When I was toodling around the ‘net searching for design inspiration for the new design for this blog, I ran across a tool from Logicsmiths Custom Web Applications that allows you to add a free time tracking gadget to Google’s personalized homepage (’iGoogle’). I thought that was pretty cool, but I don’t use iGoogle, so I started looking for other free time tracking apps out there. If you are thinking of freelancing and taking on client projects, you’ll likely need to keep track of your time for billing purposes. Here a few more online apps to help you do that, that are either free, or have free versions available.

TimeGadget
Motismo
SlimTimer
Toggl
Tick
Cashboard

If you use one of… Continue reading

Posted on April 3rd, 2008 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: Tools of the Trade | 1 Comment »

Which search engine should you use to search for images? My opinion: all of them! If you only use one search engine to search for an image, you could be missing out on some spectacular images. But I don’t expect you to waste time going from one search engine to another. That’s what metaengines are for, and my favorite is Zuula.

I use Zuula 100% of the time as my web search engine, but I also love it for image search as well. And now that they’ve added even more image engines to the list, it’s great! Want me to prove to you that you shouldn’t be relying on just one image search engine? Ok!

The first thing you’ll notice about Zuula’s image search… Continue reading

Posted on March 27th, 2008 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: Tools of the Trade | 4 Comments »

from popofatticus

Every day this week, I’ll be posting based upon a random Flickr image that inspires me. Here’s one now.

Is that a cute pic, or what? It reminds me very much of my 2 year old granddaughter. She’s at that stage of blooming independence in which she wants to do things for herself without any help from us old fogies. If I attempt to help her put on her shoes, for example, she’ll say “I got dis”. Sometimes, she does “have it” under control, and other times she still needs my help. But her confidence in her growing abilities is fun to watch.

I, on the other hand, am regressing as I age. Rather than growing in independence… Continue reading

Posted on February 27th, 2008 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: Tools of the Trade | No Comments »

Flickr is a goldmine of images that you can use to spice up your web site or blog posts. But there are some things you should be aware of, so that you can keep it all legal. Now, I don’t want this to just be some boring post about keeping it legal. No, I intend to showcase how you can not only use Flickr images safely, but easily.

Let’s face it, crafting a good blog post or site article takes time. If I can find ways to cut corners, without sacrificing quality, I’ve just saved money. And as far as I’m concerned, saving money is the same thing as making money.

So, here’s one way to quickly, easily, and legally find and use Flickr images… Continue reading

Posted on February 18th, 2008 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: Tools of the Trade | 2 Comments »

You’ve decided to sell something. Maybe it’s an ebook or a script or some other downloadable product. Maybe you wrote or programmed the product yourself. Maybe you paid for the rights to sell something someone else programmed or wrote. In any case, you have a product to sell. Now how do you take payment and deliver the goods?

The first time I sold a digital product, I signed up with Paypal, slapped a Buy Now button on my site, and emailed the product to the buyers each time Paypal notified me of a sale. That tended to cause problems, however, whenever someone bought the product in the middle of the night while I was sleeping, or worse, while I was out of town for a… Continue reading

Posted on October 24th, 2007 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: Tools of the Trade | 2 Comments »

Lately, I’ve been guiding you gently into the process of creating a decidedly Web 1.0 flavor of content creation - ebooks. Because the world is comfortable with ebooks, you should be comfortable creating them. But Web 2.0 has brought about a plethora of ways that you can create unique, profitable content that goes way beyond the old-fashioned ebook, and you should explore them and use them as well.

Presenting your knowledge in unique ways can turn ordinary information into extraordinary content. People learn and absorb information in different ways. Some respond better to visuals, others to sound, and yet others to the written word. By using various methods of presentation, you are more likely to capture attention… Continue reading

Posted on September 27th, 2007 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: Tools of the Trade | No Comments »