I am a Mac and Linux geek. I primarily use Macs or Linux servers to connect to my linux web servers that I have scattered all over the internet. I love using the almighty command line (we’re not talking old DOS here, we are talking real linux command line). It is very powerful if you know how. It is actually faster in many cases than using a GUI (graphical user interface). For instance, when I modify the underlying code of this blog or I update MySQL tables, I open up a terminal session on my Mac and ssh (secure shell) into my linux servers.

Am I confusing you yet with all of this geek talk? Well, this blog is suppose to be a bit geeky. I like to give some geeky blog posts occasionally. So keep reading and enjoy it. You just might learn something….

When I connect to my linux servers, I edit the PHP files directly on the server using a text based editor called vi (actually it is vim which is the improved version). This allows me to quickly update files without having to update a local copy and the FTP it to my server.

A little about FTP…..
FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It is probably the most commonly used way to send files from one computer to another. It is usually the method to upload files from your PC to your web server. One thing to keep in mind about FTP is the fact that it is clear text. This means that the data is NOT encrypted when you send it from your PC to your web server. So, if someone was sniffing (or monitoring) the network traffic somewhere between you and your web server, they can see your FTP login and password. If this concerns you, you may want to use SFTP (secure file transfer protocol) which encrypts the data as it is sent so it can’t be easily seen by someone sniffing the network.

In the same manner as SFTP, SSH also encrypts the data as it is sent. I use SSH all the time from my Mac and Linux boxes. If you are a PC person and you want to use SSH, there is a free client call Putty available. If you want to use SFTP or SSH to connect to your web server, your server will have to support it. Many web hosting accounts only support FTP.

Get a little geeky if you haven’t already. You just might like it. One of the goals of this blog is to help geeks and want-to-be geeks learn how to run a successful internet business. I had to learn the hard way before there were good resources like this blog to learn from. As I geek, I wasn’t too comfortable with the marketing side of things and especially the “dealing with people” aspect of it. Now, I understand internet business a lot better and understand how important it is to have a great relationship with your customers.

If you want to keep learning more about how to build a successful internet business, subscribe to this blog by sending your name and email in the subscribe form at the top right of this page.

Geeks can make money online too…..

- Hill Robertson

The No Aweber Popup for Subscribers Procedure is once again available. I made some changes to the sales page for more clarification about the product. The main change was pointing out that it is a cookie based solution and that anything the subscriber does that can effect cookies may cause this solution to not work in their case.

I am feeling really generous about the offer so I am going to leave it at $10. I have been told by previous purchasers that the information was worth well more.

Here is the link:

http://hillrobertson.com/aweberNoPopup

Reward your new subscribers by not pestering them with popups once they have signed up…..

- Hill Robertson

So, you are spending a lot of your time writing blog posts, submitting articles, posting in forums, optimizing your site, and everything else under the sun as you attempt to get more people visiting your blog. You feverishly watch your analytics and other stats. You watch your web server access log as visitors hit your site. You pray that the next visitor will sign subscribe to your blog. You keep tweaking your opt in form. You make it pop up from every possible direction and you throw in every type of buzz word you can as you watch and wait for the next subscriber.

Dreams of 100,000 subscribers spin in your head. Maybe 10,000 is enough for you. You think to yourself that if you could sell something for $100 and just 2% buy it, you would make a cool $20,000 and could pay off your credit cards or buy a car. Or, you just want 1,000 subscribers or would be happy with 100. Whatever your subscriber goals are, you just want subscribers, right? Not so fast…….

While you do want subscribers, you want quality subscribers that are specifically interested in your products. It wouldn’t do any good to have 1000 subscribers that just signed up to get your free report on the top 5 ways to chew bubble gum if your products are all about shoes. You would make more sales to a subscriber list of 30 that were interested in shoes than 1000 that were interested in bubble gum.

The next time you start to get upset or depressed when someone cancels their subscription, you should be thankful. It is simply their way of telling you that they really aren’t interested in your information. It actually improves the quality of your remaining list. The longer the rest of your subscribers stay subscribed, the more likely they are to purchase your products somewhere down the road.

When the next subscriber cancels their subscription to your blog, it is not a bad thing. Your list just got better. Be thankful when they leave.

- Hill Robertson

It’s really not as difficult as it seems. Too many want-to-be millionaire entrepreneurs shoot for the big bucks too soon. They all think they can make a million bucks in a month if they just find the right “secret”. They jump from one make-it-rich product to another - spending more money than they ever make. Every time they see another money making opportunity, they jump on the bandwagon.

You are not going to set up some sales letter on a website with an affiliate link and get a million dollars over night. You’re not going to get $100,000 or probably even $1000. In fact, if you make anything, it will probably be just a few dollars at most. However, that is all you have to do.

“What!” you say. That doesn’t make any sense. Well, that is exactly what most millionaires do. They find something that works and makes a profit. Then, they tweak it a little by testing. Then, they test some more. They test again. And again. Test, test, test….. Do you get the picture. In fact, they never really stop testing. It is one of the most important ingredients of a successful internet business (or any business for that matter) to be as profitable as possible. After tweaking and testing and maximizing the profit. The next thing to do is to repeat the process. Let’s take an example…..

Suppose you find an affiliate product to sell or you create your own. Then, you write and publish your sales page. You drive some traffic to your sales page. You make a sale or two and end up with $5 profit. OK. Let’s say you manage to make the $5 per day for a total of $150 per month. Not a big deal is it? You are not very close to the million dollars you envisioned in your head when you were reading all of the money making “secrets”. It would be easy to give up and quit at this point, right? Well, that is probably the worst time to quit because you have already proven that you can do it. You are making a profit. That’s all you need to do to prove to yourself that it can be done. The only difference between you and the millionaires is repetition.

Take that same path that you took to make the $150 per month and just repeat it. Let’s say it took you a week to set everything up to generate the $150 per month. If you did the same thing every week, by the end of the month (4 weeks) you would be earning $150×4=$600. Now that’s not too shabby, that might pay for your car payment. So, do it again. The second month you would be up to $1200 per month. That would maybe pay for your mortgage payment. Keep it up for a year and you could be at $7200 per month or $86,400 per year! That is after just one year. Most people would love to make that kind of money.

Of course, there is a bit of work involved to get going and it takes persistence to accomplish it but it is not as difficult as you might think. The main thing is just taking action and sticking with it. Action and perseverance are what 98% of the people will NOT do. However, 2% will. Are you one of the 98% that just follow the herd in through life or are you one of the 2% that take control and make the most of your life? All you have to do is make a profit and then do it again, and again, and again………

- Hill Robertson

Most people don’t even think about it but it is really pretty easy to have more than one monitor connected to your computer. There are a lot of advantages to having multiple monitors. You can be much more productive in many ways and save a lot of time.

Just using one monitor can give you limitations. The smaller the area you have to work with, the more you will be switching from window to window and seeing less at a time. If you just add another monitor (or two, or three, or four, or five, or…….), the window swapping goes away.

This picture is of one of my setups. It is a Linux system running six 19 inch monitors all running at 1600×1200 resolution. This is the equivalent real estate of a monitor that can do (3×1600)x(2×1200) or 4800×2400. Have you ever seen a monitor with that kind of resolution? It is VERY nice. For Linux, the graphical server process (Xfree86) has an option for multiple monitors called xinerama.

Microsoft Windows has multiple monitor capability built in as well. It is really simple to set up. You just plug in the monitors and Windows detects them and gives you a little grid of the locations of the monitors and you can just move them around on the grid to specify where each of the monitors are physically located. Apple OS X also supports multiple monitors.

In addition to having the monitors, you must have video cards that have multiple output ports on each card or you can have multiple video cards (or a combination of both). If you have more than one video card, you are usually better off if they are the same make and model. Or, at least the same hardware chip set.

The capability of multiple monitors has been available for years but was a bit expensive to have a nice setup in the beginning. When multiple monitor setups started taking off, flat screens were brand new and REALLY expensive. Even large CRT (cathode ray tube) monitors were still too pricey for the average consumer to afford several. Video cards that had more than one video port were also expensive. Now, with the rapid price drop of nice flat screen monitors and many video cards coming standard with dual ports, it is a lot more affordable to have a multi-monitor setup.

With all of those monitors you can edit your blog images, read your email, visit your favorite blogs, monitor your blog web server access log, edit your latest sales page, code up some PHP, access your database, and just about whatever else you want to do all at the same time without having to hide or minimize any windows. Now that is productivity!

- Hill Robertson

While my kids were out of school
I took them out one day
I took them to the local park
so they could run and play.

We swung in swings and spun on things
I’d never seen before
We climbed up ropes and slid down slides
and played a little more

My kids were just so happy
to have their daddy by their side
The love shined in their faces,
their smiles were full of pride

I couldn’t help but notice
other children that were there
did not seem quite so happy
their demeanor only fair

Then I noticed what was different
with the other children there,
Not one of them had their daddy
at the park with them to share

All the other daddies
were missing all the fun
of watching their own kids grow up
as they frolicked in the sun

Other dads were busy working
at their jobs you see
they traded time for money
instead of time with family

I’m glad that I was able
to play with them that day
A day that I will never forget
and cherish in every way

I did not have to go to work
and trade my time away
In fact I’ll have more days just like it
to run and jump and play

That’s what it’s all about
to have a business of your own
that you can do when YOU want to
instead of always being on the phone

As time ticks by it’s over
forever gone the time will be
So use it on important things
Like God and family

What can be done to get more time
to spend with family?
To do the things you need to do
and have responsibility?

Just set some goals and break them down
to ones you can achieve
Then take the action to get them done
and then you will believe

A business of your own
is not so hard you see
with some action and persistence
it soon can set you free

You’ll gain the time for important things
in life that are so dear
Even simple things you missed each day
soon all will be made clear

You owe it to your family
and your Father up above
To do what is important
and do it all with love

So don’t wait any longer
the time to start is now
decide that you will do it
and then just find out how

HillRobertson.com
is a blog about success;
In business and in family
and life and happiness

Start by signing up for this blog
and follow it day by day
you’ll learn about all kinds of things
to help along the way

Were all in this together
like a loving family
that helps each other to succeed
just do it and you’ll see

- Hill Robertson

One of the biggest issues I have to constantly deal with as a website design and hosting company (one of my internet businesses) is dealing with spam and especially the ramifications of it. The most painful part is jumping through all of the hoops that are now required by all of the big providers in their efforts to reduce spam. We ethical and moral entrepreneurs just trying to build a successful internet business have to go to great lengths just to get our customer’s normal emails flowing smoothly.

To give you an example, many of the big providers will block emails coming from a server if they receive more than a certain number of emails within a given time frame. This never use to be the case before spamming became such a problem. In the beginning, this caused problems with some of my customers. Many of my websites will have thousands of registered users. Then, when an email newsletter needs to get sent out from the website to the users, obviously a large amount of the email addresses are with these large providers. When the email would go out, the provider would block the IP address of my server and not allow any more of the messages to go through. So, to jump through this hoop, I had to write code for a special mail queue that would identify if the email needed to be delivered to one of the big providers with this type of “spam prevention”. If it did, it would go into a special queue that would only send out one email per 20 seconds to stay below the threshold of being blocked. This was not a huge issue since the newsletters did not need to be received by all users immediately (similar to the way Aweber sends emails to opt-in lists). However, I still had to spend a lot of time writing my own customized code to get around protections put in place to counteract spam.

Another issue that you may have run into if you do any email article marketing is with your internet service provider and your email. Many providers will monitor the activity on the email (or SMTP) port of your internet connection. If they see a lot of mail going out in a short amount of time, they may block it. This happens frequently using article marketing software when it tries to blast several thousand email messages out in rapid succession. This is another action internet providers have taken to try to thwart spammers.

These are just a couple examples of the many issues that have to be monitored and dealt with on a daily basis. The whole battle between spammers and internet providers trying to thwart their efforts is like a giant moving target that seems to continually morph into different beasts every time you think it may be over. The unfortunate part about it is that we have to pay a price for it. Spammers make it painful for everyone.

- Hill Robertson

OK, it is your turn to give me some information. I am in information and product production mode. I want to hear from you what type of information and products you would like to see from me on this blog. You should know what my areas of expertise are from the posts on this blog and from my about me page. What info would you like me to cover or what products would you like to see from me.

I’m already working on several products but if anyone gives me some good ideas, I might use them. If you give me an idea that I use for a product, I will send you a copy absolutely free once it is released.

Even though I’ll take any suggestions, I’d like to keep the ideas related to the following topics (or any combination or derivative):

• Internet Business
• Website Design/Hosting/HTML/CSS
• PHP/MySQL
• Linux
• Macs
• Computer Networking

Please post your suggestions as comments to this post. I will keep them private unless you specifically want your comment to be public and state so in the comment.

- Hill Robertson

It amazes me when I see how much employees will bend over backwards to do whatever their employer wants. Don’t get me wrong, you should give 100% effort and even go the extra mile at your JOB while you are there. When you agreed to work at your JOB, you agreed to do your JOB and you should do so to the best of your abilities. You should be the best employee your employer could ever have. You should do your job as stated in your job requirements (and then some). However, employers have a tendency to abuse their employees and have ways of pressuring them into getting more “free” work by suggesting overtime and/or weekend work. These precious “extra” hours that you give to your employer are stealing away valuable time that you could better use for your family or starting a business of your own.

If you have a JOB, you are already trading your time for money and your employer is getting the better deal. Just think about the time you are missing spending with your spouse or the innocent moments as your children experience life for the first time in every area of their life. You are probably away from your family at least 10 hours a day. If you are like most “average” people, you maybe see your family an hour in the morning and then a whopping 3 or 4 hours in the evening each day. So, let’s see, 10 hours at a JOB and 5 hours with your family. With those stats, it says your JOB is twice as important as your family! I’m sure that’s not the way you feel but that’s what your children see.

So, you are basically left with weekends for family. Use your weekends the best you can for spending time with your family and teaching your kids - especially by example. Don’t let your employer rob you of precious weekend time too. I see too many employees work extra time on weekends for free because they were asked to and they are afraid to say no. What they think is “free” time is actually costing valuable time with family. You would probably also agree that your time with your family is more valuable than the money you make at work. So why are you in this situation? You are in control and you can change your situation if you REALLY want to. You can decide to be one of the 2 percent of people that are successful and in control of their future or you can not decide and default to the 98 percent that are not in control of their future that just get by (or many times fall behind) and are just part of the herd.

Did you ever wonder why you hear people say, “Where did the time go?” when their kids grow up and leave the house? They always feel as if they didn’t spend enough time with their family and wish they could go back and do it over again. They vow they would spend more time with their family and watching their kids grow up instead of working so many long hours. You can choose to spend the most time possible with your family right now so you don’t have the same regrets in 10 or 20 years from now.

Why are you working at your JOB now? It’s all for money, right? But your family is more important that money, right? You can have your own internet business that can make more than you are making now and have enough to compensate for your benefits and other “perks” from your employer.

Think of what is really important in life and make the necessary changes to get your priorities in order. You CAN do it! Just take action and get started on your own internet business. With just a few hours every day, you can build a successful internet business that you enjoy. Follow the posts on this blog and you will begin to understand how you can have a successful internet business and have a successful life.  Subscribe to this blog by filling out the subscribe now box at the top right of this blog to get frequent updates.

Make the most of every day. You only have 24 hours to spend each day. You can’t save it and you can’t borrow from tomorrow. Once your time is spent, it is gone. Spend it wisely.

- Hill Robertson

As we start out the new year, I am launching my first product on this blog. It is for those of you who have a blog or website of your own and you use the aweber service for an opt-in popup. When someone subscribes to your blog, they shouldn’t have to keep putting up with the popup window anymore. I know I wish blogs that I subscribe to didn’t keep bugging me to sign up.

The product is an online video procedure where I show you how to set up your blog or website to stop the aweber popup window to new subscribers after you implement the procedure. It may even be a good incentive for your readers to sign up knowing that they won’t get bothered anymore.

It is only $10 for the next 72 hours (until 11:59 PM EST Monday Evening). You have my full money back guarantee if you are not satisfied. If you are satisfied, please post a testimonial as a comment on this post so I can use it on the sales page.

Here is the link:

http://hillrobertson.com/aweberNoPopup

Now get rid of those popups to reward your subscribers for signing up…..

- Hill Robertson