Whether you’re starting an online business or simply working from home more, here are some powerful tools and software to help you manage your business online and from anywhere.
Canva
Content is king and if you’re running an online business, chances are you’ll need to create some form of digital content. Canva is a graphic design platform. You can make social media posts, logo designs, printable posters, website banner ads, business cards, business reports, PDF documents – pretty much any design content your business needs. And with an easy-to-use drag and drop interface and thousands of ready-to-use templates – anyone can use it.
Price: Free plan with paid upgrades.
ClickFunnels
ClickFunnels is an online tool for building high-converting websites and sales funnels. You can generate leads online and then convert them into customers by taking them through a nurture campaign journey. ClickFunnels is an all-in-one service for entrepreneurs who don’t want to use multiple confusing tools for different things.
Price: From £68 per month.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite is a social media management platform that allows you to schedule, manage and automate your social media content. With just one platform you can draft and schedule your social posts to free up time spent manually posting. You can also manage a whole marketing team and analyse your content efforts with in-depth analytics.
Price: Free trial with paid plans starting from £11.99 per month.
monday.com
monday.com is a project management system that gives you the ability to organise your workload, prioritise tasks, and manage team projects. There are 100’s of templates you can use to manage specific projects which means you can say goodbye to endless to-do lists and confusing notes. Whether you work alone or need to collaborate with a team, monday.com simply helps you get things done.
Price: From £7 per person, per month.
Google Drive
Google Drive is a secure cloud-based storage solution that allows you to save files online and access them anywhere from any smartphone, tablet, or computer. This is a great tool if you need to share documents with anyone or access information from multiple devices on the go.
Price: Your first 15 GB of storage is free with a Google account. The more space you need the more it will cost.
Active Campaign
Active Campaign is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool that allows you to connect and engage with your leads and customers. It creates optimized and tailored experiences by automating marketing, sales, and support processes. A CRM is crucial if you’re running a business that engages with lots of different customers.
Price: From £6 per person, per month.
Slack
Slack is a messaging platform designed to make it easy to engage with teams, colleagues, and workplaces. It can be used across multiple devices and platforms and allows you to communicate one-on-one or in groups. This a great tool to use if you have multiple members of staff or different departments within your business.
Price: Free plans with upgrades available.
Xero
Xero is a cloud-based small business accounting software that can be used for managing invoicing, bank reconciliation, inventory, purchasing, expenses, bookkeeping, and more. You can even use Xero to take customer payments online.
Price: From £20 per month.
Zoom
It probably doesn’t even need an explanation, but if you’ve been living under a rock for the last year, Zoom is video conferencing software that makes it easy to host virtual one-on-one or team meetings easily with anyone in the world.
Pricing: Free with paid upgrades available.
A Workbench Virtual Office
A virtual office gives businesses a physical address and access to office-related services without the serviced office overheads and lease. You can work from anywhere but still have things like a mailing address, phone answering services, and access to meeting rooms. A virtual office is ideal if you’re a small business, start-up, or entrepreneur as it gives you credibility and flexibility without the costs.
Price: From just £20 + vat per month!
Need a virtual office for your business? Find out more, here.