Internet Marketing Tools
Here you'll find helpful tools and links for everything to do with internet marketing! Browse through the site or select any bookmark below to be taken directly to your area of interest.
Search Engine Marketing Tools
RSS Marketing and tools:
RSS (Really Simple Synication) is a way to keep on top of updates on your favorite sites. It's also a terrific way for you to provide your site visitors with regular updates. Here are some tools and resources that will help you get started:
FeedForAll (create, edit, |
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FeedPark (submit your |
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Fresh Content |
RSS News Readers:
To access RSS feeds, you need an RSS News Reader. There are many available to be downloaded or used online. Here are some of the best:
Bloglines |
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Feed Demon |
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Google Reader |
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NetNewsWire Lite |
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Newz Crawler |
Podcasting:
Podcasting is a form of audio blogging, and a "podcast" is a music or talk "show" or other audio recording that is produced as a digital file (an MP3 file). Listeners access the files through a "reader" application (see next section) on their desktop, and from there they can easily and automatically transfer them to their digital MP3 music player. Useful podcasting resources include:
iPodder |
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Podcast Alley |
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Podcast Bunker |
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Podcasting News |
Podcast Readers:
Check these web sites to download a podcast "reader" that lets you listen to podcasts online:
Juice Receiver |
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Transistr |
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jPodder |
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PodFeeder |
Banner Ad Brokers:
A good ad broker will make sure that your banner ads are placed on web sites that are targeted to your customers. Using a broker can save you time and hassle, although they sometimes have minimum traffic standards that are hard for a new web site to meet.
Burst Media |
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DoubleClick |
Banner Exchanges:
For the small business owner, using banner exchange services is often a good alternative to hiring a full-fledged advertising broker.
123Banners |
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AdDynamix |
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Banner Co-op |
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BannerSwap |
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Free-Banners |
The affiliate programs you'll find listed in these directories have essentially been pre-qualified to weed out the get-rich-quick scams, making it much easier for you to find the real money-makers.
Affiliate Programs Directory |
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Affiliates Directory |
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Affiliate Match |
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Associate Programs |
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Refer-it |
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Webmaster Affiliates |
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Affiliate Networks:
Affiliate Networks are third-party solution providers that list hundreds (usually thousands) of Affiliate Programs, all indexed and managed using their own system and software. Some Affiliate Networks that I personally recommend are:
Adteractive |
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Affiliate Fuel |
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Azoogleads |
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Commission Junction |
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CPAEmpire |
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LinkShare |
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OfferFusion |
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OffersQuest |
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PrimaryAds |
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Websponsors.com |
More than 2 MILLION shoppers gather on eBay EVERY DAY to spend more than $86,000,000 bidding on almost every product and service imaginable. eBay offers an easy, low-risk way to begin selling online or to expand your current business into new markets. But it's a LOT easier to be successful right out of the gate when an old pro shows you the ropes.
To get started on eBay, or to rocket your current sales to the next level, check out the course that the Internet Marketing Center has recently developed with Brandon Dupsky, an eBay seller who started out by selling his own stuff out of his basement and now pulls in $8 million a year in sales: www.auctiontips.com.
eBay offers a range of tools and services to help you manage your auctions. Here are a few you might want to check out:
eBay Blackthorne |
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eBay Keywords |
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eBay's Sales Reports |
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eBay Store |
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eBay Sellers Central |
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eBay Selling Manager |
eBay Turbo Lister |
On the eBay site, you can access a Solutions Directory of all the eBay and third-party software and services that are designed to improve your buying and selling productivity. Here are a few more third-party providers that will help you automate or simplify your eBay sales process:
PayPal |
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CyberSource |
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ProStores |
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Terapeak |
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Toolhaus |
Linking Tools:
Search engines love web sites that have relevant links from other sites (and, to a lesser extent, links pointing to high-quality sites). By checking the quality of a site's links, you can determine whether a link to or from it will help boost your own site's position in search results.
Alexa: Alexa is a free Web navigation service that works with your browser to provide you with essential information about each web site you visit… each company you consider making a purchase from and all of your competitors! www.alexa.com |
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Google Toolbar: Google offers a free download that allows you to check the PageRank of any site you visit. Knowing your page ranking helps you understand the importance of a site to search engines. http://toolbar.google.com/ |
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LinkPopularity: Would you like to find out how many sites are already linking to yours? It's really easy to do with a great free resource called Linkpopularity. www.linkpopularity.com |
Free Website Marketing Tools
"Who Is" Inquiries:
"Who Is" inquiries are a good way to collect the names and e-mail addresses of similar businesses for the purpose of proposing business relationships such as joint ventures or link exchanges.
Better Who Is |
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Who Is (.com) |
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Who Is (.net) |
Podcasting Tools and Marketing:
Podcasting is a form of audio blogging, and a "podcast" is a music or talk "show" or other audio recording that is produced as a digital file (an MP3 file). Listeners access the files through a "reader" application (see next section) on their desktop, and from there they can easily and automatically transfer them to their digital MP3 music player. Useful podcasting resources include:
iPodder |
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Podcast Alley |
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Podcast Bunker |
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Podcasting News |
Podcast Readers:
Check these web sites to download a podcast "reader" that lets you listen to podcasts online:
Juice Receiver |
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Transistr |
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jPodder |
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PodFeeder |
Server Log and website Analysis tool:
Analyzing the performance of your web site helps you decide what changes to make and when to make them. Your web site host will probably provide a method of tracking your site metrics, or you can use services and tracking tools like these:
WebLog |
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WebTrends Log Analyzer |
Website examples of effective design:
1. Paul Jerard of Yoga-Teacher-Training.org: After Paul's Secrets To Their Success site review, he tripled his online income!
- Shawn Byfield of ShawnByfield.com: A dance teacher, performer, and choreographer, Shawn's career took a giant leap forward when he started selling his services online.
- Mark Bowden of Spex4Less.com: Mark inherited his father's successful offline optometry business and never really thought about selling glasses online... Until last year, when he created www.Spex4Less.com -- and TRIPLED his sales from his offline business!
HTML Editors and Tools:
At IMC, we have used a lot of different HTML editors, and these are by far the best:
Bare Bones Edit |
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Dreamweaver |
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HotDog Pro |
HTML Tutorials:
Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) is the code that is used to design web pages so that a web browser can "read" them. While it is useful to understand the basics of HTML, it is not necessary to become an expert coder to create your own web site. If you don't know how to write HTML code, you can find tutorials at the following sites:
Echo Echo |
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HTML Goodies |
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W3 Schools |
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Web Station |
Monitoring Services:
Below you'll find a list of services that you can use to keep track of what people are saying about you and your business on the Internet.
CyberAlert |
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eWatch |
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Markwatch |
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Tracerlock |
Multimedia Resources: Tools for added audio and video to our sites
"Multimedia" means information presented in more than one format, such as text, audio, video, animation, and images. Here are some useful resources if you're thinking of adding multimedia elements like audio and video to your web site:
Multimedia players:
Microsoft Windows Media Player |
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RealPlayer |
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Apple QuickTime |
Multimedia resources:
Audio |
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Broadcast |
www.microsoft.com/windows/ |
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Resources |
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Streaming Media |
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Video 1 |
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Video 2 |
Free Scripts, Templates, Icons, Buttons, Graphics, Logos, and More for Your Web Page:
Below are some of the most useful resources for finding FREE stuff for your site. You'll also want to check out www.webmasterworld.com for great forums that provide tons of advice on everything to do with running a web site.
Free Web Templates |
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JavaScript |
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ScriptSearch |
Free Software, Shareware, etc.:
Bookmark these pages to access tons of useful software that you can download and use for no or minimal cost:
CNet's Download |
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Tucows Downloads |
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VersionTracker |
Graphics:
The images and photos on your web site help to define your company and establish its credibility. There are many software solutions and web-based tools that will give your site a professional look:
Adobe Illustrator is software for creating vector graphics (illustrations that can be scaled without losing resolution). $499 (Free 30 day trial). |
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Adobe Photoshop CS2 is the industry standard for digital imaging. $599 (Free 30 day trial). |
Adobe Photoshop Elements is a simpler version of Photoshop with limited features. $89.99 |
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Banner Maker Pro is software that lets you create banner ads and other Web graphics. $39.99 without CD; $49.99 with CD (Free 15 day trial). |
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GIF Optimizer is a free web-based tool that reduces the image size of your GIF files. |
Macromedia Fireworks is software that creates, edits, and optimizes images for the Web. $299 (Free 30 day trial). |
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OptiView offers a number of free tools for checking page loading times, locating duplicated images and more. |
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Corel Paint Shop Pro is a low-cost photo-editing software solution. $129 (Free 30 day trial). |
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QuickBanner GIF Banner Creator is an easy-to-use banner and button design tool. Free and paid templates ($9.95 to $19.95) are available. |
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Spinwave GIF/JPEG Crunchers are image processing tools. You can use their free web-based tools, or buy desktop versions for $49.95. |
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WebGraphics Optimizer optimizes and compresses images for online and Internet use so that your web site loads much faster. 30-day trial version available at: http://webopt.com. |
Credit Card Payment providers:
Add the ability to accept credit card payments to your web site to sell your product directly to your customers online. The following list of m
erchant providers offer a wide range of options, including shopping carts, and are the best I've found for compatibility issues:
PayPal (www.paypal.com) PayPal is an easy, secure, and inexpensive way of receiving payments online. It allows you to accept credit cards without having your own merchant account, set up a shopping cart, and send and receive online payments to anyone with an e-mail address. Cost: 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction. |
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Goemerchant (www.goemerchant.com) is a service that will look after everything for you. The merchant account is included as part of the package, and they provide custom "copy and paste" tools that make set up relatively painless. |
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Miva Merchant (www.smallbusiness.miva.com/products/merchant) is a software package that can be hosted either on your server or on a remote server. It offers browser-based administration, a wizard set up, and pre-configured payment processing. Miva Merchant provides plenty of room for expansion, and sells a variety of compatible business-management programs. |
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Quikstore (www.quikstore.com) is a software package that must be hosted on your server. It's a solid product for a low price. It offers a wizard set up, a configuration editor, a catalog wizard, and more. |
Securenetshop (www.securenetshop.com/main.html) is an online application that uses HTML pages for setup and offers a variety of options, including customer tracking. |
Domain Name Registration:
To start registering your domain names, check out: www.kmdomains.com
eBay:
More than 2 MILLION shoppers gather on eBay EVERY DAY to spend more than $86,000,000 bidding on almost every product and service imaginable. eBay offers an easy, low-risk way to begin selling online or to expand your current business into new markets. But it's a LOT easier to be successful right out of the gate when an old pro shows you the ropes.
To get started on eBay, or to rocket your current sales to the next level, check out the course that the Internet Marketing Center has recently developed with Brandon Dupsky, an eBay seller who started out by selling his own stuff out of his basement and now pulls in $8 million a year in sales: www.auctiontips.com.
eBay offers a range of tools and services to help you manage your auctions. Here are a few you might want to check out:
eBay Blackthorne |
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eBay Keywords |
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eBay's Sales Reports |
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eBay Store |
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eBay Sellers Central |
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eBay Selling Manager |
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eBay Turbo Lister |
On the eBay site, you can access a Solutions Directory of all the eBay and third-party software and services that are designed to improve your buying and selling productivity. Here are a few more third-party providers that will help you automate or simplify your eBay sales process:
PayPal |
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CyberSource |
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ProStores |
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Terapeak |
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Toolhaus |
Free Email Marketing Tools
Email list Whitelisting:
Whitelists are the opposite of blacklists — they include the names of businesses and individuals who have been officially approved as legitimate e-mailers by the ISPs. You need to make sure that your mailings are NOT blacklisted. The following pages are useful resources:
Go to www.postmaster.info.aol.com/tools/whitelist_guides.html to find out about being whitelisted with AOL |
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Go to http://add.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/mail/cgi_bulkmail to find out about being whitelisted with Yahoo! |
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Microsoft — which owns Hotmail and MSN — currently doesn't offer their own internal whitelist, so if you want to improve your deliverability with them, the only thing you can do is get into the Bonded Sender program, powered by ReturnPath. You can find out about becoming a bonded sender at www.bondedsender.com |
E-zine Directories and Marketing options:
E-zines are electronic magazines, usually focused on a specific topic. They are excellent ways of keeping on top of developments and trends in your niche. Directories, or searchable lists of e-zines, are good places to find publications relevant to your business.
Ezine Depot |
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Google's E-zine |
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The Busy Place |
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The E-zine |
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The Open Directory's |
Free Newsletter Content and PR submission websites:
In addition to the free content available for you to use in my newsletter, there are some other useful sources to check out. If you're finding yourself short on time, and you don't have the budget to hire a writer, then you may want to take advantage of the free articles on the following web sites:
Isnare.com-for pr submission.
Email Universe |
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Ezine Articles |
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FreeSticky |
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IdeaMarketers |
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Web Source |
Media Contacts:
If you want to issue a press release or subscribe to online news sources, you'll find these sites helpful:
Bacon's Information — Media News, Services, and Information |
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Gebbie Press — The All-In-One Media Directory |
The MagazineBoy — Links to 1,675 magazine web sites around the world |
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Oxbridge MediaFinder — Research Canadian and American publications |
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The Paperboy — Links to 5,092 Newspapers in 176 Countries |
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PR Leap — Free press release distribution service |
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PR Newswire — Press release agency |
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Press Release Network — Global Press Release Service |
Opt-In E-mail List Providers:
Sometimes, it makes good business sense to purchase a mailing list for your e-mail promotions, especially when you're just getting started and your own list is still small. These companies offer opt-in mailing lists in many different categories:
EmailUniverse |
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Focalex |
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Postmaster Direct |
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Xact Mail |
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YesMail |
RSS Marketing and tools:
RSS (Really Simple Synication) is a way to keep on top of updates on your favorite sites. It's also a terrific way for you to provide your site visitors with regular updates. Here are some tools and resources that will help you get started:
FeedForAll (create, edit, |
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FeedPark (submit your |
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Fresh Content |
RSS News Readers:
To access RSS feeds, you need an RSS News Reader. There are many available to be downloaded or used online. Here are some of the best:
Bloglines |
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Feed Demon |
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Google Reader |
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NetNewsWire Lite |
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Newz Crawler |