5Useful And Free Tools For Webmasters and Internet Marketers
March 25, 2008 | By Kenneth Koh | Courtesy Of LeadsLeap Blog
Today I’m going to share with you 5 useful and free tools (software) that I use very often when running my online businesses.
1) PDF Creator
If you have been thinking of creating your own PDF ebooks, yet you do not want to buy the expensive Adobe PDF writer, I have a solution.
A free software I’ve been using for a long time is CutePDF. It’s free and very easy to use. Just install and print any page or document into a PDF file.
2) Screen Shot Software
Getting a screen shot of your desktop is very useful when you want to add some useful graphics to your ebook, instruction manual or in your sales letter.
I’ve tried numerous screen shot software but frankly, none of them compares to this free version.
Most screen shot software are complicated and they offer too many features that you don’t need. But
Screen Shot 1.0 gives me exactly what I need. It’s easy to use and it works fast.
3) Multi-purpose Text Editor
This software is not for everyone. But if you are an experienced ‘hands-on’ internet marketer, you will appreciate this software.
Have you ever experienced a situation where you have to change just 1 word in ALL your html files? You open as many windows as possible and try to repeat the change at top speed, only to realize that you still make mistakes along the way.
What if there is a software that allows you to open unlimited number of text files, including your html files, php files etc, and you can replace a word or sentence across all the opened files at the same time?
This is just one of the many advantages of Notepad ++.
With Notepad ++, you can also view 1 file in two different windows. This is very useful for debugging purpose.
Another feature that I like is its color distinction for different syntaxes and codes. If you know a little about html, php or asp, this software can be your best editor.
Basically, if you ever need to perform any text editing, I can’t recommend any editor other than Notepad ++.
4) Audio Editor
Nowadays MP3 recorder is very common. You can easily record your own voice or an interview session. The problem is how are you going to edit the recording?
There are some expensive software out there. Yet again, I’m using a free audio editor that is superbly easy to use, very reliable and it produces top quality audio files.
The audio editor I’m talking about is Audacity.
You can edit most of the popular audio formats with Audacity. But if you need to export the edited file in MP3 format, you will need to install an extra plugin. I suggest if you want to install Audacity, install the MP3 plugin too because you will definitely need it one day. The detailed instruction to install the plugin can be found at
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/manual-1.2/exportmp3.html
5) English Dictionary!
Please, don’t laugh at me. English is not my mother tongue and to make sure that I’m using the right word most of the time when writing a blog or newsletter, I need to use a dictionary.
Online dictionary is too slow and one needs to be online to use it. What I’m using is WordWeb. It’s free and it’s easy to
use.
I have it automatically turn on whenever I start my computer and I set up Ctrl-Z as the hotkey. Whenever I need to check the meaning of a word, all I have to do is highlight the word and press “Ctrl Z”. It’s that simple.
Besides the meaning of the word, WordWeb also gives you the synonyms. Whenever I can’t think of an appropriate word to use, I’ll enter something close and see if I can find a better word in the list of synonyms.
If you have used one of these software or you decide to try them out, share with us your experience in the comment section below. Or if you have a better recommendation, let us know. We are all looking for better software to improve
our efficiency, aren’t we?
