In the last couple of weeks, I've been testing and highlighting some of the best online business tools out there. First, I looked at the kinds of tools you need to form a new venture. Then I wrote about brilliant people-management tools. Up this week: simple apps for keeping your operations under control.
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1. Expensify
The ability to expense business purchases can be a lifesaver for any fledgling entrepreneur--as long as you have a system to track them carefully. Expensify lets you import a credit card statement and track expenses, create reports for expenses by category, and upload business receipts. You can link a business lunch to specific people for accounting purposes. A mobile app for every major platform lets you scan receipts and add the data (vendor, amount, etc.) automatically. The service is free for 10 receipts per month or about 20 cents for each additional scan.
2. SohoOS
Business-management software like SAP and Oracle can zap your profits quickly. SohoOS offers similar tools for managing inventory, creating invoices, and customer-relationship management for a much more affordable price. The site is geared for keeping a start-up organized: You can create a marketing plan, store documents online, and track your sales leads. The free version includes many of the business-management features, but a paid version for about $10 per month adds more templates and storage.
3. Outright.com
I'm a big fan of Mint.com, because it forces me to get organized with my personal finances. Outright.com is a similar service but is more business-focused. You can import bank records and credit card transactions, then generate reports that show profit and loss. The key benefit is an ongoing estimate of how much tax you might owe at the end of your fiscal year.
4. Zoho Site24x7
Making sure your website is up and running is critical. I like this simple service from Zoho that tracks not just whether the site is up or down but also how it is performing when a boatload of customers suddenly stop for a visit. Site24x7 can also monitor security and even your email server, and the reports are designed so that you can scan them visually in a few seconds.
5. Zoho Bug Tracker
Another tool from Zoho, Bug Tracker lets your developers track website bugs, share files with one another, and link to version control systems to make sure you've identified problems and prioritized them accordingly. The service costs about $40 per month to manage 20 projects, but only the $60 and $80 plans include version control.
6. GroSocial
GroSocial is designed to help you grow your followers on Twitter. The basic idea is that you select your primary audience (say, those in real estate), and the service looks for like-minded contacts and follows them. This process takes time, but when I tested GroSocial, I noticed a jump of several hundred followers over a month period. You can also use the service, which costs about $20 per month, to grow your Facebook legions, create custom pages, and see reports.
7. PressKing
PressKing is a unique service in that it lets you distribute a press release to a network of about 200,000 contacts. The service also distributes press releases to social network contacts and via email. Prices start at about $50 for distributing a press release to about 500 journalists and bloggers.
Follow John on Twitter @jmbrandonbb
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