crowdSPRING is a small business – our team totals nine people (and a really cute chocolate lab puppy named Lucy). As a small business, we leverage online tools to help us run our business efficiently and inexpensively. We are selective – we do our homework and always compare competitive products within any category. Before we make any decision, we typically look at the top two or three finalists and thoroughly evaluate them before deciding what to use.
Entrepreneurs and other small businesses often ask us about the online tools we use, and we’re happy to share. We only recommend the tools we personally use and like. Here are our top 10:
1. Google Website Optimizer
What it is: Website Optimizer is a free tool that helps you test and increase your site’s conversion rates. You can test variations of text, images, and other content. It’s easy to use and provides a very compelling way to test and increase conversions.
Why we use it: We’ve used the Website Optimizer for numerous tests on our site, including the home page, our “how it works page”, and on other pages to test specific elements. If you wonder whether the effort is worth it – it absolutely is.
How we use it: We develop content for a specific page and run tests to see which content leads to higher conversions. For example, we’re currently testing three variations of our “How It Works” page. For a more detailed look at how we use Website Optimizer, you should read my post – “Increasing Conversions Using Google Website Optimizer“.
2. Google Analytics
What it is: Google Analytics is a free tool from Google that provides detailed and very useful information about your website traffic and the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.
Why we use it: There are numerous paid analytics tools available – and many are quite good. Google Analytics is free and offers more than enough features that most businesses need. Google has continued to innovate in this area and has recently added new features, including advanced segmentation (allowing you to analyze subsets of your traffic) and custom reports.
How we use it: We monitor traffic to every page on our site. We also monitor every marketing campaign that we run to evaluate whether the expenses (both time and effort) are justified. We’ll also occasionally compare our data to those of our competitors. If you’re interested, I recently wrote “10 Tips For Evaluating Your Competitors” – a useful guide that lists additional resources that could supplement your analytics data.
