Online Marketing is all about measuring your activities and thankfully there are some free tools available that make this not only cost effective, but incredibly simple too. Almost every eMarketing tactic has a free tracking tool so I thought I would share some of my favourites with you.
Google Analytics
This nifty site analytics tool is managed and owned by Google and provides you with a massive amount of information about your site. All you have to do is register for an account, add the tracking codes to your site and you are a-for-away! With the ability to track not only the traffic coming to your site through each of the various entrance paths (SEO, PPC, direct and referral traffic), but also the number of conversions taking place, it becomes possible to not only track how your site is doing but to also optimise it to improve your overall chances of success!
Have a look at Google Analytics by visiting http://analytics.google.com or read more about Google Analytics here.
Quirk SearchStatus
SearchStatus was written by Craig Raw (our very own CTO) and over the past couple of years has become the world’s favourite Search Engine Optimisation tool. Quite a claim but the stats don’t lie – SearchStatus gets almost 15 000 downloads a week along with many, many thank you emails.
SearchStatus is a simple, small and very useful Firefox add-on that pulls a site’s Google PageRank, Alexa Rank, backlinking report and other key indicators into one central place. SearchStatus is most useful when used as a competitor and personal benchmarking tool - install it and see what your competitor’s sites are up to and how you measure up.
To download SearchStatus please visit http://www.quirk.biz/searchstatus/ or read more about SearchStatus here.
Google Alerts
Google Alerts is similar to BrandsEye as it provides free online mention or reputation tracking, albeit on a much smaller scale. Google Alerts is a fantastic tool for anybody who wants to know if they are being spoken about online and provided that you are not concerned about how long it takes to find these relevant mentions, Google Alerts is the ideal tool.
With a very simple interface and email notifications system, Google Alerts makes sure you know when people are talking about you online. While it offers limited functionality, it’s still a great little tool.
Have a look at Google Alerts by going to http://www.google.com/alerts or read more about Google Alerts here.
With these three tools, almost any campaign can be tracked. Whether you are focussing on Website Design and Development or Online Reputation Management there will be a free tool available to make your marketing activities 100% trackable. Go have a look and let us know which one works for you by popping your thoughts into the comments section.
