CHEAPONOMICSPowering your business with free and cheap web apps

Keir Whitaker - Carsonified

Before I start

• This presentation is subjective

• There are a lot of great web apps and this is just a miniscule selection

• The majority we use regularly at Carsonified

• Why Web Apps - The move from local to centralised

• Productivity - Apps that will make your work life easier

• Content - Tools to help you manage your online content and it’s delivery

• Customer Interaction - How the web can help you keep your customers informed

• Measuring Success - The all important metrics

Themes

WHY WEB APPS?

Benefits• Always on and accessible across multiple devices

• Economic sense - free/cheap monthly plans with no tie in

• No infrastructure to worry about

• Constant (you hope) development / auto updating

• Relatively low learning curve

Disadvantages• Need an internet connection (not always)

• It could be argued that there is less functionality than in desktop software

• Browser issues

• Is our data safe?

• What if the service goes out of business

PRODUCTIVITY

Enter The Google

• GMail for Email

• Google Docs for documents, spreadsheets and presentations

• Google Calendar for time management

• Google Reader for RSS feeds

• GTalk for chat

http://www.google.com

Benefits

• Free :)

• Huge storage

• Can import common formats

• Easy sharing and collaboration for teams

• Available offline with Google Gears

• Mobile/iPhone versions

Google @you.com

http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/business/applications.html

37Signals

Basecamp - Project Management

Highrise - CRM

Writeboard - Text Editor

Backpack - Intranet

Campfire - Group chat

http://www.37signals.com

Basecamp Extras

• Invoicing, billing and accounting

• Widgets for Mac & PC

• Time tracking

• Mobile

• Software development tools

http://www.basecamphq.com/extras

Alternatives?

http://www.goplan.infohttp://www.huddle.net

To-Do’s

http://www.rememberthemilk.com

CONTENT

Words & Pictures• Wordpress

• .org - Hosted on your own server

• .com - Hosted by Wordpress

• Themes - Easy to customise

• Plugins - Added features

• Bendable - Can be used as a CMS

• New admin interface - Nice and easy

• Free site stats

FOWA Blog

Customised CSS module $15 a year

Easy Admin

Alternatives?

• Typepad

• Blogger

• Expression Engine (not free but cheap)

• ...and many more open source blogging tools for PHP, Python, Ruby on Rails etc...

Expression Engine

http://north.bensaunders.com

Flickr

• Great for hosting your photos

• Easy to embed in your own site

• A great source of imagery for use in your own work

• Groups, comments, community, feeds and more

Comp Fight

http://compfight.com

RSS Feeds

• FeedBurner

• Makes it easy to subscribe

• Feed Flare

• £’s & $’s

• Reporting tools

FeedBurner

Pre Recorded Video• YouTube

• Hugely popular

• 10 min limit

• Vimeo

• 500mb per week upload limit

• Your own URLs - http://www.vimeo.com/fowd

• Viddler

• 500mb per video limit

• Lovely approach to comments

• Flickr

• Long photos - 90 second limit

You Tube

15,532 views in six months

Vimeo

http://www.vimeo.com

Viddler

http://www.viddler.com

Embedding is easy

Our Approach

• YouTube for teasers and exposure

• Vimeo and Viddler for full pieces

• Brand your videos with intro and outro slides with big web addresses

• Post a comment yourself with a link to the full version

Live Video

• UStreamTV - http://www.ustream.tv

• Live interactive broadcasting

• e.g Boagworld Live

• Qik

• Broadcast from your phone

Boagworld

http://boagworld.com/live

Qik and dirty video

http://www.qik.com

Smile for the phone :)

Podcasting

• Libsyn - http://www.libsyn.com

• Podcast FM - http://www.podcastfm.co.uk

• Hosted audio and video

• Auto generated RSS feeds

• Add in iTunes settings

• Statistics

iTunes Directory

Twitter Add ins

• Twitterfeed - http://twitterfeed.com

• Push your blog posts to your twitter feed

• TwitPic - http://twitpic.com

• Publish photos to your twitter feed via the web, email or mobile device

TwitPic

http://twitpic.com/photos/mikekus

CUSTOMER INTERACTION

Feedback

• WuFoo - Easy to create online forms

• Campaign Monitor - Email newsletters

• Get Satisfaction - People powered customer service

• GetSignOff - Discuss designs online

WuFoo

http://www.wufoo.com

Campaign Monitor

http://www.campaignmonitor.com

Get Satisfaction

http://getsatisfaction.com

GetSignOff

http://boagworld.com/news/getsignoffpeak

MEASURING SUCCESS

Web Site Stats• Google Analytics

• Free

• Feature rich

• Easy to install

• Goal tracking

• Mint

• Installed on your own server

• Easy to install

Google Analytics

http://www.google.com/analytics

Mint

http://www.haveamint.com

Tracking Twitter

• Tweetscan

• Search Twitter for key words

• Summize

• Show Twitter conversations

Summize

http://summize.com

KEY POINTS

In Summary• Web apps will save you lots of money!

• Web apps will improve collaboration, aid communication and help you manage your business more effectively

• Don’t worry about the service disappearing (Google aren’t going anywhere)

• Use sites like Flickr, YouTube, Vimeo to get your products and ideas on show

• Get involved - Use tags, join groups and comment, comment, comment

• Encourage your customers to interact with you - Newsletter sign ups, comment on your videos, interact with your live broadcast

• The more you do the more success you will have

THANK YOUEmail: keir@carsonified.com

Twitter: @keirwhitaker