Summary : There are a huge amount of helpful webmaster resources available online. A great many come free of charge, too. Beyond the great price tag, making use of these site tools improves the quality and function of any website.
There are a huge amount of helpful webmaster resources available online. A great many come free of charge, too. When working with my workshop or online Search Engine Optimization students, I'm often told of a really neat tool that I've never heard of before. Beyond the great price tag, making use of these site tools improves the quality and function of any website.
Customer Focus Calculator ("We We Monitor"!) http://www.futurenowinc.com/wewe.htmThis has got to be one of my favorite cool tools. It analyzes a web page and lets you know if it is focused on YOU or on your customers. After all, shouldn't our web pages be written for our customers . . . not ourselves?
Marketleap Search Engine Marketing Tools http://www.marketleap.com/services/freetools/default.htmMy favorite tool on this page is the Link Popularity Check. Enter your URL, and up to three comparison URLs, and the site will let you know what your link popularity is in AllTheweb, AltaVista, Google, Inktomi, and MSN. It also compares your site's link popularity to other URLs you listed as well as other sites on the Net. The Search Engine Saturation tool determines how many pages a given search engine has in its index for your web site. You can compare your site to five other sites with this tool. Finally, the Keyword Verification Tool checks to see if your page is in the top three pages of a search engine's results for a certain keyword or keyword phrase.
Your Computer's Security http://grc.com/default.htmGibson Research Corporation offers a really neat (and free) tool for checking the security of your computer: ShieldsUp. Scroll down on the page to the Hot Spots area, where you'll find the link to ShieldsUp. Be sure to go through each of the checks in the ShieldsUp section (File Sharing, Common Ports, etc.).
Reverse DNS Lookup http://remote.12dt.com/rns/This service converts an IP address to the host name by searching domain name service tables.
GifBot by NetMechanic http://www.netmechanic.com/accelerate.htmLoadtime is a big deal. Not everyone has high speed connections or the patience to wait for large graphic files or graphic-heavy pages to appear on their monitor. Rather than risk loosing audience members, it makes more sense to optimize instead. GifBot will compress your GIF, JPEG, and animated GIF images by decreasing the file size without sacrificing the quality of the image. So, your pages load faster!
AnyBrowser.com Screen Size Tester http://anybrowser.com/ScreenSizeTest.htmlHave you ever been to a web site and been unable to scroll to the bottom of the page? The scroll bar is there, but you can't get down that far to scroll. It's not a pleasant experience. At the Screen Size Tester, you can test your web pages in different screen resolutions so that you can be assured that all of your visitors can view your site in its entirety.
Comprehensive Guide to .htaccess http://www.javascriptkit.com/howto/htaccess.shtmlThough not a "tool" per se, this comprehensive tutorial about how to use the .htaccess file is excellent.
Top Ten web Design Mistakes for 2002 http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20021223.htmlThey year 2002 has long passed, but issues brought up here continue to be relevant. Though also not 'technically' a tool, this handy list is a webmaster resource we should reference. For example, don't use horizontal scrolling!
Again, thanks to all of you who shared these wonderfully helpful tools. If I missed any (which I'm sure I did), please let me know .
About the Author : Robin Nobles is the Co-Director of Training of Search Engine Workshops with John Alexander.