Having your own hosted web domain has never been cheaper, or easier, with the vast array of free resources out there. Here are our ten favorite tools to help anyone launch and maintain their internet presence.


Photo by Jamison_Judd.



10. Control access to your pages with .htaccess Editor


You're working on a project you want to show a few friends, but not the whole world—and that includes Google's curious crawlies. Drafting an .htaccess file to password-protect files can be laborious text work, but webapps like .htaccess Editor make short work of your privacy needs. It's not the only one of its kind out there, but we like its step-by-step approach to shielding what you've got and setting up who can get at it—and it can also help you set up multiple subdomains.



9. Optimize your site for iPhones and mobile browsers


You might blog about the latest Linux kernel developments, but an increasing number of the web's readers are getting their blog reads done on mobile Safari. Make it easier for them to read, and you to publish, with tools like the previously mentioned Intersquash, which, while not perfect by any means, does take most of the code-hacking work out of an iPhone-friendly site. If that really slimmed-down, feed-only look isn't your thing, your blogging platform might have a handy plug-in, like WPtouch for WordPress users.



Intersquash Optimizes Your Blog for iPhones If you have a web site with an RSS feed, like a blog, you can quickly create an iPhone-ized version Read more


8. Search-optimize your site (without feeling slimy)

Whatever you do, don't do a web search for "SEO solutions," unless you like the net equivalent of getting bum-rushed by 9,000 car salesmen at once. For bloggers and personal sites that don't need a whole team of suits and engineers working to improve their relevance, there are straight-forward, if not exactly quick, lessons on how to get in Google's good graces. We've previously written up a guide to SEO Made Easy, which covers a more diverse range of search engines. Matt Cutts, the search quality manager at the Big G, has posted his own "Whitehat SEO tips for bloggers that cover a whole lot of ground. And if it's just your good name you're looking to get out there with your site, check out Gina's step-by-step on having a say in what Google says about you.




7. Find a clever, workable domain name


One reason so many new-fangled webapps have such crazy, vowel-deficient names is because the net seems almost completely picked over for .com addresses. Don't sacrifice your clever idea or give up on your name, though—head to Domai.nr. See how it uses another country's web code for its last letters? The little web utility can do the same for your own phrases and names, as well as tell you which standard .com/.net/.org versions are free or taken. It gets creative with the arrangment of words and forward slashes to find a good fit for whatever you want to get on the net. Hurry now, though, before all you John Smiths of the world have to actually take something like http://smithjo.hn .



6. Use free, reusable code and media


Your site should say something about you and your interests, not your skill at creating JavaScript roll-down menus and sidebar graphics (unless you're a web developer, of course). Skip the programming and Photoshop books and run through our six ways to find reusable media, all of them legally sound and not requiring too much heavy lifting. If code's your thing, sites like AjaxDaddy provide scripts that make your site a bit more fluid and flashy. Or you can simply hit up Google Code Search to plow through open-source apps and grab what you need to get going.




5. Kick back against content thieves


Few web phenomenon come close to the sight of seeing an inspired post you write near the top of a Google search—but it's on someone else's site, plagiarized completely. Keep track of who's stealing from you with a search at Copyscape, or subscribe to an RSS feed of your site's leechers at CopyGator. Edit your blog's own RSS feeds to include link-backs that boost your own Google ranking and show the reading world exactly who wrote what when lazy spam-bloggers re-publish your feeds. And, when all else fails, take a multi-step formal and legal approach to getting the copycat stuff knocked down. It isn't fun writing to domain hosts, advertisers, or site admins with your copyright gripes, but it's reassuring when your work is reclaimed as your own. Thanks and credit to Digital Inspiration for the last two links.



4. Pay nothing for hosting with free apps


Back when "YouTube" was just a funny way of describing your television, anyone who wanted a web site pretty much had to pay for the domain name and the remote storage space to host it. Not so in these modern times, when any number of services are begging to give you the free space and tools you need to put yourself, or your project, on the web. As we've pointed out, the best of those free apps—like Google Apps, Tumblr, the no-fee hosts like Freewebs and Google Page Creator—can help even the most novice (yet cheap) would-be site owner up and running with a decent web presence. Heck, in some cases, they wouldn't even pay for a domain name.




3. Write smarter blogs with Windows Live Writer


It might just be the smartest marketing move Microsoft has made in years—creating a free software tool that most any blogger the Lifehacker editors have chatted with think is just great. It works with WordPress, Blogger, MovableType, and lots of other blog platforms. It takes the HTML and grunt work out of drafting, editing, and posting your work. And it supports plug-ins that empower it to grab photos from Flickr, start writing from Firefox, and do much more. Check out our feature on tips and tweaks for Windows Live Writer to get familiar with why this surprisingly open-ended tool is so neat.




2. Google Analytics Reporting Suite


This free, cross-platform Adobe Air app puts a fast-moving, attractive-looking face on the raw visitor data Google Analytics can dish out. Tabbed and profiled reports let you skim through all the data you want to know, rather than have to hunt it down. Multiple profiles helps anyone with a handful or more sites and blogs keep up on all their sites' traffic, no login required. It just works, and, for most personal site owners, it's more convenient than the site—not something one can always say about a Google product, either. For more on getting good with Analytics, scan our feature on improving your website with google analytics.




1. Get a reliable, affordable web host


Lifehacker reader Stephanie asked, you responded, and we compiled the feedback from more than 200 comment threads, offered up by readers who definitely don't pay a ransom for good service. So, excuse us for busting out the brag horn, but our list of reliable and affordable web hosts is a good place to anyone looking to get going with a real, hosted, totally controllable site to start shopping. Each person's love of their host might be for a different reason, but you know at least some of Lifehacker's web-savvy readers found a reliable home in this list.



Reliable and Affordable Web Hosting? Reader Stephanie is ready to plunk down some cash for a web hosting provider, but wants to know… Read more


The Lifehacker editors have their own sites and favorite tools to manage them, but we're just a small sampling of geeks. We want to hear from you on what sites, software, or strategies helped you get a web site up and running, or makes it easier to update. Trade your web admin wisdom in the comments.