Things I Use
Here is a little list of the things I find useful in the work I do:-
- Smartkeys is a great program for PC that you can download for around $20. It enables you to create simple shorthand codes (e.g. \ssud) which will instantly type into any web page; Word Doc; Powerpoint presentation or just good old Notepad (or anywhere that you want to put it, where you can normally type into) up to 3000 preset characters. I currently have 346! you can find this amazing resource at from http://www.shortkeys.com.
- WordPress is the basis for my websites from now on (including this one). It’s easy to setup, flexibly to use and create a brilliant appearance and, of course, gives you full and absolute control over your website and it’s content. The program is free! If you need it setting up for you, it’s a breeze to find someone who can do that for you inexpensively. I’d look at http://www.southernmedia.org who are well up to speed on anything you might need. Tell Ariel I sent you!
- Need-an-Article can write you a great article on just about anything for just $5 an article. You may have to speculate a little to find an author that suits you. This is great value and great quality. Actually I don’t use them that much, but when I need a small batch of articles for marketing purposes, this is where I go. you can find them at http://www.need-an-article.net
- Unique Article Wizard is a marketing tool for your articles like no other. You write three articles, structured in exactly the same way, submit them to UAW and they mix them all up, creating hundreds of unique articles and submit them to hundreds of article banks; blog; and other places on the internet, creating those hundreds of links back to you, with no risk of duplicate content. Whilst the monthly subscription is a bit expensive (I got in early and got a great rate!), you can find UAW at http://www.uniquearticlewizard.com
- Dupe-Free Pro is an article comparison program that sits on your computer and lets you well, compare articles. You load up two versions in the program windows and they are compared instantly – geeat if you want to see if you have managed to rewrite an old article enough. It’s free and you can easily get and download it from http://www.dupefreepro.com
- Ezinearticles is a place to put your articles as well as source the ones you might want to add to your own website. Both options are free! I only use this and one other place to put my articles. (I have over 300 there!). The articles you can get and use are unbelievably good quality and diverse in subject content! Chris Knight is a good guy who can help you out too! It’s easily found at http://www.ezinearticles.com.
- Evan Carmichael has an amazing business focused website that is well geared up to help entrepreneurs. Don’t forget to check out the resources on there, especially the forums – there is so much free value in there. I have around a hundred of my articles placed there and Evan is such a great guy to get to know as well – don’t feel you can’t contact him personally. It’s great fun to explore and is found at http://www.evancarmichael.com
- AWeber is my choice for e-mail autoresponders. I pay around $20 a minth and it has never let me down, not have I needed to upgrade. It’s great to get used to if you want to send anything out regularly. I use it most for my Super Successful Manager! Program. Since it costs around $20 a month, it’s an excellent value resource at http://www.aweber.com
- Constant Contact is the solution I use for sending out my weekly newsletters. I’ve used it from the very start and although you need to understand it properly to get the best value, I find it great for what I need. It will cost you around $12 a month for a modest circulation. You can find it at http://www.constantcontact.com
- Computers – I currently use a Dell XPS 1210 as my main laptop. It’s consistent, pretty small and does all I need of it. I also use a Samsung NC10, which is pretty small and has amazing (like 8-10 hour) battery-life. It’s pretty rugged too as I used it travelling around Australia for a month. I love ‘em both!
- Mobile phone – I currently use a Palm Treo 650 I bought off Ebay to replace a previous one. I’m going to move to a Blackberry Bold later in the year.
