Do you want more bloglovin followers?

It’s not easy to get 100 followers if you start from scratch. First you have to increase the number of your visitor and reduce that number by around 80% to get the number of your follower. But don’t worry, we can help you to boost the number of your follower in a matter of days.

Read More

How To Write High Quality Content That People Want To Link To

I read this in a magazine I was reading and it was mentioned by JohnChow.com when I asked him this question for an expert post I was writing a few months back. This statement is very true and if you want enormous targeted traffic sent to your website, it’s all about writing the best content ever. This means creating content that solves a common problem and is in-depth, providing a complete solution. People love this type of content, and it increases the chance of someone linking back to it as an additional resource for other content online. However, you have to follow the fundamentals of writing “high” value content. Everyone writes content, but to write the best, you have to follow this pattern, which I’ll outline below.
Let’s get started…

Finding Your Topic

It’s much easier to write content when you know what people are looking for online so it’s important to conduct extensive research before starting. Just like boxers say, “Training is the hard part and fighting is the easy”, writing content follows the same statement, however, it’s the research that is the tough part and writing that is easy. The good news is you have tools available that streamline the research part. For example, start by using Google Keyword Planner, finding “phrases” that people are typing. Next, you can use Google Trends to analyze what types of topics are trending and then digging deeper into each until you find something common. Next,
Use Amazon.com to find bestsellers within books and then skimming through the table of contents, gathering ideas for your content. However, here is the best tool…
Buzzumo.com, where you simply type in a keyword related to the niche and it’ll generated a list of posts that have been shared thousands of times online. Look for question based posts and create something better because you already know it’ll be popular just from the amount of shares previously related content has received.
Remember the following things when choosing your topic…

• Make sure it’s relevant
• Make sure it’s popular by using tools like Buzzumo.com
• Spend time researching, looking for angles not covered by anyone else
• Ask for feedback from your readers, friends, or network of follow bloggers

The Writing Process

On my personal blog, I’ve written extensively on how to write epic content in under 60 minutes and I’ll quickly go through the important points here. Once you have decided on your topic, then writing content is not difficult as long as you have the following in order…
Your Tools Ready –
When you sit down, you need to ensure you have all the tools in the right place because it will help you streamline the writing process. For example, when I sit down, I have my outline ready, my images formatted correctly, and even my word processor open. Next,
This factor applies to your work environment, meaning you should be comfortable and ready to work. I work from a home office, however, many of you get your best work done in a library, work office, coffee shop, etc.
Outline Ready –
In the section above, you did your research and gathered ideas for your topic idea. From your topic idea, you should be able to gather enough data to know what type of content you’ll be writing. For example, you should know if it’s going to be a list post, tutorial, controversial, press release, etc. It’s time for you to create an outline using this format.

• Introduction (#words)
• Subheadings
• Body (#words)
• Conclusion (#words)

Stay Focused –
When writing your content, it’s important to stay on track and this can be achieved by simply focusing on the task at hand. As you begin to write your ideas down, you’re going to generate momentum that can push you away from the initial focus on your content. This is why it’s a good idea to stop and move away from your work every 20 minutes and think about the content your writing. Ask yourself these questions…

• Am I making sense?
• Am I writing on my topic?
• Am I sticking to my outline?
• Should I do anything else to make sense?

Answering these questions and then hoping back onto your computer will keep you on the right track and focused throughout your content writing.

The Outreach

Once you’ve completed your content, it’s time to publish and promote. You have several options from paid, networking, social, etc. However, I recommend to network with influential people, letting them know about your premium content. Why? Simple.
Influential bloggers are established and have huge social followers who create generate enormous buzz to your content. If you can get your content in front of thousands of people, you’ve increase the chances of someone building a link back to it. Influential bloggers have powerful blogs, so send a link to your content to them, with the hope that they’ll read it, provide feedback, and even link to it if it meets a criteria as an additional resource for content they’ve written.
In short, you can do the following to promote your content for your outreach…

• Paid marketing
• Social media outreach
• Email influential bloggers
• Send to your followers and email subscribers
• General organic SEO

Read More

3 Advanced Ways to Improve Your Search Engine Rankings

We often here about SEO and how a solid campaign will improve your ranking in the search engines, however we are often left hearing the basics. When we read about SEO, we hear about link building, high quality content, on-page SEO, etc. Did you know all of these methods can be narrowed down to more effective strategies? For example, using link building is ONLY effective if you create links from the right websites with a high authority and keyword density. In order for you to get the full long-term effects from your campaign, it’s important you implement the following advance strategies into your campaign.
Let’s take a further look…

Domain and Page Authority

Moz.com implemented a cool system to calculate how important a domain and page are in the ranking pyramid. They named this system “Domain” and “Page” authority. These numbers predict the likelihood of the any given page ranking high within the SERP’s. It’s important you utilize these strategies when building links to your website. Here’s what you should do…
The next time you are thinking about building links from a website, browse over to the specific page your link will be placed and check the DA and PA. OpenSiteExplorer.org is a tool that instantaneously provides the information you are looking for so copy and paste the page URL into this tool. After about 4-5 seconds, OpenSiteExplorer.org will provide you with a breakdown of the numbers. Here’s the rule of thumb to follow…
Choose DA and PA greater than 25+ because this shows the URL is established and has built some sort of authority overtime. This also shows the website has been around for years and has been constantly producing content which adds value. The main goal is to get a link on that specific page with those numbers, for example, your objective is to build a link on the page with DA and PA of 25+ and if any number is lower than “25” I would try and search for a better page.

Relevancy

I can’t stress the importance of relevancy and how it’s vital in your website ranking higher in the SERP’s. Over the years we’ve seen enormous changes in the way Google understands a website and its content. For example, they gather data to understand the user search pattern and to accomplish this, Google made some tweaks over the last several months. These tweaks were presented to the public in the form of Panda and Penguin updates. Here’s what’s important…
You have to make sure when building links you find websites which are relevant to your niche. Make sure they are also focusing on the same keywords as this will add more overall value. For example, OpenSiteExplorer.org provides another awesome tool which will breakdown total links and anchor text on any given page. When you add a URL into the search field you’ll be able to view this information. Here’s what I do…
I’ll search for link building opportunities on relevant websites and scroll through the anchor text they’ve been targeting. The more relevant the anchor text the better the link profile and awesome link building opportunity. The goal is to build links on relevant websites so look for the following on “target” page in OpenSiteExplorer.org…

• Domain authority
• Page authority
• Total links
• Anchor text
• Do-follow links
• Skim through looking for quality of website.

Google Alerts

There have been a lot of buzz about Google Alerts and its effectiveness to generate traffic and relevant links. I’ve been using Google Alerts for several months after I was introduced to the idea by Matthew Woodward several months back. Its follows the same pattern as every other link building strategy which is: You have to set it up correctly in order for it to be utilized. Here’s what works and how you should use Google Alerts for maximum exposure…
First, start by creating your content, video and/or infographic. Your objective is to create content just like you would for your blog. This should be high quality and in-depth so readers will find it of value. Once you have content written and published on your blog, it’s time to utilize the power of Google Alerts.
If you have a Gmail account you can log into Google Alerts by going to https://www.google.com/alerts.
Next, here you setup the alerts you’ll like to receive and make sure they are relevant to the content you’ve just published. When you receive an alert relevant to your content you can start interacting with people who will find your content valuable. Within these alerts your looking for questions about the topic because it provides an opportunity to answer the question and link to your resource. In order for this to be extremely effective you should create a resource guide so when you provide your link, people will want to link back to it and share it on their social networks.
Here’s a few tips to help you setup the right alerts. When you first enter Google Alerts, you’ll be asked to enter keywords. Make sure they are question based. For example, if your focusing on “link building”, use the following…

• “common blogging mistakes”
• How*seo
• How to*link building
• How to build * link build
• update * matt cuts
• Why * link building

You’ll notice from the alerts I’ve setup that they are question based and need an answer. This is where you’ll jump in and provide your answer with a link back to your content. The more people you get your content in front of, the higher chances of someone linking back and engaging with it.

Read More

How To Use WordPress for More Than Just Blogging

As has been discussed so many times on this site before, there are innumerable ways for you to make money online and to live the dot com lifestyle. One of these ways is to become a professional blogging, writing about an industry or interest that you are truly passionate about and monetizing your website accordingly.
In the context of blogging, easily one of the most popular platforms for a site of nearly any size is WordPress. It’s what powers John Chow dot Com, just as it is what powers Beyond the Rhetoric and MEGATechNews. It’s a free and versatile platform that comes with tons of community support and add-ons.
And while WordPress is certainly best known as a platform for blogging, it can be used to power a variety of other types of websites that can similarly help you generate some real income on the Internet. This is usually accomplished through special themes, plugins or some combination thereof.

As a Question and Answer Site

Many people turn to the Internet because they have a question that they would like answered. That’s why sites like Answers.com and Quora are so popular. By using the DW Question & Answer plugin, you can run the same kind of website with WordPress. One of the big advantages to running a site like this is that the content is largely user-generated.
Visitors to your site pose questions and then other visitors provide their answers. The DW Q&A plugin comes with a series of other features to further bolster your site, like the ability to vote for the best answer, block spam with reCAPTCHA, and set sticky questions that you want to highlight. WP Beginner has a handy tutorial on how to setup and use this plugin.

As a Discussion Forum

Speaking of websites that are populated with user-generated content (moving you toward a source of passive income!), WordPress can also be used as a platform for online discussion forums. There are forums on the Internet for just about any topic under the sun, from cellphones to cars to pet ownership. You can carve out your own niche and be pretty successful at it too.
And when it comes to plugins to transform WordPress into a forum, there are few more popular than bbPress. It’s a very lean and clean add-on, easily allowing you to handle the usual administration of a forum site. Because it is so clean, though, you will need to invest in a great custom theme for your site.

As an Online Store (E-Commerce)

Whether you want to sell physical or digital goods, having a fully functional e-commerce site can really go a long way. You need features like being able to have product pages, a shopping cart and a complete checkout system that ties back into a backend for order processing and shipping.
A good choice here is the Storefront WooCommerce theme from the people at Woo Themes. There are also several extensions here to further expand your online store, like the Storefront Designer to “fine tune your site design.”
For a free option, you might consider WP eCommerce, a plugin that provides “everything you need to sell anywhere.” It even provides sales monitoring, tax configuration and “white-glove customer support.”

As an Artist Portfolio

Are you a photographer, painter, interior designer or graphic artist? A great way to showcase your work in an elegant fashion and to attract more clients is with a stunning portfolio site. There are tons of themes that can serve this purpose and one of the most attractive is the appropriately named Portfolio WordPress Theme from GavickPro.
The theme, which is available as a free download, is image-focused and fast-loading with a responsive design that adapts to visitors on smartphones, tablets and full-size PCs. It’s classy and clean, putting your visual work front and center.

As Whatever You Want

Remember when I said that you need to forget about common sense if you really want to make a living on the Internet? Common sense would tell you that WordPress is only good for powering a blog, but as you can quite plainly see, this robust platform can be used to power just about any website you’d like. No matter how you choose to make money online, there’s a customized solution to get you there.

Read More

How To Get More People To Read Your Blog Content

When writing blog posts the objective is for people to read them so they can be shared building your brand, traffic and credibility. However, many people fail to accomplish this goal because they don`t understand the fundamentals of engaging content. First, engaging content is when people take the time to read your content, ask questions, provide comments and `share` it on social profiles.

Over the years experience has been able to teach us some cool things about content creation. We`ve learned what attracts people and keeps their attention while providing us with a gratifying feeling knowing we provided substance to these readers. Either way, it`s no `ROCKET` science to create content which people love to read. I went online gathering what the experts are saying about writing engaging content.

Here are 5 ways to get more people to read your content…

Short Paragraphs

It’s been proven people searching information online have short attention spans. Many of the search queries are solution based meaning people need an answer immediately. It’s your responsibility to offer them with the solution they’re looking for and it has to be right to the point. If you have to offer a lengthy solution, it’s still possible to capture a user’s attention but you have to tweak the way your content is displayed.

One of the best ways to capture attention is by creating short paragraphs which provide the illusion of a “right to the point” solution. This strategy involves creating lengthy content but chopping it down so it looks much shorter. Your visitors will see short paragraphs thinking that the solution is right there in front of them. If you are going to use this strategy make sure you provide high quality content no matter what the case. In the end, you don’t want visitors reading 2,000+ words of content chopped into shorter paragraphs with NO solution. So, what the ideal paragraph size when using this strategy?

It’s stated that paragraphs should be no more than 5-6 lines.

Ask Questions

In order for people to stay engaged with your content it’s important you ask for their opinions by asking questions. It’s well known the best types of conversions are those which asks a person’s opinion. This shows you value their opinion and respect their knowledge. Don’t you hate it when you’re in a conversion and all they do is talk about themselves? Use the same approach when writing content for your blog. The more you write from your point of view the less reader’s will feel like you respect their opinion.

You’ve noticed in the above paragraph I asked you for your opinion…right? Here is the question I asked…

Don’t you hate it when you’re in a conversion and all they do is talk about themselves?

By simply asking this question I created engagement and if you have thoughts you’ll probably list them below in the comment box.

Here’s a great strategy,

Whenever you write content and there’s more than “1” point of view, it’s a good idea to ask others for their opinion. It’ll help keep the conversion interesting and engaging.

Add Images or Video

Sometimes the best way to get your point across would be through images, infographics and videos. People have different ways they understand information so why not provide them with every possible way. You’ve probably noticed that a growing trend in blogging is creating a video and adding the script version underneath. Why? Long content, which is tutorial based is better understood if there is a walk-through video. Not everyone has the same experience or reading levels as you so they’re looking for an easier way to understand information.

If you’re going to add a video or image to your content, it’s a good idea to add it to both the top&bottom so that the visitor knows you have the content available in video. The last thing you want a visitor to do is land on your page and leave because all they see is text without knowing you have a video available if they had scrolled to the bottom.

Content Summary

Around 3 months ago I started to apply a strategy which decrease my bounce rate and increased my user engagement. This strategy doesn’t take longer than a few minutes when writing content however the benefits are endless. Before getting into the strategy, here’s why it works so well…

People are looking for a solution immediately to their search query. They’ve mostly landing on your page through organic search, but other methods as well promising to provide a solution. Visitors are looking for specific information or sections which outline the solution they are searching for. Many bloggers make the mistake of writing lengthy content WITHOUT providing a clear indication to the visitors where they can find the information they need. The visitor panics and goes searching somewhere else.

If you add a summary of your content below the introduction, you can tell the visitor what they can expect from your content. It’s essentially adding a breakdown of your sub-headings so the visitor can skim to the section they want to read. By doing this, you’ve done two important things…

First, reiterated to the reader they’ll in fact find the information they need. Secondly, the section they’ll find it without having to skim through the entire content searching for it. This strategy builds engagement, trust and credibility. The best thing about this strategy is it’s very simple to implement to your content and makes a huge difference.

Next time you write content, do the following…

Obviously if you’ve been blogging for years, you know how to create an outline of your content before writing. Creating an outline will help keep things organized. Your outline should include: an introduction, breakdown of sub-headings, body and conclusion. Next, simply take the sub-headings and add them under the introduction in bullet form with the label “What You’ll Learn…”. This strategy is very simple but effective!

Use The Words “you” and “I”

These words have been proven to build a 1-on-1 relationship with the reader. Including these words within your content creates an illusion of a conversation which many people feel is important when trying to understand content. You have to remember when publishing online you can get visitors from all over the world, so building a relationship with your readers is more difficult However, there are a few tricks you can use to create a sense of trust. When I utter the words “you” and “I”, I’ve essentially taken the space out of the conversion and made it seem as though you are sitting in the room with me.

The next time you write content, it’s important to include “you” and “I” which can be done very easily. For example, just by changing your mentality when writing content can streamline the entire process. Here are some tips to get you started…

First, pretend you are writing for a single person so you’ll reflect that illusion when writing content. This will automatically force you to start changing the words “they” to “you” and “we” to “I”. Next, you can write in “case study” mode which is writing as though you are presenting the results of an experiment. A case study is always a “single” point of view so when presenting results you’ll automatically display them from your point of view. This strategy will train you to use “I” more often within your content. When writing content you can reiterate in your mind that your trying to build a connection with the reader so will focus on them instead of an entire group.

The above factors will help you stay on point with your content writing and creating a connection with your reader.

Read More

Blogging Mistakes That Make You look Like An Idiot!

Blogging can be very lucrative for those who approach it the right way. You need to be able to resonate with your readers providing them information which is NOT easily found online. In other terms, this means to provide visitors information which is better than all the rest, more in-depth and provides a complete solution when they’re searching for one. When I started blogging 7 years ago I was disappointed at the lack of effort that many people would put into their content. They failed to understand that creditability is the most important asset a blogger can have. For example, with credibility comes profit, a following, blog growth and not to mention bigger opportunities. You’ve probably noticed that top bloggers are in constant communication with other big players in the industry. It’s a secret society which opens up greater opportunities for you.

Over the years I’ve seen many mistakes bloggers are making online which pushes readers away and keeps their growth stagnant. If you’ve been blogging for years or are just getting started, it’s important to avoid these blogging mistakes which will make you look like an idiot.

1) Not Knowing Your Audience

The biggest mistake I see with bloggers is they fail to understand their audience which causes problems later in the future. Without understanding your audience, you’ll lose guidance in the type of content you should be writing. Your content should is based around what resonates with your audience and without knowing your readership you’ve lost focus on your content. It’s important to always analyze data so you understand where traffic is coming from, the keywords targeted, gender and popular landing pages. How can you use this data?

First, landing pages is a great indication of the type of pages your readers are engaging with. This information allows you to create more content around the same topics because you know they’ll do very well. Next, understanding “targeted” keywords will help you with SEO and organic traffic when writing content. One of the hardest things is to come up with a solid SEO campaign based around keywords which drive traffic to your blog. Having an idea from analytical data will provide the ground work for the type of keywords you should be using.

Free analytical tools like Alexa.com will provide upstream & downstream statistics which is important to understand the flow of traffic. For example, upstream data provides a list of websites visited by people before arriving at yours. This provides great information on referral traffic and allows you to understand the type of websites your audience finds attractive. Downstream data will provide a list of websites visited after yours which again provides a better breakdown on the audience you have visiting your website.

Use this information to understand the mind frame of your audience and the content they engage with. This way you stay focused on your niche and produce content which increases traffic and social engagement.

2) Not Passionate About the Niche

If you started blogging just to make money your going to have a tough time staying motivated. Success has a lot to do with motivation and the drive to push forward doing something even when there is NO monetary value associated with it. This is not to say you won’t be rewarded for your hard work but you need to love what you do so that you’ll put 150% effort every day. I’ve had the pleasure to work with top bloggers who didn’t make any money when they started out but kept pushing forward because they wanted to make a difference and were passionate about what they do. It’s a huge mistake to get involved in something which you have no passion or knowledge about.

Blogging is very tough especially when your going to have extreme competition throughout the years however you need “passion” to help persevere when times get tough. You need to love your work and this will be the difference between you succeeding or failing. If you haven’t started blogging it’s time you decide what you love to do. This can be a very simple process because all you need to do is brainstorm some ideas and look back at your life over several years. This strategy will help you determine what you’ve enjoyed doing during different parts of your life. Next,

Once your able to brainstorm a few ideas, you need to come up with a game plan which involves researching the marketing, content and growth potential.

3) Not Collecting Emails

Another huge mistake is not collecting email addresses from visitors as they read your content. Email subscribers are a great way to keep engaging with your readers and have them come back to your blog. You’ve probably heard the phrase “the money is in the list” and this statement is true. Imagine having 35,000 email subscribers on your list and blasting out an update on new content you just published. This means you can potentially drive 35,000 people back to your blog any given day. If you review a product or service and have affiliate links within your content, you’ve increased the chance of making a sale through these visitors.

The important thing is to keep providing the best content keeping your readers happy which can translate into profits later down the line. Why is it so important to start building your list from the start?

The web can be very competitive so each time you delay you’ll be losing visitors to your competitors who provide similar content. When people visit your website for the first time there is no guarantee they’ll return unless you find a way to get them back. This is why bloggers try and capture the visitors email address immediately so it opens up the path of communication. You can simply email visitors when you have something to say increasing the chance they’ll click-through to your blog.

4) Holding Back The Good Content

There is so much competition online and holding back your good content isn’t going to have a positive effect on your growth. Google always rewards websites which publish FRESH high quality content on a consist bases. Did you know they have built a freshness update into their algorithm?

It’s important to keep in mind why someone keeps coming back to your website. People are always searching for high quality content and NOT publishing the best can drive regular visitors away. Remember people have arrived on your website because you provided something different compared to other blogs so keep that credibility and frequency going. When you write awesome content it’s important to publish right away so visitors will keep coming back to your website.

I know it can be difficult producing top-notch content 1-2 times a week however the rule of thumb is to produce epic content once a week. This gives you 7 days to get something “hot” ready for your readers. If you spread out your content writing to 400 words daily, you’ll have 2800 words written in 7 days ready to be published. Lengthy content ranging from 2800-3000 words allows you to generate some of the best content online way better than your competitors.

Word of advice,

Do some research before producing content so you can stand out compared to the rest. Visit your competitors and see what they’ve done. You can put a twist on your content before publishing by adding images, videos and infographics. Never hold back good content because visitors have no shortage of websites to go to if they don’t find what they are looking for on your website.

5) Not Interacting With Your Readers

It’s important to keep the visitor in mind and why they’ve come to your blog. A majority of people find your through search engines or referrals and are interested in your content as a resource. This means they’re going to have questions afterwards so make sure you take time to answer every single one of them. There’s a reason why blogs have a comment box and it’s for people to leave feedback and ask questions.

The most successful bloggers have even setup a personal forum online so visitors can ask specific questions and request tutorials. It’s important you built a one-on-one relationship with your visitors which plays an important role in growing your blog.

Here are things you can do to increase interaction on your blog…

First, a comment box has been the foundation for bloggers from the starting. They were able to get feedback about their content and even answer questions. If you don’t have a comment box enabled, it’s important you get one on your blog right away. Set the comments to NOT automatically post but go into the moderation queue.

Next, enable the contact us form to have an option to submit questions. It’s a great way to determine what kind of content your visitors are looking for. Wait a month and see what questions come in and if you get the same question several times, you can create an in-depth tutorial and publish it for your readers.

Many people don’t know surveys have been an awesome tool to build interaction on your blog. How? When people opt-into your email form you can shoot them a message asking them to answer 3-4 questions. Ask questions about the type of content they enjoy or what they expect to find on your blog. Going forward you can focus on creating content which your readers want instead of content which you think will resonate well with your readers.

Read More

12 Free Tools To Make Money Online

As a small business owner, you already have a full plate. In fact, it’s not just full. It’s overflowing.
So, why not make things a bit easier and rely on tools that can handle even the most tedious of tasks – like sending out a massive newsletter?
However, money is also a concern. If we had a disposable income, shelling out the money for the numerous amount of tools available wouldn’t be an issue. But, that’s not the situation. New business owners have to tighten the belt and look for affordable options. And, it doesn’t get any more affordable than free.
To prove that free doesn’t mean cheap or junky, here are twelve essential Internet marketing tools that can use for absolutely nothing.

1. Evernote

Remember the days of lugging around binders full of notes? Yeah. They weren’t exactly the best of times – especially when you misplaced an important piece of paper. Thankfully, Evernote has resolved that problem.
Whether it’s writing down notes for a business presentation or collaborating with a project with team members, Evernote replaces the endless amounts of paper that used to fill up your desk. Evernote can be reached on any device so, you can work on your projects while at the airport and then finish it up when you get back home to your laptop. And, I didn’t even mention the neat dictation feature either.

2. Dropbox

Dropbox has become a favorite tools for businesses because it makes sharing documents with others extremely simple. This personalized cloud-based tool increases productivity since you can share folders in real-time, which makes collaboration among team members a breeze.
Dropbox offers a free Basic plan that features 2GB of space. If you need more space, you’ll have to bump-up either to the Pro ($9.99) or Business ($15) plans.

3. Trello

Organizing and managing a project can become an extremely stressful experience when team members are all over the place – like sending a spreadsheet back and forth. Trello is a project management tool that makes life a whole lot easier by providing members real-time updates via a board that shows the progress of a project.
You can add checklists, due dates, and upload files from your computer, Dropbox or Google Drive.

4. Free Hosting with Hostt

Every website out there needs hosting and why not get it 100% free from a very reputable company.  Hostt offers 100% free virtual hosting to everyone in the world.  Really, check them out as I work with them!
They also have an amazing hosting blog where you can learn the latest tips and tricks to keep your website ahead of the game.

5. Gmail, Google Drive, Google Plus

If you sign-up for one of these services, you might as well use all three of Google’s most popular features. Through Google Drive, you can share and collaborate on documents in real time with as many team members as you want. It’s free, secure, and can be shared almost instantly.
Then there’s Gmail, which is arguably the best email provider around. Gmail allows you to create a business address and even setup tasks to keep you organized. While Google+ isn’t as popular as Facebook or Twitter, having a complete profile on Google+ can help searchers easily discover your business in search results.

6. Google Analytics

Speaking of Google, there’s also Google Analytics. This powerful tool is essential if you want to monitor and track campaign results. For example, you can receive detailed reports that show engagement and conversion rates across various channels. You can even find out where customers originally came from before they arrived on your landing page.

7. Hootsuite

It’s pretty-much a given that new business have multiple social media platforms to manage. So, why not control and manage all of your accounts under one dashboard? Hootsuite offers a free version that allows you to schedule three different social media profiles, view analytics reports, and shorten links through the Ow.ly URL shortener.
I’m also a fan of the Hootsuite Blog because it offers plenty of news, tips, and advice on how to improve your social media campaigns.

8. Marketing.ai

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a product that helped you keep track of all your content as well as your content calendar.  With Marketing.ai it’s easy and something that I use to keep track of everything. No more crappy spreadsheets and keeping a content calendar on your phone, it’s all in one easy place.

9. Aweber

Think email marketing is dead? Think again. Email marketing is still a high-ROI game, and Aweber is a favorite among business owners looking to cash in. Email subscription features include access to subscriber profiles, personalizing emails, sending out emails at the right time, and reports showing open rates and click rates.
So, not only does Aweber make email marketing easier, it also helps you be more effective – a win-win.
The first month of Aweber cost $1. While that’s not exactly free, it’s close enough. If you decide email marketing is not for you, you can cancel and get your $1 back.

10. SCORE

For 50 years, SCORE has been assisting small businesses by teaming them-up with mentors, industry experts, and providing them with the education that they need to run a business. The website publishes blog posts with advice on everything from marketing and financial concerns, along with free templates and business software.

11. GT Metrix

The speed of your website is an extremely important factor in helping you find and keep potential customers. Through a tool like GT Metrix, you can optimize your site to make it faster and more appealing for visitors. You have access to interactive graphs that illustrate your website’s history so that you can see if traffic has been increasing or decreasing.

12. Skype

Long gone are the days of making conference calls on a landline in the confines of an office. With Skype, you can have conferences with other Skype users from almost anywhere in the world – as long as you have wifi. Besides one-on-one calls, you can group calls, video conferences and messaging.
 Just remember if you aren’t chatting with other Skype users, you’ll have to pay $2.99 per month – here, in the States at least.

Read More