Top 3 Free Google Tools for Marketers
by Success Analyst on Saturday, June 27th, 2009 | 1 Comment
Google has some really good tools for helping you build a successful online business. Here are just a few that will get you started in the right direction.
- Google Analytics – I’ve used a couple of different programs to track visitors to my websites, but as Google kept adding features to their program, the others lost their appeal. Since Google Analytics (GA) is free, it only makes sense to try them first. GA allows you to track visitors from Referring Websites and Search Engines (including which keyword was used). It will tell you which sources are generating sales or other conversions, such as newsletter sign ups. Books have been written about the incredible power of this program. For now, just know that GA will give you great information about the following important areas: Visitors, Traffic Sources, Content, and Conversions.
- Adwords Keyword Tool – You can spend days researching the right keywords for your website. Google’s Adwords Keyword Tool will save you countless hours in this process. In a few minutes, you can determine which keywords are right for you, how much monthly traffic they generate, and how much it would cost to buy clicks for these keywords. The cost per click is a big hint about which words are generating sales. You have the option to search by keyword or by looking at the keywords your competitors are using. Be sure to show all columns initially so you can see what information is available. Also, consider downloading the list to excel so you can build a tracking spreadsheet of the best keywords and how you are implementing them on your website.
- Google Alerts – Often overlooked, this tool will give you an edge in determining what’s hot and who’s talking about your industry, your competitors, and you. You can select which type of item (News, Web, Blogs, Video, Groups, or All) to monitor for specific keywords. You can choose whether to have this information delivered to your inbox as it happens, once a week, or once a day. It takes about 20 seconds to set one up, so, get started right now. What are you waiting for? Go ahead, set one up, you can always remove it later.
Be sure to check out all of Google’s Tools as they are constantly adding new ones. The tools above are powerful and effective, but they are only a sample of what’s available through Google.
These are excellent tools for putting together an SEO campaign. As an SEO professional, I use them myself. In fact, I found this blog post through my Google Alerts.
One quick recommendation for using the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. One of the most important issues you face is finding keywords that are less competitive so you aren’t going up against companies with huge marketing budgets who can simply blow you out of the water through their ad spends.
Here’s how you find less competitive keyword phrases to use that will still get you a good amount of traffic. When you see the listing page of your keyword phrases, click twice on the Advertiser Competition button. It will then change the listing to give you the least competitive keywords to the most competitive.
Look for keyword phrases where the blue bar is half or less and the Local Search Volume is between 2,000 and 10,000. You should have much better luck competing for these keywords through SEO or Adwords than the high traffic, highly competitive words.
Bob McClain
Cheap SEO & Website Marketing