Since launching my flexible working job board, Investing in Women, I’ve discovered certain business tools I couldn’t live without.
I know, I know, it sounds dramatic, but maybe you’re curious about what my go-tos are. Perhaps you are also a budding entrepreneur, and some of the tools I’m using daily could simplify your life!
Full Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, and if you go through them to make a purchase, I’ll earn a commission. Remember, I only share companies I genuinely believe in.
WordPress
Not to be confused with WordPress.com, WordPress.org powers 43% of the web (including my website)! Impressive, huh?!?! There are infinite possibilities with WordPress—with the endless templates and plug-ins on offer, you can create any website, including eCommerce, membership, brochure sites, blogs, and job boards. Although there is a learning curve, within a few weeks, I was pretty comfortable with the ‘back end’. I launched my blog, DiversityWorks, without external help using an off-the-shelf template.
However, when I was ready to take my blog further and transform it into the job board, Investing in Women, I knew I needed an expert. And I couldn’t have found a better Developer to bring my vision to life than Matt Noye, who runs MWN Digital. He was responsive, creative and thorough. Nothing was too much trouble, and within a few short weeks, he had transformed my basic blog into a full-blown job board. My site not only looks amazing but is also responsive and helps me fund the rest of my business.
Matt is happy to offer 10% off his affordable website design and hosting services to anyone in the Investing in Women community. Contact him here to find out more.
LinkedIn is the social media channel of choice for Recruiters, and I am no exception.
It’s a great place to find and connect with candidates and employers. If you haven’t joined LinkedIn yet, now is the time—the channel boasts over 1 billion users.
As a business owner, I use the premium LinkedIn product, Sales Navigator, which lets me group candidates and employers into lists. If you want to try the free version for yourself for TWO WHOLE MONTHS (as opposed to the standard one), contact me for an exclusive invitation.
And if we haven’t connected on LinkedIn, then why not?!? Find me here, jump on, and say hi!
And talking of Social Media, my second favourite (sorry, Mark!) social media platform is Facebook. In my Facebook Group, Work It Like A Mum, I connect with women in a deeper and more meaningful (and fun) way.
I also use it to connect with peers in other Facebook Groups for entrepreneurs. My favourite groups for those purposes are the Goal Diggers Podcast Insiders, Flodesk Insiders and WP Beginner.
No, it is not another social media channel but a visual search engine (think Google with pictures) that is fast becoming a key traffic driver to my website.
What’s cool about Pinterest, compared to other social media channels, is the longevity of your pins. They can be found on Pinterest and drive traffic to your site for YEARS.
The secret to gorgeous scroll-stopping pins that can be created and scheduled in less than 5 minutes flat is Tailwind. They are Pinterest’s preferred partner. I am giving you a month of FREE Tailwind Premium to try for yourself. Click here to redeem your offer.
Canva
Canva is a graphic design platform. You use it to create social media graphics and other visual content. It offers easy-to-use drag-and-drop templates that you can customise with your brand colours and fonts. They also have a vast photo library.
Canva has both free and paid-for accounts. Honestly, the free version is fab and has lots of features. I have the paid-for version, which at the time of print is $10.99 per month, as it gives me access to more templates, photos and a brand kit.
Another good photo-sharing platform is Unsplash. Here, you can download fantastic-quality free photos for your website, social media graphics, and emails.
Flodesk
And email brings me to my next favourite business tool – Flodesk. First up, I want to stress the importance of building an email list if you own a business. Your Instagram followers, Facebook Likes, and LinkedIn connections aren’t yours. The data belongs to the social media owners. You’re borrowing their land, so to speak. And the ground can be shaky (remember the Facebook black-out), algorithm rules constantly change, and you are also at the whim of being locked out of your account for some arbitrary reason.
But your email list is yours. You own it. You create the rules – you dictate what goes out and when. More people are likely to see it (most social media posts are seen by only 3-5% of your followers). Email allows you to nurture and serve your customers and build a deeper and more meaningful relationship with them – ‘the know, like and trust factor’. And once they know, like and trust you, they are more likely to buy from you.
And my email provider is Flodesk. Flodesk works similarly to Canva in that I can choose from many beautiful templates that are entirely customisable. Like Canva, Flodesk uses drag-and-drop, so you don’t have to be a technical wizard to create beautiful emails, landing pages, and pop-ups to help you welcome, nurture, and convert subscribers into customers. Each template is designed to help you up your email game. Oh, and customising them is simple. With a few clicks, the templates transform to match your brand’s unique look and feel.
Once you have sent your email, it provides nifty graphs and data so you can see how each email performed in terms of open and click rate.
You can easily segment your audience and create workflows to create a more personal experience for each of your email sign-ups. Every time your name pops up in your recipient’s inbox, you build the know, like, and trust factor, which is vital to sales in the 21st century.
It also has one monthly price for unlimited subscribers – perfect for budget-conscious small business owners like me. Unlike competitors, Flodesk doesn’t penalise you for growing your list. Whether you want to start a small newsletter or build an email marketing empire, you pay the same monthly price. And if you want an incredible 50% off their subscription price for your first year, plus one month’s free trial (no credit card needed), make sure you use my unique link to sign up.
Ubersuggest
Neil Patel is a God-like figure in the online marketing world, and his keyword research tool, Ubersuggest, is AMAZING. It seriously ups your SEO game by providing keyword and backlink suggestions tailored to your site. You can also easily see how you rank against your competitors and make Google LOVE you.
I use the free version, but a paid-for version offers more functionality. Neil also has a free seven-week SEO course for beginners, which I would highly recommend if you are an SEO novice like me. Here is the link to sign up.
Grammarly
The tool I am using for this blog post (and all my blog posts) is Grammarly. It follows me around the internet like a faithful friend correcting my spelling and grammar. There is a free version, but I have the paid one, which offers me more suggestions to make my writing clearer and more concise.
If you write ANYTHING in your business, I think you would find Grammarly a great help.
So there you have it – my top 7 business tools that I LOVE and couldn’t run my business without. Am I missing any? Are there any tools you love and think I should get in on, too? Message me and let me know.
Want more behind-the-scenes goss? Check out my blog post – How NOT to Re-brand (and what I’d do differently if I had to re-brand again)!
Liz xxx