Can I blog & do SEO from iPhone?

I’m experimenting to find out how much of my business it’s possible to manage just from a smartphone.

I’ll tell you about the tasks I need to do, the apps I use, and what I can’t do yet.

I’m using an iPhone 4, but there are equivalent apps for Android (or better). Here’s my productivity/SEO app screen.

Blogging

This is also the first blog post I’m writing on my phone. I’m using the official WordPress app, and so far it’s easy enough, except there’s no rich text editing. I assume I can write HTML tags as though I was using the HTML view in the browser UI.

Yes, that works but wow! Writing an h2 tag takes a LOT of clicks on an iPhone! It would be great if I could use something like Textile, as used on Basecamp. Just planting seeds…

Analytics

I use Analytics Pro for iPhone, which I love. In fact, it’s a bit too easy to pull up my daily traffic by the hour.

Checking Rankings

I was using an app called “Serps”, but have now moved over to a new one “SEO Ranking”, which is a lot nicer, updating all the keyword ranks for a whole site automatically and highlighting any changes.

Keyword Research

Google AdWords keyword research tool is usually the quickest way to get traffic estimates for keywords, but it doesn’t work on iPhone – boo!

I’ve tried one app called “Keywords”, but frankly it’s rubbish. Don’t waste your money.

Where else can I get phrase-matched traffic estimates for search terms? Even SEOMoz Pro only gives broad & exact – not phrase – which is odd as I find phrase to be the best predictor.

I’ll report back if I find a way.

Site Checking

Another common SEO task is to review a site’s overall inbound profile. In a browser I’ll usually use Open Site Explorer.

On iPhone, I’m trying out “Site Analyser” and “Link Juice”, both of which are quick and useful. Worth checking out.

General Productivity

Google Docs is just about bearable on iPhone. GMail seems good. One thing I’d love would be a way to get Safari to remember login details.

I couldn’t live without the PayPal app. Basecamp (native, just do “Add to home screen”) works pretty well, Skype is often invaluable (although I’d like to be able to disable alerts without having to log out). I use Twittelator for tweeting and Ego for a general update on traffic & followers.

What’s Missing?

I’ve already mentioned keyword research. An AWeber app would be great for managing my mailing lists.

Other than that, I’m pretty happy

More to follow…
Ben

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