OK, so we’re in part 3 of this SEO series. The first 2 parts were the “what”
and this is all about “how to” or at least, the tools I use for making this happen.
As a quick recap, SEO is all about getting great rankings in the search engines,
which in turn drive traffic to you. You will then need to build your list with that
traffic and start email marketing.
Those are your 3, and only 3, pillars to succeed in internet marketing – Traffic,
building your list, email marketing.
Focus on them and you’ll be well on your way to success in this industry.
Move away from these 3 at your own risk.
You might make it, you might not, but you’ll be wasting you’re time trying to
create something new, when those 3 things are PROVEN to make you succeed.
I think it’s a no brainer which route to go, but hey, it’s your choice.
Got it? Right! Let’s keep moving along.
I’ve compiled a list of the tools I use. Stuff which saves time, money and
frustration. Stuff that I had no idea existed and once I found them I never
stopped using them.
I started this list with SEO specifically in mind, but then I figured I’ll just
go ahead and list all of the good stuff for you in one place.
And just so you’ll know, most of the tools I use are free.
If you have other great tools to share, please add them in the comments.
Maybe I’ll add them to my main list if I start using them.
Ready? Here goes:
Jeff Johnson’s plugin – puts traffic building plugins on your blog, and tweaks them. Well worth the optin in my opinion. I also suggest you head over to evan’s blog if you want to learn how to tweak some of the main plugins yourself
Angela’s backlinks – the heart and soul of good SEO are backlinks. And no one shows you how to get very high quality backlinks better than Angela
Traffic Travis – a complete SEO analyzing tool. It even shows you what you need to do for your page specifically to rank high, plus a million other things. Amazing stuff
Hostmonster – the best hosting online in my opinion, and one of the cheapest. You only need one account for anything you’ll ever do online. I love it’s options and value so much I have a blog post all about it which you can read here
Google analytics – everything online is driven by analytics and Google gives you great tools that are super easy. A must have
Gimp – it takes some getting used to but it’s got all of the functionality you’ll ever need graphic-wise
Open Office – the free alternative to Microsoft office. It does it all and I use it’s pdf capabilities to generate awesome pdf ebooks with a click of a button
Stock Exchange – a free resource of quality stock photos that you can use in your ebooks, on your webpages…
The other alternative is going to flickr.com and under the correct license they’ll have millions of photos you can use freely. Just make sure you’re taking them with the correct license that permits you to use them as you wish
Tubemogul – created a nifty little video and want it syndicated all over the web? Then this is the free tool for you
Animoto – this one’s fun. Create your own videos with a professional look and a beat in minutes. I actually use it for personal use as well, creating stunning videos for my family. Believe me, this one will put a smile on your face instantly. Here’s the 25 things about me video I made that everyone loved (with help from animoto of course)
Twitter Marketer Pro – automates everything twitter. It will find relevant things and tweet about them, it will grow your follower list by thousands on autopilot, it will add promotional tweets to the mix with your affiliate links in them. It does it all and it’s hands free. WOW is all I can say
Camstudio – for those slide presentation sort of videos, here’s a great tool for capturing your screen and voice
Michael Ottman – he’s a great graphic designer, a fellow Alex Jeffreys student and he’s cheap (I mean his prices are, not his attitude)
DimDim – webconferencing on a small scale
Free Conference Call – they do a lot of stuff, from giving you a free conference call line to having your conference recorded and emailed to you as an mp3 file. They also have lines all over the world which I recently used to record a testimonial from someone overseas. Great service
K7.net – if you need a telephone line/fax/answering service and you still can’t get into Google voice…
Odesk – not a tool but a service for finding great people to outsource to
FreeMind – mind mapping software to gather all your thoughts and processes in a visual manner. Another online alternative is MindMeister or good old pen and paper 
RescueTime – tracks everything you do online and give you a report every week. You’ll be shocked at where your time is spent. This is proven to make you more productive
FileZilla – FTP. Just pure and simple FTP to upload things to your webpages
LastPass – a tool to store all of your password securely online so you’ll never have to remember another one again. It can also fill out forms automatically for you. A great alternative is Sxipper which stores your passwords on your local computer
DropBox – this tool will backup an entire folder from your computer to an online secure directory instantly and automatically. That way you always have the most updated backup
That’s my list. Again, if you have other great tools you use and want to share, please add them in the comments.
Meira Eliot
Chantelle Otty
Srinivasan
Evan Beck on November 30th, 2009
Thanks for your list, Gil. I must say that I admire your focus on sticking to traffic, list building, and marketing.
It’s hard to do, but I think you are right.
I also appreciate your help in other areas.
gil on December 1st, 2009
Evan,
I told you – I’m an 80-20 kind of a guy. I know what the core focus should be and I aim for it.
Of course it’s alwasy a struggle to block out the other 80%, but it’s doable.
Gil
p.s. did you get that I sent people over to your blog for even more training? I’d never do that unless your content was that good. But it is extremely good so I’m happy to send people over to another blog to learn more
Dean Oram on December 17th, 2009
Morning All
Many people start this game thinking this is a great rich over night scheme. only because there caught up in people showing them there click bank accounts, but what they wasnt shown is the hard work that goes into building a list of focused people. many people give up and then start saying this Internet business is a scam THERE SO WRONG.
All they have done is got in with the wrong Mentor or even just brought a book and off they went. roll your sleves up this is a real business that can give you great success if done right
speak soon
Dean
Melida Lainhart on March 21st, 2010
I really like this discussion. I will be interested to see others takes on this.
Amy on June 4th, 2010
I really like this discussion. I will be interested to see others takes on this.