Here is a tip that came up during the hour of Q&A after last week’s “Blog Your Portfolio” talk at Seattle’s School of Visual Concepts: “What are some of the best tools out there for keeping track of my studios’s online buzz?”

Here’s an easy tool we like: SocialMeter.com

Type in the URL of your website, blog, or client’s website. SocialMeter queries eight of the more popular social bookmarking sites to see how many links are pointing to your site.

The resulting SocialMeter score gives you a general idea of how much online buzz your site has attracted. Click on any individual item in the results section to go to a list of all the links pointing to your site from that social network.

Tip: The score can vary depending on how you type in a web address. For example, the scores for “creativetechs.com” and “www.creativetechs.com” are slightly different. This difference is based on what addresses people use when they link to your website.

SocialMeter is a quick visual way to determine how much (or little) impact your site is making through various word-of-mouse networking sites.

Source: This tool has come up recently during consulting conversations with Seattle-area design firms and ad agencies. Including Kendall Ross, DNA Brand Mechanics and Coolstone Design Works.