What are the best tools for webmasters?

That question is very vague. To answer we will split that question in sections.

• What is a webmaster, and why do they need tools?
• What different webmaster tool categories are out there?
• What is better: using tools or coding by hand?
• Which to use: out of the box software or custom tools?
• Are paid webmaster tools better than free webmaster tools?

What is a webmaster?

Why do webmasters need tools?

Have you ever been online? Ever surf on the internet? Ever wonder how it all got there? Ever picture someone sitting home at a dark stained coffee table at night with nothing but a laptop to keep the room lit and and overflowing mug of mocha?

These my friends are called webmasters. Figuratively speaking, masters of websites. Some controll others to write articles, search engine ranking, media and marketing. Others choose to do it themselves. These brave souls and entrepenuers are what feeds our internets. They create, manipulate and grow their websites, and we all profit from it by having an enriched experience.

Tools for the Web

There are thousands of webmasters out there and they do not do it alone. It has been become extremely easy of late to build, distribute and analyse content in the Internets. Due to the late boom of free online software like WordPress, Joomla, Google Tools and the like, the web has sprung into life. Webmasters use webmaster tools to help them accomplish thing which would of taken months to do by hand and now work with the click of a button.

Tools can be used for many reasons. For one, several years ago, without funding it would take a webmaster months or years to build an idea and spring it to life. If they had funds, that it would cost much resources, time and man hours to accomplish a web system. Today, by installing a CRM, one with the most basic computer knowledge can just as much if not more than some of the great online businesses from ten years ago. Since software to facilitate these needs has already been build, there is no need to reinvent the wheel.

There are plenty of diffent tools to use and they just keep getting better and better. Web master tools include some of the following:

• CRM – Customer relation management
• CMS – Content management system
• Content, market & user analysis
• Marketing tools
• API – Application program interface
• Social Media
• SEO – Search engine customization and assessment
• Sitemaps
• Diagnostics
• E-Commerce / shopping cart
• Research tools

Using pre-made tools will not only speed up development but will also cut costs and lower man hours