Your online business toolkit

Your starter kit for online business

So, you want to set up an online business, or give your old website a makeover and you’re wondering if maybe you should just do everything yourself. That’s a rational thing to do: Why hire someone to build it for you, if you can DIY?

We hear you.

So, to help you out, here’s a handy list of the main tools we use here at Five Trees Digital.

With just this simple toolkit, you can design your own logo and branding (Canva), build your own website, (Squarespace) get started with e-commerce (also Squarespace), communicate with your clients (um, also Squarespace, with a professional email address using Google Workspace) and create your social media posts (also Canva).

You could also consider using a free generative AI tool like ChatGPT instead of a copywriter to create all your juicy online content. However, human writers are less prone to AI-related problems such as hallucinations, confabulations and delusions. (That’s a real thing. Wikipedia has an article on it.) Well, after our first coffee of the day.

All these tools come with a free trial (and Canva even has a free Canva For Nonprofits programme) so you can try them out with no commitment.

Some of the links below are affiliate links, helping to keep the lights on for Five Trees Digital.

Your DIY online business toolkit

  • Neon sign saying: this is the sign you've been looking for.

    Build a Squarespace website

    We choose Squarespace because it’s beautifully simple. As writers, we prefer to write, not to spend hours fiddling around with the settings, or doing lots of updates (looking at you, WordPress plugins!).

    You can build an online store, an email sales funnel, a newsletter and a calendar booking system and lots more in Squarespace too, so it can grow with you. It certainly does the job for us.

    More→

  • A flyer on a tree saying 'Good news is coming'.

    Sign up to Canva

    We create all the visuals for Five Trees Digital using Canva.com. It’s not just a graphic design platform, it also has oodles of gorgeous photos, like the ones on this page.

    We love Canva and we’d be lost without it! There’s a free version which won’t cost you a cent, but you can upgrade to the Pro version if you like. If you’re a nonprofit, you can apply for free Canva team account at Canva for Nonprofits.

    More→

  • Shop window with an 'Open' sign.

    Get yourself a professional email

    Don’t make the mistake of mixing up your personal email and your professional email. Not only will it mean you get work-related emails in your personal inbox, you look unprofessional if you use a personal email address.

    Set up your professional inbox with a provider like Google Workspace.

    More->

But if you decide you DO want some help after all…

Of course, creating the look and feel of your website is only part of the work. You also need to fill all those empty pages with enticing content: But… What do you say … How do you say it?… What will make your clients click the ‘Buy now’ or ‘Donate’ button?

First, think about how people will find you online.

Build it and they will come? - Nope. Cyberspace is huge, and there are billions of shiny websites out there, just like yours, all twinkling like stars: ‘‘Click me!” “No, click me!”

You need to consider things like registering for Google Business, or setting up Google Analytics. Maybe you want to reach out on social media so you need to create a business page on LinkedIn, or Facebook, or Instagram, or – aargh! – Overwhelm!

STOP!

Take a deep breath.

You’re not on your own.

If this all seems too much for you, just click on the big, blue ‘Make It Easy For Me!’ button. Get in touch and we’ll figure out together whether you have the capacity to ’do it yourself’ (DIY), or if you need someone to ’do it with you’ (DIWY), or ’do it for you’ (DIFY).