Nine Essential Apps and Online Tools for Small Businesses

It’s not easy being a start-up or SME. Getting your business off the ground is a huge step. But what follows is just as important. Because, once you’ve established your brand name, secured your domain registration and figured out your website hosting plan, the next step is to get marketing!

So, we’ve carefully selected some of the best apps and online tools available, with small businesses in mind.

DESIGN WIZARD

Design Wizard is a wonderful graphic design tool that allows you to create high-quality visual content in seconds. It boasts over 1 million images and hundreds of thousands of image and video templates. Standout features of the tool include a custom color palette, free font library and resize button. The tool is perfect for creating social media marketing materials, business templates and cards/invitations. There are also excellent integrations with Hubspot, Marketo, Buffer and Intercom included.

CANVA

Canva is a brilliant tool for amateur and professional digital marketers alike. Here you can create a whole host of assets for your business. From designing logos, to producing flyers, to creating stand-out presentations, to accessing images for social media posts. This one-stop-shop even offers a library of stock images which you can integrate into your work, many free, some chargeable. Either way, it’s a game-changer.

UNSPLASH

Proving that the best things in life really are free, Unsplash is a leading stock image website, offering high-quality visuals that are copyright free. Here you can scroll through thousands of images for your business needs. Use them on websites, social media, blogs and even promotional pamphlets. A wonderful resource you’ll be grateful you bookmarked!

ADOBE PHOTOSHOP EXPRESS APP

We all know the value of a strong image, whether in a presentation, on your website landing page, or social media. Although Adobe Photoshop can be costly for a start-up to licence, this mobile app is free to download and easy to use. Here you can brighten up images, add filters and text, to produce professional-looking imagery, for all your platforms. Best of all, you can use it on-the-go.

BUFFER

Back to social media. To grow your business, you’ll need a constant stream of content and dialogue with your audience. But in a small team, this can be hard to manage. That’s where Buffer comes in. This is a handy tool (also available as an App), allowing you to schedule messages for the platforms you manage for free. For a premium, there’s even more features to tap in to, enabling you to grow your business.

LETS HOST

When it’s time to expand your business in to new markets, LetsHost is the place to check domain names and secure them in other territories. For instance, a domain name in Ireland is extremely exclusive and valuable, helping to grow your business by promoting your unique provenance.

DOODLE

Sometimes it’s the simple things! It can be a challenge to co-ordinate diaries, especially within larger groups for meetings or events. Doodle has made this easier than ever with their simple diary co-ordinating service, and best of all, there’s no cost!

SLACK

We live in a virtual world. So even if you have a registered domain or business in one country but operate out of another, your clients need never know. A great way to bring together teams from across the globe is through Slack. Here you can manage conversations between teams in one shared destination. You can do anything form hiring a new employee to sharing business plans, and all in a few clicks!

WORDPRESS

Regardless of the nature of your business, you should be hosting a blog. This is a smart way to drive organic traffic to your site, a place to have dialogue with your audience and for sharing company news. And that’s just a few of the benefits.
Most web hosting services include WordPress as a sign-up service, such as LetsHost. Powering more than 32% of the Internet, WordPress is a tried and tested platform that offers a number of apps and tools to enhance your blog.

If you own a small business and don’t have an ie domain name or web hosting, then visit LetsHost.ie for a selection of affordable solutions for your enterprise.