As a small business owner, you’re doing everything you can to make your online presence the best it can be. And without incurring extra expenses. In addition to installing that new DS3 line, which gave you more bandwidth at a lower cost, you should also explore some of the cool tools the web offers. Combined with your new juiced-up internet abilities, these 5 web tools will help you boost productivity, save time and money, and connect with the people most important to your business—your clients:
Google Analytics
If your company website isn’t yet connected with Google Analytics, it should be. This free service basically tells you in cold hard numbers, what’s working on your company’s website and what isn’t. Need to know which keywords to optimize for so that you get more lead to sales conversions from your website? Analytics can give you those. Want to know which of your landing pages has the best traffic? Analytics again. Need to track how that new sales program is going? Yep. Google Analytics will tell you if it’s going to be a good new stream of revenue or not.
Although social media in general has become quite the rage among business marketing departments, Pinterest has grown by leaps and bounds and may be of particular use to you if your business relies on visual information. If you’re a photographer or web designer, post pictures of your latest gig. Trying to build interest in your start-up by creating a short film? Pinterest can help. It’s a free online bulletin board for your wares.
Google Alerts
Google Alerts is useful for a slew of functions. While some writers on the web use the tool to gather information about subjects they write about, other business types tap into GA to find out what people are saying about them on the web, to get ideas for blog posts, and more. You set Google Alerts to select only websites, blogs, or forums, or to add everything. You also have the option of determining how many times per day you receive them in your email inbox. If you need to keep things to a minimum, set it on once a day and cherry pick for the best info. If you need up-to-the-minute results as they come in, set it for that. You’ll be amazed how you ever lived without it.
Skype
Skype is a must for small companies who are starting to do overseas/ cross-country business. This cheap online phone service allows you to talk to people halfway around the world for less than two cents a minute (depending upon where you are). It also has a video feed, write board and other functions that make meeting up in cyberspace a breeze. Finally, it’s possible to get a Skype-In number so that people can call you directly on your computer phone and leave messages. So even if the person you need to connect with lives on the opposite side of the world, you won’t miss a call, even if you’re asleep.
Dropbox
File storage and more importantly, information loss that sometimes comes from a computer crash or virus can be debilitating for any business. But for small businesses that may not be able to purchase external storage capabilities, Dropbox can be a real information (and business) saver. This storage box in the sky gives you up to 2 GB of storage in cyberspace for free!
Having an online presence in today’s business environment has become a necessity for businesses of all sizes. In addition to your DS3 line, these and other web tools can help boost your productivity, give you peace of mind, and help you save money.
Guest article written and submitted by Amanda, a TechPatio reader – thanks!
If you’re B2C relation company then you can’t even miss Facebook and Twitter. These are the most crowded place on online world and has huge capacity to grow your business.
And for B2B business LinkedIn play most important role and produce new ways for growth by building relationship with other companies.
Hey your thinking is same as mine .. I support your suggestions . I know this tools help a lot … specially dropbox .. Its the best way to send file ..
Very useful information, every bussines owner is always searching for tools to help bussines get to the next level, i´ve never heard about pinterest, i think it could be an excellent tool to promote any bussines, visual is great!
Using the social networks is essential for any company, along with Google Analytics. On one hand, using Faceebok, G+ and Pinterest help us bring traffic and increase the credibility of our brand, while Analitics shows us what to do in order to improve the search engine rankings.
There are a lot of tools right now for small businesses and companies and these are just a few of them. When you’re just staring out and you don’t really afford to invest money they really come in handy.
We use all of those but pinterest. I haven’t found a way to incorporate it. But will look into it more.