Summary: Using web-based services InboundWriter and Scribe, you can refine your copy and get real-time results on the effect it will have on search engine optimization of your website content—making the process more fun!

Bloggers who are seriously about getting search engine traffic always make sure they include the right “phrases that pay” when they write. They understand the underlying principles behind content/search engine optimization or SEO: Create relevant, quality content that is indexed properly by Google and Bing, and as importantly (perhaps more so) get backlinks from other well ranked websites as “social proof” that your content is rank-worthy in the first place.

Optimizing your website content for search engine optimization purposes strikes many people as a huge (and often mind-numbingly boring) challenge. But it doesn’t have to be.

Fortunately, there are some very good, affordable tools to speed up the search engine optimization process and give you more peace of mind vs. guesswork.

InboundWriter: A Fun Way To Achieve Search Engine Optimization

A web-based SEO service that I really like is Inbound Writer (affiliate link). They recently launched a WordPress plugin, and I’m using the free version now for content optimization on this post.

With InboundWriter, you either go to their site and optimize your documents there (similar to Scribe), or install the WordPress plugin. Here’s a YouTube video that shows how the InboundWriter WordPress plugin works:

Using InboundWriter, the content optimization process starts with identifying a select number of “focus terms” (relevant keywords) you want to rank for. Once you pick these, InboundWrite will whir and hum, then offer a laundry list of terms to include in your copy for  ideal search engine optimization. As you refine the text, you see  real-time results on the effect it will have on search engine indexing. You get a Document Score gauge that updates in real time as you write, which really makes writing seem like a game!

Two Ways InboundWriter Optimizes Search Engine Content: By Search/Social Or Reader Targeting

InboundWriter has two built-in ways to help you optimize your content. Their Search & Social is called a “balanced” strategy or you can choose selective demographic/reader targeting. Depending on which strategy you select, it will affect your real-time results. I haven’t played around with these enough to know how much of an impact either has, though I’m more inclined to go for the “balanced” approach unless my content was super-specific to a niche.

The free, web-based version of InboundWriter limits you to optimizing eight documents per month. Their single paid level, the Professional Plan, is $19.95/month and includes content optimization for unlimited documents.

Click here to try out InboundWriter.

Using Scribe SEO For Web Content Optimization

Another solution, Scribe (affiliate link), is very good at analyzing your content and suggesting keywords and phrases you may have overlooked. Using a web-based version (for use on any website regardless of the content management system), or plugins for WordPress, Joomla and Drupal, you use Scribe to create search-optimized content. Before you start to write, you can do keyword research to determine the best phrases to target for a particular article. Next, as you write the system prompts you to fill in proper information such as title tags, meta description on other “on page” factors relevant to search engines.

Scribe also has a neat feature that helps you build backlinks to your site, which are crucial to getting better search engine rankings. It will look for search engine optimization opportunities for you to cross link with other posts on your own site, external sites and even influential Twitter users you may want to share with.

Scribe’s “platform-agnostic” version is especially good if you are a writer providing content to multiple sites. You can use it to optimize your content before posting it elsewhere.

The system also lets you quickly create Content Optimization Reports to send to your clients. This is a fantastic way to demonstrate your value beyond simply writing “good” content.

Scribe has four packages ranging from $17 to $97 per month (with a 30-day, money back guarantee). Their pricing is based on how many “evaluations” and keyword searches you get in a month. In Scribe, each time you analyze your content using their algorithm, you use one evaluation. They claim it takes about 3-5 evaluations per page, so you can quickly burn through these.

Click here to try out Scribe.

Download Scribe's Free SEO Copywriting Report

My Initial Takeaways

Based on my preferences, I like the non-WordPress version of InboundWriter better than the WordPress plugin, which doesn’t offer all the bells and whistles. Plus, I hate writing directly in the WordPress editor.

I will say the process adds to the time I would normally spend in terms of worrying about search engine optimization. It also feels unnatural to me to keep repeating keywords just for the sake of moving the SEO needle. After several minutes piddling around with this post, for example, I settled for a 67 out of 100 score from InboundWriter—and I went with a crappier title and more repetition overall than I’d like. Sorry, Google, but I’m not gonna write like a machine just to appease your robots. My valued readers will likely abandon ship.

There’s also the issue of what you’re targeting in terms of keywords. Some phrases are just ridiculously competitive in terms of search engine indexing. I don’t care how many times I say search engine optimization here…the chances of this article ranking on page one of Google is very slim. However, if I’m going after a less competitive phrase, my chances are greatly increased by focusing on my word choices and placement in the title, URL, headers and body content.

I wouldn’t necessarily use either Scribe or InboundWriter every single time to massage my content. But certainly for “pillar” type content that I really, really want to rank for, I’d spend the time working with one of these tools. Both InboundWriter and Scribe make it more of a game and less drudgery to try to figure out how to appease Google and get your content better indexed.

For More Information

Click the links to learn more about InboundWriter and Scribe. Please note, I will make a small affiliate commission on these if you decide to buy through my links. If so, I thank you—and my wife and kids thank you!

For this article, I’m using my iPhone to make a brief recording that I will then translate into a blog post. What’s fascinating about this is the ability for me to quickly and easily put down my thoughts—in this case verbally—and then have them translated into written text that can go on my website or elsewhere. After I record this, I’m going to send this file to myself by email and use a program I purchased for my Mac called MacSpeech Scribe that will hopefully translate this very accurately so that I can have a blog post done in a fraction of the time that it would normally take.

I read somewhere recently that we as humans can talk about seven times faster than we can type. Imagine the possibilities for your own blog in terms of generating more ideas, saving yourself time in the process.

There are a lot of programs for both the Mac and the PC to do transcription, as well as services where you can upload a file and have it translated usually within a day or a couple of days depending on the price and they will send you the written transcription back out in short order. Recently, I did several interviews over Skype, and afterward I sent the sound files to a transcription service called Internet Transcribers. Within a few hours, they had translated these audio files into flawlessly written scripts of my Q&A sessions. One file was approximately 20 minutes long and another one was over 30 minutes long, and the process for me to sit down, re-listen to my audio recordings and translate that myself would’ve taken much longer than my time was worth (cost to me for transcription: about $1 per minute).
So take a look at some of these programs I’ve mentioned, as well as other web-based services like Audioboo or Cinch that will allow you to call a phone number,  do a recording, share it and also download a file that you can then translate on your own computer or through a service such as Internet Transcribers. There are great possibilities and it frees up your time to do a whole lot more!

For those of you who are not yet familiar with Twitter, at first glance it can seem like a puzzling and pointless tool used by attention-deficient adults and prepubescent kids to flood the Web with a raging torrent of asinine announcements and useless updates.

But to those who have mastered the mysteries of this 140-characters-or-less juggernaut, the above perception is welcome news. These übergeeks secretly sneer as the unwashed masses come and go, leaving them to continue on their quest for world domination, as part of the Great Order of the Annointed Twitterati (GOATs).

That is a joke, of course—there is no secret society of Twitter acolytes (not yet anyway). However, some people who take Twitter way too seriously. And if you’re relatively new to Twitter and looking for advice, running into one of their ilk can be annoying and frustrating, as they may act impatient and morally indignant that you don’t get it.

Fortunately, between ignorance and idolatry of Twitter, there is a happy middle ground. With that in mind, I have written a new e-book with the goal of bridging the divide between the Twitter know-it-alls and the newbies. It will help you wrap your brain around the possibilities Twitter provides, once you get past all the noise. The e-book is yours free, by signing up to receive the Web Business Freedom newsletter.

Just as the Web itself started out as an arcane communications system for techies and academics and evolved into offering legitimate applications for business and personal use, Twitter has followed a similar trajectory. It’s no wonder that Twitter is experiencing a torrid pace of growth, and why you finally broke down and signed up. (The e-book assumes you already have an account and are looking to do more with it.)

I hope you will enjoy learning more about what makes Twitter tick. I look forward to connecting in Twitterville!

Connect On Twitter: @BrandonUttley

This concept is not new—think about the old “Suggestion Box” sitting on the counter next to the cash register—but it’s been vastly improved thanks to the web. Big companies like Starbucks are getting tremendous value and buzz by enabling their customers to submit, comment and vote on ideas, through their MyStarbucks Idea site.

Fortunately, it is very easy and affordable to start your own idea management site. There are now hosted applications that can have you up and running in minutes.

I have been testing one site called Kindling. They were kind enough to set me up with a 30-day trial of their professional edition.

It’s a neat system, providing MyStarbucks-like functionality without having to hire a programmer and break the bank. Kindling’s Standard Edition is $49/month for up to 40 users, while their Pro Edition is $99/month for up to 100 users with additional features (like secure SSL, unlimited file attachments and usage reports and analytics). They also offer a Enterprise Edition for over 100 users (price not listed on their site.)

With the pro account, I was able to add a few test suggestions and rate them easily. I “volunteered” to take one of the tasks on, which assigned it to me. If I were using this in a bigger organization, I could set up email alerts, run reports on the most popular suggestions, view statistics, approve and assign ideas and more.

There are other similar products worth comparing (see a previous Kindling review by TechCrunch). Price would be one of my main considerations, and I wish Kindling had a lower pricing option (maybe $17-$27/month) for up to 10 users. At their current lowest price, I would want to be as close as possible to the 40 user limit to justify using it.

To sum up, Kindling is great way to quickly and efficiently gather, manage, rate and assign ideas.

Photo credit: Hashir

Whether you’re embarking on a broader effort for personal or business reasons, there are a number of things that will help make the process go more smoothly. Some are must-haves in order to create key accounts.

Here is a recommended list of the top tools to set up, before you dive into the deep end of the social media spectrum:

Google Account

OK, you don’t have to have a Google account, but in my experience it will make your life much easier in several important ways.

Begin by creating a new account, specific to your social media campaign. In other words, unless you’re doing this strictly for personal use, do not associate your social media accounts with an existing, personal Google account. Instead, set up one tied to your organization’s name. In a few minutes, you’ll have the full arsenal of Google toys to enjoy.

Gmail:The first thing you’ll benefit from is a Google Mail (Gmail) account. This is both an ideal email address and a full bore system to use when setting up other social sites, for a couple reasons:

1. You can set up filters in Gmail to easily and automatically organize and archive emails. For example, you can create filters (Gmail’s answer to folders) for various types of social media sites, like Audio Sharing Sites, Image Sharing Sites, Social Bookmarking Sites, Social Networking Sites, etc. As you set up new social sites, you will specify how the emails you receive from each domain should get filed. You can also set up rules to forward certain emails, send auto-responses and more. It’s well worth your time to activate and learn Gmail’s keyboard shortcuts, too.
2. Many social media sites allow you to look up and connect to friends using your Gmail address. This is especially helpful if you already have an active Gmail account; if you don’t, think about importing your contacts into Gmail prior to expanding your social media campaign.

Google Docs: With a Google account, you also get the benefits of Google Docs. You can use this to create online documents and spreadsheets to keep track of all the social sites you join, including user names, passwords, profile information, answer to any “secret questions” for lost passwords, etc. Most importantly, you can share key information with specific people and set permissions on whether they can just view or edit items. I recommend creating a spreadsheet with multiple tabs for accounts like Microblogs, Audio Sharing Sites, Content Sharing Sites, Social Bookmarking Sites, etc. Notice how this structure can correspond to the same filters you set up in Gmail.

Google Calendar and Google Reader: In addition to Gmail and Google Docs, you get Gcal and Google Reader. Both are valuable. Google Reader is especially useful for subscribing to various RSS feeds, which the majority of social media sites offer in one form or another.

Yahoo Account

You might wonder, why would I need both a Google account and a Yahoo account? The main reason: you must have a Yahoo ID in order to use Flickr and Yahoo Video. For Flickr alone, it’s worth going through the hassle of getting a Yahoo ID. If you aren’t going to use Flickr, you can ignore Yahoo (and Yahoo Video).

When you sign up for a Yahoo account, don’t worry if the email address you want is taken at the main @yahoo.com URL; you can also try @ymail.com or @rocketmail.com (check for both options during the signup process).

Personal Information

Many social media sites are tied to a real person, as opposed to a faceless company. So you need to be prepared to designate or create a personal page or presence in many instances. For corporations and other entities, naturally this should be your CEO or another high-level person who will take responsibility for actually using the social channels you set up.

You will frequently be asked for demographic information when setting up social media sites, such as gender and birth date. You can’t skip it, though in some cases you have the option to show or hide this information publicly.

The essential personal details you’ll need to have on hand include:

• First and last name
• Gender
• Birthday (MM/DD/YYYY)
• Biographical information: I recommend a few variations of a bio or company description, one approximately 250 characters and another about 160 characters in length
• Interests: Common ones include your favorite book, band, city, movie, song, sport, TV show and website
• Company/occupation and role/title

Photo or Graphic

You will need a quality photo or graphic for your profile on most social sites. This will be used to create your profile image or avatar. If your purpose is social networking for a business, then use your logo or other promotional graphic; for personal networking, use a good photograph.

Your best bet is a square photo or graphic in the .JPG format, typically no larger than 2-4MB in size. Make sure you have several sizes and resolutions to choose from, such as a larger version of approximately 300×300 pixels and a smaller thumbnail of 100×100 pixels. A lot of the sites have built-in cropping tools, so you can always start with your highest resolution and scale it down. Having multiple options to choose from will make your set up experiences less frustrating.

Password Manager

Once you get in the groove of setting up multiple social media profiles, you’ll be entering a lot of passwords. It’s a very good practice to create unique, strong passwords for different sites.

Inexpensive software like 1Password (Mac) or RoboForm (PC) is a lifesaver. Both of the products mentioned will not only generate strong passwords for you, but also store these and auto-fill usernames and passwords later.

Also consider that some sites will only allow you to use letters and numbers in passwords. So a good one like #$ay@anything won’t work on one site, but will be fine elsewhere. Just another reason to have a password generator. If you can’t spring for $30-$35, at a minimum create several combinations of strong passwords that you can use interchangeably. (And good luck avoiding carpal tunnel syndrome as you tediously type your usernames and passwords over and over and over.)

Autofill/Copy-and-Paste Manager

Another time- and finger-saving device is software like Jumpcut (Mac) or ClipMagic (PC). These will store text items you copy to your computer’s clipboard, making it much easier to paste in long usernames, passwords, bios and other information as you move between social sites.

The Patience of Job

Be prepared to spend a lot of time as you sign up for social networking sites…set up your profiles…fill in a gazillion annoying captchas…upload and resize photos…and verify new accounts by email. As you progress, you will also need to make note of all URLs, passwords and other pertinent details in your Google Docs. You must stop and do this at the same time you complete the setup of each site, or else run the risk of forgetting vital information and locking yourself or your company out!

Finally, a comfortable chair and good lighting will help, too. Signing up for dozens of social sites is frankly a boring and laborious process, but it’s worth the effort in the long run.

Do you have any tips for software or other essential information to have on hand when signing up for social networking sites? Please leave them in the comments below.

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Photo credit: Mykl Roventine