Many businesses give up on tweeting or concede defeat in search engine optimisation because they are not leveraging the power of these marketing tools. But you don’t need to be a veteran marketer to understand how certain apps, plugins or websites are essential to any overall campaign. A great deal of them are the best for a reason, even if you’re unsure how to fully take advantage of these services – free or otherwise.
Whether you want to grow a business or tell the world that you’re selling a must-have product, you need to employ the vast number of digital marketing tools that are available at your disposal.
So, what should you add to your web repertoire? We’ve compiled a list of the 50 best digital marketing tools to help you out.
Resources
1. Neil Patel Blog
Neil Patel is an award-winning internet entrepreneur and digital marketing consultant. His blog is a treasure trove of information, from the basics to the intricate. Patel offers in-depth tips, tricks and methods – all white-hat, of course! – to ensure you generate more traffic to your blog, website or social media pages.
2. HubSpot
HubSpot offers two different services. The first is a suite of digital marketing, customer relationship management (CRM) and sales software. The second is a content catalogue of resources, methodology and tactics to fully leverage not only its software but also all the other tools available to you on the internet. For example, it has a cheat sheet on the best times to post on Instagram, which is a perfect complement to the company’s free Instagram analytics application.
3. Copyblogger
Since 2006, Copyblogger has been one of the leading go-to resources, offering readers a wealth of information that has proven useful to marketers and content creators alike. Founder Brian Clark’s website provides useful tips on a whole host of topics, including copywriting, content marketing and blogging. You will wonder why you never used it in the first place!
4. WordStream
Like HubSpot, WordStream strikes a balance between selling online advertising products and tools and extending you helpful and valuable information through blog posts, webinars and online courses. Also, you can request a unique analysis on some of your digital marketing campaigns, like your pay-per-click (PPC) efforts or Facebook initiatives.
5. Search Engine Land
The search engine world is constantly evolving. Indeed, it is remarkably different than what it was just five years ago. Search Engine Land keeps you up to date on the latest policy changes from the big boys (Google and Bing), the latest digital marketing trends, tips to improve your SEO strategies and statistics on anything related to the industry. Consider it like a newspaper but focused more on everything search engine.
Social Media
6. Sprout Social
If your brand is not on social media by now, then you’re not trying. If you are, then you know how hectic it can be to manage various accounts. This is where Sprout Social enters the picture. The company sells paid social media management tools and optimisation platforms of businesses of all sizes. It coalesces all your engagement, analytics and posts from everywhere into a single hub.
7. Facebook Audience Insights
As private citizens, we might be concerned about Facebook’s invasion of privacy and intrusive behaviour. As entrepreneurs and marketers, Facebook is an essential service. The company recently introduced a new tool called Facebook Audience Insights, designed to understand your target audiences a bit more, such as their purchase habits, geographical locations and demographics. This way, you can tailor your campaigns to those of your audience – forget the one-size-fits-all approach.
8. Facebook Ads
Speaking of Facebook… The website is no longer to hook up with classmates you never spoke to in the ninth grade or stalk your ex-boyfriend – it has not been for a long time. It is an advertising realm. So, as a business, you need to utilise its vast marketing ecosystem and take advantage of Facebook Ads. This self-serve platform allows you to create and run campaigns, use various tools and track the performance of your ads.
9. Twitter Analytics
Do you want to know how the tweet you sent out just 23 seconds ago is performing? How is your audience engaging with your brand? Interested in getting your tweet to a wider audience? If so, Twitter Analytics is something you should consider adding to your arsenal because it gives you a detailed and comprehensive look at your overall account. By examining the data, you can adapt and modify your efforts.
10. Buffer
When you possess multiple social media accounts and invest a great deal of your budget into these campaigns, you want to simplify and streamline the process. Buffer is a software application – for desktop and mobile – that has been created to manage your social networks, schedule your posts to these accounts and then analyse the results to determine if you are effectively engaging with both your audience and the overall community.
11. RiteTag
It’s all about the hashtags – on Twitter and across the online landscape. Are you unsure which hashtags to use and which ones to avoid? RiteTag is an interesting tool because it helps you create posts that will serve two purposes: trending and evergreen. Put simply, if you wish to gain instant results or if you’re aiming for long-term hits, then RiteTag will recommend the appropriate hashtags.
12. Hootsuite
Brands are always interested in knowing what the public is saying about them – positive and negative. Rather than doing a generic Google search of ‘mywebsiterules.com’, Hootsuite applications monitor the social media realm and give you a rundown of what the people are saying about your brand. This important data gives you what you need to respond instantly.
13. SocialRank
Are your social media efforts paying off on Twitter and Instagram? Instead of performing tedious manual research, SocialRank is the tool to have in your arsenal because it identifies, organises and manages your followers on Instagram and Twitter. The analytics reports for these websites are gold because they dive deeper into every campaign, every follower and every post.
Email Marketing
14. MailChimp
Proving that rumours of email marketing’s death have been greatly exaggerated, MailChimp offers a whole host of email marketing insights, landing pages and CRM tools to grow your business. It helps you advertise your goods or services with email and social ads, ensuring that you’re relying on a timeless tool (email) and the hot trend (social media).
15. SendPulse
Let’s face it: the way we receive and read our email has drastically changed. In fact, the data show most people are checking their emails on their smartphones. SendPulse leverages this by establishing a platform that offers and maintains multiple channels of communication with customers, from mobile email to SMS to autoresponders. It is a great way to take full advantage of email marketing management.
16. Constant Contact
Since email marketing is not dead, you need a diverse array of tools to facilitate its effectiveness. Constant Contact has more than just email service; the company proffers an email editor, list management, response email templates and A/B split testing. When you’re unsure if your email marketing efforts are working, you can just take a gander at its analytics.
17. GetResponse
While it does offer the same service as other email marketing platforms, experts say that GetResponse maintains superior click-through rates (CTRs) than other services. When you’re a news website or an online vendor, then CTRs are crucial to surviving and thriving. It also has a new feature, Email Marketing Benchmarks, that examines insights, tips and strategies for your campaign.
18. Mail Genius
It’s estimated that 45% of all emails sent are spam, which is a huge number when you consider that 12.5 million emails are sent every day. It is becoming increasingly difficult for marketers to circumvent the spam folder because email services are installing stringent criteria. Mail Genius is an easy-to-use email spam and security checker that ensures your messages are not triggering spam folders on Gmail or Yahoo!
19. ActiveTrail
What makes ActiveTrail an attractive source for email marketing endeavours is that some of its features are unique and diverse, such as image hosting, social media sharing and list segmentation. Also, consider this statistic: emails have a 99% deliverability rate. That is nothing to sneeze at when you think about the previous stat that nearly half of emails are redirected to the spam folder!
SEO
20. Yoast SEO
Are you an SEO pro who knows the ins and outs of SERPs, keywords and internal links? Don’t worry if you’re not, because Yoast SEO has your back with its WordPress plugin that essentially acts as your invisible SEO manager. Without even trying, Yoast SEO can make your website – a personal blog or a corporate web portal – as search engine-friendly as possible.
21. Google Ads Editor
If advertisers could marry one SEO tool, it would be Google Ads Editor, especially the latest version. For the first time since Google AdWords was rebranded as Google Ads, the search engine juggernaut updated Editor – and it has been incredible, say the experts. Here’s what you can expect:
- ad strength indicator
- audience targeting in Smart Display campaigns
- streamlined editing
- support for non-skippable videos
- conversion maximisation for action and display campaigns
22. Bing Ads Editor
Bing is becoming more ubiquitous and a key part in digital marketing campaigns everywhere. It is not as big as Google, and probably never will be, but it still serves as a great complement to your overall campaign. Like Google Ads Editor, Bing Ads Editor creates and manages campaigns, recommends keyword edits, finds optimal keywords and identifies potential setbacks.
23. Google Trends
So, what is the top trend at this very moment in Paris, France? Google Trends has the answer. This aspect of the Google Search universe analyses the top search queries on the website, examining various regions and languages and then showcasing its results in graph-form for you. By using Trends, you can tailor a portion of your digital marketing campaign to take advantage of the short-term boost.
24. Ahrefs
An effective and inexpensive strategy for websites is organic search traffic. This is when visitors find your website after typing in a keyword in Google or Bring, which is free – it also inflates your self-esteem because you achieved this without spending a dime! Ahrefs offers many tools to achieve greater organic searches: backlink research, rank tracking, web monitoring and much more.
25. Serpstat
When you want to incorporate all sorts of mechanisms into your SEO push, you need a provider who can give them to you. Serpstat aims to be that provider, extending to customers backlink analysis, competitors’ keywords, text analytics and site auditing. What’s more, all this is done using artificial intelligence.
26. Google PageSpeed Insights
Did you know that how fast or slow your webpages load can impact your SEO? Yes, well, it does. And Google PageSpeed Insights will test the loading time and performance of a website on your desktop and mobile device. You also receive a user experience score.
27. Ubersuggest
Keywords. We need more keywords, Scotty! If you’re short on keyword ideas, then Ubersuggest is there to help you get there. Many digital marketers swear by this digital marketing tool because it provides you with a long list of new long-tail keywords that are compiled through aggregated data from Google Suggest.
28. LinkMiner
Believe it or not, broken links are a big no-no in SEO. Even if they’re not your fault, a dead link can hurt your placement in search results. LinkMiner immediately detects the HTTP status of all links placed on your website – the broken ones (404) are highlighted red.
Multimedia
29. Visually
Let’s be honest: most people on the internet don’t want to read data. It’s bad on the eyes, it requires time and it’s boring – we are here for cat videos and GIFs! Visually is a data visualisation and infographics service that brings your ideas to life without mundane 3,000-word articles on the Bank of Japan’s monetary data. This is a great form of content for marketing campaigns, infographics, videos and eBooks.
30. DesignWizard
Not everyone is a design wizard, but DesignWizard will make it seem like you are a talented graphic artist. This is a company that offers online software that maintains templates, images and digital tools that make it easier for your marketing campaign to have something enticing and pleasing to the eye. By using it, you save time, and you make the design process more efficient.
31. ColorZilla
ColorZilla is an extension that acts as an aide for web developers and graphic designers with anything related to colours. Why is it on this list? It’s simple: the browser extension determines the exact colour on any location of your browser. Interested in a misty blue? ColorZilla is here to help!
32. Bootstrap
It’s time to pull your digital ventures up by their bootstraps and utilise BootStrap’s design templates for a myriad of artistic elements, from typography to forms and buttons to image carousels. Bootstrap is both a moneysaver and a timesaver because you just pick a template, customise it to your liking and download it.
33. Canva
Canva is another graphic design tool that makes your brand look like a million bucks. Using a drag-and-drop format, in addition to providing access to photographs, images and fonts, Canva has the tools to enhance your web and print media design and graphs. You want to make your content engaging, right? Grab a Canva.
34. quickmeme
Life in the online world is all about the meme. This is a great marketing tool when you want to showcase your humour, convey a message and take advantage of multimedia. quickmeme is your destination for a library of memes, allowing you to customise each one and then save it for your campaigns.
Project Management
35. Slack
Slack is a cloud-based project management system that allows you to share files, send real-time messages, store data and communicate with colleagues all over the world. It has really transformed into the ultimate go-to PMS for companies that operate across the globe with employees in every corner of the planet.
36. pCloud
Chances are you’re already in the cloud, right? If so, then you need a safe, secure and reliable cloud storage where you can upload, share and edit all your files on any device. This is what pCloud offers, which makes it easier for you to send and receive documents for important digital marketing campaigns.
37. Todoist
Even your to-do list has gone digital. Functioning as a mobile application, Todoist is a simple but effective online to-do list that also reminds you of tasks and important dates. It might not technically be a digital marketing tool, but it does wonders for marketers who are juggling 10,000 things at once.
38. Evernote
Did you or someone on your team come up with a great idea for your next ad campaign? Do you need to remember to double-check your PPC from Christmas? Well, if so, then Evernote is an app designed for these types of tasks, from archiving to organising and creating notes (text and image). Forget carrying around a notepad and pencil – all you need is your phone and this app!
39. Confluence
Confluence is a team collaboration software that works like Slack, except it has a few other features, including application integration, archiving and retention functionality, an activity dashboard, and automated scheduling. It also syncs with your Google Calendar, which might be helpful if you rely on this program as your scheduler.
Editing
40. Grammarly
One of the worst things you could do is have an embarrassing typo is a text Google ad or a horrific grammatical mistake in a tweet. Sure, consumers do not expect everything to be pristine, but first impressions matter. Grammarly can help you avoid these errors.
41. Hemingway App
Do you have a run-on sentence in your blog post? Are your phrases weak? Too many adverbs? Well, Hemingway App will highlight common errors, complex sentences and adverbs that should be eliminated, which makes it extremely useful when crafting your campaigns.
42. Readable
Readability is important in SEO. Readable tests the readability, spelling and grammar of your work, offering suggestions to improve your emails, websites, files and other texts. Overall, Readable will assess your tone and sentiment, text quality, keyword density and readability scores.
Miscellaneous
43. LiveChat
Online customer service support is increasingly becoming integral to a company’s web presence. LiveChat is one of the many applications that allow your business to provide live support using helpdesk software and online analytics. Although many websites do offer this function, it’s still a great way to boost your firm’s growth rates.
44. UserVoice
In business, engagement is key, and showing that you’re listening to your client’s needs is paramount. UserVoice assists your business in collecting and prioritising suggestions from customers. What makes this unique is that customers will list ideas and then vote on them through its SmartVote comparison feature, which can be done on a desktop, iPhone or Facebook app.
45. Zendesk
Customer service is perhaps the greatest marketing gimmick to employ. Hey, it worked for Jeff Bezos and Amazon! So, why not tap the services of Zendesk? This is a support ticketing system, established to help you monitor, prioritise and solve customer support disputes and interactions. More than just customer service technology, it is also indirectly a customer relationship management tool.
46. Sumo Share
Sumo Share is an organised and convenient tool to insert in every blog post that facilitates simple sharing across the social network universe, from Facebook to Twitter and LinkedIn to TikTok and everything in between. The goal of social media is to have your product viewed by more people, so give readers what they need.
47. Click to Tweet
The Click to Tweet plugin is a neat little addition to your website. By highlighting a specific sentence or paragraph on your infographic description, blog post or piece of content marketing, you can assist readers in sharing the best part of your content on Twitter, which will then be seen and hopefully shared by more people across the Twitterverse.
48. Feedly
In digital marketing, you never want to dominate the conversation – you want to participate in one. So, by oversharing and overpromoting your own work, you’re turning off people. Feedly can help you avoid this bragging by aggregating news related to your field, which can then be posted to your social media pages. By doing this, you’re proving that you really do care what your audience wants and not just using them to showcase your goods or services.
49. Clips
Easy-to-use video software is hard to come by. That is until Clips made its way to the internet. This is a fast, cool and free video editing app for the iPhone and iPad that allows you to not only add video but also insert effects, title cards, music and subtitles. With video becoming integral to digital marketing, this is a great tool to have up your sleeve.
50. Medium
Medium allows anyone with an idea to share their wisdom with everyone else. One of the many publishing digital platforms out there, Medium gives a voice to the voiceless, or a megaphone to those who already have a voice. Everyone is beginning to use this website for marketing purposes, from presidential candidates to iconic brands to those looking to start a marketing career. Why not? It’s free, and it already attracts millions of eyeballs!
Whether you want to start a business or enhance your private enterprise using state-of-the-art tools, like competitor analysis or analytics, there are many resources at your fingertips. Some of them are free, and some of them come at a price; either way, you should leverage these digital marketing tools to the best of your ability.
With some hard work, a good idea and a little bit of luck, your marketing strategy can lead to tremendous results that pad your bottom line – the main objective for any organisation.
What other tools do you use in your digital marketing efforts? Let us know in the comments section below!