One of the best things about modern web browsers is the huge variety of extensions, add-ons, and plug-ins available to enhance them. We've rounded up 10 extensions that are particularly useful for managing your company's online presence through SEO, blogging, analytics, and more. The ones listed below are mostly for Firefox or Google Chrome, but similar (if not identical) ones exist for most other browsers. Let us know in the comments if we left out your favorite.
ClickyChrome
Chrome only
(Chrome extension)
In our previous review of analytics software, Clicky came out head and shoulders above our other options, largely due to it's excellent handling of both real-time information and high-level reporting. This Chrome extension puts Clicky in your toolbar, always showing you the number of current visitors at your site, as well a providing a nice drop down to get an overview of your traffic. It's not immediately obvious how to add your site (View options for the extension -> add a site -> enter the info from the preferences page on getclicky.com), but once you do, it's a great little extension for Clicky users.
My Alerts
Chrome only
(Chrome extension)
We've previously talked about how you can use Google Alerts and Twilert to monitor what people are saying about you online. This extension provides the same type of functionality through an icon with a badge indicating new alerts, rather than emailing you a regular update. It updates pretty frequently (every few minutes from what I can tell), so it makes a nice complement to a daily email digest.
Chrome SEO
Chrome only, alternatives exist
(Chrome extension)
There are a ton of SEO extensions for any browser you might be using, but Chrome SEO is one of the more popular ones (at least on Chrome). Chrome SEO provides a drop down containing lots of information about the site you're currently on. The number of indexed pages, inbound links, PageRank, and a number of other statistics are shown. There's also a keyword tool included, but I haven't tried it out and it's in very early stages of development still. Tools like this provide a nice way to check up on your own site, as well as your competitors'.
SEO Site Tools
Chrome only, alternatives exist
(Chrome extension)
This is another SEO tool that provides some complementary features to Chrome SEO. Among other things, SEO Site Tools shows the PageRank of the current page as a badge in the toolbar, rather than needing to click through to the popup. It also provides some SEO suggestions for your site.
Shareaholic
All browsers
(Chrome extension,
Firefox add-on)
Shareaholic makes it extremely easy to share your current page in a variety of different ways. By default, clicking the icon provides you with a shortened link (using goo.gl, but this is configurable) and has options to share the link by Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, or Technorati. That on it's own is pretty useful, but if you click through to the settings page, you can customize it to send links to a huge number of social networking, email, bookmarking, blogging, or news sites. Definitely a great tool to distribute links to a number of services.
SEO Blogger
Firefox only
(Firefox add-on)
We've talked previously about how blogging can help SEO, and about how you can target long tail keywords. This firefox-only add-on brings the two together by providing a sidebar that lets you search for possible keywords. The add-on then shows related keywords, estimated search traffic, and the number of times you use the keywords in the post you're working on. This is a really useful tool to enhance and target the SEO-impact of your blog.
Link checker
Firefox only
(Firefox add-on)
Dead links are a sure fire way to turn off a visitor to your website or blog, but they can also be a pain to track down. This Firefox add-on highlights dead links (when you ask it to), to make them easy to find and fix. Once you install Link Checker, you can check a page through the menu bar Tools->Check Page Links. Try it on this post, and this dead link should show up as red. Strangely, I haven't found an equivalent for Chrome.
Clip to Evernote
All browsers
(Chrome extension,
Firefox add-on)
Evernote is one of many services that helps you clip and aggregate information from the web, pictures, or documents on your computer. Whether you use Evernote, OneNote, Google Notebook, Zoho Notebook, or something else, there's almost certainly a web clipper extension to store information you find online. Some kind of web clipper is an essential resource for any kind of research, but can be particularly useful for blogging.
Zotero
Firefox only
(Firefox add-on)
Zotero is another web clipping tool, with a focus on more serious research projects. The tool can take snapshots of websites and PDFs you find online, but will also download citations and export bibliographic information. It may not be often that you need to do the type of research that Zotero is made for, but when you do, it's an amazing tool. I use Chrome almost exclusively, but I keep Firefox around just for Zotero.
LastPass
All browsers
(Chrome extension,
Firefox add-on)
One of the major reservations people have about using online business applications is security. The single best thing you can do to improve your online security is to use unique strong passwords for every site you visit. LastPass is an online password manager that can help you generate and remember secure passwords. There are a number of password management options, but LastPass is one of the most popular and has a lot of useful features, including one time passwords, a screen-based keyboard to avoid key-tracking software, and form filling.
