Looking to improve your small business website? These DIY website building, writing, graphic design, marketing and SEO tools will help.
Website Building
Content Management System – WordPress (free)
Free and open-source content management system, with an extensive range of website templates (known as themes) and plug-in utilities that can perform pretty much anything you need in a website, and many of them are free to use. This site runs on WordPress.
Don’t confuse WordPress.com (paid website builder, blogging platform) with WordPress.org (free content management system).
Other options: Shopify (ecommerce, paid), Squarespace (paid), Wix (paid)
Website Domains — Crazy Domains
Buy and sell domains. Australian-based company. This domain is registered with Crazy Domains.
Other options: GoDaddy (widely used)
Website Hosting — SiteGround
A recommended, mid-price service. Choose to have your website hosted on an Australian-based server, or choose from a number of servers around the world. This site is hosted on SiteGround.
Other options: BlueHost (widely used, inexpensive starter option)
WordPress Theme — GeneratePress
A well-designed and well-built theme, with a variety of child themes that offer different design templates for different business types. The free basic theme is the building blocks of the theme. The paid Premium version gives you access to a wide range of child theme templates you can choose from and customisation options. This site runs on GeneratePress Premium.
Other options: Genesis (popular, paid), Divi (popular, paid)
WordPress Theme Detector — Scan WP (free)
This handy free tool enables you to check any website to see if it is using WordPress. And, if so, what theme and plugins it’s using.
Other options: WP Theme Detector (free)
Writing
Writing & Editing Tool — Google Docs (free)
Google Docs offers most of the features of popular word processing tools, such as Microsoft Word. Free to use with your existing Google account, or simply sign-up for a free account.
Other options: Microsoft Word (widely used, paid)
Grammar Checker — Grammarly (free)
If you’re not confident in your writing, or you just find it useful to have another opinion, Grammarly provides grammar and style suggestions to help you improve. You can upload a document directly to the grammarly website and use it as an online editing tool, or you can download it as an app on your computer or phone, or as a browser extension, where you can use it in Google Docs, for example.
Graphic Design
Do-It-Yourself Graphic Design (free) — Canva
Canva is a fantastic tool for small business people who aren’t graphic designers (and don’t want to be). It enables you to create pretty much any type of design you need in your business by simply adding your business details and copy into ready-made templates. You can also mix and match template elements, and add your own photos and images, if you like, to make custom designs suited to your business. You can use many of the ready-made templates and download them for free, others available for a small fee.
Other options: Adobe InDesign (used by most pro designers, paid)
Photo & Image Source — Unsplash (free)
Unsplash is a good source of free photos and other images that you can use for any project.
Other options: Canva (free & paid), Getty Images (paid), ShutterStock (paid)
Photo & Video Editing (free) — Pixlr
You can use Pixlr free to edit photos and videos in your web browser. It’s relatively easy to use, and it also offers professionally crafted templates to get your started. There’s a subscription version, if you want more features and options.
Other options: Adobe Photoshop (used by most pro designers, paid)
Marketing
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) — HubSpot
SEO
Keyword Research & Competitor Analysis — Ubersuggest (free)
Easy-to-use basic keyword research tool. Paid option with more features.
Other options: Ahrefs (popular among pros, paid), SEMrush (popular among pros, paid)
WordPress SEO Plug-in — Yoast (free)
Most popular SEO plug-in for WordPress, used by millions of sites. Easy to use for those with a little WordPress experience, and there’s plenty of tutorials and guides to follow. Also a paid version with more and specialised features.