15 Applications No Online Business Can Live Without
Posted March 2, 2009 in Business, Tools/Resources 88 Comments »
If you’re running an online business, and probably even if you aren’t, there are some online tools that you need to know about. Not all of these tools are a necessity for every business, but no matter what you’re in, there are sure to be tools below that you know you should be using.
The applications on this list didn’t get here because they look pretty. They got here because millions of freelancers have tried, tested, and swear by them. Do your business a favor and make sure you know about the applications listed here.
1. Wordpress
Every online business should have a blog and Wordpress is, by far, the most powerful blogging tool on the web today.
Alternative Resources:
Movable Type
Type Pad
2. Google Analytics
Using a good analytics system is a must have for any online business. Spend some time learning how to read your site metrics and what they mean.
Alternative Resources:
Mint
Clicky
3. Basecamp
Having a central place to organize and keep track of all your projects and notes goes a long way in making your life less stressful.
Alternative Resources:
Lighthouse
No Kahuna
4. Freshbooks
Because many freelancers are service oriented, it is essential to have some sort of invoicing system in place.
Alternative Resources:
Blink Sale
Ronin
5. Twitter
Having a Twitter account is almost as important as having a blog these days. Twitter is easy to use and free to setup. Why wouldn’t you use it?
Alternative Resources:
Facebook
Friendfeed
6. Crowd Science
This is a cool tool that will randomly ask your visitors to take a poll to help you gather demographics about your visitors. It never hurts to learn more about your sites visitors.
Alternative Resources:
Get Satisfaction
7. Mozy
Its is never a bad idea to have some sort of backup in place. Mozy, makes backing up your files affordable and painless.
Alternative Resources:
iDrive
Carbonite
8. Google Webmaster Tools
There are an amazing amount of tools here than can help you track your sites ROI, test designs, and much more.
9. E-Junkie
E-Junkie can be used for more than just selling products through affiliates, you can also use it to offer a reward system to your clients.
Alternative Resources:
iDev Affiliate
All Affiliate Pro
10. Netvibes
It is easy to be overloaded with RSS feeds. Having a tool that lets you easily organize that information will make it easier for you to digest.
Alternative Resources:
iGoogle
Page Flakes
11. WuFoo Form Builder
A good form builder app is always good to have an account with. You never know when you may want a new form, quiz, poll, etc.
Alternative Resources:
Form Site
Form Spring
12. Mail Chimp
Email campaign apps make it easier for you to send bulk emails to past clients, setup news letters, and send important notices to customers.
Alternative Resources:
iContact
Constant Contact
13. Skype
Skype is the ultimate communication tool, especially if you have clients all over the world. It is the default IM/Phone choice for freelancers who work abroad.
Alternative Resources:
Sight Speed
Google Talk
14. Alert Thingy
Alert Thingy allows you to manage and update most of your social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, Basecamp, and more; all in one spot.
Alternative Resources:
Event Box
Friend Feed
15. Are My Sites Up
If you have a website, then there is no reason you shouldn’t sign up for this service. Its free and lets you know if your sites crash via emails and text messages.
More Online Resources from FreelanceFolder
If you liked this list of online business tools, you might also enjoy these other resource posts from FreelanceFolder:
- Top 5 Web App Combos for Running an Online Business
- 15 Useful Twitter Tools for Web Workers
- 5 Game-Changing Project Management Tools
- 10 Essential Plugins Every Modern Wordpress Site Should Have
- 15 Firefox Add-Ons to Tame Social Media Addicts
What Are Your Essential Apps?
Do you have a few applications that your online business couldn’t live without? List your favorites in the comments.
About the author: Danny runs the Outlaw Design Blog website, as well as a number of online business. He has just returned to the states from living in Costa Rica for the past year. Currently he is putting his focus on a new project to teach others how to do the same thing at Freelancing Abroad
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88 Comments
Corey
March 2nd, 2009 at 2:13 amInteresting post… I happen to only 7 of the listed applications, although I have visited most on the list at one point.
Arturas Kvederis
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:58 amInteresting list indeed, I personally can’t live without these:
1. http://mail.google.com
2. http://www.mint.com
3. http://www.comindwork.com
4.http://www.google.com/reader
sb
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:09 amAre My Sites Up:
New Sign Ups Temporarily Disabled
We are working on staying on top of our growth!
More information here. (Forbidden content)
:(
Ishan Vyas
March 2nd, 2009 at 7:13 amHello,
I don’t think that these sites work in foreign countries like India, Pakistan etc.. No one is interested in investing these sites as we can have these services at better rates with our local companies.. Anyways i like this post…
Gareth Coxon - Dot Design
March 2nd, 2009 at 8:13 amGreat list, some real must haves here and some I didn’t know about, thanks for sharing!
Stephen
March 2nd, 2009 at 9:07 amI guess I must be doing something right after all. I’ve got all of the applications listed (or at least familiar with them).
Another that I use that’s not listed is PicNik (www.picnik.com). I’m lousy at doing anything with images, but it’s still cool anyway.
Believe it or not, I color at home as a way to relax, and picnik allows me to “color” while I’m at work whenever I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed/stressed. Give it a try sometime.
Thanks for posting this!
Sal
March 2nd, 2009 at 9:26 amGreat list. I use most of them. A few others we use are:
DeskAway (project collaboration)
GetSatisfaction (customer service)
Zendesk (Helpdesk)
icontact (email marketing)
Stefan
March 2nd, 2009 at 9:37 amI am only missing http://www.meebo.com/ … :)
Chris Coyier
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:07 amThanks for featuring Are My Sites Up! As sb noted, we are indeed closed for new registrations but we should almost certainly be back this week. Keep an eye out =)
Mark
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:27 amAnother “you need these tools” blog post that leaves out:
1. Harvest for time-tracking and invoicing. Streamlined, powerful and feature-rich when managing a team. http://getharvest.com
2. CampaignMonitor for email campaigns. Ridiculously affordable for irregular blast schedules, a phenomenal product team that works closely with and supports developers. http://www.campaignmonitor.com
3. Pingdom for site update. How about a solid service with servers pinging your site from around the world assessing uptime and providing SMS/email alerts. http://www.pingdom.com
Chuck Bartok
March 2nd, 2009 at 11:32 amThank you for the useful Compilation.
Will be applying some Now
Troy Peterson
March 2nd, 2009 at 11:39 amGreat artcile… However, I already have most of these.
One thing I would do differently; Go with CampaignMonitor.com instead of mail chimp. It’s a much much better product.
Stuart Preston, Chandler/Gilbert Business Coach
March 2nd, 2009 at 12:03 pmI run an online business called the MyBusinessDashboard (www.DashboardToSuccess.com). In addition to some of the great tools listed above, I also use:
Aweber.com for autoresponder email management
SurveyMonkey for surveys
GoToMeeting.com for online meetings, demos, and seminars
YouTube.com for…well…videos!
Great blog post!
Colin Wright
March 2nd, 2009 at 12:19 pmI’ve taken to using Things (http://culturedcode.com/things/) to manage the GTD side of my life, and thought I agree with most of the above, I could probably swap something out to include it on the list.
Great article!
Robin Johansen
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:54 pmI have heard of a few of these (not all!) and even use a couple of them. A couple of other tools I use and love are:
http://crm.zoho.com
http://slimtimer.com
http://google.com/a/
Can’t live without them:)
Steve Atkinson
March 2nd, 2009 at 7:21 pmI haven’t used Mail Chimp, I use Constant Contact, but an email marketing tool may be the single most important piece of online software available. I hate it when I get marketing email from people who doesn’t have a clean opt-out option and worst when I am just one of many in the To: field.
Is there an Instant Messaging client on the list. Skype I suppose fits that need, but many use MSN or some other.
I’m not sold on the fact that anyone needs Twitter, even though I have an account. It seems to me that you can do almost everything in Facebook or Linkedin as you can do with Twitter. My recommendation would be LinkedIn.
Anika
March 2nd, 2009 at 7:45 pmI just found Google’s Webmaster thing yesterday. Been messing with it for almost 24 hours now. Pretty impressive, though not really useful to me since I’m an idiot at these sorts of things.
Vincent
March 2nd, 2009 at 7:55 pmGreat list! I’m “guilty” of using nearly all of these! ;)
AnnMaria
March 2nd, 2009 at 8:21 pmThumbs up on Wordpress, twitter, and wufoo. I use all of those. I’d agree that surveymonkey is another must for anyone who collects data.
Nicholas Orr
March 2nd, 2009 at 8:41 pmGoogle Apps For Your Domain = must have for me.
Email anywhere, nuff said.
Dipan Patel
March 2nd, 2009 at 9:02 pmProspect (An International Affairs Organization at UCSD) would not function without PBwiki! Could be considered as an alternative to Basecamp.
Prakash Sankar
March 2nd, 2009 at 9:02 pmWe run a small business online with a revenue breaking $100k this year and profitable (startup of 2 years) we use;
1. Google Email for business
2. Google Docs
3. Campaign Monitor – Email Marketing
4. Google Webanalytics
5. JungleDisk – Amazon S3 (storage)
6. Cheap PHP shared webhosting (www..midphase.com)
7. SSL from Comodo
8. Blog from Blogger
9. Invoice – MS Office templates
My advise dont get into subscription apps, google, zoho gives everything you need.
Thats it.
Juan Chaparro
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:26 pmAs web 2.0 consultant this is a perfect list to share with customers.
thanks for sharing.
Rilla
March 2nd, 2009 at 11:26 pmFree service-wise, I find http://invoicemachine.com/ offers the best services and awesome looking invoices.
Mathieu
March 3rd, 2009 at 12:31 amReally good list, I will try some of these. Thanks !
Lafe Taylor
March 3rd, 2009 at 2:22 amCan’t live without blogger and Expression Engine.
Valencio
March 3rd, 2009 at 5:51 amI will recommend using ePostMailer.com for all permission based e-mail marketing needs. Its the best desktop email marketing software I have used so far.
Suruchi
March 3rd, 2009 at 7:21 amNice list!
I use most of the apps you have mentioned. But prefer DeskAway (http://www.deskaway.com) instead of Basecamp for project management.
Monica Shaw
March 3rd, 2009 at 9:45 amInteresting list… I haven’t had much luck with Mozy (might just be my connection). It’s fun to read what other’s have to say. Mine:
Wordpress
GMail
Google Analytics
Google Reader
Google Docs
Twitter
Adium
Basecamp
Highrise
Spotify (gotta have tunes while I’m working) =)
David Kendrick
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:38 amThanks for compiling this great list of applications!
suzanneally
March 3rd, 2009 at 11:46 amGREAT list! Thanks!
Lisa
March 3rd, 2009 at 11:47 amI disagree with this approach. You’re looking for solutions in need of a problem when it should be the other way around. For instance, our product, kindredKNOT, ties together many of the features (e-mail marketing, analytics, CRM, CMS, e-commerce, etc.) but does it in one integrated solution. A better approach would be to think of the problems/needs of a business (CRM, e-commerce, analytics, etc.) then perhaps list some best-of-breed products geared for that. Businesses need to understand WHY they need, say, Twitter, & what business function it performs for them to use it successfully. A laundry list of apps, even though they’re good, really doesn’t benefit anyone.
Sandi
March 3rd, 2009 at 12:18 pmIs there a reason you recommend Mail Chimp over other email marketing programs?
Glenn B. Miller
March 3rd, 2009 at 12:30 pmGreat list. Several of them I’d never heard of before. Thanks.
daniel
March 3rd, 2009 at 2:34 pmgreat list! isnt opensource fantastic!
Andrew Campbell
March 3rd, 2009 at 3:30 pmAgreed with much of the above – this is a great list and a super resource. Thanks for posting!
mcolacurcio
March 3rd, 2009 at 4:42 pmI can’t live without online project collaboration tool – Smartsheet.com (http://www.smartsheet.com) – disclaimer – I used to work there.
But, now Smartsheet is integrated with Amazon’s Mechanical Turk which lets me outsource little web research tasks to an army of virtual workers for five or ten cents each.
Tracey Holinka
March 3rd, 2009 at 9:35 pmGood list. Personally I can’t live without Basecamp and Highrise.
Emily Kornblut
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:08 pmGreat post — I use many of the tools you’ve suggested, and agree that they’re essential to doing business online. Just have to second the earlier comment supporting Harvest: http://www.getharvest.com. It is a wonderful alternative for #4 — I chose it for my timetracking, estimates, and invoicing after researching a number of similar tools (including Freshbooks). It has an awesome interface and does so much admin work and number crunching that I’d be completely avoiding otherwise. I also love its timetracking widget. Harvest has a basic option that’s free, but very reasonable paid monthly subscriptions as well.
Pattie Cordova
March 4th, 2009 at 2:11 pmawesome! I have an up and coming business and need all of the useful tools I can get my hands on.
Kai
March 5th, 2009 at 7:52 pmMozy backup service is a ripp-off. Don’t use it. It’s slow and unreliable! Use Jungledisk.com instead. Works a lot better!
GoEverywhere Team
March 6th, 2009 at 1:06 amThanks for the compilation! I use the first five very often and look forward to trying out some of the others, especially WuFoo. Another great application is our GoEverywhere webtop solution that aggregates your files and runs all of your SaaS applications in one place with one quick login. It’s currently a free beta and we’d love to have you try it out.
Ray
March 6th, 2009 at 5:02 pmGreat list of sites, I like that you posted alternatives as well.
The only sites I would add would be bookkeeping sites such as http://www.outright.com or http://www.clarityaccounting.com, also http://www.getdropbox.com is great for syncing files between multiple computers.
- As a note the link to Sight Speed isn’t connecting
Aaron
March 10th, 2009 at 1:11 amPut me down for DropBox, too. Awesome app!
jason millward
March 10th, 2009 at 11:03 amwhy didnt i start using Freshbooks sooner – its brilliant! Thanks for opening my eyes to it
Steven
March 16th, 2009 at 4:57 pmI’d add Contactology http://www.contactology.com – we’re an up-and-coming email service provider – fast becoming indispensable to a growing list of clients.
DR
March 17th, 2009 at 10:56 pmThat comindwork site the guy has in the second comment is a funny ripoff of basecamp. Sad companies can’t design their own look and feel and have to ripoff.
Jodi Gaines Pereira
March 26th, 2009 at 10:57 amGreat list. We have used many of these for a few years and just recently started to use others. For managing high volume, inbound business email, try IFModules.com. It is a great web-based service and has been around since 2001.
Chris Monaghan
April 23rd, 2009 at 8:31 amWould also like to add Time59 (http://www.time59.com) to the list. Handles time and billing for solo professionals. If you’re a legal professional is also handles trust accounting.
aaa
May 13th, 2009 at 1:26 pmThere’s a price to using these apps: your personal data. The more of these kinds of services you use, the more information about who you are, what you do, what your business does, who your friends are, who your customers are, what your financial situation is, etc, is available to be collected, correlated, and often sold by the companies you’re giving your data to.
With virtually no effective (much less enforced) data protection laws, all the information you’re giving away will (with time) be available not just to these companies but to anyone who can afford to buy it (or hack in to some company which has it).
Unfortunately, the wide-eyed techno-optimistic attitudes with which much of the media treats new internet applications isn’t very condusive to serious analysis or even mention of the possible downsides or risks that these technologies may pose.
Beasley Chadwick
June 15th, 2009 at 10:09 amI agree that there are some websites you can’t live without…
Like, Google?
FoxySEO for Firefox is very helpful for SEO Work
And OPENRSM CloudBackup (http://cloudbackup.openrsm.com) has saved my bacon more than once. It’s terrific because it runs on Windows, MAC, and Linux (which covers my graphics box, desktop machine, and my netbook).
Jason Barone
June 22nd, 2009 at 10:11 amAwesome post!! You nailed it with most of those programs. Wordpress & Analytics are no brainers. I would of probably thrown a simple contact manager like Batchbook or Highrise on there, as well as Pidgin or Meebo to streamline instant messaging and run Live Chat widgets on your site.
Laura Sultan
July 8th, 2009 at 10:06 amGreat list! Mozy has saved me more than once, especially when my hard drive died. As a web designer, my business would have been in trouble if I hadn’t been able to access my data quickly and easily. I also want to second the recommendation for using MailChimp. I set up a MailChimp account and newsletter for one of my web design clients, and the dashboard is quite intuitive.
Linn
July 10th, 2009 at 4:32 amNIce collaction you have. We also use GoToMeeting for webconferencing and Wrike for prject management. Wrike charges per user and you get unlimited projects with it. I like this approach better than Basecamp’s per project model.
Esther
July 15th, 2009 at 4:46 amThanks for the great list, I would recommend WordPress (http://wordpress.com) and CurdBee (http://curdbee.com) for any online business or a freelancer looking to publish a blog or send professional invoices. Both these services are free of charge – help me save my hardly earned dollars :)
keepbiz
July 28th, 2009 at 10:41 amWoo..there’s many tools I’ve even heard..
Thanks 4 sharing
Gowriter
August 13th, 2009 at 9:13 amThese are cool. I completely agree about Twitter, but I didn’t know about some of these other applications. Nice job.
online backup
September 4th, 2009 at 2:15 amHello,
Really all the tools are basic need for online business.
Jake Smith
October 6th, 2009 at 4:13 pmI would suggest HyperOffice’s HyperBase online database management system, because like wufoo, it lets you build web forms, but also has online database features such as easy to create database applications, shared databases etc.
Branka
October 19th, 2009 at 11:37 pmOverall a good compilation, but apart from 5 of them the others are not something that “I can live without”.
How about http://www.basecamp.com for managing your project, and http://www.docsnaps.com that actually saves you from data entry
Efrat
October 28th, 2009 at 12:15 pmI do not agree with Basecamp. I prefer Huddle or desktop.
Dan Hulton
November 4th, 2009 at 7:09 pmAn excellent list. I’d also like to recommend Bill On Site – we just launched this week!
Bill On Site is a full-featured web-based invoicing system, with a unique twist: you can use Bill On Site on your mobile phone, enabling small business owners to send invoices to their customers while still on their client’s site. All you need is a semi-recent phone – one with a web browser on it – and internet access on your phone.
Other invoicing services offer web-based access, but completely ignore the mobile web, making sending invoices on the go difficult at best, and impossible at worst. For Bill On Site, it’s our sole focus, and something we’re working on improving all the time.
All accounts come with a free 30 day trial, so if you wanted to try out the service, go ahead. No payment information is collected, so it is absolutely no-risk.
Manish Chauhan
November 16th, 2009 at 4:41 amHi this is really great list. For me, I can’t live without:
1) http://www.invoicera.com
2) http://google.com/analytics
3) http://www.twitter.com
4) Streamsend
Ronald
November 28th, 2009 at 3:38 amHourDoc is tool for Time Tracking. http://www.HourDoc.com is right treatment for time and labor management processes has to be an easy-to-administer and affordable solution for Freelancers, supervisors, employees and HR and payroll managers. They offer free application to companies less than 50 employees. You must Try it!
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