Reportr.net » tools http://www.reportr.net This blog on media, society and technology is run by Professor Alfred Hermida, an award-winning online news pioneer, digital media scholar and journalism educator. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:48:11 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Five free SEO tools for journalists http://www.reportr.net/2010/07/08/free-seo-tools-journalists/ http://www.reportr.net/2010/07/08/free-seo-tools-journalists/#comments Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:02:30 +0000 Alfred Hermida http://www.reportr.net/?p=2395 SEO tends to have a bad reputation among some journalists. Many tend to see search engine optimisation as the equivalent of writing headlines for robots.

But SEO isn’t about turning out bland headlines for Google. It is about helping readers find what they are looking it. It is about matching readers searching for specific news and information with the content on your site.

Here are five free SEO tools can help journalists make their work more findable on the web.

  • SEOMoz Term Extractor: This tool analyses the content of a page and extracts the terms that appear to be targeted at search engines. It is a useful tool to gain an overall perspective of the keywords in the text.
  • Wordtracker FreeKeywords: A tool to suggest alternative keywords with a weighting to indicate their use.
  • Microsoft Keyword Forecast: A tool from Microsoft adCenter Labs that aims to forecasts the impression count and predicts demographic distributions of keywords.
  • Google Trends:  This Google tool analyses a portion of Google web searches to compute how many searches have been done for the terms you enter.
  • Google Insights for Search: Another Google tool that enables you to compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, time frames and properties.
If there are other tools you can recommend, please add them in the comments.

]]> http://www.reportr.net/2010/07/08/free-seo-tools-journalists/feed/ 3 Top 100 tools in 2009 for learning and for journalism http://www.reportr.net/2009/12/17/top-100-tools-in-2009-for-learning-and-for-journalism/ http://www.reportr.net/2009/12/17/top-100-tools-in-2009-for-learning-and-for-journalism/#comments Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:27:17 +0000 Alfred Hermida http://reportr.net/?p=2031 This compilation of the top 100 tools of 2009 for learning published by social learning consultant Jane Hart could just as well apply to journalism.

The darling of the year, Twitter, came top.  Other valuable tools in the top 10 are Delicious, YouTube, Google Reader, Google Docs, WordPress, Slideshare, Google Search, Audacity and Firefox.

I, for one, find all of these pretty indispensable. Are they part of your classroom or your newsroom?

]]> http://www.reportr.net/2009/12/17/top-100-tools-in-2009-for-learning-and-for-journalism/feed/ 3 Top 10 blog posts for 2008 http://www.reportr.net/2008/12/31/top-10-blog-posts-for-2008/ http://www.reportr.net/2008/12/31/top-10-blog-posts-for-2008/#comments Wed, 31 Dec 2008 21:31:36 +0000 Alfred Hermida http://reportr.net/?p=1294 As 2008 draws to a close and a near year begins, I would like to thank all of you who read this blog for your time and support.

Here are the top 10 stories on Reportr.net for 2008. It is an eclectic mix, dominated by the Spitzer scandal:

  1. How to follow the US election results online
  2. The mystery of Ashley Alexandra Dupre’s MySpace page
  3. The rights and wrongs of Ashley Alexandra Dupre’s MySpace photos
  4. How did the BBC lose a million US readers
  5. 31 essential online tools for journalist
  6. Creating a student journalism website on a budget
  7. BBCNews.com readers criticise ‘stuck on’ ads
  8. How to find out anything about anyone online
  9. The media and the online life of Ashley Alexandra Dupre
  10. BBCNews.com senior editor joins NowPublic

Wishing  everyone a happy and prosperous 2009.

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