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5 Free Online Marketing Tools Every Business Can Use

January 11th, 2012

We all love discounts. Sunday newspaper circulation would probably drop off by half if it weren’t for all the coupon flyers they stuff into it. However, free is even better.

Here are five great free online marketing tools virtually every business can use. If you aren’t taking advantage of these, you’re missing out.

1. Google Analytics
There has always been a tremendous demand for statistical analysis in the business world and it’s essential for online marketing. Google Analytics gives you the power to understand your website and your website visitors. All you need to do is sign up for a free account, paste some code into your pages and start looking for trends.

With Google Analytics you can:

See how people find your site
Discover how visitors navigate through your site
Analyze keywords using various filters, geographic areas for example
Generate reports automatically and distribute them by email
Uncover trends
See now landing pages are performing
Find where visitors drop out of your site

Google Analytics does even more than what we’ve listed here. There are excellent tutorials all along the way that will help you fine tune your SEO and your site’s efficiency. If you need help, you can always get an analytics consultant to provide added expertise.

2. Google Adwords Keyword Tool

Once you’ve decided to take advantage of the free tools available at Google, sign up for an Adwords account. If you decide to bid on some keywords in the Adwords program, your Google Analytics account becomes still more useful.

However, even if you never mount an Adwords campaign, the free Keyword Tool will prove very helpful for your SEO program. With this tool you simply enter the keywords you have identified for your website and it with generate a long list of related keywords and keyword phrases. Sometimes it’s easy for website owners to overlook great keywords and phrases.

You’ll also see how much Adwords competition there is for each suggested keyword or phrase and how many monthly searches there are both universally and locally. With this knowledge in hand you can take a fresh look at your site for SEO opportunities.

3. Open Site Explorer
It’s difficult to overstate the importance of links to your SEO. Search engines use links to rate a site’s popularity and authority. Open Site Explorer will show you exactly who is linking to your site. And, I should also mention that Open Site Explorer will also tell you who is linking to your competitors.

You use the information Open Site Explorer provides to:

See who is linking to your site and strengthen those relationships
Find broken links
Discover links to old pages
Compare your web presence to your competition

4. Facebook Pages for Business
You already have a personal Facebook profile, right? If you do, establishing a page for your business is simple. Once you have your Facebook business page up and running, it’s an excellent location to post your basic business information. You can also incorporate your logo and business graphics into your page.

Whenever you change something on your page, or you get new fans, or your fans post something, those activities will be sent out via the Facebook news feed. Each of those little news items is essentially a mini-press release that gets delivered to your target audience. You can also link your Facebook page to your Twitter feed and double your exposure.

5. WordPress.org Blogging Platform
This is free software that can be easily installed on your website. Although it was originally designed for blogging, a plethora of plugins, widgets and themes make WordPress an excellent full website content management system.

One of the basic features that gives WordPress an advantage over other blogging software is that it allows for static pages. These are essential for a complete Internet presence.

Upgrades and installation are simple. You can switch themes with a click or two. There is excellent built-in spam protection as well as control over comments.

Cruise over to the WordPress.org site to see examples of what users have accomplished with this platform.

Now is the Time To Start

It’s easy to see that a savvy businessperson can use these tools to great advantage. All of these sites have excellent video tutorials and help pages.

Dive in and start getting an edge on your competitors.

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4 of the Best Art Museums in Florida

January 11th, 2012

You don’t have to be in New York or Paris to experience the culturally-rich adventure of visiting an art museum! No matter which area in the Sunshine State you’re visiting, it is possible to see some exquisite art during your Florida vacation. In fact, Florida is home to several popular art museums, four of which are described below.

Museum of Florida Art: DeLand
The Museum of Florida Art is the only museum in the state dedicated to exhibition of Florida art and Florida artists. It has grown extensively since its inception in 1951 and is currently located across from Stetson University in historic DeLand, which is noted for its architecture. The museum attracts visitors from across the state and offers an impressive class and workshop schedule, offering classes and programs for children and adults.

Salvador Dali Museum: St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg’s 20,000 square-foot Dali museum is home to the world’s largest collection of Salvador Dali’s work outside of Europe. Seven of the painter’s 18 “masterworks” including The Hallucinogenic Toreador and The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus are on display. The museum first opened in 1982 but opened a new state-of-the art location on 01/01/11 at 11:11 AM. In addition to displaying Dali’s work, it is the museum’s mission to educate the public and promote understanding and enjoyment of art through classes, tours, and other special programs.

Ringling Museum of Art: Sarasota
The John and Mabel Ringling Museum of Art was built by John Ringling, the most well-known of the Ringling Brothers of circus fame, as a place to house his personal art collection in the 1920s. It is now the state art museum of Florida. The Ringling Museum is home to 21 art galleries comprised of European paintings, Asian, American and contemporary art, and more—more than 10,000 art objects in all! It’s entirely possible to spend several hours visiting the Ringling estate, which also contains the Ca’ d’Zan, Mable and John Ringling’s waterfront mansion; an impressive rose garden; and the Ringling Museum of the American Circus. The museum and its art collection continue to grow—you never know what you might see! (Find more great things to do in Sarasota.)

Miami Art Museum: Downtown Miami
The Miami Art Museum offers a vibrant mix of culturally diverse art. The museum is dedicated to contemporary art and receives an impressive 60,000-plus visitors each year. A new location overlooking Biscayne Bay is in the works and tentatively slated to open in 2013. The Miami Art Museum prides itself on collecting and displaying work by artists residing in South Florida, and a variety of exhibitions visit the museum each year.

Have Fun at Florida Art Museums
Seeing art in person for the first time can be a truly unforgettable experience. Go ahead and explore Florida’s art museums. There’s a lot to learn and discover, and you’ll definitely have some fun along the way.

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