Tools
Search
Engine Optimization Tools
http://www.webconfs.com
Tools: Search Engine Spider Simulator, displays exactly what a spider
would see when it visits your page. Google Backlink Checker, which
lets you know who's linking to your site and what link text they're
using. Similar Page Checker will determine the similarity between
two pages.
Marketleap
Search Engine Marketing Tools
http://www.marketleap.com/services/freetools/default.htm
Tools: Link Popularity Check. Enter your URL and up to three comparison
URLs, and the site will let you know what your link popularity is
in AllTheWeb, AltaVista, Google, Inktomi, and MSN. It also compares
your site's link popularity to other URLs you listed as well as other
sites on the Net. The Search Engine Saturation tool determines how
many pages a given search engine has in its index for your Web site.
You can compare your site to five other sites with this tool. Keyword
Verification Tool checks to see if your page is in the top three pages
of a search engine's results for a certain keyword or keyword phrase.
Website
Security Report
http://security.computer-concierge.net/security/website_security_report.asp
This
very tool lets you find out how secure your Web site is.
Your
Computer's Security
http://grc.com/x/ne.dll?rh1dkyd2
Gibson Research Corporation offers a really neat (and free) tool for
checking the security of your computer: ShieldsUp. Scroll down on
the page to the Hot Spots area, where you'll find the link to ShieldsUp.
Be sure to go through each of the checks in the ShieldsUp section
(File Sharing, Common Ports, etc.).
Reverse
DNS Lookup
http://remote.12dt.com/rns/
This service converts an IP address to the host name by searching
domain name service tables.
Bobby
Online
http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp
This online service allows you to test Web pages to help expose and
repair barriers to accessibility and encourage compliance with existing
accessibility guidelines. It's very important to make sure your Web
pages are accessible for those who surf the Internet with disabilities.
AnyBrowser.com
Screen Size Tester
http://anybrowser.com/ScreenSizeTest.html
Have you ever been to a Web site and not been able to scroll to the
bottom of the page? The scroll bar is there, but you can't get down
that far to scroll. It's not a pleasant experience. At the Screen
Size Tester, you can test your Web pages in different screen resolutions
so that you can be assured that all of your visitors can view your
site in its entirety.
Customer
Focus Calculator ("We Monitor"!)
http://www.futurenowinc.com/wewe.htm
It analyzes a Web page and lets you know if the Web page is focused
on YOU or on your customers. After all, shouldn't our Web pages be
written for our customers... not ourselves?
Random:
Top Ten Web Design Mistakes for 2002
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20021223.html
Though not a tool (and may look like it's outdated), this handy list
is something that we should all be aware of. For example, don't use
horizontal scrolling!
Link
Exchange
Web
sites need to exchange links to grow. Be careful not to sign up with
wrong sites, there are quality and spam web sites exist. Sign up with
sites where you can approach others personally, and where they can
approach you personally.
Do
not join any link farms! Link farms sound excellent, but search engines
(Google in particular) disapprove of them they will penalize sites
that use them. Once a site has been penalized, it is very difficult
to get the penalty lifted, so avoid link farms and spam.
E-mail
Requests
(a)
Search on Google for your main search terms and find the websites
that are competing with you. Then find which sites link to them by
searching "link:www.competitor-domain.com". Email them and
ask for a link exchange.
(b)
Search on Google for websites that are relate and complimentary to
your site's topic, but not direct competitors, and ask them for a
link exchange.
Buy
Them
There
are websites that sell links, and often the link will be placed on
multiple pages, or all pages within the site. It's possible to approach
individual sites where you would like your links to appear. The key
to succsess in the quality linking partners.
Pay-per-click
advertising link brokers (Google, Yahoo) offer links for sale on behalf
of other websites by placing your ad links, also you could use the
service to sell links on your site! With these services, it is usual
to be able to choose the topic of the website(s) where you want to
place your links.
Summary
In-site,
Inbound, and even outbound links are important for websites that want
to move up the rankings and receive high quality traffic. Inbound
links, with the right link text, are essential for achieving top rankings
when there is any competition for the search terms.
Most
websites do not naturally attract links, and link acquisition can
be time-consuming, ecpencive, tedious, and frustrating. Many websites
that are approached by email will say "no", but some will
say "yes". For top rankings, it is a almost essential to
take the time and get many inbound links. It should be treated as
an ongoing task.