The ultimate mantra to a get a free domain.

First of all :-

Google is a webmaster’s best friend.

If you keep searching and learning, you may be able to find all the info listed below from one or the other sources. But here is a contrasted summary or a small overview.

To get a domain you would require money.

Time is money

So a little time devoted can help you get a domain.

Some sources of free domains (are listed blelow) along with the “how to”:

(A) Hostbidder-

Hostbidder is webmaster’s forum which has been providing free domains, since 2003, in echange of points (which you get by posting) know as HB$.

FAQ

Q. How many points you get per post?

A. You can get a 10 points per post.

Q. How many you given points for per day?

A. Well, you get points for ever first 8 (>30) words post per day.

Q. How many for a domain?

A. 900 HB$ for a domain.

CLICK HERE.

Note:

4 posts * 10 points = 40 points * 23 days > 900 HB$.

So 23 days ins’t too long to wait for a domain.

Points and HB$ are the same things.

Just like hostbidder, there are plenty of similar sites. I have tried most of them but Hostbidder works the best.

(b) Earning cash online and using it to buy a domain:-

Domains( popular ones like .com, .net,etc.) usually cost around 10 $ or so.

.com for $7.75.

.net for $6.99.

Click for the price list.

Click here to register a domain.

So how to earn this cash?

I think, the answer should be PTC (Paid To Click) sites. But you need to find genuine PTC sites that pay.

Let me recommend some:-

1. B-U-X.net

2. bux3.com

3. Osobux.com

4. Pandabux.com

You clicking alone won’t do much good to you. You need to refer people under you.

20 ads * 10 referrals* $ 0.01= 2 $ in one day.

Awesome!

(c) Contests

Yeah! I mean contests. Find a contest and win a free domain. You’ll find of such kind if you keep searching webmaster’s forums. But this is gonna be hard. Try reading the next method. Its the easiest.

(d) Co.cc

if you think that other methods are bogus or you cost you a lost of time. Then this is for you, use might use a free co.cc domain. Actually, what you’ll get is a sub-domain but would work just like a professional fully functional TLD(Top level domain). No difference.

Google Apps and how to set it up!

Originally posted on 19 jan 2009

Still using the ugly looking mail service from your hosting provider?
Its time for change!! Google’s waiting for ya!

Wondering what is Google Apps?? Here’s an overview:

An initiative by Google which provides free/paid mail service (@yourname.com) to individuals/ business/ organizations. And that’s not all. You make use of google talk, calender, docs, etc. using your address @yourdomain.com. “That’s cool”, I know!

Requirements:

* You need a domain. ( you know that!) even a co.cc would do!
* You need access to dns setting!! Most domain registrars provide you with that! If not read the “Note” at the end!

The “How to” :
* Reset your domain’s nameservers! Point your nameservers to your dns service provider’s nameservers (for those with no dns service provided by the the registrar).
* Check for the shared ip address in hosting’s control panel (or in short you need ip of you hosting providers’ nameservers!).
Instruction’s for cpanel:
1. Login into your cpanel account
2. In the left panel with all the stats, second is given the shred ip.
If you are unable to find the ip in your hosting’s panel, try these steps:
1. Go to http://network-tools.com/nslook/
2. Enter the first nameserver, generally ns1.somedomain.com, as the domain.
3. Select A records as the query type.
4. Click go.
5. Note the ip from results.
* Go to your domain’s dns control panel.
* Create the following records:
A record- yourdomain.com – ip noted above
A record- www.yourdomain.com – ip noted above
A record- *.yourdomain.com – ip noted above (* means wild card)
* Go to http://www.google.com/a/cpanel/domain/new and signup for google apps.
* Back to Dns control panel. Create few more records:

MailServer Hostname: – Priority- Type

ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM. – 10 – MX
ALT1.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM.- 20 – MX
ALT2.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM.- 30 – MX
ASPMX2.GOOGLEMAIL.COM. -40 – MX
ASPMX3.GOOGLEMAIL.COM.- 50 – MX
ASPMX4.GOOGLEMAIL.COM. – 60 – MX
ASPMX5.GOOGLEMAIL.COM.- 70- MX

* Go to your google apps Control panel : http://google.com/a/cpanel/*yourdomain.com*/
* Click on “verify your ownership”.
Follow the steps and click on “I’ve completed the steps”.
* Back to Dashboard and Activate everything. Just click activate and the “I’ve completed th steps”. You are already done with all the steps.

So, now you are ready to use your gmail using @yourdomain.com address. “That’s awesome!” I know.

Note: * When you dns provider provides you with no dns service:
1. Go to http://editdns.net and register.
2. Add your domain.
3. Back to you dns panel: Change your nameservers to
ns1.us.editdns.net
ns2.us.editdns.net
ns3.us.editdns.net
4. Use editdns as your dns panel and follow steps mentioned above.

So are you planning to use it. Sure you are!! I know you wouldn’t mind leaving a comment!

Blogging- Why?? The answer is below.

Originally posted on 21 January 2009

I have been blogging for a lot months now and would say that blogging is a great for expressing your feelings, sharing your thoughts, etc.
Blogging may have plenty of reasons to be written, for example, :
1. You want to establish yourself on internet and get people to know about who you are, what you like, etc. In shot a personal blog. That’s a wonderful way for making new friends!
2. You have an expertise in something and want to spread a little knowledge among others. A public opinion is what you’ll get in exchange. If you know what your audience likes then you know where to make profits from.
If you own a product or offer a service, then blog is the best of keeping your customers updated and gathering their suggestions.
A personal blog- A kind of blog which generally means an online diary! A place for your profile and things unrelated to any relevant topic.

Askimet, the anti-pollution plugin

Originally posted on 2008-10-12

Another cool observations from, of course, one of my sites. The site this time is, yeah, divyun.com.

What’s anti-pollution?
It’s just a term created in the honor of askimet, which protects your site from dirty comments which pollute your blog.
So my request to each and every blogger is simple and straight- Use askimet, it helps you prevent unnecessary work.
Askimet comes preloaded by default. But if you have deleted it by default, get it at askimet.com.
This plugin is not only available for wordpress but for some other softwares too like mybb, etc. But you need a askimet key from wordpress.com.

Your own free Orkut, Facebook, twitter- the newest era

Originally posted on Tuesday 24 February 2009

Ever wondered- we’ve been using these social networks* for quite a long and still using them even when we can have a personal one.
Now how??
ELGG

Just almost an year back I came across a software called Elgg which can be found at http://elgg.org.
What is Elgg?
It was the first opensource social networking script as far as I remember. Well, it comes with a hell lot of functionality and is damn easy to use as:
1. The social networking engine handles it all.
2. It has a community to help you out with problems.
3. It has well documented tutorials.
For requirements and features check these pages:

http://elgg.org/requirements.php

http://elgg.org/features.php

Well if you are seeking a demo. Maybe you can try my upcoming site: http://futureiitians.com
BUDDYPRESS

Buddypress turns WordPress MU(multi user) into a social networking site. Though still in beta but all set to take over the others. From the makers of WordPress, buddypress comes with all the functionality of WordPress MU and the extras.
It has a big community behind it. It is the easiest one around.
Only things it lacks are a a little more functionality and themes. But I know they are only a few months away from success.
No special requirements btw.
For a demo visit http://testbp.org.
btw, both are based on PHP and MYSQL which are also open source and have most of the servers supporting them.
Why social networking?
I know you know answer to that. Its the best way to interact with people.
Why do I need a personal one?
Well, the sites like Orkut, Facebook are for general public. Yours could be on a specific topic. Call your friends and start an online club. Think a little and you’ll find a reason on why to do this.
For your information,the above two mentioned are not the only ones out there. We also have Peopleaggregator, pligg, etc. Elgg and Buddypress are the best and surely have the maximum potential, and the only ones under constant development.

How does piracy affects opensource..???

Originally posted on 08 December 2008

Piracy affects open source in several ways. Below is my one hour hard work discussing few points about open source, piracy and its affect on open source.
What is open source???
You heard about open source softwares like wordpress, linux, audacity, etc. Well these softwares are free and the their source code is readable and available to all.
A free software may not always be open source. Some softwares run under there own propriety licence and the source is closed(and are known as closed source). Similarly open source softwares may not alwas be free. If you are a blogger and use WordPress then you should know about the Revolution templates. They are now open source but are paid.
How does source code helps programmers?
Well, using the source code, programmer can modify and distribute it in his/her own way. But you gotta keep the copyright license.
“Piracy”??
Most of us are familiar with the word “piracy”. If legal words are to be used out here, I mean “Copyright infringement”. The word refers to illegal or unauthorized use of some kinda of material in a way it violates the owner’s rights. In short words, piracy means stealing or simply a crime.
Some popularly pirated softwares are Mircosoft Windows, Adobe Photoshop, vBulletin, etc.
How does piracy affects the free and the open-source?
Let’s start with examples.
Case 1 Are you a graphics designer?? If you are, you must be familiar with Adobe Photoshop. Now, I can bet that more that half of the designers would not have heard about GIMP. GIMP is a free open source software alternative to Adobe’s Photoshop.
Case 2 ~ 90% people out here are still MS Windows users. Linux is
1. better than Windows.
2. is free and open source.
3. has hundred of sub distributions.
4. it has better support professionally and from a large community.
From the above two cases it is clear that piracy is killing the scope of the open source softwares. Well, if you’ll surf the internet, you’ll find hundred of such examples.
These days piracy is widespread and is done on a large scale. You’ll see markets full of pirated items which you could get for free or for <1/10th cost of the original. This has become a business of its own. Today on every corner of a street, you’ll be able to find somebody selling pirated stuff.
Use of pirated softwares are not only illegal but they cut down the market of the open source softwares. When user can have a paid expensive software for free why the hell in the world would he/she use a open source software? The person will not even try to find a free alternate to that software. Some of the examples are listed above.
Open source getting popular??
Well, actually in the past few years the open-source has taken the lead in few sectors.
For example, wordpress is a software used by bloggers to host their blogs on their own. The software is open source and rules the blogging market.
Another one, Mozilla Firefox is best the internet browser out here and is going great guns is ready to take over Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (closed source) as the most widely used browser. Adding to competition are Opera and Google’s Chrome.
Does piracy affect the Giants??
I suppose, not much!!
An example again. Adobe Tools ( like Photoshop, DreamWeaver, etc. ) and Windows are widely used and pirated. But I don’t think Adobe or MS minds this at all. Actually Adobe/MS doesn’t have much expectations from people whom they know can’t afford the software. Their main target are large companies which buy their products in bulk.
Now the biggest question- Encourage piracy or open source? I’ll say, ” Its on you. . . . . “
P.S.
This is the biggest post of mine so far.
MyBB went open source a few days ago. It was under a propriety license but free.
MyBB is a free open-source alternative to vBulletin. btw, my site

Alexa Rank! What’s the trick?

There are quite a lot of prestigious ranks on Internet, desired by a webmaster. These ranks include Page Rank, Techronati Rank(for bloggers), etc. And on of them is the Alexa Rank?

Alexa.com is a service provided by amazon.com to provide webmasters with info about where they stand in the world. A good Alexa Ranks means you receive a good portion of Internet traffic!

What’s the range for a good rank??

Well, I suppose if you could into top 200,000, you’ll be pretty well off.

On the topic:

I have been observing my site’s Alexa Rank for past so many months and have come to the following conclusions for the fluctuations that take place.

From my experience:

I get almost 85% of traffic from India at the moment! Just a month ago my site’s daily reached to its max. of some thing around 78,xxx. After that time, my traffic stats kept increasing but still my Alexa rank showed decrement. I was baffled.

My observation on this:

I observed that the percentage of my traffic from India was falling and traffic from other countries was increasing. My US rank jumped on from somewhere 1,xxx,xxx to somewhere around 5xx,xxx.

What affected my Alexa rank?

The sudden shift in the traffic sources led to a temporary decrement in my rank. My weekly rank reached as low as 6xx,xxx.

Now that my rank has started to increase again, I am feeling happy.

Now a few tricks which will help you increase your Alexa rank:

1. You should have heard of forums, that’s the place to advertise. Just place a link in your signature and welcome people to pay a visit.

2. Put your site on review in as many places, e.g., forums, social networks,etc. Public opinion is what which helps you learn what they want. And actually this will help you drive a lot of traffic to your site too.

3. Ask your family and friends to visit and leave a line, comment, sign up, etc. on your site. Remember family and friends are a great asset when it comes to increasing traffic.

4. Love your site and feel good about it! Be confident.

Remember, a lots of hard work doesn’t pay if not done cleverly.

……….Plz, be my friend and leave a line…………. lol :P

Oh my gosh! You can spoof google pagerank :O

PageRank

Well Oh my google! instead of god! Pagerank can be faked. I knew this before but came across this again.

Now, how is it done? and how to check a website for fake PG? Here are answers to such questions!

First to clarify the truth in this, a quote from wikipedia:

False or spoofed PageRank

While the PageRank shown in the Toolbar is considered to be derived from an accurate PageRank value (at some time prior to the time of publication by Google) for most sites, it must be noted that this value is also easily manipulated. A current flaw is that any low PageRank page that is redirected, via a 302 server header or a “Refresh” meta tag, to a high PageRank page causes the lower PageRank page to acquire the PageRank of the destination page. In theory a new, PR0 page with no incoming links can be redirected to the Google home page – which is a PR 10 – and by the next PageRank update the PR of the new page will be upgraded to a PR10. This spoofing technique, also known as 302 Google Jacking, is a known failing or bug in the system. Any page’s PageRank can be spoofed to a higher or lower number of the webmaster’s choice and only Google has access to the real PageRank of the page. Spoofing is generally detected by running a Google search for a URL with questionable PageRank, as the results will display the URL of an entirely different site (the one redirected to) in its results.

Direct link => http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank#False_or_spoofed_PageRank

Amazing right! a 302 server head and done, you have PR 10.

Another way of doing this is from http://www.monetizers.com/fake-pr.php

Faking Pagerank

Sites fake PR by looking for the Googlebot, then redirecting it to a high PR site, like Yahoo.com. Google sees that users actually land on Yahoo.com and the PR Bar in turn reflects the PR of the Yahoo.com rather than your site.

Here is an example of what Fake PR code looks like:

/* insert a cloaking script here to detect whether the visitor is
Googlebot */
if (Googlebot) {
echo ‘‘;
exit();
}
else {
echo “

My PR10 page!

“;
}
?>

So its not that difficult fake a PR.

Now where did it all start from?

It was started by SEOdarkteam. This trick doesn’t work anymore but is worth reading. http://seoblackhat.com/2005/07/26/how-to-fake-a-google-page-rank-10-or-any-pr-you-want/. I don’t know how but their demo at http://www.pr10.darkseoteam.com still works.

So how to check a site for fake pagerank?

use Google’s cache. It always shw the real PR.

Don’t get scammed. Check for fakes before buying links on a site wth high PR.

Well Oh my google! instead of god! Pagerank can be faked. I knew this before but came across this again.

Now, how is it done? and how to check a website for fake PG? Here are answers to such questions!

First to clarify the truth in this, a quote from wikipedia:

False or spoofed PageRank

While the PageRank shown in the Toolbar is considered to be derived from an accurate PageRank value (at some time prior to the time of publication by Google) for most sites, it must be noted that this value is also easily manipulated. A current flaw is that any low PageRank page that is redirected, via a 302 server header or a “Refresh” meta tag, to a high PageRank page causes the lower PageRank page to acquire the PageRank of the destination page. In theory a new, PR0 page with no incoming links can be redirected to the Google home page – which is a PR 10 – and by the next PageRank update the PR of the new page will be upgraded to a PR10. This spoofing technique, also known as 302 Google Jacking, is a known failing or bug in the system. Any page’s PageRank can be spoofed to a higher or lower number of the webmaster’s choice and only Google has access to the real PageRank of the page. Spoofing is generally detected by running a Google search for a URL with questionable PageRank, as the results will display the URL of an entirely different site (the one redirected to) in its results.

Direct link => http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank#False_or_spoofed_PageRank

Amazing right! a 302 server head and done, you have PR 10.

Another way of doing this is from http://www.monetizers.com/fake-pr.php

Faking Pagerank

Sites fake PR by looking for the Googlebot, then redirecting it to a high PR site, like Yahoo.com. Google sees that users actually land on Yahoo.com and the PR Bar in turn reflects the PR of the Yahoo.com rather than your site.

Here is an example of what Fake PR code looks like:

/* insert a cloaking script here to detect whether the visitor is
Googlebot */
if (Googlebot) {
echo ‘‘;
exit();
}
else {
echo “

My PR10 page!

“;
}
?>

So its not that difficult fake a PR.

Now where did it all start from?

It was started by SEOdarkteam. This trick doesn’t work anymore but is worth reading. http://seoblackhat.com/2005/07/26/how-to-fake-a-google-page-rank-10-or-any-pr-you-want/. I don’t know how but their demo at http://www.pr10.darkseoteam.com still works.

So how to check a site for fake pagerank?

use Google’s cache. It always shw the real PR.

Don’t get scammed. Check for fakes before buying links on a site wth high PR.

What’s precious to a webmaster!!

Originally posted on 18 December 2008

If you want to be a webmaster, there are few things you got to know before hand. Webmaster has to manage between quite a lot things which help to him to manage the site!! This article is about “What’s important to a webmaster and why??””
Below, I’ll try to list all the important things for a webmaster!! So here it goes
1. Time
Time is the most important thing for a webmaster. Webmasters who lack in time usually end up in quiting but yeah!! some idiots like me do continue and end up in creating a hotch potch!! lol xD.
From my exprience:
I am a 15 year old blogger who is currently in Class XIth which is one of the most important years for you as a student. Its pretty hard for me to come online an post daily. So what’s the result:-
It took me more than 5 months to reach to this position. And my position is that I can’t concentrate on SEO, promotion or looks.
Conclusion:
If have time by your side, you surely will do better than me and maybe faster.
2. An internet connection
Believe it or not, but you need fast, “a no trouble” internet connection.
From my experience:
Once, a few months ago, my internet connection broke down and stopped working one day! My site was new and needed my attention, but unfortunately, I couldn’t update my site for around a month!! and I had to end up getting a new connection.
Conclusion:
A fast internet connection is a must and an asset for a webmaster.
3. Skills
Well, you should how to use your computer and internet. It should be difficult for total newbie to manage. So I would suggest you to play with your computer and internet until/unless you know quite a lot. Once you reach the saturation point, you’ll know it yourself.
4. A good social background
Knowing a lot of people helps a lot. If you are good at asking people to visit your site, it should be enough for you to get started.
From my experience:
I know a quite a lot people, but I am not good at asking them to comment or at least visit my site. I have been trying my best to get a little social.
Conclusion
Interact with more and more people which will help you create a traffic base for your site.
5. Principal amount
You need something to get started or you’ll end up trying hard to earn that principal amount in vain.
From my experience:
I started without any money. So I wasted a lot of time in getting the starters. If you don’t have money, then you need time in exchange.
Hope the article was pleasing. Please do consider commenting.

Inspire to blog!

Everything needs some inspiration, from somewhere, to be done! The same thing is with blogging. You have to get a little inspiration from somewhere to continue blogging otherwise it becomes a tedious job. Well, I too get bored sometimes and don’t update my blog from days or weeks and I end up in tens of drafts saved still waiting to be completed and published.

Best way to keep yourself ready to blog is by keeping yourself updated about the happenings on internet!! This way you’ll always be able to find some material for a good post!! Reading others’ blogs is also a good way to rejuvenate your knowledge. A good blogger should never lack ideas and should try to blog regularly.

Well, I will not suggest writing long posts instead keep them filled with valuable stuff. 200-400 words should be fine. A post longer than this is a hard time for both the reader and the blogger. First few lines do leave an impression and they should be carefully written.

You should let yours ideas to flow. You should be able to pen down your ideas on a piece of paper/blog. Let me tell, this is the most difficult thing. This happens with me too often, and sometimes I feel like having a plugin which could copy paste the article from my brain to the blog. Unfortunately, you have to do this on your own, no such plugin yet!!

Hope my post inspired to start blogging! btw, What do you do to get inspired to blog?? Please do consider sharing.

Divyun