The Must-Have Chrome Extensions for Business Owners to Actually Make Life Easier

Are you using any of the numerous Google Chrome extensions for business owners?

Over the years, Google has introduced some pretty amazing products like Search, Maps, and Translate. Google Chrome is one of my favorites and my preferred web browser of choice.

One of the great attributes of Chrome is all the amazing extensions that are available to make completing tasks so much easier. There's a lot of helpful Google Chrome extensions for business owners you might want to use.

As a small business consultant and digital marketing company owner, I find it almost impossible to get through my day without using at least a handful of Chrome extensions. They help me with a lot of my daily tasks and help me be more productive.

But what exactly are Chrome extensions? How can they help you with your daily professional and personal life? And what are the best Chrome extensions out there?

Let me start with...

Extensions are installable programs you can use within Google Chrome in order to modify or enhance the browser's functionality. These software programs are added to Chrome for user convenience.

Usage of Chrome extensions depends on how they are built. Some extensions work in the background while others are automatic. Other Chrome extensions appear when you right click your mouse on a webpage.

Here's an example...

Most extensions will also be added as icons to the right of the address field in the Chrome web browser. You can click these icons to access their functionalities.

Here's a sample...

Most extensions can be directly installed from websites but the best place to find them is at the Chrome Web Store.

Some of the extensions are paid but a lot of them are FREE.

Google's library of extensions has different categories like:

• Accessibility
• Blogging
• Productivity
• Search Tools
• Social and Communication

You can also filter features depending on your particular needs:

• Extensions that run offline
• Created by Google
• Free Chrome extensions

Now let's jump into the must-have Chrome extensions for business owners...

To save you time I've honed in on a few categories I think are most appropriate for small business owners. 

• Productivity
• Marketing
• Email
• Prospecting

Ginger is a communication extension that helps you with contextual grammar, spelling, synonyms, and translations. It also works as your English dictionary. Ginger is a perfect extension for writers who want to be more productive with their daily writing tasks.

This extension lets you save web content or browser screenshots directly to your Google Drive. It's perfect for business owners who want important web content to be in one place.

You can quickly save documents, images, and HTML5 audio and video by right-clicking and selecting 'Save to Google Drive'.

I like this Chrome extension because I can use Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Sway Online without the need to install Office.

It also has OneDrive integration which gives me flexibility. I can access all my saved files on any device anytime.

Zapier is a Chrome extension that lets you connect your favorite apps and automate your tasks. It helps you finish your tasks faster.

Use Zapier's push app to save or share a website, start a timer, create a document, send a message, and run a meeting.

• OneTab: Converts all your Chrome tabs into a list.
• Save to Pocket: A super easy way to save articles, videos and more.
• Evernote Web Clipper: A great way to save web content into Evernote.
• Grammarly: Enhance your written communication everywhere you type.
• Loom: The easiest screen recorder I've ever used. Absolutely awesome!
• LastPass: Password manager so you never forget a password again. You won't know what you did without it once you start using it.

MozBar is a marketing tool that helps you with SEO tasks. This SEO toolbar lets you:

• Create custom searches by engine, country, region, or city.
• Analyze link metrics across pages while viewing any SERP.
• Show page elements, general attributes, markup, and HTTP status.

The premium subscription will let you do the following:

• View the Keyword Difficulty score for any search term on any SERP in real-time.
• Get immediate page optimization detail and content suggestions for any keyword on any page.
• Analyze page and SERP data with root domain and subdomain links, unlimited Open Site Explorer reports and more.

Check My Links is an extension for web designers, developers, and content editors. It's a very handy tool for making sure all webpage links are working.

Check My Links highlights which links are valid and which ones are broken.

SEOquake is another tool for marketers who need help with SEO. It is a free Chrome extension that works with other tools like SEO Audit.

SEOquake allows you to:

• Review all major metrics quickly.
• Estimate keyword difficulty instantly.
• Run a complete SEO audit of a webpage, including a check for mobile compatibility.
• Use a library of default parameters or create a custom set.
• Determine a keyword’s density and configure a stop-word list.

I've got to admit, GIFs are super cool! Everyone loves them and uses them in all forms of social media interactions. Giphy is a must-have extension especially for marketers who want to level up their content marketing game.

• Facebook Pixel Helper: Let's you double check the Facebook pixel loaded to a particular web page.

• BuiltWith: Gain insight into the tools a particular website is using.
• SimilarWeb: See website traffic and key metrics for any website.

With Boomerang for Gmail, you don't have to worry about your emails anymore. Boomerang lets you send emails later, track responses, and use its AI program to write better emails.

Boomerang is awesome for:

• Project management.
• Making sure you follow up with a sales lead, and that they replied to you.
• Communicating with people in different time zones.
• Writing effective emails that get a response.
• Achieving Inbox Zero.

Using Boomerang for Gmail in your personal and professional email tasks will save you time and energy.

Streak is one of the extensions that I personally use. It helps me not just with email but in a lot of my tasks.

It allows me to track my outgoing emails by letting me know that they were opened and the number of times they were opened.

Other features include:

• Integration with Google apps like Google Calendar, Google Sheets, and Google Drive.
• Customizable which gives you the freedom to control your CRM.
• Collaborate with your team whenever and wherever.
• Connect other tools like Zapier to automate your workflows.

If you want a free mail tracking extension FOREVER, then Email Tracking by mailtrack.io is for you.

Email Tracking is great for monitoring your outgoing emails. It alerts you if the emails you’ve sent have been read or not.

Google Inbox Checker is a simple yet very useful extension that tracks your unread emails. It shows the number of emails that need your attention.

You will receive desktop and sound notifications for new emails. There's also an option to select the active account for multiple account users.

• Sortd: Organize emails and tasks in a single Gmail workspace.
• Simple Gmail Notes: Easily add notes to email threads.
• Gmelius: Make your inbox smarter.
  

Hunter is another extension that I use in my digital marketing business. It makes it super easy for me to find the email address for someone I want to reach out to or connect with.

When you click on the hunter icon on a website, it'll provide you the following info:

• Names
• Professional email addresses
• Social networks
• Job titles
• The public sources where this data has been collected

Is Hunter free? Yes, Hunter for Chrome is free to use. You get 100 free requests per month and can upgrade your account if you need more.

FTL is a lead finder that is easy to use. All you need to enter is the first name, last name, and company domain to get the email address of a prospect.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is an awesome extension for those who want to know more about their prospects. It provides you with all the information you need before reaching out to people.

Sales Navigator will let you:

• See informative LinkedIn profile data for your contacts directly in your Gmail.
• Review and analyze shared connections, experiences, and interests, to build relationships with your contacts.
• Quickly view profiles by hovering over contact emails.

FYI - You'll need a LinkedIn Sales Navigator account for this extension to work.

• Alfred for Linkedin: Save time and automate Linkedin prospecting.
• Snov.io: This is another option to help you find email addresses for people you want to reach.
• Contact Out: Looking for the right contacts can be tough, but ContactOut makes it easy. With this simple app, you can search for contacts and add them to your list through LinkedIn. You can also save their information so that it's easy to find in future searches.

PRO TIP: If you have a favorite software tool you use in your business it's worth checking to see if they provide a chrome extension. A lot of software providers now offer free chrome extensions as part of their service to make it even easier and more effective to use their software.

Running a business doesn't have to be stressful. These Chrome extensions for business owners are a huge help in making your tasks and responsibilities easier and faster to complete.

There are so many Chrome extensions, I certainly missed some gems.

What are your favorites and why? Feel free to comment or share.

Header image courtesy of Pexels.com.