What you’ve heard about me is true—I am an online marketing tool junkie. That means I’m always on the lookout for tools marketers can use to improve their websites, increase the return on their marketing efforts, and make getting both of these done faster and easier.

This obsession has led me to create two free resources for online marketers:

• WebsiteTestingTools.com: a categorized list of more than 150 online marketing tools.

• Website Testing & Optimization – Buyer’s Guide for the Enterprise (Second Edition): analysis of the different vendors in the space and their business models, plus sample questions to include in an RFP process.

Where WebsiteTestingTools.com is more of a roundup of every and any online marketing technology that I believe can help companies (you’ll find down-and-dirty descriptions for each tool listed and a link to each vendor’s site), my Buyer’s Guide takes a stand on what to look for in a website testing and optimization tool.

Now in its second edition, the Buyer’s Guide reviews nine of the 40 or more website testing and targeting tools on the market, including Google Content Experiments, Optimizely, Monetate, SiteSpect, and Unbounce. I share my likes and dislikes, sample A/B tests conducted by the various tools, (thanks to my friends at WhichTestWon.com for contributing some of the examples), plus the names of a few clients from each vendor.

And, yes, I recommend some tools over others. Why? Because new best practices in website testing and optimization—like message consistency, concurrent campaigns, support for rapid innovation—require companies to rethink their needs in order to find a tool that will help them maximize their marketing efforts.

Disclosure: I am an advisor to Monetate, which is one of the tools listed on WebsiteTestingTools.com and recommended in the Buyer’s Guide. As I’ve said before, I serve on Monetate’s strategic board because I believe in what they’re doing. But I’ve reviewed four other leading tools for enterprise-level companies too, so you can compare and contrast for yourself.

WebsiteTestingTools.com and the Buyer’s Guide are free to you, so I invite you to check them out and share your feedback—both the good and the bad—with me. My goal is to help you do your job better, because it’s not getting any less competitive out there. Who knows, you might become an online tool junkie yourself.

Bryan Eisenberg is a widely followed thought leader in online marketing, and he is the Wall Street Journal and New York Times bestselling author of “Call to Action,” “Waiting For Your Cat to Bark?” and “Always Be Testing.”

As a professional marketing speaker, Bryan has keynoted corporate events and conferences such as Search Engine Strategies, Shop.org, Direct Marketing Association, MarketingSherpa, E-consultancy, Webcom, SEM Konferansen Norway, and the Canadian Marketing Association.

Bryan is the co-founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Web Analytics Association and serves as an advisory board member of Search Engine Strategies, the eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit, and several other venture capital-backed startup companies. He is on the board of trustees of the Direct Marketing Education Foundation. Bryan is also a member of the Monetate Strategic Advisory Board.