Here is a list of digital marketing tools including several which are free. Updated September 2023.
Animated GIF maker
Ezgif.com – is an easy to use website where you can upload GIF/JPG/PNG/APNG/WebP files and convert them into an animated GIF.
Appointment scheduling
Calendly – Take the toing and froing out of client appointment making.
Audio recording
Audacity – Free, downloadable voice recording and editing software. Great for podcasters.
Garageband – Mac podcast production tool as a free alternative to Audacity.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software
Capsule – Free for up to 250 contacts, then inexpensive to run. Integrates both ways with MailChimp.
HubSpot (free edition) Well known CRM with many features.
DNS propagation checker
whatsmydns.net allows you to carry out a DNS lookup to check a domain name’s current IP address and DNS record information against multiple name servers located across the world. This means that you can verify the current state of DNS propagation, after you have made changes to your domain’s records.
Email marketing
MailChimp – Comprehensive email marketing platform. Free for the first 2,000 subscribers.
Test email Subject line – Handy online tool for seeing what the email subject line + Sender name + Preheader text will look like.
Emojis
Get Emoji – Emojis can be used in email subject lines and social media, amongst other places.
Forms (website)
Wufoo – Website form creation platform. Works with MailChimp.
Grammar checker
Grammarly – The free writing assistant. AI-powered Chrome browser extension that checks grammar, spelling and punctuation in Gmail, Outlook, Google Docs, LinkedIn, Facebook etc.
Image file compression
TinyPNG – Compresses PNG and JPEG images which help to improve website loading speed, newsletter performance etc.
Landing pages
Unbounce – Landing pages, popups and sticky bars.
Language translation
Deepl.com – AI-powered translation service.
Google Translate – Google-powered translation service.
Podcasting
Anchor.fm – Free podcasting distribution service.
Libsyn – For podcast distribution.
Sales leads
Leadfeeder – Leadfeeder tells you which specific enterprises have visited your website, how to contact them and what content on your website they’re looking at. Leadfeeder integrates with many CRMs and communication tools such as MailChimp.
Search Engine Optimisation
ahrefs – Long list of professional tools to grow search traffic. Learn about your competitors and more.
Google Ads includes the Google Keyword Planner: get keyword suggestions directly from Google.
Rankitor – SERP rank monitor. Easy to understand.
Yoast – WordPress SEO plugin used by 10 million+ websites. The free version is good the paid version is better.
Social media
Crowdfire – Socal media management platform. A good place to start.
Buffer – Social media management software. The free version allows you to upload 10 posts. I use this for my Twitter account. 10 posts = 2.5 days. So you could use Buffer first thing on Monday morning and during Wednesday lunchtime in order to Tweet four times a day during the business week.
Hootsuite – long established social media management platform.
Sprout Social – Social media management and engagement, customer care, advocacy and analytics.
Surveys
Mailchimp Surveys – Create surveys that you can share on the internet or use within a Mailchimp campaign.
Smart Survey – At the time of writing, there is a free option.
SurveyMonkey – Comprehensive online survey platform (no longer free).
Transcription
Thirsten – audio to text transciption. Makes voice text searchable.
URL shortening service
Bit.ly – Easy to use and provides basic stats.
Video conference + webinars
Zoom – Start for free and host up to 100 people. Tons of features.
Video creation
FlexClip – Easily create and edit videos for the brand, marketing, social media, family, and any other purpose.
Invideo – innovative video creation platform
Loom enables you to quickly create online videos.
Video hosting
Vimeo – Professional-grade video hosting platform.
YouTube – One of the benefits of hosting your videos within YouTube (which is owned by Google) is that you will improve your chances of being found. It is the world’s 2nd most used website, according to Alexa (the 1st is Google.com).
Website broken links
Brokenlinkcheck – see which of your website links are not working and keep Google happy.
Broken Link Checker – Dr. Link Check (drlinkcheck.com)
Website CMS
WordPress – Free to use website CMS (Content Management System) used by a third of the world’s websites.
Website loading speed test
Pingdom – Find out how long your website takes to load, from various places around the world.
Google Chrome – has the Lighthouse reporting system built in so you can test your website for speed, accessibility, best practices and SEO.
In Chrome, go to the URL you want to audit. Open Chrome DevTools by right clicking on the screen and choose Inspect Element. Click the Lighthouse tab. Click Analyze page load. Click Run audit.
Website stats
Google Analytics – Website analytics service provided by Google. Shows website visitor metrics and other stats in detail.
Jetpack WordPress plugin – Jetpack includes website analytics.
Which digital marketing tools have I missed? Please reply below and let me know!
Nigel Temple is a Digital marketing consultant and trainer.
Hi Nigel,
This is a very useful list, have you considered the following services which could be added as well?
Email marketing – campaignmonitor.com
Appointment scheduling – calendly.com
Social media – hootsuite.com
Website broken links – drlinkcheck.com
By the way, for the sake of completeness, Google recently renamed Google Adwords to just Google Ads 🙂
Just let me know if you have any questions about these services.
I’ve also put together a list of links across a wide range of categories, including collaborative tools for businesses, at https://usefullinks.co.uk if you get a chance to have a look.
Thanks,
Keith
Hi Keith, Thanks for this and I will update the list with some of your kind suggestions. All the best, Nigel PS What an interesting website you have!
Thanks Nigel 🙂 If you find any other interesting links which aren’t listed on my site yet, please let me know!