Thread by @richstemecom

Low (or no) budget for marketing? 💵

Let me make your life easier with 15 of the best FREE marketing tools I’ve used (and still do) 👇

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It’s easier to make money when you have money.

But, what if you don’t have enough to start?

You can get free traffic to your store with:

- Organic TikToks
- Organic Twitter
- Facebook groups
- SEO blogs
- Quora and Reddit

Now, let’s see the 15 free tools you can use to jump-start your eCom store:

#1 - SurveyMonkey (customer and market research)

SurveyMonkey works on a freemium basis. You can access their basic features for free or upgrade to a paid version.

You can use it for customer feedback and market research. It will help you a lot when A/B testing.

#2 - Canva (design)

This one is a life-saver if you don’t work with Photoshop. With Canva, you won’t need a designer, you can be a one-man show and create your product photos by yourself.

It’s amazing how much you can do with the free version of Canva.

With a little bit of creativity, it’s all you need for your eCommerce visuals.

Canva lets you resize photos, remove backgrounds, design different social media posts, and much more. It has a library with hundreds of templates that are editable and adjustable. Go check it out.

#3 - Google Trends (keyword research)

For me personally, SEMrush is better for research, but Google Trends is more than great if you’re just starting.

You’ll be able to see the search volume of a keyword over a designated period.

Like this, you can see if it’s just a passing trend, an evergreen product, or a product in decline.

#4 - BuzzSumo (content marketing)

Now, this one's golden.

With the free version, you have only 10 monthly searches, but you can use all of their plans free for the first 30 days.

If you ask me, that’s more than enough to put together a content plan and note your findings.

#5 - Hotjar (website visitor analytics and heatmaps)

When I started dropshipping, Hotjar was the first heatmap tool I used to figure out what my website visitors are doing once they land on my store.

Hotjar’s free version lets you record up to 35 daily sessions.

For me, that was more than enough to figure out where I’m losing people and which sections of my store don’t get any engagement.

#6 - Make My Persona from Hubspot

This is an awesome free tool that can help you build your ideal buyer persona (or multiple) and understand your target audience.

#7 - Grammarly (grammar and spell-check)

Don’t release an ad, a blog post, or worse - landing pages or product descriptions - before proofreading your texts. Typos and incorrect grammar don’t look professional, especially if you’re building a high-ticket brand.

#8 - Hemingway Editor (improve readability)

Copywriting and web copy have to be the opposite of academic and fancy. This type of copy needs to be skimmable, simple, and straight to the point.

Here’s why I love Hemingway Editor - it highlights and prompts you to rewrite complicated or hard-to-read sentences.

#9 - Google Mobile-Friendly Test (mobile optimization)

This is Google’s free test where you can copy-paste your store URL and check if it’s optimized for mobile.

The majority of your customers will shop from their smartphones, so building your store mobile-first is crucial.

#10 - Google Keyword Planner (keyword research)

Although you need a Google AdWords account to access their Keyword Planner, you don’t actually need to run a campaign.

So, sign up using your email, and you’ll be able to use the free tool.

With it, you can check different keywords’ search volumes.

#11 - Google Analytics (website analytics)

If you haven’t used Google Analytics before, it will be a bit of a learning curve, simply because of the richness of data Google gives you and all the different analyses.

Learning to read and draw conclusions from Google Analytics can be gold for any business.

#12 - Shopify Free Tools

Take advantage of the many free tools you can get directly from Shopify.

They have a free logo maker, business name generator, slogan maker, terms and conditions generator, QR code generator, discount calculator, shipping label and barcode generator, invoice generator, image resizer, and many more.

#13 - OptiMonk (CRO)

OptiMonk is a great tool that can improve your conversion rate optimization. It can help you create pop-ups, A/B test, segment your audience, and personalize your messages.

#14 - Aftership

A great little tool that helps with customer retention.

With the free version of Aftership, you can track up to 50 shipments per month and give real-time updates to your customers.

Post-purchase care and follow-ups lead to repeat purchases and better retention rates.

#15 - Klaviyo

An awesome tool for email and SMS follow-ups - it can help you reduce abandoned carts and automate visitor flows.

Let’s share and RT this thread to help eCom beginners save costs and succeed ♻️

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@richstemecom