Everything listed is free unless otherwise specified. If you find an app, tool or website that you cannot live without share it with us.

Image, video and audio sourcing

• Pexels – Free commercial images
• Pixabay – Free commercial images, illustrations and video
• Flickr – Free images, commercially available, check the license!
• Envato Elements – Photos, graphics, video and audio assets for under £12 a month
• Giphy – Animated graphic images, may not be able to use commercially
• Inventive People – Photos sourcing for a website or social post (£20 for three images)
• YouTube Thumbnail Grabber – Paste in a YouTube link, get the video thumbnail images!

Graphic and image creation and processing

• Pixlr X – Online image editor
• Canva.com – Online image editor and layout. Great for making social graphics
• Pixelmator – Very useful and fast image editor, macOS only
• Imageoptim – Image compressor, macOS only
• Imagify – Online image compressor and WordPress plugin
• Retrobatch – £49, multi-image processor
• Digital Colour Meter – Handy colour picker, macOS only

Document editing

• PDF Candy – Online PDF metadata editor, compression and a number of PDF tools
• ExSqueeze it – Drag and drop desktop PDF compression tool, macOS only (£3 apx)
• tableconvert.com – Website to convert tabular data or an uploaded CSV to HTML, JSON or other text formats
• typosaur.us – Website spelling checker

Video creation

• Promo.com (£39/mo)
• Any Video Converter – Youtube video downloader
• Simon Says – Video transcription 10p/min
• Shotcut – Video editing software, macOS/Windows
• Inventive People – Video production and editing resources (from £50)
• Be.Live – Live video streaming to Facebook, YouTube and Twitter (free and paid plans)
• Loom – Send video in your emails. I use this to send video alongside my proposals (free and paid plans)

Copywriting

• Answer The Public – What help topics people are searching for
• Content ideas – Get ideas for article from  Search Console data
• Hubspot blog topic generator
• Grammarly – Spelling and grammars checking. Paid version 
• Typosaur – Website spelling checker
• Inventive People – Proofreading and copywriting (from £35)
• Fakexy – Fake UK addresses, useful for wire framing content

Marketing support

• Ticked off – Marketing resources, advice and guidelines in a simple, step by step process.
• Inventive People – Workshops and support calls (from £50)
• Mail-tester.com – Email and newsletter deliverability tester

Tracking

• QR Code Generator – Create QR code. Make sure to select Static option to prevent too many redirects
• Google Analytics Campaign URL Builder – Add more details campaign tracking to the website links you share on social media or banner advertising
• Google Analytics – Extensive website tracking

Business listings and reviews

• Google My Business (GMB) – Free business profile is usually shown at the top of a local search result
• SayHola – A simple way to collect and manage customer reviews
• Inventive People – Local SEO optimisation (£349)

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) keyword research

• Text Optimizer – Find additional related words to add to your content
• Textrazer – Check how ‘on topic’ your web content is. Use the demo to copy on your own text
• Google Trends – Simple keyword volume and trend tool
• Soovle – Keyword research tool with relevant keywords from Google, Yahoo, Bing, Youtube, Wikipedia, Amazon, and Answers.com. Just place the keyword you wish to check on the search bar and it will show the results of relevant keywords.
• Ubersuggest – This keyword suggestion tool helps you get a lot of keyword ideas which covers your keyword + terms from A to Z
• Word tracker – Display a list of 100 keywords. You may need to create an account though.
• Google Keyword Planner – Extensive keyword volume and trend tool. You may need a Google Ad account
• Inventive People – Optimisation reports, keyword analysis support calls (from £35)

Hacking prevention and cure

• Sucuri Security – WP plugin for auditing and security hardening
• Sucuri – External website malware scanner
• VirusTotal – Scans malware directors to see if URL has been flagged
• Rescan – Extensive malware scanner
• Fetch as user agent – Testing if Google sees different content
• Site Guarding – WP Plugin, internal scanner
• Inventive People – Fix a hacked WordPress website service (from £380)

Hosting

• Uptime Robot – Uptime tracking for up to 15 sites for free
• MX Toolbox – Domain and MX tests

Ecommerce

• World Postal code – Postcode lists for each country and county. Handy to create custom shipping zones

Are you fed up wading through Analytics to find the most popular pages on your site or Search Console to see your ranking in Google?

Ben share’s his method for consolidating your data into one place to enable you to easily track progress and follow how successfully your marketing goals are going.

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During this week’s webinar we will be joined by Claire Walmsley-Moss who will help us find ways to make our business marketing more environmentally friendly and sustainable. No ‘greenwashing’ here!

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We are joined by WordPress Security Expert, Tim Nash, who will talk through a recent security and performance audit on our website sharing advice on how we can protect and speed up WordPress.

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Ben and Clare dive into our grab bag of questions we have received from clients and club members.

It’s your chance to put us in the hot seat and get your own marketing questions answered. If you would like to submit your own questions please contact Clare at [email protected].

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Ben guides us through a checklist he uses on our client sites to make sure they are fast, secure and ready for action.

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PR marketing is a great way to increase brand visibility, website traffic and is also a key element for SEO. In this webinar Heidi Chamberlain-Jones shares her method on how to perfect your PR marketing strategy including how to build relationships with key journalists.

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We are joined by Bespoke By Laura and Poppins Tutoring to see how they are getting on with the improvements we gave them last month. Together we will run through an SEO Review of their website and offer tips and advice on how they can optimise their pages and get more traffic to their website.

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Catherine Every shares her step-by-step process on how to write good web copy. Her presentation touches on how to decide on the structure of your website, how to research keywords and guidance on how to write great copy for your website.

We like working with Catherine on web projects as she understands how good copy can engage a reader and stimulate them into action.

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Ben shares his method for developing a blog and content strategy which will help get your business found online.

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We take a dive into Pinterest with Jonathan Pollinger and discuss how it could make a huge difference to your business particularly if you have a very visual product.

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We invited SEO Expert, Chris Richard to review our new RI website! We don’t know exactly what ideas Chris will come up with but he always has insightful advice to improve our search ranking through his proven methods.

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This webinar is ideal for those who are looking to tighten up page titles, tweak meta descriptions and trim the sitemap. It also fits neatly between our other webinars #6 SEO Strategy and #17 Google Search Console (GSC) walkthrough.

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We have invited social media trainer, Jonathan Pollinger to introduce us to TikTok and share how it can build awareness of your business, help you to attract more customers, as well as boost sales and profits.

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During this session we will look at a selection of different landing pages and check to see whether they are giving the right message, are user friendly and share some advice on how to improve them.

It’s important to take that step back and see your homepage through your customers eyes to make sure it is working in a way you intended.

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Ben revisits LinkedIn Essentials to discuss some of the key ways people use it to get new business. This is an updated version of the 2019 presentation ‘Get more out of LinkedIn’.

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In The Register last month. Via ~this week in security~

The regulator ordered an unnamed website manager to strip Google Analytics out of their site, giving him a month to comply. It added: “Concerning the audience measurement and analysis services of a website, the CNIL recommends that these tools be used only to produce anonymous statistical data, thus allowing an exemption from consent if the data controller ensures that there are no illegal transfers.”

I see the beginning of a crack down

In this episode we are joined by IMC Club Member Dave Hargest from Selmach Machinery. During this episode he shares how he used 360 Matterport to create his own 3D Virtual Tour to showcase the companies showroom and boost audience engagement.

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Ben and Clare revisit the importance on gathering Five Star Reviews and discuss the best ways to get feedback for your business.

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From The Guardian via Jonathan Pollinger

This month the advertising regulator named six social media celebrities, including Jodie Marsh and five former Love Island contestants, for repeatedly failing to tell followers when they were paid to promote products in posts.

Oops

“The market has blossomed, the influencer marketing market has doubled in two years and it’s very, very effective,” Lusty told MPs. “It’s much more powerful than traditional advertising techniques and it’s particularly powerful with younger people in persuading them to buy things.”

Recommendations from influencers (be they family, friends or online celebs) are incredibly powerful. It’s why referrals are often the top marketing source and the easiest prospects to sell to.

In this episode we take stock of our marketing, discussing the importance of evaluating the year before and why you should set goals for the year ahead.

Ben is joined by Club Member Nicky Ayers from Ecl-ips as they both dive into their marketing strategies and share what went well, what is still a work in progress, what goals we’re working towards and how we’re going to tackle them.

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Watch Amber Atherton share why it is important to find people who don’t mirror your strengths but supplement your weaknesses.

Amber Atherton, boss of tech firm Zyper (recently bought by Discord), says you need staff who are good at things you might not be.

BBC News

Don’t be afraid to find people who have a different set of strengths from you.

Ben is joined by Tom Balmont and Sirco to discuss why video is important in video marketing.

Ecommerce, just like marketing, requires long-term investment to yield the best long-term results.

Promotion is the gasoline. The accelerant of not only sales, but brand essence. Yet, if you can’t control the experience, then a drop in price can lead to a drop of future brand value. It might even be better to hold back instead of leaping forward with the first discount that comes to hand.

Mediatel News

Think about the three Cs of Culture, Community and Commerce as you navigate your marketing funnel.

Subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts or Android.

Ben shares the best way to find the keywords that people use to find services like yours online and how to optimise them.

👋 If you found this podcast interesting you might like my Marketing Club. Join to receive regular tips and advice on marketing, video and the web and Pro Members get access to my live marketing webinars every month, exclusive discounts and other perks. Find out more here ratherinventive.com/club/

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