5 Easy and Free Tools to Help You Grow Your Business Online

Growing businesses need a fairly large amount of software to conduct operations, but it’s not necessary for the business owner to spend a fortune on commercial programs and applications. In terms of business and consumer software, there are literally hundreds of incredible and free solutions that can help get the job done for the business. The 5 free and easy tools listed below for all facets of business have been tried and tested and have received good reviews especially for startups and small businesses, handling everything from email marketing to endpoint protection.

You can also consult your IT support company to consult on the tools listed below or find something else that suits your specific business.

Don’t forget the basics – Antivirus protection

What’s the point of growing a business if it can be attacked and hacked by viruses or hackers? Endpoint protection from Avast comes in both a free and premium version, both of which offer good protection. If you opt for the free version, keep in mind that you won’t have access to proactive controls, a firewall, or data shredding. You’ll still get access to solid malware blocking, security scanning, and rescue disk functionality. If using Windows, make sure to keep its firewall activated to support Avast.

Join.me Videoconferencing

If you’re looking to connect with clients, prospects, remote workers, or your sales people in the field, you’ll need a reliable video conferencing solution to help you get the job done. Join.me offers a free plan that lets you invite up to 10 video participants, share screens, and supports up to five video feeds.

Wave accounting

To keep your financial books balanced, you can use Wave. With the free version of Wave, you’ll receive accounting and reports functionality, you’ll be able to create and scan invoices, and you’ll be able to scan receipts directly into the system. Although far from being a one-stop accounting application, if you keep things simple you can go far just by using its basic service. If you need anything heavier, go for the premium version.

HootSuite Social Media Listening

Small businesses simply don’t need a large social listening platform. A free, easy-to-use dashboard that lets you stay up-to-date on what your customers are saying should be enough, and Hootsuite Free offers a free version that’s good enough to do the trick. With HootSuite, you’ll be able to manage multiple social networks, schedule posts, and interact with your followers. You'll also be able to track how many followers you have on each of your social networks and monitor which posts are generating the most clicks.

MailChimp e-mail marketing

MailChimp is one of the best and most popular e-mail marketing platforms on the market. If your company sends fewer than 12,000 e-mail messages per month to fewer than 2,000 subscribers, you can use MailChimp’s Forever Free plan. This lets you use built-in signup forms to gather subscribers from across the web. You can use MailChimp’s drag-and-drop designer and e-mail templates to craft the perfect message.