A Curated List of THE coolest, newest, most handy tools, apps and software from around the web.︾

A Curated List of THE coolest, newest, most handy tools, apps and software from around the web.

Ash Ambirge | 45 items | 12471 views

Because the right technology helps you ante-up, make money, save your sanity and pull it off like a real PRO.

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25. Bags & Bows - Retail Packaging - Custom Bags, Boxes & Tissue Paper | Bags & Bows

Selling your gorgeous creations through Etsy, or your own blog? Uplevel your company image with Bags & Bows custom packaging, boxes, labels, gift wrap paper and more. You aren't just some generic company. And you shouldn't look like one.0 votesComments    Relist   Share

24. Words That Start With

Find words that start with, end with, or contain the letters, prefix or phrase. REALLY useful when you need to add some alliteration to your writing, but can't think of the perfect word. :)2 votesComments    Relist   Share

23. Great for growing your email list without being an asshole and using pop-ups.

Love this guy because it's a classy, discreet way to ask people to sign up for your email list without putting an obnoxious pop-up in their face. You can tell Opt-in Monster to slide in a nice little banner along the bottom of the website with some custom text based on which page they're on at the time, how long they've been on the site, how many pages they've clicked on, and more. It's great if you're serious about growing your list without being an asshole.3 votesComments    Relist   Share

22. Your hack to making your website LOOK pro - without hiring one.

It takes only 1/10th of a second to form a first impression about a person, only 0.05 seconds for a person to form an opinion about your website that'll determine whether they like your site or not, whether they’ll stay or leave.In other words, what your site looks like MATTERS. But most young businesses don't have a lot of money to spend on designers yet, either. Enter: Brandgasm 101. Your hack to looking pro - without hiring one. (Co-created by myself, Ash Ambirge, and powerhouse design team over at Shatterboxx, who've most recently re-designed the Bed, Bath & Beyond blog.)1 votesComments    Relist   Share

21. How we deliver downloadable links that expire (so people can't spread them around the internet.)

Fetch is awesome for DELIVERING online products, videos, courses, books & files you sell. You can link it right up with a payment processor, and they'll take care of the rest. (Including making sure no one can pass around your stuff for free.)0 votesComments    Relist   Share

20. Recite - Make Cool Posters With Quotes

You know those cool posters you see all over Pinterest that look like they've been professionally designed? With recite, you just enter in any text, pick one of their many templates, and voila - picture-perfect sharable poster in minutes.2 votesComments    Relist   Share

19. Cratejoy - The best way to start a subscription service

Want to start a subscription service, where you mail out your hand-crafted items or products to people every month? (Like a beer of the month club, for example!) Cratejoy makes it SO simple. This makes me wish I had a physical product to sell!0 votesComments    Relist   Share

18. Website at sugarbox.io

FINALLY! A button in your toolbar that takes a screenshot of THE WHOLE WEBSITE - and not just what's visible on your screen. I've been waiting for a simple, pretty tool like this for a while. So handy!1 votesComments    Relist   Share

17. A sanity saver if you're always forgetting your passwords

I'm pretty sure 1Password is the only reason I've been successful online. You think I could remember all of the passwords and log-ins myself? No way. I don't even know what color pants I had on this morning. 1Password gives you a great little button in your browser you click on any time you want it to recall & enter your log-in information on any site - and you can also use it to create iron clad passwords for you, and then auto fill them & remember. Maybe one of my favorite tools on EARTH. This is a must-have. Hands down.◆ Mac App Store Best of 2013 and Macworld 2013 Editors’ Choice Award! ◆2 votesComments    Relist   Share

16. Awesome for making feedback forms, new customer onboarding forms, or even opt-ins.

So, you know how sometimes you need people to fill out a form but it's a pain in the ass to make a form, or embed the form, or style the form? Gravity fixes that. It's a Wordpress plugin that lets you easily put forms anywhere you want on your site - and even cooler? You can set up something called "conditional logic," which means the form will populate itself based on what a person selects. That way, you're never making clients fill out things that aren't relevant to them - or confusing new subscribers. :)1 votesComments    Relist   Share

15. Instantly Remove Image Backgrounds Online - Clipping Magic

You really wish you could cut yourself, or objects, out of photos, and have no background, but you suck at Photoshop. VOILA - this is seriously a crazy easy tool. Just found it recently and it's great for a quick cut out!1 votesComments    Relist   Share

14. Deputy: Manages Your Staff So You Can Get Back to Managing Your Business

If you've got people working for you, then you know that sometimes it can be challenging to coordinate schedules, find other available staff when someone calls out sick, record their timesheets, and even do payroll. Deputy is pretty darn cool because it handles EVERYTHING in one easy place where both you and your staff can log in, so shit stays organized.0 votesComments    Relist   Share

13. Crazy Egg - Increase Conversions like WHOA.

My favorite thing here? SCROLL MAPS. What Crazy Egg can tell you is where people are scrolling to on your website - and then stopping. Xing out. And going away. And what does that mean? It means now you know exactly where you need to tweak your web copy, because apparently right in there? You're losing people. Causing eye glaze. And they're abandoning. Crazy Egg is like the CIA of websites - and they make YOU a top secret agent.1 votesComments    Relist   Share

12. The BEST way to make to-do lists and stay organized. (We use it everyday)

I use this to make all my different lists and stay on top of things! It's so user friendly, and actually makes list making FUN. You can also assign different lists & tasks to staff, if you need to, but I just use it for me, myself and I. LISTS, baby. Get on that.7 votesComments    Relist   Share

11. When you need to look like a pro but have no idea how to make a graphic to save your life.

Graphic River is great when you need an editable template for a banner or a badge or even a logo, and you've got some time to play! You'll be AMAZED.6 votesComments    Relist   Share

10. Videos people can opt-into so you get their email address.

Imagine a video that politely asked viewers to enter their email address to view it (and thus building your list), or one where you could insert clickable calls to action wherever you please to buy something you made. And then imagine if that video told you exactly what people did when they watched the video---and where they stopped watching, so you could determine where your message is falling flat. That's Wistia, and it's a new TMF favorite. Note: One of my favorite features is that you can submit your video to be closed captioned, and Wistia handles it for you (for a fee) - which helps you make your videos as accessible as possible - something I think should be important to everyone.0 votesComments    Relist   Share

9. Clickmeter - Tracks Your Clicks So You Know What's Working

I love Clickmeter because it lets me see exactly how many people are clicking, say, a product link in our product shop, versus the same product link in our blog posts, versus the same product link somewhere else---so I can see where our sales are really coming from. It can also track your conversions, too, and tell you not just how many clicks, but how many dollars were generated from those clicks. :) Isn't this fun?0 votesComments    Relist   Share

8. For ultra fast website loading speeds + protection against hackers.

They say that 80% of people who have to wait more than 3 seconds for a website to load...won't. We'd hate to lose visitors & community members - right now we're in the process of switching over to WP Engine to host our websites because they're the speediest in the industry - AND they've got the best security. Because getting your site hacked would suck. Highly recommended.2 votesComments    Relist   Share

7. RescueTime : Time management software for staying productive and happy in the modern workplace

This took shows me exactly where I'm spending my time online - and while I didn't want to know at first? The biggest benefit has been in realizing when I really need to slow down - and deserve a break! :)2 votesComments    Relist   Share

6. Glossi Magazine Publisher

Make a gorgeous digital magazine (free!) without any tech knowledge. I LOVE THIS. Add images, photos, videos, animations and audio. Customize and publish for desktop and mobile devices.1 votesComments    Relist   Share

5. See Your Virtual Team Live Throughout The Day - And Instantly IM

So THIS is an interesting concept. If you work virtually with other people on your team around the world in different places, it sometimes can get lonely. And sometimes, you feel disconnected. Squiggle gives real-time photo snapshots of the people on your team, in intervals, so you can always see their face and instantly IM them for anything you need. :)0 votesComments    Relist   Share

4. Coffitivity - Increase Your Creativity!

This is going to sound crazy, but did you know that ambient noise, like the noise from a coffee shop, has been shown to increase your creativity?5 votesComments    Relist   Share

3. Mural.ly - Visual Collaboration

Visual Collaboration for Creative People. Love this! Let's you drag and drop images from around the web, add post-it notes, and make gorgeous online visual boards so you can get organized, and spark ideas. Invite people to collaborate, too! VERY cool.1 votesComments    Relist   Share

2. Blurb

Want to publish an eBook - but have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA how to format it, and make it look professional (and do all that ePub stuff?)...and don't have the budget to hire a designer, either? YOUR ANSWER HAS ARRIVED. It's like Christmas, right?3 votesComments    Relist   Share

1. Cash Flow for Hustlers

I LOVE this service.They provide modern, online cash advances to small businesses to buy inventory, build a website, or grow in any other way - they'll give you a cash advance based on your online credentials like your Paypal history, or your social media accounts.My team and I were skeptical, so we tried it out and took an advance before turning around and giving it back to test the process, and guess what? Everything was seamless, easy, and most of all, legit.High five to Kabbage for this!3 votesComments    Relist   Share

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