The internet abounds with freebies and a do-no-evil attitude. And although there are many services that are worth every penny that you pay, here are the top ten freebies to help you build traffic and create a better visitor experience on your web site.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics has rapidly become the industry leader in site analytics - giving paid options such as WebTrends a run for their money. Simply copy and paste a small piece of code onto your web pages and Google offers advanced tracking and traffic statistics for free. To learn more about using Google Analytics, Ian Lurie of Conversation Marketing has developed a series of tutorial videos on the subject.
MyBlogLog and BlogCatalog
For Blogs I have not found a more effective way to drive traffic to a new site than through these two services. By combining social networking with helpful blogging tools, both MyBlogLog and BlogCatalog are making a huge impact on giving new blogs a kick-start to success.
HitTail and 103Bees
HitTail and 103Bees are similar in nature - they offer site owners a way to understand and analyze their search engine traffic in an easy-to-use interface. Both of them also indicate whether your site was found on the front page of search results, or in the “long tail” of search results (many pages down). This knowledge can then be used to develop content in specialized keyword niches to push your site up in search engine results.
FeedBurner
For any site that produces content for syndication, FeedBurner is an absolute must for managing and tracking RSS subscribers and republishers. The site offers extremely user-friendly advice with a support staff in the background that has an outstanding reputation for fast and friendly help.
MorgueFile Photos
Although having a unique and original site is quite important, there are times when everyone needs a photo for a small project that isn’t worth paying for. The Morgue File offers free high resolution digital stock photography for either corporate or public use. Usually all that is required is author notification that the photo is being used.
OpenAds
For sites that want to serve and track advertising, OpenAds is an easy and sophisticated program that can be installed on your server. It even allows for clients to have their own access to the system to see performance statistics, upload new ads, or change campaigns. Even if you don’t sell advertising on your site, OpenAds is a must if you want to track and optimize your own self-promotional efforts site-wide.
The 37Signals Suite
Although technically not a suite of tools for websites, the 37Signals programs are critically acclaimed as they offer tracking of project management, contact management, group communications and information organization. Any tool that so elegantly increases productivity and makes life easier is well worth mentioning on this list.
WordPress
If you or your business hasn’t already started a blog, it’s probably my most highly recommended site promotion tool of all. Just the search engine benefits alone are worth the time and effort of starting and maintaining a blog. WordPress is the industry standard blogging platform, and it is both free and easy to use.
Overture Keyword Selector Tool
For more advanced search engine optimization, it helps to do a little research on what exactly internet surfers are looking for. The Overture Keyword Selector Tool offers insights into the exact number of searches that Yahoo receives for search terms and their related phrases. By understanding what phrases are most common, you can use this knowledge to incorporate the highest volume keywords into your site.
Pew Internet
The non-profit Pew Internet Project offers highly valuable data, research and statistics on the impact of the Internet on families, communities, work and home, daily life, education, health care, and civic and political life. To understand your target audience better or to pull information for a business plan, this site offers a wealth of insights for savvy web entrepreneurs.
This entry was posted on Friday, April 27th, 2007 at 12:05 pm and is filed under Productivity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.50 Responses to “The Top Ten Free Website Tools and Services”
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April 27th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
Excellent post Wendy!
I learned some new free-tools, which is always great. Thanks
As for free keyword search tools, I personally like
DigitalPoint as it gives both Overture and WordTracker figures.
And, SEOBook Keyword Suggestion Tool as it shares data from individual search engines, with Overture and WordTracker and has links to other great keyword tools.
As for stock images, whenever I need something personal and somewhat unique, I actually pay for my images…I’ll be giving Morgue Files a try!
April 27th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Ponn - I can’t believe I didn’t mention Aaron’s SEO tool myself! Shame on me!!
April 27th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Refreshing list, Wendy! My personal faves on your list are Google Analytics and FeedBurner.
April 27th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
You might also like http://www.WebsiteGrader.com (it does an evaluation of a website and provides a relative score compared to other sites). Covers SEO, traffic, site structure and other things.
April 28th, 2007 at 1:39 am
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April 28th, 2007 at 4:15 am
marvellous listing of a set of usefull tools for websites and those whose job is in website development , marketing and promotion.
Covered the waterfront well with a few new links.
It is amazing that those in the industry seem to have only one area down pat - web designers may be artists who do not understand basic marketing and later seo tactics
SEO people may not have an inkling of the job of the web designers and their tools , tricks , strategies and job and industry difficulties.
April 28th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Great list! My favourites are definitely Google Analytics and Feedburner. I’m surprised, however, that Flickr isn’t on the list.
April 28th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
I would also like to add up Alexa to check my rankings globally & country wise
April 28th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Good list, I picked up a few I hadn’t heard of. Thanks
April 28th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
I wouldn’t put google analytics anywhere near the top of the pile - if you have a high volume site / or an “ajax”-ified site - you will notice the delays caused by the google analytics code - which is appreciable on some occassions
April 28th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
James, depending on your setup, you can cache the Analytics javascript locally and automate a download script that verifies when Google has updated the file. That should cut part of the delays you’re seeing
April 28th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
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April 28th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
Another great top 10 list these days on digg
Keep up the good work
April 28th, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Some free websites tools and services
Entreprenuer.com did a short piece on some free website tools and services. Can check it out here.
…
April 28th, 2007 at 11:44 pm
Thank you for the post, some useful information.
Although this is new, It is one ou might like.
Idacall.com (personal) allows anyone to make 100% free calls from their mobile or landline to any mobile or landline in the UK US or AUSTRALIA, not like skype or the other softphones that claim free calls when really it is just a sip messenger like msn messenger with voice chat.
Idacall requires no headset, no fast internet. and is 100% free to call anyone.. I use it everyday..anyway enjoy and nice post
April 28th, 2007 at 11:47 pm
a good list …
interesting read …
thanks for sharing …
April 29th, 2007 at 12:31 am
Thanks for useful list.
http://tecnorati.com/ is a good site for bloggers to attract traffic.
April 29th, 2007 at 12:34 am
Sorry, the site is http://technorati.com/ not http://tecnorati.com/
April 29th, 2007 at 12:39 am
awesome, thanks. Time to try google analytics.
April 29th, 2007 at 1:37 am
I would add js-kit.com, their widgets have changed the ease of use of the most common tools needed by sites. Not only are they Free and Easy to install but….actually that does say it all.
April 29th, 2007 at 8:36 am
Thanks, Wendy. We appreciate the exposure, and especially how HitTail is finally getting some exposure on Digg, no matter how indirect. I have a theory that HitTail itself will never get Dugg to the homepage. So, we are especially greatful for the coverage in the Top-10 lists.
April 29th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
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April 29th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
The Top Ten Free Website Tools and Services
The internet abounds with freebies and a do-no-evil attitude. And although there are many services that are worth every penny that you pay, here are the top ten freebies to help you build traffic and create a better visitor experience on your web site.
April 30th, 2007 at 8:31 am
Thank you for a great article. I am already using several of the items you mentioned like Google Analytics, Overture’s keyword tool, etc, and appreciate the others you have listed I wasn’t using yet. Also thanks to other readers for sharing others!
Thanks
Susan
April 30th, 2007 at 9:58 am
Excellent post! Props to you for such an insiteful and well articulated entry!
April 30th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
Alan (#20),
Thank you for your kind words on JS-Kit!
For everyones information JS-Kit provides free and easy to
install “Amazon Class” services for your web site or blog.
We have a spam protected Comment service, Ratings, and User Polls. We will be adding two more this week: “Top Badge” which will show the top rated objects on your site, and “Site Metrics” which will show site owners the real-time statistics of each service on the site.
Btw, Wendy, I would be happy to share with you our future plans!
Best,
Khris, CEO
JS-Kit
khris@js-kit.com
April 30th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
It’s not available to the public yet, but I’ve been testing an online search engine position ranking/reporting tool, ZoomRank http://www.zoomrank.com . If they can get the kinks worked out, I believe it could benefit allot of individuals. From what I understand this will be a completely free service when publically released.
May 1st, 2007 at 4:01 am
Quite a few handy resources there. While we are on that subject, you may also want to check out AllPeers, Mozy Backup, and my favorite… MeOnGo - Simple, Fast & Free Mobile Email service.
N’joy
May 1st, 2007 at 8:00 am
I’ve been using google analytics for years, but on some of my sites, I know it misses people… I KNOW my beta testers are hitting the site, but they don’t show up in the graphs?
I’ve paid a couple of SEO guys to look at my positioning and how and why I have that position, and how to improve it… But I never gave them free reign over my content, just got advice.
I’ve been using this service called zoomrank.com to track my site’s position over time, as I try various strategies… Seems to be a pretty useful idea.
May 1st, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Excellent post. By far I think that the Google Analytics are the most valuable. Being able to track how your customers use the site and where they go the most gives you the ability to built the website better and the user experience.
May 3rd, 2007 at 12:09 am
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May 13th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
Thank you very much!
This is a really good starting point for me.
Regards
May 28th, 2007 at 2:40 am
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July 17th, 2007 at 4:51 am
Love this list and agree. We run a site that serves up digital marketing and growth ideas for free that entrepreneurs might find helpful. We work hard to make them entertaining and helpful. You can find it at http://feedgrowth.com
August 16th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
Does anyone think that SNAP is worth using? I’ve been using it for a few weeks now and am not sure if it is helping or hindering the sites value.
Mixed feedback from visitors. Some positively hate it and some are enthusiastic.
http://www.entrepreneur.com.sg
September 1st, 2007 at 10:35 pm
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December 17th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
If you own a website and you expect any action from it these are great tips. Sadly too many out there treat their websites as little more than dogs in the backyard…you have to do more than just throw scraps at your site once in a while!
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March 26th, 2008 at 3:00 am
Cool staff, Wendy! Thanks for this
I like myself Google Analytics