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!

10 Weeks of Free Tools Every VA Must Have - Week 8

A week ago, I shared two great (and free!) form builders for VAs: Wufoo and JotForm. Now moving on to…

Week 8: Alternative software for Virtual Assistants—No Microsoft, Adobe, or Money Required

If only these programs were around when we worked in the corporate world! Well, they probably were, but we were simply unaware given that the big-name software companies were always updating, releasing new versions, and asking for way more money than was necessary. But we bought them anyway thinking that was our only option. Now you have a choice, and a free one at that. There are so many open source software programs out there nowadays. Thank goodness for the developers who believe you shouldn’t have to pay hundreds and thousands of dollars on software every one or two years!

7-Zip7-Zip: Compress, pack, and unpack your files with 7-Zip, an open source file archiver that boasts a higher compression ratio than PKZip or WinZip. 7-Zip supports many popular formats, and you don’t have to pay a dime to get it. I’ve been using 7-Zip for several months now and haven’t had any problems with zipping and sending my large image files to clients or associates.

PDFforgePDFCreator: PDFCreator from pdfforge.org is a free program that creates PDFs from almost any software program. Need to save multiple files as one PDF? With PDFCreator, it’s no problem. You can also create image files such as PNG, JPG, BMP, and more.

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10 Weeks of Free Tools Every VA Must Have - Week 7

Last week we discussed productivity and time management tools for virtual assistants, including BigContacts, Backpack, Jott, Remember the Milk, and Time Stamp. Now it’s time for…

Week 7: Forms for Your Virtual Assistance Website

Don’t you just hate building forms and monkeying around with all the code? Does the act of creating a form for your website leave you feeling clueless? If so, then I have the solution for you. Here are two simple web-based form builders that will have you building forms for everything in your business. Easy as pie!

WufooWufoo Form Builder: Hate using your web host’s form mail script or cgi bin? Then get on over to Wufoo to create your form, survey, or invitation without touching a line of code. Really! Wufoo automatically builds the database, backend, and scripts needed to collect your data fast. Need a contact form? No problem. Want to create a support ticket form for your clients? Done. The free version is limited to 3 forms, 10 fields, and up to 100 entries per month, but if you’re a non-techie VA who is just getting started or you just want to send a survey to current clients, Wufoo is just the right tool for the job.

JotFormJotForm: Another great web-based form builder is JotForm. JotForm features intuitive dragging-and-dropping and instant editing right from the form editor. Create web forms and collect submissions and payments from your website.

Have you come across any free tools for creating web forms? If so, share them with us. And don’t forget to check back next week for more free tools!

10 Weeks of Free Tools Every VA Must Have - Week 6

A week ago, we discussed several “cleanse and protect” tools for VAs, including Copyscape, Ccleaner, and Mozy. Now let’s move on to…

Week 6: Productivity & Project Management Tools for Virtual Assistants

Don’t you wish life were easier sometimes? If we could just automate parts of our lives (for instance, grocery shopping and laundry) like we automate parts of our businesses, then we might just have some time for ourselves. The following tools can certainly help you get there. Find the one that’s best for you and your lifestyle and get organized!

Big ContactsBigContacts: BigContacts is a fully-featured, web-based contact manager using Ajax. You can share contacts and set up group calendars, tasks, and notes, thus allowing you to keep up with all your business contacts, associates, friends, and family. Best of all, you can work from anywhere!

BackpackBackpack: Another nifty little tool from 37Signals is Backpack, a web-based organizer that keeps your to-dos, notes, ideas, and schedules on different pages. You can set up reminders to be sent to your email inbox or cell phone, make it private or share it with others, and access it from any computer with an Internet connection. There are, of course, premium accounts (that hardly cost you anything), but for the lightweights, the free accounts work just fine.

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10 Weeks of Free Tools Every VA Must Have - Week 5

Last week we discussed some great virtual collaboration and communication tools, such as YouSendIt, AllPeers, LogMeIn, Skype, Thinkature, and Writeboard. Now it’s time for…

Week 5: Cleanse & Protect Tools for Virtual Assistants!

I cannot stress enough the importance of protecting your data and content. You think it will never happen to you—until it does. And in today’s technology-driven times, the likelihood of it happening to you is high. It shouldn’t be one of those things you deal with only when it happens, and it shouldn’t be something on your “C” priority list. This is necessary and vital to your business, so if you haven’t taken steps to protect yourself, then stop what you’re doing right now and do it!

CopyscapeCopyscape: I *know* you *know* that plagiarizing someone else’s work is just plain evil and wrong, but unfortunately it happens anyway. Some people are just lazy and don’t want to do the work themselves and would rather take credit for someone else’s hard work. I have absolutely no sympathy for the person doing the plagiarizing. I have personally been a victim of this, so if my feelings come through in my writing, it is rightfully so. Another virtual assistant copied my About page and didn’t even bother to change the wording other than her name, so essentially she copied and pasted my background, capabilities, experience, and heck, even my business model!

How did I find out? Copyscape—a free website plagiarism search tool. Make it a point to check your site periodically, because not everyone has the same morals as the rest of us.

CcleanerCcleaner: If you’re one of those people who never cleans up your computer system, then Ccleaner is for you. A free system optimization tool, it gets rid of unused files and online activities such as your temporary Internet files, history, and cookies, which allows Windows to run faster by freeing up your hard disk space. And it does it quickly and painlessly. Read more

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