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Small businesses are relying more on inbound marketing strategies such as search engine optimization (SEO) and social media to create revenues and save money. SEO in particular is an effective way to increase sales and gain additional market share.

Apart from SEO, what else can a small business owner do to increase the bottom line? How about increased productivity?  The invention of mobile devices like smartphones, laptops and netbooks, combined with the abundance of wireless connections nowadays, are heavily affecting the way people create and consume information online. This gives way to the road warrior lifestyle, which pertains to a generation of users who get their work done on-the-go.

Originally evident in the PC consumer markets, this computing trend has found its way to the businesses as many companies are slowly adopting the mobile office as a cost-effective solution for extending communication and productivity outside the workplace. This is further supported with the onset of cloud computing which allows you to expand your computer’s capacity and capabilities without investing on infrastructure enhancements and software installations.

With this, all you need is a good and stable Internet connection as both the application you intend to use and even your information will be saved and accessed online. To help you keep your radar on your business, here are a handful of free, essential Web-based applications you can start with.

Google Docs

Just in case you haven’t heard of Google Docs, it’s the search engine’s cloud-based array of document processing applications that largely build on file sharing and online collaboration. If you already have a Gmail account, you can use your login credentials to gain access. Once you’re there you’d notice that the apps are similar to those under the Microsoft Office (or OpenOffice if you’re on Linux) so if you’re used to diddling around MS Word, MS Paint or PowerPoint, you’ll have no problem familiarizing yourself to navigating around its interface.

As mentioned, its main draws among users are its document sharing and online collaboration capabilities. Once you’ve created a document, you can invite other users into it or send out viewing privileges to users who don’t have Google logins. It provides 1GB of storage and you can upload files of any kind and you’re given the option to automatically convert MS Office and OpenOffice files into their Google Docs equivalent to let you edit them on the app.

Outright.com

Designed to aggregate your existing financial information, Outright.com integrates with other finance apps like Xpenser for expense tracking and management, Shoeboxed for scanning and organizing receipts, and Freshbooks for invoice forwarding and tracking. It’s a fairly new finance and accounting Web app that will help take the load off with regards to keeping tabs on your business expenses, accounting, bookkeeping and even helps you with your taxes. It’s free and it carries a dead-simple user interface geared for self-employed individuals and SMBs with several reporting options to provide you a quick view of your expenses and, at the end of the year, will also properly help fill out data in your tax forms which you can download in PDF format and print for a closer inspection or mail to the IRS for tax filing.

ooVoo

ooVoo is a communications tool that offers a cost-effective alternative to most expensive teleconferencing setups. With just a Web cam, a PC, maybe a hookup to a TV and even through mobile phones, it delivers high quality audios and visuals. Basic usage is free and will let you conduct two-way calls even to non-ooVoo users and it gives you the option to call landline and mobile phones from 18 countries at two cents per minute. With it, you can also create and send one-minute videos for your contacts, create an embeddable video chat room for your site or blog and even send files up to 5MB at a time. Aside from these, you also have the option to avail of ooVoo’s different subscription options that, at the most, will enable six callers per session, allow five-minute video recordings and file sharing at up to 25MB at a time.

What’s your favorite cloud app?  Feel free to chime in!