This isn't your typical scenario - 503 errors are frequently sent when a server becomes overloaded, or there are some backend problems.
A search of the Google Webmaster Help forums doesn't bring up a huge amount of cases, and mostly it is enquiring about what someone should do when they want to do some maintenance on a live server, probably for a short time.
In my case I didn't plan to be in "Maintenance Mode" for an extended period.
Here is the complete timeline:
Category Archives: stats
503 Service Unavailable Status Code Can Kill Your Search Traffic
This is a post I am sure the "Andy Beard Haters Club" will gloat over, but as I haven't been able to find a resource anywhere on the effect extended use of 503 Service Unavailable can potentially have on a site, and in particular the effect on search traffic, I thought I should write about it.
This isn't your typical scenario - 503 errors are frequently sent when a server becomes overloaded, or there are some backend problems.
A search of the Google Webmaster Help forums doesn't bring up a huge amount of cases, and mostly it is enquiring about what someone should do when they want to do some maintenance on a live server, probably for a short time.
In my case I didn't plan to be in "Maintenance Mode" for an extended period.
Here is the complete timeline:
This isn't your typical scenario - 503 errors are frequently sent when a server becomes overloaded, or there are some backend problems.
A search of the Google Webmaster Help forums doesn't bring up a huge amount of cases, and mostly it is enquiring about what someone should do when they want to do some maintenance on a live server, probably for a short time.
In my case I didn't plan to be in "Maintenance Mode" for an extended period.
Here is the complete timeline:
Also posted in Google, SEO Blog Tagged 503 Service Unavailable, 503 Status Code, Maintenance mode, update blog, update website, update wordpress, updating wordpress Comments closed
HowTo: WordPress Multivariate Split-testing With Google Website Optimizer
WordPress Sales & Affiliate Themes
I spent the better part of a week and a few hundred dollars ($300-$400) on various WordPress sales letter and affiliate themes - I came to the conclusion that they weren't something I would use.- Some I would class as pretty but lacking substance (polite version of crap)
- Every single theme was designed around the concept that you run a single theme on your blog at a time
- They all suffered from what I regard as a horrible plague - theme option pages - if you need to set up lots of options after you have uploaded a theme, you have lost a sale, unless I can also import and export settings.
- The worst aspect of theme options pages is using them for the content that might appear on a page, because it is a nightmare to set up split testing, and when editing, you really want all the words on the page in front of you.
Also posted in blog monetization Tagged affiliate marketing, google website optimizer, gwo, landing pages, multivariate testing, split testing, thematic, wordpress, wordpress plugins, wordpress themes Comments closed
Stompernet Site Seer – Ripped Apart
Site Seer is totally free, other than requiring registration. Is it worth handing over your email address?
Comparisons are bound to be made with the many free tools available from SEOmoz and SEObook, some of which are purely online services, and others are browser plugins. Many of the SEOmoz tools also require registration, and some are under the hood of their paid membership, especially tools which provide long term analysis of both your own site, and that of competitors.
How Far Will Stompernet Move The Free Line with Site Seer?
Brad Fallon and Andy Jenkins are among the most astute marketers I have ever come into contact with. They want your email address, they are going to use it for marketing their products and select partners, and they are going to a lot of effort to get you to give them permission to do so. My hope is that they will continue development of Site Seer to make it more useful, and thus retain as many referrals as possible. I am a Stompernet affiliate, by referring my readers to them I want them to provide incredible value even in their free material. So far Stompernet Site Seer shows promise, but is certainly not without its flaws So on with this review...Also posted in SEO Blog, marketing Tagged analytics, SEO Blog, seo tool, site seer, stats, stomper site seer, stompernet Comments closed
Alexa Rating Changes?
For the last few months I have noticed a fairly substantial decline in my Alexa rating despite an upturn in traffic after the Christmas holidays. The traffic hasn't been as high as during the PageRank updates in October 2007, but certainly higher than the average for most of last year, even factoring in some downturn in Stumbleupon traffic.
Quantcast provide real data because I am Quantified with their code embedded in every page
We can compare that data with Alexa
I have also had some incompatibility problems with a few users of Internet Explorer with some of the Javascript widgets, though the errors
OpenAds – $15.5M Funding Series B and Hosted Advertising Management
OpenAds, formerly phpAdsNew is an Open Source advertising management script, or at least it was. For a good overview I recommend Tims excellent introduction to OpenAds.
But that has changed somewhat overnight
OpenAds are adding a free hosted version of their sofware, though it is currently in closed beta.
Even with the improvements they made with version 2.4, and certainly those changes were critical for this move to make it more resource efficient, they are going to need some hefty infrastructure in place to serve all the ad units for multiple sites.
So that is one area the new series b funding by new investor Accel Partners will be used.
The big questions are who they are going to decide to go up against, and how are they going to generate revenue?
Also posted in blog monetization, marketing, web 2.0 Tagged advertising_management, advertising_solution, blog_advertising, blog_monetization, openads Comments closed
IzeaRanks & RealRank – How Many Lies Can You Tell Your Advertisers?
Lets face it, bloggers love stats and rankings, even if they are based upon meaningless data. For some it is an ego thing, or just a measure of their own worth or progress to achieve whatever goals they have set for themselves, and for others it is monetary. If you want to sell advertising on your blog other than PPC or CPM based, you need to have some kind of carrot to wave at advertisers to encourage them to part with their advertising dollars.
Adage Power 150
Over the last few days for instance I noticed that Advertising Age have rejigged their
Also posted in blog monetization, blogging tips Tagged alexa, analytics, blog_advertising, izea, izearanks, monetization, pagerank, payperpost, realrank, statistics Comments closed
The Pied Piper Of PayPerPost?
Over the last year I have given a fair amount of coverage to PayPerPost, who now house the service along with other endeavours under the name Izea.
There are multiple reasons why I have supported PayPerPost and similar programs so strongly, and yet at the same time have never reviewed a link buying / selling service.
I have mentioned link buying and selling in passing, and also a couple of Wordpress plugins, but those plugins generally allow you to sell links which have a nofollow.
My emphasis both in editorial about services and in the few reviews I have myself written is to encourage the writing of quality content with editorial links. Compensation in whatever form should be based upon the time involved, expertise, and possibly the size and influence of the audience, and not based upon any SEO benefit to a site or service being reviewed.
Also posted in Google, SEO Blog, blog monetization, blogging tips Tagged advertising, alexa, blogging tips, goog, Google, izea, marketing, megite, metrics, monetization, pagerank, payperpost, rating, reputation_management, techmeme, technorati Comments closed
Remarkable Traffic From Alexa Themselves?
Many webmasters would say that Alexa data is meaningless, and that there is no benefit in gaining in Alexa rating, other than possibly from various metrics used for advertising, and "meaningless" ratings charts to brag about.
But whilst we await an advertising metric which can't be gamed, there is certainly one measurable benefit of having a good Alexa score, or more importantly a significant gain in Alexa rating.
Alexa Can Drive Real Qualified Traffic
But where from? The Top 10 Movers and Shakers page.
Due to the sudden influx in traffic over the last week due to the Google PageRank updates, I was
The Secret Statistics In Split RSS Feeds – Google Reader
Google Reader now reports feed usage, and it is being suggested by a prominent Google engineer that you should look at aggregated numbers. Danny has gone into what many of the numbers mean, but he is missing out on some vital clues that are extremely revealing.
First up, for those counting stats such as Darren Rowse, Robert Scoble and Techcrunch here are my numbers.
Google Reader is currently showing 3 different feeds that are all providing the same content, which you might think would be better served as a single number as appears in Feedburner. Hopefully that will never
Also posted in Google, blogging tips, web 2.0 Tagged blog_subscribers, feedburner, google reader, rss, rss_subscribers, rss_subscription, rss_syndication, subscription Comments closed
Blogrush Testing and Tracking (Updated – John Reese Quote)
There has been a lot of criticism thrown at Blogrush and very few of the reports I have read really took any time to analyse how Blogrush is currently working using 3rd party tracking tools.
I am writing this article because I keep on being asked the same questions, not with the intention of beating the drum about Blogrush, or to promote my referral link. In fact you won't even find my referral link in this article. Go and use someone else's, or look at one of my previous articles.
I thought about adding some "notice me" links in this post
Advertising Management Solution – Openads 2.4 Released
I have just received notification that OpenAds 2.4 has been release. This is a full public version, not a beta (does that make it Web 3.0 ? )
Primary new features include:-
- Enterprise level delivery – Capability to serve billions of ads per month
- Smoother campaign delivery and prioritisation
- Easy integration with leading applications: Track Google and Yahoo! clicks
- Enhanced targeting and campaign management
- Better reporting capability
OpenAds is a complete tracking solution and advertising rotation system, and best of all it is free.
Why Use OpenAds?
It allows you to manage your advertising from one central location, avoid banner blindness and serve different
Also posted in Google, blog monetization, blogging tips, marketing, web 2.0 Tagged adsense_tracking, advertising, advertising_management, advertising_solution, openads Comments closed
Adtrackz Offline – Login Error – Domain Expired
I know lots of affiliates use Adtrackz for tracking, and a few of my readers might even have the resale rights to it.
I was greeted with the following when I went to log into Adtrackz this morning:-
Adtrackz Domain Expired
The Adtrackz domain has expired, and unfortunately this is going to cause lots of problems.
Adtrackz uses some software protection to prevent you installing the script on too many servers and giving it away to all your friends. It only performs the check when you log into your stats or to create new links, but the check relies on a check for authorized domains with the main Adtrackz.com domain
I should note that existing tracking links are still working, you just can't check your stats or create new links, though "on the fly" creation
StumbleUpon Quintuplet From The King Of Blogging Gobshites
Yes that title makes total sense, but you will have to keep reading to find out exactly why.
Stumble Popup
How often do you read a great blog post and forget to share it with your friends? The Stumbleupon toolbar is often a long mouse move away, and most people don’t use shortcuts when browsing, because they can’t remember them, or because of conflicts between different toolbars and other applications that are running on a system by default.
Read more on StumbleUpon Quintuplet From The King Of Blogging Gobshites…
Also posted in blog monetization, blogging tips, marketing, plugins, web 2.0 Tagged digg, stumbleupon, stumble_upon, testing, tracking, web_metrics Comments closed
Performancing Metrics vs Clicky vs MyBlogLog
Having previously discussed Performancing Metrics as being a little bit of a “Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing”, I decided to sign up directly with Clicky. I also removed any Performancing affiliate links from the article.
Also posted in blog monetization, blogging tips Tagged adsense, analytics, blogging, Google, mybloglog, performancing, performancing_metrics, performancing_tracking, stats, tracking Comments closed
Performancing Metrics Could Steal Your Undies
Performancing metrics has risen like a phoenix from the ashes, but is it a devil in disguise that it not just looking to steal the shirt off your back, but your undies as well?
Also posted in Google, blog monetization, blogging tips Tagged 901am, adsense, analytics, blogging, clicky, david_krug, duncan_riley, Google, mybloglog, performancing, performancing_metrics, performancing_tracking, stats, tracking Comments closed
MyBlogLog API – How Far Forward Are You Thinking
Mashups utilizing 3rd party services are a growing and competitive market, and only people who are fast on their feet get the chance to grab mind share with early adopters. Rarely is there a chance to take advantage of an API – before it is available.
Read more on MyBlogLog API – How Far Forward Are You Thinking…
Also posted in web 2.0 Tagged advertising, analytics, community, marketing, mybloglog, mybloglog_api, social marketing, social networks, social_media, tracking Comments closed
Technorati Can’t Cope With Twitter, coComment, Blog Networks, and Blog Rolls
Technorati simply can’t cope with new forms of blogging and RSS feed generation. I am not talking about splogs, which seem to still be rampant, and reblogs, likewise, but totally legitimate alternative unique content sources that are effectively blogs.
Read more on Technorati Can’t Cope With Twitter, coComment, Blog Networks, and Blog Rolls…
Also posted in blogging tips, web 2.0 Tagged 2000 bloggers, blog, blogging, cocomment, geek, rss, syndication, tech, technology, technorati, technorati_links, technorati_ranking, twitter Comments closed
Wolfpack of Lies – Hack Baiting Web 2.0 Startups For Diggs
This seems to be a growing trend, and so many bloggers are falling for the linkbait, poorly researched content, and unethical marketing practices.
Reactionary development of computer products and services can prove to be a disaster both for development cycles and the feature set of a product. An extremely careful balance has to be achieved between supporting the wishes of hardcore supporters of a product, and achieving core goals and maintaining a development schedule.
Read more on Wolfpack of Lies – Hack Baiting Web 2.0 Startups For Diggs…
Alexa Finally Provide Some Useful Data
Ok that is a bit tongue in cheek – Alexa data has always had some use for sites that are not gamed, and within similar niches, and it is always nice to see.
Security: Is MyBlogLog a Parasite?
There is a good reason I include a quote from Dane Morgan on my about page. It is not just because it was complementary, but because I know he is a very smart cookie, that has been around the block a few times with all kinds of affiliate marketing. He is vastly more experienced than I am.
Also posted in web 2.0 Tagged advertising, community, marketing, mybloglog, parasite, security, social marketing, social networks, tracking Comments closed
Subscriptions | Feedburner Changes
I had been having some ISP problems connecting to Feedburner for a couple of days so I hadn’t logged into my Feedburner account.
I am happy to see that I have crossed the 200 subscriber count. It isn’t a number to create a big fanfare about, but would like to thank those who have subscribed.
MyBlogLog Roundup
I am mentioning MyBlogLog a lot these days, but there are reasons for this
- A large proportion of my readership are using it.
- A large number are still not using it (they are missing out)
Also posted in web 2.0 Tagged advertising, community, marketing, mybloglog, social marketing, social networks, yahoo Comments closed
Google Reader Stats With FeedBurner
It is nice to finally see one of the mainstream blogs pointing out that it is hard to track readership numbers from Google Reader. Techcrunch have been looking at a report from Hitwise
Also posted in Google Tagged analytics, feedburner, Google, google reader, rss, statistics Comments closed
Analytics | Tracking | Keyword Research
Various forms of web metrics and keyword research are one of the cornerstones of internet marketing, and I have decided that some reviews of such services could develop into some good “cornerstone” content.
Also posted in Uncategorized Tagged analytics, statistics, stats, tracking, web_metrics Comments closed
Fairly Useless Feedburner Google Analytics Update