The popular Q&A forum, Quora, gets several thousand questions every day, and tens of thousands of answers.
Those answers, particularly the ones which revolve around “the best tools for marketers,” are a treasure trove of information.
Let’s look at just a few of them…
The questions on the right, here, have a total of more than 10,000 active followers and more than a million views. They’ve received dozens of responses from businesses and marketers all vying for their link in the spotlight.
Quora has run a bit of code on each question’s answers to automatically compile them into a single list, and they’re valuable lists, don’t get me wrong. In total, they’re probably some of the most valuable resources for entrepreneurs on the web – a compilation of tools, apps and resources to help early-stage businesses succeed.
The problem is in the organization. Quora’s code is only so good, and it’s resulted in Skype, auditing software, and Gmail all being filed under “Web Utilities.”
I thought it would be valuable to entrepreneurs everywhere to take all these tool-based lists, cross-reference, and clean them up a bit. In this resource, I’ve provided links to all the tools within these posts, organized them so you can more easily find what you’re looking for, and given a bit of context for the value of each tool category.
Table of Contents
Online Business Software Marketplaces
If you don’t find what you’re looking for in this resource, use one of these software marketplaces and product review sites to find exactly what you need, how it’s rated, and (with several of them) prices as well.
Search & Compare 3,100 business tools in 119 Categories
Read real user reviews, compare products, and get the latest software research.
Get the right software & services with 211,600+ validated user reviews.
Discover, Compare, and Choose the Best Business Apps.
Learn from 100,000+ User Reviews.
Sales Intelligences
These platforms will give your new business a better idea of what your competitors are doing and what’s working for you.
Make the Impossible Possible with the Leading Sales Intelligence Platform.
Accelerate sales with strategic targeting and sales and marketing productivity.
Put sales and marketing on the same page to create a revenue dream team.
Generate More Revenue With the Most Accurate Marketing & Sales Intelligence
Find, Reach, and Convert Your Audience with Marketing That Works.
Monitor the web for interesting new content.
Market intelligence solutions to optimize your digital effectiveness.
We show you what works so your ads will succeed every time!
Empower yourself with the largest cross-channel programmatic digital ad coverage.
All-in-one Marketing Toolkit for digital marketing professionals
MixRank tracks your customers so you don’t miss an opportunity.
Over 30,000 people use Follow to gain valuable competitive insights
Find and win more business with Company Intelligence and CRM Orchestration.
The Platform for Modern Sales Engagement
Data Enrichment for Modern Sales Teams.
The Modern Standard in Business Data.
Accelerate sales traction. We connect your sales people with the right contact, sooner.
Customer Relationship Management
Track your customer’s interactions with your business by using one of these CRM providers. See their first touchpoint with your business, their last, their lead profile and who within your team is responsible for them.
Sell, service, and market smarter with the world’s #1 CRM platform.
Don’t be forced into CRM sameness.
Sell, Market, and Support Exceptionally with Vtiger CRM.
Get ready to sell. Smarter, Better, Faster.
The simplest way to automate outbound, personalized emails.
Sell & Market like Fortune 500.
Close leads faster. Clinch more deals.
Close.io is the inside sales CRM of choice for startups and SMBs.
Create your online database and manage leads, your way.
All-in-one Marketing Toolkit for digital marketing professionals
Redbooth is easy-to-use online task and project management.
Grow your business by building stronger customer relationships.
The leading sales management tool small sales teams love to use.
Automate tedious tasks & manual data entry so you can sell more, faster.
Best Referral Marketing Software for Mobile Application and Website.
Vibes empowers brands to engage 1:1 with mobile consumers at scale.
The best way to get your emails answered.
Your process. Our platform. A perfect match.
A simple CRM built just for small businesses.
Know what happens to your proposals after you hit send.
Project Management Systems
Keep your team on the same page with these project management tools. See the progress of your campaigns, assign ownership and deadlines, and track success or failure.
Acteamo is the one place where all work is done, together.
We help you build products customers love and be happy doing it.
Asana is the easiest way for teams to track their work—and get results.
Grow without growing pains.
Project tracking for distributed companies.
Take the chaos out of managing team projects.
Chime helps you track time and evaluate the real cost behind your work.
Project management is better when it’s visual.
The entirely free way to collaborate more efficiently with groups of people.
Built to help you and your team get more done.
Real-time task management and planning
The all-in-one project management tool for teams.
The one place for all your projects, teams and communications.
Redmine is a flexible project management web application.
Don’t ask how projects are going. Watch how they’re going in real time.
Your process. Our platform. A perfect match.
Lean project management for your agile team.
Simple status reporting for highly productive teams.
A project management platform for developers and project managers.
Collaborative, simple task management that will improve your team’s productivity.
Master Tasks and Projects Like You Never Thought You Could.
Trello lets you work more collaboratively and get more done.
A clean, collaborative workspace for teams
Collaboration and project management software that scales across teams.
Customer Service/Live Chat
Engage with your visitors and your customers with these customer service tools. Trigger automated messaging based on visitor behavior and reach out to your customers when they’re ready to buy or about to cancel.
Customer service software for growing teams…
Deliver better customer support from your current mailbox.
Let your users call you. Embed our call button into your website or app.
Convert your visitors to happy customers.
Customer support is everybody’s business.
Enterprise Level Live Chat for Online Customer Support and Sales.
Your Plug N Play Cloud Virtual Assistant.
Light the way to success for your users.
Olark is easy to use live chat software that lets you talk to customers on your website.
The fastest way to help your customer.
Pitch, plan, and track your business. Anywhere.
User Onboarding Walkthroughs That Lead New Users To Victory.
Answering calls is smart. Delighting callers is Ruby..
Talk to your customers in real-time.
Don’t ask how projects are going. Watch how they’re going in real time.
Easy-to-use knowledge base software that guarantees
50% less support emails
Subscription Management
Payment and subscription management are crucial elements of a successful business. Make it all easier by using one of thse tools to see everything in one place and track the success or failure of your user’s payments.
Powering More Than Just Payments.
The smartest way to set up your subscription billing.
Powering Subscription Success. Trusted by Thousands of Companies.
The new standard in online payments.
Communication
Keeping an open line of communication between each one of your colleagues and employees is essential to a smoothly-running business as well as employee happiness and productivity. Use these internal-communication tools to make it happen.
Turn your Slack Conversations into project tickets.
A modern discussion platform for online teams & communities.
Workplaces should be extraordinary. So we’re doing something about it.
Where work happens.
Skype keeps the world talking, for free.
Hangouts lets you video call, phone, or message the people you love.
Email Tracking, Live Meeting and File link sharing
Communicate and collaborate in realtime.
Industry News
These publications lead the way when it comes to keeping entrepreneurs up-to-speed on what’s happening in their industry. And you need to keep on top of any changes that might be occurring in order to take advantage.
File Sharing & Team Collaboration
Modern workplaces are fast-moving places with remote or freelance employees and a constant need to collaborate, review or co-create.
These file sharing and collaboration tools enable your business to easily share and work together to accomplish your business goals.
Web-based alternative to Evernote
Online file sharing.
Chat and Task management for small teams (2-40+ users).
Realtime Diagram Collaboration.
Bookmark Manager to help organize and collaborate with others.
Knowledge Discovery & Sharing tool for teams.
Simple and easy-to-use task management tool.
Lightweight Online Whiteboard for Collaboration.
Answering calls is smart. Delighting callers is Ruby..
Talk to your customers in real-time.
Don’t ask how projects are going. Watch how they’re going in real time.
Startup Help
Getting started with a new business is a stressful (though exciting) time. These websites and tools make it just a little easier to get rolling.
Freelance talent marketplace.
Find a co-founder for your startup
Domain name search.
Find like-minded entrepreneurs and co-founders
Prototyping, Website, & Product Design
Your app, website or software needs to look great in order to compete. Whether you’re creating it all yourself or sending it to a designer or web developer, use these protopying and website design tools to ensure it looks and works as well as it can.
UX Design & Wireframing Tools As Beautiful As Your Work.
The world’s leading prototyping, collaboration & workflow platform.
Get your point across with fewer words so that your ideas become reality faster.
UX Software
Your site and platform users won’t stick around very long unless you consider their experience. Use these UX tools to optimize and design for user experience as well as check how you’re already doing.
Instant website testing for issues impacting visitors.
Better user experience (UX) and higher conversion.
Accurate screenshot feedback.
Landing page feedback.
Test how your web app look-and-feels on different mobile devices.
Marketing Software
You don’t need to do it all yourself (in fact, you probably can’t). Tapping into these marketing software platforms to create your campaigns saves you time, frustration, and, ultimately, serious money.
AI-powered automated Google Ad management software
Mobile Marketing Automation Software
Draw users into your mobile app with push notifications.
Voice of Customer Surveys.
Blast Marketing Is Out. Customer-Centric Messaging Is In.
On-Site Customer Engagement Suite
All-in-one marketing suite. Landing pages, contests, list-building, email & automation.
Email Software
Using Gmail or Outlook only works when you’re talking to your Mom about Christmas. If you’re serious about starting a business, you need to find an email tool which makes sending high-volume emails easy. And (if you’re really serious about finding success)
you’ll want one which can send email automatically.
Send email and text messages to customers.
Email and live chat from one central inbox for your team.
Hunter lets you find email addresses in seconds.
Build your brand. Sell more stuff.
Clean up your Inbox.
Content Creation & Promotion
Content and inbound marketing is, officially, the most affordable way for most businesses to increase brand awareness and drives leads and sales. Use these content creation and promotion apps to facilitate the process.
Easily create beautiful designs & documents.
A new better way to share articles and drive traffic.
Create a personalized video for every customer, content and occasion.
Create animated videos for your website in minutes.
Specialized creative talent, online and on-demand
Scheduling & Planning Tools
Keeping track of your own time, and that of your team, is an essential step in keeping costs low for an early-stage business or entrepreneur. Use these apps to keep everything in line.
Simple time tracking tool
Find your ideal work-life balance.
Smart employee time tracking.
Task planner & time tracker.
Dashboards & Analytics
There’s nothing more important than making sure you’re not wasting your hard-earned money. Keeping a close eye on accurate analytics (whether through an analytic platform or a live dashboard) ensures you catch a problem as soon as possible.
See your audience in a whole new light.
Visualize what’s making your visitors leave.
All-In-One Online Business Dashboard.
Monitoring that tracks your dynamic infrastructure and applications.
Live TV Dashboard Software for Businesses.
Analytics tools to measure website, app, digital and offline data.
Behavioral analytics and engagement platform.
Deeply understand every user’s journey with instant insights.