Membership Knowledge Hub

This is a guest post by Ja-Naé Duane, artist, creative economist, social media strategist and a faculty member at Northeastern University. Ja-Naé is also CEO of Wild Woman Entrepreneurs, Ja-Naé Ventures, Co-founder of the Massachusetts Artist Leaders Coalition, Founder of The Leaders and author of "How to Start Your Business with $100."

As a small member organization or non-profit, resources can be scarce and need to be maximized. Luckily, there are a number of great web applications that can help you manage your time, grow your organization and help you succeed. Utilizing tools such as these will help maximize your exposure and lead to more profits. Plus, most of these don't cost a thing!

1. Yast - In order to track your time and manage the number of hours you put into certain aspects of your business, use Yast. It is a free and very easy-to-use time-tracker.
   
2. LiquidPlanner - Lets you manage multiple online projects and has file sharing and project portals.
3. Google Analytics - Make sure you have a subscription to this free tool. It does more than just show you how many visitors came to your website; it also shows visitor trends, how long visitors stay on your site, how often they come back and so many more really informative pieces of information.
   
4. Skype - Lower your phone bills AND be able to see your members or volunteers, even if they are far away - using Skype. A video calling service, it makes keeping in touch easier and takes away any commuting that used to be involved.
   
5. Social Media - If you think you are an organization with no way to promote yourself, think again! You've heard it before and you'll hear it again - you need to be on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. You need to be blogging and sharing your thoughts and triumphs with the world.
   
6. CrowdSpring - If you need graphics or logos or business cards, but you need them on the cheap - this is a great resource. You can enter your project and how much you are willing to pay and all of the available designers will send you mock-ups. Then you simply pick your favorite! It really doesn't get better than that.