Business Tools

Some of the suggestions are specific products, while others are simply generic tools that have various solutions. We’ll push you in the right direction and you can make your decision based on price and specific requirements. If you need specific advice, you can always give our office a call.

Google Analytics

Despite it being free and heavily advertised by the biggest search engine on the market, most business owners still shockingly underuse it. And that’s a massive shame, as the amount of data this tool churns out is enough to replace an entire analysis team.

Google Analytics provides so much information that it’s beyond the scope of this article to give you a comprehensive list of everything it does. Let’s just say that there’s more than enough to keep you busy. From lead generation statistics to organic traffic numbers and even real-time figures, Analytics is the complete tracking tool.

Keyword Research Tool

Content marketing isn’t just about creating flowing words, engaging videos, and beautiful images/photography. In order to drive traffic, you also need to ensure that content has a good chance of ranking on Google. And you’ll never make that happen if your keyword research isn’t up to scratch.

The reason keyword research is so important is that it allows you to find ‘golden nuggets’ – keywords that have both high search numbers as well as low competition. Instead of going for obvious keyword (or worse, ones that don’t get search for at all), you can focus on phrases that are relevant and give you a good chance of converting. Popular keyword research tools include Market Samurai and Google’s very own Keyword Planner.

Cloud Storage

If you still rely on external hard drives or internal servers to back up your data, it’s time to creep out of your cave and join 2014. These days, the most effective way to store information is by using one of the many cloud storage solutions available. Best of all, many of them give you several gigabytes worth of storage 100% free.

Not only is this option much cheaper than investing in onsite IT infrastructure, it’s also much more secure. Instead of having all of your data in a single building, you’ve got carbon copies of your files on the cloud. Services such as DropBox are an excellent way to get started, but a simple Google search will return a myriad of options.

Social Media Management

Whether it’s Hootsuite, Buffer, or Sprout Local – you need a social media management tool for your business. It’s difficult to keep on top of the various profiles, status updates, and tweets without a central tool from which you can operate. These tools aren’t just limited to posting, but you can also target your campaigns, see details data that’s visualised for easy digestions, as well as a bunch of other uses that you won’t get from your standard accounts.

All four of these tools can be had for a combination of free and a small investment. And the return is both measurable as it is priceless. You’ll save time on your campaigns, your projects will be targeted for greater ROI, and you’ll also have the peace of mind in knowing that your data is secure.