Advice Network Founders Blog

You’re here because you’re looking to promote your business, but instead of some advice or information – I’m going to give you a bunch of tools that can save you time and money so you can focus on what you do best.

Here are 10 free tools that can help you grow your business online (and offline):

1. Open Office/Google Docs - Sun Microsystems version of Microsoft Office isn’t just a free replacement for it, but it’s also 100% compatible! Google Docs is a great online version, although I haven’t quite got used to it yet.
2. Skype – This is a free tool for communicating with friends, family, clients, and associates around the world. While Skype-to-Skype calls are free, calling landline phones does cost a small (seriously, really small) fee.
3. AVG Anti-Virus – Okay, so it won’t grow your business…but it will help you keep it safe without paying the big bucks to Norton.
4. Microsoft Office Live Small Business – I’ve just started using this and am amazed their giving it away for free. You can have a free website (with a good URL), 100 free email addresses, and a complete online workplace for project management. This is great stuff!
5. Google Pack – Pick and choose the free tools that you want to use…photo editing, anti-virus, Adobe Reader, Google Desktop, Skype, and more…it’s all there!
6. Mozilla Thunderbird – The free equivalent to Microsoft Office. If you don’t have office and find yourself fumbling around between Hotmail, Gmail, and other freebies – give this one a try….you’ll be impressed.
7. Audacity - It doesn’t matter whether you’re looking to record or edit audio, Audacity will do it all. It’s a great tool to make your website more dynamic and captivating.
8. Mozilla Lightning/Google Calendar - Lightning is a calendar and to-do list, but what’s better is that it synchronizes with Google Calendar (which also syncs with Microsoft Outlook).
9. YouConvertIt.com – Convert almost any kind of file into another kind of file – quickly and easily.
10. BackPackIt.com – The ultimate group organizer for savvy small businesses.

If you have any other tools that you recommend, feel free to pass them on!

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