With millions of websites on the Internet, it’s not always easy to find the best small business marketing tools and resources. But online marketing expert Andrew Lock knows a great Web tool when he sees one, and he’s got three to share with you right here and right now. Check ’em out, and while you’re at it, take a look at his the full collection of marketing articles and resources.
eHow
I love websites that actually teach me something, and eHow.com is great site for picking up information on just about any subject. This site lists more than 150,000 how-to videos that people have made and posted here just to teach you how to do something.
The home page offers more than 20 categories for you to look up topics that you’re interested in. Here’s a random sample of some videos on the site: How to determine the sex of a turtle; how to practice racquetball drills; yo-yo tricks; how to get a higher appraisal on your house; how to throw a jab into a punching bag.
Every video on the site is free. You watch a little mandatory commercial that comes up — it’s very short, though, not a big deal. And then you get to watch your video.
Now, I’m quite a guitar nut so I went to the music category and searched for “pentatonic” — that’s a type of scale that many people use in music. I found a video on the guitar and how to play the B Minor pentatonic lead. That’s pretty cool, and it’s all free. So go to the eHow.com, have a look around, have a good time, and learn something.
Logaholic
If you do any kind of marketing on the Internet, you know how important it is to be able to look at the statistics for your website. Now, anybody will give you the number of hits you have, the number of people who visit your website. But take a look at Logoholic – these folks have some really special tools.
Logoholic gives you some really meaningful statistics about what’s happening on your website. Not only does it give you the number of visitors you have, it differentiates between those people that are visiting, those people that are buying, and even the search engine Web crawlers that come through. Search engines check your website all the time, and that looks like traffic when it really isn’t.
Let’s see what these things cost. If you want only one site, it’s a one-time fee of $67– very reasonable. Five sites costs $167. And if you’d just like unlimited licenses for any sites that you have, it’s $247.
I strongly recommend that you go to the site and take a look at the demo video — it gives all the graphics, tells you all about how you can get started. It does a wonderful job of explaining the whole program.
So, take a look at Logiholic. It’s a wonderful tool if you really want to know what’s going on at your website.
SXC.hu
This website that has more than 350,000 high-quality stock photos, and you can use on your website for free. It’s called SXC.hu — which stands for Stock Exchange. You can search directly or browse a category.
When you find something suitable, simply click on the download button and the image is yours. Very nifty. I hope you like that one.
You’ll find lots more small business marketing tips and resources from Andrew Lock in our Small Business In-Depth series, Lock in Your Marketing Resources.
Andrew Lock is a self-described maverick marketer and the creator and host of Help! My Business Sucks, a free, weekly Web TV show full of practical marketing tips, advice and resources to help small businesses “get more done and have more fun.”
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