Our Favorite Free Online Tools for Small Business
There have certainly been quite a few people who have written about what online tools are best for small businesses. In fact, my former CEO and friend Jason Nazar wrote a great article in Forbes. We use a number of both free and paid tools to increase efficiency. Some are specific to video production and content creation while others solve for project management or accounting. The paid apps are awesome but the free ones have been hugely helpful for us and without any barrier to entry, you literally have nothing to lose to see if they could help your SMB.
AnyMeeting - www.anymeeting.com
Conference calling at no charge? I literally use this on a daily basis. Although AnyMeeting has many features, the best one is the permanent free dial-in number for conference calls. One thing to be noted is that it’s not an 800 number and your callers may incur long distance fees. We have been using it for over a year and haven’t had any issues. There is also functionality for screen sharing which is newer and I can’t attest to the quality. For the free version there are ads but who can complain when you’re not paying.
Evernote - www.evernote.com
This is undoubtably my favorite free tool as a small business owner. The simplicity, flexibility and elegant interface make Evernote a must-have app. First and foremost, the variety of ways you can use it are astounding. Take notes during meetings or calls, clip web pages or articles you find interesting online. Perhaps the most powerful feature of Evernote is the ability to tag notes of all kinds. This makes it much easier to find exactly what you’re looking for. Something that Evernote does incredibly well is perform flawlessly across platforms. So when you’re out at an awesome party @ SXSW and somebody tells you about Noah Kagan’s favorite taco place just punch the name in to your phone real quick and it syncs up to your desktop no problem so you can tag the FB photos later you don’t remember taking. Evernote deserves it own article altogether but here are a few helpful tips.
Google Apps - www.google.com/intx/en/enterprise/apps/business
Google is without a doubt the king of free apps. Our company touches these products on a daily basis and we depend on their functionality. Admittedly, sometimes Google apps can be frustrating given their simple functionality but once you give in and embrace the way you’re intended to use the products, they are extremely powerful.
Google Analytics - GA is the standard for analytics. Period. There are many other platforms with amazing features like KISSmetrics, CrazyEgg but everything will always be measured against Google’s free tool. It’s dense and takes a while to fully understand but there are tons of resources to learn how to use it and therefore is a great tool for SMBs. Here is a helpful article to get started with GA.
Docs (Drive) - Although not as feature rich as Word, Google Drive (formerly Docs) is excellent for teams because it’s so easy to collaborate. We constantly work on documents with multiple stakeholders and for this Drive is invaluable. It’s best to approach with a clear plan so that you can not only work efficiently but also keep your docs organized. Not only does Drive allow you to create docs, it also provides 15GB of storage for free. Awesome for SMBs, we love free! One tip is to color code folders so that individual files reflect the color of the folder they are in. Find out how here.
Gmail - Oh what can we say about our old friend Gmail. It’s been around for a long time for a reason. Solid interface and endless apps and plugins. My favorite productivity tip for Gmail is to create calendar invites within an email on the fly, a Biz Dev guru I worked with told me a long time ago to always include a suggested time with a calendar invite – trust me it works. In terms of plugins, I swear by Yesware, an email tracking and reminder app. It’s hugely helpful to see when people click on your emails and also remind you to follow up (plus it’s free for up to 100 events per month). IMHO Gmail is the crown jewel of Google Apps.
Calendar - When used in conjunction with Gmail as your go-to app, Google Calendar is that solid overhand right to dominate business like the boss you are. Sync with your phone and share calendars among the team for best results. One added benefit for using this product is most scheduling links will create an event with a single click. I suggest you create a system for organizing events with a convention (Example [Meeting] Intro with Someone Important or [Call] Project Strategy Discussion).
There are plenty more tools to cover but those are our top picks. As an SMB you have to focus on being lean and spending money where you absolutely have to. The good news is that there are plenty of free tools to use for most of your duties and tasks.