There are some great bits of free and cheap software out there that can really make day to day tasks easier for small businesses. I thought I’d take the chance to pull them together in one place.
I’ve broken the tools into sections so you can see at a glance where they fit into your world! To help give some idea of exactly what each tool does I’ve also put some notes against each one.
Social Media
Buzzsumo: http://app.buzzsumo.com/top-content
Search the most shared social media content by keyword or domain. Find the most commonly re-tweeted content or the biggest ‘influencer’. A great way to find quality content on any subject!
Bufferapp: https://bufferapp.com/
Schedule your posts and tweets, look through suggested content and analyse how your posts are doing. Suggestions are pretty good, scheduling works nicely and at its basic level its free!
Feedly: http://feedly.com/index.html#discover
Find bloggers, articles and content quickly and easily and access it all in one place. Great for finding new stuff and great as a ‘one stop shop’ for your favourite bloggers.
FriendorFollow: http://friendorfollow.com/
This one does what is says on the tin. Find out who does (or doesn’t) follow you.
Tweetdeck: https://about.twitter.com/products/tweetdeck
Twitter management software so good Twitter actually bought them!
Ifttt: https://ifttt.com/
I love Ifttt! Create ‘if this then that’ rules for a massive selection of online apps and social media. See what others have done and use the rules yourself:
Communication
Google Business Apps: http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/business/
These will crop up a few times in this list as it does sooooo many things. This mention is for Gmail, Hangouts, Calendar and Google+. Its Google, what else do I need to say?
Slack: https://slack.com/
I’ve not tried Slack myself but they bill themselves as ‘a platform for team communication: everything in on place, instantly searchable, available wherever you go’. If its as good as they say its defiantly worth a look!
Any.do:https://www.any.do/
A well thought out slick To Do list that just works.
Todolist: https://en.todoist.com/
Similar to Any.do and I suspect a matter of personal choice which you prefer.
Hipchat: https://www.hipchat.com/
Group chat and video built for teams – haven’t tried it myself but it looks good.
Gotomeeting: http://www.gotomeeting.com/
Another one that does what it says on the tin. One of the early online meeting sites and still going strong.
Wetransfer: http://wetransfer.com
Need to transfer large files easily give WeTransfer a go – very simple to use.
Storage
Google Drive:http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/business/
Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/
Both Google Drive and Dropbox are great for cloud storage. There are loads of options out there but these are ones I’ve used happily. Dropbox is my current favourite and as they’ve just upped my storage from 100Gb to 1Tb I think I’ll be with them for a while yet!
Office
Google Business Apps: http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/business/
Google’s third and final entry into the list. This time for Docs, Sheets, Forms, Slides and Sites. Once again – its Google, what more do I need to say.
Evernote: https://evernote.com/
Evernote has officially taken the place of my memory. Everything goes in my Evernote and the search is faster than my brain. I can use it on my PC, phone and laptop – which is good because my memory is poor wherever I am.
Pocket: https://getpocket.com
I haven’t tried this one myself but the principle is good – ‘When you find something you want to view later, put it in your pocket’.
Mailchimp: http://mailchimp.com/
Create good looking mailings very easily, view stats on opens, link clicks and a host of other things. I’ve used it – its brilliant!
Boomerang: http://www.boomeranggmail.com/hp2/index.html
Email scheduling for Gmail – sounds like a great idea.
Basecamp: https://basecamp.com/
Project Management software on your PC, tablet and phone. Unlimited users from $20 a month! Looks great!
Images
Pixabay: http://pixabay.com/
A great selection of free images.
Miscellaneous
And finally a few odd ones!
These two both supply music to help you focus and work! Not sure about this myself but worth a try if its your sort of thing.
Focua@Wll: https://www.focusatwill.com/
Coffitivity: https://www.coffitivity.com/
I’ve always found the term Productivity Tools a little woolly, having put this list together and realised how many of these ‘tools’ I already use I am now happy! These are definitely ‘Tools’ and they definitely help me with my ‘Productivity!’ Hope some of them are useful to you too.
