Archive for July, 2009

Understand The Difference Between Dedicated and Colocation Server Hosting.

July 25th, 2009

Dedicated server hosting and Colocation Server are two of the common terms frequently used by webmasters. Here is a explanation of the difference between the two.

A dedicated server hosting is one of the very well known type of web hosting service. Dedicated servers are used by large organizations and enterprises as they have to manage large amount of data. This service is further distinguished as Linux Dedicated Server Hosting and Windows Dedicated server hosting, depending on the platform a customer chooses.

A customer leases an entire server from a web hosting provider, it is as good as owning a server yourself. The customer has the privileges of using the server as per their own choice. One can opt for Managed Dedicated Server Hosting solutions, in this the hosting provider takes care of the maintenance, data back-up, security etc. A dedicated server provides an assurance of better security and speed.

With a dedicated hosting solution, one has the complete freedom to modify the server settings of sever hardware components and operating system as per business requirements. Depending on the web hosting service provider, one can get the dedicated server customized as per requirements. A control panel alongwith the server can add to the ease of managing the web hosting accounts. With a dedicated server, one gets complete administrative access to the server, enabling customers to install, uninstall, modify, delete, upload, download anything of their choice.

Colocation which is also referred as “Colo”, is a Web server hosting service offered by Web hosting providers. In this type of hosting solution, a customer can place his own server hardware in the data center of a third party. The customer is required to have their own server hardware and software licenses to place in the data center. In this type of service, the customer has the flexibility to manage, secure and take care of maintenance of their servers. In this, the data center provides only the space, security, redundancy etc. Colocation service is one of the most expensive type of web hosting service. Only people with good experience in server administration opt for such a service. Also, the maintenance, upgrades of the server needs to be taken care by the customer themselves (Some of the web hosting providers do offer managed collocation services too.).

Both these types of server hostings have their own advantages and disadvantages. With a dedicated server hosting solution a customer gets all the services provided in a collocation hosting solution, except that the customer does not own the hardware. Whereas, in Colocation Hosting solution, the hardware is owned by the customer, therefore the customer needs to bear initial set-up costs and the charge of placing the hardware in the facility of a third party.

Dedicated or shared IP address

July 25th, 2009

Still many folks think that you need a dedicated IP for each site to gain the best SEO rankings. Unfortunately not.  It’s not nice to interlink your own sites for better rankings (so does google say).  You may however get different IPs from different IP blocks so that when a bad IP or IP  blocks get blacklisted by some search engine your IP is not in that range. I myself think that when your revenue increases and you start earning more than a normal dedicated server will cost you it’s time to move dedicated. You get a better control, dedicated resources as well as your own small IP allocation that you can easily increase later.

Squid cache for web front-end accelerator

July 25th, 2009

Squid is very good for putting it in the front of your current web servers, thus accelerating the content that doesn’t change that often. Depending on your web site configuration and hits, I suggest you go for 2GB or even 4GB of RAM for the squid(s) front-end accelerator servers. The best benefit is to have most of the cached content into the memory – this is the best and fastest method. IO is kinda slow and that is why you need a lot of memory.

A lot of folks have been doing this for years and squid has been reliable and fast enough for these needs. Install it on your server and see the performance raising immediately. You may also need to review nginx for proxying. Very good and fast daemon.

Cpanel control panel review and quick tips

July 25th, 2009

A control panel is tied with an operating system to maintain and check the controls and settings of it. The major functions performed by control panel are controling of web hosting accounts, account features, disk space, traffic, POP3/IMAP settings, disk partitions, software, network connections, date, time and other options. It also is used for managing multiple user accounts of a single system, adding or removing software applications, security and packet filter rules etc.

CPanel is also a control panel designed for managing and administrating the websites. The cPanel is designed to run on Linux based operating systems such as the Fedora, Centos, RedHat or even the FreeBSD. The authentication of the cPanel is carried out using web page login or a Hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). The several operations provided by cPanel for the client are the management of the mailing list database and FTP accounts manages the cryptographic authentication and privacy of the websites. It also helps in the management of software packages of the operating systems it is functioning upon and also helps in upgrading MySQL, PHP and other software. This helps in maintaining the recent version of the software to provide better functionality of the package. The cPanel also have several levels of testing and debugging such as the edge, current, release and stable and they are often referred to as the Builds of the cPanel – control panel. The cPanel along with WebHost Manager (WHM) have designed a totally supported web hosting control panel. They help for providing a link between the web hosting company’s staff and the customers.

The various advantages of cPanel – control panel are that it can be easily installed, however it requires a paid license, it has unlimited domains assigned for each server, it has a full server administration facility. Interestingly it also provides free virus scan, and also multi-lingual support for the users using different themes..

What is a Virtual Private Server

July 25th, 2009

A virtual private server is one server that has been partitioned near the root, and is split into numerous servers which are dedicated. The good thing about this is that the user can share the cost of the connection, as well as the maintenance and hardware. Like the shared hosting, you can split the cost with other users, but you are given a larger degree of freedom. The most powerful advantage to the virtual private server is that you are allowed to have complete maintenance over the site, and you are not at the mercy of a system administrator. It should also be noted that this server type has a high level of security for a very competitive cost.

The virtual private server is a great option for small or medium sized companies. These businesses tend to have needs which are quite complex, and the virtual private server can meet them. Despite this, there are disadvantages to the virtual private server as well. Users are expected to have a certain level of programming experience if they want to change the settings. However, many companies will provide you with a manual, and this will make things easier.

Ways to Customize Your 404 Error page

July 14th, 2009

“The page cannot be found” This might be the default message you’re seeing on your 404 error page.But I(Even you might)feel this message is not enough to explain what’s going on for a novice visitor.So,lets talk about why and when this 404 error appears? and how to customize it?

What is 404 error: The 404 or Not Found error message is an HTTP standard response code indicating that the client was able to communicate with the server but either the server could not find what was requested.

When: Usually 404 error occurs

  • When you deleted a post which is linked in some other post
  • When you changed/updated the title of the post
  • Changed your Permalink structure without redirection
  • When user types wrong URL structure in browser
  • When users search for something which is not in your blog
  • And many more like this…

How to Customize: Customizing is nothing but changing the error message or redirecting the page to home or some other page.Here we go with both the options…

Redirect: This is to redirect the 404 error page to some other page like Home or Archives or etc.. to guide the user that, he can find other stuff related to what he is searching.You can achieve this by inserting the following code in your 404.php file(Design->Theme editor->404.php).Don’t forget to insert between <HEAD> and </HEAD> tags of your code.

<meta HTTP-EQUIV=”REFRESH” content=”0; url=http://www.techzoomin.com/archives”>

Customizing: There are many ways to customize this to your choice

  • Change the anchor text from “Page not found” to “Something of your choice,which can give better navigation to your other useful pages”
  • You can place some attractive images
  • Display some popular posts on your blog
  • Include a search box,allowing them to search further
  • Include subscribe option
  • And many more like this…

This is all innovation you need to apply.Try for something new and different look.This is my 404 page which i changed now,Of course there is nothing new i added,but am trying something different and will come with that soon.

High Paying Adsense Keywords for Bloggers!

July 14th, 2009

adsense is the best Pay Per Click(PPC) advertising program we had.Every bloggers aim is to make some bucks at the end right? For that we read so many sites,articles and books around the web daily.Apart from blending ads,writing good content,quality and lot more things daily we read on every blog,we need to concentrate more on keywords to get good amount into your pocket.

Keywords are the words that people using on search engines to find their desired stuff.Advertiser will use the same keywords to advertise on sites.Advertisers will buy the keywords with Google to display their ads on sites across who are using Adsense.Finally am saying,ads appearing on your sites will depend on the keywords you’re using in your posts.

If you target using high paid keywords in your posts,then Google will show high paid ads in your site.This way you will get more bucks per click.The formula is simple, High paid keywords target = High you will receive.Finally all you have to do is,just spend some time to search the high paid keywords on the topic you are writing post.Then try to use those keywords to design your post.

Where to find high paid keywords? Ha,here are some of the best tools in the market which will tell you the keywords for free.

21 Common Mistakes that Violate Google Adsense TOS

July 14th, 2009

You don’t have time to read all the Terms & Conditions at adsense site? But it’s important to have a look at all of them to avoid your account blocking from Adsense program. Don’t worry I will take you through all the important tos within 2min of time.

Following are the common mistakes people do knowingly or unknowingly which causes for their account blocking. So I can assure you that after reading all these you will be safe enough all the time.

  1. Never click your own Adsense ads or get them clicked for whatever reason
  2. Never change the Adsense code
  3. Do not place more than 3 ad units and 3 ad links or 2 Adsense search boxes on any web page
  4. Do not run competitive contextual text ad or search services on the same site
  5. Do not disclose confidential information
  6. Label headings as “sponsored links” or “advertisements” only
  7. Never launch a new Page for clicked ads by default
  8. One Account suffices for Multiple websites
  9. Place ads only on Content Pages
  10. Do not mask ad elements
  11. Do not send your ads by email
  12. Keep track of your content
  13. Do not alter the results after ad clicks or searches
  14. Avoid excessive advertising and keyword stuffing
  15. Ensure you Language is Supported
  16. Maximum 2 referral button per product per page
  17. Do not specify Google ads as your alternate ads
  18. Do not confuse with adjacent images
  19. Never ask some one online to click your ads
  20. Don’t reproduce copyright content to your site. Because of this there may be chance of account block if that author complaint against you.
  21. Don’t place any information like “Please click this ad and help someone” or etc… content like this.

How Much Should you Pay for a Paid Writer?

July 13th, 2009

This is always a difficult question to answer in blogging world. What exactly they expect per article? How they estimate the price? At the end how much you need to pay? All the questions got their own variable answers. So, we can’t define the single answer here. But we can discuss the points which can make difference in the calculation. Here we go then…

Estimating the price per article depends on many factors. So let’s discuss those here…

writer Experience: This makes all the difference in pricing. If you hire experienced people, then obviously you need to pay more and you’ll get quality out of it. Again here are some points where you need to concentrate

  • Writing experience
  • Niche experience

Writing experience is different than real time or niche experience. The writer should be experienced in the niche which you are in.

Writers Track Record: This is very important factor in price estimation. Find where else the writer is working and look at his previous articles. And look at the response he got. If possible contact that site owner and enquire about the writer skills and behavior.

Word count: Article just about the given topic or article with in & out of the topic makes the difference in price and quality. If it is just a sneak peak then you don’t need to pay much. If you want in & out of the topic, then writer need to do more research on the topic. You can pay more in this scenario.

Honesty: So many bad dogs are wandering around the web. They just copy the content, change it and publish it somewhere or sell it. You need concentrate more here to catch those dogs.

Punctuality: This is very important in blogging niche. Posting should follow a standard frequency. Your agreement should talk about, how many posts per month and what’s the frequency.

Finally pricing depends upon the writer and the communication between you and writer. It’s always good to experiment with new comers, who can serve for less.

Can I Block Your AdSense Account? Yes, I Can! Sharing How?

July 13th, 2009

Are you a good blogger? Are you my competitor? Earning more than me? If yes to all, I don’t like you. Yes I don’t like you to stay in this online market. I want to pull you down. See how I will do that!

Not me, anyone can pull you down with the help of weapon called click fraud. Obviously everyone will use some ad networks like adsense to earn money. Who doesn’t nowadays? According to a online survey 68% of website owners don’t know much about this click fraud. I don’t want you to sit in that 68%. So let’s talk about this…

Click fraud is one of the Latest bits of thuggery to hit the online world. Like spam or viruses, click fraud can cause serious damage. Even more some time!

What is click fraud and why is it on the rise?

Click fraud is defined as someone who clicks on a paid ad with the intent of clicking rather than because of interest in goods or services. Advertisers are the first victims here as they lose the money with pay per click rule and didn’t get any lead or real click in return to the money they spend.

Then secondly website owners are the victims from this fraud clicking as their account will be blocked by ad networks without any reasons/explanations. Google takes this click fraud very serious and even they don’t give you the reasons why your AdSense account got blocked.

Sadly, click fraud is the price of the Web’s success. In rather short order, Internet advertising, including search engine marketing, has gone from a dot-com joke to nearly a $10 billion business, according to Price waterhouse Coopers-A US based financial auditing company.

Who are these click-fraud artists? Typically, these people are known to you.

  • Your competitors: Very dangerous people, who can do anything to drag you down. They can click on your keyword ads continuously which may lead to a ban from ad networks.
  • Automated Programmers: Sadist people, who enjoys you pain. They will invest their programming skills to announce win on web. They can run a software bot on you site which can rack up thousands of clicks per hour.
  • Paid clickers: Who doesn’t know that they are doing something illegal to earn. Times of India (News agency) recently reported on Indian housewives and college students who are earning up to $200 a month clicking on ads for a few hours a day, without really knowing its fraud.
  • Small scale website owners: A small scale blog owner who wants to earn fast money will create a community around the people. The community is intended to participate in click exchange programs to earn money.

Advertisers & Ad agencies investing lots of money to detect this click fraud. But how will you survive as a website/blog owner. How will you escape from account blockages?

That part I planned to cover in my next article with all the details. How many of you know about this Click Fraud? Share with us! Happy Blogging!

PHP Freelancer