Still worth it to purchase Market Samurai

[onepace]

I've seen a lot of negative feedback over the past few months about MS.

Right now I use nothing but Google Keyword Tool + SEO Quake, and it's just taking too long to analyze the top 10. I used MS for the 12 day trial and it was a lot faster, and I didn't really see the problems everyone else was having, but I'm so new I probably wouldn't recognize a problem.

So, my question is, is MS still top dawg as far as bang for your buck? Or should I invest in something else or are other free tools now available?

I read a lot of good things about SECockpit, but man $77/mo is way out of my league.

Thanks guys!

[vtotheyouknow]

hey @onepace,

I use the same tools as you and it only takes me a few minutes to analyze the top 10 (actually, I only ever look at the top 3 and maybe a few others if they're affiliates as well).

What's your procedure for checking the competition? Maybe I can help you speed things up a bit. :-)

Vic

[onepace]

vtotheyouknow -

I can't tell you how much I appreciate the offer. I'm just getting started and every little bit of info helps.

Here's my Keyword Research procedure:

1. I've been more into informational keywords, as I don't quite understand how to find good product keywords (everyone I search is taken it seems). So, I typically type random keywords into Google Keyword Tool (exact match, local) about things I know about, because I'm doing all the writing, no money to outsource.

2. I usually search the first page of the results until I find a few keywords I want to analyze further. My criteria is upward trends, or solid trends, > 750 searches, and CPC >$1, though I don't pay a whole lot of attention to CPC. Oh, and I make sure the adword comp is above 50%, so I know I'll have some relevant ads.

3. Here's where I struggle. When I bought my first domain, I did so by typing the keywords in the trial version of market samurai. I did an SEO comp and filtered by DA, BLP, PR,Keyword Relevance. I'd look for at least a few PR 0-2, at least a few with < 30 BLP, and then I'd make sure they weren't really old domains. If I saw all "N" for no in keyword relevance I'd get super happy.

Once MS ran out of free trial I installed SEO Quake, so I'd type the keyword into Google, turn quake on and look at the same criteria with quake. PRoblem was sometimes Quake wouldn't work and I'd get an "error" instead of numbers by PR, Y! Links, etc. So, now I don't know what to do to analyze competition, mainly been looking at on page SEO and making sure htere aren't a lot of authority sites in top 10, though I like to focus top 5.

4. I'd check for domain availability next. From what everyone says, I'd look for EMD .com, .net, .org only. If it wasn't available I'd start all over.

That's really about it.

I've bought a few domains so far, but I'm not very pleased with my decisions, esepcially without a tool like MS.

Thoughts?

[kviv23]

Before buying MS you can really try the software. I had decided to purchase it but then it was too slow for me in pulling the results.Besides you come across lots of important factors when you do keyword research manually... like position of authority sites in first 1p places etc.

[Brad Seid]

This could help you in your decision to purchase.. There are a lot more benefits to MS besides analyzing SEO competition (Which i feel it is the best for)

Noble Samurai - Dojo

[MikeFriedman]

An alternative might be to use the free version of Traffic Travis to get a quick snapshot of the competition. Then use SEO SpyGlass to look more deeply at the backlink profile of the top 3.

I was a big advocate of Market Samurai. It has become too slow and unreliable in my opinion. It has probably been a month since I last opened it.

[patrich]

Originally Posted by onepace

vtotheyouknow -

I can't tell you how much I appreciate the offer. I'm just getting started and every little bit of info helps.

Here's my Keyword Research procedure:

1. I've been more into informational keywords, as I don't quite understand how to find good product keywords (everyone I search is taken it seems). So, I typically type random keywords into Google Keyword Tool (exact match, local) about things I know about, because I'm doing all the writing, no money to outsource.

2. I usually search the first page of the results until I find a few keywords I want to analyze further. My criteria is upward trends, or solid trends, > 750 searches, and CPC >$1, though I don't pay a whole lot of attention to CPC. Oh, and I make sure the adword comp is above 50%, so I know I'll have some relevant ads.

3. Here's where I struggle. When I bought my first domain, I did so by typing the keywords in the trial version of market samurai. I did an SEO comp and filtered by DA, BLP, PR,Keyword Relevance. I'd look for at least a few PR 0-2, at least a few with < 30 BLP, and then I'd make sure they weren't really old domains. If I saw all "N" for no in keyword relevance I'd get super happy.

Once MS ran out of free trial I installed SEO Quake, so I'd type the keyword into Google, turn quake on and look at the same criteria with quake. PRoblem was sometimes Quake wouldn't work and I'd get an "error" instead of numbers by PR, Y! Links, etc. So, now I don't know what to do to analyze competition, mainly been looking at on page SEO and making sure htere aren't a lot of authority sites in top 10, though I like to focus top 5.

4. I'd check for domain availability next. From what everyone says, I'd look for EMD .com, .net, .org only. If it wasn't available I'd start all over.

That's really about it.

I've bought a few domains so far, but I'm not very pleased with my decisions, esepcially without a tool like MS.

Thoughts?

Sounds like you are wanting to use Market Samurai primarily for keyword research/competition analysis correct?

I will be honest with you, and I know some guys may disagree, but I am not a fan of market samurai at all, in fact I own it and can't remember the last time I actually had it opened, I am not even sure if I still have it on my hard drive.

I am using Long Tail Pro, which finds keywords, checks domain availability and also does competition research, allowing you to analyze the top 10 results. Its a lot faster than everything else on the market, that I have used and I use it everyday.

I believe it is cheaper than MS as well, or at least it used to be, not sure if the price went up.

[outwest]

Traffic travis free version stops giving backlinks for weeks at a time, its giving backlinks now?

[onepace]

@ Patrich

Thanks for the response, quick question if you got a minute.

How does my keyword research method look?

I think I'm going to look into LTP, that's the one Spencer made right?

[curtainsandblind]

There are many product for keyword research so u can it...

[vtotheyouknow]

1. I've been more into informational keywords, as I don't quite understand how to find good product keywords (everyone I search is taken it seems). So, I typically type random keywords into Google Keyword Tool (exact match, local) about things I know about, because I'm doing all the writing, no money to outsource.

If you're monetizing with Adsense, informational keywords are the way to go IMO. You're right, physical products have become insanely competitive and there's no reason to dabble there when low hanging fruit is available elsewhere.

Don't be scared to take on promising keywords on topics you know nothing about. You can get just about any info you need from Wikipedia and reword it.

2. I usually search the first page of the results until I find a few keywords I want to analyze further. My criteria is upward trends, or solid trends, > 750 searches, and CPC >$1, though I don't pay a whole lot of attention to CPC. Oh, and I make sure the adword comp is above 50%, so I know I'll have some relevant ads.

I'd look more in the 2000+ local exact match searches and $2.00+ CPC. There are plenty of them with virtually no competition ;-)

50% competition bar is good and also make sure there are at least a handful of relevant ads displaying for your exact keyword. Head over to EzineArticles and type your keyword in and then click on an article that has it. You'll get a good idea of the types of advertisers bidding on that word within the content network and this is really a more reliable indicator of actual CPC then whatever GAKT or the contextual tools spit out.

3. Here's where I struggle. When I bought my first domain, I did so by typing the keywords in the trial version of market samurai. I did an SEO comp and filtered by DA, BLP, PR,Keyword Relevance. I'd look for at least a few PR 0-2, at least a few with < 30 BLP, and then I'd make sure they weren't really old domains. If I saw all "N" for no in keyword relevance I'd get super happy.

You should only really be worried about the competition in the top 3 especially if you're targeting low search volume phrases. The distribution of clicks for spots outside of the top 3 is just too low to bother with if you're relying on organic search engine traffic, so make sure you can get somewhere up there.

The question is how?

PR, DA, Directory subs and a few other things aren't all that important, particularly after Panda. Quality, relevant content and quality, relevant backlinks have far more gravity and will continue to do so.

Here's the checklist I use.

The more of these that you can answer “No” to, the better! The * symbol indicates a particularly important factor.

• Is it a generic type of site? (Article directory, answer site, about.com, wisegeek.com, etc.)*
• Is it a Root Domain?*
• Is it Keyword Optimized? (URL, Title, Description, Page)
• Does it have a lot of Quality, Relevant Content?*
• Is the whole site (NOT just the page) Laser Targeted to your exact keyword?*
• Are there 20 Links or less to the PAGE? (not the entire domain)*
• Are they Quality/Relevant Links?
• Is the PR of the PAGE 4 or less? (0 is best)
• Are there other affiliates who know what they’re doing?
• Is it an Exact match domain?

Once MS ran out of free trial I installed SEO Quake, so I'd type the keyword into Google, turn quake on and look at the same criteria with quake. PRoblem was sometimes Quake wouldn't work and I'd get an "error" instead of numbers by PR, Y! Links, etc. So, now I don't know what to do to analyze competition, mainly been looking at on page SEO and making sure htere aren't a lot of authority sites in top 10, though I like to focus top 5.

The only problem with SEOQuake I've had is it sometimes doesn't show the Yahoo links and Yahoo links domain but just hit up Open Site Explorer and check your backlinks manually. This way you'll also get a feel for how RELEVANT and high quality the backlinks and the site doing the linking are! :-)

4. I'd check for domain availability next. From what everyone says, I'd look for EMD .com, .net, .org only. If it wasn't available I'd start all over.

If you've found weak competition in the top 3, just get a domain with an extra letter on the end or an "hq" or a .info or a hyphenated domain or something. You don't need an EMD to beat wussy competition any more than you can beat strong competitors by virtue of having an EMD.

That's really about it.

I've bought a few domains so far, but I'm not very pleased with my decisions, esepcially without a tool like MS.

Thoughts?

Tools can only facilitate something you already know how to do. They will NOT think for you or supplant a solid understand of the underlying principles of keyword research or any other activity.

I recommend you head over to Spencer's niche website hub, he explains a lot of this stuff in a really easy going and easy to understand tone...and he's got his facts straight!

Niche Websites Hub | Niche Pursuits

Hope that helps!
Vic

[onepace]

Vic

I really appreciate your response. That was literally laser targeted to what I'm struggling with right now. Kind of discouraged because I'm not that great at Keyword Research and haven't been finding a lot of topics that meet your 2,000/$2 criteria.

Thanks again!

[outwest]

Originally Posted by vtotheyouknow

If you're monetizing with Adsense, informational keywords are the way to go IMO. You're right, physical products have become insanely competitive and there's no reason to dabble there when low hanging fruit is available elsewhere.

Don't be scared to take on promising keywords on topics you know nothing about. You can get just about any info you need from Wikipedia and reword it.



I'd look more in the 2000+ local exact match searches and $2.00+ CPC. There are plenty of them with virtually no competition ;-)

50% competition bar is good and also make sure there are at least a handful of relevant ads displaying for your exact keyword. Head over to EzineArticles and type your keyword in and then click on an article that has it. You'll get a good idea of the types of advertisers bidding on that word within the content network and this is really a more reliable indicator of actual CPC then whatever GAKT or the contextual tools spit out.




You should only really be worried about the competition in the top 3 especially if you're targeting low search volume phrases. The distribution of clicks for spots outside of the top 3 is just too low to bother with if you're relying on organic search engine traffic, so make sure you can get somewhere up there.

The question is how?

PR, DA, Directory subs and a few other things aren't all that important, particularly after Panda. Quality, relevant content and quality, relevant backlinks have far more gravity and will continue to do so.

Here's the checklist I use.

The more of these that you can answer “No” to, the better! The * symbol indicates a particularly important factor.

• Is it a generic type of site? (Article directory, answer site, about.com, wisegeek.com, etc.)*
• Is it a Root Domain?*
• Is it Keyword Optimized? (URL, Title, Description, Page)
• Does it have a lot of Quality, Relevant Content?*
• Is the whole site (NOT just the page) Laser Targeted to your exact keyword?*
• Are there 20 Links or less to the PAGE? (not the entire domain)*
• Are they Quality/Relevant Links?
• Is the PR of the PAGE 4 or less? (0 is best)
• Are there other affiliates who know what they’re doing?
• Is it an Exact match domain?

The only problem with SEOQuake I've had is it sometimes doesn't show the Yahoo links and Yahoo links domain but just hit up Open Site Explorer and check your backlinks manually. This way you'll also get a feel for how RELEVANT and high quality the backlinks and the site doing the linking are! :-)




If you've found weak competition in the top 3, just get a domain with an extra letter on the end or an "hq" or a .info or a hyphenated domain or something. You don't need an EMD to beat wussy competition any more than you can beat strong competitors by virtue of having an EMD.



Tools can only facilitate something you already know how to do. They will NOT think for you or supplant a solid understand of the underlying principles of keyword research or any other activity.

I recommend you head over to Spencer's niche website hub, he explains a lot of this stuff in a really easy going and easy to understand tone...and he's got his facts straight!

Niche Websites Hub | Niche Pursuits

Hope that helps!
Vic

I like that website you suggested , thanks

[SEOtraveler]

in my experience MS is too slow and buggy to deal with, I also have a problem with the premise for some of their keyword research metrics, there is a much more reliable and faster Rank Tracker alternative

Rank Tracker - Track Your Search Engine Rankings Easily

[outwest]

Originally Posted by SEOtraveler

in my experience MS is too slow and buggy to deal with, I also have a problem with the premise for some of their keyword research metrics, there is a much more reliable and faster Rank Tracker alternative

Rank Tracker - Track Your Search Engine Rankings Easily

Personally I think it should be banned for someone to make a positive comment in a thread that they then link to in their sig or a comment, just to get people to click on the link

thats nothing more than SPAM IMO

i Thought the purpose of this board was to share ideas,
If I make a comment in a thread about keyword research and I say

Market Samurai I think is the best option
and then under that comment there is a link

Cllick here to see Market Samurai in Action (which has my aff link in it)
thats a bit dodgy

[patrich]

Originally Posted by onepace

@ Patrich

Thanks for the response, quick question if you got a minute.

How does my keyword research method look?

I think I'm going to look into LTP, that's the one Spencer made right?

Correct, that is the program that Spencer from NichePursuits made. It really is a good program and it works fast. I have used Market Samurai, NicheFinder, Micro Niche Finder, a couple of other software as well as some online niche finding services and the easiest, fastest and most efficient program that I have used and continue to use is LongTailPro, he did a great job with it.

In regards to your keyword research method, I think you are on the right track. I wouldn't worry about finding exact match domains, because frankly, if you only go after keywords that have an EMD, you will be missing out on a lot of great keywords. I would look for hyphenated domains, or add a word to the end like reviews, shop, etc.

By the way, LongTailPro will also look for hyphenated domains automatically, so it makes that easier as well.

Also, I wouldn't mess with 750 searches per month, its a waste of time in my opinion. Unless you are going to do a very large site with lots of 750+ searches per month keywords.

I generally look for a minimum of 2000 searches per month, but lately I really only go after anything that has 5000 searches per month, simply because when you rank for them there is more traffic and money there.

[JSProjects]

I have dropped MS from my arsenal, unfortunately. There are plenty of free tools that will do most of what it does, and a lot faster.

The Google KW tool is MUCH faster than MS and provides the important information anyway. And the free version of Traffic Travis has a top 10 analysis tool.

[onepace]

I have no clue what just happened in this thread...

[simonbuzz]

MS are not working as it used to be..so I will not suggest buying it there are other good tools you can purchase.

[outwest]

To look up keywords? google adwords tool is faster

to look up top 10 competition on google? show me a faster tool that is free? SEOQuake does not work, is not compatible with firefox 5.01
you have to download an old version of firefox

SeoQuake does not show onpage SEO for the top 10 (Kw in title, url, header, desc) you must do that by hand,

SEO top 10 on MS? is NOT SLOW
kws searching is slow, yes

top 10 competition , especially if you uncheck backlinks domain, IC, and about 3 others you dont need

(all you need is domain age, PR, backlinks to page (BP) and then the onpage SEO factors

that takes me a maximum of 30 seconds for each kw

And No I dont waste time spitting out kw analysis with the google CPC garbage, thats what takes forever

just use it to analyze google top 10

[Kiosk]

I haven't yet used any software to analyze the market competition and create strategy for the website. I have gone through some of the point discussed about market samurai. That's great as domain age, backlink and all these stuff matters the most when you are to select any particular keyword for ranking.

[outwest]

When analyzing top 10, go to google and google market samurai SEO analysis, it shows you how MS does it

Free programs that can do this?>
Only SEOquake
however that only pulls up backlinks, PR, domain age etc

SEO quake does not pull up Onpage SEO analysis, which is EXTREMELY important
How you going to do this by hand? for the top 10 sites?

You want to open each top 10 site in google, look at the VIEW SOURCE and see if the description has the kws in it? the url? the title? the header?
How long is that going to take you for 10 sites? a long time

I can do this with MS for one kw , get the top 10 spread so I can view it AT A GLANCE
in about 30 seconds, (for one kw)
I see all the top 10 sites at a glance, the onpage SEO,
Y Y Y Y, or N N Y N , whatever for each of the top 10 sites

this takes 30 seconds
IMO to do this myself? by hand? for one kw? for FREE
would take 20 minutes, since SEOquake does NOT do this

You guys who still think you can do all this for free
be my guest,
you must not be analyzing many kws
because if you were
you would never waste that much time trying to do it by hand

some tools are worth it
MS is worth is just for the Onpage SEO analysis

and btw SEO analysis by Market samurai is not slow, it takes a max of 30 seconds

its the kw search thats slow, do that with Google kw tool, thats very fast

[codyfrater]

It is not practical to use MS if you can use some free tools anyway. Google Keyword Tool is good to use.

[outwest]

If you guys are so cheap you want to use only free tools, great but if you dont want to invest any money into your business, you are handicapping yourself

do you try to write all your content yourself, ? you try to get free domains? at some point you have to start spending money

[Mark Marzinzik]

Outwest... I agree with you Market Samurai still has uses for SEO and Back-link finding. It would really be nice if they got the Keyword Research Tool working. I have stopped using this part of MS and it is either unreliable or too slow.

[outwest]

thing i dont like about the kw tool is
it pulls up basically a broad search then you can refine that down i guess, or maybe i dont use the settings correctly

[John Williamson]

Look into Keyword Sniper Pro 2.0

[Goowai]

Originally Posted by John Williamson

Look into Keyword Sniper Pro 2.0

I second this. Keyword Sniper Pro 2.0 is well worth it.

[outwest]

Originally Posted by Goowai

I second this. Keyword Sniper Pro 2.0 is well worth it.

LOL their affiliate program is set up so that the first one you sell for them, you get no commission. thats great if you can find suckers to sell that

its basically 50 percent commission, paid as 100 percent commission on every OTHER sale

100 percent commission on sale 2,4,6,8, etc etc
LOL

so sale number 1? free, no commission
sale 2. 100 percent commission, so you basically get paid for sale number 1 at this time

Sale 3? zero
Sale 4 , 100 percent commission so repeat of sale 2

at 149 bucks pop, its good money for them I am sure, but me? I rather get 50 percent commission straight up.
the way they set it up, you are tied to them for life waiting to get paid for the sale you just made for free, waiting for the next sale

I am sure they think its brilliant but as an affiliate it leaves a bad taste in my mouth

[JimmyR]

Originally Posted by outwest

LOL their affiliate program is set up so that the first one you sell for them, you get no commission. thats great if you can find suckers to sell that

its basically 50 percent commission, paid as 100 percent commission on every OTHER sale

100 percent commission on sale 2,4,6,8, etc etc
LOL

so sale number 1? free, no commission
sale 2. 100 percent commission, so you basically get paid for sale number 1 at this time

Sale 3? zero
Sale 4 , 100 percent commission so repeat of sale 2

at 149 bucks pop, its good money for them I am sure, but me? I rather get 50 percent commission straight up.
the way they set it up, you are tied to them for life waiting to get paid for the sale you just made for free, waiting for the next sale

I am sure they think its brilliant but as an affiliate it leaves a bad taste in my mouth

I wish I could set up this kind of thing with Clickbank... So sick of douchebags buying an already cheap product through their own aff link.

To the OP... I'm not so sure. I am using MS less and less. I wrote my own c# script recently that does a better job than their keyword tool, and it took about 2 hours.

I do use it for their SEO competition analysis, but that's only because I havent bought something else yet.

Generally, it is pretty slow and you aren't really getting many good features for the price.

[vtotheyouknow]

Originally Posted by outwest

When analyzing top 10, go to google and google market samurai SEO analysis, it shows you how MS does it

Free programs that can do this?>
Only SEOquake
however that only pulls up backlinks, PR, domain age etc

SEO quake does not pull up Onpage SEO analysis, which is EXTREMELY important
How you going to do this by hand? for the top 10 sites?

You want to open each top 10 site in google, look at the VIEW SOURCE and see if the description has the kws in it? the url? the title? the header?
How long is that going to take you for 10 sites? a long time

I can do this with MS for one kw , get the top 10 spread so I can view it AT A GLANCE
in about 30 seconds, (for one kw)
I see all the top 10 sites at a glance, the onpage SEO,
Y Y Y Y, or N N Y N , whatever for each of the top 10 sites

this takes 30 seconds
IMO to do this myself? by hand? for one kw? for FREE
would take 20 minutes, since SEOquake does NOT do this

You guys who still think you can do all this for free
be my guest,
you must not be analyzing many kws
because if you were
you would never waste that much time trying to do it by hand

some tools are worth it
MS is worth is just for the Onpage SEO analysis

and btw SEO analysis by Market samurai is not slow, it takes a max of 30 seconds

its the kw search thats slow, do that with Google kw tool, thats very fast

I hope Market Samurai is paying you to be their personal Warrior Forum evangelist!

By the time that lumbering hulk of software loads (and updates) you could already be done analyzing the top 3 listings with FREE tools, which are the only competitors that matter anyhow.

It's usually not even necessary to check for h1, h2, h3 tags. If you see that the first 3 listings are missing the keyword in the title or URL or description and aren't a top level domain, you're money.

Market Samurai's going the way of the samurai my friend. >_<

Now if SECockpit would only get about 80% cheaper...

[alodie]

vtotheyouknow,

I could not have agreed more: "Now if SECockpit would only get about
80% cheaper..."

And yet, I do understand the webmasters rationale of such a high price.
As you pointed out, this software has gone where none other has, yet.

If they are to provide their customers with the best, then they will need
to find a way to ensure that they can afford it.

I think much of the membership fee does go to the maintainance of the
software. So don't be too hard on them.


alodie

[outwest]

wow this is an old thread

[Charley Brown]

To be honest... I paid for market samurai, but now I rarely use it at all.

[outwest]

I still use it a lot I just with the PR and anchor text analyzer still worked, but since YSE took a dump, it stopped working