Introduction

Stay ahead of the curve and propel your business forward with these 20+ Must-Have FREE business tools and resources. I’ve reviewed and currently use all of the tools and resources listed below. I can guarantee that these will help your business look more professional, and ease your workload.

PS: All links open in a new tab!

1. 500 Free Business Plan Templates

I highly recommend that you create a business plan as soon as possible to create a visual roadmap for your business. View 10 Reasons why you need a business plan in 2023 and 500 FREE business plan templates to help get you started!

2. Create Your Free Social Media Business Page and Register Your Business with Google

I can’t stress how important and beneficial it is to create a business (or professional) page on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. By doing this, you allow your customers to reach your business easier and get to know your business better through different avenues. Actively using these platforms and the business tools and resources within these platforms such as prescheduling content, setting automated replies, and automated answers will help ease your workload and act as free advertising if done correctly. (View #3 below for more information!)

By registering your business with Google and setting up a Google Business Profile, you make it easier for your business to reach more customers! When someone searches for your business, your Business Profile will show up on the right side of Google with your website, reviews, and all of the details that you add to your Business Profile for customers to view.

3. Use Meta Business Suite and Facebook Professional Dashboard for Facebook and Instagram for Free!

The Meta Business Suite and Facebook Professional Dashboard are two free and amazing resources that I highly recommend you take advantage of! Below are details about what business tools and resources they provide and what they do that can help benefit your business.

• Meta Business Suite allows you to set up Ads for your Facebook and Instagram Business Pages and save time by creating instant reply messages, away messages, and auto-response messages to reoccurring questions in your inbox. You can plan out, preschedule, and view months’ worth of posts in advance as well as view how many people your stories and posts have reached. I highly recommend that you take advantage of the business tools and resources available on Meta Business Suite!

• Facebook Professional Dashboard allows you to manage your Facebook Business or Professional page in depth. Using this dashboard you can view an overview of your page’s success, manage who helps moderate your page, set up an auto-moderator to keep your comments clean for brand security, set up page engagement tools such as a button that links to your Facebook group or website, create events, and much more.

4. Create a Landing Page, Blog, or Website

If you’re looking to create a landing page, blog, or website for free, I highly recommend that you start off with WordPress. After dealing with horrible web hosts and avoiding WordPress for 5 years, I finally decided to give it a try and I seriously regret not starting off with WordPress. I decided not to start off with WordPress at the beginning of my business and blogging journey mostly because I didn’t understand it and I didn’t do the research to learn it. Transferring all of my content over to WordPress caused my content to reset on Google search pages because of all of the URL changes I had to make.

I highly recommend WordPress because it gives you more freedom when it comes to designing your website and allows you to add SEO-friendly themes, plugins, elements, and blocks. WordPress also has an active and amazing community forum that you can go to for technical support, questions, or concerns.

I do want to note that if you are creating a free website, your website will come with some limitations unless you pay for a premium theme. Your website will also have a WordPress-branded banner at the top. After doing tons of research, I decided to go with the GeneratedPress WordPress theme because it was ranked to be one of the fastest-loading WordPress themes by Tony Teaches Tech. If you would like to use this theme, view the following two youtube playlists on how to install and design the theme step by step.

1. Playlist by Tony Teaches Tech
2. Playlist by Portable Entrepreneur

4.1 Choosing Your Host for Your Landing Page, Blog, or Website

• If you want absolutely free hosting with some limitations, you’ll want to follow this guide here for some great business tools and resources.
• I decided to take the easier route and picked SiteGround to host my website because it was affordable and perfect for my budget. You can use my referral link to check out their prices and get 3 months free here. 🙂

4.2 Purchasing Your Domain Name URL or Continue Using Your Free Default Website URL

• I highly recommend that you upgrade your URL to a customized URL for your business to look more professional. You can purchase your domain through the host that you choose to use or you can purchase your domain through the website cheapdomain.com for only $10 and connect it to your hosting platform. Each hosting platform usually has directions on how to connect your domain listed in their support section or FAQ.

4.3 Free Policy and Conditions Generator

• Every website needs a Privacy Policy, Terms and Conditions, Cookies Consent, and Disclaimers Notice. If you plan on selling things on your website, you’ll also want a Returns and Refunds Policy. By using this generator you protect yourself against potential fines and help your website visitors better understand your website.

4.4 Get Design Inspiration

• Dribbble.com is an amazing website that you can use to get inspiration for your website and business! I love Dribbble because you can meet other creators and get amazing ideas!

If you’re new to my blog, I also offer website design & SEO services!

5. Helpful AI Tools

1. Grammarly – Grammarly is the number one AI plugin that I use for all of my content. Grammarly is an amazing writing assistant and catches any errors I may have missed and also suggests ways to rephrase my sentences.
2. Simplified – An easy-to-use all-in-one app for modern marketing. Design, collaborate, and scale. Simplified allows you to generate copy for content with AI (blogs, bio, descriptions, social posts, etc). Design graphics, create videos, and schedule social media posts ahead of time. Simplified offers a free version with limitations and a paid version with great bonuses!
3. QuillBot – QuillBot AI helps writers when they’re stuck and need a little bit of help. QuillBot checks grammar and plagiarism. QuillBot can also summarize content for you and generate citations.
4. Copy.ai – Free with limitations, Copy.ai helps you write better marketing copy and content with the help of AI. With Copy.ai, you can write blogs 10x faster, write higher converting posts, and write more engaging emails.

6. Tools for Better Thinking

• Untools.co is an amazing website designed to help you think. Untools.co consists of a collection of thinking tools and frameworks to help you solve problems, make decisions, and understand systems better.

7. Canva

Canva is one of my favorite tools when it comes to creating content. I use Canva to create all of my thumbnails, banners, custom posts, and stories. Canva also has a variety of other options such as designing logos, creating documents, flyers, cards, shirts, custom templates, and much more! You can use Canva for free with limitations or pay for Canva PRO. Use my affiliate link. Canva has tons of business tools and resources that you can use!

8. Royalty-Free Photos

Whenever I need photos for my website, I use Pexels.com! Pexels offers a large variety of FREE amazing high-quality photos taken by other artists and creatives. Pexels also gives you the option to tip artists and creatives if you wish! Other Royalty-free photo websites exist but Pexels has been the best that I’ve come across because of its large variety of photos.

9. Easily Remove Objects From Your Photos

1. Remove Objects From Your Photos
2. Remove The Background From Your Photo

10. Automatically Capitalize Your Titles

This title tool is one of my favorite tools on this business tools and resources list! Save time using this tool by letting it automatically capitalize your titles for you! I love this tool because it can also make all-caps letters into lowercase letters or make lowercase letters into uppercase letters. I use this tool every time I blog!

11. DropBox

DropBox is an easy file hosting service that you can use for free with limitations or pay for extra storage. I use DropBox to collect images and documents from website design clients. DropBox allows you to create multiple files and lock them so that only specific people can view the files inside.

12. Mailchimp

Mailchimp allows you to collect emails and build an email list. This is an amazing tool if you would like to send discounts and special offers through email. I highly recommend using Mailchimp to keep in contact with your customers.

13. Jotform

With Jotform’s 150+ integrations, you can automatically send form submissions to email marketing services, project management boards, CRMs, cloud storage apps, and more. Easily collect online payments through your form! You can get paid with Jotform whether you’re selling a product, taking a fee, or gathering donations. Jotform is free but some limitations do apply to some services. Jotform has many business tools and resources as well!

14. Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing

If you’re planning to sell any type of content or guides in book form whether it is digital or paperback, you’ll want to use Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing to reach a wider audience that’s looking to buy. Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing allows you to self-publish your book and reach millions of readers on Amazon.

15. Linktr.ee

I absolutely love Linktr.ee because it allows you to share everything you create, curate, and sell online all from the one link in your bio. Linktr.ee also has many business tools and resources that you can use to get your customers to pages that you need them to see!

16. Figma

Figma allows you to bring your ideas to life! With Figma, you’re able to collaborate and design prototypes in real time for your business. Figma is free and also offers paid plans for additional services.

17. Witeboard

If you need to draw an idea up real fast and share it, Witeboard allows you to do it quickly and share it easily! I love Witeboard because it’s mobile and desktop friendly! I had to add this to the list of free business tools and resources!

18. PLR.me

PLR offers Done-For-You Content that you can brand as your own. PLR has ready-to-sell private label coaching courses, articles, products, worksheets, and content.

19. WorkFlowy

If you have trouble staying organized, you’ll love WorkFlowy! I use Workflowy whenever i’m working on big projects and it’s a great and easy way to stay organized online. The WorkFlowy platform is super easy to use and very simple.

20. Thumbs Up

If you plan to create a YouTube channel for your business, Thumbs Up is definitely a website you’ll want to bookmark. This website allows you to see how your video thumbnails will look on all devices and in all sections of YouTube. I highly recommend Thumbs Up for all video creators!

21. unDraw.co

Open-source illustrations with customizable designs for any idea you can imagine and create! I love unDraw because it is consistently updated with beautiful illustrations and has an open-source license! Other websites similar to this one:

1. DrawKit
2. Humaaans
3. Blush

22. ConvertKit

Short on time? ConvertKit helps your business stand out with beautiful landing pages, sign-up forms, and link pages. Grow and monetize your audience with ease! You can also automate your business, market, and sell your digital products and subscriptions with ConvertKits‘ intuitive email editor and sales funnels. Get your free trial!