I spent some time recently scouring the app store looking for tools that might be useful for those who want their sites to rank better on the search engines, for people interested in buying domain names, reviewing web statistics or monitoring the health of their web servers.

I was pleased at the number of applications available, many for free, some at reasonable prices, others – well – just a bit too high priced for me.  The following lists are by no means all inclusive, and are not sorted in any particular fashion.  They just happened to catch my eye somehow.  You can (and should) click the app names for screen shots and more details about the app.

Search Engine Optimization iPhone Apps

Everyone wishes that their Web site(s) would get better placement on the search engines, everyone.  Some of these might help, others – might get you banned.

1. Rankings
   Cost: Free
   What it does: enter a website address and a key word/phrase and the app will show you where the site ranks on Google, Yahoo & Live.
2. iSEO
   Cost: Free
   What it does: Enter web address and a search term and it tells you what page your result is on – but I have no idea what engine it checks.  It also shows how many inlinks a web site has, but again – no idea where it gets the info.
3. WebFight
   Cost: $.99 for full version, or Ad-supported lite version for free.
   What it does: Enter two search phrases and it will tell you which has had more search traffic and provide snapshots of Google search for the phrase.
4. Pokeseo
   Cost: $0.99
   What it does: Enter a web address and the app shows you (occasionally) what the PageRank is and how many backlinks the site has from Google, Yahoo,Bing and AOL.
5. SEM Calc
   Cost: Free
   What it does: Provide 5 nifty calculators that help PPC and email/banner ad marketers determines true costs.
6. SEO Submit Pro
   Cost: $2.99
   What it does: Submits your web site to 20 search engines.
7. URL Site Submitter Pro
   Cost: $0.99
   What it does: Submits your site to 20 search engine.

Domain Name Research & Registration iPhone Apps

Can you ever have too many domains registered?  I know a few people who would say “NO NEVER!”.  If you are one of those people, these apps are for you.

1. DomainScout
   Cost: Free
   What it does: Enter a domain name and the app checks to see if it is available, shows you whois info for those already registered.
2. Instant Domain Check
   Cost: Free
   What it does: Enter a domain and it tells you if it’s available or not.  Provides links to GoDaddy and Network Solutions if name is not already taken.
3. TLD Lookup
   Cost: Free
   What it does: Provides a glossary of all the top level domains.
4. HotNameList
   Cost: Free
   What it does: Displays names of recently expired domains, grouped into related categories.
5. Whois
   Cost: Free
   What it does:  Uses the Network Solutions whois to look for available domain names.  Provides registration link if name is not taken.

Network/Server iPhone Apps

Every once in a while it’s just nice to reach out and ping someone, right?  Well maybe not, but with these apps you can do that a few other network style geeky things.

1. iNetUtil
   Cost: $0.99
   What it does:  Allows you to enter a list of sites you want to verify are “alive”, reports on the IP address and server software, provides whois information and displays the source code of the site.
2. Network Utility
   Cost: $0.99 for full version, or ad supported free version
   What it does: Allows you to ping a web site, scan its ports, perform GeoIP Lookup and whois queries.

Web Site Statistics

Without analytics, anything you do online (maybe anywhere) is just a moo point.  If you want to know how your site is performing, these apps might just be what you need.

1. Analytics Agent
   Cost: $2.99 for full version, or a ad supported “lite” version for free
   What it does:  Enter your Google account name it displays your Google analytics information for you.
2. Analytics App
   Cost: $ 5.99
   What it does: Provides access to every detail of your Google analytics data and reports.
3. Domain Tracker
   Cost: Free
   What it does: After you enter the domains you want to track, it provides you with the Google and Alexa page ranks.  Allows you to track the history of the site.

In closing, it’s worth noting that many of the iPhone app developers have figured out the art of keyword stuffing.  Hopefully Apple will figure this out soon and put a stop to it.  As I browsed through the App Store it was clear from many of the title and descriptions that the developers were hoping to be found for words that don’t necessarily apply to their application.  One of the SEO apps I considered reviewing, but decided to use the $4.99 elsewhere, had a 17+ rating and listed a huge list af reasons – including “Frequent/Intense Sexual Content or Nudity”.  How disappointed must the people be that buy this app based on that disclaimer?

Do you have a favorite app that I missed?  Love, or hate one of these?  Let me know!

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Now I’ve decided to name names.  Hopefully they have the sense to at least have a “Google alert” set up and will read this.  If you are one of THEM, congratulations for getting here.  The messages listed below were all received within one week, Sunday midnight to Sunday midnight and arrived outside of regular business hours (CST).

• Dell Direct
  The good folks at Dell sent me two messages.  One arrived on Tuesday at 6:19 AM (not so bad) and another on Friday at 4:31 AM.  I like Dell.  I have and will use their products.  However, I am not a fan of these emails.  In my opinion, they lack focus.  I am overwhelmed by offers in multiple product lines and categories in the same e-mail.  My print preview showed them as being six pages long, that’s a lot of stuff for one email.  Try some segmentation.
• Ebay
  They sent me a message on Friday at 12:40 AM encouraging me to list my car at ebay Motors.  I use ebay pretty often, but the only car related purchase I’ve made was a new keyless remote.  So, I’m not sure why they think I should sell my car, or why they think it’s on my mind at midnight – on a Friday.
• JC Whitney
  The e-marketers at JC Whitney sent me email on both Tuesday and Friday, each at around 7:30 AM.  This is not nearly as bad as midnight, but for me – still ineffective.  The interesting thing is that while I did request a catalog nearly two years ago, I have never purchased anything from JC Whitney.  Further, I have never (to my recollection) clicked through from one of their messages.  Perhaps it’s time to clean up that list a bit.  I can guarantee your boss will not be so upset with a reduction in list size when your click-through-rate (CTR) climbs substantially after you trim the dead wood (that would be me) from your low-hanging fruit tree.
• Photobucket.com
  Just one email from Photobucket, unfortunately it was a 5:30 am wake-up call.  Even if I was interested in having a photo site do my collages for me, I’m not thinking about it at that time of the morning.
• Proflowers.com
  I really like Proflowers.  I like the products, I like the web site, love the customer service.  I have bought a lot of flowers from them.  I have even clicked through from emails to make purchases.  However, both of the messages they sent me during this particular week arrived around 6 AM.  At 6 AM, the only thing on my mind is “why did I stay up so late tweeting?” and “why is that alarm so loud?” Please keep your emails to the time of day when I am awake and within easy reach of my credit card.
• Reunion.com
  I *think* I may have some info on this site, but can not recall the last time I visited.  I have certainly never clicked-through from an email.  These marketing geniuses sent me mail on Tuesday and again Wednesday at 1:30 AM and 2:30 AM.  I can assure you that mail coming in at at 2:30 in the morning, alerting me that somebody searched for my profile, will never be clicked on by me.
• Southwest Airlines
  I have flown on your planes just once – and vowed to never do it again.  Sending me email at 5 AM telling me how great you you think are won’t change that.  Try sending me email at 10 AM telling me you realize that you have horrible customer service and that your customers are not cattle….AND that you are working to correct these problems.
• University of Phoenix
  Just one email from them, but it was at 3:38 in the morning.  Granted, there may be some people up late worrying about getting that extra $20,000/year that your TV ads tell us we’ll earn by having a higher education degree, but I’m not one of them.  I’m a busy, employed, office worker – one that needs a good six hours of sleep and you just ruined that for me.  Thanks.
• Walmart
  You keep hearing about people who actually pay for the music they download – I’ll admit it , I am one of those people.  Apparently the marketing team at Walmart thinks that because I am crazy enough to pay for music, I must also be crazy enough to be up at 2 AM on Tuesday morning to read a lengthy, ad packed email telling me all about what’s new in Walmart entertainment.  I’m not that crazy.  Message deleted.
  

In addition to the email marketing (loose use of the term) listed above, I did get a few that made a little more sense to me.

• Thompson Cigar
  I am a customer – not an aficionado.  I buy perhaps, one medium sized box approximately every six months.  Two emails a week is serious overkill for me.  I am happy that emails arrive at 9 PM, it seems to be a reasonable expectation that someone who buys cigars online might be online at that time of the day.  I definitely recommend segmenting the mailing list into groups based perhaps on frequency and dollar amount of purchase.
• TaxAct Online.
  I used this site to submit my 2007 taxes.  It was a fast, simple process.  I’ll probably use them again this year when the time rolls around.  They sent me just one email, which arrived just after 11 PM on Wednesday.  That’s not too late in the evening, but for me it is pushing the envelope of rational thinking.  I would prefer these arrived earlier in the day.

I feel compelled to give a special shout out to the people charged with sending the email newsletters at Ragan Communications.  This company earns it’s bread and butter teaching others how to communicate efficiently and effectively.  During the same one week time frame, I received 14 emails from them.  Admittedly, one of the mailings is titled “Daily Headlines” and I did subscribe to it.  Further I will admit that I did subscribe to the other mailings as well.  However, having made that disclaimer I have to say this: FOURTEEN EMAILS IN ONE WEEK!   Sorry, lost it there for a moment.  Ragan communicators – seriously, let me take a breath in between emails. When they first started to arrive, I eagerly read each one.  Now, I have a rule that moves your hard work to a folder to be skimmed when I have time to spare.  Today is Tuesday and the oldest one in the folder is from last Wednesday, there are 12 of them – 12.  Your message is being lost in the fray of a 100 other things – convince me that your weekly barrage is worth my time.  Good luck.

I have to ask; why do you continue to buy mailing lists?  E-marketers, please be more aware of where the lists you buy come from.  I wish I had kept some of the so unrelated-it’s-funny emails that I have gotten over the last few months so I could share them with you.  Alas, I have but the one that arrived this morning. The “Government Health IT Selection Committee” was kind enough to contact me today with this message: “Your position within the government IT community qualifies you to receive a complimentary subscription to Government Health IT Magazine – an exclusive publication from the publishers of Federal Computer Week.”  Yes, in my former life I owned a web design, hosting, ISP company and as such could have been called an “IT person.”  but I have never had anything to do with government or health related IT.  Additionally, for the last 18 months I have been (and hopefully will continue to be) employed as a marketing professional.  I would say this qualifies as lead generation failure.  This is why you can buy huge lists of email addresses for so little money.

As I prepared to write this, I discussed my “problem” of being woken up at all hours of the night by my smart phone going off when new email arrives with a few of my friends & co-workers.  Believe it or not, they suggested I get another email address and just not worry about it, or even worse – to tag it as spam.  I have used a fake address myself when I anticpate the company will be sending me spam.  But these are messages are not junk.  They just need some TLC, better timing and in some cases, better list management.  Just because I don’t want this stuff, does not make it universally spam.  There is a lesson here emarketers, if you don’t give your readers what they want, when they want it – you are a spammer in their eyes.

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