How to Limit Bandwidth Usage

Sunday, February 7th, 2010 | Blogging - MISC, Blogging Tips with 2 Comments

How to Limit Bandwidth Usage – Since I recently upgraded to a dedicated server, one of my main objectives was to limit my bandwidth usage especially since it’s no longer a shared server and I don’t want any of my sites to load extra slow. There are quite a few ways in which you can limit your bandwidth and I’m still working on a few myself!

Don’t Host Images… Or At Least Minimize Or Outsource

A large portion of your bandwidth usage comes from hosting images on your server. The logical thing for people to do is to simply avoid hosting images on their own server but not all of us can do that. Or at least, I know I don’t want to.

There are quite a few places in which you can outsource your image hosting. A few places include Imageshack, Flickr, Photobucket, etc. Though, some of these sites give you a limit on the bandwidth usage you can use and some of these places charge a small fee.

In my experience, the larger (or the more images) you have hosted, the slower your site gets and the more bandwidth it uses. If it is completely necessary for you to use images and you don’t want to outsource, I would simply put small images, if you can.

HTTP Compression

I’m finding out more and more with this upgrade to a dedicated server and HTTP compression is something that will be extremely helpful. Basically, what it does it compress your content so your site can load faster. Just think about it like it’s a zip file for your website.

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Dedicated Servers Here I Come!

Thursday, February 4th, 2010 | Blogging - MISC with 6 Comments

I finally made a decision (plus, I’m sort of getting forced to) and I’m going to upgrade to a dedicated server for hosting. I’ve been considering this for quite sometime and even wrote a post about it back in October but since a couple of my sites traffic have been exploding on a regular basis, I’m in serious need of my own personal resources.

I was actually contacted by my hosting company letting me know that I’m using a lot of resources because of the traffic that I’m getting for a couple of my sites. The main issue I’ve been having is the fact that its slowing down my loading time and since I’m currently on a shared hosting server, its going to slow down everyone elses’ site on the server as well.

So, I’m not trying to be selfish here, plus, I just look at this as taking my online entrepreneurship a step further in the right direction. I know I’ve been slacking a little bit but whenever I get a little kick in the ass, it’s usually for the good. Plus, we all need a kick in the behind sometimes just to get that needed momentum once again.

If you guys are wondering how much traffic my sites are getting, I’ll just say its in six figures on a monthly basis. And since I’m getting so much traffic and people are visiting my sites, its slowing down my loading time.

I’m not exactly sure which dedicated server plan I’m going to choose just yet but more than likely I’ll be choosing just a basic one with the intent of upgrading, if needed.

I’m sure a lot of you guys have more experience with dedicated servers than I do, what are your thoughts on this? Is there anything you guys can recommend for me to add/check out before I upgrade?

And just a heads up if you’re reading this, if my site is down, more than likely it’s due to the fact that my site is being transferred over to the new server.

Free Blogger Template: MoneyBlog

Sunday, January 31st, 2010 | Free Blogger Templates with 6 Comments

So, sorry for the extremely long delay in updating you guys with free blogger templates but since you guys have been patiently waiting, here’s the latest converted WP theme to Blogger for you guys. Since we’re a MMO type blog I figured this new theme titled “MoneyBlog” would fit perfectly.

MoneyBlog is a three column Blogger template that has a feature section right on the homepage. So, if you’re using Blogger and you’ve always envied the featured post section from Wordpress, now you don’t have to envy anyone anymore. You get simply get it for yourself!

Check out the screenshot below:

moneyblog-screenshot

Personally, I’m not a huge fan of the green colors but luckily changing the colors is really simple. But for those you guys that like the green to match the whole “money” theme of it then no adjustments needed!

If you guys are looking for a live demo of this converted Bloggered theme, click here.

Click here to download the Moneyblog Blogger Template

My First Copyright Infringement Claim

Thursday, January 28th, 2010 | Other/Random, Ramblings with 3 Comments

When I got back home last night I received an odd e-mail from my hosting company with the subject line “Account WILL Be Suspended Urgent Response Required”. Of course, I’ve had numerous chats with my hosting company for help and support so I already knew this e-mail was legit. But I was very curious on what I did wrong to potentially get my account suspended.

As you know, you should always abide by their rules and regulations because they can delete your entire site(s) if you break any of their TOS without even warning you. I’m just lucky they notified me because it looks like a company filed a copyright infringement claim against one of my sites. Well, technically, it was one single post that was apparently ranked second for a popular search term.

My hosting company doesn’t automatically take sides but just like any other claim they have to take it extremely serious. And I’m taking this pretty serious as well and cooperating. They never accused me of anything but when it comes to legal stuff they obviously have to take things seriously.

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Link Wheel Your Way to the First Page of Google with LinkWheeler

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 | DM Reviews, Make Money Online with 9 Comments

Getting on the first page of search engines for a popular keyword can be hard but if you know enough SEO and proven link building strategies than you should have no problem. Though, all that link building can take precious time and we all know time is money. So why not consider outsourcing?

I recently had a very good conversation with David of Link Wheeler about their services and how it works. The conversation actually came shortly after I wrote the post “Interesting Way to Get 3 Sites Ranked on the First Page of Google” and his services goes way more into depth with how it works. If you liked my technique, Link Wheeler goes above and beyond on helping with going through the entire process of “natural link building” so you don’t get suspected of spam.

You guys already know about the blog commenting, submitting to directories and those other generic link building strategies. Well, they actually have this system with Link Wheels in which you feed off the juices of links through a link wheel cycle of powerful websites.

Confused yet? Don’t be. Let me explain their process a little more.

The Process of Link Wheeler Link Building

What they do is use the powerful link juices of, say, a Web 2.0 website such as Hubpages or Squidoo, let’s call that “Site A”. They would write a completely unique article specifically for “Site A” and it would be related to your niche. Then they would take another website such as article directories (we’ll call that “Site B”) and then write another unique post. From there, they would link “Site A” to “Site B” and then “Site B” to your website.

So, not only will you get the powerful link juices from “Site B” but you’ll also get it from “Site A”. They almost use “Site B” as a filter which definitely works. I say “filter” but it might actually be called a “gap” or “break” which is seen by search engines as a natural link building process which they love. And if they love your site then it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll get on the first page.

Remember, it’s not about the amount of backlinks you get, it’s the type of backlinks you get. I mean, wouldn’t you want 1,000 powerful one-way backlinks from reputable sources rather than 10,000 trashy links? Me too! And they use various sites which include, but not limited to, Web 2.0 properties, article submissions, blog posts and even Youtube videos.

Here’s a grid that I took from their site which displays exactly what they do. Feel free to click on the image to see a larger version.

Link Wheel

Does Their Strategy Work? Here’s Proof!

Honestly, I’ve already heard of his technique before so I can tell you based on experience that it does work. For instance, remember when I told you that you guys should always comment on contest posts? Well, most contests require you to link to their post (say 100 people link to it) and then you comment with your link. Even if it’s nofollow, you still get the domino effect of all those links linking to that post and then the post linking to you.

But I decided to check out their portfolio section and do my own search. Well, I saw their first client (abforum.org) and Googled the keyword they targeted which was “Australian Business Forum” and to my surprise, that website was number one for that keyword. Check out the screenshot I just took:

google abforum

Okay, that wasn’t really a surprise because like I said again, I know the technique works. And if you look at the screenshot, you’ll see there are over 73 million search results so we know that keyword is pretty competitive.

What I Like Best About Link Wheeler

Well, besides the fact that their techniques work which would equal traffic for us which would also equal money in our pockets… I actually like the fact that they are honest and they tell you straight up what is realistic and unrealistic before you spend any money. Just contact them if you have questions and they’ll be glad to answer it in depth. Personally, I’ve had numerous e-mail exchanges and they answered every single one of my questions.  Thanks David!

With that said, they obviously have great customer service. I’m a people person and if they you go out of the way to communicate with me and help me out, you’ll definitely get an “A+” from me.  And yes, they already got that grade from me.

Conclusion

They have a staff with SEO experts that are committed to helping you build links in a natural fashion. They have various packages you can order and all of which include high powerful one-way backlinks from PR4-PR9 websites. The money you spend will basically pay itself back in a short time and like I said, its proven that it works.

Anyways, you should at the very least check out how the Link Wheel goes and if you have questions, feel free to drop them here or contact them directly. I know they’re reply back to all your questions! :D