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As a professional Technology geek, I sometimes get my hands on the coolest tools and utilities. Mostly out of necessity, as I’m in a crunch and need to get something fixed. When I’m in the field, and need to find that cool little app that does just what I need, I also don’t have time to whip out my credit card and purchase what I need.

So, I turn to the Open-Source community, and thanks to the geniuses that make up this community, I am hardly ever disappointed. Find out the ten coolest (and FREE) apps you’re not using… but should!

What qualifies as one of the Ten coolest (and FREE) apps? First, in order to qualify as one of the ten coolest (and FREE) apps, there are criteria. These can’t be just any old applications off the street, they have to be able to meet a set of standards. Here are the criteria:

1. They have to be Free. Free means not having to purchase prior to download. However, Free doesn’t always mean no money. A good amount of time and effort went into making these applications for you and I to enjoy, so donations to the authors are highly encouraged. In other words, if you find an application that doesn’t charge you to use it, consider making a donation to the developer(s) as a means to enable them to continually improve the product, which will allow others to enjoy the software as well. Plus, it’s just good ju-ju!

2. They cannot be “trial-ware” or “nag-ware”. Shareware was really big in the 90’s. Try it before you buy it was the big mantra back then. Well, these ten coolest (and FREE) apps have to not have the shareware thing happening at all. No messages with how many days are left to try their product. No disabled features that get unlocked if you buy the product. None of that crapola. Zilch, nada, zip! Again, in order to have good karma come your way, you should donate to the software makers, but these software authors politely and rightfully ask for a donation; but do not disable any features in order to hold your software hostage until you pay for it.

3. They have to be easy to use. Now, I don’t necessarily mean brain-dead easy. I mean, still, in this day and age, there still has to be some sort of blip on the evolutionary radar to even use a computer, let alone the ten coolest (and FREE) apps that will make your life SO much easier. So, easy to use means that an average user can use these utilities if they read the how-to’s that come with them. OK, you’ve been warned! If you don’t read the how-to’s, and don’t donate to the software authors, and your PC starts spewing smoke, don’t come crying to me about the bad ju-ju. Good things come to those who do nice things for others (and who read the how-to’s that come with the software).

4. The apps are created by knowledgeable pros. There have been tons of stories of how this person or that created the coolest app or computer in their garage by not sleeping (or showering) for days, living on Doritos and Full Throttle. However, in order to make the cut, there has to be some sort of professionalism behind these apps. The biggest reason for that is that if I’m going to use an app at a client site that I am consulting for, it has to look good and work right. By using these apps myself, I am in a sense endorsing them. So, if my name is attached to something, it has to make me look good. So, even when it comes to software, production value counts. Some guy who’s “tinkering” by creating some utility that was written poorly can very well hose a PC. I’m just going to be sure it isn’t one of the one’s I happen to be working on.

5. The apps have to be useful. Just because an app is free, and is cool, doesn’t always mean it will do something useful. These aren’t flying toasters (dang I’m old!), or dancing aliens, these are useful applications that will speed up your PC, protect you from virus and malware, optimize your Internet bandwidth, and restore health to your hardware and hard drive. How’s that for useful?

And now for some disclaimer…

Well, now that you know what it took for these awesome application to make the grade, let’s list them for you now. But, before I do that, let me just give you a couple of disclaimers I have to. It wouldn’t be responsible of me to do otherwise.

Disclaimer

Neither, I, nor HelpfulAdvisor.com, or any person or organization affiliated with HelpfulAdvisor.com is responsible for the use of the software listed in this article. HelpfulAdvisor.com makes no warranties or guarantees of performance or improvement as a result of the use of these applications. HelpfulAdvisor.com does not support these applications, and any sort of support or assistance required, would be the responsibility of the user to obtain by whatever means made available by the software author. Using the software and applications listed in this article are solely at the discretion and responsibility of the individual user.

Ok, now that we got the legal stuff out of the way, here are the ten coolest (and FREE) apps you’re NOT using… but should!

On to the apps!

Please note that all software mentioned in this article can be downloaded for free by going to http://www.HelpfulAdvisor.com.

10. DriveImage XML by RunTime.org

What makes this application so cool is that it does the same thing that commercial software does, and does it very well! DriveImage XML is a drive imaging tool that takes a snapshot of your entire hard drive, and stores it for recovery any time you need it. This is powerful because taking a snapshot of your entire hard drive will enable you to restore your hard drive, operating system, settings, preferences, applications, everything, should you need to upgrade your hard drive, or replace a failed drive. Comparable commercial software runs anywhere from $100 to $1,000, and yet this product does it for free!

9. Ultimate Boot CD 4 Windows (UBCD4WIN) by Benjamin Burrows

Has there ever been a time when your Windows XP just blew up and you couldn’t boot into it? Or worse, has your hard drive become so infected by virus and malware that you couldn’t do anything once you did get in? Well, the Ultimate bood CD 4 Windows comes to the rescue, literally!

Back in the days of DOS and Windows 95/98, a boot diskette was a formidable weapon against computer crashes and virus infections. That was because back in the day (showing my age, AGAIN!) a diskette could contain the most essential bootup information in order for you to at least boot your PC and run an anti-virus, or perhaps access your drive to get data off, or to restore a backup from a system crash.

Nowadays, Windows XP uses an encrypted file system called NTFS. Long story short, there’s no way all the NTFS bootup information can fit on a diskette, let alone, not many PCs that have diskette drives anymore. So, UBCD4Win, solves all that and more by being a Swiss-Army Knife for your PC.

As it’s packed with features, essentially, you download this program, select the features you want the BootCD to have, and voila! By booting up from a boot CD, you can restore a drive image created by DriveImage XML (see number 10 above), or you can clean out pesky viruses, or you can do a variety of other things. To me, this is essential gear when working with PCs. Great job Benjamin and Team!

8. ClamWin Antivirus by ClamWin Pty Ltd.

This is one of those instances where Linux technology ends up helping the Windows users of the world. ClamWin Antivirus is an open-source anti virus that aims to be as comparable in features and reliability as any commercial product. And, in my opinion, they come very, very close.

It’s based on the ClamAV engine that was developed for Linux servers and desktops, and is ported into a Windows compatible GUI. It has great features like virus pattern updates that you can schedule either hourly, daily or weekly. You can schedule scans of specific directories or whole drives. You can right-click and scan individual files, and best of all, it integrates right into MS Outlook.

Aside from Outlook virus scanning, the only thing I can see this application lacking is the real-time virus scanning feature that most commercial products have. Of course, real-time scanning can be a resource hog, so this may be a blessing iin disguise. I’ve found ClamAV to be able to handle most threats out there, and does a very good job. And, if there’s a sticky virus that you just can’t get of, well then the Ultimate BootCD 4 Windows (see number 9 above) may be your next option.

7. Smart Defrag by IOBit

Although Windows comes with a defragmentation utlity, there certainly is room for improvement. Enter Smart Defrag. This utility literally goes where Windows Defrag has never gone before. Ok, I went over the top on that. But here’s the thing. Smart Defrag is easy to use. It’s also schedule capable, where you can set what time and day to run the defrag. To be fair, this can be done with Windows Defrag IF you use Windows Scheduler with it. In the case of Smart Defrag, it’s all self-contained, eliminating the need to use two separate programs.

Now, are you ready for the best feature Smart Defrag has that Windows Defrag doesn’t? There has to be something that gets this utility on the list, right? Ok, here it is. This defrag utility can be set to run in the background. That’s right. When you’re doing your regular work on your computer, this utility will be working along with you in the background. Plus, the software has a threshold that will stop the defrag if it starts using too much of your PC’s resources. This is great because then you’ll always be sure that your defrag is not going to slow down your PC.

Always having a defragmented disk is extremely valuable to your PC, as it speeds up access to your programs, and eases strain on your hard disk. This is the defrag utility that you can’t beat for the price.

6. Tune XP by DriverHeaven

Did you know that Windows XP has several hidden settings that could actually speed up your PC? In fact, the default installation settings can actually be slowing down your PC, even after a fresh install!

Well, now you can harness the hidden powers of WIndows XP and give your PC the speed boost it deserves. Best of all, you can give it that boost without buying a single piece of hardware or a stick of RAM. Although this utility is powerful, it is a bit advanced, so it is highly recommended you read the help file before using.

5. 7-Zip by 7-Zip.org

This is another one of those great utilities that replaces what already comes with Windows XP. Windows comes with a file compression and archiving utility called WinZip. However, 7-Zip does a few things better than WinZip. For one, 7-Zip compresses files much smaller than WinZip, making for smaller archive (.zip) files.

For two, 7-Zip supports more types of archive types than WinZip. This is especially useful when downloading from the Internet, only to find that the compressed file you just downloaded isn’t recognized by WinZip. Therefore, having this utility can ensure that whatever you download can be uncompressed and useful for you.

4. Cobian Backup by Luis Cobian

Have you tried to use the NT Backup that comes with Windows? Yeah, so have I. It’s pretty fussy to say the least. Well, your backup troubles are over. Cobian Backup is fast, easy to use, and extremely flexible.

Imagine a backup utility that will compress your backup file into one large file, or several smaller ones. Imagine a backup utility that will automatically store your backup file to any drive you select, or better yet, will upload your file via Internet FTP to an off-site server of your choosing. Imagine a backup utility that you can schedule or initiate right on the spot.

Cobian Backup is so flexible and versatile, you would be amazed that it can be offered as donation-ware. However, by going to Luis Cobian’s website, it appears his next version isn’t going to be open-source. Therefore, you’d better grab Black Moon while you can.

3. Firefox Web Browser by Mozilla

In my arsenal, this is considered essential gear. That’s because Firefox allows for safer browsing of the Internet without being acosted by all the pop-ups, automated Active-X downloads that spy on you and your PC, or other forms of malware that come in via your regular Internet Exporer browser.

Anyone who surfs the net can appreciate pop-up free, malware free surfing. Firefox also has many add-ons that make an already poweful browser even more beastly. There are download accelerators, proxies, YouTube extensions, and all kinds of stuff to make your Internet time as cool as it ever was.

If you need to keep Internet Explorer because some sites absolutely require you use that browser, at least download and use Firefox for the other times you don’t need IE. You’ll find that you’re spending a lot less time herding cats by way of malware and mailicous Active-X on your browser. And that, my dear reader, spells more fun for you on the Internet; which is how it should be.

2. Free Download Manager by FreeDownloadManager.org

This is what’s called a download accelerator. A download acclerator does just that, speed up your downloads. The concept is cool because you can queue up your downloads, and when they are downloading, they will download faster using this technology than say, a standard download from your browser. This is because your browser initiates a single session for the download of your selected item. However, a download accelerator will initiate multiple sessions at a single time and download your file across multiple sessions. Therefore, your download will happen faster and increase your bandwidth for the download.

Free Download Manager does this very well, and has tons of cool features. It even offers BitTorrent support for download of torrent files, and allows you some very powerful management of your downloads. This tool can integrate with Windows, and is compatible with Firefox and Internet Explorer. I can’t live without this app, and I think after using it a couple of times, you won’t be able to either.

And now for the number 1 Coolest (and FREE) app you’re NOT using…

1. CCleaner by Piriform, LTD.

This utility used to be called CrapCleaner, but has since toned down it’s title to be just CCleaner. Perhaps it was a politically correct thing to do, who knows. All I know is this tool works! The basic premise is that this tool goes in and finds all the little files that get left behind by Windows, and other apps you’re using on a daily or even irregular basis.

Junk files can add up. When they add up, they rob your PC of valuable hard drive space, and what’s worse, it can rob your PC of performance. By running CCleaner at least on a weekly basis, you can clean out all those junk files and free up space. When you run this utility in conjunction with SmartDegrag by IOBit (number 7 on our list), you are keeping your PC tuned up and ready for action.

We’re not done yet. CCleaner also has a neat feature that allows you to clean your computer’s registry. A clean registry is the second half to a fast running PC. When software gets installed in Windows, stuff gets written in the registry. However, when software gets uninstalled, the entries in the registry don’t always get removed. Call it sloppy or lazy programming, or just a way of life in the Windows world. Either way, a bloated registry makes for a slow running PC. CCleaner help you keep that in check.

CCleaner also has other cool stuff like a startup manager, that helps you manage your programs that launch at startup. Which, you guessed it, will eat away at your system resources and slow down your PC, unless you pare down the apps you don’t have to have at the time of Windows startup.

All in all, CCleaner is one of the most useful utilities for cleaning out junk files, clearing out your web browser cache, emptying your recycle bin, and allowing your PC to reclaim space that is otherwise taken up by “stuff” that only serves to slow down your machine. Because this tool is so easy to use, and so powerful, it has earned our number one spot on our list.

One Final Thought

Although the software on our list is open source, or doesn’t cost anything to obtain, these applications cost time and money to develop and make available to the public. These applications are in many cases supported by donations of any amount the user deems fair for use of the product. If you download and find any of these applications useful, please consider a donation to the developer(s). You can do so by going to their respective websites and clicking on a donation link that is usually prominently displayed on their sties.

All software in this article can be downloaded for free by going to http://www.HelpfulAdvisor.com

Jay Medina
http://www.articlesbase.com/software-articles/the-ten-coolest-and-free-apps-youre-not-using-706025.html

When it is time for your children to go to college, they will need a lot of money. The cost of education is rising year by year, a factor that makes it very difficult for you to fund your child’s education. But you can easily give your child a college education if you make the necessary financial preparations for it when your child is very young. You can do so by starting an educational fund and letting it grow. The best solution for you is a tax free savings account for your child’s college education.

1. 529 Account

You can use any of the several tax free savings accounts available to raise a fund for your child’s education. The 529 account is immensely popular.

You have to pay taxes for the money you deposit in a 529 account. But you don’t have to pay annual taxes on the interest, and you are not taxed for the money you withdraw from a 529 account on condition that you use it only to meet your child’s educational expenses such as books, tuitions, accomodation, and so on.

In a 529 account, the maximum annual amount you can deposit is $200,000. You need a money manager to handle the funds you contribute to a 529 account. The biggest advantage of this plan is that the money in the 529 plan is the property of the owner of the account. If the parents of the kid set up this account, the kid stands a better chance of getting the required financial help.

If one of your children is averse to a college education, you could spend that money on another of your children who might long for an education.

2. Coverdell Education Fund

The Coverdell Education Fund is yet another tax free savings account to raise funds for education. Basically, it is the same as the 529 plan, but with a few differences.

The maximum amount you can deposit per year in a Coverdell Fund is only $2000, which won’t be insufficient if you have begun saving for your child’s education very late in life. However, you don’t need a money manager here, and you are in total control of your Coverdell Fund.

The biggest disadvantage is that the Coverdell Fund belongs to the student, which he or she can misuse and therefore, get lesser financial aid. Your child owns the money that you put in a Coverdell account and gains complete control over it once he or she turns 21. Children could misuse this money and spend it on things other than their college education. This won’t happen in a 529 plan.

You are the best person to decide which is the best type of tax free savings account to fund your child’s college education. Education is expensive, and to give your child the best there is, creating a fund at the earliest possible is absolutely necessary.

Abhishek Agarwal
http://www.articlesbase.com/taxes-articles/2-tax-free-savings-accounts-best-ways-to-fund-your-childs-education-708583.html

Most spyware removal tools cost money because they have software teams working improve the software and writing all that code for the it.  I don’t want any part of that.  But luckily for those on a budget, there are some free spyware removal tools out there.  There are some totally free ones, but most are a free version of a paid version of the software.  One example is the Ad-aware software made by Lavasoft. 

Removing spyware is very critical because of the volatile nature of spyware.  Once the spyware is installed into your computer it can view your personal information and slow down your computer’s internet connection.  As the spyware is sending your personal information back through the connection to a third party, it then takes up bandwidth on your connection.

If you think you have spyware on your computer, definitely do something about it.  If you already have a anti virus program, unfortunately this will not work on spyware.  Spyware attacks the computer’s registry.  A spyware removal tool or a registry cleaner will work best in this situation.

Although there are free spyware removal tools available on the internet, it is not a good idea to use these to remove spyware.  This is because this software isn’t entirely free.  The software always needs to be supported financially by advertising or some other type of backing.

Some free spyware removal tools are not up to par and can make actually make your computer slower than before.

In some cases, free spyware software has spyware on it.  Once you download the free software, the spyware then installs itself in your system and starts collecting information.

The best thing to do is to invest in a reputable spyware removal tool to rid your system of the spyware.  This way, you will know that you are receiving a quality product that will do its job.  If you do look for a free spyware removal tool, use Malwarebytes. 

Paul Abrams
http://www.articlesbase.com/software-articles/find-a-free-spyware-removal-tool-717365.html

Free slots are a simple way to enjoy playing slots without paying any money. Sometimes we all want to have fun and gamble for a little. While some go to land casinos and spend their money there, others choose playing free slots online. It is a much more comfortable way of putting your luck to the test, when you can play for as much as you like right at your home. All you need to play free slots online is a computer and Internet connection. No credit cards, or other payment methods are required. Unless, you wish to play slots for money, of course. There are two basic ways you can play free slots online. One way is by downloading a stand-alone program from an online casino website. There are numerous online casinos that offer such free slots programs. They don’t require any payments for downloading the game. The other way is to play free slots directly on the casino website, by using Flash, Shockwave or Java plug-ins in your browser. Make sure you have one of these installed on your computer, or you can download them directly from the site — usually free slots site post links for installing these plug-ins. No matter what type of free slots you choose, you can be sure that you’ll find the right slot machine for you. Just like real slot machines, there are numerous variations and themes on which the slot games are based. You are a big fan of Star Wars? There are hundreds of free slots based on the movie. Looking for the classic «one armed bandit» slot machines? You will definitely find plenty of those. The possibilities are endless, but what’s really important is that you have fun while playing free slots online. Free slots are one of the most popular online casino games because they are very easy to play. First thing you have to do is place your bet, which usually ranges from one to five coins (some slot machines accept up to ten coins). Different slot machines have different coin values, ranging from 5 cents to 5 dollars. There are also special slots for high rollers with much larger coin values. OK, so you’ve placed your bet. The next thing you should do is simply click the spin button and see what combination is displayed in the payline. Your win depends on the combination and is different from one slot machine to another. All free slots have individual pay tables, where all the winning combinations are outlined. Read the instruction before playing the game, because what may be a jackpot with one slot machine could worth nothing with another. The payline may also be different, requiring a diagonal combination of the symbols to win, or five matching symbols instead of three. So make sure you’ve read the rules of this particular free slots machine. One of the most popular types of free slots games are progressive slot machines. These machines are linked into a network that has a common jackpot, which is affected by all the players in the network. Simply put, it’s a multiplayer version of ordinary slot machines. And many find it much more exciting to play progressive slots, because the jackpot is usually much higher if compared to straight slots.

Elizabeth Tudor
http://www.articlesbase.com/online-gambling-articles/what-are-free-slots-the-basics-of-free-slots-724388.html

In this article, doctors from the dental office of Smile Staten Island, located in New York, will show to you the benefits of using a free standing insert as a dental practice act in dental advertising. They will share with you how much profit they got from this free standing insert as they used it in dental advertising as a dental practice act. They will also share with you how using their free standing insert, as a dental practice act, effectively brought in new patients into their dental practice. And this is something that we focus specifically at our dental practice website!

Here’s what the doctors from Smile Staten Island will share to you about the benefits of using free standing inserts as a dental practice act:

As a dental practice act, we have in our practice the “Dental Miracle” free standing insert ad. And we can say that this is the ad that sold us on external marketing and sold us on dental marketing expert Ed O’ Keefe, as well. This ad also taught us that we know nothing about marketing… and that we should leave that to people who do know about marketing! And it just changed our whole mindset. With this, we tested the waters! This is the first piece that we ever did in external marketing. In our office, one patient, who read our free standing insert ad, came in, sat down, and told us about her goals (she actually came in with an estimate from another dental office!). We told her that we want to help her and that we can definitely change her smile! And needless to say, she had no problems with that idea. So, from that one ad and that single patient, we got a $14,000.00 dollar case! And we just didn’t get one patient from it because that was the first time we ran it. As for now, we ran it 6 times throughout this year and this period.

By the time we ran the ad the fifth time as a dental practice act, we got a patient whose name was Ellen, and we just had to ask her: “Ellen, what attracted you to our ad? Because other people would surely just sit and leave the whole thing, and they might as well just toss it! So, what made you call our ad?”. Then she told us: “Well, when I read your ad, I thought I was going to come into your office and have a cup of coffee, and just talk and just be well-relaxed and calm.”. And we said, “Wow, that’s really powerful! How are we doing so far?”. And she told us: “You’re doing really good!”. And there’s more. She told us: “You know, when I got this ad about a month ago, I tried calling about 5 to 6 times, but then I hang up. I could not get to go through with the whole thing. And finally when I saw it again (so that was maybe a month later), something told me I just had to do it!”. So she called us and then that’s when she went to our office!

For the free standing insert ad, we gained 26 new patients, with 7 additional referrals, we ran it 6 times, we had an expense of $11,900.00 for the ad, and our collection to date is an amazing $64,072.75! So the question now is this, “As a dental practice act, would you spend around $11,000.00 to bring in around $64,000.00 into your practice?” And our answer to that is definitely a “Yes!”. And that’s what really sold us on dental marketing expert Ed O’ Keefe and his whole dentist profits staff!

Ed O’Keefe
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-ideas-articles/the-benefits-of-using-a-free-standing-insert-in-dental-advertising-723433.html

It probably did not take you more than a second to answer that question—YES! We all want free money, don’t we? But how can we get free money?

Well, if you are looking for free money to use for college and university tuition and fees, you are more likely to find it than those of us who are just looking for free money. Check out websites and programs such as FAFSA and GovernmentGrants.com to find free grant money. You can also check out websites and programs such as FreeCollegeScholarships.net, FastWeb.com, and FedMoney.org that offer free money in the form of scholarships. The great thing about these options is that you are almost guaranteed to get some amount, even if it is not as high as you would like, of free money to use towards your college or university tuition and fees. All you have to do is fill out an application, maybe write an essay or two, and wait.

Now, for the rest of us, free money likely does not exist. There are programs, however, that claim to give you free opportunities to make money such as reading emails or advertisements, taking surveys, downloading a certain tool bar onto your browser, etc. For websites and programs like that check out CashFiesta.com, FreeCenter.com, and AbsolutelyFreebies.com. However, some websites like these require that you pay a registration or startup fee (low, albeit, but still, that is not free, is it?) or fill out all kinds of applications such as for credit cards which can lead to unwanted credit cards, spam in your email, junk in your snail mail, and all kinds of other inconveniences.

So, for those of us not trying to find free money to use for college and university tuition and fees, finding free money is going to be a little more difficult.

Pompy
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-opportunities-articles/work-at-home-make-money-free-ways-for-internet-726805.html

Searching for a free forum???

Most Multi-level-marketing or Network marketing teams need a place to meet, share information, and recruit members. Creating a Forum or social networking site is the best way to network with your team, and also a good way to create more sales and recruit members.

Recently, during a phone conversation, with a top Mary Kay Consultant, from the Hampton Roads area in Virginia, the idea and opportunity for Free Forum Forums was created. For those of you not familiar with Mary Kay, it is a cosmetic, skin care, beauty consultant opportunity that has been around for decades.  Mary Kay affords many people the opportunity to work from home, creating a wonderful source of income.

Free Forum Forums, is an opportunity for medium to large networking teams, are provided a Free Forum for their communication and recruiting needs.

Benefits of a Free Forum Forums membership?

As a team member if you have at least 50 to 100 active people on your team, you can easily qualify for a Free Forum Forums program.  Starting a Free Forum for your team will serve many benefits to the success of your business.

• Free Forum Forums, give you an open forum to communicate and network with your team and others.
• Free Forum Forums allows you to direct people to your websites URL using a forum signature, which will create a link each time you post.  This results in moving your site up in google search engines.
• At your Free Forums the more you post and use related keywords on your forum, you build your forums visibility in search engines, for potential recruits to more easily find your forum.
• The free forum forums created for you will be using master search engine optimization techniques, to ensure that your forum reaches top page ranking in search engines.  This means that your site will get more visitors, bringing more potential recruits to your free forum site.

The best benefit is that your forum is FREE…………

The company pays your domain fees, your monthly hosting fees, plus optimizes and maintains your free forum weekly.

Your contribution to your free forum???

Register your team for FREE Forum Forums and let them start posting using the keywords needed to build your forum and bring you more recruits.

BJ Norman
http://www.articlesbase.com/networking-articles/free-forum-forums-opportunity-726267.html

When analysing gluten free markets, the main question that people with celiac disease will ask is “what’s in it for me”? Having an understanding of markets such as Australia and America is fundamental to understanding how many more suppliers are likely to enter the market and so drive competition and choice. If you are celiac or a gluten free supplier, these are two words that you hold dear to your heart: choice and low price. To understand how close we are to a mature market (when maximum competition drives prices down) it is useful to compare several countries and communities within these.

This analysis is based on Google search terms (for the month of Dec 08) used in the gluten free market. As Google usually has a large market share in most countries and also has specific country domains, this provides a perfect baseline to compare gluten free markets across the world.

This article is set out in the following format:

• Identification Of the Four Gluten Free Market Tiers
• Introduction Comparison Of Communities By Their Market Tiers

The following are available in the full article on our website

• FULL ANALYSIS PER COMMUNITY
• Statistic Tables for each community

GFP MATRIX: Identification Of the Four Gluten Free Market Tiers

So far four market levels (TIERS) have been identified.

A fully matured gluten free market has not been reached yet due to the low diagnosis of celiac disease even in developed countries. So far, analysis has shown that the most developed gf markets are those in Australia, the US and Canada. Characteristics of the e-demand side of these are a high number of search terms and high search volumes.

Of the search terms used in tier 1 communities, they are typically dominated by generic gluten free terms where the first 2 to 3 terms represent over 55% of the top 50 searches. This is the case in Australia, US (English speaking) and Canada (English). It is speculated that in these countries there are a significant number of celiacs who have been diagnosed for a few years. They originally searched for information on the disease and diets required and now prefer to spend more time searching for generic gluten free terms. By doing so they have found that on the supply side of things products have been amassed in the one place. This means that by searching on generic terms they can easily find large gluten free sites that contain many gluten free products on which they can search internally for specific terms. While generic searches are large, searches on the celiac group are still the second highest and account for over 15% of the top 50 searches. Within this group two terms ‘celiac’ and ‘celiac disease’ typically account for over 85% of all searches.

The next level of market maturity (tier 2) is shown by communities like US Spanish speaking and Canadian French speaking communities. These communities are often smaller than the dominant communities (often English) in their countries but they have first world affluence available to them. They often have under 100 total search terms over a twelve month average. In this example, US Spanish has 17 search terms and Canadian French have 30. The relatively high level of affluence within these communities increases the individual’s chances of being diagnosed and pursuing a often more difficult and costly gluten free diet (as compared with tier 4 markets. These ‘second tier’ communities also have a high search proportion devoted to generic gluten free terms but there is also a higher proportion of searches (than found in tier 1 markets) devoted to finding information on celiac disease such as through celiac diet and/or wheat allergy searches.

The third market maturity (tier 3) is shown by communities such as Mexican English speaking (101 searches) and Brazilian English speaking (100 searches) communities. These communities are much smaller proportions of the country population than tier 2 markets. They are often much more affluent than the main population ethnicity (through education/ employment) or having come from more affluent countries such as America. They tend to not search so much for generic gluten free terms (less than 45%) but have an increase in searches for celiac diet searches and specific food groups. This pattern is indicative of newly diagnosed people (having access to good medical attention). The other main trait of this market is that it includes people who have had the disease for a while and are now seeking specialist gluten free products such as ‘gluten free restaurants’ or ‘desserts’ – rather than staple gluten free foods such as flour or breads.

The lowest developed market (tier 4) is reflected by searches in Mexico (Spanish Speaking) 24 total searches and Brazil (Portuguese speaking) 23 searches. The communities also tend to have very low searches per head of population and may not have access to good medical facilities – often a large rural population. These people have a relatively small proportion of generic searches and a much higher number of ‘wheat free’ and ‘celiac’ searches. While they also have higher search volumes for specialty gluten free foods, rather than bread searches (main specialty in refined markets) or desserts, they tend to search for even more fundamental food staples such as flour and oatmeal. Counter intuitively they also tend to search for cakes and cookies. This is not necessarily related to the countries affluence but is more likely a social phenomenon where providing good food spreads for parties and extended family gatherings account for a large part of their social interaction.

INTRODUCTION 

Higher choice and lower prices will likely occur in tier 1 market countries as more celiacs are diagnosed and search for and buy more products. The development will reach maturity once the growth of the market goes through a point of inflexion in its growth and begins to plateau. Only long term monitoring of this demand can assess where that level of maturity approaches saturation.

The development of the market level definitions (tier structure) will be refined as more countries are analysed.

A practical application of this analysis for celiacs is to see what other celiacs are searching for and how developed the gluten free market is in their own countries. This article attempts to answer the question “what are the characteristics of a mature gluten free market”.

This research and analysis was undertaken to see if there is a correlation between gluten free search profiles of developed nations and how this may differ from countries in close proximity to the US.

A previous article on www.glutenfreepages.com.au showed a very strong correlation between gluten free search profiles of Australia and the US. In the article you are now reading, analysis was refined to include the affect of languages, internet usage, Google market share etc. Where countries use several languages, analysis was performed on English searches and the other local language.

This research was undertaken for the month of December 2008 Google search volumes for Gluten free products and uses monthly averages over a year in countries where search volatility is high and/or search volumes low. The analysis again shows a very strong correlation between the Australian and US Gluten free markets.

One of the first indictors or market maturity is considered to be the number of ‘gluten free’ related internet searches per ‘population divided by 100′. This takes into consideration that approximately 1 in 100 people (diagnosed and undiagnosed) may be celiac.

TABLE: A table showing the number of monthly searches per celiac for each community is shown in the full article.

The Adjusted GF Searches per month per celiac column takes into consideration internet usage, Google market share. The values are most accurate for the first three countries, ‘developed’ nations. These countries have a long established internet usage and Google was able to provide search terms up to its self imposed limit of 200 terms. The search values for Mexico and Brazil English speaking are likely to be inflated due to sparse information on the penetration of English language in these countries and Google’s translation abilities.

The most important concept in this research is the gluten free grouping profiles. As explained below, all gluten free terms were assigned to one of seven groups. The top 50 search terms were sorted into these groups and groups were analysed for number of terms, proportion of the top 50 and the specific terms within each group. While the following pages go into the details of each country a summary of the analysis is:

GRAPH: “Guten Free Product Search Term Group Proportions of TOP 50 terms” is shown in the full article.

Group Composition

The following shows some of the representative terms in each group.

Generic GF Product: This group of search terms all involve the word gluten and are generic in nature, such a gluten, gluten free, gluten free products, gluten free meals.

Gluten Diet: These are terms that are related to the specifics of gluten free diets such as: gluten free diets, celiac diet.

Gluten Free recipe: Terms such as gluten free recipes, gluten recipe, gluten free baking, wheat free baking

Celiac related: These are terms related to information on the disease such as: celiac disease, gluten intolerance, gluten allergies

Wheat free: Terms such as: wheat free, wheat gluten, wheat allergy

Locations: gluten free stores, gluten free shopping, gluten free restaurant

GF Specific Foods: gluten free bread, gluten free pizza, gluten free cakes, gluten free muffins

COMPARISON of Communities by their Market Tiers

Australia, US English, Canada English.

Australian, US English speaking and Canadian English groups had very similar profiles. Each country had the ‘generic gluten free’ group as its main group with the following volume proportions: AUS 65%, US Eng 64%, Canadian Eng 63%. In each case the same ‘gluten and gluten free’ generic terms rated as the top two overall searched terms by volume.

The celiac group was the second largest volume searched by all three countries: AUS (18%), US Eng (21%), Canada Eng (21%). Each category was dominated by over 85% by the terms ‘celiac’ and ‘celiac disease’. Dual spellings in Australia.

US Spanish, Canadian French

The graphs show that these communities are similar to the three above, at least in the proportion of the generic ‘gluten free products’ group.

One of the main things that affects the distribution profile of these communities is that US Spanish searches only comprised a total of 19 terms compared to US English that was capped by Google at 200. Per population of the American English V Spanish community, the English speaking community performed 4.2 times as many gluten free product searches as US Spanish speaking people on Google.

For the US Spanish community, the ‘celiac’ group was the highest volume proportion of any of the countries analysed. While the US and Australia searched for generic ‘celiac’ terms in this group the US Spanish search for ‘celiac allergies’. This suggests a possible different approach to the way each country views celiac disease.

Compared to the US English, these communities also have a stronger interest in wheat issues. While the US English searched for 3 terms in this group it only made up 4% of volumes. The US Spanish searched for only one term: ‘wheat intolerance’ and it made up 18% of total search volumes. These factors suggest the US Spanish searchers are new to celiac disease and the market is immature compared to the first three countries.

The Canadian French speaking community had a similar profile to Canadian English but a much higher interest in the ‘gluten diet’ group and slightly higher interest in GF specific foods. These terms are accounted for by them looking at the specifics of what they can eat, and specific foods of gluten free ‘oatmeal’ and ‘quinoa’. The higher interest in the diet group suggests that they are either more specialised in their searches than their English counterparts or are earlier in the disease diagnosis stage.

Mexican English / Brazilian English

In each community English is a very small minority of the population but is massively over represented in search volumes. As Google has country specific domains in each countries main language this statistic suggest that these English communities are more aware of gluten issues, are more affluent, and potentially represent a more mature search market.

There is a strong similarity between the Mexican English and Brazil English speaking group profiles. Both communities have a significantly reduced generic search focus but a similar increases in GF specific foods and Gluten Diet information. Quite a few of the English speaking people in these countries are believed to either be affluent locals or foreigners (ex pat US).

In the Mexican English speaking community, the highest searched group is ‘gf locations’ and the highest volume terms are related to gluten free restaurants. The second highest group ‘celiac’ is dominated by several equally search volume terms that use three and four word search strings. The third group ‘gf specific foods’ is dominated by searches for desserts. This suggests a split in focus between people newly diagnosed and those who are affluent enough to regularly search for gluten free restaurants and desserts.

In the ‘Brazil English’ community there was an even stronger fascination with gluten free desserts taking up three individual search terms – the first two accounting for 9% of all searches. Coelaic (UK spelling) was the second most searched group and it contained only one term which accounted for 24% of search volumes. The highest specific food searches were for cakes and muffins, whereas in US English and Australia top specific searches were for breads.

Mexican Spanish, Brazil Portuguese.

The profiles for these communities were the most unlike the US English and Australian. The table at the beginning of this article also shows that in raw terms they had one tenth the searches per head.

Mexican Spanish differs from market 1 profiles as much by its large reduction in generic searches as its large increase in searches on wheat issues. In fact three of the top ‘wheat free’ searches accounted for 44% of top 50 volumes. This suggests a community in early stages of diagnosis and discovery. The two highest specific gf food searches were for ‘oatmeal’ and ‘flour’. These non luxury items, low search volumes and focus on wheat free issues suggests a non affluent community searching for fixes to staple food groups.

Brazil Portuguese has a very large population but low search volumes. In fact it has nine times the population of Australia, but less than half the searches on gluten free products. While generic gluten searches were the main search group at 44% (20% less than US and AUS), its first two terms were still the same generic terms. Of most interest is that this community has the highest specific food group volume proportion of all countries. And rather than an interest in food staples, they focus on gluten free cakes (18% of top 50 searches), and cookies 10%. They also search for gluten free flour (3%) and oatmeal (2%).

With the third highest group being ‘wheat free’ and gluten allergies Brazil’s market resembles the split shown in Mexico (English) between learning about celiac disease and enjoying treats. However rather than searching on restaurants, the Brazilian Portuguese interest in cakes may be seen as a cultural choice (socialising and providing family spreads) rather than an opulent choice.

GRAPH: A graph on our website shows the relationship between a tier 1 community (place that is nearing market maturity) AND a high proportion that its top two searches take up of the top 50 searches AND a high number of searches per (population / 100).

MORE INFORMATION:

The development of the GFP MATRIX and market level definitions (tier structure) will be refined as more countries are analysed. The above information is a summary of the full article that can be found at www.glutenfreepages.com.au To find this article, look under the menu tab ‘Articles’, then ‘GFP Original articles’. The full report analyses each community in detail and shows graphs and statistic tables associated with each community.  

Bruce Scott Dwyer
http://www.articlesbase.com/food-and-beverage-articles/how-mature-is-the-us-gluten-free-market-comparison-with-aus-canada-mexico-brazil-yields-the-gfp-matrix-see-why-us-is-tier-1–720764.html

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