Google Reader

As a business owner, it’s vital to keep your finger on the pulse of your industry. Instead of reading your favourite blogs the usual way, harness the power of Google Reader. Subscribe to the RSS feeds of the top sites in your industry, and set Google alerts for your main keyword phrases and have them delivered automatically to your RSS reader. This way, you’ll have all the information you need in one place. An extra benefit is that you can send the articles directly to your twitter account from inside Google Reader if you want to share them with your visitors.
If you’re on a mobile device, use the Reeder app.

Check out these tutorials for making the most out of Google Reader and Google alerts:

http://www.google.com/reader

Producteev

I love this app for it’s simplicity. When you receive a task related email, simply send it to task@producteev.com and it will get added to your list of TODOs. you can even add time keywords in the subject of the email to have it automatically scheduled at a specific date.
Producteev integrates with Google Calendar too, so if you’re using Google Chrome, you can install the Google calendar widget and use your Producteev calendar as the default. That’s streamlining!

https://www.producteev.com

Evernote

Do you write down notes of small pieces of paper, then have a hard time finding them when you need them?
Then use Evernote. It’s an app that you can install on your desktop, or mobile phone and it will allow you to syncronize notes between all your devices. You an even take pictures of text and it will be indexed!
This is great when you suddenly have an idea or inspiration and want to write it down for future reference without forgetting it.

https://www.evernote.com/

Instapaper

I use Instapaper in conjunction with my Google Reader account. When I find an articel that I would like to read later, I send it to Instapaper, or I use the Google Chrome bookmarklet to save it to Instapaper.
When I have some time to read the full article, it will be waiting for me in my account. You can organize the articles into subfolders for easy access.

http://www.instapaper.com

Klok2

When you’re working on a project, it’s important to keep track of the time you spend on specific tasks. This will help you become more productive and manage your time better. Klok is a free adobe airr application that helps you track your time on projects. You can even use it to calculate how much the project is worth.
It helps me fine-tune my estimates, as I know exactly how much time I spend on specific web design tasks.

http://www.getklok.com/

FocusBooster

If you’re easily distracted, then you’ll find yourself losing a lot of precious time surfing the net, or tweeting or using FaceBook.
Using the pomodoro technique which is to set uninterrupted stretches of work periods, you”ll find yourself instantly more productive.
Focus Booster is a free Adobe Air app that is basically a timer which by default is set to 25 minute periods.

http://www.focusboosterapp.com/

TeamBox

Email is not the best tool for communicating about project tasks. I find it greatly improved communication to use a project management tool where all the resources are in one place.
You don’t have to browse through hunderds of emails, you can share files, chat and discuss all in one place.
Teambox is similar to Basecamp in its ease of use.

http://teambox.com

When I’m collaborating with other independent web designers or programmers (I don’t use the term freelancer), I need a tool to centralize all our activities and communication regarding the project at hand. While Basecamp is an excellent project management app, which I use on some client projects – usually when they have a subscription and add me as a user – it doesn’t have a good free plan. I use TeamBox, which is a great online app, similar to Basecamp, and allows to manage 3 projects concurrently. You can archive projects, which will free a slot for new projects.

I use the free plan on Freshbooks, which also limits the number of clients, but allows all the functionality of the paid plans.
It also has a time tracking tool which you can use to create an invoice from the logged hours. Which leads me to time tracking.

I recently discovered Toggl, which seems to be a great app. I use the free plan limited to 5 users, so perfect for me.
It has a desktop utility which seems to be very clever.

I use Balsamiq mockups.
I use the free plan for getsignoff or notableapp for getting feedback on the design.

I use Photoshop. Of course, it’s not free, but it’s an industry standard, so there are many resources for learning how to use it. Also clients usually give me Photoshop files to work with.
I might move to Fireworks in the near future for creating my designs.

I use PhpStorm for coding HTML, CSS and Php.
Unfortunately the current version doesn’t permit to edit a unique file via FTP, you first have to download the whole project to a local copy, which is actually better. It means you work on a local copy and synchronize to the server. But sometimes, you just need to quickly edit a file so I use NotePad++ with the FTP plugin which is very buggy, it disconnects often or gives errors.

For keyword research, competition analysis, promotion,etc.. I use Market Samurai. It’s a free tool that’s really powerful to quickly get the information you need.
I first discovered Market Samurai during the Thirty Day Challenge, it’s a free course to learn how to start an online business, how to promote it, how to optimze it for SEO, etc. It’s really fun and I encourage you to participate this year, it starts in August, with a ‘pre-season’ in July.