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9 Tools That Make a Real Impact on Your Digital Marketing

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It’s almost impossible to keep up with the array of tools available for digital marketing these days. There are a million and one choices when it comes to keyword tools alone. They all make grandiose claims about what they can deliver and unfortunately, more often than not, they don’t live up to those claims.

However, don’t get too discouraged because there are some real some gems out there. These tools can transform your online marketing and the way you build out campaigns and content. After all, you just need a handful of resources and tools that work really well. Let’s dive in shall we. 

1. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is your one stop shop research tool. With one platform you can find:

  • Domain rank
  • Organic keyword rankings
  • Top competitors
  • Backlink profiles
  • Organic Traffic
  • Top performing pages and content
  • Paid performance

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And that’s just to name a few. With their Content Explorer too you can search for the top trending content online for a particular keyword or industry within a given time period. We use Ahrefs all the time, and honestly, I don’t know how we ever got by without it. Do yourself a favor and check it out. The $99 per month price tag is well worth it. 

2. Unbounce  

Want beautiful looking landing pages but aren’t a top-notch developer? Look no further. Unbounce allows marketers to create beautiful pages as well as use high functioning marketing tactics to capture and attracts leads. All pages are 100% responsive and you can set up lead generating forms without knowing any HTML. Some other features include dynamic text replacement, script manager (adds analytics tags automatically), SSL encryption, A/B testing, custom domains and so much more. There are a ton of pre-made templates to choose from too. 

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It is affordable (especially for new businesses) and can cut down on the costs of a developer. Check out their pricing structure.

3. HubSpot

If you are involved in inbound marketing even slightly, then you know about HubSpot. They are one of the best Inbound marketing automation software companies out there. What does that mean, you say? Well, here are a few of the functionalities:

  • Workflows
  • Blogging
  • SEO
  • Social Media Publishing
  • Reporting
  • Lead Management
  • Landing Pages
  • Calls to Actions
  • Email
  • Analytics
  • Marketing Automation

They also integrate with a ton of different software and CRM’s, including Salesforce. If you like to pay for one platform that can perform everything you need for your digital marketing strategy, HubSpot is your go to.

4. Visme

Visme let’s you create engaging content, infographics, presentations and more. Best part, it’s FREE! Turn any content into a work of art. You don’t need to be a designer to create something beautiful. Visme let’s you create your template or choose from one of their pre-made ones and customize from there. It’s smart as a marketer to switch up your content and not just do a boring eBook each time. This gives you easy access to create anything from infographics (which always seem to do well) to wireframes. If you do find you need access to all features on Visme, it will only cost you $16 a month.

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5. Canva

Oh Canva, I can't imagine my life without it anymore. I like to think I have a good eye for design and can create things on the creative suite on the most basic level. But Canva has changed everything. It makes you look like you have mad design skills without having to do much at all. You can create designs for Web or print, including:
  • Blog graphics
  • Presentations
  • Facebook covers
  • Flyers
  • Posters
  • Invitations 
  • Even resumes Screenshot_at_Jul_20_15-14-07.png

If you are looking to spruce up anything on your site, from landing pages to blog posts, Canva will help take your brand to the next level.  And, it's pretty much free! 

6. SEMrush 

SEMrush is another one of those tools like Ahrefs. You can kill many birds with one stone with this software. You can do keyword research, track organic traffic and keyword rankings, set up automatic reporting, check on your sites backlinks and even look at video statics. Want to be able to keep track of your social media campaigns? SEMrush can do that too. There are so many features in this one I can’t name them all. But this is another staple tool in our agencies toolbox.

The best part about SEMrush is the insight you can gain on your competitors.

7. Google Analytics

I know, this one if kind of a given. But you would be surprised how many people aren't using Google Analytics. This is one of the most robust, not to mention FREE, tools out there. The insight you can get from Google Analytics is invaluable. From your users demographics, to thier location, browser, time on site, and so so much more, Analytics is still the best tool out there for seeing and collecting data on your website.  

Screenshot_at_Jul_20_15-34-38.pngThis is especially true for new businesses, or businesses on a tight budget. You can create reports, dashboards and learn more about your customers with this one tool. 

8. Screaming Frog SEO Spider Tool

Screaming Frog's SEO spider tool is a website crawler that allows you to crawl websites’ URLs and grab key elements onsite. This can be title tags, meta descriptions, H1 headers, and other meta data important for analyzing SEO on a website. This tool is especially handy when you are dealing with a massive site. Going through each page manually is a tedious and time consuming process. Ain't nobody got time for that. 

You download this onto your computer directly and can crawl up to 500 URL's for free on one domain. If you need more than that, you can get the paid version for only 99 Euros a year.Screenshot_at_Jul_20_15-48-48.png

9.  Content Writers 

The phrase is "content is king" after all. Marketing online is all about high quality content these days. But understandably, a lot of businesses don't have the capacity to be writing top quality, engaging content regularly. This is where a content writing service can step in to save the day. Some that we highly suggest include: 

There are so many out there. The best idea is to try and find a writer that speaclaizes in your industry or topics that you write about, and stick with them. This way they get to know you and youre brand, and can speak to it more accurately. Now, there's no more excuses for not getting those blog posts done! 

We hope you find these tools as useful as we do! But of course if you need more guidnece, you can always reach out to the AdVision team or check out more articles on our blog or resources page. 

 

 

Matt Walde
Post by Matt Walde
July 21, 2016

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