Cloaking and Tracking — Another Techno-snag

February 24, 2008 By Leave a Comment

I wrote the following lines a few days ago, and just before I published them, when I went to my GoTryThis dashboard to look up a link, it was very obvious the program was not functioning.

“Accomplished a bunch of odds and ends today. Feels like a whirlwind but feels good.

For the past 18 months I have been using GoTryThis on a server that has not been very reliable. This morning it was down for another 7 hours. That means none of my affiliate links work either. Not cool.

I decided to move the GoTryThis script and database to a different server – Hostgator – which has always been extremely reliable. I have a video that covers how to replicate a database, that I picked up from a member of Earn 1KaDay. Turned out to be a piece of cake, although cpanel is a bit different than the platform shown in the video. I was able to figure it out just fine. So now my GoTryThis database and script is on Hostgator and I expect will up almost all of the time.”

Well, either I didn’t figure it out just fine, or something else went screwy, but all I could get were error messages. Dang! Nothing I tried to fix it worked. Even redirecting the nameservers back to the original server led nowhere. (That one I can’t figure out, unless it was triggered by GTT thinking I was trying to install it on two servers at once and so it shut down. Can’t do this with the whitehat version.)

I’ve messed up the GTT database before, and so at least for now I’m giving up on that program. That’s why I have moved to a new link cloaking and tracking program — Cloak and Tracker — by Jay Jennings. I’ll write a full review on it soon, but I did find it easy to set up with good documentation, including videos and a pdf. So far I like how it works. It appears to have all the features of GTT whitehat and more, and the data is stored on my harddrive, not a MySQL database.

So, I guess that qualifies as another techno-snag. I think this one will lead to good results, though.

Thanks for visiting and have a good one!

Filed Under: Internet Marketing, Product Reviews, Progress Updates

Little Technology Snags

February 20, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Today is a complaining day. Ever have one of those?

Out of the blue today I can’t connect with my GoTryThis database. What’s the deal with that? I’m sure it’s something I did and not something wrong with the program. It’s a good program.

But it seems little snags like this are happening very regularly lately. It goes in spurts.

Yesterday it was trying to update a WordPress blog to version 2.3 with Fantastico. It didn’t work. Turned out to be a problem with my .htaccess file. I’ve never touched it. What’s the deal with that?

Before that it was trying to implement a process for blog posting via email. It’s a really cool idea for getting posts onto feeder blogs with a minimal of effort. I could not for the life of me figure out how to post to wordpress blogs by email. Sure there’s a section to input a secret email address and a detailed explanation in codex how to make it work. But I couldn’t make it work and still haven’t. I did learn of a plugin that might help, but haven’t tried it yet.

Then before that it was a backup system for all my websites and blogs. This program allows you to back them up via cron jobs and save the backups to your designated spot, so it’s automatic, and you can reinstall them with one click. Very cool. Could I get it to work? No way. Turned out to be a problem with the overall configuration at BlueHost and their firewall, or something. Had to move the script to another server.

Too much lately, and they turn into distractions. I can certainly be my own worst enemy when it comes to taking focused action in my work. At least I learn something new with each technology snag. Hopefully this cycle will end soon and I can stay on track a little more easily.

Sorry for the complaining. That’s enough for now.

Filed Under: Progress Updates

Website Traffic – Tracking and SEO

January 23, 2008 By Leave a Comment

There is a member on the Warrior Forum – sparrow – who appears to have worked in programming and SEO and related fields for awhile. My take is that he knows his stuff and has had some solid success building high ranking on search engines.

I became aware of him when he posted some special offers. The first was for a “secret” technique that would put static websites on a par with blogs in popularity with the SEs. With this he also included a method for getting pages indexed promptly and predictably. I have implemented most of this on my existing sites and look forward to testing the methods on some new sites I am creating. I’ll report back.

Next he offered his tracking software. This is a script that tracks when BOTS and other traffic visit your sites. With the other traffic, you have access to the website they came from. If this was a search engine, you get a clear picture of what keyword was typed in for the search and exactly where your site is listed in the rankings. People really do use long tail keywords.  It’s very fun.

Now, I know there are a bunch of programs that do these types of tracking, but this is the first I have tried. I expect I will learn a ton from watching the results. I plan to use this software in my work with SEO clients as well. Very cool.

Sparrow also promoted a program for Web 2.0 site submissions. I haven’t started working with this yet, but will very soon. My goal is to raise my sites out of obscurity and to build links and links and links. If “Search Engine Myths Exposed” (previous post) emphasizes anything it is the role backlinks play in search engine ranking success.

For a great series of case studies on generating attention and traffic for your sites, visit Steven’s Affiliate Marketing Diary. His blog is a goldmine and he is a very generous spirit. He offers really solid “how to” guides for what to put on your blogs and how to promote them. I can’t say enough about the value he gives away freely.

Finally, it’s time for a face lift on this blog. Expect a new look within a week or so. If you can suggest a great wp theme, please let me know.

That’s it for now. Thanks for visiting!

Filed Under: Progress Updates, SEO

Firefox and Internet Explorer Disconnect

November 12, 2007 By Leave a Comment

Does anyone else feel like the days just flow together? Weeks seem to fly by in what feels like minutes.

What accomplishments can I report? Much of my time recently has gone into site building. I guess that is good, since I enjoy it. (Interesting that my html editor here will not let me use an apostrophe. Hmm… I guess it is time to upgrade to a newer version of WordPress.)

I was working on my project of transitioning the Niches-in-a-Box websites to new templates and was making very good progress. Then something prompted me to double checked how the sites were loading in Internet Explorer, since I use Firefox. They looked awful! The alignment was all off and I have no clue how to fix it. (If anyone can shed any light on this I would love it!)

So, I moved to XSitePro with a little trepidation. I am now in the process of rebuilding the sites with XSitePro, and it is working beautifully. That really is a good program and I know I have barely touched its power. But I am pleased. I can clone the silos, change some keywords and be ready to go.

I have hit a snag with an ebook download and have not been able to get the images to show up on a thank you page. Seems to be an issue with where I have them located on the server. I admit I have backed off for a few days and need to get back to it. Sometimes I just want everything to go smoothly but I know I learn a ton more when it does not. (Funny writing all of this unable to use contractions!)

So, checking to make sure all of my other sites were loading properly in Internet Explorer, I realized that my eBay plugin, BayRSS, was not working correctly when using certain templates. Actually, the images from the eBay RSS feed were not showing up.

Now all of those blogs have new templates and that has been a blast. Especially creating headers with images from the stock photo sites. Very fun — first finding the images and then making them work. I am using a combination of Paint, SnagIt, and Photoshop Elements to create the headers to fit within the Cutline theme for WordPress. Very fun and gratifying and they look great!

By the way, speaking of XSitePro — version 2 is due out before the end of the year. I expect great enhancements. Anyone who buys now gets a free upgrade to the new version. That is a good deal. Anyone who purchased before this has to pay for the upgrade, which makes it an even better deal. The learning curve to create a decent site with XSitePro is a little steeper than many marketers would have you believe, but after using it just a short time, I became quite comfortable with it. This latest project has challenged me to learn to use XSitePro in ways I have not done before, and it is coming through with flying colors.

Lots is happening with the program I joined awhile back with the purpose of creating an Internet consulting business. LOTS is happening. I will fill you in very soon.

That is it for now. Thanks for being here and have a good one!

Filed Under: Internet Marketing, Product Reviews, Progress Updates

Blogs, Social Bookmarking, Social Networking and Traffic

October 21, 2007 By Leave a Comment

Pretty low-key day today. I’ve spent sometime posting to blogs and adding articles to some webpages.

The blogs are ones I created to compliment the Niches-in-a-Box websites. I moved them to totally separate domains a short time ago, but used the same niches. Amidst the blog posts I’m featuring eBay auctions, using the BayRSS plugin. I have to say they look pretty cool. They’re all indexed. Now I have to promote. It would be a good idea to set aside a day this week to work on that.

I finally figured out how to put an optin box on a website and have the form fit in a sidebar! I know, I know, most people figured this out a long time ago. But I’m fairly new to Aweber and auto responders, and feel pretty good about my accomplishment. Now I can do it anywhere. Maybe I’ll add an optin to my NIAB blogs.

My latest read is “Strategic Social Marketing” by Laura Childs. I’ve sort of followed her work for a couple years now, maybe not closely enough though. She has been doing research on Web 2.0 and traffic for many months now. A definite trend she and others have documented is a decrease in traffic through search engines. Apparently SEs are not the portal of choice of a growing number of Internet users (like millions!). Web 2.0 properties are their choice instead. But there are SO many of them, I feel overwhelmed in an instant!

I’m only half way through her report so far, so still have no clue where to start generating traffic through some of the social bookmarking or social networking sites using Laura’s methods. She promises to teach how to set up a game plan. I’ve been bookmarking for a long time now and seeing minimal results. Laura also promises that this can improve, given some research and knowing how to approach each niche.

I’m interested in reading more. You can find Laura at The Stampede Secret if you’re interested. She’s sharp. She’s been on line for a long time, and knows how to weather the evolution. I’m glad I found her.

That’s all for now. Thanks for visiting and have a good one!

P.S. Remember, if you’re an eBay affiliate, there’s a free copy of the BayRSS plugin available to you. Check out the link I created for the sidebar, just under the Blog Rush box.

Filed Under: Books, Internet Marketing, Progress Updates, Social Bookmarking, Social Networking
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