Seven Free Tools for Your Web Site
A search utility makes your site look more ...
aswell as ... a useful service that will make ...
return. I've been using ...
, which will spider A search utility makes your site look more professional, aswell as providing a useful service that will make yourvisitors return. I've been using FreeFind,http://www.freefind.com/ , which will spider your site onrequest or by schedule, and sends an e-mail report of searchterms that your visitors have used.
You can also have a"What's New" link and page, with an icon if you want. Youcan set member-only pages not to be spidered.Visitor feedback is also a good idea - though some of theresponses I've had have been confusing to say the least! Ifyou don't want to create your own form, a ready-madefeedback form provider is FreedBack -http://www.freedback.com/ Once you have chosen your options,the form is generated on-line.
You then copy-and-paste thecode into your web page.Adding these two options to your site also provides anexcellent (and unique!) article for your ezine - I describehow in my free article "Use your Feedback". Get a copy by e-mail from mailto:
[email protected] of the greatest source of free webmaster tools isBravenet - http://www.bravenet.com/ Guest books,forums, polls, feedback forms, site counters, and more.
Callin and sign up for as many free tools as you need, all fullyexplained to help you install and customise them to matchyour site.A site counter is a must - or how will you know if anyone isvisiting? I've used SiteMeter http://www.sitemeter.com/ formy sites. They e-mail weekly stats, and by logging onto the site you can find out who, when, where, what with,how long, and of course predictions for the future! The helpis set off as a default - to get explanations of thediagrams scroll down and click on "Help" to turn it on.If you are offering freebies such as e-books or demoprograms, it's handy to know how many times they aredownloaded.
I check my e-books this way to see which arepopular, and which I should remove from the library.LinkCounter http://www.linkcounter.com/ is very easy to use.Sign up, and enter the URL of your download file. Then copythe generated link code, and paste it into your web page toreplace your direct link.
Choose to receive reports daily,weekly or not at all. Use it to check affiliate orreciprocal links too.Starting an ezine or newsletter? I use Topica,http://www.topica.com/ for my mailing list.
Type up yourezine in a text processor, copy it, and paste it into the"Post message" box. They supply the sign-up code for yourweb page, although you can adapt this, or use your own, ifyou prefer.
They will provide on-line archives, but thesecan only be read by Topica members, so I keep mine on my website as well. eGroups is a similar service - they are nowpart of Yahoo! - http://groups.yahoo.com/Auto-responders can be used to send out information toanyone who requests it.
I use OttoResponder from the NewbieClub, http://newbieclub.com/responder/?pramclub andGetResponse from http://www.getresponse.com for my articles,"lessons by e-mail", and sample ezine. For example, if yousend a blank e-mail to mailto:
[email protected] ,you will get a list of my free e-mail lessons.
You can sendout a series of e-mails, or just one. You choose an accountname, and post your e-mail message(s) to that account.
Everytime a blank e-mail is sent to that e-mail address, yourauto-responder sends out the information you've stored.Some of my favourite freeware sites:http://www.completelyfreesoftware.com/http://www.webattack.com/http://www.jumbo.com/http://www.moochers.com/ Article Tags: Free Tools Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com .