Free Tools for Small Business and Schools: Which One for Which Job
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Cherry Grove Craft’s twelve free tools and printables cover the everyday jobs that come up in shops, cafés, hotels and schools: getting guests onto your WiFi, collecting Google reviews, sharing contact details, tracking which sign or leaflet works, working out which signs the law requires, sizing the lettering on a sign, putting up compliance and classroom signs today, and checking who links to your website. The generators run in your browser and the printables download as PDF or PNG files, with no account. This guide matches each job to its tool and says when a printout is enough.
Which free tool do I need?
| Your job | Free tool | What you get | If you want it engraved |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guests keep asking for the WiFi password | WiFi QR code generator | A PNG code guests scan to join | Wooden WiFi signs |
| You want more Google reviews | QR code generator with your review link | A PNG or SVG code | QR code signs |
| Handing over contact details at events | vCard QR code generator | A PNG or SVG code that saves you as a contact | QR code name badges |
| Knowing which sign or leaflet brings visits | UTM link builder | A tracked link to put in any QR code | Any of our QR code signs |
| Working out which signs your premises legally needs | UK signage law checker | A printable checklist for England and Wales: each sign required, what it must say and the law behind it | Wooden signs (keep escape-route signs printed) |
| Working out how big the lettering on a sign should be | Sign text size calculator | The minimum letter height for your viewing distance, or the reverse | Any of our wooden signs |
| Allergen notices and Natasha’s Law | Allergen and Natasha’s Law pack | A 3-page PDF, including an English/Welsh notice | Food allergy sign |
| Fire door, fire exit and assembly point signs | Fire safety signage pack | A 19-page PDF | Keep escape-route signs printed (see below) |
| Accessible toilet, RADAR key, hearing loop and step-free signs | Accessibility signage pack | A 6-page PDF | Toilet and hearing loop signs |
| Classroom and corridor signs | Printable school signs | 6 signs in 2 styles, as A4 PNGs | School signs |
| Welsh and English wording for a bilingual sign | Welsh–English sign phrasebook and bilingual signs | 128 sign phrases, each linked to its source, and 17 A4 bilingual signs to print | No smoking or vaping sign (ask about Welsh wording in the personalisation box) |
| Checking who links to your website | Backlink analyser | A breakdown of editorial, directory, platform and spam links | Not applicable |
Getting guests online and collecting reviews
A WiFi QR code holds your network name, password and security type, so a guest points their phone camera at it and joins without typing. Because the password is inside the code, changing your WiFi password means making a new code. iPhones can’t join a hidden network from a QR code, so let the network name show on guest WiFi.
For reviews, make a code that opens your Google review form. Search for your business on Google, tap Ask for reviews (some profiles say Get more reviews), copy the link and paste it into the QR code generator. Scan the result with your own phone before you print it: a wrong link means the code won’t open your review form. Our guide to Google review signs compares QR, NFC and coaster formats.
Static QR codes don’t expire, but their links can. In our QR code link-rot study, 4% of the 188 business QR code links we engraved between February 2024 and October 2026 and could test no longer led anywhere useful in October 2026, mostly because the page had been removed; all 54 Google review links still worked.
Sharing contact details
The vCard QR code generator writes your name, job title, phone number, email and website into a code that a phone can save as a contact, even offline. It suits name badges, lanyards and exhibition stands. The details are fixed inside the code, so a new number means a new code.
If the code is going on a staff badge, our order data on what businesses put on staff name badges shows 69% of badges carry a first name only.
Whether the law requires a badge at all depends on the job. Our reference on who must wear an ID badge by law in the UK found only 7 of the 24 UK roles we checked must wear ID where it can be seen, such as SIA-licensed security staff, private hire drivers and house-to-house charity collectors; for NHS, school, shop and hospitality staff, a name badge is policy, not law.
Tracking which sign or leaflet works
The UTM link builder adds short tags to a link on your own website, so Google Analytics can show which QR code, sign or leaflet sent each visit. It only works when the code points at a site you own with analytics installed; Google reviews, Instagram and other platforms ignore the tags. Our guide to tracking QR code scans explains the set-up.
Our order data on where small businesses point their QR codes shows 38% go to the business’s own website, 25% to Instagram, 24% to Google and 11% to a Linktree page.
Compliance signs you can print today
The allergen, fire safety and accessibility packs are practical starting points, not legal advice. Your fire risk assessment, the Food Standards Agency’s guidance and an access audit decide what your premises actually needs.
To see which signs the law requires for your type of premises, use the UK signage law checker. Choose your premises and it lists every sign required in England and Wales, what each must say and the law behind it, as a printable checklist. It was last checked on 29 October 2026.
For rules that are changing, the UK signage law changes tracker lists 12 dated or pending changes for England and Wales, each with its primary source and status, with a CSV and calendar reminders. From 1 January 2027, tobacco sellers need a new A3 “born on or after 1 January 2009” notice, and from 1 October 2027 drinks retailers must show deposits next to prices.
- Allergen and Natasha’s Law pack: an A4 notice listing the 14 regulated allergens, an English/Welsh version, and a one-page staff guide to labelling food that is prepacked for direct sale (PPDS). Our Natasha’s Law guide has the detail.
- Fire safety signage pack: fire door, fire exit (four directions, two wording styles) and assembly point signs. Escape-route signs depend on regulation colours and contrast, so we recommend keeping them printed rather than engraved. See do I need fire exit signs?
- Accessibility signage pack: accessible toilet, RADAR key, hearing loop, wheelchair accessible entrance and step-free access signs, with a guide to placing them. Only put a sign up where the facility genuinely exists and works.
- Welsh–English sign phrasebook and bilingual signs: 128 sign phrases in Welsh and English, each linked to its source, and 17 free A4 bilingual signs to print, including a No Smoking or Vaping sign (Dim Ysmygu na Fepio). A bilingual sign isn’t a legal requirement for an ordinary café or shop in Wales; what Welsh law says explains where it is.
Sizing the lettering on a sign
The sign text size calculator works out the minimum letter height for a sign from the distance it will be read at, or the reverse. Department for Transport guidance for partially sighted readers gives 1 mm of letter height for every 100 mm of viewing distance, so 30 mm letters for a sign read from 3 m; HSE’s table for workplace warning signs asks for about half that from 6 m. The calculator also adjusts for the x-height of the font you choose.
Signs for schools
The printable school signs are six A4 designs, each in a professional and a classroom style: Please Knock Before Entering, Staff Only, No Mobile Phones, Reading Corner, No Running in Corridors and Exam in Progress. Print them on card and laminate them for corridors; for doors that are handled every day, our engraved school signs are made to order.
Checking who links to your website
The backlink analyser sorts a list of the sites linking to yours into editorial links, directories, platforms and likely spam. Google Search Console is the most complete free source of that list: its Links export gives up to 100,000 linking pages. Ahrefs Free lets you view referring domains for a verified site but has no export, and a free Semrush account shows 10 results per report. Our guides cover Search Console, Ahrefs and Semrush.
Printout or engraved sign?
A printout is the right answer when the information changes often, when you need it today, or when regulation colours matter, as with fire exit signs. An engraved sign earns its place where it is handled, on show to customers, or needs to last: a WiFi sign on a café counter, a review sign at the till, a staff name badge. Our signs are laser-engraved to order in our workshop in North Wales, most in 4mm FSC-certified oak veneered MDF.
Our order data on what UK businesses put on their signs shows three in ten business signs we made carried a QR or NFC code. The most-ordered worded signs were “session in progress” notices, dog rules, open and closed signs, hotel door hangers and no-smoking signs.
Bulk discounts apply automatically at checkout, per product: 10% off 20+, 15% off 50+, 20% off 100+, 25% off 250+, 30% off 500+ and 35% off 1,000+.
All items are made to order. Dispatch time is shown at checkout. UK orders via Royal Mail Tracked 24. International via Royal Mail International Tracked.
Frequently asked questions
Which free tools does a café or pub need first?
Usually three: the WiFi QR code generator so guests can join without asking, the QR code generator with your Google review link, and the allergen and Natasha’s Law pack for the counter. All three are free and take a few minutes.
Do I need a new WiFi QR code if I change the password?
Yes. The password is written into the code, so the old code stops working when the password changes. Make a new code and replace the printout or sign.
Are the printable sign packs enough to meet the law?
They are a starting point, not a guarantee. What your premises needs is decided by your fire risk assessment, the Food Standards Agency’s rules for the food you sell, and an access audit. The packs help you put the right signs up once you know what is required.
Where can I see all the free tools in one place?
On our free tools page, which lists the fourteen tools, printables and references, and nine data pages: four sourced UK statistics hubs and five built from our own order records.