If you ask any affiliate marketer or webmaster which is the most important tool they use to run their online businesses you will get many different answers. Some will say autoresponders or affiliate software while others believe that without a webpage builder or image editor they would not be able to maintain a professional image for their websites. Whatever differing opinions exist I feel that the following 5 tools are vital for anyone wishing to become a professional webmaster or affiliate marketer. I haven't put them in any particular order of importance or preference but feel every affiliate or webmaster should have access to all of them.

1. Quality Paid Web Hosting By quality I do not mean expensive. The internet is flooded with vendors and affiliates trying to sell hosting and it is a competitive and cutthroat business. You need to kick the haystack and find the needles. I recommend going to a lot of Affiliate or Webmaster forums and reading posts. Do a Google search for "best web hosting" and look at some of the testimonials. Find a friend who knows how and find out exactly what you are getting before you purchase. How many visitors do you expect, what kind of scripts do you want to run, can I add-on domains or what about databases? If the last sentence is double Dutch to you, then it's time to get advice before taking this step. Free web hosting can be undependable and most search engines don't give them much credibility.

2. Webpage Builder/WYSIWYG This software allows you to build web pages which will be the foundation for creating an online presence. If you wish to be a successful webmaster of affiliate then you need to design your own pages and not use generic templates. When you are making lots of money you can hire designers but to start you will have to make your own web pages.

3. Autoresponder Service/Software Affiliate marketers often say "the money is in the list" and that building a list of subscribers is crucial to making a living online. This is one of the reasons to have an autoresponder. It allows you to automatically send emails that you have preloaded into the system. For example maybe somebody signs up for your newsletter by filling out a simple form with their name and email address. This autoresponder would automatically sand them a welcome mail to their email address. This is just one of the many ways it is used to automate the workload of affiliates and webmasters.

4. Statistic/Analytic/Adtracker Software Ok I know some of you will wet your shorts when you see all of these bundled together but I see them as one "Job Lot". If an affiliate or webmaster doesn't know their visitors or customers' data then they can't improve their business. Collecting data allows you to sharpen and hone your strategies and make changes to take your online endeavors to the highest of levels. Where are your customers coming from? What sales copy are they reacting best to? If you are split testing to optimize a sales page or squeeze box then which ones are working best at what time of the day or day of the week? Don't be like the blindfolded knife thrower who impales his unfortunate assistant. Keep track of what is happening and make sure you are holding the reins.

5. SEO Software. I was struggling as to whether I should include this or not. I thought about link exchange, FTP, link protection, keyword software etc. etc. etc. but finally decided on SEO software. In order to get visitors to their pages webmasters and affiliates have to reach the first pages of the search engines unless they are using advertising. (PPC , Classifieds etc.) There are a couple of excellent pieces of software available that really improve rankings. I'm not talking about junk "we guarantee you 1,000,000 visitors in 24 hours" but well designed tools that if applied properly will maximize your chances of getting organic traffic over time.

I know many webmasters and affiliates won't agree with my choices but this is what makes working on the internet so beautiful. Everybody has their own path and opinion but these tools have enabled me to take my business to a new level.

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