To launch and run a business successfully, you need to take care of a variety of things. From managing the funds to assembling your operations, there is a lot to do. Fortunately, many of these things can be simplified with appropriate tools.
The following are some of the most important business tools that you can use to launch a business. The great part is, most of them are free.
1. G Suite (Now Workspace)
G Suite is a cloud-based collaboration platform that offers you all basic Office tools such as Google Docs, Gmail, Calendar, and much more. You can use this platform to collaborate with your staff remotely and also manage all your business information in one place.
The platform also comes with Google Drive, which is a cloud storage service with flexible storage plans. You can use this service to store important business documents- invoices, contracts, records of clients and leads, etc. safely and securely. You can also use it to keep a backup of your on-premises database.
2. Monday.com
The best way to grow your business is to become and stay organized. In your sales, project management, and product development. A tool that can help you achieve this will be Monday.com.
They offer different tools to make sure you can focus on building your business while knowing exactly what is going on. The best part? They offer a free plan for when you are starting out.
2. Tailor Brands logo maker
Tailor Brands is an AI-powered logo maker platform that allows budding entrepreneurs to create high-quality and unique logos in a matter of minutes.
The tool asks the user some basic questions about their business and industry, then registers their logo design preferences (it provides a few sets of two logos and records the selections), etc. After that, it processes all this information and picks the appropriate fonts, colors, icons, etc. to create the logos.
Start with a free logo – only pay if you like the design
3. Atlassian
When you create a new digital product (an app, for instance), it must be tested, launched, and monitored. You need to collect all the stats, identify the bugs, etc. This information can be easily tracked with Atlassian, which is an advanced product development tool. You can use it while the product is under development as you can update the workflow list during the process. You can also update completed products based on the feedback received from the users.
4. Hootsuite
A common challenge that businesses face when running social media campaigns is the management of multiple accounts. Each platform- Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. works differently. For instance, you need to focus on the visuals for Instagram while on Twitter, you need to focus on content. Plus, you need to manage content scheduling as well, which is difficult when multiple platforms are involved. Hootsuite brings all your social media accounts in one place and allows you to run and monitor your social media campaigns with great ease and comfort.
5. MailChimp
Email marketing is an essential aspect of every new-age business. This is because it’s cheap, easy to implement, and offers good returns (average ROI of $38 for each $1 spent). MailChimp is a comprehensive email marketing tool that can help you conduct email campaigns without any issues. It offers a wide range of templates that you can use for creating email newsletters. You don’t need to be tech-savvy to use the tool, and it’s affordable too.
6. WordPress.com
Every business must have an engaging and well-optimized blog for content marketing and online visibility. The best platform to use for that is WordPress. It’s the world’s most popular CMS which offers a wide range of beautiful templates, add-ins, and other features to help you set up the perfect blog for your business. WordPress.com blogs come with a well-defined support system that makes navigation on the blog easy. The platform also has excellent community support. If you are looking to set up a webshop, make sure you can handle payments easily.
WordPress Alternative; Wix
See also: how to create a free website
7. Pexels
You need high-quality images for your website, blog, email newsletters, and other promotional material to reflect your professionalism and appeal to the masses. Pexels.com is a website where you can find all kinds of high-definition images in different resolutions. All images on this platform are copyright-free, and these are hand-picked by the staff. So, you know for sure that whatever images on find on the website are top-notch.
Another great tool is Canva or Piktochart.
8. Quickbooks
There is no denying that money is the lifeblood of every business. You need to know exactly how much money you are generating and how much you are spending to keep your business operational. This isn’t easy to pull off unless you have an accountant. However, there is another option- Quickbooks.
Quickbooks is one of the most popular finance tracking solutions amid small and medium-sized enterprises. It can help you to manage basic bookkeeping activities, create financial reports, etc. at an affordable price.
9. Quora
When you are launching a new company, then it’s natural for you to have questions regarding the same. Quora is the perfect place to ask your questions. It’s one of the most popular QnA platforms where people from all backgrounds, specializations, age, and locations post questions and write answers. The platform is completely free and you can publish any question as long as it follows the guidelines.
10. Waveapps
If you depend on invoices in your business a lot, then having a tool such as Wave can be of great help. This financial tool allows you to create professional invoices for free and with ease. You can also use it to set up recurring billing and automatic payments.
With Wave, you can ensure that the invoices are sent on time. When your customers and clients always make the payments on time, your cash flow will never be hampered.
11. Fiverr
Even if you are a solopreneur who is taking care of many business-related things yourself, you will need help at some point. Fiverr is a unique platform that connects freelancers to those who need help with a particular task. This task could be writing blog posts, creating promotional videos, etc.
On Fiverr, you can easily find talented people from all spheres- professional video editors, copywriters, social media marketers, etc. All individuals have set their own rates, and you can pick whoever you want based on your budget and requirements.
12. Skype
Communication is an integral part of every business. If you need to make frequent calls to your clients, vendors, staff, etc., then you can consider using Skype. It’s a free VOIP-based audio calling and video calling service that’s easy to set up, and even easier to use. Many organizations already use it as it offers premium features such as landline calling. Skype is free for personal use
13. Slack
Slack is a quick messaging app that many startups use today. This nifty tool allows teammates to create different channels based on projects, team members, etc. and make collaboration simple. It offers free video and voice calls, easy search for messages, documents, and integration with over 2,200 apps, etc. At present, over 35,000 companies are using the app, including Airbnb and IBM.
14. SEMrush
Search Engine Optimization or SEO allows you to improve your website’s visibility on the Internet and get more traffic. With SEMrush, you can improve and monitor your SEO efforts on the go. It’s a highly advanced SEO tool that can provide you detailed insights about your website. It’s easy to use and offers a free version as well.
Tools make life easier
Running a competitive business in this day and age isn’t easy. That’s why most entrepreneurs use a selection of online tools and services to make business management easy. Above, we have shared an exhaustive list of possible options you can consider. Be sure to check out all of them. You will benefit from using the listed tools- that’s for sure.
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