Business Tools

Small businesses need access to cost effective tools to start, grow and be more productive in their businesses. The challenge many business owners face is where to go for the right tools and what to pay. We have solved that problem by providing a series of tools that not only save time but also money.

We are always researching, trying out and integrating new and emerging productivity tools, geared to meet the needs of your company to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

We NEVER post tools that we haven’t utilized or tinkered with.

Click on the links from this page (so we can make a few dollars for referring the business) and check back often, for an updated list.

Resources

Outsourcing– Did you know that there are awesome international vendors that are willing to bid for your Graphic Design and Virtual Assistant Business? It has allowed us to focus on growing our business by hiring a virtual team to focus on jobs that burns our time, with no result. We use both Elance and Odesk, with a slight preference for Elance. If you join either (or both) services by clicking on my link, email me and I will give you my full vendor list.

Payment Portals – Need to Invoice and Collect Payments for your Products and Services? No need to pay for an expensive merchant credit card service. Use these FREE Online Services.

Paypal

We use paypal within our website ecommerce sites to sell books, Paypal has really easy intergration buttons to sell and collect payment on Facebook, Blogs and Websites.  Paypal even has easy to integrate Donation solution for Non Profits.

  

 

Google Checkout

123 Target Marketing emails invoices through Google, clients are able to easily pay the invoices with a debit card, credit card or checking account.  Collected payment is then transferred into a business account within 3 days.

 

 

Website Hosting

BlueHost

After researching 5 or 6 of the top webhosting companies, we picked Blue Host. Five years, and 25 domains later, we love the 24 hour customer service and the 1 click script installs for WordPress; unlimited E-mail Accounts and ability to easily Manage and Edit your websites.  PS- There is also a $50 Free Yahoo and Google Ad Credits (we will show you how to make the most of your Ad Credits and drive targeted traffic to your Business!)

  

Go Daddy

At Go Daddy, you can register a domain for up to 70% less than other registrars AND get hosting, an easy-to-use site-builder, personalized email account, blog/podcast tool, photo album and more – all absolutely FREE.We personally prefer Bluehost, but so many of our clients use and love GoDaddy, that we had to add it to the list.

  

Financial Management – Although we are a huge fan of Quickbooks, there are certainly other online based solutions for small business accounting.  

 Quickbooks

Okay, so Quickbooks is awesome, but now Quickbooks is online. Small Business Accounting Made Easy, $9.95 a month.

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ZoHo Invoice

When just getting started, FREE is the right price! Although we haven’t tried ZoHo personally, many of our clients LOVE it!  ZoHo Invoice offers Online Invoicing, Time Tracking & Billing Software. Starting from Free to and going up to $35.00 a month.

 Productivity Tools

Zoho CRM

 CRM is Customer Relationship Management; the term refers to a systematic approach to handling customer relationships.   123 Target Marketing was forced to research a CRM system to customer information online.  The system is our best find to date.  Not only has it helped us to centralize customer interaction, improve customer support and satisfaction but the Zoho CRM

Google

We use Google for everything. Honestly, why is anyone still using AOL, Hotmail or Yahoo!  Google is always adding new features, most are FREE, FREE….FREE! Here’s just a small snap shot of the tools we use on a regular basis.

  

 

Google Voice  Get a custom ‘followme’ number that will call you at home, work or on your cell phone.  Online voicemail that texts transcribes messages to your cell phone.   The messages are searchable within gmail.  It’s not about replacing your phone, its more about allowing your existing phone to work better. We love it!

 

 

Gmail. 7 GB of storage and far less Spam.  Gmail is email that is intuitive, effient, and useful. Email account that connects with your Google Voice number to make FREE domestic calls through your computer- All you need is a headset!

Google Docs – Create and share your work online and access your documents from anywhere. Manage documents, spreadsheets, presentations and surveys.  Upload your most important files and access them anywhere you have access to a computer.  Also, invite others to see the document to collaborate on editing the document.

 

Marketing/Social Media Tools

Mailchimp  

For email marketing we’ve used Aweber and Constant Contact, but Mailchimp’s FREE Email Marketing tool is not only cost effective!  But also has Social Media integration tools.  Email campaign tracking, unlimited subscriber lists and HTML email designs for that Customized look.  Our favorite feature, MailChimp integrates with Google Analytics to see instant ROI results for every email campaign you send.

Yelp

Yelp is awesome for small business by helping us leverage the power of social media and manage our online reputations. Put simply before customers visit your business they want to know what other people are saying about their experience.

 

 

Eventbrite

Publish an event and sell tickets to a show or workshop.  Then promote the event using social media to raise awareness and increase attendance.  Track attendees through charts and graphs.  Eventbriteintergrates with Google Analytics and Mail Chimp. 

 

 Createspace

CreateSpace provides free tools to help you self-publish and distribute your books, DVDs, CDs, video downloads and MP3s on-demand on Amazon.com 

 

 

Hootsuite

So you have your Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts set up.  Are you trying to figure out how to manage updating them on a regular basis?  Hootsuite is the answer – and its FREE.  Hootsuite features a Social Media Dashboard to manage multiple Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Foursquare, Ping.fm and WordPress Profiles, a Monitor Keyword feature, Schedule messages and a new feature ….Monitor Website statistics through Google analytics!

Free Conference Call

I still can’t believe this service is FREE! Perfect solution to arrange conference calls. Your teleconferencing line is available to you 24/7 and there is no need to schedule or make reservations. Each conference call account accommodates 96 callers on an unlimited number of 6 hour free conference calls, and you can even record the call.