Online Business Junction » Web & Email Tools

Drop Box Revisited

admin — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 01:54:04 +0000

I have talked about DropBox before here at Online Business Junction. It’s such a great service–a fast and super easy way to store files, and even more so to transfer files between computers, which is something I regularly need to do. Recently, my husband and I added the DropBox app to our iPhones. This has become an invaluable tool for my hubby, who often needs to take photos of jobs he does (he’s a plumber and contractor) and he needs a quick way to get them on his PC. All he has to do is add them to his DropBox app on his iPhone, and when he gets on his PC later, the photos are there and waiting for him.

I have been using DropBox for 2 years, and one of the great bonuses to their service is referrals. Each time you refer someone to DropBox, not only do YOU get extra FREE online file storage space, but so does the person you referred. It used to be that you’d get 250MB of free storage, but that has recently increased to 500MB–up to a limit of 16GB of free storage. Can I just say, yo, that’s awesome! Their maximum used to be 8GB, but now it’s increased also to that 16GB. I had already about reached my maximum free space, but now I can double that with more referrals.

So hey, if you want a super easy and totally free way to store files, documents, photos and the like online…and if you’d like some free extra storage space upon signing up, just click on the image (above) to be taken to the DropBox website where you can sign up. YOU will get free extra storage (you’re welcome) and so will I (thanks!).

What are you waiting for? Get clicking!

TinyGrab

admin — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 00:05:08 +0000

I love it when I come across a great little app that I wasn’t really looking for, but that will help me in my business. TinyGrab fits that bill! It’s a wonderful little screenshot sharing app that you can use on your desktop PC, Mac, or your iPhone. Download their application and you can take a screenshot, or even a partial screenshot, and share it instantly on the web using an automatically generated tiny URL that gets copied to your clipboard as soon as you take the screenshot! The screenshots get uploaded to your TinyGrab account, and you can manage all of your “grabs” there.

I share screenshots with clients all the time, but there’s always the drawback of having to upload the screenshot somewhere first, then getting its URL, and then contacting the client to share it. With TinyGrab, all that hassle is eliminated. I can now share my screengrabs instantly with just a couple of clicks of the mouse (or taps of the finger on my iPhone). I think this app is so wonderful, I wish someone had thought of it sooner…at at least that I’d found it sooner. You could even use this to quickly share images/screenshots on Twitter and Facebook.

If you use screenshots for your business clients, or even if you just think you could use this service from time to time, just click on their logo above to visit their site and check it out. It’s free!

The End of Google Friend Connect

admin — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:37:37 +0000

I’m usually so on top of things, but somehow I totally missed this until yesterday. That’s when I found out that Google Friend Connect will be ending for all non-Blogger blogs as of March 1st. And it may end on Blogger blogs by the end of the year!

I’ve written a lengthy post about this on my Tattered Sisters blog. So rather than rehash it all in a duplicate post, I’m going to provide you with a link to that post instead. Just click the link below to get all the information about Google Friend Connect.

GOODBYE GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT

I’ll be replacing my GFC widget when it ends with the new LinkyFollowers tool (which you can also read about on Tattered Sisters), so feel free to Follow Me with that, if you like. I’ll be adding that to the blog immediately after I post this.

I really liked GFC, because it made it so easy to follow blogs, even though there are other ways to subscribe to my favorites. GFC just made it quick and simple. But alas, sometimes good things must come to an end.

FAQME

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:27:07 +0000

No, I didn’t mean FAME. You read it correctly, it’s FAQME. And just what is FAQME? It’s a wonderful service I just stumbled on and had to share with you.

As an online business owner, a very good resource for your customers is the FAQ page on your website. But FAQs pages can be bothersome and time-consuming to maintain. The folks at FAQME aim to make your FAQ page easy to use and maintain, and at a price you can afford: FREE. And the page doesn’t even appear on your own website, so there’s nothing to add to your website, other than a link to your own unique FAQME page on their website.

Just visit FAQME by clicking on the image (above) and sign up. Once you do, you’ll get your FAQME page that includes the following features:

FAQ’s page that is easy to design, setup, and maintain.
Drag and Drop reordering.
Stats. Yes, stats! This will show you which questions your customers are reading, how long they’re on your page, and more.
A Contact Us form–this is a great bonus! Customers can contact you directly from your FAQ page.
An Inbox, which allows you to respond to your customers who have contacted you via the Contact Us form.
Multiple FAQs–if you have more than one website, you can manage all of your FAQs in one place.

Your FAQME page is free to use, and will NOT contain ads. And if you have a blog, this would be a great way to add a Contact Form for your blog with ease, which is another plus.

I think this is a great Web Tool, especially since it’s free and so easy to use. Definitely worth a look if it’s peaked your interest!

Tiny Letter

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:02:16 +0000

Email Marketing is often essential for your online business. I provide a list of several Mailing Lists Providers here at OBJ, and one of my favorites (which I used to use) is MailChimp. It’s free and it has all sorts of features to allow business owners to track the effectiveness of their newsletter campaigns, and it’s totally customizable with lots of design features. But for some people, MailChimp may be more than they want or need in a Newsletter/Mailing List Provider. Maybe you want something that’s just really simple to use and doesn’t have a lot of glitz and glam? If so, then TinyLetter may be for you.

TinyLetter is really quick and simple to use. And even though you can customize it a bit, it’s pretty bare bones because it wants to make it easy for you to start writing your newsletter and get subscribers. It even has a feature that lets you charge money for your subscriptions, if you so desire, but that’s totally optional. You can also have an unlimited number of subscribers. And best of all, TinyLetter is free! It also just happens to be brought to you by the same people that own MailChimp.

Just click on the TinyLetter logo (above) to visit their website and sign up. It’s that simple. If you don’t like it, it was free, so don’t use it! TinyLetter may not be for everyone, but for its simplicity and ease of use, and the no-cost-factor, it gets a recommendation from me.

Creative Market

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:41:57 +0000

Are you a graphics designer or someone who does a lot with design for your online business? If so, you might want to check into a new site called the Creative Market.

The Creative Market is a new kind of marketplace for handcrafted, mousemade design content. Their mission is to make design content simple and accessible to everyone. Whether you’re looking for unique vector patterns, the perfect font with personality, or any other kind of digital content to help you create amazing projects, Creative Market hopes to be your source for that content.

The Creative Market isn’t open yet, but they are taking signups for early access members and giving free credits for future purchases. You can also use referrals to get more credits, so that when they open, you’ll be able to purchase lots of great content for your creative, mousemade and digital content.

Just click on their logo (above) to go their website and sign up. I did!

iStockphoto

admin — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 20:18:51 +0000

I’m not sure how many of you need or use stock photography in your online business, but if you’re interested in a great resource, I often use iStockphoto. Photos are always a great way to enhance your business (or personal) blog or website and can be used in so many ways. So if you’re looking for stock photography, be sure to check out iStockphoto. Just click on the image above to go to their website. Check out what they have to offer.

Wishbox

admin — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:21:00 +0000

I just discovered a great new customer feedback tool called Wishbox, brought to you by the folks at JotForm. I have used JotForm on some websites for creating contact/email forms. Very easy to use and they have free forms and paid versions of their services. This new Wishbox tool is brand new tool that provides lots of great features for interaction with your customers.

When added to your website, this tool will allow your customers to not only send simple feedback, but they can also use it to create screenshots of your site (for example, if they get an error message or if there is a problem in your store they aren’t sure how to describe), and it generates an email to you any time a customer uses it. There is lots more information on their website, which you can find by clicking on their logo (above). They have a demo version on their website too so you can see how it works.

This may be a great feedback tool for you and your customers!

Add a Contact Form to Your Facebook Page

admin — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 16:29:34 +0000

Do you have a Facebook page for your business? If so, it might be helpful to add a contact form there so that your fans (a.k.a. potential customers) can contact you if they need to while they’re on Facebook.

ContactMe is an app made for Facebook, which enables you to add a Contact tab to your Facebook page. It’s super easy to install and the form is very customizable to suit your needs. The perfect way to make it easy for anyone to contact you via your Facebook fan page. Just click on the image above to be taken to the ContactMe page on Facebook.

Net Mechanic HTML Check

admin — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 05:31:45 +0000

I’ve come across a neat site that provides a web tool you can use the check for HTML errors on your website. Let’s face it, some of us need a bit of help with HTML…we’re not all experts. So this tool might be of help to you if you need a little help in that department. Just enter your URL in the designated box and click their Test Now button (enter your email address too if you want the report mailed to you, but this is optional). It will scan your site and provide links to the errors it’s found–and not just in your HTML, but also in your Spelling, Links, and even Load Time. It will show you exactly where and what the errors are, so that you can more easily fix them on your site.

Just click on that HTML Toolbox image above to go to their site and run your test today.