Web Princess

Loads of Twitter Applications

2009-04-21T21:27:00.000-07:00

To make using Twitter easy, fast and keep yourself organized, check out these Twitter Applications that make Tweeting twitterific! Twitter applications are sometimes called "Twitter tools" or "Twitter add-ons". Simply put … they are websites that offer features that complement Twitter.

CAUTION!!! Don’t let this list overwhelm you. The purpose is to provide a comprehensive list so you didn’t have to search them out yourself and so you can find the tool you need to manage your Tweets!

Twitter Mobile

Twitterfone: Update Twitter using Voice
Twitsay: Record Voice Messages on Twitter
Twitter for iphone: Self explanatory
Itwtr: Another Twitter client for iphones
Pocket Tweets: another twitter client for your iphone
Twittai: mobile phone software with retweeting capabilities
CCtwit: windows mobile twitter client written in c# leveraging the .net compact framework.
Twapper: send updates from your 30boxes calendar to your phone via Twitter.
Twittelator: Integrate your iphone with Twitter
Twitterberry: Integrate Twitter with your blackberry
Vlingo: Another tool to integrate your blackberry with Twitter
Email Twitter: Get your Tweets on any email-enabled mobile phone
iTweet: Twitter Site for your iphone
Qik: A tool that let you share videos via your phone.
Jargong: Twitter client for your phone that has Flickr and other social network integration
MoTwit: Application for Palm OS
Widsets: Get content without sending SMS
Moby Picture: Post to your blog or sites like Twitter on your mobile phone
Twixr: allows you to share pictures on Twitter via your mobile phone
Locify: Send twitter updates on your mobile phone along with GPS location
Fring: Post to Twitter + other sites using your mobile phone
Abiro Jitter: Abiro Jitter (Java Twitter) is an easy-to-use and fully-featured Twitter client for mobile phones
Jtwitter: Java application which you can install on your phone
Twidroid: twitter client for android mobile phones
Twitteresce: Twitteresce allows you to access your twitter feed using your mobile phone.
Twobile: Twitter client for users of Windows Mobile Pocket PCs
Tiny Twitter: Client for any Java enabled device (that's a bunch & includes the CrackBerry) and any Windows Mobile Pocket PC or Smartphone
Twitter SpellCheck: Check your spelling while twittering on your mobile phone

Find Tweeters!

Twits like Me: Find out people like you
Twellow: A Twitter directory sorted by occupation
Just Tweet It: A twitter directory sorted by interest
Twubble: This tool will automatically find people who are compatible with your interests.
Twittie Me: Search for similar users and advertise your twitter page
Twitdir: Search for words in usernames, locations or descriptions

Latest Trends & Stories on Twitters

Twitter Search (Summize previously): Search for the latest trends on Twitter
Twitscoop: A search tool that tracks trends as well as certain events.
Flaptor Search: A search tool that can be installed on your browser.
Tweet Scan: Search keywords on Twitter
Twitterment: Search Twitter users and topics
Twitbuzz: Find out the latest links and conversations on Twitter
Tweetmeme: find out the latest Stories on Twitter
Twistori: Find out what twitter loves, hates, believes, etc.
Twitturly: Find out the most talked about stories on Twitter
Twitterverse: Find out what Twitter is doing
GoodBadMe: Keep track of the good and bad on the twitterverse
Favotter: Find out the most favored (saved to favorites) tweets
Twitstat: real time twitter analytics

Track Top Twitter Users

Twitterholic: Find out who the top twitter users are
Toptweet: Find out the top twitter users on one place.
Twitrank: a list of the top 150 Twitterers

Track Key Words on Twitter

Tweet Beep: Find out who is talking about you or your website through certain keywords
Site volume: Enter five keywords and see their activity on Twitter
Tweet Volume: A more personalize version of Site Volume
Monitter: Monitor Twitter conversations on three keywords. Good for catching the latest news
Hashtags: Track a certain keyword on Twitter
Twemes: See twitter memes or tags for Twitter
Tweetchannel: Find out what people are talking about through certain keywords called channels.
Twitter Meter: Find the trends of certain keywords
Flaptor Trends: Compare the trends of three keywords on Twitter
Twitter Spectrum: Find out the dominant keywords via a tagcloud generated.
Serendipitwiterrous: Search for tweets of a certain person using certain keywords
Twittertroll: real-time Twitter search engine

Twitter Links

Twitter Buzz: See the most popular links on Twitter
Link Bunch: Share more than one link on Twitter
Tweetwire: Sorts out links posted on Twitter into news format
Twitterlinkr: Find out the latest links posted on Twitter
Twitturls: Find out the latest URLs posted on Twitter
Twitter Split: Change the way you post links by adding your domain on the beginning of the link

Tweets Across the Globe

Twittearth: Watch as people from different parts of the world tweet.
Twitter Vision: Watch Twitter in real time and see the location of Twitter users
My Tweet Map: A high tech map that tracks the location of a person
GeoTwitterous: Track a person across the map
Twitter Map: Same with GeoTwitterous
Twitter Local: Find out Tweets about a certain locale
TwitSpy: Another way where you can track the location of tweets
Geo Twitter: Another twitter location tracking site
Mibazaar: Shows current posts as they are posted on maps
Twitter Atlas: Find the conversations at certain locations
Twitter Faces: Map + Faces

Enhance Your Tweets

Twitter Keys: Brighten your tweets with little pictures
Twi8r: Translate shorthand text to English and the other way around for easy tweeting
Phweet: Phone + Tweet, talk to your twitter friends through this online phone

Create a Review for Twitter

Micro Reviews: Post reviews on Twitter
Notches: Submit reviews. A partner of Microreview
Louder Tweets: Have your reviews of certain products posted

Manage Reading Your Tweets

Twitter Digest: Read tweets digest-style
Tweet2tweet: Read the conversations between two people on twitter.
Twalala: Choose the tweets you wants to read. Mute people or mute topics that you don't want to read

Followers & Following

Tweet Wheel: Find out which of your friends know each other
Twitter Karma: Find out who is following and unfollowing you. Have a mass follow and unfollow tool.
Twitter Snooze: If you have noisy twitter friends, you can snooze them for a certain time so you won't receive their tweets.
My Tweeple: Evaluate your followers through the number of dings (recommendations) they have from other Twitter users
Less Friends: Find out who unfollowed you using this tool
Qwitter: Receive the names of the people who unfollowed you via email.
Does Follow: Tells you if a certain follower is following a person or not
Twitterless: Receive a direct message when someone unfollows you
Twitter100: Find out the latest 100 posts of your followers
Twitterator: Follow a list of people all at once
Twitter Who: Invite lots of people in one go
Twitterlex: See your last 30 tweets along with your friends. Use on Mac.
What's Up?: Find out what people are up to

Ingrate Twitter on Your Blog or Website

Add Tweets: Make Twitter Update Widgets for site or blog using javascript
Twitterfeed: Post your blog to Twitter through your RSS feed
Feed Tweeter: integrate Twitter with Plurk, your blog and delicious
Twitter Counter: Display your follower count on your site or blog.
Twit This: Add this option so people can easily tweet information from your site or blog
Twitter Tools: A wordpress plugin that lets you integrate Twitter with your blog. You can send your updates to your blog as well as create tweets directly from your blog
Twitter for Wordpress: displays latest tweets on your blog
Loudtwitter: Ships your tweets to your blog
Twitter Sharts: 'Shart' your twitter status anywhere within your wordpress blog posts or pages
Twitt Twoo: plugin that will allow you to update your Twitter status right from your blog's sidebar.
Twitter Updater: automatically sends a Twitter status update to your Twitter account when you create, publish, or edit your WordPress post
Twitter Wordpress Sidebar Widget: a wordpress widget where you can send your tweets to your blog
WordTwit: a plugin that utilizes the Twitter API to automatically push a post to your Twitter account when it is first published.
Comment Twitter SMS Notification: plug in to be notified by SMS when a user post a new comment on your blog.
Stammy's RSS To Twitter: Not too many people have access to a Ruby-enabled server so the author decided to make a simple PHP script to get the job done.
PingTwitter: automatically update your Twitter Account when you publish a new blog post

Update Twitter on Other Social Networking Sites

Ping.fm: Update twitter along with other sites like Multiply, Pownce, Plurk, tumblr and others.
Hello.txt: Same as ping.fm but with added services
Moodblast: A client which you can download. It does pretty much the same as ping.fm

Twitter and Your Fave Websites

Twibler: Update Twitter with your current ebay listings
Twizon: Twitter meets Amazon
iTwitter: iGoogle gadget that have ping.fm, twitter videos, twitter news, twitter tips, twitter tools and more.
Be Twittered: iGoogle app that automatically updates every 3 minutes
Twitter Facebook App: Integrate Twitter with Facebook
Friendfeed Twitter client: Update Twitter through Friendfeed
Twitku: Twitter + Jaiku
Buy Later: Receive tweets when an item comes back in stock at Amazon
Twitter Yedda: integrate Twitter with your Yedda account
Twitget: gadget for Windows Live. Displays your tweets
Twitter Planet: Windows Live gadget that features the public timeline on the planet earth
Twitt: Import links on your tweets to delicious
Twitter Viddler: Integrate Twitter with your Viddler account
Drupal on Twitter: This module provides twitter notification for new posts. Each user can use their own twitter account to post updates too, as well as have a custom format string.
Googlereader Twitter Script: Add a Twitter button to your Google Reader
Twitter King Widget: Widget for Netvibes
Your Minis: Twitter widget for yourminis website

Twitter for Groups

Group Tweet: Tweet with only a particular group of people
Live Twitting: Host Conferences or conduct interviews on twitter and record it in an organized fashion
Crowd Status: Find out the status of a certain group of people on Twitter
Twitter Groups: Tag your followers into different groups

Stay Organized with Twitter

Timer: Set an alarm for things you have to do
Retweet Me: A reminder tool that sends a DM on your scheduled activities.
Remember the Milk: Manage tasks on Twitter as well as set notifications for yourself
Twittercal: Integrate your Google Calendar with Twitter
My Chores: Track your chores
Planypus: Make plans and export them to Twitter
Server Mojo: Monitor your server with Twitter

Auto Tweet (Schedule)

Tweet Later: Schedule tweets, auto-follow and auto-welcome people
Twittertise: Schedule your tweets. Very useful when you are advertising.
Tweet Ahead: Schedule your tweets on Mac
Twit Response: Imagine Twitter + Autoresponder. Send tweets automatically.

Get Answers on Twitter

Lazy Tweet: Find answers to your questions by posting "@lazyweb" or "@lazytweet"
Toanswer: Easily get answers to your questions by posting "@toask" and "@toanswer [question ID]"
At Answer Me: Another question tool
Twitter Answers: Another question site with a nice layout so you can easily get answers to your questions.

Twitter Polls

Straw Poll: Create and answer polls on Twitter
Twitter Polldaddy: Create a poll on polldaddy and tweet it
Poll Tweets: Participate in the latest Twitter poll
Twittpoll: Join some twitter polls and receive the results in 24 hours

Twitter Stats - Track Yourself

Tweet Burner: Track the links that you post on Twitter
Twitter Grader: find out your twitter grade. Computed based on how complete your profile is as well as the number and influence of your followers.
Tweet Stats: Graph your tweet activity
Twinfluence: Measure your Twitter influence through tweets, reach of followers as well as second-order followers
Tweeple Twak: Track your friend gains and declines
Twit Graph: Graph your tweeting activity
Tweet 140: Track your direct message and tweet frequency
Twitter Ratio: Find out your friend to follower ratio.

Make Money with Twitter

Twittad: Place advertisements on your profile
Magpie: Advertise with 5 tweets and get paid

Manage Multiple Twitter Accounts

Easy Tweets: Multiple account handling, scheduled tweets, overcoming errors, shorten URLs, add RSS
The Mattinator: Multiple accounts on Twitter

Twitter Graphic Tools

Twitter Backs: Free Twitter Backgrounds. Includes @problogger's background.
Twitter Patterns: 50 design patterns you can easily use for your twitter background
Tweet Backs: Some twitter backgrounds you could use
Siah Design: free Twitter buttons you could use as well as animated ones.
Buttons: Follow me on twitter buttons
Twignature: Create your own twitter

Upload Anything to Twitter

Twitpic: Let you share photos on Twitter
Autopostr: Update your Twitter when you post a Flickr picture
Snaptweet: Share your Flickr photos on Twitter
Twixr: Allows you to share pictures on Twitter via your mobile phone
Visual Twitter: Answers "what are you doing?" with pictures.
Twitter Poster: A huge conglomeration of Twitter user images.
Twiddeo: Think Twitter updates + video
Twitplus: Make tweets with pictures, videos and files
Twittershare: Share pictures, music, video and other files on Twitter.
Twixxer: Share photos and videos on Twitter
Tweet Cube: Upload files to Twitter
Pikter: Post pictures on Twitter

Send and Receive Tweets via Email

Twittermail: Update twitter via email
Twitter Reply: Receive your replies on your email
OuTwit: Update Twitter with your Microsoft Outlook
Vtwitter: Vtwitter allows Zimbra users to send messages (or sometimes called tweets) to their Twitter account directly from their Zimbra email.
mail2twitter: mail2twitter is a free service that allows you to post tweets through e-mail

The sound of Twitter - using music

Twittytunes: Tweet what you're listening, watching or reading regardless what player you are using.
Blip.fm: Listen to music and tweet it to Twitter
Wiiizzz: Lists the audio tracks on Twitter

Twitter Time Savors

Twit a Bit: The place to be when Twitter is down. Anyone can continue tweeting in this site.
Tweetake: Backup your twitter account
Twitter Safe: Another place where you can backup your account.
Hahlo: Another website where you can tweet

Twitter Spam Fighters

Twitter Blacklist: Find out who's blacklisted on Twitter
Twerp Scan: Find out who's following too many people at a small span of time.
Twitspam: Report those spammers here

IM with Twitter

TwitterIM: Integrate twitter with your MSN or ICQ Messenger
Yahoo Messenger Twitter Sync Plugin: Integrate twitter with your Yahoo Messenger
TwitterYM: Update your Twitter on Yahoo Messenger
Twessenger: Twitter tool for Windows Live Messenger
Twit4live: Update twitter via messenger as well as advertise the tweets of your friends.
TikiTwit: Integrate Twitter with iChat

Software and Widgets for Twitter

Twitterific: A downloadable application which have multiple account support, auto refreshing mechanism, audio notification of new tweets and integration with AppleScript. Compatible with Mac OS X 10.4 or later
Mad Twitter: Twitterific for Windows
Tweet-r: An Air Application that differentiates itself from other downloadable twitter applications through its flawless drag-and-drop file uploading system.
Twidget: a downloadable application with all the features of twitter except that it auto refreshes.
Twhirl: popular software that can handle multiple accounts, URL shortening, crossposting to Pownce and Jaiku, Post images on Twitpic, and search tweets using twitter search and tweetscan.
Tweetdeck: Adobe AIR application that lets you view your replies and public tweets as well as group tweets at the same time
Twinja: another twitter client built on AIR
Snitter: another twitter client built on AIR
Pwytter: A standalone Twitter client
Teletwitter: Twitter client for Windows
Twitterlicious: Twitter for Windows that supports proxies, have a read-unread system and auto-refresh mechanism.
Twitter CLI: Tweet via a command line
BLT: Another tool to update Twitter on a command line
Twitteroo: Let you send tweets on your PC with URL shortening and sound notifications for tweets
Chirrup: A Japanese software which showcases your followers and accounts in other social networks
Twadget: Twitter tool for Windows Vista
Twitgit: Twitter widget for Mac users
Vim Twitter Client: A simple client by Vim
ZenTwitter: Update Twitter without opening a window
Twitux: Another simple Twitter client
Deskbar Twitter: Update Twitter on Ubuntu
Gtwitter: Update Twitter on Linux
Twit.el: update Twitter on Emacs
Spaz: open source desktop client for Mac, Windows and Linux
Tweeter: client that is Java-based and supports proxies. Inspired by Twitteroo
GTwitter: GTwitter is a Linux client for reading and posting to twitter.com web service.
Natsulion: Simple Twitter client for Mac
Twitterpod: TwitterPod can store logs to database and search Twitter logs quickly like Mail.app
Twitterpost: TwitterPost allows you to easily post to and read from your Twitter feed - plus a whole lot more
Twittereeze: SIMBL extension to add functionality to Twitterrific

Browse with Twitter

Twit Kit: Integrate Twitter with your Firefox browser. This plugin can work on Windows, Mac and Linux. You can also customize the look to fit your tastes.
Twitterfox: Find out the statuses of your friends on Twitter right on your Firefox browser
Shareaholic: Share webpages with your friends on Twitter. Can be integrated with your Firefox Browser
Twitbin: Receive and send tweets at the side of your Firefox browser
Firefox Search Plugin: Find out how you can post to Twitter right from your Firefox search bar
Twitterbar: Post to Twitter via the address bar
Tweetbar: A twitter sidebar for Firefox and Flock
Twippera: Twitter widget for Opera
Power Twitter: Twitter plugin for Firefox that have photo and video sharing capabilities.
Yoono: Firefox add-on that add different social networks to your browser
Twitzer: Firefox plugin that let you post more than 140 characters.
Twitterlights: Firefox addon that lets you Tweet any page you see.
Twitterbook: Post to twitter like Bookmarking
Twitterline: Displays your friend's public timeline on your toolbar
Maxthon: This is a toolbar you can download so you can tweet via your browser

Just Because Twitter Sites

Secret Tweet: Imagine PostSecret + Twitter. Tweet those secrets
Curse Bird: Find out who's swearing on Twitter
Tweet What You Eat: Tweet what you're eating at the moment
Foodfeed: same with "Tweet what you eat"
Xbox 360 Gamer Tag: Automatically update twitter with what you are playing at a certain moment
Twee60: Another site where you can update Xbox live activities on Twitter
@Trackthis: Track your packages via Twitter with this tool
Bkkeeper: share what you're reading on Twitter
Commuter Feed: Share tweets on traffic and transit delays
Foamee: Tracks who you owe coffee or beer to
InnerTwitter: signals you through chimes where you have to let go of your thoughts.
Qwitter Tobacco: A twitter tool that helps you stop smoking
Post like a Pirate: Talk like a pirate on twitter
Roll the dice: Give you the power to roll a dice on twitter. Useful when you're betting or playing games with your friends.
Twitter Me This: A contest where you can win $5 if you answer their question
Tweet gift: Send gifts to your friends.
Twaction: turns your tweets into actions
Xpenser: Track your expenses with twitter
Twithire: The place where you can tweet job postings
GasCalc: Tracks your gas usage on Twitter
Moonrise: Tell twitter how you feel
Deal Tagger: Shop and tell your Twitter friends
LOL feeds: Have your tweets on lolcat images
Textgasm: Tweet your secrets
Sad Statements: Twitter + Flickr with an emotional twist. Post those sad statements here
Twitter Nonsense: Daily Twitter Comic Strip
Xbox to Twitter app: only updating when the title being played changes, not showing popups and even a preview of what your twitter updates will look like once they are combined with your template.
Twitterbox: a Twitter Client for Second Life
Swotter: Reads books to Twitter
Twitterlit: Twitters the first line of books

Convert Your Files to a URL and SHARE

2009-04-15T13:18:00.000-07:00

Ever wish you could send a file via the web but it was too big?

Wish you had a storage on server but didn't want to pay for it to upload an image?

Check out FILE2.ws

File2.ws is a free website that converts any of your own files into a public online web page. Every converted file to a web page has a unique web address so you can share it with friends, or other people on the internet. This allows information to be shared quickly and efficiently to a large audience.

Features:

* Fastest download speeds

* No download limits

* No CAPTCHA codes

* Multiple simultaneous downloads and uploads

* Unlimited page bandwidth

* No sign up required

* No software to install

* Link directly to the generated web page

It supports converting of:

* image/photo files (jpeg, gif, png, svg...)

* audio formats (mp3, ogg...)

* documents (doc, pdf, odt, txt, rtf...)

* programming source code (java, php, cpp...)

* web documents (html, htm...)

* archive (zip, rar...)

* video, fonts, chemical file formats and more

* all into a widely accessible web page!

Remember When

2009-04-09T13:26:00.000-07:00

A friend sent this to me. LOVED IT and had to share.

Track Anything in Your lIfe

2009-04-08T12:35:00.001-07:00

zeaLOG is a life tracking service that helps you to track just about anything you can think of in your day to day activities. Whether it’s how many cups of coffee you drink or how many times you take your dog for a walk - zeaLOG will help you keep track.

I just started to track how much money I spend on eating out. This should be interesting.

http://www.zealog.com/

Protect Your Content

2009-03-24T18:46:00.000-07:00

On the Internet, content is king. There is so much free content floating around, how do you know who originally wrote it? If you are publishing content, do you want to protect it? Wonder who may be using it?

Now, you can with Tracer. When your content is copied, Tracer puts your information on the content as the author. Monitor who is coping and pasting from your website or blog. It drives traffic back to your site as the original author.

You'd be surprised how much coping and pasting is happening. Don't let your precious content and knowledge slip way, use it as a marketing opportunity to drive traffic back to your site.

And of course, it's FREE!

Eat Healthy and Save Money

2009-03-18T12:59:00.000-07:00

Lately, I have been focused on improving my health. My cycle trainer told me to start counting and tracking my food. Being the digital diva I am, of course I need to track it online or on my phone. I searched long and hard for an application. Here was my criteria:

The most comprehensive food list both grocery and eating out.
Easy to use
Inexpensive

After using several applications, I found the one! LiveStrong.com sponsored by Lance Armstrong. This has an online application as well as one for the iPhone. It is simple and has the largest database of food and also allows you to customize food plans, meals, calories and more. You can great an online profile, make friends with other folks tracking their health and looking for support. It has helped me stay on track with my nutrition now for over two weeks.

And of course.. IT'S FREE

Fliggo - Create Your Own Video Site

2009-02-25T12:45:00.000-08:00

Fliggo is a new social media site to create a video sharing site or a video blog.

The process is SO simple. I think my 9 year old could create one. I created my husband's site in less than 3 minutes.

Create an account with Fliggo
Choose a name (in the form of name.fliggo.com) and a description for your site.
Choose whether you want a video sharing site, a video blog or a very minimal site just for posting videos for others to see.

After creating your video site, you can easily change the appearance of your site by choosing a theme and a color scheme to go with it.

Create Your Own Community

2009-02-23T14:25:00.000-08:00

Social networking is lighting up the Internet. If you can lead, you have a topic, a brand, idea and more, create your own community. I have found two great websites for doing this.

Both offer free and paid versions based on what you need.

Socialgo.com

ning.com

Hiding Behind Technology

2009-02-13T15:00:00.000-08:00

In this day and age, technology has afforded us many luxuries and conveniences. It makes things fast, quick and easy. It also gives negative, bad, annoying, whiny and obnoxious people an opportunity to hide behind it.

It is unfortunate that some people use things like email, social networking sites, blog, website etc to vent, share mean things and hide behind technology. I came across a few sites in the last week where you didn't know who the author of the blog was. Topics ranges from complaining about the government, affairs to people they didn't like at their job. And they write on the web faceless and nameless. Too often you see people using these incredible creative tools for evil instead of good. It makes me sad that they choose to spend their time on such negative actions. For some, I guess maybe it is blowing off steam.

I write this post today because it got me thinking after a friend and I were talking about the 1%-2% of the nuts out there. Because our company is currently dealing with one and it is a doozy. You'll find them in any group, company, community, church, event and fans. They are the % that you shake your head and wonder "don't they have anything better to do".

It isn't too often I run across these people in my line of work, but when I do, I seem to meet the nuttest of them all. Like a dog with a bone that won't let go, they just want to keep annoying the crap out of you.

Oh well.... the great thing is if they can hide and I can ignore.. right?

I have some fun new things to share next week, stay tuned!

Share Videos on TWITTER

2009-02-09T07:53:00.000-08:00

Ever wish you could share videos with your Twitter followers? Now you can. Sure you could use other video services like seesmic or 12seconds.tv , but if you are already using Twitter, why use a separate service.

You can share YouTube videos or create your own using their Mac download. If you own a Mac and you Tweet, then you need this free download Tweetube for Mac Users

This software uses your webcam and Twitter account to let you quickly create 25 seconds of entertainment, title and description and immediately share it with your followers.

Install the software, enter your Twitter account and click the record button and BAM, you have a Twitter video. Here I am getting ready to record a Twitter video.

If you want to see how it works, follow me on Twitter

Another service to video on Twitter, if you don't have a Mac, is bubbletweet.com. This service allows you do not only create an original video, but upload one as well. Just as simple and easy to use. What is different about BubbleTwee t vs Tweetube is BubbleTweet adds a pop up video on your Twitter site and Tweetube adds it your post.

Shorten Any Web Address

2009-02-08T21:00:00.001-08:00

Ever notice how long some addresses can get. Using technology like Twitter, you can't waste that much space.

If you need to shorten a web address, I recommend

tinyurl.com

Top 10 Email Marketing Services for 2009

2009-02-08T20:37:00.000-08:00

The number one question my clients ask me most often is "Which email service should I use to manage my lists, newsletters, communication and more?" I have my preferences, as I have used most of them. The answer unfortunately is still always it depends. WHY? Because each client has different needs.

Because most services offer many of the standard features, the key questions and criteria you need to ask yourself before choosing an email marketing provider is:

Do I need auto responders or surveys?
How much reporting do I want?
How often will I be emailing?
What type of website integration am I looking for?
What is my budget? (Some plans offer monthly and pay per use options, which could impact your budget)
Do I currently collect emails and how will the new system fit both my online and offline data collection needs?

If you are still undecided and none of the features are deal breakers, I recommend signing up for their free trials (most of them have them) and play with their site. Then it depends on your personal preference.

The next question that usually follows is "Why can't I use my own email to send to my list? That is easy. 4 BIG things:

1. More than likely your email provider will flag the email as SPAM.
2. You won't have tracking capabilities. With a provider, you'll have access to reports on bounced, forwarded, delivered/undeliverable and sent emails; as well as conversions, click-throughs and more.
3. Your email won't be SPAM compliant, typically.
4. Managing unsubscribes is more challenging and a pain to track on your own.

I thought you'd like to see how the website toptenreviews.com ranked them. The one service they are missing is a company called Aweber.com.I am not sure why they didn't review this company. I would place them in the top 5 at least. They have one of the best email delivery rates I've seen.

To read their full list and comparisons, check it out. Email Marketing Services Review 2009

Rank

#10

#11

#12

#13

#14

Quexion EnterpriseMailer

Build a Website for FREE

2009-02-06T19:00:00.000-08:00

Build a website for FREE! Yup, that's RIGHT! With Webnode, you can build a website for free. Webnode helps you create a website through drag and drop functions. No website, programming or design skills necessary. You can add features like polls, forums, photo galleries, ecommerce site to sell products and more. I have been using it to help clients run their own sites. They LOVE IT. Because now they feel like they are in control of their site and content. No longer do they have to wait for a webmaster to make an update and charge them $100 to do it.

This website is SUPER easy to use even if you have NO idea what you are doing. There is no way you could break your website site. Playing with their features will only make your website cooler. In this economy, free is always key. And when a website like this offers function and free together. How can you go wrong?

Here's an overview of what makes it so cool:

Easy to use and interactive
Publish a site with your own domain name
Use 3rd party plug ins and widgets
Has social media and community features
No Ads (this is one of the best features because many free sites have ads)
You can customize your site
All for FREE (of course if you need more than the basics, their pricing plans are GREAT!)

Check Out How it Works

HUH?! What does that mean?

2009-01-29T21:21:00.000-08:00

As you noticed, I haven't blogged in a week. I have been traveling daily with Richard Paul Evans, rolling out the 5 Lessons Institute. We have had a blast meeting new people. Incredible how his new book (5 Lessons a Millionaire Taught Me for Woman) is helping women and families change their financial futures with 5 simple lessons. (You can order it on Amazon, it was the #1 finance book on Tuesday. Sweet, huh!)

Anyway...

My best girlfriend and I were driving back from an event in Boise (5 long and fun hours). During our conversation, I had mentioned my blog. Funny how my best friend didn't know I was blogging. Not good at promotion on my part. Oh well, so she grabbed her iPhone and read some of my previous posts and asked me what RSS, ecommerce and other web lingo meant. She said, I don't mean to be stupid but those mean nothing to me. That's when I realized I had missed the point of my own blog. DUH!

The purpose of my blog is make the Internet simple and easy for those that aren't technical savy. Give them the power to be the great and powerful OZ of their own website without spending a lot of money or knowing a lot of technical stuff. Hmmm.. I was having an identity crisis.

As best friends do, her comments challenged me to do better. So starting next week, I am revamping this blog to be even simpler, easier and a little more rockin.

More to come.... I love it when friends INSPIRE you to do better. Thanks Heather. Love ya girl.

Enhance and change photos with no software

2009-01-21T14:37:00.001-08:00

Pho.to lets you enhance your photos and have fun with them - easily, anytime, anywhere. Its editing tools let you make the best of your photos with a single click, as well as apply different artistic effects and have fun with your favorite pics.

What I love about pho.to is you can upload an image, change it, then re-save it back to your desktop without any software. You can also save it to an online album. For people who don't have Photoshop and need to make changes to their photos, this is a SUPER easy program that makes changing up your photos, fast and easy.

My favorite feature is the makeup touch up. WOW! It took a picture of me and made me look like a super model.

Become your own Internet TV host in 5 easy steps

2009-01-20T11:54:00.000-08:00

Earlier, I posted my husband was looking for an outlet to broadcast his own type of LIVE TV show for his business, FBMG. I found a fantastic solution. Check out www.mogulus.com. Mogulus browser-based application allows you to create LIVE, scheduled and on-demand Internet television to broadcasts. Not only is it FREE (they have a paid version) but it makes you a real TV producer and has some very awesome features.

For example, you can pre-cue a commerical to run before your live broadcast. You can offer programming On Demand. This means you can preload show that viewers can watch that aren't live. On Demand is great to feature past live show or preview upcoming show.

The service also offer a video widget for your blog or website, so you can promote an upcoming show.

The only downside is there is no ecommerce function that allows you to charge to watch the videos or protects it if you want to keep the content private. Hopefully they'll offer this solution soon.

Starting your own Internet show is easy. Here are 5 quick tips to get started:

What kind of content will you broadcast? How to, demos, news, etc
Decide who your audience is
Decide how often you will broadcast.
Register for a free account with mogulus. Make sure you have a camera and mic (most computers have these)
Start broadcasting!

Their website has thousands of channels and examples for you to view to get ideas. We have already started to put together my husbands channel. I'll unveil it later this month. He is scheduled to go on air the first of February.

2009-01-19T13:12:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of saving money, like last week's post, I found FreeFlys. They give away samples of products. Some of them... ehhh.. I don't care about, HOWEVER, some of them were pretty cool.

tttp://www.freeflys.com

Hey, why not try before you by. Or try a lot and never by. Whatever you'd like!

Which Video Player is Best?

2009-01-18T17:01:00.000-08:00

My husband recently decided to launch FBMGTV, live stream broadcast for firearm enthusiasts. So today we were researching solutions. There are a few to sort through. I'll let you know what I found tomorrow.

Bad Usability Calandar

2009-01-15T15:02:00.000-08:00

This gave me a chuckle today.

http://www.badusability.com/

They compiled the funniest calendar mistakes from 2008. You have to check it out for a good laugh. Just goes to show that programmers and designer folks a like make mistakes. haha!

Saving While You Shop Online

2009-01-15T10:09:00.001-08:00

My wonderful friend and assistant Chrystal told me about this VERY cool site called Pinching Your Pennies. This site offers shopping tips both grocery store and retail. Discount codes for shipping, %'s off and more. This site could be my new obsession. My favorite newsletter is the Screaming Penny - hot new deals delivered to my inbox. What is great about their site is they cover a wide variety of products I use and shop for on a regular basis.

In this economy, every little discount helps. Check it out before you make your next purchase.

Be Your Own Radio Host

2009-01-14T09:48:00.000-08:00

On the Internet, you can host your own LIVE radio show. I think this is a pretty cool idea and service. We are going to be using at the 5 Lessons Institute.

NowLive is free. Participants can chat with YOU the radio host, join in via their webcam, you can upload media like pictures, videos and music. Participants can also call your show. After it is all over, you have a downloadable MP3 for your website or archives. You can customize some the look of feel of your program. It is SO simple and easy to use, even my 9 year old could host her own radio show. (I better not give her any ideas!)

How to Prepare For Stability On Social Media News Sites

2009-01-13T11:55:00.000-08:00

When I come across a good article, I want to make sure I share it with you.

How to Prepare For Stability On Social Media News Sites

"With all of the changes in social media news sites these days, including witch-hunts on Digg/Reddit, the banning of top users, and the increasing difficulty having your story seen above others , it has never been more important to have an account that is sustainable and that doesn’t rely on only one tactic for success. Those accounts that rely on only one approach for success on Social Media news sites are putting all of their eggs in one basket, and could be setting themselves up for future failures. To make sure your account will weather the bad (and the good), these are some steps to consider... Read More

Favicon - what the heck is that?

2009-01-12T14:20:00.000-08:00

Create your Own Favicon

Ever wonder how people put their little logo or icon next to their URL. Have you wanted to have one on your website too. That little logo has a name, Favicon.

What's a Favicon?

Favicon (short for Favorites Icon) is a special logo or other small graphic with a web page. The favicon is usually displayed next to the web site address. Much like the way shortcut icons are used on the computer desktop to distinguish computer programs and files, favicons can be used to personalize or brand your web sites.

This is how you do it.

Go to http://www.html-kit.com/favicon/
Choose the logo you want to upload.
Click generate icon.
This will give you the .ico extension you need.
Place on your site.

Create Your Own Community, Master Your Own World

2009-01-12T13:36:00.001-08:00

Love Facebook or MySpace, wish your industry or community had their own community. Now you can... Ning.com. Ning let's you create your own community for free. This is a great service for anyone looking to create a portal where people can share photos, blog, videos, discuss and more. Another very cook thing is you can make your community public or private. It also allows for full customization.

Check it out! Ning.com

Making Video Tutorials

2009-01-11T11:12:00.000-08:00

Video tutorials are becoming more popular as companies show consumers how to do things. There are many services that offer screen capture video with audio. Some of them can be very pricey or hard to learn.

My new favorite toy is a website service that allows you to record your screen and create tutorials or videos. Screen Toaster doesn't require any downloads and works in a few click of your screen. Once the video has been recorded, you can add audio and text to complement the video.

Sharing the video is super easy as well. Once you finish your video, you can embed it on a blog, webpage or send it by email. Slick and easy to use for anyone that feels digitally challenged.

Capture a Memory a Day

2009-01-10T20:01:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, I am an avid scrapbooker. Becky Higgins created an incredible kit for 2009 called Project 365. I ordered this kit and just received it. I am VERY excited to get started. The premise of this idea is to capture every day moments by taking a picture or saving a momento each day and journaling about it. I have been great about taking pictures every day, just forgetting to journal.

However, being the digital diva I am, I thought if I had a digial solution to this I would remember to journal from my computer and also to remember which picture went with what day. Also, many friends and family have expressed interest in seeing the pictures. I thought maybe I could use our family blog, but that's not what I wanted to use our family blog for.

Then..... POOF!

A friend of mine recommended Shuttercal.com. You attach a photo and comment to each day. The perfect solution to capture those precious memories each and every day. And best of all... it is FREE. (You know my favorite price.)

Need to chat with friends NOW

2009-01-07T20:46:00.000-08:00

Tonight my husband ran into an issue. He was chatting with 5 different friends in Facebook and they all wanted to chat together. We found chat maker. In less than 5 seconds, he had a unique url he could send to friends so they could all chat. Their own private chat room. No software to install, no special URL and passwords to know.

The problem with other chat services is your friends have to be on the same service such as the same instant messenger or service. Chat Maker connects everyone you know in seconds!

A new web browser for KIDS

2009-01-02T14:31:00.000-08:00

If you kids are like mine, they want to play on the Internet. They want to access all the fun kid sites. This browser by KIDO'Z makes surfing fun and safe for any kid. My GIRLS LOVE IT!

The KIDO’Z Browser allows the kids to watch only approved content. The system blocks links, scripts and any other attempts that lead to sites and content which have not been approved, preventing them being viewed by the children. Kids can safely explore an endless amount of sites, games and videos and can get with one click to the best kids’ content that can be found.

Are You Lost on the Net? Be Found with FREE SEO tools

2008-12-31T15:44:00.000-08:00

Checking and analyzing your website's positioning in various search engines is key to having your customers find you. Cutting through the clutter on the Internet is becoming more and more difficult each today.

Tracking keywords people are using to find you and being there when they need may be the difference between success and failure.

Exactfactor is a Search Engine optimization service with FREE SEO tools. Track your website positioning in various search engines. Compare SEO results with your competitors. They have reports and alerts so you stay on top of your game!

What I LOVE about this service is watching your webpage position go up and down, watching you pass or get passed by a competitor and my FAVORITE - when you hit the first page in Google.

For All You Moms

2008-12-30T20:57:00.000-08:00

My sister is having her first baby in April. As a new mom and career woman, she doesn't have time to scrapbook. Plus, well.... I'd laugh to actually see her scrapbook. BUT NOW - she can scrapbook and share the new baby's progress with the whole family using.

keepaboo.com

Keepaboo enables you to collect, preserve and share the precious moments of your child's life. Keepaboo provides you with a complete online documentation solution, replacing traditional baby books & scrapbooks. With Keepaboo you can run a parent diary, create picture galleries, record important developmental milestones, track your child's growth, save memorable quotes, and more.

Holiday Movie Theme Ideas

2008-12-16T11:43:00.000-08:00

I am always on the lookout for fun ideas. Read this on the Oprah website.

Nothing rings in the season better than sitting by a cozy fire, sipping hot chocolate and enjoying your favorite holiday movie. So, why not make a party out of it? Here are our ideas for how to bring It's a Wonderful Life—to life!

Make your own invitations by jazzing up plain card stock with quotes from the movie. Try, "Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings" or "Merry Christmas, movie house! Merry Christmas, Emporium! Merry Christmas, you wonderful old Building and Loan!"
Set the scene! Make your house feel like a theater by ordering replica movie posters from the '40s online. No snow outside? Make your house feel like Bedford Falls by decorating your windows with paper snowflakes!
As guests arrive, have the movie soundtrack playing in the background.
Serve your guests traditional movie theater treats—like hot buttery popcorn and oversize movie candy.
While George Bailey's drink of choice was bourbon, Clarence the angel preferred mulled wine (with extra cinnamon). Have both on hand in case your guests want to enjoy cocktails inspired by the film.
At the end of the movie, give your guests a holiday movie quiz! Have a copy of the film on DVD as the top prize.
Give each guest their own bell as a party gift—so they can help an angel get its wings!

In addition to setting the scene with movie posters and serving traditional theater treats, here are some ways you can customize a viewing party for some of the season's best movies!

White Christmas

White Christmas invitations can be designed with a simple snow scene. Include lyrics from the songs "Snow" or "White Christmas."
While on the train to Vermont, the Haynes sisters order club sandwiches and lemonade. Have both as snacks for your guests.
At the end of the movie, give your guests our holiday movie quiz! Have a copy of the film on DVD as the top prize.
As a parting gift, give each friend a snowflake ornament or a Bing Crosby CD.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas Kids' Party!

Have a kids viewing party for The Grinch! You can serve the classic Seuss dish, green eggs and ham (mix a little pesto in your scrambled eggs to make them green!) You can also serve Roast Beast (substituting beef for beast), Who pudding or Who hash.
Visit your local party supply store for Seuss-inspired party bags. Look for things like crazy straws, and cartoonish cups and plates for the kids.
At the end of the day, give your guests our kids' holiday movie quiz! Have a copy of the film on DVD as the top prize
Have a craft table set up so everyone can make stockings like the ones in the film. Use felt to create the base and let kids glue on Seuss-like designs (polka dots, wacky colored stripes). Then, stuff the stockings with flavored candy canes and send home as a party gift!

Miracle on 34th Street

Invitations can be made of black and white postcards of New York City. You could include quotes from the film like, "Faith is believing when common sense tells you not to" or "I believe…I believe…Even though it's silly, I believe."
In the movie, Natalie Wood's character loves her gum! Have big bowls of bubble gum around your house.
If you have kids at your party, have them write letters to Santa! Have postcards and markers ready for them.
The entire film takes place in New York City in the 1940s. Serve your guests New York's finest snacks including pizza, cheesecake and Serendipity's Frrrozen Hot Chocolate!

From the Oprah website

“Blending” Viral Marketing into Your Marketing Strategy

2008-12-04T13:53:00.000-08:00

Source:

http://videos.webpronews.com/2008/11/21/pubcon-blending-viral-marketing-into-your-marketing-strategy/

Tools for Video Marketing on the Web

2008-12-03T13:44:00.000-08:00

Online video is one of the best venues to engage an audience - don't even think about excluding it! So why should you use it?

TubeMogul share a great article about online video marketing along with some case studies. Good read for anyone looking to start using video in their marketing mix.

Read Why should Video Marketing be included in your marketing mix?

Uploading videos on YouTube and showing them on websites and blogs is VERY popular.
Doing this has 2 great advantages. First, saving web-server bandwidth. Second, utilizing YouTube’s traffic.

Below are a list of some YouTube tools through which you can easily share and integrate videos on your website or blog. Also you can download videos on your computer.

TubeMogul.com – is a fantastic video distribution tool. This allows you to distribute your video to most of the video sites. It also has powerful tracking feature so you can track your distribution success. You can distribute to the following sites.

YouTube
Yahoo!
MySpace
Metacafe
Revver
AOL
Break
Dailymotion
Veoh
Crackle
Imeem
StupidVideos
Sclipo
Viddler
Howcast
5min

YouTube badge maker - will show your viewers images of your 6 most recently uploaded videos. Great as a widget on your blog.

Video Converter –Rip and burn personal DVDs, convert video, create HD Video, split, join, edit, apply effects, copy to mobile devices! ALL FORMATS ARE SUPPORTED!

Video Downloader - a Firefox extension that allows you to download videos to your computer from YouTube and most video sites from Firefox.

Downloader - This video downloader lets you grab videos from Google Video, Bolt, iFilm, MySpace, DailyMotion, Blip.tv and Break.com. As usual, you may need to rename the downloaded video with a '.flv' extension (e.g. Transformers.flv) and watch using an FLV Player.

12seconds - 12seconds is the best place online for video status updates. It's a super easy way to share what you're doing with your friends and family using short video clips. You can use your web cam or mobile phone. Show your people where you are, share your thoughts, or tell them how you're doing.

Let’s start the week off with a quiz:

2008-11-30T20:56:00.001-08:00

1. When you hear the term social media, you think:

1. It should be followed by the term optimization.
2. Greatest thing evah!
3. I love being social.
4. I have no idea what you’re talking about.

2. When you see things like ‘twitter’, ‘flickr’, ‘etsy’, ‘vlog’, ‘flagr’, ‘ooVoo’, ’skitch’, ‘frappr’, and ‘dopplr’ you think…

1. They’re all soooo 2008…I’m now beta testing things you’ll hear about sometime in 2010, if you’re lucky.
2. I could not live without these things. Please don’t make me try.
3. Where are all the vowels?
4. When you make up words that aren’t really words, you just seem silly.

3. When I say RSS, you say…

1. SSS... what?
2. Yay!
3. Umm…
4. Huh?

Check your answers and count up your numbers.

If you or someone you love scored between 9 and 12, well then it’s time for some serious hands-on learnin’. Don’t be scared. It’s painless. And super easy.

SEO DeCyphered

2008-11-30T20:17:00.000-08:00

This post by Matt McGee explains SEO so well. I often get asked, why should I care about SEO, isn't it just a buzz word, how does it affect me or my business. Matt CLEARLY articulates why you should consider SEO in your business or on your website.

Matt says "Well, the best SEOs don’t talk to their clients about rankings; they talk about the process of making great web sites that earn traffic and convert visitors into customers. They talk about the process of creating great content that attracts links like bees to honey."

To me, SEO is just that content that attracts links like bees to honey! That's why you should pay attention.

http://www.smallbusinesssem.com/the-seo-success-pyramid/971/

HOT PICK OF THE WEEK: Organize Your Receipts with ShoeBoxed!

2008-11-26T14:27:00.001-08:00

Shoeboxed.com

This digital organization system is my Hot Pick Of the Week.

How many of you are great at keeping receipts? I am not. It is VERY frustrating. I am always losing them. This service by shoeboxed.com will help you stay organized. Using this service will make you SO happy at tax season.

This service is FREE if you upload your own receipts, and their payment plans are cheap if you consider the time to remember to file, find and save those receipts.

Share With Your Friends

2008-11-24T22:51:00.000-08:00

Sharing with your friends has always been fun! Word of mouth advertising has always been the most powerful tool both in person and online. Now sharing a website, blog or piece of content is even easier with this handy non-techy tool.

Now with http://tellafriend.socialtwist.com your visitors can share your website or blog with their friends. You can check out this free widget on this blog.

Just two weeks ago, I was fussing with a PAID program that promised the same results. This program not only required installation on my hosted website, but massive programing. So much programming that even my programmer had difficulty.

Installing Tell a Friend took me less than 10 minutes. Once I signed up for an account, customized my button and pasted the code using their easy to use instructions!

VOTE! That's Google new approach.

2008-11-21T17:17:00.000-08:00

If you checked Google recently, you'll notice you can now modify search results, wiki style. You can vote search results up or down and leave comments. And they will be seen by others.

What is interesting about this new features is

1. This is going to lead to an rush by businesses and networkers to promote their own sites in a effort to beat the system. Watching people self proclaim they have cracked the Google search engine code.. yeah right.

2. Will this really modify how people are searching the Internet?

3. Do people really care what other people are searching for?

This is a brave step for Google. A fun change to watch.

Podcasting Toolbox: 70+ Podcasting Tools and Resources

2008-11-20T14:47:00.000-08:00

If you want to podcast, check out these amazing resources. Mashable has compiled this great list of services. As with all great lists, you are probably asking yourself, which one should I use. I am on that same quest. I'll keep you posted.

Podcasting Toolbox: 70+ Podcasting Tools and Resources

Techy Stuff for the Rest of Us

2008-11-11T14:31:00.001-08:00

I am a non-techy, which means I am not certified in any techy degree. I am not an IT person, web developer, graphic designer or programmer. However, I am a marketer and so often we need to accomplish projects on the web. That usually is costly, timely and sometimes challenging.

I have figured out how to accomplish many things on the web without a programmer, web designer, graphic designer or IT person because I have had to. Whether it was a small budget project or I didn't have time to wait for them.

Graphic designers, web designers, programmer, and IT folks ARE wonderful and they are needed. They do AMAZING things, I could never accomplish... BUT

When you have a small budget
Have a deadline
Want to manage it yourself
Need it quick

Then..... you need the Web Princess!