It’s Christmaaaaas! OK, we got that out of our system, now here’s our 12 Tools for Any Business, most of which are free - always a bonus!
The bonus that comes with the ever-changing technological landscape we are in, is that there are new, exciting, business-enhancing tools on the market, all the time.
12 Tools For Any Business
Have you ever considered the free apps, tools and add-ons available to you and your business? If not, these are 12 suggestions which make great starting points, as you navigate what’s right and what’s not for your company.
1. Bit.ly
Make link sharing so much easier! Use Bit.ly as an efficient way to shorten links, ideal for social media platforms and messaging, plus including in blog posts as source. Bit.ly works as a URL shortener and although there are many out there, we prefer this as you can create an account that saves your most-used shortened URL addresses.
Additionally, Bit.ly is available as a browser button, so you only have to be one step away from shortening that pesky long URL!
2. WordCounter
The image explains how Wordcounter works better than we could, however we will vouch for it and say it's a nifty tool if you feel like your copy is starting to sound monotone. A simplistic (dare we say unattractive) layout is more than made up for in it's speed, efficiency and ability to tell you that you've said "said" too many times. Ideal for content creators, copywriters and journalists - or perhaps those who are 'winging it' and doing said jobs without the skill/confidence needed.
3. GIMP
An excellent piece of software, GIMP, is completely free for those who don't want to/need to spend £100s on certain photo editing programmes. With a simplistic design it is an efficient 'does what it says on the tin' programme complete with most of the features of expensive photo editing software and it's all for free. We would recommend this to marketing companies or businesses who want to do their own simple image editing without having to pay for it. You may need to learn and experiment to learn how to use it properly and to it's best ability.
4. HootSuite
A great, free tool to combine all of your social networks into an easy platform. If you aren't technically able or knowledgeable with social media marketing, quite simply leave it to the professionals. However, if you want to use HootSuite for your business accounts, or personal ones, this is a good starting point allowing you to access various accounts all on one screen.
5. LastPass
A password manager vital to improving security and the storage of passwords for any company with staff or multiple accounts. The beauty of LastPass and similar programmes, is that you only need to remember one password - to access the account - and then all of your others are safely and securely stored protecting your private information, or that of your clients. An excellent piece of software to combat cyber crime and store data that could be lost or taken in a burglary - we highly recommend.
6. Pinterest add-on
We aren't necessarily saying you should be using Pinterest, what we are suggesting is if you use Pinterest then you should have it's add on, the 'Pin it button', installed on your browser. It massively improves the user's ability to pin images with little effort and time consumed, making sure you keep pinning those pins! (If we were using #2 - Wordcounter - we'd find we used the word pin quite a lot there!)
7. Colorzilla add-on
Another browser add-in which massively improves user experience, particularly for the creative bunch in our audience. You can use ColorZilla for Graphic Design and in conjunction with #3 - GIMP - to find our favourite HTML colours and put them to use. Ideal for ensuring your content colours don't vary and everything is uniform in style.
8. Cliche Finder
Similar to #2, but ClicheFinder does have a different purpose. Not article writing software or suitable for content creation, however it is good for writers looking for inspiration or to solve problems with their copy. Journalists and writers can use this website to check for cliches and tired phrases, to give your copy a little less 'groan' and a little more 'yay'!
9. Pollmill
An excellent survey provider that hands-down beats other main competitors in its field, complete with smooth graphs to explain answers and a simplistic, modern design of surveys, we love PollMIll. For virtually any user, this software won't be beaten and above all else it is completely free. So whether you are looking to access the right clients, improve customer demand or meet customer needs, all research conducted through this site will be free, effective and simplistic for you and the respondents.
10. Trello
Trello is a brilliant programme that can organise your day, week or further and it is ideal for anybody, from small businesses, to hard-working 'one man bands'. Creating a board and adding users to your password-protected area is simple and the platform is really attractive itself. Giving you the opportunity to assign jobs, to do's and more it can organise your work schedule to give you more time to create content, increase business growth and grow sales.
11. MailChimp
Email provider that creates stylish designs and is ideal for strong email marketing campaigns. We like the ease of use, design and capabilities that MailChimp allows. You can also find out great things about open rates, click throughs and bounced email addresses using the array of reporting tools available.
12. Uptime Robot
A brilliant piece of software for those responsible for various websites, developers will love this kit. If you haven't already heard of, and took advantage of, this tool then why not get started? Every 5 minutes, Uptime Robot checks your websites to see that they are still live. Of course, that isn't all and it is more complex than just seeing if the site is 'down', it reads all your site coding to check for 404 errors and more! As if that wasn't incredibly necessary in 2014, it is also a totally free service so there is no reason to not use it.
We understand if some of these brilliant tools caught you by surprise and sidetracked you! The purpose of this blog post was to help you find free, simple tools which improve your business, so if you found something brilliant, let us know!
