If you're a dental office manager, you might find yourself taking on challenging marketing tasks. Don't be intimidated. You can do it! I founded Delmain, a full-service digital marketing agency in 2009. Since then, I've helped dentists around the country get new patients and grow their practices.
Over the years, I've compiled a list of simple (and FREE) tools anyone can use to improve their digital marketing strategies and tactics. Check it out and if you think I missed something, leave a comment below!
Google Analytics
If you have a website and you’re not using Google Analytics, stop reading right now and come back when you’re finished installing it. It’s that valuable (and getting it set up is free and will take about 5-10 minutes, tops). Google Analytics shows you how visitors interact with your website, the actions they take, the keywords leading them to your site, and much much more. It’s the gold standard in web analytics for a reason.
Why You Need It: Insights into website traffic, sources, conversions, user behavior, and much more.
Premium Version: No!
Website: https://analytics.google.com/
Trello
Looking for a free alternative to high-priced, confusing, and frustrating project management systems? Trello’s intuitive list and card-based project management system is infinitely flexible and customizable. Tasks or projects can include images, Google Docs, to-do lists, comments, discussions, and much more. Don’t overthink it, just use it!
Why You Need It: Flexible project and task management
Premium Version: Yes to unlock extra features.
Website: http://trello.com/
Answer the Public
It’s easy to take a deep dive into keyword research and end up more confused than when you started. That’s what makes Answer the Public so useful! In just seconds you can enter a keyword and visualize the variations and related keywords that are being searched on Google.
Why You Need It: Generate keyword ideas based on what people actually search for on Google
Premium Version: No!
Website: http://answerthepublic.com/
Grammarly
Grammarly is like spell-check on steroids. Instead of just finding misspelled words, Grammarly can help you find (and fix) misplaced punctuation and grammar. Available as a free extension for multiple browsers.
Why You Need It: Find and eliminate spelling and grammar errors in all of your writing
Premium Version: Yes to get more features.
Website: http://grammarly.com
Hemingway App
Long sentences, overuse of passive voice, and complex phrases make your writing hard to follow and challenging to read. Luckily, you don’t even have to know what all that means! Just run any piece of text through Hemingway App and use the easy-to-understand highlights as a guide to improve your writing style.
Why You Need It: Write clearly and concisely.
Premium Version: A downloadable, offline desktop app is $19.99
Website: http://hemingwayapp.com
Moz Title Tag Tool
You are writing unique, keyword-optimized meta titles for all of your website pages, right? Go a step further by using the Moz Title Tag Tool to preview your title tags. Contrary to popular belief, Google doesn’t enforce a hard character limit on title tags, instead displaying only a set number of pixels. Visualizing your title tags with this tool will help you be sure your titles won’t get cut off!
Why You Need It: Optimize your SEO efforts by previewing how Google will display your titles
Premium Version: Moz offers many paid services, but their free tools are enough for most businesses!
Website: https://moz.com/learn/seo/title-tag
Canva
Not an artist or graphic designer? With Canva, it’s no problem! Use pre-built templates (or make your own) and an intuitive drag-and-drop interface to create awesome, professional Facebook graphics, printable flyers, and much more.
Why You Need It: Create beautiful, compelling images and graphics– no design experience (or talent) needed.