It’s a great time to be a marketer. From digital tracking applications to pay-per-call lead generation networks, tracking down new customers in 2013 is easier than it has ever been before. From automation to in-depth tracking, digital marketing is a field that’s been immensely rewarding to marketers and businesses alike.
One of the reasons that digital marketing is such a great way to generate new leads and find new customers is the massive range of free tools available. From tracking server apps to location-based redirect tools, read on to learn about the ten best free web tools for lead generators, direct marketers, and online advertisers.
Google Analytics
Google’s free web traffic analytics system is one of the best on the web, beating out many of its paid competitors in usability and depth of reporting. Ideal for SEOs, this powerful online application is remarkably user-friendly, operating based on a small JavaScript snippet that’s placed on any tracked pages.
While Google Analytics may lack the extreme depth of some enterprise web tracking tools, its great price point – free! – and its simple interface make it a great choice for search engine optimisers, PR managers, and Adwords advertisers.
Prosper202
If you’re running a cost-per-acquisition online marketing campaign, Prosper202 is a truly must-have tool. One of the few completely free online marketing trackers, 202 has been built from the ground up to easily track cost-per-acquisition websites that run on Hitpath, Cake Marketing, and other CPA marketing platforms like HasOffers.
Ideal for paid advertising experts and viral traffic generators, Prosper202 makes it easy to see where your leads and clicks are coming from. Add a single tracking pixel to enjoy hands-off tracking of your top search keywords and display creatives.
HasOffers
While there are several tools on the market for tracking your outsourced advertising and lead generation campaigns, none are as user-friendly as HasOffers. While it’s not quite completely free, HasOffers is available as a free thirty-day trial, making it by far the cheapest of the affiliate program management tools to try before buying.
HasOffers is, simply put, an all-purpose tracking station for your affiliates and lead generators. Track the quantity, quality, and sales progress of leads from thousands of different sources, and manage your accounts payable using the system’s simple built-in accounting features.
Visual Website Optimizer
Simplify your split testing with Visual Website Optimizer. This web tools makes is incredibly easy to A/B test different landing pages. Use the tool’s simple drag-and-drop interface to quickly add new content to pages or rearrange the layout of your landing pages.
Experienced marketers will know how much a small tweak in layout or content can boost the conversion rate of a landing page. Visual Website Optimizer makes it easy to tweak, track, and compare different landing pages as they compete for survival.
WordPress
While it might sound silly to praise such a widely used tool, we really can’t highlight the importance of WordPress for marketers enough. A completely free, ultra-useful website design and management tool, WordPress is undoubtedly the best of the best when it comes to free content management platforms.
Despite slowing down under heavy traffic and using more resources than we might want it to, WordPress is a huge tool for advertisers and lead generators. Whether it’s a landing page or terms of service you’re building, WordPress should be the first and only content management application you turn to.
Google DoubleClick Ad Planner
There’s no shortage of ludicrously expensive media planning tools on the market for advertisers. It’s hard to work out why, however, as one of the best media planners is completely free of charge. The Google DoubleClick Ad Planner is an immensely useful tool for advertisers and media buyers looking for information on target websites.
Type in a website’s address and, provided it’s in Google’s advertising network, you’ll see detailed information on its visitor numbers, popular countries, and pageviews. A must-have tool in any media buyer’s arsenal, Google DoubleClick Ad Planner makes building a display advertising campaign remarkably simple.
HootSuite
While HootSuite isn’t completely free, its free edition is more than enough for most independent lead generators and small marketing agencies. An all-purpose system for managing your social media accounts, HootSuite makes it easy to view Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn accounts from a single all-encompassing application.
Whether you’re marketing on Twitter or Instagram, Foursquare or Mixi, HootSuite makes it easy to manage your tweets and status updates. As well as the usual social networks, HootSuite is fully compatible with photo sharing networks such as Flickr, Japanese network Mixi, and micro-blogging sites like Tumblr.
Google Alerts
Google Alerts is one of the best tools on the web for brand managers and marketers focused on long-term inbound sales. Set up automated alerts for your brand name and respond to potential customers as they write about you. Create alerts for sales keywords and have a social manager representative market to leads in real time.
Most lead generators focus almost exclusively on outbound marketing. Google Alerts makes it incredibly easy to close inbound sales and respond to great public relations opportunities.
Broken Link Checker
Broken links are the bane of SEOs. From annoying 404 errors to redirects that send users into an endless loop of unwanted pages, tracking down and dealing with links that don’t do what they’re supposed to is an annoying job for every search exerts.
Broken Link Checker is a simple application that makes it easy to find broken links on your website. Type in your URL and you’ll receive a list of every broken link on your website, ordered and ready for your action.
LSIKeywords.com
There’s more to SEO than keyword stuffing and repetitive anchor text links. While that may have worked for search engine optimisers in 2006, today it’s a recipe for disaster. LSIKeywords.com makes it easy to find accessory keywords for your SEO campaigns that produce a natural, user-friendly look that search engines love.
If you’re generating sales leads via SEO, this tool deserves a permanent spot in your toolkit. Plug in keywords as you build out new landing pages to quickly learn which ancillary search keywords deserve a place in your website’s copy.
Image Credit: Emmanuel Alanis
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