Having a strong presence online is one of the most important aspects of being a business owner. It attracts new visitors to your website, builds authority, and keeps your company relevant to your existing audience. Using platforms such as social media, digital marketing and a personal website will serve as your business’s online presence. Although simply being present will not get any business owner far. Doing adequate research and using helpful tools will help you create engaging content that will drive more traffic to your website.
Having a good understanding of your audience is most useful in maintaining a strong following. Knowing what questions your audience has, what problems they need resolved, what catches their attention, how they think and speak. And since business owners aren’t mind-readers, there are tools that can help with connecting to your audience better. So, below is a list of FREE online tools you can start using today, to help strengthen your presence online.
1. Logocreator
Every business owner knows how important it is to have a professional, memorable logo for their business. Designing a logo should be one of the first steps you take in building your online reputation. Your logo is symbolic of your company. Your audience will always associate your logo with your business. So, choose wisely and be sure your logo represents your brand in the best way possible.
As a new business owner, it’s usually more cost effective to create your own logo. Luckily you can do this effortlessly online with free logo creating tools. One recommended tool for straight-forward logo design, is Logocreator. You can have your very own personalized logo created within minutes. Logo creator includes features such as color, shapes, frames and an option to upload your own icon.
2. Google Keyword Planner
When you’re talking to your audience, you want to make sure you know what they want to hear. Doing some research into SEO can be highly beneficial in creating content that will attract and engage audience attention. Knowing which keywords are most used in your business niche, is like having a glimpse into the minds of your target audience. How are they talking? What are they most interested in? You can figure out exactly what problems your audience has and how you’re able to solve them with your product, by using SEO strategies.
One free tool that is relatively easy to use is Google Keyword Planner. With this tool, you can start by typing in general words relating to your product or service. Google Keyword Planner will show you how your keywords rank, and similar keywords or phrases that may be more often used by people researching in your niche of business.
3. Hemingway Editor
So now that you have a good idea of which keywords to use in your marketing strategy, you need to make sure all of your content comes out clear and flawless.
Hemingway Editor is a free tool that you can run your written content through before making it public. This tool is a very useful one for content marketers because it highlights some very important aspects of written material. With this tool, you can see what grade-level your writing is considered to be at. It’s said that 6th grade reading material is ideal for online content. This way you can be sure that all words are easy to digest and that messages get across clearly. Your writing is also run through a spelling and grammar check, plus you’ll receive an analysis of the tone in the writing.
4. Buffer
With your presence being spread across various platforms, you may need some sort of organization to keep things in order. Buffer is a wonderful tool to help you do so. You can save time posting on multiple social media outlets, by doing it all from one place. With this tool you can coordinate campaigns, measure your content’s performance, and manage your social media accounts.
5. Hotjar
Another way to get a peek into the minds of your audience, is by using behavior analytics software. With tools such as heatmaps, session recordings, and surveys you can clearly see which areas of your website get the most traffic. Hotjar will visually present you with an analysis of where you receive clicks, taps and scrolling. This way you can be sure to keep putting out the type of content which gets the most engagement.
