This blog post will officially solidify my status as an inbound marketing dork, but that’s alright, its Thanksgiving week and I love inbound marketing!  So, I started thinking today about which inbound marketing tools, tactics and techniques I was thankful for and probably couldn’t live without.  I could probably make this a top 50, but 10 should do just fine. 

  1. Google Webmaster Tools – Since SEO is such a vital part of my job this nifty free tool is invaluable.  Webmaster Tools provides all of the search information I need to improve SERP rankings for clients.
  2. Blogs – Where else could I write dorky inbound marketing content like this!?
  3. CTAs – Calls to action rock!  That’s right. . . I said, “rock,” because that is what an inbound marketing dork would say. Without these graphical morsels of instruction telling visitors what to click on we wouldn’t do inbound marketing very well.
  4. SEOQuake – This is by far my favorite SEO tool.  It pulls PageRank, links, pages indexed, age, Alexa rank, Sitemap info, keyword density and more!
  5. HubSpot – How else would I track IP addresses and score leads?  If I didn’t have this tool I wouldn’t be doing inbound marketing.  I’d be doing Internet marketing.
  6. Twitter – I’ve long given up using my RSS reader.  Instead, I use my Twitter network to filter out the good content from the bad and read timely and relevant inbound marketing content.  It also allows me to distribute dorky posts like this one.
  7. Flickr – Without Flickr I’d have to pay for all of the images I use on blog posts like the “self-titled” dork above.  Thanks Flickr!
  8. Designers – I am the worst designer in the world!  Keep me away from Photoshop.  If I couldn’t leverage the talents of a real designer you wouldn’t have read this far down.  Your gag reflex would have made you bounce right off the website.
  9. My Network – Over the years I’ve developed a pretty good network of Internet professionals who are always available to share war stories and give advice.  If you’re reading this and are in my network – you are an inbound marketing dork too! 
  10. My Mentor – The biggest piece of advice I’d give to any up-and-coming inbound marketer is to find a mentor who has been successful and lived in the Internet trenches for years.  You’ll want to model your tactics around theirs and communicate with them frequently.

What inbound marketing tools, tactics and techniques are you thankful for?  I’m sure there’s dozens I left out, so feel free to leave yours below. . . and yes, you’ll be an inbound marketing dork too!

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