9.28.2006

Essential Programs For Your Virtual Toolbox

Article Presented by:
Kim Roach, All Rights Reserved


As an online marketer and webmaster, there are a number of tools that you will want in your virtual toolbox. To get you started, I have scoured the net to find some of the best programs to help webmasters improve their sites, their rankings, and their productivity. Best of all, each one of these tools is free. We'll start with one of my favorites.

Good Keywords (http://www.goodkeywords.com)

Good Keywords is a program that allows you to quickly and easily create an extensive list of targeted keywords for your website using Yahoo, Ask, and Overture.

This free tool comes loaded with a link popularity meter, a keyword phrase builder, a misspelled word generator, and a web page explorer tool that will allow you to quickly see what keywords other sites are targeting.

Once you have found your desired keywords, you can group them into keyword sets, which can then be copied into your clipboard.

To find out more about this handy tool, go to http://www.goodkeywords.com.

BackLinks Master (http://www.cleverstat.com/backlinks-software.htm)

It is a well-known fact that search engines use link popularity as one of their top ranking factors.

However, quality is much more important than quantity when obtaining inbound links. In addition, many of the search engines place importance on the use of relevant anchor text.

With a tool known as Backlinks Master, you can monitor your link popularity in Google, Yahoo, and MSN. This tool finds direct links, JavaScript links, and others. In addition, you will be shown the anchor text and link type that others have used to link to you.

To start taking control of your link popularity, go to http://www.cleverstat.com/backlinks-software.htm

SEOpen (http://seopen.com/firefox-extension/index.php)

SEOpen is a Firefox extension that provides numerous SEO tools at the click of a mouse. All of its features can be easily accessed by right-clicking on a web page.

Using this tool, you can examine your competitors:

  • Yahoo Backlinks
  • Pages in Yahoo Index
  • Google Backlinks
  • Google Cache
  • Pages in Google index
  • Google Related
  • PageRank Check
  • MSN Backlinks
  • Pages in MSN Index
  • Alexa Overview
  • Alexa Traffic
  • Alexa Related
  • Alexa Backlinks
  • "Mass Check" multiple sources at once
  • Check DMOZ Inclusion
  • Keyword Density
  • Page Size Checker
  • HTML Validator
  • Server Header Viewer
  • Wayback Machine
  • Check robots.txt
  • Whois Info

    To quickly and easily perform competitor analysis, check out http://seopen.com/firefox-extension/index.php

    Active Web Reader Customizer (http://www.deskshare.com/awrc.aspx)

    RSS is becoming one of the best ways to increase your online exposure. With the upcoming release of Windows Vista and Internet Explorer 7, RSS usage is expected to rise significantly. However, RSS is also new enough that you can use this technology to create an effective viral marketing campaign.

    You can do this by distributing your own RSS aggregator. If your RSS aggregator becomes popular, your brand could become very well known on the Internet.

    With the Active Web Reader Customizer, you can recommend and distribute an RSS reader that is preloaded with your feeds and web pages. By doing this, you are giving your visitor additional value and increasing your brand exposure at the same time.

    Start creating your very own customized RSS reader at http://www.deskshare.com/awrc.aspx

    RSS Wizard (http://www.extralabs.net/rss-wizard.htm)

    We've talked about the wonderful benefits of promoting an RSS feed, but how do you actually create one. Fortunately, you don't have to be a techie to create your very own RSS feed. All you need is a tool like RSS Wizard.

    This tool will automatically convert almost any web page into an RSS feed. With the RSS Wizard, you can create, edit and publish an unlimited number of RSS channels.

    To start creating your own RSS feeds, go to http://www.extralabs.net/rss-wizard.htm .

    FeedDigest (http://www.feeddigest.com)

    Not only can you create RSS feeds for your own website, but you can also incorporate other peoples' RSS feeds into your site to increase your publishing power, deliver value to your readers, and ensure that your website is constantly up-to-date and changing.

    In fact, with a tool called FeedDigest, you can mix multiple feeds into a single feed to post on your website.

    By doing this, you will be able to deliver your visitors a unique mix of automatically updating content.

    You could also create a news dashboard to syndicate the latest news on any topic. The possibilities are unlimited. You could create a feed that combined forum posts, news headlines, Ebay items, Digg posts, Flickr photos and even podcasts all rolled into one, constantly updating stream of related content.

    To start creating your own customized RSS feeds, go to http://www.feeddigest.com.

    MailWasher (http://oss.firetrust.com/home/)

    If you're like most online marketers, you are probably receiving a flood of spam in your inbox. Fortunately, there is a free tool that will help remedy your spam problems.

    This software is known as MailWasher and it helps you eliminate your unwanted email, thus allowing you to have greater productivity. Best of all, this increased productivity ultimately leads to increased revenues.

    Start increasing your own productivity at http://oss.firetrust.com/home/

    Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ )

    Audacity is an open source program that allows you to record live audio, edit audio files, cut, copy, slice and mix sounds together.

    Whether you are looking to record interviews, create your own podcasts, or edit your audio files, Audacity is a great solution.

    Check it out at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

    CamStudio (http://www.camstudio.org)

    CamStudio is a great piece of software for creating screen capture videos. This software records screen activity from the Windows desktop and then turns it into standard AVI movie files.

    In fact, CamStudio can then convert these AVI files into bandwidth-friendly Streaming Flash Videos (SWFs) with its built-in SWF Producer.

    These are great for creating info products, video tutorials, and software demonstrations. In terms of quality and price, there is simply no better solution for Screen Cam software.

    Try it out at http://www.camstudio.org


    About the Author:
    Kim Roach is a staff writer and editor for the SiteProNews & SEO-News newsletters. You can also find additional tips and news on webmaster and SEO topics by Kim at the SiteProNews blog (http://blog.sitepronews.com/). Kim's email is: kim @ seo-news.com

    This article may be freely distributed without modification and provided that the copyright notice and author information remain intact.


  •