Businesses have overnight adapted to the web because most customers/clients prefer interacting online due to its instant and quick nature. Small business owners have also become highly reliant on new-age technology instead of spending money on hiring too many professionals. There are millions of paid online marketing tools to choose from, but, are you aware of the best and free online resources that can help you even when you have a limited budget?
If not, here is a list of 10 online resources for small business owners to grow and manage their business-:
1. Picktime
Scheduling appointments and meetings are a daily hustle for any business. However, scheduling systems are coupled with many other jobs like payments, invoicing, team management, feedback collection, and much more. Therefore, Picktime will be the best online appointment scheduler to help you track appointments, resources, and team schedules at all work via an online calendar. It facilitates your customers/clients with self-scheduling via an online booking page customized with a booking button. Remind meeting participants about appointments with automated email and text notifications. This scheduler also provides you with free business reports to measure business performance.
2. Evernote
Evernote is a productivity management app that allows you to create notes and priority lists to plan your daily agenda. You don’t have to run around the room searching for a pen and paper. Create notes into different notebooks through this app with a single click! Decide whether you want to keep these notes as a public or a private note. View your notes in multiple modes and check off tasks from your lists after completing them. Add web page clippings, images, and audio recordings within your notes to make it more interesting.
3. Wix
In the modern era, every business needs to have an online presence. Small businesses run on a shoestring budget. Hence, you can use a free website builder like Wix, to design and develop a mobile-friendly business website based on your preferences and business needs. Customize it with attractive templates without prior knowledge of designing skills.
4. Google Meet
Google Meet is arguably the simplest video conferencing app accessible without any required installation. You can generate an instant meeting link or schedule a meeting at a time. Share the meeting link with other participants and you are good to go. You don’t need passwords to enter meeting rooms. Change your background, present your screen, and use the jamboard while on a call.
5. Google Drive
When you cater to clients, you will be dealing with heaps of client data. For such situations, use Google Drive, a cloud-based app for creating and sharing word documents, excel sheets, and presentations. Give access to team members for adding and editing content or simply share the doc link with them. Google Drive automatically backs up all the documents and provides you with a basic plan supporting storage up to 3 TB.
6. MailChimp
Use affordable email marketing campaign builders like MailChimp to promote your products, services, and content. The free plan lets you sync up to 2,000 contacts as mail receivers. Design campaigns with attractive fonts, images, videos, graphics, and weblinks. Access free analytical reports on each campaign after launch to see the click rate, open rate, number of subscriptions, and other metrics.
7. HootSuite
HootSuite is a social media management tool that helps you to schedule posts from multiple accounts from one dashboard. It is also used for social listening to track conversations among your followers about your posts. You can reply to your followers, and analyze the views, clicks, and likes on each post. Determine which of your posts are creating a buzz on the internet through this app.
8. Canva
As a small business owner, you might not have the budget to hire an experienced graphic designer for creating your marketing content. But even without the expertise, you can use Canva, a user-friendly graphic designing tool accessible via your email ID. Create and edit any type of content- social media posts, presentations, resumes, portfolios, videos, posters, and much more using thousands of stock images, videos, graphics, and interesting templates. Export and download the content as a PDF, image, or video. You can also share the link of the content via email to collaborate with other people.
9. Wave Accounting
Wave is an accounting app meant for small businesses. Use the free version helps you with creating and scanning invoices, payment tracking, and payroll management. Improve your bookkeeping skills and generate reports including information such as cash flow, balance sheet, profit & loss. You can also use features like automatic payment and recurring invoicing for your regular customers.
10. Docracy
Hiring an in-house attorney is a pricey option for small businesses. Therefore, they can use Docracy, an app designed for open-source legal document collection. Through Docracy, you can also negotiate and digitally sign legal papers without any extra subscription charges.
With so many options available, it is overwhelming for a small business owner to make a choice. Hence, you should take suggestions from your teammates before finally signing up on any of these above-listed online resources.
