Do you run an online business? If so, you should be constantly looking out for the best online apps that can help you reach your company goals, since the risk of failure is high. Research shows that 90 percent of online businesses fail within the first four months, and if you want to beat the odds you need to utilize the best tools to help you succeed.

Here are some internet tools you can use to help you stay organized and productive and boost your online business.

1. Rescue Time

Are you worried that you’re spending more time on social media than you do researching your market and getting work done? While procrastinating at a regular office job is one thing, spending too much time on frivolous websites when you’re trying to grow a business is another. Download Rescue Time to your desktop to find out exactly how much of your day you waste on time-sucking websites.

Rescue Time will deliver you regular reports that provide you with a breakdown of how you spend your time online and will even include highlights of some of things you achieved today, such as how many emails you answered. It will also give you the option to block distracting websites to help you stay focused. Best of all? You can turn off Rescue Time when you’re not working and just feel like browsing some fun sites, and then turn it back on again when you’re ready.

2. Joinesty

If you run a small business, you likely have several online accounts set up to manage your finances, orders and social media and marketing tools, all of which require you to enter passwords. Joinesty is an online security platform that can save and manage all of these passwords for you, so you’ll never have to waste time entering them again. It also makes it much easier for you to use multiple complex passwords for each of your accounts to help boost their security, a must for small business owners who need to be doing everything they can to protect their assets online.

3. GTMetrix

Having a great website is one of the most important parts of running a successful online business. If your website takes a while to load, consumers will move on from it faster than it takes to type in the URL. According to BBC News, online shoppers are only willing to wait three seconds for a website to load before they give up on it.

“With consumers used to lightning-fast speeds through the use of tools such as Google search, expectations are higher than ever, meaning even the slightest glitch or delay can leave them feeling disgruntled,” John Rakowski, director of technology strategy at AppDynamics, a performance monitoring firm, told BBC News.

GTMetrix offers you a solution by providing you with an index of how quickly your site loads, and and analysis of which aspects of it are causing it to slow down. This could be the difference between attracting new customers and losing them before they even get a chance to spend time on your site.

4. Single Grain

What is your current marketing strategy for your online business? Coming up with a smart, successful marketing plan can take time and energy you don’t have when you’re trying to grow your business, which is why you shouldn’t have to do it alone. A digital marketing agency like Single Grain can help you do everything from boosting your search engine rankings to creating a strong Facebook advertising campaign.

5. Google Mobile-Friendly Test

It’s not enough to have a website that looks great on a laptop or desktop, you need one that loads perfectly on mobile as well. The average American spends 5 hours a day on their mobile devices, which is why having a mobile-friendly website is so important. The Google Mobile-Friendly Test will analyze your online store and quickly tell you whether or not your site will work well on mobile.

6. Survey Monkey

Trying to get inside the minds of your customers? Survey Monkey is a tool that lets you create surveys to discover what your customers want from your product and your business. For example, if you’re considering releasing a new product and you’re not sure which feature is most important to your customers, you can send out a survey on social media or through email to find out.

7. Google Alerts

You always need to stay on top of the online reputation of your business, and signing up for Google Alerts is one of the easiest ways to do so. All you need to do is enter your brand name into the alert field, and Google will notify you every time it is mentioned online. This way, if a blogger writes a negative review of one of your products, you may be able to reach out to them and get the issue resolved before their negative comments spread.

8. Hootsuite

Posting multiple times a day to social media is a great way to stay engaged with your customers, but it’s also extremely time consuming. Hootsuite allows you to schedule your social media posts ahead of time, and then measure their performance. This can help you learn how often you should be posting, what times of day lead to the most post views, and what types of content your audience is most interested in, all while saving you time.

Running an online business isn’t a traditional 9-to-5 job, it takes an enhanced level of commitment and hardwork in order to succeed. With the help of these tools and a smart business plan, you may find yourself joining the ranks of online entrepreneurs who grow a small company into a major brand.

Categories: Earn Money Online