As a small business owner, you know that there are so many tools out there to help make running your company easier.

photo credit: Zen Chung / Pexels

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of options out there, but don’t give up! We’ve put together this article for those looking for some great online tools to run their small business with.

How can Online Tools Help Your Small Business?

While a new tool or software can sometimes be intimidating, you don’t have to be an expert on the ins and outs of each one. You should understand what they do and how they can help you, but you can learn how to use them as you explore them yourself.

In addition, don’t forget to get assistance from your own team when it comes to picking a tool for your work! They might know of some great tools they already use, or even know how to use the tool you’ve been eyeing.

Here are our must-have selections for your small business needs:

Tools To Manage Your Online Presence

Having an online presence is necessary. It can be a major sales channel as well as a way to stay in touch with your customers, and many businesses can grow quickly by focusing on their online reach.

It can be overwhelming, but using the right tools can help you keep your website and social accounts updated. These tools in our list also have great reports built-in, so you can make better decisions for your small business.

1. Wix is a free platform that you can use to build your own website, if you don’t have one yet. You can start from a blank slate or use their automatic site builder. It can help you quickly set up a fully designed website after answering a few questions.
2. WordPress is another free tool for you to build your own website, depending on what you need. WordPress might be a better option if you have very specific needs, as it’s more flexible. However, it does have a steeper learning curve, so which to use depends on what you need.
3. If you are selling right on your website, you might want to use Shopify instead. It is an e-commerce platform that allows you to get an online shop up and running very quickly for a monthly subscription.
4. Google Analytics is an important tool for your website, whatever platform you’re using. It can show you many things, from how many visitors you have, how long they stay on their site, which pages are most popular, and a lot more. Information you get from Google Analytics can be very useful as you grow your business.
5. Let’s not forget your social media accounts. You might not need one right when you’re starting out, but as things get hectic, you may need to set up a better process for your accounts. Check out Buffer, which can help you manage your social media profiles better.

Tools to Manage Your Customers & Sales

Maintaining a healthy customer base and keeping track of your sales is an important part of any business. After all, it’s hard to keep your business afloat without customers!

There are some excellent options for tools to help you stay on top of your customers and sales. Check these out:

1. Zoho is a complete customer relationship management system with tools to help you keep track of your leads and sales, send email campaigns, run contests, build databases…the list goes on! Zoho has a free trial option.
2. MailChimp is an excellent mailing list software that can be used for both building up the initial connections as well as keeping in touch throughout the year. It even has a free plan if you don’t need it for your whole business!
3. Once you’ve got sales and inquiries in the bag, you might need a more sophisticated invoicing option. An invoicing software like InvoiceBerry can help you keep on top of your invoicing, from automatic sending and recurring subscriptions.
4. PayPal is an excellent payment gateway option, and they have both WordPress plugins as well as website buttons that make taking payments from customers easy. You can also use PayPal to accept credit card or bank transfers directly on your site with no additional charges.
5. Stripe is another online payment gateway option that can integrate with even more systems, if you find yourself in need of those. If you’re looking for more features and functionality, Stripe might be the best choice for your business needs.

Tools to Manage Your Team & Internal Processes

When you’re growing, it’s inevitable that you’ll need to hire a bigger team to help you grow your business. You will need to have the right tools to manage your team and make sure that tasks are getting done.

These are excellent choices if you need some help:

1. Trello is a great tool for managing projects and keeping everyone up to date on what is happening. It organizes projects into boards so that you can tell how your project is doing at a glance.
2. Slack is a great choice for teams that need a communication and collaboration tool to discuss projects and get feedback. It’s targeted for businesses of all sizes, and you can try it for free.
3. ClickUp can help you and your team get more organized. It features a kanban system and has some great task management features to keep your business projects on track.
4. Zoom is one of the most ubiquitous video conferencing and screen sharing tools. It’s a great option for business owners who want to connect with the rest of their team through video or share screens during meetings.
5. If you’re setting meetings within and for your business, check out Calendly. It is a great way to schedule appointments without the hassle of back-and-forth emails.

Final Thoughts

When you’re a small business, your time is almost always in low supply. We believe that choosing the right tools will help you maximize your productivity and efficiency. This way, you can spend more of your valuable time doing what’s most important: running the show!