The best tools for online marketing [AUGUST 2021]

What are the best tools for online marketing? I help you choose them from the myriad of offerings available.

Okay, we know. 2020 was an uphill year, and 2021 will probably be no less. There is no denying that things have gotten complicated for many, many businesses out there, but it is also true that every crisis, after all, is an opportunity. In front of us are two paths: get caught up in despondency or try to reinvent ourselves, perhaps by launching or enhancing an online business.

I decided to write this guide on the Best online marketing tools of 2021 to give you some guidance on how to start your own digital business, but also to optimize existing ones. Are you ready to get started?

Kajabi, the king of all-in-one web marketing platforms

I have said this before, but I want to say it again: Kajabi is simply the Best web marketing tool that exists on the market. It is really difficult-if not impossible-to find a similar platform that allows you to manage a whole host of different features from the same dashboard and with the same ease.

I have been using Kajabi for several years now to manage both my business and those of my clients, and I wouldn't change it for the world. If you have recently started your online business, I suggest you start using it right away.

With Kajabi, in fact, you can build your site and put it online in a matter of hours, as well as automate your business thanks to the services the platform provides: e-mail marketing, membership and affiliation management, funnel and landing page design, and online course creation and sales.

You no longer have to go crazy between a thousand different platforms, because you will find all the tools you need in the same control panel. The only limitation at that point will be your ambition.

E-mail marketing

There is a big difference between clogging potential customers' e-mail inboxes with hundreds of useless newsletters and doing direct marketing properly. The boundary between nurturing e stalking is rather thin, so it becomes critical to find the right balance.

We want, yes, to engage users, but also, and more importantly, to allow them sufficient time to reflect and, if necessary, change their minds. 

I don't want to dwell too much on the most effective techniques for doing great e-mail marketing, since the purpose of this article is another. However, I do want to point out a couple of e-mail marketing platforms that could make your life easier when planning your strategy.

ConvertKit, ideal for content creators and bloggers

Created by a blogger for bloggers. This is the main advantage of ConvertKit, an e-mail marketing platform designed to manage your newsletter subscribers, segment them through special tags and send personalized and automated communications to each of them.

In fact, you will be able to set Automated response emails tied to specific actions, such as signing up for newsletters or updating personal information. In addition, you will be able to create customized paths for each group of users based on demonstrated interests or clicks made, increasing the effectiveness and open rate of your communications.

Klaviyo the ultimate in e-commerce

Another noteworthy e-mail marketing platform is undoubtedly Klaviyo, designed to integrate seamlessly with any e-commerce system, particularly Shopify.

The instrument is capable of Analyze the data provided by the e-commerce platform (purchase history, money spent, etc.) To segment users based on their purchasing behaviors.

It even manages to move subscribers from one list to another automatically as trends change, so you can always send communications in line with your target audience and have a lead generation strategy for businesses, worthy of the name.

Of course, there are many other e-mail marketing tools, but these are (again, along with Kajabi) the ones I feel like I would recommend because they integrate seamlessly with other tools and represent the best of modern digital technologies.

Videos and webinars

In 2020, abetted by the pandemic that caught the whole world unprepared, there was an explosion of online seminars, meetings and webinars.

The inability to have offline contacts has caused many businesses to decide to go the online route, resulting in a boom in memberships to the industry's most popular platforms and the need to equip themselves with online marketing tools to do streaming: let's see together what they are.

Vimeo streaming

If you're looking for a way to stream your content in HD, without ad breaks or hidden costs, Vimeo Streaming is the solution for you.

Each user who decides to register for the platform can stream their own content up to a maximum of 12 hours per event, with no limitation regarding the number of viewers. Take a look at the different plans available on the official Vimeo website.

WebinarJam and Everwebinar

Two sides of the same coin, namely that of streaming video content. WebinarJam e EverWebinar are two independent tools that were initially part of the same platform.

Today, however, they share tasks: the first is devoted to live broadcasts, while the second focuses on webcasts. You will then be the one who decides how to broadcast your content, and also whether to play it for free or sell it through Everwebinar's Pay-Per-View system.

Demio

We are talking about a platform that I would call agile, intuitive and very easy to use. Demio allows you to Go live on your social channels, create registration pages for your events (fully customizable), and to share screen, files, and miscellaneous content while streaming.

The video quality is HD, user comments are easily visible and simple to manage, links to access the webinar replay are sent in minutes and a completely automated manner. In my opinion, it is great, and it is the webinar platform I use in my web marketing strategies.

Social media marketing

The world of social media is constantly evolving and requires ever faster response times. Responding to inquiries and comments from potential customers within an acceptable time frame, posting content on a regular basis, and creating effective advertising campaigns is hard work, but fortunately there are some tools that can make your life easier.

AdEspresso

I think it is One of the best Facebook Ads tools available on the market. For your effective digital strategy, it is important to be able to collect all the information (KPIs) of your campaigns, as well as their endless variations, in the same dashboard, so that you can easily compare the results of each action.

The beauty of AdEspresso is that it allows you to do endless A/B testing on all possible and imaginable campaign variants in order to identify the perfect strategy for each audience niche, and with integration to Google Adwords, it ranks first among the platforms of search engine advertising.

PostPickr

Here is another all-in-one platform that is essential for any self-respecting social media manager. PostPickr is a software made in Italy that allows you to Monitor your social channels from the same control panel.

No longer will you have to untangle the thousands of Instagram and Facebook accounts you manage, because all you have to do is open the PostPickr home page to get an overview of what's happening on all your channels.

The program offers you the opportunity to Publish different content on as many accounts at the same time, and also to schedule posts in advance.

You can also analyze the results of each action through the tools PostPickr provides, and finally share account management with your team. Convenient, right?

Audio and podcasts

Among the many tools for online marketing, there can be no shortage of audio platforms. The year 2020 has not only been the year of streaming and webinars, but also of podcasts that have been popping up like mushrooms in every corner. If you too are thinking of launching one, check out these tools.

Podcast.co 

According to the platform's developers, 73 million people listen to thousands of podcasts available online each month. The audio format is perfect for engaging your users to the fullest, since it 80% of listeners stay tuned until the end of the episode.

But what are the advantages of Podcast.co? Can you broadcast endless podcasts with your account, publish and distribute them online with one click and even create landing pages to sponsor them.

You will also have some tools to analyze results and monetize your content, all for a few tens of dollars a month. If I had to recommend a podcast platform, I would choose Podcast.co without any hesitation.

Spreaker

Another noteworthy platform is Spreaker, which has much the same functions as Podcast.co but is slightly cheaper. There is a free plan, for example, that will give you a chance to test the software and see if the podcast format is really right for you.

You can also consider downloading the Spreaker app to your smartphone and start recording your content whenever and wherever you want.

Kajabi

As a surprise (to the audience, I already knew this for some time), Kajabi has added among its features, the podcast feature. Now every user of this, the best strategic web marketing platform the world, can easily create and distribute their own podcasts very easily, and just as easily can create private podcasts, i.e., paid audio content.

Which other platforms do not do.

ConvertBox, the ultimate conversion tool

This tool is designed to increase conversions through accurate and timely CTAs. ConvertBox allows you to Design specific pop-ups depending on the type of user visiting your site: is this a new visitor or an old acquaintance?

Adapting the tone of voice and the type of message conveyed according to the target audience is key to increasing conversions. Find out all the features on the official website.

Membership, Academy and Community

Does your business revolve around training? Do you have a community to manage that is interested in your content and follows your online courses? Then I recommend you take a look at these two tools.

Kajabi

As I mentioned at the beginning of the article, Kajabi is my all-in-one web marketing platform preferred, especially when it comes to creating and managing online course sales. In fact, the software will handle every aspect of the course: from video streaming and distribution to payments and automated billing.

Another interesting feature of Kajabi is that it allows you to control the time your content is viewed by each user, which comes in particularly handy for understanding the overall satisfaction level of your customers.

MemberPress for WordPress

If you already have a site in WordPress and plan to start selling your courses online, I suggest you take a look at the plugin MemberPress. It will only take you a couple of clicks to install and configure it according to your needs.

One of the main advantages is that the plugin integrates seamlessly with other tools such as ConvertKit, Mailchimp, PayPal and Stripe, just to name a few, which will make your life much easier when designing your entire sales system.

Thanks to MemberPress you can easily manage your community, sales and payments, and also keep track of the performance of your content.

Project management and TO-DO list

Organization is everything, especially in business-and especially if you have a team to manage.

I point out a couple of online marketing tools that will help you organize your tasks and streamline your work.

Notion

It is a kind of virtual agenda, a space where you can write and organize all the content that is on your mind. Notion works with pre-set forms that you can customize according to your needs: in fact, you can create several pages, one for each client, where you can jot down to-do lists, tasks, deadlines and assign precise tasks to each member of your team.

Since I discovered it, I can't get enough of it; I think it is the best tool in its class.

ClickUp

Here is another useful app for managing work and keeping productivity high. Clickup is designed to collect all your to-do lists, appointments, deadlines and whatnot in the same workspace so that you can better organize your days.

If you are already using a similar app, you can easily import the information into Clickup with a single click, and start using it right away.

It also integrates seamlessly with Instagram, Mailchimp, Trello, Vimeo and a host of other tools.

Schedule your appointments with Book Like A Boss

This app is especially good for counselors, coaches, and anyone with a significant amount of appointments to manage.

Book Like a Boss allows you to Create a kind of landing page focused on your services: you will be able to enter your bio, details about your consultations and your availability.

Clients need only select their preferred day and time, pay for the counseling via PayPal or Stripe and wait for the day of the appointment. You will both receive an email reminder from Book Like A Boss so that you do not miss your scheduled appointment.

Privacy Policy and Legal Documents: Iubenda

Don't even know where to start when it comes to creating a privacy policy suitable for your site? Don't worry, Iubenda Will do the work for you.

This tool, in fact, is designed to Generate updated policies that are consistent with the services you propose, in line with all GDPR guidelines. If you want to learn more, I suggest you take a look at the following. to the guide I wrote about it.

Landing pages and funnels

These are the two elements around which most of every marketer's efforts are focused. Landing pages and funnels are indeed capable of turning simple leads into conversions, but only if they are well researched and planned.

Fastpages.io

Did you know that slow and difficult-to-navigate e-commerce can cause sales to plummet in a very short time?

And the same thing applies to landing pages: you can write the most persuasive copy in the world, but if your page struggles to load all your efforts will be in vain.

Fortunately, there are tools such as fastpages.io that help you to Build super fast and high performing landing pages, ready to consult within 1 second.

Swipepages.com

Here is an equally good tool for designing your landings. You can count on excellent image compression and resizing systems that will lighten the weight of your visual content without interfering with quality. Swipepages, moreover, can clean up the page code of all redundant information, so as to further speed up the loading of the landing page.

UPDATE: Swipepages has just introduced a new feature that allows you to create incredibly practical, beautiful and super-fast loading mobile websites. An indispensable tool in your web marketing strategy.

In my opinion, this is an indispensable tool.

Analytics and reporting for web marketing

Analyzing the results of one's actions is critical to understanding what is working and what is not. To do this, I use these two tools that every web marketer should know.

Google Analytics

Free, effective and quite intuitive, Google Analytics will tell you everything you need to know about the performance of your website and advertising campaigns. Adding your page to the control panel is simple, you just need to create an account and link the domain you own, after which you will need to enter a string of code into the site so that the tool can have access to your browsing data.

This way you will know who visits your site and what pages are most viewed, who clicks on your ads, what keywords lead users to your domain, and more.

Hotjar

We could define it as a complementary software to Google Analytics, since Hotjar allows the data provided by the former to be supplemented with other feedback obtained from the use of Heat maps, surveys, and navigation session recordings..

This way you can easily understand which sections of your site users pay the most attention to, and which ones are completely ignored. In addition, you'll be able to create and monitor conversion funnels, run automatic lead tracking, and generate surveys to send via e-mail.

Push notifications

Did you know that newsletters are not the only way to deliver messages to your audience? Check out these two push notification systems.

Wisernotify.com

You know those little pop-ups that sometimes appear on web pages?

The ones that alert you to how many people are looking at the same property on Booking.com at that exact moment, or that show you how many users have already purchased the course you're promoting on your landing page?

Here, with Wisernotify you can Customize your site and pages with notifications similar, designed to instill confidence in potential customers, validate your authority or create a sense of scarcity-as the case may be.

Subscribers.com

If you are looking for an easy, direct, and alternative way to newsletters to deliver messages to your potential customers, subscribers.com Is the tool for you. It is a Push notification system that is shown to users directly on their desktop, without the need for email messages. You can use them to promote special offers, get back in touch with old customers and retain new ones, all for a small monthly fee that varies depending on the users in your database.

Gamification: increase your opt-in rate with Listagram

Listagram is a pretty fun app that can increase your mailing list subscriptions in no time.

How? By taking advantage of the gamification technique, or the introduction of playful elements into contexts where they are not normally applied, such as newsletter subscription forms.

Listagram, on the other hand, allows you to enter a kind of wheel of fortune on your site to encourage visitors to "play" and win one of the prizes up for grabs, including discounts or free products. This will make them more likely to leave their address and sign up for your mailing list.

Ready-made graphics

A good visual can make the difference between a mediocre communication and a highly persuasive one, which is why it is essential to give the graphic part the attention it deserves.

I always recommend seeking professional help, but in case you have a limited budget, these two tools might come in handy.

Canva

At Canva you will find hundreds of thousands of Ready-to-use and fully customizable templates: posts for social, presentations, flyers, info graphics, etc. There is a free version and a paid version, which will give you access to premium features that are not part of the free plan (image resize, large stock photo gallery, 100GB of storage).

Placeit.net

This app works exactly like Canva. The only major difference is that the gaming section is much broader and more comprehensive than the other tool, which still does its job in hundreds of other areas. In addition, placeit Is slightly cheaper than Canva.

Hosting problems? Play it safe with Host.co.uk

This company can provide you with different hosting plans depending on the CMS you have decided to use: WordPress, Joomla, Prestashop or Linux.

Registering the domain, migrating it or managing multiple websites will be super easy with host.it. Moreover, the support team in Italian always responds quickly and efficiently to all requests, a detail not to be underestimated. Learn about the plans available on their site.

SamCart is the shopping cart to sell

The watchword is: simplicity. In fact, with Samcart, you can add the download link to your infoproduct directly on the thank you page to be displayed after payment is made, without having to send any more follow-up emails.

The system integrates seamlessly with PayPal, Stripe and Kajabi, which will allow you in the shortest possible time and with ease, the management of membership and respective payments.

If you want to learn more, check out the official website and you will see how easy it is to turn promotional websites into e-commerce.

Conclusions

Well, we have come to the end of this guide regarding the Best web marketing tools of 2021. All you have to do is get to work and shape your online business by following these tips, taking into account the digital context in which you move and tailoring them to your needs.

Whether you are a structured business, a professional or a freelancer looking to acquire a web marketing specialist certification, this article--continually updated--will be of great help to you.

And should you still have doubts about how to get started and which tools you prefer, sign up for my newsletter where I periodically update you on new web marketing trends and tell you about the main web marketing tools I personally try.