[video]http://www.youtube.com/v/zsbGkqvSC64&rel=1[/video]

An Australian fellow calling himself Leighmac will talk about Chicken Ti#ies, recipes, and PHP. PHP is a widely used Hypertext Preprocessor language – an open source, server-side, HTML embedded scripting language used to create dynamic Web pages.

I have heard about this language (although, I am not a programmer), but have not had a chance to work with it very much in the past. While trying to customize some features for my new Directory site, I needed to learn a bit more about the extremely dynamic language.

Being more of a visual learner and not wanting to wade through a 4 inch thick reference manual – I performed a search in Google for PHP Video Tutorials not thinking that anything useful would come up. After visiting Leighmac’s site – I simply couldn’t believe my luck… I was surprised by his first video where he walked through the installation of an Apache, MySQL, PHP Server package for Windows called WAMP and a really neat PHP editor called PHP Designer 2006 (now, PHP Designer 2008), covering every little detail needed to get up and running and writing the practice code within about 5 minutes of the video’s ending. Note: Later in the series, he switches to a Programmer’s Text Editor called jEdit.

These videos are balanced with humor, and a level of detail that is rarely seen in videos which train folks about programming languages. Most people creating these sorts of videos, in my experience, make huge jumps in logic leaving out large amounts of information fully needed to understand the topic.

Leighmac walks you through all of the details needed to make a go at this language. Check his videos out and if you like them, make sure to give him a donation – yep that’s right… one of the best things about these videos is that they are absolutely free! All he asks is for a small $5, $10, or $25 donation if you feel like you benefited from the tutorials.

As a follow-up to an article I wrote last year, I thought I would check to see what www.bloglyne.com is worth today. After not publishing any articles for just under 6 months, we realized a drop in Alexa rank of about 1.2 million *grins* So, I was curious if this change might impact the “value” of the blog according to the sites which I quoted back in March – Sootle, dnScoop, and the Business Opportunities Weblog.

According to these three sources Bloglyne.com is worth somewhere between $515 to $4,990.

Sootle values Bloglyne the highest at $4,990 – Their FAQ can be found here. They seem to use a method of disclosed purchase deals for other websites and then break down a per back link cost and use that to estimate the value of the site.

This seems a very poor way to measure the value of a site after the advent of DoFollow. For example, by commenting on 6 to 9 posts in a blog that publishes the top commentators to each page an individual can create thousands of back links in about 5 minutes.

dnScoop values Bloglyne the lowest at $515 – They seem to take a “big picture” approach measuring the following items as of the writing of this article:

• Domain Age using the WayBack Machine
• Page rank Check (not sure how valuable this is with the new Google algorithms)
• Inbound Links (back links) using the Yahoo Site Explorer
• Traffic Rank by AlexaRank
• Domain Name IP Report by myIPneighbors.com
• Link Value Report by Text-Link-Ads

I think that the combination of each of these items gives a better view of to potential value a site may generate at any given time. And although I would like to believe my site is worth almost $5,000 after not doing anything with it for the past 6 months, I tend to believe that is hogwash!

Here is an idea I just thought up over the past couple of days.

Because I am still working on developing a consistant base of readers, why not open the door to other authors to help shape and contribute to the content here at Bloglyne?

Instead of charging people for advertising at Bloglyne, I thought it might be interesting to look for 2 – 3 authors who would like to publish unique articles here – The idea is that, as long as the content is original and related to Affiliate/Internet Marketing, SEO, or Website Design, the authors would be able to publish their unique articles here with one way links back to whatever site they wish.

Please leave comments about what you think about the idea or if you are interested in becomming a contributing author, send an email to admin@bloglyne.com

Since posting my article “One Way Inbound PR 9 Links For Free” I have received many inquiries about the software I used to generate the video which captured the computer desktop.

The Night Shift

It took me over 5 hours to find the software I used. I started by looking at www.tucows.com and www.download.com – Maybe I’m slow, but I had a heckuva time figuring out the correct keywords to search on. Many of the terms would yield simple print screen, regular camera video recording or video editing software packages – none of which were going to meet my need for the project. I finally figured out the correct search terms were “screen recorder” or “screen recording”.

The goal was to find FREE software if I could – I wasn’t able to find anything for hours, so, I finally found a package that was free to try. After downloading it, I set up the options, got a brief script ready and started recording. Immediately, I received a message that it would only allow 15 recordings before I would have to pay for it. This was pretty discouraging because I was doing a test video on the first recording and I could see how quickly I was going to use up all 15 recordings. “Ah well,” I thought, and braced to pay for it…

Tech Support?!? We Don’t Offer No Stinking Tech Support!

After recording the first video – it did not work very well, the *.avi was corrupted, and buggy. So, I worked a way around it, and recorded again. The file sizes were out of control, 230Mb – 350Mb. I found a setting to change in order to use a better encoding, but it was buggy and wasn’t working correctly in the trial. So, I emailed the company and asked if they could provide some support – that if I couldn’t get the encoding to work, I wouldn’t be able to buy the software.

They emailed me back suggesting that I purchase some video conversion software. Basically, they were telling me to “screw off” and expecting me to thank them for it.

On The Road Again…

So, I began my search again, looking for other screen recorders. My plan was to download many and use up all of their free to try periods before deciding on which one to buy… then I noticed – All the user interfaces I ran across looked alike! I mean, they did not resemble each other, they looked exactly alike!

One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other

Then I ran across a review by Hax0r on C|NET’s download.com where he said the following about one of the screen recorders which is “free to try” but you have to pay to get the full version:

Rip-off of open-source program

Pros: Well, it’s an alright, though CPU-inefficient program… but…

Cons: This is obviously a rip-off of the open-source program, CamStudio 2.0, available at camstudio dot org. They might very well have taken the open-source code, changed the names and are trying to sell it. I highly recommend that you check out the aforementioned program, CamStudio 2.0, before downloading this.

Posted: 28-Nov-2006 03:55:22 AM

Jackpot!

I went to CamStudio.org site and there it was… the free software Hax0r had referred to, available for download and FREE to use at SourceForge.net

Ethics – A Little Cleaning Up To Do

I reported the possible licensing violations to the author, not sure if these are real violations, but wanted to let him know there is a possibility that others are profiting off of his open source work. You can bet this guy gets a donation from me! If you end up using the software, I would encourage you to donate, as well.

Bloglyne.com Is Worth Somewhere Between $61.48 – $9,032.64!

Which one do you believe?

Right now, today Pingoat.com shows my site being worth about $61.48 according to Technorati – What, you don’t believe me? You can see it right there on my sidebar!

I ran across Pingoat.com recently while commenting and writing about the article, “Tricks and Tools for Affiliate Blog Building – HOT Video” on 5 Star Affiliate’s site.

It started to get me to think about how we value our sites, and how much work we put into them… It sure feels like I have put in more time than $61.48 – I must be working for about $0.03/hour *grins* Hopefully, it will get better, right?!?!

How do you determine the value of your site?

Heck – how does anybody? By the hours you put in, by the traffic the site generates, by the REAL traffic the site generates, by your backlinks…

What is your website worth?There are certainly differing opinions. Apparently, Sootle.com believes my site is worth $405, which they claim is based on the Yahoo Developer Network.According to their FAQ, the valuations are based on the backlinks Yahoo! is listing which are associated with my site.

Another site called dnScoop.com provides a much more detailed report by apparently looking at:

• Google Pagerank
• AlexaRank
• Indexed Pages for
  • Google, MSN, Yahoo!, AlltheWeb, and AltaVista
• HTTP Status
• Domain keyword popularity
• Site category
• Age of domain and a few other factors

It looks like dnScoop was a little more conservative than Sootle, but much more liberal than Pingoat. With this tool, it is not just looking at backlinks or Alexa traffic or even keywords. It appears that dnScoop is taking a larger view of site worth and using multiple sources of data to check value. I will try to get in touch with the site owner to find out if they will provide any more detail on how they are weighting each item and if there are plans to provide recommendations for improvements beyond their affiliate links.

The winner by far and the one I will choose to remember is the Business Opportunities Weblog, which valued Bloglyne.com at $9,032.64! This is based on Technorati’s links and inspired by Tristan Louis and the AOL-WeblogsInc deal.

I need to outsource!
I need to recognize that I cannot do it all.
I need a company willing to offer designs BEFORE taking my money
I need a web graphic design company that is not going to take advantage.

I think the web design bid process is backward – If a company believes in their ability, they should offer concepts for potential clients to consider. We, as consumers, should be able to make a decision between different designs which different companies offer to us.

We should be able to make decisions based on which one we as THE “business owners” believe match our vision.

Right?

Wrong…

Apparently, the way it works these days is that every firm I have contacted wants me to give them money before I see one single line… Before I see one single design concept.

They want me to give them the money earned with my blood and my sweat before they show me their ability.

They demand money I have earned for my family, earned by sacrificing sleep and time with family so that they can OVERCHARGE me for hosting fees and added pages.

Any of you that know of any firm who will not steal my money – who are competent in design. Please comment – I would love to give them credit and business if they will not take advantage.