Brian Mark - eCommerce Insider

Sweet new tennis product

2011-12-26T14:40:00.000-06:00

As many of you know, I'm a huge tennis fan. I love watching Nadal or Djokovic play at their best, but even more I love to hit the courts myself.

One of the problems with playing myself is improving. I've found video analysis of matches to be helpful, but it's been difficult to get a decent camera angle for recording matches. I can either get the view from behind or from the side, which is great for stroke analysis but lacks the best view for reviewing my shot selection, court positioning and overall strategy.

However, that's all about to change. A new product, debuting next month, is going to make a good camera angle possible for the average tennis player. It's called the VolleyCam, and the first generation was just about having a tripod that would extend to 13' in the air. The second version, which is what I got to demo, is a much simpler design that hangs on a back curtain or fence and allows for easy adjustment of the camera to get the entire court into view.

I recently took it out, along with my Flip Ultra HD, to see just how well it worked. After about 30 seconds of setup, I was ready to go and play. I set both cameras to record and played a match. While the match itself isn't the important part, viewing the results is. I'm including a video I posted on YouTube here to show the differece. I think the results speak for themselves.

I believe every serious tennis player will be interested in purchasing one of these. They'll be available soon at the volley cam website.

Back at it

2011-11-29T23:09:00.001-06:00

I'm back at looking into ecommerce sites.

The good news? I have found something interesting that ecommerce site owners all over are going to want to see for themselves.

The bad news? They can't see it yet as I'm still developing it.

Give me a few days and I'll start sharing some of the insights that I get as I finish this project. It should be quite revealing when people start utilizing it.

Servers again

2010-03-26T13:01:00.007-05:00

Since people seem to enjoy seeing our hardware (server pron), I thought I'd show our current setup again. I'll start at the bottom of our rack.

This is a pic with a few things. First, it's got the white system, which is our memcache box. Just your basic setup (dual dual-core opterons, mirrored 250gig SATA drives, and 32gigs of RAM) for temporary storage of blocks of output. Above it is our Breach WebDefend appliance. I'm not sure the specs (dual quads and 4 gigs of RAM I think), but since it's sold as an appliance it doesn't really matter. Last in this pic are 3 APC power management boxes. Since quite a few of our devices only have one power supply, this allows us to plug them all in to both power sources in case of an outage.

Continuing on up the line, we have one of our oldest servers. We call it www1, although being a www server isn't something it does any more. It basically runs cron jobs on its dual xeon processors with 8gigs of RAM and mirrored 80gig SATA drives. The next machines are a pair of IBM boxes that used to be our database servers with dual dual-core opterons and 8 gigs of RAM with mirrored 73gig SCSI drives, but they've moved to being backup (one to be used as a second DB master and one as only a slave for doing backups.) You can also see our two load balancers, which will probably end up being retired this year in favor of newer models.

Here, you can see our Coradiant TrueSight. Again, it's sold as an appliance so I'm not real sure what the hardware is, but it sits on the network and watches traffic for anomalies in performance and user experience. Also pictured are our SMTP server and our admin server for the backend of our websites. Everything gets done there, then replicated across to the servers shown in the next picture.

These final 3 servers are the workhorses of our sites. Each one has dual six-core opterons with 32gigs of ram and 8 146gig SAS drives. The first two are used as web servers and are configured with Raid 6, the third one is our primary database server and is configured as Raid 10.

As you can see, there are some holes in our setup now. Literally, we've pulled machines out that sat between where things are now creating holes. Not a big deal, though. We'll get around to filling them sooner or later.

For those that have been asking to see the new machines, I hope you're happy. I'll be doing some reviewing of load balancers this year, so I'll share some of my thoughts on what I come across as I evaluate them. There are some neat looking devices and apps out there that I've seen already.

Need to defrag?

2010-03-26T12:59:00.002-05:00

Somehow, it seems I need to defrag my system.

I'm not sure I had seen one this bad before. Yay, me.

Tennis Trakker Pro Stats

2009-04-19T16:46:00.006-05:00

I recently got a new app for my iPod Touch to track stats. Since it wouldn't format well on the forum I was trying to share them on, I've listed them here.

Match Statistics by Tennis Trakker Pro
Event:	Fun Match
Date recorded:	2009 04 18 @ 14:02
Play time:	2 hours - 14 min.

Brian	vs.	Dana
6	Set 1	7
5	Set 2	7
	Set 3
	Set 4
	Set 5
General Play
172	Points played	172
48% (82/172)	Points won	(90/172) 52%
52% (90/172)	Points lost	(82/172) 48%
(4/12)	Break conversion	(5/8)
(3/8)	Break saved	(8/12)
Serves
48% (42/87)	1st serves in	(50/84) 60%
69% (29/42)	1st serves won	(31/50) 62%
78% (35/45)	2nd serves in	(26/34) 76%
54% (19/35)	2nd serves won	(20/26) 77%
3	Aces 1st serve	0
3	Aces 2nd serve	0
0	Foot faults	0
10	Double faults	8
Ground game - Winners
20% (11/54)	Forehand	(6/37) 16%
5% (1/21)	Backhand	(1/16) 6%
50% (2/4)	Volley	(3/6) 50%
50% (1/2)	Overhead	(2/2) 100%
0% (0/1)	Lob	(1/1) 100%
100% (2/2)	Drop shot	(1/2) 50%
17	Total winners	14
Ground Game - Unforced Errors
48% (26/54)	Forehand	(12/37) 32%
38% (8/21)	Backhand	(8/16) 50%
25% (1/4)	Volley	(3/6) 50%
0% (0/2)	Overhead	(0/2) 0%
100% (1/1)	Lob	(0/1) 0%
0% (0/2)	Drop shot	(1/2) 50%
36	Total Unforced	24
Ground Game - Forced Errors
31% (17/54)	Forehand	(19/37) 51%
57% (12/21)	Backhand	(7/16) 44%
25% (1/4)	Volley	(0/6) 0%
50% (1/2)	Overhead	(0/2) 0%
0% (0/1)	Lob	(0/1) 0%
0% (0/2)	Drop shot	(0/2) 0%
31	Total Forced	26

Matt Cutts makes Chrome sad :(

2009-02-26T10:03:00.003-06:00

I tried playing Matt's latest video, and it turns out he only makes Chrome sad by doing so...

Anyway, it's really cool that chrome can kill flash within a tab without killing the tab, but I find that it has to do that quite often with YouTube content. Just one more reason I don't need to use YouTube. Maybe I should restart my browser more than every other week... nah!

Survey with odd number arrangement

2009-01-26T13:35:00.003-06:00

I got a survey from Sun about our not renewing MySQL support. That's fine, I can answer those types of questions, but please - don't make me think about it.

That just takes too much time to figure out what number I want to choose. Hopefully the database on the other end understands the confused responses.

My son is a know-it-all

2009-01-16T15:35:00.002-06:00

According to his report card, my son is a know-it-all.

I just love the wording for the checkbox at the bottom... "knows all"... CHECK

First Episode of Ecom Phenom Created

2009-01-04T23:27:00.003-06:00

The first episode of Ecom Phenom has been created. We gave some general information on who we are, what the show is about, and what topics will be coming up.

We also set our schedule... 10pm Central on Sundays. You should be able to tune in live and even call in if you have questions. The live chat was pretty cool as well.

Overall, BlogTalkRadio was really awesome and made it easier than what I had been doing for shows recorded at night. I'm pretty happy so far.

My big tall Christmas wishes

2008-12-01T10:12:00.002-06:00

So Robert Garcia is having a little contest that looks like fun with some pretty simple rules and some great prizes.

My first wish: Leadership with a clue.
This wish shall be granted come January. At minimum, it'll be more of a clue than what we've had for the past 8 years.

Second wish: More time to develop a couple sites.
I have some sites in mind that would really help out the Church in general with some social aspects and ways to drive people back to the church. I think a lot of our problems in society come from the weakening of the church in many people's lives, and I'm really feeling a calling to build something on that side of things.

Third wish: Stable economy.
Much of what has been going on has been due to poor choices by a lot of people, but it feels like it's mostly up top. See first wish. ;)

Fourth wish: Better retirement for everyone.
Too many retired people have to get jobs these days, and that makes me sad. Retirement should be a time to enjoy grandchildren, see those places you've always wanted to go and just generally enjoy what's left of life, not start a new job or even a new career. Oh, and see first wish. ;)

Fifth wish: Easy green alternatives.
It's possible to go green in many things now, but it's a lot of work to find those alternatives. It should be easy to do something good, not take a ton of extra effort. It shouldn't be so hard to get from place to place without a huge carbon footprint. Enough said about the green, other than see first wish.

So, as part of the contest, I get to tag someone now. I'll tag my dad's Honest Bargain Blog, mostly because he's in need of links, but also because his wishes could prove quite interesting.

Don't wait for an invite, though. Join in today.

What lunches sound the worst?

2008-11-04T15:38:00.005-06:00

Sometimes, what you order sounds much worse than what you eat.

We nicknamed this the Chippendale special. The order was hot-and-naked with bowtie and a spicy sausage. It sounded very indecent and gave us all a bunch of laughs.

What else do we need to try that sounds really inappropriate?

I did it!

2008-11-04T14:06:00.003-06:00

After weeks and weeks of use, and a reboot this morning even, I finally did it. Yay Me!

Do I get a prize?

Changing the name of the blog

2008-10-12T19:35:00.004-05:00

Since my blog has evolved from really being about online business and I want to write more about the insides of the eCommerce industry, I'm changing the blog's title. Not a big deal, but the blog is about me and what I see inside the world of eCommerce, so the new title seems to fit.

Oh, and I'm going to formally announce here that I'm working on putting together a weekly eCommerce show on WMR. I'm not leaving SEO 101, but rather adding to it. I think I have a guest host already lined up, but that's an announcement for another day.

Empty Space

2008-10-09T14:41:00.003-05:00

Since we moved to a new data center from our old one, people have asked how much empty space we have. I mentioned we got more, but I never really said how much. The picture to the right should show you (sort of) how much space we got. I had to take 3 pictures and stitch them together (and I didn't spend much time doing it) since my phone couldn't get it all at once. Yes, we've finally got some room for expansion. I like expansion... that means more money I get to spend!!!

Oh, and we still have 1 Google Mini, 1 Database server and 1 web server to move over. It's getting closer to a fully functional death star... er... web star... er... something.

My wife in the paper!

2008-10-09T12:26:00.004-05:00

Congrats to my wife for making the paper - and for something positive. I wouldn't be mentioning if she made the police report. :)

That's a great game. Well done! I'm still waiting for that 300, though.

(P.S. That's not her picture... just her name circled below.)

Spell check your ads!

2008-09-15T14:32:00.003-05:00

I can't tell you how many times I see ads like below:

Sorry, but resultes isn't a word. If you don't spell check your ads, how do you think you'll ever attract an intelligent customer? Or, is that the point... a fool and their money?

Funny gmail ad

2008-09-08T16:05:00.004-05:00

I don't normally look at the ads in my gmail, but one caught my eye today. It was in an email copy of this post, which could go on this blog too I suppose (since it involves IT hardware), but that's not the point of what I'm writing now.

Now that's a funny ad. Not quite sure how they can sell pictures of that, but hey - someone will buy, I'm sure.

Video Professor and McCain?

2008-08-27T14:54:00.003-05:00

I've got to say, this is the first time I actually watched something with McCain in it intentionally, but the Video Professor angle was pretty clever. That's some linkbait that I can fall for and not feel guilty about at all.

Shoemoney Tools

2008-08-27T13:32:00.002-05:00

I've been using Shoemoney Tools for a while now, and I've got to say, it's a great program. Not cheap, but still very nice for someone doing SEO or affiliate marketing.

His keyword tools generates a decent list, although it doesn't have search volume. But, as I've said on SEO 101 before, I don't care about volume - I want to rank for everything. ;)

One of his coolest tools is a "Domain Marketplace". This is for domains that aren't currently registered that have .edu, .mil or .gov links. That's a great way to kick off a new project. I've seen some interesting looking domains, but only bit on one so far. I hope to buy more soon. I suggested they add a search function, and Dillsmack added that, which makes it very useful. It'll allow you to search for a word and it finds it in the domains that are available, so you can find something that's at least somewhat related to what you're doing.

The keyword tracker is ok, but not amazing. I'll still use some of the other tools for tracking performance.

The keyword density tools sounds pretty normal at first (the AJAX makes it more fun), but it has some nice things that I haven't seen elsewhere, like showing the results in a chart below your results for your competition, along with title usage, meta usage, and H1 - H3 usage of the keyword. That's actually some pretty cool stuff for watching competitors.

Just that's enough for me, but the link tools and PPC tools make this even more of a must have. I wasn't sure what I'd think of SEO tools from someone saying SEO has no future and he's not an SEO, but Jeremy and Dave actually put something nice together. I hope to see more tools from them in the future because, as Jeremy's shirt says, SEO sucks - especially if you don't have decent tools.

Moving servers made simpler

2008-07-31T16:17:00.001-05:00

How many times have you moved a website from one server to another and found that something doesn't work? If you're like me, the answer is more than once.

At some point, those errors can become costly. Misbehaving applications can cost serious amounts of $$$ when your business relies on them, but testing every page in every way possible isn't necessarily possible, either. Error logs can help, but dont always tell what the user did.

As we're moving this time, I installed a Coradiant TrueSight. This 1U server monitors and logs all inbound and outbound communications, giving real time reporting and monitoring of all pages. It may be pricey, but not having it could be even more costly. I'm glad we had the available funds and management that could see the value.

SES San Jose - Hear Me Speak

2008-07-23T11:10:00.002-05:00

Next month, you can hear / see me at SES. I am once again speaking on the Shopping Search Tactics session and will be lurking in the corners at all the events surrounding SES. Hope to see you there.

The Dark Knight - OMG!

2008-07-18T19:58:00.001-05:00

I can't remember the last time I went to a movie that was so good I wanted to stay and watch it again, but The Dark Knight fits that very well. There were 3 to 4 places they could have ended the movie and still have had one of the best movies of the summer, but they went beyond that in my mind and created one of the best movies ever. I could go see it a few more times, seriously.

Data center move

2008-07-17T16:05:00.001-05:00

So far, I've managed to move 1 load balancer, 1 database server, 1 Google Mini, 3 switches, 1 session monitor, 1 mail server and 2 web servers. Of those, only the load balancer, the mini and 1 web server were in production at the facility we're moving out of. I guess that means it's a good thing I got the full 8' of space and that the 13U had no chance of cutting it.

Still to move: 2 Google Minis, 2 switches, 3 web servers, a memcached box, 1 database server, 1 load balancer, and our T-1. Then, our current mail server can become a development/staging server. Such fun moving can be,

Top Affiliate Challenge launched

2008-07-02T00:08:00.003-05:00

The show launched, and boy did our ISP underestimate the bandwidth we'd be using. Not only was that a fail, but it took me about 12 hours to get plan B, C, and finally hit a homerun with plan D. We're finally there, even though it seems like it should have been done ages ago.

In any case, check out Top Affiliate Challenge every day to keep up with what's happening, and Go Team ToolBarn!

Yet another (small) project

2008-06-22T20:53:00.003-05:00

For those that aren't aware, I am a tennis enthusiast. I have a couple of Head Radical raquets, love my Babolat ProPulse shoes, and watch as much of the majors as I can. I even participate in leagues and enter tournaments when I can.

What's the point of all of this? Well, I volunteered in November to create a website for our local tennis association. I hadn't heard anything in quite some time, so I pushed a bit on this a couple of weeks ago. I got the go ahead finally last Wednesday and put together a site already. It's not perfect yet, but it's better (IMO) than most of the other area tennis associations.

So, how about some feedback on the site for the Fremont Tennis Association? What information can I add or what can I tweak to make the layout better? I've got quite a few additional ideas yet, but just as in e-commerce, an outside perspective can make a big difference in direction.