Spy on Your Competitors Directly from your WordPress Admin Dashboard
How would you like a quick and easy way to monitor some vital statistics about your website and spy on your competitors at the same time?
How would you like to do that without leaving your WordPress admin dashboard?
Well now you can with the WordPress List Rank Dashboard Widget (links below).
About the List Rank Dashboard Widget
The List Rank Dashboard Widget keeps track of the following:
- Google PageRank
- Google Backlinks
- Alexa Rank
- Yahoo Backlinks
- Delicious Posts
Using the included shortcode, you can also display rankings in your posts, pages and sidebar widgets.
NOTE: This plugin requires at least PHP 5. If your hosting account does not support this consider switching to a more robust hosting provider.
Installing the List Rank Dashboard Widget
If you know how to install plugins for your WordPress site then you can skip this section.
First thing you will want to do is log-in to your WordPress site (self-hosted) and click where it says, ‘Add New’ under the Plugins menu.
You will be taken to the following screen.
Now, using the ‘search box’ type in: List Rank Dashboard Widget
After you have typed in the search term hit the ‘Search Plugins’ button.
The returned search results should have the List Rank Dashboard Widget displayed at the top. If not, scroll through the list until you see:
After you have located the plugin click on ‘Install Now’.
You will be prompted to verify your installation with the following screen:
Click ‘OK’ and the plugin will be installed.
Now your plugin is install we need to activate it. When you click ‘OK’ you will then be taken to the following page:
Click ‘Activate Plugin’ and you have now successfully installed and activated the List Rank Dashboard Widget plugin.
Now to configure the settings.
Configuring the List Rank Dashboard Widget
To display stats that available in the List Rank plugin you will need to configure a few settings.
Head to the List Rank plugin settings page; you will find it under ‘Settings’ where it will now have a link that says ‘List Rank’.
1. Insert the URLs that you want to track in this box.
2. Tick all the check boxs for each individual stat that you wish to display in the dashboard widget.
3. Google API Key and Yahoo! Application ID input text fields. Click on ‘Get One’ next to both to get your keys.
Google Api Key
After you click on the ‘Get One’ link next to the Google API Key input text field you will be taken to the following page.
Click on the link that says ‘sign up for an API key.
1. Put a tick in the check box next to where it says ‘I have read and agree with the terms and conditions’ (make sure you have read and understand the terms and conditions before proceeding).
2. Input your websites URL where you have installed the List Rank Dashboard Widget.
Now click the ‘Generate API key’ button.
The next screen contains your API Key.
Select the code (highlight it by left clicking your mouse and dragging your cursor over the length of the code). Now press ‘Ctrl’ and ‘c’ on your keyboard to copy the selected text.
Paste, ‘Ctrl’ and ‘v’, the code into your Google API Key input text field.
That’s it, your Google Backlinks are set to go.
Now to get the…
Yahoo! Application ID
Just like before, click on the ‘Get One’ link next to the Yahoo! Application ID input text field.
You will be taken to the following page (after you have logged-in using your Yahoo ID):
Don’t quote me on the following information being correct but I use the above to get my Yahoo! Application ID for the List Rank Dashboard Widget.
Be sure to click on the radio button next to where it says ‘Generic, no user authentication required’.
Click on ‘Continue’ when you have completed all required fields on the form.
Just like with Google’s API Key, you must now copy the Yahoo! Application ID that was generated.
Paste the code into the input text field next to where it says ‘Yahoo! Application ID’.
Hit the ‘Save Now’ button and you are good to go.
If your settings have been successfully saved you will see the following message.
Now, click on ‘Dashboard’ under the ‘Dashboard’ tab to see your stats.
Now every time you visit your WordPress Admin Dashboard you will see the widget and the stats you are monitoring.
There you have it! Now you can watch your competition from the comfort of your WordPress admin.
Links:
The List Rank Dashboard Widget downloadable from WordPress.
Download the Plugin Directly from the Developer at Marcel’s Weblog.
Install the plugin right now in your browser here.
What do you think of the plugin? Is it something you will use? What features would you like to see added in the future (you never know, they may just be added in a future update)?
I’d love to your thoughts.
To your success,
Karl Foxley
P.s. For an advance visitor tracking analytics package be sure to take a look at Click Web Analytics (correct link updated, thanks Dennis).
20 Comments
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Karl,
Interesting tip on how to configure and setup this plugin. It seems like a fair amount of work. What’s the advantage of using a WordPress plugin for this instead of just using a browser plugin like Search Status for Firefox?
Jay recently posted..Exoskeleton Suits – Helping Wheelchair Users To Walk Again
Cool! Beats having to go to Google and some other tool just to check out competition data.
I wonder, if you put too many domain names on it, would there be a possibility of a sudden pop up asking us to fill up a captcha entry? This happens with other tools where google thinks you are some kind of machine and thus would try to verify. Anyway, like I said, this tool sure makes things easier for us folks who like to keep an eye on competition.
James Moralde recently posted..How I Got Wireless Internet For My Laptop At Home
Hey James, if you test this please share your feedback here and I’ll update the post.
I love the way you explain how to use this plugin in a step by step post. I am off to install it on my WP site now too. You can never know enough about your competition.
Would you consider allowing me to share this post on the Out-Smarts blog – with links back off course!
All the best,
Mhairi
Mhairi recently posted..Social Media Round Up
Glad you found the post useful and of course you can share it.
Thanks Mhairi,
Karl
Looks like a really good tool. However, I can’t use it because my stupid host is still stuck in PHP 4.4.9 and this requires PHP 5.
Will keep an eye out for it.
Tony @ 113Tidbits recently posted..Are You Represented By Progressive Liberals
Thanks for dropping by Tidbits. What Host are you with?
FYI – your tweet button is all but hidden, you may want to rethink positioning.
It’s pretty cool though, with the follow popup after the tweet, where did you get it?
Dennis Edell recently posted..Welcome To The All New DennisEdell.com!
Just testing it today Dennis so thanks for the feedback. It is by Twitter themselves. I visited your site today and couldn’t get the pages to load (had a fatal error)… seems to be working now though.
FYI – the Click Web Analytics link also lads to the browser install thing, is it supposed to?
Dennis Edell recently posted..Welcome To The All New DennisEdell.com!
Thanks Dennis for the heads-up, wrong link was inserted.
We gotta look out for each other. Know what I mean?
Interesting, which plugin are you using to make sure it’s 40 characters or more?
Dennis Edell recently posted..Update 1 – What DEDC is About
Admittedly I skimmed but did not read the entire article yet, so many screen-shots make my head spin, sorry. Please forgive if I ask a question answered above.
Inputting URL’s – you input any and all, mine and competitors in the same spot?
Can I install the one plugin on multiple blogs?
Btw, that browser install thing is pretty cool, although I’m leery of trying new things that mess with a blog. lol
Dennis Edell recently posted..Welcome To The All New DennisEdell.com!
Hey Dennis, yes, you can install it on multiple blogs (it’s a free plugin) and yes, simply input the URLs you wish to track in the same spot to have them displayed in a tidy table.
Thanks for writing this nice blog item about my plugin. Any feature requests are of course very welcome (preferably on the support page).
You are most welcome Marcel, it’s a cool (and very handy) plugin. I’m sure I’ll have some requests in the near future.
Karl, great tutorial! You make it look easy even though there’s a bunch of steps. What I need to do is figure out who I want to “spy” on and then I’ll be all set.
I’m using Blue Host and I’m pretty sure the PHP 5 requirement will not be an issue.
Thanks for sharing the plugin and the links.
Thanks Ileane and yes, you will be fine with Blue Host, they are really good. Oh, and although there are quite a few steps it really does only take a minute or two (unlike writing-up the article). lol
That is the first I have heard of this plugin. It looks like a winner. It is a lot easier than manually checking on rankings at multiple data centers all the time.
Kathy recently posted..How Do You Help Your Blogger Friends
The Plugin is very light as well Kathy. I’ve seen similar plugins that are way too resource hungry to bother wasting any time on.