The most common tool you are going to see on these types of lists is ChatGPT, the new AI software that was launched on the internet, and which other companies are scrambling to copy (including Google, who messed it up so much they lost 9.5% of their share price). Sadly, since the software has been shown to be news-article driven rather than actual research-driven, it is useless for businesses outside of the entertainment industry. It has already started threatening people and may have been hacked. If you want genuine business tools, you need to focus on bigger companies and tools that would take decades to die off. Here are just a few of them.
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1 – Web Paranoid
Find out which companies are scams and which are the real deal. It seems like it has simple value because it helps stop you from being scammed, but Web Paranoid goes far deeper than that. Secretly, it is also a great market research tool. Specifically, it shows you which of your competitors are real and which are scammers. The tool helps you test the integrity of your competitors so you can see where they are being falsely flagged and where they are lacking.
2 – WordPress and Bluehost or GoDaddy
Grab a WordPress website. You may figure you want a Shopify or other type of website, but in the end, you will go with WordPress because it is the most customizable, stable, safe and scalable. As for hosts, you should use a managed host from a big company like BlueHost or GoDaddy. The Bluehost service is clinical but secure. The GoDaddy service has been hacked a few times, but it has more tools for webmasters.
3 – YouTube
Forget marketing on the platform unless you are paying. Instead, use it as your free video hosting service. You can create private videos if you want, and limit who sees them. Or, you can publish them how you wish and embed them in all the websites you wish.
4 – Google Drive or Dropbox
Getting content from a Smartphone to a laptop to a tablet, to a PC to your app and so forth is annoying and frustrating…unless you have Google Drive or Dropbox. You can also file things online and share them with other team members or with members of the public. Outside of µTorrent or BitTorrent, they are the best ways of sharing content with a minimal amount of fuss.
5 – HootSuite or Buffer
Use them for their free scheduling services. You can set up a bunch of accounts and use each one to schedule-post to single accounts for free. Or you can pay for them, but don’t bother paying until your social media is starting to convert customers and pay its own way. One day, maybe the social media networks will incorporate these tools into their systems, but until they do, then Hootsuite and Buffer are your best options.
6 – MailChimp or Constant Contact
You don’t need an email list, newsletter, email updater, etc. However, if you want a good one, try MailChimp or Constant Contact. They are good because they help you double-opt in your clients. This allows you to build clean email lists so that the servers sending out your messages do not get blacklisted. This method of operating helps to ensure people actually receive your emails and helps to ensure their junk filters don’t vacuum up your emails when your recipients receive them.
7 – Google Analytics and Google Search Console
As analytics tools they are “Meh” but they have the redeeming feature of telling you when something is wrong with your website. You don’t need to keep running scans or any of that nonsense. If your website template starts conflicting with browsers, then these tools will tell you, and they will tell you what’s wrong. For those reasons alone, these tools beat out most other analytics and search tools on the Internet. And, you actually get these for free.
8 – Canva
There are some tools that are so good, they almost seem overly simple and easy. The tool doesn’t seem like very much when you use it, but it is so cleverly crafted that it makes graphic design easy for any lay-untrained person to use. It can help you create everything from label designs to social media thumbnails. It is truly a well-built piece of software.
