The Best Blogs & Sites: April 2009

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Free alternatives to Webex, Camtasia, etc

Interesting open source alternatives for handling online meetings, videos, screenshots, and files:

DimDim, an open-source free alternative for online collaboration (paid comparison: WebEx)
CamStudio, an open-source free limited AVI screen recorder and AVI-SWF converter (paid comparison: Camtasia)
MWSnap, a free alternative for basic screen captures (paid comparison: Snagit)
CutePDF, free print-to-PDF software (paid comparison: Adobe, Win2Pdf, etc)
FileZilla, open-source free alternative for FTP and sFTP (paid comparison:SmartFTP, WS_FTP, etc)
CrossLoop, free remote screen sharing app (paid comparison: CoPilot,GoToAssist)

You get what you pay for: these free versions are far more limited than their full-featured commercial cousins.

However, depending on which particular features you need, sometimes they suffice.

They also provide an easy, no-cost, first step into these categories.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Top 25 Most Popular Blogs | April 2009

Here are the 25 most popular blogs ranked by a combination of Inbound Links, Alexa Rank, and U.S. traffic data from Compete and Quantcast. Although no traffic metrics are completely accurate we do believe the data below to be useful for gauging relative audience size

Source: http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/blogs

Blog Tools

Are you feeling the lure of Weblogging? Publishing your ideas and opinions for all the World Wide Web to read? If you are, you will need to know which sites offer the best tools for setting up and managing your fledgling Web publishing operation. For most of us, using a hosted blog Web site like Google-owned Blogger.com or Yahoo's360 or MSN Spaces will be the best option because these sites give you everything you need and walk you through the process at no cost. Setting up a blog at one of these sites takes about five minutes. However, if you want to create a more customized feature-rich Weblog with your own domain name and the ability to track and manage user interaction, you will want to subscribe to a Web hosting space (check http://www.webhostingtalk.com for good suggestions) and use non-hosted blog software. Below you will find our picks for the best Web sites for those in need of the tools to set up hosted or non-hosted Weblogs. Don't worry if you want to start with a simpler, hosted blog alternative, it's easy to up grade and most sites will let you import from other services

WordPress		www.wordpress.org

Blogger		www.blogger.com

Blogsome		blogsome.com

Movable Type		www.movabletype.org

Textpattern		textpattern.com

B2evolution		b2evolution.net

LiveJournal		livejournal.com

MSN Spaces		spaces.msn.com

Squarespace		squarespace.com

TypePad		www.typepad.com

Yahoo 360		360.yahoo.com

http://www.forbes.com/bow/b2c/category.jhtml?id=311

Saturday, April 4, 2009

65 Indispensable Websites for Business Owners

Get your business going, keep it going strong or take it in a new direction with this compilation of web sites for entrepreneurs.

At last count there were approximately 10 gazillion websites out there. Where's a business owner to start when looking for valuable information? If you're reading this, it means you're on Entrepreneur.com, which is a good start. Read on for 64 more vital online spots you should know about.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/microsites/websmarts/article199544.html

10 Must-Click Websites

Surfing the web for top-notch research and advice to help your business grow? Save some time with these information-rich websites.

BizStats.com
Free statistics and financial ratios for businesses by industry; find out what the average firm in your industry spends and earns.

Business.gov
The central source for federal, state and local government information for businesses; learn about employment laws, where to apply for government grants and loans, and more.

BusinessFinance.com
This lender-matching service offers a range of useful information on various ways to finance a business.
Entrepreneurship.org
The Kauffman Foundation runs this site, which features hundreds of how-to articles for entrepreneurs, and data for policymakers.
Nielsen
Snapshots of consumer trends in different markets, from groceries to movies, by one of the oldest and biggest market-research firms
Ladies Who Launch
Blogs, success stories, how-tos and more, all targeting women entrepreneurs
Access eCommerce Guide
Even internet-illiterate entrepreneurs can learn almost everything they need to start an e-commerce business here.
Small Business Advancement National Center
The nation's entrepreneurship researchers contribute to this trove of scholarly articles on small-business issues.
Small Business School
View online videos and read transcripts of presentations on financing, hiring, exits and more.
Statistical Abstract of the U.S.
The U.S. Census Bureau's comprehensive and authoritative rundown of statistics on America's economy and society

http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneur/2009/april/200694.html

The Best Blogs & Sites