Domain Blog

Competitor Site Hacked by Tiger-M@te

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Brown) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:09:00 +0000

Was checking out the site of a serious competitor yesterday, which everyone must do every once in a while, and found that his site had been hacked by "Tiger-M@te." The hacker, apparently from Bangladesh (Bangladeshi HackeR), sent props to aBu.HaLiL501, w7sh.syria, Sy-Hacker, NmR.Hacker, Wa7sh Hacker, h311 c0d3.

What really surprised me was how long it took for the site owner to get the site back up. It was down for at least 12 hours.

Weak login credentials? Must be. Probably used his home address for his master server password, or something silly like that.

By my estimation, as we have very similar sites, he lost at least $300 during the downtime. An expensive lesson in server management.

Hacking: what a sorry waste of time, energy and talent. Hackers need serious therapy.

Press Release Writing And Distribution

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Brown) — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 22:51:00 +0000

Writing and distributing press releases is a key part of my SEO strategy. Been doing them for more than 5 years now, for lots of different sites.

Was using PRWeb until 2009. I liked them because I could easily add links to my releases (which one can still do, of course), and my releases used to rank well in the search engines. For some reason -- and completely out of the blue -- my releases stopped ranking well in both Google and Yahoo!, so I decided to try other distribution sites.

Have been using MarketWire since mid-2009 and they've been OK. With MarketWire, however, I couldn't help but think I could do better. So I've been on the hunt for more value.

Been helping my friend Sharay Hayes revamp his GetPunished.com site recently. Sharay is an entrepreneur and entertainer; when he's preforming, he's known as The Punisher. We're going to do a press release for his site soon, and I've decided to give eReleases a try.

eReleases offers a great deal of value, much more than it's main competitors. Here's a table that compares what you get with eReleases vs. PRWeb:

I especially like the included national distribution, and the fact that eReleases will get a release noticed by radio stations and TV shows.

Of course, I will update this post when i have more to share about my experience with eReleases. Stay tuned!

If you want to give eReleases a spin now, click the banner below (shameless affiliate link!):

GoDaddy Discount Codes

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Brown) — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 01:44:00 +0000

The latest domain name discount codes, from my favorite registrar -- www.GoDaddy.com:

gdz372pla - 31% off your domain name purchase, with no minimum. Expires March 31, 2011. GoDaddy describes this particular coupon code as their "best-ever offer."

WALLET412 – 35% off new .COM registrations and renewals. Unknown expiration date.

DOWNFORCE - lowers the cost of just about any domain name at GoDaddy. Unknown expiration date.

Enjoy! Visit www.GoDaddy.com to get new domain names or renew the names you have there. This blog post will be updated frequently.

GoDaddy Coupon Code: 20% Off $40 or More

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Brown) — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:41:00 +0000

A brand new coupon code from the good folks at www.GoDaddy.com just hit my inbox. It's gda824pl, which can get you 20% off your order of $40 or more.

If you plan on using coupon code gda824pl, don't procrastinate. This code is set to expire on August 15, 2010. Enjoy!

My Latest Dropped Domain Names

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Brown) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 19:27:00 +0000

I had such lofty plans for so many domains in my once impressive portfolio. But I've been forced to cut back in many ways, including dropping lots of domain names. Here's a list of some names I've dropped recently, or are about to drop, from www.GoDaddy.com:

INTERNETINDUSTRY.INFO
EBAYAUCTION.TV
VERTICAL.WS
ALIVE.WS
DOWNLOADCENTER.US
BOTANICALESSENTIAL.COM
PROFITPURITY.COM
BRIDEUSA.NET
DEBTUSA.NET
DRUGSUSA.NET
SUPPORTUSA.NET
TAXESUSA.NET
CHATLIVE.WS
MAXFIORENTINO.COM
SUPPORTUSA.NET
GAYUSA.US

Enjoy!

Wanted to Get Out, But The Recession Kept Me In

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Brown) — Mon, 31 May 2010 23:17:00 +0000

When I left my reasonably comfortable job I had @ a big NYC law firm, I was willing to do anything to make it on my own. I realized the potential of the Internet and decided that I was going to make a million dollars online, or die tryin'.

So, yeah: I got into porn. Nothing illegal or sick, just a few adult entertainment sites that make money by offering downloadable video clips. Niche sites that served me quite for about a decade.

For the first 4 years these sites made good money. Income from these sites began to slip after 2004, due to a massive increase in competition. Big corporations with deep pockets started to get into porn in a big way. However, I was still making enough to justify keeping the sites up and updated. When you have to support a family, every penny counts.

After the banking crisis and subsequent Great Recession, income from these sites continued to plummet, but the sites still made enough to pay for themselves and to cover a few bills.

Just before the recession, I was planning on either selling these sites or shutting them down. Why? Because I had my first child in 2003, and, as a new dad, I didn't want to be in the adult game anymore.

I see porn as entertainment, and just like alcohol or gambling, too much can be destructive. However, just because some people are prone to excess, doesn't mean that everyone should be denied access to this type of fun. Those who would like to see online porn banned forever should remember how successful prohibition was. Yep.

My plan was to first stop accepting new signups by simply removing the signup pages from my sites. Then, after all current memberships expired, I was going to shut them down.

But now it's 2010, and I'm still a porn webmaster.

I don't update any of my adult sites anymore, and I won't, ever. They will simply live on, in limbo, until I can afford to get rid of them for good. I'm hoping that'll be soon.

KillerStartups.com: A Killer Startup!

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Brown) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:53:00 +0000

Just discovered www.KillerStartups.com, a site that features short reviews of some of the most innovative and successful startups businesses on the Internet. You can vote for my Prime Rate website here.

The site reviews at least 15 Internet startups every business day; visitors get to give sites they like a thumbs up by voting.

Interested in making money online? Visit www.KillerStartups.com daily and see how other great ideas are flourishing. Yup. Enjoy!

Highly Recommend: The Latest Yahoo! Toolbar

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Brown) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:30:00 +0000

The latest version on the Yahoo! Toolbar is a web browsing tool that I highly recommend. Simple to install, easy to configure and has a highly effective anti-spyware feature.

Recently, my main workstation PC had been getting sluggish. Despite going through my usual list of fixes (defrag, disk scan, virus scan, etc.) my computer was still hesitating in the most annoying way. I was very seriously considering doing a complete wipe of my hard drive then reinstalling my operating system and programs, but, as you can imagine, that is a HUGE pain and would gobble up a massive slice of my precious time.

So imagine my happiness when I found that the Yahoo! anti-spyware tool, which is free with the latest version of the Yahoo! Toolbar, was able to quickly and easily remove all sypware code from my computer, which in turn restored my computer to peak performance. My main workstation is now running as fast as it did when I purchased it in 2008. Yahoo!

To download the latest Yahoo! Toolbar, click on the banner below. I'm using it with Mozilla Firefox version 3.6 for Windows XP.

FYI: My workstation is an Acer computer, with an AMD Athalon 64 X2 dual core processor 4400+ running at 2.29 Gigahertz. I have 1.75 GB of RAM installed.

Good Advice On Negotiating from The Founder of GoDaddy

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Brown) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:17:00 +0000

Bob Parsons, the founder of the discount domain name megasite www.GoDaddy.com is a real character. Marine, war veteran, entrepreneur and self-taught software engineer, Mr. Parsons is the kind of guy most men would like to have beer with. He made $64 million buy selling his software company to Intuit back in 1994, then went on to create the world's most recognized domain name registrar.

Some might find some of his advertising campaigns cheesy, but I totally get it. He's not trying to use silly gimmicks to distract people from bad advice or bad deals. He's actually providing a great service at a great price, and sharing useful advice, anecdotes and wisdom on the side, as a way to keep his audience smiling and coming back for more. The way I see it: There's nothing wrong with adding fun to serious content.

In his latest video blog entry about negotiating, Parsons once again offers great advice, and adds lots of fun too. He's got all kind of silly nonsense going on in the clip, but all that is just keep you smiling while he shares sage advice with viewers. I think he's a brilliant mix of P.T. Barnum and Bill Gates. Check out his latest video blog (episode #31) about negotiating here. Enjoy.

Dropping Some Domain Names

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Brown) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:59:00 +0000

My dream of being the king of Wi-Fi domain names is pretty much over, so I'm dropping a bunch of Wi-Fi-related names. These names will drop within a few days, so if you're interested in any of them, let me know as soon as possible (use this contact form to send me an message.) Once these drop, GoDaddy will snatch them up, and GoDaddy will ask for a much higher price for each than I'm asking:

METROPOLITANWI-FI.COM
MUNICIPALWI-FI.COM
VOWI-FI.INFO
NYWI-FI.COM
USAWI-FI.COM
USWI-FI.COM
NYCWI-FI.COM
CITYWI-FI.COM
LAWI-FI.COM
WI-FIUK.COM
WI-FINYC.COM
WI-FIUSA.COM
WI-FIEU.COM
WI-FISAFETY.COM
WI-FICOMMUNITY.COM
WI-FIMOTELS.COM
WI-FIMOTEL.COM
HOTELWI-FI.COM
WI-FIHOTEL.COM
MOTELWI-FI.COM
INTERNETWI-FI.COM

Your Federal Dollars Hard at Work: FTC Going After Bloggers

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Brown) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:27:00 +0000

Yep, another case of your hard-earned tax dollars being put to good use.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) just announced that the agency is going to fine bloggers up to $11,000 if a blogger posts a review, endorsement, etc. without disclosing the fact that he/she was compensated to do so. The FTC hasn't updated this policy since 1980 (yep, Olivia Newton John was singing Magic on the radio.) but, for some reason, FTC decision makers decided that now's a great time to step up the policing of bloggers.

So, we have countless bloggers trying earn a little extra money by doing paid reviews, and the FTC wants to clamp down now, during the worse recession since the Great Depression? I really don't have a problem with them updating their policy, but to get fined up to $11,000 is simply draconian. How much does the FTC think bloggers get paid to write reviews anyway?

I don't do paid reviews, but since this recession has hurt my income considerably, I was contemplating jumping into the review game (I have 16 blogs and counting.) Not sure now. I don't mind starting a post with, "I was asked to review XYZ Widgets..." but it seems that the FTC wants me to post something like "Disclaimer: I was paid $56.75 to review this product..." which is just too cheesy.

I once accepted $20 to let someone post an informative article in this blog. The author was simply interested in getting quality links from quality sites. It was a well written article, so I didn't mind. I didn't contribute anything to the piece. Could I get in trouble for that? Hmmm....

For more on this story, click here.

To read the official FTC press release, click here.

Of course, your comments are welcome.

Please, Stop The Music!

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Brown) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:27:00 +0000

I love music. Always have. Music has enriched my life in many ways, and has helped me get through some very tough times.

My taste is very eclectic. I like everything from jazz to classical to disco and funk.

I love sharing music too, especially with my six-year-old daughter. I am extremely thankful that she likes 99% of the music I like, so long road trips are always enjoyable. She really likes my disco, which is great because uptempo music helps to keep me alert.

One thing I don't do is force my music onto others. It's just not right. It's rude, obnoxious and a weak attempt at getting strangers to like you. I am referring to those who blast heavy metal from their hi-powered car stereos in the middle of the night. I am talking about those who annoy everyone on the subway with their amazingly loud cell phones that double as MP3 players.

And, of course, I am referring to those bloggers who have autoplay music installed on their blogs.

You know, when I was a kid living in NYC, I used to love hearing music blaring from boomboxes as I moved around town playing classic video games and searching for the best slice of pizza. NY was cool back then, and the local radio stations had excellent DJs spinning great tunes all day and night. It was cool because that was 1979, 80 and 81, and I was a preteen. Besides, you can't break dance without a ghettoblaster, right? New York was suffering from the ill effects of stagflation in the late seventies and early eighties. Loud dance music on the street was acceptable to many, in my opinion, because it kept energetic kids dancing and making some honest money, instead of getting into trouble with the law.

I got my own boombox in 1981, but I never carried it about on the street. Even as a kid, I knew how obnoxious it was (OK, I confess: the fact that I was very skinny back then had something to do with it too since I was an easy target for muggers.)

So, to all those who have autoplay music installed on your blog(s), I entreat you: please, stop the music. You are ruining your blog with those autoplay MP3 player apps. You are causing me to have a heart attack every time I stop by your site and just happen to have my volume turned up. You are making me old and gray with the stress. You don't have to autoplay your music. Just let us play it if we're interested. Is that too much to ask?

Oh, and if you think I'm the only one who feels this way, wait until you see the comments, which I am quite certain will be added in short order!

How Much Is Your Domain Portfolio Worth?

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Brown) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:23:00 +0000

Most readers of this blog have, at some time or the other, indulged in a bit of domain speculation. And what better way to pass the time on a warm summer afternoon than speculating on the value of our portfolios and the riches awaiting us on disposal?

But how do you value a domain?

With physical assets such as houses, sale prices of neighboring properties provide a reasonable guide. With other asset classes such as gold and shares, very definite markets exist within which prices are constantly fluctuating. With intangibles like domains and websites however, it's a little trickier. The old adage that it's worth only what someone is willing to pay for it is all very true but ... it doesn't help you put a figure to the online property.

That's where the various online valuation services come into play. There are paid ones, yes, but there are also a lot of free services. So you just head on over to one of those and have each individual domain in your portfolio valued at the speed of your average broadband, right? Wrong!

A detailed valuation report at SitePoint explains just how these services demonstrate the art of being free and still being a con.

Quite simply, nobody can put an accurate value to a domain or website as the price one buyer is willing to pay for it could differ quite considerably from what another would. The best way to test the market is in a competitive auction. Even that isn't 100% efficient as the auction is viewed only by a small selection of buyers. There is one site that monitors sale prices and tries to predict value based on what sites similar to yours have sold for. That's your best bet for getting a close enough picture. For further reading, try this site that provides a lot of useful information on buying and selling websites and domains.

I Really Like Class Action Settlement Checks

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Brown) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:29:00 +0000

Don't you just love it when you get a nice (I define nice as more than $100) and unexpected class action settlement check in the mail? Happens to me every once in a while. Got one the other day. $123.80. Not huge, but during a deep recession like the one we're in now, every dollar has significant value.

The reason for the restitution payment: The web hosting company Alabanza moved their datacenter to a new location, which resulted in significant interruptions for web hosting clients. For more on this particular class action suit, visit www.alabanzamigrationsettlement.com.

I was an Alabanza reseller for many years, via LinuxWebHost.com. The service was OK, but the uptime was disappointing. Eventually, I had developed so many websites that it made sense for me to get my own dedicated server, and that's what I did. I actually use two dedicated servers now: one that hosts my not-so-critical sites, and another with GoDaddy.

I've been impressed with the GoDaddy server. Uptime is excellent, and I really like using the Plesk control panel. I pay a little over $300 per month, and that includes daily backups, access to 24/7 phone support -- which is excellent -- and all kinds of extras like server monitoring, security services, emergency services and patching services. It's very reassuring when you know that you can call up support at 3:00am and there'll be a highly qualified, knowledgeable and patient support professional on the other end who's ready to stay on the phone with you until the problem is solve (I use VOIP to for long distance calls, so I don't worry about long-distance toll charges.) There have been times when an issue couldn't be fixed right away, but whenever they've had to escalate one of my support tickets to a higher level, they've always fixed the problem within 24 hours. They've never dropped the ball, and that means a whole lot when you make your living with websites.

For more about Dedicated Servers at GoDaddy.com, visit www.GoDaddy.com .

News - July 9, 2009: Just found a coupon code for GoDaddy dedicated servers. Use coupon code fbServer15 to get 15% off your dedicated or virtual dedicated server order. This coupon expires on July 23, 2009. Enjoy!

News - July 19, 2009: GoDaddy just release a new code for dedicated servers. The new code is fbfServ15; gets you 15% off your dedicated or virtual dedicated server order. Expires on August 2, 2009. Enjoy!

GoDaddy Coupon: 30% Off dot-COM, dot-NET, dot-ORG and dot-BIZ Domain Names

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Brown) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:22:00 +0000

The latest domain name discount coupon code from the good folks at www.GoDaddy.com is gdr0607pl, which can get you a very generous 30% off dot-COM, dot-NET, dot-ORG and dot-BIZ domain names. This is a very hot coupon, not only because 30% off is a substantial discount, but also because this coupon will work with both new domain name registrations and domain name renewals.

Coupon code gdr0607pl is set to expire on June 25, 2009. Enjoy!

GoDaddy Coupon: 15% Off, with No Minimum Purchase

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Brown) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 03:31:00 +0000

99.9% of my many domain names are registered at www.GoDaddy.com. Why? Because, for domain names, GoDaddy's prices simply can't be beat. Moreover, their website is fast, intuitive and virtually error-free.

Every once in a while, GoDaddy distributes a coupon code to generate sales. Usually these codes have a minimum purchase amount attached to them, which reduces their attractiveness, but they're still very valuable for anyone who needs to buy new domain names in bulk.

Today's coupon code is quite special, and it made me smile. Coupon code gdr0442pl has no minimum purchase amount attached to it. You can use this code right now to get a full 15% off your new domain name registrations.

It would be great if gdr0442pl could last for weeks, but I guess that's asking too much. In fact, gdr0442pl has an extremely short lifespan: it expires at midnight on May 3, 2009! So if you're going to take advantage of this one, don't procrastinate. www.GoDaddy.com! Enjoy!

May 25, 2009 Update: Use code fbDomain10 to get 10% off .COM, .NET, .ORG, .BIZ, and .US domain names. Coupon code fbDomain10 expires on June 8, 2009. Enjoy!

Google Loses Small Claims Court Case Over "Disabled AdSense Account"

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Brown) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:32:00 +0000

It's great when a person or a company gets their just deserts.

I recently read a Huffington Post story about how Aaron Greenspan (not to be confused with the former Fed boss) sued Google in small claims court and won. Google "disabled" his AdSense account with no explanation and no recourse. Greenspan sued and won $761.00, plus $40 to make up for the suit's filing fee. It's a great article. You can read it here.

How much is a moral victory worth? Round trip from the east coast to California, plus food, lodging and other miscellaneous expenses? If the Googleplex was located in my county, I would have considered suing Google in small claims court when the company decided to terminate my AdSense account years ago. But since it's in Mountain View, CA, for me -- and for most -- the whole enterprise would be too expensive to be practical. Mr. Greenspan had a distinct advantage in that his business is located within walking distance of the Clara County courthouse in Palo Alto, CA, which is exactly where you have to go if you want to sue Google in small claims court. He literally walked to the courthouse to file the lawsuit.

Even though I lost about $1,000 when Google closed my account, the end result was that I made a whole lot more money. That's because I was relying too heavily on AdSense to monetize my sites, and AdSense should never be a publisher's main source of revenue (especially since an account can be killed at any time!) I was earning between $0.50 and $7 per click, but the high-quality, targeted traffic I was sending to other sites was making a lot more money for the owners of those sites. Yep. After I reconfigured my sites, I ended up making 15 to 20 times more than I was with AdSense. A costly lesson, but one that helped me become a far more successful publisher, and an employer.

I currently use Yahoo! Publisher Network (YPN) ads on certain sites in my portfolio, and so far it's been great. I joined YPN soon after my AdSense account was disabled, and it's been nothing but smooth sailing since. With YPN, the ad targeting and ad inventory has never been as good as AdSense. However, if my AdSense account was still active today, I'm 99% certain that I would choose to stick with YPN and use the platform's manual ad targeting feature, rather than sweat over the interminable threat of the AdSense ax. My sites contain prime content. I don't deserve such nonsense.

These days, I do business with Google only when I have to. It's not just because my AdSense account was closed. Right now, I have a site that has no Pagerank^TM on any of it's pages, despite having thousands of quality incoming links. The site isn't banned from Google, but it's obviously suffering one of Google's penalties, and I have no idea why. No blackhat SEO -- ever -- and all original content. Google recently lifted an unjust and heavy penalty from another robust site I own, so I was expecting all silly penalties to be lifted by now. Despite numerous attempts to get the penalty removed, the sites is still being punished for no reason. This penalty caused the following ugly situation: content pirates stole my good content and put it on their own spammy sites, which resulted in phrases from that same stolen content ranking far above my own site in the Google search engine results pages (SERP's.) I'm still wasting a lot of time faxing DMCA complaints to get my stolen content removed from those illegitimate websites (kudos to HubPages.com for responding very fast to my complaint.) So, can you blame me for being pissed?

I still admire Google and love many of their free services like Gmail, Analytics, Translate, Maps, Earth, Calendar, etc. (though I feel like I have paid to use them.) Google is constantly tweaking it's policies and algorithm, so I'm hoping they shed their not-so-enlightened and near-tyrannical policies before they alienate any more publishers.

Bottom line: Google is a rich company. They need to hire a lot more talented people to handle complaints from legitimate publishers.

Guess The DJIA Contest: $10 Cash Prize

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Brown) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 07:14:00 +0000

I'm no longer able to run the free domain name contest here at the Domain Blog, but I just started a "Guess the DJIA" contest at www.DebtHelp.tv. Winner gets $10 cash via PayPal. Click here.

Unable to Move My FeedBurner Feeds to My Google Account

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Brown) — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 18:58:00 +0000

I've been trying to move my feeds from FeedBurner to my Google account for some time, but a glitch in the migration process has me stuck at this page:

When I click the [Next] button, I returned to the same page. If I click on "cancel and do not move feeds," I am taken to this page:

Then, when I click on the [Move my account now] button, I am taken back to -- you guessed it -- the "Move feeds to your Google Account" page (the first screen shot above.)

Talk about frustrating.

Right now, I have no access to my FeedBurner stats; Google is moving all FeedBurner accounts to its own feeds management system. Can anyone offer any insight?

Buy Anything at Buy.com and Get A Free Domain Name!

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Brown) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 03:37:00 +0000

One of my favorite promos is back: Buy anything at Buy.com and get a free domain name. Here are the details:

"...Get a FREE GoDaddy® Domain Name for one year with purchase at Buy.com! Simply check the "Check Here" box found on the GoDaddy banner on the Buy.com cart summary page to receive a unique redemption code..."

Use the following link to take advantage of this offer:

GoDaddy.com® Free Domain Name Offer. Limited Time Offer

Enjoy!

LinkAdage.com Is Too Cheap for SSL?

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Brown) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 01:46:00 +0000

This recession has me cutting back in many ways. It also has me looking for ways to make my sites more productive.

Just the other day, I shutdown all the offering at my www.amcy.org website. Web development, web hosting, domain name registration, search engine optimization, Internet merchant accounts -- all gone. Most of the services I was offering at AmCy.org hadn't made money in a long time -- and some of them were costing me money! -- so it was time to let them go. The site is now a glorified contact page. Yep. It was my first successful venture on the web, so, as you can imagine, there's a soft spot for it in my heart (sniff.)

AMCY.ORG is a valuable LLLL.org domain name, registered and consistently online since August 19, 1998. So, of course, I'll be hanging onto it and keeping at least the homepage up.

Many of my sites have been around for a while and are therefore trusted. So, with this recession breathing down my neck like an oppressive boss with chronic halitosis, I decided that it's time to sell some links. Not too comfortable with the idea, but this hard economic downturn's got me in survival mode.

In my search for a link broker, I can across LinkAdage.com. I read some good things about the company over at the DP Forums, so I decided to give them a try.

When I arrived at the LinkAdage.com new publisher signup page where they ask for my details, I was shocked and amazed to find that they had the audacity to ask for all my personal info, including my social security number, without providing me with a secure page. Hey, LinkAdage.com: what is up with that? See for yourself: http://brokerage.linkadage.com/signup_pub.php

No excuse for this. The cost of having a secure socket layer (SSL) certificate has come down over the years, to the point that just about anyone can afford one. IMHO, if you can afford a domain name, you can afford an SSL certificate! Right now, you can visit www.GoDaddy.com and buy an SSL certificate for $29.99 per year (that's less than the $35 Network Solutions used to charge for a year's worth of domain name registration back when they were the only game in town.) Some sites, like Rapidsslonline.com, are even cheaper. I can recommend GoDaddy because I've used their SSL certificates on my clients' sites in the past. Rapidsslonline.com may also be good, but I don't have any experience with them so I can't testify on their behalf.

Text-Link-Ads.com has a good setup. I used to buy links at that site a couple of years ago, but I don't anymore. All my sites are now mature enough that I don't need to purchase text links.

As a publisher, what I don't like about Text-Link-Ads.com is that they don't pay as well as I had hoped. I did some research and found that in their pricing, they tend to focus on PageRank, as opposed to focusing on keyword/keyphrase rankings, volume of legitimate traffic and content quality, which is the way it should be IMO. Every publisher who's been in the game long enough knows that PageRank is virtually meaningless these days.

In all fairness to Text-Link-Ads.com, I called them to ask about their pricing, and they told me that they start everyone low, then increase a publisher's rate if demand for a publisher's spots increases. This seems quite sensible to me, but I'm not ready to capitulate and accept $10 - $25 per month per ad (not for my high-profile sites, anyway.)

So my search continues. If you know of any quality link brokers, please feel free to share by posting a comment. Thanks.

BlogExplosion.com Has Disappeared!

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Brown) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 18:02:00 +0000

Is BlogExplosion.com dead?

I had been using it to drive some extra traffic to my blogs. I don't remember when I started using it, but it was more than a year ago.

It works as a "blog viewing" exchange. The system presents me with blogs, and I have to view each one for at least 30 seconds. I get credit for each blog viewed. I can use these credits to get other members to view my blogs, for at least 30 seconds, of course.

But it seems that BlogExplosion.com is dead. I haven't been able to access the site for the last 3 days.

To be perfectly honest, I'm not too surprised. This recession is going to cause a lot of Internet startups to close and close suddenly. I know first hand how hard it is to make a real living online.

I've been scaling back a lot over the past two weeks. I closed down my web hosting site the other day. It was a waste of money. Going to concentrate on consolidating my other money-making sites now, and producing a lot more content.

AfterNIC Renews My Membership for Free

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Brown) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 08:23:00 +0000

If you've let your AfterNIC membership lapse (as I did) then you should know that they have been renewing memberships for free. Here's what the emailed offer looked like:

"...We noticed that you haven't renewed your Afternic membership.

Regardless of the reason, Afternic values your business and would like you to come back!

For a limited time only, Afternic is inviting you to return as a valued AfternicDLS member at no cost. Call us now through October 31, 2008 and we'll waive your membership fee (a $19.95 value) for the entire year.

For your reference, below is your old account information:
Your User Name is *******
Your Email Address is *******

To redeem your complimentary membership, contact our Service Center at service@afternic.com or call 866-351-9586 (US), 781-839-7990 (Worldwide) and mention this email offer..."

This particular offer expired on October 31, but I'm thinking the folks at AfterNIC would be willing to renew anyone's expired membership for free, especially if you generate revenue via domain parking or via one of AfterNIC's other affiliate offerings.

Going free is a smart move on AfterNIC's part. They need to get serious about competing with Sedo, which has always been free.

Chrome: Google's New Web Browser

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Brown) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 21:02:00 +0000

Google released the beta version of its new web browser today. It's called Chrome and you can download it here. Learn more about it here and here.

Certain features look interesting, like dynamic tabs, incognito mode and crash control. The safety features also appear to be quite impressive.

I'm really interested in the safety features, so I conducted a quick test with Chrome. I visited a site that I know contains malware to see if Chrome would stop me from visiting the URL (malware programs are particularly dangerous because they can infect your computer by simply visiting a URL.) Chrome performed well. It prevented me from visiting the URL, and offered a detailed explanation of the threat.

I can also report that Chrome is lightning fast: the application opens in a flash and browsing is effortless. This is based on my quick and dirty test. Who knows: it may slow down over time.

Chrome is only available for Windows XP and Vista. I'm going to take it for a more thorough test drive on my Windows XP machine later. I can't use it on my other machines since they run older versions of Windows.

If you decide to give it a try, feel free to post your comments here. Thanks!

Google "Expires" Some Old Penalties

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Brown) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:29:00 +0000

Google has removed a very nasty penalty (or maybe penalties?) from a key website within my empire. Now that the penalty is gone, this particular site now ranks very well for the keywords I've been targeting for about 3 years.

I should be celebrating, but I'm not.

The way I see it, big G shouldn't have implemented those silly penalties in the first place. I'm certain the reason they decided to drop these penalties was because they realized sites with top notch content were being penalized so heavily that they could no longer be found in the top 100 for targeted keywords and keyphrases. What really bugs me is that it took them so long to realize that those penalties were...well...stupid. Google has some very smart people working at the Googleplex, so I guess I'm just very disappointed.

Webmasters Still Obsessed with PageRank

Matt Cutts blogged about the expired penalties on July 24th. At the time of this blog post, there were 245 comments. Most of the comments were about the latest PageRank update. So far, hardly anyone has been interested in discussing the expiration of penalties, even though that's the most significant Google SERP's-related news I've read in some time. PageRank is pretty much meaningless these days, yet site owners still obsess over it. I guess all those commenters own directories.