5 Hot Picks for Small Business Productivity Software

Tools to Help You Stay In Business

12:29 05 April 2013

When you operate a small or a home-based business you usually have to wear many hats and perform the duties of many people. Knowing how to use your time and resources wisely can make all the difference in the world. Many businesses fail because of a lack of organization and the inability to work efficiently. For that reason many tasks are left undone or incomplete, or they are done in a manner that is totally inefficient. It doesn’t have to be that way.

One of the first things I had to learn when I first started to work from home was that I couldn’t do it all. So I quickly learned how to find and take advantage of resources that would make my job easier and make me more productive. This is something that I continue to do today. There are tons of business software programs available to you that can make you more productive and efficient. Here is the top five business software programs that you need to have for your business:

 

• Accounting Software – Keeping track of your finances should always be one of your top priorities. Having a good accounting software application to manage things like account receivables, online banking, invoices and taxes can mean the difference between you staying in business or not! Do not take this lightly.

• Email Marketing – In today’s highly competitive business world, email marking has proven to be the best marketing tool for online businesses. Products like iContact and Constant Contact allow you to develop a connection with your customer base that you can follow-up with automatically. 

• Social Network Management – Applications like HootSuite make managing multiple social network accounts a snap. You can type one message and send it to all your sites at once, and you can also schedule messages and updates to be sent out automatically at preset times and intervals.

• Online Payments – Payment portals like PayPal allow you to easily accept credit card payments online.

• Blogging Platforms – Blogs help to generate tons of traffic for sites daily. If you’re not blogging you’re missing out on lots of free traffic.