One of the essentials in making money online is understanding how search engines work. You need to attract traffic using keywords that your target audience searches for.

I have been using Market Samurai since 2009, and have been generally happy with it in the past. However, this past year I have noticed some issues. The speed of data collection has slowed, and there are extra manual steps required for deeper analysis. It’s becoming somewhat clunky, so I’ve been trying out other solutions.

Among the programs I am trying is one called SECockpit.

What is SECockpit?

The idea behind SECockpit is fairly simple. According to the web site, search engine functions are a lot like an airplane’s cockpit: Complex and difficult to understand. However, with the help of checklists, pilots can perform simple tasks, in order, to fly the plane.

SECockpit helps you identify keywords that can help you get better results from your online marketing efforts. You can find a good AdSense keyword for your site, as well as find an ideal “buying keyword” so that you aren’t wasting your money on inconsequential keywords that won’t do as well.

You can also find full analysis of keywords, including backlink counts, PageRank, and optimization on the page. SECockpit comes with tutorials and training so that you know how to get the ultimate use out of the program. You can even create and manage SEO campaigns with the help of SECockpit.

For the most part, this program takes a lot of the guesswork out of search engine optimization. SECockpit will create a list for you, telling you what you need to do next in order to improve your site rankings. It’s fairly handy, and takes the guesswork out of a lot of the tasks involved in optimizing your web site.

How Much Does SECockpit Cost

Because search engine optimization is such a huge part of online marketing and making money online, these types of programs are generally a bit pricey. SECockpit is no exception; indeed, this program is a little bit more expensive than some of its competitors, but this is due to the servers running all the data for you, as opposed to other software running on your desktop.

You can pay $97 a month, or you can save 30% by signing up to pay every six months for $397. If you are going to use SECockpit, I suggest trying for at least the six months, which means that the $397 is a decent enough value. Plus, six months can give you a reasonable idea of how well SECockpit is going to perform for you.

The price of SECockpit includes the following features, in addition to the checklists and in-depth data analysis that you receive:

  • 30-seconds to analyze 100 keywords (that’s super-fast).
  • 800 keyword synonyms per search.
  • Data sources that include Google AdWords, Google Suggest, and Google Related Keywords.
  • Ability to complete unlimited projects and campaigns.
  • Integrated rank track that looks at your daily rankings for up to 100 keywords.

I’d recommend giving SECockpit a try, my SECockpit review found that SECockpit has better keyword research and rank tracking than Market Samurai. Not only is it more accurate, it’s much faster. I’m trying a couple other solutions as well, and at the end of my little experiment, I’ll decide which I will use, if any, to replace Market Samurai. I’m really liking SECockpit right now so it might be hard to beat, but there might be something that works almost as well for less that I’m trying out and will review next.