As every small business owner knows, there’s a lot involved in running a successful enterprise, so tools that make it easier are vital. Here are six online tools that every business owner should be aware of, to help streamline everything from communications to marketing.
Making work faster and more efficient
1) File sharing programs: Using a file sharing program such as Dropbox, Google Drive or One Drive can be of huge benefit to small businesses. Accessing files, collaborating on projects and being up to date 24/7 when the internet is available can increase employee efficiency and productivity.
2) Insightly: Customer relationship manager Insightly is a great tool for small businesses. It is a CRM and project management tool in one. You can manage leads and contacts, send out emails, and have all the information about vendors or suppliers at your fingertips. It also has integration with key platforms such as email, social media and even Office. There are both free and paid versions, with the free version offering more limited functionality.
3) Google analytics: It’s likely you’re already aware of this one, but it’s worth a mention because analytics are so important. Your business website is a crucial tool in attracting customers and marketing your products or services. In order to make sure your site is working effectively for your business, you need to have access to data. Google Analytics is an easy platform to use to track and report on website traffic. You can tell which pages are working, and which might need a tweak, and it also provides valuable information on your customers and their purchasing habits.
Communications and marketing
4) eFax: You can do away with the office fax machine and go virtual with eFax. With eFax, you can send and receive faxes from your computer or mobile device via the internet. It’s fast, secure, and cost effective when you consider you save on fax maintenance, paper and toner. eFax also allows online file sharing, and all your fax communications are stored in the cloud in a handy archive.
5) Mailchimp: By now, even if they don’t know it, just about everyone has received an e-newsletter or marketing email in their inbox that has been generated by Mailchimp. It’s easy to use, and allows you to import your contacts via CSV data. The templates offer drag and drop functionality for different elements, and can be customized depending on the purpose of the email. Mailchimp allows for professional-looking content to be sent to mailing lists with little effort.
6) Hootsuite: Hootsuite provides a dashboard for users to easily manage all their social media accounts from one spot, including scheduling posts and capturing data that can be analysed to increase performance. Engaging audiences is key with social media, and Hootsuite is a cost and time effective way to do so.
These are just a few tools that can save you time, and help you run your business more efficiently. The number of online programs that can assist small business owners is growing everyday, so it’s worth keeping on top of the latest developments.