During coffee with a friend and fellow business owner today, I realized there are 5 must-haves for business owners to increase market reach and efficiency:

1. Your Own Domain Name

Every time you send an email, you're advertising for yourself (if your email is personalized such as you@yourbusiness.com) or you're advertising for someone else (i.e. Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.).

Make sure to advertise for yourself by getting an email address such as: you@yourbusiness.com.

You can buy domain names through Google or GoDaddy.com.

Questions about setting up a domain name? We recommend Ivan Expert Consulting.

2. Google Apps

Google Apps is the greatest tool for small business owners. With your account, you will get email (through Gmail), calendar (through Google calendar), and documents and spreadsheets, too. Plus, you get to use your personalized email, such as you@yourbusiness.com.

Need help setting up your account? We recommend Ivan Expert Consulting.

3. Firefox

Firefox is a fabulous browser especially because it has so many free add-ons that enhance your web browsing experience.

4. Email Signature Add-Ons for FireFox

Do you want to include your photo, colorful text, or different fonts in your Gmail email signature? Well now you can using one of these add-ons (Black Canvas or WiseStamp) for Firefox.

5. PhoneTag.com

The best time saver for a business owner is to have your voicemail transcribed and emailed or texted to you.

PhoneTag.com is a great software program that does this with a fairly high accuracy rate. It's much more fun to read voicemail than to listen to it!

MORE ABOUT SARAH LEAH

Sarah Leah is the founder of Secretary in Israel, which she has been running since January 2008. Prior to starting Secretary in Israel, Sarah Leah worked in marketing and had also founded a nonprofit. Sarah Leah currently resides in Jerusalem.