Who doesn’t need online tools to make life easier, more exciting or just plain fun. Even better, if the tools are free to try out and use you can get started right now!
I’ll let you guess which free online tool I got this image from! Needless to say, I’m not quite as overjoyed as this young chap.
I’ve sat all day in my scotty dog pjs and leopard print Snuggie (my style knows no bounds!)
I still wanted to share something useful with you and not fall too far behind in the Ultimate Blog Challenge.
I took the opportunity to rummage in my nifty online toolbox and came up with these for your perusal.
Without further ado, here’s 15 really useful, fabulously free online tools for you to try out.
15 Free Online Tools For You To Try
1. Evernote http://evernote.com
Capture everything… A brilliant tool! I use it to clip to save interesting stats or even whole blog posts for later consumption with the web clipper. Write your to-do list and access it anywhere if that floats your boat too.
2. Tagxedo http://www.tagxedo.com
Easily create word art images – from the urls or lists of words. It will keep you amused for a while and give you something to post on your blog!
3. Attacat Cookie Audit http://www.attacat.co.uk/resources/cookies
For those of us in the UK who are required to tell people what cookies we use and why… This is a Chrome app that rummages through your site and lets you know what cookies you have.
4. Click to tweet http://clicktotweet.com
I should use this more often! It lets others share your quote snippets on Twitter
@JanKearney shares 15 fab free online tools in her pjs (Click to tweet – I dare you lol)
5. Prezi http://prezi.com
Bye bye boring presentations! Free to use with premium upgrades
6. Tableau http://www.tableausoftware.com/public
Do you have loads of data and want it in an easy on the eye visual layout to share on your site? Tablaeu is for you.
7. CaptionTube http://captiontube.appspot.com
I’ve mentioned before why you should add transcriptions to your YouTube videos. If you want to take it up a level with full closed captions, this is the tool for you.
8. Uptime Robot http://www.uptimerobot.com
Want to know when your website is down or keep track of your hosts promised 99.9% promised uptime? Uptime Robot will mail or tweet you to let you know.
9. Smore http://www.smore.com
Social fliers anyone? These are really simple to create and share
10. EzVid http://www.ezvid.com
Create your own screencast videos for YouTube, free!
11. Pixlr http://pixlr.com
Edit your own graphics online
12. Spreaker http://www.spreaker.com
Want your own podcast? Be a star and get started free
13. Bubbl.us https://bubbl.us
Start brainstorming and mindmapping!
14. Bigger Plate https://www.biggerplate.com
Once you have your mindmaps, share them with other mappers… Or borrow theirs!
15. Quick Meme http://www.quickmeme.com
Use them premade or add your own captions. Be warned, some of these memes may offend and I take no responsibility for the hours lost browsing!
Over to you…
How many of these free online tools will you use? Do you have any favourites not listed here? Share them in the comments!
15 Fabulously Free Online Tools by Jan Kearney
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Wow Jan, what a wealth of information – for me and others. I am definitely sharing this, no doubt! A couple of the tools I know about and have used already, but the majority I have never even heard of. Your explanations on what they do are very useful. Love the Uptime Robot, Bubbl.us, and Click to Tweet – will go look at them first of all. Fantastic find, thank you for the share!
Warm wishes, 🙂
Galina
I’m glad you enjoyed them, Galina! I hope they prove useful for you too 🙂 Thanks for your lovely comment, I appreciate it.
It seems you had a lot of fun writing this article, Jan. It was great fun to read. I’m looking for a resource to add captions to photos. I checked out Tagxedo (and could see getting caught up for hours with that one), but I’m looking for something more simple. Basically, I just want to be able to easily add captions or a website to photos or illustrations. IrfanView is OK for the website address but it’s not working for quotes. Your thoughts?
Hi Nanette. Are you looking to just overlay text on an image? Pixlr can do that in the advanced setting, or download Gimp from http://www.gimp.org/. It does all sorts of wonderful things like Photoshop only free.
If you’re looking for something inside WordPress, try the Watermark Reloaded plugin. It can add text or image overlays to images you upload to your site http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/watermark-reloaded
Hope that helps!
This is awesome, Jan! I didn’t realize Gimp had a free version. I’ll give that one a try (that’s the type of solution I was looking for). If that doesn’t work, I’ll upload the WP plug, but am really looking a decent long term solution that’s not limited to the blog. Either way, you have, once again, provided me with amazing insight and guidance. I hate to admit how much time I’ve spent trying to hunt something down that’s intuitive enough I don’t have to spend an hour trying to figure out what I did the last time to make it work.
Glad I could help, Nanette 🙂
What great resources. I never knew about Tagxedo or click to tweet. I am going to start using those on a regular basis. One of my favorite sites is http://hootsuite.com/ I am able to manage all of my social media in one place.
Hootsuite is brilliant for social media management – I’m looking at switching to it when I get more organised around here! Enjoy playing with Tagxedo and Click to tweet, Joanne. Thanks for popping in 🙂
love this list! I’m definitely going to have to share it!
found you via the ultimate vlog challenge. 🙂
Hi Crystal, glad you like the list! Good luck with the UBC too. Thanks for popping in 🙂
Hi Jan,
In the last blog challenge, we had similar mindsets, where we posted on topics that intertwined. I see a pattern forming again with this UBC. LOL
Sitting here at the laundromat, doing pillows and blankets that I don’t dare do in my own machine – I’m trying to get caught up on the comments side of town. 🙂
Now I land here, after writing in my iPad about the topic for my Post #6 and what do I find? You here – doing a similar post. LOL Really! I was going to write about the Weekly Treasure Trove of Tools I use in my business – and here you are – reading my mind again. ROFL
This is a great list though, because I never heard of half of them! Thanks for the finds… if I start using any of them, would you mind if I made a post of my own, to my subscribers sharing some of these tools?
Have a good day… and those pj’s sound awesome! hehe
Great minds think alike, Bonnie! Spread the word about any you find useful – that’s what the list is for 🙂
Jan,
Great minds, indeed. You can have mine – it’s mushy from all the late night, burning the midnight oils.
I mentioned you in my post #6.. hehehe
I saw you mentioned me – I feel honoured! Thank you 🙂
That is such an excellent list! Thanks for sharing it. I am looking forward to using the MindMapping & Brainstorming. Best Regards, Wendy {Ultimate Blog Challenge}
Would love to see your mindmaps, Wendy! Thanks for popping in, I hope the challenge is going well for you!
I appreciate the recommendations, and I share your enthusiasm for Evernote. I can’t imagine doing without it!
It’s a great tool, Mary! It keeps me semi organised! Thanks for popping in 🙂
Fabulous list! Thank you so much for sharing these tools.
You’re welcome, Liz! Thanks for popping in 🙂
Jan! Thank you so much for that list. You know, I usually look through these list posts and have used all of the tools they mention – not today! It is a joy to find more thing to enhance my work experience (oh, sorry, I meant waste more of my time). Now I am off to play!
Hi Stacey – I aim to please! I’m glad I could throw a few nifty tools at you to enhance your work experience (hopefully not waste too much time!) Thanks for popping in!
Hi Jan!
Great tips, I saved it with my Evernote clipper. Love Evernote! Many of them I never heard of so I’ll go back and explore later. I use Picmonkey a lot for editing pictures. Great free tool!
And of course I did click to tweet! 😉
All the best,
Stella/UBC
Hi Stella – I agree, Picmonkey is a fab nifty tool! Thanks for popping in and for tweeting 🙂
Haha Jan I have such an image in my mind of those PJ’s!
I am such a sucker for nifty online tools, but lots here that I need to try out
Thanks for sharing – and yes I did tweet you!
Sue
They’re fab PJ’s, Sue! Thanks for tweeting 🙂
I must of had laundry on the mind – NOBODY dares me to do anything. Just wanted to let you know, I did tweet this while I was on the iPad!
Hahaha! My Twitter must have fallen out with my email again, I shall open my marketme and see who else has!
A great list – haven’t heard of many of them. Thanks.
Jen
I hope you try a few out too, Jen! Thanks for popping in 🙂
Thanks for the list, im headed to check some of these out now!
Hi Diane, enjoy trying the tools out! Thanks for popping in and commenting 🙂