Serious about growing your business but a little short on seed money? Don’t worry … there are a ton of affordable and oftentimes free tools out there that can help you keep up with your competitors while keeping your costs down. We’ve handpicked 10 of the best ones for you below:
- Prezi – Need to give a presentation? Prezi is a reasonably priced cloud-based presentation software that allows you to create attention grabbing presentations that utilize motion within a 2.5D or parallax 3D space.
- Feedly– If you’re running a small to midsize business, chances are your internet surfing has been severely curtailed. Feedly is a news aggregation app that compiles news feeds from online sources you It’s a great way for busy entrepreneurs to stay on top of the latest developments in their industries and you can try it for free.
- Google My Business – Manage how your business information appears throughout Google, including Search and Maps, with this free tool. Google My Business allows you to list your address, website, hours of operation, pricing info and more. As an added bonus, the more info you provide, the better your website SEO optimization will be.
- Google Analytics – A freemium analytics service that tracks and reports website traffic, Google Analytics allows you to gain unique insights into your customers and how they’re accessing and navigating your website.
- Yelp – Not on Yelp? Your customers probably are. Update your profile on this crowd-sourced review site and then check back from time to time to see what customers are saying about your business.
- WordPress – When it comes to internet marketing, content is king. WordPress is a free blogging and website content management system you can use to make sure your online presence and digital marketing efforts are consistently professional and engaging.
- Small Business Administration– An invaluable partner for small to midsize businesses, gov is a free and trusted resource for information and advice on a bevy of topics related to entrepreneurship.
- MailChimp – Want to send up to 12,000 professional looking emails for free? MailChimp allows you to automate your email marketing campaigns via a myriad of eye-catching and easy-to-use templates.
- Skype – A free video chat application, Skype enables you to hold “face to face” meetings with employees, vendors and clients around the world.
- Hootsuite – Having trouble juggling your various social media profiles? Hootsuite is a social media platform that allows you to manage multiple profiles from a single, user-friendly dashboard.
Leveraging technology is a proven way for small to midsized businesses to keep pace with their larger competitors. Start putting these powerful (and mostly free) tools to work for your business today!
