Some of Our Favorite Tools for Search Marketing
Tools to Find Links
Getting links from powerful websites will help you in search results, but remember to aim for quality, rather than quantity:
How to find Juicy Links – SEOMoz offers a “Juicy Link Finder” tool that will recommend sites that show you phrases that need to improve your search engine rankings.
How to Assess the Strength of Your Incoming Links – Link Diagnosis gives you an in-depth analysis of links that point to your website; the information includes the anchor text of the link and the estimated strength of the link.
Diigo is not so much a tool to find links, but a tool to save (bookmark), share and annotate your website (especially places you have links). My favorite feature is that it lets you create a private group to collaborate with (your coworkers, for example.)
Tools to Find Stolen Materials
You have worked hard to find photography that shows off your area and you have written keyword rich content. But how can you know if someone has taken it and used it on their website? Not only is it poor form to have duplicate content, but it can possibly affect your search rankings. Use these tools to find stolen or duplicate content and photos:
How to Find Stolen Images or Image Duplication – TinEye
How to Track Duplicate Content or Stolen Content – Copyscape
How to Watermark Your Images – Picmarkr
Digimac and DMCA and Copysentry offer image and text tracking tools.
Tools to Track Your Competitors
Wanting to know what your competition is up to is a no-brainer. Chances are, they are keeping an eye on you as well. You can see how your competitors are ranking with the search engines by using these tools:
How to Track Your Competitors in Search Engines – SEMRush
Use Google Alerts receive notifications about new mentions that Google has found; you can use these notifications to track both your own website and your competitors’ websites.
Tools for Keyword Research
If you don’t know what phrases your customers are using to find your product, how do you know what to words to optimize on your website? Keyword research is the basis of search marketing, and by using multiple tools, you will be able to make smart decisions for a strategic search marketing plan. Here are some great tool:
How to Research Regional and Season Keyword Phrase Trends – Google Insights to Search
How to Check Your Search Rankings – ExactFactor
Keyword Research Tool – MSN AdCenter Labs Keyword Forecast Tool
Keyword Research Tool - SEMRush
Tools for Better Analytics
BlizzardTracker to benchmark your performance versus that of other similar sites.
Google URL Builder for adding campaign tags to links for enhanced tracking and analytics
Google URL Shortener for shortening long URLs
Paditrack is a great tool for creating and analyzing conversion funnels using your Google Analytics data.
Tools for Website Design
Developing and designing a website takes planning, testing, and then re-testing until you get it right. Use these tools create a user friendly website design that will convert visits into sales:
How to Visualize Visitor Behavior – CrazyEgg
Top-Notch Visitor Behavior Visualizer – Clicktale this even creates videos of users moving through your website. Very compelling!
Create Better Color Schemes for Your Website – Kuler by Adobe
Tools for Making and Distributing Videos
How to Distribute Online Videos Easily – Tubemogul
Quick and Easy Videos for Your Website – Windows Movie Maker and Slideroll
Tools for Analyzing Your Website
Page speed matters, check your speed with Google’s Page Speed Online Tool
Find Broken Links on Your Website – Xenu
Create Sitemaps and Organize your SEO Elements – GSiteCrawler
Tools for Email Marketing
Email Center Pro helps you manage you inbound and outbound emails in a team environment.
PadiAct lets you easily add little pop-ups and slide-ins to your website; these will ask visitors to subscribe to your email newsletter.
Miscellaneous Tools
Word Clouds are just fun. Use this tool to create your own word could from your website or a site with a RSS feed: How to Create Word Clouds – Wordle
After The Deadline – A spelling and grammar tool
It is well known that the power of TripAdvisor and reviews is huge, but did you know that there is a widget that will help hoteliers manage and optimize their information? There is! And you can learn about it here: TripAdvisor Review Widgets for Your Hotel Website
What can’t Google do? Google Voice offers a unique Google number that will ring to whichever phone you choose: your home, your office, your cell, or all at once! There are thousands of hundreds features and benefits, find more here: How to Get a Personal Phone Number and a Powerful Control Panel from Google
