9 Tools I Can’t Run My Web Design Business Without
***This post contains affiliate links***
My tech stack, my tool set, my rig. If you’re running an online business, or frankly any kind of business, you’re going to need the right digital tools to help you keep things humming.
I love talking shop and hearing about the different tools people use. At the time of this writing I feel I’ve found the sweet spot of tools to run my website design business. These are the digital tools and services I can’t run my business without. Some I love, some I don’t love and some I just feel neutral about. This post contains a couple of affiliate links, because, of course it does.
#1 Squarespace
Well obviously. Not only do I use Squarespace* for my customers, but I use it for myself. There probably isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t make some tweak on my website or write a blog post.
I also use Squarespace Campaigns as my email newsletter tool. It’s very basic, but right now I’m happy to exchange complexity for ease of use. This may change in the future.
I like Squarespace because it’s just so easy to use and I think aesthetically it’s the best website builder available. Some things about it drive me nuts, but for the most part I really enjoy using it.
#2 Asana
Asana is a tool I not only need, but love. I use it to manage both my business but also my personal life (recipe rotations, pre-school co-op todos, family photo album tasks, new passports). At it’s core it’s really a very sophisticated task and subtask manager. It does have advanced features like dependencies, repeating tasks, timelines, etc. What I really use it for though is managing my own tasks, delegating tasks to my VA and setting process templates for my offers.
For example, each Launch In A Day website project has a series of steps that happen in every project. Every time a new project is booked I create a Launch In A Day project template for the new client. The Asana project has tasks that need to be executed throughout the process which includes a discovery call, client pre-work, a kick-off call and the launch day itself.
I have notes, code snippets, links and all kinds of resources I use over and over again whenever I’m doing a website launch or a digital strategy roadmap project.
The reason this is so fantastic is that I don’t have to think about what needs to be done. I just refer to the project tasks, and they tell me what I need to do. Ultimately what this allows for is greater creativity because I’m not spending my energy working or managing the process.
Some of my favourite features include the option to switch views from list to boards, easy task assignment, when I was doing longer web projects, the timeline feature was fantastic. Some things I wish Asana did better: I can’t believe you can’t convert a subtask into a task and I wish sharing options were more straightforward.
#3 Dubsado
Sigh. Oh Dubsado! * This is kind of one of those love/hate tools. Dubsado is a REALLY powerful CRM (customer relationship management) tool. It’s targeted toward small creative businesses. It is one hundred precent true to say I couldn’t run my business without it. Just some of the things I use it for: Workflow management (the entire pre-work for my Launch In A Day website service runs on Dubsado), calendar booking, invoicing, lead management, form creation, package set-up and pricing and service booking.
The love/hate part is that I find it difficult to use. The user interface works inconsistently (I notice these things as a former UX designer) and it’s not intuitive. I understand that powerful tools are sometimes necessarily complex, but I do think it could be designed to be a little more intuitive. I have a good consultant who helps me when I run into trouble.
I knew when I started a web design business having strong processes set up was going to be key. I actually got Dubsado set-up before I needed it. As time goes on it becomes more and more integral to running my business. I’m pretty sure there isn’t a tool that would work better for me. However I don’t recommend it for people who are just getting started with their online businesses and/or aren’t super comfortable with tech stuff.
#4 Loom
I LOVE LOOM. * In contrast with Dubsado this is a tool that is just an absolute JOY to use and clearly has a crack UX team in house. Loom is a tool that lets you easily make video recordings of your screen. I use it most for creating tutorials for clients.
One of the last things we do during a website Launch In A Day project is go through a list of tasks the client anticipates doing the most.
I then use Loom to create short videos of these tasks and embed them on a private ‘help’ page on her site. Client’s love it. I also use Loom to work with my VA and to show an issue to support if I’m having trouble with another product, you literally just send them a link. So easy.
#5 Canva
I’ll be honest, a few years ago, I took a glance at Canva*, turned up my nose and thought: ‘Oh, this is for amateurs. I’m a designer, I don’t need this silly tool’ WRONG!
Now that I’m generating piles of social media graphics each month, I’m loving it. Traditional design software (Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.) just isn’t designed for this kind of thing. It has too much firepower and gets too clunky.
Each time I use it I discover some new feature that makes life 10 times easier. It’s also really great if my clients use it, that way when I’m done creating branding files for them, I can transfer ownership to them through their Canva account and if they want to make changes later they can on their own.
Ready to talk about your Launch In A Day website project?
#6 Evernote
I wrote this post in Evernote.
Why? If for some reason I ever move platforms again, I need my content to all be in one place. Importing and exporting blog content can be a REAL headache and to be honest, their is no perfect solution. In the meantime, Evernote is a good place to keep all of my content: newsletters, blog posts, website content it’s all in there and easily searchable.
#7 Later
I really love Later for scheduling Instagram and Pinterest posts.
The main reason is for the drag and drop preview. I use Instagram mainly as an extension of my portfolio and brand, so it’s important to me that I like the way it looks. It’s also good for batch scheduling a lot of content. You can do schedule posts months in advance, and I do!
They also have the all important ‘Link in bio’ feature which lets me link any post to a specific web address and pretty good analytics and hashtag recommendations (which I should probably do a better job of using). They also have really good content on the company blog.
#8 Stripe
Stripe is one of those tools that I don’t love or hate, but that I just need.
It let’s me take credit card payments on my website. It also generates pretty good documentation for tax time, which is important. One annoying thing is that it’s very US centric. It uses a tool called Plaid for accepting bank transfers, but only works with US banks. Many Europeans like to pay with bank transfer so I have to work around this with a hack in Dubsado. Annoying. The transaction fees are also pretty hefty, but that’s the cost of doing business so I eat it.
#9 PayPal
My feelings around PayPal are pretty similar to my feelings about Stripe. I know some business owners try to find products with cheaper transaction fees, but in the end I just want to use payment processors that most people know and use. PayPal is one of them, so in addition to Stripe I also use PayPal.
Need help figuring out which tools to use for your online business?
