SEO questions.

1. You need links and on-page optimization. Not sure what you mean by "tools" to target national keywords.

2. Open Site Explorer or Ahrefs Site Explorer & Backlink Checker (I have both)

3. I use Search Engine Ranking Reports - SEO Software for Daily Rank Tracking

4. You need to build a system and a process. You can do this just in a Google Doc (drawing) and craft a little system you follow with each client. Use for yourself or give to an outsourcer once you have a SEO model that works well for you.

5. Same as #1. It's about backlinks and on-page optimization. You sound like you should read: SEO: The Free Beginner?s Guide From SEOmoz

I don't really do much SEO so I can only answer #2. I use SEO SpyGlass to check for backlinks. It checks for only unique backlink pages while some of the other tools include internal links and duplicate pages.

I was about to post regarding this topic yesterday but I guess it will be better to post my question here.
So, I was thinking is it doable to do something similar to a Local SEO Empire ? I like the concept of having control over your sites and not needing to build backlinks from scratch for every site you are trying to rank. So, for example I am in lead gen business, I want to target a big keyword say "london plumbing". So what I would do is create 1 lead gen site for this purpose and then create "feeder" sites wich will be used to backlink the main one. I could try "londoncontractors.co.uk; plumbersinuk.com" and other variations, so that if I want to target a plumber in another city, for example Liverpool, I would use the londoncontractors.co.uk to build a backlink for it or the other site. This is going to save a lot of time when you scale your business in many other cities so you do not want to look for backlinks for all of your site, you just have your own estate and you are in control of everything. Of course, I would not spam the feeder sites with lots of unquality backlinks, instead I would focus on social aspects and content on these. So, I would like to know your oppinion on this topic guys. Do you do this and how? Thanks

SIMPLE. Copyscrape. You're chasing links and chasing the algo. The Google Panda update February 2011 was for this exact reason.

Forget links. Think Marketing. Get your business / website listed on other sites that your target audience will be hanging out. Forget any other link.

Spending 80% of the SEO activity in the 20% that yields results is what get you to #1.

WHY ARE YOU POSTING THIS QUESTION TWICE, and immediately having another user 'thank' the post?

The reason I thanked it was because I was and am interested in hearing other answers to his questions and his situation

Have a great day.