Online tools every entrepreneur needs

As an entrepreneur, you’re never short of ideas. Time, on the other hand… is often scarce. Yet today you still need to send e-invoices, write newsletters, update your website and stay visible on social media. Luckily, you don’t have to do it all on your own: the right tools take a big part of the work off your hands.

Which tools do you really need?

Use this list as a quick checklist and immediately click through to the category that interests you!

Administration

Take care of e-invoicing, online bookings, GDPR compliance and secure password management, and save valuable time every week.

Communication

Think of a professional email address and a collaboration tool for internal and external messaging.

Website & webshop

Choose a suitable platform (WordPress with WooCommerce or Combell’s SiteBuilder), a strong name and a recognisable look. With the help of AI!

Marketing

Combine email marketing, lead generation, AI tools and Google’s free marketing tools.

1. Administrative tools for entrepreneurs

B2Brouter - E-invoicing without the hassle

All Belgian VAT-liable businesses must send and process structured electronic invoices for B2B transactions.

PDFs or paper invoices are no longer sufficient. Nothing changes for B2C. This reform accelerates digitalisation, reduces VAT fraud and makes data more consistent.

With B2Brouter, you send electronic invoices in the correct format to the right portal, without having to dive into all the technical details yourself. This reduces the risk of errors and speeds up your payments.

and afterwards receive a 20% lifetime discount as a Combell customer

SimplyBook - 24/7 online bookings

Do you work by appointment (coach, hairdresser, consultant, therapist …)? Then an online booking system like SimplyBook saves you an enormous amount of time

Customers book their own slot, receive automatic reminders and you keep a clear overview of your schedule.

You not only keep track of who is coming when, you also avoid double bookings or reservations during your holidays.

With SimplyBook, you can get started immediately via the channels you already use. Through social media, you can easily add a Book now button to Facebook, Instagram or Google Business, allowing customers to book appointments directly. So it works even without a website.

iubenda - Your privacy and cookie policy in order

With iubenda, you can create a legally sound privacy and cookie policy in just a few steps. The tool takes European regulations (such as GDPR) into account and automatically updates your texts when legislation changes.

So iubenda takes care - in terms of privacy - of the mandatory elements on your website.

And that’s a good thing! Your privacy policy should ensure that visitors have no doubts about the security of your site or online shop. Should problems arise, your policy serves as a legal tool, while you can also use it as a marketing asset.

Are your website’s privacy settings legally compliant? If not, you risk hefty fines during an inspection. Run the iubenda privacy scan and immediately find out whether your website meets all requirements.

Consentmanager - Professional cookie consent

In the same category as iubenda, you’ll find Consentmanager.

Consentmanager helps you set up a cookie banner and preference centre that comply with European regulations.

Visitors can easily manage their consent and you receive reports on who accepts which cookies. If your website mainly targets advertising revenue, this tool is definitely worth considering.

1Password - Secure password vault for your team

As an entrepreneur, you quickly accumulate dozens of logins: accounting, webshop, marketing tools …

That’s exactly why we at Combell are fans of 1Password. It stores all your passwords securely in a digital vault and fills them in automatically.

You can also safely share logins with employees, without sending passwords around via email or SMS.

Bitwarden - Open source alternative for password management

Bitwarden does roughly the same as 1Password, but in an open source jacket.

Ideal if you’re looking for a (additional) free option or prefer more control over your data. You can use Bitwarden on desktop, mobile and in your browser.

2. Communication tools for entrepreneurs

Microsoft 365 - Professional (collaborative) working

With Microsoft 365 (Office 365), you and your employees can work from anywhere, and documents are always available thanks to OneDrive.

Anyone looking for a modern (online) workplace with a complete collaboration tool will most likely choose one of the Microsoft 365 plans. It’s a comprehensive package full of productivity and collaboration tools.

With Microsoft 365, you don’t just get Exchange email, but also Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and often Microsoft Teams in one package.

Microsoft 365 is the ideal solution for the customer-focused SME. If you choose Microsoft 365 via Combell, you immediately benefit from our greatest strengths: a free domain name, our expert support during the migration and configuration of your mailboxes, and above all guaranteed uptime.

In addition, you of course also benefit from local support and guidance during setup.

Our customer Dieter Roels (Roels Multimedia) talks about his experiences with Combell and Microsoft 365 in an interview:

“I like Combell because of the support, ease of use and the detailed offering. Billing and administration are handled in a simple and automatic way, which saves me a lot of work.

If I want to take out different types of licences, for example a Business Basic and a Business Standard, Combell - unlike other partners - does offer the full range.”

Slack - Simple internal communication in channels

Slack has been the internal communication tool at Combell for years.

The tool bundles all your internal communication into channels per team, project or customer. This keeps discussions out of your inbox and makes it much easier to find information again.

Need to quickly ask something that doesn’t require emailing or calling? Send a message to one of your colleagues. You can also communicate with external contacts. Very handy!

Integrations with tools like Google Drive or project management software make your workflow even smoother. You can even make online calls (“Huddle”) together.

WhatsApp Business - Personal customer contact

Your customers are on WhatsApp, so you should be too. With WhatsApp Business, you create a business profile, set up quick replies and manage conversations with customers.

Ideal for communication that feels personal, confirming appointments or sharing updates. Not yet fully mainstream, but definitely worth trying! Hotels, for example, are increasingly using it.

Microsoft Teams - Handy meetings and collaboration

Microsoft Teams combines chat, (video) meetings and file sharing in one environment.

Especially if you already work with Microsoft 365, Teams often becomes the central hub for meetings, internal communication and collaborating on documents.

The tool is included in most Microsoft 365 Business subscriptions, also via Combell.

3. Website and webshop tools for entrepreneurs

WordPress - A solid foundation for your website

WordPress is one of the most popular systems for building websites. It’s flexible and offers thousands of themes and plugins to extend your site. Ideal if you want room to grow in the long term and add extra functionality later (multilingualism, customer areas …).

The CMS itself is free (Open Source). You pay for hosting, a possible premium theme and plugins.

To work smoothly with WordPress, you need a bit of technical skill. Although the AI Site Assistant already gets you a long way. Discover WordPress AI Site Assistant. Tell it what kind of website you want and the AI Site Assistant builds your WordPress website, without you writing a single line of code. Use it for updates, texts, visuals and much more.

Those who want next-level support can choose Website Kickstart at Combell. A staff member calls you to set up the foundation of your website, while you choose the content.

Discover it via Website Kickstart, currently including Managed WordPress hosting for 12 months.

WooCommerce - A webshop on your WordPress site

With WooCommerce, you can build a fully-fledged webshop on your existing WordPress site.

Who uses WooCommerce? Far more online entrepreneurs than you might think! Chances are your favourite shop runs on WooCommerce.

You manage products, inventory, payments and shipping from one dashboard. Thanks to the many extensions, you can easily connect payment providers, accounting and marketing tools.

The base plugin is free, but certain extensions or payment methods may require additional licence fees.

SiteBuilder (with webshop) by Combell - Simple online presence

Do you mainly want to get online quickly, without diving into hosting, themes and technical updates? For example, because you’re not a technical genius and need a budget-friendly website?

Then Combell’s SiteBuilder (with built-in webshop option) is an excellent choice. You choose a template, drag blocks into place and fill in your content.

Ideal for starters and self-employed professionals who want a clear site and a simple shop.

SiteBuilder is available via Combell as a package with domain name and hosting, with basic plans that are often free or very affordable when included with your domain name.

Both the Pro and Business packages of SiteBuilder also include an AI website builder.

That means you can have your own website created with Artificial Intelligence. It’s very easy and you hardly have to do anything yourself. Definitely worth trying!

Do you run into issues while building your website? Don’t forget that you can rely on Combell’s free support day and night.

Free business name generator by Combell - The best domain name

Before you can (have) your website built, you of course need both a good business name and a domain name.

A business name generator is the ideal tool if you’re looking for the perfect name for your new business. With our generator, you can create and design unique names. Tell it what your business does, choose the language for your business name and experiment with style and type.

Combell’s business name generator helps you find creative name ideas and immediately checks whether the domain name is still available. Handy if you’re stuck and want to quickly see which name you can still claim online.

Using the AI tool is free. You only pay for the domain name you eventually register.

Canva - Quickly create logos and visuals

Not every entrepreneur has a designer in-house. With Canva, you can create your own logos, social media posts, presentations and flyers based on templates.

You can define your brand colours and fonts so everything always remains recognisable.

AccessiWay - Make your website accessible

AccessiWay makes your website digitally accessible to all your visitors. AccessiWay is part of team.blue, a family of products for your online success.

Why is an accessible website important? First of all, because it would be a shame to exclude certain visitors, something known as digital exclusion. Your website should also be inclusive.

That’s not only socially responsible, but when you look at it more closely, it’s also smart from a business perspective. You increase your reach, improve the user experience for everyone and strengthen your SEO performance.

Search engines such as Google value clear, structured content. By proactively responding to this, your company will be prepared for the future.

You can work with an external party to make your online products and services more accessible. But if you want to implement this quickly and cost-effectively, you can count on AccessiWay's solution!

4. Marketing tools for entrepreneurs

Flexmail - Email marketing on Belgian soil

Clear emails with strong content make people click. With Flexmail’s email tool, you can easily do it yourself.

With Flexmail, you send newsletters, campaigns and automated flows to your contacts. You build emails with a drag & drop editor, segment your audiences and track open and click rates afterwards.

Thanks to its Belgian roots, you’re immediately on solid ground when it comes to GDPR and local support.

Nice bonus: as a Combell customer, you get six months of Flexmail for free and afterwards enjoy a 15% discount on a paid plan.

Leadinfo - Identify B2B visitors on your website

Many B2B visitors don’t leave a form, but do show interest. What if you could identify those visitors?

Leadinfo identifies companies that visit your website and shows you which pages they view. You get the company name, contact details and LinkedIn profiles of decision-makers. So your sales team always has a well-filled funnel.

With Leadinfo, you uncover real information about which companies visit your website, which campaign they came from and which pages they visited. This gives you much more relevant information about a lead.

And afterwards enjoy an extra 15% discount on Leadinfo

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) - Measuring is knowing

With Google Analytics 4, you track how visitors use your website: which pages they view, where they drop off and through which channels they arrive. You see which campaigns drive traffic and which pages actually lead to quotes, purchases or sign-ups.

Thanks to the event and conversion model in GA4, you can very precisely measure what really matters: clicks on a call-to-action, submitted forms, downloads, viewed products, and so on.

You get reports per channel (organic, social, email, paid ads …), allowing you to quickly see where your marketing budget pays off and where you need to adjust.

See GA4 mainly as a trend tool that maps out your marketing efforts, not as an exact measurement tool.

Because GA4 is less dependent on cookies and tries to fill in the gaps using other signals, you won’t get 100% exact figures, but you will get a more complete picture of how visitors use your website.

This helps you understand trends and proportions (which channel performs better, which page scores lower), without treating every individual measurement as absolute truth. GA4 is an extra tool to avoid relying solely on gut feeling.

SEO tools - From Google Search Console to Google My Business

To be found in Google, you need insight into your performance. Fortunately, Google itself offers several powerful and free tools:

• Google Search Console: shows how your website performs in search results and where technical issues lie.
• Google Trends: helps you spot seasonal trends and popular search terms.
• Google Ads Keyword Planner: ideal for discovering keywords and estimating search volumes.
• Google My Business (Google Business Profile): ensures your business is visible on Google Maps and in local search results.

Get started with the right tools

You don’t have to use all the tools on this list at once. Start with the basics:

1. Make sure your administration runs smoothly (invoicing, appointments, passwords, GDPR).
2. Choose one clear (internal) communication flow (professional email address + chat/meeting tool).
3. Build a website or webshop that matches your ambition (WordPress with WooCommerce or Combell SiteBuilder).
4. Invest in marketing with social media, email, lead generation and the free Google tools.

From there, you can gradually expand. And the good news: for many of these solutions, Combell helps you with the right hosting, integrations and support.

Discover all tools and solutions for entrepreneurs at Combell and put together your own ideal tool stack. 😉

Frequently asked questions about tools for entrepreneurs