I have small business online marketing tools I use almost every day …I want to share them with you. I want to do this because I have a hunch that, if you own a small business no matter what business you are in, there are certain industry specific tools you use on a daily basis to make things go smoother. Well chances are if you are trying to manage your business online presence, you are looking for some ways to streamline what you are doing.
Here are my top 6 Small Business Online Marketing Tools
#1 Open Site Explorer
Open Site Explorer has become more relevant since Yahoo! Site Explorer shut down towards the end of 2011. There is a lot to like about OSE as part of your Small Business Online Marketing Tools. Hands down I love the ability to get competitor data and look at it side by side with my own site and I can add up to four other sites (five total)
To get more detail I can look at one site and get:
- Page Authority
- Domain Authority
- Linking Root Domains
- Total Links
- Facebook Shares
- Facebook Likes
- Tweets
- Google +1
The biggest con for adding this one to the Small Business Online Marketing Tools is, you have to be an SEOmoz Pro member to access the full data. You can start with a free 30 day trial, however, after that point the membership is $99/month. For small companies with small budgets, it may not be possible to add this to the rest of your small business online marketing tools.
#2 SEM Rush
What Open site explorer is to competitor analysis, SEM Rush is to keyword research. Both mandatory small business online marketing tools. SEM Rush allows you to enter a competitor and look at the keywords they rank for both paid and organic. Plus the following info:
- How the competitors get ranked.
- The ads being run by the competitors and its budget
- Value of the ads.
- Competitor’s details on competing level.
- Traffic rates for ads and keywords.
The down side to SEM Rush is similar to Open Site Explorer, if you want full access you need to pay for it, but if you can get by with what’s offered in the free use then you will be doing ok.
#3 Hootsuite
Just last week I did a full review of Hootsuite (Hootsuite & Why It’s The Best) If you already read it you know why it is one of the best small business online marketing tools…the short story its pretty good and way better than every other social dash board out there. With features like being able to schedule updates, add multiple accounts (up to 5 for free), detailed analytics and so much more if you are trying to be your own marketing department than you absolutely must check out hootsuite!!
#4 Gimp
If you haven’t heard of GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) then you should look into it more. It is a is a freely distributed piece of software comparable to PhotoShop. When it comes to making your social media profiles look professional, this is one of the small business online marketing tools you have to have! You can use GIMP for everything from simple to image editing to complete image creation.
I will concede GIMP can be unstable at times but I look past that since it is free. It can also be a bit overwhelming if you are new to image editing. Despite all this one of my favorite things is that it is open source. You can install GIMP on as many computers as you like. That alone is why I added it to my list of small business online marketing tools!
#5 Pixilr
Most small business online marketing tools serve a function not covered by another tool but this one is kind of like GIMP. When it comes to really simple image edits I almost always use Pixilr, what I really like is that it is browser based so it is fast, and I can open an image by copying its URL so I don’t have to download it. Even better it is also completely free!!
The biggest issue I have is that you have to save constantly and if your window crashes you lose your work. Also will not open .psd formats.
If Photoshop or GImp scare you give Pixilr a shot, it is much simpler.
#6 Friend or Follow
Of all the Small Business Online Marketing Tools this one is the simplest and most fun to use. I have been using Friend or Follow for quite a while, and Friend or Follow has done exactly what I was looking for:
- Generates a list of who is following you and you aren’t following back
- Generates a list of who you are following that isn’t following you back
- Generates a list of mutual Twitter friends.
It is very easy to use and simple to find your way around. This tool is especially good for checking to be sure you are following the people who are following you and tweeting you. You can login to twitter from Friend or Follow and then follow unfollow and block right from there. Probably my favorite feature besides the price (Free) is that I can download these lists in CSV format. Great for creating reports!
The Small Business Online Marketing Tools
That’s the rundown, all of these tools are either free or can be partly used for free. Give them a try you will quickly find that these tools will make your life easier. If you think I left any Small Business Online Marketing Tools off the list be sure to share in the comments section.
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