Free Google Keyword Tool

Have you ever Googled the phrase "google keyword tool"?

I'm guessing you probably have based on the fact that you're reading this site and the actual web address for the Google Keyword Tool is pretty long and hard to remember.

Maybe you've noticed a site called GoogleKeywordTool.com.

On my results it's currently #3 when searching for "google keyword tool."

Here's a screenshot (you may need to click on it to read it better):
Here's what the site looks like:


I actually assumed Google made this website.

I'd never taken a very close look at the site. I just went straight for the highlighted box in the upper left hand corner and clicked on Google Keyword Tool.

Although it's certainly not obvious that this site isn't affiliated with Google if you scroll to the bottom you'll see in small print "private website not affiliated with Google.com."

Really the only place to get information about this curious site (especially because it doesn't have any ads) is to click on the About Us link at bottom. It's relatively hard to find, but fortunately the creator does give us a personal explanation of why this site is the way it is.

He says, and this is quoted directly from the website:

This site is not related to Google, in any manner.

I get a lot of questions about this site ...

This website started as sticky notes on a paper on my wall titled "Google Candy Shop." Soon it was a Word doc. Under each tool name was the URL address. I created my own "keep it short" hints and reminders. I shared my favorite tool list with web builder friends. Soon I was getting requests to email copies to their friends.

I like Google. But my favorite tool, Google's "Search Based Keyword Tool," was a difficult URL path to remember. It was impossible to quickly write on a napkin. One day I saw the perfect domain name expire from an Asian company. I purchased the name and use it for my top favorite Google tools.

What a relief. Type a simple web name and go directly to my favorite keyword tool. When Google updated their tool, I updated my link. Today it links to the new External version.

Why no ads? This site gets tons of traffic, sometimes over 35,000 visitors a month. Like many web users, I hate spam-sites and distracting ad-filled sites. So I keep it simple.

Recently, after updating my Google Analytics account, a Google AdSense rep called me. She made the point that content-sensitive ads could help my visitors. She's probably right. Maybe I'll add a few Google Ads.

I respect unique content. I put a lot of thought and re-writing into the brief descriptions. My goal is to be short, but clear, honest and encouraging. Users say they like the easy descriptions. They say my comments help them understand the purpose behind the tools. They also like that the hand-picked links give them a "no stress" simple path to explore new Google tools.

I'm proud to have written a high SERP site that's simple and helpful.
C.B. Wilde, Webmaster
info@GoogleKeywordTool.com

My day job is Film Editing and Web Video Production. Twitter.com/BuckWildeFilms
If you like news and comments from that world, please follow. I often follow back.
- This site recieves no form of payment or service in exchange for content or comments made.
- This site collects no personal user information and shares no personal user information.

That's pretty cool that he shared that.

My initial thought after reading that was the similar as my first thought when I learned the website wasn't affiliated with Google.

That original thought was:

• Why isn't this guy making money off of this website?

After reading his explanation my new thought was:

• If this website gets 35,000 visitors a month and a Google AdSense rep called him about putting ads on the site, why isn't he making money with this?!?

Here are some possible answers:

1. He doesn't know how to monetize the site. I'm going to immediately rule this one out. This guy is obvious web savvy.
2. He hasn't decided how to best monetize the site. This one makes much more sense than the previous idea that simple said "he doesn't know how to monetize the site." However, it would seem logical that at this point he might be experimenting with different methods to figure out the optimal way to monetize the site.
   
3. This guy doesn't need the money. I suppose this is possible and probably the most likely.
4. For him it's more about climbing the SERPs than making some extra money. This is sort of an elaborated explanation of "this guy doesn't need the money." However, in this version it's not because he has more money than he can spend in his lifetime, it's more about the fact that the amount of money he thinks he could make monetizing this site (I have no idea how much - I'll just say $2,000/month to pull a number out of the air, it could be way less or way more) isn't worth a potential hit he believes he might take in the SERPs for running ads.
5. He's looking at this like an art project. This is another variation of "this guy doesn't need the money." However, in this instance it's not just because he's independently wealthy or obsessed with climbing the SERPs (possibly to then really maximize his monetization strategy), but rather because he wants to make the best website he can and his definition of that includes having a clean interface without any cumbersome ads, etc.

If you have any other thoughts feel free to post them in the comments section.

Of course by the time you read this post there may already be ads on the site and it's possible, although pretty unlikely that the guy who runs the site sees this post and that's what serves as a wake up call to him to put ads on the site. I'm pretty sure that concept is a little trippy if you think too hard about it.

So, who is this guy?

Here's a picture of him:

A relatively quick internet search (which was greatly aided by his inclusion of a link to his Twitter account turns up this info:

His name is Chris Wilde (this is his LinkedIn account). He runs Buck Wilde Films (here's his YouTube Channel with stuff he's done) and here's his Twitter if you really want to get into his life and see what he's up to this weekend. Also, I'm sure he'd like it if you Liked his page on Facebook.

In short, Chris Wilde looks like an interesting guy who's worked in editing the past and is currently doing more web marketing stuff. If you or anyone you know ever needs those sorts of services reach out to Chris. Referring this guy who is a pseudo stranger to me is the least I can do for the amusing subject matter he's given me to write about today.

This actually reminds me of when I was researching an iPhone app for cheating at chess and I ended up getting mildly sidetracked by diving into the real life story of the guy who created the app. I'll spare you the details, but perhaps for some voyeuristic reason I was totally engrossed in digging into his life story about how he got his pilot's license, goes scuba diving, is from Michigan but lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and dog (Rebekah and Chester) - pictured below:

I know it's (borderline definitely) creepy.

What's especially interesting is that it probably shouldn't be a surprise that a lot of people doing really interesting things are also interesting people with a lot going on in their lives. This has probably always been the case but before posting your entire life on the internet and became the norm we didn't really have anyway to look inside the lives of so many interesting people.

How to Cheat at Chess

If you're wondering what cheating at chess has to do with the this (formerly) eHow centric blog, then let me explain.

Obviously the eHow website has evolved significantly over the last couple of years to the point where the older content on this this blog is obsolete in terms of specific direction.

However, many of the basic principles still apply in terms of understanding affiliate links, Google AdSense, niche websites, etc. While terms like affiliate links, etc. now seem commonplace to me, there is in fact an entire world where the majority of people still don't know what those things mean, but more people are finding out and learning about them every day.

I've decided to use this forum to share with my readers other niche websites that I've worked on.

The idea is that hopefully this will help my audience better understand what I do and more importantly help you brainstorm ideas for similarly successful projects.

Interestingly, the idea of publicly revealing the niches someone is working on is somewhat taboo. This is because there's real fear that if you discover a great niche, you might ruin the opportunity for maximum financial gains by blabbing about it and then others can swoop in and capitalize on the opportunity either before or better than you can.

That is basically the reason I haven't always been completely forthcoming about what I'm working on.

For now at least I've decided to share some things I've worked on while keeping other things close to my vest.

Specifically the website I've planned to write about today is called:

How to cheat at chess and not surprisingly it's at:
www.HowToCheatAtChess.com

Among the topics covered are:

• Cheating at "Chess with Friends" - this is an iPhone app (wish it was available on Droid too) that I'm obsessed with.
• Basic chess cheating explained along with an example and video.
• Info about both a website and an iPhone app for cheating at chess.
• For chess enthusiasts looking for ethical ways to win more games there are also sections on:
  • How to be good at chess and
    
  • 5 strategies in chess

To be perfectly honest with you the reason I picked this particular topic to make a website about is not because I thought it was:

1. extremely lucrative,
   
2. under served, or
   
3. had minimal competition.
   

Although, those three reasons are ordinarily excellent reasons for choosing a niche. Especially when all three are aligned with the same topic or key phrase.

This side project about chess was mostly a labor of love and I think there's a lesson there. When you work on something that you're legitimately interested in it's easier to make a quality product, and in record time at that.

I made/wrote the initial project at the end of last week and then over the weekend I had some more thoughts about things that I forgot to include and more efficient ways to lay things out. So I came back today (Monday), added some more content and polished the site into the "finished" form you see right now. I put finished in quotation marks because every project, particularly ones you're genuinely passionate about can be perpetual works in progress because more ideas will always pop into your head about ways to tweak and improve the site.

Another thing worth mentioning about this chess website is the fact that there aren't any ads or even affiliate links even though there are a few obvious and appropriate places to put affiliate links. In the left sidebar there are logos for the iPhone apps "Chess with Friends" and "Chess Cheats". Through Link Share I'm actually already a member of the iTunes, App Store, Mac, etc. affiliate program. But I haven't put affiliate links in ... yet.

Another appropriate place for a trustworthy affiliate link would be on the how to be good at chess page about half way down where I'm discussing the 10,000 Hour Rule and how it applies to chess (specifically electronic chess on mobile devices).

I explain that this theory that aims to quantify a prerequisite for success was popularized by economist and best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell. While he has numerous best-selling books, the specific one that most thoroughly explains this theory is called Outliers. Of course I have an Amazon affiliate account that I started years ago. In fact I started it around the time when I first learned about the concept/program and decided to write this post about affiliate links like Amazon's.

So why did I use an Amazon affiliate link to Gladwell's books on Amazon in the previous paragraph but not on the how to cheat at chess website? Along the same lines, why didn't I include App Store / iTunes affiliate links for the iPhone apps I'm blatantly explaining and promoting on the chess set?

The simple answer to those questions is that I'm trying out a new(ish) strategy to build up traffic to the chess site before monetizing it.

I'm not saying that search engine rankings penalize you for having ads or affiliate links on your websites. However, human readers generally prefer an online experience that isn't dominated by in your face ads and obvious self-promotion. Furthermore people are less likely to recommend and send their friends to websites that are clearly built for the self-interest of the creator.

Online browsing has evolved to the point where not only do people want free information, but they want it concise, easy to understand, nicely formatted, and with minimal ads.

These aesthetic points are particularly relevant for the website about chess cheating because I'm openly asking readers to link to my website. Here's a link to the page asking people to link to the cheating at chess website. As you can see the request is straightforward, brief, and polite.

Do I expect everyone who finds my chess website to link to me? No.

Do I expect everyone who reads the requests for a link to actually link to me? No, of course not.

However, I do think I'll get more links as a result of politely asking for them than if I hadn't asked at all. I'll report back on the results as data comes in.

The effectiveness of this direct "begging for backlinks" (a phrase I just coined) strategy probably depends on the type of audience you're dealing with.

If you're writing for a Make Money Online (MMO) community (like this one) everyone probably understands the concept of building link juice to impress search engines, etc. However, there are countless web surfers looking for information about all sorts of products and services and they're unaware of the fact that without a dime coming out of their pocket they can do you a solid by linking to your site and increasing your awareness, not just from the traffic they potentially send directory through their link, but more importantly in terms of search engine traffic their link contributes to you getting.

In short, I'm optimistic that by creating what I consider to be a legitimately useful website about chess with a unique spin (cheating), and original content that I believe will really give people what they're looking for I might be able to curry some favor with chess enthusiasts to spread the word about my little space on the information superhighway by linking to it.

I'll wrap up this post by saying that I hope you give me some link juice to this site and/or the chess site if you've found this post worthwhile. Even if you're not into chess you might consider posting a critique on your own MMO sites about what you think about the somewhat contrarian positions I'm taking with the cheating at chess website in terms of not putting any ads or affiliate links on the site right now and specifically "begging for backlinks."