Alex Morris is the Content Manager for an industry leading tourism company.

The cost of expensive software can quickly add up for a small business owner struggling to keep costs down. Luckily, despite the high cost of a lot of big name software solutions, there are many free alternatives out there that small businesses can use to get the job done.

1. Search Your Backlink History

Although Moz’s best SEO features do require a monthly fee to access, its free Open Site Explorer provides basic but important insights on your website’s inbound link profile. This is particularly important if your site has spammy backlinks, which can be disavowed through Google to develop a natural and authoritative linking history.

Additionally, Moz Local allows you to determine any potential problems in your local online strategy.

2. Google Keyword Planner

Researching and learning basic SEO skills for website optimisation can transform a small business’s fortunes. Smart SEO can ensure your website adheres to Google’s quality guidelines and shows up higher in search results.

Keyword research will help you to structure your content around the words most used by your target demographic, and should influence everything from homepage meta tags to blog posts and landing pages.

You can also mix things up with other tools such as Keyword.io, which will suggest keywords. This doesn’t come with any form of key metrics, but you can take these keywords and run them through Google’s software for further analysis.

3. SEO Crawl Tools

Small businesses can use Screaming Frog for a full website analysis, including 500 web pages crawled for free. The tool helps to unearth broken links as well as locate landing pages that might be missing important meta tags.

Another good option is Siteliner, which will find any duplicate content across your site and provide detailed analysis along with updates on broken links.

4. Simplified CRM

With this customer relationship management (CRM) software solution for Gmail, it’s possible to run your business from your email inbox. Streak is made for people who aren’t tech savvy, and you won’t need an engineer to set it up. This cloud-based solution is designed, as the company says, to help you “close more deals, resolve more support tickets, and Get Things Done.”

5.Project Management Tools

With effective management of projects, a small business can flourish. The good news is that many normally expensive software solutions offer free versions. Wrike, for instance, offers a free version of its software that is ideal for marketing, creative, project management, and product development teams.

The free version is for no more than five people, and it offers features such as task management, file sharing, a real-time activity stream, a spreadsheet view, and 2GB of storage. The software is also available for smartphones. If you find it useful, Wrike’s professional upgrade is under $10 per month for up to 15 people.

Read more https://www.allbusiness.com/10-free-online-tools-every-small-business-use-109084-1.html