Our Toolbelt | Digital Services & Productivity Tools | White Label IQ
Digital Services & Productivity Tools
With the ebbs and flows that come with running a marketing agency, keeping too many subscriptions in rotation can really do a number on your finances. With the constant need to keep up with trends and the hottest services that clients are always referencing, it can be a real struggle to decide what should stay and what should go.
And, more often than not, the tools you rely on are probably doing double, if not triple, duty. So, to help you narrow down your focus, here are the tools we use at White Label IQ to cover all our bases.
SEMrush
All-in-one Marketing Toolkit for Digital Marketing Professionals
How We Use It
Like many marketing agencies that deliver SEO/SEM services, SEMRush is a preferred platform thanks to its plethora of options and ease of use. From extensive keyword research that’s broken down in a number of ways (Monthly Search Volume, CPC, Competitor Rank, etc.) to website auditing that will help you get the most out of your on-page presence, it’s an essential tool when it comes to client deliverables.
SEMRush can be utilized at different rates depending on your necessities. If you don’t need much more than a keyword research tool, opt for the lower end, but if you need to deliver ongoing reports and keep up with position tracking, you may want to go all-in.
BugHerd
The Best Way to Collect and Act on Client Feedback. It’s Like Sticky Notes on a Website.
How We Use It
If you want a quick rundown about BugHerd, you can see how they pitch their service with a 60-second video found here.
In a nutshell, it’s pretty straightforward. You make an account, download the extension to work on your preferred browser(s), then use the new navigation bar that pops up on the sites you’ve received approval for. And, depending on your subscription, you can assign multiple users (client and agency side) to add “bugs” where they see fit. This makes it an essential tool for website development and one we’ll probably never look back from.
When our designers see a functionality issue or a font/color/style/etc. that doesn’t seem quite right, they simply click the sidebar, add a note (which is accompanied by a screenshot!) that states what changes are needed from the development team. The same goes for the content team, account team, and anyone else invested in the site’s launch or ongoing maintenance.
And if you think it’s a lifesaver for agency work, wait until you explain the simplicity of it all to one of your clients.
Slickplan
Helping You Build Websites That People Will Love
How We Use It
Every website starts with an outline. Or rather, it should. Not only does this enable all sides of the team to implement design/content/etc., but it keeps everyone organized and the project within scope… as much as possible.
For our team at White Label IQ, Slickplan is the first step in any website build. With a very simple interface that lets you add and drop and move components around, our team can come together, and utilizing client goals for the site, decide which pages will need to be built, where they’ll live, and any notes and assets that belong to each one.
CheckDog
The Most Amazing Website Spell Checking Tool on the Planet
How We Use It
Before we launch any client website, we run CheckDog. Not only is it solely built for quick scans to flag obvious spelling and linking issues, it is extremely inexpensive. Not much more than the nuts and bolts you need from a website crawler, you can opt for different plans depending on your typical workload.
For us, we find their Zebra Plan to be the most effective. This gives us 10 scans over about a month-long period. Utilized wisely, and you can run multiple scans of the same site or check multiple for any obvious errors. In fact, CheckDog breaks down flags as follows:
Likely Errors = common spelling mistakes
Possible Errors = uncommon words are flagged
Unlikely Errors = typically words associated with code and backend functionality that is never spelled right but are necessary for the site to function
With the ability to search 1,000’s of pages depending on your plan, it’s a go-to for us.
InVision
The Digital Product Design Platform Powering the World’s Best User Experiences
How We Use It
Working hand-in-hand with other tools like BugHerd and Slickplan, InVision makes the website building process much easier for all parties involved. Here, collaboration is key, and when more than a few rounds of inspiration and revision are needed, InVision allows you to keep all versions in the same space with comments and limited functionality available.
It’s great for giving your clients a voice when it comes to design and function before the developers really start to run with the project.
SharpSpring
A Complete Sales & Marketing Platform
How We Use It
Automation takes center stage on the SharpSpring platform. It’s a robust CRM built with a suite of automations, workflows, and lead-gen/management services so long that we won’t bother going into all of them. Instead, we’ll focus on the elements we use day in and day out.
Email Campaigns
After crafting a series of emails, we’re able to easily segment subscriber lists and automate a drip campaign that sends out specific messaging to whom we want and at the time and consistently we feel is best.
Social Media Posts
When posting to our own social channels, or when requested by a client, we utilize SharpSpring’s content calendar feature to schedule posts to go out at specific times on any number of social media platforms. Within the calendar, we can add images, curate based on character limits, and plan our posts months ahead of time.
Lead Management
This is where SharpSpring really shines. When managing multiple clients with distribution chains, long customer lists, and audiences at different points in the sales funnel, you need somewhere to corral all the chaos. Here, we can keep lists updated with as much relevant information as possible, from photos to emails to phone numbers and lead quality.
Form Submissions
Crucial to any business venture, website form submissions are the difference between guesswork and landing real, qualified leads. By integrating all forms into the SharpSpring platform, we can ensure that questions, interests, and all lead information is directed to the person or persons necessary to nurture the sale/inquiry.
We’re also SharpSpring Silver Partners, which means we’ve taken the necessary training to get the most out of the platform — and pass some savings onto others using the platform!
*** If you’re interested in taking advantage of this full-suite CRM without paying full price, you can contact info@whitelabeliq.com and a member of our team will be in contact with you as soon as possible! ***
And those are just a few of our favorite things. We, of course, use many other tools to manage client and internal needs, but these few cover a lot of ground all on their own. Just remember, no matter what service you rely on, always make sure the cost makes sense, that it’s not pulling double duty, and that the experience makes your life easier, not more complicated.
Originally published at https://www.whitelabeliq.com on August 10, 2020.
