Top Tools for Creative - The Best Online Tools, Platforms and Software

Looking for the best online tools and platforms to help market your business? You've come to the right place! 

Here are some of the most popular options that are sure to help you achieve success. 

Whether you're looking for a powerful marketing automation tool or an effective social media platform, these tools will get you where you need to be. 

So what are you waiting for? Start exploring!

Project Management

Monday.com

As a project manager, not only do you need to keep track of resources and deadlines, but you also need to be able to communicate effectively with your team members. 

Monday.com provides all the tools you need in one easy-to-use interface. Whether you’re setting up project timelines and milestones or communicating updates with your team, monday.com makes it simple and efficient to stay on top of everything that matters. 

And, with its sleek design and flexible customisation options, monday.com is truly the ideal solution for project managers everywhere. 

With a free version that can be used on a very small scale (only 2 seats available), users can set up unlimited boards and docs, as well as access 200+ templates.

After that, pricing starts at £7 per month, per person for a ‘Basic’ plan, and increases steadily from there. 

The platform has four key goals:

1. Streamline work for maximum productivity: bring all teams together, avoid any miscommunication with projects all in one place and accessibility for all team members 
2. Bring teams together to drive impact: work collaboratively across the business with automations and real-time notifications.
3. Stay on track to reach goals faster: make more data-driven decisions with high-level dashboards to help teams reach goals quicker. 
4. Everything you need for any workflow in one place: easily build your ideal workflow with monday.com building blocks: boards, views, dashboards, integrations, automations, apps and docs. 

How users can make the most of Monday:

Managing daily tasks

Teams can set up action boards with columns that define their workflow for the week. All work-related tasks flow through a team member’s board for them to complete or to get the task delegated elsewhere, team managers can access the dashboard to make any alterations where necessary. 

Keeping track of communication

Instead of going by memory or any other old school document to keep track of communications such as emails replied to, phone calls received and returned, or social media posts. Teams can use a board that tracks the different communications, their status, and attach the original emails or source of communication received.

Managing creative projects

Graphic design teams can set up a Monday board where they can develop and track graphic design or other creative projects. They can post upcoming work, schedule due dates, and assign to individual designers. All communication happens on the board: brainstorming, drafts, feedback, edits, pricing, and more.

Tracking client work

Marketing teams can monitor and track projects for their clients. From their board, the project manager creates the tasks, assigns them, and defines the time frame. Team members work on the different tasks assigned to each one, such as writing the content, shooting the videos, or developing the promotion, then when they have completed a task they can mark it as complete, or assign it to another team member to add to. 

Notion

Notion is the only workspace that brings all your notes, tasks and wikis into a single platform for easy viewing. With everything in one place you can plan out what needs to be done next or catch up on things from earlier this week without having multiple programs open at once!

Notion’s Enhanced Online Workspace brings [business] users an enhanced experience while working by integrating various tools seamlessly together so there are no interruptions between work sessions due simply because they're all within reach through their web browser interface which makes using not just simpler but more efficient too whether it's managing projects and deadlines or collaborating with others inside/outside of your company.

Some of the main project management features of Notion are:

Notion for Wikis

Using this function users can document policies, contracts, company goals, project details, basically any important information related to your company, working in one place. 

Kanban Board

These are to give users a clear view of which member of the team is associated with which tasks and the current status of your tasks e.g. To Do, In Review, Complete. 

Notion Database View

Notion offers several ways to view tasks and projects using database view. There is the option to view your tasks as a simple task list, timeline, or calendar view for scheduling and planning, a gallery for a quick overview, or a table for a more structured view. 

Notion Blocks

Everything in Notion is in a ’block’ - this can be text, images, or tables. Blocks can be rearranged and transformed in the way you want them to be.

Notion Project Pages

A page in Notion is the equivalent of a document. Each item in Notion’s database has its own dedicated page. It can be a page of text, a knowledge base, a Kanban board, or literally anything.

The ease of accessing notes and documents for each project in one place makes Notion an ideal platform for writers, graphic designers, marketers and other creatives across a whole host of different industries.

Users mostly use Notion for:

• Creating project plans
• Building roadmaps
• Creating and managing tasks
• Creating a database

• Creating and storing important documents, guides, etc

ClickUp

No.3 of our project management tools is ClickUp. It’s a close top 3 in this category as there are a lot of great options out there, but ClickUp is definitely one of the best. Here's why:

Ease of Use

One of the most important things about a project management tool is that it should be easy to use. After all, if you can't figure out how to use the tool, then it's not going to do you any good. ClickUp is designed with ease of use in mind. It has a clean, simple interface that makes it easy to keep track of your projects and get work done.

Flexibility

Another important thing to look for in a project management tool is flexibility. You need a tool that can grow and change as your needs change. ClickUp is highly flexible and can be customised to fit your specific needs. Whether you need a simple task list or a complex workflow, ClickUp can handle it.

Collaboration

Collaboration is key in any project management tool. After all, you're not going to be working on these projects alone. ClickUp makes it easy to collaborate with others by allowing you to assign tasks, leave comments, and upload files. You can even chat with other users right within the app.

Inspiration 

Webspo 

Website inspiration site, Webspo, takes the top spot for this one. Webspo was created to provide aspiring website designers and web developers with inspiration of design styles, layouts and interactions for their own websites across a range of industries.

Webspo allows users to submit a website to be in the running for website of the month or to be featured on the webpage. Users can search the website for specific styles such as templates, infographics, animations and much more, as well as industries including events, interior design, crypto and an extensive list of others.

Webspo doesn’t charge a subscription fee - or any fee for that matter! The website is entirely free to access and explore for aspiring designers and developers. 

Vidgrid

Vidgrid is a similar platform to that of Webspo, except for video inspiration rather than website. The platform has been created to provide a breadth of video inspiration for a multitude of industries, using different features and techniques to create an immersive viewing experience.

Users are able to search videos across a variety of categories including industries, style and duration. There are so many different industries for designers and developers to take inspiration from, to name a few these include; 

• Ads & Commercials
• Business & Corporate
• Crypto
• Energy
• Food & Beverage
• Health & Wellbeing
• Property
• TV / Media

Styling options to filter by can include: 

• 3D
• Animation
• Corporate
• Interactive
• Puppets
• Type

Like Webspo, Vidgrid doesn’t charge any fees - inspiration is freely available. 

Users can submit videos as contenders for reaching the main page, all of which is free to use for the benefit of each and every visitor!

Awwwards 

Awwwards is also an impressive contender for the top spot here, the platform is essentially a highly respected award system that attracts submissions of the highest quality from some brilliant designers, often those that continually push the borders between art and web design.

The quality of the inspiration that is selected reflects the quality of the judges. Awwwards has enlisted the help of modern web design’s best to judge the quality of each submission, including the likes of Webflow genius Timothy Noah and Ryan Morrison. 

Awwwards recognises web designers, developers and agencies from all over the world who are creating some of the most innovative websites in the market. It’s often considered as a meeting point for digital design professionals to connect, find inspiration, and share constructive feedback with one another. 

It is also another free platform - so users can take advantage of the inspiring work of others at no cost. 

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

HubSpot

“HubSpot is an inbound marketing, sales, and service platform that helps companies to attract visitors, convert leads, and close and retain customers.” [source]

In a nutshell, HubSpot is an all encompassing CRM tool (customer/contact relationship management) used to manage your contacts, sales, pipeline, digital marketing and lead nurture.

The platform is made up of numerous different tools and hubs: CRM Hub, Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub and CMS Hub. 

For the purpose of this being a recommendation for a CRM tool let’s take a further look at the features of the CRM Hub:

• A customisable dashboard to view your entire sales pipeline
• Email tracking, meeting scheduling, live chat, and prospect tracking
• Gmail & outlook integration, email templates to help you easily email and communicate with leads
• Email notifications, company insights, and pipeline management features helping you to stay on top of all of your leads
• Automated logging and updating of customer deals and sales activities
• A built in activity stream with notifications delivered immediately after a lead opens an email, clicks on a link, or downloads an important document
• Storage of up to 1 million contact and company records
• The ability to record sales calls, send emails, schedule tasks, and assign tasks all within the HubSpot CRM
• Automatic publication of emails, recorded calls, and sales notes to a contact’s unique timeline

HubSpot's CRM Hub ensures all bases that are necessary to help your company maintain strong relationships with your customers, no matter what role you’re in, are covered. 

The HubSpot CRM can help to simplify a business’ work processes and increase productivity no matter whether you’re in sales, marketing, customer service, or operations.

The pricing for HubSpot varies on what your business wishes to use it for since there are so many different hubs. 

MailChimp

Mailchimp is an all-in-one marketing platform for small businesses, and is also up there with one of the best marketing softwares in the industry - it fulfils all of your requirements of email correspondence with customers, affiliates, and other stakeholders as well as providing analytics and data to determine the performance of a campaign. 

With its easy-to-use interface and powerful analytic capabilities, Mailchimp allows businesses to effectively pursue and engage their target audiences. Whether you are trying to promote a new product or increase customer retention, Mailchimp's automated systems can help you to run targeted email campaigns with ease. 

Moreover, Mailchimp's detailed reports allow businesses to analyse data on everything from website traffic to user engagement, giving them valuable insights into how they can improve their marketing efforts over time.

Mailchimp’s main features:

• Audience Management & Segmentation
• Creative Tools for Landing Page Development
• Lead Capture Forms
• Marketing Automation
• Campaign Templates
• A/B Testing
• Insights & Analytics
• Editable drag-and-drop templates

• Personalisation
• Basic list management
• Email analytics and reporting

• A free (under 2,000 email subscribers) account

Mailchimp works on a tiered pricing schedule which offers a variety of features - and they of course offer a free version which is perfect for small businesses looking for a simplified CRM. With audiences up to 2,000 contacts, the free plan offers basic automations and templates.

SendinBlue

Sendinblue is a multi-purpose cloud based CRM platform that helps businesses to build and grow relationships through marketing automation, email campaigns, transactional emails and SMS messages. One of the main benefits of the platform is that it combines a robust collection of services within a single, user-friendly solution.

SendinBlue functions:

Email Campaigns

The platform allows you to promote your brand and grow your business with a series of email templates to ensure a successful email campaign. There is a feature that ensures your campaigns are sent at the best time for each contact called ‘Sent Time Optimisation Feature’. 

Transactional Emails

Within the transactional email feature your transactional emails can be shaped to be professional with some of their brilliant designs and reliable deliverability. The platform uses SMTP infrastructure to ensure all emails reach your customer’s inbox on time. 

Marketing Automation

The marketing automation feature allows you to automate your marketing and sales processes quickly and efficiently with time sensitive offers for customer segments.

Client Relation Management

Their CRM feature is one of their most promising features - with the ability to organise your team and track every customer interaction with your customisable CRM tool. Control your sales pipeline and track sales and revenue potential as your leads move through the buyer journey.

Live Chat

A great addition for any CRM platform is a live chat feature, allowing businesses to connect with leads and customers in real time as they visit the website or Facebook Business pages. The platform has a multi-channel app making it easy for businesses to handle multiple communications at once. 

The free plan is great for users to get a feel for the software, giving you access to unlimited contacts, 300 emails per day and the chat function. The paid plans start with the Lite plan at £16.50 per month, with features and functionality expanding.

Sales

Typeform

Typeform is by far one of the most popular online form builders and survey tools. Specialising in a conversational ‘one question at a time’ experience the platform is built to create a typeform that feels more like a conversation when compared to the regular form flow.

Typeform is an app that lets you create your own surveys and ask questions with just the click of one button. The interface uses simple drag-and-drop features, making it easy for anyone to get started on their form in no time at all! 

You can personalise this program by adding images or videos if desired - making every user feel like they're getting tailored attention instead of generic responses.

The main features of typeform are:

• Conditional logic
• Automated respondent notifications
• Data export options
• Customaisable designs and themes
• Hidden fields and calculations
• Unlimited forms and surveys
• Integrations with third-party softwares like Zapier, Automate.io, Slack, Mailchimp and HubSpot
• Native reporting and analytics 

You’ll be glad to hear that there is a free option of Typeform too, allowing users to try features from some of the paid plans by putting the typeform into trial mode.

Videoask

Videoask was created by Typeform as a response to the increasing need for personalisation in digital workflows. The idea behind it was to find a way to create more personal connections online with their customers. 

The platform allows users to get creative with videos through its sleek and easy-to-use dashboard with features that allow users to create feedback, lead generation, job applications, and video testimonials.

Videoask uses advanced technology like conditional logic, multiple response options, and contact forms to create a seamless and interactive conversation, allowing users to have one-on-one conversations in a realistic environment, at scale.

The video aspect of videoask allows businesses to engage with their audience in a new way, using it in all areas of the business to make heavy content seem less boring, and to interact with customers on a more personal level. This helps to build deeper and stronger customer relationships, increasing their lifetime value. 

The main features of the platform to help in the areas mentioned are:

• Embed widget
• Response Inbox

• Custom flows
• Calendar integrations
• Audio transcription

• Track conversions
• Embed on your site
• Workflow integration

The main reasons for using videoask tend to be for lead generation, recruitment and sales, with testimonials, audience engagement and training and education not far behind! 

The interactive nature of the videos allow users to personalise their lead generation funnels with personalised content targeting specific audiences. 

Lead Generation

Personalize a pre-recorded video question to catch your prospects' attention. Make the face of your product or service known to your leads by using interactive video while also assisting you in answering potential consumers' queries at once. Create more customised funnels for prospects by allowing them self-segmentation.

Recruitment

Isn't it true that online recruitment can be a cold process? From sourcing to onboarding and everything in between. Why not personalise the candidate experience by using VideoAsk - describe what you do with video, invite future coworkers who will also work on this project together to explain anything they might want to know about it all! What could be a better method of attracting top talent than making them feel unique from start to finish.

Sales

Are you tired of dealing with uninterested prospects? Swap emails for videos and create a human connection with your leads. Using video allows people to feel seen and heard, which entices them to become more invested, engaged, and confident in taking the next step. 

Videoask is a popular platform in the sales industry as it enables businesses to create a more personal sales experience, answering commonly asked questions by customers during the purchase journey. 

Say goodbye to manually qualifying leads using pre-recorded video funnels; hello automated qualification! Simply prepare a set of questions ahead of time then funnel prospects through the following stage based on their answers.

Testimonials

Videoask is a fantastic platform for businesses who are hot on gaining customer feedback - success stories can be created and shared in a video format to create an engaging testimonial sharing the feedback of your customers. 

Using video shows potential customers what others think of your product, helping to build trust, in a human way. 

Training & Education

Training within your organisation can be a mundane task both for the teacher and the employee, videoask is a great alternative to one-on-one training classes, with the use of interactive videos and responsive videos companies are able to carry out training sessions with ease and much less boredom.

The pricing schedule for Videoask has three tiers and begins with their free package which has all of the essentials you need to get the conversation started.

HubSpot

In the world of sales, it's all about leads. Without leads, there is no sales pipeline and without a sales pipeline, there are no sales. That's why having a platform that can help you generate, nurture, and convert leads is so important. That's exactly what HubSpot Sales Hub does.

HubSpot Sales Hub is a platform designed for businesses of all sizes to manage their leads and sales pipeline. It offers a variety of features that make it an essential tool for any business looking to grow their sales. Let's take a look at some of the features that make HubSpot Sales Hub so great.

Generate More Leads

HubSpot Sales Hub users with access to a powerful database of potential customers. This database is constantly updated with new information so that you can always be sure you're targeting the right people.

Sales Pipeline

In addition to generating more leads, HubSpot Sales Hub also makes it easy to nurture those leads and turn them into conversions. It does this by providing users with tools to automate their email marketing and follow-up processes. This way, you can focus on selling, not on administrative tasks.

Tracking & Analytics

HubSpot Sales Hub makes it easy to track your progress and measure your success. It does this by providing users with detailed reports and analytics. This way, you can see what's working and what's not so that you can adjust your strategy accordingly.

Finances

GoCardless

Go Cardless is a payment collection platform, making it easy to collect recurring, one-off and variable payments from customers worldwide.

What sets gocardless apart is its hassle-free approach and its ability to ensure that payments are collected on time, every time. 

Unlike other payment processing platforms, which typically require businesses to set up contracts or input credit card information, gocardless allows merchants to sign up and start accepting payments quickly and easily through a simple online form. 

What's more, the platform automatically pays out any funds collected into your account, so you never have to worry about delays or missed deadlines, plus you can connect multiple accounts to handle payments in multiple different currencies, all in the same dashboard.

The software can be used by small businesses or large enterprises, with varying features and integrations to suit each:

• Recurring payments
• Instant bank pay
• International payments
• Success +
• Verified Mandates
• API Integrations
• Partner Integrations
• Variable recurring payments

If you're looking for a simple way to streamline your payments processes while also reducing late payments and grace periods, GoCardless is the tool for you.

Benefits for small businesses:

• Improve cash flow
• Keep track of payments
• Reduce costs
• Reduce failed payments
• Increase conversions

Benefits for an enterprise:

• Reduce churn
• Reduce international barriers
• Reduce operational costs
• Increase efficiency in getting paid
• Reduce conversion risk 

Using GoCardless doesn’t necessarily require a subscription, users are able to pay per transaction if they’d prefer with access to all of the core features of the platform. The pricing for subscription starts at £50 per month. 

Amex

American Express is a world-renowned financial services company, and for good reason. 

They offer a variety of credit cards with great rewards and perks for individuals and businesses of all sizes. From cash back to travel points, there are many reasons to consider using an American Express card. Let's take a look at some of the best ones…

Cash back rewards

One of the great things about American Express credit cards is that you can earn cash back on your purchases. This is a great way to save money on everyday expenses or big-ticket items. There are different cash back programs available, so you can choose the one that best suits your needs 

Travel rewards

If you love to travel, then an American Express card is a great option for you. With travel rewards, you can earn points towards free travel expenses like airfare, hotels, and rental cars. You can also get access to exclusive travel deals and perks 

Flexible payment options

American Express offers flexible payment options so you can pay your bill in full each month or make minimum payments if necessary. They also offer a variety of financing options so you can find the one that best suits your needs 

Purchase protection

With American Express, you can enjoy purchase protection on eligible items in case they're lost, stolen, or damaged within 120 days of purchase. This benefit can give you peace of mind when shopping for expensive items or making big-ticket purchases.

Wise

There are a lot of financial platforms out there vying for your attention. So, what makes Wise different? 

In short, it's the low fees, the easy-to-use interface, the fantastic customer service, and the fact that it allows you to hold and transfer money in multiple currencies. 

Businesses using the platform can save themselves and their clients a lot of money with its renowned low-fee transfers for paying freelancers, contractors or importing from overseas. Here's a closer look at why Wise is the best financial platform for your money.

Low Fees

One of the biggest selling points of Wise is the low fees. With traditional banks, you're often charged hidden fees for everything from transferring money to using an ATM in a foreign country. 

With Wise, there are no hidden fees. You'll always know exactly how much you're being charged for a transaction, and those fees are always low. In fact, Wise is up to 8x cheaper than using a traditional bank when sending or receiving money abroad.

Easy-to-Use Interface

Another reason why Wise is the best financial platform for your money is the easy-to-use interface. The last thing you want is to have to spend hours trying to figure out how to use a complex financial platform. With Wise, everything is straightforward and easy to understand. You can transfer money with just a few clicks, and you can easily track all of your transactions in one place.

Fantastic Customer Service

If you ever have any questions or run into any problems while using Wise, you can rest assured knowing that you'll be able to get help from their fantastic customer service team. They're available 24/7 to answer any questions you may have and resolve any issues you may be experiencing. And because they're based in London, you won't have to worry about dealing with language barriers.

Some of the top features of the platform are:

• Send money cheaper and easier than traditional banking: Send money at the real exchange rate with no hidden fees.
• Spend abroad without any hidden fees: Use a card in 200 countries, spend with Apple and Google Pay, and withdraw anywhere.
• Receive payments like a local in 10 currencies, you can get your own UK account number, Euro IBAN, US routing number, and more.
• Convert and hold 53 currencies: Hold multiple currencies in cash or stocks, and get the real exchange rate when you convert.

Users signing up for a Wise account can select a Wise personal account, or a Wise business account - for business use the pricing schedule varies slightly.

Design

Canva

Canva is a great design tool for businesses and individuals of all sizes. It is simple and easy to use yet still provides users with a lot of flexibility and options. Plus, it’s free! 

For one thing, it is incredibly user-friendly, with a simple yet intuitive interface that makes it easy to create beautiful designs in just a few clicks, everything from logos, banners, presentations, business cards and so much more. 

Plus, there are millions of templates and images available, so you can create a professional-looking design even if you don’t have any prior experience. With simple drag-and-drop functionality and a wide range of templates that can be easily customised, it's a great choice for anyone in need of quick, high-quality graphics. What's more, Canva also offers an extensive library of pre-made layouts, images, fonts, and design elements that users can easily integrate into their designs. 

If you do have some design experience, you can really let your creativity shine by creating custom designs from scratch. Whether you're creating Facebook ads or building brand assets for your company website, with Canva you can do it all from one convenient platform. 

What is it used for?

• To create good content quickly
• Build brand awareness
• Engage with audiences
• Plan and schedule social posts
• Brainstorming and workshops
• Increase design productivity 

Features: 

• Invite your team
• Team templates
• Brand management
• Content management
• Productivity
• Brand controls
• Integrations 

Unlike most design tools Canva has a free version that has access to so many fantastic features within the platform, the only need for the paid version of Canva Pro or Canva for Teams is if businesses are working on a large scale with a high volume of content to create.

Adobe Creative Suite

Adobe has so many different functionalities and applications that are great for designers. There are three applications in particular we’ll focus on - Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. 

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is by far one of the most popular graphic design softwares on the market and is used by designers and photographers to web developers and content marketers. As a go-to tool for design and image editing, users can use Photoshop for everything from basic image resizing and retouching, all the way through to illustration, digital art and photo manipulation.

One of the things we love about Adobe Photoshop is its user-friendly interface making it suitable for everyone from beginners to professionals. There are countless online tutorials for users to follow to understand the wide range of editing tools on the platform, encouraging endless creative possibilities. 

Users who are just looking for photoshop editing tools rather than the full use of Adobe can purchase a Photoshop plan starting around £19 per month. 

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator is perfect for graphic designers looking for a software suitable for vector drawing, design and editing. The platform allows users to create everything from illustrations and digital art to fonts and logos, giving designers full creative freedom. There are plenty of shortcuts to help speed up users' workflow.

Unlike Photoshop, there aren’t many tutorials for how to use Illustrator which makes it quite difficult for beginners to use the platform. However, it does have a user-friendly interface so once taught how to use each tool users will find it easy to navigate. As well as offering full creative freedom, Illustrator is compatible with all other Adobe softwares and supports multiple file formats which is often needed in the design industry.  

Like Photoshop, Illustrator can also be used as a stand alone Adobe application, with the option of adding other Adobe programmes to the plan at an additional cost.

Adobe InDesign 

Adobe InDesign is a great tool for desktop publishing and layout design often used by graphic designers, artists, and publishers for designing both digital and print projects. InDesign is the perfect tool for creating posters, flyers, brochures, magazines, newspapers, presentations, books, ebooks, and other marketing materials.

We wouldn’t recommend using InDesign as your sole design programme as it isn’t used for creating designs or images, rather just assembling layouts using text, images and drawings that have been created in other Adobe programmes such as Illustrator or Photoshop. 

The application can be purchased independently or as part of the whole Adobe Creative Suite, with many options and offers available for multiple Adobe products.. 

Figma

Figma is one of the best design tools on the market today. 

Not only does it offer an intuitive interface, but it also allows for a huge amount of flexibility and customisation.

From designing prototypes to putting together wireframes, Figma makes every part of the creative process simple and effortless. What's more, its robust community ensures that users always have access to the latest tools and features, making figma the clear choice for any designer on the go. 

Whether you're just starting out or are a seasoned professional, figma is simply unrivaled as a design tool. With all its advantages and unmatched versatility, there's no better way to bring your ideas to life.

User Interface

One of the best things about Figma is that it is extremely user-friendly. Whether you're a seasoned designer or someone who is just starting out, you'll be able to use Figma with ease. The learning curve is very gentle, which means that you'll be able to get up to speed quickly and start being productive almost immediately.

Versatility

Another great thing about Figma is that it is incredibly versatile. It can be used for everything from simple wireframing to complex interface designs. No matter what your needs are, Figma will be able to meet them 

Collaboration

Figma is also an excellent choice if you're looking for a design tool that is collaborative. With Figma, multiple people can work on the same file at the same time, which makes it perfect for team projects. Plus, thanks to its real-time commenting features, it's easy to give and receive feedback on your work.

What’s more, the recent introduction of FigJam as an arm of Figma allows teams to collaborate on more than just work, bringing workshops, games and ice-breaker tasks.

There aren’t many reasons not to use Figma. It is such a powerful and advanced collaborative design tool as it helps users to create pretty much anything: websites, applications, logos, and much more. Users can learn a lot about User Interface Design (UI) and User Experience Design (UX) by using Figma for design.

The pricing schedule for Figma is very fair considering the extent of what users are able to do with the platform, there is a free starter package that is free forever with access to all of the core elements of Figma, the Professional package is $12 per user per month - but can be accessed for free by students and educators. 

Development

Webflow

Webflow is an in-browser, no-code development tool that gives you the power to design, build, and launch responsive websites visually. It is often described as the web development tool of the future by many developers and designers. 

Webflow is definitely built for professional developers rather than for beginners, but it is built in a way that removes the painful and difficult aspects of web development by bringing code into a visual canvas. 

Front-end developers can use Webflow to build something completely custom much faster. 

Benefits of Webflow for web development:

• Classes and reusable styles are core to Webflow: Webflow not only makes it easy to build sites, but also to maintain and update them.
• Working visually is beneficial not limiting: Webflow lets users use modern layout tools like flexbox and CSS grid
• Publish in an instant: Once users have built their design visually, they can hit publish and push the site live.
• Flexible and powerful CMS: In Webflow users have the freedom to create whatever content type their site needs, then craft the design around that content from scratch. 
• Build custom interactions and animations: Webflow aims to bring the power of website animations and interactions into a visual toolbox, making web design more visually creative and accessible.
• Webflow University: If the user isn’t quite used to the complexities of Webflow, there are numerous courses and videos available for users to go through to get to know the software better. 

Webflow pricing gets complex, but ultimately, users will need a Workspace Plan and a Site Plan, each with varying costs associated depending on factors like the number of collaborators and level of hosting.

Within the Workspace plans, there is a free forever option, so there’s no harm in giving it a try! Plus, hosting is free when using a Webflow staging domain.

Namecheap

If you're looking to purchase a domain name, create an email address, build a basic template website or set up hosting, then you need to check out Namecheap. 

The user interface is clean and simple, and the checkout process is quick and straightforward; Namecheap makes it easy peasy to buy your favourite domain name.

Namecheap is one of the most affordable domain registrars out there. They frequently run promotions where you can get a .com domain for literally pennies per year. And even when they're not running a promotion, their prices are still very reasonable.

In addition to accessing affordable domain names, with every purchase, Namecheap also offers a wide range of additional benefits:

• Free WhoisGuard privacy protection
• Free DNS management
• Free email forwarding
• Free mail forwarding

There are a lot of domain registrars out there to choose from. But if you're looking for the best combination of affordability, features and ease of use, then Namecheap is the way to go. 

UptimeRobot

If you're a web developer or you work in hosting, then you know that one of the most important things to monitor is website uptime. 

After all, if your site goes down, that means lost revenue and unhappy customers. That's where UptimeRobot comes in. 

This powerful tool helps developers and hosting companies to monitor website uptime and get notified immediately if there are any issues. 

UptimeRobot is a simple but effective tool. It works by pinging your website at regular intervals to check if it's still up and running. If the site is down, you'll get an immediate notification so that you can take action to fix the problem. 

In addition, UptimeRobot also monitors your server's CPU usage, memory usage, and disk space. This way, you can catch any potential problems before they cause your site to go down.

The power of UptimeRobot:

• Get notified about incidents as they happen
• Keep your customers in the loop
• Share incident updates with subscribers
• Send status updates via email 
• Brand your platform - customise colors and add logos 
• Rest easy knowing that everything is being handled correctly
• Feel confident that you're prepared for any situation

If you're responsible for keeping a website up and running, then you need UptimeRobot. This tool takes the guesswork out of monitoring website uptime and lets you focus on other aspects of your job.

Marketing

Semrush

Semrush is one of the best marketing tools out there, and for good reason. Its powerful analytics provide deep insights into the performance of a wide range of online marketing efforts, including SEO, PPC, content marketing, and social media. 

These insights can help companies make well-informed decisions about how to improve their marketing strategy and get more out of their advertising dollars. In addition to its analytical capabilities, Semrush also offers many other useful features, including keyword research tools, domain tracking and reporting functionality, backlink research functionality, and more. 

Semrush has proven to be a very successful and useful marketing tool, with marketers from all over the world trusting Semrush to maximise their SEO since 2008! However, it’s grown into much more than that with ‘toolkits’ for SEO, Paid Advertising, Social Media, Content Creation and more. 

There are so many tools available within Semrush that we’d be here for hours listing and describing them all, to simplify it for you the following are topics in which there are around 2-5 tools available per area:

• Keyword Research
• On-page SEO
• Competitor Analysis
• Content Marketing
• Local SEO
• Rank Tracking
• Social Media Management
• Link Building
• Competitor SEO Analysis
• Content Creation and Distribution
• Content Optimisation
• Content Marketing Analytics
• Market Analysis
• Paid Ads
• Competitor PR Monitoring
• PPC Keyword Research

What’s more, Semrush’s Google Docs extension means you can check the SEO grading of your content marketing right where you create it, receiving related keyword suggestions and readability action points to improve your articles.

We recommend taking full advantage of the free version of Semrush before committing to the paid plans so you know that the platform is right for your business.

We’re confident you will love it, but the platform can be quite complex and overwhelming for beginners so use the free trial before jumping into the paid version. 

Buzzsumo

Buzzsumo is another one of our favourite platforms for marketing, as an all-in-one cloud-based content marketing tool it is designed to help users to discover the best engagement, content and outreach opportunities across social and search. 

Buzzsumo was designed and launched in 2014 to help content marketers in every way possible. 

From finding initial ideas to knowing the audience buyer behaviour, and obtaining the search engine results insights to create up-to-date and relevant content. 

The most common use cases for the platform are for discovering competitor intelligence, creating a compelling content strategy, crisis alerting to protect the brand, digital PR, and influencer and video marketing.

Features:

• Content Discovery
• Content Research
• Find Influencers
• Monitoring
• Chrome Extension
• API

The free plan of Buzzsumo is a great way to get a feel for the platform, but we recommend purchasing one of their paid plans to get full use of their brilliant content features.

Elfsight

As a business owner, it's important to build trust and credibility with your potential customers. After all, if they don't trust you, they're not going to buy from you! 

One way to build that trust is by using Elfsight widgets on your website. Elfsight is a powerful tool that allows you to integrate a wide range of features onto your website, including social media feeds, testimonials, customer reviews, and more.

Elfsight is completely free to use up to 200 views on the webpage where the widget is used. This means for those starting out, it can be a great way to build trust and credibility at no cost. Over 200 views, paid plans kick in, starts at $5 per month.

Testimonials and Customer Reviews

One of the best ways to build trust and credibility is by featuring testimonials from satisfied customers on your website. When potential customers see that others have had positive experiences with your business, they're much more likely to do business with you as well. 

With Elfsight, you can easily add testimonials and customer reviews to your website. All you need to do is connect your Elfsight account to the platform where you collect customer reviews (such as Google or Yelp), and then the reviews will automatically be pulled into your Elfsight account and displayed on your website. It's that easy!

Social Media Feeds

Another great way to build trust and credibility is by featuring social media feeds on your website. This allows potential customers to see what others are saying about your business on social media, and it also helps show that you're active on social media and engaged with your customers. 

With Elfsight, you can easily add social media feeds from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more to your website. Simply connect your Elfsight account to the social media platforms where you have an active presence, and then the feeds will automatically be pulled into your account and displayed on your website.

Advertising

AdZooma

AdZooma is a digital marketing platform that is fully integrated with Google, Facebook and Microsoft ads, created to help businesses gain a competitive advantage in advertising.

The platform is made up of all the tools a business needs to make paid advertising faster and more effective, and analyses connected accounts 24/7 for opportunities to improve performance, over 50 of which can be applied to user accounts with a single click. 

Many of the features make sure that the usual time consuming manual tasks involved in digital marketing are fully automated, with reports automatically generated ready to be analysed within a single click. 

On the dashboard users are able to manage all of their Google, Facebook and Microsoft ads. Adzooma is made up of impressive time-saving and profit-boosting features that provide users with more time to work on the overall strategy rather than on smaller tasks. 

Real-time insights

With Adzooma, you can see how your campaigns are performing in real-time. This means that you can quickly identify and fix any problems with your campaigns so that you can maximize your ROI.

Easy to use interface

Adzooma's interface is designed to be user-friendly and easy to use. Even if you're not a tech-savvy person, you'll be able to use Adzooma with ease.

Powerful optimisation features

Adzooma comes with powerful optimization features that will help you fine-tune your campaigns for maximum ROI. With Adzooma, you can automatically optimise your campaigns for different goals, such as clicks, impressions, or conversions.

One of the things we love about AdZooma is that their Essential plan is completely free and has pretty much all of the features a business would need to succeed in paid advertising. The only other plan they offer is AdZooma Plus which has advanced SEO insights and premium features available, at £69 per month. 

CallRail

CallRail is a phone tracking and analytical software built to enable businesses to track all calls, texts, web form submissions to see exactly which of their marketing tactics are working. 

They are the leading software in call tracking thanks to their two product features; Call Tracking and Lead Centre. 

Call Tracking features

• Attribute forms alongisde calls: Users can measure and respond to form submissions using Form Tracking.
• Analyse and transcribe calls: A feature of Conversation Intelligence enables users to spot keywords and qualify leads.
• Close gaps in your data: The platform will provide data on which campaigns are most effective and which aren’t, allowing users to accurately report on ROI. 

Lead Centre features

• Connects marketing to the leads who contact them, so businesses can have smarter conversations that convert into sales.
• A seamless dashboard with everything in one place. 
• Team inbox makes call notes, customer interaction histories, tags, and milestones visible to every member of the team, ensuring the next agent to speak to them is prepared.

Despite being used in multiple industries, CallRail won’t be suitable for all businesses. 

As technology advances, forms of communication between customers and businesses have also advanced, moving to online formats of instant chat messaging services and social media platforms, rather than phone calls. 

Although the software does manage inboxes of chat services and emails, the main focus is on call tracking.

CallRail offers a 14 day free trial on all of their paid packages. 

Semrush

The Semrush Advertising Toolkit is a one-stop shop for businesses when planning any advertising campaigns. With the toolkit users can access all of the tools that are going to benefit them while they set up and run their advertising campaigns. 

Within the platform, users will find ways to research their niche, study their competitors’ past campaigns, and set up their own advertising strategy with focused keyword lists and ads.

Being able to target the keywords using the keyword magic tool will help to bring them the highest ROI, and this can make all the difference when it comes to competing in a particular field. A competitive analysis also goes a long way by producing real insights into the current market to tailor your advertising strategy to be relevant and engaging. 

The tools in this kit cover the following processes:

Competitor Analysis

To run a successful advertising campaign the key is to analyse the competition. Use the Semrush tools that show users how their competitors are running their campaigns to see everything from the keywords they are bidding on to the ad copy they are using for their ads.

Keyword Research

After identifying what the competition is doing users will want to look for their own set of keywords that are going to bring optimum return on investment. To uncover the best target keywords for the campaign and improve existing campaigns, there are numerous keyword research reports available.

Ad Research

The last step is creating ads to engage the audience. The PLA Research tool will allow users to analyse the visual aspects of competitor's advertising strategies. 

Advertising is often one of the most beneficial aspects of a company's digital marketing strategy. For companies that are stuck trying to plan their advertising strategy, the tools on Semrush provide the perfect solution. 

The free plan on Semrush gives access to the advertising toolkit so give it a whirl!

Video

Loom

Loom is a video creation solution designed to facilitate workplace communication or training through video and screen recording features. The platform allows users to record their camera, microphone and screen simultaneously, which can then be saved as a video or sent directly to a recipient.

Depending on the type of business the client has there are many different use cases of Loom, including: Team Alignment, Sales, Engineering, Design, Marketing, Product Management, Support, Education and more. 

Many businesses love Loom for the fact that it provides a solution for spending excessive amounts of time in meetings explaining concepts or presenting ideas, instead this can be done via simple screen sharing and audio walk-through. 

Training employees has never been easier either! Explainer videos with screen recording capabilities allow businesses to enrol new employees without having to spend weeks in person training them.

Reduce Time in Meetings

Loom reduces the time businesses spend in meetings by allowing clients to view concept presentations without being sat in hours-long meetings! It’s an effective way to share progress with clients where it may be difficult to get every member of their team in one meeting slot, or for clients in different time zones where face-to-face presentations are limited.

Optimise Workflows 

Loom optimises workflows by allowing businesses to share tutorials and how-tos with new employees who are located in different parts of the world. This reduces the amount of time spent on meetings to ‘show and tell’ and houses a reference point for staff to re-watch steps in their own time until they feel confident.

Share Project Briefings 

Loom also makes it easy for businesses to share project briefings with employees. With Loom, businesses can record video messages and send them to employees via email or text message. This allows businesses to keep their employees informed about new projects without having to schedule a meeting.

The main features of Loom are:

• Screen capture
• Audio Capture
• Workflow Management
• Video Capture
• Activity Dashboard
• Mobile Access
• Reporting, Statistics and Analytics

Loom has a free Starter package that allows users to create up to 25 videos of up to 5 minutes per video, the paid packages are for businesses who are looking to use the advanced recording and analytics features from $8 per month; a small investment for such a great tool.

Descript

Descript is an all-in-one editor platform that makes editing media as easy as editing a word document. All users have to do is upload media, or record directly in Descript, to instantly transcribe the file into text, then tweak the text to directly edit your media clips. 

Descript Key Features: 

• Overdub
• Filler Word Removal

• Publishing
• Social Video
• Subtitles
• Remote Recording
• Studio Sound

The four main product areas Descript focuses on are:

Podcasting

The platform has worked with podcasters to create a user-friendly podcast app removing all the pain points of audio and video production. The feature has multiple tools to assist with podcast production, recording, transcription, collaboration, promotion, and publishing. 

Video Editing

Make videos from start to finish with tools such as multitrack, title and captions, transitions, keyframe animation, shapes. 

Screen Recording

Screen and webcam recording that is as easy to edit as it is to share.

Transcription

Incredibly fast and accurate transcription with automatic speaker detection.  

For a tool that has so many fantastic and useful features we are so surprised they offer a free plan that has access to some of their key features! Even the paid plans are extremely reasonable per month, with the creator plan starting at $12 per month per user. See below for a full breakdown of their pricing plans.

Adobe After Effects & Premiere Pro

If you're serious about video editing, then you need to be using Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects. 

These two powerful tools from Adobe are industry-leading software for video editing and motion graphics, respectively. Here's a look at why they're so powerful and how you can use them to take your video editing to the next level:

Adobe Premiere Pro 

This is a powerful video editing tool that gives you complete control over your footage. With its timeline-based interface, you can easily make cuts and adjustments to your video without having to start from scratch. And with its wide range of built-in effects and filters, you can quickly add professional-looking touches to your videos.

After Effects 

An incredible tool for creating stunning visual effects and motion graphics. With its node-based interface, you can easily create complex animations and visual effects that would be difficult or impossible to create with other tools. And with its vast library of plugins and extensions, you can extend the capabilities of After Effects even further.

Analytics 

Semrush Traffic Analytics

Semrush Traffic Analytics is one of the best market intelligence and competitive research tools available, providing estimates and reports of any website’s desktop and mobile traffic. 

The platform can help businesses to benchmark, evaluate a new market or niche, and build a successful media buying and marketing strategy. 

The tool has so many features that can help businesses to see where theirs or a competitor's website’s traffic comes from; how their audience engages with their site; what devices visitors prefer to use; how multiple websites’ audiences overlap and much more. 

The top features of the platform are:

Keyword analysis

Used to discover what competitors are using, find new organic competition, see their ad strategies and budgets, analyse ad copy and keywords, learn more about their display advertising to help businesses to find new publishers and more. 

Backlink analysis

A tool that helps you see who’s linking to you on which websites.

Keyword difficulty

The perfect tool to help businesses to see the difficulty of keywords they may want to go after, and find those with less competition - helping businesses to decide whether or not to invest the time in going after the competition.

Domain vs. domain

This tool allows users to set side-by-side comparisons between  their domain and their competition, or just between competitors. It will produce a report with easy visualising so users can see the common and unique keywords for each domain, better allowing you to adjust your strategy. 

Market intelligence insights

This particular tool makes the platform one of the most powerful tools for market researchers, marketing managers, business development teams, and sales teams.

What can you do with the traffic analytics tool and features on Semrush?

• Estimate the total website traffic to any domain and its subdomains, and subfolders
• Visits, unique visitors, pages/visit, average visit duration, and bounce rate analysis
• Traffic sources
• Geolocation-based web traffic analysis
• Top “destination sites” that users visit directly through hyperlinks on the analysed domain
• Historical data back to January 2017
• Mobile / desktop traffic
• Audiences’ overlaps
• Comparison for up to 5 domains

HubSpot

HubSpot has taken the top spot of CRM systems, so it’s no surprise that the platform has placed for another feature like Analytics. HubSpot analytics allows users to measure the performance of all of their marketing campaigns in one place with built-in analytics, reports, and dashboards, providing everything you need to be a smarter data-driven marketer.

HubSpots Analytics software ties every marketing interaction to closed revenue and tracks the complete customer lifecycle, from anonymous visitor to loyal customer.

Break down any report by the contact or company-level properties in your database or CRM to discover key trends in your data over time. Create behavioural events to track actions taken on your website so you can understand visitors’ behaviour and trigger automation workflows.

Then close the loop on your marketing efforts with multi-touch revenue attribution so you can get credit for your campaigns’ impact and double down on the content that works best.

Hotjar

Hotjar is another all-in-one analytics and feedback dashboard, with the aim of helping businesses to truly understand the behaviours of their website visitors. The name Hotjar comes from its heatmap features that allow businesses to see where customers are spending time on their website.

The platform is useful for businesses who are looking to acquire information they have always wanted to know about, such as where people navigate to from specific landing pages, how people interact with a page layout, the most-hit buttons and much more. 

Hotjar works to a businesses advantage by taking away the guesswork in learning about the customer experience on any website they manage. The results can then be used to determine what content is created to build the site. 

Hotjar’s top features include:

Heatmaps

Helping businesses to see where their customers are spending time, clicking, and how they’re interacting with their web and mobile sites.

This feature shows page drop-offs in a visual way.

Recordings

Actual screen recordings of where visitors click, tap, move their cursors and navigate the site. This is extremely powerful when wanting to know the exact behaviour of visitors. Where did they move around on the page, did they highlight anything or hover on a specific element?

Hotjar has a basic package free of charge offering up to 1,050 sessions a month, automatic data capture, and unlimited heatmaps. They then offer a Plus, Business or Scale package which increases in price and features available.

Collaboration

Miro 

Miro is one of the top rated online collaboration tools. The whiteboard platform has features that enable remote teams to work easily and effectively together. There are so many useful features to help teams work collaboratively, from brainstorming with digital sticky notes to planning and managing agile workflows.

The software is built to allow users to create notes and designs, edit work spaces, and communicate through embedded video calls and online chats. With a series of pre-made templates that can be used for inspiration or as a starting place for your own project work, it’s quick and easy to get going.

Many businesses favourite feature of the platform is the online whiteboarding tool, utilising Miro when leading real-time remote design thinking workshops. 

Some common uses of Miro include:

• Creating a list of ideas or topics to focus on for an important project
• Developing a user story or customer journey map
• Wireframing a new product concept or idea
• Laying out a roadmap or strategy for an innovation workshop or program
• Helpful project management tools
• Running a more engaging or innovative meeting for your team in an agile culture

Infinite canvas, infinite creativity.

Miro gives businesses the freedom to choose how they work and collaborate with their team in a way that is both intuitive as well versatile enough for any project or need imaginable - brainstorming sessions; meetings where everyone can see what's going on at once (and not just one person); planning out projects by drawing inspiration from each other’s ideas while retaining creative control over design elements themselves: there really isn't anything these boards aren't capable of doing!

After considering the features and tools Miro offers, your next question is going to be around the pricing. Like most digital platforms, Miro offers a free plan and paid plans with additional features the higher up the price bracket you climb. 

Basecamp 

Basecamp is another fantastic project management software and team communication; the software brands itself as an “all-in-one toolkit for working remotely”. 

Compared to other collaborative online solutions, Basecamp stands out thanks to its wealth of built-in collaboration tools such as the group chat functionality, message boards, to-dos and more. 

Basecamp is a real-time collaboration tool that helps teams stay in touch, allowing users to create projects, track progress, and manage tasks. The platform provides opportunities to communicate better and is much more efficient so requires fewer meetings. 

To be an all-in-one collaboration and communication software Basecamp understood that it must combine features of multiple software offerings into a single place so that it's easier to sort through and manage key information and data. 

Basecamps key features include:

• Chat rooms and message boards for better communication 
• To-do lists and scheduling tools for better organisation
• A single place where users can share files, documents and folders with access for every team member to allow collaborative working

In terms of pricing, Basecamp differs from most other collaborative softwares by offering a flat-rate single fee of £99.99 per month for an unlimited number of users. 

Their pricing definitely makes them especially attractive to medium to large organisations who don’t want to spend a fortune on collaborative communication tools. 

The collaboration features available in Basecamp business are pretty impressive: 

• Unlimited projects
• Unlimited users
• 500GB storage space
• Company HQ
• Team projects
• Unlimited clients
• Advanced client access
• Project templates

FigJam

FigJam is a cloud-based collaboration tool that lets teams quickly and easily share ideas, give feedback, and take part in interactive activities. 

If you're looking for a tool to help your team with project planning, ideation, mind maps, ice breakers, team challenges/games/workshops, and more, then you need FigJam. With its easy-to-use interface and powerful features specifically tailored for team interaction, FigJam is sure to help your team work better together.

FigJam is the all-in-one collaboration tool that will keep your team engaged and motivated. 

Here are a few ways teams love to collaborate in FigJam:

Project Planning

With FigJam, project planning is a breeze. The drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to add sticky notes, create flow charts and brainstorm ideas. Plus, the built-in ‘stickers’ ensure that everyone can leave emoji reactions, thumbs up or constructive comments to help accelerate project progression.

Ideation

FigJam is the perfect tool for brainstorming sessions. It’s super easy to create mind maps, diagrams and charts to quickly capture ideas and visually organise them. And the virtual whiteboard lets you collaborate in real-time with teammates from anywhere in the world.

Ice Breakers

Need to break the ice with a new team? FigJam has you covered. The ice breaker games are designed to get everyone talking, laughing, and thinking outside the box.

FigJam widgets make games and competitions available right inside the platform. Blockus, Connect4, Two Truths One Lie, chess and more keep teams engaged and interacting for longer. 

Team Workshops

From fun quizzes to creative exercises, FigJam has something for everyone. Virtual workshops let you share presentations and materials with teammates, and clients, in real-time. Get every team member involved in votes, polls and feedback through stick

Time tracking

Timely

Our top spot for time tracking softwares has to go to Timely App. Timely is an automatic time tracking software founded in Norway, perfect for both individuals and teams to keep track of time spent on projects. 

The software is available across multiple platforms such as iPhone, Android, Mac, Desktop - and has multiple software integrations for users to utilise. 

The main features of Timely are: 

• Track time: Get the complete picture of your work day without having to do a thing to track other than install Memory.
• Track projects: Monitor budgets, hours and activities in real time.
• Track teams: Get a complete overview of your team’s time and performance. 

Timely’s simple UI and automatic time tracking has been proven to be helpful for companies  by reducing timesheet admin by up to 75%. The platform has several flexible options for logging time, so businesses can manage timesheets in a way that works best for them.

One of the biggest pros of timely is that it captures every second of your work day - this means that any billable time is captured so teams can accurately report on time spent on projects. Reports and invoices become much more transparent, helping to provide data that will improve projects and set budgets going forward. 

The general functionality of Timely’s dashboard is user friendly and easy to navigate, as well as having a lovely sleek design with fierce data protection it makes for a software that users enjoy using. Timely helps to encourage teams to manage their own productivity, and stay on top of performance, wellbeing and workload without compromising the employer’s or the client’s trust.

Timely offers a free trial with all of the features of Unlimited available for a short time so users can experience all of the best features to help with their business. Pricing after that starts at $8 per month per user, and goes up to $20+ per month per user for a custom plan. 

Toggl

Toggl’s simple, easy-to-use interface and comprehensive reporting features make it an ideal choice for anyone who wants to stay on top of their time usage. Whether you're a freelancer working on multiple projects or a manager trying to keep tabs on your team's progress, Toggl has everything you need to stay organised and productive.

Functionally, Toggl works by allowing you to track time in real-time as you work on projects or tasks. This can be done one time or through automatic time tracking that starts when you start a new project. 

The tool also automatically creates reports based on the data collected, so you can quickly get an overview of how much time you spend on different tasks each week or month. Plus, Toggl integrates seamlessly with many other popular productivity tools like Asana, Trello, and Notion, making it easy to manage all aspects of your work from a single dashboard.

The platform has three main aims:

• To be effective - automating soul-destroying admin so users can focus their head and hearts on the more important stuff

• To be empowering - think powerful project management, not spyware or micromanagement

• To be effortless - no steep learning curves; onboarding is as simple as a few clicks

One of the most attractive features of the tracking software is its pricing structure - offering a free plan with numerous features available - including unlimited time tracking, unlimited projects, clients, and tags, exportable reports, web app, mobile apps, and desktop apps, automated time tracking triggers and many others. 

Toggl’s top features:

One-Click Timers

Track time across the web app, desktop app, mobile app, or browser extension - with one click! All entries will sync automatically.

Background Tracking

Auto-track every application or website users use for more than 10 seconds with the Timeline feature - then turn that data into time entries.

Calendar Integrations

Integrate Outlook or Google Calendars into Toggl Track's Calendar view and create or start time entries based on calendar events. Available for their web and mobile apps.

Autotracker

One of the most useful features for those who are forgetful, set up Toggl Track to trigger time entry suggestions based on the software you're currently using.

Favourite time entries

Pin the most frequently-used time entries to the top of the Timer page for easy access.

Harvest

Another fantastic time tracking tool is Harvest, a platform enabling users to use time tracking of projects to capture critical project data that allows businesses to learn from the past, keep current projects on track, and better estimate future projects.

Using Harvest is a great way of backing up decisions for future projects with data from past project insights. It is a tool that works the way your team works, by integrating with apps that a team is already used to making it flexible for all types of teams and projects. 

The main features of the time tracking platform provides visibility into the key aspects of projects such as budget, team capacity, and costs - enabling businesses to keep everything on time and within budget.

Get Harvest has three main feature areas; time tracking, reports and analysis, and invoicing and payments. Each of these have multiple features within them that help to make the tool as useful and flexible as possible. 

Time Tracking

• Track time from browser, desktop, and mobile. Make it as easy as possible for users to capture their time with dedicated apps across devices.
• Integrated with your workflow. The platform integrates with the tools a business knows and loves enabling them to capture time the way they already work.
• Custom reminders for consistent time tracking. Automated reminders help teams to track time regularly and accurately.

Reports and analysis

• Keep budgets on target: Harvest updates budgets as your team tracks time, allowing users to keep projects on track and profitable.

• Visualise team capacity: See who may be overworked and who’s under-utilised at a glance with capacity reporting.
• Understand costs: Keep track of internal costs and review past project data to inform future project scope and estimates.
• Analyse time spent: See which projects and tasks are consuming your team’s time and impacting costs.

Invoicing and payments

• Streamline invoicing: Easily create and send accurate invoices using the team’s time and expenses already tracked in Harvest.
• Get paid fast with online payments: PayPal and Stripe integrations in the app let clients quickly and conveniently pay invoices online.
• Keep your books up to date: Automatically copy Harvest invoices and payments to QuickBooks Online or Xero for simplified accounting.

There is a free and paid version of Harvest, the free package allows just one user to manage up to two projects with access to all of the features, the paid ‘Pro’ package is only £12 per month and allows unlimited users with unlimited projects. 

Security 

Surfshark

When it comes to choosing a VPN service, there are many different factors to consider. Some people might be looking for fast speeds, while others prize privacy and security above all else. 

But one thing that we should all pay close attention to is the reliability of the provider – after all, you want to be sure that your connection will stay secure no matter what.

With a strong network of servers spanning the globe, Surfshark offers blazing fast connections and excellent reliability. Whether you need a VPN for streaming media, downloading torrents, or browsing the web securely from an unsecured wifi hotspot, Surfshark is up to the challenge. 

Plus, its advanced security features protect your data at all times, keeping you safe and invisible online. So if you're looking for a powerful and dependable VPN service with great features and unbeatable value, don't hesitate – Surfshark is the perfect choice!

There’s no free versions of Surfshark but prices start at a miniscule £2.09 per month when locking in a 2-year deal. 

What are the benefits of using Surfshark?

Protect employees who use public Wi-Fi

Whether a company is entirely or partially remote, there are going to be times when employees have to use public wifi to do work on the go but it is really unsafe and makes users vulnerable even to basic cyber attacks. Surfshark’s VPN encrypts your online data and helps secure all personal information when using public wifi in airports, coffee shops, or other public places. It is also useful for hiding web activity when wanting to access sensitive information in public like online banking, emails, or crypto assets.

Mask browsing and torrent history

Ensuring employees mask their IP address is essential to secure online privacy. Using a software VPN like Surfshark ensures that your location, browsing habits, and torrenting history aren’t directly linked to their identity.

Unblock any blocked and censored websites

Quite often access to various websites is restricted in different countries due to geo-blocking and censorship. Using a VPN server like Surfshark users can unblock sites by connecting to a server based in a different country. This allows users to bypass internet censorship and various geo-restrictions for content, social media, or even research purposes.

Avoid price discrimination

Some industries require employees to search the web for the best price of something for their clients, with websites and services using users' location and cookies to tailor prices for their goods and services this can become difficult. 

Surfshark’s VPN means users can avoid such marketing practices and save money when shopping online for their business or their clients.

Nord VPN 

When choosing a VPN, a close runner-up to Surfshark is Nord VPN.

With its lightning-fast speeds, easy-to-use interface, and industry-leading security features, NordVPN is the perfect choice for anyone who wants to stay safe online. 

Whether you're looking to stream movies or download large files, this powerful VPN has everything you need to keep your data secure and your traffic anonymous. 

Some VPNs have fast speeds and allow you to bypass geo-restrictions, while others offer robust security features and advanced privacy protections. Here are Nord VPN’s headliner benefits:

• Protects yourself from ads, trackers, and malware
• Get secure and private access to the internet
• Protect all of your devices
• Enjoy a fast and stable connection anywhere

LastPass

LastPass a leading password management system that helps individuals and businesses to protect their identity online. The password manager makes it easy to log in to any website or app, providing users with a secure vault where they can save all their login information such as usernames and passwords. When users visit websites, LastPass can automatically fill in the credentials for them.

The main features of LastPass are:

• Password Manager: Remember fewer passwords, log in faster, and increase your online security.
• Password Vault: An encrypted, safe location for all your passwords, notes, files, and more.
• Save and Autofill: Save new accounts while on-the-go and fill passwords & forms with one click.
• Password Generator: Create secure passwords using our built-in generator tool.
• Dark Web Monitoring: Automatically monitor and detect if your information has been exposed online.
• Security Dashboard: A central place to check the health and safety of your accounts.

The platform ensures users security by implementing strong encryption algorithms. Users will create a password manager account with a master email address and a strong master password to generate a local unique encryption key. 

To ensure only the users have access to their passwords, Lastpass encrypts and decrypts individual data at device level, meaning that any data stored in the vault is kept hidden from everyone but the user. 

The platform also offers multi factor authentication which adds extra security to a LastPass account by requiring a second login step before authorising access to the vault. 

LastPass pricing is a three tier programme, starting with a free package including: unlimited passwords, access on one device type – computer or mobile, a 30-day Premium trial, save and autofill passwords, one-to-one sharing, passwordless login, password generator. The next two pricing packages are Premium and Families - and although they are paid packages they certainly won't break the bank.

Crypto

Binance

Binance is currently the world’s leading blockchain ecosystem, with a product suite that includes the largest digital asset exchange. The platform exists as an online exchange where users can trade crypto currencies, or store their electronic funds in a crypto wallet. 

For businesses involved in the rapidly growing world of cryptocurrency, Binance is invaluable. 

This innovative exchange platform offers an unparalleled selection of cryptocurrencies and cutting-edge trading features, making it the ideal place for businesses looking to buy or sell digital coins. 

Whether you're a blockchain startup or an established global corporation, Binance has what you need to succeed. 

With its easy-to-use interface, robust security systems, and multi-lingual customer support, Binance makes conducting transactions with cryptocurrency straightforward and stress free. 

Whether you're buying from or selling to other businesses or consumers, this platform is your key to success in the exciting new world of crypto!

Binance has numerous product offerings for their users, including things such as: exchange, academy, Binance live, charity, card, labs, launchpad, research, trust wallet, NFT, Binance Pay, and the Binance Gift Card.

The main and top features of binance are:

• Low fees: 0.10% spot-trading fees, 4.5% for debit card purchases, 
• Comprehensive charting options
• Hundreds of cryptocurrencies: More than 600 for global traders on Binance, and more than 100 for U.S. investors on Binance.US
• Top security features:Two-factor authentication (2FA)verification, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)-insured United States dollars (USD) balances for Binance.US, device management, address whitelisting, cold storage
• Supports multiple transaction uses: Limit order, market order, stop-limit order, trailing stop order, post only order, peer-to-peer trading, margin trading, one-cancels-the-other order, and more

With the fast paced nature of the financial market and digital crypto currency uncertainties, Binance helps to make the process of trading and storing digital currency much more seamless and secure.

Binance does not charge deposit fees, but for each withdrawal, a flat fee is paid by users to cover the transaction costs of moving the cryptocurrency out of their Binance account.

Withdrawals rates are determined by the blockchain network and can fluctuate without notice due to factors such as network congestion. 

With low fees for trades and exchanges, Binance is not only a great platform for trading but also for businesses to send and receive payments for products and services.

BlockFi

BlockFi is a financial services company that offers businesses a suite of products to help them invest in crypto currency, leverage crypto loans, and earn great interest rates. BlockFi is a great tool for businesses and individuals that are looking to stay ahead of the curve and make the most of their money. 

Here are some of the benefits of using BlockFi:

Access to Crypto Currency

One of the benefits of using BlockFi is that you can easily buy and sell major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and more. This can be a great way to invest in the future of technology and finance.

Cryptocurrencies are becoming more and more popular, and they are only going to continue to grow in popularity. With BlockFi, you can get in on the ground floor and start investing in cryptocurrency today.

Competitive Interest Rates

An incredible benefit of using BlockFi is that it offers competitive interest rates. BlockFi currently offers up to 15% APY on USD-backed stablecoins. This is a great way to earn passive income on your investment. 

For businesses that have spare cashflow or surplus profits, the higher interest rates offered by BlockFi can help you reach your financial goals faster than most other investment opportunities on the market.

Leverage Your Crypto Assets

Another benefit of using BlockFi is that it lets you leverage your crypto assets. With BlockFi, you can take out loans against your crypto holdings. This can be a great way to get cash when you need it without having to sell your cryptocurrencies. 

With BlockFi's loan program, you can borrow up to 50% of the value of your crypto assets. This flexibility can be a great way to free up cash when you need it while still holding onto your investment for the long term.

Ledger

Since cryptocurrency is digital and decentralised, it is important to have a secure way to store it. This is where Ledger comes in. 

Ledger is a hardware wallet that stores your cryptocurrency offline, away from the vulnerable online environment. Starting as the idea of building a secure element chip to safeguard digital assets for crypto enthusiasts in 2014, Ledger has evolved into a cutting edge security platform used by millions of individuals and thousands of enterprises.

It’s a fast paced, growing company working to develop security and infrastructure solutions for cryptocurrencies as well as blockchain applications for individuals and companies, by leveraging a distinctive, proprietary technology.

The platform is primarily known for being a secure gateway to cryptocurrency and NFTs. In the near future, they are hoping to become the gateway to assets as diverse as digital currencies, virtual real estates, digital art, luxury handbags, Metaverse avatars and more. 

Security

One of the most important benefits of using Ledger for cryptocurrency storage is security. Ledger stores your cryptocurrency offline in a secure chip that is immune to online hacking attempts. This means that your cryptocurrency is much safer from theft when it is stored on Ledger than it would be if it were stored on an online exchange or wallet.

Ease of Use

Another benefit of using Ledger for cryptocurrency storage is ease of use. Ledger's software is easy to install and use, even for beginners. The user interface is intuitive and straightforward, making it easy to send and receive cryptocurrency payments. 

Compatibility

Ledger is compatible with multiple cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and more. This means that you can store all of your cryptocurrencies in one place on one Ledger, making it easy to keep track of your investments.

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Artificial Intelligence (AI)

DALL·E 2

DALL·E 2 is an incredible artificial intelligence system that can generate stunningly realistic images from written descriptions. 

Developed by OpenAI, DALL·E 2 uses a 12-billion parameter training version of the GPT-3 transformer model to interpret the natural language inputs and generate corresponding images.

In a recent blog post, OpenAI detailed how DALL·E 2 was able to generate images of animals, foods, objects, and scenes from textual descriptions such as "a bluebird with a long beak" or "a pizza with pepperoni and mushrooms." 

The results are nothing short of amazing, with DALL·E 2 seemingly understanding the nuances of language and generating corresponding images that are incredibly realistic. 

DALL·E 2 is particularly impressive because it can generate images from concepts that it has never seen before, making it a powerful tool for creating novelty content.

DALL·E 2 works by first reading the natural language input and then converting it into a mathematical representation. This mathematical representation is then used to generate an image that represents the input. The entire process is powered by a 12-billion parameter training version of the GPT-3 transformer model.

The implications of this technology are significant. 

With DALL·E 2, marketers and designers will now have access to an AI system that can generate realistic images from written descriptions. This will enable them to create unique visual assets, quickly, for use in marketing materials like print and digital ads. What’s scary is that surely this technology will ultimately remove the need for stock imagery and eventually, graphic designers, illustrators and photographers themselves!

AdCreative.ai

In a world where technology is constantly evolving, it's no surprise that the advertising industry is changing too. These days, more and more businesses are turning to AI systems to help them with their marketing efforts. 

AdCreative.ai is one such system - and it's absolutely incredible. Here's why:

AdCreative.ai can generate ad copy, ad creatives, social posts and monitor creative insights - all through artificial intelligence. This means that businesses can save time and money on their advertising campaigns, as well as get better results.

What's more, AdCreative.ai is constantly learning and evolving. This means that it gets better and better at generating effective advertising campaigns over time. As a result, businesses that use AdCreative.ai can be confident that they're always using the latest and greatest technology to power their marketing efforts.

If you're looking for a cutting-edge AI system to help with your advertising campaigns, look no further than AdCreative.ai.

Mid Journey

Emerging technologies are rapidly redefining the artistic landscape, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the field of digital art. 

Thanks to innovations in artificial intelligence, individuals are now able to create incredibly realistic images with minimal effort. 

Mid Journey is a new tool that is quickly gaining popularity in the digital art community, giving non-artists and non-designers equal (if not better) skills as professionals, with unprecedented freedom and flexibility allowing them to create literally anything they can think of. 

This shift in art creation has also transformed our perceptions of what it means to be an artist. With AI-powered tools at their disposal, artists are breaking down boundaries and pushing the limits of what is considered to be 'creative' or 'artistic.' 

It is clear that Mid Journey is changing how we think about art not only in terms of its creation but also its perception. And while there may be some who lament these changes as signs of the impending demise of true creativity, we believe that our increasingly digital world will thrive on digital art.

This powerful artificial intelligence programme allows users to create high-quality artwork with ease and flexibility, making it an essential tool for anyone looking to get into the world of digital art. Here's a closer look at some Mid Journey creatives:

Mid Journey is changing the landscape of digital art by making it more accessible than ever before. Thanks to the ease of use and flexibility offered by this platform, anyone can create stunning artwork, regardless of their experience level.

Ultimate Tools for Creatives & Agencies

As we head into the future, it's clear that technology is evolving at a rapid pace.

We have already seen huge shifts in the market, and these trends are predicted to continue; leveraging AI and automation.

With this in mind, we can point to a few tools that are likely to rise to the top of their respective fields over the next decade.Whether you're an entrepreneur hoping to grow your business or a marketer trying to stay on top of current market trends.

These ultimate tools will help you get ahead of the game:

Semrush for Marketing, Advertising & Analytics

An all encompassing marketing tool, Semrush takes top spot for our tool of the year. With so many toolkits across organic insights, SEO, competitor research, content marketing, paid media planning and so much more, Semrush helps marketers manage every aspect of campaigns, site health and industry benchmarks.

Typeform for Sales

Taking second place is Typeform. With a simple and attractive user interface, Typeform makes sales, onboarding, recruitment, team reviews, customer feedback, and so much more, interactive and engaging. Watch completion rates rocket and streamline workflows with immersive questionnaires.

DALL·E 2 for AI Generated Design

A mind-blowing AI tool, DALL·E 2 makes our top tools of the year. As emerging AI technology takes the digital world by storm, DALL·E 2 is up there with the best. Creating incredibly realistic stunning artwork generated by AI, its opened new doors to endless opportunities that will change the creative landscape forever.