Things to consider
Wow, this is a hard question. There are so many great tools, often for free that can help small businesses. As a small business owner you are looking for value for money, simplicity to set up and use, and something that will save you time and ideally effort.
Sometimes it is worth taking a little extra time to set something up properly to start with so that you can reap the benefits in the long run. Don’t be put off if there is a little bit of extra setup required, you could do it yourself or hire a VA to do it for you!
Many pieces of software have free trials for a couple of weeks or even a month, so we strongly recommend you take advantage of those. try out the different features that you would like to use, make sure it will work for you.
It is also important to note that free trials are often of the professional package, so be careful that you aren’t testing functionality that you do not wish to pay for after the free trial ends.
So here are a few of our favourite best free tools for small businesses that have a free version.
- Canva.com– A must have to help with your marketing, social media and anything you need to design. No design experience required! Free Trial, followed by a free basic account or a very reasonable monthly or annual cost for all the great features and functionality.
- Click up – Project management, todo lists, anything that needs planning, add tasks, get reminders and set automations, you could use this for almost anything.
- Google my Business – If you havent set this up yet – why not! Google my Business will help bring you traffic to your website or business. Includes options to add images, posts, link to your website, set your business hours and importantly.. gather Google reviews!
- Google Analytics – Do you know where your website visitors are finding you? What do they like on your website and what page is losing you business. If you don’t have this set up you are missing out. Google also has loads of other free tools for your website. Watch out for seperate post about these and how they will help your business.
- Schedule Once – Calendar booking, take payments, allow clients to book their time in your diary and automate the process, share you calendar on your website or a link in your emails. This saves you time playing email tennis trying to book and appointment. Other alternatives are Calendly, Aquity.
- Toggle – Great time tracking app
Our ultimate favourite software doesn’t offer a free version – but take the time to check out Monday.com So many options can be ticked off with this one piece of software. So If you hate having to log in to loads of different software or platforms then this is the one for you.
What are your favourites? Let us know in the comments below!