Starting a Business? Switch Your Browser to FireFox!

New business entrepreneurs are starting a lot of projects. It’s a time of learning as you transition from unincorporated to incorporated business and maybe you’re looking at getting a website online to market your new business’ goods and services.

I’m going to suggest that you also make another change. Change your browser from IE, Chrome, Opera, or whatever you’re using to FireFox today. The effect this one change has on your business – the time you spend online will be well worth the cost.

The cost? This incredible browser is totally free.

It was about 2 years ago when I was trying to do something using Internet Explorer on a major website, well, actually it was Google Analytics… and I just couldn’t get IE 6 to work. I tried everything Google help recommended. When I wrote them the last time I got a reply that got me a little peeved at first. The support at Google said, something like, “if you switch to FireFox you probably won’t have any trouble. Most people that are using FireFox can do everything they need to in Google Analytics.”

I fired off an angry response. How dare they suggest I change my whole browser so it will work with their system – that obviously isn’t playing nice with IE for a reason – to get people away from IE.

I was also in the midst of starting a new business and I remember how upset I was that I couldn’t do what I needed to in Google – it wasn’t just Google, but there a couple major sites I was having issues with – Godaddy was one. All my online business hosting accounts were at Godaddy and they had been for years and years. I had to get the issue resolved… I started looking at FireFox – just to see how could it be possible than the standard in internet browsing, IE?

I read a lot about FireFox that day. I even installed Firefox 2.something. Right away I noticed, it was MUCH faster than IE. I don’t know what IE is doing, but even to go back or forward it was taking far too much time. With FF it was instant. I was already blown away. I’m on a slow connection much of the time as I use EDGE GPRS service from my cell phone connected to my notebook, it was compounded by the fact that IE was so slow.

The next thing I wanted to try were the “add ons” or “plugins” that were available for FF. These are programs written by developers – anywhere in the world, that work with FireFox’s browser. They can do that because FireFox is open-source software and anyone can see the entire code. Programmers easily create really useful programs to help people accomplish things.

Here’s a short list of some of my favorite and free plugins I’m using right now:

Live PageRank. This tells me what PR Google has given the website or page of the site that I’m on. Very helpful for SEO/Web development purposes. Probably helpful to you too if you’re trying to gain trust/rank in Google.

PDF Download. This automatically launches when you click on a PDF file to ask what you want to do with it – launch it, save it, etc. This is really helpful because, if you’re like me you’ve unwittingly clicked on a PDF file link that took a LONG time to open – and maybe even locked your browser up. An excellent plugin.

ScribeFire. An easy to use editor that helps you compose blog posts and articles for your business website with a minimum of effort. I use it instead of the WordPress editor because it adds functions I don’t have at WP. I’m using it to compose this article for Dean Harrington at StartUSABusiness.com.

Simple Timer. A small timer application that resides in the bottom of my browser window so I can set it to remind me of something I MUST do.

Speed Dial. You know how when you open a new tab in your current browser you probably aren’t looking at anything much to start with? Speed Dial is an incredibly useful program that gives you 10, 20, 60 screenshots of business/personal websites you usually go to so you can just click one and go. No need to type in a URL – just click. There are MANY options, and once you install it and get it working you’ll wonder how you lived without it. You can group your links/screenshots in different tabs too. I have over 100 sites on-hand instantly with Speed Dial. Awesome program.

FireShot. A screencapture program that captures the entire webpage – not just what you can see. If your page is 60,000 words long or 30 photos of content… it takes a picture of the entire page. It auto-starts a photo editor (you choose which one, I have it opening Photoshop) so you can edit or save it for looking at later. I’ve used this program an average of 1x per day over the last 2 years – priceless. (Free of course).

FireFTP. If you’re using CuteFTP or some other pay for FTP program you might want to check out this outstanding little in-browser FTP program. First – it’s free. Secondly, it’s powerful and doesn’t crash. What else could you ask for? It’s amazing. I’ve used this program about 10 times per day over the last 2 years and had ZERO problems with it. Send this guy some Paypal $ if you’re satisfied with the program. He just saved you $30-40.

Those are just a few of my favorite add-ons I have in my FireFox browser. I have another 20+ that help me get things done for my business every single day.

I’ve changed many things over the past 12 years as I launched myself full-time into online business, web dev, internet marketing… changing my browser from IE to FireFox has been one of my TOP productivity changes I’ve ever made. Seriously, it’s that good and will have a very favorable affect on time you spend using the computer.

Switch today and let us know how it’s going!