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What free or cost effective Business tools did you use this year?

by Greg Fry on December 18th, 2009 | Comments

I thought I’d share my favourite business tools I have used this year. I am amazed at how many amazing products for business are very inexpensive or often completely free. The only challenge is to find them in the first place.
Here are my top 5 business tools of 2009:
1. Animoto – Allows you to make really impressive videos. You can add text, photos, short video clips and music to the site. Within minutes a jumbled mess will be produced into a highly impressive video. Animoto is free for 30 second videos and as little as $30 a year for full length videos. Here is an example of an Animoto video I made this year.

2. Eyejot – Video email. I have found this a really useful tool to follow up with prospective clients I have met. It enables them to see me again and to hear how I may be able to help them.
This visual email is a powerful follow up after a busy night’s networking. Eyejot is easy to personalise with your own branding. Eyejot is free to use without branding. With branding it is as little as $29.99 per year. Here is an example of a video email.

3. Screenjelly – Allow you to record your computer screen and your voice. I have used this service to comment on cvs and tell them how and where their cv should be strengthened. Once you record your message just send it via email or twitter. Cost – Free

4. Tungle – A great application for the busy entrepreneur. Tungle makes scheduling meetings effortless and synchronises with both Outlook and Google. It makes it easy for staff and clients to see when you are available and set a meeting with you. Tungle is free to use.

5. WiseStamp is  a really nifty and free product that enables you to personalise your email signature. It works on Firefox. It seems to work with most email providers (Gmail ,Yahoo Mail ,AOL, Hotmail, Google Apps…) It is easy to customise. You can add social media buttons to your signature and even your photo.
Here is a sample of a signature or two on Wise Stamp looks:

Signature Template:
John Smith Your City, Country Mobile: +983-23832842

Email: John@wisestamp.com

Chat: Google Talk: John Skype: John MSN:

Signature Greg Fry
 Greg Fry
Careers Coach - fast track your career to success
Tel. +353 872039855
Email. greg.fry@careerscoach.eu
Web. www.careerscoach.ie
Blog. http://wwwcareerscoacheu.blog.com

So what top tools have you used in 2009?

Which ones would you recommend and why?

Category: Branding, Social media Marketing, online marketing

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Author: Greg Fry

I am an experienced Career Consultant with a passion for helping people excel in their career. Areas I specialise in include: Outplacement, Personal Branding, CVs, Interviewing, Job search, Social Media and Networking. www.careerscoach.ie http://www.careerscoach.ie

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Add Your Comment

  • great post Greg ! thanks for sharing, will deffo be using some of the tools you recommend and the others below. Weebly is a free website builder that might be worth checking out also.
  • If you use Twitter, especially for search and monitor topics or conversations (both sides), and you like Outlook - TwInbox is great. Allows you to use Twitter within Outlook. I have two installations - one on home PC for a number of accounts and searches and one on my office laptop for focussed searches and alerts. Saves wasting too much time on Twitter. (http://j.mp/aldyPn)
  • gregfry
    Thanks Andrew. I use Tweetdeck and HooteSuite to manage my tweets. However both can be distracting unless one is ultra disciplined at work. So this looks like a super tool to avoid getting sucked into Twitter. Thanks for sharing your tip.
  • Hi Greg. Thanks for the list. I've bookmarked this page to check out some of the tools when I get bored of turkey.

    A free tool that I use and find useful is xobni.com - it works within MS Outlook and, among other features, checks e-mail addresses to see if that address is also registered with Facebook, LinkedIn and other networks. Great for seeing if your clients are using the same networks as you, so that you can connect with them.

    Cheers, Liam
  • gregfry
    Thanks for sharing xobni.com looks like a great tool for Outlook users. Really like the social media features.
    Have a great Christmas and I hope you get some value from some of the tools listed above.
  • Great idea Greg Have'nt got into the video thing yet but your list will get me started in 2010! This year commenced with a webbased project and it felt like I learned a new free application everyday for almost 3 months.

    http://www.surveymonkey.com/
    http://www.gimp.org/ on line graphics
    http://aviary.com/ Photo-editing, logos, web templates, filters, color palettes, screen capture ++ & they have a good fiscal policy

    Presentations:
    http://prezi.com <<very cool!
    http://www.slideshare.net great way to share information and can be linked to linkedin.

    I also started 2009 by thinking it was great how many free applications were available on the web... but now I wonder how sustainable is it? How do these companies generate money and if we grow to rely on them and they are unsustainable...
  • gregfry
    Thanks for sharing some super tools Roisin.I really like the look of www.prezi.com. You make a great point about over relying on products that may not be around tomorrow. Food for thought.

    Have a great Christmas and all the best for 2010.
  • Great list~! Thanks.

    I've also used several of the Free tools from Hubspot. Awesome analytics. Add SocialOomph's tricks and I've had great success trimming my work load.
  • gregfry
    Janet Alexander, Thanks for the advice on Hubspot. Looks great. Someone today also mentioned www.proposalkit.com as great tool.
  • gregfry
    Thanks for sharing your tips Jim. I love the sound of www.truecrypt.org. I use www.dropbox.com (a great free tool) to send and share large files.
  • Hi Greg,
    good idea.
    I use truecrypt (open-source disk encryption software) for securing the contents of my usb key.
    Wouldn't want clients info to get into the wrong hands. www.truecrypt.org.

    I use toodledo.com for online task management. It's was designed with GTD in mind and while I haven't implemented full gtd I like being able to organise my todos by contexts.

    I have been looking for a free tool sending large files to friends/clients and just found sendtoperson.com.

    I'm sure there are others but those are ones I have used in the past week.
  • Hi Greg, thanks for sharing! Great list.
  • gregfry
    Thanks for sharing your tips. Keep them coming. Fred, Freshbooks is a great invoicing tool alright.
  • Love the video Greg, thanks for sharing the resources - I have utilised a lot of free stuff this year - even got a course for free :)
    Great ROI :)
  • unacoleman
    Great one Greg - thanks for sharing.
  • derbhiledromey
    Nearly everything I used this year was free. I went to two free conferenes and I made full use o free social networking outlets like Faebook, Twitter and of course, bloggertone.
  • Great set of tools Greg! Thanks for sharing man. I actually didn't know about Tungle. It looks very similar to Google Calendar.
    Two other fantastic tools that we use almost everyday are: mailchimp.com (email newsletter made easy), and freshbooks.com (invoices made easy). I guess a third a very cost-effective tool we've used a lot throughout the year was You Tube :)
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