I have not been able to update this blog as much as I want because I am busy updating my 5 other content sites and this site has not been a top priority for me lately. I should try to squeeze in more time for this once I can outsource more of the content creation work.

I am planning to write a guide on how to install Ubuntu Server on an old PC to run the popular AdSpy Pro script without paying a dime on web hosting fees. I spent some time during the weekends to figure out how to get the geeky Linux operating system to work on my 10 year old Pentium 3 500 Mhz, 384 MB SDRAM PC. It’s a 100% pure Linux shell based operating system with no graphical user interface. Very hardcore linux stuff that I have been trying to avoid for a long time.

I hope that AdSpy Pro will be able to run on my Ubuntu Server smoothly. I estimate I would require at least a VPS web host to run this script properly. Running AdSpy Pro on my own Ubuntu Server would be like getting a free dedicated web host. Too bad my internet connection runs at 3Mbps if not it could be really fast.

How Google AdWords Spying Scripts Work

I have been waiting for a long time to have something like adspypro since I joined a secret membershp site about 1 year ago. I remember the service I used was not as advanced as the ones we have today. Previously, we had to compile a list of competitors with Keywords Analyzer and a list of keywords to input into these Google AdWords spying scripts.

What the service used to do was it compared each keyword in your keyword list with the each competitor in your competitors list. For example the keywords “green apples” could be listed in a Google AdWords advertiser that uses the domain “GreenApples.com”. When the script searches for “green apples” and finds “GreenApples.com”, you have a match and this indicates “GreenApples.com” is using the keywords “green apples”.

Nowadays, we only need to enter a list of keywords and the list of advertisers will be recorded for us with the exact keywords they are using in your keyword list. You have to understand that these spying scripts will not reveal their keywords to you unless you have uncovered them in your keyword research! The scripts only help us do manual search engine queries to Google.com to see who are advertising with your list of keywords.

As more of these PPC spying scripts become available at lower prices, it would be crazy not to use one because any serious affiliate program marketer will be using tools like this to find profitable affiliate programs and keywords to exploit. Even if you do not plan to get into PPC marketing, you could potentially uncover a lot of great affiliate programs in your target niche.

Tagged As: adspy-pro, affiliate-programs, google-adwords, linux, ppc, spying, ubuntu-server, web-host

Categories: Affiliate Program Marketing, Pay Per Click Search Engines | 2 Comments »

Some time between the last week of January to the first 2 weeks of February, my ex web server was hacked. Somehow, a hacker got into my server and decided to use my server to attack another server. My ex web host, ServInt, could not find out who did it or how they did it. Neither could I do anything about it… Lucky for me, the hacker did not seem interested in what I had on my web server as my files were left intact.

It took an extraordinarily long time for ServInt to revive my web server. I believe they were too sloppy dealing with this issue and I got very fed up when they did not answer my technical support queries over one of the weekends. Their sales director later admitted their technical support should have done more to help my situation after I decided to move out of their servers. It was a very sad end to my 1.5 years at ServInt.

I don’t really want to reveal more information about this unfortunate incident because I still believe ServInt is one of the best VPS web hosting companies out there. The problem with them and with a lot of companies in the world is their inflexible company policies. Their support staff were trained to do exactly the way they were told to do and sometimes it can be a problem. Once in a while, something bad will happen to your web server. I had a hard disk crash once and they waived one month from my hosting fees so that was compensated. No complaints about that. For other errors, they seem to take their own sweet time to fix them.

For example, I used to get frequent mail server errors and it prevented me from receiving and sending emails from all of my email accounts. I would email the technical support help desk informing them of this problem and ask them to maybe restart the mail service or find a way to fix it. What usually happens is one of their support staff will reply to me asking for one of my email address’ username and password to test if the mail server is really down. I hate it when this happens because I already told them ALL of them do not work so why do they have to ask me to reveal one of my email account information? Another common situation I received was when my MySQL database service goes down. I used to email them to tell them that the database on XYZ.com is down. What do they do? They reply to me asking for the exact database name. They have access to the web servers and if you look at XYZ.com, you should be able to see that there is only one database. Why do they have to waste their time and mine by emailing me to ask for the database name? I am not sure if I am the only person on this planet that feels irritated. Situations like these really tick me off but they keep doing because it’s their company’s policy.

Their company policy wants them to confirm their customer’s queries at the expense of common sense and a pleasant experience for the customer. Simple tasks that can be solved in one step have now been complicated to two or more steps.

Frankly, my new web host seems to have similar problems with their customer service. If you know of a good web host that does not have irritating customer service, please let me know. I believe it is worth paying more to get that extra piece of mind and save some precious time emailing back and forth dealing with inflexible robotic people like that.

The positive thing that came out of this experience is I know do not take security for granted. You never know when someone might hack into your system. Just recently, WordPress.org was hacked they had to release an emergency update because WordPress 2.1.1 was hacked by a hacker. If it can happen to WordPress.org, it can happen to me and you.

Tagged As: good-web-host, hack, servint, web-host, web-hosting

Categories: Blog Updates | No Comments »