These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

Web Research is extremely important in the digital age of marketing - understanding your web traffic, your competitors and the overall effectiveness of your site takes some time. With online tools available to all of us, (Yes, even my competitors), it makes information about your site and your competitors a bit easier to retrieve and cheaper. 

Here are 5 FREE web research tools I can't live without

#1. Alexa: The Web Information Company

Alexa is a FREE (and we like that word around here, so we will write it again) Free Public Site Stats website. A lot of people we talk to don't seem to think the tool is perfect, but it's free and can be very useful. www.Alexa.com 

Advantages

* Alexa provides site ranking (were the lower the number the better you are), because it is public you can also see your competitors site ranking

* You can see other vital information such as demographic, related site and keywords about your site

* No Log-In or sign up required to view information

#2. WayBack Machine

We really like the wayback machine, partly because it is hours of fun. This tool allows you to see how your website looked in the past, but the great thing is it will let you see other companies web sites as well.  http://www.archive.org/web/web.php

Advantages

* When it is up, sometimes a bit slow, will give you access to a series of times you had made web edits on your site. 

* You can see how your competitors developed over the years, especially if you are new dog in town you might realize that people progressed to where they are today.

#3. Google Alerts

Setting up Google Alerts is easy but will require you to have a google account which is Free. Google Alerts allows you to get up-to-the google spotting of your search term email to you as it happens. Use it keep track of your clients, competitors and yourself. http://www.google.com/alerts 

Advantages

* Lets you stay current on news, web entries, blogs etc... on your searched keyword

* Allows you to pick the frequency and type of sites you want google to watch out for. 
* Emails you as per your frequency 
* note: Use "" to have google look for specific search terms. e.g. "Studio Rendering"

#4. KeyWord Spy

This site makes me feel dirty, it basically allows you to spy on your competitors keywords and keyword budgets. Although it is really not accurate based on the info it shows about myself, we use it to get ideas of new keywords for google adwords. http://www.keywordspy.com

Advantages

* You can freely access top ten keywords that link to any site

* No need for a login or subscription unless you need more information

#5. Manta

This is one of my favorite places to go to find out more about a company, tends to have somewhat accurate information. I use it to discover companies listed NAICS or SIC Codes for direct mail use. I go in to learn more about a customer and use it to find similar customers www.manta.com

Advantages

* Allows you to see the companies SIC or NAICS code and you can search other companies with similar code. 

* Shows roughly the size of the company, good estimate considering what it shows for us.