Here is my start-up list of the stuff you just have to have for a new business, that you might not be aware of, if you haven’t been to any events yet. Feel free to copy and paste, share and pass on.
This is how you would be best served for emails. Sign up an account with the company name and make sure you contact your website developer to make your www.frankswindows.co.uk set up with yourname@frankswindows.co.uk but run through your Gmail account. You can actually run all of your business emails from your own Gmail account, but still send as yourname@frankswindows.co.uk (or accounts, sales or info e,c,t)
https://www.google.co.uk/business/
When you search on-line, your business listing can be one of the top three in the searches with this free to use tool. This is the red maps pin on Google searches. Claim your free business listing and submit your details and Google will send you a post card with a pin number to verify your business within 7-10 days and your business will start to show up in the geographical area of your business. Tie this up with Google Analytics’ and you are on a winner, even with a poor website! Check out a specific blog post about Google Places for Business.
Why store your documents, posters, articles and work on a PC, only to get to the office (or a customers) and want the document. Sign up for DropBox and use the cloud hosted data option. You can even set it up on more than one PC, as if it was a hard drive on the machine! It’s password protected and you can share folders with other DropBox users.
https://www.linkedin.com (interests, companies, then create a company page)
Are you using LinkedIn personally? If you are in business or have a career then you need to be. You can also add a business to LinkedIn and share your findings, promote your activity and gain followers. You can then add a LinkedIn button to your website.
You just have to be on Twitter! – You can then add a Twitter button to your website. If you are not sure about Twitter, contact me for support or find one of your local half day Twitter courses.
https://www.facebook.com/business (create page option)
People are on Facebook, but people can then add a page to Facebook. Do not sign up for a new account on Facebook as the business. Make a lovely banner for the business page using Canva above. This is working very well for many businesses. Many new businesses don’t even have a website, but have plenty of work.
What if you could load up all of your Tweets for a month! – I am writing this blog today, but the Tweet will go out with a link when I am on holiday next week – to keep the traffic up on my Twitter account. I will also Tweet it again in a month or so, encase anyone missed it. You can add images to delayed Tweets, but you can’t re-Tweet stuff with it. You can also administer more than one Twitter account so this is great for managing personal and business accounts in one place.
Rule based outcomes from tools. When I share an image on Instagram, it also posts it on Twitter (as an image), saving me having to remember to put out for my Twitter followers. It also switches on the lights behind my TV at home, after sunset, and turns them off at mid-night. You can do so much more with this. Maybe, every time you get an order on your website, a horn sounds in the warehouse! Sign up for a free account and see how it can help your business.
A free tool for making Facebook banners, posters, flyers and small banners for websites and social media. Use the template size, for the right file and image size to suit the project you are working on. Simple and easy to use for sure.