Scott Henderson Internet Marketing - How to start an Internet Business

I am often asked what software and services are essential to running an Internet business day to day. Now I can guarantee that if you asked that same question to 10 different Internet Marketers you will get 10 different lists.

I come from the school whose motto is “you get what you pay for and time is money”. So I chose to use paid software and services simply because in many instances the added features equate to a huge savings of time. If however you are on a tighter budget there are some free products that will get the job done.

Below is my list of the 10 products that I use every day, it is my toolbox for Internet Marketing. I have also included a free alternative to my choice. I’m a PC user so if you are on a Mac some of these may not be applicable.

1. Word Processing – Microsoft Word 2007. I have been using MS Word for years and use it for all of my articles. A ton of features make this a very efficient and professional word processor.

   Free – Open Office Org. An absolutely great alternative to MS Word. Looks and functions almost identically. Grab it here openoffice.org/.

2. Spread Sheet – Microsoft Excel 2007. I love to use spreadsheets in many aspects of my business. For Keyword Research I make spreadsheets to track a bunch of data for various campaigns.

   Free – Open Office Org. Once again another nod to the MS killer.

3. HTML – Head First Labs. By far the best book to learn HTML is their course. Using a very unique approach to learning, they take a dry subject and make it fun to learn. Head First HTML.

   Free – W3 Schools. This site is just loaded with tutorials. w3schools.

4. Website Design – Dreamweave.r From Adobe it is one of the top design platforms period. Extremely powerful, I cannot see myself using anything else. Dreamweaver.

   Free – KompoZer. From Mozilla this product will let you create very professional web pages rather easily. kompoZer.

5. Graphic Design – Photoshop. My choice for all photo and graphic editing. I use it to create every graphic you see on my pages, including this one. Very advanced but there are a lot of online tutorials available to get you going. Photoshop.

   Free – Gimp. Almost identical to Photoshop, matter of fact you can take Photoshop tutorials to learn how to use Gimp. Gimp.

6. Screen Capture – Snagit. Used to capture screen shots for a variety of marketing campaigns, very flexible and easy to use. Snagit.

   Free – Screen Hunter. Very basic but gets the job done. Screen Hunter.

7. Keyword Research – Micro Niche Finder. A very awesome tool that will save you a ton of time researching keywords. I really like the Strength of Competition indicators. Well worth it. Micro Niche Finder.

   Free – Google. You can do all of the various tasks needed to perform solid keyword research with various Google sites. For an in depth look at this check out my video here, Keyword Research.

8. Social Media Management – Social Oomph Pro. Social media is a huge part of Internet Marketing today and it can also take up huge amounts of time. The Pro version of Social Oomph lets you automate many tasks, freeing up a great deal of time. Social Oomph.

   Free – Social Oomph. Although not as many features a Pro, you can still do quite a bit to automate your social media campaigns. Go to the same link above.

9. Forums – Warriors War Room. Some of the best minds in the business gather here and share information freely. A small upfront fee assures you lifetime access. The War Room.

   Free – The Warrior Forum. Although you cannot gain access to the War Room, you will still gain a lot of information and help from likeminded marketers. The Warrior Forum.

10. Search Yup, both free and full of information, you just have to be wise to picking through the junk. One thing that I do is if I find something on the Internet that seems good, I’ll run a search on the Warrior Forum to see if the users there have any experiences.

If you would like more information on any of the information I presented here simply contact me through the link at the top of the page.

Here’s to your Success!!

Scott Henderson
Internet Marketer / Coach