I am really sorry to see this great resource go.

According to Deb, she is technically challenged. Anything that makes her life easier, and that she can use without breaking her blog network is an essential tool, however, she can narrow it down to a few can’t live without apps and programs.

WordPress – As a blogger for hire Deb has worked with every platform imaginable; Blogger, Drupal, Moveable Type, and a few others. WordPress is quite simply the best. It’s customizable, has plugins for all occasions and is as user-friendly as they come. While she has had occasions where she hasn’t been able to implement a particular design or community feature on one of the other platforms, this has never happened with WordPress. If it hasn’t been done, it’s only a matter of time.

Google Calendar – Deb uses many of Google’s free tools like Gmail, Google Analytics, and Google Docs. She has been using Google Calendar as an editorial calendar for a year now and it hasn’t let her down yet. Because it’s web-based, she can access the calendar from anywhere and receive updates via email every morning. If you don’t take already take advantage of some of the free goodies from Google, may I recommend you do so?

Performancing Metrics and Google Analytics – A killer combination for any stats junkie, PMetrics and Google Analytics are the ultimate analytical tag team. PMetrics allows accurate real time analysis. In fact, you can see what any one user is doing at any particular time on your site. Using this platform, either by itself or with some backup from Google Analytics (which allows Deb to analyze her advertising stats and a few other details that PMetrics doesn’t cover) has resulted in an increase in traffic and revenue. The fee for pMetrics is $10 a month and it’s worth every penny.

Seesmic – As a Twitter junkie, Seesmic allows Deb to maximize her experience. She has columns set up to display Tweets from her friends, her own Tweets, @replys, direct messages and several search terms and hashtags that she finds useful for her blogging. Moreover, it allows her to post to Facebook and see what her Facebook friends are up to as well.

Skype – Skype enables Deb to keep in contact with my family, friends, clients, collaborators and the people who blog or handle technical stuff for my blog network. She rarely uses the calling feature, but always takes advantage of Instant Messaging. Unlike certain other Instant Messaging services that will remain nameless, Skype has never crashed her machine.

And, Deb has a Droid!! (I just got one, too – and I am so in love – but that is a post for another day)

Deb’s husband gave her the Droid Eris for Christmas so she can travel and leave the laptop at home now and then. Her Droid is an essential tool in itself because it allows her to stay in touch via Gmail, Text, Skype and more. Deb’s essential tools for the Droid are:

• WordPress to Go – While you can’t use it for heavy blogging because its hard to write a lot with two thumbs and a tiny keyboard, it’s terrific for adding simple bits of content.
• Seesmic for Droid – Totally rocks Deb’s Droid/Twitter experience. She doesn’t have as many tabs set up as her laptop version of Seesmic, but it still allows her to see everything at a glance.

Visit Deb and her community for freelance writers now and stop back next week for more essential tools for success, featuring Matt McWilliams, Affiliate Manager at Legacy Learning Systems. If you are interested in sharing your essential tools for business, drop me a line at cpolanosky [at] gmaildotcom.

Firefox with FireBug. A web developer’s dream team – it makes it so easy to analyze a web page and see how it works or why it doesn’t.

Wordpress – if Brian needs a blog, either as the main site or as an extension to the main site, he uses Wordpress. Brian has been using  Wordpress for ages and it seems to get better all the time. There are loads of great (free) themes available and tons of widgets to do just about anything you want to it.

When it comes to tracking the numbers on his various sites, Brian uses my personal favorite, pMetrics and absolutely loves it. He is now playing with the paid version of whos.amung.us for his sites and so far it’s looking good.

The Gimp – Brian doesn’t have to edit images much, but when he does he uses The Gimp – it’s a little tricky to learn but it’s VERY powerful (and free).

Dropbox – a great tool his company uses daily. Dropbox makes it very easy to share and keep in sync, various business documents. It is free for up to 2GB of storage – which is plenty for them.

Keepass – they use a combination of Keepass and Dropbox to keep all of their business passwords in sync and up to date so either of them can update the passwords and the other will get the changes.

Google Wave – is Brian’s choice for lists and collaboration on future tasks, ideas, brain-storming, etc

Iphone – gives Brian instant access anywhere, anytime. With apps like DropBox, Keepass, email, Twitterific, and SSHTerm Brian is not sure how he managed before the iphone.

Thanks to Brian (and all my featured guests) for taking a few minutes to share his essential tools for online business success! Stop back next week for more essential tools for success, featuring Deb Ng, owner of the very popular Freelance Writing Jobs Network and social media consultant. If you are interested in sharing your essential tools for business, drop me a line at cpolanosky [at] gmaildotcom.

So what tools does Jason consider essential for his online life?

TweetDeck: It allows Jason to manage more than 5 different Twitter accounts on a daily basis.

pidgin.im: A free chat client that allows you to use an unlimited number of IM accounts such as AIM, MSN, Yahoo Google Talk etc. Plus you can use multiple accounts for each service. It lets you easily segment your friends from your clients to your affiliates to your co-workers. (sounds like a tool I need to start using!)

Facebook: It is the tool to use to create and maintain personal and professional relationships. Jason also uses Facebook to create multiple fan pages for projects that he is working on.

WickedFire: A webmaster forum that deals mostly with affiliate marketing but on the lighter side of things. You can use it to gain knowledge about a campaign or new SEO tricks, or just take a load off by enjoying some of the many Photoshop contests.

GeekCast.fm: Is a place to check out the latest and greatest podcasts from some of the industries’ best. They let anybody have one – check out Jason’s latest podcast with Eric Nagel where they discuss industry issues from two different points of view: as an affiliate and as an affiliate development manager.

And then there are the Firefox add-ons that Jason can’t live without:

• Search Status – displays Google, Compete and Alexa ranking data with a search related tool bar
• Screengrab – a great way to cleanly grab any page straight from your FireFox browser
• GA- Shows you if a site has Google analytics installed

What tools do you consider to be essential for online success? Stop back next week for more essential tools for success, featuring Brian Pipa, owner and developer of two amazingly successful sites, CandyAddict.com and the rocking t-shirt search engine, Teenormous.com. And, if you are interested in sharing your essential tools for business, drop me a line at cpolanosky [at] gmaildotcom.

Jen’s day relies on communication with others, information gathering and tools for maintaining her websites and creating the art she sells. She usually keeps all of the following tools and applications open all day. She uses a dual processor Mac so her primary system requirement is that the apps are compatible with Mac.

Communication:

• Tweetdeck – Jen uses this Twitter application to keep tabs on what other’s are talking about in the various circles she works in. She has columns set up for different people she wanst to make sure to watch or listen to as well as columns for specific hashtags and keywords.
• Twhirl –  – another Twitter application she uses for the quick direct message view. Sometimes Tweetdeck can feel “too big” and this app is a small, simple to view window.
• Adium –  a Mac specific multi-client chat program Jen uses to stay connected. It allows her to be logged into multiple chat programs without the clutter of multiple chat programs – similar to Trillian for the PC. The only other chat this program does not support is Skype.

Website maintenance:

• Jen hand codes most of her websites rather than using website design software. However, if you aren’t as insistent on writing straight code, she recommends Dreamweaver as a good option.
• Text Wrangler is a lighter version of BBedit, a professional text editing program – similar to notepad on steriods.
• Fetch – an FTP program – even when she uses programs such as Dreamweaver that allow for file uploads, she prefers to use Fetch for FTP. It allows for multiple windows/connections as well as drag and drop.

Graphic Design:

• Adobe Photoshop – Jen generally draws directly into digital format using a Wacom Tablet (6×9 Graphire) and Photoshop. Occasionally she will use Adobe Illustrator, but prefers a more hand drawn look to her work

Firefox Add-Ons:

• ScribeFire -  – a blogging tool that allows you to set up multiple blog access info so you can easily blog from a popup editing window in Firefox. Scribefire has an additional feature called “notes”. This allows you to easily and quickly add notes, ideas, thoughts about blogs all in one place. It really helps Jen stay on task even when little blog brainstorms popup.
• Firebug -  a tool to help with website coding and debugging. Jen uses this tool primarily to help with CSS as it lets you hover over areas of a webpage to determine the associated styles, etc.
• Capture Me -  – a Mac utility for taking screen shots. Jen likes this tool because the capture window can be resized so you don’t have to take a snap of the full screen. It’s simple and lightweight – quick and easy to use, too.

Stop back next week for more essential tools for success, featuring Jason Rubacky, Affiliate Development Manager for ShareASale. And, if you are interested in sharing your essential tools for business, drop me a line at cpolanosky [at] gmaildotcom.

For those of you who do not know Brian Gardner already, Brian truly revolutionized the Word Press community in August 2007 with the release of his groundbreaking Revolution themes. Since then Brian has gone on to create a very successful business by creating premium Word Press themes (and an entire community around it) that give business owners (and individuals) the ability to have a professional looking web site with out having to spend thousands of dollars to achieve that look. Brian’s Studio Press themes are some of the best coded and most flexible themes available – not to mention they look great right out of the “box”.

So, what does this Starbucks-loving, Word Press Master consider to be essential tools for his online business? It’s pretty simple, really:

• Gmail – all Brian’s email gets routed through Gmail.
• The StudioPress/AgentPress theme support forums are critical to the success of his business, therefore Brian chose vBulletin as the platform. vBulletin is considered to be one of the most powerful platforms for online communities.
• Paint Shop Pro/Photoshop – every designer needs graphic tools to make WordPress themes!
• Twitter - Brian uses Twitter a lot more than Facebook for networking, and for general business communication.
• iTunes – Brian loves music – he gets through the workday listening to music – and it helps put him into the mood when it comes time for coding and development.

Stop back next week for more essential tools for success, featuring digital artist and marketer, Jen Goode! And, if you are interested in sharing your essential tools for business, drop me a line at cpolanosky [at] gmaildotcom.

End of Year Bookkeeping Checklist:

1.Record Transactions: Make sure you’ve recorded all the transactions from your credit cards, bank accounts and receipts. And don’t forget to check your online accounts, like PayPal, eBay and Freshbooks. Record every expense and dollar received for your business, no matter how insignificant or questionable.  It’s better to have everything written down and recorded so you’ll be able to make the most from deductions—because if you don’t record it, it doesn’t exist.

2.Double Check: Make sure you aren’t missing any income or expense transactions—it’s worth it to take the time to double check. Make sure you have a digital copy of receipts from any online transactions, whether they’re sales or outsourcing work to contractors or websites, so you have a record of all your transactions.

3.Proper Categorization: Here’s where it gets a bit tricky, but well worth the time in the end. Make sure all of your income and expenses have been properly categorized. Categorizing your income (for the most part all “Sales”) is not nearly as critical as those deductible expenses.  The Schedule C categories can be confusing but they make the difference; mileage under “Car and Truck Expenses” is deductible while “Other Expenses” are not.  Web services such as Outright.com can do most of the categorization for you; but when in doubt, ask a professional or hire a bookkeeper.

4.Don’t Forget Mileage: Any work-related travel can count towards deductions. Make sure you’ve recorded all the time you’ve spent in the car going to and from work-related sites—you can deduct $0.55 per mile for these trips! Your daily commute doesn’t qualify but regardless, for many, the deduction adds up to thousands.

5.Complete Your W-9’s: To properly file a 1099 for any contract or freelance work you hired, you must have accurate taxpayer identification, in the form of an IRS form W-9. Now is the time to request the W-9 form from your contractors as 1099’s are due January 31.

6. Pay Your Estimated Taxes: To avoid penalties when taxes are due on April 15^th, be sure you’ve paid enough in estimated taxes for the year. Final federal tax payments are due by January 15^th. The fourth installment of your 2009 estimated taxes should bring you up to at least 90% of what your final total taxes are for the year. If that’s still too confusing, pay the same amount as you actually owed from last year. Here’s how: Work with the IRS.

7. Triple Check Profit and Loss: Finally you should look at your profit and loss statement for the entire year.  If you can’t easily get one from your bookkeeping software, find another.  Do the numbers seem reasonable compared to how your income and expense totaled in prior years?   Yes, we’re effectively triple checking your income and those expenses.  Search your pockets for receipts, don’t neglect that credit card that was canceled because creditors are so stingy, and keep in mind that payment from your brother for some consulting.

Outright.com is the free online platform that manages all business finances, tracks income and expenses, and automates tax preparation. The company tracks over $1B in income from self-employed and micro-business transactions. They’re kicking off tax-time with their new W-9 automation to help get businesses organized for the months ahead. Visit them at www.outright.com to make sure you’re ahead of the game and not scrambling with important deadlines, looming as soon as January 31!

Liz and Terry approached me about designing the site for the second year in a row and I was so honored to be the one to give the site its’ look for another year. The theme of the conference this year is “where the virtual meets the concrete” so we went for a much more pared down look.

Liz wanted lots of white space, cool blues and grays, and the flexibility to feature different media types on the home page as well as use different layouts for the interior pages, too. Luckily for Liz, I had just finished designing a site using the new (and oh, so, super, amazing cool) Headway Theme. The Headway Theme has a built in visual editor which makes it ridiculously easy to place blocks of content where you want them and to use a different layout on every page (if you want).

Anyhow, go check out the site and take advantage of the early bird registration and the New Blogger Bootcamp deals while you are there!!

Let’s say you have a craft site and you do a video containing step by step instructions for creating a project. With the Make-a-Video tool, you can go back through the video and link to merchants (that are part of ShareASale) that sell the materials you used in your video. How cool is that? ShareASale has so many different merchants in their program that chances are, what ever your video topic is, there is a product that would be a good match.

Another example – would you ever imagine that a video about a golf event would be the perfect opportunity to recommend a ballroom dancing product? Think again.

Better yet, go to the ShareASale blog and watch the video tutorial on creating your own monetized video, then watch the finished product below to see how golf and ballroom connect. If you are patient and watch the entire golf event video, you might just see a lady wearing a purple shirt sink a pretty fabulous putt… (hint, that’s me).

Disclosure: I was one of the invited guests to the ShareASale Think Tank event and had the pleasure of playing (sleep deprived) in the Golf Event. I also use ShareASale to monetize many of my sites. However, their Make-A-Video tool is still awesome, and you needed to know about it!

Disclosure is a good thing. It helps keep the social web honest.

Personally, I am not going to review, promote or endorse any product I don’t love, use or feel strongly about its benefit anyhow. And when I do receive an item for review, I let my readers know. However, like many bloggers, I have gone one step further by adding a blanket disclosure statement to my site to let my readers know that I do make money from my website and that it comes in many forms – affiliate marketing, product reviews, direct sponsorship and consulting. If I am providing you with good information then why should I not be compensated?

So, what do you put in your disclosure statement? The team at IZEA, one of the leaders in the sponsored conversation space, have put together a very useful tool – DisclosurePolicy.org. Use the tool to customize and build out your own disclosure policy. It’s quick, easy and relatively painless. (And no, I have not been compensated in any way for recommending this tool to you – I just happen to think it is a really good idea!)