Needing an organization tool

I'm not even sure how to explain what I'm looking for but I'll give it a try. I want to be able to get organized with my SEO efforts as well as provide clients with nice reports. Naturally, I have all the various links to online tools to check ranking, keyword density, etc., but with so much to do to so many sites, I'm not organized enough to keep up with it all. I'm looking for something - maybe some software, maybe a website - that helps me get organized. Maybe something where each day I click a button (kind of like the nice digitalpoint keyword tracker tool) and everything I need to know about a site happens. Or I click a button, and a nice report is generated. My SEO life is starting to spin out of control now that I am managing so many sites, and I thought maybe someone out there knew of something that could help me tidy it up a bit. (Naturally free or cheap would be nice, but that's probably asking for too much). Anyway, if anyone could steer me in a direction, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

Do you ever wonder what I do for my real job (making free tools doesn't pay the bills)?

Without knowing your specific needs, it sounds like our Optigold ISP product might do the trick for you...

http://www.digitalpoint.com/products/isp/

It's a commercial product, but it's 100% free (no limitations, never expiring) for up to 100 customers.

It's probably overkill for some of the things you need, but it does do a lot of what I think you would need... customer management, invoicing, billing, credit card processing, which are all fairly advanced... invoices can go out in email (translated into the language you pick for the customer for example).

For triggering events such as running the "Check All" queries every day, you can define server events (wide variety of supported protocols, including the needed HTTP for the keyword tracker trigger), so you could define an infinite number of "check all's" to be triggered with one click, etc...

For the invoicing, it does all sorts of crap (it's designed for ISPs mostly), so you can do one-time billing, usage based billing, recurring billing, or any mixture...

Anyway, it might be overkill, but it's free for up to 100 customers, and you can download it from our website if you want...

- Shawn

Thanks Shawn, I've downloaded and I can see how it would be useful especially for the billing aspects. Much appreciated. I guess what I'm really looking for is something like http://www.webmaster-toolkit.com/ but with automation built in. I'd like to be able to spend a day setting up everything - entering urls and keywords, etc. - and then never having to enter them again. So that by clicking on Check Ranking, or Link Popularity, or Analyse Web Page, or Simulate Search Engine, the program would reference my setup files and spit the info back out to me. It's the manual re-entering of urls and keywords that is keeping me from staying on top of it all. Which is why I keep referring back to the Shawn's Keyword Tracker tool, because that is exactly what I mean in regards to doing the setup work once, and never having to do it again (except for new urls/keywords). And then of course, there would be a button to press to spit out reports. If I had a tool like that, that included all the other various aspects of SEO work in addition to ranking Google searches, then I would be thrilled. (I'm beginning to think such a beast doesn't exist, and perhaps I should create my own and sell it - but I don't have time for that). So, if anyone ever comes across something like this, please let me know. (Oh, and I am not interested in automated submission software - manual submission is fine - its everything else that i'd like to automate as much as possible).

I doubt there is something specifically like that because you are talking about tying in together all sorts of different individual tools. The best I think you would find (without making something tailored specifically for your needs) would be a tool that ties everything together. You can do it somewhat with Optigold ISP.

As an example, you could setup a server events under Maintenance & Preferences -> Server Events Setup -> New Style Events

Define an HTTP event that hit the URL of:

http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/k...n=lookup_thread

With your user name and password defined in the user/pass fields, it would kick off your "Check All". You could build on that and have a single event fire off all sorts of stuff.

But as far as consolidating all the data that all your various tools give you into a single report type of thing, you probably would need a custom script to do it all for you (including grabbing the data and making your report).

- Shawn

I should mention SEO Count has many of the reporting functionality your looking for, being able to email, export and print results for clients directly from the system.

If there is enough interest, we might make it co-branded - so you can have ur logo on it and then have your clients login to see status updates.

I can tell you a product to handle more of SEO related activities is underway. Be patient.

While I don't usually ever plug my own product. I can't help it here. We have already developed and will launch a product very soon that does everything Donna you mentioned in your post for needing an organizational tool for SEO. We saw a big need for this while back, and I definately need something to keep me organized, and from its use for the past 6 months is probably one of the best tools out their for SEO project management, or just a general toolchest of webmaster needed tools. Reporting, submission, meta-tag storage, ranking, research, optimization, etc... When we offically launch it I will post a link so that anyone interested can check it out.

I would also reccommend Rustybricks, SEOcount application. I was impressed at how useful it was for mailing reports, and all the information and reporting strengths it definately had, that would be useful to any optimizer or consultant. :-)

Phoenix, I'm pretty sure I know the tool you are talking about and I would suggest that it is missing one component - the part where I said, "I'd like to be able to spend a day setting up everything - entering urls and keywords, etc. - and then never having to enter them again." From what I remember of the product you are referring to, it does do tons of great stuff, but it lacked that one feature. (It may have changed since the last time I looked at it). If that was added, it would be very close to perfect for me.

Donna, a couple of months ago it didn't have that feature. But it does now. You want your whole website spidered, at the push of button. No problem, its does all of that now. So NO entering keywords, descriptions, title's, optimization notes, etc.. I believe you still have access to the application, and check it out if you wish. Its the first thing you see when you login in "called jump start your website".

If anyone else is interested in this particular application for webmasters/optimizers, PM me and I will get you a free trial.

Ben

excellent! i'll try it out! thanks for letting me know.

I use search engine commando to export some nice html ranking reports, wordtracker for keyword research whereby I copy and paste into excel, word for quotations/invoices using templates combined with a keystroke short cut tool which makes life much easier. Other reports I create by hand where necessary.Total cost assuming you have word and excel around $300.

Hope that helps
Alan

rustybrick, do let me know when you have your new product ready. i'll *try* to be patient.

Ok, I've been thinking about this some more, and here's a better description of what I would consider to be the IDEAL TOOL. This would be something I would be happy to pay for. (And I rarely pay for anything). LOL.

Initial Setup: Enter urls and associated keywords into program, along with email addresses to send reports to and location of logfiles if available.

Daily Reports Run:

1. Analyzes keywords (like wordtracker) to determine if you might be missing some good ones. Also analyzes your log files for the same thing. Possibly it only lists keywords that are used more than x number of times (and aren't ones you have already listed).

2. Reports on your ranking for each keyword for major search engines (especially google, yahoo, and msn). May include Google PageRank and Yahoo WebRank.

3. Reports on your link popularity for the major search engines for each url.

4. Analyzes each url for things like site size, keyword density of each page, appropriateness of meta tags on each page, invalid links, etc. and spits out reports. Possibly guesses at what a search engine would deem the site *theme* to be.

5. Less important, but possibly generates a sitemap of each url.

Have each of these things be separate entities, so that you can check off which ones to include each time you run the report. Also, the ability to email each entity to a separate email address(es). So, say you want to just generate the ranking report for your clients, you can check off just #2, and have the client's email address stored. Running the report will send the report to both you and your client. However, if you want, you can generate any or all of the other entities making sure they only get sent to you (and not to the client as well).

So once you've done the initial framework of entering urls, keywords, and email addresses, each day's work takes about 10 seconds of your time.

P.S. If you create such a tool and make millions of dollars off of it, at least give me a link or two for having given you such a brilliant idea. LOL.

How about a subscription site, open to SEO firms that does the following for $x a month.

Gives you your own branded account. Allows you to enter in your clients, their various keywords and phrases and whatever else you need to find your client's rankings. Let's you choose which SEs to poll...and has one big button that says GO.

Click GO...

And you will find that the site will then poll the chosen search engines for those rankings; complile them into a prechosen template to show off those rankings; email the client that their weekly report is now up and viewable (they have already rec'd their login credentials to a very shallow set of pages that show their site rankings and charts on same); save those rankings under that date.

Each subscriber can also track all client visitors who DO come to see their accounts to let you know how "involved" each client is in checking their online reports; each subscriber would also be able to print off their own admin management account reports as well as ind. client reports should you have to send hardcopys.

Anyone else think this'd fly? We've got all the work done for the "shell" for this, and need a couple of components -- or even willing to joint venture with someone with online ranking code...

Well?

Jim