DISQUS

http://twitter.com/LindaBuquet

Affiliate Management Consultant :: Affiliate Marketing Blogger

Linda Buquet's last blog post..Want a 50 Times Higher Chance of a Top Google Ranking?

Hi Andy,

I was surprised I was getting traffic and being listed at Trafficjam since I took the BW widget down quite awhile ago. I never had Blogrush on my forum BTW, it was always on the blog and

I felt I gave it a pretty good shot, but just didn't get enough traffic to justify keeping it up. I'm getting enough traffic from the Jam though that I'm considering putting it back up.

Hey Jim, I own 5starBlogs.com. I bought it when it was DevBlogs.org, changed the name and built it up to a PR 5 - for what that's worth these days. ;-)

I'm planning to sell it if anyone is interested, but in the meantime am still taking submissions.

It's listed at Robin Good's New Media RSSTop55 Best Blog Directory And RSS Submission Sites List. That's where you can find other top blog directories too.

Well the domain did expire 8/3 so hopefully he will renew so the service stays up for those using it.

I've been talking with another company who does something similar but in a different way. Instead of needing to put a pixel on the merchant's site, it integrates right into the networks - CJ, LS and CB anyway. Looks pretty cool. Its at http://keywordxray.com/ if anyone needs a replacement in the event Adtrackz does not get renewed, but I'm sure it will.

Hey Andy, when I posted my comment I got 2 pages of errors. This is the only one I could grab from cache.

Warning: session_start() [function.session-start]: Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent (output started at /home/andyeu/public_html/wp-content/plugins/SK2/sk2_second_chance.php:2) in /home/andyeu/public_html/wp-content/plugins/translator/translator.php(15) : eval()'d code on line 1

Andy it's up for me, here in the US.

Hi Ian and all.

Good to hear some validation Ian. I have read good things about Softlayer and Platinum over at WebHostingTalk. Just not sure how comfortable I am about having server and support seperate or how the cost would stack up compared to just having everything including and complete TEAM handle your account at RackSpace.

But the cost difference is huge. RS would cost me almost 4 times what I'm paying for a much lower end box than I have now.
Plus the overage charges they charge for bandwidth on top, just would make it out of site. But still wonder if it would be worth it just to be able to sleep at night. :-(

I'm hoping the new "double everything" dedicated server I got from my old host (at a great price) will hold up. My old (current host) is really good about support, just crashed too many times and kept having to upgrade from semi ded to VPS to dedi to bigger dedi due to the forum and blog being so busy and eating lots of ram and causing crashes.

Fingers crossed I don't have to move again. BUT word to the wise. As Ian mentioned there are lots of hosts that have good reps for awhile then go downhill. You should just always have a backup host in mind in case things go south with current hosting. I plan to try to do some research each weekend to keep up with reviews and options over at WebhostingTalk, so if I need to move in a hurry I feel more confident I am making a good decision. (I really thought LW was a good one.)

FYI, if anyone decides to go with RackSpace, I just noticed Jim Kukral promotes them, so you could go grab his affiliate link.
Someone in the "inner circle" may as well get a commish. ;-)

Hi Andy. Sorry I actually didn't get an email from you. Thank you for attempting to get my affiliate link. Would have been happy to give it to you if I was happy with service.

But yes I was going through hell. I did get a VERY nice and VERY apologetic call from management admitting it had really been a mess and several offers to try to make things right.

I just don't have time to even keep trying any further and have no confidence things will be better. I need to get back to running my biz and just can't stay on tech support issues for 4 days straight. It's killing me. So cancelled and he did agree to give me a refund even though previous guy said they would not.

FYI before picking a host go to WebhostingTalk and Google and search for "host name" problems, "host name" support, "host name" uptime and downtime and "host name" sucks. Don't just search for host name or host name reviews.

If I decide to move again, which now I'm afraid to even try, I'll probably just jump all the way up to RackSpace. Super expensive but may be worth it to sleep at night.

Good luck all! Let us know how things go!

I need to retract what I said about Liquid Web. Have had bad time with getting new dedicated server set up.

Ordered Friday. New server set up Monday. As soon as they transferred my site - hard drive crash (on the new server).
Replaced drive. Tried to re-migrate my site. Forum would not work. All kinds of crazy re-directs with forum posts going to 404 error pages trying to find the forum posts on the blog SUBDOMAIN. 2 totally separate subdomains that have nothing to do with each other. They decided the server needed to be pulled for testing.

I called supervisor and said no too many problems I want a new box. He assured me it would be put on priority status with supervisor follow-through when he left his shift. New box set up in but then no one picked up the ticket to transfer the files. Couple more support tickets with no answer. Waited 17 hours and still no site. Then called and yelled again and they put someone on it. He used wrong password, then some other mistake and cant even figure out how to copy my files. Which is super easy with Cpanel and only takes about 15 min. Then some other problem...

Hours of support tickets back and forth for 4 days and still no site. Days of time wasted - still no site. So I just called to cancel and get a refund. Tech mgr said NO REFUNDS!

It's not like I used them for a month and just decided I didn't like it. They could never even get my site up and working!
I'm fuming!

So waiting for mgr to call to see if I can get a refund.

After I got upset about support I started searching for feedback differently. Instead of "Liguid Web Reviews" which were mainly positive. I started searching for LW suppport and downtime and problems. Found lots of people unhappy with support and lots that have had to wait hours for response to support tickets.

Why is it so hard to find a good host???

I feel everyone's pain and have been through the hosting wringer lately. On one host had one of my sites shut down without warning and without notification for excess server usage. Little site that didn't get much traffic. It was ONE image causing the problem and they just shut it down without notice.

Then the dedicated server 5 star, my main site is on, kept crashing so my old host kept upgrading me. They said partly the forum is so busy and partly WP is a resource hog.

So I've had it and am moving this week as we speak to a dedicated server at Liquid Web http://www.liquidweb.com/cart/content/dedicated/. I shopped forever, read tons of reviews and went with them. They are like RackSpace as far as very solid rep but not quite as expensive as RS and they have own datacenters and a good 10 years in biz. I called support 4 times Saturday with questions & every time the phone was picked up before the 2nd ring. So fingers crossed!

Hollar if you want my affiliate link Andy ;-)
Kidding of course. I'm recommending because I think they are a solid solution based on weeks of research Ive done. They have a raging special going through Web hosting talk. And yes you can get Cpanel and they are fully managed servers.

Good luck all. Hope you get your hosting problems resolved.

Smashing also has a list of 83 pretty nice WP designs.
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/02/09/83-b...

Hi Vlad,

Thanks so much for mentioning 5 Star. Really appreciate it.

Hi Vlad,

Thanks so much for mentioning 5 Star. Really appreciate it.

Hey Andy, thanks for this. I've discovered lots of good new blogs to read in the big list above.

5 Star often features SEO tools but is more based around affiliate marketing, niche marketing and blog monetization. So I'll add mine to the list.

http://affiliate-blogs.5staraffiliateprograms.com/

Hey Vinny, I was afraid to tell anyone but MyYahoo is MyFav too! :-)
Like you, I've tried them all and I just like it the best.

Lately though there have been numerous times when it can't grab my feeds and they come up empty - server overload I guess. So I've started using NetVibes as a back up. NV is cooler and more web 2.0 but Yahoo is just plain easier to skim and easier to read.

Hi Vlad, thank you for the nice reviews. Hope to see you over at my forums so we can join in some good discussions.

Hi Vlad, thank you for the nice reviews. Hope to see you over at my forums so we can join in some good discussions.

Hey Vinny, since your contest is over, I wanted to let the folks here know that I have 14 Summit tickets to give away at my forum. Just in case people want to go that missed winning your contest, I thought I would mention my contests too.

Summit Contest Thread
http://affiliate-marketing-forums.5staraffiliat...