Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is synonymous with digital marketing these days. If you or your marketing team are not employing it, then you are definitely in the Stone Age. That said, there is such a huge variety of different tools out there that figuring out which one to use can be nearly impossible.
Fortunately for you, we have made the list of the essential content tools for 2017 that you have to start using! The best part is that most of these are free. You might not need to use all of them, but a good combination of them will definitely make a huge difference in your company’s online presence.
Get Better Organization: Trello
Trello is particularly important if you do all of your content marketing in-house instead of outsourcing it to digital marketing firms. It is also helpful if you employ freelancers. Essentially, it is a web-based platform that allows you to keep track of who is working on different projects—for that reason, it is great for many office tasks as well.
Each person is assigned a task and then they upload the files they are working on and associated media from their computer the files they are working on either from their computer or importing it from Google Drive or Dropbox. It is great for getting all the materials for an assignment in one place, collaborating on tasks, keeping track of progress as well as giving feedback making organization a breeze from start to finish.
Make Your Headlines Pop: Portent’s Content Idea Generator
Having your headlines stand out is one of the keys to boosting your page rankings and getting people to want to read what you have on your website or social media. Portent’s is a free tool that checks your headlines to see how good they are. It provides some basic suggestions such as not capitalizing your keywords and use fresh language.
After you put in your subject, then it suggests a title based on it. The best strategy is for you to just put in the title you are thinking of. You might need to tweak it to make it fit perfectly, but it is a great way to get the hang of making great titles. Also, unlike other headline helper tools, it is pretty funny and quirky which you will appreciate after revising the same headline twenty or thirty times.
Better Research and Analytics: Ahrefs
Although you can start with a free trial version of Ahrefs, if you are going to pay for one service, this should be it. Consistently ranked as one of the top content marketing tools, Ahrefs is essential for research and information. It is a great way to see what works and what doesn’t.
You can search any content and it will give you the most popular pages on whatever you look up. This method is particularly good for looking into your competitor’s to see what they are doing and get a sense of why it is working (or not). The other powerful tool they have is it backlink research feature which allows you see the SEO metrics for any website in the world. This will help you figure out what hyperlinks you should use on your pages that are both relevant and popular.
Get More Organic Traffic: Quuu Promote
Organic traffic is a fairly frequently heard term when discussing SEO. Essentially, there are two kinds of ways for a website to generate traffic. The first is artificial which is paying a company which can use programs, bots or other tools to artificially boost your numbers. This helps your page ranking go up which will increase your company’s visibility.
The problem with this is that Google and other website’s analytics are getting smarter and can tell the difference between real and fake traffic. Quuu Promote works by increasing working through influencers. Influencers are people with large social media followings like YouTube celebrities. Then they make real comments or mention you in their posts.
This will drive more actual people to your website instead of bots or something similar. As a result, not only do you increase your web traffic, but also more real people are looking at your social media or website to see what your product or service is and they may choose to use it.
Keywords, Keywords, Keywords: Seed Keywords
You should speak keywords better than a second language.
Content marketing is based on several different factors, but keywords are probably the most important thing. When people are searching for something on the Internet, they generally just plug in a few words on the topic they are looking for such as “best shoes under $20.” When you are generating content then you want to make sure you pages mention these words at least a few times—be sure not overdo it though, keyword density should average about 2%.
Sometimes it can be hard figuring out the right keywords. The idea is that you have a few select words, generally 2-3 that are the main idea of your article. This is where Seed Keywords is very helpful. It can help you choose what the best keywords would be for a given subject. Not only that, it is a free tool so it is a great thing to use before you start building any content.
Meta Title, Meta Description and Other Details: MOZ
A popping title certainly will drive traffic to your website. But people rarely search for “fresh and thrilling scuba dives in Canada.” They likely just will search “scuba dive in Canada.” This is why a realistic meta title is important because it uses keywords to be more similar to what people really search. After you generate your keywords, then head over to MOZ.
MOZ can help you with anything else you might need to tweak. It can help you with your meta titles, meta descriptions, alternate text images and the other little details. They offer a paid service, but mostly you can just use its free blog to figure out any remaining details you might need.
Content Marketing: Part Science, Part Art
Figuring out SEO can be a little tricky. Fortunately, they are plenty of great options out there that you can use. It is really one of those things that once you get the hang of it, you will be able to always generate great content that will promote your business. So if you are ready to see your company’s online presence grow, then start using these fantastic tools today!
