Some folks might think it's exciting and very hip to be online 24/7. Believe me, I'm not knocking it, it's just that it can be quite tedious at times. As vast as the Net is, it can make spending a lot of quality time online quite unmanageable.
That's why, when I find FREE things that really help me out, I'm just completely thrilled. As an Internet marketer, what kinds of things help me? For one, anything that helps me find information more easily; for another, anything that helps me save time. In a perfect world, my helper would do both, and my first "dream tool" does just that.
Though still in its beta release (for newbies, that means it's still being worked on), UCmore has already proven itself to be a god-send. A sort of combined navigational and relational tool, UCmore conveniently displays related link categories and then specific sites without you ever having to leave the web page you're on to do so.
What's so helpful about this? Well, as an Internet marketer, we're always trying to market to as narrowly and well-defined an audience as we can. The more specific the audience, the more that we're going to want to hone in on "more of the same." The nice thing about UCmore is that it not only serves you "more of the same," but it does so in such an unobtrusive way. Once you download and install the "UCbar" (an easy download, but in beta is only available to Internet Explorer 5.0 users), you don't have to do a thing -- UCmore automatically shows you related web site categories and if you want to then go to them, all you have to do is click!
Some other interesting features: UCmore is supposed to have "learning capabilities," that is to say that the more people use it and surf from one site to the next, UCmore builds its relational database, so a site that might not be indexed now would be so in the future. Also, UCmore works without cookies, for anyone concerned about cookies and privacy implications.
UCmore is simple, easy, and actually pretty cool! To learn more and download UCmore, go to http://www.ucmore.com
Next comes a long-time favorite of mine: Gator. Are you sick of filling out online forms and remembering passwords? Well, Gator is your salvation. Although higher versions of Internet Explorer offer to remember your form information, the offering pales in comparison to Gator.
For starters, if IE remembers your information, then anyone else using your computer has access to it, too (scary, huh?). Gator requires the user to log-in with their unique passcode the first time the computer is turned on. Then, it asks you if you want it to remember your form or password information with each separate instance. Gator also asks you if you want it to fill in this information once it knows it. The experience is completely user-driven and user-controlled.
Better yet, the kind of information it remembers (passwords, home and work addresses, multiple credit card accounts) are stored on YOUR computer, not some web site's. Just this little extra ounce of protection might offer you some piece of mind.
Like UCmore, Gator is "polite." In its case, it resides in the bottom right-hand corner of your browser and only pops-up when there is an application for it. It asks if you'd like it to do its job, and if you don't, you simply click "Cancel" and it minimizes itself again.
To learn more about Gator, go to http://www.Gator.com
Finally (and thanks for hanging in here this long), there's Copernic 2000. When you have to search, and there's no getting around it, why not make your life a little easier? Rather than having to go to one particular search engine to see what results it serves up, or even to a meta-search engine, which serves up results from multiple search engines at once, Copernic 2000 takes searching one step farther by not only meta-searching, but then also allowing you to manipulate the search results based on your own personal needs.
Copernic also goes beyond search engines alone because it allows you to search six other categories besides the Web, categories like newsgroups, email lists and auction sites. Additionally, you can either specify keywords/keyphrases or ask a question in "natural language," the way you would in everyday conversation.
Each search result shows a brief description, gives the url link, and has a gauge of how accurately the result matches your query. Copernic 2000 also stores this query should you want to know the answer again without having to wait.
To learn more about Copernic 2000, go to http://www.copernic.com/products/free/
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This article was provided by Web Ad.vantage, Inc. (www.webadvantage.net), a creative Internet marketing, promotions and public relations firm specializing in strategy building and implementation.
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