This is the first part in a series on productivity software for hostels. Use these tools for creating marketing materials like flyers, posters and websites. Edit your hostel photos without having to buy expensive software like Adobe Photoshop ($699). All of the software on this page is free!

Many hostels are blogging and experimenting with Twitter. Twitter is a "micro-blogging" service that lets you post short updates to a group of followers. It's a great way to network with other hostels, booking engines, reporters, travel bloggers, and other social media influencers.

To get an idea of how hostels are using Twitter, check out our list of hostel companies on Twitter.

This tutorial shows how you can connect your hostel blog with your Twitter page so that every time you post to your blog, it shows up on your Twitter page and lets your followers know about your new content.

There are many ways to analyze a competitor's website. Here are three simple and free methods for getting some interesting data on another website:

Many people have heard of search engine optimization or "SEO". SEO is a set of techniques to increase traffic to a website through search engine referrals.

There is also a set of techniques called social media optimization or "SMO", which involves driving traffic to a site through online viral marketing methods.