Internet Marketing Tools for Your Business

There is a wide variety of internet marketing tools for your SEO and social media needs. Some internet marketing tools are free, some are paid. So how do you pick the best internet marketing tool for your business?

At the Bend WebCAM 2011 conference, Taylor Pratt from Raven Tools presented Tools of the Trade, which covers an array of paid and free internet marketing tools. The key features of any tool should help you with the following:

  • Save Time: If a paid tool saves you several hours per day, sometimes paying $150 per month might well be worth it.
  • Centralize Data: Some internet marketing tools provide the ability to keep all your information in one location, in an organized manner.
  • Collaborate: A good internet marketing tool would allow the ability for users to collaborate.
  • Reliable: This would possibly be the most important aspect. Your internet marketing tool needs to be reliable.

There are the traditional tools that help with keyword research, content management, social media management, link management and link research. However, there are also the non-traditional tools that people need to look out for. These non-traditional tools help with microdata, monitoring, usability, and technical analysis.

Microdata

Microdata help search engines and spiders understand the information on the website. It is important to have clean code so that information can be processed quicker and better.

Schema Creator

Microformats

  • Schema simplified
  • Auto-generates schema
  • Free
  • Structured data
  • Auto-generates
  • Free

Online and Social Media Monitoring

The online and social media monitoring tools help you keep track of what is being said about your business, online—good or bad. By keeping track of the positive and negative, you know what your customers like or dislike about your business, and what can be done to improve.

Raven Tools

BackTweets

BrandsEye

Map

  • Real time
  • Social dashboard
  • $99/month
  • Domain mentions
  • Brand mentions
  • Free
  • Conversation value
  • Automated escalation
  • $150/month
  • Detailed demographics
  • Global and multilingual
  • Real time

Usability Testing Tools

Websites have to be user friendly and provides information within reach of visitors. If visitors do not know where to click or find it hard to navigate, it really defeats the purpose of having a website. There are some usability testing tools that help you with increasing the usability of your website.

MarkUp

Feng-GUI

Five Second Test

  • Concepting
  • Web app
  • Free
  • Attention testing
  • Auto detected
  • $27/month
  • Attention testing
  • Auto detected
  • $20/month

User Testing

Concept Feedback

  • User testing
  • Fast and cheap
  • $40/test
  • User testing
  • Multiple feedback
  • $10

Technical Analysis

A good technical analysis tool would help with evaluating code, determine if a website has a search-friendly design, and helps with IA setup.

Wave

Adobe BrowserLab

Screaming Frog

  • Accessiblity
  • Overlay
  • Free
  • Browser testing
  • Works with Firebug
  • Free
  • SEO crawler
  • Identifies problems
  • 99 pounds/year

URI Valet

GTmetrix

Feedback Army

  • Header checking
  • Page speed
  • Free
  • Performance analysis
  • Page speed
  • Free
  • Ask questions
  • Receive 10 answers
  • $15

2 responses to “Internet Marketing Tools for Your Business”

  1. Edwin Huertas writes:

    Have you ever tried http://www.isistoolbox.com? These are free tools focused on content “distribution” more than analytic data.

  2. cindy writes:

    Thank you! We’ll check out the site for sure. We’re always open to new tools.