Web Position Gold - Site promo program

[Alex Ethridge]

Pardon me if I am a little off on my query.[nbsp][nbsp]This is the first time in this forum and...[nbsp][nbsp]well, anyway, here goes.

I read an article in PCComputing magazine this week weere a cursory review was made of an interesting program.[nbsp][nbsp]I hope it is okay; I am posting the pertinent portions of the article here for evaluation by others in this forum.Get your site the search-engine exposure it deserves.
By Bonny L Georgia

FirstPlace Software's $149 WebPosition Gold 1.0 helps promote your Web site to top- 10 status and keep it there over the long haul.

WebPosition Gold analyzes your pages side by side with the competition's, or with the top-ranking page for any particular keyword, and offers plain English advice on how to improve your ranking with each of more than a dozen search engines. Simply enter a specific URL, and WebPosition Gold will query the Web to see not only where that page ranks in the search engines but whether the rank has gone up or down, what is ranked above and below it, and the ranking trend over time.

Though the features of WebPosition Gold impressed us, the program is unnecessarily hard to use. The cryptic fill-in-the-blank interface would be much improved with hand-holding wizards, plus we'd spend less time consulting the help files for hints. If you're willing to take the time to master it, however, WebPosition Gold could be just the ticket for finally bringing your Web site the traffic it deserves.

Top of the List Web site not generating enough hits? WebPosition Gold's Page Critic feature advises you on how to leapfrog the competition.

FirstPlace Software
WebPosition Gold 1.0
VERDICT: A fast way to improve your site's search-engine ranking
PROS Strong reporting.
CONS Poorly designed interface; limited publishing features.1) What are your opinions on this?
2) Is there shareware that will allow me to do the same thing?
3) Is it worth the money?
4) Is there a way to do the same thing without buying this or even using any software, shareware included?

I know nothing of these things so, any comments are welcome.
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Alex

[frankc]

Alex, I too am considering WebPosition Gold, and did a search and found your question.[nbsp][nbsp]I was wondering if you'd tried it and, if so, what your thoughts were on it?[nbsp][nbsp]It's not cheap, but if it helps it may be worth it.[nbsp][nbsp]I have 4 websites we'd use it on.

Thanks!
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Frank
Hosanna! Lutheran Church www.hosannachurch.com (http://www.hosannachurch.com)
[nbsp]--and--
Pacesetter "Moving Message" Signs www.pace-setter.com (http://www.pace-setter.com)
[ and IRO www.electronicsign.net (http://www.electronicsign.net) ]

[Rich]

I think it is an excellent and indispensible program. I use it for promotion on all my sites. Also, if you pay someone to do search engine promotions, this is the tool most use to report results. The newsletter is also very good and they update the database often (in real-time when you use it) to adjust for search engine changes.

Rich

[frankc]

Rich, THANK YOU![nbsp][nbsp]Are there any tricks that make the program work even better than it does "off the shelf"?[nbsp][nbsp]And exactly wha' do it DO, really?

Thanks agn!

[nbsp][nbsp]Frank

[Rich]

Frank:

The product comes with a book that will teach all most of what you need to know. Be sure to subscribe to their newsletter, too. It tracks the changes the engines are making and provides many useful tips. Backissues are also available. www.searchenginewatch.com (http://www.searchenginewatch.com) is also very useful for learning.

Rich