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Useful SEO Tools and Resources

Doug — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 08:00:24 +0000

SEO can be a difficult and extremely involved task; it’s particularly time and focus intensive and can often be very frustrating. You need to be able to keep track of your rankings (which can often run into hundreds of keywords), perform backlink checks, ensure your keyword research is accurate, find sources of links, etc. However there are numerous tools, websites and resources – both paid and free – available to help make your life a little easier. So to give you an idea of what’s out there and how you can improve your SEO output, here’s a handful of the more useful tools we’ve come across:

Keyword Research

The most obvious place to go for keyword research is the Google Adwords Keyword tool; which is free and is widely used by SEO’s across the world. You’ll need a Googlemail account to sign in, which will also come in useful when signing up for Analytics and Webmaster tools. The tool is extremely easy to use, but can present misleading information if you’re unsure how to use it correctly.
You can search for as many keyterms as you like, simply seperate each phrase by pressing return. Then click on ‘advanced options’ and ensure you’re searching in the correct country, and that you have ‘ideas containing my keywords’ ticked. You can then click search, and when you’re returned results scroll down the page and you’ll notice a small box on the left of the page with boxes entitled ‘broad’, ‘exact’ and ‘phrase’. Make sure that ‘exact’ is the only one ticked and you’re ready to use the information presented to you.

The accuracy of Google’s keyword tool is currently being debated by SEO’s, but it is the most widely used tool for general keyword research and will give you a good idea of the level of competition and searches per month for each term.

A lesser known tool is the excellent Spy Fu, which allows you not only to complete in-depth keyword research but also allows you to complete research on your competitors. You can find out exactly what they’re ranking for, what PPC keywords they’ve targeted, how their PPC budget has increased or decreased over time as well as a wealth of other information. The main drawback with this service is that it’s quite expensive, with the cheapest UK service coming in at £49.95 per month and rising to £159.95 for both UK and US information. You can use the basic service for free though, so it’s well worth checking out.

Link-Building

Link-building is an integral and ongoing part of the SEO process, which is why there are numerous online tools and software packages available, all designed to increase the success and output of your link-building campaigns.

Guest blogging is one of the most effective SEO link-building techniques, but it can often be tough to find suitable blogs to try and publish your guest posts (particularly ones that will allow you commercial links in the copy or bio). That’s assuming you can write high quality, unique content in the first place. Ideally, you’ll be able to write expert articles in the industry your business is based, although you can always outsource the work to a freelance copywriter if you’re struggling. To help you find suitable blogs to publish your articles, you can make use of a site such as MyBlogGuest, which puts blog owners looking for content in touch with people who have articles to publish.

Another effective approach to link-building is article marketing, which allows you to build considerable numbers of links through ‘spinning’ articles. This refers to the process of producing an original article and then re-writing each sentence in order to produce hundreds of technically unique articles, all with links back to your site. There are quite a few article marketing sites out there, although probably the best ones are Article Ranks, AMA and SEO LinkVine. All of these sites require payment in order to publish articles, although if you’re desperate for a free account you can sign up for one at Free Traffic System.

Blog comment placement is another technique widely utilised by SEO’s; the main issue with this approach however is that is takes time to find blogs with DoFollow comment links. To help with this, you can use Fast Blog Finder, which has both paid and trial versions available.

Checking Rankings

Checking your rankings in the search engines can be a long-winded exercise, particularly if you’re checking them manually. If you are checking each keyword manually in Google, you can make your life a little easier by adding &num=100 to the end of the search URL. This will provide you with 100 results per page rather than 10, making it easier to look through several pages of results quickly. You should also make sure you’re signed out of Googlemail and that you add &pws=0 to the end of the URL too, which will ensure your results aren’t personalised.

There is an excellent website available if you don’t want to scroll through pages of results manually for each keyword; the brilliant SeoSerp. You can only search for one keyword at a time, but the results seem to be fairly accurate.

If you’re looking to track lots of keywords for several different sites, you might want to consider signing up to MyWebPosition, although you’ll need to pay for the service. The site isn’t too expensive however, and allows you easily track huge numbers of keywords for numerous different URL’s.

Essential Tips For Using The Google Adwords Keyword Selector Tool

Brian — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 07:02:18 +0000

It is important that you know which keyword phrases to use as you begin creating and writing compelling ads for your Google Adwords campaign, so that people can easily find your ads. Google Adwords expert Perry Marshall encourages all Adwords users and pay-per-click managers to make full use of the Google Adwords Keyword Selector Tool when creating each ad. This free resource will allow users to uncover the best keywords in a niche, and may also assist in locating other related phrases for your campaigns, or in your keyword research. Google’s Keyword Tool is very helpful at focusing your efforts if your ads aren’t working; if your ad is only using low volume keywords, there’s a possibility that your Adwords ads won’t be clicked on enough to make your ad profitable.

Here are some additional methods for using Google’s Adwords Keyword Selector Tool to successfully create your Adwords campaign

1. Start with a broad search. Most people use very specific keyword phrases when they first begin conducting research with Adwords, and this might be a mistake because it will typically leave you only with average results. Begin with broad search instead and drill down your results using the ‘synonyms’ tool that offers suggestions and variations as part of the results.

2. Create different ad groups using a set of similar keywords. Try to be certain that you are creating completely new ad groups for each campaign you create, so you can monitor what’s working – and what is not. There is a ‘relevant keywords’ feature built right into the Adwords Keyword Selector Tool (that you can use) that will make it easier for you to narrow down your search.

3. Use ‘negative keywords’. Sometimes optimizing your Google Adwords campaign will involve taking away words that do not work for your market; the Google Adwords tool can be tweaked to stop showing certain words that may not be relevant to your particular niche. For example, if you are selling greeting cards but your basic search keeps showing results for ‘free greeting cards,’ you can eliminate the word ‘free’ by designating it as a negative keyword. The Google Adwords Keyword Selector Tool will now only show you results without the word ‘free.’

4. Use the Site Content feature if you don’t know where to start. Google can spider your website and make keyword suggestions based on the content of your pages. For example, if your website displays info about trends or services in your niche, these might also be good keywords to use in your market. After the search process, you will be given a list of targeted keywords related to these concepts and areas in the search results.

5. Location. Many people fail to realize how important adding a location – whether it’s a town, city or state – to your key term or keyphrase really is. This is especially important if you offer products or services within a particular zone or area; the traffic you can generate from these keywords may be much higher than a general search, and will get you highly targeted, even qualified traffic. Consider adding keyword phrases with location modifiers to figure out what the combinations are for your specific ad campaign.

Marketing with Google Adwords is an effective technique that most websites can use to find more customers. Writing quality Google Ads is one of the most important skills to have when using Adwords – and there are many good training guides available online. .

Simple Tips On Inexpensive Web Design And Marketing

Brian — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:43:10 +0000

The following are some suggestions for those researching efficient web design and marketing:

- Selling Something Direct? Use A Simple Means Of Purchase. An intermediary service like PayPal is perfectly good to begin with. If you have just a few products, their HTML buttons are a good way to test demand. When you make over $1000 a month, acquire your own merchant account.

– Beware The Latest $49/$97/$149 Software. There are a lot of internet marketers who’ve realised that a good way of making cash on the web is to hustle other web entrepreneurs, as there are thousands of them. This usually takes the form of packaging up, in a service or software, a wheeze that was novel six months ago. By the time Joe WebMaestro gets wind of it, it’s on the way out. Study it carefully before plonking down money for it. Look for independent reviews.

– Be First With A New, Popular Good (or a smarter second). MySpace wasn’t the first social networking site, but they did it better. They designed it to be viral. Members could compete to get ‘friends’, and everyone wants new friends, right? Users could put anything they wanted online, even if it looked cr*ppy. Censorship was minimal. Result: Huge popularity, without needing the search engines.

– Beware Of The Guru! There are hordes of semi-famous marketers and their fans out there selling videos, books and courses on how to earn lolly in internet marketing. They are marketing advice on how to do marketing! Nice work if you can get it. The best advice you can get about web marketing is on webmaster discussion boards. Even then, you need to use your own personal noise filter to winnow out the gems from the dross.

– Use A Popular, Inexpensive Web Host. Here are a few filtering criteria: Google PageRank of at least 5. Send them an email or two. See how long it takes to receive a response. They should have a forum (another indication of popularity and customer support). Umpteen features offered (MySQL databases, Cpanel, Fantastico). Recent positive reviews in webmaster message boards. Offers Linux servers (Windows costs more, and offers less). Fee per month can be as little as $10, and still have all the features above.

– Webhost Features. Most geeks prefer Unix. It’s been around longer, and is more stable. Web hosts offering Unix variants like Linux have always been less expensive. They also seem to offer a good deal more of toys. I need SSI (Server Side Includes), SSH (secure Telnet), 10 MySQL databases, Cpanel, PHPMyAdmin and a UK IP number. And you can get this for $15 a month. Things like MySQL databases, Cpanel and SSH access are real stumbling points for many web hosts. If they’re generous with these, you’ve found a rare jewel.

– Submit To The Top Web Directories, like Yahoo and DMOZ, but don’t spend much time or money. Only half a dozen are worth a damn for SEO purposes. You will only get an occasional visitor from these.

– Use Freelances For Jobs You Lack The Skills For. Is your budget tight? Try scriptlance.com or rentacoder.com. The key to acquiring the best work is to a) be as specific as possible as to what you want and b) write your specification in simple, concise terms. Your project will likely be done by somebody who’s native language is not English. Most clients give an inexact specification and receive work they’re displeased with. Pick somebody who’s had a lot of favourable reviews recently. Pay in stages. Use the freelance site’s escrow facility. Don’t expect to acquire more than you coughed up for, and don’t be a cheapskate; if somebody does an effective job, they deserve a bonus, not carping.

I hope these few handy tips will help you in getting handy web design and marketing done simply.

About the author: N. Svengali is an author for web site design consultant UK and UK consolidation loans internet sites in London.

5 Effective Strategies Of Internet Marketing Companies

Brian — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:35:29 +0000

Businesses across the world especially the ones located in the UK can benefit from the five methods internet marketing companies commonly employ as these methods when implemented generates more profits.

Doing business online today can be very profitable, but it’s also quite competitive. If you want to run a business online, then you need to have a deep understanding of internet marketing. You can learn these five strategies on your own. Implementing these strategies, however, is time consuming.

An internet marketing company can save the time you spend to learn to implement the strategies. You can increase your profit by hiring an internet marketing company. For, although there is a cost to using the services of such a company, there is also an inevitable learning curve when trying to do it all yourself. For example, it’s common for businesses new to internet marketing company to run unprofitable advertising campaigns before they hit the mark. If you entrust this job to experts, you can be assured of a good job with less expenditure.

The strategies are as follows:

1. Internet Marketing Company : Target Market

This is sometimes defined as niche marketing. Advertising campaigns and the way they are designed are crucial to your success in internet marketing.

2. Necessity Of Website

Your potential customers should get attracted to your website. You have an option of making your website look simple and professional or loading it up with various videos and graphics. Online marketing relies on having the right website. Your website is equivalent to a store and hence the ambience will determine the number of visitors to your website.

3. Internet Marketing : Testing Advertising Campaigns

This is necessary to find out what is and is not profitable. Just as traditional stores need to learn which items sell and which ads pull in customers, so do website owners need to test products and ad campaigns. There are various processes that you can employ to do this.

4. Importance Of List Of Customers

Collecting your visitors’ names and email addresses is helpful. Collecting customers’ names and email addresses is more important as they may purchase in the future too. You can increase your customer base by focusing on your customer and visitor list. Next strategy follows directly from this strategy.

5. UK Internet Marketing : Email Marketing

It is a good idea to scan the customer’s list and then contact them through email to communicate about your new products. It requires certain protocols, however. For one thing, you have to be sure you are only sending email to people who have given permission or you can be accused of spamming. The emails should have good content and the readers should want to go to the website.

These internet marketing company strategies can help UK businesses establish a presence online and run successful websites.

Start A Membership Site and Bring In The Profits

Brian — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 13:06:09 +0000

Internet marketers today are looking to expand their online income and many have decided to start a membership site. Thanks to the invention of the Internet, millions of entrepreneurs all over the world have been given the opportunity to build their businesses without even having to leave their home or office. Internet technology has made promoting businesses worldwide so much easier. In recent years, the trends in online marketing have had a lot to do with the creation of membership sites.

The success of membership sites can be attributed to the extremely high popularity of online content. People today are very interested in purchasing information that can help them grow their own businesses, and they will eagerly join any membership site that can offer them such products.

Everyday more and more internet users are purchasing some form of online content and it is growing rapidly. This means the online market is wide open for the keen entrepreneur to promote products in the future. If you are a serious internet marketer you should consider building a niche membership site and take advantage of the market.

Regardless of the niche you are in, the great thing about starting a membership site is that they work well in any niche. Whether you want to teach people how to market online, or share with them your secrets to weight loss, there will surely be a large number of potential customers just waiting for you to offer an online content product that they can grab a hold of and use to their advantage. To achieve online marketing success you have to provide information and the right product for your niche.

Building your own membership site does not require a lot of monetary capital, but it does require original content. In fact, the costs are ridiculously low, considering the amount of profit you can earn once your membership site is up and running.

Knowing how to do the technical details is not a problem as you can easily hire or delegate and outsource these issues. In fact you only require the passion for your niche and the desire to succeed if you wish to start a membership site.

Membership sites are an excellent source of repeat income and are just one of the many profitable internet marketing solutions.

Top 10 SEO web developement tools

Doug — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:07:13 +0000

We’ve listed what we think are the best free tools for optimising your website or web page for modern search engines. Here are our top 10.

Top 10 SEO Tool. 1 IWebTool
iWebTool is a website offering a plethora of useful online tools, including a pagerank checker, backlink checker, search engine position checker and keyword suggestion tool to name but a few. Check them out.

Top 10 SEO Tool.2 CopyScape
CopyScape is a search engine dedicated to locating duplicate content on the web. Want to make sure no-one is stealing your content? Simply enter your website/webpage and it will search the internet and report back if it finds any part of your webpage duplicated on another site. A fantastic tool.

Top 10 SEO Tool.3 Google Analytics
Google Analytics makes it easy to improve your results online. Write better ads, strengthen your marketing initiatives, and create higher-converting.

Top 10 SEO Tool.4 Google Rank Checker
This is a great free Google Position Checker tool that will automatically query Google’s search engines. It checks if your URL appears in the first 1000 results for your chosen keywords. If the URL is present, it will output what position it occupies.

Top 10 SEO Tool.5 Meta Tag Analyser
Designed by SeoCentro, this Meta Tag analysis tool helps webmasters analyse their website pages. This search engine optimisation tool analyses not only the Meta Tags but also tries to mimic the same spider technology as the search engines spiders them self! Awesome…

Top 10 SEO Tool.6 Free Keyword Suggestion Tool
This is a great free tool that allows you to take a peak at keywords and phrases that are being search for on the web.

Top 10 SEO Tool.7 SEO Tools – Search Engine Optimisation
This is another great website that offers a plethora of free Search Engine Optimisation tools.

Top 10 SEO Tool.8 SEO Check list
The SEO Check list brought to you by webconfs.com. This one is a must budding SEO beginners. With its unique point scoring check list you will be well on the way to producing a search engine friendly website!

Top 10 SEO Tool.9 SEO Tutorial
Another great guide from webconfs.com. This SEO tutorial will guide you through all the important factors needed to optimise your website for the search engines.

Top 10 SEO Tool.10 Free Google site map generator
phpSitemapNG is a free Google Sitemaps generator written in PHP, but also generates RSS-based, txt-based and HTML-based sitemap files. It will spider your website and also your filesystem (of course, as you prefer). You can download and use it for free, the licence is GPL.

NB: Don’t forget though, if you’re a customer of Pixel Internet, you can use our own free Google Sitemap generator supplied with all Pixel Internet web hosting plans!

If you feel we have left something out, or would like your own SEO web developement tool added to this least, please feel free to leave a message below!