Search
Engine Optimization, Internet Marketing, or any sort of practical,
web-related knowledge has four pillars:
- Passive
learning – through books and courses (such
as this newsletter).
- Experience
– by practicing what you have learnt.
- Active
Learning – interaction with other people in
your field of interest, sharing knowledge and gaining
from their experience.
- Industry
Support – tools that can help you do your work
better.
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An
email course like the one you are reading right now usually
covers a mixture of all four: I talk to you about different
strategies, show you how to use tools to build links or optimize
your web pages, I aim to focus this course by writing about
what you want discussed, and I occasionally tell you about new
tools that you can use to speed up the optimization process.
Today
I'll tell you about two dedicated methods of learning
website promotion and optimization: SEO forums
and SEO tools. Not only are
these resources completely free, they are (and should
be) an essential part of any webmaster looking to build
a serious online business.
There
are several high quality forums to get you right in the
middle of webmasters and online business owners (just
like you) trying to increase their web site traffic, conversion
rates and sales. If you are looking for discussions on
cutting-edge information regarding search
engines, these forums are the place to go.
More
often than not, forum members tend to help out newcomers,
so don't be afraid to participate in
forum conversations and threads – just remember to keep
your posts relevant.
All
the forums listed here have free registration, but some
forums have separate members' only sections as well.
SEO Chat
SEO
Chat is part of the Developer Shed network, one of the
most popular destinations for webmasters on the Internet.
The real strength of SEO Chat is the large collection
of informative articles on search engine
optimization, but because of the site's popularity, the
SEO Chat forums have become increasingly important for
discussions on both the articles on the website as well
as everyday SEO issues.
Visit
the SEO Chat Forums
and tell others about this course. (http://www.seoelite.com/7DaysToMassiveWebsiteTraffic.htm)
The ultimate goal here is to spread the knowledge to everyone,
so tell all your friends.
SearchEngineWatch
Created
by Danny Sullivan, SearchEngineWatch has quickly evolved
into an industry leader in terms of search
engine news. If you are interested in receiving daily
updates on what is happening in the search engine world,
consider signing up for their SearchDay newsletter.
I read it religiously every day, and almost always find
some new resource or information that can help me improve
my business.
The
SearchEngineWatch Forums are the highest rated
within the SEO community, for the simple reason
that so many big name search optimization experts frequent
these forums. While it can be a bit intimidating to jump
headfirst into the unknown, nothing can replace the value
of learning first-hand from webmasters who are facing
the same issues as you.
Visit
the SearchEngineWatch
Forums.
WebmasterWorld
WebmasterWorld
was created by Brett Tabke several years ago, and proudly
holds the highest Alexa ranking for an
SEO / webmaster forum. The sheer volume of members makes
the first experience overwhelming, but if you focus on
the issues that you want to discuss, learn or ask questions
about, you'll find that you can get answers within
minutes of your first post.
WebmasterWorld
also has a paid-membership section, which is less “crowded”
and more frequented by the “pros”. The investment pales
in comparison to the value of advice you will get from
the people in this forum. And of course, with gems like
“26 ways to 15K visitors a day”, WebmasterWorld is unarguably
the sort of forum that should be on your “daily
list”.
Visit
the WebmasterWorld
Forums.
HighRankings
Jill
Whalen's HighRankings forum is highly focused on strategies
designed to achieve the highest possible rankings for
your website. While it is less formal than the previously
mentioned forums, HighRankings gives you street-wise
advice on attaining top rankings, and includes
several useful resources (including a comprehensive guide
on linking strategies).
Visit
the HighRankings
Forums .
Just
four out of thousands of forums might not seem like a
big sample, but these are the best of the best internet
marketing and SEO forums on the Internet today.
But
learning from forums is just one part of the equation.
You also need to know which SEO tools to use in order
to get that edge over your competition.
When
you think of SEO tools, the first thing that comes to
mind is paid-for, powerful programs like SEO Elite. The
fact is, there are many no-cost, small-scale and highly
useful SEO tools available on the Internet. Looking for
keywords? Got it. Looking to check your website's rankings
for particular keywords? Got it. Link popularity? Got
it. Keyword density? Got that as well.
Free
Link Popularity Check
The
folks at Axandra have a useful tool that you can use to
check the link popularity of any number
of websites across several search engines. A must-have
tool to keep a regular check on your websites.
Find
out more about Free
Link Popularity Check.
NicheBot
If
you are looking to do keyword research,
WordTracker is the tool of choice for building huge keyword
lists. But the service comes with a price, and if you
are looking for a free alternative that still packs a
decent punch, NicheBot is the tool you should be using.
It uses both WordTracker (the trial version) and Overture
to generate keyword lists, and pulls data from Google
to give you basic competitor information and search results'
numbers.
NicheBot
also allows you to save and export your
selected keywords, making it the ideal choice for new
webmasters who don't want to invest in a professional
keyword research service like WordTracker.
Visit
NicheBot.
Digital Point
With
an Alexa rank of 525 (as of June 2005), DP is second only
to WebmasterWorld in this article in terms of popularity.
Digital Point boasts a vast array of webmaster and SEO
tools, including keyword
research tools, back
links tools and keyword
position tools. Registration, although free,
is required to use many of these tools. Definitely an
excellent choice for business owners who prefer a hands-on
approach to their search engine marketing campaigns.
Digital
Point also has a vibrant forum community,
which has sprung up around the popularity of the various
tools and services that DP provides.
Visit
Digital Point
Tools and Digital
Point Forums.
SEO
Chat
SEO
Chat is not only about quality, insightful arguments and
a vibrant forum community. They also have an amazing list
of practical webmaster tools that focus
on every small aspect of your SEO needs. Need to check
the PageRank of every search term on Google? Or need an
easy way to generate Meta Tags? One of their best tools
is the Keyword Density tool that analyses a given web
page and returns the keyword density values for all one,
two and three word phrases.
SEO
Chat Tools also includes nifty keyword tools not usually
found elsewhere, such as a tool for generating
spelling mistakes (a significant number of searches
on search engines contain spelling errors) and a tool
for ordering and sorting your keywords list.
Visit
SEO Chat Tools.
SEO
Tools
When
you have a whole web site dedicated to
providing quality SEO tools for free, you know that you
are getting a great deal. SEO Tools betters many of the
‘regular' SEO tools by mixing up the staple tools such
as keyword density and backlink analysis with search engine
spider simulations and similar page comparisons, as well
as that almost forgotten tool for checking your website
in different resolutions (you still do
that, don't you?).
Visit
SEO Tools.
There
are many other excellent SEO tools available for free
on the Internet:
- Good
Keywords – A resource for analyzing your
competition for your primary keywords so
you know what they are doing, and what you need to
do on your own web site to beat them.
- Keyword
Tumbler – An unusual resource that gives you all
possible combinations for each key phrase
in your keyword list. Good for a PPC campaign.
- Webmaster
Toolkit – Another collection of SEO tools targeted
towards the practical and not-so-professional
SEO webmaster.
As
you can see, there are many, many quality SEO resources,
forums and tools available on the Internet for free.
The
question is, what are you going to do about it?
If
you don't participate in forums, pick one of the 4 (5
if you include Digital Point) from the list above and
browse around. Find a topic you want to participate in.
Have a problem you want a peer's opinion on? Register
and make your first post. Just a simple
step towards interacting with the webmaster community
will take you a long way towards helping you build your
business.
Anything
in the SEO tools list that you think you can use? If you
are limited to Overture searches for your keywords, try
using NicheBot, and then take your results to Keyword
Tumbler. How do you manage your website's progress through
the search engines? Take Digital Point or the SEO Chat
tools for a spin.
Whatever
you do, take something away from both
of these lists, and I can guarantee that you will improve
your search engine rankings in a significant way.
Remember...
YOU can use any of these lessons on your own website.
You can send the lessons out to your email list.
You
can even add your affiliate link for SEO Elite, to the
lessons and earn $74 for every person you refer that purchases.
Below
you can sign up for the SEO Elite affiliate program where
you can earn $74 for every referral:
Click
here to sign up for free!
Keep
your eyes peeled for the next lesson, and keep those lesson
suggestions coming!
Brad Callen
Professional SEO
SEO Elite: SEO Software
Get
Your Free Copy of 7 Days To Massive Website Traffic!
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