10 Free Tools Every Successful Small Business Needs
Small businesses are quickly gaining the tools necessary to grow and create business thanks to technology. These tools have created the opportunity for small business to operate more efficiently than in the past. Below is a list of our favorite 10 free business tools. Check them out.
1. Google Gmail, Drive, and Docs
Google has been dominating the tech world for years and it’s no secret why. Free, easy to use, and accessible everywhere are just a few reasons to use Google is a leader in is market. Features like sharing documents, spreadsheets, and intuitive apps make it a great choice for all your business purposes if you are always on the go.
2. Free Conference Call
Free Conference Call is a free app that allows users to have conference calls with clients, business partners and team members free of charge. One cool functionality that could come in handy is the recording feature, so not only can you hold a teleconference, you can record it and play it back later. Great for training!
3. Intuit GoPayment
If you need a way to accept payments on the go this will come in handy. It comes with a free card reader that plugs into the headphone jack of your smartphone or tablet and let’s you take payments anywhere. It calculates sales tax and emails receipts right from the device. The reader is super small and fits right in your pocket. Now you have a mobile cash register.
4. Quora
Quora is a cool site to go to if you have a question or just want to check out what some of the thought leaders in your industry are saying about a topic. It’s also a good place to go if you are interested in becoming a thought leader. Jump on there and answer a few questions and let everyone know you are an authority in your business area.
5. Insightly
Keeping up with clients and managing your contacts can be a daunting challenge but is essential to managing positive relationships and building your customer base. Insightly is a CRM (customer relationship manager) that keeps track of individual clients, your interaction with them, and even integrates with Quickbooks so you can track your ROI and value of the relationship quickly and easily.
6. Hootsuite
If you are a small business owner then you are a most like a one person marketing team. Maintaing a positive presence across all the major platforms can be time consuming. Hootsuite is a social media management tool that makes that management a lot simpler. Forget all that logging into and out of all those separate websites. This awesome tool brings all those platforms into one place with a very simple interface for easy use.
7. Dropbox
Dropbox has a ton f uses even beyond business. It is an app that is free and easy to use that gives you 2GB of free space to store music, pictures, documents, or whatever you want to store in it. It also has a website so you can access it across all devices and share with friends and team members. Using the cloud to save documents saves precious space on your hard drive and makes it accessible anywhere.
8. MailChimp
Looking to expand your email marketing impact but low on funds? Well you’re in luck. MailChimp is a free software tool that aids in the development and distribution of email marketing campaigns for up to 2,000 subscribers completely free. More subscribers are offered at a premium rate. It’s simple, efficient and allows you to send thousands of emails with minimal effort.
9. If This, Then That (IFTTT)
Having a one person team and keeping u with all the updates and activities on your social media profiles can be a daunting task. IFTTT helps small businesses by automating some of those tasks. It has “recipes” that you can set up to do various activities like send a #thankyou tweet, post your Instagram pictures to your Twitter, or change your profile photo on Instagram when you change your Facebook profile photo. There are lots of options which makes this tool one of my favorites.
10. Todoist
Todist is an app available on Android and iOS that allows you to create a to do list based on a particular project. It also allows you to share this list with your team or partners. It has a simple, but powerful interface that will no doubt increase productivity in your business by allowing you to see real time progress of your project and team goals.
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