By: A.W.W. Barry 

Building and managing a small business is difficult enough as it is. On top of an oversaturated market and the unending list of duties to attend to, lots of e-Commerce and small business owners don't have the budget to pay for basic tools needed or even the time to operate a thriving business. Such services might include business management systems, a marketing team, a graphic designer, or even a service for a business phone number. 

Meanwhile on the other end of the financial spectrum, there are some businesses who have a marketing team specializing in every conceivable form of media, from email to Instagram. While not every business can have a megabrand budget, there are a number of free to inexpensive services that can boost your business and cultivate success. To start you off, I have listed my top 5 favorite free digital tools that help me to manage operations and grow my small e-Commerce business.

1. Google

Google is my number one tool and the backbone of my operation, due to the fact that they provide lots of free resources to help streamline my content creation, share and edit documents with ease, and to analyze and manage my brand as a whole. I primarily find myself using 1 of 3 parts of Google, aside from the search engine of course.

Google Analytics 

Analytics is perfect to see how your e-Commerce/small business website is performing. You can see what's working and not working on your website, what pages are getting the most performance, and how much time prospects are spending on each. Aside from organic reviews and critique, Analytics is the best tool for making online business and marketing strategies. 

Google Keyword Planner/ Google Trends 

There are a ton of paid keyword search websites out there, but why pay when Google offers a free alternative? With Google Keyword Planner/ Trends, Google Keyword Planner populates keywords related to your original keyword. It shows you how high or low the keyword ranks, select optimal keywords, then generate them in an organized Google Doc. This is great for keeping track of the keywords you want to use and rank for. 

Google Trends on the other hand is an amazing tool for figuring out what key phrases you want to use. You can compare your phrases and pick which one is looked up the most or the least. This helps me come up with my blog titles and content, keeping me and my brand relevant. 

Google Workspace

While Workspace isn't free, I'm including it for 2 reasons: it’s fairly inexpensive and it’s been indispensable to my process. From setting up a professional email to creating shareable documents, Workspace helps me manage my daily operations and my overall business.

2. Hubspot Academy

Hubspot is an amazing resource that provides free certifications, blogs, and awesome tools, on all types of marketing. If you are a small business or e-Commerce owner and don't have the means to hire a team, take advantage of the free marketing courses Hubspot offers. Though I cannot attest to whether they will remain free, they are jam-packed with lots of useful content that is both engaging and highly adaptable to your e-Commerce operations.

3. Canva

Canva is a tool you can use to create brand images for any purpose, from logo design to composing flawless social media posts. It even comes with a content calendar, which is great for planning out your brand's social media posts. 

I should mention that while Canva is free, you won’t be able to receive all the features of a paid membership. Don't worry though - the monthly subscription is reasonable, and you can get a free trial first to see if the added benefits are worth it. They even have an app that’s highly user-friendly - perfect for working on your website’s marketing when you're on the go!

4. Pinterest App

Barryscourt uses Pinterest to gather ideas for composing exciting, engaging, and newsworthy content. When we were starting off, we used Pinterest to create image boards of what colors to use for our brand, what kind of brand personality we wanted to portray, and of course, getting content ideas for our blogs.

5. WhatsApp Business

For small e-Commerce companies like Barryscourt who don’t yet have the need for a full-fledged phone service, WhatsApp is the perfect tool for staying in solid contact with your clients without the need for sharing your personal line. The service is free and provides you with a phone number for prospects to call you at. It also comes with a myriad of personalized settings that allow you to relay where you’re at in terms of your ability to make phone calls, which is great for helping us keep our personal lives out of our business lives. 

While these are great places to start, they only really scratch the surface of all the tribulations of starting a business. The fact is that most people don’t have the time needed to start up, say nothing of the startup capital. It’s not easy, but Barryscourt is here to help carry that burden by turning your vision into identity. Fill out the Client Questionnaire to get started on your free consultation! Check out the next blog, How to Overcome Work Anxiety, Even from Home.