2 Monkeys, 1 Dragon and 9 other Free Tools to Explode Your Internet Marketing Business
When setting up a new business it is pivotal to keep within budget, that is why it is critical to leverage technology and more importantly to take advantage of Free tools that can allow you complete tasks more efficiently and with greater ease. Here is my list of 12 Free Tools to explode your internet marketing business.
1. Google
I have used Google for years and I am not alone. Google is the most trafficked site on the internet. You may consider Google to be a search engine. In fact Google is a lot more than just a simple search engine and as I am writing this I am thinking that I am doing Google a huge injustice by saying it is just one tool. The truth of the matter is that Google is a suite of media tools that allows us, the user, to do everything from searching for the latest business opportunities to finding out what everybody else is searching for, post videos, create online communities and sending emails.
The best way to get started with Google is to set up a Google Gmail account. Once you have this set up you can explore the plethora of other services that Google provide.
2. Pixlr
If you are starting up your internet marketing business on a limited budget then you may not be able to afford the latest image editing software. Pixlr is a great resource that allows you to edit images in an online portal, save them, and then upload to your file servers or simply share with your prospects or business partners. You can also use it to create your own banners for your website instead of outsourcing to a design company, allowing you to utilise money you would have spent there on other areas of your business.
3. Jing
The free version of Jing allows you to take screen captures and distribute these with friends or colleagues. Jing also supports video. You can record your screen and make a presentation which you can share with others.
People consume information in different ways so having the ability to walk someone hand in hand through a process on a recorded video is such a powerful and useful tool that can help in building your business and enhancing the skills of your team.
4. Skype
Having spent time working in the corporate telecoms sector, I think Skype is a phenomenal tool and I think it will have a massive impact on telecommunications in the next few years. Even more so than it has already.
Skype is free to download and once you have it installed and you get your colleagues, business partners or friends to download it then you can communicate for free. So regardless of you being based in Canada, Australia, the USA or the UK, you can communicate with your team and your prospects for free. And that is just the tip of the iceberg; Skype allows you to hold video calls and you can share your screen. Skype really is a phenomenal tool.
5. Blogging platforms
Blogging platforms like the one you are reading this on right now (WordPress), are opensource software that allow you to create your own blog or website for your internet marketing business, which is accessible to the world. It gives you the ability to start broadcasting your message and building your brand. WordPress.com can allow you to start up a blog site for absolutely nothing, although this option means that you would not be able to control the domain. In order to control the name you would need to use wordpress.org and host your own domain.
There are also other blogging platforms, one such tool being Google’s Blogger.
6. Anymeeting
Why deliver the same message to 1 one when you can to deliver many? This is a meeting platform that allows you to conduct webinars or presentations or to share documents and images on live calls with up to 200 people. The software also allows you to conduct polls of your audience.
7. Social media sites
The last 5 years in particular have seen the use of social media explode. Social media in reality is still in its infancy but at this moment in time organisations of all sizes all over the world are making their presence felt on the social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or any of the multitude of other social media platforms that are out there.
Just like Google, social media is too big a topic to be categorized as one tool. There are so many advantages that social media can drive for business that there are already entire web sites dedicated to social media. To see how social media benefits business users click here.
8. SurveyMonkey
If you want to conduct a survey of your web users or send out a survey in your newsletter then SurveyMonkey will allow you to do this. As always, there are more features available if you choose a monthly pay option however the free version is perfectly adequate. If you design a survey using this tool it will allow you to get feedback from your audience. This allows you to learn what your audience thinks of you, gain insights into what their pressing concerns are and understand what service they are looking for to satisfy those concerns.
Now if you ask me, a tool that does that for free is surely worth its weight in Gold.
What you do with the data you collect is up to you. However if you are smart, and I am sure you are as you have made it this far, then you will be using it to laser guide marketing missiles right into the lap of your customer. Positioning yourself and your internet marketing business as the number one solution to your customers’ problems.
9. DropBox
If you are on the go all the time and you don’t have the ability to take your laptop or a hard drive with you then DropBox provide 2GB of online storage space for you to keep files and documents which you can then connect to securely from any network enabled system to retrieve your items.
Yeah great, that sounds like marketing bumpf, well here is the true beauty of DropBox and this is where I get the real value. When you have your private team trainings, your webinars or video lessons you can get your team to get a drop box account and literally just drop the training materials in there. In effect you can use it as a repository for your internet marketing business training material.
- Socialmonkee.
Social Monkee is a social bookmarking site that allows you to bookmark your blog or articles on up twenty five unique sites. Why would you want to do this? Well in short, it provides backlinks to the individual piece of content and the search engines love good quality backlinks which in turn can help promote your blog.
- Dragon Dictation
Ok, so this is only viable if you have an iPhone, but I am positive that there are similar alternatives out there that you can leverage if you have another smart phone.
Dragon dictation is a voice recording and translation application that does exactly that. It records your voice and translates into text. This is great because if you are out and about and something inspires you and you think that it will be great content, for your internet marketing business, then you can simply record away while it is fresh in your mind. If you want to read how you can use Dragon dictation to create blog posts in under 20 minutes click here.
- Article Submission Sites
Last but not least Article submission sites. Submission sites still play a huge role in marketing especially when you are on a tight budget. The article submissions sites such as ezine articles and hubspot get huge amounts of traffic. All you have to do is write quality articles and submit them. The advantages being that you can build up credibility of yourself and your brand as leaders in your respective fields.
Share with me any other Free online tools that help make an impact in your internet marketing business by adding a comment in the box below.
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About
James Debono is a small business owner and Internet entrepreneur. James dedicates his time to helping other small business owners leverage the power of the Internet to drive business growth and positive change. Click here James Debono+ to connect with James.
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