Small business owners work hard to build their businesses, and often need all the information they can get to help manage them. Our small business resource pages include free websites, software and apps for keeping your business running well and making it easier to grow.
Whether you’re just starting out or an existing business looking to expand, there are plenty of business tools to get you started. With this free, easy-to-use online tool, you’ll find the small business resources, training, and other information you need to take your company to the next level.
MailChimp
MailChimp ($10.00 at Mail Chimp) is one of the best and most popular email marketing platforms on the market. Service tiers are priced depending on how many emails you send per month. If your company sends fewer than 12,000 email messages per month to fewer than 2,000 subscribers, you’ll absolutely love MailChimp’s Forever Free plan.
This steal of a deal lets you use built-in signup forms to gather subscribers from across the web. You can use MailChimp’s drag-and-drop designer and email templates to craft the perfect message. You won’t get robust reporting on the Forever Free plan, but you’ll be able to check open rates and compare them to the average company in your industry. Not bad for zero dollars.
Tableau Public
If you need a data visualization tool but you don’t have the coin to spend on Tableau Desktop (Visit Store at Tableau) , then you should try Tableau Public. Public is essentially the same as the full Tableau Desktop product, except you won’t be able to pull information from as many data sources as the paid version, and anything you create will be saved to a public version of Tableau’s cloud.
This product gives you access to live dashboards, responsive visuals that can be created and seen on mobile devices, and access to Google and Microsoft document managers. You can even share your visuals on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Microsoft Power BI
Microsoft Power BI (Visit Site at Microsoft Power BI) is available in a paid and free version for self-service business intelligence (BI). The free version limits you to 1 GB per user, which you can pay to increase to 10 GB. With this plan, your data will refresh daily, you’ll be able to scan 10,000 rows of data per hour, and you’ll be able to publish to the web.
To consume live data sources, scan millions of rows of data, or access data on a physical server, you’ll need to upgrade to Power BI Pro, which is still reasonable at $10 per user per month. The Pro version of this software also provides you with ways to collaborate with coworkers on visualizations across environments such as Microsoft Office 365.
Zoho Docs
Zoho Docs is an ideal document management solution for small businesses with light document workloads. In addition to plug-ins to the rest of Zoho’s software ecosystem, the Zoho Docs free plan is available for up to 25 users and includes 5 GB of storage per user.
The free plan also includes unlimited file and folder sharing, desktop sync, editing tools, user management, and version history. You’ll also be able to integrate with Dropbox and turn on two-factor authentication (2FA) for added security. Plus, each document provides you with in-app chat so you can collaborate in real time.
Zoho Desk
Zoho also makes the list with its feature-rich helpdesk software Zoho Desk ($14 Per User Per Month, Billed Annually at Zoho Desk) . The free version provides your service team with different work modes, a customizable help center, a knowledge base, community forums, and the ability to rebrand the visuals to suit your company’s needs.
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If your helpdesk needs are a bit more complex, then you’ll want to upgrade to the $12-per-user-per-month Pro version or the $25-per-user-per-month Enterprise version, which adds features intended for larger organizations.
X-Cart
For companies that have products to sell but don’t have much money to design a complex online shopping cart, X-Cart ($29.95 at X-Cart) is a powerful solution. X-Cart 5, which is the name of the free version, offers advanced features such as newsletters, social-commerce sharing, and a sitebuilder for tweaking themes. X-Cart provides free core upgrades and free extensions such as ShipStation to generate shipping labels, Magic Slideshow to create a slideshow on the site, and Diib Analytics.
Keep in mind: You’ll need a bit of technical prowess to get started with X-Cart 5. It’s not a plug-and-play e-commerce tool, so be sure to have a handy IT person around to walk you through your setup.
H5P
Although H5P (0.00 Starting Price at H5P) isn’t the most powerful eLearning authoring tool on the market, this open-source software is an excellent starter option if you’re just dipping your toe into the content authoring field, or if you don’t have budget to dedicate to a more powerful tool.
Course creation can be done via 20 different course creation architectures. However, the only free-form course architecture is the Course Presentation option. This is similar to a Microsoft PowerPoint architecture, although, unlike other tools, it doesn’t use the exact Microsoft PowerPoint format. You’ll be able to insert text, images, videos, and questions. Buttons are clearly marked and subsequent steps are clearly articulated. This is one of the easier tools with which to create a course (even using the most complex format, namely, the Course Presentation architecture). Other content types include Image Hotspots, Interactive Video, Summaries, Timelines, and several quiz formats, including Arithmetic, Memory Card, Multiple Choice, and Short Answer quizzes.
Evernote Scannable
Scannable (Free at Apple.com) , which is a new app from Evernote (Free at Apple.com) , quickly scans stacks of business cards, notes from a meeting, and documents by using nothing more than your smartphone and its camera. When you scan multiple documents in one session, each one is treated as a separate note in Evernote rather than as one note with several images embedded. This is a great idea for receipts and business card organization.
The app also connects to LinkedIn for added networking context as it parses text extremely well. Because the tool connects to the cloud, sharing documents is as easy as sharing a photo on your phone’s hard drive.
SurveyGizmo
There’s no better way to take the proverbial temperature of your customer base than with an online survey tool. SurveyGizmo’s ($25.00 at SurveyGizmo) free plan places no limits on the number of surveys, questions, or responses you manage, which is a tremendous value.
You’ll get access to 25 different question types, data visualization tools, and you’ll never have to provide any information (unless you plan to upgrade to a paid plan).
Apptivo CRM
Customer relationship management (CRM) tools are often complex, expensive, and flooded with features you’ll never need. Apptivo CRM (Visit Site at Apptivo) offers a free Starter plan for up to three users that’s designed to ease you into the complicated world of customer data.
With the Starter plan, you’ll gain access to detailed reporting, 500 MB of data, and project management features such as milestone tracking and project templates. You’ll also be able to connect your free CRM to free helpdesk, finance management, and procurement tools, which is especially helpful if you’re a startup that is just dipping its toe into the world of cloud services.
Conclusion
Startups can connect to an incredible range of local online services for startups, startups networking, free marketing tools & resources, mentoring programs for entrepreneurs and so much more. The list is growing daily as we discover new communities who have built useful tools for businesses.