from Directory
Welcome, this directory has grown and been updated over the years. Some categories are regrettably old, some listings are out of business, some are recent. Want more? Check out our good friend Robin Good's Tools.
Tired of waiting a few minutes for each LinkedIn search? Do a blazing fast search on Google in a few seconds. Use the phrase "site:linkedin.com" in your search to return only results from LinkedIn. Now this doesn't always work. Some people make public only a limited part of their profile, or none at all. But it's a good place to start. Search example -
http://www.google.com/search?q=site:linkedin.com+"marc+freedman"
LinkedinContactManager (thanks while it lasted, Arnnei!), LinkedInaBoxe.
LinkedIn provides no way to extract contacts such as new connections. An address scraper is useful for this and other applications. Just point it at a block of text, a web page, or file or folder on your hard drive and it returns a list of sorted unique email or web addresses. I use and recommend Data Extractor.
If you use your regular computer email like Outlook, you typically rely on the email service provided by your Internet access service provider. ISPs today have a severe limit on SMTP (outgoing mail) use. They restrict the amount of email you can send in a single message (using BCC) or over an hour and other periods of time. If you're sending hundreds of messages you must break up and queue your email. If you have thousands of messages that is impractical.
One solution is a specialty email service provider that gives you an SMTP account that enables far higher mail volume. I use and recommend http://fastmail.us .
See our directory and tips on using group email software on your own PC. It's a good approach if you have a lot of lists and frequently do list merging, cleaning, importing, etc. Such software often includes its own email server so it can directly transfer mail to recipient ISPs. This avoid your ISP SMTP server and its mail limits.
Another option are web-based email services that provide convenience, automatic list maintenance and message sending, and high availability servers. They can get through corporate and ISP spam filters you might not from your PC. There are a few hundred such services.
DallasBlue uses iContact.
Prices shown - if possible - for 10K emails (monthly or one-time)
More expensive
Be aware
Include alternatives to paying for Microsoft Office
A few typical and new or interesting sites. Many have no charge for free events. free4free means there is no charge to list and provide tickets for free events.
For demos and showing bugs to developers
and awards. Everything you need to make live video streaming a professional activity.
Press releases used to be a standard part of the marketing toolset pre-Internet. But they've declined, particularly with a renewed focus on lead generation over branding.
They're known to be a great way to get noticed by, yes, the press. But it's typically a poor investment as the media is already deluged by a torrent of releases, many poorly written or clear company puff pieces. The key value today can come from SEO. Backlinks from releases distributed to hundreds of sites can help companies with little SEO equity and increase leads.
Some service providers have capitalized on this by killing the press angle and specializing strictly on super-distribution for a large fee. However Google is increasingly wary of such forced search engine rankings.
Do-It-Yourself press release posting sites for small businesses typically cost $100-$500 per release, with packages based on the media and extent of distribution
Write stationery for standard LinkedIn communications, such as sending invitations, sending introductions, forwarding introductions, etc., just look you would for business letters. You can store your stationery in a MS Word or similar file. I recommend using a clip manager and in particular ClipMate, where you can manage your clips, and point and paste to use. ClipMate has many cool features, such as PowerPaste (automatic clip pasting), screen capture, and direct clip editing.
Cool features can include automatic scanning from your phone and direct access to your credit, debit, and checking accounts to pull in expensible transactions.
See PM
See ToDo
CutePDF, PDF995, PriomPDF, PDF Creator. Recommendations from Craig Wiggins, Steven Tylock, and Marcel Ekkel.
An article and a few links at Techsoup, also here
Cnet has a good roundup here. Roboform has a great product. I use LastPass.
Windows automatic update is fine for most people. But Microsoft has been known to automatically install bad patches and spyware in the guise of Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA). A few options are below.
Secunia Software Inspector. http://secunia.com/software_inspector/ . Service is available as both Web and software flavors.
NetChk Protect. Note - this used to be free but is now is not. I've used Shavlik NetChk Protect. On the plus side, it also updates others apps. On the minus, it's complex, intended for enterprises, not easy to use, and so only for real techies. NetChk Protect: simple single user directions - download.
Encrypt email addresses through Javascript code in your web pages. Your browser executes the code to display it correctly. But bots and search engines can't see them.
These site allow to synch or initiate transaction between web services. For example, when you receive a payment in PayPal, add the payor to Google contacts.
Got lots of thoughts? Outliners improve on Microsoft Word outlining, while Mind Maps add a visual display to that.
Hive Five: Five Best Mind Mapping Applications
Which is the best mindmapping software?
5 free tools to organize your thoughts
Includes startup and entrepreneur resources, such as landing pages, forms, quick web sites, shortlinks, mockups, crowdsourcing, building teams, backoffice, funding, and much more.
Our sister site at BlueEntrepreneurs.com has sections that include:
Admin
Finance
Product/Web