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5 Must-Use Web Tools for Small Businesses Adapt and thrive in the digital world

12/17/2014 17:04 PM
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We have a simple mission: to innovate small businesses to be efficient, powerful, and on an even playing field. Our ultimate goal is to reach a point where commerce is driven by a business's quality of products and services rather than its financial resources.

Here is my list of the most powerful, simple and productive tools for small business. Now is the time to adapt and thrive in the digital world. When you embrace these technologies, your business and customers will reward you.  

squareup.com

Thanks to Square, you may never again lose a sale or delay potential revenue because you can't accept payment. Square provides a FREE card reader that works with iPhones, iPads or Android devices and links with your business's bank account. Not only does it allow your business to accept credit card payments from anywhere, it also let's you input cash sales and track your sales in a simple, powerful interface.

PRICE: 2.75% for credit card swipe transactions, 3.5% + 15ยข for manually entered credit cards. Free card reader, app, and analytics.

  

mailchimp.com

Nearly everyone has an email account and that's great news for small businesses. Email campaigns are a powerful and inexpensive way to reconnect with your customers and build lasting relationships. Mailchimp is a simple to use email marketing service provide that lets you build and send beautiful emails, as well as track their open and click rates. This tool is great for any business looking to excite, connect with, and entertain their customers.

PRICE: Free for up to a 2000-person email list. Additional prices vary depending on the size of mailing list.  

                     

Facebook.com   -    Twitter.com

Social Networking: Your customers all use social media tools like Facebook and Twitter, and for your business to stay relevant it needs to have a presence on those platforms. Social media offers powerful tools for connecting with current and potential customers, pushing out information and providing a trusted communication channel for your customers.


Facebook: Facebook could be considered the new Yellow Pages. Potential customers are using Facebook and could be searching for your business there; if they don't find you, they will find your competition.

Twitter: Stay on top of your industry with the latest news and content. Use Twitter to constantly and quickly connect with potential customers and build a brand.

PRICE: Both are Free!

Quickbooksonline.com

Quickbooks is a simple accounting software that is completely on the cloud and perfect for small businesses that need the flexibility of cloud-based software. Most small business software integrates nicely with Quickbooks, and above all, your accountant will thank you for using it.

PRICE: 5 different plans from $12.95 - $63.16 per month


Ocoos.com


Ocoos offers a powerful and simple consumer-facing platform, simplifying internet and business operations under one roof. The platform lets you quickly build a modern web presence, and gain access to tools that help your run a smarter and more efficient business on the cloud.


Ocoos integrates the best small business tools so you can better manage your social media, gather customer information, build email marketing campaigns and track your sales. These capabilities are combined with an easy-to-manage web presence that includes blogging and SEO technology.

PRICE: Premium ($25/month) and Concierge (setup fee starts at $99; maintenance fee starts at $35/month)

Honorable Mentions:

  1. Google Apps: Google Apps is a cloud-based productivity suite that helps you and your team connect and get work done from anywhere, on any device. It's simple to set up and use so you can work smarter and focus on what really matters. You can set up company emails, share documents on the cloud, and much more.

  1. Bitly.com: Bitly allows you to create shortened URL links for everything you share, and save it to your Bitly account. But the service's larger benefit is that it gives you the ability to track where your links are going, the number of clicks they receive, and where the activity is coming from (like Facebook or Twitter) so you can focus your digital marketing time on the most active platforms.

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