MakeUseOf Directory » webmaster tools

SpeakPipe: Receive Voice Messages From Your Website’s Visitors

Dave LeClair — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:01:58 +0000

Have you ever wished you could put a voice to the people who frequent your blog? Well with SpeakPipe you can! SpeakPipe is an incredibly easy to use web app that allows users of your blog to leave you free voicemails. It pins a small button to the side of the page that a user can click at any time to leave you a message. As the button is pinned, it will stay on the side even if the user scrolls up and down. This way, anytime the mood to give you a piece of their mind strikes them, they can.

Setting up this handy web app requires no coding skills. You simply go SpeakPipe’s website, create a free account and choose your blogging platform. It will then give you the code you need. You simply copy and paste that into your blog, and you are all done. If it wasn’t easy enough, it even breaks down the process of adding the code to your site step by step.

You access your messages from SpeakPipe’s website under the “Inbox” tab. From here you will be able to hear all the nice things your readers have to say. It’s great to connect with your readers more personally than through typed comments.

Features:

Easy to install web app.
Allows users to leave personal voice messages for you.
Pinned to the side of the site – out of the way, but always accessible.
Supports WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger, Joomla and generic HTML.
Up to 5 minute recording length.

Find SpeakPipe @ speakpipe.com

TinyLetter: Quickly Set Up A Newsletter Subscription Page

Umar — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 04:01:38 +0000

When you plan to create a newsletter or email subscription service, the first thing you should think about is how people are going to subscribe to your service. One of the easiest ways you can set up a subscription page is through the service TinyLetter.

TinyLetter is a free to use web service that lets you quickly set up an email subscription page for newsletters and mailing lists. All you have to do to get started is pick a unique username on the site. This username will be part of the direct subscription URL your subscribers will need to sign up on.

While setting up the page you enter your real name, newsletter name, email address, and pick a password. And that all you need to do. Your subscription page will be set up and you will provided with a direct link as well as its embeddable code.

People can visit your subscription page and leave their email address to sign up for your mailing list.

Features:

A user-friendly web service.
Lets you create mailing lists easily.
Provides a webpage where users can subscribe to your mailing lists.
Provides an embeddable code for your newsletter’s subscription.
Similar tools: MailChimp and Nouri.sh.

Check out TinyLetter @ www.tinyletter.com (By Umar from AllThatIsApple)

6Scan: Real-Time Website Protection Service

abhijeet — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:01:39 +0000

6Scan is a newly launched website protection service that aims to help webmasters thwart attacks and hacks that can compromise their sites. They take pre-emptive action, fixing known vulnerabilities and constantly checking for weak points. The tool is currently in alpha and free till Jan 24th, 2012 and after that it will cost $10 per month for their non-enterprise version.

It implements what they call “heuristic scanning” through their Patrol and Bodyguard protection suites that protect your site.

The site has taken care to not scare off webmasters who aren’t into stuff like server management by offering one-click installation for popular platforms like WordPress and Joomla. It says that all you need to do is install it once and the rest is taken care of by the tool.

Features

Real-time website protection.
Scans your site for vulnerabilities.
Easy, one-click install.
Free till Jan 24, 2012 during the alpha period.

Check out 6Scan @ www.6scan.com (By Abhijeet from GT Mobiles)

ViewDNS.info: Useful & Free DNS Tools For Developers

Dave LeClair — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:01:21 +0000

ViewDNS.info is your one stop shop for finding out more information and testing a URL. This website features all kinds of tools for web developers and people who want to know more about a URL for one reason or another. You can do a reverse IP look up to see other URLs hosted on the server. You can check if a website is accessible in China and a slew of other things.

There are so many things this site does, it is hard to narrow it down. You can view the WhoIs for a site, ping it, see if it has free email and more. The list of available tools goes on and on. Basically, if you own a website, you really need to check out this service, because there is most definitely something for you.

They have an open API, so developers can actually add the tools into their own site. This makes it even easier to get access to all the information you need as quickly and easily as possible.

Features:

Staggering amount of DNS tools for web developers.
WhoIs, ping, reverse IP look up, DNS Record look up and so much more.
Easy to use, just type the URL into the tool your want to use and click “Go’.
Open API for developers to add the tools into their own site.
Similar tools: Toolspot and also read related article Must-have Tools for Webmasters.

Find ViewDNS.info @ www.viewdns.info

PlayThru: Game Based CAPTCHAs For Your Site

TehseenBaweja — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 23:01:48 +0000

All of us have been proved non-human at some point or another by rogue CAPTCHAs. They are often unreadable and almost always annoying. PlayThru is a great alternative to traditional CAPTCHAs where instead of words or phrases, the CAPTCHA requires you to complete a 2-3 second game. Once you complete the dead simple game, you can proceed to the actual webpage.

For website owners, it comes as a fresh breeze since it increases user satisfaction and also keep the bots away, hence cutting down on spam. For brands and advertisers, this is another great chance to embed their messages in this new form of CAPTCHA. The website also has a ‘Rogues Gallery’ where it shows the wall of fame for some really ugly traditional CAPTCHAs.

Features:

Use simple games as CAPTCHAs for your website.
Increases user satisfaction and prevents bots.
Similar tools: VidoopCAPTCHA, NuCaptcha, MailHide ReCaptcha and WhySpamMe.
Also read related article: 5 Ways to Protect & Hide Your Email to Stop Receiving Spam.

Get PlayThrough @ www.areyouahuman.com

Cloud Assault: Check Response Times & Various Other Stats For Your Website

Umar — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 03:01:10 +0000

Webmasters are always on the lookout for more competent site statistic checking tools, and usually these tools include traffic monitors. But site speed and response time are also immensely important. Providing you with a thorough speed and data checking package is a website called “Cloud Assault.”

Cloud Assault is a web service that will prove to be extremely useful for site owners. The service measures various statistics for your website. Amongst these stats includes average response times, number of requests processed, clients, and data transfer rates. The stats are displayed as graphs as well as figures and are updated on a timely basis to provide you with the latest results.

The site is currently in beta and is offering a free package, as well as a premium package to add concurrent users.

Features:

A user-friendly web service.
Lets you test site speed stats.
Covers response times, number of requests processed, clients, data transfer rates, and more.
Shows stats graphically as well as in figures.

Check out Cloud Assault @ https://www.cloudassault.com (By Umar from AllThatIsApple)

Makeuptor: Add Custom Drag & Drop Graphics To Your Website

abhijeet — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 02:01:39 +0000

Makeuptor is a web based service for website owners to help them add cool, custom graphics to their sites. The example of that can be seen on their homepage where one can drag and drop all those icons anywhere on the page. The service makes it really easy for webmasters. Just enter your email to sign up, enter your site URL and get the respective code. Put it on your site and then add graphics from Makeuptor’s library from their user interface.

If you are interested in adding some more spice to your otherwise bland site then Makeuptor is a good choice. It’s a fun tool to play with and you could give it a shot and see how it works on your site.

Features

Add drag and drop custom graphics to your site.
A few lines of code is all that’s needed to be added to your site.

Check out Makeuptor @ makeuptor.com (By Abhijeet from Guiding Tech)

Incapsula: Protect Your Site From Hackers & Bots By Routing Traffic Through Incapsula Cloud

Umar — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 03:15:52 +0000

Websites are often targeted by hackers and bots. When these penetrate a site’s defenses, important data can be lost and even if you have made a backup, the site downtime can cost you a lot of valuable time. What you need is a method by which hackers and bots are never allowed access to your site. This method is provided by a service called Incapsula.

Incapsula is a web service that webmasters will surely appreciate. The service protects your website from unwanted traffic such as hackers and bots. Through a simple DNS switch, your website traffic is routed through the Incapsula cloud where unwanted traffic is blocked. Resultantly your site experiences faster loading times and better security. The service also offers analytics for your website, without affecting Google Analytics, if you have them already running. You can view various details such as the day’s visits, data, threats, etc. All the information is presented as figures and graphs in a visually appealing way.

Incapsula offers a free plan for websites with low traffic, and a business plan that supports SSL websites and provides faster load times, better security and account control with dedicated support. Customers with large scale traffic and number of sites or looking for a network and application level DDoS, can join the enterprise plan.

Features:
• A user-friendly web service
• A must-have for webmasters
• Protects your website from hackers and bots
• Routes your traffic and blocks unwanted traffic
• Does not affect Google Analytics data
• Potentially speeds up your website
• Presents site traffic and threat data graphically and statistically

Check out Incapsula @ www.incapsula.com (By Umar from AllThatIsApple)

WebSecurityMonitor: Protect Your Website From Malicious Attacks

Dave LeClair — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 01:01:15 +0000

If you own your own website, the chances are great that you are aware of the dangers malware and hackers present. If they choose to attack your website it can not only have a negative impact on the site, it can also pose serious problems for your visitors. If you use your website to make a living, and it goes down because of an attack, it can ruin your life and take away your livelihood.

Fortunately, there is a free service called Web Security Monitor that helps protect your website from all kinds of attacks.

Their service will spot all kinds of malicious content. If you have any viruses hidden in links it will find and stop them. If there is a corrupt file hidden somewhere they will find it. It can even alert of you of any attempts to hack the site as they are happening; so you can attempt to stop it before it becomes a problem.

In the unfortunate event that something does happen and your site goes down, they will watch and keep track of the downtime. They will even check to see if your site is blacklisted on any of the major lists. This way you can take the steps necessary to rectify the situation.

Features:

Checks website for any kind of malware or viruses.
Checks website’s blacklist status.
Informs site owner of any outdated software that could cause vulnerabilities.
Tracks downtime.
Real time monitoring and alerts if anything goes wrong.
Similar tool: HackerTarget,

Find Web Security Monitor @ www.websecuritymonitor.com

Wishbox: Get Feedback From Site Visitors Through Annotated Screenshots

MOin — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 03:01:49 +0000

For webmasters, user feedback is an essential ingredient for the success of their website. But for most of the time, site visitors leave you with vague feedback or incomplete suggestions that you cannot actually incorporate into the site. Wishbox helps you tackle this problem by letting site visitors provide feedback through annotated screenshots.

Wishbox provides you with a feedback button that helps site visitors share their suggestions and criticisms in a clearer way, by using screenshots. The feedback button can import a screenshot of the page users are on and let them annotate it to clarify what needs improvement. Furthermore, the service lets you easily embed any web form in your feedback region.

The site offers a free package with a 100 MB storage capacity for images and a limitation of 100 submissions per month. Premium packages starting from $9.95 per month to remove these limitations.

Features:

A user-friendly web service.
Lets you collect feedback from site visitors.
Lets visitors provide feedback through annotated screenshots.
Lets you embed forms in your feedback boxes.
Provides 100 MB of free storage space for feedback screenshots.
Also read related articles: 5 Alternative Screen Capture Tools For Your Mac and 3 Google Chrome Extensions To Make Great Screenshots.

Check out Wishbox @ www.jotform.com/wishbox (by MOin from Thumb Press)