Posted @ September 3, 2011  |  Categorized Under: Directory News, Directory Related, Guides

It came to my attention that the search function on the directory was not working. After reports of link owners not being able to find their site via the search bar,I discovered that it was completely broken as no results came up for any keyword or term searched. I found a fix for it and it is now up and running again.

If any other phpld owners have this problem, here is the simple fix.

• At the very end of search.php, find this code:

$pattern = array ( '/(AND[\s])+/', '/(OR[\s])+/', '/\s+/', '/`+/', '`^[^\w\d]`', '`[^`\w\d]$`' );

• Replace it with:

$pattern = array ( '#(AND[\s])+#i', '#(OR[\s])+#i', '#[\s]+#', '#[`]+#', '#^[^\w\d]#i', '#[^`\w\d]$#i' );

Cheers!

Posted @ July 2, 2011  |  Categorized Under: Guides, Other

Having never used Google Adwords before till recently because I was presented with a $100 free coupon upon registering– I decided to give it a go.  The entire process is not exactly clear and could be confusing for rookies when it comes to Adwords.

It came with a lot of confusion that could easily lead to your account being overcharged as many people do not realize how quickly your balance accumulates. Within 10 minutes of my account being active, I’ve accumulated a balance of $6.34 with a $0.19 CPC. I think I refreshed the page just once…

• Choose Manual Payment when signing up. When you sign up to activate your billing information before your campaigns are activated, you’re presented with the Automatic Payment (postpay) or Manual Payment option. Unfortunately this can’t be changed after your account is set up. Automatic Payment will of course, bill you automatically once your account reaches a $50 balance or after 30 days, whichever comes first. That means for those if you using a coupon or voucher, you will be automatically charged from your credit card or bank account after you have used up your coupon– with no notification.  If you chose Manual Payment which is prepay, your campaigns will stop automatically after all your funds have been used up which results in no overcharges other than what you’ve initially put into your account.

• Pause or Delete your campaign in time. If you chose Manual Payment, make sure you keep a close watch on your account. If you do not want to be charged more than your voucher credit or the funds available in your account, make sure to pause or delete the campaign once your balance is close to your threshold. (Do this at least 3 hours before as the results being displayed isn’t in real time and you may actually have a higher balance than what is being shown so there is still a chance on going over.)

• Set an “end date” for your campaign This is especially for those using Adwords vouchers. If you have a $100 voucher and only wish to use the funds from the voucher, an example of what you could do is set your maximum daily spending to $15, and then choose an end date five days from the day you started the campaign. $15 x 5 = $75. Why only $75? Because if you look carefully, it actually states that your daily spending may actually peak 20% above your set daily budget for maximum potential for your ad. So without knowing, your budget is actually higher than what you set it to be which could lead to over charging if you do not monitor your account closely. Setting it at $15 for a $100 coupon should be safe.

Note: There is a $5 sign up fee once your campaign is activated. This will be billed towards your credit card or bank account if you chose Automatic Payment (postpay)… but if you chose Manual Payment (prepaid), it’ll be deducted from your coupon (if you have one). *Not 100% sure on this but it was what I was advised.

Overall, it is safer to do prepaid manual payment unless you’re a long term ongoing advertiser– which is obviously what the Adwords system is set up for.

I’ve heard countless stories on distressed advertisers logging onto their account after months to see accumulating balances of $450 or $600 and more and they have no idea where it came from. Many of these people  created an account using the $100 adwords coupon and did not realize they had to pause or delete their campaign to stop Google from charging your credit card or bank account after your coupon balance has used up.

It’s also not to the advertiser’s benefit that the Automatic Payment option is listed as “recommended” as new users/rookies will of course choose this option and often they’re not looking to use Adwords for a long term run or is only experimenting as a trial experiment.

Make sure you’re well aware of how the program works and what not before creating an account and submitting your billing information!

Posted @ December 9, 2009  |  Categorized Under: Guides, SEO

Whether you are building a website for a home-based business, a medium sized business, or a big, fancy business – the question is: how can you get maximum traffic to your site? Now this is where you need to know how to make full use of the natural traffic sources. Now you might be wondering what ‘natural traffic sources’ means. We explain in this article.

To get maximum mileage, you need to know proper methods to get quality-targeted traffic to your website. You can use natural search engine listings (which have the ability to convert well) – but many people new to the dynamics complain that the competition is too fierce, and the algorithm of the search engines is constantly changing. However, one of the best natural traffic sources is article marketing – which is absolutely free, and the leads can convert up to 10 times better than other sources. You need to be known, liked, and trusted by your visitor, for them to buy your product. So write and submit many article concerning yourself and your business to major directories, put in your website link in the resource box, and when people read and get to know about you, they will automatically be driven to buy your product.

Another natural traffic source that you can explore is pay per click advertising. Using AdWords gives you the ability to be effective in as little as 5 minutes. Basically what you need to do here is think about the keywords that people might use to locate your product, and use the keyword research tools – Wordtracker is a good example. Based on this research, you can find the laser target keywords that would mean high sales for you.

Yes, when it comes to generating traffic on your website, there are certain tips, strategies, tactics and secrets you should know. For instance, another great way to use a natural traffic source is to get featured on Google News, or any other major news website, as they get millions of visitors every day. Yahoo News and MSNBC are also good examples – use them for articles, press releases, etc. to get massive traffic to your site. What you need to do is be published on the sites that are syndicated by Google News. You can also submit your website as a potential news source –but you would need to keep in mind certain editorial guidelines.

Another way to use a natural traffic source is to target your readers with topic-specific articles. Because if you submit everything at one particular place, there’s a good chance your readers might not find what they are looking for. So focus on specific websites that cater to specific tastes – like The Bleacher Report (sports), SeekingAlpha (finance), LifeHack.org (self growth, time management, productivity, technology).

Yes, with just a little effort and dedication, you can pull it off – remember, make use of the natural traffic sources out there to generate traffic to your website at minimum cost. You are sure to reap the benefits!

Posted @ October 27, 2009  |  Categorized Under: Directory Related, Guides

On average, I receive about 100 or more spam emails per day via the contact form posted on postdotcom.com. Like most directory owners that have a job, a life, and a family,  there were not enough hours in the day to be spent slowly sorting through the massive amounts of spam emails everyday. I’ve noticed that spam emails were the majority of emails being received so being the noob that I was, I stopped dealing.

One day,  I received an email in my paypal inbox notifying me of Paypal disputes. Turns out, a buyers link was mistakenly rejected and did not receive a refund. They had contacted me via the main email many times and had no response for weeks. Though they had the benefit of doubt for us to wait, after more than two weeks, a dispute was finally open.

I’m going to be honest here, I was new to the business. I was unprofessional and paid the price for it as I  could have lost a recurring submitter. Filled with miscommunications as I tried to solve the issue and save the directory’s reputation, I knew I would never see the submitter again. Losing business is no fun. When you’re new and the excitement builts up, a small misstep definitely teaches you a lesson.

It eventually adds up as this incidence occurred twice. If I was the buyer and paid for a directory submission and had no response for weeks as to why my link was rejected with no refund, I will probably never return again nor would I recommend others to. In the end, you could be labeled as a scam or fraud. The submitter could have been someone working from an SEO company that would have recurring submissions to your directory, or simply an internet marketer that runs through lists of directories for website submissions daily. Every little thing counts.

For those who run hundreds of directories, make sure you do keep up with your emails. Free or not, it’s a business, and the service you provide must include customer service. For the gurus out there, I know they are on top of it, but here is a simple tip for the newbies. A little goes a long way, because one day, you maybe one of the big guru directories out there and you want a good reputation from beginning to end.

As small as this incident is, it is still a mishap that needs to be corrected. I’ve noticed that many directories take more than a week to respond, and that is an unacceptable wait because you are a company, a service, a business.

Two years later, we are definitely on top of it.

Posted @  |  Categorized Under: Guides, Other

I find many security scripts of great use when developing a directory or for content management. Login Manager 3 is one such, which is quite powerful and if you are a web administrator, then you can manage the website user accounts with much ease. You can create areas that are membership protected, and also prevent any unauthorized access to areas that have been secured.

iLogin is a PHP script that lets you protect parts of your site with password, which visitors can only access if they sign up and give you their details.

RedCMS Login Script lets users register / login / logout, and you can restrict the pages too. This script comes with a few administration controls which lets you change access levels for users. You can even remove users if you want to.

One  script you should watch out for is Simple Authorization PHP Script, which protects web page with password, without using a database. This makes use of PHP and of cookies, for password protection. The great thing about this is that it’s quite simple, both in terms of use and installation. No username is required, just a password – for accessing the page. All you need to do is download the script, configure, and add a line of code to each page which you would like to protect with password.

Also look out for User Management System, a great script that calls for a MySQL database. This lets users register, login, retrieve their password, and even edit their details. This is also easy to work with, and you can customize it as you like. In fact, you can even create areas that are strictly members-only.  For certain niches, look out for PHP Tell A Friend Script – which allows you let visitors recommend your website. You have both email layout and HTML layout, and they are easily customizable. Plus, many security features are added, which prevent spam and abuse.

Posted @ August 11, 2009  |  Categorized Under: Guides, SEO

You might be wondering about pay per click advertising. In this article, we shall tell you all about it. Basically, websites use it as an Internet advertising model. How does it work? Well, the advertisers pay the host only when someone has clicked on the advertisement. Generally, a fixed price is charged rather than a variable cost. When there is a match between a keyword query and an advertiser’s keyword list – then the website will display a PPC advertisement. This is also true if the content site has displayed some content relevant to the keyword. These are termed sponsored ads, or sponsored links.

Google Adwords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and Microsoft AdCenter are the best when it comes to pay per click advertising, however you should be aware that sometimes this model can fall victim of click fraud. An automated system should be implemented to guard against harmful or abusive clicks by corrupt web developers or competitors.

In pay per click advertising, a fixed amount is decided upon by the advertiser and the publisher. This is called the flat-rate model. It’s usually use in comparison shopping engines. However, it is possible for ad advertiser to pay more to get greater visibility. Sometimes, the full content of some websites can be paid ads.

Pay per click advertising started in February 1998, when Jeffrey Brewer, of Goto.com, gave the concept of a pay per click search engine to the TED conference, which was being held in California. Thus, the PPC advertising system was created – and Google caught up with search engine advertising in December 1999. In 2000, the AdWords system came into being – and this allowed advertisers to create text ads, which would be placed on the Google search engine.

Pay per click advertising is hot and happening today – it’s the best area of online marketing, and is expected to get much stronger. In fact, paid searches have been known to generate as much as $14 million in a year! Google definitely is the best among these for having a huge share of paid search.

So why is pay per click advertising creating such waves?  Well, the truth is that it’s simple and easy to use, plus as an advertiser have a good amount of control over your ad campaign, and you would also get quality feedback on your performance. That’s why pay per click advertising is something you should definitely look into, even if you are a CEO, you can make your own company’s PPC campaign.

Once you get into PPC advertising, you are sure to quickly pick up, and very soon you will have optimized your performance. Plan out your campaign so that you can generate millions and millions of dollars. Use PPC advertising to reach your target market and generate high quality sales leads.

So make maximum use of your keyword strategy and good visitor analytics to set up a PPC campaign that is guaranteed to work. You are sure to see the many benefits it will have for your business.

Posted @ December 11, 2008  |  Categorized Under: Blogs, Guides, Other

Blogging is a lot of work if you are up at night writing and researching for three hours. It does take a lot of time, I will not deny that. Here are a few tips to maximize your blog’s potentials.

• Drive Traffic to Your Blog

Organic traffic from search engines is what you’re always suppose to be focusing on. Work with your main keyword, search this keyword in search engines and advertise on the top sites you see on the list. Search engines love fresh content, be sure to update your blog daily with new content.

Link Exchanges
Link exchanging is another way of driving traffic and build backlinks without using any of your profits. Search for partners relating to your niche.

Advertising
Always have some money set aside for marketing your blog, my suggestions are to pay for directory submission services to help build your backlink and pagerank. Purchase text link or banner advertising on webmaster sites, such as blogs, forums and such.

• Keywords only about a specific topic

Say you made a post today about the internet, what would the postmostly talk about? Yes, that’s right – the internet. Blog posts would mainly only talk about one thing, it would be easier for search engines to determine its theme thus making it rank higher than a webpage talking about both the internet and music piracy.

• Keyword Density

Not many people would like to read 1000 words for a blog post each day, thats why posts are so short, so having the post only talking about one subject means that you have a good chance of a high keyword density.Having keyword rich titles give search engines a good overview of your site and also increases your keyword prominence (how early a keyword appears in text).

• Permalinks

Having your URLs as www.yourblog.com/blogpost-title or www.yourblog.com/blogpost_title is more search engine friendly
than having www.yourblog.com/?p=123. Most blogging systems (like WordPress) gives you the ability to change this.

• Subscriptions

Services such as BlogLet allows you to generate a form for your visitors to subscribe to your blog.
Everytime you update with a new entry, your subscribers receives an email notification.

• TrackBacks

So what are trackbacks?
Trackbacks, also known as pingbacks is a method in blogs that enables automatic cross-references between weblog articles.
For example, if someone writes an entry on the importance of water, and you have a related article base on the topic, you can point your entry link to the article you just viewed. This way readers can read your piece too via the link submitted.

• Ping

Ping.in is a blog ping service that pings or notifies weblog services and blog directories that your blog has been updated. Thus enabling them to index your blog fast and make your content available for a larger audience.

Posted @ November 4, 2007  |  Categorized Under: Guides, Other

With every link building method that you choose to use, there are always ways to maximize their effect. The same goes with link building with forum signatures. Posting in certain threads in forums allows you to maximize the effect of your link building campaign. Some threads give you more link juice to your site, and others may give you more exposure and views to forum participants.

Topics that give more link juice:

We all understand that some forums use the no follow attribute on their signatures (ex. digitalpoint), but for forums that do not, the following should be considered.

? Sticky threads: They are just two links away from the home page at all times. They are featured first on all the pages of the forums that they belong to. And sometimes can manage to get a good PR. You can either create very helpful guides that can become sticky threads or you can simply post a comment in these threads.

? Threads that are linked to a lot by bloggers: When you see a thread that breaks the news or is talked about a lot in the blogosphere, don’t forget to leave a comment. Some of its PR will leak to your site.

Topics that will give you a high exposure:

? Threads about earnings: especially when started by someone that has a high monthly income. They tend to get a lot of views and comments, and if you’re the first to reply, you’re going to get some extra exposure.? How to posts: Posts that explain something in detail and they do it well. There are a lot of different guides to link building and monetization in the webmaster forums, but not all bring something new to the table. Pick those that reveal a new method of making money or getting links, and you got a better chance of getting your link seen, if you’re one of the first to comment.

? Don’t just reply, open new threads yourself. If you can open a conversation on a certain topic, do it. And if you make it interesting you’ll gain more exposure than by just replying in threads.

Also, remember to try to make useful comments by replying with something that may contribute to the discussion.

Posted @ October 14, 2007  |  Categorized Under: Guides, Other

Do you come upon these .pureftpd-upload files often while uploading files? The files, that for example, show as pureftpd-upload.43fbc128.15.3fa0.ff38da9f, are set to a permission that you can not overwrite in FTP. Neither can you delete the file nor the folder it is in. Usually, these .pureftpd-upload files are only temporary and will disappear after a while.

But if you want to remove them, there are several way to do this. The simplest way that many users miss is simply removing the file in your cpanel.

Here’s how. Go to Cpanel. Then click on File Manager. Browse through the folders where your .pureftpd-upload files are located and click delete.

And your done. That was easy huh?

Digg this article!

Posted @ October 4, 2007  |  Categorized Under: Guides, Other, SEO

Signature links are today perhaps one of the best forms of marketing through forums. You write an article and post it in a forum of an article directory or perhaps email the article to interested people and all you do for marketing is to put your link at the end of the article which could direct to your website or your email address.

Signature links help in a way that they help your web page getting spidered by a lot of search engines. The benefit to this is that these search engines index your website and index them faster. So, this is indeed an advantage for a newly launched website.

In case you use signature links in forums, you get a sufficient amount of traffic to your website in case it is relevant to your website. Even if it is not, the signature link gives you a decent amount of viewers and traffic. This, as obvious implies that that you get your website back linked sooner than you can without using this method.

Signature links do not impose on you that you have to use only one single link. In fact you can use some four to five links and promote all your pages at one go. In case all your posts are relevant or have attraction for viewers, at times you could find a huge amount of traffic to your web pages. This indeed is a very good way to advertise the site.

The last point is more than interesting for freelancers. In case you want to make money from signature links, you can always write a number of articles and use different signature links to promote other people?s web pages and earn money as an advertiser.

No wonder the concept of signature links has boosted up the concept of back linking and indeed you should give it a try!