality I can think of a few targeted ways increase followers:

  • Use directory services to find tribes of your target audience. You can help your followers find you by adding your Twitter handle to these directories.
  • Use the list feature to find real-time tweets from lists of users on any given topic.
  • Listen to your industry or niche, then create and tweet relevant content that adds value. As an added bonus, your tweets may be freely forwarded because good content is often retweeted.

Using these options may not increase your follow count quickly however you should over time grow a targeted list.  As long as you remember about the social part that includes building relationships. In my opinion, quality is more important than quantity. My social proof includes measuring the number of followers who are listeners that turn into buyers.

Come to think of it, should social proof be less about the numbers and more about the ability to monetize your community?

Bottom Line

It doesn’t matter; how many people follow you on Twitter or how many friends or fans you have on Facebook or how many connections you have in your LinkedIn network –if nobody is listening.

I’m curious, like John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing tweeted, who do you ask to the dance…What is your social proof and how do you measure it? Let me know in the comments.



P.S. Still “Don’t get Twitter”? Download my FREE report that reveals why Twitter is a priceless effective business tool for entrepreneurs, sales professionals, event planners, professional organizers and many other small business owners. Get answers to the top frequently asked questions (FAQ) on how to get greater results using Twitter for business. Learn how you can gain an advantage over those businesses who choose to ignore it. All without spending a ton of money advertising and marketing.




If you liked today's article check out these related articles:

  1. Social Media ROI
  2. Social Media ROI ~ create a strategy, tip #1
  3. 3 tools to turbo charge your social media marketing

]]> http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/02/growing-social-network-numbers-quantity-vs-quality.html/feed 2 Why I love Firefox and think you will too http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/02/why-i-love-firefox-and-think-you-will-too.html http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/02/why-i-love-firefox-and-think-you-will-too.html#comments Sat, 06 Feb 2010 04:53:41 +0000 Tonya http://101freetools.com/articles/?p=1035

Do you find yourself screaming because your web browser hangs all the time? If not, consider yourself lucky.

Over the years there have many arguments about which browser is better and why. So, let me start by saying this is not a technical analysis of Firefox vs. Internet Explorer (IE).  It’s simply my view with some details of why I love Firefox and think you will too.

As part of my weekly tasks I review my Google analytics statistics to learn about how my visitors interact with my site. I was surprised to learn 59.68% use Internet Explorer despite some of the well know issues like; constant browser crashing or locking, restricting content and the hole that caused a major computer attack in China two weeks ago.

Frustrated with Internet Explorer version 6 (IE6) the user community started an “IE6 Must Die petition” on Twitter and an “I Hate Internet Explorer” Facebook fan page.

Not just another web browser

At first glance you might think Firefox is just another web browser, right?

Well not to me. There are three things I really love about Firefox. First, are the thousands of add-ons available in more than 14 different categories.  An add-on allows you as the user to add specific features you like, for example a Google toolbar.

Second, is automatic updates. When I launch Firefox it will tell me if a new browser version or add-on is available. As a bonus it will also warn me if the add-on is not compatible with the current browser version.

Third, I just don’t have the problems with the browser crashing and locking. I can honestly say with Firefox I have never had that issue.

You can see the difference

Still not convinced?

See for yourself, take a look at all 7 examples that prove you can see more of the web page without touching your scroll bar. Plus you will notice the images and text are clearer.

You can also use Browser Shots an easy free tool that makes screenshots of your web page in different browsers. All you do is enter your URL (web address) then hit submit. Browser Shots will make screen shots of your web page from the browsers you choose.

When you’re ready, Firefox has a dedicated page to help IE users make the switch easy. They provide reasons to switch, frequently as questions and a simple three step process.

It doesn’t matter whether you are getting started with Firefox or you already love it too, you’ll enjoy the “Your Small Business Toolbox” collection of add-ons.

Let me know your favorite add-on in the comments below.


Copyright © 2010 Rising Star Ideas, LLC. All Rights Reserved

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Emerging business tools resource Tonya R. Taylor helps small business owners save time and money with social media and other FREE or low cost online tools. If you liked today's issue, you'll love Tonya's workshops, seminars and training products that BOOST profits and productivity. Click here to learn more about what's in Tonya's toolbox.

Feel free to reprint this article on your website, blog or in newsletter, just include all information including the About The Author and copyright.




If you liked today's article check out these related articles:

  1. Free Password Manager
  2. Google Gold
  3. 3 tools to help your small business get paid faster

]]> http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/02/why-i-love-firefox-and-think-you-will-too.html/feed 0 Twitter allows you to listen louder http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/01/twitter-allows-you-to-listen-louder.html http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/01/twitter-allows-you-to-listen-louder.html#comments Fri, 29 Jan 2010 06:39:18 +0000 Tonya http://101freetools.com/articles/?p=1012 © Mad Bunny and the big ear courtesy of yves.lecoq

© yveslecoq flickr

I love it when I send a tweet about a product or service and the business tweets me back. Last week I sent this tweet:

“@HaierAmerica where can I find a list of remote codes? Will the model# HLT71 work with Fios?”

To my surprise within a few hours not only did @HaierAmerica respond so did @VerizonSupport with the exact information I needed.

WOW how cool is that; the mere mention of “Fios” prompted a response from their support team. I thought, even though the tweet was not directly sent to Verizon, they heard me discussing their product.

That was until yesterday, when I read the article “Listen Up” by Judy Franks who said “Hearing and listening are two very different things, listening takes extra effort. We may passively hear, but we actively listen.”

She is so right! They didn’t hear me, Verizon was listening.

They were listening too

Two days after the devastating earthquake in Haiti Twitter went crazy with tweets stating AmericanAirlines and @JetBlue were offering free trips for doctors and nurses to help with relief efforts.

Unfortunately the tweets were a hoax. However, both American Airlines and @JetBlue were listening to the rumor which allowed them to respond quickly with tweets about their specific relief efforts.

Many entrepreneurs and small business owners still think social media is a fad, but look around it’s here to stay. It doesn’t matter if a business owner is participating in the conversations on Twitter or other social media tools like Facebook people are talking about their products. Those people are driving the perception of their brand whether they like it or not.

The question is do entrepreneurs and small business hear them, or, are they listening?

In my opinion it would benefit most entrepreneurs and small businesses to at least understand how to use Twitter for business at least as a tool to listen to industry trends and hear what people are saying about their brand.


In addition to Twitter, here are 3 free tools I use to create a social media listening station:

1. Social Oomph – use the track keyword option to set up real-time alerts to monitor tweets across Twitter that can be emailed to you on a schedule you choose.


2. Google Reader – subscribe to your favorite industry blogs or website or find sites using specific search terms all the information will be store in a folder in your google account


3. Social Mention – create an alert to send a daily email after searching any one or all of the following: blogs, microblogs, networks, bookmarks, comments, images, news, video, audio and Q&A


If you are not actively listening to trends in your industry and what your customers and/or prospects are saying you are missing a huge opportunity not to mention doing your brand a disservice.

With a little extra effort, using Twitter and other social media tools  entrepreneurs and small businesses can easily listen louder.



P.S. Still “Don’t get Twitter”? Download my FREE report that reveals why Twitter is a priceless effective business tool for entrepreneurs, sales professionals, event planners, professional organizers and many other small business owners. Get answers to the top frequently asked questions (FAQ) on how to get greater results using Twitter for business. Learn how you can gain an advantage over those businesses who choose to ignore it. All without spending a ton of money advertising and marketing.




If you liked today's article check out these related articles:

  1. Growing Social Network Numbers Quantity VS Quality
  2. 3 tools to turbo charge your social media marketing
  3. Social Media ROI ~ create a strategy, tip #1

]]> http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/01/twitter-allows-you-to-listen-louder.html/feed 2 3 tools to make your website or blog social media friendly http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/01/3-tools-to-make-your-website-or-blog-social-media-friendly.html http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/01/3-tools-to-make-your-website-or-blog-social-media-friendly.html#comments Fri, 22 Jan 2010 07:40:47 +0000 Tonya http://101freetools.com/articles/?p=995

Courtesy of Flickr by Creativecommoners

I have lost count on how many websites or blogs I visited with really good, useful and informative content. These sites have unfortunately neglected the opportunity to leverage social media as a free way to massively distribute their content.

“According to a report from The Nielsen Company, Americans spent 17% of all their Internet time using social networking sites.”

With that statistic in mind, I am amazed how many websites and blogs are still not sociable.

Let me explain…

The sites I am referring to are built on some of the best blogging and web 2.0 platforms available; like WordPress and TypePad . These website are not your run-of-the mill or fly-by-night sites, they have history, a library of information and wealth of valuable traffic.

So why don’t they make it easy for visitors to share their content on Twitter, Facebook, email or one of the many social bookmarking sites?

Hmmn…

Maybe they don’t know there’s a simple piece of copy and paste code that will

  • automatically shorten their article title and article link then give them up to date tweet counts.
  • look at their website to find a relevant article title and article images before their content is shared on Facebook.
  • create a button for just about every social media and social bookmarking site available (not advised).

Well, just in case you don’t know, here are 3 tools that create simple copy and paste code for you to make your website or blog a more sharable social experience:

TweetMeme Retweet button has built a live count of the number of times your webpage, article or blog post has been tweeted. This button can be; used on web pages and/or blog post, added to your RSS feed, added to your emails or used as a plugin for most of the blogging software.

Facebook Share button you can effortlessly choose the button or a link option then decide if you would like to use a counter and specify where you would like to place it on the button. Adding this button makes it as easy to share content on Facebook as it on Twitter.

AddToAny button helps your visitors share and bookmark your webpages and blog posts and subscribe to your feeds using just about any service. They have also integrates Google Analytics for dynamic reporting on all your social media and social bookmarking sites on one report.

For those who have not or afraid to jump on the social media bandwagon you do not need a Twitter or Facebook account to use these buttons on your website or blog. You can find an example of these buttons at the end of this (and every one) of my articles.

Don’t miss out on your opportunity to use social media to increase your traffic and broadcast your message.

BOTTOM LINE

I love to share and others do too.


Have you found great content you wanted to share, but the website didn’t make it easy for you? Please share your story leave a response below.



P.S. Still “Don’t get Twitter”? Download my FREE report that reveals why Twitter is a priceless effective business tool for entrepreneurs, sales professionals, event planners, professional organizers and many other small business owners. Get answers to the top frequently asked questions (FAQ) on how to get greater results using Twitter for business. Learn how you can gain an advantage over those businesses who choose to ignore it. All without spending a ton of money advertising and marketing.


Copyright © 2010 Rising Star Ideas, LLC. All Rights Reserved

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Emerging business tools resource Tonya R. Taylor helps small business owners save time and money with social media and other FREE or low cost online tools. If you liked today's issue, you'll love Tonya's workshops, seminars and training products that BOOST profits and productivity. Click here to learn more about what's in Tonya's toolbox.

Feel free to reprint this article on your website, blog or in newsletter, just include all information including the About The Author and copyright.




If you liked today's article check out these related articles:

  1. 3 tools to turbo charge your social media marketing
  2. Remarkable Results!
  3. Social Media ROI

]]> http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/01/3-tools-to-make-your-website-or-blog-social-media-friendly.html/feed 3 Social media – who has the time? http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/01/social-media-who-has-the-time.html http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/01/social-media-who-has-the-time.html#comments Fri, 15 Jan 2010 05:38:05 +0000 Tonya http://101freetools.com/articles/?p=975 I was having a conversation this week with a few marketing professionals; their positions run the gamut from C-level executive, president to volunteer. The group consisted of professionals from corporate America to small (really small) business owners.

As the conversation turned from our usual status update to strategies for promoting upcoming events, increasing membership, making the community aware of the scholarships and identifying training programs, I was surprised to learn how many of them are not actively using social media; to, well, market these activities.

Now don’t get me wrong it’s not just marketing professionals. I’m sure I can add to the list; event planners, restaurateurs, professional organizers, solopreneurs, small businesses and large ones too.

The conversation starts like this….

“Are you using social media; Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube; MySpace for business?”

Even if I don’t ask the question directly there is always someone in the crowd who will shout out one of these:

  • How much time does it take to do social media?
  • How much time should I spend on social media?
  • How much time does social media management take?
  • How much time does it take for a ______ to do social media?

Note: you can fill in the blank with any type of business or industry

Before I can give them my answer, they fire back with…

“Social media; Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Myspace – who has the time?”

If you haven’t started using social media yet because you think it’s too time-consuming, or if you’re only using one because you wish it didn’t take so long to separately log in to each one of your accounts, you’re in luck.

I have created a custom iGoogle homepage tab labeled “Social Networking Tools”. You will find 10 tools (aka gadgets) for Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, YouTube and MySpace.

With these tools you can:

  • use Twitter without leaving your iGoogle page
  • view your Facebook news feed and update your status from iGoogle
  • search LinkedIn from your iGoogle page
  • access your MySpace activity data from iGoogle
  • browse, search and watch YouTube videos right inside iGoogle

Just to be clear YOU NEVER LEAVE GOOGLE.

Click here to add my personal “Social Networking Tools ” tab to your iGoogle homepage. Don’t worry you can keep the tools you like, uncheck the ones you don’t like and/or add new ones.

There is one caveat: to enable this feature you must be signed into your Google account, if you don’t have one click here . Good news for Gmail users you automatically get an account with your email.

With my Social Networking Tools iGoogle homepage tab you can save time by using social networking sites directly from your web browser without ever leaving Google.

Let me know what you think, drop me a note below in  ‘Leave your response!’



P.S. Still “Don’t get Twitter”? Download my FREE report that reveals why Twitter is a priceless effective business tool for entrepreneurs, sales professionals, event planners, professional organizers and many other small business owners. Get answers to the top frequently asked questions (FAQ) on how to get greater results using Twitter for business. Learn how you can gain an advantage over those businesses who choose to ignore it. All without spending a ton of money advertising and marketing.




If you liked today's article check out these related articles:

  1. Social Media ROI
  2. 3 tools to turbo charge your social media marketing
  3. Social Media ROI ~ create a strategy, tip #1

]]> http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/01/social-media-who-has-the-time.html/feed 0 2010 Business Resolution: Save money – use free tools http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/01/2010-business-resolution-save-money-use-free-tools.html http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/01/2010-business-resolution-save-money-use-free-tools.html#comments Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:48:53 +0000 Tonya http://101freetools.com/articles/?p=944 Believe it or not we are only one week into the new year and people have already 2010 New Year's Resultionstarted breaking their resolutions. Have you? Does your list look like this:

  1. lose weight
  2. exercise
  3. drink more water
  4. quit smoking
  5. earlier to bed
  6. drink less
  7. pay off credit cards
  8. phone mom more
  9. etc.

I’m sure at least one of these sound familiar to you, right?

Imagine the overwhelming number of people who put “lose weight” on their personal resolution list to do this year, last year and even the year before. SMH (for those who don’t know this is short hand for “shaking my head”) because I too am one of those people.

Now imagine, the number of business owners who have put “grow my business” on that same type of list. Both business and personal resolutions fail because they are not focused, too broad and/or don’t have a plan.

Check out these 5 specific and measurable ways you can use free tools today to save money and grow your business. Repeat after me…In 2010 I resolve to:

1. Learn how to rake in more cash using an Opt-In email list – with a free eCourse

Email marketing is still an extremely effective way to get folks to take action. This free eCourse will teach you 21 simple things you can do to immediately increase your traffic, responses, sales and profits. Some of these tips teach you how to get more people to open your email; others teach you how to get more people to  read your email; and still other tips teach you how to get more people to take action.

2. Increase my revenue while I sleep – with Paypal

Let your customers pay for your products or services online, anytime, anywhere. According to Paypal small-to-medium-sized businesses that use their service get an average sales lift of 14%. There are no monthly fees, set-up fees or cancellation fees; however there are (small) per transaction fees. You can automatically add customers to your email marketing (with MailChimp see #5) list instantly and seamlessly whenever they buy from you.

3. Track my website visitors and Twitter followers  – with Clicky Analytics

Know who your visitors are, where they are visiting from and what pages they view on your website. See your Twitter growth stats in one location with your traffic data. Clicky Analytics makes it easy to improve your results online with real-time analytics. With this information you will write better content, strengthen your marketing initiatives, and turn visitors into customers.

4. Save money on conference calls – with FreeConference.com

Reduce or eliminate the expensive of hosting conference calls. When using toll-free numbers the conference organizer will (usually) pay a per minute rate for each participant in the conference. With Free Conference long distance rates are charged to each individual conference participant’s by their long distance carrier. Conference calls take place on regular telephone lines and no computer or Internet access is required.

5. Turbo-charge my email marketing campaigns – with Mailchimp

Even if you already have an email marketing tool, I’ll bet you don’t have functionality like MailChimp. Creating stunning email marketing campaigns and autoresponders is just the beginning. MailChimp lets you share your email campaign across social networks Twitter and Facebook. MailChimp can automatically tweet your campaign the moment it is sent. They will even track how many times your campaign was re-tweeted and let you know who’s doing the re-tweeting. With their cool Facebook feature you can post your newsletter to your news feeds with one-click.

By creating specific and measurable goals for your business this year doesn’t have to be like previous years. Implementing these free tools today will help you, repeat after me “I resolve to WIN in 2010″. Make this the year you succeed in accomplishing your business (and personal) resolutions.



P.S. Still “Don’t get Twitter”? Download my FREE report that reveals why Twitter is a priceless effective business tool for entrepreneurs, sales professionals, event planners, professional organizers and many other small business owners. Get answers to the top frequently asked questions (FAQ) on how to get greater results using Twitter for business. Learn how you can gain an advantage over those businesses who choose to ignore it. All without spending a ton of money advertising and marketing.


Copyright © 2010 Rising Star Ideas, LLC. All Rights Reserved

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Emerging business tools resource Tonya R. Taylor helps small business owners save time and money with social media and other FREE or low cost online tools. If you liked today's issue, you'll love Tonya's workshops, seminars and training products that BOOST profits and productivity. Click here to learn more about what's in Tonya's toolbox.

Feel free to reprint this article on your website, blog or in newsletter, just include all information including the About The Author and copyright.




If you liked today's article check out these related articles:

  1. Business Resolution: Use free tools to grow my business
  2. 3 tools to turbo charge your social media marketing
  3. 5 Business Resolutions You Can Easily Keep

]]> http://101freetools.com/articles/2010/01/2010-business-resolution-save-money-use-free-tools.html/feed 0 Social Media ROI ~ create a strategy, tip #1 http://101freetools.com/articles/2009/07/social-media-roi-create-a-strategy-tip-1.html http://101freetools.com/articles/2009/07/social-media-roi-create-a-strategy-tip-1.html#comments Fri, 24 Jul 2009 05:19:47 +0000 Tonya http://fakeituntilyoumakeit.com/?p=636 Social Networking: Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Whether it’s Twitter, Facebook and/or LinkedIn follow these five tips to help you measure your social networking return on investment (ROI) efforts:

1.    Create a strategy
2.    Use automation
3.    Use cross platform tools
4.    Invest in training
5.    Track and measure

You can find an overview of all five tips in the original article “Social Media ROI“.  This article is part 2 of the 6 part series which will focus on ROI tip #1 ~ Create A Strategy.

When creating your high-impact social media strategy you should do the following:
•    set goals that turn your followers, fan and connections into buyers
It does not matter if you have 1, 100, 1000, 10,000 or 1,000,000 Twitter followers, Facebook fans or LinkedIn connections if none of them are listening or purchasing your products and services.

•    identify offline and online ways to get found by your ideal prospects
Offline – Because of budget constraints it’s easy to neglect updating your promotional materials to include your Twitter handle, Facebook fan page url or your public LinkedIn profile url. You can accomplish these for free (or very low cost) using a company like Vista Print.
Online – You can easily add your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn information to the signature line of your email. Or you can copy their provided code to add your Twitter stream to your Facebook page or LinkedIn’s Company Buzz application to add Twitter.

•    save time by repurposing content
Reuse content from your website, blog and marketing materials to post on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. You can break up your about us section into small pieces of information, visit industry specific websites with good information or create daily or weekly tips or tricks to post on all social networking sites.

•    understand how often to tweet, post, and update
It’s about time… How many times does it take a person to see your marketing or advertising message before they buy? Keep in mind the Rule of Seven which states a prospect needs to see or hear your marketing message at least seven times before they take action and buy from you.

•    acknowledge remarkable results then repeat the process
If you are driving traffic to a blog or web page make sure you are measuring the results. Google analytics is a great free tool however the statistics are from the previous day. If you need real-time web stats check out Clicky or try bit.ly to measure clicks on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn too!

Before you get started, be sure to add these to your overall marketing plan. Since each social network site is different you need to decide in advance what and how you are going to promote your product or service on each. Make sure you understand the rules on each site because it’s not hard to find someone trying to use Facebook like Twitter or LinkedIn like Twitter though they are totally different tools with clearly defined rules and criteria for providing information to your list.

image courtesy of TheDesignSuperhero.com



P.S. Still “Don’t get Twitter”? Download my FREE report that reveals why Twitter is a priceless effective business tool for entrepreneurs, sales professionals, event planners, professional organizers and many other small business owners. Get answers to the top frequently asked questions (FAQ) on how to get greater results using Twitter for business. Learn how you can gain an advantage over those businesses who choose to ignore it. All without spending a ton of money advertising and marketing.




If you liked today's article check out these related articles:

  1. Social Media ROI
  2. 3 tools to turbo charge your social media marketing
  3. Social media – who has the time?

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