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When working on your own business from home, you might notice that you don't have the same software tools that you might if you were working for a big company. You don't want to have to spend all of that money to have the same software though, and you shouldn't have to. Here is a list of tools that can help you with your business, and they are all free.
If you want to be able to keep track of tasks you need to work on, a great tool is Vitalist. Here you can set up projects, or tasks that you need to complete. You can create multiple lists, which is great if you are working on more than one project at a time. There is also an inbox, which allows you to put other tasks that need to be done, but are not associated with a project. Here are two other sites that will allow you to track lists, and are also good. Both Ta Da List and Remember the Milk have to-do lists that will help you keep track of everything you want to get done.
If you are looking for more of a project management tool, you can try Basecamp. You will be able to create lists, track schedules and keep track of milestones.
If you want to easily keep track of appointments, or things you need to get done on certain days, Google Calendar is a helpful tool. Since you set it up online, you can access it anywhere. You can also keep it personal and just for yourself, or share it with others so they know when you are free and busy.
If you want to be able to use word processing and spreadsheet tools, but don't want to pay for Microsoft Office, you can use Google Docs & Spreadsheets. It will let you do many of the same things as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel, but is a free application.
To help with budgeting and keeping track of your business expenses, you can use Pear Budget. It can help you keep track of your spending, to make sure you aren't spending more on your business than you are earning.
There are many software applications out there that can help you with your business. If you come up with a need that is not mentioned in this article, you should first search online for a free version, before spending money. If you can find a free piece of software that takes care of your needs, it is great as you can save that money for something else.
You can distribute software at software download sites; you can give away website and Wordpress themes. These are some of the most cost efficient ways to market your website possible. Read on to learn more.
Give Away Free Software
There are many websites where you can upload software and simply give it away for free. In your program itself, you can have links or a popup page that tells the customer about your paid services.
For example, on Download.com some of the top spyware removal programs have been downloaded over 300 million times. Many of these businesses do little to no marketing apart from giving away the most basic parts of their software for free. People will later decide to upgrade and that's how they'll make money.
You can also create free software and market it by giving it away to other people's email lists or in relevant forums. For example, if you have a free market research tool, you can give it away at marketing forums or have your marketing friends send out an email blast that'll promote your new free tool. If the tool is good, they're doing their customers a favor.
Finally, you can keep your software free and require a login or email signup to access to download. This will allow you to continually market to the list.
Give Away Free Design Templates
Another great way to get a lot of traffic and a lot of backlinks is to give away free designs. For example, you can hire a designer to create a Wordpress theme that's made especially for your niche. At the bottom of the theme is a link back to your website.
For example, you can create a website dedicated to “Real Estate” website and Wordpress themes. Every time someone chooses to use a design that you created, they'll also automatically create a link back to your website.
A Very Cost Efficient Way to Market Your Business
Generally, getting free traffic is pretty difficult. By giving away free software however, you can generate thousands, sometimes millions of views. If your software is useful and popular, you might even get bloggers and other websites to review and recommend your software.
Simply put, giving away software is a great way to get huge exposure at a very low cost, especially if you write the software yourself. Even if you don't write it yourself, it's surprisingly cheap to outsource simple software projects for free on the Internet.
Once your software is available online, the flood of targeted traffic will just keep on coming in. You make a onetime investment in time, energy or money and the traffic will continue to flow. In many ways, giving away software is a powerful free way to generate “passive traffic.” Either of these techniques are both great ways to drastically increase your traffic for a very low cost.