Tools

Tools and Services I’m Currently Using:

Freelancer.com – I currently use Freelancer for finding cheap outsourcing work. (You need to vet the service providers carefully).

Article Marketing Robot – Purchased in early December (one time fee of about $80), and I wish I had got it  much sooner! Similar to UAW, it will spin and submit your article to up to nearly 3000 article directories. I will be using this service now instead of UAW.

SocialMonkee – A free social bookmarking service, and the best I have used so far to date.

Fiverr.com – I outsource a variety of small backlink projects to Fiverr providers from time to time.

Sick Submitter – I just started using this in July, 2010. If you use a captcha solving program like Decaptcher, you can use it to do fully automated profile link building! This is easily my favorite and the most effective backlinking tool I am using at the minute (the fact that it’s cheap – under $20 a month – is just an added bonus!).

SEO Link Robot – . Similar to SE Nuke and Magic Submitter, but will only have a one time fee instead of monthly subscription once released.  I was a beta tester for the program in August/September 2010. (Now released!)

Scrapebox – Scrapebox can do tons of things – a “swiss army knife” of IM tools as one of my blog commentators put it. (You can currently get it at a discounted price using the special “cheapskate” link). Right now I’m using it to create exclusive profile packages and find high PR blogs to comment on – but there are a ton more things you can do with it as well. For those looking for a quick start guide to the program, I recommend Pat Jackson’s guide “Scrapebox Domination” (available for a discounted price on the Backlinks Forum).

BackupBuddy – I use this plugin to backup all my WordPress databases. It has saved my a** on multiple occasions! Automatically sends backups to your dropbox, email or other locations, and can restore your sites within minutes if something happens to them – such as if you accidentally delete all your posts and pages (this happened on this site!), you get hacked, or similar disasters.

Backlink Indexer Express – I use this to get my backlinks indexed on my own mini-network of WordPress sites (five total). A great program and well supported by the developer.

The Best Spinner – Arguably the best spinning software program available (hence the name). Started using it in June, 2010 and love it!

MicroNicheFinder - MNF was actually the first IM tools purchase I ever made and I use this for most of my keyword research (although sometimes I use Google’s keyword tool as well), and it’s a huge time saver. However, it can run a bit slow at times, and I may be investing in Market Samurai in 2011 since it seems to offer more features and functionality than MNF currently does.

Aweber – I use this to create email sign-ups and lists for my affiliate websites. It can help improve conversion rates dramatically.

Dropbox – Creates a folder in space that you can use to easily transfer files between computers or between you and your employees. Completely free to use as long as you only need 2 GB of storage space.

Copyscape – I use this to check that articles I have outsourced to others has not been plagiarized in any way. It costs something like five cents to check each article.

TheContentAuthority - I use this site for purchasing articles for many of my sites.

Jing – This is a great screencapture software program. There is both a free and a paid version, but I have found the free version to work right now for my needs. I’m currently using it to create training videos for my virtual assistant.

Xheader – I use WordPress to build all my websites, and although there are many different themes already available for WordPress I sometimes like to create my own headers. Xheader is a free header graphics software program that is very easy to use (there is also a paid version, but I’ve found the free version to be adequate for my needs).

Hostgator Reseller Hosting Account – So far, I’m happy with their service. With a resellers account, you can host a large number of blogs on multiple IP addresses. I’m currently paying them about $25 a month to host most of my websites.

Aseohosting – Although I host most of my websites on my HostGator reseller’s account, I also have a special “SEO hosting” account with aseohosting for some high PR blogs that I want hosted on diverse C Class IP addresses. I started using them in November, 2010 and have not yet had any problems with downtime or other issues.

GoDaddy – Currently I’m using them to purchase nearly all my domains. Some tips: If you look for coupons online, you can get some very good deals. And if you buy five or more domain names at the same time, you’ll get free privacy protection.

FileZilla – Great open source (and free) FTP software that I use to upload themes and other files for my websites to my hostgator accounts.

Your Private Proxy – I started purchasing proxies in December, 2010 to use with various programs. Regarded as one of the best proxy services by many, and although they are a bit expensive (IMO), I’ve been very happy so far with the service.

Decaptcher – My preferred captcha service, mainly because it is compatible with all the software I use that has captcha solving capabilities (Article Marketing Robot, SEO Link Robot and Sick Submitter).

PingBack Optimizer – This is a paid plugin for WordPress that I use to transform my pingback/trackbacks into a RSS feed that the plugin then submits to various RSS feed directories. Especially useful if you are doing a lot of article marketing using Article Marketing Robot or UAW, since it greatly increases the indexing rates of your published articles on other wordpress blogs.

Tools I used to use, but no longer do:

BuildMyRank – This is by far the most powerful paid tool I’m currently using. Unlike other blog networks, BuildMyRank only allows unique content. I’ve seen some dramatic rankings increase with only a few posts! Edit 3/21/12 – Well, it was good while it lasted!

Unique Article Wizard – I just started using this service in June, 2010 and got banned from it about a month later for excessive logins from different IP addresses. However, I renewed my subscription a few weeks later (using different account information) because I find it so useful for article submissions.  Most articles I submit through UAW go to over 1000 different directories. One of the best features is that it allows you to slowly “drip feed” your submissions at a rate you decide, meaning that one article submission can be providing consistent backlinks for over a month or more.
Update: Canceled service in October, 2010 due to financial constraints.
Update: In December, 2010, I made the decision to use Article Marketing Robot instead of UAW because it is a one time fee and does pretty much the same thing as UAW.

The Link Juicer – I signed up for the free thirty day trial in late April but decided to continue my membership and remained a subscriber until October, 2010. The Link Juicer slowly builds backlinks to your website from a diverse array of blogs,  social bookmarking sites, ebook directories and more. You can also spin posts for the maximum effect. To learn more, read my Link Juicer Review.
Update: Canceled service in October, 2010 due to financial constraints.

Blog BluePrint – Started Using May, 2010 and continued to use it until September, 2010. Blog Blueprint allows up to 20 “microposts” a day on many high PR websites. I’m seeing great results with this service, and I often use it to boost sites on page two or three up to page one using Blog Blueprint alone.
Update: In November, 2010 I decided to start building my own high PR blog network instead of paying monthly for Blog Blueprint or any other similar services.

Free Traffic System – A nice way to get some free backlinks. Each article you write can be posted on up to thirty blogs. You can also spin the articles for maximum effect. I used this a lot when I was first starting out and had little money to invest in backlinking services.

Free Link Checker – A free tool from Scrapebox that will quickly check and make sure your backlinks are valid. I use it to check forum backlink packages from Market Crush as well as my VA’s daily backlink reports. (I purchased the full version of Scrapebox in December, 2010, and now use that instead of the free tool – but the free tool is still good).

Simple Proxy Scraper – Another great (and free!) tool from Stephen Hawkins. You have to sign into his opt-in list to get the download, but it is worth it. Very quick and easy to use, allows you to “scrape” a list of about 200 proxies to use in about a minute. I use scrapebox now and also purchase proxies, but those who are on a shoestring IM budget, it can be a good option.

Blackbelt Backlinks Monthly. Limited subscription forum profile backlink packages (400 links each package). Started Using May, 2010.  Stopped using in August, 2010, when I changed over to using Sick Submitter instead. Probably one of the best backlinking packets available.

SE Nuke – I did a five week trial of the program in August/September 2010. It works pretty well, in my experience, although has a high learning curve and is quite expensive. Too expensive for my budget, and I’ve switched to SEO Link Robot instead.

Magic Submitter – I did a one month trial of the program in September 2010 (alongside SE Nuke and SEO Link Robot). I think Magic Submitter is easier to learn to use than SE Nuke, and it’s also cheaper. I would consider it a viable alternative to SE Nuke for those willing to pay a monthly subscription price for a web 2.0 site building program. There is a $4.95 trial price for the first month, which I think is probably worth doing.

Article BluePrint – Started Using May, 2010 and discontinued in September 2010. It allows you to post spun articles to article directories and websites and works similar to Unique Article Wizard. I found the number of directories the articles are being published in to be quite low for my articles (usually less than 30) and UAW seems a better option.

SEO Link Dominator – A tool which greatly speeds up the creation of profile type backlinks. I used to use it to process my BlackBelt Monthly profile links, but I now use Sick Submitter instead. Still, a great tool for those not interested in paying a monthly subscription fee (however little) to Sick Submitter.

SEO Fast Indexer – I used this from May 2010 to August 2010 to help search engines find and index the backlinks I have created. (If the links you have created aren’t found and indexed by Google, then creating them is really a waste of your time). It is very cheap and easy to use, but I have since moved onto using Backlink Indexer Express.

Angela’s Backlink Packets – This service only costs $5 a month, and when I first started creating forum backlinks I used them with good results. However, I found during the last part of 2009 that they were getting difficult to use because they were being spammed to death. It is for this reason that I switched to the Blackbelt Backlinks Monthly packages, and I’m having good results with them so far.

Link Racer – I had high hopes for this blog network, but soon lost enthusiasm as few of the backlinks I should have show up in Yahoo Site Explorer and because of the owner’s frequent site and payment processing issues. Not Recommended!

JetSpinner – I used this free spinning tool for almost a year to spin my articles, and I recommend it to those who aren’t ready to spend $85 on The Best Spinner (or a similar program). It works pretty good for a free spinner, although in order to get access to it, you have to sign up for a free trial to the JetSubmitter first (30 days free). If you cancel/once you cancel your membership to JetSubmitter, you will still have free access to the JetSpinner.

JetSubmitter – I signed up for the free thirty day trial mainly so I could get free access to the JetSpinner (see above). However, I did take advantage of the thirty day free trial. Using the JetSubmitter, you can spin and submit an article to hundreds of article directories. Although I thought the service was of some use, I did not feel it was worth the $47 a month fee.

SEOLinkVine – I subscribed to this service in mid-May, and dropped it a month later as I didn’t feel the service was worth the monthly subscription. I will be writing a more full description soon.

Incansoft Tools – I signed up for an affiliate account with them, which allows you to try out any and all their products for a $20 a month fee for as long as you are an affiliate. Although I’ve now dropped the affiliate account,  I used RSSBot, ArticleBot, PressBot, DirectoryBot and GFX Video Writer all to some degree of success. However, I found the only one I used with any regularity was RSSBot. Many of their article and blog submission bots tended to be out of date, or had many hacked sites in their inventory.

WebsDominator Lite – A free and completely automated profile building application by Tom Goodwin that targets WebID sites. Not currently available, however.

Market Crush Backlinks – A backlink service that creates forum profiles at fairly competitive rates – $35 for 2000+ back links. It can take up to two weeks to process each order, and should only be used on established sites. I found the backlinks disappeared quite quickly, although I did get a nice boost for the websites that I used them on (I have used the service twice).

Ping.Fm – Another social bookmarking tool. I use it to help index other back links, primarily. However, I rarely use it now, relying mainly on my own blog network and Backlink Indexer Express.

FoxyProxy – I used to use the free version of this Firefox extension to quickly change my IP address, until I learned how to do it manually myself (I have Comcast cable).  FoxyProxy is quite simple and easy to use, although the proxies provided can be unreliable at times.

OnlyWire – Nearly automates bookmarking to about thirty different sites. I  used to use the free version to bookmark my blogs and articles (from February, 2010 to July, 2010). I haven’t seen huge results from this tool, however, so I stopped using it.

DupeCop – I used this tool regularly to check the uniqueness of spun articles before purchasing The Best Spinner, and it worked well for that.