{"id":4173,"date":"2016-08-18T08:00:19","date_gmt":"2016-08-18T12:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ladybugz.com\/?p=4173"},"modified":"2025-02-03T23:37:50","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T04:37:50","slug":"small-business-tools-business-insider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ladybugz.com\/small-business-tools-business-insider\/","title":{"rendered":"Small Business Tools You Can&#8217;t Live Without"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When Lysa Miller started her Boston-based digital agency, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.in\/12-chores-small-business-owners-should-pay-someone-else-to-do\/articleshow\/49049025.cms\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Business Insider<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> featured her tips in an article \u201cTasks your small business needs to outsource.\u201d Those recommendations were centered around using specific technology tools to help growing businesses become more efficient and successful. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since then, our digital agency has significantly grown and evolved, and so have the technologies we use to complement and enhance the work done by our brilliant team.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Find out how we&#8217;ve grown and what small business tools we use to run our busy boutique web design agency. We use several various (umm, lots) types of small business tools for everyday tasks such as website design and user-experience, to analytics and growth to human resources and collaboration.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10455\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ladybugz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Business-Insider-Feature-Lysa-Miller-2015-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Lysa Miller Featured in Business Insider\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1365\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ladybugz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Business-Insider-Feature-Lysa-Miller-2015-scaled.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.ladybugz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Business-Insider-Feature-Lysa-Miller-2015-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ladybugz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Business-Insider-Feature-Lysa-Miller-2015-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ladybugz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Business-Insider-Feature-Lysa-Miller-2015-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.ladybugz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Business-Insider-Feature-Lysa-Miller-2015-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2><b>Website + User-Experience Design<\/b><\/h2>\n<h3>Ryan Kohler: User Experience &amp; Creative Direction<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ryan leads the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ladybugz.com\/web-design-seo-services\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">discovery and creative process<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for early-growth brands to perfect their digital voice. He has fifteen years of experience and prefers Adobe Creative Suite. He uses AdobeXD primarily but thinks all Adobe programs have their merits.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.adobe.com\/\"><b>Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop:<\/b><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Powerful graphic design tools.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Illustrator is ideal for creating graphics, Photoshop for photo editing, and InDesign for print and web layouts. It\u2019s easy to integrate content from one Adobe product with another, and the products work well in harmony. Ryan has been using Photoshop for more than 15 years and has the finesse of a craftsman. He loves the consistency of the product and the universal popularity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Expert tip from Ryan: Adobe products are so popular, there are unlimited resources online for learning the ropes and troubleshooting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Morgan Kropa: Creative Direction &amp; Brand Strategy<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Morgan uses design to tell a brand\u2019s story and direct the company\u2019s future. She works to empower clients to be able to produce digital content. These are some of the tools that she recommends.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.canva.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>Canva:<\/b><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Free graphic design platform with a drag-and-drop interface.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This tool allows clients to participate in the creation of digital content without having an extensive design background. Morgan likes Canva because clients can create and integrate timely posts with other content we\u2019ve created.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/elementor.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>Elementor:<\/b><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">WordPress website builder.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Elementor is a platform that allows clients to access their backend WordPress dashboard with a user-intuitive interface. Morgan appreciates the way it empowers customers to use WordPress regardless of experience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Expert tip from Morgan: Use Elementor at the end of the web development process to create a user-friendly way for clients to use WordPress.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Web Analytics + Reporting<\/b><\/h2>\n<h3>Frank Pereira: Technical Direction &amp; Web Services<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Frank is a WordPress content implementation specialist and graphic designer. He follows <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ladybugz.com\/wordpress-web-support\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">web and social media analytics closely<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. These are some of the tools that help keep him on top of rankings for our web design agency and our clients.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/analytics.google.com\/analytics\/web\/provision\/#\/provision\"><b>Google Analytics:<\/b><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Website activity tracker.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This small business tool allows users to track website activity and understand how visitors engage with their websites.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/search.google.com\/search-console\/about\"><b>Google Search Console:<\/b><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Track website presence in Google search results.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This tool allows users to understand and improve how Google sees their site. Users can receive alerts and troubleshoot issues Google finds within their websites.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Frank loves that users can use Google&#8217;s small business tools for free &#8211; a huge help for your growing businesses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Expert tip from Frank: Google Search Console sometimes glitches and stops working. Both Google Analytics and Google Search Console are so widely used, it is very easy to troubleshoot and find information\/tutorials online.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/\"><b>RankMath:<\/b><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SEO plugin for WordPress.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">RankMath allows users to optimize their content for SEO with built-in suggestions. Frank prefers RankMath to tools such as Yoast because of the availability of free features. RankMath features easy step-by-step installation, a simple interface, integrated Google Analytics, and more.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Lysa Miller: Strategy &amp; Growth<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lysa oversees all client activity and is constantly working to ensure customer success and growth. When Lysa is focused on analytics for a client or for Ladybugz Interactive, she has a few tools she uses time and time again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.spyfu.com\/\"><b>Spyfu:<\/b><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keyword research tool.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Spyfu is a tool that allows digital marketers to improve their website\u2019s performance in online searches. Spyfu provides users with visual insight into their web performance and that of their competitors in terms of analytics and growth.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/\"><b>Ahrefs:<\/b><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SEO software.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ahrefs allows users to improve their website\u2019s search engine rankings. Ahrefs analyzes the holistic health of a website including tech rankings, and makes SEO suggestions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Expert tip from Lysa: Use both Spyfu and Ahrefs to gain a complete understanding of the ROI of your website and define your digital strategy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Collaboration <\/b><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<h3>Morgan Kropa: Creative Direction &amp; Brand Strategy<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When Morgan helps clients identify and grow their brand, she needs a way to collaborate with them efficiently and effectively. That\u2019s why Morgan uses the suite of tools that just about every client is familiar with.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/drive\/u\/0\/\"><b>Google Drive:<\/b><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Encrypted, cloud-based file sharing system.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With Google Drive, the team at Ladybugz can share multiple large files internally or with clients. Morgan uses Google Drive to organize intake and discovery files and drafts of all of her projects. With Google Drive, users across the globe can be sure they are working on the most current version of a document, and easily view version history. With the universal popularity of Google, clients at all levels of tech-savviness can use Google Drive with little to no training.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A tip from Morgan: Anyone can use Google Drive, even if they do not have a Google email address.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Alison Rochford: Digital Marketing<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Alison is part of the delivery team for digital strategy and implementation. Her work often requires collaboration with many different members of the Ladybugz team, or with clients. Alison has a few favorite tools for communicating and collaborating seamlessly across time zones.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/slack.com\/\"><b>Slack:<\/b><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Messaging app.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Slack is a messaging app for businesses. Users can communicate instantly, share files and documents, call or video chat, and more. At Ladybugz, we use Slack both for internal group messaging and one-on-one communication. We create different conversations for different projects. Mobile and desktop are both convenient and easy to use.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/zoom.us\/\"><b>Zoom: <\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Video conferencing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Zoom provides secure and easy-to-use video conferencing. Users can schedule and hold meetings with one or more people on mobile, PC, or tablet. Zoom allows users to share their screens, instant message, and more.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A tip from Alison: Zoom is free for the most part, but premium plans are required to unlock certain features.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Social Media Marketing<\/b><\/h2>\n<h3>Alex Cachon: Social Media Marketing &amp; Growth<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Alex is in charge of social media management and growth for Ladybugz clients. He has a knack for messaging and SEO. This is the tool he uses most to streamline his work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/coschedule.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>Coschedule:<\/b><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Marketing work management software.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Users can schedule future posts, plan hashtags, and reschedule evergreen content. Coschedule suggests ideal times for posts and related articles. Different people can manage the same accounts. We use Coschedule for in-house social media management, and Alex recommends it to clients. Coschedule empowers clients to participate in the digital marketing process.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Alex loves the efficiency of the Coschedule social calendar and ease of use. His favorite feature is \u201cReQueue.\u201d With ReQueue users can create a batch of posts and post them automatically at set times. For example, you could create a group of 25 posts called \u201cMonday Motivation.\u201d ReQueue will automatically alternate the posts every Monday. After Coschedule added the option to manage Instagram content recently, we began to transition to using Coschedule exclusively.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Expert tip from Alex: ReQueue social automation tool can be confusing at first. You can\u2019t set all social channels in one ReQueue. Customer service is very helpful for troubleshooting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Project + Client Task Management<\/b><\/h2>\n<h3>Crystal Daher: Digital Marketing &amp; SEO Management<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Crystal implements creative digital marketing, social media, and SEO programs. She runs a blog and Facebook group for over 30K people in her spare time. Needless to say, Crystal understands the importance of organization and project management. These are the tools she uses to keep track of it all.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/trello.com\/en-US\"><b>Trello:<\/b><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Project management software.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trello allows users to manage tasks and projects in a visually appealing way. Trello was designed with UX in mind.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/asana.com\/\"><b>Asana:<\/b><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Project management software.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Asana offers web and mobile apps that allow teams to organize and manage projects and tasks. Asana allows users to visualize progress and integrate other tools such as Microsoft Office.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While Trello and Asana both have their merits, Trello can be easier to navigate for more visual users. Asana has more features than Trello, such as calendar and timeline formats. Both tools can be used for individuals and\/or teams.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Human Resources &amp; Accounting<\/b><\/h2>\n<h3>Aya Lanzoni: Digital Content &amp; SEO Production<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aya leads digital marketing accounts and analytics reporting for our B2B and B2C clients. With so much on her plate, the last thing she needs to worry about is keeping track of hours she works. With the right tool, she can focus on clients knowing her hard work is being documented.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/clockify.me\/\"><b>Clockify:<\/b><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Time tracking software.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aya uses clockify to track any hourly work she does for our digital marketing clients. She uses the timer feature to make sure all of her hard work is documented. Aya appreciates that Clockify allows users to set up different projects &#8211; a great feature for freelancers and entrepreneurs who charge different rates for different work. The reports tab also allows Aya to send out detailed summaries of her work when needed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Billie Kenyon: Customer Success<\/h3>\n<p>Billie Kenyon&#8217;s job is to make sure &#8220;everyone is happy.&#8221; As part of that Billie manages sales operations, and employee relations in our busy digital agency.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our web design agency was founded (again) during COVID, in part to provide extended opportunities for local freelancers. When a paycheck means food on the table for families, it\u2019s critical to find the right software to pay your employees.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/gusto.com\/\"><b>Gusto:<\/b><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Payroll software.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Billie\u00a0 uses Gusto to manage the payroll for USA-based employees and freelancers. Additionally, Ladybugz uses Gusto to get paid by vendors. Gusto automatically calculates taxes for all 50 states.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wise.com\/us\/\"><b>Wise:<\/b><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Online money transfers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Billie uses Wise (formerly Transferwise) to pay employees and freelancers overseas. Wise sends money at the real, current exchange rate with competitive transfer rates.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From web design and development to HR and accounting, there are so many small business tools to help you become more effective and efficient. If you really want your business to become more efficient, having small business tools in place can help streamline your business so you can, relax!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Lysa Miller started her Boston-based digital agency, Business Insider featured her tips in an article \u201cTasks your small business needs to outsource.\u201d Those recommendations were centered around using specific technology tools to help growing businesses become more efficient and successful. Since then, our digital agency has significantly grown and evolved, and so have the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":14811,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","spc_primary_category":-1},"categories":[308,309,83,312,1],"tags":[85,78,99],"class_list":["post-4173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entrepreneurship","category-growth-hacking","category-local-seo","category-project-management","category-web-development","tag-search-marketing-for-small-business","tag-small-business","tag-task-management"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v26.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Small Business Tools you Can&#039;t Live Without: Increase Efficiencies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Small Business Tools are essential for your growing company. Find out what we use to help our Boston boutique small digital agency thrive!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ladybugz.com\/small-business-tools-business-insider\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Small Business Tools You Can&#039;t Live Without (and Neither Can We!)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Using tools can help make you more productive and more efficient. When you have productive systems in place, you can sit back and relax, or continue on your journey of growth!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ladybugz.com\/small-business-tools-business-insider\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Website Design Agency, Boston MA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Ladybugz-Interactive-Web-design-ecommerce-emarketing-social-media\/178379525546559\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-08-18T12:00:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-04T04:37:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ladybugz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/OG-Small-Business-Tools-You-Cant-Live-Without.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alison Rochford\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Small Business Tools You Can&#039;t Live Without (and Neither Can We!)\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Using tools can help make you more productive and more efficient. 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