16 Free Resources for Personal or Business Use

February 23, 2010

Free Resources for Business or Personal Use
I’ve found lots of free resources that have been helpful to me and my partners so I wanted to share these with you. These resources are great for personal and/or business use and can greatly reduce time, add value to your website, and are absolutely great to use! Enjoy!

Free Software #1: WordPress
http://www.wordpress.org

WordPress is a state-of-the-art publishing/blog/website platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.

Free Software #2: OpenOffice
http://www.openoffice.org

OpenOffice is the free version of Microsoft Office. It is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It works on all common computers and stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose.

Free Software #3: PrimoPDF
http://www.primopdf.com

Create PDF files faster with the only free PDF creator to support one-click, drag-and-drop PDF creation. You can convert to PDF from any file you can print, including Microsoft^® Word, Excel^®, and PowerPoint^® formats.

Free Software #4: Gimp
http://www.gimp.org

GIMP is a versatile graphics manipulation package. You can edit graphics, photos, and more. This is another free source program that often beats the paid solutions available.

Free Software #5: Gimpshop
http://plasticbugs.com/?page_id=294

This is a free add-on to make Gimp operate more like Photoshop. Many of the menus and other elements are very similar to Photoshop, so this becomes a nice alternative.

Free Software #6: Audacity
http://audacity.sourceforge.net

Audacity® is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. It as a very good solution for editing your audio files either for online use or for CDs you develop.

Free Software #7: CamStudio
http://www.swftools.com/tools-details.php?tool=8162413051

Record audio and video from your screen directly to flash. No question about it. I prefer Camtasia Studio over this free version as it has many more features, but Camtasia Studio also costs $300 after your trial is over. If that’s out of your budget, here’s your alternative.

Free Software #8: PowerBullet
http://www.powerbullet.com

Create slideshows, auto-running presentations, and more. Very nice finished product. You can output the finished presentation as Flash or executable. The executable format is nice for tutorials and software documentation.

Free Software #9: Gmail
http://www.gmail.com

A lot of people love Outlook or Eudora, and I was a diehard Outlook user for years. I now prefer Gmail as it also includes free, over the air (OTA) updates to my cell phone. You can have it pick up email from all your addresses and set to reply from each address. My favorite part…since it’s web based I can use one computer at home and my laptop when I’m traveling without transferring anything over.

Free Software #10: FileZilla
http://sourceforge.net/projects/filezilla/

Open source FTP client for Window’s computers. You’ll need this for uploading and downloading files, pages, videos, PDFs, and more to your website.

Free Software #11: Teleconference Calls
http://www.totallyfreeconferencecalls.com

Not really software, but it belongs on this list anyway. Set-up your own conference call line with unlimited usage for up to 99 lines for free. Instant Conference is another company that does this for up to 150 lines.

Free Software #12: Skype
http://www.skype.com

With Skype’s free software – by the way, it works seamlessly with your internet connection – you can chat away with free Skype-to-Skype calls and never worry about cost, time or distance. Share the love and get your friends to download Skype so you can talk, instant message (IM) or make video calls for nothing.

Free Software #13: Google Analytics
http://www.google.com/analytics/

Google Analytics is installed on almost all of my websites (and it should be on all of them). Simply add their code to the bottom of each of your pages and watch them track everything for your site. You can even set “goals” for your site such as subscriptions or sales by adding the code to your thank you pages. Check on your conversion rates from your traffic this way. This is the basics of tracking your traffic at your site. Install it now.

Free Software #14: eFax
https://www.efax.com/en/efax/twa/signupFree?rqcp=1

I don’t use a fax very often. Those are one of those old tools or something people used to use before email I think. But once in a while I need to fax something out like a contract or a client wants to fax me over something. My fax number is from eFax. You can fax and receive faxes right from your computer.

Free Software #15: osTicket
http://osticket.com

Set up your own support ticket system to handle any customer inquiries. Email is unreliable and a little harder for a team to track. There are several free support ticket options available. osTicket is one of the good ones.

Free Software #16: AVG
http://free.grisoft.com/

This is virus protection software. If you work online a lot, you will be exposed to viruses. Protect your computer with their free version or their paid version. I’ve found their software puts a lighter load on your processing power than most of the other options out there.

*Some content reprinted from http://www.reallifepurpose.com/.

About Kesha Brown

Kesha is the Creative Director and Principal Web Designer at her company XD Web Solutions who specializes in helping small businesses and organizations maximize their online presence. Go ahead and follow her on Twitter and LinkedIn.

12 Comments to “16 Free Resources for Personal or Business Use”

October 11, 2011 at 11:25 pm
Veronica Cervera says:

I just want to add that if you’re outsourcing your business it would be best to use Google Docs. In this way, you can work with your contractors collaboratively.

[Reply]
August 11, 2011 at 1:42 pm
Debra Botlon
Twitter: DebrasBee
says:

Kesha,

This is really great resourceful info. you have shared. It is awesome that you have taken the time to do this and it is most appreciated!

Thanks so much.
Debra Bolton

[Reply]
Kesha
Twitter: xdwebsolutions
Reply:
August 20th, 2011 at 10:22 am
@Debra, glad you found this info useful. Hope to see you back on the blog soon and if there’s anything I can assist you with, let me know!

~K

[Reply]
May 29, 2011 at 10:42 am
Anon says:

You can use Gmail in outlook.
Outlook 2007: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=77689
Outlook 2003: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=13278

[Reply]
Anon Reply:
May 29th, 2011 at 10:44 am
Eudora and Outlook are Email clients that can be set to any Email address. Gmail is only good for Gmail addresses.

[Reply]
May 26, 2011 at 4:45 pm
Judith Sullivan says:

Kersha I love to see people share this is what makes the world go around.

Thank you
Judith

[Reply]
Kesha
Twitter: xdwebsolutions
Reply:
May 29th, 2011 at 8:57 pm
No problem Judith! I believe in the wonderful act of sharing so it’s always a pleasure. Hope to see you back here soon and if there’s anything I can do to create better or additional content for you here, don’t hesitate to let me know!

[Reply]
May 9, 2011 at 12:56 am
Lu Swart says:

Thanks for the information. I use some, but enjoyed learning about the rest.

[Reply]
Kesha
Twitter: xdwebsolutions
Reply:
May 9th, 2011 at 1:14 am
@Lu, no problem. There are always new and exciting free resources I find and it can be hard to keep up with it all, although I do have my favorite ones

Feel free to share your favorites with me as well!

[Reply]
April 2, 2011 at 4:59 pm
Michele Bergh
Twitter: beinspired1
says:

These are great resources you have listed here. I love the efax idea – new to me and the osticket – also new to me! Thanks for sharing.
Michele Bergh recently posted..The 5-Minute Sprint

[Reply]
Kesha
Twitter: xdwebsolutions
Reply:
April 3rd, 2011 at 12:53 am
@Michele, yes, efax is a great free way to receive incoming faxes, especially on the go or when you don’t want to tie up your home phone line for it!

And I believe osTicket can be installed right from your host (depending on who you host your website with). Check your control panel (or Fantastico installer) for osTicket or any other ticketing/customer service options. Most have them these days.

Enjoy and thanks for leaving your feedback. Hope to see you back around soon!

[Reply]
March 4, 2010 at 11:24 pm
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[Reply]