SmallBusinessNewz

When you look for tools to get your business going, you will probably be bombarded with tools and promises of what they do. As you continue your search and compare prices, the expensive ones may seem to be the only capable option for your business even though the money is not in the budget.

Interestingly enough, there are just as many free or inexpensive tools available that can get your business to the level it needs to utilize the more expensive tools. At the Small Business Marketing Unleashed Conference in Columbus, Matt McGee laid out several beginner tools.

He suggests starting off with Google's Webmaster Tools to help you better understand how the search engines perceive you. Also, be sure to incorporate Yahoo Site Explorer and MSN Live Webmaster Center. Yahoo Site Explorer is very helpful since it looks at backlinks. All these tools are free as well.

To gain a deeper knowledge of the search engines, Matt recommends using the Firefox Web Browser and then adding plug-ins to it. Search Status, Web Developer, and Aaron Wall's SEO for Firefox are among top plug-ins that Matt shares.

Two essential link building tools are Hub Finder and Traffic Marks.  Hub Finder is also from Aaron Wall and lets you find sites that link to relevant resources as well as resources that rank for a particular term. Traffic Marks helps you obtain links from authority sites.

While all these tools are helpful, be careful not to let the tools make decisions for you. Pull data from the tools and use that information to assist you in your decision-making.

For a complete list of Matt's recommended tools, check out David Wallace's post over on Search Engine Guide.

Update: Matt McGee published an article on Search Engine Land in which he explains several more useful tools.