12 Useful Business Tools That Will Save You Time and Make You Money

Did you know there are thousands and possibly millions of online business tools, which can make the running of your business faster, smoother and save you lots of time, not to mention money? And the best news is that many of them are either free or very affordable.

1. Business Consulting

Whether you need administrative support, legal assistance of help with marketing, Elance has someone to help you. All you do is post your project to their network of professionals ranging from highly skilled individual freelancers to full-service firms. You decide who to hire by examining their proposals, evaluating their credentials and prior work and reading feedback left by others. There is no charge to post your project. Simply go to: www.elance.com

2. Content for Your Website

Most people find writing content for their website a daunting task. Yet from a customer as well as search engine point of view having a website with lots of useful information is extremely important. You can find lots of articles and resources that you can simply copy to your website for free (providing you keep the author’s information) by going to:

www.ezinearticles.com/

3. Free Giveaways

If you are looking at adding value to your products or services, the best things you can give away are free reports, ebooks or information that your customers will find helpful. If you don’t have anything to give away, you can easily find something on the internet. Visit the following websites:

http://www.free-ebooks.net/ http://www.planetpdf.com

4. Managing Your Customer Mailing Lists & Newsletters

There are many online services that allow you to manage your mailing list automatically. They handle the subscriptions, unsubscriptions and bounced emails without you having to lift a finger. When you wish to send out a message, it’s as simple as typing your message and pressing a “Send” button.

One of the best services I’ve come across is GetResponse – GetResponse is a complete email marketing service. It provides you with unlimited autoresponders, follow-ups, messages, lists, broadcasts and email marketing campaigns, 150+ professionally designed HTML templates, powerful, cost-effective newsletter hosting. The cost of this service is less than a dollar a day and saves you hours of work each week. Other reputable services include:

Constant Contact – http://www.constantcontact.com
GetResponse – http://www.getresponse.com

I am constantly amazed by the services that Google provides! Not only is Google considered one of the best search engines, but they have tons of free tools for you to use. Here are just some of them.

5. Google Maps

Google Maps are dynamic, interactive maps that you can drag (no clicking and waiting each time you want to view the adjacent parts of a map). Type in the name of a region or neighborhood and see any part of it as easily as with a regular street map.

Depending on your location, you can use Google Maps to search for businesses within an area or neighborhood. You can also create personalized, annotated, customized maps, complete with placemarks, lines or shapes. Add additional content including rich text, photos, videos and then share your map with others or open it in Google Earth.

http://maps.google.com/maps

6. Google Book Search

Search the full text of books to find ones that interest you and learn where to buy or borrow them.

http://books.google.com/

7. Google Automatic Translation

Need your website translated to other languages or do you need a phrase translated to English, then check out this state-of-the-art technology.

http://translate.google.com/translate_t

8. Blogging Software

A blog is basically a journal that is available on the web. Blogs are typically updated daily or weekly. Blogs provide a way for you to communicate with your customers, give you an increased presence on major search engines and are free to use. Google’s own blogging software is free and extremely easy to use:

www.blogger.com

9. Google Calendar

Organize your schedule and share events with colleagues, family and friends http://calendar.google.com

10. Google Docs & Spreadsheets

If you’ve ever struggled to keep track of different versions of spreadsheet or word processor files sent by email, Google Docs & Spreadsheets may be right for you. Google Docs & Spreadsheets is a free web-based word processing and spreadsheet program that keeps documents current and lets the people you choose update files from their own computers.

http://docs.google.com

11. Jotform Sign

Jotform Sign is an online e-signature tool that you can use to create documents and automate your workflow. Turn your PDFs into e-sign documents, eliminate manual tasks with integrations, and upload them to your cloud storage to access from any device.

Embed your documents to your site and start collecting data. Keep track of your submissions and visualize your data by creating professional reports to uncover new business insights. Jotform Sign is the easiest and most intuitive way to create legal contracts and save your business time and money.