As someone who manages websites, people often ask me about what online tools I use. Here are 10 online tools I use on a daily basis that help with all the webmaster tasks I perform.
WhatTheFont :: Sometimes you need to figure out what font is used in a logo or graphic. This tool is pretty good at figuring out what font is used and gives options.
(Item Removed) The tool we had here no longer has a secure connection, so we removed it
Sauce Labs :: I used to like Adobe’s Browser testing. But they shut it down. Sauce Labs is picking up the slack and you can see how your site looks at in many different browsers.
Character Counter :: If you write several tweets at once, it helps to make sure you stay under that magic 140 number. This simple tool counts for you, so you don’t have to open up word or other software.
Convert Case :: Many times clients send me docs, or emails all in upper case. This tool lets you convert to various cases, such as lower case, sentence case, etc.
Lorem Ipsum Generator :: When you are building a website, you often need placeholder text. This allows you to grab some text, based on how many words, paragraphs, bytes, etc.
Sucuri SiteCheck Malware Scanner :: Malware is the plague of our time. It is often hidden where you can’t find it. This tool identifies if you are infected. And the company can assist cleaning your code.
Google Translate :: For those of us who manage websites in multiple languages, the Google Translate tool comes in handy. While the translation isn’t perfect, it is pretty good and handles the chore well enough for most instances.
SSL Checker :: This tool tells you if a server has a secure certificate, who issued it, and when it expires.
Network Tools :: This tool allows you to perform many tests, such as: Traceroute, Ping, Domain Name Server (DNS) Lookup and WHOIS.
Added Online Tools :: 5/28/23
We have some more online tools we have now added to this list:
Embed Responsively: :: this tool allows you to embed videos, images and content that will respond to the size of your visitors’ screens.
Optimizilla :: This free online image optimizer uses the best optimization and lossy compression algorithms to shrink JPEG, GIF and PNG images to the minimum possible size while keeping the required level of quality.
ChatGPT :: We’ve all heard about AI, and this tool can be very helpful in website management. While we don’t recommend you have it write all your blog posts and use it word for word, it does come in handy when you’re looking for things like hashtags for posts, or for generating ideas.
Twitter Fonts Generator :: Spruce up your social media post with this fun little tool. Despite its name, it works on other social media outlets as well.
As we are always discovering new online tools to help make our job more efficient, we will be updating this post. Please check back. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.
I bet you’re wondering why I would write about lessons learned from a golf course? Many things remind of my business (which is helping small businesses succeed via the web). I had an experience this week at a golf course which got me thinking, and I came up with four lessons I learned from a bad experience.
Here is the story:
My wife asked me if I wanted to play golf last Friday. I was busy but decided to take a break and play nine holes at a local par 3 course.
As it was a Friday and a workday, we did not call for a tee time, we figured we’d stop by and see how crowded it was. When we got there, there was nobody on the tee box, and the back nine was empty as well. My wife went in to pay and there was a young man at the desk. He said, the best I can do is get you a tee time in an hour or so. My wife said: “There’s nobody here!” He again said sorry, I can’t let you start for an hour. She again said, there is nobody on the tee or even waiting in the parking lot. Well, he said sorry, you’ll have to wait an hour.
What did we do? We left.
The four lessons I learned from this poorly run golf course:
Turning Down Money Is Never A Good Idea
The course was empty, and they had an opportunity to make a little bit of extra money. Instead, they alienated us, and I won’t be back for a while, if ever. While, this seems obvious, much of my business comes from people who are fed up with web designers and developers who can’t even be bothered to call them back or answer an email about perspective business. It always amazes me when people can’t be bothered and leave money on the table. But this happens more than you think. In this economy, it’s never a good idea to alienate prospective business. This golf course did, and so do many of my competitors. The easiest thing you can do in business is be responsive to your client/customer needs. It cost you nothing to call someone back, or answer a simple email.
Imagine if I stood on the street with a fist full of hundreds trying to give them out, would you take them or would you say no? If you don’t respond to calls and emails, that is exactly what you are doing.
I know, that’s an exaggeration, but it truly amazes me that companies actually turn away money in the form of customers/clients.
Flexibility
The one thing you need in today’s world is to be flexible. If you want to stay in business, you must change with the times and be willing and open-minded about your business. Now, if this course was full and there were groups waiting to go out and play, then I totally would’ve understood. Unfortunately, the dolt they left in charge, was unable to think about the situation logically, otherwise he takes our money and sent us on our way to play. The world has changed, and you have to change with the times and be willing to do things a bit different from perhaps you did in the past. Otherwise, you end up a dinosaur and as you know, they are extinct and now only found at the bottom of your gas tank! Learn more about flexibility in business [↗]
Great Service
One sure way to lose customers/clients is to have poor service. In this case, they left such a bad taste in our mouth’s that we are unlikely to return and will also tell our friends and colleagues about what happen today. In fact, I’ve already told a few people about the situation. What he should’ve done is look for a way to satisfy us. Had he looked out at the 10th tee as an example, he would’ve seen there were no groups even two or three holes away and could’ve easily sent us out. We would’ve been happy at the service he provided and left with a good feeling about the course. Think about it, had he told us we needed a tee time, but then went out of his way to help us, we would’ve been thrilled. This of course would’ve required him to have flexibility, as we covered in number two. Again, I find this in my industry as well. People are rigid and don’t help their clients/customers, and their poor service typically leads to losing business. At Roosites, I have always tried to provide the best customer service I can, and always respond to a request the very same day. This is why we are still in business after over 20 years.
Enable Your Staff
Now, perhaps the kid at the desk was told never to let anyone on who didn’t have a tee time. If this is the case, shame on the golf course. What they should’ve said is, if no one is out on the course and someone comes by, by all means send them out to play. This is something I have learned over the years, you have to enable your people and give them the opportunity to make some decisions. When I work with designers and developers, I try to give them freedom to be creative, and the results are often positive. When you try to be too rigid, people get nervous, and they never do their best work, or as in the case today they leave money on the table.
Bottom line
There are lessons learned everywhere if you pay attention. Unfortunately, most of the time we learn those lessons from watching what not to do. Always put yourself in the place of your customer/client. Think about how you would react to a situation. In Friday’s debacle at the golf course, they did everything wrong and lost potential customers. With Covid, so many things are still up in the air, and you cannot afford to lose any business.
Note: I purposely left out the name of this course, as I am not trying to be vengeful. Hopefully this was a one-time error, but I probably won’t find out in the near future.
