If you are like me, you can’t get enough of the free tools that are out there to help monitor your SEO efforts. Many people know that there a lot of tools available,  but perhaps you don’t know which ones are worth the effort. Here is my list of tools that I use on a daily basis and that I feel are important to monitor a successful SEO campaign. I have created lists like this in the past, but this is the condensed version of the must have tools.

1. Google Analytics
   Everyone with a website should have some sort of analytics to view. I have used Omniture & Mint, but as far as free goes, Google is the best. With Google anlaytics you can see where your traffic is coming from, and how they interact with your site. It’s always a good idea to send yourself weekly reports incase you forget to login. I use GA everyday and rely on it for a lot of my ROI reporting.

1. SEO4FireFox
   This is a handy plugin for Firefox developed by the folks over at SEO Book. It makes it really easy to look up all relevant SEO information on any domain. I tend to disable it for most of the day, but I enable it when I want to use it for keyword expansion, PR look ups, WhoIs info & more.

1. RankChecker by SEO Book
   Staying on top of your current rankings is key with SEO. You should be able to tell people which keywords you are focusing on at any given time. This tool is free and provides you with Google (both US and UK), Yahoo, and Bing rankings. You also have the option of saving keyword groups so that it is easier to see your progress. Once the rankings are looked up, you can save as a CSV and compare to previous data. Other programs like this cost $100’s, and although they do provide you with more detail, this is the best free rank checker that I have found. You will need to have FireFox for this one as well.

1. HubSpot’s Website Grader
   This is a great way to see a snapshot of where your site is. While it doesn’t look at rankings, it does grade how well you are applying SEO tactics such as meta data, blog pulse, and inbound links. You can also grade your competitors and see how your grade compares to theirs.

1. SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool
   If you have installed SEO4FireFox, then you will have a link to this tool on any search results page. You can also access the tool directly on SEOBook’s website. This will show you daily estimated searches for any keyword, as well as suggest expansion keywords that perhaps you haven’t targeted before.

Though this list will help you monitor you SEO tactics, it is only half of the SEO equation. The other half is optimizing your website, and acquiring a better domain reputation.

For more information on how we can help you with your SEO efforts, please visit Monstrosity’s SEO Services section.

It’s almost that time of year again. Time to enjoy all the festivities of Fall. One my favorites is Halloween and this year I actually have plans. I can’t really remember what I did the last few years. I think last year Bryan and I watched The Lost Boys II and waited for the trick or treaters that never showed up. This year though, we have plans on both the 30th and 31st of October. We have booked two shows for A Billion Ernies, and along with the first, a full helping of promotion.

We have started to spread the word via the social networks, facebook, myspace, twitter, and reverbnation, and recently added the event to eventful.com. We’ll see what comes of that. This weekend we will be handing out flyers to our local street team and putting up as many posters as we can. I am making a few different posters, and this was the first.

Let’s hope it goes well. I am excited though. Haven’t fully decided on my costume because I am too disappointed that I can’t be Luicille Bluth.

First week of Monstrosity being up went down pretty smoothly. Thanks to all of you who are spreading the word about our new venture.

Bryan has been working hard on a project for a promotional video. He arranged a classical style guitar song into three different versions. I think it sounds amazing, and so does his client. We should have the three versions up here soon. When the video is up, we are hoping to be able to put that up here as well.

I have began a new job this week. It seems to be going pretty well. I am able to work from home which is a huge blessing because I don’t have to work the traditional 9-5 hours, which gives me much more flexibility, and allows me to work on side projects as well. I started promoting A Billion Ernie’s October 30th show in Temecula with Voodoo Glow Skulls this week. Presale tickets are available by visiting their ReverbNation profile. Should be an amazing show. We get to wear costumes, so I will be dusting off my old pink ladies jacket :)

Here is a copy of the banner ad that I made for them.

Well, its a long time coming. I have been spending almost all of my free time getting this site up, now that it’s up, I suppose only more work is to follow. I am very excited for what the future holds for us. 2009 has been the most intense and crazy year of our lives.

So here’s to the future of Monstrosity Productions. I hope it turns out to be what we want of it.