20 Online Marketing Tools Small Business Will Use Regularly

byDaveSw

5.6K followers

Updated 7 years ago

Today I just want to go over some of the tools you will use as you progress with your own online marketing business..

These are online marketing tools small business will use and need to effectively leverage their time, that most precious of resources...

The list is not all inclusive, but will give you an idea of what you can expect to have to invest in over time...

My Not All Inclusive List Of 20 Online Marketing Tools Small Business Will Use Regularly...

(1) An Ad and Page Tracker - If you want to know what is going on with your business (all aspects) this is a tool that you need. It is not good enough to just see that you are getting traffic or not. you need to know from where it is coming, what kind of actions the traffic is taking on your website, how ads and pages are performing, etc.

This is key to really knowing how you are doing with your online business. There are free and paid programs out there, but I believe that over time looking for a decent paid service will be worth your while, remember free is not ALWAYS the best option!

Personally I chose a tool that allows tracking plus changing link titles, and even options for hosted pages if I need (I do not)...It is installed on the server under my domain, and I can track all my domains and pages/ads/pop ups etc. as I want, at no cost (hosting is what normally will cost you monthly)...

(2) Social Management Tool - This is one that I can really relate to, because when I started with online marketing, I did not do much at all with the social platforms. That has changed, and the more I got into online marketing, the more I could see that the social side of marketing is big and growing. If you do NOT get involved and start using the popular platforms, you are missing out on a LOT of traffic, leads, and conversions.

So what should you do? Get started with one platform, become familiar with it, and build your name, brand, and reputation. To do this, you will need to post regularly and interact with other platform members. This is where the tool comes in...

There are a ton of tool options out there, and I have gone through more than one in the last couple of years. I am always looking for a solution that will do more in the same time...As the number of social accounts and platforms has grown supporting various niches, so too has the need for a more robust tool to automate the process...

You will find the same, and I recommend looking at what is out there, and secure something that will meet the needs of what you currently have, but also think ahead and learn to use one that can grow with you. This will save you time later because you can just scale it up...

(3) Video Broadcasting Software - This is a tool that many will not want to get involved with or use, but I am here to tell you that it is absolutely the direction online marketing is going. Content is and will remain king, but as with social platforms, if you do not get knowledgeable in this means of marketing your products and services, you are missing out on a huge chunk of business...

Live streaming video in particular is taking off, and like a webinar it is a great way to interact with a large audience. These days platforms like Facebook, YouTube, SnapChat, Instagram, and similar offer spme form of live streaming and using them you can tap into the millions or billions of users that are available to you...

I follow some of the experts that expand regularly on the latest innovations, and I can tell you that this area of marketing is going to grow - a lot - over the next few years...Joel Comm is one such person, well worth your while to check him out...

I would start by doing some facebook live sessions...Invite your friends, business associates, and whoever else you think can help your business...Add to this a group so you can build a tribe of folks that want to listen to what you are talking about...

There are quite a few tools out there that can get you started, and at the beginning you do not need any of them. My first live broadcast was done from my smartphone in the Hard Rock in Dubai (popul.ar and went well - my muso friends were performing)...

As you start to get more sophisticated with your broadcasts adding supporting tools will help you do split screens, add in another presenter (can you say interview?) and get the banter going. YouTube has a live chat feature and Facebook has the comment section, and you can react to viewers immediately...

(4) Grammar and Spelling Tool - This is one that every writer needs, even if unlike me, your eyes are good. Mistakes happen, too often, and you need to have a tool that will minimize the incidents of errors. Your writing is what people will use to judge your competence as a marketer.

I use Grammarly, and it helps me immensely. There are free and paid versions, I am using the free. Maybe that is why it is not working now hehe! There are other services that do the same thing, I would check them out and select one or the other that fits your needs.

(5) Premium Theme (Wordpress) - There are so many themes out there that surely one will fit every need for your online marketing program and this is a good thing. Rather than trying to build a castle on your own, having a premium theme to use that has all the features you need for your business is a timesaver and also makes you look professional in the viewer's eyes...

Remember that indeed this is a business, and unlike a bricks and mortar operation, you do not have the opportunity to meet visitors face to face for the most part...So presenting a professional appearance is important - you do not need a lot of flash, just a sharp looking, well organized website that will provide an engaging experience for visitors...

(6) SEO Tool for Website - You will need to have a tool that will quickly check your site for SEO optimization and help you fine tune the content and appearance/layout so the search engines will give you a good ranking and your posts appear on page one of the search engines (top of page one is best!)...

The free ones will take you so far, but as you start becoming more aware of the competition out there for the free traffic, you may want to look at some paid options. We are using the paid version of Yoast for our e-Commerce sites, for example, because we want to get an edge or at least have an equal chance against the competition...

(7) Screen Capture Tool - There are some free ones out there that will work just fine as you get started, but later you may want more features, and then you will have to pay (not much).

The one I use is called Jing, and it is very useful for not only capturing what is on the screen, but adding in arrows, boxes, and text as I may want for further clarification and edification.

(8) Screen Recording Tool - This is something I use for explainer videos and it works very well. Using Screencaster (there are many similar tools) it I can actually walk people through a prodict or service while recording a voiceover.

Once you have the video recorded, you then edit it using one of your other video editing tools, maybe add in an intro or outro, then upload the whole thing to YouTube (nd also store a back up somewhere you can access it in case something happens with your YouTube channel)...

(9) SEO Keyword Research Tool - This is another key tool (no pun intended) that you will find very useful as time goes on. Creating content is one thing, creating content that people are looking for is another. Using a tool to find the right key words to use when you create content will boost your traffic,

There are a ton of tools out there, and depending on your needs, do the research to find the one that will be most useful. I do drop shipping, e-commerce, sell products, and affiliate marketing, Over the past 2 years I have gathered a keyword tool for each of these marketing segments (at a bit of cost I might add)...

Depending on my requirements, I can find top-selling articles on Amazon, eBay, Ali-Express, and even Shopify. I then have a tool that will find teh same or a similar product for the best seller I am after on Ali-Express, and I can import all data on my sites...

As an aside to this tool, soon I will be adding in another related tool (not SEO, but what you can tie into your keywords/products in my case) that finds genuine USA wholesalers that will drop ship for you.

This is key to growing the drop shipping business, as the expectations of today's buyers are fast delivery. Sending the items from China works, but it can take from 10-21 days (a lifetime these days?)...

Ok, back to the keyword tool...

For our e-commerce stores, I use two such tools, one of which is a major competitor to Jaaxy that Carson and Kyle offer, and the other is more oriented to the big search engines like AZON and eBay/Shopify...They work well and using them I can create content that people are looking for...

This item can be a pretty big expense, so look carefully at what you need before committing to one or the other...They are not all created equal!

(10) Auto Responder Service - This is something that you hear about all the time, and I can say that it is indeed a crucial part of your online business, no matter what segment you may be in. This tool helps you automate the whole email marketing and sales process, it will save you a ton of time.

There are free, low-cost, and premium services out there, I would look at your needs now and what you think you will be doing in the next year to two years, because once you get familiar with one servce, you do not want to have to learn another if you can avoid it...

Personally, I use one mainstream service (AWeber) and MailerLite (for free)...I do have some other options, but these are the main two that fit the needs at the moment and will grow with me over time (so will the expenses for them unfortunately hehe)...

(11) External Storage Location - There is no need for external storage until there is. What I mean by that staterment is that there are a lot of people who do not think about this until something happens.

In my case, I learned this a LOT of years ago. I was in a Doctoral progran and my laptop hard drive crashed...$2100 USD and a lot of heartache later (not to mention the cost of a flight to USA from Germany), I recovered all but a few MB of 4 years of study. papers, and dissertation work ...Ouch!

External storage can be used for a number of areas in your online marketing business...Storage of images and graphics, web pages, content, software back ups, etc.

There are also a number of services to to consider using depending on your needs...I use 5 different kinds of external storage these days!

The ones I use include Google Drive, Dropbox, Evernote, Amazon, and the one from Microsoft ( I forget the name)...These are all relatively inexpensive, total cost to me is $13 a month!

Oh yes, I do use a 6th external storage service. The one I seldom think about costs $5 a month, and automatically backs up my drives in real time. Remember that laptop story above? THAT will never happen again!

(12) Hosting/Domain/SSL - Here we are all very fortunate to have the benefits that Wealthy Affiliate offers...All three of these you can get as a part of your membership cost. This can be a very expensive area of your online marketing business, depending on your needs...

I have hosted services for more than my websites. As you grow your business, you find you need to have other hosted data, pages, or tracking services that allow you to get faster page loads and to enable buyers of your products and tools to download safely and securely, plus see what is going on...

Outside of Wealthy Affiliate, for which you will pay no additional costs, there are a number of services out there. Compare them all to WA though, because most will not offer what you get here without paying a lot of extra money...

As your business grows, these will come into play, starting out, likely you can save money by NOT using them until required...You want this need to come about though, because it is an indicator you are growing!

(13) Video Editing Software - This is another essential that many people getting into the online marketing business think they can avoid. Yes you can, by the way, but you do so at the risk of seeing your competitors get some of the business you should be getting (kind of like the social platforms).

At some point, when you get things together in your program that are taught here, you will begin to see this...Then you will have lots of options depending on what you decide your approach will be...

There are free programs out there that will suffice when you start, but as you start getting competent with the skills, you will want to do more. That is when you will have to take a look at the many tools and select one or more. Try to think of what you may need a year or two out, and get something that will work for you when you get to that stage...

I use an animated video creation tool, a mid-range tool, and a high range tool. Each has a learning curve, so you want to be sure that if you are going to take the time to learn how to use the tool, that it will suffice for a long time...

(14) Graphics Tool - There are so many instances when you will use a graphics editing tool when you have a small online business. I have several I use and at least once a day it seems I am on one or the other.

You need something so you can get things done yourself quickly. You can outsource of course, but that will come at a great expense, and unless you are aware of who your are working with and they understand what you are looking for, you will waste time and money...

There is a learning curve with these tools as well, and free ones such as GIMP are mighty handy but until you know what you are doing, your deliverable will take some time. Worth the effort though...

An example...

We recently had a branding video created using a Fiverr seller, and we had to provide images to the dude to have them embedded. He offered to make one of the images transparent (no background) for an additional charge of $10 (the total cost was $70)...

Instead of paying him that $10, I took 10 minutes of my time and did it myself using GIMP! That was well worth my time, that is an extra beer at my local watering hole hehe!

(15) Gear for Video or Audio Broadcasting - Of course, before you edit a video you have to record a video. The live broadcasts are a different thing than what I am talking about here, although there is some overlap...

I am speaking more of the explainer videos, branding videos, training videos, etc. that you will create to support your promotions. These all will add color and variety to your websites...people are watching video more and more these days, and that will continue to grow over the forseeable future. It is all about engagement...

There are so many options out there, my recommendation is to get the best equipment that you can afford with an eye to buying what you will need down the road apiece. Here also you get what you pay for generally, so research carefully prior to buying...

Things you may need include a camera, lighting, greenscreen set up, decent sound recording system, an editing tool for audio, and and and...You can go cheap all the way to ridiculous with this...

(16) A Decent Microphone - This is tied to the video tools you need above, but there are other instances when having a decent microphone will help you. For conference calls, recording audio for a podcast, making calls, etc. a good mike just makes things a little but easier...

(17) Graphics You Have Rights To Use - When you get started, tapping into the free or with citation images are acceptable, but as you get on with your business, the time spent finding the 'right image' will be more of a cost than just buying what you need.

I have a large folder with many subfolders of graphics by type that I own outright and as mentioned above, I have several graphic design tools that allow me to quickly design what I need from what I have...It is a timesaver and money saver if you consider your time as being money...

(18) Images You Have Rights To Use - This is pretty much the same story as with graphics...Over time you want to get more done in the same time...Owning a good variety of images that can be used with no attribution, no fuss, and no worrying about lawsuits is a good thing...Try taling some of your own...I do not see this enough in the online marketing world, but I think they can be effective...

(19) Social Accounts - These generally do not cost money in the literal sense, but they sure cost in time. They are a necessary evil as I mentioned above, and my advice is to start with one and understand the use of it, then add another.

Basic platforms I would add over time are the following: Facebook, YouTube (your own channel), Google +, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn...

There are others that will give you a boost for your content and rankings through having the backlink (meaning better search results with the search engines) such as Blogger dot com, Quora, Tumblr, etc, that you can add as you flesh out your overall marketing plan for your business...

(20) Page Builder - I do not know about you, but I am not a natural when it comes to design and even creating attractive looking pages is not my forte. As you grow your business, you will be creating more and more sales pages, video sales pages, thank you pages, landing pages, opt-in pages, etc.

If you get a good page builder that you learn to use and feel comfortable with, over time you will be able to quickly create the pages you need. That helps a lot when you are on a limited time schedule to work your online marketing business...

OK, there you have it, my short list for success!

Conclusion

There are more tools I could mention, but these are ones you likely will want to plan on either getting free access to use from various locations on the internet or buying...

These are listed based on my own experiences to date, and also why I am interested in what other members consider basic tools needed...So, what are you using (use comment section below please)?

My thoughts...

If you want to lock in success you will need to add tools with their leveraging capabilities to your regimen as you go and grow your online marketing business. Using the many available tools will help you do more in the same time, meaning your can scale your business up, and do it faster...

Certainly creativity, intelligence, motivation, confidence, and courage are all elements of success, as you see in the image above. I would add to these characteristics the element of tools - not a characteristic, but just as essential to your success...

I will also tell you that since starting, I have purchased a few thousand dollars worth of tools, so I am walking the walk, not just talking the talk hehe...My monthly costs are hovering at $230 a month, and that does not include some e-Commerce store operational costs...

This money has been spent over two years and includes the Weathy Affiliate platform cost. This may seem like a big amount, much more than the membership cost of Wealthy Affiliate - but remember, I am able to do 20x what I could do when I started, and that in the same time (and make more than 20x the income as well)...

So what about you?

Do you need all these tools or more tools than these? Not all at once you don't, and some maybe not at all, ever. Note that I have not listed other tools (i.e. plugins) that I use for e-commerce, drop shipping, and ones I use for selling my own products. I chose to stick with ones helpful for affiliate marketing.

It all depends on the direction you choose to go with this online marketing business. Depending on the niche, your aspirations, your drive, and tenacity, you will need one or more of these tools (likely more)...

Invest In Yourself...

Remember this is a business, and as with any business, you have to invest in it to be able to flesh it out and grow. Treat this affiliate marketing in that manner, plan accordingly, execute, get smarter, and make it happen!

Lastly...

Again, drop a line below and let us know what you think please! Together we can build an even more extensive list that will be helpful for new marketers all the way to experienced marketers here on the site who may pick something new up for their use!

It's all about success - I believe in all of you!

Cheers!

Dave : )