5 Free Online Tools All Digital Marketers Need

Post-Panda Panic

Many online marketers have been spooked by Google’s ongoing Panda, Farmer and Screech Owl updates. The last one was a joke, actually, but for any website owner that has found himself or herself on the wrong side of Google, algorithm updates are no laughing matter.  However, there is no reason to throw out the search engine optimization baby with the black hat or gray hat bathwater.

Instead of giving up, employ legitimate strategies to enhance the way that SEO works. Any one of the five tools listed below will allow you to maximize traffic to your site while staying on good terms with Google. Best of all, each of these tools is free.

 

 Anchor Text Over Optimization Tool

Anchor text that is unobtrusively sprinkled your website directs readers to other pages tat you own or perhaps a click-through ad. However, if you load your website down with too much anchor text, Google may slap you down for over optimization.  Here comes the Anchor Text Over Optimization tool to the rescue. Simply type in the URL of the page you want summarized and receive a report that includes flags of anchor text links that might trigger problems.

 

Bing Webmaster Tool

If you like Google Webmaster Tools, you will also like Bing Webmaster tools. They function much like Google webmaster tools. You can also interact with the suite of research tools and resources designed for webmasters. With Bing Webmaster tools, you’ll know who visited your site and where they lingered. The information you obtain can provide guidance on where improvements are needed.

 

Bitly

If you are active on Facebook and especially on Twitter, Bitly is your best friend. Bitly can take a URL of twenty or thirty characters and boil it down into a tidy, short link that opens onto the original page. However, Bitly also organizes your shortened links into neat categories. You can also share your links across multiple social networks. Bitly also counts clicks on your shared links so that you can keep track of which links went viral, and which links withered on the vine.

 

Boomerang

If you do email marketing, you need Boomerang. Boomerang for Gmail allows you to keep track of your emails and set a reminder to send out updates if you don’t receive responses within a certain amount of time. You can also schedule email messages to be sent out at a later date and time so that you can follow up on your latest email blast. Boomerang is also available for mobile devices.

 

Buffer

If you share an email blast or a tweet, but no one reads it, have you accomplished anything? Buffer allows you to share your pearls of wisdom with your followers or social media contacts at times when what you share is most likely to be seen, read and appreciated.  Post to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and other social networks at once for more efficient sharing. Butter also provides analytics that illustrate the reach of your shares by listing the number of retweets, “likes” and other social media metrics.