In the beginning, being an entrepreneur can be intimidating and isolating, but thanks to the internet, you don’t have to do it all on your own. There are numerous free online tools that can assist you in expanding your business, along with free trials for online products that will make your marketing and management tasks easier.
Take a look at your preferred tools and resources that are free or offer a free trial, as they can greatly simplify the day-to-day operations of expanding your business.
1. Google my business
Businesses can utilize Google My Business, the most popular search engine, to create a free profile that enables them to engage with their customers. By utilizing this platform, businesses can post important details such as operating hours, location, pricing information, as well as share visual content including pictures and virtual tours. When using Google’s search engine, this information will be readily visible to their target audience in the search results.
By following a step-by-step thought process, you can rephrase the given text without altering its meaning. Optionally, enhancing your Google My Business profile can also have a positive impact on your website’s SEO ranking.
2. YellowPages
We are not referring to the large books you sat on as a child to reach the table. YellowPages.com and the YellowPages app are effective and cost-free tools to assist your target audience in finding you online, in addition to enabling you to receive and respond to reviews regarding your product or service.
3. Yelp
Even if you are not active on Yelp, it is possible that your customers could be discussing your business on this platform. To ensure that you have control over your online presence, it is advisable to claim your complimentary Yelp business profile. By doing so, you can upload pictures and provide information about your business, monitor customer feedback, and promptly respond in a courteous manner to any negative comments or reviews.
4. Foursquare for business
If your customers have already listed your business on FourSquare for Business and are already discussing you online, you have the opportunity to join the conversation and engage with your customers by claiming your business profile.
By managing your own listing on the app, FourSquare for Business provides a cost-free and immediate method to advertise to a broad audience, interact with customers, and inform them about the latest updates pertaining to your business.
5. Google analytics
In order to assess the effectiveness of your marketing strategies in converting leads, it is essential to have an understanding of how and from where your audience is accessing your website. Google provides exceptional free analytics tools that assist small business owners in identifying the efficacy of their marketing plan and obtaining valuable insights pertaining to their web traffic.
6. Hubspot’s marketing grader
Are you curious if all the time, energy, and money you put into marketing your business online is effective? With Hubspot’s free marketing grader tool, you can determine how successful your blog, social media, and other digital efforts are in generating leads and compare your performance with your competitors.
7. Unbounce
If you are unhappy with the numbers you see on Google Analytics, consider signing up for Unbounce’s 30-day free trial. They can help you design landing pages that are optimized for higher conversions.
8. WordPress.org
The idea that the top level of blog management is completely free still seems unbelievable to us. Register for WordPress via your web hosting provider to build and handle a stunning blog for your business. Additionally, with numerous third-party add-ons available, managing your website becomes even more effortless, proving that the advantages of WordPress for digital marketing are never-ending.
9. CoSchedule
This WordPress add-on is exceptionally valuable for businesses that have a significant blog presence and multiple team members who write, edit, and publish content.
You can begin by planning content months ahead and informing writers about upcoming posts. Additionally, you can seamlessly collaborate in the writing, editing, and social sharing process using just one platform. Try it for 14 days for free. If you are a dedicated blogger, it will capture your attention within that time.
10. SBA.gov
If you are looking for information on how to develop your business idea online, you may come across contradicting information. However, to find unbiased business education and guidance, you should begin by visiting SBA.gov, the official website of the U.S. Small Business Administration.
This is a remarkable resource that offers information on writing business plans, tips for entrepreneurs, reliable information on financing your business, and more. It is a valuable resource for both inexperienced and experienced entrepreneurs.
11. Local small business development center
The Small Business Administration (SBA) sponsors small business development centers across the United States. These centers have supported numerous entrepreneurs in starting successful businesses by offering free business education, consulting, and mentoring services. To receive assistance from an SBDC advisor in your locality, find your nearest center and contact them.
12. Slack
To successfully complete projects and grow your company, it is crucial to have clear and unhampered communication with your team, employees, clients, and stakeholders. Communications tools enable you to have instant and anywhere connectivity with your people.
Common forms of communication software types include various formats for exchanging files, email, messaging apps, live chat systems, FTPs, and VoIP. This software allows for discussing operations in real-time, transmitting information between systems, and deliberating sensitive corporate data in a protected, internal environment.
Slack, a widely popular communication platform, serves the communication needs of over 6 million users on a daily basis.
It consolidates all your communication in a single location, providing real-time messaging, storage, and search capabilities for contemporary teams. Instant search, filters, and sorting options enable quick retrieval of messages and files. There are filtering options available to narrow down search results based on recency, relevance, or file type, allowing you to locate precisely what you are looking for.
Slack provides fully native applications for both iOS and Android platforms, incorporates both internal and external sharing options within its system, and seamlessly integrates with numerous external applications and services.
Slack offers three paid plans; however, you can easily manage with its free plan that is packed with features and has no restrictions on time or users. The free plan includes integration with 10 apps, native mobile apps, two-person voice and video calls, a total file storage of 5GB, two-factor authentication, and a searchable message archive of up to 10,000 recent messages.
13. Wrike
Collaboration platforms enable multiple users and systems to share, process, and manage data, files, and documents, resulting in increased productivity for individuals or groups. Collaboration also promotes alignment among employees, saves time and money, and identifies issues early on.
If you work with remote and decentralized teams, this kind of software is usually equipped with tools that are useful for communication, exchanging documents, conducting conferences, and providing real-time assistance.
Collaboration tools allow users to create a workspace, add data or workflows, and assign user access permissions. Additionally, online collaboration software ensures that any updates made to data or files are automatically synchronized across all users, ensuring that everyone has the most up-to-date version of the files.
Wrike is a platform designed to enhance the speed and efficiency of employees, whether they work in an office or remotely. This award-winning project management and collaboration software focuses on improving productivity.
By providing flexibility and scalability, it allows groups to effectively collaborate and accomplish tasks from one location. It permits users to schedule, prioritize, share, discuss, communicate, and monitor work and progress instantly.
Wrike provides various features such as user-friendly navigation, top level security, powerful integration, at-a-glance dashboards, and real-time newsfeeds, among others, making it a hub for all your tasks. It also offers low-cost plans for professionals, marketers, and businesses.
In addition to its free package for small teams of up to five users, the platform offers unlimited collaborators and various features for managing and discussing tasks, sharing files, and integrating with email and other apps.
The vendor provides a complete free trial, even for its paid plans. To familiarize yourself with the features, you can register for the Wrike free trial.
14. Wave
Failure to properly manage financials is one of the main reasons why some startups fail after just two to three years. Accounting programs play a crucial role in addressing this area to support the thriving and growth of your company.
Accounting systems comprise of various applications and tools which automate financial management, streamline accounting tasks, decrease company expenses, offer precise reporting, ensure compliance, protect data, and enhance the quality of finance-related decisions.
There exists a wide range of accounting software that typically includes essential accounting functions such as bookkeeping, accounts payable/receivable, budgeting, billing, invoicing, and other features. In addition to this, it also provides integration with payroll systems (some accounting solutions have payroll integrated), HR, ERP, and other financial tools and systems. Moreover, it can be deployed either locally or in the cloud.
Our Wave reviews indicate that this accounting software is highly recommended for startups, small businesses, freelancers, and professionals. This is mainly because it is completely free and offers powerful features, making it an excellent choice. The software is known for its well-integrated online business platform, which seamlessly combines accounting, invoicing, and receipt scanning into a single, user-friendly package.
Wave provides various features for managing and optimizing accounting and invoicing tasks, monitoring expenses, processing credit card payments, handling payroll, managing receipts, calculating taxes and deductions, maintaining yearly records, and more.
Wave accounting offers unlimited receipt scanning with iOS and Android apps. This allows you to capture receipts, even when offline, and automatically record them as accounting transactions in Wave. It is important to note that all of these features are completely free with no hidden charges or undisclosed fees.
15. Trailhead
Marketing software consists of a range of web systems and applications designed to aid businesses in extending their reach through successful and captivating campaigns.
The majority of marketing programs are focused on campaign management and resource optimization, with features that include data collection, branding, event scheduling, content distribution, and lead nurturing and converting.
Sophisticated marketing platforms offer tools for social marketing, sales insights, and analytics suite to generate accurate reports.
While not technically classified as an app, Trailhead is still a valuable free resource that provides a simplified method for acquiring Salesforce Sales Cloud knowledge. Salesforce Sales Cloud is a commonly utilized cloud application for generating leads and executing marketing campaigns.
If you or your boss are considering Salesforce, you can take advantage of a free trial for Salesforce Sales Cloud. During this trial, you can explore the features of Salesforce at no cost. Additionally, Trailhead is an excellent option for learning, as it offers a structured and flexible learning path for Salesforce. It consists of interactive online tutorials that cover the essential features of Salesforce.
Learning paths are organized in a hierarchical structure and presented in a specific sequence. Tutorials are comprised of brief, self-contained modules to provide modular and engaging content. Towards the end of each module, you have the opportunity to undertake interactive assessments to confirm your understanding of the material.
By implementing gamification, you have the opportunity to receive recognition for your expertise. Utilizing Saleforce’s marketing, sales, and CRM solutions to drive your business processes is guaranteed to boost your company, particularly your marketing capabilities.
