Top 10 Most Useful Open Source / Free Software Programs

Buying software is so 1999. I mean seriously, who wants to buck up and spend upwards of $500 on an office suite when you have bills to pay and lattes to drink. Plus, with everyone’s exciting New Year’s resolutions in full swing, saving money may be even more appealing. Enter the world of free web-based software and open source software. This list is obviously not comprehensive, nor authoritative, however, these ten programs are the ones I found most useful during 2007.

Top Ten Free Open Source Software 2007

Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla Firefox is the greatest open-source browser available. Firefox offers users complete control over the browser featuring tabs, pop-up blocking, useful toolbars, and many themes. Firefox is W3C compliant which means developers will not have to slave to make sure CSS is rendering correctly like IE. In addition, the browser has thousands of extensions that will aid developers and SEOs alike.

Google Docs

Google Docs has made document creation and sharing simple through an easy-to-use web document interface. Google Docs offers users an alternative to Microsoft Office with tools for word processing, spreadsheets, and more recently presentations. Google Docs allows users to share documents with other users ensuring easy collaboration. For more info, check out the Google Docs Blog and WebWare’s Five Google Docs Hints.

Adium

Adium is a Mac-based application that allows users to connect to multiple instant messenger accounts at the same time while using a single application. It works with AOL, MSN, Google Talk and more. Looking for a close PC cousin? Try Pidgin.

Google Calendar

Google Calendar makes keeping track of important dates easy. The web-based software easily integrates with Gmail and all other Google products. Check out Lifehacker’s guide to using GCal and all the tricks that are possible.

Programmers Notepad

Programmer’s Notepad is a very easy to use HTML editor similar to Notepad. Unlike Notepad, however, PN is a text editor with several extra features such as syntax highlighting, quick search, docking tools, and code outlining. The program is very easy to use and a straightforward solution for SEO’s and developers alike.

Handbrake

Open source program Handbrake is an easy to use DVD to MPEG 4 ripper. This tool allows users to make backup copies of DVDs as well as import movies into iTunes or iPods. This isn’t exactly an “seo tool” but everyone needs to have some time to relax, right?

7-Zip

7-Zip is an easy to use file archiver to pack / unpack all types of files such as zip, tar, gzip, etc. 7-Zip is a much faster alternative to the zip programs installed on Windows XP and Vista.

Windows Live Writer

Windows Live Writer isn’t just another Microsoft program. Although I’ve already bashed the company twice in this post alone, I can’t say that there wasn’t any decent program to come out of the MS developer warehouse. Live Writer is a tool aimed at making blogging easier. It allows users to publish directly to most blogs like Blogger, Typepad, etc., in a very easy to use interface. The program allows users to preview their posts and compose entries while offline.

Gmail

What need I say about Gmail, quite possibly the greatest email program in the world. For starters, Gmail offers users up to nearly 6GB of storage, tagging, email conversations, and more recently IMAP. Gmail easily integrates into programs like Mail and Thunderbird, as well as iPhones and other mobile devices. Plus Gmail continually strives to make improvements aimed at bettering the user’s experience. Web-based mail is here to stay.

Google Analytics

At this point it’s safe to assume Google is taking over the world since three of my ten faves all come from the search engine monster. But in any event, Google has gotten analytics right. Google Analytics is a free web-based program designed to improving your site’s marketing and results. The program features a very easy interface and provides web owners a variety of features ranging from search trends, site trends, geography reach, and much more. Every SEO ought to at least try out this program to see what it can do for you and your site. Check out the Official Analytics Blog for more info.

Blog Basics: 3 Keys to Overcome Your Lack of Readers

Blogging is a rather simple thing: jot a few thoughts about something, spell check, and publish. That’s it. Well, at least that’s what I thought a few years back. See, my initial thoughts about blogging consisted of writing something nobody found interesting and hoping to get as many comments as I could. I soon realized nobody really cared what color my cat was and why I hate traffic. I had very little readership and couldn’t figure out what the problem was. It took a few months to realize I was missing three important factors in creating a successful blog.

Be Unique & Relevant With Your Content

Write about things that are relevant to your readers. This doesn’t mean complaining about the gum you stepped in earlier in the day. Keep your blog on relatively the same thought pattern or subject. Take care in each post and think about what you are going to write about. They say content is king for good reason - keep your readers interested and they’ll keep coming back for more.

Interact With Readers

When readers begin to comment on your blog, always follow up with comments. This is pretty self-explanatory but many newer bloggers seem to miss out on this idea. It is vital that your readers feel welcomed by you and that you actually care about their opinions.

Be Active in the Blogosphere

This may be a bit more time consuming than the first two ideas, but may be most important. Become more active in blogs similar to your own through actively commenting and interacting with other bloggers. I recommend subscribing to as many relevant blogs as possible and giving genuine, thoughtful comments to posters. In turn, you will become more recognized and a link to your blog will be displayed within the comment increasing your blog awareness.

Why SEO’s Hate Internet Explorer

I’m a generally pretty reasonable guy. I can usually adapt and amend myself for the better good of the world. But lately, I’ve become quite nasty towards our little friend, Internet Explorer. The delinquent browser lacks any integrity and forces me to spend countless hours trying to adapt my coding to fix. Did I mention I hate Internet Explorer?

Reasons SEO’s Hate Internet Explorer:

1. It is not a standard-compliant browser. Microsoft has set its own ’standard’ with IE.
2. CSS rendering- it doesn’t happen. IE needs very specific (non-valid) commands within your CSS to render properly.
3. No addons are available. With Firefox, users have a huge amount of customization with Firefox extensions.
4. It’s a Microsoft product. Ok, I’m not completely against all MS products, but seriously: who uses IE?
5. It doesn’t like certain types of code and will crash. Don’t believe me? Check out this post on SEO 2.0.

Whew. I actually feel a bit better now that that’s off my mind. So in any event, if you plan on succeeding in the world of SEO, use Firefox. Period. But don’t forget to check what your site looks like in IE because chances are it looks completely different than what it should.