How To Get Expensive Business Software For Free


by April LaJune - Date: 2007-04-27 - Word Count: 1102 Share This!

Don't buy that expensive business software! You can find just about everything you'll need to run your home based business or small business for FREE. The Selah Holy Land Products Company has been using the same software for many years and found it to be extremely reliable. Here you'll find links and descriptions and reviews of the best products on the web. Totally free and without any annoying surveys and hoops to jump through.

Websites like download.com and freesoftware.com are changing the way many people are using software and the prices they are willing to pay. The first time I decided to build a web prescence or join the "internet circle", I realized I didn't have the money to shell out for every $400 - $800 or more program on the market. I was used to working at a large company where PhotoShop, Pagemaker and every other program you needed was at your fingertips. What a rude awakening when I thought I'd launch my own site!

After a lengthy search, a friend of mine suggested I look for the software I needed on download.com and I began to notice, just about everything I needed was FREE right at my fingertips. Now my idea of free, was something that worked, something that didn't make me go through five hundred hoops to get to the end result and was easy to use. Most of the programs out there are either inferior, spyware or just plain hard to use.

I thought it would be really helpful to cut to the chase and let you in on the programs I have use and continue to use to this day. They are so easy it's pathetic, and I mean easy because if they weren't I wouldn't have anytime at all to deal with them. I'm busy and I don't want to sit here and figure out a Rubick's cube just to get my business done. So here's a GREAT list of software - FREE you can download and be completely confident in as you try to build your business and get things done, on and off the net.

Word Processing: www.OpenOffice.org

This works pretty much the same way as Microsoft Office except it doesn't have the hefty price tag. The programs are compatible with any Microsoft application such as Word, Works, Text Documents, Excel, Publisher, PowerPoint, etc. There are a variety of formats you can save your documents in and for this particular article, I used the OpenOffice.org Writer program in the Web Layout mode so I could see what I was doing. I don't know a stitch of HTML (well a little - but very minimal) and I designed my entire website, all my emails, newsletters, etc. through this program. Trust me - you'll love it.

Desk Top Publishing: www.freeserif.com

Talk about some awesome free software for desktop publishing! The Serif Programs are great. In fact, I was able to use the progams to design every piece of literature for my company by using the PagePlus program and even did a bit with the Web Publishing although I like the Writer program better for my needs in regards to the web. This program works similar to PageMaker for Mac or Adobe PageMaker for the PC. It's a drag and drop program and you can make anything from a letter to a full blown magazine through it. I did the layout for our company catalog on it and it's great. If you export your pages, you can make them .jpeg's and put them on the net.

Photo Editing: www.Paint.Net

This program is similar to Adobe Photoshop and allows you to create and edit photos. You can do so much with this program it's ridiculous. I don't even know eveyrthing it can do, but I can tell you I have made all the titles and layers and everything else I needed to get my web photos to look really good. Like I said before, if ti ain't fast, I'm not interested.

Note:I also use the ArcSoft PhotoImpressions to edit my photos as well, but this wasn't exactly free. It came with my camera when I bought it. If you have it - I recommend using it. I use it all the time for my photos.

Fonts: www.fontface.com

This is a really good site to get fonts. I have used this site for many years and it's never let me down yet. I've got so many fonts on my computer now, I can make all kinds of really good looking photos and documents which can not be duplicated unless someone goes to their site. It's probably the EASIEST place to use. You just click on the letters (the fonts are alphabetized) and then look at the fonts. Then you download the one you want according to the icon below which suits your system. It automatically installs and off you go. I can not stress enough how easy it is! Love that guy!

PDF converter: www.PrimoPDF.com

This is the ultimate program for those who don't want to mess around and buy the $895 ( I almost choked when I saw that price ) program from Adobe for their Acrobat program. I'm almost laughing right now because I can't believe Adobe is asking so much for so little. Anyway, this works great. You can use your other programs to design or write your work, then turn them into .pdf files by using the PrimoPDF program. I've made e-books and catalogs and all sorts of downloadable material by using this program. One thing though, when you install it - in order to convert the file to a pdf format, you'll look under "Print" and choose PrimoPDF. That was a little hard to find at first, but now, it's a snap. Get it - it's great!

Bulk Emailing: www.pimexonline.com/Products/mailexpress.htm

Wow - what an easy mailing program to use. One drawback though, it will only send out 300 emails at a time on the free version. Of course, when you're on a shoe string, who really cares. The point is, you can use your database in OpenOffice.org which is like Excel - or you can use Excel - and you'll be able to upload your information to the program in a second. Then you can customize the email and even add HTML. I ususally use the OpenOffice.org Writer in Web Layout Mode, then under File->Send - >Create HTML, I copy and paste the HTML into the area where you can plug in the email. Any photos you use will have to be hosted online somewhere and you'll have to make allowances for that.

What I did was put in the photo I wanted and then when I went to the HTML version, I looked for the part where it says "Img src=

Related Tags: home based business, home business opportunities, business software, free software, web software, business resources

See web references above. Selah Holy Land Products Company. www.selahcompany.com, April LaJune, President/CEO Selah Holy Land Products Company.

Your Article Search Directory : Find in Articles

© The article above is copyrighted by it's author. You're allowed to distribute this work according to the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs license.
 

Recent articles in this category:



Most viewed articles in this category: