About Financial Software guide Shelley Elmblad recently wrote a review of PearBudget's new Web-based budgeting software. You pay $3 per month for a simple online tool that helps you track your budgets and expenses.

It's not a full-fledged small business bookkeeping tool, but it may be useful for some one-person online businesses.

Shelley says,

PearBudget is very simple web-based budgeting software that will not track and reconcile individual accounts, but will track your budget and help with saving for expenses that do not come up on a monthly basis. I recommend PearBudget for its ease-of-use, accuracy and simplicity.

You can now:

• Read Shelley's full review of PearBudget
• Sign up for a free 30-day trial of PearBudget

Don't miss another online business tip, subscribe to our RSS feed or weekly email newsletter today.

During this (and every other) economic downturn, properly managing cash flow will be critical to your business' survival. Sloppy practices that were fine during the good years can kill a company as sales slacken and credit suddenly becomes scarce. Budgets from IT to marketing are often slashed to keep the company afloat.

The good news is your marketing efforts don't have to stop completely just because the cash flow has become a trickle. Writing is one thing you can do for FREE to market your business during a downturn.

Write to showcase your expertise to potential customers.

Start a blog on your company's website or write guest articles where potential customers will see it. Use your knowledge and experience to help potential customers, and they will flock to your products.

If you've been thinking about starting a blog on your site, do it today. WordPress is free open-source blogging software that takes 5 minutes to install (even for non-techies), has a ton of great looking free templates, and is easy to use and maintain. Blogger is also a good choice for its ease-of-use, cost (free!), and nice designs. If you don't have your own website, both Blogger and WordPress offer "hosted" solutions so you can get a blog up at yourcompanyname.blogspot.com or yourcompanyname.wordpress.com.

If you don't want to commit to running your own blog -- it does require a long term commitment to creating fresh new articles fairly regularly -- you can write for other websites. Many blogs and magazines accept guest articles, and will not only give you full credit, but will also give you a short blurb and link back to your online store. Here are two articles that contain good tips for successful guest blogging:

1. Why Guest Blogging is a Powerful Way to Gain Exposure
2. 7 Practical Tips for Guest Blogging

I disagree with a small point in the second article. I don't think you need to be invited first. If you email bloggers an already written, but not published anywhere, article that would be extremely useful to their readers, many will be thankful for the fresh insight and gladly give your article some space. The key is to be mindful of their readers. Nobody want to publish a marketing press release, but helpful articles are golden. If they say "no thanks", send it to the next blog on your list.

It doesn't take any money to write 500-1000 words that will help you get a few new customers. I recommend 500-1000 words because that's enough space to be authoritative but not so long that nobody reads it.

Talking to the world via your writing won't cost you a dime but does require a little commitment to be effective. You'll get out what you put in, and since you're not putting any money in, you should be putting in a concerted effort. A half-hearted effort will yield no return.

Here are a few more articles on writing for your business:

• 5 Tips for Effective Web Writing
• Our Collection of Articles on Blogging For Profit
• Business Copywriting 101

Don't miss another money making tip by subscribing to our RSS feed or weekly email newsletter.

Using Google AdWords, you can buy text, image (banner), and video ads on search engines, websites around the world, and mobile phones. You can also get local business ads on Google Maps that target customers within X miles of your location. Google even offers a limited service for traditional advertising mediums like print, radio, and television.

Check out our series of articles for maximizing your experience with AdWords. We call it...

Google AdWords 101 (table of contents):

1. Overview of AdWords
2. Keyword Campaigns
3. Placing ads on specific sites in the Google Content Network
4. Ad Formats for the Google Content Network
5. Locally Targeted Ads
6. Print (newspapers, magazines), Radio, and Television Ads

For help getting more eyeballs, check out our Online Marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and Buying Online Advertising sections.

The Web host selection process is similar in many ways to how one might choose a spouse. You're looking for a trusted, reliable partner in both cases. And both require a little legwork to get just right.

They also share the same 5 basic steps:

1. Know what you want/need.
2. Get trusted recommendations.
3. Look for exceptional qualities.
4. Get to know them well.
5. Don't be afraid to move on to the next candidate.

Check out this article to see how to apply these 5 steps to choosing your perfect Web host.

By the way, if what you need is $10-per-month hosting, you'll be interested in this list of cheap but reliable Web hosts. (Please refrain from any $10-per-month spouse jokes. That's too easy.)

Be sure to subscribe to our RSS feed or weekly newsletter to never miss another money saving tip!

Google AdWords is the popular advertising program from the search giant. AdWords gives you the ability to buy online advertising on the world's most popular search engine and on websites across the Google Content Network.

Search ads are also called "sponsored search results", and appear above and to the right of Google's search results. (see screenshot image below)

Search ads are effective because search users have a specific need, and are often looking for a solution to a problem. If your business offers that solution, having the ability to get your message in front of search users -- at the exact moment when they need it -- is a powerful marketing strategy for any business.

To get your business or website in front of highly motivated users (read: pre-qualified potential customers), read this step-by-step primer on Using Google AdWords to Buy Keyword Targeted Search Advertising .

eBay is the world's largest marketplace. There are 14 million listings of stuff for sale on eBay. With that much data to sort through, search becomes the most useful way to find something.

Mastering the search box will make more money for you -- whether you're a seller or a buyer.

As a buyer, you can save money by finding the super-bargains no one else can find. With more tools in your search toolbox, you can cast a wider net than your fellow buyers. By going beyond the easy pickings, you can find listings that have fewer competing bidders, which usually means a lower sale price.

For sellers, search mastery has two positive effects:

1. More effective market research. If you can't find your competition, how will you know how to price your item?
   
   
2. Better listing titles and descriptions. By understanding how buyers search, you can create more descriptive (and more effective) listings.

Whether you're a buyer or seller on eBay, searching effectively puts more cash in your pocket. To learn how to search like a pro, check out these 8 Tips for Mastering eBay Search.

Don't miss another tip! Subscribe to our RSS feed or email newsletter.

Geo-targeting means having the ability to target a marketing or advertising campaign at a limited set of visitors based on their physical location. Advertising programs that support geo-targeting allow you to control where your ads are displayed based on parameters like country, state, city, or even within X miles of a postal address.

Geo-targeting is useful when your online presence is used to promote an offline business. If you want to drive foot traffic to your brick & mortar store, you can limit your campaign to only be shown to people who are within 40 miles of your shop using geo-targeting. Google AdWords will even integrate your locally targeted ads into the Google Maps service, making it even easier for your customers to find you.

Another use for geo-targeting is to show different versions of an ad to different audiences. For example, a California based vendor could promote their affordable shipping rates in the east coast geo-targeted campaign, while emphasizing the fast shipping time in the west coast campaign.

When shopping for an online advertising service, make sure that your final choice supports geo-targeting so you can get the most out of your marketing budget. Most large advertising networks, including the following three, support geo-targeting:

• Google AdWords
• Yahoo Search Marketing
• Microsoft adCenter

For more definitions check out our Glossary of Online Business Terms.

Wrike is an innovative Web-based project and task management tool that is affordable, easy to use, and structured well for small Web teams. I recently wrote a post comparing Wrike to Basecamp, the best-in-breed project management tool for Web designers.

There are 3 things that Wrike does differently from Basecamp that is especially appealing to Web workers who are not Web designers:

1. Wrike charges per user, not per project. This lets you create hundreds of projects (or groupings of tasks) while only paying $3.99 per person per month.
   
   
2. Wrike has two-way email integration. Not only does it send you reminders and a daily todo list, you can create new tasks via email! This is my favorite feature because it's so convenient.
   
   
3. Wrike is still being actively developed. This is good and bad news. The developers are definitely listening to their users, and I see exciting and useful new features being released on a near-monthly pace. On the other hand, it's not "finished" and may be a bit rough around the edges.

Click here to read my full review at Life Remix. (Life Remix is a network of personal productivity blogs. Click around the site. There are some really good blogs there.)

Stickiness is a term to describe a website's effect on first time visitors. A website that is "sticky" has visitors that stay for a long time and return often.

Websites or content that is sticky:

1. Regularly updated content, like news websites or high volume blogs.
   
   
2. Reference resource, like step-by-step tutorials that visitors repeatedly refer to.
   
   
3. Interactive communities, like forums and social websites (eg., Yelp!, Digg).

The stickier your website, the easier it is to grow your subscribers or customer base. You don't want potential customers to be turned off by your website the first time they see it. You want them to explore the site, buy something (or subscribe, if you're writing a blog), and come back often.

To maximize your site's stickiness, keep these 3 tips in mind:

1. Write useful content. People are busy and will only "indulge" you if your website is insanely useful to them. Be useful -- whether you're blogging or selling widgets -- and people will flock to you.
   
   
2. Empower your visitors. Let them add something to your site, and they will be that much more invested in your business. For example, if you sell widgets via an ecommerce store, write a blog so your customers can comment and interact with you.
   
   
3. Ask them to commit. Have a newsletter signup or ask them to subscribe to your feed. Ask your visitors to take action and some of them will.

If you're wondering about your own site's stickiness, ask yourself these questions:

1. Why should I bookmark this site?
   
   
2. Why should I visit this site again?
   
   
3. Why should I recommend this site to my friends?

For more tips and advice on maximizing your website's stickiness, visit us often or make it easy on yourself by subscribing to our feed.

Web hosting doesn't have to be expensive to be reliable.

These low cost Web hosting providers are good options for business websites with less than 10,000 visitors per month. If you get more than that, start thinking about mid-level hosting options that cost between $20 - $50.

Basics that we expect for less than $10:

• Unlimited MySQL databases
• Unlimited domains / websites
• Unlimited or high bandwidth limits (more than 100 Gb per month)
• Decent space -- more than 10 Gb
• Lots of email addresses -- more than 100

This list of 7 Web Hosting Packages for Under $10 Per Month is sorted in the order I would recommend to a small business just getting started online.