If you have been following our blog, I have written about creating websites for free with the Microsoft Web Platform or Microsoft WebMatrix. And with creating a website, you need to think about search engine optimization (SEO). One of my favorite free tools for this is the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Toolkit from Microsoft.

Violation summary inside of the SEO Toolkit

With the SEO Toolkit, you can analyze your website for search engine friendly content. It can check links site wide, with or without 'noindex' and 'nofollow' tags. It can check page titles, page descriptions, metatags, images, etc. And it breaks down the site analysis report into four (4) categories: violations, content, performance and links. It's a full blown website crawler!

Content summary inside of the SEO Toolkit

The Search Engine Optimization Toolkit is an add-in for Internet Information Services (IIS). The IIS is basically a website server and the SEO Toolkit is a website crawler (it only crawls websites hosted on the IIS). If you have installed the Microsoft Web Platform or Microsoft WebMatrix, you have IIS installed. It is also a feature built into Windows, but not added by default. Here's a quote from the IIS site:

The IIS Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Toolkit helps Web developers, hosting providers, and Web server administrators to improve their Web site’s relevance in search results by recommending how to make the site content more search engine friendly. The IIS SEO Toolkit includes the Site Analysis module, the Robots Exclusion module, and the Sitemaps and Site Indexes module, which let you perform detailed analysis and offer recommendations and editing tools for managing your Robots and Sitemaps files.

For more information on the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Toolkit, just follow the links below.

Search Engine Optimization Toolkit
Getting Started with the SEO Toolkit

At Geeks in Phoenix, we like to spotlight useful programs (most of them are free). And in this day and age, who couldn't use some free programs! We had some really great free programs released in 2011. From streaming music to creating websites, the offering was quite nice. Let's take another look at my five favorite free programs of 2011 (in no particular order).

Easily create, customize and publish web apps / websites for free with Microsoft WebMatrix

Microsoft WebMatrix web gallery screen

What a great package from Microsoft! You can get all of the software you need to create and publish a website. And you need is a hosting plan and you're ready to go. Yes, it does take a little time to install all of the software, but it's well worth it. Read the full article here.

Streaming music from the cloud for free with Google Music

Google Music website library

If you want to stream your music collection from the cloud, Google Music is the program for you. With storage for up to 20,000 songs, it's by far the best free music storage / streaming service. As of this writing, I have over 1,800 songs on Google Music. Read the full article here.

Be more productive in your office for free with OpenOffice 3

OpenOffice3 main screen

OpenOffice is not new program, it's been around for a while. But it is the best alternative to Microsoft Office. And it's completely free. What more can I say. Read the full article here.

Try Windows 8 for free with Windows 8 Developer Preview

Metro interface inside of the Windows 8 Preview

What can I say, I love to play around with new operating systems. And when I can do it for free, that's even better! If you want to give the Windows 8 Developer Preview a try, remember to use a virtual machine (like VirtualBox) or a computer that is non-productive. Read the full article here.

Calling on the cloud with Google Voice

Google Voice website

I use Google Voice all the time. I love saving money on long distance and international calls. And for free, come on, it's a no brainier. All you need is a gmail account. Read the full article here.

In a recent article, I wrote about the Microsoft Web Platform and the apps and websites you can create for free. Microsoft recently introduced WebMatrix, which combines all of the programs needed to create, customize and publish a website (like WordPress, DotNetNuke, nopCommerce) in one, easy to use program.

Microsoft WebMatrix opening screen

Microsoft WebMatrix allows you to manage all aspects of your website. From inside WebMatrix you can change web server settings (Internet Information Services / IIS), create and customize your website (Visual Web Developer 2010 Express), create and edit databases (SQL Server 2010 Express) and generate reports. It will also upload your app / website from your local server to your remote server too.

Microsoft WebMatrix file editing screen

And with lots of free app / website templates, creating an online presence has never been easier.

Microsoft WebMatrix web gallery screen

Here's a quote from the Microsoft website:

Create, customize and publish websites with WebMatrix

WebMatrix is a free web development tool from Microsoft that includes everything you need for website development. Start from open source web applications, built-in web templates or just start writing code yourself. It’s all-inclusive, simple and best of all free. Developing websites has never been easier.

Create your website

To get started creating websites, just download and install WebMatrix using the Microsoft Web Platform Installer. You’ll be up and running less than 5 minutes! Once WebMatrix is installed, we make it simple to get and install the latest version of your favorite free web applications such as WordPress, Joomla!, DotNetNuke and Orchard.

Customize your website

Once you’re up and running, you will find that WebMatrix provides all the tools features you’ll need in a single unified interface. Say good-bye to switching between multiple applications just to perform common web development tasks. With WebMatrix, you’re always just a click away from easily editing your files, managing your database and modifying your server settings.

Publish your website

When you’re ready, WebMatrix provides a no-hassle way to show the world your website. Just access our hosting gallery from WebMatrix and you’ll find a hosting provider that is guaranteed to run your site smoothly while also allowing you to publish directly from WebMatrix.

For more information on Microsoft WebMatrix, just follow the links below:

Microsoft WebMatrix
Microsoft WebMatrix Features