The Internet is undoubtedly one of the most effective channels for a business to succeed. However, every business is competing for attention whether it is that top spot on Google or attracting new fans on Facebook. Lack of time and resources, as well as limited marketing budgets can all be a hindrance to the overall success of your business online.

However, with the right tools and resources, you can overcome these challenges and be on your way to fulfilling your full potential. There are several tools, both free and paid, that can help your business to grow and achieve new heights. Given below are 5 must have tools that every small business should use.

1. IFTTT.com

A good social media marketing strategy is essential for the success of any business online. However, building your social media presence is time consuming. A business needs to share quality information relevant to their audience several times a week in order to build following. Some of these tasks can be automated.  This is where IFTTT can help. IFTTT is a web service platform that connects various web services together to automate common tasks on the web. You can use it to connect websites and blogs with several social channels and web services and configure custom triggers and actions.

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2. Google Analytics

The ability to track important website metrics is important for any business to succeed online. Google Analytics is the most widely used tool for monitoring website statistics and traffic. It allows a business to track growth, measure the effectiveness of the methods used to promote the website and helps identify areas of improvement.

It offers in-depth analysis of visitors to your website together with a detailed breakdown of user demographics. It also provides an insight into traffic sources and keywords that are driving traffic to your website.  Successful online businesses constantly monitor website statistics and use the results to continuously refine their strategy.

3. Klout

Klout is the global standard for measuring online influence. It is a free tool to discover and compare influence with others. It measures your influence based on your ability to drive action on social networks.

With the rise of social media, it has become essential for a business to measure and track online influence. Klout awards a score on a scale of 1 to 100 by aggregating data and monitoring activity on several channels including Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus. Additionally, Klout also helps to identify the most influential users in your niche, along with other useful stats surrounding your influence.

4. Google Webmaster Tools

Google Webmaster Tools is a must use tool if you want to get good results from your SEO efforts. It helps diagnose problems that affect your search engine rank in addition to providing a collection of tools and metrics related to SEO.

Following are some advantages of using Google Webmaster Tools:

• In-depth reporting on incoming links to your website
• Lets you submit your sitemap for your website to improve indexing
• You can set geographical targeting for your website
• Check Google Plus metrics for your content
• Test website speed
• Check for malware
• Check crawl issues

5.  Fiverr.com

Every business needs to outsource tasks at some point or another. Outsourcing an entire service whether it is web development, SEO or social media marketing, can prove very expensive and a big concern for many small businesses.  This is where Fiverr can prove useful. It has become a popular place for outsourcing tasks without the need to pay monthly salaries.

Fiverr offers a unique way to outsource small tasks in an efficient and affordable manner.  It allows a business to hire people to do little things for as little as $5. You can advertise a wide range of tasks from article marketing, link building, creating videos or creating a logo for your business, all for $5.

What About You?

What tools does your business use to improve online performance? Are you taking advantage of the tools above? We would like to hear from you. Please add your response by leaving a comment below.