Free For Your Site

Enabling visitors to post comments on your website is a great way to interact with your audience. However, unwanted advertising has polluted this feature in recent times. As a result, 93% of all comments nowadays are actually spam. Who has the time to sort through all that junk?

Fortunately, there’s Akismet, one of the most popular comment spam blockers. Its name was inspired by Kismet, the Hindu principle that means “the magnetic attractive force that actualizes the playing out of karma; often used in the positive sense.”

When a new comment, trackback, or pingback comes to your blog, it is submitted to the Akismet web service. It then tags it as either spam or not, based on tests performed on that comment. A spam is stored for 15 days to give you time to check it out manually, before Akismet automatically deletes it. In case something gets incorrectly identified as spam you can correct it and the plugin submits the feedback to Akismet for analysis and improvement. The same thing happens if a spam comment happens to get through and you mark it as spam within WordPress. Akismet becomes more effective the more you use it. No need to maintain a lengthy blacklist or check for upgrades. With Akismet, you’re always protected from spammers’ latest tricks.

Akismet has gained wide acceptance among WordPress users, however you can use it on virtually any application with submitted content, like forums, wikis, and contact forms. You must register for a WordPress account and get an API.

Go to Akismet

Have you ever wanted to stream video to your site using your webcam? There’s lots of software available right now, but why pay for one when there’s a free program that can satisfy your needs and more?

Yawcam is a tongue-in-cheek acronym that stands for Yet Another Webcam. However, don’t be deceived by its developer’s sense of humor, as this program actually packs a punch in terms of features. Aside from streaming, Yawcam supports taking snapshots, FTP upload, text and image overlays, and multiple languages. It also has a built-in web server with password protection. But the most impressive thing about Yawcam is that it can do motion detection. When this feature is enabled, the program can alert you when the area to which the camera is focused detects movement, like in the case of an intruder. For the security conscious, this is quite useful.

Project development on Yawcam started in 2003, and it has been constantly updated until today. This means it’s compatible with most of the latest technologies, which is very important for any software. The newest version, 0.3.0, works with all DirectX compatible webcams and video capture devices. This includes almost all modern USB webcams and TV tuners. It is also possible to use a DV-camera together with Yawcam if you use additional software like DVdriver or webcamDV.

To run Yawcam, the minimum requirements are Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 6, DirectX 9, Windows Media Player 9, and Windows 2000/XP/Vista.

Go to Yawcam

Building web sites from the ground up is taxing. Nowadays, even experienced web designers turn to templates either for inspiration or direct usage. If you want to have access to professional templates and make money on the side, Template Reseller is definitely for you.

Template Reseller is a unique affiliate program. It is a PHP script that you can install and setup in minutes, the result being a fully functional web site, with content that is updated automatically with the best templates available for sale. It’s truly a fully developed turnkey website.

No database is required to run the program, so no MySQL worries there. What’s more, you can use it on an unlimited number of websites - absolutely no restrictions. It also includes search engine-friendly URLs for the SEO-conscious. Template Reseller is especially a nice complement to a web designer’s site, as clients can choose from a wide variety of templates. This can then be further modified to suit the client’s personal needs.

Template Reseller Lite is a free download. There is also a “Pro” (as in paid) version available that has more bells and whistles, including the ability to add banners and Google ads, as well as the source code, allowing you to tweak it further.

Template Reseller can run on any web host supporting PHP.

Go to Template Reseller Lite

Pickpockets are no longer confined to the streets. If your web site is engaged in affiliate programs, some smart Alex might actually be stealing from you. This is a growing concern by those who are dependent on this source of revenue.

Good thing someone came up a program called Affiliate Link Masking Tool, which does exactly what its name implies. Pickpockets can only rob you if they know your affiliate link, and this program denies them that knowledge. Just paste your affiliate link in the tool and specify whatever dummy link you like - this is what the visitors will see in the status bar when they mouse over them, effectively hiding and protecting your real affiliate link. The tool will then generate an HTML code for you to paste back for your banners or text links.

Two things are prevented by this measure. One of them is hijacking. This is when a person discovers your affiliate link, and replaces it with his own affiliate link. Buying a product in this manner, he robs you of your commission and gets himself a discount. Another way that he can hurt you is thru bypassing. In this case, the person simply chops off your affiliate link extension in the address bar and buys from the site as if he stumbled upon it by himself. Thus you lose more money, even though you were responsible for placing that ad on your site so he would know about it.

With these scenarios, you need to be vigilant in ensuring that all those hard-earned dollars actually trickle down to you.

Affiliate Link Masking Tool is compatible with Windows 98 up to Windows XP.

Go to Affiliate Link Masking Tool

Face it. Most site owners have, at one point, scratched their heads in frustration because their web sites couldn’t get a better ranking in the search engines. You’ve tried everything, yet your site is still buried deep. Meanwhile, your competitor keeps getting rich, consistently landing in the first Google page. Well, you can say goodbye to those days now that there’s SEO Spyglass.

A web master’s dream, SEO Spyglass will help you decode the competition’s secret strategies so you can apply them on your own web site. No more costly trial and error - SEO Spyglass spills the beans so you’ll know exactly what to do. Among the things you learn are the total number of back links of your competitor along with their exact URLs, their Google Page Ranks and anchor texts, where they come from (forums, blogs, sites), and if any of them come from search engine directories like Yahoo and DMOZ. Not only will you know their quantity, SEO Spyglass will also tell you how valuable each of these back links are in generating much-coveted traffic.

However, you need not stop there. Although SEO Spyglass was designed to scout the competition, you can use the tool on your own web site. Compare your site’s results with those of your higher ranking competitors. An honest evaluation will help you determine your weak points so you can easily remedy them. With SEO Spyglass, you’ll soon be the king of the hill.

SEO Spyglass runs on Windows XP.

Go to SEO Spyglass

If you thought Internet Explorer and Firefox are all you ever need to view the web, try the Site Inspector browser, and you may never want to go back again.

Of special interest to web designers and developers, Site Inspectors allows you to toggle views from Internet Explorer to Mozilla Firefox within its own window, so you can easily compare how your site is rendered by these two browsers.

It has several built-in analysis features, like W3C’s XHTML and CSS Validation, which give the exact errors and why, if any. It also offers a detailed download speed report and analysis for site optimization. Site Inspector can even make its own specific recommendations on necessary changes based on the data collected. This way you’ll be able to know whether you should cut down on image sizes, CSS or JavaScript code. Google and Alexa tools are available, as well, providing a list of back links, page rank and traffic reach. If you’d like to translate the page into another language, Site Inspector can do this at a click using Babelfish. Truly an all-in-one web browser, Site Inspector puts most of the popular and useful web tools within easy reach.

Site Inspector is compatible with Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP and 2003, and requires about 30 MB of disk space. It runs on Internet Explorer 6.0 and Firefox 1.0.x, but it also has a plug-in for Firefox 2.0.

Go to Site Inspector

There is no denying the great impact the Internet has had in people’s lives. Its effects are being felt all over the world, not just in terms of new technologies but its social impact as well. How people view and use the Internet is of particular concern to web masters, as the knowledge can help them formulate strategies or predict the next big trend.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project is one initiative that studies this powerful media. It is led by the Pew Research Center, a non-profit organization based in Washington DC. They produce reports that explore the impact of the Internet on families, communities, work and home, daily life, education, health care, and civic and political life. The project aims to be an authoritative source on the evolution of the internet through collection of data and analysis of real-world developments as they affect the virtual world.

Pew Internet conducts survey polls to examine various topics, and publishes reports on their website that are available to the public. Their research thrusts include Online Activities & Pursuits, Demographics, Internet Evolution, Technology & Media Use, Health, Family, Friends & Community, Major News Events, Public Policy, E-Gov & E-Policy, Education, and Work. In addition to these reports, PowerPoint presentations related to certain issues are provided for free download.

To appreciate the value these reports, bear in mind that similar studies by private consulting firms are sold for thousands of dollars each. With all the free resources Pew Internet offers, they rank up there along with Wikipedia as premier information depots.

Go to Pew Internet

With millions of web sites aggressively competing for higher rankings, search engine optimization continues to be an active battlefield. In this arena, keywords play a crucial role. Get them wrong and you’ll likely find yourself at the bottom heap of search engine results. This is why, before even lifting a pen, all competent content providers must do their homework in keyword research.

One popular free tool used for this purpose is Overture, considered a must in every content provider’s vocabulary. While the tool itself has its own criticisms, particularly concerning possibly bloated figures, it is still considered a good starting point in the keyword selection process, where you can get a good number of seed keywords for deeper research.

The Overture site is fairly straightforward. You simply type in your keywords, and afterwards the tool will give you a list of search phrases related to your keywords. These search phrases were actually used by real web surfers in their queries. They are arranged according to the number of times they appeared in Overture’s database for a certain month. These results are helpful when deciding which keyword pairs to use when optimizing a particular web page. If you see a related keyword that is appropriate for your web page, click on it and Overture will return additional related keywords.

Overture helps you determine your target market’s searching behavior, enabling you to better position your website. It’s a game of exposure, and Overture can give you the spotlight.

This tool runs in all the popular browsers with JavaScript enabled.

Go to Overture

Unless you’re completely new to blogs, you probably know that WordPress is one of the most popular and customizable blogging platforms out there. Most bloggers use WordPress because of the available templates, useful plug-ins, and constant bug and security fixes. The latest major WordPress release is version 2.2 Getz, named after tenor saxophonist Stan Getz.

Included in this WordPress update are several new features for the average user and the developers who like to tinker with the program’s code. The former WordPress Widgets plug-in is now improved and included in the actual core code of the program. This feature lets users drag-and-drop elements of their blog without having to change a single line of code.

The Getz update also includes full support of Atom feeds, infinite comment stream, and several security and user interface improvements. You can now preview posts and pages before publishing them, which is a handy feature if you directly work on WordPress rather than typing up your content on a separate word processor. There’s also good news for Blogger users - you can now import your posts and comments via WordPress without fuss. All these features will prove to be useful and accessible for both novice and experienced bloggers.

Experienced web programmers will appreciate the backend improvements of WordPress, including inline documentation that makes code navigation easier. The config file can also be used to collate the database and character sets, as well as code the site and WordPress URL. A set of new XML-RPC APIs make it much easier for programmers to edit pages, set categories, and perform other functions.

Overall, the WordPress 2.2 Getz release is a must-have for current WordPress users and those who are looking for a blogging application. Using WordPress requires a web server with PHP 4.2 and MySQL 4.0 support. If you don’t have your own hosting plan, you can host your blog free at WordPress.com.

Go to WordPress

If you’ve ever worked with a team on a particular web site, you’ve probably experienced the frustration of fostering strong communication among your team members. To change this, you need a common to-do list and a specific area where you can discuss different projects. This is especially important for web developers who are working on several sites at once. For your collaboration problems, 37Signals has offered a great solution in Basecamp.

Simply put, Basecamp is an application makes team management easier and more organized. There are two ways to try out the program for free - you can sign up for a free account or a free 30-day trial. The free account doesn’t expire, but has a few limitations. Still, the average web master may find it functional and user-friendly.

A clean Dashboard displays all your projects, including the latest activity for each. With the free version, you can only have one project at a time, but you can have an unlimited number of co-workers and clients. Basecamp also features project to-do lists, along with who is responsible for each task. The free version also features real-time chat and two Writeboards, a web text collaboration tool.

Basecamp is hosted on the 37Signals servers, which are safe and secure. The application is compatible with most web browsers (IE 6 and above, Firefox, Safari, etc.).

Go to Basecamp