Imagine approaching your SEO consultant and asking him or her if they have the right tools for the job. Mentioning the following five tools will make your online marketer realize that you know your stuff, and that they need to step up their game if they want to retain you as a client/employer.

 

  1. MOZ

Any online marketer or SEO consultant who doesn’t recognize MOZ tools as an essential is probably new to the industry, or simply unqualified to be in it.

 

The range of tools within MOZ’s arsenal will help your consultant perform the following, SEO related tasks. All of these tasks are essential in understanding where they will need to concentrate on your online presence:

  • How many keywords you have and need on your website, blogs, and external content
  • How many backlinks Google is directing to your site
  • How well you are ranking and what ranking-related elements you should improve on
  • Which landing pages are being visited the most and the average length users spend viewing each page

 

MOZ tries to develop tools that highlight deficiencies in your online marketing strategy. Once you know what’s wrong, fixing it is just a matter of skill and intuitive thinking.

 

  1. Unbounce

A grossly under-utilized online marketing tool is the implementation of landing pages for AdWords campaigns.

 

Unbounce is so named because their clever landing page strategies teach you how to make sure users don’t land on your page and then bounce off again. Users should instead be compelled to stay on the page and execute the desired call to action you intend.

 

These great landing pages can be created and linked to your AdWords campaign. They are then tweaked according to user stats so that you can make real time improvements on a weekly basis.

 

  1. Buffer

Unless your online marketing consultant only has one client, Buffer is a must-have tool to manage multiple social media accounts.

 

Buffer allows you to schedule your social media posts during the course of the day a few days ahead of time. It gives you valuable insights into which times of the day your posts are more likely to be seen. You are also able to manage multiple social media platforms from one place, making this a convenient tool for those with lots of clients.

 

  1. Mailchimp

Is your online marketer still using outdated mailing systems? Mass email marketing can’t be done professionally unless online tools like Mailchimp are involved.

 

The cheapest and most effective way to organize your mass mailing is by utilizing Mailchimp. This system works hand in hand with Unbounce in that you can create a compelling newsletter (like a landing page) and then use Mailchimp to collect and distribute to your clients’ emails.

 

  1. Multiple keyword tools

One of the most important questions to ask your SEO consultant is: “Which keyword tools do you use?” Their answer should include at least four of the many free keyword tools out there, but at least one should be a paid-for tool—as these are more effective in putting out results.

 

Ask your consultant to show you how these tools work, what they do, and why he or she has chosen them over others. Get insight into how your online reputation is going to be managed. Ask them about their skills and how they will be implementing those skills to your benefit.