Interesting Freebies To Enhance Your Site
This blog entry was posted on: 16 May 2010.
For many years now the Internet has housed some excellent free services to help webmasters enhance their sites. There is a freebie for nearly everything, from counting visitor numbers to widgets that add extra interactivity.
By the way, if you don’t already have a site, then why not set up your first blog? It’s really easy, free, and you can be up and running within minutes! WordPress.com and Blogger are just two sites offering free blog hosting.
The ‘must have’ service for any site owner is a counter, which tracks the number of visitors. Even if your site is only a hobby, it’s interesting to see the level of popularity you’ve attained. Analytics from Google is free and immensely detailed, but if you’re in the market for something more usable, try OneStat, ShinyStat or eXTReMe Tracking. And be sure to view our Free Counters section for more information.
While we’re talking tracking, you can also monitor the server your site is hosted on. Free services such as SiteUptime, InternetSeer and Free Web Monitoring test your site every 30 - 60 minutes to ensure everything is working correctly. If for some reason your site is inaccessible, an e-mail is sent so you can take the appropriate action. In many cases this level of reporting is adequate, but options are available for more regular monitoring (for a small upgrade fee).
Perhaps largely forgotten, guestbooks were once commonplace on many sites, especially personal home pages. The idea was to enable people to leave feedback for the webmaster, or for other visitors. A handful of free guestbook services still exist today and can be a great addition. View our Free Guestbooks reviews for a round-up.
Webmasters who wish to go one step further might like to consider adding a message board. This is an ideal way to get some discussion going, but think hard before you take the plunge. It will take a great deal of maintenance and then there’s the problem of spam to contend with. Self promotional posts are commonplace on forums, so be well prepared for this. Visit freebielist.com’s Free Message Boards section to select a service.
If your site has been online for a while and garnered a sizeable audience, it could be time to think about turning traffic into money. Many affiliate schemes exist to help you do this and the vast majority are free to register with. Some webmasters make an excellent living via affiliate marketing and the rewards are lucrative for the person willing to invest time and effort. See our Free Affiliate Programs section.
A plethora of other freebies are available for webmasters in the form of scripts, news feeds, icons, polls, graphics and more. See our Free Webmaster Services and Free Graphics pages for more interesting ways to enhance your site.