Without the right tools, even the best SEO professionals in the world won’t be able to get very far.

What are the most important tools you should know about? Here are some of the most important tools for Google search engine optimization.

1. Backlink Checking Tools

Backlink checking tools allow you to figure out exactly how strong your competition is for any given keyword before you begin a campaign.

It also allows you to reverse engineer strategies that are already working for other people in your industry. If you can figure out what’s already working and do it even better than your competitors, you have a very good chance of success.

Two great backlink checking tools are Open Site Explorer and Majestic SEO. Both of these tools have free versions that give you quite a bit of data, along with a paid version with even more data.

You can also use Yahoo Site Explorer and Bing Webmaster Tools to check backlinks; though both of these tools have serious drawbacks.

2. Submission Tools

If you’re doing mass backlinks using a social bookmarking website or article marketing, you’re going to want to have a few programs that do it for you.

For example, if you’re regularly submitting content to social bookmarking websites, you’ll probably want to use a tool like Bookmarking Demon or Ping.fm. These tools will submit new content to a wide array of social media websites all at the click of a button for you.

If you’re doing article submissions, you’ll either want to use a submission program like Article Submitter or use a service like iSnare.

3. Market Research Tools

There are several market research tools on the market that offer stellar keyword research and niche research capabilities.

For one, Google’s own Google Keyword Tool is still the best tool out there for raw traffic data. If you’re just trying to figure out how much traffic certain search terms get, it’s one of the fastest and easiest places to get data.

Another tool that’s been taking off rapidly is Market Samurai. In addition to search volume, Market Samurai will also evaluate the competitiveness of each keyword you type in and give you a rough gauge of how much you can expect to earn in that market if you successfully rank.

How Much of SEO Is in the Tools?

Though not having the right tools can prevent you from succeeding, having the right tools doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll succeed.

You need to use the tools in the right way to get the results you’re looking for. If you want to get ranked, tools can help you get there faster, but they can’t do the bulk of the real work for you.

An entrepreneur these days needs to be able to move. That means having the tools that they need to conduct their business with them at all times. If you are a business owner, then you need a Smartphone that allows you access to what you need in order to grow your business even when you are not in the office or at your computer.

Take your pick. Everyone has their favorite line of Smartphones, but you can choose the one that offers the memory, ease of use and speed that you desire. And, with the large market of applications available today, most are available to more than one line of phones.

So let’s explore the essential apps that you will need if you want to perform as many functions as possible while staying mobile.

Essential Apps for Your Smartphone

* Square – This app is free to use. It allows you to process credit card payments right from your phone. You don’t have to wait until you get to the office and your PC to do this anymore. Use the card reader to accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover.

* Evernote – They say that elephants never forget and neither does this app. Whenever you have an idea, capture it in picture, voice recording or words with this virtual memo system. With cloud computing, updates to your Evernote lists are synced across all of your electronic devices. This app is free to download.

* LinkedIn – This is by far the most popular social networking site for professionals. Just like with Facebook or Twitter, keep abreast of what fellow peers are doing using this app. Network, share information and update your profile – all from your phone. This app is free to download.

* Google Docs – Want to share information quickly with your team? You can update and send files back and forth with this application. Also, Google offers other cloud computing apps that allow you to talk with clients, invoice customers and create sync information across your devices and Google calendars. This app is free.

* Documents to Go – There is a cost for this app but it is well worth the payment. You can create MS Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint files – all from your Smartphone. Files can be transferred to your desktop also. Send completed files to clients quickly from any location. Now you don’t have to wait until you get back to the office.

* Dropbox or SugarSync – Now you can share files between computers and your phone with your team and clients. This app, which is free, allows you to make your information available to whoever needs it, when they need it.

As a business owner, it is important to have tools that make your business as mobile as you sometimes are. The apps above are examples of some of the more essential Smartphone tools.

Why?

1. The Very Basics: How Is Your Website Doing?

If you don’t even track the rudimentary things, such as how much traffic your website is getting, how many people are coming back to your website after leaving and other basic metrics, you’ll have no idea how your website is doing at all.

If your website is starting to get serious traffic, that means an opportunity to make money. If you don’t have tracking installed, you won’t know when that happens.

In addition to the basics, there are a lot of other benefits of tracking some of the more advanced metrics.

2. Using Metrics to Rank Well in Search Engines

With the Panda update, Google has publically stated that they’re using visitor metrics much more heavily now in their ranking algorithms.

That means that pages where people stay longer will tend to rank higher. Pages where users click and then never come back to Google also rank higher, as that probably means they found the answer to their question on your site. Pages which users don’t bounce from and instead go to other pages on your site will rank higher.

These are just a fraction of the metrics Google is now considering in their ranking algorithm. If you want your website to rank, you need to be consistently monitoring things like return rate, bounce rate and exit rate to improve them over time.

3. Tracking Performance to Immediately Improve Cashflow

Some metrics may not immediately improve your bottom line. Improvements in other metrics, however, can immediately improve your cashflow.

For example, what’s your current visitor to email sign-up rate? What’s your email to conversion rate?

By tracking these two metrics, you can immediately add more cash to your bottom line. More importantly, any improvements you make to these metrics will last over time, paying off for months and years.

4. Improving the Non-Tangibles of Your Business

How useful are people finding your website? How many people feel like your site is resourceful enough that they come back? How many people post things from your site to their Facebook status?

These are metrics that won’t necessarily add to your bottom line right away. However, they’ll result in more links, more visitors and more community goodwill. In the long run, that’ll turn into more visitors and more cash.

These are some of the many reasons you should be tracking the performance of your website. Without good tracking, you’re essentially flying blind. By tracking and measuring your metrics, you’ll be able to refine and improve your website over time.

What sets Google+ apart from other social networks? And how can it be used to build a business?

There are two main features that set Google+ apart from Facebook: Circles and Hangouts.

Circles: What They Are and How to Use Them

Circles are like friends groups. You choose what groups to put people in without them knowing what group you’ve placed them in.

You can then choose to share things with people in certain circles, without other people in other circles seeing it.

Let’s say you run two businesses, one for PPC coaching and one for SEO coaching.

You’ll be able to put all your students and contacts of each group into their respective groups. You’ll then be able to share course updates to one group without the other seeing.

Circles also solves another problem many professionals have had with Facebook. You want to be able to share photos and status updates with your friends, but not necessarily with your professional contacts.

Circles makes this very easy. You can share just about anything with whoever you want and hide it from whoever you want.

Hangouts for Video Conferencing

There are many video conferencing programs online. However, by and large every single one of them is paid and often quite expensive.

Google+ changes all that. Google+ makes video conferences completely free, backed by Google engineered technology.

You can have any number of people join a Google+ hangout. You can invite people one by one, or you can open a hangout to an entire group of people who can join at will.

You can share YouTube videos. You can type text into a chat box. The speed of the service doesn’t slow down no matter how many people you have on it.

In short, the Google+ Hangouts makes it easy to hold video webinars as well as video conferences with co-workers and business partners.

Is Google+ Here to Stay?

Of course, if you’re going to adopt a new social network, you want to use one that other people are actually on and one that’s going to be around for a while.

Will Google+ still be here a year or two down the line? There’s no way to know for sure. The uptake was much faster than any other social network in history, but users’ number one complaint today is still that there’s “nobody else on it.”

If your customers or co-workers are already on Google+, then you probably should get yourself on Google+. However, if nobody you know is on the network yet, you might want to wait for a short time first to see how it plays out.

Step 1: Identify a Reasonable Goal

When you’re setting SEO goals, set both ambitious goals and goals that are achievable in weeks. These goals will take the form of keywords.

You probably can’t expect to rank in the top three for your main keyword within six months. It’s very possible, but don’t build your business based on that expectation.

On the other hand, it’s very reasonable to aim for ranking in a few weeks for long tail keywords.

Start your quest for rankings with a main keyword to target in the long run and several less competitive keywords to rank for in the short run.

Step 2: Set a Content Goal

The content goal needs to come in the form of X pieces of content per Y amount of time. For example:

Goal: 3 Blog posts a week.
Goal: 100 new products a month (ecommerce site.)
Goal: 1 Video blog post a week.

So on and so forth. Remember that you’re going to need to be able to follow this schedule for a few months. Be ambitious, but not so ambitious that you risk falling off the wagon.

Is it possible to rank a website of just static content? Yes, but Google does place a very strong emphasis and preference on websites that are regularly updated with new content.

Step 3: Set a Backlink Goal

Backlinks are the “magic sauce” that make an SEO campaign work.

Choose one or two backlink strategies that you can execute regularly. Then create a schedule for when you’ll do the work.

For example, if your strategy is to comment on ten blogs a week, then pick which day(s) you’ll do your commenting.

If your strategy is to do four guest blog posts a month, then you may have to contact five to ten blogs a week to make that happen. Again, schedule out when you’ll do that on a weekly basis.

The secret to rankings isn’t getting a bunch of backlinks all at once, but consistently increasing your backlinks over time.

If you follow these three steps and consistently add both content and backlinks to that content, you’ll find that you’ll very quickly start ranking for your lesser competition keywords. In a few months, you’ll find even higher competition keywords getting ranked. Eventually, you’ll even rank for your main keyword(s).

This involves people coming to your website. What you want to count are your unique visitors. These are people who visit for the first time. Repeat visitors are great for sales but to gain interest, the more people who come, the better.

In order for a business to make money it needs traffic. These people will do something for you on your site that will enhance their life and make money for you. There are a variety of ways to do it but for any method you use to be cost effective, you will need traffic.

One way to gain traffic is to have a focus. This is your niche. This will determine which traffic comes your way and if they are going to buy whatever you decide to offer on your site.

Now, turn your attention to your content. That is why your traffic is there in the first place. If you haven’t already, optimize it for a wider readership. This involves targeting certain keywords in your articles, blog posts, headers and picture text. Not only will your content get ranked higher for those keywords, but also your website. If you haven’t done so already, register your website with the major search engines.

Monetizing Your Website

Now that you have made a few tweaks to gain more focused traffic, you are ready to start making money with your website. Here are some ways that you can use to get the job done.

* PPC – This basically means that you are posting ads that people will click on. Whenever someone clicks on that ad, you get paid. Depending on who you are using for your service, there are other ways to do this besides just the click-through rate. One you can start with is Google AdSense.

* Banner Advertising – This is a way to get noticed. If you have a good fan base and have networked with others in your business niche, this can work for you. Sell advertising space on the top of your website. You can also sell on the sides, but keep in mind that the top half of your web page is where people’s eyes tend to gravitate.

* Affiliate Marketing – You not only advertise for others and sponsor their products, but you also get access to lots of helpful tools so you can do just that. Earn commissions on your click rate as well as sale rate depending on how the affiliate program is set up.

* Paid surveys – Companies will pay you to offer surveys to your visitors. Each time one of them takes the survey you get paid.

There are many other ways to monetize your website but this is just the beginning. Once you have started, try other ways to make your expertise work for you.

#1 Have a Goal in Mind

It’s very easy to become sidetracked with all of the information the Google AdWords keyword tool provides. You might start on the site looking for content ideas and end up creating a PPC ad. Before you hit the page, have a goal in mind. What are you looking for? Why are you looking for it and what is your ultimate goal? Possible goals might include:

* Searching for new business niche ideas

* Researching your competition

* Brainstorming content ideas

* Creating navigation structure for your site

* Product development research

#2 Understand the Possibilities

There are many different data points that the Google AdWords keyword tool provides. Understand all of them and you’ll be clearer about your goals and your search results. For example, do you know what your keyword matching options are? Google offers the following options:

1. Broad match: keyword
Allows your ad to show on similar phrases and relevant variations
(The broad match modifier may also be used to further refine your broad keyword matches: +keyword.)

2. Phrase match: “keyword”
Allows your ad to show for searches that match the exact phrase

3. Exact match: [keyword]
Allows your ad to show for searches that match the exact phrase exclusively

4. Negative match: -keyword
Ensures your ad doesn’t show for any search that includes that term

This is just the beginning of the type of data Google provides. Spend some time, once you’ve established your goal, learning the relevant data points that will help you succeed.

#3 Organize Your Search, and Your Results

Downloading and printing all of your results can be a huge waste of paper. If the information isn’t properly organized you might look at it five days from now and not know what you’re looking at. Consider creating a spreadsheet to track your information. Label the spreadsheet page by date, goal, and results. Consider also printing the spreadsheets so you can look at them side by side. You might three-hole punch them and keep them in a binder for easy reference too.

Finally, take advantage of the shortcuts. For example, if you’re creating AdSense ads there are batch processes you can take advantage of that save tremendous time. The Google AdWords keyword tool is an extremely useful tool. Know your purpose, understand the data, and make sure you’re organized for optimal success.

Here’s how to set up a Google AdWords Campaign

Step #1 – Sign up for an account. It’s free. Visit adwords.google.com/ and sign up. If you already have a Gmail account, analytics account or other account, you can simply log onto your account, visit “Advertising Programs” or “Business solutions” and follow the links.

Step #2 – Research your keywords. You may already be familiar with the Google AdWords keyword tool. If not, you can find it here adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal. You’re looking for keywords that represent your product or service.

You also ideally want the keywords to have low supply and high demand. That will help your campaign be successful. The more supply there is for a keyword, the more expensive it will be for you to garner a first page position. Additionally, you want a lot of demand for your keywords so you reach plenty of eyeballs.

Step #3 – Click “create your first campaign”. You’ll be prompted to enter a campaign name. Choose a name that helps you stay organized. This is particularly important if you have multiple businesses, multiple offers and/or will be creating multiple campaigns.

Step #4 – You’ll also be prompted to choose your campaign settings at this time. These will be things like language, location, your daily budget and so on. Pay attention to these settings but if you’re unsure, that’s okay. You can go back and change them at any time. One that you may change often is your daily budget.

Step #5 – Once you’ve chosen your keywords simply click on the keywords tab on your AdWords account and campaign screen. Begin adding your keywords. You’ll also notice a negative keywords space. Negative keywords are keywords you don’t want your ad to show up for.

For example, if you have the keywords, “dog trick training,” and your negative keyword is “video” then anyone entering dog trick training video won’t see your advertisement.

Step #6 – You’ll then be prompted to add your text including your headline which is allowed 25 characters, your two body copy lines each getting 35 characters and your URL. It’s recommended to split test your advertisements to get the best results and return on your investment. You can test any aspect of your ad including your headline, your URL and your offer.

Step #7 – Stay on top of your PPC campaign results. Track your CTR and your daily budget. Make sure they’re lined up with your goals!

Pay Per Click campaigns can be extremely effective for driving both sales and traffic. However, a strategy and a plan to follow up is always advised. Start slowly, track results and repeat your success.

Without further ado, let’s get started.

The Getting Things Done (GTD) System

Note: The GTD system is a gigantic methodology in and of itself. To really understand the ins and outs of the system, get a copy of Getting Things Done by David Allen.

The GTD system involves basically making sure that there is nothing on your mind that isn’t written down somewhere.

Anytime you have a thought that entails a task or action you need to take, you write it down. At the end of the day, everything you’ve written down is put into some sort of task-tracking device.

This eliminates the “vague sense that there’s something I’m supposed to be doing” because you know exactly what’s on your plate at any given time.

You sit down once a week with all your tasks, actions and projects and sort out all your tasks into categories, divided by where you can accomplish the task. For example, you might sort your categories into At Office, At Home, At Store, Online and At Phone.

Anytime you’re at the office, you can just open your At Office list and do any one of the tasks that you’ve sorted into that task file.

This is a grossly simplified version of a very complex and powerful system. Again, to learn the ins and outs, either purchase the original book or Google Getting Things Done for a more in-depth explanation.

The Pomodoro System

The Pomodoro system seeks to eliminate time wasting that often comes with checking email, wandering online and other such activities that aren’t actually productive.

A Pomodoro is a time unit of 20 minutes. Once you start a Pomodoro, you cannot stop. A Pomodoro is pure work, with no email or bathroom breaks in between.

In short, once you start a Pomodoro, you’re working for 20 minutes straight. Start a timer and don’t stop actually doing your work for 20 minutes.

Track how many Pomodoros you accomplished during the day. That’s a better gauge of your efficiency than the amount of hours you spent in front of a computer.

The Steven Covey System

The Steven Covey system ranks tasks by two scales: Whether the task is important or not important, and whether the task is urgent or not urgent.

A task that’s urgent but not important might be answering a ringing phone from a friend. It feels like you must do it now, but it’s probably not that important.

A task that’s important but not urgent might be finding your life purpose, spending time with your kids or managing your finances. They’re important, but there seems to be no immediate pressure to perform the task.

Steven Covey asserts that we tend to spend too much time on things that are urgent but not important and not enough time on things that are important but not urgent.

To remedy this, rank your task list by how important asks are and how urgent they appear to be. Put an emphasis on getting important tasks done, even at the expense of tasks that seem urgent right now.

These are three very different systems for managing your time as an entrepreneur. Each system has avid followers that swear by it. Which system will work for you? Do a bit more research into each system and try them out for yourself. The improvements can be dramatic.

Getting your website to rank in the search engines is both an art and a science. Most experts agree that to get your page to rank, there are a few core steps that matter the most. Follow this checklist to get your SEO campaign kicked off to a solid start.

Keyword Selection

This is the most important step. Choosing what keywords you’re trying to rank for is one of the most important decisions you could make in your business. Choose it right and you’ll make it much easier to rank and get traffic to your website.

Choose wrong and you’ll either be fighting an uphill battle in terms of competition, or you’ll just not get the traffic you want.

Here are three things to consider when choosing keywords:

* Traffic – Does this keyword get enough traffic to make it worth it to target this keyword?

* Competition – How many other people are targeting this keyword?

* Quality – If you can rank for this keyword, will it attract the kind of people you want?

If you can choose keywords that get decent traffic, have competition that you can overcome and attract the kind of people who would pay for your product, then you’re on a very good track.

On-Site Optimization

On-site optimization basically means making it easy for Google to figure out what your website and your web pages are about.

The most important thing is your title tag. More than anything on your page, your title tag determines what Google thinks your page is about. Make sure your keywords are in your title tag, preferably close to the beginning of the tag.

The second most important tag is your H1 tag. This is your headline tag. Google also looks at this to determine what your site is about.

That’s about all that matters as far as on-page SEO goes. In the past, things like meta tags, HTML validation, keyword density and so on all mattered a lot more. Today on-page optimization is much more simplified.

Getting Backlinks

At the heart and soul of any SEO campaign is backlinks. Backlinks are what drives web pages up and down on Google.

There are many techniques to getting backlinks. At the most basic level, it’s creating very good content and promoting that content. Here are a few ways to get backlinks:

* Getting in the press
* Social Networking – Facebook, Twitter, etc.
* Social News – Digg, Reddit, etc.
* Link baiting – Creating interesting content with the express intent of getting linked back to
* Making pages on Squidoo, Hubpages, etc.

If you follow this checklist, you’ll do better than most other internet marketers. Make sure you’re targeting the right keywords, optimize your website well and then spend the majority of your time and resources on getting backlinks.