I don’t think it’s necessary to use both tools at the same time. I would imagine there would be task overlap and discrepancies in your link records if you did use both as there’s not any type of data synching between the 2 competing tools. As I mentioned (to me) BuzzStream’s main advantage is their CRM and the likelihood of no disconnect between internal team members being lost in contact records. It just depends on how many people at your company/agency are working on one account at the same time as to whether that’s a big internal issue or not. Most of the accounts that I’ve worked on I’m the only person doing a specific type of outreach (guest blogging, infographic, etc.).

BuzzStream does start out at a smaller monthly fee ($29) than RavenTools. Both have free trials with BuzzStream offering 14 days and Raven Tools offering a 30 day try out. Both companies are super responsive on Twitter. I hope this helps!

Thanks for the in depth reply!

When you said “I’ve used both tools for very different Link Building projects” could you be more specific (with giving any trade secrets away:-) about the type of projects that warranted Buzzstream over RT? Is it possible or necessary to use both products depending on the task at hand?

Cheers!

Jay

Yes, RT is definitely more comprehensive than BuzzStream but I’m sure a lot of RT users find that there’s not enough time in the day to leverage all of the tools included in Raven Tools. I’ve used both tools for very different Link Building projects.

I think the main advantage that BuzzStream has over RT is it’s CRM functionality. You can save contact/email templates, email from within the tool and they give you an account email address (for tracking purposes) to BCC on emails. This saves all records of those emails so that anyone logged into your BuzzStream account can see a full contact history. You can also see tweets in the contact history.

That said I still prefer Raven Tools to BuzzStream. In the time I’ve been using Raven Tools (little over 1 year) they’ve updated the tool frequently. Big updates too! I think a couple months back I remember them overhauling the UI. I like the customizable dashboards, link manager, firefox toolbar, and reports. I do think the BuzzStream booklet tool has better luck at scanning (and returning) contact information than Raven Tool’s ‘find contact’ option though. Looking forward I think RT has the manpower to keep improving it’s tool consistently.

Thanks for commenting!!

Great list here Amanda! Lots of SEO/link building goodies to check out.

Great post BTW!! .

blog optimization:
http://www.blueglass.com/blog/16-simple-blog-changes-to-improve-your-content-marketing-results/

link prospecting, contact finder, outbound link scraper, and other tools:
http://www.citationlabs.com

link building creativity
http://ontolo.com/blog/how-avoid-link-builders-block-chunking-and-6-other-tools

ultimate guide to link bait:
http://www.distilled.net/linkbait-guide/

and this is probably my new favorite link building blog:
http://www.pointblankseo.com

Thanks for reaching out! I would start out with this post of mine (http://amandarecord.com/2012/02/02/a-beginning-seolink-building-reading-list/) which is basically a list of my favorite SEO readings from 2011. I’d also be interested in learning what topics you need help on. You can email me at amandarecord@gmail.com with more details.