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Top 9 Free Business Tools You Should Not Miss
Operating a small business can be difficult. It can require the owner of the business to put in many long hours and to take on a multitude of different roles in the business. They may have to be a salesperson one day, a marketing executive another day, and an accountant the next day. This can be difficult if a person does not have the knowledge to do all of these jobs.
Big companies can hire the people they need to fill all of the roles that are required to be successful. A small business does not have that luxury. They have to find other ways to help them fill the roles of the business. The good news for small business owners is there are plenty of tools that they can turn to that will help them run a successful business.The best part is that many of these tools can be found for free or for a very low cost. It is important for a business to find the right combination of tools for their business. The list below provides some of the best tools for businesses to turn to and gives a description of what these tools can provide.
1. Conference calling services
Big businesses can have offices located around the world to reach their clients. Small business may not have that luxury but with a service such as UberConference they can still reach clients around the world. With video conferencing and other conference call services, it becomes easier to meet with clients and to show them what is offered by the business. UberConference makes it easy to schedule the meetings and to get everyone needed involved in the call at the same time.
2. Document sharing
Services such as DropBox make it easy to share files using the cloud. It is possible to share documents, pictures and other files between clients and between the others involved in the business. The services for document sharing offer free services and they also offer expanded services for a low cost that small businesses can take advantage of.
3. Email addresses
A small business can use a service such as Google Apps to create email addresses that end in the domain name of the business. This provides a more professional look for a business when it is using email to communicate with clients.
4. Market research
Big businesses understand the importance of researching a market so they know how to approach it properly. Small business can turn to tools such as Manta to get the research on over 24 million businesses and this service is provided for free.
5. Document templates
A small business needs many different types of documents. If they get SCORE templates and tools, they will have access to the documents they need. This service provides templates for financial reports, contracts, business plans and many others. It makes it easier for a small business to create the professional documents that they need.
6. Social media
Small businesses can take advantage of services such as LinkedIn to create a profile and to be seen by other members of this social media site. This can provide a network of other professionals and small businesses that can help them grow their small business.
7. Human resource tools
A big company can hire the HR professionals they need. A small business can turn to services such as Insperity to provide them with the HR tools they need. Insperity provides articles, tools, checklists and other things that can be used by a small business. The small business can use this tool to help them with the hiring, training and other areas they need for their employees.
8. Website tools
A small business can use a website to help them succeed. They need tools to know how effective their website is. Services such as Google Analytics can help them know how well their website is doing. It can let them know about the visitors to their website and what the visitors look at when they are on the website.
9. Accounting tools
Services such as Quicken books can help with invoicing, payroll and many other accounting needs for a small businesses. There are also other services that can help a small business keep track of the money that is coming in and the money that is going out.
Thanks to the services that are offered online a small business can get the things that it needs to compete. These tools can help a small business with the day to day operations and with the long term success of the business. They can help a small business gain a competitive edge they need to be successful. It can also help the small business owner do more with less work because these tools are doing the work for them.
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John Reiley – Guest Contributor
John Reiley is a senior business analyst currently residing in NYC. He has been helping business owners plan their strategy for success since 2005. He can be reached on GooglePlus. |
Photo by: flattop341
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