I have currently removed any referral links for Domain Dashboard.
I have filed a support ticket, loads of bugs and what I feel is an unfinished interface that should have had a lot more work and testing put into it.
I have no idea how Jim a.k.a. Bud Wiser gave it a 5/5 rating.
I currently feel like I paid $150 to beta test something (I live in Europe, I have to pay VAT of 17.5%).
One of the bugs I have is a corrupt database, after just a few hrs of using it. They had quite a strange backup procedure, stating you backup all the files in a folder other than one file. I believe it is something to do with the license. Why put it inside a folder that you have to backup frequently? They said if you restore a file over it, you would break the registry....
The challenge is going to be how to fix everything. Obviously I am not going to be zipping up files to send them that have password data in them. Maybe the only way will be to uninstall, delete what remains, and start again from scratch.
Databases for this kind of program have loads of generated passwords in them. Recovering from a database failure at the wrong stage e.g. accounts created with random passwords, but no backup made of the database yet, is going to be very tricky longterm.
I have never had a problem with Roboform in 18months. All data for Roboform is stored in individual files for each site, so even if there was a database failure on one file, that is only one password gone, and it is easy to get it remailed to you.
Thus I give you fair warning...
I strongly suggest subscribing to my blog if you are interested in this product. If you own it, I would advise backing up everything, and repeat the process every 20 mins or so, especially if you use any of the mass functions.
If it wasn't for the database problems, which they will hopefully fix, it is going to be a damn powerful tool that will save me hours of work.
The list of feature tweaks I sent to them were minor irritations which hopefully would be fixed over time. It is a shame that so many of the tools seem to be half finished.
If you are maintaining 100s of sites (as I am sure Jim is), then you will live with the bigs and give it 6/6 because it has just knocked hours off your working day, every day.
I am not making as many domains. It saves me time with setup, but then I spend a lot more time on each domain.
Once the database gets fixed...
Core functionality 4/5
This is the setting up of domains - there are some bugs in it, or it is not foolproof. The interface is a little clunky but it can do the job
FTP 3/5
The simple ftp is junk. The mass ftp I can see some holes in it, but haven't tested
Stats 3.5/5
It works, it is fast, and once it has been tweaked and all the data is exportable, not just single days, it is maybe a 5/5 and will blow the free digitalpoint service away for easy of use with multiple sites.
Mass Creation x/5
Heh, the buy it before it is gone offer will last until Friday at Noon, I guess they have a little time to get back to me so I can give people a thumbs up (and a link)
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Investing in your online business
This week I have been investing in a few bits and pieces which should hopefully reap some good rewards.
With so many offers flying around, major launches by big names, and a host of smaller offerings it is often hard to decide what is a good choice.
I was almost tempted by Joel Comms new Adsense package, but he blew it on 2 major accounts.
First off was when he mentioned he doesn't know much about HTML. Wordpress templates have to be 100% right for compatibility with all the plugins and widgets. They can't just be chucked together with the same CSS as other pages and get everything looking right, especially when you have lots of content in multiple child categories.
The bonuses on offer were actually more valuable than the templates, but even then many were not ideally suited for use with Wordpress sites.
In addition I sent them a support ticket just a few minutes after the site went live. I still haven't received an answer back.
It is a physical product. As you know I run my business from the UK, but I live in Poland. Shipping and importing to Poland is a nightmare if a package gets stopped for import duties.
Whilst Joel would only have charged $20 for shipping, the Polish authorities don't have to believe that fee is accurate. They can decide that $100 - $150 was the actual shipping fee.
If the paperwork isn't completed corectly, instead of paying only $5 or so in duty, I could end up paying 30-40% on the total $197+$150 - so maybe an extra $150. Add to that admin fees and a $200 purchase costs $400.
But then there is the time investment. I might have to actually travel to the customs office to sort out paperwork, faxes back and forth. Maybe shipping new sales documentation from the US because of some error etc.
You might think I am over exagerating, but I have paid $200 import duty on a single CDR beta version of a game I was once sent by a publisher. Importing CDs to Poland was my main line of business for over 10 years, often into 7 digits worth per year.
Stomper didn't attract me. I often worry about non competition clauses. I have some major plans ahead and avoid anything that might be looked on as even vaguely in the same direction. This is especially true if they have hidden features that are a secret weapon.
That is actually one of the reasons I dropped out of Portal Feeder. I might have ended up helping to shape it's future, and in some ways that would have overlapped with some of my own plans, especially smaller projects that didn't happen due to my time offline.
They don't come close to one of my major projects that even 1 year after I first conceived the concept and made some initial appraoches to technology partners, is still fresh, state-of-the-art and begging for a green light (from my bank balance... ) ;)
So what have I spent money on?
First off Affiliate Project X. That is an affiliate link but this is way after the big guys have been promoting it. I found it highly motivational for my major project which combines some of underlying concepts. The primary concepts are pre-selling and being sneaky. It isn't an ebook filled with 10 products that you simply must buy to get it working. The strategies work - I have made around 10x my investment back over the last week. It doesn't require a mailing list (which is a good job, I have never mailed my 1K+ subscribers - when it happens it will be juicy)
My largest investment this week was Domain Dashboard. It is a tool for managing domains with cpanel and whm. I am setting up a lot of new sites, and managing what is happening on each hosting account is becoming a pain. You can do it with lots of bookmarks, but even using a tool like roboform for filling in all the passwords it eventually gets too much.
Last off I purchased some Adsense backgrounds. I have sites that get 100+ unique visitors per day yet don't cover domain purchase and hosting fees. I have used a couple so far over on my Wordpress Plugins site which has recently changed domain name. (more about that on the site)
It is one of my poorer performers atm, but that will change. I have full time programmers working on some very neat wordpress plugins. Most of them will be free, so well worth subscribing to my plugins blog.
So I have invested in products that:-
1. will enhance my approach to my business (Project X)
2. will save me time and help me work more efficiently, no matter what kind of sites I create
3. Something that will help my existing sites make more money (Adsense Backgrounds)
There are lots of smaller investments you can make that will make a direct measurable change to your business. It is often better to make small purchases than buy one large training package, mentoring program etc.
The gurus all preach about the little changes you can make to your business that soon amount to big changes. Then they try to rape your wallet for something you don't need, an all in one solution.
I am only investing profit. If you go back into the archives you might recall that not much more than a year ago I was making sites on free hosting.
With so many offers flying around, major launches by big names, and a host of smaller offerings it is often hard to decide what is a good choice.
I was almost tempted by Joel Comms new Adsense package, but he blew it on 2 major accounts.
First off was when he mentioned he doesn't know much about HTML. Wordpress templates have to be 100% right for compatibility with all the plugins and widgets. They can't just be chucked together with the same CSS as other pages and get everything looking right, especially when you have lots of content in multiple child categories.
The bonuses on offer were actually more valuable than the templates, but even then many were not ideally suited for use with Wordpress sites.
In addition I sent them a support ticket just a few minutes after the site went live. I still haven't received an answer back.
It is a physical product. As you know I run my business from the UK, but I live in Poland. Shipping and importing to Poland is a nightmare if a package gets stopped for import duties.
Whilst Joel would only have charged $20 for shipping, the Polish authorities don't have to believe that fee is accurate. They can decide that $100 - $150 was the actual shipping fee.
If the paperwork isn't completed corectly, instead of paying only $5 or so in duty, I could end up paying 30-40% on the total $197+$150 - so maybe an extra $150. Add to that admin fees and a $200 purchase costs $400.
But then there is the time investment. I might have to actually travel to the customs office to sort out paperwork, faxes back and forth. Maybe shipping new sales documentation from the US because of some error etc.
You might think I am over exagerating, but I have paid $200 import duty on a single CDR beta version of a game I was once sent by a publisher. Importing CDs to Poland was my main line of business for over 10 years, often into 7 digits worth per year.
Stomper didn't attract me. I often worry about non competition clauses. I have some major plans ahead and avoid anything that might be looked on as even vaguely in the same direction. This is especially true if they have hidden features that are a secret weapon.
That is actually one of the reasons I dropped out of Portal Feeder. I might have ended up helping to shape it's future, and in some ways that would have overlapped with some of my own plans, especially smaller projects that didn't happen due to my time offline.
They don't come close to one of my major projects that even 1 year after I first conceived the concept and made some initial appraoches to technology partners, is still fresh, state-of-the-art and begging for a green light (from my bank balance... ) ;)
So what have I spent money on?
First off Affiliate Project X. That is an affiliate link but this is way after the big guys have been promoting it. I found it highly motivational for my major project which combines some of underlying concepts. The primary concepts are pre-selling and being sneaky. It isn't an ebook filled with 10 products that you simply must buy to get it working. The strategies work - I have made around 10x my investment back over the last week. It doesn't require a mailing list (which is a good job, I have never mailed my 1K+ subscribers - when it happens it will be juicy)
My largest investment this week was Domain Dashboard. It is a tool for managing domains with cpanel and whm. I am setting up a lot of new sites, and managing what is happening on each hosting account is becoming a pain. You can do it with lots of bookmarks, but even using a tool like roboform for filling in all the passwords it eventually gets too much.
Last off I purchased some Adsense backgrounds. I have sites that get 100+ unique visitors per day yet don't cover domain purchase and hosting fees. I have used a couple so far over on my Wordpress Plugins site which has recently changed domain name. (more about that on the site)
It is one of my poorer performers atm, but that will change. I have full time programmers working on some very neat wordpress plugins. Most of them will be free, so well worth subscribing to my plugins blog.
So I have invested in products that:-
1. will enhance my approach to my business (Project X)
2. will save me time and help me work more efficiently, no matter what kind of sites I create
3. Something that will help my existing sites make more money (Adsense Backgrounds)
There are lots of smaller investments you can make that will make a direct measurable change to your business. It is often better to make small purchases than buy one large training package, mentoring program etc.
The gurus all preach about the little changes you can make to your business that soon amount to big changes. Then they try to rape your wallet for something you don't need, an all in one solution.
I am only investing profit. If you go back into the archives you might recall that not much more than a year ago I was making sites on free hosting.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Stomper Network - getting the right customers
I am sure I am not the only one taking an interest in the Stomper Network
Andy and Brad have certainly done their homework, maybe influenced by The Product Launch Formula.
I noticed today in the comments someone asking how you ensure that the people who join a training program that has been marketted as successfully as The Stomper Network has, are the ones you really want in such a community project.
The Stomper Network will largely rely (at least I think it will), on its members taking action, collectively. The last of 5 key elements is likely to be announced tomorrow, and I assume it is some tool / script that will help the members in some way, possibly with linking.
Stompernet will no doubt be limiting its membership, and if half the membership is sold to big corporates, who are there mainly to absorb information, and not participate in community schemes like linking, then the service will be less valuable for the remaining members.
One good method for pre-filtering memberships is to have some form of indepth questionaire for all applicants, and retaining the right to refuse membership if in the best interests of other customers.
Andy and Brad have certainly done their homework, maybe influenced by The Product Launch Formula.
I noticed today in the comments someone asking how you ensure that the people who join a training program that has been marketted as successfully as The Stomper Network has, are the ones you really want in such a community project.
The Stomper Network will largely rely (at least I think it will), on its members taking action, collectively. The last of 5 key elements is likely to be announced tomorrow, and I assume it is some tool / script that will help the members in some way, possibly with linking.
Stompernet will no doubt be limiting its membership, and if half the membership is sold to big corporates, who are there mainly to absorb information, and not participate in community schemes like linking, then the service will be less valuable for the remaining members.
One good method for pre-filtering memberships is to have some form of indepth questionaire for all applicants, and retaining the right to refuse membership if in the best interests of other customers.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Portal Feeder - 9 months on
I cancelled my subscription to Portal Feeder fairly early, and probably a good thing in hindsight as not long after that my internet marketing career took a 9 month hiatus.
I had faith that the system would eventually bring in some results, but I didn't really like the sites that were possible at the time.
I didn't provide any example sites in the past, but there are quite a few out there, and they are not too hard to find.
People using Portal Feeder tend to link through to their sites when they comment. You might have to delve a little deeper, maybe taking a look at the links page located on the site they are linking to, and then you can find lots of totally unrelated sites (quite often), and more rarely sites within the same niche with similar navigation, other than the template used. I would assume by the same author, all built with Portal Feeder.
This post for instance on the Portal Feeder blog is very typical
Some of what I have seen actually surprises me.
1. I would have expected a lot more linking, and interlinking between members of Portal Feeder, maybe with some free blogs inbetween. The sites I visited seemed to have very few linking partners.
2. By this time I expected a lot more variety in the way sites were formatted, and maybe a lot more interlinking within the content.
The good news I suppose is that the members have been active creating sites, and it doesn't take many sites, if carefully targetted to cover the cost of Portal Feeder. Many of the sites were carefully niched, rather than aiming for broader terms.
Maybe Portal Feeder v2 can do a lot more, hopefully the sites I saw were all based around v1 and that v2 sites I wouldn't be able to recognise quite so easily, and would have much better internal linking.
I had faith that the system would eventually bring in some results, but I didn't really like the sites that were possible at the time.
I didn't provide any example sites in the past, but there are quite a few out there, and they are not too hard to find.
People using Portal Feeder tend to link through to their sites when they comment. You might have to delve a little deeper, maybe taking a look at the links page located on the site they are linking to, and then you can find lots of totally unrelated sites (quite often), and more rarely sites within the same niche with similar navigation, other than the template used. I would assume by the same author, all built with Portal Feeder.
This post for instance on the Portal Feeder blog is very typical
Some of what I have seen actually surprises me.
1. I would have expected a lot more linking, and interlinking between members of Portal Feeder, maybe with some free blogs inbetween. The sites I visited seemed to have very few linking partners.
2. By this time I expected a lot more variety in the way sites were formatted, and maybe a lot more interlinking within the content.
The good news I suppose is that the members have been active creating sites, and it doesn't take many sites, if carefully targetted to cover the cost of Portal Feeder. Many of the sites were carefully niched, rather than aiming for broader terms.
Maybe Portal Feeder v2 can do a lot more, hopefully the sites I saw were all based around v1 and that v2 sites I wouldn't be able to recognise quite so easily, and would have much better internal linking.
Article Marketing - Article Marketer price increases
I have used Article Marketer for over 1 year, and they have kept their prices the same throughout. They have fulfilled their promise to improve the features of the service.
Article marketing is a great way to promote any niche website.
At a rough estimate they now submit directly to more than 10 times as many websites compared to 1 year ago.
As to happy customers, I am certainly happy, but I can also see how happy people are from the healthy state of my affiliate income.
Recurring monthly income has actually been increasing, even though I haven't been doing much active promotion of the service for the last 9 months, and I am also seeing a lot of renewals for 1 year subscriptions.
Obviously there are going to be some dropouts, but the majority of people who subscribed to Article Marketer 1 year ago, are still members.
Another indication of the quality of the serice is how many people once they have used it, decide to also promote it as an affiliate, despite the fact they could make more money from a single sale promoting more expensive services or maybe a more expensive software solution.
I currently have more than 100 sub-affiliates.
On Tuesday 26th September prices for Article Marketer are going to be going up for new subscribers. It is more than overdue, and the service will still be better value than any other quality article submission service.
Do yourself a favour (yep British spelling), and lock in a subscription to Article Marketer before the price increases take effect.
Technorati Keywords
niche website , seo , article marketing , Search Engine Optimization , linking , backlinks , article submission , submit article
Article marketing is a great way to promote any niche website.
At a rough estimate they now submit directly to more than 10 times as many websites compared to 1 year ago.
As to happy customers, I am certainly happy, but I can also see how happy people are from the healthy state of my affiliate income.
Recurring monthly income has actually been increasing, even though I haven't been doing much active promotion of the service for the last 9 months, and I am also seeing a lot of renewals for 1 year subscriptions.
Obviously there are going to be some dropouts, but the majority of people who subscribed to Article Marketer 1 year ago, are still members.
Another indication of the quality of the serice is how many people once they have used it, decide to also promote it as an affiliate, despite the fact they could make more money from a single sale promoting more expensive services or maybe a more expensive software solution.
I currently have more than 100 sub-affiliates.
On Tuesday 26th September prices for Article Marketer are going to be going up for new subscribers. It is more than overdue, and the service will still be better value than any other quality article submission service.
Do yourself a favour (yep British spelling), and lock in a subscription to Article Marketer before the price increases take effect.
Technorati Keywords
niche website , seo , article marketing , Search Engine Optimization , linking , backlinks , article submission , submit article
SEO - inbound links analysis over time
Nosmada asked the following question in the comments to my last post...
Easiset is relative to your situation. A lot also depends on whether you are trying to link for a number of major keywords, or thousands of low hanging fruit.
I still strongly believe in article submission as an effective way of promoting websites but you shouldn't use it as an exclusive method.
My belief is that Google has some kind of balance scale, and looks to see some kind of natural linking from different types of sites.
Links from articles will only get you so far, and you need links from other sources which balance it out to get a higher authority rating.
I still rate Article Marketer as the best way of submitting articles. They weren't a flash-in-the-pan. They are still in business, growing their distribution, and improving their service.
The bad news is that they are going to be putting their prices up "any day", so now isn't a good time to sit on the fence.
Looking at things based on what I remember 9 months ago, I see an aweful lot hasn't changed.
The PR of many popular sites also hasn't changed, despite continued and in many cases increased distribution of their content.
If all you are getting is links from PR0 to PR6 sites, it is going to be hard to get beyond PR4 to PR6 yourself.
So article marketing is going to help, but ultimately the best way to get a high rating and a huge variety of inbound links is to create a buzz about something that gets others talking and linking to you.
As an example I am going to be continuing work on my plugins site. It gained a PR5 rating almost overnight with very little promotion work.
I suppose the best example of the buzz effect is the original pixel adverts site. The higher up the internet food chain you create the buzz, the better quality links you will get.
Then again my plugins site doesn't make much money. That is something I will be working on, and obviously I want to increase the amount of links it is getting exponentially.
I haven't tested out any of the new mass blogging tools, but from what I have seen whilst they are going to help bring you traffic from low hanging fruit keywords, they are not, just like articles going to take you to "authority" status and beyond.
I respect many of the people using them, for instance Dane Morgan has been recommending various products over the last month and I respect his opinion.
Would you believe I also respect Bud Wiser over at Army of Blogs.
That doesn't mean I agree with everything they say, or that I would use every tool they use or give a testimonial for.
Actually Army of Blogs is quite a good example. I am sure Bud has spent a little time promoting his blog, and of course he has some links coming in from RSS feeds etc. Whist I am sure it is not his core business, I would still expect at least a few of his pages to have PR4 or higher. (yes I know PR isn't a major indicator, but it is an indicator)
This Blogger blog also currently is a good example of bad internal linking. I have PR4 on the front page, but it is not being passed onto important internal pages very well. I just spent 30 mins or so scrolling back to previous posts to see their PR, and the ones that had an article pointing to them are PR3.
Thus it is my opinion you will get PR3 for any site that you submit at least one article for, for the page it is linking to, as long as you submit it to the "majors" such as ezinearticles and it gets picked up on a fair number of other sites.
If you submit lots of articles, you might get up to PR4 or PR5.
To get any further than that, you need to be doing something else...
Technorati Keywords
niche website , seo , keyword optimization , Search Engine Optimization , keyword research tool
Hi Andy,I haven't been able to immediatey pick things back up where I left off, because it has taken some time in analysis of what I had been doing, and what continues to work. It has even meant that I haven't been able to get back in contact with everyone I should.
Glad you are back. I was researching article submission software and was wondering what you feel is the easiest and best way to get one-way links including other ideas like using blogomatix or other methods. Like what is the easiest thing that really produces when you are really time crunched?
Easiset is relative to your situation. A lot also depends on whether you are trying to link for a number of major keywords, or thousands of low hanging fruit.
I still strongly believe in article submission as an effective way of promoting websites but you shouldn't use it as an exclusive method.
My belief is that Google has some kind of balance scale, and looks to see some kind of natural linking from different types of sites.
Links from articles will only get you so far, and you need links from other sources which balance it out to get a higher authority rating.
I still rate Article Marketer as the best way of submitting articles. They weren't a flash-in-the-pan. They are still in business, growing their distribution, and improving their service.
The bad news is that they are going to be putting their prices up "any day", so now isn't a good time to sit on the fence.
Looking at things based on what I remember 9 months ago, I see an aweful lot hasn't changed.
The PR of many popular sites also hasn't changed, despite continued and in many cases increased distribution of their content.
If all you are getting is links from PR0 to PR6 sites, it is going to be hard to get beyond PR4 to PR6 yourself.
So article marketing is going to help, but ultimately the best way to get a high rating and a huge variety of inbound links is to create a buzz about something that gets others talking and linking to you.
As an example I am going to be continuing work on my plugins site. It gained a PR5 rating almost overnight with very little promotion work.
I suppose the best example of the buzz effect is the original pixel adverts site. The higher up the internet food chain you create the buzz, the better quality links you will get.
Then again my plugins site doesn't make much money. That is something I will be working on, and obviously I want to increase the amount of links it is getting exponentially.
I haven't tested out any of the new mass blogging tools, but from what I have seen whilst they are going to help bring you traffic from low hanging fruit keywords, they are not, just like articles going to take you to "authority" status and beyond.
I respect many of the people using them, for instance Dane Morgan has been recommending various products over the last month and I respect his opinion.
Would you believe I also respect Bud Wiser over at Army of Blogs.
That doesn't mean I agree with everything they say, or that I would use every tool they use or give a testimonial for.
Actually Army of Blogs is quite a good example. I am sure Bud has spent a little time promoting his blog, and of course he has some links coming in from RSS feeds etc. Whist I am sure it is not his core business, I would still expect at least a few of his pages to have PR4 or higher. (yes I know PR isn't a major indicator, but it is an indicator)
This Blogger blog also currently is a good example of bad internal linking. I have PR4 on the front page, but it is not being passed onto important internal pages very well. I just spent 30 mins or so scrolling back to previous posts to see their PR, and the ones that had an article pointing to them are PR3.
Thus it is my opinion you will get PR3 for any site that you submit at least one article for, for the page it is linking to, as long as you submit it to the "majors" such as ezinearticles and it gets picked up on a fair number of other sites.
If you submit lots of articles, you might get up to PR4 or PR5.
To get any further than that, you need to be doing something else...
Technorati Keywords
niche website , seo , keyword optimization , Search Engine Optimization , keyword research tool
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Back in action after 9 month Hiatus
I have decided not to go into the details of my absense, but rest assured nothing illegal or life threatening.
A lot has changed over the last 9 months in Niche Marketing, or so lots of people would have you believe but at the end of the day, all the fundamentals are still the same.
You still want to build up lots of sites, with lots of content (better if it is unique), and get plenty of incoming links.
Sure there are new tools to help you build them, link them and monetize them, and umpteen new ways to create content faster to fill them, but at the end of the day, not a lot seems to have changed.
Obviously you still need to target your niche correctly, thus there are even more keyword tools and services, but the old ones still work (at least the ones I have checked over the last 2 days), and still allow you to find "low hanging fruit".
I am going to keep this post short but expect a lot of activity over the next few days as I delve into the survivability of an internet marketing business if it becomes decapitated. Yup ouch!
Technorati Keywords
niche website , seo , keyword optimization , Search Engine Optimization , keyword research tool
A lot has changed over the last 9 months in Niche Marketing, or so lots of people would have you believe but at the end of the day, all the fundamentals are still the same.
You still want to build up lots of sites, with lots of content (better if it is unique), and get plenty of incoming links.
Sure there are new tools to help you build them, link them and monetize them, and umpteen new ways to create content faster to fill them, but at the end of the day, not a lot seems to have changed.
Obviously you still need to target your niche correctly, thus there are even more keyword tools and services, but the old ones still work (at least the ones I have checked over the last 2 days), and still allow you to find "low hanging fruit".
I am going to keep this post short but expect a lot of activity over the next few days as I delve into the survivability of an internet marketing business if it becomes decapitated. Yup ouch!
Technorati Keywords
niche website , seo , keyword optimization , Search Engine Optimization , keyword research tool
Friday, December 23, 2005
Wordpress Plugin: Snowfall
I launched a new site today, along with a little seasonal gift
WordpressPlugins.info
I have mentioned using Taggerati in the past, along with Blog Auto Publisher. This site has Taggerati implemented, although the tagging is currently being performed manually rather than by keyword list.
I currently have 13 or 14 pages on the site, and have only created one post. Every page is different, though I need a lot more content to make them truely unique.
I will have lots more plugins for Wordpress available soon.
Technorati Keywords
niche website , wordpress , plugin , Wordpress Plugin , Christmas
WordpressPlugins.info
I have mentioned using Taggerati in the past, along with Blog Auto Publisher. This site has Taggerati implemented, although the tagging is currently being performed manually rather than by keyword list.
I currently have 13 or 14 pages on the site, and have only created one post. Every page is different, though I need a lot more content to make them truely unique.
I will have lots more plugins for Wordpress available soon.
Technorati Keywords
niche website , wordpress , plugin , Wordpress Plugin , Christmas
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
The Dowser - Nice Christmas Present
Whilst it has been slated as having a bit of a cumbersome interface, The Dowser has always been one of my favorite keyword research tools.
I don't use it exclusively, I also own The Keyword Bible (great for fast keyword list generation), Keyword Locator, and a number of other tools I use, free, purchased, and even a couple I wrote myself while learning some PHP.
I just received a most welcome email from the guys at The Dowser... it was long overdue
They have been keeping users equiped with additional tools over the last few months, and they have proven to be useful.
But there hadn't been a Dowser Update...
Until NOW!
Here is the email...
Early Season's Greetings to you!
Here's the most awaited Chistmas Goodie we have in store
for you...
** Introducing - TheDowser Professional V5.5 **
As a registered customer of TheDowser Professional,
you'll be able to download this new release at no cos.t.
TheDowser Professional V5.5 includes several major bug
fixes, including:
- Multiple Overture Security box pop-up problem fix
- Fixed formatting issues with Google and Overture
- Improved harvesting speed by 30%
- Reduced CPU consumption by 35%
and....
Drum Rolls Please....
We've added the ability to extract Google Bids data from
Google AdWords Traffic Estimator for each keyword!
(You'll need an existing Google AdWords account to use
this feature)
** Google Bids Feature List **
TheDowser Professional Version 5.5 nows offers you the
ability to obtain Google Bid data for EACH keyword,
specifically:
- Number of Clicks/Day
- Average Cost/Click
- Average Position
- Cost/Day
- Searches/Day
In addition, you'll be able to obtain the above data based
on SIX Maximum Cost-Per-Click and Keyword Matching options:
- $90 Max CPC and Broad Match Keywords (Default Setting)
- $90 Max CPC and Exact Match Keywords
- Google Suggested Max CPC and Broad Match Keywords
- Google Suggested Max CPC and Exact Match Keywords
- $0.10 Max CPC and Broad Match Keywords
- $0.10 Max CPC and Exact Match Keywords
** Other New Features **
We've also added a 'Tools' section (the right-most tab
located on the lower pane)
You'll find various sub-tabs available:
- Tools
- Competition
- Design
- Content
- Products
I will give you some feedback (and maybe even some screenshots) in a couple of days.
You can pick up a free version of the Dowser, and it is not in any way time limited
Technorati Keywords
niche website , seo , keyword optimization , Search Engine Optimization , keyword research tool
I don't use it exclusively, I also own The Keyword Bible (great for fast keyword list generation), Keyword Locator, and a number of other tools I use, free, purchased, and even a couple I wrote myself while learning some PHP.
I just received a most welcome email from the guys at The Dowser... it was long overdue
They have been keeping users equiped with additional tools over the last few months, and they have proven to be useful.
But there hadn't been a Dowser Update...
Until NOW!
Here is the email...
Early Season's Greetings to you!
Here's the most awaited Chistmas Goodie we have in store
for you...
** Introducing - TheDowser Professional V5.5 **
As a registered customer of TheDowser Professional,
you'll be able to download this new release at no cos.t.
TheDowser Professional V5.5 includes several major bug
fixes, including:
- Multiple Overture Security box pop-up problem fix
- Fixed formatting issues with Google and Overture
- Improved harvesting speed by 30%
- Reduced CPU consumption by 35%
and....
Drum Rolls Please....
We've added the ability to extract Google Bids data from
Google AdWords Traffic Estimator for each keyword!
(You'll need an existing Google AdWords account to use
this feature)
** Google Bids Feature List **
TheDowser Professional Version 5.5 nows offers you the
ability to obtain Google Bid data for EACH keyword,
specifically:
- Number of Clicks/Day
- Average Cost/Click
- Average Position
- Cost/Day
- Searches/Day
In addition, you'll be able to obtain the above data based
on SIX Maximum Cost-Per-Click and Keyword Matching options:
- $90 Max CPC and Broad Match Keywords (Default Setting)
- $90 Max CPC and Exact Match Keywords
- Google Suggested Max CPC and Broad Match Keywords
- Google Suggested Max CPC and Exact Match Keywords
- $0.10 Max CPC and Broad Match Keywords
- $0.10 Max CPC and Exact Match Keywords
** Other New Features **
We've also added a 'Tools' section (the right-most tab
located on the lower pane)
You'll find various sub-tabs available:
- Tools
- Competition
- Design
- Content
- Products
I will give you some feedback (and maybe even some screenshots) in a couple of days.
You can pick up a free version of the Dowser, and it is not in any way time limited
Technorati Keywords
niche website , seo , keyword optimization , Search Engine Optimization , keyword research tool
Forget Dripping, the Content is going to Flow
I have been a little quiet for the last week, mainly cobbling lots of things together, and brainstorming a load of projects for my newly out-sourced programmers.
I also wrote 2 reports, one on Making Money from Blogging and the other on promoting your business with articles. Both will be released, along with a load of other reports soon (at least that is the plan).
Nigel posted a comment, but I thought it best to answer it here
I can create sites with Portal Feeder, but currently I don't have the inclination.
They don't have the features I am looking for yet.
The software does work, but the time involved in gathering content, and the final results without effectively redesigning a site with custom PHP stuff, means I am not going to make a huge effort trying to make it do thing it is not capable of on it's own without major modifications.
Dr. Mani has a strong belief that it is going to be a good system. He might well be right, it is not just a single programmer involved, but a whole team. Hopefully I will get a good taste of it before I have to make a final decision.
A week ago I joined an off-shoot of Content Desk, Content Propulsion Lab.
It seems to be a pretty good service, but the biggest value for me is the opportunity to grill Willie Crawford and Jack Humphreys on article marketing. Willie is not only one of the most helpful internet marketers I have encountered, he is also a sly fox, and I am going to enjoy learning some tricks.
The aim of Content Propulsion Lab is to exploit media to the maximum, whether it be articles, podcasting, or vlogging. They provide all the tools, tuition and with Content Desk, a massive exclusive distribution channel.
It was interesting listening to 2 different teleseminars on Article Marketing within a week. The Free seminar laid on by Article Marketer was very informative (a recording is available here), but at the same time extremely different.
The teleseminar from Content Propulsion Lab was more "in the trenches". It was more focused on how to make money from Article Marketing than how to write good articles.
Neither were like a hyped sales pitch in any way. I think a lot of the attendees for the Article Marketer teleseminar were existing customers, and the Content Propulsion Lab conference was purely customers.
A longer post about CPL was well overdue, but I have a major project that has to be launched... hopefully today.
Content Desk... I don't know. I am severely tempted to sign up in some way and convert my existing membership.
The hosting is worth a bit, though I have 8 hosting accounts spread around. I have no idea quite how powerful the tools are but I suspect I can do more with blogging and BAP. Their system is in constant development though, and maybe they have a few useful tricks in their toolbox.
The tools isn't everything. It is the learning experience and "peer group"
For instance I have made the effort of joining 2 teleconferences for CPL despite starting at 2am for me.
I am not making a fortune online yet, I spend a large chunk of my income in growing my business, with tools, domains and services. But I do it out of my profit.
I popped into the forum at AssociatePrograms.com earlier, I hadn't been there for a while.
Someone wanted to know what to spend $500 on, this was my reply
That was thought to be a little vague, so I elaborated a little...
I have a fair number of income streams coming in now, and most of what I spend is from residual earnings. I spend sustainable earnings on the growth of more sustainable income. I finally took a chuck of money out of my business a week ago, but most gets recycled in increased PPC, my investment in out-sourced programmers etc.
Most people fail online. I wouldn't want anyone purchasing a product with my recommendation who wasn't already making money.
There is a common mantra that you have to invest money in any business to succeed. You don't have to, it just helps speed up things a bit (success or failure).
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. It is easy for successful people to say they were successful because they made a huge investment in something, and it payed off. That is like the lottery.
I tend to believe that those who will succeed in business will manage it, despite the hardships.
Many of the top marketers were broke when they started.
This is a long post with a lot of waffle, but it does have a purpose.
Anyone can learn how to setup a few Wordpress blogs. It will take time, but there is plenty of help available covering all the basics.
Read a few ebooks (I have some good ones in my library), though that is going to be expanded a lot soon.
Take part in all the free giveaways, and pickup some of the many open-source page generation scripts that are currently available.
Make money, and then invest it in your business.
Technorati Keywords
content propulsion lab , article marketing , wordpress , Portal Feeder , Content Desk , podding , podcasting , vlogging , money , sitesell , sbi
I also wrote 2 reports, one on Making Money from Blogging and the other on promoting your business with articles. Both will be released, along with a load of other reports soon (at least that is the plan).
Nigel posted a comment, but I thought it best to answer it here
Andy, I'd be interested in your thoughts on Content Desk (contentdesk.com) versus PortalFeeder. Could you throw Content Desk into your mix of reviews along with Article Miner and Blog Auto Publisher? Content Desk is also asking a $197 per month fee, and it appears to me that PortalFeeder may to trying to compete with them. Would sure love to know your thoughts/experience. By the way, do you have a PortalFeeder site up yet?
I can create sites with Portal Feeder, but currently I don't have the inclination.
They don't have the features I am looking for yet.
The software does work, but the time involved in gathering content, and the final results without effectively redesigning a site with custom PHP stuff, means I am not going to make a huge effort trying to make it do thing it is not capable of on it's own without major modifications.
Dr. Mani has a strong belief that it is going to be a good system. He might well be right, it is not just a single programmer involved, but a whole team. Hopefully I will get a good taste of it before I have to make a final decision.
A week ago I joined an off-shoot of Content Desk, Content Propulsion Lab.
It seems to be a pretty good service, but the biggest value for me is the opportunity to grill Willie Crawford and Jack Humphreys on article marketing. Willie is not only one of the most helpful internet marketers I have encountered, he is also a sly fox, and I am going to enjoy learning some tricks.
The aim of Content Propulsion Lab is to exploit media to the maximum, whether it be articles, podcasting, or vlogging. They provide all the tools, tuition and with Content Desk, a massive exclusive distribution channel.
It was interesting listening to 2 different teleseminars on Article Marketing within a week. The Free seminar laid on by Article Marketer was very informative (a recording is available here), but at the same time extremely different.
The teleseminar from Content Propulsion Lab was more "in the trenches". It was more focused on how to make money from Article Marketing than how to write good articles.
Neither were like a hyped sales pitch in any way. I think a lot of the attendees for the Article Marketer teleseminar were existing customers, and the Content Propulsion Lab conference was purely customers.
A longer post about CPL was well overdue, but I have a major project that has to be launched... hopefully today.
Content Desk... I don't know. I am severely tempted to sign up in some way and convert my existing membership.
The hosting is worth a bit, though I have 8 hosting accounts spread around. I have no idea quite how powerful the tools are but I suspect I can do more with blogging and BAP. Their system is in constant development though, and maybe they have a few useful tricks in their toolbox.
The tools isn't everything. It is the learning experience and "peer group"
For instance I have made the effort of joining 2 teleconferences for CPL despite starting at 2am for me.
I am not making a fortune online yet, I spend a large chunk of my income in growing my business, with tools, domains and services. But I do it out of my profit.
I popped into the forum at AssociatePrograms.com earlier, I hadn't been there for a while.
Someone wanted to know what to spend $500 on, this was my reply
Don't spend any of that $500 on anything other than hosting and domain
names unless it is from your PROFIT. Only spend money to enhance profit you are
already making. If you spend miney in the hope of making money, there is a
huge chance you will spend it on something that will make a loss.
Alternative view...
If you have no knowledge (but I don't think that is the
case), then you wouldn't go far wrong with taking up the seasonal offers
with Sitesell for 2 SBIs The
learning experience with SBI is extremely valuable, and I haven't heard of
anyone failing totally with an SBI site who put a little effort into it, and
followed the guidelines.
That was thought to be a little vague, so I elaborated a little...
It is a little vague It is to avoid the urge of spending money just because you have this big wad of money, and have decided to take up internet marketing, without a clue about what you are doing, but also just as important, what you like doing. Even if a technique proves to be something you can make money at,
you might not like the way you are doing it, and might end up out of pocket a
few $100 from the attempt. If you don't like writing, have no technical
knowledge, and have no intentions to learn, as an example, you might not be
justified spending $500 on tools to help you create niche websites. The best
ebooks are the ones that teach a single system. Most of those ebooks cost money,
and very often are focused around specific tools. E.g. Neil Shearings recent
ebook. A nice system, many people have had success with it, but the tools
involved will burn through that $500 and then some, and you might not like doing
the work, or be capable of the technical aspects.
I have a fair number of income streams coming in now, and most of what I spend is from residual earnings. I spend sustainable earnings on the growth of more sustainable income. I finally took a chuck of money out of my business a week ago, but most gets recycled in increased PPC, my investment in out-sourced programmers etc.
Most people fail online. I wouldn't want anyone purchasing a product with my recommendation who wasn't already making money.
There is a common mantra that you have to invest money in any business to succeed. You don't have to, it just helps speed up things a bit (success or failure).
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. It is easy for successful people to say they were successful because they made a huge investment in something, and it payed off. That is like the lottery.
I tend to believe that those who will succeed in business will manage it, despite the hardships.
Many of the top marketers were broke when they started.
This is a long post with a lot of waffle, but it does have a purpose.
Anyone can learn how to setup a few Wordpress blogs. It will take time, but there is plenty of help available covering all the basics.
Read a few ebooks (I have some good ones in my library), though that is going to be expanded a lot soon.
Take part in all the free giveaways, and pickup some of the many open-source page generation scripts that are currently available.
Make money, and then invest it in your business.
Technorati Keywords
content propulsion lab , article marketing , wordpress , Portal Feeder , Content Desk , podding , podcasting , vlogging , money , sitesell , sbi
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Portal Feeder - I generated a site, but...
No I am not lying, I just managed to generate a site with Portal Feeder.
I had a couple of problems though:-
1. It didn't land up where it was meant to. I was generating it over on AndyBeard.name as an example site, and it ended up in the root directory. Not a major problem until...
It wided out the index file, fair enough, easy to replace, but every page on the domain stopped working. It has taken me an hour or so to work out what happened.
Here is the problem..
2. It seems Portal Feeder has a nasty habbit - I need to test this a little more to confirm, but Andybeard.name ended up with the root directory, /public_html/ , CHMOD to 777 rather than 755
Many hosts don't allow 777 for the root domain. I can have other folders as 777 with no problem. I don't know the technical reasons, but 777 on my root domain just killed the site.
Errors comprised of
I am going to report the error, and just concentrate on a quick demo blog for you guys as Olga delivered the Blog Auto Publisher version I was looking for in my email overnight.
I don't have Article Miner reactivated, yet (I know the guys are taking a break, so it was expected - they gave a few weeks notification of their travel plans) - it doesn't affect new users, just those re-installing on a different hardware config, with a variable IP.
Thus I will use some good quality Private Label Rights content.
Technorati Keywords
portal feeder , VRE , Virtual Real Estate , niche website , article miner , blog auto publisher
I had a couple of problems though:-
1. It didn't land up where it was meant to. I was generating it over on AndyBeard.name as an example site, and it ended up in the root directory. Not a major problem until...
It wided out the index file, fair enough, easy to replace, but every page on the domain stopped working. It has taken me an hour or so to work out what happened.
Here is the problem..
2. It seems Portal Feeder has a nasty habbit - I need to test this a little more to confirm, but Andybeard.name ended up with the root directory, /public_html/ , CHMOD to 777 rather than 755
Many hosts don't allow 777 for the root domain. I can have other folders as 777 with no problem. I don't know the technical reasons, but 777 on my root domain just killed the site.
Errors comprised of
[Sat Dec 10 06:46:01 2005] [error] [client 24.185.222.207] Premature end of script headers: /home/myhostname/public_html/index.htm
[2005-12-10 06:24:52]: error: directory is writable by others:(/home/myhostname/public_html)
I am going to report the error, and just concentrate on a quick demo blog for you guys as Olga delivered the Blog Auto Publisher version I was looking for in my email overnight.
I don't have Article Miner reactivated, yet (I know the guys are taking a break, so it was expected - they gave a few weeks notification of their travel plans) - it doesn't affect new users, just those re-installing on a different hardware config, with a variable IP.
Thus I will use some good quality Private Label Rights content.
Technorati Keywords
portal feeder , VRE , Virtual Real Estate , niche website , article miner , blog auto publisher
Friday, December 09, 2005
Portal Feeder... sleeping
Yes I got some sleep after my marathon session. Switching over to a clean XP installation has also been time consuming. I still have over 100 apps to install, but I will get up and running over the weekend.
Portal Feeder was also sleeping a little over the last 48 hours. There is a lot of excitement on the forums, and an equal amount of constirnation. Customers obviously expect things to be working on day one.
I have actually managed to get something working today... The keyword bonus tool
It is actually quite useful. Whilst it includes features other tools don't have, that doesn't mean those features couldn't be easily added to other tools have been dragging their heals a little on the updates.
Some of the data seems a little "off" but then there are lots of tools that have been having problems recently due to search engine changes. Also because some of the results are different to what I expected to see, due to the way it works, they seem off, even though they aren't.
It does put a different perspective on keyword research, and whilst not as all encompassing as a tool like The Dowser, it gives different data. I have tested it with a few of the profitable niches I have found, and the data it gives confirms the results I have had.
It has fallen over on me a couple of times, but it is useful, and could easily be classed as a $100+ tool. It isn't for massive keyword research. It is for finding profitable niches.
Now the main Portal Feeder Client. I was actually shocked when I tried it on my clean WinXP installation... it loaded up and didn't crash. I haven't been able to create a site with it though.
Some aspects of the interface are interesting, others seem to be a wasted effort such as CSS styling, when it can already be in the template.
I have a teleconference to download that I didn't stay up for last night. Apparently the first program update will also appear later today.
Hopefully I will have Portal Feeder up and running over the weekend and have at least one example project to show you. There is a waiting list to be able to join Portal Feeder. How many slots become available really depends on how many drop out.
Also I will try to get an example of what can be done with Wordpress, Article Miner and Blog Auto Publisher to compare. I am not sure which niche I can base it on, and my Article Miner needs to be reactivated for my new XP installation. Good news is Olga (for Blog Auto Publisher) has just sent me a version for WinXP use (I previously has a Win98 build), thus I am not restricted in firepower, just short of amunition
Technorati Keywords
portal feeder , VRE , Virtual Real Estate , niche website , article miner , blog auto publisher
Portal Feeder was also sleeping a little over the last 48 hours. There is a lot of excitement on the forums, and an equal amount of constirnation. Customers obviously expect things to be working on day one.
I have actually managed to get something working today... The keyword bonus tool
It is actually quite useful. Whilst it includes features other tools don't have, that doesn't mean those features couldn't be easily added to other tools have been dragging their heals a little on the updates.
Some of the data seems a little "off" but then there are lots of tools that have been having problems recently due to search engine changes. Also because some of the results are different to what I expected to see, due to the way it works, they seem off, even though they aren't.
It does put a different perspective on keyword research, and whilst not as all encompassing as a tool like The Dowser, it gives different data. I have tested it with a few of the profitable niches I have found, and the data it gives confirms the results I have had.
It has fallen over on me a couple of times, but it is useful, and could easily be classed as a $100+ tool. It isn't for massive keyword research. It is for finding profitable niches.
Now the main Portal Feeder Client. I was actually shocked when I tried it on my clean WinXP installation... it loaded up and didn't crash. I haven't been able to create a site with it though.
Some aspects of the interface are interesting, others seem to be a wasted effort such as CSS styling, when it can already be in the template.
I have a teleconference to download that I didn't stay up for last night. Apparently the first program update will also appear later today.
Hopefully I will have Portal Feeder up and running over the weekend and have at least one example project to show you. There is a waiting list to be able to join Portal Feeder. How many slots become available really depends on how many drop out.
Also I will try to get an example of what can be done with Wordpress, Article Miner and Blog Auto Publisher to compare. I am not sure which niche I can base it on, and my Article Miner needs to be reactivated for my new XP installation. Good news is Olga (for Blog Auto Publisher) has just sent me a version for WinXP use (I previously has a Win98 build), thus I am not restricted in firepower, just short of amunition
Technorati Keywords
portal feeder , VRE , Virtual Real Estate , niche website , article miner , blog auto publisher
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Portal Feeder vs ...
I just lost a very long post, going into extreme detail the differences between Article Miner and Portal Feeder.
I am not going to do it so long this time...
Article Miner has more useful tags, and you can define the size of snippets and the layout. Portal Feeder hasn't/can't, but has a couple of features that balance this out.
The RSS component of Portal Feeder could be achieved with Carp.
Portal feeder has the edge on feeding.
There is an aweful lot I haven't seen yet (like the client) - it is taking me ages to transfer 40 GB of data from one HD to another so I can reformat the drive (I don't want XP on FAT32)
Portal Feeder is a powerful tool, but then are many free scripts.
Everything works, it all depends on how you use a tool, not just the technology.
If you add Blog Auto Publisher to Article Miner using Wordpress... hmm in most cases it blows Portal Feeder away, but it does take more time to get setup.
I suppose now I am meant to offer you a huge bonus or a discount on something, but I am not going to.
You have 45 minutes, I am not going to try to persuade anyone to make a choice, because it is very much an individual thing.
There are loads of nice bonuses with Portal Feeder. It suits the slightly lazy intermediate marketer. Don't buy it if you can't make money with a free tool. Portal Feeder is buggy atm. But unfortunately you can't wait until the bugs are cleared up before making a choice.
Technorati Keywords
portal feeder , VRE , Virtual Real Estate , niche website
I am not going to do it so long this time...
Article Miner has more useful tags, and you can define the size of snippets and the layout. Portal Feeder hasn't/can't, but has a couple of features that balance this out.
The RSS component of Portal Feeder could be achieved with Carp.
Portal feeder has the edge on feeding.
There is an aweful lot I haven't seen yet (like the client) - it is taking me ages to transfer 40 GB of data from one HD to another so I can reformat the drive (I don't want XP on FAT32)
Portal Feeder is a powerful tool, but then are many free scripts.
Everything works, it all depends on how you use a tool, not just the technology.
If you add Blog Auto Publisher to Article Miner using Wordpress... hmm in most cases it blows Portal Feeder away, but it does take more time to get setup.
I suppose now I am meant to offer you a huge bonus or a discount on something, but I am not going to.
You have 45 minutes, I am not going to try to persuade anyone to make a choice, because it is very much an individual thing.
There are loads of nice bonuses with Portal Feeder. It suits the slightly lazy intermediate marketer. Don't buy it if you can't make money with a free tool. Portal Feeder is buggy atm. But unfortunately you can't wait until the bugs are cleared up before making a choice.
Technorati Keywords
portal feeder , VRE , Virtual Real Estate , niche website
Portal Feeder - more interface thoughts
Whilst still clearing up a HD for a fresh XP installation, I have been struggling along with the web interface... trying to at least create one small site with it.
I have got the knack of creating a smaller batch of articles, but getting them targetted in any way seems very difficult. The interface keeps refreshing, you never know what is currently selected for categories, and selecting based on keyword density is a lost cause.
I would have expected a nice AJAX interface, very Gmail like, it isn't.
The server seems to be taking a break atm (downtime?), so time for me to grab a coffee.
Technorati Keywords
portal feeder , VRE , Virtual Real Estate , niche website
I have got the knack of creating a smaller batch of articles, but getting them targetted in any way seems very difficult. The interface keeps refreshing, you never know what is currently selected for categories, and selecting based on keyword density is a lost cause.
I would have expected a nice AJAX interface, very Gmail like, it isn't.
The server seems to be taking a break atm (downtime?), so time for me to grab a coffee.
Technorati Keywords
portal feeder , VRE , Virtual Real Estate , niche website
Portal Feeder - Web Interface
I am giving up with the web interface.
Now regular readers of this blog, and some of my posts on forums might understand that quite frequently I can be quite harsh describing products I am absolutely delighted to own, such as Blog Auto Publisher.
I have mentioned a couple of times that Blog Auto Publisher has a very Windows 95 feel to the interface, it can be a bit clunky, but it has a huge amount of potential power.
Well certainly the web interface of Portal Feeder is "not there yet". In fact some aspects of it might need to be totally reworked.
As an example there is all kinds of styling information within the process that in my opinion just shouldn't be there, and might not even be suitable for all templates.
I would like to confirm that the sites discovered certainly seem to be Portal Feeder sites, so if you want to go searching for some to take a look, go back a few posts and you will find what to look for... if they are still up.
BUT.. yes it is a big but!
It is very easy to just change that filename. It is not hard encoded, it is just an example of one of the types of pages you can create.
The system could... and should have the ability to have an unlimited number of templates per site, but it doesn't. You could however easily use the available slots for slightly different purposes to how they are currently used.
I actually have a "junk site" being created now. With the web interface I had a huge problem refining my article selections, so this site is going to be... big
Also for some reason the drip interface wasn't working on the web interface. It seems to have some useful options.
Technorati Keywords
portal feeder , VRE , Virtual Real Estate , niche website
Now regular readers of this blog, and some of my posts on forums might understand that quite frequently I can be quite harsh describing products I am absolutely delighted to own, such as Blog Auto Publisher.
I have mentioned a couple of times that Blog Auto Publisher has a very Windows 95 feel to the interface, it can be a bit clunky, but it has a huge amount of potential power.
Well certainly the web interface of Portal Feeder is "not there yet". In fact some aspects of it might need to be totally reworked.
As an example there is all kinds of styling information within the process that in my opinion just shouldn't be there, and might not even be suitable for all templates.
I would like to confirm that the sites discovered certainly seem to be Portal Feeder sites, so if you want to go searching for some to take a look, go back a few posts and you will find what to look for... if they are still up.
BUT.. yes it is a big but!
It is very easy to just change that filename. It is not hard encoded, it is just an example of one of the types of pages you can create.
The system could... and should have the ability to have an unlimited number of templates per site, but it doesn't. You could however easily use the available slots for slightly different purposes to how they are currently used.
I actually have a "junk site" being created now. With the web interface I had a huge problem refining my article selections, so this site is going to be... big
Also for some reason the drip interface wasn't working on the web interface. It seems to have some useful options.
Technorati Keywords
portal feeder , VRE , Virtual Real Estate , niche website
I am in... well sort of
I know my Win98SE installation is severely messed up, so Portal Feeder (desktop) not working on it is no great shock. Maybe it is fixable.
Marc did suggest a download of the Microsoft GDI libraries, but it didn't fix the problem.
He did however also mention that Portal Feeder has a web interface that can be used, so I am having a play around with that, whiclst at the same time clearing up a harddisk so I can stick a fresh installation of WinXP on it.
One thing I don't like about the web interface is it involves an aweful lot of popup windows to enter details, but we will see how things go.
I don't think it will be any shock to discover that the web interface is a backend to the articlefeeder.com site.
There are a number of clearly defined steps to creating a site.
One thing I think that is vital for me to point out is the fact that the system is extendable. You can create your own tokens.
Regarding footprints, it seems like they can be avoided, but you would certainly want to play around with the templates (although I haven't looked at all of them obviously)
Oh, it is time for a picture...
I am being a little carful on what I show, but it proves that the interface is capable of testing your ftp connection.
Technorati Keywords
portal feeder , VRE , Virtual Real Estate , niche website
Marc did suggest a download of the Microsoft GDI libraries, but it didn't fix the problem.
He did however also mention that Portal Feeder has a web interface that can be used, so I am having a play around with that, whiclst at the same time clearing up a harddisk so I can stick a fresh installation of WinXP on it.
One thing I don't like about the web interface is it involves an aweful lot of popup windows to enter details, but we will see how things go.
I don't think it will be any shock to discover that the web interface is a backend to the articlefeeder.com site.
There are a number of clearly defined steps to creating a site.
One thing I think that is vital for me to point out is the fact that the system is extendable. You can create your own tokens.
Regarding footprints, it seems like they can be avoided, but you would certainly want to play around with the templates (although I haven't looked at all of them obviously)
Oh, it is time for a picture...
I am being a little carful on what I show, but it proves that the interface is capable of testing your ftp connection.
Technorati Keywords
portal feeder , VRE , Virtual Real Estate , niche website
They didn't give me a chance...
I have so far drunk about 2 quarts of coffee, but it is only 5am... plenty of time to get really ratty from sleep deprivation.
I didn't get a chance to send that email, Marc Quarles just responded, and it seems like things are going to be progressing much faster.
Maybe I am just a little too easy going, but so far I have no negative feelings. Obviously I am frustrated... chomping at the bit to get up and running, and a little disappointed I haven't been able to show anyone anything yet, but I still believe I have enough time to get things done.
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portal feeder , VRE , Virtual Real Estate , niche website
I didn't get a chance to send that email, Marc Quarles just responded, and it seems like things are going to be progressing much faster.
Maybe I am just a little too easy going, but so far I have no negative feelings. Obviously I am frustrated... chomping at the bit to get up and running, and a little disappointed I haven't been able to show anyone anything yet, but I still believe I have enough time to get things done.
Technorati Keywords
portal feeder , VRE , Virtual Real Estate , niche website
Still alive and kicking... but no Portal Feeder
Another 3 hours has passed, still no access to the forum, or the program.
Two hours ago a friend told me he had accessed the forum, but hadn't even tried to run the software yet.
I haven't seen anyone post anywhere that they have the software up and running yet, so if you know of someone who has Portal Feeder running, please let me know.
I am worried that if I do get it running, I won't have time to build anything and show you some example sites that you know are generated with the released version.
I am going to try another email...
Technorati Keywords
portal feeder , VRE , Virtual Real Estate , niche website
Two hours ago a friend told me he had accessed the forum, but hadn't even tried to run the software yet.
I haven't seen anyone post anywhere that they have the software up and running yet, so if you know of someone who has Portal Feeder running, please let me know.
I am worried that if I do get it running, I won't have time to build anything and show you some example sites that you know are generated with the released version.
I am going to try another email...
Technorati Keywords
portal feeder , VRE , Virtual Real Estate , niche website
Email response
I just received an email from Jason Katzenback
Real progress...
Now that is just over 3 hrs response time... and I am sure they are absolutely swamped right now.
Obviously they have a few things that need to be straightened out, but maybe... just maybe I will be able to give Portal Feeder a serious workout... before the 24hrs are over.
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portal feeder , VRE , Virtual Real Estate , niche website
Real progress...
Hi Andy I will forward this to Marc and get you taken care of.
Now that is just over 3 hrs response time... and I am sure they are absolutely swamped right now.
Obviously they have a few things that need to be straightened out, but maybe... just maybe I will be able to give Portal Feeder a serious workout... before the 24hrs are over.
Technorati Keywords
portal feeder , VRE , Virtual Real Estate , niche website
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Portal Feeder - no response to email after 2.5 hrs
It has been 2.5 hours since I first sent an email to Jason Katzenback. No reply as yet.
I checked the support system for Portal Feeder, but only 3 older products are listed as topics of support. No sign of Portal Feeder there.
So I submitted a support query regarding Article Announcer. It was the highest ticket item, so might have better support time.
Here is the reply I received back from the support system (full documentation of this ordeal)
I honestly expected to already be playing around with tokens and templates by now, as anyone with experience with related tools knows, that is what can make and break a product (as well as things like footprints)
Technorati Keywords
portal feeder , VRE , Virtual Real Estate , niche website
I checked the support system for Portal Feeder, but only 3 older products are listed as topics of support. No sign of Portal Feeder there.
So I submitted a support query regarding Article Announcer. It was the highest ticket item, so might have better support time.
Here is the reply I received back from the support system (full documentation of this ordeal)
Dear Valued Customer,Thank you for recently submitting a support ticket to our
Help Desk at http://support.joltinc.com.
This email is to let you know that your support inquiry has been received. One
of our Customer Support Representatives will be in contact with you as soon as
possible.Sincerely,The Jolt Marketing Support Team
I honestly expected to already be playing around with tokens and templates by now, as anyone with experience with related tools knows, that is what can make and break a product (as well as things like footprints)
Technorati Keywords
portal feeder , VRE , Virtual Real Estate , niche website
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