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SEO Toolbox

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SEO Toolbox

I thought it would be helpful to create a resource page that you can always come to for all of your SEO, inbound marketing and passive income needs. I recommend bookmarking it for your reference and convenience. Enjoy! MC

SEO Toolbox is a comprehensive resource of inbound marketing tools for small businesses, start-ups, bloggers and entrepreneurs. It provides an ‘SEO starter toolkit‘ for developing an effective inbound marketing program for your business rooted in data-driven decision making, user insights and analytics.

Most the tools are **free **or include a free trail; however certain tools, such as email marketing software or website hosting solutions include a monthly fee.

SEO Toolbox

If you look at nothing else on this page, these are the couple SEO tools that you should know about. I find myself recommending these tools again and again, in emails, comments and blog posts. I use them because they make my life easier and help me make money online, after testing couple different solutions.

Blogging Platform: WordPress

I moved from Blogger to WordPress over a year ago and it took my blogging to the next level. If you are starting a blog, I recommend you buy domain and hosting through GoDaddy, which makes it easy to set-up your blog avoiding many of the technical hurdles you may otherwise encounter. I use Woo Themes template called Canvas, which is light, responsive, and offers advanced customization.

wordpress blogging tool

Hosting and Domain Solution: Go Daddy

There are many domain and hosting solutions out there and you can probably find a cheaper option than GoDaddy, but do it at your own risk. One of the key value of using Godaddy is that they have amazing customer support. Literally you can call the support line and speak to a real person in minutes who will walk you through (word-by-word) through any technical challenge. If you are not a techie, go with GoDaddy. Make sure you search for ‘GoDaddy Coupons’ in Google to save couple bucks.

godaddy hosting domain tool

Email Marketing & Lead Generation Solution: AWeber

One of my biggest regrets when I started blogging is how long I waited before collecting emails AWeber is a fantastic tool to help you easily create and embed email opt-in forms into our websites manage your email marketing campaigns all in one place. I use it specifically in the right rail of my blog and to promote my ebook. I highly recommend you start with AWeber, or other email marketing solution, at the outset when you start blogging.

aweber email marketing solution

I had not used any social media marketing tool until recently when I realized how much time I can save automating content sharing and management of various social networks. HootSuite is a social media management system for businesses and individuals to execute social media campaigns across multiple social networks from one secure, web-based dashboard. Streamline team workflow with scheduling and invite multiple collaborators to manage social networks securely, plus provide custom reports using the comprehensive social analytics tools for measurement. Key social network integrations include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and new Google+ Pages, plus a suite of social content apps for YouTube, Flickr, Tumblr and more.

hootsuite social media marketing tool

WordPress SEO Plug-in: Yoast

Install Yoast at the outset when you create your WordPress blog. It will help you install the key SEO metadata and optimizations without any technical or coding skills. This plugin is written from the ground up by Joost de Valk and his team at Yoast to improve your site’s SEO on all needed aspects. While this WordPress SEO plugin goes the extra mile to take care of all the technical optimization, it first and foremost helps you write better content. WordPress SEO forces you to choose a focus keyword when you’re writing your articles, and then makes sure you use that focus keyword everywhere.

yoast wordpress plugin

Link Building Tool: Tynt

Did you know that 8% of content shared on the Web is through copy & paste? Tynt is a powerful tool that can help you increase SEO traffic, inserting your webpage URL when your content is copied and pasted into social networks, emails and digital media outlets. It also offers tracking functionality so you can see how your content performs. Every content creator should have it.

tynt link building tool

Keyword Research Tool: Google’s Keyword Planner

the go-to tool for keyword research. Google’s keyword tool allows you to locate keywords based on your actual search enquiries and volume. Use for keyword research and discovery, and to get ideas for your blog post topics and content ideas. While many advanced keyword research tools are needed for seasoned SEO pros (I listed them below), I find that Google’s keyword tool is all a blogger needs to research and target the right search terms.

google adwords keyword planner

Analytics Platform: Google Analytics

If you are a small business or a blogger, Google Analyticsis the only analytics platform you will ever need. Measure your website visits and conversions, advertising ROI as well as track your Flash, video, and social networking sites and applications. Make sure to synch with Google Adwords and Webmaster Tools to get full tracking functionality. Bonus, it’s** free**!

google analytics tool

Website Audit Tool: Screaming Frog

Screaming Frog software allows you to quickly analyse, audit and review onsite SEO performance of any website. It fetches key onsite page elements for SEO, presents them in tabs by type and allows you to filter for common SEO issues, or slice and dice the data how you see fit by exporting into Excel. Priceless.

screaming frog tool

I constantly use SocialCrawlytics to look at social sharing metrics for my blog posts. You can also use it to identify your competitors’s most shared content. Social metrics, most shared authors, scheduled monitoring and a robust API – ALL FOR FREE!

social crawlytics

Haven’t found what you were looking, check out a more comprehensive list of SEO, social media and inbound marketing tools below. If I missed any good tool, let me know in the comments section.

50+ Inbound Marketing Tools for SMBs & Entrepreneurs

Keyword Research Tools

Google’s Keyword Planner - Allows you to locate keywords based on your actual search enquiries and volume. Use for keyword research and discovery.
Google Trends - Formerly Insights for Search. Shows you what is trending online and what people are searching for. Use for identifying trending keywords.
Keyword Eye - Keyword Eye is a suite of affordable, fast, no-nonsense visual keyword and competitor research tools to help with your PPC and SEO campaigns.
Keyword Discovery - Provides you with insights and ideas for keywords that helps you to improve SEO content, PPC campaign growth and performance.
Ubersuggest - Get keyword ideas with Übersuggest the free keyword suggestion tool that makes good use of Google Suggest and other suggest services.
SEMRush - Provides you with insights on how competing sites are performing in search. Use to check how competitors are ranking on keywords.
Soovle – This tool was suggested by our community in the comments section of a blog post about keyword research tools. I tested it and I think it provides a nice visual way of aggregating keyword data from Google, Amazon, Bing, Yahoo, YoutTube and Answers.com. Helpful to identify niches and long-term keywords.
Ad Preview Tool - Tool that allows you to preview unbiased organic rankings and paid search ads per any given keyword and geography. Use for checking keyword rankings.

Website Analytics Tools

** **Google Analytics - Measure your website visits and conversions, advertising ROI as well as track your Flash, video, and social networking sites and applications. Make sure to synch with Google Adwords and Webmaster Tools to get full tracking functionality.

Mobile SEO Tools

** App Codes** - App codes is your ‘swiss knife’ to App Store Optimization. With App Codes, you can perform App Store SEO, track your competitors, check out popular keywords, dispense your apps’ promo codes effectively.

Content Marketing Platforms

** Contently** - Contently helps creators—from individuals to Fortune 500s—to tell great stories. With tools for creating and showcasing amazing content, and by fostering connections between publisher and talent, Contently empowers storytelling that makes a difference.
Newscreed – Content marketing platform to source quality content for brands (this tool requires a more significant budget)
Whiz Press – This dynamic blog posting software allows you to search topics and select relevant articles or video for your posts. Add the royalty-free images you select, and streamline the process you use to create and post beautiful, dynamic content for your blog formatted for Facebook, Twitter, GooglePlus, Pinterest and Instagram!

Backlink Analysis Tools

Open Site Explorer - Provides you with the ability to view the sites that are linking back to your website so you can strengthen your authority for better search engine rankings. A Pro membership is available providing users with comprehensive applications to further analyze data.
Majestic SEO - Boasts the largest public index of its kind that provides comprehensive information on links, backlinks, domains, and keywords. Both free and paid registration options are available through the website.
Ahrefs - Fosters site optimization through link, anchor text, and keyword analysis based on its own independent crawler and index which updates every 15 minutes on average. Monthly subscription plans are accessible for more thorough reports.
SEO-Browser.com - Enables to see your website like search engines see it, and understand the component parts of a Web page.
Ravens Tools - Houses a vast array of strategic SEO, social media, and advertising tools to strengthen your website’s online presence. A 30-day free trial is available along with optimized memberships that can be integrated with Google Analytics accounts.
Link Detective - Finds high quality and contextual links competitors are using through semantic markups and URL conversions to aid clever link-building.
Link Research Tools – LRT platform has a variety of tools that tell you which links you need to get to beat the competition

Website Audit Tools

Ad Planner – A media planning/research tool that uses inputs about users’ target audience and key demographic to provide information about the websites they likely visit.
Screaming Frog – Allows you to quickly analyse, audit and review a site from an onsite SEO perspective. It fetches key onsite page elements for SEO, presents them in tabs by type and allows you to filter for common SEO issues, or slice and dice the data how you see fit by exporting into Excel.
WayBack Machine - Created by the Internet Archive, provides users with archived versions of websites called “three dimensional index.”
Alexa** - **Uses global web metrics to allow users to find the most successful websites based on category, country, or keyword and allows users to optimize their web presence.
PR Checker – use this tool to conveniently check the PageRank of a domain. You can also use the widget below to check the PageRank of your site directly from this page.

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Webmaster Tools

Google Webmaster Tools - Get detailed reports about your pages’ visibility on Google.
Bing Webmaster Tools - Get access to free reports, tools and resources to improve your site’s performance in Bing and Yahoo search.

Follower Wonk – A twitter intelligence tool that can be used to track and analyze followers, as well as search and find key influencers via twitter bios. Full analytical SEO and social tools can be accessed by subscribing monthly.
Hoot Suite - Manages social media and messaging on a dashboard that integrates your brand’s social networks and apps. Customizable analytics are also available and at a minimal monthly fee, full features can be accessed.
**Twitter Adder **

– An automated twitter system that is touted as a “time saver”. It can be set up to manage multiple Twitter accounts, tweet, search for new followers based on chosen criteria, add and manage them.

Mention Map - an exciting web app for exploring your Twitter network. Discover which people interact the most and what they’re talking about. It’s also a great way to find relevant people to follow.
Rite Tag – RiteTag empowers you to identify the right #hashtags to get your message further, getting your content out to those who are passively and actively looking for it.
**Topsy **

– Social search and social analytics found in one indexed resource. Access, analyze and gain insight from years of Twitter conversations. This tool is also handy for measuring exposure, providing exact counts of terms and hashtags; and finding influencers narrowed by topic.

Social Crawlitics - Identify your competitor’s most shared content and find out who shared their content.

Pay-Per-Click Platforms

Google Adwords - A paid Google advertising network that allows you to create ads, chose keywords and phrases to help drive people to your website. With nearly 68% of searches conducted on Google, Adwords allows ads to appear at the exact moment when users are searching for it.
**Microsost Adcenter **- A paid Bing advertising network that allows you to boost ad performance by creating a brand new Pay Per Click (PPC) Bing campaign or by importing your existing Google AdWords campaign.

Link Building Tools

Tynt- A powerful tool to help increase SEO traffic, Tynt inserts your webpage URL when your content is copied and pasted into social networks, emails and digital media outlets.

WordPress SEO Plugins

Yoast SEO– A great tool for optimizing your website pages including content, images, snippet previews and descriptions.
Acx Social Media** - **A simple solution to linking your business’s social media networks to a highly visually compelling set of social media icons.
FB Plugins** – **An essential plugin for those with a Facebook page; allows you install the Like option on your front (or other) pages of your website or blog.
1-Click Retweet/Share/Like **– **A one-stop-shop for quickly promoting or self-publishing content to over 20+ social media networks; updates your fans in real-time and allows them to share, like and retweet.
**Google XML Sitemaps **- This plugin will generate a special XML sitemap which will help search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo and Ask.com to better index your blog. Additionally it notifies all major search engines every time you create a post about the new content.
Editorial Calendar – a handy calendar tool that makes it possible to see all of your posts and includes features like dropping and dragging posts and managing drafts and posts from multiple authors

SEO Browser Plugins

MozBar - Download this toolbar to your Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox browser to analyze (SERP) Search Engine results pages, onsite HTML tags and other SEO insights to make better optimization decisions.
SEOQuake - Gives insight on competitors’ page rank, link quality and domain age right from the SERP. This plugin also provides other SEO insights.

Blog Promotion Tools

Triberr - Allows for blog syndication on a blogging/social media platform where other groups of bloggers with similar interests come together to share each other’s content to maximize reach and awareness.
BlogUpp! - A widget developed to help promote various blogs. Simply submit your blog URL and the widget distributes snapshots and builds awareness on other relevant blog pages.

WidgetBox- Add engagement to your site, aggregate your content, and grow your audience with dynamic web widgets generator.

Local SEO Tools

Yext - A local “power-boosting” SEO tool that focuses on providing the perfect location information for your small business. Yext ensures your listings are correct, updated, and properly monitored.
Bright Local – Makes powerful SEO tools and widgets for local businesses

Landing Page Optimization Tools

Optimizley - Use this to tool to run A/B and multivariate tests for your landing pages to improve conversion rates. Plans start at $17.
Content Experiments - Formerly Website Optimizer, Google’s free website testing and optimization tool, is not integrated into Google Analytics. It allows you to increase the value of your existing websites and traffic without spending a cent.

Infogrpahic Creation Tools

Easel.Ly – Easel.Ly is a theme-based web app for creating data visualizations and graphics. The best feature is drag and drop navigation that makes creating, editing and customizing intuitive and easy.
Piktochart - Piktochart is an simple and intuitive online tool for creating high resolution infographics and charts as part of any web marketing strategy. They offer six free themes with a good selection of graphics and the ability to use present graphics and templates.
**Visual.ly **– Visual.ly is an online platform for creating infographics and diagrams that integrate seamlessly with social networks. They offer a community Marketplace that connects designers and motion graphics artists who specialize in the development of more customized infographics.
Infogr.am **– **Infogr.am is a web-based tool with a user-friendly interface and a selection of great pre-designed themes for creating charts using real data. They offer 31 chart options that allow you to add your own video, maps and imagery as well as the ability to embed it quickly to a website or blog post.

Have I missed any other good SEO / inbound marketing tool? Drop a note in the comments section with any suggestions.

11 Responses to SEO Toolbox

backues July 12, 2013 at 8:42 pm #

It’s important to remember to consider overseas audiences as well. There are some audiences on twitter, e.g. the Japanese or Korean, with huge numbers of fans. Yes, there are problems where we don’t speak their audience’s language. But think about it: just one once-a-week pass by the translator could add an extra 100,000 customers. Isn’t that worth it?

Stan July 17, 2013 at 4:05 am #

Does your site have a contact page? I’m having a tough time locating it but, I’d like to shoot

you an email. I’ve got some recommendations for your blog you might be interested in hearing. Either way, great site and I look forward to seeing it grow over time.

djnation.drupalgardens.com July 20, 2013 at 4:08 am #

Hello there, just became aware of your blog through Google, and found that it’s truly informative. I am going to watch out for brussels. I will appreciate if you continue this in future. A lot of people will be benefited from your writing. Cheers!

excavation January 12, 2014 at 4:33 pm #

Thanκ you foг the goοd writeup.

Inc Reviews January 31, 2014 at 10:15 pm #

Which of the backlink checkers are more accurate?? I’ve got a couple sites that don’t rank as well as one particular site, but my sites have better everything on moz. ??

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Matthew Capala January 31, 2014 at 10:21 pm #

Hello – backlink analysis is one of the few things that will indicate where you rank so you may see ranking fluctuate regardless of PA scores on Moz – I would say Moz is solid – also Link Detective and Ravens Tools – we use the combination of tools and never trust a single one – hope it helps?

Inc Reviews January 31, 2014 at 11:11 pm #

Yeah. Thanks. The site that’s outranking me is a massive blog that ranks for a lot of other terms as well. Sort of an authority site. I’ve got some work to do!

shourah February 1, 2014 at 1:10 am #

wow..what a complete seo resources that makes me confuse to choose . any best suggestion?

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