As a small business owner, you already know that marketing and selling your products or services takes a lot of time and effort. However, with today’s technological advancements, there are many things that help make everything go more smoothly. Here are some great tech tools that are described in detail by NewsVarsity for entrepreneurs:
1. LANDING PAGES
Landing pages can be used on social media or on your website to increase conversions for lead generation, advertisement clicks, e-commerce sales and email signups. There are several landing page tools available but Leadpages is by far the best one out there in terms of ease of use and speed from design to launch. It has over 200 templates and allows you to build your landing pages without having any knowledge of coding. Plus they also have a very active blog full of tips and tricks to help you optimize your landing pages to increase conversions.
2. SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
Social media management software like Hootsuite is great for saving time by allowing you to post across multiple social media platforms (and schedule posts ahead of time). The free version offers limited functionality but the paid versions are affordable, especially compared with hiring someone to manage all your social media accounts! Hootsuite also has a very robust analytics suite that helps you understand which posts performed well and which ones didn’t so you can make adjustments accordingly.
3. WEB DESIGN SOFTWARE
There are many web design programs available both for Macs and PCs, but Adobe Creative Cloud delivers the best value with its many products like Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. A full membership (with the apps) is $50/month but you can purchase just one product for $20/month or $50 every three months. Annual memberships are also available starting at $240 per year.
4. WEB HOSTING
Not all web hosting is equal and finding a host that will support your business and not overwhelm it is important. I would recommend Dreamhost as they offer unlimited bandwidth, storage & email accounts along with cPanel access so you can build out your website without having to know any of the technical details. If you don’t want to worry about any of this yourself, consider hiring a firm like Web Savvy Marketing for website design and maintenance.
5. WEB ANALYTICS SOFTWARE
Google Analytics is the standard when it comes to web analytics software but their free version lacks some of the advanced functionality many smaller companies need in order to see detailed reports on their visitors’ behavior. Many agencies use Adobe Analytics for this reason, but there are other alternatives out there like Click, according to The Indian Jurist. Whichever program you choose, make sure it has at least these three features:
- Ability to set up multiple profiles for tracking different business units
- The ability to have unlimited email alerts for specific events or thresholds
- A user-friendly interface that lets you easily see your reports
6. EMAIL MARKETING TOOLS
Marketing automation is one of the most important tools available today, allowing small businesses like yours to spend more time on important tasks (like selling) and less time on smaller activities (like sending emails). There are many software options out there but I recommend Hubspot’s marketing automation platform. It offers very powerful functionality, especially when combined with its CRM system. As an added bonus, they offer free online courses through Hubspot U that will help you learn the basics along with advanced tactics.
7. MOBILE APPS & WEB DESIGN SERVICES
There are many web design services out there but it’s important to make sure they have the specific skills needed for creating custom websites or apps. For example, Interactive can create both mobile apps and fully responsive websites that work across all devices, sizes and operating systems for just $2500 (for a basic website) – $10,000 (for an app). And if you’re looking for additional functionality like location-based check-ins or photo galleries, their expert staff is here to help!
8. HANDHELD PAYMENT SYSTEMS
One of the best things about having your own business is not having to worry too much about things like credit card processing fees. However, if you do need to accept credit cards or other forms of payment (like debit, gift and loyalty), I would recommend Square as they offer a flat rate on all transactions and no monthly fee. Plus, their free app (for both iOS and Android devices) makes it easy to start accepting payments on the go!
9. CONTENT MARKETING TOOLS
If you’re looking for some powerful content marketing tools that will help you create better blog posts more quickly, check out these two resources:
- BuzzSumo is a great tool that allows you to enter any topic or phrase into its search bar and see which blogs/websites are currently ranking the highest on Google and LinkedIn. That way, you can quickly see which sites are the best candidates to get featured on and where you should be aiming your time investment.
- BuzzStream is a little more hands-on but not difficult to learn how to use. Using this tool, marketers can find contact information for bloggers or journalists who write about similar topics as them and make it easier for their outreach efforts. Waterfall Magazine is clear example to go through.
10. HOSTING YOUR DOMAIN
While using a hosting company like Dreamhost with unlimited bandwidth is a great choice for most small businesses, I would recommend going with a domain registrar like Namecheap if you need to purchase your own domains. You can also transfer your existing domains from another service over without any downtime. Not only is the price unbeatable but they offer a “whois privacy” option that adds an additional layer of privacy for your customers’ personal data.
