While I like and use SEO Elite; I don't think it is worth the money. I use it to find well optimized sites for certian keywords and to self audit my sites' backlinks. I really like the tool's ability to track the PR of your backlinks. With the higher priced tools you have to think about whether or not you will get your money back. I haven't seen a return on SEO Elite yet. That being said I haven't found a free tool that does as good of a job as it.
It may be a great tool. But they wouldnt refund the money even after testing with it only for 30 minutes. Your email for refund would not be answered at all (although they say they would refund money if a request is made within 7 days or 30 days - no. of days or hours doesnt matter to them. If your money is gone its gone forever). So think before you buy it.
I know for a fact that brad gives refunds, if seen several in the seo elite forum, and other forums. but you cant email them if you do the auto reponder will give you his support site to put a ticket in for any issues, including refunds.
I bought SEO Elite. Waste of money IMHO. I built a piece of software in a few long weekends that gave birth to my first PageRank 8 site. Of course, not everyone has programming skills handy I know!
Software can be ok. It depend on how you use it. I have had some pretty good results with IBP. I'm still contemplating SEO Elite. It's pricey though.
I wouldn't suggest it for doing link exchanges since even though it fills out everything for you its still time consuming, thats why people invented automated link exchanges. But its great for researching how other competing sites are linking especially for google where anchor text is really important.
No software will help you gain positioning in the se's. What it might do is help you track your competitors sites or track where you show up in the serps for certain keywords, but you can do all that by hand without spending any money. What it comes down to is your site design, ie. onpage optimization, site design/structure, who links to you and your content. If you have money I'd suggest investing in that stuff first.
I've contemplated doing that. The problem is, there's really only a market for maybe 5-10 of sites like mine. After that it's a point of diminishing returns if too many clones pop up. If you're interested and have at least $97 to spare, hit me up. Maybe we can work something out =)
SEO Elite is really very, very mediocre. I used it when there was a free trial version available. I guess not many people bought it when they could download it and see its many limitations, so Brad removed the demo from his site. And yeah, somebody already mentioned that -- the free bonuses Brad offers are a scam. E.g., the "for-members-only-forum" is freely available for everyone, because there are hidden links to it from the homepage. Way to go, Brad! I just don't TRUST people who claim to be SEO experts but rely on tricks like these. Also, I know for a fact that Brad's site got banned by Google this March. Talk about SEO experts... G-bot just stopped indexing it (too spammy?) Aaron Wall wrote about it in his blog. He also doesn't recommend SEO Elite no more. I also agree that software is only useful to automate certain things, but link building should be under the control of a human. You. So you really don't have to buy any SEO tools, you can do everything by hand. And if you buy one, make sure the tool automates as many jobs as possible, and doesn't cost a fortune. E.g. WebLinkSEO looks like a good tool to me. Personally, I use LinkAssistant though. Warkot
warkot your right about seo elite and aaron wall http://www.seobook.com/archives/000869.shtml SEO Elite Review - Not Recommended Mar 16 I used to recommend Brad Callen's SEO Elite, but due to evolving search algorithms placing more emphasis on site age and usage data I believe that looking through a link profile does not have much value beyond just getting a quick glance at it. And you can do that free. Tattler and Backlink Analyzer both allow you to view backlink information for free. Tattler is quicker than any of the paid tools on the market. At the price of free it can save you anywhere from $150 to $225 when compared to software like Optilink or SEO Elite. If you want a bit more data than what is featured in Tattler you may want to give Backlink Analyzer a go. SEO Elite does have a few features that are not included in the free tools listed above, but about the only features I found useful are also available in free easy to use web based tools, like the Digital Point Keyword Tracking tool. Last I checked SEO Elite did not look at co-citation data, which is hugely important if you are looking to do in depth link analysis. If you want to look for quality links that will actually help you rank well you may also find the free Hub Finder useful. It is the best free co-citation tool on the market. I also would recommend avoiding crappy link exchange networks. Most the sites that participate in them are spammy. If you want to do link building that will actually help you rank I recommend reading this post. Affiliates recommending SEO Elite with rave reviews make over $70 per sale to recommend it, but think of effective link building as the art of getting real editorial citations that send traffic your way. Since quality links require real human editorial judgement most software will not help you on that front.
I wonder what made him "recommend Brad Callen's SEO Elite" before I know a lot of people love Aaron's blog, and so do I, but I can't even imagine HOW could he recommend this tool before. Did Brad pay him? Yet another reason I don't like about this topic is that when Aaron didn't have his own tools - everything was OK and SEO Elite was *cool* in his eyes, but now (after Aaron developed his own tools) - ... you see it yourself
Interesting comment.. makes ya think... Ive personally dealth with Brad & Aaron and both are solid seo guys who offer good advice on seo & internet marketing advice.. Im sure they both have a bias to thier own programs, who isnt..
I am a customer of SEO Elite and frankly it is a complete waste of money. I just don't understand why many big names are endorsing it.
I used IBP. It's better for seo than for link exchanges. They have this script called Arelis for link exchange, but I rarely use it. The SEO tool lets you compare your site details to the top listed sites.