A little bit about Unix / Aix and other technology

Setting FTP log connection IBM AIX

2008-11-07T10:30:00.001+07:00

1.You need to enable syslogd by adding the following to /etc/syslogd.conf

daemon.debug /var/log/ftplog.log

2. Modify inetd.conf

ftp ... -d -l -u 022

3. refresh syslog

# refresh -s sylslogd

4. refresh inetd

# refresh -s inetd

Disable send mail on IBM AIX

2008-11-07T10:28:00.001+07:00

This procedure describes how to disable Sendmail in IBM® AIX® to free up port 25 for use with IBM Workplace Messaging®.

1. To stop the Sendmail process, find the Sendmail process id by performing one of these actions:
* Use the ps command to get a list of processes.
* Read the process id in the file /etc/sendmail.pid.
2. Stop the Sendmail process by typing this command and the process id, for example:

kill -9

3. Verify that Sendmail is stopped by typing this command:

Ps -eaf | grep sendmail

4. To keep Sendmail from restarting when the server is restarted, perform these steps:
1. Navigate to the /etc directory and look for rc.* files.
2. Using a text editor, open either the rc.d or rc.local file.
3. Use a number sign (#) to comment out the line that starts Sendmail.
4. Save the file.
5. Restart the server.
6. Start the Messaging SMTP inbound service.

LCDs vs. CRT: Battle of the Display Acronyms

2008-10-09T14:02:00.001+07:00

LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) monitors have come down in price considerably since their first release, but they still cost a good deal more than an equivalent-sized Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitor, the TV screen-like monitor most of us know so well. As a rough approximation, you'll pay twice as much for a flat LCD screen as your will for a good quality CRT.

Whether the LCD is worth the extra money depends very much on your financial state and other conditions.

The biggest advantage of a flat screen monitor is compactness. They are only a couple of inches in width, so they take up much less valuable desk real estate than a CRT. That makes them an ideal choice for office desks and people who don't have much room.

LCD screens are easier on the eyes because they offer better contrast than CRTs. That's important if you're a Baby Boomer whose eyes aren't what they once were.

And for those of us who have to move monitors occasionally, I'll opt for a flat panel any time over the 60-pound-plus 19-inch CRT.

However, LCD have drawbacks besides price. For one thing, colors tend to appear more washed out on an LCD. The same things that make LCD's easier on the eyes make it hard for them to display vivid colors. They also lack the multiple color adjustments you find on a CRT.

By their nature, LCDs don't handle fast-moving objects as well as a CRT. If you're a gamer, you'll probably be disappointed at the speed and image quality you get from an LCD. A less expensive, higher quality CRT will save you enough money to buy that high-end video card.

Unlike a modern (multisync) CRT, an LCD has a fixed refresh rate. This means that the image tends to get blurry when you try to change the screen resolution.

Of course, CRTs have their own drawbacks. They are big, heavy, consume a lot of power, and produce a lot of heat. They are also more likely to cause eyestrain, both from the characteristics of the screen and from reflections and glare.

As LCD technology advances, we can expect CRTs to go the way of the floppy disk and dot matrix printer, niche items used only for special applications. For now, you have to balance the advantages of an LCD against getting a bigger CRT for the same price.

What's RAID 10 And Why Should I Use It?

2008-10-09T13:58:00.000+07:00

RAID is, of course, a Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks. It is a method of storing information on multiple hard disks for greater protection and in some cases performance. Under the RAID umbrella are a number of different storage methods, called levels and numbered from 0 to 9, some of which are more useful than others.

Each level is a distinct method of organizing storage, but some of them can be combined which produces a two-digit RAID level, such as RAID 10, sometimes identified (and more appropriately so) as RAID 1+0. In general, each RAID level has its own advantages and disadvantages.

RAID 10, for example, is fast, it's crashproof and it eats disk space. If you need more protection for your storage, or faster storage performance, RAID 10 is a simple, relatively cheap fix.

To implement RAID 10 you need at least two physical hard drives; just using two partitions on the same hard drive is inadequate. You also need a disk controller that understands RAID.

RAID 10 works by striping and mirroring your data across at least two disks. Mirroring, or RAID 1, means writing your data to two or more disks at the same time. Even if one disk fails completely, the mirror preserves the information. Striping, or RAID 0, means breaking your data up into chunks and writing the chunks to different disks in succession. It improves performance because the computer can get data off more than one disk simultaneously. (For the purists out there: RAID 0 technically isn't a RAID level at all because it doesn't provide any redundancy to protect information. However, it is commonly referred to as a RAID level anyway.)

Before we go on, here's one important caveat about backup and RAID 1. Although data is written to two disks simultaneously, the data is not being backed up. Should your system, rather than the hard disk, suffer an error erroneous data could be sent to both disks at the same time, corrupting both drives simultaneously. You still must have a backup strategy in place, even if you use RAID 1. (For greater protection against data corruption, use a RAID level that includes a parity drive, but that's a different story.)

Put RAID 1 and RAID 0 together and you get RAID 10. RAID 10 is secure because mirroring duplicates all your data. It's fast because the data is striped across two or more disks, meaning chunks of data can be read and written to different disks simultaneously.

The drawback to RAID 10 is that it cuts your effective disk space in half. Since everything is mirrored (duplicated), two 60 GB disks give you a total system capacity of 60 GB. And remember, always use identical disks when creating a mirrored array. The disk geometry (number of heads, cylinders, etc.) is critical, and using disks that are different is discouraged in the strongest terms.

Given the cost of disks, storage space is much less of a problem than it was a few years ago. It's cheap enough to add additional disks to support your RAID 10 array and if the disk controller on your motherboard doesn't support RAID 10, you can get an add-in disk controller card for less than $50.

RAID 10 is also slightly more complex to set up than conventional storage, but it isn't particularly hard. The system or disk controller software includes install routines that will walk you through the process. It usually takes just a few minutes to install a RAID 10 array.

Find maintenance level on AIX

2008-10-06T14:46:00.000+07:00

# instfix -i | grep AIX_ML
All filesets for 5.3.0.0_AIX_ML were found.
All filesets for 5300-01_AIX_ML were found.
All filesets for 5300-02_AIX_ML were found.
All filesets for 5300-03_AIX_ML were found.
All filesets for 5300-04_AIX_ML were found.

make bootable CD AIX

2008-10-06T14:44:00.000+07:00

Have you ever needed a bootable CD/DVD image because the one you have is lost, broken, or simply out of date. The following procedure can be a great help. mkcd and/or mkdvd can be used to create bootable images. Generally, these commands are used to create a bootable mksysb image. But these commands can also be used to create a boot-only CD/DVD that you can use to boot a system and then get into maintaince mode using the information on the failed boot device - e.g. AIX in installed, but not booting. Or you have a tape that is not bootable, Etc..

On any AIX system at the SAME kernel level as the system you are wanting to (re)boot (e.g. 5300-05)
1. # cd /var/adm/ras
2. # ls ./bosinst.data ./image.data | backup -ivqf /tmp/fakemksysb
3a: # mkcd -m /tmp/fakemksysb -d /dev/cdX ## X is device number of cd/dvd writer
3b. # mkcd -m /tmp/fakemksysb -S ## will create a .iso formated file in a "default location" - it will not end in .iso Transfer this file to system with a cd/dvd burner and burn the CD

Note that towards the end of the process there will be some installp error messages. You can ignore these.

Performance Monitoring Tips and Techniques - AIX

2008-07-24T13:17:00.003+07:00

What are the most common performance problem causes?

From my personal experience (your mileage may vary):

* 50% poor disk layout + mgmt - some disks 90%+ busy while 50% not used at all - do you have a clear document that maps the files to actual disks?
* 10% poor setup of RDBMS tuning parameters relating to memory use
* 10% single threaded batch applications (and we have been using SMP for 9 years!!)
* 10% poorly written customer extensions to standard applications
* 5% system running with errors in the errpt log file (including CPU failures!!)
* 5% paging on large RAM (>2 GB) systems & vmtune not use to set min/maxperm
* 5% AIX problems already discovered and fixed but AIX was not up to date.
* 4% badly ported app = not compiled with optimization or on old AIX versions
* 1% genuine bugs in AIX or commands
and every single one of these was reported as a problem with the hardware!!!

Perfpmr - the performance guru's secret weapon

Perfpmr is the official AIX Support performance data gathering tool. If you report a performance problem then after the usual checks on your software levels, AIX Support will ask you to use this tool to gather loads of information that you must return, as soon as possible. It is actually a set of shell scripts that use standard tools to gather information and write report summaries. This means it is very useful for you too and why reinvent the wheel, when the IBM Austin experts are maintaining this excellent tool for you. Get the latest AIX version

It comes with an excellent README file with all the details on running it, but briefly, find at least 100 Mbytes of free disk space and as the root user untar the file and run the master perfpmr.sh shell script. This needs to run during the problem (of course) and I suggest for 5 minutes = 600 seconds. For example, ./perfpmr.sh 600 It actually takes longer than this as there are several sections and the final phase gathers lot of configuration details that takes a long time with machine with lots of disks. Once finished take a look at the summary (.sum) files as these are readable. You may be able to sort out the performance problem yourself from this data alone.

But perfpmr is more than this because:

* it was precisely documented your system configuration at the hardware and AIX levels - this saves you doing this.
* if you take regular perfpmr data of the system running happily on a normal workload day. Then when there is a problem - you or the AIX support team can take a look at the differences between the good and bad performance captures and this will make diagnosis ten times simpler.
* if you should take perfpmr data of the system running happily before and after any minor or major changes to the system. For example software upgrades, AIX upgrades, changes to disk subsystems and adding software. Again, you will be able to determine what changed - for good or bad - ten times faster with before and after data captures.

My favorite Desktop tools of the job

I have a Windows based Thinkpad and AIX servers and this is what I use every day:

1. Virtual Network Computing VNC from TightVNC - so I can have X Windows at zero cost and it stays running for tomorrow
2. WebSM Remote Client - so I can remotely manage my AIX machines and HMC's. You can download this from you HMC (if you have it setup right and allowed the protocol) from http:// 30% of the I/O) (iostat)
5. Thrashing rising page outs, CPU wait and run queue.
6. Disk I/O bound when %iowait greater than 40% (iostat)

* Although in recent years this might not be true as CPUs are much faster and disks only a bit faster.
* This means many workloads are not disk bound and the CPUs deal with the data faster than the disks deliver it.
* So high I/O wait is perfectly normal on many systems.

Setting minfree and maxfree on an AIX 5.3 System

minfree = (maximum of either 960 or # of logical CPUs * 120) divided by # of memory pools

maxfree = minfree + (# of logical CPUs * maximum read ahead) divided by # of memory pools

Where,

1. of logical CPUs from bindprocessor -q (count number of available processors)
2. of memory pools from vmstat -v
(note: If the number is 0 use 1 as a default)
Maximum read ahead is the greater of maxpgahead or j2_maxPageReadAhead from ioo -a

Tuning minfree and maxfree

You need to increase the value of minfree when you see 'Free Frame Waits' increasing over time.
Use the 'vmstat -s' to display the currently value of 'Free Frame Waits'.
Remember, to calculate a new value for maxfree.
Large Disk Subsystem Setup

Setting up Disks? - Want some advice? Here are my (Nigel Griffiths) top tips:

1. More disks are goodness - increasingly hard to justify with bigger disks but spindles count for performance
2. Use ALL of the disks - ALL of the time. But make the computer do this i.e. not manually move data around.
3. Hose it all about (especially for systems with less than 8 disks = one RAID5 is best)
4. Using RAID5 - 7+1 parity for maximum disk use
5. Aim for 16 to 32 LUNs - make then big enough to reduce the number of LUNs - no one can manage a thousand LUN's
6. Use 4 paths = 64 to 128 vpaths - two paths also OK. Never use more than 4 paths.
7. All LUNs same size
8. Clear map of layout - you must known where LUNs are placed and overlap.
9. 4 to 16 filesystems (never just one filesystem) to avoid free space allocation bottlenecks.
10. With AIX 5.2 onwards, the 64 bit Kernel and JFS2 should be thought of as the default.
11. LVM striped at 64KB or 128KB stripe width.
12. Database should have 8KB or better yet 16KB block size minimum.
13. Mix data, index, logs up on all the disks - to avoid hot spots (don't have disks for specific data types)
14. Direct attach, if you are the only ESS/FAStT user
15. Sequential I/O - big block = max throughput above 64KB blocks, also 256KB or 1MB works well (4KB can kill your throughput)
16. Random I/O - many files, equally spread across filesystems and hence disks
17. Two Fibre Channel adapters per TB,
18. Expect 70% adapter bandwidth max (2 Gbit FC = max 200MB/s and 140MB/s real)

For ESS/FAST/DS in particular (these numbers are 2 years old and probably need updating):

1. 6 to 8 Fibre Channel adapters per ESS
2. Disk Size: 36 GB=OK, 72 GB OK for Random, 146 GB only for archive
3. Use ESS bid against EMC and HDS
4. Typically 30+ hosts
5. Disk qdepth ESSF20=60 and ESS800=90 FAST900=1024/disks/hosts FAST500+600= 212/hosts/disks
6. Fibre Channel memory DMA=1MB, CMD's 248

Kenapa Gaji Saya Tidak Pernah Cukup

2008-07-24T13:14:00.001+07:00

Gaji. Cuma 4 huruf memang. Tapi kenyataannya, yang namanya gaji selalu saja ditunggu-tunggu oleh mereka yang bekerja sebagai karyawan. Dimanapun itu.

Betul. Jika Anda - atau suami Anda - bekerja sebagai karyawan di sebuah perusahaan, seringkali Anda selalu menunggu agar tanggal gajian itu datang - kalau bisa - sepuluh hari lebih cepat. Benar kan?

Menariknya, berapa pun gaji yang terima, seringkali kita merasa tidak pernah cukup. Besar sih besar. Itu sebabnya, kadang kita merasa kesal, kenapa sudah capek-cepek kerja sebulan, tetapi gaji tak pernah cukup.
Bapak ibu, tenang. Kalau Anda bingung karena merasa gaji Anda tidak pernah cukup, maka kali ini saya akan memberitahu 5 hal kenapa gaji Anda dirasa tidak pernah cukup. Mau tahu apa saja?

1. Biaya Hidup Tinggi
Salah satu penyebabnya mungkin karena biaya hidup di kota tempat Anda tinggal memang tinggi, dibandingkan kota-kota lain. Sekali lagi, ini cuma kemungkinan saja lho.

2. Gaji Anda Terlalu Kecil
Penyebab kedua adalah gaji yang kecil. Mungkin biaya hidup di kota Anda tak terlalu tinggi, tapi berhubung gaji Anda kecil, jelas Anda merasa gaji tak cukup bukan? Memang ada yang berpendapat, berapa pun gaji Anda, asal bisa dikelola dengan baik, pasti cukup. Betul. Saya setuju, karena saya sendiri juga bilang begitu. Tapi, kalau Anda merasa telah mengelolanya dengan baik, tapi kok gaji Anda tetap saja dirasa enggak pernah cukup selama berbulan-bulan, bahkan bertahun-tahun, maka bisa jadi gaji Anda memang terlalu kecil.

3. Kenaikan Gaji tak Sebanding dengan Kenaikan Biaya Hidup
Penyebab ketiga karena kenaikan gaji Anda setiap tahun tidak seimbang dengan kenaikan Biaya Hidup. Misalnya, gaji di keluarga Anda Rp 1 juta sebulan. Biaya hidup Anda sekeluarha juga Rp 1 juta sebulan. Sementara tahun depan harga-harga naik, sehingga biaya hidup misalnya Rp 1,3 juta sebulan. Semetara gaji Anda "hanya" naik 10 persen, menjadi Rp 1,1 juta. Jelas, kan, gaji Anda tidak cukup.

3. Uang Lebih Enak Dihabiskan daripada Ditabung
Jujur saja, dimana-mana, yang namanya uang lebih enak untuk dihabiskan daripada ditabung. Benar kan? Contohnya, kalau Anda dapat uang Rp 500 rb sekarang, pasti akan lebih enak kalau Anda membelanjakannya daripada disimpan. Bawa saja uang itu ke toko baju atau toko sepatu, pilih-pilih, beli deh.
Tapi, kalau ditabung, enggak enak rasanya. Kenapa? Karena Anda jadi enggak bisa belanja. Itulah kenapa yang namanya uang lebih enak dibelanjakan daripada ditabung. Nah, karena keenakan, membuat orang selalu menghabiskan uang di dompetnya.
Setiap kali Anda pegang uang, selalu habis. Akhirnya, ketika ada kebutuhan, Anda lantas berpikir: "Kok nggak cukup ya gaji saya?" Padahal, itu karena Anda sudah terlanjur keenakan menghabiskan uang, sehingga rasanya gaji Anda seperti tidak cukup. Padahal, mungkin saja gaji Anda sebetulnya cukup, tapi Anda terlalu menghambur-hamburkannya.

4. Karena Keinginan Tidak Ada Batasnya
Anda tahu tidak bedanya kebutuhan dan keinginan? Kebutuhan adalah sesuatu yang Anda beli karena memang Anda butuhkan, entah Anda ingin atau tidak. Sementara keinginan, adalah sesuatu yang Anda beli, walaupun kadang Anda tidak selalu membutuhkannya. Menariknya, kebutuhan seringkali memiliki batas. Sementara keinginan biasanya tidak memiliki batas.
Misalnya, setiap bulan, penghasilan keluarga Anda katakan saja Rp 1 juta. Biaya hidup yang betul-betul Anda butuhkan setiap bulan rata-rata adalah Rp 700 ribu (ada batasnya, ingat?). Sementara, barang-barang yang Anda beli karena Anda memang menginginkannya, rata-rata adalah Rp 300 ribu per bulan. Total Rp 1 juta. Sesuai dengan gaji Anda. Tapi, suatu kali, bisa saja keinginan Anda meningkat, dari yang biasanya Rp 300 ribu per bulan, menjadi Rp 500 ribu per bulan. Otomatis, penghasilan Anda jadi nggak cukup dong.
Menariknya, seringkali justru keinginan inilah yang membuat gaji kita terasa tidak cukup, karena yang namanya keinginan seringkali tidak ada batasnya, sementara kebutuhan, umumnya ada batasnya (dalam contoh diatas tadi, yaitu Rp 700 ribu per bulan). Nah, kalau Anda ingin gaji Anda cukup, sering-seringlah mengendalikan keinginan Anda yang biasanya tidak terbatas itu.
Bagaimana bapak ibu. Sudah jelas kan kenapa Anda selalu merasa gaji Anda tidak pernah cukup? Salam.

Mirroring Harddisk on Solaris

2008-05-02T15:21:00.005+07:00

Membuat miror hard disk adalah pekerjaan yang susah-susah gampang, yang harus kita perhatikan adalah kita harus melakukannya secara terurut dan terinci karena apabila salah langkah maka harddisk malah akan tidak bisa diaccess dan di boot.

Adapun langkah-langkahnya sebagai berikut:
1. format ==> lihat disk yg akan digunakan dan yg akan dimirror
misal : c0t0d0 (disk yang akan dimirror) dan c0t1d0 (disk ke dua sebagai disk mirror)
2. untuk root biasanya slice 0 maka disknya c0t0d0s0 dan c0t1d0s0
3. untuk swap biasanya pada slice 1 maka disknya c0t0d0s1 dan c0t1d0s1
4. Misalkan /var dipisahkan dari / dan diletakin pada slice 3 dan penulisan disknya c0t0d0s3 dan c0t1d0s3.
5. untuk replica/database svm biasanya diletakin pada slice 7 besarnya minimal 50MB dan disknya c0t0d0s7 dan c0t1d0s7
6. check apakah database replica sudah dibuat dengan menjalankan metadb
7. kalo belum ada lakukan metadb -a -f -c 5 c0t0d0s7 c0t1d0s7
setelah itu menyamakan partisi disk1 ke disk2.
8. prtvtoc /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s2 |fmthard -s - /dev/rdsk/c0t1d0s2
9. memulai mirroring
10. metainit -f d11 1 1 c0t0d0s0
11. metainit -f d12 1 1 c0t1d0s0
12. metainit d10 -m d11
13. cp /etc/vfstab /etc/vfstab.date.xxyyzzhmetadb
14. metaroot d10 ==> d10 akan tercreate secara automatis pada /etc/vfstab
15. metainit -f d21 1 1 c0t0d0s1
16. metainit -f d22 1 1 c0t1d0s1
17. metainit d20 -m d21
18. metainit -f d31 1 1 c0t0d0s3
19. metainit -f d32 1 1 c0t1d0s3
20. metainit d30 -m d31
21. lockfs -fa
22. edit /etc/vfstab untuk mengganti c0t0d0s1 menjadi /dev/md/rdsk/d20 dan d30.
23. reboot system
24. syncronize mirror disk
25. metattach d10 d12
26. metattach d20 d22
27. metattach d30 d32
28. ls -l /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s0 /dev/dsk/c0t1d0s0
29. eeprom "nvramrc-use?=true"
30. eeprom "nvramrc=devalias sds-root /pci......./disk@0,0:a devalias sds-mirror /pci..../disk@1,0:a"
untuk step ini lihat hasil ls -l pd step ke 28 dan dimulai pada line /pci.... dan sd@0,0 atau sd@1,0 diganti jadi disk@0,0:a dan disk@1,0:a.
31. eeprom "boot-device=sds-root sds-mirror"
32. Selesai deh.....ntar kalo disk yg satu rusak maka automatis os akan pindah ke disk yg satu lagi karena sudah dilakukan step 29, 30, dan 31.

Backup on Lto Tape

2008-03-22T11:49:00.000+07:00

The value of your data more then the hardware and we know that when we loss over data and that’s why the Backing up data has become golden rule in the computer world. We need to backup data once in a day to avoid panics at the time of data loss. Data backups, hard drive backups, email backups prove beneficial when you lose some important data.

In such case you can trust the backed up data! But how can we create backup of over data and what hardware can we use to have backup on that is reliable and easy to use. Capabilities such as dynamic rate matching and dual mode compression enhance tape drive performance and product life.
Released in 2007, LTO-4 tapes have a native capacity of 800 GB which can go up to 1.6 TB worth if compressed (2:1). The data transfer rate has gone up to 120 MB/s and a 256 bit AES-GCM drive level encryption has been added. LTO 4 Ultrium also features backward compatibility with LTO-2 and LTO-3 drives. Another advantage of using LTO tapes is that future versions are in development so there will be a chance to update your system instead of it being phased out of use. Multiple sources for LTO media and drives reduce production bottlenecks and also ensure investment protection for OEMs and end users alike. Related products available at Tape4Backup are: LTO 1, LTO 2, LTO 3, LTO Cleaning Cartridge, LTO Barcode Labels, LTO Empty Cases and LTO Cartridge Memory Reader.
Backup tape users are increasingly sensitive to data security in the wake of high profile data loss incidents, and encryption techniques have appeared to help ensure security. For example, if an unencrypted tape is lost or stolen, its data is at risk. But, if an encrypted tape is lost or stolen, its data is still considered to be secure. Thus, the use of encryption has a profound effect on corporate liability and reporting obligations.
We can find LTO 1, LTO 2, LTO 3, LTO Cleaning Cartridge, LTO Barcode Labels, LTO Empty Cases and LTO Cartridge Memory Reader on the following link
http://www.tape4backup.com/ait-2-tapes.php
Ask me for detail and info: links@tape4backup.com

Keyword Articles

2008-02-06T09:13:00.000+07:00

To begin with, a short explanation of what a keyword article is. When a search engine user begins to look for information on a particular subject, there are certain phrases that are used by the vast majority of people. For example, if you’re building a web site and want to know how to get on the first page of Google, you may type in “Top Rankings”, or maybe “First page of Google.” Because these search phrases are tracked by various methods there are tools available that will tell you which phrases are the most popular for a particular subject.

Keyword articles attempt to capitalize on this by using the search phrase within their text. As the search engines index web pages, they’ll use these phrases to determine the subject matter of the page and rank it accordingly. Sounds pretty simple right? And it is. In the early days of the web it was possible to increase your ranking by simply repeating the search phrase as many times as possible. But as internet use began to become widespread, the search engines were forced to become more sophisticated in order to weed out the sites that abused this fact. After all, a web page that was a constant litany of one single keyword was of very little use to a researcher, and the whole idea of the internet was to deliver information and not keywords.

In order to deal with the problem, Google, Yahoo, and MSN developed highly complex algorithms to separate good, highly informative sites from the so called “spam” sites. Today, in order for a site to achieve high rankings, the site has to deliver good information in a unique way. These search algorithms have now evolved to a point whre the overuse of a keyword, or just stuffing keywords into an article, will get a site penalized in the rankings, or in some cases, even eliminated from the search results altogether.

So what makes a good keyword article? First of all, a keyword article has to give the user good solid information. Secondly, the use of the keyword phrase has to occur in a natural manner. Forcing the issue only results in an awkward reading article and defeats the intended purpose of the keyword article.

If you intend to use keyword articles on your site, make sure that you’re a good solid writer. Unfortunately many site owners are not natural writers and their articles reflect that fact. Other site owners will go overboard in their use of the keyword phrase and end up getting penalized. If you aren’t a natural writer, or you don’t have the time to do research and write good articles, then hire a writer to do them for you. There are a number of sites where you can find freelance writers who are familiar with keyword articles so that’s not a problem. But remember that you’ll generally get what you pay for. While it may be tempting to go for the lowest bid, (and the bids can get awfully low), you simply won’t get a quality keyword article for a few dollars. Worse yet, you may end up with computer generated articles that are almost incomprehensible or even plagiarized material. If you truly want to achieve high rankings, keyword articles are an essential part of the formula, but they have to be quality articles that deliver good unique information in a useful way. If you can write that type of article you can write your own keyword articles. If you can’t, then enlist the aid of a qualified writer to produce the keyword articles for your site.

source: www.freearticles.com

4 Basic Steps To Protect Your Computer Against Internet Intruders

2008-02-06T09:10:00.000+07:00

It never ceases to amaze me how many people connect to the Internet with no protection on the PC at all! This is a very dangerous activity and has led to financial ruin for some people.

I have had family members and friends who ask me to check out their PC's because they are 'slow' or they can't stop these damn popup windows from coming up. These are the first signs of infection or security breaches on your PC.

It takes 4 simple steps and it costs you nothing at all except a bit of time and effort.

Step 1 - Get a firewall installed.

Firewalls help to protect you from Internet attacks and intrusion from hackers on the Internet who go 'sniffing' for unprotected computers.

What do they do when they hack your computer? Well they look for password files, security breaches that allow them to use YOUR computer for malicious attacks on other computers on the Internet.

There was a story not long ago about the Russian Mafia hacking into a household computer and using it to transfer funds from unsuspecting bank accounts for their own illegal purposes. When the Feds tracked down the responsible computer, it belonged to some unsuspecting person who had no idea of what was happening. So be warned!!

Microsoft Windows XP has a built in firewall so you could enable that and it gives you some basic protection.

If you don't want to use that firewall then try a free firewall called zone alarm from http://www.zonelabs.com

Zone alarm is a great firewall and even better for the price - they have a free version for home and non-commercial use.

Step 2 - Get an anti virus product installed

Anti virus software scans your computer for malicious code that can cause all sorts of problems on your computer and even delete files and make your computer inoperable.

You can get a very good free virus scanning software called AVG virus scanner from http://www.grisoft.com/

Step 3 - Get a reliable anti-spyware software

Spyware tends to sit on your computer and 'spy' on what you are doing. It can do things like look at web sites you have visited, record your key strokes (looking for account numbers and passwords) and it can then sends this information back to its originator.

A great and well know spyware scanner is called Spybot-S&D from http://www.safer-networking.org/
The other great spyware utilities are adaware from lavasoft, and Microsoft have one as well.

My advice would be to run two or three spyware utilities, particularly if you do a lot of online transactions with your computer.

Step 4 - Keep your Microsoft (MS) Windows Operating System (OS) updated

Microsoft come out with security patches on a regular bases to close up security 'holes' that have been identified. These patches can be applied manually by you or you can have MS Windows download and install them automatically.

To check out what updates you require -

1. Go to the Microsoft Windows Update page here - http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/

2. Scan your computer to find out what critical updates and security patches are not installed.

3. Select the updates to install paying particular attention to CRITICAL Updates.

You may need to restart your computer after the patches have been applied

As a final word on the 4 steps, it is critical that you keep all of the programs up to date. So check back with the vendors on a regular basis (at least weekly) to see if updates are available. The better programs (like Spybot) will have options in them to check for updates.

The above list of programs is not the ultimate list. Like any programs there are dozens of choices. The ones above are those that I have had first hand experience of.

I personally use commercial programs because I spend so much time connected to the Internet, my family surfs quite regularly and I am a big fan of online transactions. Even the commercial programs only cost pennies compared to what can happen if you do get an infection.

Would you like make a living online ?

2008-01-11T08:43:00.000+07:00

Has the allure of making a living online been something you've been thinking about for a while?

There are countless ways to earn an impressive income online. Internet marketing can provide you a means of attaining the life that you have dreamed of. Now you won't have to miss those afternoon school plays or basketball games! I mean, you could have so much time on your hands that you'd have to find new hobbies.

How To Get Started

As a new Internet marketer, your overall goal is the success of your online business. Why is it that some people are wildly successful online, many more enjoy a modicum of success and still many others squander their way to failure? Researh! Lots and lots of research is where success in a home business starts. The fact that you are reading this is part of that research. So I'd say you are on the right footing even now. The absolute most important aspect of this comes after you have narrowed down all your choices.

Your most important choice may not even be something that you have even considered. Personally, I think the most important choice you make in the whole "online thing" is if you are going to go it alone or find a solid mentor.

Don't roll your eyes at me here! When I first got started in online marketing I didn't have the benefit of a mentor. It was in 1997 and the internet had just gotten graphics! I read a few things about the internet and within a few hours I was pretty much my own expert back then. It's kind of funny looking back at it now.

The internet has grown up along with my kids and it's become about as complicated as them too! Anyway, to step into the internet now, without a mentor, you'd spend more time and money doing things wrong than you have time or money to do it. Because your return on your investment would be so low and slow, you'd lose interest in the pursuit before you ever even made a ranking on a search engine.

Anyway, finding a willing and motivated mentor is an integral part of the next step, and, if you choose wisely your mentor comes with the package.

Choose A Product or Company To Promote

There are endless options of companies and products to promote online. Most everyone says it's best to find something you already have some knowledge about and can be passionate about.

To tell you the truth, I could get pretty passionate about something I don't know squat about if I found out that I could make 20 grand a month with it. In fact, give me a month and I'll know more about "it" than 98% of the world knows about it. I mean, case in point here, how much did you know about sex before you found out about it? Are you pretty knowledgeable about it now? Is it something you're passionate about now? (Hope that point is made!)

Personally, I think it is better to find something that works and learn to love it. Believe me, if you find something that ordinary people are making $5,000 a week with and it is duplicatable, you'll learn to love it!

It is also important to select a company that allows you to help other people. Remember, the driving purpose of your online home based business should be to help your clients, not to take their hard earned money and run. Napolian Hill said "You'll get everything you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want." I have found that rings true.

Get Educated

Many people enter the internet marketing arena thinking that they can put up a web site and instantly start earning a massive income. Unless you're selling the cure to growing old, it's not likely to happen. The way that you earn a great income online is learning everything there is to know about internet marketing. "Internet marketing" is a fancy way of saying, "drive people to your site.The same way you would have to learn new stuff for a J.O.B, you need to educate yourself about your new business. Driving traffic is how online success is achieved.

Really and truly, marketing is where the online money is made. Everyday there are thousands of people who are looking and wanting to buy any number of things. They are going to buy it from you if you learn how to get in front of them. If you don't, they are going to buy it, but from someone else.

So here's the deal. If you are going to get into internet marketing, you are going to have to learn to like "marketing." If that isn't your cup of tea, then you need to find something else now.

Generating Traffic

The main obstacle to any new online business is figuring out how to drive "targeted" traffic and therefore "prequalified" prospects to your "well designed" website. Now, learning to do everything that is necessary to accomplish that is probably more than the ordinary individual could do in a lifetime. That is why the best marketing is done by teams of people who combine their skills in internet marketing, copywriting, sales, organizational abilities and their collective knowledge.

The Choices Are Many

There are about as many ways to monetize the internet as there are grains of rice in china. Look around the internet for a few days and you'll see what I mean. So when looking for "that thing" that you are going to take up, I would advise you to steer away from anything that only has a web address and an e-mail.

Find something that piques your interest and call the person named on the site. Don't worry about anyone trying to "put the sale" on you. In fact, high pressure sales tactics are a sure sign that it's something that you don't want to do. I mean, if you don't like the receiving end of that, why would you consider dishing it out yourself? Just hang up and call the next one.

When you find someone who is not trying to "sell" you, pay attention. If they are making money without "hype and high pressure" they obviously have something people want and don't have trouble getting people to buy!

Relationships

Once you get that far, find out what kind of relationship they would have with you if you put stakes down with them. What makes you valuable to them as a rep or distributor? The better the bond, the better the team, the better the training, the better it is for you.

There are so many online business opportunities out there right now that hail the "completely automated" slogan. Just ask yourself, how long could you work with a computer or a set of videos? As long as humans are human, there will always have to be a human touch for any kind of long term relationship. While you are looking around, keep that in mind.

Summary

What you need is a complete turnkey business system that generates traffic, sifts, selects, recruits, trains, motivates, and gets new people producing in your internet business. That is the ultimate gift of internet marketing. Those can be done best via the internet and a motivated mentor. Choose wisely!

source:www.articlesbase.com

All Bloggers Should Know a Little SEO

2008-01-08T10:10:00.000+07:00

Search Engine Optimization is something that is important to most bloggers. By definition, search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results for targeted keywords (Source: Wikipedia). Basically, when you go to use your favorite search engine to search a term or keyword, the sites that you are most likely to click would be towards the top. Those higher listed sites are better optimized for search engines than say the sites on page 50 or even 100+. SEO increases the chance that a searcher will click your site, as it would be higher in the list for that keyword. For bloggers using Wordpress, an easy download (that I use as well) is the All in One SEO Pack. The plugin is designed to optimize your titles and generate META tags automatically. A popular SEO ebook available is the SEO Book. This 160 page book by Aaron Wall explains everything from why SEO is helpful to a step-by-step checklist on how to do it. If SEO is something you're interested for your blog or site, I highly recommend checking out some of the resources in this post, as well as SelfSEO.com's tools and SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog.

Optimizing your Articles

2008-01-02T10:45:00.000+07:00

To submit your article to an article directory you must have following parameters about your article: title, category, summary, keywords, resource, body. Let's talk about these parameters.

Title

The dictionary definition says that title is an identifying name given to the article. But the title has some other functions, to intrigue the visitor to actually read you article, and to intrigue web search engine (like Google) to put it high on the search lists. How a title can attract a visitor to read your article? Title should say that there is something of value for him in the article. Basic human needs is related to personal physical and mental needs. Physical needs are food, sleep, water, clothing, sex. Mental needs are need of security and safety, need of health, need of respect for oneself, need of excitement and variation, need of significance (making a difference), need of connecting with others. One way to prioritize them is Need Hierarchy Theory of Abraham Maslow. To sum it up the title should relate to one or more of human needs. For example if your article is about yoga you could address the benefit on health and self respect.

Category

This parameter is not necessary to specify, because usually you choose one from the list of categories. Categories among directories are often similar or even the same, but sometimes they can differ. Therefore you could note a category or two where you want to put your article. That will speed up the process of submission.

Summary

This is mandatory parameter and it quite self explanatory. Usually two to three sentences are enough. You could write summary after you finish writing the article, but sometimes you could start writing article with writing summary. If you start with summary, that could be a good starting point for writing an article. What should you write in summary? Summary should elaborate the title you wrote. Also it should intrigue the visitor to click on link leading to the body of article. The summary should also be formulated in a way to put a page with summary high in search result. You can achieve that by mentioning a hot search words. If you are in doubt if you should mention stock or share, then consulting Google trends you could find out that the stock is more frequent than share in Google searches. Therefore you should use stock.

Keyword

You should mention keywords separated by comma. That is usual way of writing keywords. What keywords you should use? Write as many keywords as you can remember. If you have to many of them, then using Google trends you can eliminate the ones with lower ranks. For example if you are in doubt between shareholder and stockholder you will eliminate stockholder.

Resource

Basically resource should say: I am an authority in my subject and click here and visit my site. First of all you should write your name. Also, the reader should be intrigued to click on the link to your site. To achieve that you should write what is unique about your site and why the reader should visit it. There should be a call for action like "To see more of my articles visit my site". Depending on the article directory resource box can contain html code, so you could write two kinds of resource box, the one with html code and the one without. Resource box is not tied to a certain article. It is usually the same for all of your articles, and you will usually use the one with html code. Some authors say that you should not put all possible links to all of your sites. The reason for that is that you should build your credibility and the person with sites about hiking, sport and insurance could lose some credibility in insurance. Therefore you could have different resources for different areas of your expertise.

Body

This parameter is actually your article. You should put keywords in it, but I think that you should not be obsessed with search engine optimization. Be obsessed with the quality of your article. Visitors will like good articles and dislike the bad ones. No keyword will change that.

Having all this in mind you can create some template for article that looks like this:

*******************
Title:
Summary:
Keywords:
Resource: I am John John and I am a great hiker and you should visit my site in order to see the pictures from the Himalaya.

I am John John and I am a great hiker and you should visit my site hike.hike.com in order to see the pictures from the Himalaya.

I am John John and I am MBA. I am an expert in Insurance. If you have troubles with insurance go and read more of my articles on my site.

Body:
*******************

Why Should you Blog?

2008-01-02T10:40:00.000+07:00

It seems like everywhere we turn these days there is someone talking about blogging, blogs, the blogosphere, bloggers, and so on. Have you ever wondered what all the fuss is about?

And if so, have you ever thought about trying your hand at blogging?

Blogging is an internet phenomenon that can be described as a blend of personal diary, op ed commentary, and practical journalism. The word "blog" comes from "web log" which is a reference to the origins of blogging. In the early days, blogs were no more than online journals where people wrote about anything they wanted (what they had for dinner, how their mood was that day, etc.), much like the pen and paper journals that people have kept for centuries. However, with the growing ease of access to and familiarity with the internet, people realized they could now share their feelings with the entire world!

Blogging has since exploded into an inescapable new medium. You`ve probably heard people on TV talk about the huge effect that blogging has on popular culture. Some bloggers pride themselves on exposing everyone`s dirty little secrets (from politicians, to celebrities, and even other bloggers), while others have less caustic agendas and stick to simple commentary and discussion about an infinite array of subjects (from gardening to video games).

Keep in mind, though, blogs don`t always have to be frivolous. Some of the best and most accurate information about the Iraq War, for example, comes from people who embed themselves in the Middle East and use their blogs to instantly share their first-hand reports with the world.

Now that we`ve concluded our crash course in the history and definition of blogging, it`s time to get back to the original question.

Why should you blog?

I’m sure you’ve heard about some bloggers who command audiences that number in the millions, and others who have parlayed their blogs into multi-mullion dollar businesses. You probably want a piece of that luxury, and who wouldn`t? All you have to do is start up a free blog, write a few posts, and you`ll be sipping margaritas on a beach in no time. Right?

Well, not so fast.

It`s true that some people have found great success with their blogs, and there`s no reason to say that you won`t too, but the odds aren`t really in your favor. Estimates put the number of blogs at about 50 million (and growing every day) and without A LOT of effort and dedication (and a bit of luck) chances are good that your blog will never reach that superstar level of success.

I`m not telling you this to discourage you from starting a blog, I`m just trying to warn you that it`s not a one-way-ticket to the good life. Blogging can be a very fulfilling and exciting adventure whether or not you hit it big.

The most appealing part of blogging is that anyone can do it! The rules of blogging are not set down on unchanging stone tablets. Basic writing skills and a general appreciation for courtesy are recommended, but not required. You can write about anything you want, however you want; that’s the entire beauty of blogging.

So now that you`ve determined that you want to start a blog, the next step is to decide why. Let’s take a look at a few basic reasons why people blog.

People blog to make money.

It`s true, blogs can be a source of income, and there are a number of ways to make money blogging. Pay-per-click advertising services are a good way to start, or perhaps product review services that will pay a certain amount of money per review. If you`re ambitious enough you could even go so far as to write an e-book or set up an online shop and promote/distribute it on your blog.

People blog to find new career opportunities.

Blogging is a great way to practice your writing skills and host your writing samples (if you aspire to be a professional writer) or to showcase your art and design skills (if you want to be a professional artist or designer). A blog combined with an online photo-sharing website can be a simple and free photography portfolio that is instantly available to any prospective client anywhere in the world. In this age of e-mail and instant gratification there is no better way to connect with an employer than through a blog (just be sure to keep it professional).

People blog to share their passion with the world.

Whether you are a die hard sports fan or a model train fanatic, if you have any sort of passion or hobby you have an instant idea for a blog. You can try to provide the latest news and information about your "niche," or you can aspire to be an expert resource to others who share your interests.

People blog to document their life.

The trusty online diary hasn`t gone out of style, and they certainly don`t have to be only for telling the world what you ate for breakfast. People can use blogs as a scrapbook of their children`s lives and instantly share photos and memories with the whole family, or they can blog to keep track of their diet and exercise regimen.

Now you have a good idea about what a blog is and why you should have one. The next step is to get out there and start blogging! Whatever you decide to blog about, just remember that the possibilities are truly endless.

By: Michael Landry
Edited By: Bruce A. Tucker

How To Avoid The Google Sandbox

2007-12-18T20:27:00.000+07:00

There still is a lot of discussion going on wether the Google Sandbox exists or not. Some say it exists, some say it doesn't. Just pretend it does exist, how is it possible that some SEO's don't get hit by the sandbox filter?

First of all, let me explain to you what the Google sandbox is. The sandbox filter is a filter that Google uses on keywords with high search volume and high competition. The whole mindset of the filter is that new website go in some sort of quarantine so they don't rank high in the search engine result pages of Google. This quarantine could take from several months to a year. This was originally introduced to block out spam websites. Before the sandbox filter was born, as a spammer you could make a website, spam Google with it, get banned, and instantly make another website and get your original ranking in Google back again. But with another domainname. And because Google isn't really fast in giving penalties and bans it takes a couple of months before the new domains get caught. This was easy money making in those days! But not anymore, because now the Google Sandbox filter will solve the problem!

But that doesn't mean we're really stuck to that filter. We are optimizing for search engines, and the sandbox is part of that, so there is a solution.

Only new domains trigger the sandbox filter. So a solution may be to buy an old domain name, or if you already have one, use an old domain name. But this is often really expensive and it doesn't always fit your needs. But there is a solution for that: DeletedDomains.com. On this website are domains that come available the same day. Just search the age of some of the domains with the Archive.org wayback machine, and if you find an old domain, you can buy it at a hosting company for as little as 15 bucks. You can also take a look in Google to see if the website on the domain is still indexed in Google, that fastens up the process a bit. It doesn't matter what domain you choose, the only thing you have to do is to 301 redirect the domain to your main domain. Then you have to hope your old domain get's indexed again so Google will know that the domain moved permanently to the new location. This will give you all the linklove of the old domain and you get the age of that domain. So you can easily build your website and gain high rankings without any sandbox restrictions.

There is another way that I used. I had bought a domain, but didn't use it at the time I bought it. I had plans for it but for the future. So I put a page on the domain, with a few backlinks to get it indexed, and a year later I started using the domain for real. But I could begin right away because the domain was already a year old!

This last one isn't really a way to avoid the sandbox but it happens a lot that you buy domains to use in the future. It isn't hard to get like 20 backlinks to it just to be out of the sandbox at the time you really want to start your website.

source:www.articlecity.com

The Big Myth About Making Money Blogging

2007-12-18T09:22:00.000+07:00

I believe the biggest hype that people tend to believe that it is impossible to make money from blogs. To be very frank I thought so too when I first started.

Just to clear some thoughts out to you as I had couple of students asking about making money from blog. You have to understand that blogs are not products but is a tool you can use to sell your stuff.

In order for you to really profit from blogs , you seriously got to be very passionate about what you do. From 1st hand experience people will email about stuff you write about. If you can't answer them you are in deep trouble.

Here are four important tips to write on your blog:

1. Do not be afraid of grammar mistakes. Just write as if you are talking to a friend.

The more personal it is, there will be more readers that will feel what you trying to tell them.

2. Have a thought in your mind what you want your readers to do before you start writing.
Example if I wanted you to view a 1 hour movie on my blog I would just invite you as if I was talking to my close friends.

3. Know your target audience well by asking them questions on what they want. Based on that it's always good to just give what they want.

There will be a higher chance that they will buy something from you if it solves about 50% of their problems when you give them an offer.

4. Network or do reviews on other blogs and email them to inform that they were featured in your blog.

If the person is a new internet marketer, he will most likely be over delighted you featured about him or her.

If this article has help you in any way feel free to share your thoughts on my blog.

source: www.articlesbase.com

Do you Want Us$100 From Blogging?

2007-12-17T09:01:00.000+07:00

I get tons of emails everyday and I stumbled upon one very interesting and new site call SponsoredReviews.com , the concept is similar to ReviewMe.com.

What the website does is that people can search at the website for bloggers with high traffic and you can buy reviews from bloggers for a fee.

Meaning let say someone wants me to write something on my blog, and I charge them US$100 for it. So the advertiser will pay me US$100 for it and I just post on my blog a review of his products and services.

So I just did that last month or so, I managed to get one job and I did a review which the advertiser paid me for US$100.

However, the price of reviews normally is determine by the number of traffic you have on your blog so if your blog is new don't expect a high fee. Normally blog about 3 months old will get about US$10 for one post depending how much you want to set.

Never the less, you can still give it a try. One tip if you are into this, the good thing about SponsoredReviews is you can search for advertisers who are interested and ask them if they are interested for a review.

Most famous bloggers I know are earning quite a lot from doing reviews and advertisement fees so that is why Traffic is important.

In general No Traffic = Less Chances Advertisers Would Want to Advertise.

If you are wondering is it worth to pay for reviews, it really works as I have seen my friend just spent US$200 on one very popular blog and the returns was CRAZY!

From a super unknown blog, just because of one review, that review actually viral as the blogger wrote it very viral and interesting. My friend actually got a huge response for US$200 he got in return if I not wrong about close to a few hundred hits!

On top of that, because it is a blog post, the blog he advertises was PR 5. He got a free PR 5 link + there will be chances that the article will also be searchable on search engine.

source : www.articlesbase.com

Blogging for a Living – Top Money Making Methods for Bloggers

2007-12-17T08:55:00.000+07:00

Making money from blogging has become easier over the past two years. Advertisements, sponsorships, fundraising and even blogging jobs are only some of the ways a blogger can earn money these days. So, if up until now you weren't financially rewarded for sharing your world view with the blogosphere, continue reading to find out how to make your blogging efforts more profitable.

Advertisements
Google's Adsense is one of the easiest and most popular ways to earn money by putting advertisements in your blog. Anyone who owns a blog (or a website) can open an Adsense account, place ads in his blog (or website) and earn money depending on the number of clicks on the Adsense links from the blog. Adsense advertisements fit themselves to the target audience of the blog. For example, if you write a blog on the popular board game backgammon, the ads would probably lead to online gaming sites. Therefore, the size of the revenue from your blog is subject to the appeal of the ads among your readers.

Sponsorships

If your blog gets a lot of traffic, you can try to approach a certain company or a business and offer them to run an advertisement campaign at your blog. Many of today's companies appreciate the widespread potential hidden in popular blogs so you might even receive a positive answer.

However, it would be easier to get sponsorship for your blog if you are willing to settle for your original content ideas and include a preordered review on a specific product chosen by the company that will pay your hosting bills. Services such as Pay Per Post (PPP) or Review Me, specialize in connecting between advertisers and bloggers. Of course that if you write a beauty blog, you will not be paid to post a review on a set of golf woods and vice versa.

This money making method has its pros and cons. Looking at the bright side, you get free products, content idea at no cost, plus you get paid to post. On the other hand, you can never be the same independent and free of commercial considerations blogger you used to be.

Fundraising

If blogging takes over most of your spare time and your community of readers still can't get enough of you, why don't you ask them to lay a few pennies at your donation box? Fundraising buttons, also known as tip jars, ask the readers to take part in the blog maintaining expenses or to help the blog owner to spare part or all of his day job to become a full time blogger, have been in use for a long time. Over the past few years, rumors on the effectiveness of this monetizing method supported the growth in its popularity among successful bloggers.

More Ways to Make Money from Your Blog

Additional ways to make money from blogging include joining an affiliate program (such as Amazon Associates) in which by linking your readers to the business you receive an agreed share of their revenues; developing blogging related career which can range from a ghost blogger to newspaper columnist through business blogging counselor and merchandizing, whether by offering t-shirts with your blog logo for sale or by selling an e-book on your field of expertise.

source: www.articlesbase.com

Sambil Blogging Minum Dollar

2007-12-12T16:24:00.000+07:00

Sambil blogging minum dolar? Tidak ada yang salah dengan judul di atas. Sebagian dari kita sudah banyak yang tahu tentang make money by blogging, menghasilkan uang dari sekedar hobi ngeblog atau bahkan menjadikan ngeblog sebagai sumber penghasilan utama. Bagaimana tidak mungkin, sudah banyak para bloggers Indonesia yang sudah menghasilkan ratusan bahkan ribuan dolar per bulan berkat hobinya tersebut.

Bagaimana sebuah blog dapat menghasilkan uang?
Sebuah blog yang sukses adalah blog yang mempunyai pembaca setia dan informasi yang diberikan menarik dan bermanfaat bagi pengunjungnya. Semakin banyak pengunjung mengindikasikan semakin sukses blog tersebut. Mengapa harus demikian? Sebuah informasi tanpa pengunjung bisa dikatakan sia-sia dan tanpa pengunjung tidaklah berjalan tujuan mengkomersilkan sebuah blog. Biasanya sumber pendapatan utama sebuah blog adalah dari iklan atau menjual barang, karena itulah traffic blog yang tinggi sangat menunjang untuk mendapatkan penghasilan tersebut.

Sebuah blog yang sudah terkenal dan memiliki nama besar cenderung lebih mudah mendapatkan customer pemasang iklan. Hal ini wajar saja, mengingat setiap pemasang iklan tidak mau membuang uang dengan percuma untuk memasang iklan pada blog yang tidak populer. Namun, dengan semakin banyaknya pihak ketiga yang menjembatani antara pemasang iklan dan sebuah website atau sering disebut dengan ad networks seperti Google AdSense, kita semakin dimudahkan untuk mengkomersilkan blog kita dengan menjadi publisher dari layanan tersebut. Bahkan ini bisa dilakukan oleh sebuah blog yang belum mempunyai trafik yang tinggi. Tetapi tentu saja selama trafik kita masih rendah, penghasilan dari blog kita juga belum maksimal. Tidak hanya menjadi publisher, blog kita juga dapat menghasilkan uang dengan menjadi afiliasi dari sebuah situs e-commerce dengan menawarkan produk atau dagangan mereka melalui blog kita.

Bagaimana memulai mengkomersilkan sebuah blog?
Tentu saja kita harus mempunyai blog terlebih dahulu :). Blog ini bisa memakai nama domain sendiri dan hosting berbayar atau yang paling mudah menggunakan layanan gratisan seperti Blogger. Mulailah dengam sebuah blog dengan topik yang kita minati dan bersifat niche (bertema khusus) karena blog seperti itu biasanya akan mempunyai pembaca yang setia dan kita lebih terfokus dan enjoy dalam mengupdatenya. Setelah itu kita melakukan optimalisasi pada search engine atau lebih dikenal dengan Search Engine Optimization (SEO) dan mempromosikan blog kita. Seiring dengan itu, kita dapat mengajukan diri sebagai publisher pada salah satu ad networks seperti Google AdSense atau menjadi afiliasi dari situs e-commerce tertentu.

source : entrepreneurik.blogspot.com

Money Making Blogging Tips you Must Have

2007-12-12T16:16:00.000+07:00

If you are new to writing a blog, let me first explain the types of blogs available on the Internet. In general there are only two types of blogs, commercial and non commercial blogs.

Commercials blogs are like Trump University blog where it professional writers post regularly with tons of advertisements or products and services of their own, mostly created by companies not individuals. The most common type of blogs are the non commercial blogs, where people like me and you normally write on.

In non commercial blogs it can further break down into 2 different types of blogs. The first one is blogging for leisure, which means you only blog for the purpose like a personnel online diary. The second type of blog would be business blogs. Business blogs are like blogs like mine where I write this blog and update it regularly to make a living out of it.

If you are wondering can people take blogging as a profession, yes you can. And I have search on the internet there are many others just like us making money from blogging. The reason before I go into some tips to blog right, you need to understand the main role of your blog and what type of blog do you have. Different blogs have different functions to them.

Some people use blogs as a tool to get attention to their main page, some people use blogs just to talk about their personnel lifestyle and there will be some who are serious, lan and structure their post when they write in their blogs which create dollars.

Like in any business, you need to first map out what you want out of your blog before you even start posting your first post. This is very important especially at the start point of your blog when it is very new. You need to give the best impression as you can within the 1st 10 seconds of your visitors to allow them to stay longer.

A great tool that I use that is in build in almost all web hosting package is the Awstats in your cpanel.

webstats

The longer you can keep a reader on your site, you know that your site is of some use for them. During your process when you blog, it is always good to search around for ways to get traffic and publish your blog URL.

Ways get traffic to your blog:

- Offline Marketing (Give out namecards at events)

- Forum Marketing

- PPC Marketing

- Article Marketing

- SEO Marketing

and so much more

From my experience, the best types of traffic you want to get is exchange links from other people who are in the same trade of business as you. Example, my niche is about blogging so what I would do is a Google search blogging and search for the top blogs on the Internet.

When searching a potential link exchange or Joint venture with the bloggers you would want to find two types of blogger. Let say your blog has about 500 hits a day, you can find a blog whose traffic is about the same as yours and you write an email to him to ask for a link exchange. Most likely he will be happy to help as all you need to do is post an article about his website.

The other method would be you can find those popular bloggers who know nuts about traffic and you know they have a lot so what you do you ask them for an exclusive interview with them. Remember this rule in Joint Venture, always think in the way "What is it in for him, not for you". When you write your email make sure when the person reads it, it has to benefit him all the time! The reason why, because people don't care how much you care unless you show them how much you care for them trust me this works.

Once you have managed to build a relationship via email, you would want to try to get other ways to communicate like Skype, MSN or Yahoo. To tell you the truth, many websites in fact get tons and tons of traffic FAST not from using Internet Marketing methods but from Viral Marketing or Joint Ventures!

Some great examples would be

- Do a press release (cost US$80 one time) and get published on newspaper to and create a story that is so unique it will viral itself. Have you wonder how those Gurus always get interview out of no where, it because of press release.

- Joint venture with someone very famous or has tons of traffic, if he or she likes you and your website is on the main page of his site. Expect to see a growth of traffic to your website the next day!

- Another great tip would be, buy your way to get traffic. You can go to my review me site here and what ReviewMe does is you can pay me a fix amount and I will do a review about your blog. If you really understood what I am trying to say, this is the cheapest and most effective way of getting traffic if you want to pay for it.

Why I say this is because, imagine the owner of the website itself has already build so much creditability for his own readers on this website. Would an article post review drive more traffic to your website or a banner advertisement? Think about that for a moment. I personally have tried it and on top of the traffic I get I also get tons of emails for joint ventures because the blog I advertise in was about Internet Marketing too. Even until today although it cost US$250 , there is still traffic coming in until today because the website has a PR 5 which people searching for some phrases actually still goes to that review page.

source : www.articlesbase.com

Global Warming : Early Warning Signs

2007-12-10T09:16:00.000+07:00

Fingerprints

Some of the events shown as icons on the map are direct manifestations of a widespread and long-term trend toward warmer global temperatures as projected by models of a changing climate.

On the map, these "fingerprints" of climate change are indicated with yellow icons.

The following events are identified as global warming fingerprints:

Heat waves and periods of unusually warm weather

The map highlights places that have recently experienced record warmth in regions with a century-long warming trend (1901-1996). Frequent and severe heat waves lead to increases in heat-related illness and death, especially in urban areas and among the elderly, the young, the ill, and the poor.

Hotspot Selection Criteria:Hotspots in this category illustrate notably warm periods or heat waves within the last few years. Candidate events were initially gathered from news reports and climate bulletins. We then looked at National Climatic Data Center (http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/onlineprod/gsod/climvis/gsod.html) and NASA/GISS (http://www.giss.nasa.gov/data/update/csci/) websites to obtain the actual temperature records for the city or region to: a) verify the occurrence of the heat wave or warm period; and b) place it in the context of the longer-term temperature record. We avoided using one-day records because of the inherent probability that a maximum temperature record could be broken on any given day due to internal climate variability. Only those events that were notable either in duration or geographic extent were included. Whenever possible, periods at least as long as a month (e.g., hottest March ever on record) were chosen. We also included only those locations that fall within a region that showed a warming trend over the last century, as reported in Annex A of the IPCC�s Regional Impacts of Climate Change (1998).

Ocean warming, sea-level rise and coastal flooding

Warmer temperatures increase melting of mountain glaciers, increase ocean heat content, and cause ocean water to expand. Largely as a result of these effects, global sea level has risen 4 to 10 inches (10-25 cm) over the past 100 years. With additional warming, sea level is projected to rise from half a foot to 3 feet (15-92 cm) more during the next 100 years. On average, 50 to 100 feet (15-30 meters) of beach are lost for every foot (0.3 meters) of sea-level rise. Local land subsidence (sinking) and/or uplift due to geologic forces and coastal development will also affect the rate of coastal land loss.

Hotspot Selection Criteria: The sea-level rise (SLR) data were confirmed by published journal articles. We did not include places where there were tide gauge records of a rising sea level but no information about land inundation consequences (e.g., Buenos Aires, where the shoreline is raised/hardened and thus protected from inundation); places where there was evidence of land erosion but no SLR records (e.g., the island of Geneva and other Caribbean islands); and places where subsidence or other factors (e.g., changes in river sediment deposition) were clearly the dominating influence on land erosion (e.g., New Orleans and Victoria, Egypt). Although the inundation records for the South Pacific islands are based on anecdotal evidence from local residents, we included them because these accounts are often the best and only evidence available in these very vulnerable small island nations.

Glaciers melting

Over the past 150 years, the majority of mountain glaciers monitored have been shrinking. Many glaciers at lower latitudes are now disappearing, and scientists predict that, under some plausible warming scenarios, the majority of glaciers will be gone by the year 2100. As glaciers continue to shrink, summer water flows will drop sharply, disrupting an important source of water for irrigation and power in many areas that rely on mountain watersheds.

Hotspot Selection Criteria: The data come from published scientific articles or personal communication with researchers. In cases where individual glaciers are cited, we confirmed, based on available data, that the majority of glaciers in that region are in retreat. Many of the events were outlined in an unpublished transcript of the 1998 Walter B. Langbein Memorial Lecture at the 1998 spring meeting of the American Geophysical Union, generously provided by Dr. Mark Meier, University of Colorado.

Arctic and Antarctic warming

Parts of Canada, Alaska, Siberia, and the Antarctic have been experiencing warming well above the global average for the past few decades. This trend fits climate model predictions for a world with increasing levels of greenhouse gases. Melting permafrost is forcing the reconstruction of roads, airports, and buildings and is increasing erosion and the frequency of landslides. Reduced sea ice and ice shelves, changes in snowfall, and pest infestations have affected native plants and animals that provide food and resources to many people.

Hotspot Selection Criteria: This category includes events linked to the warming temperatures observed in parts of Alaska, Canada, Siberia, and Antarctica, as published in journal articles and technical reports. Information on the break-up of the Antarctica Peninsula ice shelves also comes from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) website. Dr. Ted Scambos at NSIDC confirmed that the disintegration events listed on the map were unusual given our current understanding of the mechanics of ice shelves. Very large icebergs calving off other Antarctic ice shelves (e.g., Ross) were not included because they are considered to be part of the �normal� calving process.

Bulan Madu di Hutan Way Kambas

2007-12-10T08:59:00.000+07:00

Nusa Dua - Seperti diceritakan sebelumnya, tahun 1995 Neil Franklin kembali ke

Indonesia

atau tepatnya ke Jakarta dan Bogor. Sambil menyusun proyek penyelamatan dan konservasi harimau Sumatera, Neil berkenalan dengan seorang gadis Jakarta.

"Saya dikenalkan seorang teman. Dia (gadis tersebut) bukan seorang conservationist seperti saya," kata Neil dalam wawancara di sela-sela parallel events UNCCC di Hotel Ayodya, Nusa Dua, Bali, empat hari lalu.

Neil akhirnya menikah dengan gadis asli Jawa Barat itu. Bersamaan dengan itu, proyek konservasi harimau Sumateranya harus dilaksanakan.

"Kami pun bulan madu di hutan, di Way Kambas (Lampung)," kata Neil tergelak.

"Kasihan dia, anak Jakarta terpaksa tinggal di hutan satu setengah tahun," imbuh Neil lagi sambil tertawa.

Setelah bulan madu di Way Kambas selama satu setengah tahun, istrinya kembali ke Jakarta. Sementara Neil masih melanjutkan kegilaannya pada konservasi alam liar, khususnya harimau.

"Justru di Way Kambas, saya bertemu badak Sumatera yang sebelumnya di Kerinci gagal ditemukan. Padahal I have no intention to meet it," kata Neil tertawa.

Proyek konservasi bersama Departemen Kehutanan, LIPI dan IPB itu terus berlanjut ke belahan Sumatera lainnya. Sampai akhirnya Neil memiliki home base di kawasan suku pedalaman Talang Mamak di Riau.

"Kami mendirikan sekolah di sana. Ada dewan pelindung yang merupakan masyarakat lokal," imbuh Neil.

Hasil penelitian harimau Sumatera ini membuahkan sebuah disertasi doktor untuk Neil. Tahun 2002, Neil meraih gelar doktor di bidang penyelamatan dan konservasi harimau Sumatera di York University, Inggris.

Lalu bagaimana cerita Neil sampai meninggalkan kegiatan LSM yang sangat membekas di pikirannya itu?

Sumber : www.detik.com

Batik Ramah Lingkungan Mejeng di UNFCCC

2007-12-03T08:43:00.000+07:00

Konferensi Climate Change (Perubahan Iklim) digelar di Nusa Dua, Badung, Bali. Pusat konferensi, yaitu Bali Internasional Convention Centre (BICC) telah bersolek. Ribuan batik menghiasi BICC. Batik menjadi pilihan karena memiliki filofosi tentang kepedulian terhadap lingkungan.

Sekitar 400 dari ribuan batik ini dipajang dalam berbagai instalasi di setiap ruangan di BICC, Jumat (30/11/2007). Batik yang tersebar di Westin dan BICC ini adalah milik perancang batik ternama Indonesia Jospehine Komara atau akrab disapa Obin.

Batik menjadi pilihan untuk menarik minat 10 ribu delegasi menikmati karya seni

Indonesia

. "Batik adalah kain

Indonesia

yang cara memproduksi dan pembuatannya sudah banyak diakui sebagai indsutri yang paling sedikit menghasilkan limbah bila dilakukan secara baik dan benar, serta dapat didaur ulang," kata Obin.

Obin menambahkan, pembuatan batik melalui proses tradisional bersifat ramah lingkungan dan pemakaian energinya sangat kecil. "Batik dibuat dengan bahan alami sehingga tidak menghasilkan emisi," katanya.

Batik yang ditampilan adalah batik yang bermotif spiritual dan bertemakan keramahan dan keindahan lingkungan, seperti hutan, gunung, sungai. Salah satunya adalah motif pohon kehidupan yang bercabang-cabang dan memberi kehidupan bagi mahluk yang lain. Batik ini khusus dipajang di ruang pertemuan Presiden SBY.

Instalasi batik Obin sangat unik. Salah satu intalasi yang menarik adalah puluhan batik yang digantung di atap hotel yang menggambarkan orang-orang

Indonesia

serta instalasi merah putih yang menjadi kebanggaan Obin.

Sementara General Manager The Westin dan BICC Jan Bundgaard mengatakan, The Westin Resort telah siap menyambut Konferensi Climate Change. Pihaknya telah menambah 260 karyawan baru khusus untuk menyambut konferensi ini. Sebanyak 23 di antaranya didatangkan dari jaringan Starwood Hotel dan Resort di Indonesia dan

Malaysia

.

Pada saat konferensi, Westin bekerjasama dengan Java Books memasarkan buku karya mantan Wakil Presiden AS Al Gore. Buku karya Gore "An Inconvenient of Truth" yang memenangkan hadiah Nobel juga bakal dipasarkan. "Hasil penjualan ini akan disumbangkan ke UNICEF," kata Jan