Guide to web tools for entrepreneurs

Every week for the past three years, The Ark Foundation has been bringing you a new web tool that makes life easier for entrepreneurs. Below is a list of the 150 tools published to date, classified into four main categories (marketing, management, visual communication and other tools), themselves divided into sub-categories. It is also available as a guide, which can be ordered here.

These tools, often free and developed all over the world, allow you to manage all your social networks in one place, monitor your online reputation, manage your tasks and notes, send newsletters, create dynamic presentations or an online business plan, etc...

 

MARKETING TOOLS

Social networking

• Addthis. com lets you integrate sharing buttons into your website. Free basic version
• Sysomos is a tool that manages and automates network publications and analyzes their performance. Price according to requested service
• Buffer is the easiest way to publish to social networks by scheduling posts. Free basic version
• Followerwonk can analyze your Twitter presence. Free basic version
• Hootsuite is a dashboard for managing social networks. Free basic version
• Sociallymap is a tool for automating publication on social networks. Free basic version
• Alternion lets you manage all your social networks and e-mail accounts on a single page. Free
• Wisetamp lets you personalize your electronic signatures with redirection links to social networks.
• Sproutsocial is a social media tracking software. Free basic version
• Tweepsmap is a tool for mapping your Twitter followers by country, state/province and city. Like Hootsuite, it features a calendar for scheduling tweets. From $5 to $99/month
• Wisetamp integrates your company logo and redirects to social networks into your electronic signature. Free basic version

 

Customer relations

• Tikicheck enables you to measure and manage customer satisfaction. Price according to requested service.
• Brand24 lets you see what people are saying about you on the web, and increase your customers' satisfaction. Free basic version
• Zoho CRM is a customer relationship management tool. 15-day free trial
• synthesio generates e-reputation statistics for your organization and manages customer relations on social networks.
• Mention is a media monitoring tool that uses keywords to find out what people are saying about you on the web. From 29€/month
• Pipedrive is ideal for managing your prospect lists and sales efforts. The interface is very easy to use and instinctive. Price: 12euros/month
• Agendize helps you optimize your organization and customer relations. Free trial version
• MyFeelBack is a real-time customer feedback analysis tool. Free basic version
• AgencyAnalytics brings together all the SEO functions your business needs in a single interface. 49/month

 

Website

• Woorank is a tool for analyzing and optimizing your site. Free trial
• LaunchRock lets you create a launch page for your company or product. Free version
• Google Adwords allows you to increase the visibility of your company/product. Cost per click
• HockeyApp lets you analyze and repair bugs in your prototypes, websites or applications.
• Google Analytics is a tool for measuring website traffic. Free version
• Panabee uses keywords to search for available domain names for your company. Free basic version
• LinksSpy lets you find the most effective backlinks for your web positioning. 49 per month
• Piwik is a real-time web analysis tool that provides the information you need about your site's visitors.
• DareBoost lets you analyze the performance of your website and those of your competitors. 5 free tests per month
• Pingdom measures the speed and efficiency of your website. Free basic version

 

E-mailing

• Sendwithus lets you send mailings and newsletters, and analyze their success. Free basic version
• Simplemail is a tool that lets you create newsletters and measure the performance of your e-mailing campaigns. Free up to 1000 subscribers
• Mailjet is a simple solution for creating, sending and optimizing your mailing. Free basic version
• CleverReach lets you launch e-mailing and newsletter campaigns. Free basic version
• Campaign Monitor is an e-mailing design and sending tool. Basic version $9/month

 

Other

• SMSfactor sends your marketing campaigns directly by SMS. 70€ for 1000 SMS
• Hubspot combines all the tools you need for digital marketing in a single package: CMS with integrated blog publishing, emailing and analytics tools, etc. Free basic version
• Stickeryeti prints your company logo on stickers, T-shirts, wall/floor stickers, etc. CHF 8.00 for 50 stickers
• KnowEm finds out which domain names are available and helps secure your brand. Free basic version
• AppAnnie.com analyzes the performance of mobile apps. Free version
• Moo is a platform for creating and ordering business cards, stickers and flyers online. Moo stands out for its simplicity and professionalism. Price: 250 euros / 1000 cards
• Eventbrite 's easy-to-use solution lets you create and manage your event, and then promote it to your target audience. Free
• Nameboy lets you quickly search for free domain names.
• Naminum proposes domain names, companies and products based on keywords.
• Alerti collects all web information on your brand and your competitors, enabling you to analyze the results and communicate effectively with your communities. 19/month for the pro version
• Power BI lets you produce comprehensive analysis reports from your marketing data. Free basic version

 

MANAGEMENT TOOLS

Collaborative communication

• Evernote replaces your post-it notes and shares your ideas with your colleagues. Free basic version
• Mindmeister lets you create mind maps online and share them with colleagues. Free basic version
• Stride offers text messaging as well as video and audio conferencing. Free basic version
• Hightail lets you share files of any size and type. Free basic version
• Any.do is a streamlined task manager that makes it easy for you and your team to organize and track common tasks.
• Yammer is a corporate social network enabling employees to exchange ideas and documents. Free basic version
• Wunderlist is a to-do list tool that makes it easy to share your TODOs. Ergonomic and easy to use. Free basic version
• Lino is a virtual wall that lets you pin and share images, videos and files. Free
• Todoist is a tool for creating and sharing to-do lists, accessible on all your mobile devices. Free basic version
• Azendoo is a task management application specially designed to energize teamwork and joint projects.
• Lino pins your photos, hyperlinks, videos and documents to a virtual wall that you can share with your colleagues. Free basic version
• Concept Board uses whiteboards to facilitate coordination and cooperation for collaborative corporate projects.
• GoToMeeting is a fast online meeting tool with a host of features to make your meetings run smoothly. Free trial version
• Flowdock lets employees send each other private or group messages, and share folders. Free basic version
• Supermood lets you measure your employees' quality of life at work. Free test version

 

Project management

• Slack is a collaborative communication platform and project management software. Free basic version
• Trello is a task manager that lets you share lists with colleagues. Free basic version
• Wrike lets you plan and monitor the progress of joint projects. Free basic version
• Teamgantt is a collaborative project management software. 30-day free trial
• Tom'sPlanner can import Excel and MS Project files, making it the ideal starting point for virtually any project. The platform is based on an online Gantt chart system. Free basic version
• Board Management Systems makes it easy to manage projects, track contracts and reminders automatically, and generate minutes automatically.
• Asana offers a host of features that make it easy to track and manage projects. Free basic version
• MindManager is an advanced Mind map design tool. Free basic version

 

Business plan

• Enloop can help you design your business plan and share it with users for feedback. Free basic version
• Pimentomap is a tool for evaluating the chances of success of your business plan. Free version
• LeanStack lets you quickly create your business plan. Free basic version

 

VISUAL COMMUNICATION TOOLS

Website

• Froont lets you create responsive design web templates. Free basic version
• Strikingly is a web platform for creating websites. Free version
• Balsamiq helps you design your website's interface. 30-day free trial
• Weebly is a website creation solution. Free basic version
• Squarespace is a website creation and editing tool with an elegant, streamlined design. From $12-$18 per month
• Instapage makes it easy to create web pages with customizable templates. Free for the first 15 days
• Tiramisu is a tool for creating and editing websites. Creative version €8 per month
• Cacoo lets you create diagrams and sitemaps quickly and easily. 4.95/month

 

Video

• Animoto is a tool for creating personalized videos (professional or personal).
• Wistia is a professional video hosting platform. Free basic version
• Pitchy is a platform that lets you quickly create a professional video using customizable templates. From €8 per month
• Camtasia lets you make high-quality videos online. Free test version
• Moovly is a simple, intuitive tool for creating animated videos. Free basic version
• Fyuse produces space photos and films from different angles.

 

Presentation

• PowToon lets you create animated presentations in just a few minutes. Free basic version
• Haiku Deck makes it easy to create presentations on the iPad. Free version
• Canva is a graphics tool for creating presentations, posters and visual content for social networks. There's also an application for IPad. Free basic version

 

Graphics

• Easel. ly makes it easy to create infographics. Free version
• Piktochart lets you create infographics. Free basic version
• Roambi makes it easy to visualize and analyze your data and reports. Free basic version
• Infogram makes it easy to create meaningful graphs and infographics from your data. Free basic version

 

OTHER TOOLS

Accounting

• Expensify makes it easy to manage your invoices. Free basic version
• Factomos makes it easy to create estimates and invoices. From €5 per month
• Sush.io 's cloud-based dashboard lets you keep track of your expenses. Free trial
• EZYcount is a web-based accounting solution for freelancers and small businesses. 15-day free trial
• Xero is an online accounting and bookkeeping software and also offers satisfaction survey templates.20/month
• GnuCash is a simple, intuitive way to manage your accounting. Free

 

Document management

• OneNote is a tool for capturing, storing and sharing your notes. Free version
• Google Drive lets you store, share and synchronize your files online. Free version
• Evernote Scannable keeps your notes, projects and photos close at hand, thanks to its online platform. Free basic version
• Google Docs lets you create, share and edit all kinds of documents, and access them from anywhere. Free version
• Device Magic lets you create your own forms and fill them in from your smartphone.
• CamScanner is a document scanning and quality enhancement tool. Free basic version

 

Watch

• Feedly is a very popular news monitoring tool, available online as well as on smartphones or via Chrome or Firefox extensions.
• Flipboard. com is a personal magazine for following and sharing the news that interests you. Free version
• Scoop.it lets you set up and share an information watch. Free basic version
• Paper.li lets you create a diary from a timeline, tags or lists from Twitter. Free basic version
• GetPocket lets you save the various articles, videos and images you find on the web to the application, so you can read them again later. Free

 

Survey

• Evalandgo is a comprehensive online survey tool. Free basic version
• SurveyMonkey helps you design your surveys and graphically visualize the results. Free basic version
• Drag'n Survey is an online survey tool that creates, distributes, analyzes and shares your surveys. Free basic version
• Typeform lets you quickly create online questionnaires and send them directly by e-mail. Free basic version

 

But still ...

• Bitly is a tool for shortening links. Free version
• Smallpdf allows you to reduce, compress and transform your PDF files. Free version
• VS-link is a free platform offering Valais companies and highly-qualified individuals a job and internship exchange, contacts and meetings between the various players in the Valais labor market. Free
• Zappar lets you create your own interactive augmented reality experience. 45 per month
• TheGrizzlyLabs scans, straightens and converts your documents to PDF or JPEG format. Free basic version
• Foxit offers a dozen PDF-related programs: reader, editor, protection system, etc. Prices depend on the program chosen.
• Xmind is mindmapping and brainstorming software. Free software
• AbaClik records your hours, expenses and benefits at any time, thanks to the mobile application. Free basic version
• Positeo is an anti-plagiarism tool that references sites that have duplicated your content against your will. Free basic version
• Boomeranggmail lets you schedule your emails and ensure personalized follow-up. Free
• SamCard Pro smartphone application, or rather business card scanner, for creating a directory directly on your smartphone. Free basic version
• Splittr calculates your business travel expenses and kilometers. Free
• Keyword Tool informs you of the suggestions offered by Google and Youtube when you type a term into their search engines.
• Zapier allows you to automate a repetitive web task and link several applications together. Free basic version
• Teamviewer is an application that lets you connect remotely to any computer. Free software
• Hemingway simplifies and modifies your text so that the reader concentrates solely on the message you want to convey. Free basic version
• Gimp is a free tool for creating visuals. Free version
• MyScript is a handwriting tool for tablets. Free basic version
• Myfonts is a font identification tool. Free basic version
• Zamzar converts your images, videos, sounds and documents into a wide range of formats. Free
• Roboform stores, synchronizes and secures all your passwords on a single platform. Free
• Gqueues is a task manager with various organization and reminder features. Free basic version
• TimeSaver lets you record your working hours and expenses online. Free basic version
• MoreApp is an intuitive and efficient form creation software. Free basic version
• Addappt constantly updates your contact directory. Free
• Briq is a reward system that lets you reward your colleagues for their hard work. Basic version €4/month

To discover a new tool every week, subscribe to The Ark's Facebook page, their Google+ page or follow them on Twitter with the hashtag #outilentrepreneur!