SEO pro recommends software for your small business

Kristoffer Sandven, a professional Search Engine Optimizer (SEO), wrote a piece recommending software for your small business. Three 37signals tools make the list:

Basecamp:

After using it for a while I can’t believe I managed without it. Keeping everything in one place is invaluable. The software keeps track of emails, to-dos, milestones and writeboards (notes), as well as files (documents, pictures, screen shots etc) and makes it available for all participants. I find the messages function especially useful. You can enter a message and notify participants by email. They can then comment on the message directly by email by replying to the notification. Very neat.

Highrise:

Highrise does exactly what I need in a very nice interface. Keep track of contacts and leads, deals and todos in one place. Love the email to Highrise functions. I can forward emails to a special dropbox email address to add new contacts or add emails to the history of a contact. I can do the same to add tasks, even assign them to be done today, tomorrow, later etc.

Campfire:

Campfire is a web-based group chat tool that lets you set up password-protected chat rooms in just seconds. Using the software you can Invite a client, colleague, or vendor to chat, collaborate, and make decisions. You can also link to a room on your intranet for internal communications. Campfire is elegant, easy, and web-based. You don’t need to download, install, or configure anything. Just like the other 37signals applications it is iPhone compatible too.

Read the full piece for more of Sandven's suggestions.

37signals tools top the list at "100 Apps for Tech–Savvy Teachers"

Rasmussen College published an article called 100 Apps for Tech–Savvy Teachers. 37signals tools are #1 on the list.

Teachers have one of the most difficult jobs out there. As an educator, you have to manage a classroom of boisterous students, organize heaps of data, stay up–to–date with current events and plan lessons day in and day out. In today’s technologically linked world, the ability to use web applications is at your advantage as an educator, and we are here to tell you the best tools to use. Here is a collection of 100 web and iPhone applications that make the grade for tech–savvy teachers:

1) 37signals: More than three million people use this application for a reason — it’s extremely effective for businesses and educators. 37 Signals makes it easier to collaborate, share, discuss and get work done through its programs — Basecamp (a project management system), Highrise (where you can track your contact with parents and students), Backpack (where you can organize your life) and Campfire (an instant messaging system).

Read the full list.

Why Basecamp and Campfire would be a better learning management system

Anton Zolotov is a student at the George Washington University studying International Business and Finance. He recently wrote a piece called "Why Basecamp and Campfire would be a Better Learning Management System."

I use Basecamp from 37signals to manage all of my work-related projects, as well as some group projects for college, and I grew to love all of their products in one way or another. At our university, we use Blackboard as a Learning Management System, and I can’t say that it’s good at all. In this post, I outline the most important shortcomings of Blackboard, the benefits of Basecamp and Campfire, and why the latter would be a better fit for our classes...

The thing is that [37signals] products are not designed for education, they are designed for business. Yet, Basecamp and Campfire would be a much better overall fit than the Blackboard we currently use.

First of all, their software is priced on subscription model, which means that you don’t have to worry about version numbers, upgrading, and having the most up-to-date version, because they continually integrate new features and make improvements.

Out of the five Blackboard features that we use most – File Sharing, Gradebook, Announcements, Projects, and Emailing – Basecamp is way better for three of them: file sharing, announcements, and emailing (messages). In addition to that, it has to-do lists and milestones, which could facilitate the organization of the course. You can find a tour of Basecamp here. It also integrates with Campfire, a real-time chat that could be used to improve in-class communication and collaboration.

Read the full piece.

Download Squad recommends running Campfire with Fluid on your Mac

Download Squad says Campfire is one of the 10 web apps you should be running on your Mac with Fluid. What's Fluid? A Mac app that can pull web applications onto your desktop and turn them into OS X native site-specific browsers.

Campfire, the popular team communication system from 37Signals, works so well with Fluid that 37S has released an official Fluid Icon for Campfire. Some great scripts, including Growl alerts when someone mentions your name in Campfire, can be found at Thoughtbot's blog.

Campfire and Basecamp make ReadWriteEnterprise's list of "The Four Essential Apps for Distributed Teams"

ReadWriteEnterprise recently published "The Four Essential Apps for Distributed Teams." It's a list of the four types of applications you'll need for groups who work from geographically separate locations — and some examples of the popular places to get them.

One type of tool you'll need according to RWE: IM & Chat. And Campfire "can't be beat."

Group chat is slightly less common a need than IM, and is less useful for informal access in your daily workflows. But for certain use cases, only group chat will do. Skype and Campfire from 37Signals can't be beat from our perspective...

Another recommended type of tool: Task Tracking. Basecamp makes that list.

By task tracking, we mean any tool that exists to keep track of the group's work. These can be issue trackers like JIRA, Trac, or Redmine. For those less-development oriented, it might be something tailored only to project management, like Basecamp, LiquidPlanner, or the offerings from Microsoft and Oracle.

Read the full article.