If you’re a small business owner, you know all too well that time is money, and that means that time spent training your staff to use new programs or wading through manuals to learn how to do something by yourself is time wasted. That’s why we’ve developed a collection of free online tools for small business owners, as well as links to some great business tool software examples. And since being a small business owner is no excuse not to have a life, we’ve added links to some great business toolkit templates as well. Now go out there and make the most of your time!
Discover business tools that can help you learn how to run a small business, and innovative ways to plan, operate, and measure your business. We’ve provided interesting and useful business tools or software that can help you get started running your own small business.
Accounting & Finance
As a small business, it’s important to have an efficient system to track sales transactions and employee payroll. Here’s a few online tools that can help your small business:
- Gusto – an online payroll and benefits platform designed for modern businesses. Gusto makes payroll for your small business simple and affordable. Try 2 months free.
- Wave – a great resource for fast and easy online accounting for your small business. It’s made for entrepreneurs and small businesses with less than 9 employees.
- Xero – the online accounting software alternative to Quickbooks. It features lots of time saving tools you need to grow your small business.
Customer Support
Pleasing your customers is one of the most important roles as a small business. Here are a few online tools that can help you provide excellent customer service support:
- Desk – customer support software that makes customers happy. Features business tools that grow with you including multi-channel support and productivity tips.
- Nextiva – business phone solutions for small business owners. Nextiva boasts enterprise-class technology on a small business budget.
- Olark – give your customers the answers they need, before they leave. Olark allows small businesses to chat with visitors on their site, solving problems and making sales.
Design
Design elements are crucial to draw in customers through marketing efforts. Here are some online tools that can help you create effective and compelling designs:
- Canva – easily create beautiful and professional looking designs for your marketing strategy. Canva’s suite of online design tools are perfect for small businesses.
- Pablo – social media images made simple. Easily format images and annotate your message to create easily shareable graphics for your social media presence.
- Pixlr – online suite of image editing tools. Pixlr’s online tools are great for small businesses and allows you to create professional graphics easily and affordably.
Legal
Owning and operating a small business is a lot of work, and these online resources will help you make sure you are following all laws and regulations:
- Docracy – the web’s only open collection of legal contracts and the best way to negotiate and sign documents online. These online tools will help you operate legally and effectively.
- Rocket Lawyer – online legal documents and advice. These online tools can help you incorporate your business or stay in compliance.
- SuretyBonds.com – the nation’s leading resource for surety bond information that helps small business owners get their business license.
Marketing
Marketing efforts are key to making sure your business’s content is seen by users. Here are some marketing hacks to help get you noticed and generate leads:
- MOZ Tools – the best tools for online marketing and local small business marketing. Stay ahead of your competition with MOZ’s online tools for SEO and local marketing.
- Buzzsumo – online content research tool. Buzzsumo allows you to research what’s popular online and how that content can relate to your business.
- Optimizely – website testing tool to optimize experiences for your customers. Create the best experience for your visitors using Optimizely’s online testing tools.
Operations
These operations tools will help your small business increase performance efficiency and productivity:
- Bplans – starting a business made easy. Check out Bplans’ complete guide to business planning to outline your growth plan.
- Zoho – the operating system for business. Zoho’s online tools for managing your business.
- Google Apps – best online productivity tools for small businesses. Google’s suite of apps for small business are perfect for collaborating and operating efficiently.
Sales
Sales is often a stressful task that is critical to maintain your cash flow, and these technologies can make life much easier for your sales team:
- Spiro – your personal sales assistant. This management tool helps you stay in touch with sales prospects and close more sales.
- Square – making commerce easy. This simple POS systems for small businesses features tools for every type of business.
- Shoeboxed – organizes sales documents and receipts and turn them into data. This online tool helps you digitize your physical sales docs.
Social Media
There’s so much more to social media than viral memes.
Platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are playgrounds of business opportunities. With the right approach, there’s no reason why you can’t use them to drum up the hype around your business.
It can be a pain to frequently post on and manage these multiple social media channels. Luckily, these social media scheduling tools make it easy-peasy.
Buffer: A popular social media scheduling tool that automatically posts on different channels at your preferred times. Use it with Pablo by Buffer to create simple images (e.g. quotes over a background).
For complex images — say, you want to insert icons in pictures — stick to Crello. Then upload on Buffer and schedule it.
HootSuite: A social media marketing dashboard that does more than scheduling content to your favorite channels. It also offers extensive team management features, making it a great fit if you have multiple marketers maintaining your social media channels.
Tip: What else can you post on social media besides blog posts and behind-the-scenes of your work? Two words: Customer testimonials.
These customer reviews are so effective that they can generate approximately 62% more revenue per site visitor.
If you’re just getting started in collecting customer testimonials, check out VideoPeel. It’s a platform that collects, manages, and shares video reviews from satisfied customers.
All you have to do is send customers a link to record their video testimonials and sit back and wait for their glowing reviews.
There’s nothing more powerful than a customer sharing about the ROI of your work. You can even use these videos in your social media marketing campaign to boost conversions.
Just be sure to ask for their permission in your policies and agreements — which VideoPeel conveniently provides.
Email Marketing
Don’t let the spam emails in your inbox fool you — email is still very much one of the most used and cost-effective marketing channels.
In fact, email marketers who swear by it, get an ROI of approximately $44 for every $1 spent.
The benefits of email marketing roll on. With the right email autoresponder, you can:
- Nurture email subscribers with valuable emails on autopilot
- Promote your latest content and attract more views (e.g. blog post, podcast appearance)
- Attract sales for an upcoming service (e.g. announce limited spots for a six-week online workshop)
What email marketing business tools should you use to amp up your email game? Let’s explore your options:
MailChimp: An email autoresponder turned marketing tool. With MailChimp, you can easily send automated emails and integrate with over 200 tools. MailChimp is an excellent choice if you’re looking for a broader range of integrations in an all-in-one marketing platform.
Flodesk: This email marketing tool is an upcoming favorite thanks to its user interface and stunning templates. Flodesk is best for creating beautifully designed emails if you have limited design skills.
SendFox: A simple, zero-fuss, and beginner-friendly email platform that sends unlimited scheduled emails quickly.
Whether it’s sending a welcome sequence or lead magnet emails, SendFox will help you quickly get it done.
Conclusion
The Business Tools section of our website includes useful white papers and case studies. These tools will help you to learn about everything from business software to managing your home office. Plus, you’ll be able to download any tool that appeals to you.