Since it’s not easy to start a firm, it’s crucial to educate oneself before taking the plunge into entrepreneurship. And it seems like an increasing number of us are taking the risk of leaving the 9–5 job to launch our own businesses.

As per the results of Google’s Year in Search 2021, more individuals looked for “how to start a business” online last year than “how to find a job.” In the United States, business applications increased during the Covid-19 epidemic. According to Census Bureau data, the number of new businesses formed appears to be levelling off recently, but overall, the figure is consistently greater than it was in previous years.

Small business owners have a lot of work to do, including bookkeeping and project management. There are many resources available for businesses of all sizes, whether you’re not sure where to start, need information to help you scale and grow, or want access to internet tools to help you manage your business more effectively. However, they are not all made equally. To make it easier for you to find what you need, we’ve divided them into categories.

Online tools will be your new best friend

One of the most popular types of websites for small business owners are for tools. These are things such as accounting software, website building, etc. These websites are useful at filling the practical aspects of starting and running a business. While many require a paid subscription in order to access full features, there are often free options that let you try the product before you buy, or offer basic functionality. Many of these tools have information centers that describe not only how to use the product, but also how to tackle certain areas of business ownership. 

The internet can be your biggest teacher

Another common type of website for small business owners is the informational website, usually best thought of as an educational resource. These websites are vast repositories of information about nearly any aspect of starting and running a small business. That said, they frequently center around one particular topic, although generalist websites are also common. A lot of these websites are 100% free, making them appealing to those working with a limited budget.

Because of this, however, they can sometimes be difficult to navigate. The same goes for websites with a deep well of content – it can be easy to get distracted or become overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information. Take things one step at a time, and stay focused on whatever it is you’re working on in order to be successful. 

Invest in building your community

Being an entrepreneur can be a lonely road, especially if you’re going down the solopreneur path. Having access to a community of other small business owners can provide you with the opportunity to discuss challenges and successes with those who get it. It also provides business connections that you might not otherwise have. This type of community can be a source of support, inspiration, and practical business connections that is invaluable for small business owners. 

Best Web Resources for Small Business Owners

Keeping the aforementioned facts in mind, if you’re among those who have a business concept they want to pursue and are seeking for the top websites to gain knowledge from in order to launch your venture, have a look at our selection below.

1. BizFilings

Looking to start your business for the first time? The paperwork can be intimidating, especially if you’re not familiar with the process. BizFilings can help streamline the process of getting set up.

This site helps you fill out the forms needed to create a sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC, or other type of business. It doesn’t stop there, though. It will also help you choose the right type of business.

2. SCORE

SCORE is a network of expert business mentors who work on a volunteer basis. They’ve been around since 1964, have mentored over 11 million entrepreneurs, and are a resource partner of the Small Business Administration (SBA).

Read Also: The Ultimate Guide to Web Design Resources

According to their website, they provide the following services:

• Mentoring with experienced entrepreneurs.
• Webinars and courses on demand on subjects such as marketing and finance.
• A library of online resources which includes blogs, templates, guides, checklists, and more.
• Local events to allow entrepreneurs to meet up.

3. Small Business Administration

Created in 1953, the Small Business Administration (SBA) was established to help small businesses succeed. Like SCORE, the SBA offers a number of different services including:

• Free business counseling
• Guaranteed business loans
• Home and business disaster loans
• Access to bidding opportunities for federal contracts

4. Bureau of Labor Statistics

If you need statistics on the economy or a certain industry, one of the first places you should check is the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This government agency provides statistics on pricing, employment/unemployment, compensation, working conditions, and productivity.

You are likely familiar with some of their work, which includes, just for starters:

• Consumer Price Index
• Unemployment Rate
• Consumer Expenditure Survey

5. HubSpot

HubSpot is best known for being a customer relationship management software, akin to a free version of Salesforce. However, arguably the best thing that this company has done for small businesses is found on the Resources section of their website.

Suffice it to say, if you can think of any problem that small businesses face, HubSpot has written a very detailed article about it. Examples at the time of writing include:

• How to Write a Blog Post: A Step-by-Step Guide [+Free Blog Post Templates]
• The Social Media Content Calendar Template Every Marketer Needs [Free Template]
• How to Create a Sales Plan: Template + Examples

6. The Balance Small Business

Similar to HubSpot, the Balance Small Business has written about nearly every issue you can imagine a small business owner running into. Examples from their blog at the time of writing this post include:

• 5 Ways CEOs Can Encourage Employees to Bring Their Whole Selves to Work
• 63 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2024
• Reduce Your Business Expenses With This $30 Microsoft Office Alternative

7. Entrepreneur

Of all the major magazines and papers dedicated to business and finance, Entrepreneur is the one best tailored for small business owners and entrepreneurs. While HubSpot and The Balance Small Business are better for long-form, specific instructional guides, Entrepreneur provides more timely news information.

8. Google Trends

Google Trends may be a favorite way to conduct market research. The basic idea is simple: Google keeps count of what people search, as well as when they search and where they search from. In practice, this means that you can plug in all kinds of words to see if people are interested enough to Google them.

9. Legal Zoom

If you need to create simple, routine legal documents, Legal Zoom is a good resource to remember. One of their most well-known services include business formation documents, but they also handle wills/trusts, and intellectual property filings.

10. Shake Law

Along the same lines as Legal Zoom and BizFiling, Shake Law provides simple, plain English legal agreements that can be filled out on mobile devices. According to its Wikipedia page, it contains a number of stock contract templates on subjects such as:

• Freelancing/independent contractor agreements
• Non-disclosure agreements
• Buying and selling
• Rental of goods
• Personal loans

11. Trello

If you’ve never used Trello before, it can be difficult to explain exactly why it’s so useful. In short, Trello is a digital kanban board. If you’re not familiar with the concept, it’s simple: tasks are written on sticky notes and put into columns such as “to-do”, “doing”, and “done.”

Trello lets businesses easily organize tasks by allowing businesses to create an infinite number of these boards. Individual tasks can be assigned to users with due dates. You can also store notes and checklists within each task as well.

This is really just scratching the surface, too. Trello power-ups add a lot of functionality to boards. Best of all, Trello is free up to a point, though many of its most complex features require a monthly plan.

12. Salesforce

Salesforce is the most popular customer relationship management (CRM) platform. If you’re not familiar with the concept, it can be difficult to explain. Suffice it to say, a CRM can help you coordinate your marketing, sales, and service around clients or customers and their unique needs.

Relationship marketing is really difficult to do well, but it’s one of the most important tools that marketers – especially small business marketers – have at their disposal. Salesforce can help you track all the information you need to maintain productive and positive business relationships.

13. Shopify

Shopify is one of the most popular ways for small businesses to start a store. The basic idea is that Shopify makes it very easy to set up a good-looking, well-run store.

14. Wix

If you need to set up a website, but not necessarily a store, Wix is great option. One of the best parts about Wix is that you have nearly complete freedom to make any kind of website you want with their drag-and-drop editor.

15. Freightos

There is a post about how to use Freightos before. To reiterate what it said earlier:

One of the most disorienting parts of running a business is freight shipping. Oftentimes, you have to have your items manufactured in another country, or at least another part of the country. As recently as 10 years ago, getting goods from point A to Point B would have involved calling a freight broker. That’s just not the case anymore.

Freightos is a freight shipping marketplace. Basically, in the same way that Kayak helps you book flights, hotels, and rental cars, Freightos helps you book shipping by air, sea, road, and rail.

16. Payability

If you’re used to waiting weeks or months before getting payouts, Payability is a good website to keep in mind. Many businesses have trouble with cash flow, often having an insufficient amount of cash on hand to handle long stretches of expenses without revenue.

Payability can help smooth out cash flow problems by making your money available to you nearly immediately. They charge a modest fee of 0.5-1% for doing so, which can be worth the expense during an intense cash crunch.

17. Trustpilot

If you need to evaluate the quality of vendors you’ve never worked with before, Trustpilot is one of the best places to check. It’s no secret that online reviews are easy to game at this point, but Trustpilot does a better job of resisting that than most other sites.

Trustpilot creates a proprietary TrustScore for companies, which incentives companies to have a large number of recent reviews. Companies without a lot of reviews or with nothing but old reviews will not rank as highly as companies with recent, positive reviews.

Customers can see where reviews came from and they can also see why reviews were flagged. This gives you a chance to see if companies are trying to suppress bad reviews. On the flipside, Trustpilot gives businesses a good opportunity to plead their case and try to have bad reviews removed. Overall, it’s a remarkably fair system.

18. Slack

Slack is a simple chat room software that companies can use for free, with some paid features. It’s a good way to connect people across long distances. While the concept is nothing new, Slack is particularly popular because of its simplicity, ability to easily share files, and ability to integrate with other popular software.

19. Dropbox

Dropbox is a cloud storage app that allows you to keep all your work documents in one place. For business, they charge $15 per user per month for 5 TB of storage space. If you need more than that, you can have unlimited space for $25 per user per month.

20. QuickBooks Online

Small business accounting can be a big pain, but QuickBooks makes it easier. Their online app allows you to track expenses, create and send invoices, manage payroll, and run reports. Most accountants will work with the system too, so it’s easy to get a professional’s help if you use QuickBooks.

21. Better Business Bureau

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) has been around for over 100 years, and for good reason. The BBB grades businesses on a scale from A+ to F based on their trustworthiness. Like Trustpilot, it can be a good way to screen vendors for the quality of their service when you don’t have much info to go on otherwise.

22. Wave

Wave is a free accounting software that helps small businesses track their money. It’s great for managing invoices, expenses, and payments all in one place. Even better, it doesn’t require a lot of accounting knowledge to use.

23. Canva

Canva is a design tool that makes it easy to create professional-looking graphics. You can use it to design logos, social media posts, or even brochures. It’s user-friendly, with tons of free templates to get you started.

24. Klaviyo

Klaviyo helps small businesses create email marketing campaigns. Whether you’re sending newsletters or special offers, it’s simple to build and track emails. They also offer helpful tools like automated follow-ups and audience segmentation.

25. Fiverr

Fiverr is a marketplace where you can hire freelancers for small tasks. From graphic design to writing, you can find someone to do almost anything. Best of all, you set the price and timeline, so it’s flexible for any budget.

26. Moz

Moz is an SEO tool that helps small businesses rank higher on search engines like Google. It offers keyword research, site audits, and backlink analysis. With Moz, you can improve your website’s visibility and bring in more customers.