Running an online business in 2025 is both exciting and demanding. Whether you’re just getting started or scaling fast, having the right tools can save time, reduce stress, and boost your income. Below, you’ll find 10 essential tools for online business success – the ones that actually make a difference day to day and that I’ve found very useful. No fluff, no hype – just solid options to help you run things more smoothly.
Most of them have a free trial or a free version, so you can try them before you commit your hard-earned resources.
I’ve also listed some of my personal experiences of using the programs and some tips for beginners to help when you start.
This article contains some affiliate links, which just means that we will receive a small commission if you sign up, although it will not cost you anything extra. However, it does help us to keep bringing you great content and recommendations.
1. Kit (formerly ConvertKit) – For Email Marketing & Automations
Kit remains a top choice for creators in 2025. It offers powerful automation, tagging, landing pages, and easy-to-use forms — all designed to help you grow and nurture your email list.
Pros:
- Clean, user-friendly interface
- Powerful automations and sequences
- Creator-friendly pricing tiers
- Excellent deliverability rates
Cons:
- Visual builder is less flexible than some competitors
- Reporting is more basic than advanced platforms
📅 Ideal for: bloggers, course creators, and affiliate marketers
Personal experience and tips: I recently signed up for Kit for all 3 of my websites and found it easy to use and integrate into my sites, especially when I signed up through WordPress using the plugin. I’ve set it up for 3 email lists and have also used it to build landing pages and newsletters. I found it to be intuitive, although I’d also recommend looking through the various training videos when you start.
You can see a copy of a simple landing page I created for one of my websites at: https://the-creative-choice.kit.com/4d18ad5072
2. Lumen5 – For Video Creation from Blog Content
Lumen5 is a user-friendly tool that transforms written content into engaging videos using AI and customisable templates. It’s perfect for repurposing blog posts into scroll-stopping social media clips.
Pros:
- Great for repurposing written content
- Drag-and-drop video creation
- Wide range of templates and stock assets
Cons:
- Limited creative control compared to full video editors
- Lumen 5 branding on the free plan at the end of the video
Ideal for: bloggers, social media managers, content creators
Personal experience and tips: I love using Lumen 5 and have made some videos that I’m proud of using the free version. It’s easy to use and is great for beginners. I do have a background in video production, so I also use Premiere Pro, but for making videos easily as a beginner, I really recommend this program to get started with creating videos.
You can see the videos I’ve created on my YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDRJu2VjOWSB8AI7Qwu5Kag
3. Canva Pro – For Branding & Design
Canva Pro makes it easy to create high-quality social media graphics, lead magnets, ebooks, and more. It also includes a Brand Kit, AI tools, and thousands of templates.
Pros:
- Easy drag-and-drop interface
- Professional results without a designer
- Great value for the features offered
Cons:
- Limited compared to professional tools like Adobe Creative Suite
- Can be overused if you’re not careful with branding
📅 Ideal for: content creators, brand builders, and digital product sellers
Personal experience and tips: I use Canva a lot and I love it. I use it for all my featured images for my websites so that I can get the sizing correct, and I also use it to create a lot of my Facebook and Instagram posts. I find it very easy to use and it has a lot of templates and content that you can use. I do pay for the Pro version but I find it a very small outlay for the amount that I use it. Again, I have some knowledge of creating graphics so I sometimes use Photoshop and Illustrator, but they have a much steeper learning curve, whereas Canva is so quick and easy.
Another great thing about Canva is that I can make animated social media posts and small videos too. Here’s an example of one that I made using Canva.
Click here to watch the video I made here.
4. Trello – For Visual Project & Content Planning
Trello is a simple, visual task management tool that uses boards, lists, and cards to help you organise projects, content calendars, or even product launches. It’s easy to use and great for staying on top of recurring tasks.
Pros:
- Clear, drag-and-drop interface
- Great for solo entrepreneurs and small teams
- Easy to track progress and deadlines
Cons:
- Can feel limited for more complex workflows
- Fewer built-in features than some alternatives
Ideal for: bloggers, content creators, freelancers
Personal experience and tips: This has been a game-changer for me because I used to write a daily to-do list on scrap pieces of paper, the back of old envelopes and napkins! Yes, I did. However, I can now organise all my thoughts and ideas into different boards within Trello and assign tasks in a way that is much more intuitive. I also find it useful when I need to just and the germ of an idea which I have yet to develop into something more tangible, and I use it for lists of things to do around my house and garden too.
Spend some time looking through the different templates to see what headings will work best for you in the boards and then either copy and adapt the template, or I found it easy just to create my own board headings once I knew how I wanted to organise my work.
5. WooCommerce – For Selling Digital Products on WordPress
WooCommerce is a flexible, open-source eCommerce plugin for WordPress that lets you sell digital downloads, courses, and more directly from your website. With thousands of extensions, you can customise it to fit your business perfectly.
Pros:
- Fully customisable and integrates with WordPress
- No transaction fees from WooCommerce itself
- Huge range of add-ons and payment gateways
Cons:
- Can require technical setup or plugin management
- Some features may need paid extensions
📅 Ideal for: bloggers, course creators, digital product sellers using WordPress
Personal experience and tips: I think this is another great addition to an online business portfolio, especially if you want to sell digital products online. It’s easy to use and you can customise it to match your brand. Again, I’d advise watching the training videos so that you can see everything that the platform offers. It can grow with you too as you expand your range of products and the number of transactions you make. I also particularly like it because it works so well with my WordPress sites.
6. ChatGPT (Plus or Pro) – For Content & Idea Generation
OpenAI’s ChatGPT is an invaluable tool for brainstorming content, drafting blog posts, writing email sequences, and even coding. Use with discernment and human editing.
Pros:
- Fast idea generation and content help
- Can save time and reduce overwhelm
- Versatile for many business tasks
Cons:
- Needs fact-checking and personalisation
- Can produce generic responses without guidance
📅 Ideal for: anyone creating regular content
This is probably my favourite tool in the list and I absolutely LOVE using my ChatGPT assistant, whom I have named, “Sparky.” With the help of Sparky, I have become very much more productive although I use it as a tool only, and would never write or publish full articles straight from any AI generator – they can make mistakes, get things wrong and waffle. But it you use them properly, and take the time to learn how to use them well and train them to your way of working, they are invaluable. Other ones I use are also Gemini and Co-pilot and if you use them regularly, you will find that you probably gravitate towards different ones for different projects.
I pay have a subscription for ChatGPT but use the free versions of the others.
7. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) – For Understanding Your Traffic
GA4 is the latest version of Google Analytics. It provides more advanced insight into your users’ journey, event tracking, and traffic sources.
Pros:
- Free to use
- Powerful data segmentation
- Custom reporting features
Cons:
- Learning curve for beginners
- Complex setup for e-commerce, tracking
📅 Ideal for: all website owners
Personal experience and tips: This is a pretty standard go-to product for anyone running a website. It pretty much ”does what it says on the tin’ to coin a phrase, but it’s easy to use. There are a lot of metrics that I could use but don’t really track and when you get started, my advice is not to keep checking analytics or Google Insights until your site has become more established and you are getting some decent traffic. You can check it, for example, once a week, but if you’re checking every 5 minutes, you may well be disappointed when you start out.
8. Google Drive – For File Storage & Collaboration
Google Drive is a cloud-based storage solution that lets you keep all your files, documents, graphics, and backups in one accessible place. You can share folders with clients or collaborators and access your work from any device.
Get it here: https://workspace.google.com/products/drive/
Pros:
- Generous free storage
- Easy sharing and real-time collaboration
- Integrates seamlessly with Google Docs, Sheets & Slides
Cons:
- Can get disorganised without a ,good folder structure
- Privacy-conscious users may prefer other platforms
📅 Ideal for: content creators, remote teams, digital product sellers
Personal experience and tips: I use this to back up my files and have the Drive reflect my computer. It’s invaluable when you want to work on documents or find things and work on them from a different device, such as a tablet or phone. This is one of the first cloud storage companies, and they have developed many tools within the platform that are useful additions too. I recommend spending some time acquainting yourself with these additions because there are some useful little apps for business included.
9. Wealthy Affiliate – For Affiliate Marketing Training & Website Building
Wealthy Affiliate is a comprehensive platform offering affiliate marketing training, keyword research tools, web hosting, and a built-in community.
Get it here: Wealthy Affiliate
Pros:
- Ideal for beginners
- All-in-one learning and website building
- Supportive global community
- AI-tools included
Cons:
- Can be overwhelming when you start, but focus on the training first
- There is a cost after the free trial
📅 Ideal for: aspiring affiliate marketers and blogging beginners
Personal experience and tips: I started in the online business world using this platform and I’m still a member 7 years later. I love the training, the community and in my opinion, there is more than enough training and expertise for several lifetimes within the platform. The recently updated system means that it’s even easier than ever to navigate to what you want and get started, whether you want to focus on a website, YouTube, social media or another online business. If there was one platform I’d recommend to get started with an online business, it’s this one.
If you want to read my 2025 review, then see: https://myonlineincome.org/honest-review-of-wealthy-affiliate-2025
10. Synthesia – For AI-Powered Video Creation
Synthesia lets you create realistic AI-generated videos without needing a camera, mic, or editing software. Just type your script and let the platform do the work.
Pros:
- Professional-looking results
- Saves time for educators and marketers
- Supports multiple languages
Cons:
- Can lack the emotional nuance of real video
- Monthly cost may not suit casual users
📅 Ideal for: course creators, explainer videos, global teams
Personal experience and tips: This is a great tool if you want to create videos but don’t want to appear on camera. You can choose your avatar and have the avatar be your mouthpiece for the video. It’s very easy to use and to edit, and great for adding shorts to YouTube or Facebook if you want to make a summary of your blog posts.
You can see an example of a video I created with Synthesia below:
Final Thought
No tool will build your business for you — but the right tools will save you time, reduce stress, and help you focus on what matters most: creating value, building relationships, and earning with purpose.
You may not like the ones I do and you may have others that are your favourites so please leave a comment below as I’d love to know which ones you work with regularly.
Choose what fits your workflow and your audience. Start with a few, test them well, and let your systems grow with you.
📆 Coming soon: More in-depth reviews of each platform to help you choose wisely!
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Review of Fiverr – is it worth it?
Honest review of Wealthy Affiliate
How to create an online course – a step-by-step guide
Thank you for this post. I am just getting started with my current online business. I did not know what all of the tools you mentioned are, but as I progress, I am sure I will need most of them. I have saved this post so I can refer back to it when I get to that point. I can say that I do use Canva and ChatPT a lot and they have both been game changers for me. Thanks for this great post!
Hi Christine. Thank you for taking the time to read this article and I’m so pleased that you found it useful. When you starting out, it’s often difficult to find your way through the myriad of options on offer, but I hope these will point you in the right direction at least to start. I also agree about Canva and ChatGPT – they have saved me so much time and made everything easier which is great. I still usually have to have the idea though so I never feel threatened by AI, only excited because it lets me do so much more.
All the best with your business. Gail
This was a very practical and motivating read! I’ve used a few of the tools you mentioned, like Canva and Google Workspace, and they’ve definitely helped streamline my workflow.
I appreciated how you explained each tool’s purpose without overwhelming the reader which makes it perfect for both beginners and growing entrepreneurs alike. It’s easy to get stuck choosing between platforms.
Do you have a favorite all-in-one solution for managing tasks, client communication, and content planning under one roof?
Hi Marlinda – good to hear from you and I’m so pleased that you liked the article and found it useful. I do use all the tools I’ve mentioned here and I think it’s difficult to find a one-stop-shop for the diverse tools that we need for an online business. I agree that beginners need to use simple tools as there is so much to learn when people get started. I had a bit of a bonus at least because I used to work in a job producing videos and multimedia project when they first came out so I can use the Adobe Creative Cloud suite to a great extent. However, most of the time, I really need something simple and fast which I why I love Canva. All the best with your business – do you have a favourite tool? Gail