If you are just starting out in the small business or home business world you may feel a bit overwhelmed about all that needs to get done. You maybe asking yourself, "what needs to get done?" or "I have my business license, a lawyer, a building, a website and a few clients, if I keep up the good work, word will spread and pretty soon people will be dragging themselves over here for MY business!".
However, that is not always the case, it takes time, determination and organization. I’ll say that again - Organization! You need to understand where your clients are coming from, how much traffic you are getting to your website and the ability to call them. Actually, there’s quite a bit more that you need to know - but this article is about the tools you can use to HELP you run your business.
Ok, so let me start naming off websites that are great tools to help you run your business:
Google Analytics gives you the ability to view how much traffic your small business website is getting. It can tell you what pages they visited and what keyword from the google search brought them to your site. It also has the ability to tell you what browser they used, what internet connection they were on, how much time they spend on your site and much more. But the important thing here is that you can learn where your visitors are coming from. This is important why? Because it let’s you know your "niche". knowing your niche is important to gathering traffic and clients. This service is free
2. ZenDesk
"Zendesk is a professional, customer support help desk with a full featured back-end for your customer reps and support agents". This simply means that you can provide support to anyone who has a question related to your business. They can submit a ticket and you can respond to a ticket. Simple as that. This service starts at $9 a month
3. Skype
Don’t have a phone for your business? No problem. Take skype for a spin by using your computer to talk to people. There is a variety of subscriptions to choose from and you can even get a personalized phone number. Plus talk to people on other computers that use skype, absolutely free. There is a free version and paid subscriptions available
4. Google Apps
Google Apps is an all in one:
- calendar
- documents
- sites
- Postini
Google Apps start at $50 per user, per year, and if it’s just you, well that’s just $50! You can write a document straight from the browser, then e-mail it with google e-mail and even create your very own google site for your small business (however I would recommend using an actual service your website to make it look professional)
5. MailChimp
MailChimp gives you the ability to send out a mass e-mail or Newsletter to all of your registered clients. A newsletter is vital as it can contain important information, alert about sales, what’s new or pretty much whatever you want to talk about to them. It can definitely help you keep in touch with them. MailChimp starts out with a free subscription; you can register up to 500 people and send 3,000 e-mails a month
Get your small business listed in search engines, create newsletters, create a blog as well as ads! Heck, with their paid subscription you can build an entire site with them. Pricing starts at $6.99 per month. (I personally use this for my photography freelance business, however I have not used it enough nor paid to use their services; it’s a nice thought and has brought me a little more traffic to my website-that much I know)
7. Wordpress
One more tool I’d like to mention that can greatly help your business, keep in touch with contacts and a better way to "get personal" is to create an online blog. Having a blog for your business is personal, it lets people know how things are going, bad, good and ugly parts as well as learn about who you are specifically. Some business owners don’t like to get "attached" to their clients, however I feel that by showing and proving to them who I am as an individual greatly helps business. You do not only keep a client, but possibly make a new friend.
Ok, so I mentioned many great areas of different tools that can help your business succeed and whether or not you try them is up to you. Most of these services are absolutely free and if you like it, then why not pay for it if it’s helping your business? They help you and you help them, it’s a win, win situation!
