Looking for tools that can make your job (and
your life) easier?
Here are a few we use all the time. Any one of them can save you time
or make you money! If you like these, sign
up for our FREE Kip's Tips email newsletter to learn about other
productivity-boosting tools we find!
Search Tools
Google
Google is the best general search engine on the Web - period. Be sure to
check out the Google toolbar.
The Ultimates
A one-stop resource for finding phone numbers, addresses, emails and
directions on the Web. Access InfoSpace, Yahoo, WhoWhere, Switchboard,
internet @ddressfinder, Mapquest, and others from the same screen.
United States Postal Service: ZIP+4 Code Look-up
Want your marketing material to get to prospects faster? Look up their
+4 zip codes on the United States Postal Service web site.
Dictionary.com
Type in a word and retrieve all the definitions that are found in a
traditional dictionary.
Thesaurus.com
Don't want to use the same word twice in a letter or article? Visit this
sister site to Dictionary.com. Type in a word to view a list of its
synonyms or antonyms.
Prospecting Tools
American Society of Association Executives
The place to go for understanding associations as a marketing niche. Use
their Gateway to Associations database of over 6,500 trade groups
worldwide to identify organizations that cater to people you target.
Trade Show News Network
Use TSNN's database to search for trade shows worldwide. You can locate
events by industry, show name, date or location. A great tool for
planning when and where to get in front of prospects in your target
market.
HR Live
Looking for money in motion? Every Saturday, HRLive publishes a listing
of the past week's corporate lay off announcements. A great place to
uncover potential retirement plan rollovers.
InfoSpace
InfoSpace beats telephone directory assistance because you can use its
"Find Neighbors" feature to identify potential referrals that live near
your best clients!
ZapData
Search sales leads, mailing lists and direct marketing business data to
create a customized prospects list online.
United States Postal
Service
The US Postal Service now offers many of its services over the Internet,
including full service mailing.
Technology Links
WebOffice
Do you or others on your team work in different locations? Intranets.com
provides a secure, private space on the Web to easily access and share
documents, calendars and event information.
Business Resources
LongTermClients.com
LongTermClients.com allows you to easily produce personalized client
Holiday cards, as well as personalized client Birthday cards. They will
personalize each card's note to each client and deliver them back to
your office in 10 days. You'll then just have to sign and mail.
About:
Small Business
About.com provides expert information from a real person on the "inside"
of each subject category. Their small business site offers a broad range
of topics geared towards helping small businesses like independent
advisors.
CEOexpress
This customizable portal is a great one-stop resource for the kind of
information that successful advisors and wholesalers are likely to be
interested in.
Hoover's Online
Providing comprehensive company and industry information, Hoovers Online
now extends to other areas, including money management, career
development, news and business travel.
Wall Street Journal
Although much of this site is subscription-based, there is enough free
information to make this site worth a financial service provider's time.
Inc.com
Providing small business planning and advice, discussions, research and
event listings, Inc.com is one of the premiere U.S. publications for
entrepreneurs. The article archives are also available for review.
About:
Entrepreneurs
About.com provides expert information from a real person on the "inside"
of each subject category. The entrepreneur site offers over 700 sites
geared to helping people start their own business.
Finance Links
MSN
MoneyCentral
Like other financial sites, MSN's MoneyCentral brings news, market
information and general information to the user. Furthermore, tools such
as investing, banking, planning and taxes are available.
Yahoo! Finance
Yahoo! Finance is a link off the popular portal, Yahoo! The site offers
comprehensive information related to all aspects of finance, money, and
banking.
Company
Sleuth
Company Sleuth offers the investment professional and individual
investor a competitive edge by providing company-oriented financial
resources.
Horsesmouth
Horsesmouth offers financial advisors articles and other resources for
managing clients, prospecting for new business and staying abreast of
the markets. Use the 30-day free trial to give it a try.
Financial
Planning Interactive
FP interactive from Thomson Financial offers many useful features:
archived articles from Financial Planning and On Wall Street, software
and web site reviews, and one of the most active online communities on
the Internet.
Registered
Representative
The Registered Representative magazine is the leading publication for
retail investment professionals. Their site allows users to browse an
archive of full text articles.
Tracking the Markets
CBS MarketWatch
Get top news stories, personal finance and portfolios, research and
tools, and MarketWatch TV and radio.
CNNfn
The financial network of the CNN site offers a much more in depth
approach to the financial world than many of its competitors. The site
has many options to choose from in categories such as news, markets,
world business, and personal finance.
Edgar Online
A source of business, financial and competitive information derived from
SEC filings, EDGAR Online also develops financial and business system
solutions.
FreeEDGAR
FreeEDGAR offers free access to real-time SEC filings. Analysis of
financial data is made easy with an alert service and Excel spreadsheets
of financial tables.
Investopedia.com
A comprehensive site with information about investing, Investopedia
provides articles with a searchable archive, dictionary, tutorials, and
other resources.
TeachMeFinance.com
This simple site is a great reference tool for teaching clients basic
finance concepts like time value of money and how to calculate interest
rates.
Staffing / Human Resources
Monster
Considered one of the "brick and mortar" web sites for early to
mid-career recruiting online, Monster offers a variety of tools and
resources for small companies recruiting for the first time.
MonsterTrak.com
MonsterTrak is THE recruiting site for entry-level positions or college
internships. You can post jobs at any or all of 1200 colleges and
universities across the US for less than the cost of a weekend ad in
most major newspapers.
Presentation
WebEx
WebEx is one of the leading providers of web conferencing applications.
Their web site will provide you with all the information you need when
learning about conducting live meetings, conferences and presentations
online.
Steve
Rindsberg's PowerPoint FAQ
For questions about PowerPoint, this is a "must bookmark" site for
regular PowerPoint presenters.
About Desktop
Publishing
A one-stop site for learning how to fine-tune and master PowerPoint
presentations, including tips, templates, tutorials and troubleshooting.
