The Official Freesourcing.org Blog


Evernote: A Noteworthy Freesource

January 5, 2010 – 5:22 am

I would like to begin this post by first thanking the people behind Evernote. I know I’m not alone in saying that a note taking and organizing solution of this caliber is right on time and sincerely appreciated. There is nothing half-baked about Evernote. This product is well thought out, well developed, and already has many of the features you wish it would have. Thank you Evernote!

Here is why you should check out, and probably start using Evernote:

1. Evernote will help you capture everything – mobile photos & videos, text notes, screen shots; almost anything.

2. Evernote will help you organize everything – automatically, or do it yourself.

3. Evernote has awesome features – Tweet to note, Robust iPhone Application, and more.

4. Evernote is Free – The free version lets you store up to 40MB of notes per month. If that’s not enough to keep you organized, their premium subscription is extremely reasonable ($5/month $45/year).

On the Evernote Website you’ll also find a wide range of video tutorials they’ve created to introduce and educated on new features. For those of you with iPhones or iPod touches, we’re going to leave you with this short tutorial of their recently updated iPhone app:



Thanks for checking out Evernote and the Freesourcing.org Blog!

Until next time,

– Patrick

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By Patrick | Posted in Freesources, Freesources for Individuals | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Enhanced: LinkedIn’s People Search

December 16, 2009 – 9:57 am

Although many users have been introduced to the new faceted search functionality (in beta), this week LinkedIn announced the official release to all users. If you enjoyed our first post demonstrating the power of LinkedIn’s Advanced People search, you’ll definitely enjoy this short video tutorial from LinkedIn on the launch of their new platform. The video makes a great introduction to the new feature and provides context for the power of LinkedIn People Search.

Enjoy!

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By Patrick | Posted in Features | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

The Most Powerful People Search: LinkedIn Advanced

December 8, 2009 – 8:35 am

Whether you’re looking for a new job, a new hire, sales leads, or connections into a new industry or company – you can accomplish it through LinkedIn’s Advanced People Search. But, the access LinkedIn provides isn’t the mind-blowing reason this search feature ranks as one of the web’s most powerful people searches – it is the “how” you get this access that makes it so valuable. Let me explain…

LinkedIn works around relationships – and no surprise, their People Search also works around relationships. When you’re looking for an “in” into a company, you’re able to do so through your existing relationships or through your alumni groups. Let me show you…

Let’s say I work for a small consulting group, and I’ve just been tasked with producing 5 qualified leads. I go to LinkedIn’s Advanced People Search and this is what I do:

I attended two small private universities, so I think I’ll first want to leverage my Alumni networks.
Step 1) Go to the Advanced People Search
Step 2) Look for current titles only, and use Boolean Logic to locate decision makers. My search criteria for current titles is “Owner OR CEO OR President OR Vice President”
Step 3) Check my University Alumni Groups (which are actually very small groups on LinkedIn)

Here is what that search screen looks like:
AlumniPeopleSearch

And here are just a handful of leads I’ve just uncovered in my small Alumni Networks:
ResultsThroughAlumniNetworks

Since that example may seem a little specific or biased, I am going to display one more search. This time, I am going to leverage all of my relationships on LinkedIn and all of my group memberships, still looking for decision makers (VP’s, Owner, etc.). This search can be refined down to specific regions, industries, and so on at any time.

Here is a snapshot of the access to decision makers I have on LinkedIn:
AllResults

This screen shows that my network gives me access to over 1 Million LinkedIn members – that access could be to directly message them (if we share a common group) or to request an introduction to them – through one of our mutual connections. In any case – no one in those search results is a complete stranger, we share something in common, whether it’s something very strong like a great mutual friend or same Alma Matter, or something weaker like – we both run marathons. In any case, my company and I now have the option to work through my network to expand our business, for free.

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By Patrick | Posted in Features | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (3)

Social Media (and lots more) Unleashed

December 2, 2009 – 8:29 am

Greetings Readers!

As some of you may know, the consulting group that owns freesourcing.org is a little heavy with LinkedIn Alumni, including myself. Recently it occurred to us that we should definitely unleash the power of LinkedIn for everyone, and then some other things occurred to us…. That said, this marks the beginning of two new initiatives:

1.) We’re introducing a new Quick Search: “Features“
Features will cover aspects of our Free Resources, not just the Freesource itself. For example, LinkedIn is an amazing tool for business. OKAY, but how? Features will show you the power of LinkedIn Groups, Search, Jobs, etc. And this move isn’t just about LinkedIn; is anyone curious about Facebook Pages?

2.) We’re going to tell you exactly how to use the features
We can tell you that LinkedIn People Search is great for finding candidates, sales leads, etc; but that doesn’t really help. Instead, we’ll find the best way to actually show you, step by step, how to use the Free Resources for your business. That means blog entries, detailed notes, videos, and whatever it takes.

With this addition, we definitely want your help. Ask us questions and give us your feedback. What do you want to know about? Do you have a trick or success story of your own? We’d love to hear about it, and let you share it with the world on the freesourcing.org blog. Please make a submission or comment below.

Tutorial & Blog Post Coming Soon: LinkedIn People Search

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By Patrick | Posted in Features | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

MailChimp Q&A with Groovemuse Founder

November 19, 2009 – 9:03 am

Every business day our Twitter handle @freesourcing publishes a “Freesource of the day”. Today’s Freesource is MailChimp – MailChimp is the most impressive email marketing tool I’ve seen – “period”. Aside from MailChimp being a great submission, what I found especially exciting, was the man who submitted it: Skip Blankley, the Owner and Founder of Groovemuse Atlanta.

Groovemuse is an Atlanta-based organization led by Musicians and Artists, for Musicians and Artists. Skip and his crew focus on creating and growing opportunities for talented artists in the Atlanta area through fundraisers, recording, web design, management, promotions, and legal assistance. And as you may have guessed, Skip is now using MailChimp to boost his efforts.

A big part of Groovemuse’s success has been achieved through their community of artists, vendors, and fans. Skip mentioned that “keeping in touch with so many is a challenge, and email blasting is never enough”. Skip’s excited about the switch to MailChimp and because of useful features like analytics, custom design, add-ons, and ROI measurement, but the main item that sparked his interest was a recent integration with Eventbrite – a free event listing and management tool. Skip said “the combination is exactly what Groovemuse needs”.

Freesourcing.org would like to extend a special thanks to Skip for submitting MailChimp and especially for taking the time to speak with us this morning. On a side note, Skip declined to say which email marketing provider he was using before, but based on his endorsement, I don’t think Groovemuse will be going back.

Short tutorial showing EXACTLY how powerful MailChimp is:

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By Patrick | Posted in Freesources | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Twitter Lists Part 2: The Experience

November 17, 2009 – 7:49 am

In part one we talked about Twitter Lists being largely a organizational tool, and they are. This post highlights the rich experience and benefits I’ve had by creating just two Twitter Lists. Here’s my entry/early strategy and experience for Twitter Lists:

List 1) Met at Events & Networking
This list is totally private and consists of all the contacts I make at conferences like the recent BlogWell in Atlanta. Now, I do follow the people that I sincerely connected with, but I also put them under that list. This gives me the chance to keep tabs on every hand-shaken and build on the relationship if appropriate – without cluttering up my homepage.

List 2) The Freesources on Freesourcing.org
This list it totally public. Before Twitter lists ALL of these 70+ Tweeps were under my regular followed stream so I could try and keep tabs on them – it wasn’t very effective. Since I’m only in contact with a handful of our Freesources, I’ve unfollowed most of them and placed ALL of them under @freesourcing.org/freesources – this has cleared up my homepage for my mainstream tweeps, lets me check up on Freesources easy as a click, and build a relationship when appropriate.

Now that I’m in a flow with Twitter Lists, my Tweeting experience is clearer and massively more time efficient. Next up for me: researching the lists of others, and maybe creating another list…who knows! If you’re having a great experience with Lists, please share in the comments or with us on Twitter @freesourcing.

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By Patrick | Posted in Freesources | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

LogMeIn for the Enterprise: An IT Managers Dream

November 5, 2009 – 12:55 pm

In our first blog post we mentioned that “This directory helps businesses and individuals find the best tools to drive performance, reduce costs, increase sales, tighten customer relationships -and the list goes on.” We stand behind that statement and LogMeIn is the perfect example why. LogMeIn provides an enterprise solution that will allow your IT manager to monitor and manage your entire companies IT needs right from their desk – This means no more wasted time and effort moving desk-to-desk to install updates, perform maintenance, or even to take a look – that’s a massive efficiency. If this is something you’re company can benefit from, and I think it is, I highly recommend watching this short tutorial:

Now this enterprise version of LogMeIn isn’t free, but that’s OK. LogMeIn still qualifies as a Freesource because of their free version, and also qualifies even more as a great resource for business. You’ll find their free version for individuals listed on the Freesourcing.org Directory. If you’re considering using this as an enterprise solution, have your IT Manager or IT Team start with the Freesource, and see what they think!

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By Patrick | Posted in Freesources | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)

Twitter Lists, The Latest Freesource

November 4, 2009 – 1:57 pm

Twitter Lists have to be the hottest addition to twitter yet. This entry is part shout out, and part informational. The shout out goes to Liz Pullen, a sociologist/ethnographer, who recently guest starred on Mashable covering Twitter Lists. Her entry titled “Twitter Lists: Frequently Asked Questions and Strategies” is simply brilliant. Liz not only calls out questions about Twitter Lists that you didn’t even know you had yet, but then addresses the questions with detailed strategies on how to approach & execute on the answers.

We’ve taken Liz’s advice on at least one question “Okay, I’ve spent a lot of time creating what I think is THE ultimate list! How can I show it off?” The strategy: Submit it to list directories like Listorious and suggest a follow on #followfriday. We’ve submitted the Freesource Twitter List and already had one of our Freesources pick up on the list and follow along.

The informational portion is this…Twitter Lists are largely an organization feature – but they are also a very strategic one. The use cases, and uses, for Twitter lists are undoubtedly a huge value-add for Twitter and the end user. The strategy for using this enhancement is not going to be the same for everyone and will evolve in time (probably even in the coming weeks). For me, Twitter lists have created a HUGE convenience – now I can keep track of all our Freesources with ease!

If you’re interested in hearing more from Liz Pullen, she can be followed on Twitter @nwjerseyliz and on her blog Spiral Srcatch.

Thanks for reading, and happy listing!

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By Patrick | Posted in Freesources, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments (2)

Freesource of the Day: AddThis

November 4, 2009 – 7:20 am

Each business day, the Freesourcing.org Twitter handle @freesourcing, will publish a Freesource of the day. Today’s Freesource is AddThis. Served over 30 billion times a month to 500+ million people in 50+ languages, AddThis ranks amongs the webs most popular and used bookmarking and sharing service. AddThis makes sharing your content across the web easy as a few clicks, boosting traffic to your site in the most targeted way possible – direct visitor sharing.

Here’s a quick overview:

AddThis also features a handful of browser toolbars, blog plugins and extensions – AND registration takes less than 30 seconds. Although we don’t always create a blog entry for the Freesource of the day, you can always receive Freesourcing updates on Twitter @freesourcing.

Cheers and happy sharing!

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By Patrick | Posted in Freesources | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)

EchoSign, the Value Proposition is Huge

October 27, 2009 – 8:49 am

I’m not the first to say that EchoSign offers a huge value proposition, Nathan Egan also told me when we first used it, and he’s right. EchoSign offers one of the fastest and easiest ways to get any document – proposals, offer letters, W4’s, non-disclosures, etc. – officially signed AND delivered.

Here’s the play-by-play:

1. You email your document (word, excel, pdf)
2. The recipient can E-Sign on the spot, or – print, sign, and fax using the cover sheet provided
3. Everyone get’s a signed copy sent to them
4. EchoSign does the filing for you.

At Freesource this is a product we use and endorse frequently. And like all things Freesourcing, EchoSign offers a great free product. The basic version allows 1 user to get up to 5 signatures per month; which is not bad! If you fall in love with EchoSign and need to ramp up usage, they do offer some very affordable upgrade options. And if you’re still not convinced, you can see what other companies have to say about EchoSign on their About Us page.

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By Patrick | Posted in Freesources | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)