SEO Soul

There are websites with unique content that now are dead. We can grab that content from archive.org. Also it may be interesting to contact some domain agent to grab the domain before it expires especially if the site has many inbound links.

Next step is to assure that the content has not been grabbed by anyone looking for phrases in google (do not forget the ” “).

Here I’ll describe one simple method to find recently expired domains relative to some topic with UNIX tools (grep, less and LFTP) and an expired domains list.

LFTP is sophisticated ftp/http client, file transfer program supporting a number of network protocols. It will allow us to download the .html listings found at RefundDomains. In this case I’ll download only the com listings:

user@machine:~$ lftp http://www.refunddomains.com/new

cd ok, dir actual=/new
lftp www.refunddomains.com:/new> mget com*

Now we have lots of html files with expired domains. If there are too much files maybe we need to group them in separate directories.

Next step is to search for specific terms, using the powerful tool grep and paginating with less:

user@machine:~$ grep games * | less

Happy searching!

mod_gzip is an Apache web server module that compress HTML code saving bandwidth - usually around 50-80% - and speeding up the time to load the web pages.

mod_gzip is supported by the vast majority of web browsers. Anyway, if it’s not supported by the web, HTML code is sent without compression, so we have not to worry about compatibility in the client-side.

Checking our server

In order to set up mod_gzip compression for our website we need Apache webserver (standard in Linux servers) with mod_gzip module loaded. We can check it this way:

- Create a file named info.php containing the following:

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

- Now we upload that file to our website’s root directory and load it in the web browser. If the module is enabled, we should read a line like this:

_SERVER["HTTP_ACCEPT_ENCODING"] : gzip,deflate

How to activate mod_gzip

It’s very simple, we only need to call a PHP function (gzip_start.php) at the start of each PHP page and to another PHP function (gzip_end.php) at the end. We can do that even without editing the PHP files of the website using a custom php.ini file, copying that php.ini to every directory of the website. It’s as easy as adding these lines to it:

auto_prepend_file = gzip_start.php
auto_append_file = gzip_end.php

Now we have to create the files gzip_start.php and gzip_end.php and upload to the root directory of the website:

• gzip_start.php containing: <?php ob_start(”ob_gzhandler”);?>

• gzip_end.php containing: <?php ob_flush();?>

That’s all.

Possible problem with captchas

There is a possible problem with captcha images. As the code is sent compressed, captcha image will be erroneus. We can solve this placing in the captcha’s php directory a php.ini config file that does not include auto_prepend_file and auto_append_file.

Checking

Now we should check if mod_gzip is running fine.

In this post I’ll talk about some of my errors in the past. I think it’s very important to use this experiences to learn and don’t commit the same errors again. Thinking positive is neccesary to succeed.

Don’t let others get you down. Many people (usually false friends) are just envious and want you to be down instead of learn from you and improve. In 2002 I was running a website about linux and programming tutorials with a PR 5 and about 1000 unique visits per day. That website generated about 120$ per month with Google Adsense and TradeDoubler. I know it was not very much, but I think it was a success since it was my first attempt to run a website in a domain. Talking with a person, he said me that websites was a stupid way to earn money because if it was possible all people would do it. In that time I was depressed for some reasons and I just let the domain expire (!). I lose years of work, hundreds of dollars and a promising website that now could be a great one.

Rather than get down, now I have learned that I can’t get down by the comments of others. You are what you think you are, not what others say you are. Get rid of all unproductive thoughts and focus on what you love.

“The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed.” - old Chinese saying.

A really good website starts from a really good domain name that should be catchy, descriptive, natural and rich in sense. This article describes some creative ways to find great domain names.

- Feed the creative thinking. Some of my most valuable sources of inspiration are the psychedelia and meditation techniques. In such altered states of consciousness ideas flow more easily and creative thinking makes more sense. Entheogens have been by humans since centuries (Furst, 1972, 1976; Harner, 1973; Stafford, 1992; Wasson, 1957, 1968). Nootropics such as Ginkgo Biloba are also very useful. Good music (vynil) is also an important source of inspiration for me. Developing several creative skills such as playing guitar, keyboard and drawing also works making some kind of synergy.

- Use expired domains search tools. Usually, the most valuable domain names are taken. The trick is that everyday thousands of domain names expire. My favorite tool to search recent expired domain names is RefundDomains, where you can find a free list of expired domains updated every 3-4 days. In another post I describe an automated way to search for expired domains containing keywords.

- Think about verbal expressions containing keywords about the subject. They are easier to remember because many people have heard them at some point in their lives. For example, the spanish expression “Busco grupo” can turn into a new idea to develop: BuscoGrupo.com, a website where musicians meet and form bands.

- Search for niches that does not have any specific website about them. Some targeted traffic is far better that much non-targeted traffic, because advertisers prefer wasting their money in visitors with a certain profile. You are interested in making the advertisers earn money with your website. The money you earn should be a secondary effect of the success of a website, not your primary focus.

- Research synonyms with tools such as Synonym. Common 1-word domains are usually taken, but some times you can get a synonym domain name free to register. Try combinations with synonyms and get a good alternative. For example, if domain SYBARIS.COM is taken, go to Wikipedia and read about Sybaris, maybe you can find a catchy name related to Sybaris and get an idea for a website.

- Think twice before registering a domain. Some times I precipitate registering a domain and later I regret of it, thinking that I could have saved the money and register a really good one. Avoid registering domains after drinking alcohol.

- Use the work made by others for your own profit. Using tools such as a word combinator tool, a domain search engine, read inspirational blog entries and success histories can give you some good ideas. Developing your capacity to observe is the key. Read to the gurus subscribing via RSS to interesting feeds. Don’t waste your time. Read about creativity.