Anyone who is planning to start small business in 2020 knows they need to have an online presence. Most of your customers are online, your competitors are online, and it’s so much easier to target the right audience.
However, getting this online thing right isn’t exactly easy. In fact, 90% of startups fail. To succeed online and grow your presence, there are lots of things you need to do, from getting your web design right, optimizing your SEO, engaging with people on social media and installing a responsive website.
It takes time and at first it can seem like too much effort. However, there’s a tool for everything. Let’s take a look at how you can enhance your business with the top 10 website tools for small businesses.
WordPress
Almost 75 million websites around the world are powered by WordPress. That’s a heck of a lot, but there’s a very good reason for it – WordPress is awesome.
As far as content management systems go, there are few better. It’s ideal for both newbies and professionals, and it lets you put together a sweet looking website that’s also optimized for SEO. It’s has lots of plugins to help you take your small business to the next level. Some of its features are, but not limited too:
- Feature-rich – There’s a wealth of plugins, themes and resources available
- Cheap – If you’re on a budget, there’s a free version available
- Popular – Not only are there millions of users, but there’s also a wide WordPress community that’s on hand to help you out. WordPress.com gets more unique visitors than Amazon (126 million vs. 96 million a month)
Design Wizard
If your business is online, there will come a time when you’ll need to create images that represent your brand’s voice. If your images look poor or clichéd, it can make your brand look tacky.
Design Wizard can help. It is a versatile tool with both premade images and templates that make it super easy for non-designers to create images.
- Quality – There are lots of high-quality photos to choose from
- Gorgeous layouts – Everything looks great, from the layouts to the images themselves
- Intuitive – Not sure what colors will work well together? Design Wizard will automatically suggest some
Teamwork
Your business is only as successful as the team that runs it. Bring your team together into one place with Teamwork, a project management tool for both online and offline teams.
- Inclusive – Keep track of all your team members’ work
- Same page – Use Teamwork so that no one loses sight of a project
- Boosted productivity – As communication increases, so can productivity
Shopify
If you’re thinking of opening an online store to sell your product, you don’t generally need to look further than Shopify. It’s an all-in-one eCommerce platform that lets you build and run a store in no time at all. No experience is needed as the platform walks you through the whole process, from choosing your design to making your first sale.
- Reliable – It’s not massively cheap, with plans starting from $29 per month, but the price guarantees reliability here
- Support – If you need a helping hand, support is available via phone, email or chat 24/7
- App store – The Shopify app store is filled with all kinds of useful apps that will enhance your online business. From managing your inventory to promoting your products on social media – these parts of your business can be made easier for both you and your customers
Google Analytics
How long can you survive online without checking your websites performance? Not very long. Google Analytics gives you important insights into what’s working with your site and what isn’t, including your SEO campaigns, site loading time and bounce rate.
- Cost effective – It’s totally free
- User friendly – Doesn’t take long to get to grips with at all
- Strategic – Use Google Analytics to figure out how to get the most out of your site, increase visibility and sales
Buffer
Social media marketing isn’t easy to get to grips with but there are tools to help you out, such as Buffer.
Buffer is able to support as many as 25 social media accounts, which means you can bring all of yours together into one easily manageable interface.
- Scheduling – Buffer makes scheduling easier by letting you create your own custom schedule for all the days of the week
- Spots trends – You can use Buffer’s integrated analytics and insights to spot trends which will then allow you to put together a more potent marketing strategy that gets better results
- Insights – Some of the biggest questions we have when it comes to social media marketing include, ‘when should we post and where?’ Buffer users insights to uncover the right answers for you
UserVoice
Want to know what your customers think of your business? Install UserVoice to get crucial feedback.
- Add feedback forms – UserVoice adds feedback forms to your site that allows customers to rate your service
- Use the info wisely – Once you know what your customers really want, you can make the necessary adjustments to your site
EveryPost
Another difficult aspect of running an online business is running your social media accounts and knowing what content to post. Content creation is important, but also difficult. EveryPost helps you:
- Curate content – Use EveryPost to find the best, most relevant content from across the web that will resonate with your audience
- Analyse – Not everything you post will have an impact, but EveryPost provides analytics that let you find out what’s working and what isn’t
Upwork
If you’re running an online business, you’ll probably need remote workers at some point. They will to be reliable, dedicated and skilled.
No global freelancing platform is perfect when it comes to hiring an online team of quality workers, but Upwork has a user-friendly interface and scoring system that makes it easier for you to separate the wheat from the chaff. Here, you can find expert web designers, graphic designers, content writers, SEO wizards and more.
- Free – signup is free. The only thing you pay for is the time and worked billed for your workers
- Convenient – You sign up, post a job and make a hire
Slack
Losing track of your remote workers? Use Slack to make sure no one falls behind with a project.
- Chat with team members – It’s super easy to set up a quick live chat with your team
- Collaboration – If you’ve got a big project with lots of members, Slack is easier than email
Conclusion
When it comes to running a business, we can’t do it all ourselves. Use the tools in this list to accelerate growth and make your life a whole lot easier.
Author Bio:
Claire O’Brien is the Marketing Manager at Design Wizard. Claire has more than 10 years experience in content creation including visual content, digital marketing, email marketing, social media and advertising. She has an avid interest in all things digital and software related.