Launching a small business seems intimidating for most entrepreneurs. However, the internet has made sure that it is always by an entrepreneur’s side to help them simplify daily business operations and manage things even with a limited budget. Contrary to the traditional belief, online resources have helped accelerate business growth and created millions of job opportunities for freshers and experienced professionals. Free online tools can manage everything from appointment scheduling to payroll management.
Online Tools to Help Grow Your Small Business
Check out these ten online resources listed below that can help you skillfully manage your online business and grow rapidly.
1. Picktime
Appointment-based businesses should use a free online appointment scheduling system like Picktime to curb scheduling problems. Access this online scheduler via any web-enabled device. Get an online calendar for displaying your slot availability for meetings and 24/7 monitoring of staff schedules, resources, and appointments at all your office locations. Build a customized online booking page with a booking button for your website. Your clients/customers can self-book meetings with you through this page. Remind them about appointments through an automated email and text reminder system. Finally, you can evaluate your regular performance through downloadable business reports accessible via your Picktime dashboard.
2. Skype
As one of the earliest developed internet calling services, Skype supports video calling between computer systems, as well as wifi calling between mobile phones. Small businesses can use it for internal and client communication. Sign up on Skype through your Microsoft account and chat with your team members to get updated about regular work. Share documents, images, and links with them. Sync your contacts with your Skype account to add people to your Skype contact list. You can also organize instant audio or video calls without the trouble of creating links.
3. Canva
Want to design your content and graphics like a seasoned pro without the expertise? Sign up on Canva to create, edit, and share social media posts, videos, posters, flyers, banners, resumes, presentations, graphics, and much more. Canva has excellent pre-formatted templates, stock images, music, and videos that you can just drag and drop on the canvas to create your content. You can play around with hundreds of eye-catching fonts and animations that Canva offers. After you complete, export/download the file as an image, video, or PDF, or share the link to others via your email for collaboration.
4. Dropbox
When you deal with complex files, there are concerns over hackers trying to get access to your data. Hence, a secure cloud-based data sharing app like Dropbox is all you need. You can edit, save, and share files with Dropbox instantly. Share piles of client data such as documents, images, videos, social media posts, presentations, and much more. Invite clients to collaborate with you by right-clicking on the folder/file having necessary documents, or you can share the folder/file link with them. Clients can comment on the required changes to the shared files on the same platform.
5. MailChimp
Small business owners rely heavily on email marketing because it is affordable and gives quick results. So, if you wish to level up your email marketing game, use MailChimp to design splendid campaigns, newsletters, and much more in bulk. Sync your contacts to add them to your MailChimp email receiver list. Design and personalize email campaigns with exciting written content, images, videos, weblinks, and graphics. Minutes after launching a campaign, you will receive live analytical reports on how your campaign is performing based on metrics like click rates, open rates, and the number of subscribers/unsubscribes.
6. Google Analytics
Google Analytics is the market leader for measuring the performance of your marketing communications. See how well your sales team is converting leads into customers. Know the demographics of your website audience. With the help of this tool, you can find out what is working and what needs to be changed in your marketing plan.
7. Gusto
Paying your employees at the right time is vital to keep them happy and productive. Use Gusto to streamline the payroll process. Enter information on the hours worked by each employee, pay rate, bonuses earned, and deductions. Gusto will automatically calculate the payroll. You can use this app to pay all types of employees- full-time, part-time, consultants, and freelancers.
8. Docracy
Docracy is an app for the open-source collection of legal documents. It saves you millions of bucks that companies usually pay to attorneys. Docracy also lets you digitally sign legal documents without any expensive subscription charges for acquiring client contracts.
9. Hootsuite
Publishing one social media post at a time will drain your time. Therefore, you should use a social media scheduling tool like Hootsuite. Sign up and manage multiple social media accounts via a single dashboard. You can schedule posts, track views, likes, and mentions, interact with followers, and analyze the performance of your social media posts.
10. SEMRush
SEMRush is an online tool for content marketers to track your position for any keyword of your choice, determine the local competitors using the same keyword, and group your keywords into tags. Once you target a primary keyword, search on SEMRush to find related keywords that may suit best for your content. SEMRush also helps you with competitor analysis and gives insights on the top-ranking keywords used by your competitors for creating their web content.
Understand that some of these online resources will be affordable and easy to handle for you. However, you are always suggested to try alternatives. Discuss with your team and make a collective decision as to which online resources to invest in. Take action today and try these tools to serve your customers with the best experience for many more years to come.