SEO Tools & Resources

"Internet Marketing Made Easy" with links to SEO tools, internet marketing tools and resources

If you scroll down the page, you'll see that there are a LOT of elements that go into planning and executing your internet marketing. Aaron Wall developed the original version of this task list as proof positive that it's not a DIY project, but didn't include the links to the internet marketing tools and resources cited.

Far be it from us to insist on doing ALL the work ourselves, so here is a handy list of SEO tips, marketing tasks, things to think about AND tons of internet marketing tools and online resources that will get you down the road. There's even a section on free SEO tools...naturally, with links to Aaron's invaluable book and site.

Here is one of OUR top SEO tips: when you start doing keyword research, please use two or three tools and compare your results. Free SEO tools can have limited utility, and each keyword tool has its issues, such as search volumes being inflated by SEO practitioners, or our friends at WordTracker eliminating any term that doesn't have at least 60 searches per month. Use your common sense. If very similar terms have identical, fairly high search volumes, or if the phrase doesn't sound like a person would actually type that in, you're well advised to cross-check, or even discount the volume substantially.

If you would like to keep current on issues for marketers doing search marketing, we invite you to subscribe to RefreshWeb's blog on B2B search marketing.

CUSTOMER FEEDBACK

Past customer interactions

People who bought

Online surveys
Phone calls
Email interactions

People who did not buy

Online survey
Trade show feedback

Server log files

Learn what you already rank for
Find common root keywords; e.g. Sarbanes Oxley, sox
Find common modifiers, e.g. software, solution, compliance, vendor
Find keywords with limited competition relative to their value; "sox compliance" has the best volume of any of these terms, but no competitor is optimized for this term

Analytics

Conversion tracking

Keywords and the buying cycle

Understanding the buying cycle

create brand evangelists
high value of branded keywords
conversion-oriented keywords

what keywords convert poorly

words with another meaning
words with no commercial intent

valuable modifiers
bad modifiers (eg, free, cheap)

MARKET RESEARCH

Paid search campaigns

Google adSense

Find popular pages using placement reports
Use site targeting to estimate traffic volumes

Google AdWords

Find new keywords with search query performance reports
Use market feedback to refine campaign

Yahoo Search Marketing
MSN adCenter

Keyword research tools

Google AdWords Keyword Tool - for keywords or URLs

Google AdWords Traffic Estimator
Google Suggest
Google Sets - create sets of items from a few examples

Competitive research tools

Compete

Search analytics - by industry or URL

SpyFu

Organic and paid search

KeyCompete

Paid search

SEO Digger
SEO Book

Organic search

UrlTrends
SEO for Firefox www.topositionseo.com

Free SEO Tools

Search Analytics Tools - establish your marketing goals and establish a baseline for where you are right now.
Keyword Research Tools - discover the keywords your customers are searching for.
Competitive Research Tools - see what keywords your competitors are targeting.
PPC Tools - buy important keywords and track the results to understand how well they convert, which helps you focus your organic SEO strategy.
Link Analysis Tools - start building your link profile and track your progress compared to competing websites.
Search Engine Ranking Checkers - determine how effective your marketing is by watching your search engine rankings improve.