Bot blocking tool Spyder Spanker review

Websites are plagued with bad bots and often come grinding to a halt without the aid of a bot blocking tool. Here, I’ll review the latest kid on the block, Spyder Spanker.

Bot blocking plugin wordpress

First off, Spyder Spanker is a WordPress plugin, so if you don’t have a WordPress powered site then you’re out of luck. If you do however, then read on, it’s pretty impressive. Here’s a video that shows its merits:

 

Seen enough? Get Spyder Spanker Pro now at the best price or continue reading the review.

 

Spyder Spanker full review

Initially installing the tool is as simple as uploading your provided zip file to your server via the WordPress plugin page. Once uploaded and activated, Spyder Spanker installs itself as an admin menu item. There, you can add your licence details and you are straight in to the interface, a very neatly styled area where each component is separately presented to you.

Allow trusted bots

Setting up the plugin is very easy because all of the major trusted bots are whitelisted. By trusted, I mean the ones you actually WANT to come to your site such as GoogleBot, BingBot etc. Without these, the search engines wouldn’t know your site content and you would never get listed in the search engine results pages. This is something that is a welcome addition to the software, other packages leave it up to you to select your own trusted bots.

Disallow bad bots

You don’t even need to add any bad bots either because these are also setup when the plugin installs. Bots such as Baidu (Chinese search bot) and Yandex (Russian search bot) are unneccesary on many English language sites as they steal bandwidth to add you to their results pages, regularly returning to your pages to re-crawl them and taking valuable bandwidth.

Allowing individual bots

OK, so we have a good setup straight out of the box, but let’s dig a bit deeper and see what we can modify. Let’s take the scenario where an English language website sells products to China. If this is the case then it would make sense to allow the Baidu bot to index the website.  To do this is a simple 2-click operation, tick the Baidu bot and then click on ‘Remove selected’. Very slick and no messing about with CSF firewall rules or .htaccess country-blocking or IP address blocking rules.

The differences between Spyder Spanker and other tools

I wanted to point out that Spyder Spanker is predominantly a bot blocker and doesn’t do a lot of what tools like WP Better Security does such as secure admin areas, make files ineditable etc. What it does excel at is blocking the bots that use your resources on a daily basis and it can throttle back the good bots when they spider your site aggresively too.

WP Better Security comes with a basic list of bad bots for .htaccess (which I use) but they’re a bit more devious these days and use new names. Here is an example of a logfile entry in Spyder Spanker:

Blacklist agent testing...
---------------------------------
0447705 - 2013-05-03 03:12:52 CDT / IP: 208.115.113.90 / HOSTNAME:
AGENT: Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Ezooms/1.0; [email protected])
---------------------------------
BLOCK: blacklist agent: mozilla/5.0 (compatible; ezooms/1.0; [email protected])

This is a bot you won’t generally find on many htaccess blacklists but it’s a ‘rule-breaker’ for sure. SS responded by blocking it and will pass the rule to my other sites and the community network.

Let’s be honest, a bot with a gmail address probably shouldn’t be trusted that much anyway!

Spyder spanker review – the verdict

I’d thoroughly recommend you buy this tool, you’ll recoup any outlay back in a short time with reduced bandwidth fees, time saved and more sales if you run any type of ecommerce or affiliate site. One thing though, go with the Pro upgrade that is presented as a “One Time Offer” when you have paid for the basic version because Spyder Spanker Pro integrates beutifully with Project Honeypot. This means that it can be run ‘hands-off’ and will be updated against the raft of ever-increasing spammers and bad bots out there. Add this to the community update facility and you’ll be protected for years to come across ALL of your domains.

Purchase Spyder Spanker at the current best price online


Backup WordPress database tutorial

wordpress backup

This is a tutorial on how to backup your WordPress database manually using phpMyAdmin and the SQL export method. It may sound difficult for the non-technical but it isn’t really and is something that is essential for the maintenance of any WordPress site. If you have ever lost any data before you’ll know what a huge and time consuming problem this can lead to so let’s get going.

First off, please bookmark this page in your browser, you’ll probably need to refer to it again for the first few backups!

Login to your cPanel. This is where you will see lots of useful tools and the one we shall use is phpMyAdmin shown below.

php myadmin wordpress backup

Click to open it and you will now have to select your database from the left hand side, usually something like mysite_wrdp1. Don’t select the information_schema as this is not the one we want.

Now you look to the right of the screen and you can see tabs relating to functions we can actually run on the database.

phpmyadmin sql wordpress

We want to select ‘Export’ here. Now for the bit everybody gets wrong…. You should select the ‘Custom export method’ which gives you greater control over the final exported database. For ease of reference, I have compiled a screenshot of the best options to select for the majority of users. Make sure you click to select all tables in your database, I have seen so many people just backup one table within the database and the backup is effectively useless. Here are all the settings you need to have in the latest version of  phpMyAdmin:

database backup wordpress phpmyadmin latest

Notice I have removed the prefix from the table names (shown in blue above) as you or a program may have modified this. By default it is wp_ but many security packages rename it. There is nothing to do here, I’m just pointing this out for clarity.

Now you can click on ‘Go’ and you should be able to download a working copy of your database. You can’t really view this file as it requires a database server (although you can connect to it with a few software tools that exist). You can however upload it to a new installation or use it when the poop hits the fan and disaster strikes on your server.

That’s about all you need to do to have a working backup of your database. Remember to FTP into your server and copy all the files over too as many files and folders are necessary to get back up and running as you were. For example, your wp-content/uploads folder is not backed up automatically and this is where most images used on your blog are stored.

Automatic WordPress SQL backups and file copying features

If you want a click-and-forget solution then I would heartily recommend the excellent WP-Twin which you can download here https://wp-twin.com
This neat program not only backs up your database but also ALL of your files on the server, meaning that any special folders outside of WordPress get copied over too. It has an easy reinstall option that takes the pain out of disasters, well worth it if you aren’t too sure how to go about reinstallation.

I hope this helps you to start a decent WordPress backup regime and I’d be happy to know if this helped you, please drop me a comment below or click the social buttons to share with others.

 


Market Samurai review with current discount code and money off

market-samurai-reviewReviewing Market Samurai is difficult without comparing it to similar products.  The problem is, there are very few to choose from that are in its class.  Most people will barely touch on all the key functions that it has to offer.  As a keyword research tool it really excels and if you need to research a market to completely dominate it then there is no better product currently available that does all that Market Samurai achieves.

If you know the power of this tool and arrived here simply to get promo discount codes then their current offer is really quite excellent but well hidden.  Download the free trial of Market Samurai from here. Try it free to make sure you like it then purchase the full version immediately and watch the price drop by over $50! That’s a huge 35% off the retail price.

I have been running this tool since the early days of its launch and have seen it grow into a full-featured app.  Powered by the very slick Adobe AIR platform, it looks like no other tool out there.  I have tested it quite thoroughly, running on these systems: XP, Vista, Windows Server 2003, 2008 and Win 7 and it looks identical and runs smoothly on each.  It interfaces seamlessly with Google, even offering Google’s Captcha code in a slick way.

Market Samurai offers:

  • Keyword Research
  • Rank Tracker
  • SEO competition analysis
  • Domain Research
  • Monetization
  • Content Finder
  • Content Publisher
  • Backlink Promotion

Market Samurai enables you to find and target profitable niches with incredible accuracy but how does it compare to the competition?  Well I have been a long time fan of Micro Niche Finder which is a software tool that does what it says on the tin.  Comparing the two it is fair to say that both offer extensive keyword research.  Results are far from identical but running the generated keyword lists from one and dropping it into the other gets highly addictive.  And highly targeted.

If I had to choose one I’d be happy with either!  Give me two and I’ll guarantee to create a niche that works every time.  I don’t want to detract from Market Samurai though.  The ability to create a new project, run a series of exhaustive tests on keywords finding high traffic ones with relevancy, assess market competition and commerciality all lead to a rounded product with astonishing value for money.

Downsides?  Hard to think of any but if I’m pushed I’d say that the average beginner dipping his toes into SEO would need some hand-holding. That said, this side is more than covered with the impeccable support.  Ticket systems, knowledgebase, forums, troubleshooter, video tutorials all help to get beginners quickly up to speed.

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PCRepairMan’s verdict:

Buy Market Samurai today if you care about ranking your site and researching profitable niche markets.


Link Swiper review – Post CPA offers automatically!

There’s a new money-making tool in town and it goes by the name of Link Swiper.  It’s currently $20 (price increases a little with each purchase) and is available by clicking this promotional link

SORRY THIS OFFER IS NOW CLOSED.

 

Link Swiper review

Link Swiper reviewI’ve just bought this software and I have to say, I’m VERY impressed. You can watch the video for a better explanation but I bought a domain name and made the whole thing live in less than 30 minutes and then pumped out about 20 stealthy little CPA links in another 10 minutes. It does what it says and the developer offers free upgrades to the software.

The software was tested on a Dual Core Windows 7 PC with 2GB RAM. The target domain was registered with Dynadot and hosted on Hostgator shared hosting. Total setup time was 43 minutes from domain registration to submitting our first link.

 

What is CPA?

CPA (Cost Per Action) is an online advertising model.  The advertiser pays for each action. This may be any of the following:

  • A purchase
  • A form submission
  • An email address
  • A click through to a website

It’s a good business model because it allows you to make a profit even if the visitor doesn’t purchase anything (unlike eBay, Amazon etc).

 

So what’s so good about Link Swiper?

You don’t need content, you link to other sites that have great stories and then when the visitor closes that site your CPA offer opens on the same topic. It looks like it’s their site that opened the link, this is very impressive in action.

There is a one-time offer that is definitely worth going for, it’s another $17 but this is well worth it as it gives you a bit more stealth on the CPA link.

 

So what do I need to install it?

You need a self-hosted WordPress installation and a CPA offer, that’s it, the software does all the link generating for you. It can be adapted for Amazon and eBay offers too as well as other CPA networks.

Hosting a WordPress installation can be cheap as chips if you use Hostgator or similar. They have tools that help you install WordPress in minutes so you can be up and running with your own WordPress site, Domain name and Link Swiper in less than an hour.

 

Verdict

Super-slick, fast and a great idea to diversify your Affiliate Marketing tactics while keeping your outlay low.  This software is another must-have tool in your armory, buy now before the price goes up.

 

Resources:

Hostgator – Cheap hosting starting from $1 a month

Dynadot – Cheap and easy domain purchase

 


Google Refine data cleaning tool

Many of us find the need to do serious data refining, so I’m always happy to find a new tool to have a play with.  This time it’s Google who have released code free of charge that will help polish, refine and tidy your data.

You can split data, export in a multitude of formats, reconcile errors, change formats all within the one program. It’s particularly powerful when it comes to dividing CSV files and making new columnar data.  Google’s Refine program allows export to the Freebase Open Data Store which can pull all sorts of data in to your project and cleverly append it.

Have a peek, there’s a few useful videos to get you started:

https://code.google.com/p/google-refine/

It runs nicely in your browser from a single executable, and the extracted files are only 48MB in size.


SERPBuddy review and free trial

SERPbuddy is a premier online SERP tracker that was built by SEO professionals. For those who don’t know, SERP stands for Search Engine Results Page.

The data that SERPBuddy presents is well formatted and offers everything that people need to accurately gauge the rank and position of a search keyword for any website. There is built in reporting and management for your Keyword Rankings, Backlinks, Pagerank and Alexa Rank. The dashboard is easy to use and the software is responsive.

 

SERPBuddy review – features

SERPbuddy will notify you by email of changes in your search engine rankings, or they can just notify you when your chosen keyword reaches the first page (or if you are lucky, the top position!).  This is a nice feature as it means that you can do other things and forget the daily check.  With all of the Google updates it’s also a nice way to see if your site drops off the radar completely.

The impressive thing about  this relatively new software is the SERP buddy free trial, so you can see if it suits you.

SERPBuddy review – reports

Creating attractive, branded reports is easy, so this would suit an SEO company just as well as an individual. Simply upload your logo and you can create rather impressive reports that clients will like. You can download to PDF or email the report(s) directly to your clients. Very simple, neat and efficient.

 

More information about SERPBuddy here

 

 


Micro Niche Finder review with discount coupon code

Micro niche finder discount coupon code 2011Micro Niche Finder is a very capable tool for drilling down into a niche market and finding relevant keywords. It is, without a doubt, the best software tool for keyword extraction currently available. That’s not to say it can’t be used with other tools and in my experience it works impeccably well alongside the free Google Insights.
I reviewed Micro Niche Finder 5 which, at time of writing, is a huge improvement over the MNF 4. It brings the product in line with the ‘new’ Google search style and fixes some long-standing bugs with waiting times and product responsiveness.

Micro Niche Finder allows you to drill down deeper than with any other keyword research tool currently available. It can check related keyword phrases, search Google Trends and more. You have the option to do broad or narrow searches and exact searches.  The only other competitor on a par with this is Market Samurai (reviewed here) coming a respectable second in our tests with similar but not exactly the same keywords harvested from Google.  I see this as an advantage of owning the 2 tools and I have run the output of one into the input of another on more than a few occasions where I needed extra insight into the keywords for a niche.

Even beginners can harness the power of MNF with easy to visualise layouts and good documentation. Having invested in Market Samurai a while back, I still use it on many occasions but find myself ultimately coming back to Micro Niche Finder again and again.

If you want to analyse your competitors’ websites then you have the tools in MNF to do this. You can investigate their backlinks (incoming links), anchor texts and the search engine results page to determine their authority.

Want to check the profitability of your niche’s longtail keywords? Easy.
Need to check how much the advertisers on Google Adwords will pay for a click on a keyword? Easy
The unique “Strength of Competitors” feature gives you all this and more.

So are there any downsides? Well, I can only say that the price initially put me off. $97 for a product that effectively still required manual input and a bit of thought sounded a bit steep. But when I realised that the amount of time I spent researching niches had been cut so dramatically, I thought it through again. I now use Micro Niche Finder and Market Samurai to find all my niches and if this product was twice the price it would still be worth it and definitely in my armoury.

PC RepairMan’s Verdict:
Save yourself time and get the job done accurately with Micro Niche Finder

Get $20 off Micro Niche Finder by using coupon code “MNF20” at checkout

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