Being an entrepreneur isn’t an easy role to take on. At times it can feel intimidating and can be an expensive endeavor. As a small business owner, it is important to make sure your business reaches its full potential. You must put the needs of the business first and sometimes this can be a pocket pincher. Fortunately, there are free tools your small business could use to maximize productivity.

Top Free Tools for Small Businesses

Factoring Companies has researched and listed the top ten free tools your small business should use to make things simpler and increase productivity below:
Small Business

1. Google My Business

This free tool for your small business increases the search visibility of your business on Google. Google is the number one search engine used in the world. So why not use its free features? Google My Business is a free business listing that displays useful information such as your business’ hours, location and pricing if it applies.  GMB allows you to gain customer insight through analytics and with this you can improve your engagement and sales tactics by using these analytics. By using GMB you can connect with your audience, increase visibility and generate more leads and foot traffic to your website.

2. WordPress

Every business needs a web presence whether it is big or small. That’s why WordPress is the perfect free tool for your small business. The free version of WordPress is perfect for small businesses who are just getting started. It that allows you to create a website or blog for your business in minutes and you don’t need to necessarily be savvy at programming. If you want to expand on the website and go beyond the free version, there are paid plans that offer customization options such as website domain name, more design options and content control. These plans range from $3-$45 offering different incentives.

3. Slack

Slack is the perfect free team communication tool to use across your small business. Whether you work in a small office or just travel a lot for business, Slack allows you to stay in touch with your team from wherever you are. Between e-mails, text messaging and whatever other lines of communication your business typically uses, things can get quite confusing. Using Slack allows you to manage conversations on one platform. Slack offers a plug-in and app for your computer, cell phone or any other electronic device so you stay connected wherever you are. Like WordPress, Slack offers an upgraded version that adds other features.

4. Calendly

Calendly is another great free tool your small business should use. Say goodbye to double booking, playing phone tag and trying to schedule mutual meeting times via e-mail. This is a free appointment and meeting scheduling tool small businesses can use to stay on track and increase productivity. It allows you to share your availability and has an overall easy interface. Calendly makes it easy for people to schedule a meeting or even phone call appointment with you by simply checking your availability. Calendly has three plans — Free, Premium, and Pro.

5. Google Analytics

The next free tool to increase productivity in your small business is Google Analytics. Google Analytics is a free tool that tracks your website’s data and lets you measure your advertising ROI. It’s particularly good for exploring your market and expanding your brand’s digital presence. With Google Analytics, you are able to find info down to the location of the users on your website. Google Analytics is especially good for small business owners who want to gain deeper insight.

6. Google Drive

You guessed it: another free Google tool. The next free tool that can help your small business be more effective is Google Drive. The great thing about Google Drive is that it is accessible from wherever you have internet access. This free tool is great for collaborating and sharing content with colleagues through documents, spreadsheets, videos, photos and more. Google Drive is also great for backing up files with 5GB disk space.

7. Grammarly

Grammarly is a widely used online grammar checker that can be embedded in your internet browser. This is another great free online tool for the betterment of your business. Why? Because Grammarly can correct and spruce up the text you’ve written on different websites and applications. The free tool corrects spelling, grammar and punctuation errors if there are any. Another great feature of Grammarly is the correction of improper word placement. Grammarly even goes as far as telling you if a sentence is flowing right. This is an awesome tool for small businesses who wish to have a strong online presence because it improves their write styles making it more effective.

8. FreeImages

Great images are essential to making your brand stand out and asserting a strong online presence. If you don’t have a professional photographer (which most businesses don’t) then FreeImages.com is the perfect place for your photo needs. Whether it’s for your blog, social media or website, FreeImages offers quick, generic graphics for your small business.

9. Wave Accounting

One of the main reasons’ startup companies fail after just a few years is the failure to manage finances properly. Wave Accounting is a great free finance tool for your small business. It’s ideal for startups and small businesses specifically because it’s completely free and has great features. The free accounting tool gives you the ability to make invoices, monitor expenses, payroll and more. Sounds too good to be true? Check out Waves Accounting for yourself and your small business

10. Hootsuite

Every business, no matter the size needs social media. Whether it’s a LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram account or all of the above, your business should invest in using social media. Now, you may not always find the time to post in real time so that is where Hootsuite comes in. When you sign up, you are essentially given a dashboard with tabs organizing all the social profiles you connect to Hootsuite. If you have a lot of profiles to handle, Hootsuite is a great free tool to increase productivity within your small business by saving you time.

Starting a small business can come with a few challenges and these free tools help decrease some of those challenges for your small business. If you need more working capital in order to hire turn to invoice factoring. Invoice factoring helps small business owners improve cash flow to cover payroll, pay suppliers, reinvest in marketing efforts and take advantage of new growth opportunities.

Questions? Give us a call or email us: info@factoringcompanies.com