Running a consulting business can be costly when many different tools are required to get the job done, and we all know that using the right tool makes all the differenece in the world.
In our business we are lucky because free Internet marketing tools make great link bait for many search engine specialists, and as a result there are a lot to choose from. Cindy Turrietta of Affordable Search Engine Ranking and Ginette Degner with Affiliate Idea Factory will be going over some of their favorites and explaining how they use them.
Interview
Recorded:
December 14, 2007
Segment 1; Segment
2; Segment
3; Segment 4
We
invite your comments, questions, feedback and
suggestions
Free Keyword Research Tools |
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Free Web 2.0 Tools |
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Free Link Building and Link Checking Tools |
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Sites with Various Free Search Marketing Tools |
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Websites with Multiple SEM Tools Referenced
Search Engine Tools from oyoy.eu
SEO Toolset from The webconfs.com
LinkVendor Professional SEO Tools
Free Search Engine Tools from SEOMasters Solutions
SEO Tools from SEOChat.com
SEO Tool Chest from WebSEODesign.com
Free Internet Marketing Tools Summary with all Links below
Segment One
Ginette Degner with AffiliateIdeaFactory.com has been in the search marketing business since 1993.
Ginette did email marketing in the beginning and is now a Program Manager at CowaBunga.
When using internet marketing tools, it is important to have accurate, up-to-date tools since things change quickly.
There are a few keyword research tools available that help determine what people are searching for related to a product or service or other topics. However, the keyword research tools need to be taken with a grain of salt because nothing is perfect and the web is in a constant state of change. A good rule of thumb is to establish a benchmark and use the same method over and over to set a base line.
WordTracker and Keyword Discovery have become the industry standard for keyword research.
WordTracker, http://www.wordtracker.com, offers a free version of the tool but it uses only a small portion of their database. WordTracker can be overwhelming to use and can be complicated. A recommended approach is to look at these tools and determine which ones you like the best.
Keyword Discovery, http://www.keyworddiscovery.com, came out a few years ago and queries different databases but the results from WordTracker and Keyword Discovery are fairly similar. The numbers are a little different, for example, Keyword Discovery pulls from larger databases so their overall numbers are larger. All in all, the results are similar.
These tools query over 180 different search engines, worldwide. Consider the implications of usage outside of the United States, if applicable. Also, consider context of word usage. Example, “football” is a term that describes “soccer” outside of the U.S..
Keyword Density Analyzer, http://tool.motoricerca.info/keyword-density.phtml, calculates the word density on the web page. This tool helps with competitive research and gives insight into particular words used on a page.
Another handy tool that generates typos for words (because people do not spell words correctly in their searches) is SEO Book, http://tools.seobook.com/spelling/keywords-typos.cgi
The Permutator, http://www.boxersoftware.com/thepermutator.htm, is a keyword phrase generator offered in a free evaluation version. Be sure to watch the training video to understand how it’s used and how it works.
When using these tools, consider your goal - are you doing SEO or PPC or Affiliate Marketing? What tool is best for your needs?
Del.icio.us, http://del.icio.us, is a great tool for keeping track of your bookmarks and favorites across the web. And you can share your Del.icio.us page with others.
Another Keyword Generator can be found at http://www.mytrashmail.com/keyword_generator.aspx
A helpful blog format interface is Keyword Workshop, http://www.keywordworkshop.com. This site has information about all the keyword tools, how to use them and when to use them. This site is a great place to start for keyword research.
Digital Point, http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/keywords, offers a free keyword tracker that shows the performance of a keyword or keyword phrase.
Search engines also have keyword research tools. Adwords.google.com has a keyword tool, for example. Google Labs is another place to review for other tools.
When doing in-depth keyword research, look at keywords that competitors are using and review the site logs.
Segment Two
Gignette Digner at AffliateIdeaFactory.com reviews Web 2.0 programs and tools.
Free Web 2.0 Tools can be defined as interactive tools that use audio, video to help you interact with users online.
WordPress is a free blog interface tool. This tool offers many modules and templates that are easy to use.
There are two versions of WordPress. One version can be found at http://wordpress.com. This is for users that want WordPress to host their blog. This hosted version results in having the phrase “wordpress” included in the blog’s web address.
The second version can be found at http://wordpress.org. WordPress.org is a downloadable version of the blogging software enabling users to host their blog themselves under their own URL. Updating the non-hosted version (wordpress.org) can be challenging so be aware of the needs for hosting your own blog.
In the world of Content Management Systems, Drupal, http://drupal.org, is gaining in popularity. – Drupal is free software that allows users to easily publish and manage content on a website. Drupal is loaded with tools such as polls, message boards, calendars, and more. For more information, go to YouTube.com and type in ““Drupal tutorial” for more info and video tutorials. Warning, the language they use is not in layman’s terms!
Ping-0-Matic, http://pingomatic.com, is a free tool that updates search engines when your blog has new content. WordPress has this built in, but it needs to be activated. Ping-O-Matic will send your blog URL to the search engines.
FeedBurner, http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/home, provides media distribution for blogs and RSS feeds. The company was recently bought by Google. Feedburner has lots of great free stuff and they also have a paid version. Feedburner will track statistics for your website, including reach.
Audacity, http://audacity.sourceforge.net, is a free audio editor and recorder. It allows the export of MP3 files and has a lot of plug in’s for effects and filters.
Mochila, http://marketplace.mochila.com/login, offers content to build and stock websites. Users can also get paid for showing their content on a website. It functions like a feed for channels of content to populate a website.
Segment Three
In this segment we’re talking about links, link building tools and other free tools that are related to links.
Valid Rank, http://www.validrank.com, is a tool that checks authenticity of your Page Rank and other important information. When link building you want to ensure the pages linking to your site are not using no-follow tags. Valid Rank’s Fastest Backlink Checker Tool, http://www.validrank.com/pages/backlinks-checker.php, helps you determine how many websites are linking back to your site. It shows page rank and no-follow tags, and outbound links. It lets you see the status on each page to ensure there are not any no-follow tags. Valid Rank also has some additional tools available.
Xenu, http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/Xenu_Link_Sleuth/xenulink.html, is a link sleuth that checks for broken links, frames and other website issues. This can help you evaluate your site links.
SEO Elite, http://www.seoelite.com/index1.htm, checks links and is a great tool but is not free.
GSiteCrawler, http://gsitecrawler.com, will show website errors as well, including help generate a sitemap file. This has many tools, including a link analyzer. Has a free and paid version.
WebCEO, http://www.webceo.com/index.htm, has many tools, including a link analyzer.
W3C, http://www.w3.org, has a validator tool to check links. However, some of the results returned from these tools can be confusing. The browser type can affect the results. That said, this is a credible source and any results should be carefully considered.
CursorArts, http://www.cursorarts.com/ca_if.html, helps for bookmarking favorites because an icon replaces the Internet Explorer “E” in the menu. Icon Forge puts an icon in place of the “E” and makes it memorable. Easy to use and can make your site easier for people to find.
Some of these tools are affordable to buy with low annual fees.
Segment Four
Now we’re talking about websites that feature multiple free tools.
WebSEO Design, http://webseodesign.com, has a wealth of information. Has reviews of the various tools including, link analysis tools, web page analysis, keyword selection and research, specialty tools.
LinkHarvester, http://www.linkhounds.com/link-harvester, will look at Class C links.
Google’s webmaster tools are handy, go to Google Labs, http://labs.google.com.
Digital Point, http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/.com/tools has a great deal of information. They even have a page rank toolbar for Mac systems.
Ranks.nl/tools, http://www.ranks.nl/tools, has been around for a long time, is useful and it’s free. Has a tool that will validate an email address to see if it’s valid or not. Also useful is their keyword density and prominence tool. There is a tool that can compare two files to check the differences, handy for checking for duplicate content. Also use CopyScape, http://www.copyscape.com, for this purpose.
SEOBook, http://www.seobook.com, is another helpful site. SEOBook has lots of free tools including, keyword suggestion, analytics, and competitive research on this site.
WebConfs, http://www.webconfs.com, has many great tools as well. This site has a page checker, search engine spider simulator to check pages as the spiders see them. They also have an anchor text link analysis, and a tool to check potential link price analysis.
Direct Impact Now, http://www.directimpactnow.com, has other handy tools as well.
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