Free online tools for the virtual office

God    free, Online Tools     basecamp, dropbox, free, gamil, Google Docs, online, tools, yammer

1. Dropbox – virtual hard drive – gives you 2GB of data
2. Basecamp – Simple Project Management tool, helps keep track of shared tasks.
3. Yammer – Internal company twitter. Great to keep updated on what everyone is working on
4. Gmail and Google Docs – Free collaboration on excel and word documents.

Review of best recorder mic – Zoom H1

God    Gadgets     Canon T2i, DSLR, mic, mp3, voice recorder, Zoom h1, Zoom h2, Zoom H4N

With all the advances in technology and gadget there is still a need to record voice conversations and memos. While you might be able to use your Iphone or Blackberry, if you are in need recording for a long period of time or often, it’s best to get a dedicated mic.

The Zoom H1 is the best suited for this. The mic is small, high quality, and intuitively easy to use.

Great features I love:

1. Dual mics pointed in each direction for stereo recording
2. Easy big and bold record button
3. Rec light indicating when it’s on
4. Display but no menu option – The higher models H2 and H4N has menus which makes it more difficult to use
5. Easy side buttons for increasing the input level, play, fast forward, rewind, pause and delete
6. Speaker for playback
7. Volume for speakers
8. Output for headphone
9. input for other mic or lapel mic
10. USB connection to sync with your computer

You can choose WAV or MP3, MP3 it will last you 36 hours with the 2 GB card. I used this and it is great. I would choose this over the any of the higher models, H2 and H4N. Without a menu, this is so much easier to use and navigate. Also the small size makes it very easy to transport. I use this with my DSLR Canon Rebel T2I. I shoot from afar and use this to record the audio, so much easier.

You can also get the kit which comes with a great set of headphones (good quality but not the most expensive), windsock, mic holder, carrying bag, usb, charger, and high quality tripod.

Check out this great review, I viewed this before buying:

Tools to help you choose the best domain name for SEO

God    SEO     .asia, .biz, .co, .com, .de, .eu, .ie, .info, .mobi, .net, .org, .uk, archive.org, domain, domain history, Free Keyword Tool, Google Adwords, Google Search Autocomplete, Hosterstats, SEO

There is a process that you should follow to choose the best domain name.

1. Generate a list of words that your customers will search for
2. Try different combination of the words and see which one you like and is available
3. Get a domain that is old – Google gives higher ranking to older domains

How do you choose the right words? You might already have a name, let’s say it’s call Tom’s and you sell flowers.

1. Go to Google and enter flowers and you’ll see an autocomplete drop down which shows the most common words people search for. Try to enter these into your name.
   
2. You can also go to Adword Keyword Tool for SEO and find out the number of people entering those words. With the Adword keyword tool you’ll be able to see the competition, Global monthly searches and local monthly searches, as well as the local search trends.
   
3. The Psychic Whois tool combines both of the steps plus it lets you know if the .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, and your country domain instantly.

Now see which one is available.

1. Domize.com gives you variations of the name by deleting end letters from name. I’m not sure how valuable this is. For example I typed “FashionBlog” but it tells me “FashionBlo” is available.
2. The most powerful tool has to be Bust a Name, this automates the process of combining the names.

While you are doing this you would also need to find out the domain name to use. An older domain name will give you more Search Engine ranking from Google. There are 3 tools.

1. The first one is the domain history tool. It shows the domain history of any domain. This may be no accurate.
2. I would also check with Archive.org to see if there are any past history of the site.
3. However I find the most reliable would be from Hosterstats. This gives you the hosting history of a domain name from 2000 forward. This is the most accurate statistic. However the drawback is that it is only focused on the .com .net .org .biz .info .mobi .asia .ie .eu .co.uk and .de domains.