3 Top Tools For Online Success

“State your top three tools that you will use (or already use) to save time and money and make your online world more seamless.” That was today’s assignment in The 30 Day Blog Challenge.

While there are many intangible tools for business, today’s Blog Challenge is all about the tangible ones. Here are 3 online tools I use and love:

Hosting by Bluehost

If you have a website or a blog, you need hosting. Unless you host your own site (which I don’t recommend).

Bluehost has been a great tool for me for one simple reason: It doesn’t get in the way of my business. If I need to host more than one site, forward one domain to another, move files from one directory to another, etc., there are easy-to-follow tutorials.

Plus, if I need a little help with something, I can get the help I need. I have used Bluehost’s chat support as well as their telephone support and have found both to be very helpful. Granted, I’m not a power user, but I do host a number of sites across three different hosting accounts and it just works.

Asana Project Management

Asana is a very capable, free project management system. There are other paid options, like Basecamp, which I have used and loved. The simplicity of their system is hard to beat. But I recently heard about Asana and decided to try it.

What I found was a system that does everything I need it to do, with a generous “free” version that works for me. I use it to manage projects with my VA and to track my own progress on personal projects.

If you have used Basecamp, you will find Asana to be different and not quite as simple to set up. After watching a few of their short tutorial videos, however, I quickly set things up exactly as I needed them.

morgueFile For Images

When I need an image for my blog post, the first thing I consider is whether to create something myself or use a royalty-free stock photo.

My first choice is to use an image I already own or create something on the spot that suits my post perfectly. Take a look at the image at the top of this post to see an example of a simple image I created in less than 5 minutes.

If I don’t already have an appropriate image, the first place I look is morguefule.com. According to their About page, “The morguefile contains photographs freely contributed by many artists to be used in creative projects by visitors to the site.”

These photos are free to use, but they are not in the public domain. Although you are not required to credit the artist, I always do because it’s the right thing to do. Take a look at the image at the top of this page to see how I do it.

When I can’t find what I need on morguefile.com, my next stop if Flickr.com. I do a Google search for “Flickr Creative Commons” and then search within the results to find an image that works. You have to credit the photographer when using these images.

If I still can’t find what I need, I buy stock images from iStockphoto or Dreamstime. There are dozens of stock image sites on the interent, but these two are the ones I have found most useful.

Tools Can Make or Break Your Business

There are dozens of excellent online tools available at low or no cost. The key is to identify and use the ones that work for you.

Just remember, a free tool is not always better than a paid one. While there are always free options, paying for some tools will speed up your work process, saving you time, which happens to be the most valuable asset you have.