Convince me to stay! How should I best use SEOMoz tools.

[MarieHaynes]

Hey folks.  I'm here on a free trial and I'm really loving the Q&A forum.  I've learned a lot in the last couple of days.

I've been playing around with the SEOMoz tools and campaigns and I'm trying to decide if it will be worth it for me to pay the monthly fee to continue with these once my trial is up.

I direct two main websites.  One is an informational site and the other is a real estate site.  I've started a campaign for each and so far we're still waiting for a crawl.  (I'm assuming that will happen on Sunday).

I've played around with some of the tools.  They keyword difficulty tool is cool but I can't see me using it a whole lot.  The rest is just a little overwhelming...I'm not sure where to start.

So what should I be checking out next?  Have at 'er and convince me to stay!

[MikeGracia]

As Rand said above, the web app is pretty cool. Whilst there are a few other options / companies offering SEO campaign tracking, for me what makes the Moz guys stand out is:

• Q&A forum - Great for asking questions, or even answering them to get Kudos!
• Youmoz - the ability to write posts (I keep meaning to do this!)
• One-off tools... for times when you just want to run a quick check on something, produce something in a rush for a meeting etc, these tools can be handy

But all in all, I guess its the 'package' of some of the industry leading tools, mixed with a wicked community , that makes seomoz an excellent 'one-stop shop' to monitor lots of metrics for your SEO campaign, produce reports, and also have a ub where you can read about the latest SEO happenings or techniques, and also actually ask questions when you need a hand.

The allowance of 1 private question per month is actually pretty handy too.

That's just my thoughts anyway!

[shanky1]

I am still thinking whether to keep subscribed or not to seomoz. We are a startup and spending 100$ per month is costly though I think. I am using GA for majority of my seo and analytics. What could be more enriching here at seomoz so that I can convince people to stick onto it right here with a subscription. Do help and advice

[randfish]

Next time you're in Seattle, just drop me a line

[AnthonyMangia]

I'd pay the monthly PRO membership fee just for access to the Keyword Difficulty Tool, alone.  I think, value-wise, SEOmoz is the best investment as far as any web-based SEO tools are concerned.  Plus, the PRO ability to ask Private questions and get them answered by actual SEOmoz staff?  Absolutely in-friggin'-valuable.

[MarieHaynes]

Thanks for responding Rand!  I really like what you've built here.  Another member convinced me to join and I'm glad he did - I've been toying with doing the free trial for a while.  I don't do SEO for others, so I have no incoming money to pay for a membership.  But, the potential increase in rankings for my own sites will likely pay for my membership (if I don't get enough Moz points).

I signed up late on Sunday so my sites haven't been crawled yet.  I'm excited to see the data once the crawl is done.

Thanks for creating such a neat culture here.  It's very welcoming!

[randfish]

The web app is where I find much of the value (though I do love OSE, the mozBar and many other one-off tools). For me, it's about knowing that my site's SEO is safe. I can watch keyword rankings, traffic, crawl data, link data (and soon, social metrics + citations) all in one place and reverse out when a problem arises what's happened or ID why something went well. I can also see low-hanging fruit by ID'ing the keywords I haven't optimized for but rank on page 2 or 3.

I'm a weird case, because the webinars, content, etc. are more produced by me than for me But, Q+A is pretty amazing for keeping up to date on SEO, and the weekly crawl + rankings are essential as KPIs and protection for search traffic.

[Gab-Goldenberg]

1. Keyword difficulty is useful to sort equally-well converting keywords on PPC and see what to SEO for first. ID the low hanging fruit. 2) I just finished a link analysis training with a client. Honestly, it's shooting fish in a barrel with OSE. And if you can answer WHY you're getting links and from WHOM, you can expand on that and rank #1.

[vforvinnie]

I love the toolbar too, shows me quick link totals for any page I am on.  OSE is awesome, and something I use regularly.

One of my favorite things to do with the SEO Moz tools is to check out my competition's backlinks, and then try to get them myself.  That alone is worth 99/month to me.  Plus you get the campaigns, and access to dozens of other tools that you might not use daily, but when you need them are there for you and work great.

[CPU]

Hi Dunamis

In my role as an in-house SEO I have found that the Diagnostic tool is great as it updates me to any change in the number of issues with a site which can be an indicator of a problem or that someone is making amendements to the site but not taking account of best practices (for example adding a number of pages with no meta description, duplicate title tags etc) even though they have been explained what the best practices are.

In terms of link building it not only allows me to examine and monitor the links to ths sites I look after (using Open site explorer) but also their competitors where I can get ideas on the type of links etc that the site I am looking after should be going after (and which ones they shouldn't). Other link tools allow me to find sites that link to multiple competitors of my site but not my site. This is a good way of finding places where the site or business should perhaps be mentioned not just where it should receive a link from.

The keyword analysis and keyword difficulty tools are useful for seeing how SEOMoz rates your efforts for a particular page and also finding out how difficult the challenge to be number 1 is going to be for your selected keyphrases.

The Q&A also has some excellent responders including people like Alan Bleiweiss who has been supplying some very detailed, actionable and helpful responses. If required there is also the option of sending a question to the SEOMoz guys and their associates in private (one a month) if there is a question that you want answered a little more discreetly.

There is access to past and future Pro Webinars from people like Rand and some of the recent ones of these have had some excellent and actionable content.There is also a discount on certain conferences including around $600 off the upcoming MozCon

As an in-house SEO my resource is unfortunately limited but the tools here save me a lot of what I call donkey work, in terms of saved time the tools pay for themselves. There are a number of other tools that I haven't really used but the benefits listed above mean that even if my company didn't pay for the Pro membership then I would fund it out of my own pocket.Hopefully I should be able to put across a strong enough case to my head of department to ensure that I don't have to!

[Hallam]

Hey Dunamis,

I would reiterate what the other guys have said. OSE is indispensable, the keyword difficulty tool is used a lot by myself and the rest of our team. The scorecards can be great for identifying the potential in pages that you havent even considered.

The toolbar gives you a quick look guide for choosing sites that you may want to get a link from.

I really like the competitive link tool as well, which will help you identify some of the links that are working well for your competitors.

The other link tools also help out when you are starting any campaign - and on top of this if you are pro the campaign manager is a great way of organising loads of information so you don't forget what it is that you need to be fixing or doing this month!

[EricVallee34]

Dunamis,

I started out on a trial after a friend recommended SEOMoz, and began a paid subscription shortly after that. Honestly, it's been the best business investment I've made. There are so many tools -- open site explorer, keyword difficulty tool -- that make SEO a great deal easier.  The weekly webinars are also very insightful.  My favorite, however, is the Q&A forum.  It's almost worth the price of admission -- this community is extremely active and helpful.  I've learned so much; not only from asking questions, but also following questions others have asked.

If you want to get better at SEO, you should become a Pro Member.

Eric

[MarieHaynes]

Thanks EGOL...that's what I am thinking.  I definitely want to stay active in the Q&A forum.  From what I've seen so far it's really great - there's a lot of good  knowledge here.  I feel that I can both contribute and learn, and there's no spam like in other places.

I'll keep playing with the tools and see if they're going to really benefit me!  I think I can do a lot more with them once my sites have been crawled.

[SteveOllington]

Nobody can live without Open Site Explorer, it's as simple as that.

Also, if you're an SEO you basically have to stay, every decent SEO has to be a member here.... if we were hiring it would be a prerequisite!

[EGOL]

I think that with your knowledge and enthusiasm you will quickly earn enough MOZ Points to get free access to the Q&A Forum so the decision will be based upon how much you get out of the tools.

[aarondicks]

Check out the campaign manager, add some keywords to each and check out the SEO scorecards. The campaign manager is for me, the main reason for having SEOMoz membership. Within in you can get reports on your on page SEO efforts (and advice on how to fix it) as well as monitor your off page SEO/Linkbuilding efforts.

You can also do in depth analysis on your competitors domains, allowing you to see where their best links come from - allowing you to get the same link to propel you to the top!!

The best way of finding out what's on offer is to just have a look around for yourself, you can't go wrong!!

Aaron

[MarieHaynes]

LOL.  Rand...want to buy me dinner?  Just for fun I did a maps search to see how long it would take me to walk to Seattle...35 days (and that's without sleeping).

[IM_Learner]

Go through all the tools, knowledge database, blogs (Youmoz as well). Q&A forum is relatively new but see the amount of information and the level of participation! Nobody but these things will convince you

If not, ask Rand to take you out for dinner