Most people want to start a small business or home based business but understandably they do not want to go in the red before they come out green.

I will add my own disclaimer here right from the start – you really cannot start a solid business without investing some money first.

If you ask any successful business owner if it cost them zero dollars to make the type of income that they have from their business, I am pretty sure that their answer will be NO.

So always be conscious of that.

If your goal is to start a small business or home based business and you do not want to break the bank, here are some free tools and resources that you can use so you do not have to feel like more money is going out than coming in.

1. Websites

With any business you first of all need a home where you can brand yourself or showcase your products to your audience.

A brick and mortar store has an offline location where an online business has a website.

If you are serious about creating a business and brand and you have long term goals then it is strongly recommended that you create a self hosted website with WordPress. 

That way you own your “home” and you can be as creative as you like without the worry that it can one day be “repossessed”.

It also looks more professional and your audience is more than likely to take you seriously.

The problem with free websites, is that most of the time you are limited in what you can do. All the work that you put into it can be taken away from you if the host provider does not agree with it. 

There is also the fact that your website URL may look unappealing as it may carry the host provider’s subdomain if you do not get your own custom domain. This in my view is unattractive and unprofessional.

But I understand that sometimes you may not be able to afford a website so here are a few that you can use until you are in a position to buy your own.

If you are using any of these free websites, be careful to avoid putting too much work into it because one day you will want to upgrade to a paid website.

Website/Blog

• Wix
• Weebly
• Site Builder 
• Blogger 
• WordPress.com (not to be confused with WordPress.org)
• Website Builder 
• Webstarts
• Yola

Website/Ecommerce

• Shopify 
• BigCommerce
• Wix
• WooCommerce
• Volusion

2. Marketing Platforms

To make money in any business you should always find ways to market your business.

This is how you get people to see your business and know that you exist.

Marketing on free platforms does take time and to see really good results your efforts must be consistent.

Do not expect to start promoting an offer here and make tons of money in a few weeks time. Unfortunately that is not how it works.

If you have the money to advertise your business then take advantage of paid advertising platforms but if not, here are places where you can do so for free:

• Twitter – free social media marketing platform
• Facebook – free social media marketing platform
• LinkedIn – free social media marketing platform for professionals
• Pinterest – free image content marketing platform
• Instagram – free image content marketing platform
• YouTube – free video marketing platform
• Snapchat – free social media platform
• Ibotoolbox – free in-house business marketing tools, lead generation, and the most active social network for network marketers, MLM, affiliate marketers, etc.

3. Marketing Tools

Why not automate the process so you can focus your energy on promoting your business.

Marketing tools are the number one essentials that I recommend any online business owner to use.

Whether they help to schedule social media posts, automate email blasts and update website content.

The marketing tools I have listed here, offer free trials and free versions but with limited capabilities. Nevertheless, you can still get some valuable use out of it.

The ones that I picked are popular and awesome based on user feedback. Let me know what you think.

• Mailchimp – free up to 2000 subscribers and 12000 emails per month
• Aweber – free 30 day trial email marketing
• SumoMe – free email list builder and lead capture pop up form
• GetResponse – free 30 day trial email marketing
• SurveyMonkey – free unlimited online surveys to get answers from your audience
• Blog Topic Generator – free blog topic generator if you are stumped for blog post ideas
• Content Idea Generator – free content idea generator if you are stumped for blog content
• Google Trends – free platform to know what topics are trending that you can write about
• Clickfunnels – free 14 day trial sales funnel builder
• Hootsuite – free social media post scheduler. Up to three social media profiles
• Buffer – free social media post scheduler. Only one social media account in each social media platform

4. Website Optimisation

If you want your website to perform well in the search engines then it is important that you focus on optimising your website for organic traffic.

This is just a techy way of saying get more people to see your blog or website in a web search engine’s unpaid results, like Google, Yahoo, Bing or YouTube, etc

Remember if no one is seeing your content, then you cannot make money. Here they are:

• Yoast SEO – free website search engine optimisation (SEO) tool
• Hotjar – free website visitor analytics tool. Allows you to see what visitors actually do on your website
• Google Analytics – free website analytics tool. Track visitor, conversions and referral stats
• Google Search Console – free website analytics tool. Find out what keywords visitors are searching for to find your website

5. Conference Call Tools

If you work with a team or want to set up some live training there are so many systems already in place that allow you to communicate with each other.

Man! Technology has come such a long way.

You can be in one country or state and have your team in another. That really is having a worldwide business.

Here are some really great options to get you started:

• Google+ Hangouts – group video calls
• Skype – group video calls and chat messenger
• Free Conference Calling – free teleconferencing service
• Zoom – free conference calling, online meeting. Limited to 40 minutes on group calls
• Join.me – free conference calls with hundreds of dial in international numbers
• Free Conference Call – free audio, video conferencing and screen sharing

6. Design Tools And Stock Photos

Website design does not need to be a chore when you have great design tools and images to help you.

If you want stunning imagery and beautiful prints then these are the places that I always go to.

You do not need any special training; just a creative mind and crafty hand to put together some amazing pieces.

• Canva – create designs for websites or print
• PicMonkey – create designs for websites or print. All blog post images on my website were designed using PicMonkey. I love it and will highly recommend it. PicMonkey offers a free 7 day trial.
• Unsplash – beautiful free photo community
• Pixabay – free beautiful image source for commercial use
• Pexels – free stock photos. Free for commercial use
• FontSquirrel – free high quality, legal fonts
• Optimizilla – compress large photos for your website without losing its quality

7. Training And Resources For Bloggers And Online Marketers

If you are an online entrepreneur, there is no doubt that from time to time you will need some training that will take away all the guess work.

We need direction most of the time when we are venturing into something new. Do not waste time trying to figure everything out when an online training course could give you exactly what you need.

• Mastering Your Home Based Business – my free e-book that covers setting up your online business, getting traffic, different ways to earn an income online
• Profit With Blogging – my step-by-step course that teaches you all about blogging.
• Udemy – learn anything that you want. Search thousands of courses geared to teach you about marketing, programming, data science, etc. The possibilities are endless.

8. Communication Tools

The same technology that you have in a corporate environment is the same that you will have in your small business or home business. Except you do not have to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars to perform the same tasks.

When you thought you could not get that office environment at home for free you were wrong.

Told you I got ya covered!

• FaxZero – send free faxes to anywhere in the US and Canada
• MyFax – send free faxes to over 40 countries in the world
• Hot Recorder – record calls for free
• LetterMeLater – schedule emails to be sent in the future

9. Link Tracking And Shorteners

If you are promoting affiliate offers on a blog or website then you know how long and ugly they can look.

Plus they scare people off as they appear very spammy.

If you have links all over the internet it is also a good idea to track which traffic source is giving you the best results. Here are some link shorteners and trackers that I have used in the past.

The difficulty with free link shorteners and trackers is that they can be shut down at anytime so always make sure and test your links.

• Bitly
• Goo.gl Google link shortener. You can also track the performance of your links in terms of the number of clicks and number of clicks that lead to a sale
• TinyURL.com
• Ow.ly Hootsuite link shortener
• Buff.ly Buffer link shortener
• AdF.ly link shortener and also the opportunity to earn money when you receive clicks to your link
• Clickmagick shorten your links with confidence knowing that there is no risk to them being shut down at any time. Can also track the performance of your links. Free 14 day trial.

10. Business Templates

When you have a business there are many forms and templates that you might need to make things easier for you. Here are a couple sites that you should have bookmarked.

• Entrepreneur get free access to hundreds of business forms and templates for almost every kind of business
• PandaDoc free unlimited access to a template library

There will come a time in your business when freebies just will not keep your business afloat. If you are serious about making money and having a steady business then it is paramount that you invest in proper tools that will save you time and money.

You can always view my recommended business tools and resources here.

Invest in your business, invest in yourself.

Goodluck!

P.S Are there any free tools for small business owners that you are using that I have missed out? Leave them in the comments below. 

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