Image via Paladin 27

It’s a tough economy. Lay-offs, plant closings, higher taxes, higher costs for everything from food to fuel, and in most homes, two incomes are the norm. In fact, two incomes is almost a requirement these days.

However, not all couples have the time to work full-time jobs. Let’s face it, a lot of us want to stay home and raise our kids. NP. There’s plenty of web-based work if you’re willing to hustle for it and you’ve got some skills.

Typing, data entry, simple bookkeeping, concierge services, proof-reading – these are the kinds of things home-based business owners do in this outsourced world – and they can do it from anywhere for any company. And still keep an eye on the kids.

Here are some “must haves” for the budding, home-based business owner. Work at home, earn some cash and raise a family. In the age of outsourcing, you can build a profitable business in a matter of weeks without shelling out a lot for tools, or even job leads.

1. Skype

Skype is a popular VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) tool that hooks you up to anyone, anywhere via computer.

Calling another Skype user is free, and dialing a phone, even half-way around the world, is just pennies a minute. You can talk to your clients on the other side of the planet for 20 minutes. Total cost using Skype or some other VoIP system? A couple of bucks. Really.

Skype also has a messaging service, serves as an e-mail client and you can even hook up a video cam to show off the professional you. Today, your clients for outsourced virtual services can be anywhere. And staying in touch is part of your work-from-home job. And while there are other VoIP plans you can purchase through your cell phone provider or Skype owns the on-line VoIP market.

Cost: $5.00 to open an account.

That buys you $5.00 of Skype time so the service is a give-away. You can also set Skype on auto-pilot by giving your credit card number. Then, whenever you run short of Skype time, your card is charged automatically so you never get cut off mid-sentence.

This is a must-have app for the work-from-home start-up that doesn’t want to see profits gobbled up by phone charges. VoIP cuts costs down to nothing, or at least keeps communication expenses under control.

2. Zoho

Zoho delivers a strong menu of virtual office applications because, as a virtual business owner, you need a virtual office for everything from conferencing to customer support.

And while Zoho won’t handle every task smoothly, it’ll simplify the home-based business task list with everything from virtual web conferencing (very cool, very simple, very essential) to on-line collaborations with clients in some distant corner of the world.

I also like Zoho because it provides the tools that enable the start-up, work-at-home business owner to expand his/her list of service offerings from day one. Not a total fix, Zoho solves daily problems and cuts workload down to manageable levels. It also equips you to do more for your clients – and that’s how you build an ever-expanding client base. Deliver more services faster and more reliably and they’ll be knocking on you virtual door looking to sign on for your service offerings.

Cost: $0

3. Basecamp

Basecamp isn’t free but the basic package, which is all you need, won’t be a budget buster, and you can chalk it up to the cost of doing business.

Basecamp is an on-line, virtual office and project management suite that delivers the flexibility your clients expect.

Using Basecamp, you set up work rooms for each client. Examine your work postings for the day from clients, mark projects complete on delivery, upload super-sized files in any format, track project progress at a glance and control your business from an adaptive, intuitive graphical user interface, also called a GUI.

And because each client around the globe has his or her own “virtual” space to share with you, that client feels special, and that’s what keeps clients coming back with that next assignment.

Cost: $24 a month for the basic membership; handles up to 15 accounts simultaneously.

4. Meebo

Meebo is an instant messaging service that links into all of the most common web portals – at least the ones used by the biggest percentage of your client base.

With this one app, you can send and receive instant messages over AOL, Yahoo, My Space, MSN, Jabber, Facebook and other IM services – all from a single launch pad.

Meebo runs in the background, unobtrusively, and keeps you in touch with clients quickly and simply and, today, that’s what your clients want. Fast communications simplified.

Regardless of what IM service your new client uses, you always get the message with Meebo, all on a single page GUI that also serves as CRM – customer relations management – software, keeping a complete record of all communications with clients. This tool is designed to prevent misunderstandings.

Cost: $0

5. Kappix DRoster

Kappix DRoster is a robust scheduling tool that you use to schedule the activities of your clients. No matter what type of work you do from home – from virtual assistant to web designer – you can absolutely be certain that one client will screw up YOUR work schedule by failing to submit docs or other information required to get the job done quickly.

Kappix DRoster replaces a manual client scheduler, like MS Outlook, automating messaging and scheduling of client-side deliveries, approvals and other work-related activities. You control the actions of the clients with this app, not the other way around.

Working from home means organizing the activities of your clients, and this scheduling tool let’s clients know what THEY have to do (and when) to keep the work flow smooth and your work-at-home business sailing along.

One disorganized client can shred your whole schedule in seconds, but with this app, YOU notify each client of what’s due and when. Sure, you’re the service provider but if your clients don’t cooperate, your business suffers. It’s as simple as that. Kappix DRoster keeps clients up to date on what’s expected of them. tTat collaboration and pro-active approach to client scheduling is critical to work-at-home success.

Cost: $0

6. Elance

Elance is, perhaps, the best known site for finding work in a range of categories. Are you a work-at-home programmer? Sign up with Elance. Administrative Assistant? There are 323 jobs listed under this category today – from data entry gigs to concierge buying requests.

Copy writer, lawyer, architectural services – regardless of what services you offer from home, Elance has job listings.

This service will cost you, however. Elance does have an entry-level, FREE plan but it’s really limited. You can’t connect your Elance profile and you’re limited on the number of jobs you can bid. (Yes, you bid on jobs on Elance and each bid costs 50 cents.)

Also, Elance takes an 8.75% chunk of the cost of any gig you get. That percentage goes down as you earn Elance more cash, but they will get their money from you, that’s a fact.

Tiered packages are also available for a monthly fee. The basic membership will set you back $9.95 monthly and the professional-tier goes for $19.95 a month.

However, you’ll make that back on the first job you land through Elance. Keep your bids low (give it away) until you get feedback from happy clients. Then gradually, raise your bids and earn more. The competition is fierce on Elance, but some of the jobs pay well by web standards and it’s a great way to network your way to home-based business success.

Instead of sitting around watching soap operas, or playing solitaire on that shiny new computer you just bought, earn some money working in your slippers, keep an eye on the kids and be your own boss. Millions of people are earning money from home.

Are you the next one to join their ranks?

Business owners, whether web-based or operating in the 3-D world, are always talking about branding. “We need to build a brand.” “We need a brand name.” “We need a brand label.” These astute businesspeople appreciate the need for recognition – and easy recognition in the hyperbole-laced business realm.

One key factor in building a brand (it doesn’t happen overnight) is to have an easily recognizable logo – a visual cue that immediately identifies your company with nothing but a picture.

Is there anyone on the planet who DOESN’T recognize this logo?

Business owners often pay thousands of dollars for a graphic design company to create the perfect image to represent a company. It doesn’t have to be fancy. It doesn’t even have to be colorful. But it does have to be memorable. And that can set you back a lot of cash – and there’s no certainty that the design company gets it right.

The fact is, you know your business, your products or services and, most importantly, your target market, better than anyone. So doesn’t it make sense that YOU create your own logo. Not only do you save cash, you nail the right look and feel, the right motif, the right color – the right everything to hit the sweet spot of your market, even if you have zero experience in design.

Fortunately, the web is loaded with lots of free logo makers – all offering free tools that’ll help you create the right logo to brand your company and hit that demographic bulls’ eye.

Save yourself some money (critical if you’re just starting out) and design your own company brand with these free logo making tools.

1. AAA Logo Maker

AAA Logo Maker is a full-featured design suite with all the tools of high-priced image creation software (think Photoshop: price tag $799) but none of the stuff you don’t need. It’s a logo maker, short and sweet.

You don’t have to be a Picasso to create a professional looking logo. You just need the right tool.

I like AAA logo maker for a couple of reasons. First. it’s OSS, and I like anything that’s free. But I also want a tool that does what it says it’s going to do.

The designers of AAA have stripped out all of the features you don’t need and pumped up the features the novice logo designer needs:

* a strong collection of design templates
* easy template manipulation (so you don’t look like a template)
* 1000s of logo objects from which to choose
* multi-formatting options so you can upload a jpg to your blog or website or create a doc that you can take to the printer for your stationery
* complete customization of text, logo objects, templates and other built-ins to get you started
* unusual fonts you won’t find in Microsoft Paint
* intuitive editing and manipulation tools
* full, 256 true-color palette
* tons of SFX options

AAA Logo Maker is a powerful tool, whether you need to create a single logo for your own business or you’re adding logo creation to your service offerings. It’s not PS, but you don’t have to shell out $800 to look professional, and that’s a trade-off I’ll make any day.

2. Innovative Logos

Company Logo Designer won both the Editor’s Pick Award and User’s Choice Award at the FreeDownloads Center, a site worthy of bookmarking because they have a ton of OSS tools, apps and utilities to save you money. In fact, it’s one of my favorite sites because there’s always some new tool available so I usually stop by a couple of times a week to see what’s new on the offerings page.

Now, this logo maker is the simplest to master so your learning curve is cut down significantly. But you also sacrifice customization in exchange for that ease of use.

This OSS logo maker has fewer objects and fewer templates (only 25) to play around with, but that’s okay. The suite also provides enough image manipulation tools to adapt one of those templates to suit your design needs, and project that spot-on brand.

I do wish the software came with a larger image library, but with all of the free clip art and rip art available, you can import what you need and change it to make it your own, i.e. no trademark infringement.

If you want it fast and easy, go with this OSS logo maker. If you want more options (and don’t mind a longer learning curve), use one of the more powerful tools recommended above.

3. Logo Ease

It employs an intuitive GUI that simplifies the process of logo creation. One cool feature is that Logo Ease is one of only a handful of OSS tools that allows you to create vector source files – something your programmer will love. These files hold formatting whether in digital or hard-copy formats. That’s a real benefit.

LogoEase comes with 100s of images and is adding new imagery all the time. It’s tough to complain about free software tools, but I do have a quibble with this logo designer. Purely subjective.

The images provided by LogoEase definitely have the look of clip art, and to the trained eye, nothing says newbie faster than clip art. But, again, you can import your own objects and images easily with this simple tool so the art that comes with the package isn’t a critical consideration.

With a little imagination, LogoEase will do what you want it to do – create a professional-looking brand image in just a few minutes. I use it and, with a couple of simple work-arounds, I can produce logos that’ll blow your socks off, and I’m not a graphic designer.

So, don’t let my subjective view of the clip art put you off. You may like it. Or, as I said, the tool provides enough features to turn any image into your image. Fast. No learning curve, here. Download, install, create, and broadcast your company brand.

4. VidLogo 3.8.6

VidLogo 3.8.6 creates animated logos for webcasts and webinars. It’ll run on most Windows OS including Win 95 for those using older systems.

VidLogo makes it simple to change video files to display your company’s brand or video watermarks to protect your intellectual property. VidLogo 3.8.6. allows for the creation of animated or AVI logos for videos. The software also supports other graphics formats including bmp and jpg graphics and turns a still image into one that moves. It’s animated – ideal for banner animations and other images that require true Alpha video support.

The latest version (the software is updated regularly) has a number of new, time-saving features including MPEG encoding, a preview feature and totally customizable compression so you decide on download times for your next webcast.

VidLogo has had some problems in the past but with each new version, this software delivers improved functionality and features that simplify animated logo creation.

Now, this software isn’t for sissies. You’ll have to experiment (that’s why I like the newly-added preview feature) but if you’re serious about logo creation and Web 2.0 features like webcasts, this is one tool worth learning to use.

I’ve tested the logos produced by VidLogo on a number of browsers installed on a long list of computers – desktops, laptops and net books and the results were a pleasant surprise. While it’s reasonable to expect color shifts from browser to browser (even when using true colors), the animated banners I created with this tool looked most cool whether I viewed them on IE, Chrome, Firefox or Safari.

But again, this tool does require some time to get used to. If you’re a site designer, you probably use Photoshop for image manipulation, but if you want that image to dance, download VidLogo and expand your service offerings.

That’s a good way to build your design business in this tough economy when business owners are looking to cut back on marketing costs. With VidLogo 3.8.6., you can make your client’s logo move – and that’s always eye-catching – even to the experienced web surfer.

VidLogo’s simple GUI is somewhat deceiving. While ease of use is an important consideration for the newbie, it’s important to remember that an animated logo is more difficult to create than a still image, regardless of which software you use.

5. XLogo

XLogo is available at sourceforge.net, a site worth a bookmark because they offer a lot of freeware and shareware that’ll save search time and, of course, time in creating the perfect brand.

XLogo operates on Macs outfitted with OS X for all you Mac users.

Your browser may not support display of this image. The features of this tool aren’t extensive but, again, it’ll do what you want if what you want is an attractive logo that you can create quickly.

XLogo is, of course, OSS which means it’s free. It also allows you to create logos in different languages with non-English characters – logos in Japanese, Spanish, French, et al.

One of the coolest features is that XLogo is designed for use by young kids just starting to realize the power of web design. That means its GUI is way simple. If your seven-year-old can use XLogo (and she can) how easy will it be for you to create that ideal image to sell your company’s message.

The software is based on LISP scripting, first developed back in the 1970s as a teaching language. XLogo employs a subset of LISP to create great looking graphics.

Now, you might think, well, this software uses out-dated scripting but the fact is LISP has been upgraded over the years and delivers a stable platform for image creation.

The logo creators detailed in this list are not truncated versions of more powerful, “premium” tools available at a cost. All of these logo makers are full-service tools.

Better still, each one is downloadable, testable, delete-able and free. So try them out to discover which logo maker works best for your needs – whether it’s a one-time creation or a value-added service offering to build your client base.

Guaranteed, one of these logo makers is the solution you’re looking for. Have fun. Learn how to create and manipulate logos.

And finally, create your own brand – one that is truly memorable.

Image via Reinvented

Your site’s headline may be the most important text on your entire site. In marketing, there’s an old expression: The headline is half the job.

It may be a bit of an overstatement, but a good headline captures the attention of site visitors. In fact, improve your headline and, guaranteed, you’ll see your bounce rate drop.

So, here are 10 tips for crafting the perfect headline – what to do and what not to do.

1. “Who else wants to make $1 million before dinner tonight?”

This headline has become a marketing cliché and the introduction to just about every hype-filled, Glazier-Kennedy, long-form sales letter, complete with annoying type fonts and endless “testimonials”. This headline insults the intelligence of a chimp. Avoid the hackneyed clichés that litter websites above the fold. We aren’t idiots.

2. Create curiosity.

We’re a curious bunch so a headline like “Is Apple Gonna Introduce New Laptop Soon?” raises curiosity – especially among tech savvy users.

3. Make a good first impression.

The headline, whether on your home page or landing page, is often your first introduction to the visitor. So, be welcoming and helpful in your headlines and sub-heads on all landing pages.

Welcome to Eczema – Relief Once and For All

60% Off Everything – Hurry Up! (that makes a great first impression)

Discover the Secrets of Debt Management

All make a positive first impression through the use of words Welcome, a big sale and free information.

4. Solve a problem.

How Many Collection Letters Are Too Many?

Tax Problems Are No Problems for Acme Tax Services

0% Down on Any Car On The Lot (down payment problem solved)

5. Use action words.

Which site are you more likely to stay on?

LEARN ABOUT FREE RADICALS AND ANTI-OXIDENTS (ho-hum)

or

DISCOVER HOW ANTI-OXIDENTS WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE