10 Weeks of Free Tools Every VA Must Have – Week 10

A week ago, we discussed free audio and video tools for VAs: Audacity and CamStudio. Last but not least…

Week 10: Blogging for Virtual Assistants

Ah, blogging. It may not be the latest craze, but it is still pretty darned hot! If you haven’t jumped on the blogwagon yet, chances are that you probably will. Blogging isn’t hard, especially if you’re a natural storyteller. You just have to write about what you know and what you’re passionate about.

BlogBackupOnlineBlogBackupOnline: Have you ever lost months or even YEARS of blog posts due to a server failure, glitch, or corruption? Worry no more with BlogBackupOnline. Back up as much as 50 MB for free. You don’t even have to remember to do it, and there is no software or programming required.

WordPressWordPress: No matter what anyone else says, WordPress rules in my book. If you’re thinking about starting a blog, there is nothing easier than using WordPress to manage your posts. Plus, it’s free—which makes it even better. Many web hosts offer one-click installs, so there isn’t any difficulty installing a new platform on your server if you’re a non-techie. WordPress offers a simplistic dashboard to manage your posts, categories, plug-ins, blogroll, and more, all while offering instant RSS feeds across the Internet. Choose from thousands of free themes created for WordPress, or get help customizing your new blog if you want to incorporate your company’s branding into your latest venture, which I highly recommend.

I was planning to include my favorite WordPress plug-ins here, but I figured why not make that post another day—after all, I just wrote 10 weeks of posts, and I need a break! WordPress plug-ins coming soon…

This post concludes our series of must-have freebies for virtual assistants. I hope you enjoyed the series and found lots of new toys, and perhaps even something that you can’t live without!

10 Weeks of Free Tools Every VA Must Have – Week 9

Last week we discussed alternative software programs for virtual assistants, including 7-Zip, PDFCreator, OpenOffice, and ThinkFree. Next up…

Week 9: Audio & Video Made Simple (and free) for Virtual Assistants

AudacityAudacity: Audacity is a free, cross platform, open source audio program for editing and recording audio. Use it to record, cut, copy, splice, mix, and add effects, and then convert it to various audio formats such as MP3, WAV, MPEG, and more. Why not record an audio message for your website visitors?

CamStudioCamStudio: CamStudio is a free streaming video application that records the on-screen and audio activity on your computer. Turn your video files into streaming Flash videos (SWFs) that don’t take up half your server space. Create demonstration videos, tutorials, and more.

Do you use other free audio tools? Share with us! And don’t forget to check back next week for more free tools!