Article by Wendy McCance

I have found two new amazing tools that I just have to share with you.  Let me just say right up front that I am not getting any money from these companies.  The reason I want to share what I have found is because they are brilliant.  I have tried them out and have fallen in love with the amazing amount of information I can gather from these sources.

I promised you that as I put together my new website that I would share information, and, I am staying true to my word.  I guarantee that you are going to be excited as well once I tell you what I have found.

The first system I came across is called The Outlook Social Connector.  The Connector is a set of features that will help to keep track of friends and colleagues social connections while enabling you to grow your network.  You can get this feature as part of the Microsoft Office 2010 Beta.

I have to admit that this feature is genius and a little scary at the same time.  With The Social Connector you can see activities for your connections through business and social networks.  This will give you the ability to tap into networks and advertise your blog or website to sites you might not have heard of.  The genius part of this system is that as your colleagues sign up for this system, other people will notice that a colleague has viewed your blog or website which could increase your traffic.

This system has so many other functions that are truly unbelievable like communication histories for each person that sends you a message.  Every time you get a message, a name, picture and title will appear alongside the message.  There are many more cool tools in this system (too many to mention).  If this concept sounds interesting, you can hit on the link provided and read about this announcement on the Outlook Blog.

The link is : BlogOffice.com

The second system I found is The Marketing Grader through HubSpot.  I actually tried this program out yesterday and loved what I saw.  All you do is type in your website or blog address and this system grades your site.  The grader looks at how many pages, posts and comments you have.  It looks to see if you have sharing buttons and images.  It will look at the different social websites you are connected to etc…  The best part of this tool is that it is FREE.

If you go to the link below, the site will pull up a page where all you do is plug in your address and email.  The site will then look over your site and grade it all within a few seconds.  The email you sign up with is used so that a report is sent to you.  You will see the results on HubSpot as well.

Let me just mention that this information is invaluable.  I tried it on both my old blog and the new one I created. My original blog (the one you are reading this article on) got a grade of 85%.  The new site received a 65%.  The person who introduced me to the Marketing Grader said the average website that has been up for at least 5 years is graded at around a 45%.  Needless to say, I was pretty pleased with my results.

This website offers a critique of your website that far surpasses any critique you could get from the average person.  To receive results within seconds and to receive a report to keep for your records is tremendous.  I can’t believe this is free!  Check it out.  You are going to fall in love with the information you receive from the site.

The link is: HubSpot Marketing Grader

I hope these recommendations are useful for you.  As always, I will be writing future posts on my progress and what I find.  You will get a first hand account of the usefulness of anything I try out.

giovanni_novara / Flowers Photos / CC BY-NC-SA

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Wendy McCance

Wendy McCance is a Michigan based freelance writer, social media consultant and music journalist. Wendy has gained attention as the founder of the popular blog Searching for the Happiness which can be viewed in 9 local papers online, including the Oakland Press.The combination of writing skills and social media knowledge is what makes Wendy such a powerhouse to work with. Stay tuned for opportunities to advertise, guest post and as always, have your questions answered.

To contact Wendy McCance about a writing assignment, interview or speaking engagement, please email her at: [email protected]

Latest posts by Wendy McCance (see all)

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