There are a lot of Internet gurus out there that are telling people they can make a six-figure income by using SEO techniques or by selling information on the Internet. This type of lie is usually marketed to you buy the old fogie type gurus in who mainly make a six-figure income is by selling how-to books about copywriting to people who don’t know a thing about it.

The truth is that you can be self sufficient as a writer working on the Internet and unless you are also a very successful and skilled multi-level-marketer you probably won’t make a six figure income. A four-figure income is realistic and a five-figure income is possible. SEO is not some kind of magic bullet that can make you rich overnight. Once you apply search engine optimization techniques to your content it is safer to say that you might be able to make a living at it within two years.

There are people who do make a lot of money on the Internet but they usually run huge writing factories out in India who pay their writers pennies for writing full articles. They are outsourcers who outsource a second time to get bulk writing work done cheap. These companies also have SEO software. These companies can take any piece of writing, put it through software and automatically change it so that it is different from the original. Sometimes these companies give the articles a brief rewrite to make it 30% different from the original and then just use a Replace and Change type function (like in Microsoft Word) to add keywords.

Very few marketing gurus make big bucks unless they are marketing a book or software with television ads. The irony is that most of these guru books about SEO recommend writing your own SEO book in order to make a million or else get involved in some kind affiliate marketing pyramid scheme.

At this moment you are into this article because you were looking for something about SEO Softwares or about the best SEO Software around for you. But the sad thing is that there are still hundreds around who doesn’t even know about SEO softwares, leave the best SEO software for them. And the other part of the story is that even if some of them are aware of the best SEO software, they are not using it. Now the question is why? There is a possibility of two particular reasons for that –

1) No proper introduction to the SEO software.

2) Lack of knowledge about the benefits of the best SEO software.

So this article is basically to enlighten you about these two aspects of the best SEO software for you.

To introduce the best SEO software, its first task is to keep you aware of what is happening behind the scenes of internet. The hours and dollars that you spent on building your website will be a mere waste if you don’t get the desired traffic. And this is where the best SEO software can help you. The best SEO software can help you lead your business forward and can provide you a better competitive edge against your competitors. You can spy your competitors, find out what keywords are they competing for, and many more things, that will bear a positive impact upon your business.

That was a very generic introduction to SEO software. But there are a few things that one needs to keep in mind before going for even the best SEO software. How much the SEO software costs and who designed the software? It must not cost you the heaven. However don’t be mistaken that if your best SEO software is less expensive they are not supposed to be the serious towards their features. However cheap it may be but if it is not bringing you traffic then you are wasting your money, and that is the bottom line for the best SEO software.

But there are certain points to remember before you buy SEO softwares which you think is the best SEO software for your business.

1) Know the complete features of the software.

2) Familiarize yourself with both the advantages and disadvantages of the software.

3) Customer review and customer services are a must.

Best SEO softwares are optimization tools themselves. They help you check your results with the tracking devise that they come equipped with. This checks the repetition of the same mistakes that tend to occur repeatedly. Best SEO software will always allow you to track and alter the aspects of your search engine optimization. Make sure that you know how the SEO software works or else even the best SEO software is of no use for your business. If you are not familiar with the software, opt for a easy to use software.

Talking about money that you spend on a SEO software, it is not only the dollars that you spend in buying it that matters, but also the investment returns that you are going to get in the long run which is worth considering. Best SEO software always tries to streamline the process to achieve a website which is well rated. It gives you the tools that are necessary for your website and in return you get the needed traffic. This indeed contributes in a positive way to get back your investment returns.

Finding the right software for your site is the biggest challenge, more so because of the frequently changing algorithm of the search engines. But keeping in mind the above factors may help you to some extent in choosing the best SEO software which is essential to succeed online.

SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM (search engine marketing) are an online business owner’s best friend. With Google celebrating its 12th birthday and twice as many people online as there were just five years ago, there has never been a better time to make search engines work for you. That said; let’s see how you can absolutely dominate Google!

This article has three parts; Stats, Spying and Shortcuts. Each section and tip can be used alone or used together for faster results. The following information is what the SEO and SEM experts know and gives you the inside scoop on the tools they use.

Part 1; Search Engine Stats: This will give you the latest intel on search engines. This is to help you make informed decisions on how to spend your SEO time and where to spend your SEM money (search engine marketing, which includes pay per click advertising.)

A.) Google gets nearly half of all US searches performed on the Internet so you can bet that’s at the top of our SEO to do list. Here are the exact numbers as provided by the “comScore for searchenginewatch.com” survey:

42.7% Google 28.0% Yahoo! 13.2% MSN 7.60% AOL 5.90% ASK 2.60% All Others Combined

B.) Now that we know how much the search engines are used let’s get some inside information to help us plan SEO and SEM strategies. According to the UK based company Neutralize.com, users of Google versus those of MSN are just about polar opposites when it comes to natural versus paid search listings. Here’s what their research found:

Google: 72.3% of searchers prefer clicking on the natural listings that SEO helps you get. Only 27.7% prefer using the paid links you might use as part of your SEM plan.

MSN: Only 28.8% of searchers go for the natural listings while 71.2% rely on paid links. This is almost the exact opposite of how Google users work.

That is amazing information to have! You know right away that your time and effort is better spent on SEO for Google while putting your pay per click dollars into MSN is probably your best bet.

C.) Now for the biggie; return on investment (ROI.) Once again our friends at Neutralize have some great information. The following numbers show the approximate ROI that Website owners got using SEO and SEM (specifically pay per click.) for lead generation and actual sales…

Lead Generation: * 79% SEO * 75% Paid Search (SEM)

Actual Sales: * 78% SEO * 63% Paid Search (SEM)

These are huge returns on investment. In comparison, banners only account for about one third as many leads and sales.

Part 2; Spying: This will show you where and how to get the very best inside info on what all your competitors are doing and how to beat them. It’s like being handed a copy of your competitions’ online business plans. Just go to “SpyFu.com” and take a look at some of the free information they offer. Better yet, check out https://www.spyfu.com/WhyBuySpyfu.aspx to see everything you can get, free and paid. I’m a big believer in spending wisely so for most people I would recommend just spending the $6 for a 3 day full access package instead of paying for a regular subscription.

Here’s a blurb from the site that tells what SpyFu offers…”Want to know which of your competitors has the largest ad budget, or which term gets the most clicks per day? Use SpyFu’s Advanced Search to find out. Advanced Search allows one to search by all the metrics provided on the site and allows you to focus on the data that’s most important to you. What’s more, you can save your Advanced Search results to Excel with the click of a button.”

Part 3; SEO and SEM Shortcuts: “Shortcuts” does NOT mean cutting corners. Our “shortcuts” are based on finding how the professionals do it and following in their footsteps. When it comes to SEO and SEM, the best shortcuts to success involve finding the best performing and least expensive software that provides the quickest return on investment.

A.) The best SEM shortcut I know is using software to find your top keywords and otherwise help manage your pay per click campaign. Two of the most popular and widely used tools are WordTracker.com and Keyword Elite.

With WordTracker.com you pay a recurring subscription fee of $59 per month or $329 per year. I used this for a while then bought Keyword Elite (http://www.KeywordEliteWeb.com) for $175 because it appeared to do more and cost less than subscribing to WordTracker. I found it to be a better deal for my needs since there are no recurring fees and lifetime free upgrades. But it’s all about personal preference. Both products are fantastic!

B.) Picking the top SEO tool is a no brainer for me. I retired my other three products after working with SEO Elite (http://www.SEOeliteWeb.com) for just a few weeks. Although I admit I was first attracted by the small price tag of $167, it wasn’t long before I tossed the more expensive tools and just used SEO Elite. Here’s what it did, right from the start…It helped me land 121 top 5 rankings on Google within three weeks; Mostly 1’s and 2’s. It also nabbed 377 great link partners in the first 2 weeks alone, which led to even more top 10 rankings on Google. This is the same company that published Keyword Elite, which also helped me make the initial decision. They’ve been a major SEO software development player for years and the lifetime of free upgrades with zero annual costs they offer is that special touch that shows they can relate to people in the world of search engine optimization.

This information can help you dominate Google, Yahoo and MSN very quickly. Enjoy!

SEO and positioning your website to grab top positions in search engines for targeted keywords require both good on-page and off-page optimization. On-page optimization refers to how you tweak the webpage itself, ie the meta-tags, webpage title, content, navigation sitemap, etc. It has everything to do with the web architecture. Off-page optimization is more of a technique applied beyond your website, without involving any change to your website. Let’s take a look at some important elements of SEO and positioning that would boost the ranking of your website.

First of all, we need to understand a bit more about the role of on-page optimization in SEO and positioning. In summary, on-page optimization requires you to craft the web page structure such that it is optimized for a particular keyword that you are targeting. Never build a site first before knowing what you hope to achieve, ie whether your aim is to drive maximum traffic and sell more products or just as a hobby.

You need to pay attention to the keywords you are targeting first, and do detailed researches before you start building your webpage and optimizing it for the keywords. A lot of webmasters fail to realize the importance of keyword research in SEO and positioning for top search engine ranking. They often do it the other way round, targeting popular and extremely competitive keywords and keyword phrases. You may have realized that competitive keywords like “search engine optimization” or “web traffic” are simply out of reach for a new or amateurish website. SEO and positioning your website for such keywords would only bring you disappointment as you realize that even with a fully optimized page, you are still on page 1000 of the search engine results.

One hint for you is to go for any keyword phrase with less than 1 – 2 million search results and fewer than 1000 competing websites in Google. How do you check the number of competing websites? Simply type in “Allintitle: Target Keyword Phrase” into Google search box and all the websites containing the specific keyword phrase would be displayed. It is common sense that any website targeting a keyword phrase would include it in the webpage title, isn’t it? Looking at the search results alone is vague and difficult to determine the level of competition. Once you have found the keywords for optimization, remember to include them in your page title, sub-headers, and meta-tags.

Off-page optimization looks more at the popularity of your website. The search engines are constantly changing the landscape of the internet but one principle stays constant, that is to give users relevant results. Other than meddling with the on-page factors, you need to be aware of how search engines measure your website popularity and keyword relevance. One major yardstick of SEO and positioning is using link popularity. Search engine spiders are not humans and can only understand web content to a certain logical extent. A human may see a web page as rich in content but a search engine spider may deem it as spam.

The unbiased and more accurate way of judging the importance of a web page in terms of keyword relevance is to leave the decision to fellow webmasters and search engine users, or in short, votes of confidence. A link to your web page is a vote declaring that your web page is worth mentioning for that specific topic. But I must emphasize that not all links are equal. Find out why at my blog and also learn basic and advanced tips and tricks about SEO and positioning your website for top rankings either manually or using tools that would conveniently and quickly rank your website.

This article may be freely reprinted or distributed in its entirety in any ezine, newsletter, blog or website. The author’s name, bio and website links must remain intact and be included with every reproduction.

SEO and positioning your website to rank top spots in the search engines require some careful planning. Just like setting up a business or going to war, it requires strategizing for optimal results. Diving straight into the internet without any clear game plan is time-wasting, dangerous and more often than not, a futile attempt to rank any website for maximum targeted traffic. Let’s dwell a little deeper into some useful SEO and positioning tips to get your web pages indexed and ranking faster.

1. SEO and Positioning Tip 1 – Determine Your Objective

What is your objective in optimizing your website? Is it for maximum general traffic or targeted niche traffic? Once again, webmasters are unable to get this part clear. Many think that driving as much traffic as possible to their websites is the way to go. Unfortunately, this is a big pitfall. A web site may attract loads of traffic but yet don’t perform as well as another with little traffic but making more sales. Know what your objective is, to sell more products or to get more people to visit your website. If you are building an interest-based website or hobby website, perhaps getting maximum general traffic is the right solution for you.

2. SEO and Positioning Tip 2 – Plan Your Keywords Right

This is applicable for all websites that intend to tap into free organic traffic. By that, I mean SEO and positioning high in search engines for specific keywords. One clue for you before you compile your keyword list is to understand that search engines rank individual web pages, not websites. The systematic way to do it is to first look at your objective of SEO and positioning. If you are targeting a niche market, for example SEO tools, target the niche keyword SEO tools for your home page, and drill into this main keyword for related keywords such as SEO Elite, effective SEO tools, etc to target for each internal web page.

Don’t make the mistake like many webmasters do in targeting one main keyword for the entire website. The smart approach to SEO and positioning is to target a list of low competition, moderate demand keywords and rank well for them. This would potentially drive more targeted traffic, than to blindly hit at one main keyword.

3. SEO and Positioning Tip 3 – Simple Well-Thought On-page Optimization

Use your keywords in the meta-tags, web page title, sub-headers and web content. Make your web content unique. A keyword density of 1-3% and word count of more than 400 words is ideal for on-page optimization. Create a sitemap page to make search engines spiders love your web pages. This helps in indexing the internal pages fast.

4. SEO and Positioning Tip 4 – Effective Off-page Optimization Techniques

Building link popularity of a website is far more crucial than any other factors for SEO and positioning for top search engine ranking. But pay attention to who your link partners are. Trade links with websites in a similar niche, and high Google PR if possible. Links from authority websites such as educational or government websites, ie domain names with .edu or .gov extensions are valuable. Buying links from link partners is perfectly fine if you can verify the quality of the websites. Search engines nowadays can be quite demanding and look for quality more than quantity of links.

5. SEO and Positioning Tip 5 – Using Search Engine Optimization Tools

Webmasters used to do everything traditionally from on-page optimization to off-page optimization such as emailing fellow webmasters to exchange links. Technology and software development has made it much easier for SEO and positioning websites using search engine optimization tools. These smart tools are designed to automate all manual tasks necessary to grab a top search engine ranking for a website fast. Almost every webmaster has one or two of these in their arsenal as they are big time and money savers.

Feel free to drop by at my blog to read more about search engine optimization tools and grab a free ebook worth more than $97 packed with detailed SEO tips and techniques to help your SEO efforts. This article may be freely reprinted or distributed in its entirety in any ezine, newsletter, blog or website. The author’s name, bio and website links must remain intact and be included with every reproduction.

What, exactly, is SEO? Good question. Newer internet marketers, and even some not-so-new to the industry, may be wondering just what SEO means, and how it applies to their own online business. Let’s take a quick overview of SEO and see how you can use it to leverage your own online business.

SEO, or search engine optimization, is a fancy term used to describe the activities used by webmasters to get the search engines to rank their websites higher in the search results. It’s generally known that the top three spots on any search results page will receive the vast majority of the click-through traffic, making those top spots very valuable. The old rule of “location, location, location” holds true for Internet traffic, as well as brick-and-mortar businesses. A top three position on Google is as valuable as a Rodeo Drive address.

So an entire industry called SEO has been developed to help website owners attain those top search positions. The industry began in the mid-1990’s when YaHoo was born and the concept of keywords was first introduced. Webmasters quickly learned that the search engines looked favorably upon web pages that contained keywords that matched the search phrase being used. In the eyes of the search engines, the more keywords, the more relevant the page must be to the search topic. And thus, the concept of keyword stuffing was born.

By the turn of the century, many of the smaller search engines had fallen out of favor and Google had emerged as an 800-pound Google-rilla. At this point, keywords became a little less important to page ranking and more weight was given to the relative “importance” of the site — which was measured by the number of clicks the site received for certain keywords.

These days, both keywords and click-through rates remain part of the search engine equation, but they are not nearly as critical to page rank as proving that your site is “popular” among related sites. While Google refuses to publish its algorithm for determining search positions (for very good reasons), it is universally understood that page rank depends heavily on the quantity and quality of any inbound web links. Thus, modern day SEO efforts are geared toward building links from high quality sites related to the topic of the subject website.

And how is this done? The options are many and some SEO activities are definitely more effective than others. Some of the more effective SEO solutions include writing a good quality article and asking a high-ranking website to publish it, along with a link back to your website. You can trade links with other websites, but that is not as effective as having one-way links pointing to your site (Google can easily see the link pattern and discounts reciprocal links.) You can join blogs and forums that relate to your site, and leave a signature link back to your site.

But all of this activity takes time, and if you own more than one website, it’s very possible that you will need to outsource some, or all, of your SEO work. Your outsourcing options include hiring a specialized SEO company to review your site and implement the necessary activities. This option can be a little pricey and is usually used by only the largest online marketers (think WalMart).

Another option is to hire freelancers to help you identify potential link partners and then contact them for link opportunities. Freelancers can also write articles and blog posts for you. You can even hire freelancers to research keywords for you.

If you don’t want to manage a subcontractor, you may find that SEO software is your best solution. There are a number of good software programs that will help you identify the most profitable keywords, locate high-authority link partners, and automatically submit your site to search engines.

But once you gain a few good quality links to your website, don’t stop there or your website will gradually stagnate and lose favor with the search engines. Link building is an important ongoing marketing activity for any online business. Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of SEO and how you can use it to attain the best search engine rankings for your website.

SEO on a Budget; Trading Time and Money

SEO is like anything else in the world. You can trade time, money and effort to accomplish anything. The trick is in picking the best option for your needs at the moment. This article will show you how to save all three.

The good news is that SEO is not rocket science. Just about anyone can do it if given enough time and training. The better news is that it can be done for very little money. Here’s how…

1.) Trade Time for Money:

If you have six months or more to start seeing good results, try an SEO Book. Just don’t buy anything that is more than a year old.

A quick trip to http://www.Amazon.com with a search for “SEO” in the Books category will bring up dozens of contenders. You can pick up a used SEO book for $15 so it’s not so much about money as it is time. That said; to get the most out of your reading time, here are a few guidelines to consider before you purchase.

A.) Check the copyright page or back cover for the publication date and make sure it was published within the past year.

B.) Make sure it has at least a dozen reviews and that it scores 4.5 “stars” or better.

C.) Read the reviews and see if the other readers’ goals align with yours.

D.) Look for books that offer, “code snippets,” either in print or on a companion CD.

E.) If it comes down to a toss up between a couple books, give a little more weight to the one from a well known publishing house or well known series like “For Dummies.” Those that get picked up by the big publishers tend to be the best in the game, or at least the best at explaining and teaching their craft.

An SEO book is not the quickest way to become proficient but it is one of the best ways on a budget.

2.) Trade Money for Time:

If you need to see results in two months or less, consider investing in an SEO Software Package (Average Cost $150 to $450.)

There are tons of them out there. Some are very good. Others are junk. And don’t be fooled by prices. Some of the junky ones are more expensive than the great ones. Take your time and read what actual users have to say about the products.

Like most SEO consultants I own more than SEO tools than I need. But my business model is a bit different than most only help people get started in SEO. Once I get them to the top of their proffered search engines I help them find the best SEO tool to keep them going and show them how to use it to launch new sites. A little crazy I know but you wouldn’t believe how much business comes in word of mouth because of this.

There are only two types that I recommend; mentoring tools and task masters. And they both have to work well on all of the big three (Google, MSN and Yahoo.)

SEO Mentoring Tool:

A mentoring tool tends to make you learn about the ins and outs of optimization. A Website analysis tool is a good example. It will check your pages from the inside out, compare exactly what you have to your top competitors and give you detailed instructions on how to beat the competition. This is the type of software that works great over the long haul and teaches you more about SEO as you go.

There are plenty to choose from. The one I most often recommend can be found at http://www.iBusinessPR0M0TER.com. They’ve been around a long time and are used by the big companies like eBay who rely on top ranking for their very existence.

At about $250 it’s in the middle of the cost scale and offers a “Top 10 raking or your money back” guarantee, so they have some incentive to get you results.

Task Master SEO Tool:

A task master is less about mentoring and more about having you repeat a set process to get required results. A good example of this type of tool can be found at http://www.seoeliteweb.com.

At about $170 it’s at the lower end of the cost spectrum.

So whether you trade time for money or money for time, SEO is fully within your grasp. The experts don’t just wake up knowing this stuff and you can be your own SEO expert easier than you ever dreamed. All it takes is that first step to get you going.

Search engine optimization has been around nearly as long as the search engines themselves. After all, everyone wants free advertising and the Web was the first place where it was really possible to get it. Of course with great opportunity comes even greater competition. So while some floundered using the latest tricks and hacks a few took the time to figure out what really works for the long term. That’s where we’ll focus our attention.

Today there are a lot of resources out there to assist in your SEO efforts. But there’s a lot more competition too so it isn’t any easier than it was ten years ago. In fact, it’s harder than ever without the right information. You see, unfortunately for each piece of great optimization advice there are dozens of obsolete tactics and just plain bad information floating around.

If you really want to succeed in your search engine optimization campaign you only need to focus on three simple facts…

1.) You are not competing against search engines or even Web sites. You are competing against individual Web pages. Too many people focus on trying to beat search engines or entire Websites. Don’t bother. You never win that way. Focus on beating the competing Web pages. Once you hear it, its common sense but of 250 pre-optimization client interviews I’ve performed over that past decade, 93% state they need to “beat the search engines.”

2.) Get training from professionals whenever possible. Years ago this typically meant paying $1,500 for a weekend crash course or spending weeks buried in books full of big words and complicated theories. There are other alternatives available today like countless Websites, blogs and user groups, which are great avenues. If you’re looking for the full SEO training experience without the cost or hassle of going to a seminar, consider taking a computer based training course (CBT.) SEOcbt.com offers free SEO training courses developed by experts that teach seminars and still rack up top search engine placements of their own. They recently released “Google Domination”, a free training course available at http://www.SEOcbt.com.

3.) Do the actual optimization work by hand and automate the rest. By “actual optimization work” I mean developing content and making final decisions regarding keywords. Don’t trust this to software. This should always be done manually. But things like finding link partners, harvesting contact information and checking your search engine positions can easily be done with good software. And you’re in luck because SEO software is the most affordable it’s ever been, depending on your needs.

I started with Web Position (http://www.WebPosition.com) and loved it for its great position reporting. Unfortunately it doesn’t handle linking, which accounts for about 75% of your Google success so I went shopping for a new tool. On advice from a well respected SEO seminar coach I bought SEO Elite (http://www.SEOeliteWeb.com) and never looked back. It does all the position reporting I need and helps me get an average of 200 new links per month which keeps my sites on top of Google.

Just focus on these 3 simple ideas and your SEO efforts will pay off greater than you thought possible. Best of luck!

Millie Orson always desired to be the top businesswoman and she left no stone unturned to promote her product. She was not satisfied with advertisements in newspapers, pamphlets and television. Therefore she started marketing through online media too, as she was very well aware that most of the people search for products through internet. Now it was equally important to keep her website’s rank high in search engine results. Thus, she took care of its optimization process, by ensuring that it happens at lower cost. After thorough research she came to know that SEO tools could be the best thing that could come to succor.

Nowadays SEO tools have become the heartthrob of ambitious people. Although finding the best tool for yourself seems to be a little tricky process but it becomes extremely simple if you bang on good portals for forming an opinion. While you surf on internet about SEO software, you get a wide range of information. Most of which is unnecessary and irrelevant material. Therefore, in order to keep yourself rightly informed and to make an opinion, you need to choose the matter consciously.

What are the key pointers to be kept in mind before choosing SEO tools?

· Familiarise yourself to complete features of SEO tool: As you are investing your hard earned money for SEO tools, so you should know the overall features of the SEO software, you are buying. It includes details like what services it can provide, for what time it can work and all such things. Choose such a platform which can guide you to all the minute details of the SEO tools.

· Find both values and drawbacks of the SEO tools: Bang upon a platform that introduces you to both dark and bright side of the software tool. Most of the websites give you incomplete information by providing you all the brighter aspects of the tool thereby concealing the darker sides. It could lead you to regret later thus, keep yourself informed in advance.

· Ask for the medium of customer support services beforehand: Enquire for the medium of customer support services too. If you know in advance the type of customer support they provide, that is whether they assist through phone or e-mail, then it proves to be of great use.

· Make sure about the real investment cost: There are many SEO tools which need to be updated. This includes additional charges too. Thus keep yourself updated regarding the charges you need to pay in future.

· Rely on customer reviews: While you go for SEO software review, don’t forget about the customer reviews. The customer reviews help you to easily form an opinion, as you get a feedback from the people who have already used the tool.

By following these pointers you can trace the best platform to hit the best SEO tool.

Using the right SEO software is one of the most important things you can do for your website’s success but finding it is not always easy. The products you hear the most about are often just the most advertised and not necessarily the best, or at least not the best to fit your particular needs.

For the most part, just about any product can help you in some way unless it’s a real piece of junk. So if you already have one and are not getting the results you want, try to spend a little more time with it and make it pay off. But if you are looking, read on. This article covers 3 that have helped thousands get the ranking they need. Even if one is not right for you, you can see what the top rated tools do.

But before we dive into the tools, let’s look at why we need them. In short; using SEO software is like buying time and expertise. A good product will save you a great deal of time and deliver the results of a search engine optimization expert. If you have a lot of free time to learn and perform manual SEO, you can save a hundred or so bucks and do it all without a tool. If you’d like to see faster results and focus your time in other areas, it’s probably worth the money to buy a good product. Of course with so many claiming to be the best, the hardest part is finding the one that will work for you.

Over the past nine years, as an SEO consultant, I’ve used over a dozen well known, and not so well known SEO tools. The results have varied from “Wow!” to “What a waste!” We’ll focus on the “Wows!” three types, one of which is likely to do what you need; 1.) Jumpstart (for maximum return with minimum cost), 2.) Site Owner’s Best Friend (to tackle major SEO tasks and more), and 3.) SEO Pro Pick (what SEO professionals use to get the best possible results in the least possible time.)

So here they are, arranged by cost starting with the least expensive…

1.) SEO Equalizer ($77)

Those new to SEO, looking for a jumpstart with SEO software have found a winner with SEO Equalizer (http://www.EqualizeSEO.com). It became popular as an SEO spy tool and soon caught on as a great link building program and keyword analyzer. It provides an easy ‘in’ for anyone wanting to take control of their Web placement destiny. It’s great for anyone who wants to minimize spending, boost ranking and does not mind waiting a little longer to see great results (as compared to the Pro Pick, SEO Elite below.)

Here’s what it does best:

A.) Finds your most competitive keywords and phrases

B.) Locates and analyses competitor sites

C.) Builds and helps maintain link partnerships

Quick to learn and easy to use, SEO Equalizer is also one of the best bargains at $77 for a full license.

2.) Traffic Travis ($99)

This is a one of those hidden gems you dream about finding. A great app that not a lot of people know about (probably because the name is not very descriptive.) With a price tag of about $100, Traffic Travis (http://www.TrafficTravisSEO.com) is powerful enough for professionals and easy to use for a website owner, new to search engine optimization, who just wants results with very little learning curve.

Traffic Travis is like the “Swiss Army Knife” of SEO software and has become known as the “Site Owner’s Best Friend.” Here’s some of what it does…

A.) Finds, sorts and organizes your most important keywords

B.) Shows your site’s (and competitors’) rankings on major search engines

C.) Completes full SEO page analysis for any Website, so you can see what the top ranked pages are doing right fro ‘on page optimization’ and how you can do even better.

D.) Helps build and manage backlinks (very important for Google.)

E.) Manages your Google AdWords campaign if you do PPC.

F.) And even builds online survey pages to quickly collect visitor feedback once they find your site.

It’s tough to do an “apples to apples” comparison of this one with either of the others. It wears a lot of hats that Website owners can benefit from. Like SEO Equalizer it has shown me slightly slower results than SEO Elite, but is a great value.

3.) SEO Elite

My first “Wow!” happened in 2005 with SEO Elite (http://www.SEOeliteWeb.com). This app was the first truly affordable piece of SEO software I came across that did all it promised. At $167 it’s about half the price of similar products but packs a lot more punch. It has three things that impress me almost as much as the results it gets…

A.) No annual fees (unlike some that charge $100 a year in “subscription” fees.)

B.) Free lifetime upgrades (I’m already on my 3rd version and it keeps getting better!)

C.) No Questions Asked, 8 Week Guarantee or full refund

That’s why I bought it. This is why I kept it…

Google results after the first four weeks:

# 1 Spots = 7

# 2 Spots = 11

# 3 Spots = 16

Links = 409 high quality inbound links obtained (extremely important to rank well on Google)

That was all in the first month and for just one site. In the three years since then I have received hundreds of additional top rankings spanning multiple sites.

Here are some of the things SEO Elite does very well…

A.) Let’s you check your site’s ranking for unlimited keywords on the major search engines

B.) Tracks any changes in rank and notifies you

C.) Finds the best possible link partners for your site, based on Google’s standards

D.) Shows which partners are still linking back to you

E.) Performs backlink searches on all major search engines

F.) Analyzes and compares special search commands on Google

G.) Finds exactly which websites your competitors are advertising on

H.) Helps you eliminate any penalized websites you link to

If you need great SEO software, can invest $167 and don’t mind spending a few hours mastering a new tool, SEO Elite is worth looking at. It’s the most widely used professional SEO software package for a reason.

Getting the right SEO software can be the best buying decision you ever make for your website. Enjoy!