You are probably thinking, there are many business tools to use, so which one should I use? And how much does it cost to use them? We have found out some great business tools for startups and small businesses owners. First of all, you might want to check out these free business apps for startups. These are the best tools to get your small business up and running!
If you are a small business owner who has just started their company, then you are probably very careful with your budget. You don’t want to spend your precious money on things that are not really important for your business. That’s absolutely right! There are thousands of business tools available online, but it’s hard to know which one is the best for your company. Don’t worry! I’ve done the research already and collected the most useful free resources for startups or small business owners in this post.
Website Builder from Wix
If your small business needs a website (and the answer to that for most businesses is a resounding “yes, it does”) and your website building needs are basic, then try using a free website builder such as Wix, which offers a free account. Wix can help you create a full-featured, mobile-friendly website that won’t break your budget. After using the free plan for a while, if you realize that your business would really benefit from all the features a web hosting provider can provide you, then you can opt for a paid web hosting service such as HostGator Web Hosting.
Connecteam
When you have many deskless or remote employees, Connecteam is the best free small business tool for you. After all, it was specially designed and built to cater to these employees! Apart from being super easy to use, Connecteam enhances your daily business routine. How so? Connecteam is the leading business tool that makes it easy for managers to offer feedback, enhance engagement, track work hours easily to enhance timesheet management and payroll process, share intuitive schedules, remain transparent, and unite all workplace communication and collaboration – for free.
- Get peace of mind with GPS time tracking so when employees clock in and out from their phones, a real-time timestamp and GPS location is automatically tagged. This creates more efficient and easy to manage timesheets and payroll processes.
- Create interactive communication with group or one-on-one chat and share GIFs, videos, and pictures. Decide whether your team can engage with your update with likes and comments or if it’s a one-way announcement to keep everyone on the same page.
- Share an efficient job schedule when you easily assign a schedule (use drag & drop, templates, etc.) that’s based on different requirements. For each shift, offer additional key information so your team has everything available in a tap like address, tasks to complete, time, and more. Employees can accept or reject shifts, check-in when they show up to the site, and more – while on the go!
- Manage reports on the go and in real-time like an incident report, expense reimbursement, operational checklists, and more so you can ensure compliance from top-to-bottom.
- Boost engagement through announcements, newsletters, and updates that you can segment per group and channel to avoid information overload. Share goals met, new sales landed, key protocols, and more.
- Offer a better training & onboarding experience so your team has direct access to training resources, such as the employee handbook, safety protocols, benefits, etc.
- Use the searchable employee directory to keep all work contacts on the app instead of your personal phone, easily find the contact needed with a quick search (name, job title, location, etc.) and quickly engage with the contact through action buttons like a phone call, email, or chat.
Google My Business
The world’s most used search engine offers businesses a free profile to help you connect with your customers. Use Google My Business to post hours, location, and pricing information, and share pictures and even a virtual tour—all of which will then show up for your audience in Google’s search results.
Bonus: Having a more complete Google My Business profile can also help your website’s overall SEO ranking.
Hotjar
Hotjar’s behavioral analytics go beyond the basic feed and numbers and offer you a better understanding of your visitors’ activities when they visit your website. Hotjar has an attractive suite of features relevant to marketers, designers, and managers. Based on the actionable analytics such as heat maps and user behavior, you can make changes in your user interface and increase your conversions. This is undeniably one of the best tools for businesses driven by analytics.
Perfect for:
Small, medium, and enterprise business setups.
Unique Features:
- It helps you identify the areas where your users and visitors get stuck.
- It empowers you to make changes based on user behavior and increase conversions.
Virtual Private Network from CyberGhost
Small businesses that concerned about security (and you should be) need to implement personal virtual private network (VPN) services. These services hide online activity from snoops, and limits who can and can’t access network content. Most VPNs are pay-to-play but there are a few services, such as CyberGhost ($58.50 for Two Year Plan + Two Months Free at CyberGhost VPN) , that give you a bit of protection at no cost.
CyberGhost is the best free VPN service on the market. It offers reliable connection speeds and excellent network security, plus it works on most modern operating systems (OSes). It’s somewhat difficult to configure, especially for really small businesses; and if you need Mac or Linux support, you’ll need to upgrade to the paid version. But if you just need something simple, easy, and free, then CyberGhost is a great tool.
Google Docs (& Friends)
You can’t write about free online services without mentioning Google, so we’re going to start with the Internet giant everyone knows. This is a great tool when you need to collaborate on files.
When it comes to sharing files and collaborating on documents, Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides are the way to go. The files are stored in your Google Drive and are a wonderful way to avoid those endless back-and-forth emails when collaborating on various documents.
YellowPages
No, we don’t mean the giant books you used to sit on as a kid when you weren’t tall enough to reach the table. YellowPages.com and the YellowPages app are a great free way to help your audience find you online, as well as invite and respond to reviews about your product or service.
Canva
Canva is an excellent source of professional-grade graphics and comes with hoards of pre-formatted templates to create flyers, social media or promotional banners, blog graphics, and practically anything to everything.
It effectively compensates for the lack of professional designers and expertise in creating eye-catching visuals for all your needs.
Perfect for:
Businesses of all kinds and all scales that require graphics.
Unique Features:
- Hoards of stock images, illustrations, font libraries, and custom templates
- Drag & drop editor, photo editor, and branded templates
- Customizable branding and design resizing
Project Management from Wrike
Wrike’s ($58.50 for Two Year Plan + Two Months Free at CyberGhost VPN) project management solution is one of the best on the market regardless of which tier you choose. The free version supports up to five users, an unlimited number of collaborators, and 2 GB of free storage. With this plan, you can manage tasks, share files, and monitor your group’s activities in a real-time feed.
If you need customizations and reporting, you’ll have to upgrade to a higher tier. But if you’re just getting started and your team is small, the free project management tool will be perfect for you.
Join.me by LogMeIn
Gone are the days of conference calls. Well, maybe not gone but definitely changed. Solutions like LogMeIn’s join.me conferencing tool lets you present to multiple employees or clients from the comfort of your home or office chair, saving you long trips.
Conclusion:
Starting your own business is no easy feat. Between the financial, legal and administrative issues that you’ll need to deal with, it can be an extremely challenging experience. However, there are resources you can use to make things easier. There are several free business tools for startups that can help you in your plight to start a business.