Do-it-Yourself Website Marketing Tools

Here, you'll find the main tools I use on a daily basis to drive qualified traffic to my websites and to my clients' websites. Of course, when I'm working with my mentoring | coaching clients, they have the benefits of learning these tools while we work on their websites.

Keyword Research

Wordtracker® -- Learn what people are searching for on the internet from the most recognized and used keyword research tool. Using these keyword phrases with your web pages will help potential customers find your website through the search engines when they're searching for websites related to those phrases.

Learn the most popular search phrases for your industry. And discover niche, under-served markets and those search phrase opportunities. You'll out-perform your competitors when you discover these undeserved markets.

Design your content to match what people are already searching for.

FREE download -- Wordtracker® has written a powerful report, The Keyword Research Guide. Contributed to by 9 authorities on keyword research, this report is a full 75 pages. Keyword research expert John Alexander (referenced below under the SEO section) is one of the contributors. Download here: Keyword Research Guide.

Read motivational case studies to learn how businesses like yours have used Wordtracker® to learn how people are searching the internet, thus increasing their sales: Wordtracker® Case Studies.

Wordtracker® also has a FREE tool, which is limited, but demonstrates some of their services: Free Keyword Research Tool.

Click here for the Full-Feature Wordtracker Keyword Research Tool.

Google AdWords® Free Keyword Research Tool -- You can use the Google tool within your AdWords account (best) or use the stand-alone tool if you don't have an account yet. Both are free.

There are limitations to the stand-alone tool. When you use the tool within your AdWords account, you get more accurate pricing for your site's ads.

I find the combination of Wordtracker and the Google tool within your AdWords account together to be very cost effective and each complements the other.

The Google stand-alone tool is here: Google Keyword Research Tool

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Search Engine Marketing

Google AdWords® -- Your business's ads show when search engine users type in phrases which match your targeted phrases (and when your bid is high enough). Unlike SEO (covered below), you don't have to wait weeks to months for your listings to prominently show.

Bids can be as low as 5 cents per visitor, although most businesses will see bids in the 25 cents to $1.50 range. That's if the PPC campaign is skillfully set up.

While there are many other search engines, Google currently represents about 50% of all searches performed in the United States. For most small businesses, it's much more time efficient to target that 50% of search engine users FIRST through one Google AdWords PPC account.

To reach another 47% of searchers, you'd have to manage an additional three PPC accounts.

My suggestion? Once you have ads that produce qualified traffic that results in sales, then consider expanding your PPC campaign to Yahoo!, Live (formerly MSN), and Ask for that other 47% ad exposure.

The remaining last 3% of searchers are spread among so many small search engines that it's impractical to expose your ads to all 100% of searchers.

Learn more about AdWords here: Google AdWords

Perry Marshall's The Definitive Guide to Google AdWords® -- Perry Marshall (same last name as mine, but no relation to me) is widely regarded as the foremost Google AdWords expert and trainer.

His The Definitive Guide to Google AdWords course is a full 217 pages of the best AdWords tips and techniques designed to help you succeed at your AdWords campaign. "Succeeding" means better ad performance and lower ad costs. Using these techniques, you'll have advantages that your competition won't.

I use Perry's strategies when working with my own website and my clients′.

Perry and his team also offer hourly consulting services. His website quotes the costs ranging from $375 to $750 per hour.

Find Perry's AdWords course here: The Definitive Guide to Google AdWords

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Workshops (SEW) -- SEO defined -- Internet search engine users type a search phrase related to your business into one of the search engines. They find your website in the first few pages of results. Then they can click directly onto your website. This is SEO in a nutshell.

SEO can provide long-term, ongoing customers to you, FREE of direct per visitor costs. There are costs for SEO services, obviously. Those costs can be in dollars spent, time invested or a combination of both.

Successful SEO comes from giving site visitors what they're looking for, while giving the search engines what they're looking for. The primary result the search engines want is satisfied search engine users, users who find what they are looking for, stay on the site for a while and don't quickly hit the "back" button. These are the searchers who will use that search engine again.

Some people believe that SEO software programs and "doorway page" creators are what you need for successful SEO. Nothing could be further from the truth. If it were that easy, everyone would have top-ranked pages. Hence, the need for real training.

Search Engine Workshops is considered the premier SEO training program in North America. Founded by Robin Nobles and John Alexander, SEW offers in-person and online SEO and SEM (search engine marketing) training.

Their training programs have been offered years longer than most SEO training offered by newcomers. Robin was the first search engine marketing strategies online instructor.

In fact, John's and Robin's in-person SEO training programs are offered all over the US and in many other parts of the world.

Through their site: Online Web SEO Training, SEW offers online course work. Their Basic and Advanced Online SEO Courses in fact total over 700 pages of instructor-led course work, project certification assignments and testing.

I utilize Robin's and John's SEO techniques with all my clients wanting to learn SEO or have the services performed for them. I am certified in SEO by Search Engine Workshops in both basic and advanced search engine optimization techniques.

You can find Robin and John here: Search Engine Optimization Training & Workshops

Jerry West's SEO Revolution Newsletter -- Jerry West is unique in SEM (search engine marketing) and SEO (search engine optimization) because he tests techniques, then shares his results.

Jerry's an SEO analyst who has a background as a software tester. There are many people offering their opinion on forums and message boards, but many of those opinions are anecdotal and subjective at best.

When you're optimizing your website to increase your search engine traffic, it makes sense to use techniques which are proven, instead of ones that are mere rumor.

Jerry offers a subscription newsletter called the SEO Revolution that I subscribe to. If you want to subscribe directly, the monthly cost is $100.

I use Jerry's SEO tested techniques with all my clients wanting to learn SEO or have the services performed for them.

Jerry also offers hourly consulting services. His website presently shows the cost at $300 per hour.

You can learn more about Jerry and his services here: SEO Revolution

Still Have Questions?

Please feel free to see the rest of my site for information on my Business and Marketing Coaching | Mentoring Services and my Website Design and Marketing Services.

And be sure to sign up for my FREE 7-day Online Business & Marketing Course.