Top free resources that help run your small scale/home-based business

Want to grow your business without spending too much? We have a list of online tools and resources to help you become more productive, boost your social media and content marketing efforts to new heights and automate time-consuming tasks, so that you can direct all your attention and energy to more fruitful projects.

1. Free Website

The heart of small scale/home-based business is your website. Having a website allows you to showcase you products and services to the right audience. The below platforms allow you to create your website for free. Do as many design changes you want before you have that perfect looking website.

Wordpress

Wix

Blogger

Yola

Weebly

2. Free online productivity tools

If you want to track your productivity, here's a great list of online time management and productivity tools

Evernote – Notepad, Virtual to-do list

ClickBook offers free online appointment scheduling

Doodle – Scheduling application that will sync all of your calendars together

Google Calendar – Online calendar

RescueTime – Time tracker

Todoist – Task manager

3. Free marketing tools and platforms

Online marketing is a major investment for any brand, big or small, and that investment isn’t always in the form of dollars. There are dozens of free online marketing tools out there that aren’t worth the time it takes to test them.

Facebook – Free social media marketing platform

Hootsuite – Manage your social media marketing efforts in one place

Instagram – Free photo sharing media platform

LinkedIn – Professional social networking website

MailChimp – Free email marketing for up to 2,000 contacts

YouTube – Video marketing platform

Twitter – Free social media marketing platform

Craigslist – Free online advertising platform

Clearstream – Free SMS marketing (25 messages per month)

OneSignal – Send out unlimited push notifications for free

Canned Emails - ready-made email messages you can use

Mailgun - allows you to send free 10K emails every month

4. Free communication tools

If you are working in an office setup, you need not worry about the communication tools because those are already provided by your company but when you run your own business, you'll quickly learn that you need a whole host of tools. Luckily, there are lots of free and reliable options.

Google Hangouts – Video chat

Hot Recorder – Record calls for free

Skype – Free call, video chat, and instant message for Skye to Skype users

Mikogo – Desktop sharing tool, ideal for web conferencing, online meetings, or remote support

WebEx – Free video conferencing free for up to three people

Zoom – Video and web conferencing service (free up to 100 individuals)

4. Free graphic designing tools

As an entrepreneur, you take on many roles. Quite frequently that role is a graphic designer. But fortunately, you don't need any special training or course to create professional-looking images, presentations, and marketing materials. These tools are both free and easy to use.

Pixabay – Over 600,000 free images and videos

OpenShot – Free video editing software

FontSquirrel – Free fonts for commercial usage

COLOURlovers – Color ideas, palates, patterns, and trends

ResizeImage – Resize images without losing quality

Canva – Simple design platform and photo editor

Easely - allows you to create stunning visuals, such as infographics, resumes, or marketing presentations. You can share your works for free as well

Squarespace Free Logo - Free two-step logo generator from Squarespace with downloadable low and high resolution versions

Withoomph - free logo generator which shows you different versions of the logo

Meme Generator - create a meme instantly in just three easy steps. You don’t even need to upload a picture

Place It - more than 2,500 mock-ups and videos across all devices for free

TinyJPG - allows you to compress and optimize your JPEG and PNG images

5. Blogger's Favorites

If you run a blog, there are some specialized tools to make your blogging efforts easier.

Askimet Plugin – Stop spam comments on your blog with this free plugin

Capitalize My Title – Title case capitalization tool for blog posts and subject lines

CoSchedule – Free headline analyzer

Google Analytics – Free website traffic stats

Gravatar – Create a globally recognized avatar, helps brand your blog identity

Grammarly – Free editing software

Yoast – Free SEO optimization plugin for your blog

Flipboard - works similarly like Feedly. You can create your own compilation or magazine which other users can follow and share

Hubspot Blog Topic Generator - looking for the next idea for your blog topic? This tool is for you for free

Alexa Ranking - analyzes the ranking of any site by providing you analytical insights

Do you have a free resource or tool that you can't live without? Drop us a note below, we'd love to hear what you're using.