They say time is money and I’m always on the lookout for tools that will help me online…especially all the drudge work that’s entailed in maintaining a web site or blog. So, today, I want to review a product that I’ve become literally addicted to …. Search Automator.
It doesn’t matter what type of home business you operate – or even if you are just researching the possibility of starting a home business – this is a must have tool. If you want to do in-depth research – if you want to save time – if you want to stay organized with all this data you’re trying to track – this is the key!
Okay, okay, I just admitted that I have a shopping problem. But, you might remember, that I also am not one to make snap decisions. This product was brought to my attention by my pal, Mike Sigers, and since Mike can smell BS a mile away, I knew I had to check out.
Now you can read all the particulars about Search Automator here. But I want to give you some ideas on how I use this every single day, and it might spark some ideas for you, too.
First of all, let me say that I love the ease of use of this product. I will not be nominated for the “Technical Guru Of The Year Award” anytime soon. So, the first thing I look at is just how easy it is for me to understand. This product shines in that area! First of all, all when you scroll over any of the button, it pops up a description of it. Secondly, there’s over a 50 page users manual you can print off. And, lastly, there are six videos that walk you through all the functions of this tool. With all that support, even I got up and going in no time!
Searching and Research
First of all, this is a great tool to use to replace the search engine you’re using now because it helps you drill down to exactly what you are looking for very quickly. In the screen shot above, do you see all those links on the left side? Well, clicking on those links takes you directly to detailed information on your subject. So, in addition to just visiting web sites, you can quickly find tutorials, PDF’s, videos, tips and more about the subject you are searching. Plus, if you want to go back and forth through more than one search engine (like Google and Yahoo), you can do it effortlessly within Search Automator.
This feature in itself probably saves me an hour a day, because I do a lot of researching on the Internet. I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of clicking on all those darn directory pages, which are nothing but a bunch of pay-per-click links. It’s a complete waste of mine time and a cause of frustration when I’m working. Just because I have a home business doesn’t mean I have time to waste clicking on useless links!
Plus, when I search on a term, it automatically shows me related searches. For instance, if you’re doing a search on “chocolate” (one of my favorite subjects 
), I can also quickly discover related information on subjects like “chocolate truffles”, “brownies”, “candy bar”, and other chocolate-related items.
Oops…gotta move on. I’m getting hungry! But my point is that SA discovers related terms that didn’t even cross my mind.
Here’s what’s cool. Let’s same I saw a related term that I wanted to explore. I’d just replace that in my main search box and get more detailed information about that related keyword. And on and on….
You can also do a categorized search. I can search for just images, or audios, or reference documents. I use the “RSS/Blogs Search” all the time to see what others are doing, comment on their posts, and network.
Here’s an example. If I click on “Reference”, it will automatically open up 15 reference sources for me. I simply mouse over each one to get a description, and there I go! Unbelievably fast and easy.
I also like that fact that it keeps a history of the searches I’ve made. I may be working within the same search terms for weeks or months based on whether I’m preparing for a webinar interview, finalizing a book, or posting information to my blog or web site. This makes it very easy to revisit whenever I need.
Now, here’s something else I love. There’s a “play” button that scrolls through your results at a time increment you set. How cool is that? This allows me to quickly sift through the results without having to scroll down and click the next button each time.
Another nice feature is the Accordian Keyword Suggest Panel. Sometimes I have an idea, but I don’t know enough about it to flesh it out properly cause I don’t know the little niches hidden within that word. For example, let’s say I entered the word “Paris”. The Accordian Keyword Suggest Panel would bring up categories like dining, attractions, map, tour, history, facts, and many more.
I go to the Daily Panel every single day. This personalized panel provides a one-stop shop to track the news stories about your defined subjects, get general news, weather, traffic, even movie times. Since I run a blog on home business, I have my Daily Planner set up for subjects related to my blog. Every morning I just crank up the computer and click on the links and can instantly see if there are any news stories or press releases related to the home business or home based business opportunity arena.
Wow! I’m just getting started. Here are some more goodies:
Finding link partners to quality sites is always time consuming. Search Automator makes it easier because I can instantly get the Alexa ranking for any web site that’s opened in my window. I can also click a button and find sites that are similar to the one I’m viewing. And, since I’m writing a blog, I can even click a button and see a list of blog entries related to the web page I was visiting.
I can also find out who links to a particular site by using the “Who Links to This Page” button. So, let’s say I’m trying to find some link partners and decided to pull up some competitive sites to mine. With the click of a button, I can see who links to that site. For instance, just to illustrate this, I pulled up a dog site and clicked the button and found 433 sites that linked to that particular dog site. Well, if I had a similar site, don’t you think these people may also be interested in linking to me? The research is done automatically for me.
What makes it even better is that I don’t have to search around looking for an email address or phone number for the site owner. I simply click the “Check Domain” button and I can instantly find out who owns the site, their address, phone, email, how long the site has been active and more.
Well, I’m going to stop there because I haven’t even scratched the surface on this tool and this is turning into a novel!
I’ll finish by saying that if you will benefit from Search Automator if you want to:
- Search the Internet quickly and easily
- Research and create an Info product for a specific niche
- Develop material for your web site or blog
- Learn everything you can about a particular hobby or vacation destination
- Prevent writers block. Just surf around and you'll get ideas for new articles and projects.
- Get the details on people (even yourself!)
- Quickly find forums and discussion lists for any area of interest.
- Find and read blogs related to your subject or interests.
- and much more that I haven’t even gotten around to discovering yet!
