Free Traffic Getting SEO Plugin
August 30, 2009
I got an offer of a free SEO plugin, and thought I’d try it out on a new, not-yet-launched site and see what it does.
The plugin is called Free Traffic Getting SEO Plugin for WP. Once you’ve installed it on your site, it recommends the best plugins to download for SEO purposes. (It’s so easy to add plugins with the latest versions of WordPress – you just click on “add new” under Plugins in the Admin panel, type in the name of the plugin you want, and install it.)
The cool thing for a lot of non-SEO people, besides the guidance on plugins, is that it will then configure all the plugins’ settings for best SEO results. This is great if you’re not sure which ones to use and then how to set them up properly.
I already have everything it recommended on all my sites, with the correct settings, with one notable exception. It was a plugin I didn’t know about and it’s a good one. (Nope, not gonna tell you! You’ll have to download Jeff Johnson’s plugin and see for yourself.)
This plugin certainly does no harm to a blog or site, and can be quite helpful, so I definitely recommend it. There’s no malware, or secret settings that send your Adsense money to him, nothing like that. If for some reason you don’t like the settings you can change one or set everything back the way it was.
To get the plugin you have to join Jeff’s newsletter. I’m happy to report I haven’t been inundated with emails, which happens sometimes when I sign up for something. Instead, he promises emails over the next few weeks with tutorials and more free tools. I’m looking forward to seeing what he has to offer. Sometimes just one tip can make all the difference in how well a web site ranks and draws traffic.
I don’t recommend things lightly, and I’m pretty cynical about the myriad offers online. But this is one that could be helpful to you, it’s free, and it does no harm.
Speaking of newsletters, if you haven’t subscribed yet, be sure to subscribe to mine right away. I’m preparing my first newsletter, and I’m including a really good SEO tip that helped one person get to the #1 position on Google for a very nice keyword phrase.
10 SEO Tools You Should Be Using
August 30, 2009
I use many tools in my business, to track sites, analyze competition, and of course, to determine keywords. Most of the SEO tools I use are freely available online.
Today I came across a helpful listing of some of the best tools available – Search Marketers’ Toolkit – 60 links you need to know by Jeff Woelker.
A few of my favorites are listed below, but really, you should head over to his post for the complete list.
Browser Tools
- SEOBook Firefox SEO Plug-in
Great for checking out vital info about sites you’re analyzing - SEO Quake
Powerful addon for Firefox – you’ll get more info than you need about web sites - Site Link Checker
Analyze outbound links and anchor text - Yahoo Link Checker
Review your own or a competitor’s inventory of backlinks - Dave Naylor’s Search Tools
The Keyword Density Tool also shows the server header code geolocation, link ratio, and external follow links
Keyword Research Tools
- Google Keyword Tool
My main resource! - Google Insights for Search
This tool helps you find keywords you may not have considered in the first go-round - Google Trends
Find out what people are looking for - Keyword Spy
Paid resource but you can get a some info free
Analytics
- Google Analytics
Awesome free service. Don’t let it overwhelm you – spend some time exploring.
Then of course, there’s Bing.
Bing Goes the Internet
August 30, 2009
Nooooo. I can’t believe I am doing this. I don’t want to talk about it any more. But Bing just will not quit.
Microsft held a Bing Jingle contest on Google’s YouTube. I don’t know how many entries there were… maybe this was the only one?
No Flaming Figgy Puddings on Facebook Fan Pages
August 30, 2009
I’ve been working on pimping out the Buzz Marketing Pros fan page on Facebook. It’s not exactly a quick fix, I can tell you that, and I haven’t been able to make it particularly fancy, unless I’ve missed an awesome app to help me out with that.
You do have a Facebook fan page for your business, right? Of course you do - you wouldn’t miss out on that opportunity! It’s become kind of like a social media round robin – Site to Blog to LinkedIn to Facebook to Twitter to Flickr to Site and so on, not necessarily in that order, but you’ve gotta have them all.
I haven’t utilized Flickr since it’s kinda hard to take pictures of SEO that anybody actually wants to look at. And I have a really hard time thinking of interesting SEO tidbits to tweet, since I don’t like to give away my “secrets.” I like LinkedIn for the networking aspect. I love my somewhat recently neglected Diva blog, and I’ve been busy adding Portfolio and Case Studies pages to the Buzz Marketing Pros site.
That brings me right back around to the Facebook fan page. It’s considered an important aspect of any online marketing effort right now, and you don’t need to throw flaming figgy puddings at your friends and clients, or watch a gift egg hatch to see what you got. Instead, the idea is to make it replete with photos, videos, interesting comments and such. After that your mission is to get as many fans as you possibly can.
If you’ve got a business that lends itself to fun and interesting events or products, you’ve got an edge. If your business is somewhat boring to others, like SEO and online marketing can be, at least it’s there and indexing on Google, pointing to your web site and all that lovely stuff.
If you haven’t gone there yet, here are a couple of links to help you set up and fix up your Facebook business page:
8 Essential Apps for Your Brand’s Facebook Page
How to Create a Custom Facebook Fan Page
Tags: facebook fan pages, online marketing, seo
When You Need Resources Visit Mashable
August 30, 2009
Mashable has become one of my favorite web sites. No matter what I’m looking for, I can usually find some pretty amazing resources.
Here’s a random list of 10 things you can find on Mashable:
- Find awesome WordPress themes and the best plugins to go along with them.
- See the future of the Internet in Google Wave – it’s amazing!
- Follow comedians on Twitter, and possibly improve your joke inventory.
- Find free games for your iPhone.
- Organize your life with these 100 tips.
- Find out where to get great deals online, including cheap travel accommodations and air travel..
- Get 120 resources for bloggers.
- Find a job on Twitter.
- Get 16 great music add-ons for Firefox
- Learn how to build your company’s profile on LinkedIn.
