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Market Intelligence and SEO Tools

12 2008 Thursday

By Jeffrey Smith in Featured

Search engine optimization (SEO) relies heavily on market intelligence the availability of information in order to gauge valid assessments for strategic implementation. Market intelligence and SEO are interdependent in this fashion.

Take keyword research for example, if the tools you are using are common off the shelf or generic (like Wordtracker, Trellian, Wordze, etc.), the depth and scope of the information available for which keywords to optimize will always fall short compared to a superior method for extracting proven keywords with relevant continuity to your business.

Millions of dollars are wasted daily from websites using ineffective market data to based strategic assumptions. From the mom and pop shop spending more on their PPC budgets than they can afford to enterprise level companies who think of PPC as branding and spend more than people make in a year every day to drive traffic to their landing pages.

The problem is, that only the tip of the iceberg is available for research and strategic planning, unless your willing to pay the hefty fee to gain access to the more uncommon (privileged) information. There are two facets that in my opinion fall short when it comes to gauging the size or effectiveness of the market (keyword research and traffic volume).

Micheal Martinez from SEO Theory made a great point on his blog about real search market share and how the data is aggregated is not accurate for determining the amount of traffic or exposure a web property receives.

It is the lack of accurate data that leaves many businesses and webmasters in the dark about which keywords will actually convert, which markets have the highest yields and if they are worth the time to market via optimization. The modus operandi at present for most is to test the results from heuristic trial and error (scraping server logs, or tediously reviewing analytics data for gems) then reapply that data through altering or creating additional content or links to offset the gap.

There are some common tools available on the market like SEM Rush (the creators or SEO Digger) SEO Quake, however based on the availability of data, they go deeper than most commercial tools but still have a limited scope and ability to parse beyond topical algorithms of link weight and aggregated PPC data. This is a great start in the right direction, but ultimately it just leaves people hungry for more (information).

True resources and SEO Tools are held close to the chest and rightfully so. By understanding the overlapping market segments, their top performing keywords as well as the keywords with the highest conversion and lowest competition (due to lack of exposure) you have a distinct advantage over 90% of the rest of the competition in your industry.

Not to suggest that only expensive tools are worth their weight in SEO, you can aggregate a number of commercial SEO tools and put them to good use with the right mindset. For example, Jordan Kasteler wrote a great post on the Search Engine People blog about 5 SEO tools you might be missing that if harness properly can create vast cross sections of market intelligence for SEO purposes.

SEO tools like a sword are only as powerful as the one wielding them, having access to information and failing to grasp the correlations is almost like not having the information at all. As the market matures, certain advances will be made to common consumption, but in the meantime, most will have to make due or commission their own private tools to be built.

I have been fortunate enough to beta test some SEO Tools that can accomplish more in 3 minutes than weeks or months of research would conclude otherwise. Market intelligence like this do exist (they are private) or have a hefty fee attached to keep only those intent on maximizing the said information to the fullest extent.

What kinds of SEO tools for market intelligence would you like to see that either make mundane process’s easier or eliminate aggregating data from multiple sources? Drop a comment below, you never know what could develop as a result…

Jeffrey Smith is an active internet marketing optimization strategist, consultant and the founder of Seo Design Solutions Seo Company http://www.seodesignsolutions.com. He has actively been involved in internet marketing since 1995 and brings a wealth of collective experiences and fresh marketing strategies to individuals involved in online business.

The SEO Workshop

09 2008 Thursday

By Charles W. Clark III in Featured

Much has been written about the nuances of achieving high search engine ranking using SEO tricks and techniques. The web is littered with countless articles, discussions, and debates regarding the most intricate SEO strategies and their perceived interpretation by the major search engines. But an effective SEO campaign is more than the application of these philosophies, it is a comprehensive process that manages, measures, and controls the entire SEO initiative and, when done properly, yielding the desired results (see http://www.intsolgrp.com results returned by Google search for terms custom business software and custom ecommerce software), which brings us to the process, what I call the SEO workshop.

5 Free Must Have SEO Tools

07 2008 Sunday

By Titus-Hoskins in Featured

Let’s face it, we all want higher
rankings for our targeted keywords.
So here are 5 Free SEO Tools you can
use to help you achieve those rankings…

5 Free Must Have SEO Tools

Unless you go the PPC route and pay for your
traffic, SEO or Search Engine Optimization will
play a major role in the success or failure of
your website. Therefore, it’s in your best interest
as a webmaster to learn everything you can about
SEO and use the right SEO tools to achieve an
advantage over your competition.

Needless to say, SEO or getting high rankings
for your keywords is extremely competitive,
especially for popular lucrative keyword phrases
which bring in the big bucks. You must be at the
top of your game if you want to compete.

One important factor in winning the SEO battle
is using the right SEO software or tools. Major
online companies use expensive software, hire
SEO firms and have whole departments devoted
entirely to search engine marketing - so you
know your work is cut out for you.

You’re probably asking yourself how can the little
guy compete against such stiff competition? Well,
it is not as difficult as you might think or believe.
For starters, you can use some simple SEO tools
which will help give you a slight advantage if you
use them properly.

Surprisingly, all of these SEO tools are free and
any webmaster can take advantage of them in their
ongoing SEO endeavors. I believe all webmasters must
learn and master SEO in order to succeed online or
get someone else to do it for them.

Over the years I have built up a passable knowledge
of SEO due mainly from running 9 or 10 sites and working
as a full-time online affiliate marketer. My livelihood
depends on me achieving high rankings for my lucrative
keywords in the search engines, mainly in Google. Also the
daily running of two websites on Internet Marketing Tools
has played a small part as well!

Along the way I have used countless SEO tactics and
tools to try to increase my keyword rankings. Here’s
a short list of my most helpful Free SEO tools that
I use on a daily basis in the running of my websites:

1. SEO Book Keyword Research Tool

http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/

This tells how many searches are made each day
for my targeted keywords. Invaluable information
to have for Search Engine Marketing and for choosing
your keywords. Most experts suggest you go for the
mid to low range keywords if you’re just starting out
and targeting long tail keywords (three or four words)
yields the best returns.

2. Detecting Online Commercial Intention

http://adlab.msn.com/Online-Commercial-Intention/Default.aspx

This MSN tool tells me the probability (percentage)
someone clicking my chosen keywords is likely to buy.
Another great tool for picking keywords if you’re trying
to earn revenue from your sites. Higher the percentage,
the more likely you will make a sale or earn revenue.

3. SeoQuake for Mozilla Firefox

http://www.seoquake.com

This is an addon for Firefox and gives you
invaluable SEO information on any site you’re
viewing. All the important info is here:
Google PageRank, Number of Links, Traffic Rank,
Whois, Keyword Density, NoFollow links… used
in conjunction with Firefox this tool will prove
invaluable.

4. Google Alerts

http://www.google.com/alerts

This is a great SEO tool if you use it to track
and build your links. Just create Google Alerts
for all your major keyword phrases and Google will
keep you updated on current links being formed/indexed
on your keywords. Also great for tracking articles,
urls, competitors… and staying up-to-date in your
niche.

5. WordPress

http://www.wordpress.com

This free blogging software lets you place very
SEO friendly blogs on your sites. Social media,
blogging, tags, RSS feeds… are becoming increasingly
important for online success so you must get your
sites into this whole mix in order to compete.
WordPress is a valuable SEO tool for improving
your keyword rankings. Blogger and Bloglines
are other blogging alternatives you can use.

I use many more SEO tools but these are the top five.
Try some of these handy tools and see if they can
improve your own keyword rankings like they did mine.
No harm in trying and you may be pleasantly surprised
at the results.