The Free Software for
Small Business Blog

Why WordPress Sucks and How to Stop it

Technical Chaos

If you want chronic technical chaos, a website that runs at the speed of a slug, and creatively boxed in a corner, WordPress is for you. I found myself inheriting a WordPress website project that I wish I had said "no" to working on as a marketing leader. While I could easily author a list of 50 reasons why you shouldn't use WordPress, you only need five. I will walk you through the five top reasons the platform is not suited for a marketing manager so you can consider migrating to a more intelligent platform.

Topics: Business Blogging Free Software

url Shortening Service List

Using a url shortener for marketing can keep the message to customers short and sweet.  There is the advantage of easy tracking as a few of the services have analytics. 

The list of url shorteners and recommendations are below.

Topics: Analytics Free Software Inbound Marketing

Zoho Invoice App Review - Estimates, Invoicing and Getting Paid

There are a plethora of options. Quickbooks lets you set invoicing and payments online, and other options are Freshbooks, InvoiceDude, Billable and more. Here is a list of 48 different free invoicing options you don't have time to test. After testing a variety of invoicing software, I continue to appreciate Zoho Invoice and it is still at the top of my list. It is powerful, flexible and intuitive. 

Zoho Invoice is an easy-to-use online invoicing software that is built for small businesses and freelancers. Zoho Invoice helps you send beautiful quotes and invoices, track the status of each invoice, automatically send payment reminders to customers, and receive payments online. Try Zoho Invoice for free today here: https://www.zoho.com/invoic

Topics: Cash Management Accounting Free Software

Build a Free Website for Personal or Business

While you are starting your business, you may decide to start with a low cost website platform.  I am not convinced that "free software" is appropriate for almost any business. If you are interested in creating additional income, a free website system might be appropriate. Here are a few free website systems you can use to get started:

Topics: Free Software Inbound Marketing

How to use free software tool Paletton online to match colors perfectly

If you’re naturally good at picking colors, be thankful for your special gift. For the rest of us, I recommend a free online software tool such as Paletton. (formerly known as Color Scheme Designer)

Topics: Free Software Website Design

Compress pdf with Smallpdf for easier upload and download

Young businesswoman sitting in carton box and feeling uncomfortable.jpeg

Reduce the size of your PDF online with www.Smallpdf.com. This app compresses your PDF in the cloud for free to a perfect size while maintaining quality.

How to compress a PDF

Just drag-and-drop your PDF file in the box provided, wait for the compression to complete and download your file. It's that simple. 

Easy to use. And free!

Drag and drop your file, wait a few seconds while it shrinks. Download it with a single click. The process is quick, secure, and completely free.

Topics: Free Software Content Marketing

Instant Eyedropper to pick, capture and copy the exact color

What color is that?  How do you copy the exact color to avoid looking like a kindergarten marketer? Memories are short, notes are overwhelming and creative entrepreneurs make quick decisions that may appear to be irrational but in reality are genius. Later though, when it is time to replicate a few of the details such as the color scheme, it is difficult to remember the exact color match.

Topics: Free Software Graphics. Design

Grammarly.com Eliminates Most Writing Mistakes Automatically

Since the virtual world has become a megaphone for anyone with an opinion to push their content, it has become apparent we all could use a little more high school English. 

Topics: Free Software Inbound Marketing

Create your own infographics free with infogr.am

Here is an online software program to create an infographic which touches the heart and mind simultaneously. Infogr.am

Topics: Free Software Graphics Landing Pages

Namebird for unraveling the puzzle to pick a domain name

While you struggle with crossword puzzles and avoid domain name research because the "they are all taken", you might find Namebird helpful for picking a domain name.

Topics: Domain Names Free