Market Samurai Review

Market Samurai takes your effort and infuses it with jet fuel so that it launches you into out of this world results while reducing your time to get there. I am happy I made the investment in the Noble Samurai software because it not only helps me but it helps me to get my clients on the right track in record time.

My views on Market Samurai have not changed since I wrote that statement back in 2008.

In fact, it has always been great but is so much better now.

Noble Samurai (the people behind the software) also provide some great video tutorials. These tutorials make using this software a breeze and make it less daunting to those who are novices.

Anyway, I thought it was time to give you an intimate look at this software tool guaranteed to make any keyword research a whole lot easy and reduce the time it takes to research those terms.

This software has save me hours and hours of time when it comes to search engine optimization…and I know Market Samurai can rock your world too.

Someone new to the web recently asked, “How do I get my website to the first page of Google?”

This was a very naiive question because there isn’t a simple answer.

Today getting to the first page of any search engine depends on your domain, how long it has been around plus on page and off page influences.

Off page factors include things such as incoming links, which are like votes for your site, plus the type of domains that those links come from.

On page factors include things such as the content on the page, headers, titles, and other items such as images.

It used to be that Internet marketing research for the right keywords (or phrases) took ages but with Market Samurai, this task is greatly reduced—plus it helps with a variety of other tasks all from the desktop panel.

I’ve been using Market Samurai since before it was publicly released (Beta). Even now it is constantly upgraded and improved.

Noble Samurai created this software to work on Adobe AIR which has an auto update feature that is convenient and easy.

Also, unlike many other types of software, Market Samurai works on all computer types–so it doesn’t matter what you own.

But it is the features that I want to take you through to familiarize you with the product.

When you open the software you can chose to begin a new project or to revisit an existing one.

Once inside you can select the particular task from this menu:

• Project Settings
• New Keyword
• Rank Checker
• Keyword Research
• SEO Competition
• Domains
• Monetization
• Find Content
• Publish Content
• Promotion
• Adwords

Project Setting & Rank Tracker
This section allows you to enter in your domain URL and to track its ranking in three different search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing) and also see how many pages are indexed by those engines.

It shows both broad match and phrase match keywords, checks page rank and backlinks, and allows for various search depths from 10 to 1,000.

Recently MS added the ability to track the site over time and easily view the historical data and trends. This was such a great addition and I can use it to track my small business SEO projects over time.

Keyword Research
Keyword Research is the function I used the most. You can enter you main keyword or phrase and search. This brings back results, not only for the main keyword, but also for other related phrases, and it lets you compare the data on one screen.

There are filters for Google Synonyms, Google Search Words, and filtering for SEO traffic, Adwords Traffic, and Phrase Length.

In addition, it is possible to indicate both positive and negative keywords plus you can also import or export data in one click.

Once you select the keyword or phrase it is possible to further analyze it by choosing Organic (Total Searches, SEO Traffic, Phrase-to-Broad, Trends), Adwords (Traffic Click Through Ratio, Cost Per Click), Competition (SEO Competition, Title Competition, Title Competition, AdwordsCompetition), and/or Commerciality.

Another nice nice feature is that you can click on a specific term to begin exploring it further to drill down your phrases.

SEO Competition
SEO Competition is a super perk for today’s market because you can view both Off Page and On Page data to see what ranking sites are doing right (or wrong) and identify windows of opportunity.

It is so comprehensive that it is of great value. For instance, when exploring you get to see first page ranking results in Google for the selected keyword but you also get to see competitive data such as domain age, page rank, a variety of backlinks, directory listings, metrics and when the site was last cached.

The visual overview includes color coding with green indicating that it would be easier to compete, yellow in the mid-range, and red indicating that it would be the hardest for each value displayed with the particular color indicator.

By using the arrows for each of the domains it is possible to do further analysis of the page rank including looking at the anchor text of each backlink AND where those backlinks are from.

Domains
Recently added was the feature to help find domain names (expiring, dropped, etc.,) and although I tried it with DomainFace, I did not have good luck for the niches I was exploring. To use this function you need to have an active account with Domain Face (which I do but I don’t currently use it).

Monetization
Monetization allows you to quickly find products, generate dynamic ads, and allows you to manage accounts and determine your business metrics.

This interfaces easily with Amazon, Clickbank, Commission Junction and PayDotCom affiliate networks with or without an account with those networks.

It is also possible to filter offers by keyword, commission, categories and language. But the real perk is that you can create an ad template with the copy and images from the affiliate products you find and create sidebar widget, blog or banner ads in a few simple clicks.

Find Content
Content creation can be a challenge and so this interface is a great perk—and one that is useful to a lot of people but not one that I use much.

It empowers you to be able to search many of the biggest article directories, various blogs, YouTube, Flickr, and news or answer sites.

Once you view the data, you can also determine how many content copies have previously been published while perusing both the page rank and backlinks to the page, while also being able to determine the keyword density of the article and the date published.

It is also possible to obtain an article from one of the directories and to publish it right from the Market Samurai software.

Find Content
This section is actually a publishing tool that I don’t take advantage of. It allows integration with WordPress blogs or WordPress Direct accounts.

You can both manage and publish the content found from this section of the software.

Promotion
If you are seeking to help your ranking, and want to find quality backlinks from blogs, forums or other Web 2.0 sites—this section will make your job easier.

A search will reveal keywords, page rank, backlinks, and identifies follow or nofollow along with pingbacks.

Adwords
This section is “Coming Soon” and so has not been activated yet. (I’ll have to come back to update when it is.)

Overall I find Market Samurai to be one of the best software values on the market. It is superior when it comes to the SEO research features and value.

The updates are useful and valuable and I am very happy to have purchased it.

One of the only shortcomings I have found is that sometimes it is very slow. This difficulty arises when I get into a trail of keywords in-depth.

Also, the long list of keyword tabs that are displayed are not easily accessed.

I thought it was my computer originally but found that the software slows down and gets cumbersome the more keywords you track. Often I close one project and open a second so I don’t have to deal with this issue.

Another thing that is a bit cumbersome is that it is necessary to close and reopen the software in between projects. It would be nice if I was able to navigate through each project from the panel without having to shutdown and start up again.

Even with those two minor inconveniences, I believe that overall this is one of the best investments I have made in software and one of my most valued tools to date.

I recommend this product highly to anyone who is doing any research or serious web work for SEO or Internet Marketing and believe it is a necessity instead of optional.

If you want to test drive this software you can do so–but with the 30 Day Money Back Guarantee I highly suggest you to purchase Market Samurai now before the price goes up again!

Since I am currently participating in The Challenge (formerly known as the 30 Day Challenge), I thought it would be a good time to talk about it.

The Challenge is a free program designed to teach people how to make their first dollar on the Internet.

One of the talented people behind the program is Ed Dale.

He is an Australian  known in many circles as, the “Tubby Nerd” and who is often seen with the likes of the Englishman Dan Raine (another Internet marketer) and a host of other talented people.

This year marks my third or fourth year (Sorry—I am really not sure!) doing this program.

One of the reasons I participate is that I like to learn new things and because The Challenge team is usually on top of the latest trends and tools.

In addition, there are some special offers and buys through the program and I’ve scored big time with a few of these and benefited from some great discounts.

During The Challenge, all the recommended software is free of charge to use, and if you elect to continue beyond the program, any purchase benefits those involved.

In the past it was 30 days of intense training and tasks. I’ve finished every time but not everyone was like me.

So, to tackle that problem, the new model is to work seven days, have seven off, and then resume. Hence, the program will continue for an estimated 90 days total.

Each training video is only a few minutes and the daily task commitment is supposed to only require 30 minutes a day.

It will be interesting to see how this works in comparison to past years.

Another nice thing about The Challenge is that it encourages teamwork, provides a moderated forum, and uses UstreamTV and YouTube for interactive sessions and training.

This year I joined a group (actually a few, but only one seems to be really active) and am curious to see what difference this makes in my progress and experience.

I am self-motivated but am enjoying a recent flurry of Internet connections with others who have the same goals of creating a residual income online.

At the moment I am at a solid 10-15% of my monthly goal and am wondering how this year’s challenge will effect that.

Some of the first topics include how the conduct market research, how to generate traffic and how to convert that traffic so it translates into dollars.

The video talks about how to identify a market, find a niche, and then target a microniche.

This year’s short video introduction to the process by far excels beyond anything I’ve seen previously. If this is any indication of how the program has tightened up–it will be more amazing than ever.

Anthony of Market Samurai fame does a brilliant outline of the process with clear examples and a sucinnct summary for Module One.

There is still time to join the process, and I recommend you do, just click here now to participate in the 2010 Challenge.

So my business is on Facebook–is yours?

If you answered “no” then it is time to get rolling and I’ll give you some resources at the end of this post to help you along the way.

If you answered “yes” then it is time to make sure you are tuned up for the best experience for you–and those who do business with you or who are considering doing business with you.

Now I find it funny how so many people are suddenly experts about Facebook.

Unless that person is Mari Smith (author of Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day)–her or she probably isn’t.

I had to chuckle when one of the pages I visited claimed to be an SEO specialist for social media accounts (places like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn).

Their own page failed to include some of the vital things–such a a link to their website that was clickable.

Since I am active on the web and have been on it for a long time (since 1995), I tend to watch things and invest in learning.

Part of my unique perspective comes from the fact that I’ve made pretty much all my mistakes early on–and still do stupid things now and again.

However, I am pretty savvy due to my investment of time and because I’ve attended college classes and paid for online tutoring from some of the best business people on the web.

So, since I’ve been watching a lot of stupid things happen for so long, I thought I would share a few of my thoughts on Facebook mistakes many business people make.

Facebook Mistake:  Open a business account on a profile page.

The problem with this is that it is against Facebook policies and they might shut your account down.

“Facebook profiles are meant to represent a single individual. Organizations of any type are not permitted to maintain an account under the name of their organization. If you create a profile for your business, your account may be disabled …for violating our Terms of Use. If you have questions about how to best leverage your Facebook Page, please check out our Insider’s Guide or FAQ.”

If you have a profile it is simply a matter of adding a page for your business, service or product.

There are a lot more advantages to having this kind of set up but that isn’t for this post.

Facebook Mistake: Add tons of people you don’t know to your profile.

A long time ago I decided to only let family, friends, and select colleagues into my private profile.

My life is public enough and having a small group of peeps together online without the whole world snooping in was appealing.

Some people add anyone and everyone to their profiles but not me–mine is a private profile and I interact with those people.

If you look here, notice that I offer other options to people I don’t know or have not been in contact with for eons.

That page shows a list of links where people can find my public accounts on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Another important aspect of your profile is that you are limited to how many people you allow in–which isn’t the case with public pages.

Facebook Mistake: Fail to include your business information or link on your page.

A lot of businesses don’t know that you can include a link in the sidebar of their Facebook page so people can simply click right over to your website (and you can add an application to move your visitors over to your Facebook page too.)

Please don’t make the mistake of using your Facebook business page as a website–because like anything that is not on your domain–you don’t own it.

Facebook Mistake: Fail to find ways to bring people into your fold outside of Facebook.

It is possible to customize your business page so you can collect email addresses and build your relationship with people off of Facebook.

This is vital for any business owner.

Take a look at my customized Guerrero Ink page or Mari Smith’s active Facebook page to see how attractive they can be.

Facebook Mistake: Forget that social media pages are public.

One of the things that people tend to forget is that social media interactions and sites are public!

Always be professional online because your brand is always out on the web and reflects on you and your business.

Now I’ve only included five mistakes here and I know you could probably share a few more so why not leave a comment now?

To avoid mistakes I recommend the following resources:

• Facebook Marketing An Hour A Day by Mari Smith
• Mari Smith’s Facebook Page
• Mari Smith’s Website
• FacebookMktg on Twitter
• Social Media Examiner

I am back just in time to urge you to join The Challenge which is the new free version of the popular 30 Day Challenge with Ed Dale and his team.

Ed Dale (aka Tubby Nerd) is an internet marketer and chances are that you have already heard about this program or would be interested in it.

This year, instead of asking people to invest 30 days into their efforts to make a go of their blog or internet marketing efforts, Ed Dale and team are going to ask for 7 days at a time.

If you want to learn the latest and greatest info, learn a lot, and make a little money–this is the perfect place to start.

This will be my third year and I highly recommend it.

It has been so great that I am also a member of the paid program that Ed Dale’s buddy Dan Raine runs–called the Immediate Edge (or “The Edge” to those in the know).

The Edge is an amazing paid membership program and so worth the investment.

The trouble is, it is only open for a short time and to a limited amount of people.

I need to review both programs–both are awesome.

Anyway, I want to urge you to invest your time this week (starting July 1, 2010) and participate in The Challenge and if you have some money to invest, join the Immediate Edge this week while it is still open.

Above: Stop Spam–and Stop Spamming!

I manage a few different blogs and use a professional autoresponder to manage my email–which means that people can subscribe to my email list but that they have to opt-in (twice) to verify they want to receive emails from me.

Usually I send a monthly newsletter and then there are times when I have a favor to ask–rarely do I send them something that I think they would be interested in such as a product or service.

So, this week I was surprised when a person on my list reported me as a spammer.

It wasn’t a big deal but in the six years that I have maintained a list, this is the first time that has happened–and it not only confused me but also pissed me off because that person had to jump through two hoops to get anything from me anyway–and the email was soliciting their help.

Today people are confused as to what constitutes spam.

Spam is junk email–you’ve seen them, promises of Viagra or other offers (sometimes explicit emails) that clutter up your email box.

Spammers tend to buy email lists from groups or collect them with spam bots that crawl the web and pick up email addresses when they are posted on a website or appear somewhere in the code of a website.

Today there are laws that govern electronic mail–and a business needs to adhere to them.

In the past, people signed up for my emails via a sign up form at my speaking engagements but today I ask them to sign up via a form on my websites or email them an invitation to do so.

I am compliant but I can’t tell you how many businesses are not.

In fact, I have someone I know that spams me every month with an email that does not allow me to unsubscribe easily (which is also a requirement).

Now, I’ve been spammed by small businesses whose owners I never met and that think there is nothing wrong with emailing me–they are breaking the law and annoying me.

They want to sell me something, fail to target me correctly, or spam me from my blog forms because they think I will be interested–but they are seriously mistaken.

Unless they got my permission, or I actually signed up for their emails, they are spammers and if they keep up their wicked (or ignorant) ways they can actually get into trouble from the FTC.

So, is your business spamming?

You better stop and get complaint.

I’ll be exploring autoresponders soon (due to popular request) but in the meantime, check out what happened to this spammer and read the CAN-SPAM Act Compliance Guide for Business.

You can also check out the FTC Spam site.

And finally, do everyone a favor–don’t mark something as spam when it isn’t–just click the unsubscribe link at the bottom.

In Should Small Business Do It Themselves (Websites & SEO) I talked a bit about why finding the right web design team is critical for success and how you can start with a local website design firm–but that today you have global options available to you and so are not restricted in your choices.

I promised that I would share some resources for other options and will do so in this post but I also wanted to let you know what I do.

For instance, my last blog designer was found when I kept seeing interesting looking blogs and clicked through to see who designed them and the same person kept popping up in my screen.

Eventually I hired her and she has worked on three of my blog templates including the Fawnskin Flyer.

My mastermind group laughed when I told them I was essentially a spy out on the web and that is how I find valuable tools and super online professionals.

By spy, I mean that snoop on everyone in a variety of ways.

I am always looking at code, peaking at the links to website design firms from blogs and websites that I like, reading comments and exploring the blogs of the best commenters, and I also bring a lot of things onto my computer screen via RSS feeds, social media applications, etc.

Now don’t be overwhelmed if you don’t know what any of this means–my point is that if you are surfing the web, pay attention to what you like and take a minute to explore because you can find some real gems that way.

Then there are referrals or cyber introductions that can lead to someone special.

One of my professional writing services projects had an awesome website design firm that I worked with to optimize her site content.

I was impressed and so now we work together–but I met them intially because we had a mutual client.

The client met the web designer chatting in line at a business several years ago and eventually hired the team to construct her website.

So, those are a few other ways you can stumble upon the right person.

However, you can also seek out web designers via social media sites, by searching via keywords, and by contracting them from freelance sites.

Social media sites such as Twitter or Facebook have a lot of business pages with great professionals (and savvy pros are there working the system).

You can also use Twitter Search and conduct a general search or specific search on Facebook.

The business site of choice for many might be LinkedIn because they have professional groups for designers and other freelance professionals.

Take the time to check out their connections, their online website portfolios and their recommendations.

I always encourage you to connect with someone in person prior to hiring them.

Skype is a great online tool to use if the professional is not in your area as it lets you chat–plus ou can also use video conferencing.

As far as the online resources I’ve used (and am part of) eLance, Guru and Rent-A-Coder are a few of the best but there are a variety of options out there just seek out “freelance service-you-seek” or “freelance worksites.”

Once again, I am going to suggest you take your time to find the right connection because a good, long professional relationship is ideal when it comes to all things web.

Do you have a favorite resource or another idea to add? Chime in via the comments!

Above: Small business owners have enough to do without doing everything themselves.

So this week I noticed a prominent social media expert launching a do-it-yourself tutorial program on how to start and manage a blog/website.

Should small business do website construction or search engine optimization on their own?

No, bad idea.

There are already some good programs out there that teach how to do it yourself but I have to wonder why this social media expert is going out of her normal area of expertise to teach people something that really should be left to those who have the time to waste fool around.

If you are a small business owner it is not a good idea for you to try and do-it-yourself when it comes to web stuff.

Why? Because there is too much specialty expertise needed to do it right.

This program is not the only type taking advantage of the opportunity to serve those in need.

Intuit and other folks are trying to capitalize on the lack of knowledge most people suffer from when it comes to constructing websites and optimizing them.

Now who could blame businesses from expanding their brands or offering solutions to problems suffered by the masses?

Not me–but I d have to say the problem is that the temporary fix often ends up costing a small business in the long run.

It costs you traffic, it costs your money, and you lose time in getting where you need to go.

Sure, it is tempting. I’ve been right there with you and even used a popular web hosting service that also offered templates.

Templates that were a nightmare.

They restricted what I could do.

They failed to allow me to make optimization changes (or even to optimize) plus I was vulnerable in a lot of other ways.

With as much as every business owner has to do in a day, the last thing you need is to fiddle with a website and getting it up and running.

And don’t even think about having your staff do it.

They don’t have the knowledge either.

Plus, I believe your staff is better used in customer service efforts and actual tasks that reap benefits if you have a brick-and-mortar establishment.

Shortcuts that cost you time and delay success are not worth it.

So, how can you find good help? How do you sort through the mess?

I am working on the Small Business Guide to Websites & SEO which will help you but you can start by doing a search and looking–without contracting anyone–yet.

Do a local search, “web design your town” and take a look at the web designers in your local region.

Look at their portfolio but also call those businesses and ask how their websites are working for them.

• Are they happy with the response time from their web designer?
• Do they get people calling from their website?
• Is it easy to manage?

Then take a look and see where those sites come up in the search engines.

Try searching, “business type + your town” and see where they rank.

You can also sneak a peak at the code by clicking the “View” in your browser and then by clicking “page source.”

You’ll see who designed the site usually and also some of the keywords.

Check to see if the site ranks for those keywords. Search “keyword” and see.

Top ranking gets over 40% of all traffic so it does matter.

These are a few simple ideas to help you see if your local designer might be able to help you.

Research for a week or so and then call for quotes. Call those people whose site design you like.

Keep a list of your favorite sites by URL.

Notice the colors you like, if there are trends in the layout, or if the work is by one designer.

Most sites will have a link to the designer at the bottom of the page.

Don’t be confused that you have to use a local person either–they are not always the best and on the Internet there are no geographic boundaries.

There are other sources for you to find a designer and I’ll talk about those next.

]]> http://www.guerreroink.com/2010/06/07/should-small-businesses-do-it-themselves-websites-seo/feed/ 1 http://www.guerreroink.com/2010/05/25/why-your-small-business-should-be-on-linkedin-video/ http://www.guerreroink.com/2010/05/25/why-your-small-business-should-be-on-linkedin-video/#comments Tue, 25 May 2010 13:15:54 +0000 Professional Writing Services http://www.guerreroink.com/?p=83

While there are many different social media options available to people, the big three on my list are Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is a business oriented social media platform and if you don’t have a profile that highlights your talents or small business you should invest some time in making that happen.

Of course, like all things web, get professional help to set it up so that it is done right!

Above: Do you make your web designer do this?

So, I have a question to ask all of you small business owners–do you want a website that works or looks pretty?

That is the bottom line for today’s rant about how small businesses muck up their online presence.

I’ve just have to ask, if you hire a professional to do your web design, get a professional to do search engine optimization work, and rely on them to get the job done–why do you muck it up?

What I mean is, how much do you know about websites, search engine optimization, and web design?

The web changes so fast that you can’t possibly know anything about it unless you’ve studied the topic extensively–and then that is worth nothing if you have not applied it.

In today’s state-of-the-industry, things change daily.

Take the Facebook changes, for example. They make your head spin.

Anyway, I had to laugh when I talked to a friend this am who told me she finally understood how much she got in her own way when it came to the web.

Her story was a great analogy:

I now just think of the web as a great big ocean and my website is a very small boat in the middle of the ocean.

Nobody is going to find it without any help.

If I make my way into the harbor of search engines, at least I can be found.

But the dock has to be in the right location, the right size, and easy for people to get to.

The boat has to be stocked with supplies delivered in a timely manner, preferably all at once, prior to departure…and for the web that is content, images, etc.

If they want to get my boat out, guests need it to be easy–not a complicated process.

Plus, if I hire a Captain and crew (web design team) I can give them my ideal destination but I won’t navigate myself or dictate how they do their job to get me there.

I bring this up because I just finished working on a very large project.

Because I like to do a lot more than is expected, I added anchor links and email links–despite the fact that I hate having emails displayed for the spam bots to pick up.

HOURS of detailed research went in to identifying the right terms for the client and optimizing every little thing on the site.

The result?

They want to change things.

First, I want to say that I had to create a whole lot out of nothing–they had no content to speak of and the content they had wasn’t very good.

Also, when something is optimized–it is not just a simple change–it is a lot of work because it is analyzed from top to bottom and every element on the page serves a specific function to get the ranking for SEO. Changing it takes a long time, not just a quick minute or two.

They were not ranking for the terms they wanted because they were going too broad–loads of traffic doesn’t do you any good unless it brings your target audience and buyers to your site.

Plus, if you are a little fish in a sea of other, more attractive fish, you don’t end up very high in the search engine rankings.

Because they have no idea about how the web works they want to dictate how it should be done.

Okay, fine. They are the client–but then why bothering doing the SEO?

A website is not like print media or advertising--quite the contrary.

It is a three dimensional creation that will work in a variety of ways to get the right traffic to the right page.

Visitors don’t arrive on your main page–they often will land on the optimized page for a service or product you are selling because that is what they are looking for.

That is good!

Also, the words or phrases you think work–don’t usually work on the web.

How do we know this?

We spend hours researching about just what people are searching on so you get that traffic and the right people.

Just because X phrase sounds good to you, if it has zero traffic–it is worthless.

Also, if it has 5,000,000,000 or more results–you are likely not going to rank for the term with so much competition.

Uh, yeah–we look at all of that to pick the right terms and phrases to help you.

So, my message today?

You are investing a lot of money into your online presence, so let your web team help you!

Yes, yes, it can look pretty but it has to work…and unless you get out of your own way, it won’t.

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