OREANDA-NEWS. February 04, 2016. Congratulations, you’ve made the first step towards your future by opening your own business! Starting a new business can be overwhelming and stressful to say the least. As a CEO of a small business myself, I know what you’re experiencing and in order to pass along my knowledge, I’ve compiled a list of the tools that helped me and my business make it through the very beginning stages.    

Create A Stunning Webpage

Your website is a reflection on all of your hard work, so naturally you want it to look its best. Not only does it reflect you and your product, but your site must be indicative of who you are as a company as well. If your budget allows for a UX/UI designer, having a custom made site will be of great value. But for a growing business with limited resources, Wix is a great wallet-friendly option. Easy to use and offering varying plans, Wix will give you a professional looking site that will be sure to make a great impression.

Analytics That Track Your Traffic

When your company is first starting out, you want as much information as you can get - how much traffic your site is getting, where it’s coming from and who’s looking. It may surprise you to see that an unexpected source is bringing in traffic. Likewise, what you think is working in terms of your SEO will be put to the test with Google Analytics or a tool similar to it. Any data you can get is relevant, and could influence the way that you proceed with your marketing plan. Google Analytics is referred to as a “freemium” service, meaning there are many features accessible to your business for free, with premium options offered at a paid rate. Working with Adwords and e-commerce reporting, this service breaks down your site’s hits based on geographical location, time and referrals.

Follow and Manage Your Keywords

It is important to not only keep tabs on your traffic, but to also be updated on your SEO efficacy. When it comes to your online presence, you must monitor which keywords are working and which are not. Buzzsumo is a great tool, as it allows you to view the most powerful combinations of search terms, as well as monitor your competitors’ searchterms. From simply searching your keywords in this tool, you can find new winning combinations on the same topic. Increase your SEO power by doubling up on dominant terminology.

Social Media Pages

Social media is king nowadays. Consumers want what they want now, and they want it easily. With social media accounts backing your brand, it gives your customers instant access to all of your latest news and the ability to contact you ASAP. Depending on the size of your company, social media might not be at the top of your priority list. However, at the very least it is advisable to establish and check in on the pages twice a week. Checking in won’t be very time-consuming and it has potential to give you great feedback from your user base. Should this be something your company has the time to manage, check out platforms like Hootsuite and Buffer, which help you schedule and analyze your posts.

Organization

Keeping your company organized and your communication open means that you will be well prepared to handle any curve balls thrown your way. And believe me, your small business will see many of these. When they hit, you’ll be so grateful to have a system in place. Asana does wonders for making sure you stay on top of your tasks, as it lets you assign due dates, create projects, send a task to a colleague, include attachments and much more. Asana is a great tool for time management and will really benefit you in terms of your productivity. Additionally, it’s impossible to stay organized if your communication is not streamlined. Slack is great for this. Not only a messaging app, it also allows you to archive messages, search chats, send attachments - and it’s also super fun.

With these tools at your disposal, you will be in a great position to steer your business towards success. Remember that each business is unique and has its own needs, so act according to your business’s specific requirements.

About the Author:

Moshe Maeir  is the CEO of Fone.Do, which was founded in 2014 after he realized that even though massive advances have been made with the internet, phone systems have remained somewhat stagnant. A serial telecom entrepreneur and Fone.Do’s resident troublemaker, Moshe has previously co-founded/partnered in 6 other telecom companies. Follow and tweet him @fone_do

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