Welcome to part three of this three part series on SEO tools and resources. In the last two articles we discussed the variety of Firefox extensions used for SEO as well as an assortment of other free or affordable SEO tools. In this article we’ll discuss some of the resources you’ll want to access on a regular basis to keep up to date and informed on the goings-on in the search engine and SEO realm.

We’re doing to cover a few different types of resources below and I’m going to try to keep this article to a reasonable length so let’s begin …

Media

when there’s a breaking story or you want an expert opinion on a subject, a good first place to hit is the media sources in that industry. The SEO industry is no different and there are some amazing albeit often unconventional media sources. Some of my favorite are:

Webmaster Radio

Webmaster Radio is an Internet-based radio station with some great programing ranging from affiliate marketing to PPC to organic optimization and much more. With shows hosted by experts in their fields from Danny Sullivan (Search news) to Dave Szetela (PPC) you’ll solid information that is well-sounded. I’d list my favorite shows however what I like may be different than you and what I need to know may be different than what you need to know so look through their programming and either listen through your work day as I often do or download the podcasts for later listening.

WebProNews

WebProNews offers up-to-the-minute information on virtually every event. They have reporters writing constantly and have other scoring SEO blogs and other news sources, compiling the information in one place for easy access. They also have great articles by third-party writers and a very active readership that is proactive in their commenting. Definitely near the top of my go-to list when I’m looking for news and current feedback.

Addme

This site is difficult to classify as it fits into a couple categories but I decided to include under media as that’s my primary use. They include tools, resources, a directory and much more on their site. My primary use of this site is for the articles and newsletter.

Search Engine Watch

No list of SEO resources would be complete without including Search Engine Watch. This site is the one that started it all. Search Engine Watch provides everything from fantastic articles to breaking news to search engine stats and an awesome forum. A definite bookmark.

Blogs

As with many industries – blogs are a great way to keep informed on the latest goings-on in the SEO realm. The trick, however, is figuring out which blogs are worth reading and which authors are truly knowledgeable. Over the years I’ve read many blogs and to be honest – I still do. Below are some of the key blogs I reference on a regular basis.

SEO Book Blog

Aaron Wall over at SEO Book has an excellent blog worth reading on a regular basis. I have yet to visit his blog and not find some tid-bit of information that was worth reading either because of the information itself or because often he’s just entertaining. Another to add to your weekly reading list.

Matt Cutts Blog

It’s nice to get it from the horse’s mouth. For those who don’t know – Matt Cutts is the head of Google’s Webspam team. He blogs about Google, technology and occasionally his cat. One has to read what he writes knowing that he’s a Google employee and as such can’t really give away the farm BUT he gives tons of great advice, insight and tips. The perk being – this time you don’t have to ask if following his advice will get you banned.

SEO By The Sea

Bill Slawski (the author) focuses his attentions on the more technical side of things with tales of patents, algorithmic possibilities, statistics and functionalities. For many, his would be one of the more dry blogs if not for his gift with words and ability to make even the most bland of subject, palatable. You don’t need to visit his blog daily but adding it to your weekly journey through the web is recommended.

SEOmoz Blog

What blog list would be complete without the inclusion of the SEOmoz blog. Rand Fishkin and crew keep their visitors up-to-date of some great research, news and SEO tips. From opinion pieces to months-long whitepapers you’ll find useful information. Again – not necessary to visit every day but a weekly pass is always worthwhile.

Forums

Forums are a great place to gather information, especially on current events such as ranking updates. That said, reading forums can be a risky thing. Almost anyone can join a forum and post their thoughts. While this format allows us to capture a wide range of information and knowledge – it also results in less qualified people giving advice as well. So while I recommend reading forums – I also recommend taking things with a grain of salt – at least until you figure out who’s who.

SEO Chat Forums

The SEO chat forums are easily one of the largest and most popular of the SEO forums. They cover a HUGE array of issues from Google to social media to Alexa rankings to (hold your hats) Ask Jeeves (that’s right – the forum’s been around for THAT long). Users worth noting are rustybrick, fathom, and randfish.

DigitalPoint Forums

DigitalPoint also is an ancient forum (2000 – ancient by web standards at least). They cover a wide range of topics from SEO to PPC to affiliate programs. Some users worth noting there are shoemoney, daven, and of course digitalpoint. A great place to ask your questions. Heavily visited and they have a ranking system for their users so you can get a decent feel as to whether they’re reliable.

SitePoint Forums

There are a variety of reasons I like SitePoint and I own a number of their books. Their forums focus on design and development (not SEO) but every SEO needs resources on the design and development side.

Newsletters & Other Resources

Of course there are other resources that every SEO or webmaster needs to be able to get their hands on. Here they are:

Google Webmaster Guidelines

These are the guidelines set out by Google telling you what you can and can’t do and what tactics to look out for. Worth a look over periodically as the do change from time-to-time. If you’re heading into the forums for advice you’ll definitely want to gander at the guidelines first to make sure that if you get lead astray – at least you’ll know what can get you banned or penalized first.

Sphinn

A social media site for SEO. Here you’ll find user-submitted stories on a wide array of Internet Marketing topics. Obviously the quality and relevancy of the stories ranges from brilliant to utter crud but the cream usually rises to the top with good stories hitting page one. That said – an occasional peek at specific threads often reveals some hidden gems.

Search Engine Land Newsletter

Perhaps I should have included this in the media section above as it’s a fine site unto itself but it was the newsletter component that I find most helpful and so I have decided to place it here. Sign up for their newsletter and you’ll get daily notification as to when some of the major search engine events happen and some solid advice as to what it means for you.

High Rankings Newsletter

Jill over at High Rankings puts out a solid newsletter where she provides tips and advice including replies to visitor questions. While I may disagree with some of her points from time to time (the same can likely be said for more of the resources noted and I’m sure others can say the same about my writings and opinions) I’ve never seen her provide bad advice – my advice just might be different from time-to-time.

Conclusion

Obviously there are a ton more tools and resources available. In this series of articles I’ve tried to include those that apply to the broadest spectrum of people and that are the most helpful. I highly recommend hunting for your own – especially if you’ve got issues that you can’t find help for here.

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If you got behind the wheel of a car without knowing how to drive, chances are, you’d crash. Yet, every single day on the Internet, thousands of newbies are performing the equivalent of the aforementioned driving analogy, by putting up a website without having the slightest idea how to promote it. And guess what happens – they crash!

In my opinion, starting a business – any business without having even basic marketing skills is not only putting the proverbial cart before the horse – it’s downright foolish!

Now some might argue that a business plan is more important than marketing ability. And others might argue that knowing how to manage a business is more important than having a marketing acumen.

Well, I agree with the former argument. A good business plan is like a GPS system. It will keep you on course, and headed in the right direction. A business plan is an absolute must, and you should definitely develop one before you start any business.

However, I reject the  latter argument. Why? Because you can be the greatest manager in the world, but if you don’t know how to market your wares, your business will fail – I don’t care what you’re selling.

That’s why I consider competency in marketing the most important business skill that you can have. If you become proficient in the art of marketing, it will allow you to become profitable that much quicker. Then you can afford to either hire a manager, or take  a business management course.

A Simple Classified Ad

How important is it to acquire marketing proficiency? Believe it or not, writing a simple classified ad is considered both an art and a science, seriously! Publisher and mail order legend, Melvin Powers actually wrote an entire 240 page book about classified advertising titled, “Making Money with Classified Ads.” In an advertisement for the book Powers writes:

“I’ve run thousands upon thousands of ads, month after month, year after year and have made millions doing it. I’ve learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t. I found that, as with most things, making money with classified ads is easy when you know how.”

Author and  master copywriter, Robert Boduch also wrote a book about classified advertising titled “Classified Magic …How To Make Your Small Ads Pay Off BIG!” In an advertisement for his book, Boduch wrote:

“After years of running ads — trying out various approaches — I began to collect the key ideas that worked. I wanted to figure out what made some classified ads so successful. And I kept testing new approaches until …I finally figured out …what works and what doesn’t.”

By the way, while we’re on the subject of writing ads, do yourself a favor and start reading Brian Clark’s outstanding copywriting blog, CopyBlogger. You won’t get a better ad writing education anywhere on the Internet – and it’s free! You can thank me later.

How Do I Get Free Traffic to My Website?

I’m a member of several small business forums, and without fail, whenever newbies visit the forums, the two questions they ask most often are: “How do I promote my website?” or, “How do I get free traffic to my website?”  Those two basic questions get asked by newbies every single day.

Newbies, are you starting to see my point about the importance of acquiring marketing skills? You need to know the answer to those questions, before you build a website. As I demonstrated a moment ago, even writing something as simple as a classified ad requires  a certain degree of competency.

The Seduction of Internet Marketing Newbies

In his book “Seduction,” author and social theorist Jean Baudrillard writes:

“Many social behavior theorists classify seduction as a specialized form of persuasion. Seduction can also be viewed as a form of power that relies on psychological mastery rather than the use of coercive power, money, or intellectual appeals.”

I couldn’t agree more. Seduction is indeed a “specialized form of persuasion that relies on psychological mastery.” That’s one of the reasons why so many newbies come online believing that they can succeed without any type of training – without any marketing knowledge whatsoever. They’ve been psychologically seduced – mentally manipulated into believing that they can – much like gamblers are seduced by the dream of striking it rich in Las Vegas casinos.

Allow me to elaborate: Naive and highly impressionable newbies see stories on tv about ordinary people getting rich on ebay. They see the slickly produced “get rich quick on the Internet” infomercials. They read the newspaper and magazine articles about people starting an online business with little or no money, and seemingly making millions overnight.

In addition, brilliantly composed and ultra persuasive get-rich-quick ads literally saturate the Internet. They’re everywhere! At virtually every turn, newbies are bombarded and seduced with stories, and images of ordinary people making extraordinary amounts of money on the Internet. And as is human nature, they want to get in on the action too. In essence, newbies are being seduced with unrealistic visions of the “pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.”

And because the seduction methods being perpertrated are so powerful and effective, they almost have a brainwashing effect. Most newbies are incapable of determining for themselves what’s true and what isn’t. They can’t comprehend that the “flavor of the month” success stories they see in the media and on the Internet are the exception, rather than the rule.

Now many of you reading this may erroneously come to the conclusion that I’m against capitalism, and free enterprise. I can assure you, I’m not. I’m all for everyone making as much money as they possibly can. After all, that’s the American way. That being said, I also think it’s important that newbies coming online be told the “truth” about Internet Marketing – that it’s not nearly as easy as it’s being presented.

The Truth About Internet Marketing

Because of fierce competition and ratings pressure, the tv media especially tends to glamorize certain news items. As a result, newbies are being fed a daily dose of sensationalized poppycock! The truth is, Internet marketing is hard work. No, not ditch-digging hard – but hard work nonetheless. And for every “rainbows and lollipops” success story that gets publicized, there are at least a thousand gut-wrenching failures that get swept under the rug.

The point of this article is to cut through the hype and B.S – to tell newbies the truth about Internet Marketing. It’s a business, like any other business. And it requires preparation, effort and dedication. So how can newbies realistically succeed on the Internet? In my opinion, the easiest, safest and best way for newbies to succeed online is with affiliate programs. What are affiliate program?

In a nutshell, an affiliate program is where you agree to promote another company’s products for a commission, or percentage of the profits. Affiliate programs are perfect for newbies, because for the most part, you don’t even need a website to get started making money. You also don’t have to worry about billing hassles, stocking inventory or shipping products. That’s all handled for you by the merchant. You simply promote the daylights out of the link the merchant provides you. And when you make sales – collect your money.

But what about if you don’t know anything about marketing? Glad you asked.

The best and most successful affiliate programs like Dr. Ken Evoy’s 5 Pillar Affiliate Program or The Internet Marketing Center (IMC) Affiliate Program take you by the hand, and help guide you through the marketing process. They work with you to help you become successful. They’ll do their part – but you have to do your part as well. That means you have to work hard, and faithfully study and apply their proven marketing techniques – and learn how to promote their programs. They’ll teach you what you need to know to become successful, and allow you to progress at your own pace.

There are also some excellent books on the market, written especially for newbies. One of the best is “Street Smart Internet Marketing” by Justin Michie.

So if you’re a newbie reading this, do yourself a favor, and pick up a copy of “Street Smart Internet Marketing.” It’s selling on Amazon for as little as $4.99 – a relatively painless investment in your marketing education.

Free Internet Marketing Resources for Newbies

A really great website for newbies is the original newbies site, Joe Robson’s The Newbie Club. This site has some incredible free resources, including articles, free tutorials, newbie software, newbie books and e-mail courses.

StartupNation is another fantastic site for newbies. It pretty much has everything a newbie would need, all on one website, including blogs, forums and a marketplace where you can promote your business for free. It’s a very impressive site.

Also, check out Lynn Terry’s Self Starters Weekly Tips website. Lynn has been working online for over a decade. Her website has plenty of free resources, including a popular forum and blog. And from what I’ve observed, Lynn goes out of her way to help newbies.

Another good site for newbies is Mike Merz’ im4newbies. Mike has been helping newbies for nearly a decade. Our paths have never crossed, but word is, Mike’s one of the truly good guys on the Internet – and his site has some excellent free resources for newbies.

In closing, Internet marketing is serious business – so be sure to treat it that way. Because unlike the movie, “Field of Dreams,” where “if you build it, they will come.” On the Internet, if you build a website without knowing how to promote it – nobody’s coming!

Next, Discover Here More Tips On How To Make Money Online …
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One of the excuses we hear most often from struggling online marketers is that they don’t make more sales because they don’t have a list. We even hear that excuse from marketers who have been online three, or even five years.

My question to them is always, “What are you waiting for?” “Why not start a massive list-building effort today?”

When I look at how I built my database, I used only a few primary methods. Here are the most effective ones that I used:

1) On many of my content websites, in many niches, I simply have an opt-in form in a prominent location on practically every page. That opt-in form is usually in the upper right corner of the page. I typically offer the potential subscribers a gift as an enticement to join my list — perhaps a PDF special report or an audio recording. 

I also assure the potential subscriber that I will protect their data and only send them appropriate email. I also tell them that there is a handy one-click link in every email that I send that makes it super easy for them to remove themselves from my list if they ever get tired of my communications.

This has worked beautifully for me for more than a dozen year, and steadily grows my lists.

2) I have numerous affiliate programs. Many of these affiliate programs sell inexpensive products and pay the affiliates 100% commission on the front end product. The real purpose of those affiliate programs is to build a list of proven buyers interested in a specific topic. The commissions incentivize others to go out and send me traffic AND build my lists. 

I most often use a script called Rapid Action Profits, which allows me to pay affiliate instantly, depositing the payments directly into their PayPal accounts. This is so powerful because affiliates often need the funds TODAY, and don’t want to wait 30 – 60 days for their commissions. When they can sell one of my inexpensive products, that are almost impulse buys for their customers, and get those funds instantly, they trip over themselves sending me customer… and building my lists.

3) I often participate in quality list-building giveaways. In these events, numerous marketers ban together to drive traffic to a centralize website where gifts from each of the marketers are listed. In order to download a specific gift, the website visitor must typically visit the site of the marketer offering the gift and join his list.

If you offer truly useful gifts, thousands of new subscribers can sometimes be gained from just one of these free giveaways. I usually offer PDF ebooks (transcripts from interviews that I conduct), MP3’s or inexpensive but useful software.

I often announce free giveaways that are looking for contributors on my blog, and to my Twitter followers.

4) Software that displays your subscribe box on other’s site, and automatically builds your list for you. There is software that allows you to participate in a cooperative effort, where partners display the boxes on each others’ webpages. This is a good way to share the wealth since your website visitors are joining others’ lists anyway. You may as well send your traffic to someone who is reciprocating.

There is also newer software that allows you to display your subscribe box superimposed on affiliate websites, social networking sites, etc. You still tell your visitors to go to sites such as YouTube, Clickbank, Amazon or Ebay, but the software shows them a subscribe box and asks them to join your list BEFORE doing anything else. This is very powerful, and is largely hands free.

For example, I can mention affiliate sites, or perhaps my profile page on one of the social networking sites, and build a list in the process of just spreading the word.

With so many easy ways to grow your list, there really is no excuse for anyone who’s been online for more than a few months not to be aggressively building a list. You do need that list to inexpensively spread the word about your business.

Now that you see how REALLY simple and easy it is, get started building your list today!

One of the excuses we hear most often from struggling online marketers is that they don’t make more sales because they don’t have a list. We even hear that excuse from marketers who have been online three, or even five years.

My question to them is always, “What are you waiting for?” “Why not start a massive list-building effort today?”

When I look at how I built my database, I used only a few primary methods. Here are the most effective ones that I used:

1) On many of my content websites, in many niches, I simply have an opt-in form in a prominent location on practically every page. That opt-in form is usually in the upper right corner of the page. I typically offer the potential subscribers a gift as an enticement to join my list — perhaps a PDF special report or an audio recording.

I also assure the potential subscriber that I will protect their data and only send them appropriate email. I also tell them that there is a handy one-click link in every email that I send that makes it super easy for them to remove themselves from my list if they ever get tired of my communications.

This has worked beautifully for me for more than a dozen year, and steadily grows my lists.

2) I have numerous affiliate programs. Many of these affiliate programs sell inexpensive products and pay the affiliates 100% commission on the front end product. The real purpose of those affiliate programs is to build a list of proven buyers interested in a specific topic. The commissions incentivize others to go out and send me traffic AND build my lists.

I most often use a script called Rapid Action Profits, which allows me to pay affiliate instantly, depositing the payments directly into their PayPal accounts. This is so powerful because affiliates often need the funds TODAY, and don’t want to wait 30 – 60 days for their commissions. When they can sell one of my inexpensive products, that are almost impulse buys for their customers, and get those funds instantly, they trip over themselves sending me customer… and building my lists.

3) I often participate in quality list-building giveaways. In these events, numerous marketers ban together to drive traffic to a centralize website where gifts from each of the marketers are listed. In order to download a specific gift, the website visitor must typically visit the site of the marketer offering the gift and join his list.

If you offer truly useful gifts, thousands of new subscribers can sometimes be gained from just one of these free giveaways. I usually offer PDF ebooks (transcripts from interviews that I conduct), MP3’s or inexpensive but useful software.

I often announce free giveaways that are looking for contributors on my blog, and to my Twitter followers.

4) Software that displays your subscribe box on other’s site, and automatically builds your list for you. There is software that allows you to participate in a cooperative effort, where partners display the boxes on each others’ webpages. This is a good way to share the wealth since your website visitors are joining others’ lists anyway. You may as well send your traffic to someone who is reciprocating.

There is also newer software that allows you to display your subscribe box superimposed on affiliate websites, social networking sites, etc. You still tell your visitors to go to sites such as YouTube, Clickbank, Amazon or Ebay, but the software shows them a subscribe box and asks them to join your list BEFORE doing anything else. This is very powerful, and is largely hands free.

For example, I can mention affiliate sites, or perhaps my profile page on one of the social networking sites, and build a list in the process of just spreading the word.

With so many easy ways to grow your list, there really is no excuse for anyone who’s been online for more than a few months not to be aggressively building a list. You do need that list to inexpensively spread the word about your business.

Now that you see how REALLY simple and easy it is, get started building your list today!