"Kick the Butt" is a banner one of my friends has stuck up on his wall. The banner has yellowed but the pile of butts in the ashtray hasn't got any less. Welcome to the smoker's eternal dilemma. If a survey were to be carried out (and I am sure there's one somewhere), the quandary of wanting to quit but losing out to the urge of smoking would be true of most smokers.

Not surprising, when you consider that's the stumbling block for many an addiction"¦ smoking included. The benefits of quitting smoking are too many - from increasing your energy to lessening your medical bills. And of course, making life just a bit easier for the passive smokers.Perhaps I am compiling this list of the 10 websites that can help someone kick the smoking habit in vain. The defenses of an addicted smoker are unassailable if not insurmountable. Still, let me try to blow a bit of the smoke away.

how to stop smoking

QuitNet says it's one of the largest communities of smokers and ex-smokers with more than 60,000 members from across the globe. It is definitely one of the oldest out there. The site offers a host of services from personal counseling to personal medical advice. These services aren't free, but the support from the active community of smokers and non-smokers is.  With the free services on the site, you can use tools like the Quit Date Wizard and the Quitting Guide. The Medication Guide is also a good read. If you want to some offline support, you can use the Smoking Cessation Programs finder to locate one near your area (U.S only).

Smokefree

stop smoking tips

U.S residents can use the free anti-smoking aids like the online step-by-step cessation guide or the telephone hotlines and the LiveHelp chat service (courtesy National Cancer Institute). From quizzes to interactive maps and "˜how to quit smoking' downloads, this website is a rich source. Women smokers can also go straight to the gender specific sister site which addresses their unique issues. This website is a must if you are serious about quitting smoking.

Stop Smoking Center

stop smoking tips

The site says that you have four times the chance of quitting compared to going at it alone. Whether it's true or not, can only be found out with a free sign-up to the Evolution Health Program. The online quit smoking program has a full fledged support group and lots of tools and interactive exercises. A downloadable quit meter and a craving's diary with withdrawal symptom tracker are some a quitter can always us. The site gives out a limited number of memberships daily.

Quit Smoking Counter

stop smoking tips

The site is a blog that explores ways you can quit smoking. Apart from smoking cessation news and tips, the site also offers a commercial iPhone app which serves as an online counter that measures smoking cessation and the length of time the person has stopped smoking along with other data like money saved and life gained.

WeQuit

free stop smoking

You can lean on the support of the social web when it comes to giving up smoking. WeQuit takes the help of Twitter and Facebook. The site is the handiwork of No Smoking Day, the charity behind the leading health campaign for smokers who want to stop. There's a video channel with first person accounts and success stories. You can also put in a pledge that you will kick the habit; and there's a Facebook app for that too. If you succeed, you can even walk away with a prize and towards a healthier life. But visit the Forum and check out feedbacks that have been arranged by time since quitting.

FixNixer

free stop smoking

This online tool is a free, anonymous and customized quit-smoking program that helps you quit the habit in 21 days. With your smoking data, the site designs a personalized course. You also need to give regular feedback to your account as to the success or failure towards the goal. The site also has a community forum for social support, Quitblogs, and personalized text messages that help you stay away from tobacco dependency. The one drawback - the program is only available for Colorado (U.S) residents.

About.com (Smoking Cessation)

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The hub is a nice resource for must reads on the how's and why's of smoking cessation. It is arranged around four main sections - Smoking cessation, Health Risks, How to Quit, and After Quitting.

[NO LONGER WORKS] QuitMeter

help to stop smoking

Quitmeter is a one-page simple non-smoking calculator that counts the days to the minute and the second since you quit smoking. It also calculates the numbers you haven't lighted up and the dollars saved.

Quit-O-Meter

help to stop smoking

A Facebook community of ex-smokers and smokers who want to quit smoking. You can join up and use it as a support group and also share your success stories if you manage it make it beyond the cravings. A statistics page displays a "˜leaderboard' to show where you stand among other fellow quitters.

NHS Quit Smoking

how to stop smoking

Okay, here we aren't going to talk about the website but the free iPhone app. Though the health site itself is a fountain of information, the iPhone app is handy to carry around. It has useful features like real time counters which track daily cigarette consumption and cost. You have daily messages that encourage your struggles and also a direct line to the NHS Smoking Helpline.

More important than these ten websites is your own will power. These sites only serve as pillars on which you can lean on when self-restraint starts to waver. But do devour the information on why smoking is such an injurious habit. Let us know your success story.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons