The Best Mac Apps for Online Marketing

Vinny La Barbera
Written by

Vinny La Barbera

Are you leveraging your Mac to aid your online marketing efforts? Want to be able to use Mac apps to really streamline some of those tasks? If you’re a busy marketer or business owner, then you’re probably nodding your head ‘yes’.

In this article, we are not only going to list the best Mac apps for online marketing but also explain to you how to leverage them to make your marketing tasks easier, more enjoyable, and more efficient.

Best Mac Apps for Online Marketing

Why Use Mac Apps for Online Marketing?

In an effort to avoid a heated debate about Macs vs PCs we are going to only focus on the benefits of using Mac apps for online marketing and which ones we recommend. Many of the apps and tips we will discuss will actually be applicable to PCs as well so don’t check out if you’re not on a Mac as you may still learn something.

Let’s start with being clear about what we are defining as “Mac Apps” as some people may understand them differently.

Mac apps, as we see them, are defined as…

Mac Apps Definition


For the purpose of this article, Mac apps, are not…

Web Apps Definition
We’re going to leave web browsers (Safari, Chrome, Firefox) out of this conversation as they are obvious apps that every marketer must use.

So, back to our initial question – why use Mac apps for online marketing?

A thorough answer to this question will be found after learning which apps we recommend for online marketing. However, the Cliff Notes® version of this answer is that they can provide the following benefits:

  • Easy to download and keep updated for optimal performance
  • Shortens the time it takes to complete related, repetitive tasks
  • Keeps you focused on which tasks need attention and when
  • Syncs your work across mobile devices for portability (see our recommended apps for iOS)
  • Makes work more enjoyable with native, user friendly Mac software interface

Since online marketing is such a quickly evolving industry it is always very important for marketers to stay ‘wired in’ to what is going on and motivated to continue pushing the envelope to achieve better results.

We believe Mac apps help to do just this….specifically the apps we have recommended below.


Our Favorite Mac Apps for Online Marketing

Mac Apps

With the exception of a couple of stubborn team members, our company is predominantly Mac-based. This is not because we are anti-PC or anything like that, but rather that we have found Macs to be easier to set up, manage and use across all job roles and skill levels.

As a result, we have been fortunate to try hundreds of different Mac apps over the years and now it’s time to share the ones we have found to be best suited for online marketers, specifically to help you with the following:

  • Following Industry News & Getting Content Inspiration
  • Better Twitter Management
  • Comprehensive SEO Management
  • Finding On-Site SEO Issues
  • Creating Video Content
  • Managing Google AdWords Campaigns
  • Managing FTP & Code Editing
  • Saving Time
NOTE:
It’s important to note that we have absolutely no affiliation with any of the apps recommended in this article. Instead, we have found them to be so helpful that we were compelled to share them with others that may benefit from them as well.

Top Mac App for Following Industry News & Getting Content Inspiration

Here’s our favorite Mac app for finding, consuming, curating, and sharing content relevant to your business.

Reeder for Mac

Reeder ($4.99)

RSS is still one of the best ways to stay on top of news, articles, and industry trends and this RSS app makes these tasks simple and manageable.

Subscribe to and manage all of your favorite blog and news feeds from this beautiful app to stay on top of the latest news and articles surrounding your business.

Download from the App Store

Reeder for Mac

How to Use Reeder for Online Marketing:

  • Subscribe to your favorite blog and news feeds to always stay on top of the most recent, pertinent trends happening in your industry
  • Follow content trends by observing what other companies are writing about to get content marketing inspiration
  • “Favorite” articles that you find useful and curate them into helpful list-based content pieces that make for good link building opportunities
  • Read non-industry related blogs to spark your creativity and discover unique angles for creative content pieces

Top Mac App for Better Twitter Management

Here’s our Mac app of choice for managing one of our most important social media channels – Twitter.

Tweetbot for Mac


Tweetbot ($19.99)

There are a lot of options for Twitter clients for Mac, but Tweetbot continues to be our go-to thanks to its simplicity and integration into the Mac OS.

Manage multiple accounts, get notifications for pre-saved searches, and more with this simple, but effective app.

Download from the App Store

Tweetbot for Mac

How to Use Tweetbot for Online Marketing:

  • Follow industry influencers on Twitter and engage them to develop a relationship
  • Set pre-defined searches to find conversations to participate in or monitor your brand’s reputation
  • Pre-load updates as they come to you and save them as drafts for future posting
  • Create lists of followers or people you follow to deliver targeted messages to relevant segments

Top Mac App for Comprehensive SEO Management

Most of our favorite SEO-related apps are web-based, but if you’re more inclined to use a Mac app for your SEO tasks, then this is the one.

Link Assistant for Mac

SEO PowerSuite ($249)

There are a ton of fantastic web-based tools for SEO tasks, but this is, by far, the best Mac app for SEO management.

Run automated ranking reports, site audits, competitive analysis, and link analysis.

Download from Developer Website

SEO PowerSuite for Mac

How to Use SEO PowerSuite for Online Marketing:

  • Track and compare your website’s ranking with up to 5 of your competitors to spot opportune trends
  • Run a site-wide audit to find problems that may be hindering your website so you can improve it
  • Find valuable link partners and their contact info to build a useful network for link building
  • Analyze the websites of your top online competitors to see what they’re doing right to find new opportunities

Top Mac App for Finding On-Site SEO Issues

For those that don’t want to download a big program like SEO PowerSuite, but still want the ability to scan their site for on-site SEO issues, then this app is the perfect solution.

Screaming Frog for Mac

Screaming Frog (FREE)

Spider your site’s links, images, CSS, scripts, and apps from an SEO perspective to find issues that need attention.

Quickly analyze, audit, and review your site to help it get crawled and indexed properly by the search engines.

Download from Developer Website

Screaming Frog for Mac

How to Use Screaming Frog for Online Marketing:

  • Sort your scanned files by Status Code to find 404 errors that need redirects to maintain link equity
  • Sort your scanned files by Title to find title tags that are either too short, too long or missing to improve on-page SEO
  • Sort your scanned files to find the pages with the most / least Inlinks and Outlinks to prioritize pages for link building
  • Sort your scanned files by Outlinks to see which sites you’re top content is linking to as you may be able to get a link from them

Top Mac App for Creating Video Content

Video tutorials are a great way to diversify your content and this often forgotten app allows you to create some very useful ones.

Quicktime for Mac


QuickTime (Included with Mac OS)

Whether you need to convert video files for YouTube or create some simple, effective content this is our app of choice.

Create easy-to-follow video tutorials to use for sales, customer service or marketing content.

Available with Mac OS

Quicktime for Mac

How to Use QuickTime for Online Marketing:

  • Create a video tutorial of how your services work
  • Turn popular blog posts into video content for your more visual audience
  • Create an audio tutorial or podcast of topics that you specialize in
  • Turn internal training videos into useful step-by-step content that can be offered as giveaways for lead generation or lead nuturing

Top Mac App for Managing Google AdWords Campaigns

If you manage large AdWords campaigns, or multiple AdWords accounts, then this Mac app is a must.

AdWords Editor for Mac


AdWords Editor (FREE)

Streamline the management and optimization of your Google AdWords campaigns.

Navigate through multiple accounts quickly and easily to make campaign changes that can even be done offline.

Download from Developer Website

AdWords Editor for Mac

How to Use AdWords Editor for Online Marketing:

  • Quickly replicate effective ads for use in other paid search campaigns
  • Easily update bids and add keywords in batches to save time
  • Save campaign structures as templates for use with additional account creation
  • Create an approval process by sharing changes with other editors for feedback or authorization

Top Mac App for Managing FTP & Code Editing

Depending on your job role you may be required to access your site’s (or your clients’) code quickly and easily. This app is our favorite for doing these two things, and much more.

Coda for Mac

Coda ($74.99)

Manage FTP access to all of your websites and edit their code right from this one handy app for any designer/developer.

Store FTP info to your sites in one place, quickly call up site files for editing, and even make terminal commands when needed.

Download from the App Store

Coda for Mac

How to Use Coda for Online Marketing:

  • Easily call up site files for quick code edits to improve performance, UX and conversion
  • Validate your code to ensure that your web pages are properly coded for optimal performance
  • Customize the color coding of common HTML elements to help you quickly recognize them when performing on-page optimization
  • Connect to Git repositories to keep code updated and open for improvements

Top Mac App for Saving Time

Many online marketing tasks can be extremely repetitive. Use this app to shave seconds, which add up to minutes and hours, off of your daily routine.

Text Expander for Mac

TextExpander ($34.99)

Stop rewriting the same messages, code snippets, or information over and over by using this handy app that saves you time.

Save commonly used code snippets, email messages (and more), and quickly enter them with your pre-defined shortcodes.

Download from the App Store

Text Expander for Mac


How to Use TextExpander for Online Marketing:

  • Use shortcodes for HTML or CSS snippets that you have a hard time remembering
  • Create shortcodes for marketing outreach email templates
  • Save shortcodes for common messages used in contact form submissions (e.g intros)
  • Quickly call up saved messages for replies that would normally take a few more minutes to type out entirely

Additional Apps to Consider

Here are some other apps that we love that needed to be mentioned even though they are not exactly online marketing specific apps:

Need a quicker, more reliable tool to find and launch files and applications on your Mac? Use Alfred (FREE)

Do you need a simple app to create clear, detailed wireframes and mockups for your design team? Use Balsamiq ($79)

Need to be able to quickly save, share and sync files with multiple people and across multiple devices? Use Dropbox (FREE)

Do you want to create professional-looking images and graphics for your content? Use Photoshop ($699 or $19.99/mo)


Did We Miss a Mac App?

We’ve tried a lot of apps, and continue to test new ones, but there may be apps that we missed that deserve to be on this list. If you think we missed an app, then we would love to hear about it.

Please let us know which app you think should be on the list by dropping the name of the app in the COMMENTS BELOW along with why you think it should be included. We will try out the app and update our list if we find it to be a valuable addition.


Maximizing Your Apps…and Your Time

As mentioned in our list of the top iOS apps for online marketing, a key to getting the most out of the apps you use is to create and stick to a schedule for the marketing tasks you have on your plate.

Marketing Reminders

By being able to visualize what needs to be done you can then apply the tools that you have available to you (i.e. Mac apps mentioned in this article) to increase your efficiency.

Here are some additional tips to help maximize your time and get the most out of the Mac apps we have recommended:

  • Use a simple GTD app like Reminders for Mac (included with Mac OS) to list and schedule out your most important tasks for the week / month
  • Block off time slots throughout your week that are devoted solely to focusing on specific tasks at a time
  • Keep your Mac apps updated to take advantage of the newest features and to keep your Mac running smoothly
  • Dedicate different “Spaces” on your Mac to each app so flipping from one app to another is easy

If you find all of this information to be a little overwhelming and would prefer to speak to someone who uses these apps on a daily basis, then we’d love to talk with you. We all seem to be in pursuit of perfect time management so we have no problem sharing our tips as they may just help you to grow your business.

Need help integrating these Mac apps into your workflow?

SCHEDULE A CONSULTATION


Don’t forget to leave a comment below if we missed any essential Mac apps for online marketing.

Categories: Technology

9 Comments

    February 20, 2013

    Love these tools! I already use 3-4 of them myself. Another Mac app I found recently that I like is Hazel. It allows you (amongst other things) to set up any folder you like to autosort any files you drop in there and send them to their respective locations.

    I find it handy after looking at my cluttered desktop after a hard day of web design. Just drag all those images, text files, html files directly to your sorting folder and you know where to find everything the next day.

    I also try to name all my folders with a formulaic “client name in file” method so any PDFs, contract, etc can get sorted by name to clients folders.

    Full disclosure: Not associated with that company…just love the time it saves OCD file organizers like myself.

    Hazel

    February 20, 2013

    Thanks for the tip Luke!

    We will definitely have to check out Hazel as it does sound like a great tool for staying organized.

    February 20, 2013

    Thanks for the great list of MAC apps. I few of these I did not know about.

    February 20, 2013

    You’re very welcome, “Affiliate Software”. Very interesting name….is that South American?

    March 2, 2013

    I miss an awesome time tracking & invoicing tool called Yanomo. It’s a real Harvest-killer! Available in App Store: Yanomo

    March 2, 2013

    Thanks Ralph. We’ll give it a spin.

    Their calendar syncing feature looks nice.

    June 20, 2013

    Screenflow does quite a lot more than the latest QT – even tho it rocks too – and the price tag is very reasonable. With Screenflow you can do advanced screen recordings and edit them together into professional videos with all kinds of other media, video from your camera, audio from your mic, random footage and photos, voiceovers, you name it. Screenflow

    June 20, 2013

    Thanks George!

    Screenflow is definitely a great tool as well.

    May 14, 2014

    Hey Did you tried PhoneBox app ? Its simply amazing, I downloaded it some days back and I am amazed to see their features and performance. PhoneBox allows you to make and receive calls via your phone straight to a desktop.
    Every Mac user should try it. I bet you can like it.

    Go guys, download the app and enjoy .

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