Webmaster Utilities

PLEASE BOOKMARK THIS PAGE - AS IT CONTAINS MANY USEFUL UTILITIES YOU MAY WANT TO COME BACK TO.

IMPORTANT: Please note that the products and services listed are provided by external third parties, and as such are not necessarily endorsed by and cannot be guaranteed by Eagle Intermedia Publishing Ltd. Please see the copyright and disclaimer details for further information.

Domain Name Registration and Web Hosting Services:

Easily.co.uk
Easy to use low cost domain name registration, hosting and e-mail services from Easily.co.uk

Exa Networks
Award winning UK ISP based in Cottingley, West Yorkshire.

Website Design Information (General):

Websites can either be created using "off the shelf" WYSIWG ("what you see is what you get") web design packages (see below), or written "raw" using HTML code. Some useful books about HTML can be obtained from Amazon UK via the website design page of the Eagle Intermedia Online Bookstore.

Click here for books about HTML and website design

Website Design Packages:

If you prefer to use a WYSIWG ("what you see is what you get") approach you will need software in order to create your website. Some popular packages (which also let you edit the "raw" HTML code) are as follows:

Studio MX Dreamweaver MX Student Studio MX Namo Web Editor 5.0

XSite Pro

Once set up, a "content managment system" should allow a website owner to edit content easily and conveniently. Suitably configured, a "user friendly" package such as Contribute can be used to give this level of control:

Search and Replace

Search and Replace is a useful low cost text replacement tool (suitable for making changes to HTML code throughout websites) from Funduc Software.

A wide range of computer software products (including graphics packages) are also available from Amazon.co.uk:

Graphics Preparation Tools:

You may also need to create graphical elements for your website (e.g. logos, menu buttons etc) separately. Some professional and popular graphics design packages include the following:

Photoshop 7.0 CorelDRAW Suite 11 Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7

Xara Ltd. also produce a range of graphics preparation tools which can be used to create website graphics quickly and conveniently. These products include Xara 3D, Xara Webster 2, and Xara Webstyle:

A wide range of computer software products (including graphics packages) are also available from Amazon.co.uk:

Graphics Reduction Tools:

An important aspect of any web site is that it loads quickly on a wide variety of platforms and systems, including minimum standard configurations. Because of this graphical elements are often deliberately kept to a minimum, but even then performance may still be lacking.

Fortunately, however, large graphics files can often be reduced in size without any discernable reduction in picture quality and resolution. Many sophisticated graphics packages are available to do this; especially convenient is the Optiview (formerly called GIF Wizard) utility which can actually be used online to produce swifter loading graphics.

Enter any Web address below:

Accelerate your website with OptiView !

Design Tuning and Link Checking Tools:

Before opening up your business site to the world, it is imperative that the site is checked for link integrity, ease of use, speed of loading, and all the other things which will create a good impression. This can be done manually, though design tools and HTML validators are available which can be used as an automatic first check on various aspects of site design.

Generally speaking, design tuning tools may not necessarily optimise your site to make it more "search engine friendly", and as such we would strongly recommend that you seek professional advice on how to do this before proceeding further. If required, Eagle Intermedia could advise you on this and other aspects of your site development: Remember, if your entry doesn't make it on to the first few pages of your required keyword search, then it is unlikely to be found by your selected target audience !

To check for link integrity, one option is to use external services such as those offered by SEVENtwentyfour Inc:

Universality and Cross Browser Compliance:

Just because a website works well and as intended on one computer doesn't necessarily mean that it will work well on another. For this reason web pages should be designed to meet design standards as laid out by the World Wide Web Consortium (otherwise known as the W3C):

Elements of cross browser compatibility can also be checked at AnyBrowser.com

Usability and Accessibility:

Another very important (though often neglected) consideration in the design of any website is making sure that it is easy to use and navigate, and also meets requirements for disabled accessibility. Software tools are available which can help assess aspects of technical compliance, though "real world" testing should also be considered.

Please see the separate page on usability and accessibility services for more information.

Search Engine and Directory Keyword Research Tools:

Before embarking on a search engine and directory registration campaign you will need to identify a set of target key words and key phrases on which you would (ideally) like to be found. With a great deal of thought and care it may be possible to draft a list from intuition, though market intelligence can help you find those key words and key phrases which may bring the best returns on investment.

The following tools keep track of the most commonly searched for key words and key phrases (which can be valuable information when optimising your site so that it can be found easily by a selected target audience):

KeywordDiscovery.com

KeywordSpy.com

Wordtracker

Search Engine Optimisation:

Once you've decided on a suitable set of keywords, you'll need to incorporate them in to your site that the search engine spiders will easily be able to identify. This is a process known as "Search Engine Optimisation" (or SEO as it is known in the trade):

E-Consultancy

Search Engine and Directory Registration Tools:

Once you're satisfied that your site meets the requirements of good design criteria (including search engine optimisation), then it's time to submit the address of the site to all of the major search engines and directories. Although there are literally hundreds of such engines and directories to choose from, only a relatively small number have the most significant share of the market, and it is far more important to make sure that you rank highly with these mainstream names than spending time on little known (and little used) minority engines and directories.

You can visit each of the mainstream search engines and directories to register your site separately, but this is a time consuming task and in some cases it can help to use a submission agent (such as that included with e.g. WebPosition) which makes the registrations automatically.

Of course, search engine and directory submissions (whether made automatically or "by hand") may not always be effective, and very often repeat submissions may be necessary to get a result. Besides checking that registration has actually taken place you will need to monitor your "visibility" by checking current positions on keyword search phrases over a wide variety of important search engines and directories. Again, you can do this manually, though there are some very useful search engine and directory monitoring tools available which can enable you to automate what would otherwise be an extremely time-consuming task. Examples of such tools are listed below in the following section.

[N.B. Either way, search engine and directory promotion is often frustrating and laborious work, so if you would prefer to have a promotional campaign managed on your behalf instead please see the separate page on web promotion services, or feel free to contact us for further details.]

Search Engine and Directory Monitoring Tools:

WebPosition is an extremely useful program which allows you to keep track of your website's ranking for any specified keyword search on most of the major search engines and directories. The searches and keyword ranking analyses are automated - thus saving much valuable time which can be more productively spent in active search engine promotion, external link maintenance, etc. However (as with all automated proceedures) care must be taken in its use.

Free WebPosition 4 Trial

[N.B. Even with suitable software tools being available, search engine and directory monitoring and resubmission is often frustrating and laborious work, so if you would prefer to have a promotional campaign managed on your behalf instead please see the separate page on web promotion services, or feel free to contact us for further details.]

External Link Management Schemes:

The above banner scheme(s) work by swapping "click through" banner link between participating member sites. Categorisation allows you to specify on which type of websites you would like your banner link to appear on.

Besides participation in the above scheme(s), and as part of (individually tailored) web promotion services, Eagle Intermedia can arrange reciprocal links between related high ranking, high traffic sites - thus helping to ensure that the client website becomes highly visible to the intended target audience.

e-Commerce and Online Payment Solutions:

Once you have set up your site, you may wish to provide facilities for visitors to be able to order your goods or services online.

For further information about e-commerce solutions (including shopping cart catalogue software and online payment services), please visit the separate e-commerce page on this website.

Logfiles, Statistics and Visitor Analysis Software:

Site Meter provides free visitor tracking counters which are suitable for use on most websites.

e-Mail and "Anti-Spam" Utilities:

Spam Arrest (spam blocking service)

Miscellaneous - Affiliate Schemes:

Once your site is set up you can consider joining affiliate schemes (which allow you to earn commission on sales made from customer referrals from your site). Suitably chosen, such schemes can provide an extra source of revenue, besides "adding value" in the range of products and services which are made available to your own visitors.

Of course, if your site is already e-commerce enabled, you might also consider setting up an affiliate scheme of your own, thus enabling you to set up a network of external affiliate members who will promote your site using commission earning links from their own independent sites.

Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants

Miscellaneous - Newsletters, Information Services etc:

E-Consultancy

Miscellaneous - computers (hardware and software, networking etc):

PC World

Laptopshop.co.uk

Skype

Skype is a popular VoIP system - allowing you to make free telephone calls to other Skype users through the internet.

Miscellaneous - marketing (online and offline marketing etc):

E-Consultancy

Marketing Drive and Marketing Magic from Traynor Kitching and Associates.

Sales Sense (including free newsletter) from Clive Miller.