Web Proxy Blog

It’s been said that a proxy mirror can mess a site up beyond belief in Google. I’m not sure but I have someone who owes us a substantial amount of money so we’re going to test this theory.

We’re going to create a mirror site on a proxy. The proxified site has a P R 3, the target site has a P R two.

If there’s a proxy issue in Google still, then our www.liveoxy.com will rank for searches that used to rank for the guy who still owes us money.

Let’s see!

The schools are off so hopefully you’ve got enough profit to still afford those servers when probably a large majority of your traffic is going to decrease. I’m not too worried but im prepared for my adsense earnings to plummet. Good ways to counteract the school kids defecit is by going for the likes of office workers.

• Set up a proxy specifically for office workers

• Do some SEO before its too late

• Keep some of your decent earnings from other months through this summer

Not long till i post up the end of month stats, I’ve made more than $300 if anybody cares to know

Im going to run off a quick list off sites or ideas to promote your proxy, pick a few, explore what to do then go and do it:

• Squidoo
• Digg
• Hubpages
• StumbleUpon
• EzineArticles
• USFreeAds
• SEO
• PPC
• Writing Content
• Forum Signatures
• Email Marketing
• Word of Mouth

Go, Go, Go!

Chad is the owner of SweetProxies, a much more enjoyable approach to proxy lists and management, a site I wouldnt mind having thought up myself. I asked Chad a few questions about his newly launched venture…

Glen: So Chad, you run and own SweetProxies.com, can you tell us a little about the site?
Chad: SweetProxies is a new proxy directory that is unique in many ways. It is a collection of php/cgi proxies, topsites, resources, and other directory sites.The initial goal or aim of the project was to have a primarily user-driven site that allowed for the collection of proxies to be easily expanded upon and affected by the users of the site, whether it be through adding or reporting sites, rating them, flagging certain sites as their top choices, etc. While sites like topsites or static proxy lists (such as proxy.org) have very little user-driven content, SweetProxies takes an approach similar to that of Digg and StumbleUpon.

Glen: You mention ratings, top choices etc. Is this one of the ways you tried to make Sweet Proxies unique?
Chad: The approach allows a more fair exposure of all sites submitted into the system, because with Proxies; sites that have high traffic and have been around for a long time are not necessarily the best. The more traffic, the slower the proxy tends to be. Also, the more popular; the higher the chance that it will be blocked by filters. With proxies, the ability to get fresh, new links is important. SweetProxies helps by randomizing links so everyone gets a balance chance of being featured, while also maintaining the ’social’ aspects such as the 5-star ratings and ’sweetness’ level (which is how many times the particular site has been added to a user’s favorites list).These other social aspects allow for users to quickly pick out which sites are best, and find what they are looking for.

Glen: So then, its clear that the visitors get a lot out of the proxies, finding the best for their needs. But what about the Webmasters, the proxy owners themselves
Chad: Proxy webmasters are given the ability to submit their sites to the directory under the category that best describes their site. Submissions are first automatically verified by the system, and then put into a cue to be manually checked for integrity (we look at the proxy site to ensure it works, is fast, etc). The site is then approved and added to the homepage listings. The process is usually completed within 24 hours. It is encouraged that webmasters link back to us (via link or button) but it isn’t required. Adding a button obviously helps promote their site (attracting users to visit SP and vote/rate/sweeten them). We also do button/link exchanges if webmasters are interested.

Similar to on proxy.org and other proxy lists, webmasters have the ability to make their proxy stand out from the rest by pay a small fee and ‘highlighting’ their link which puts it in a bold yellow box. There is also the option of upgrading to a PRO link in which the link appears in the top left column of every page (always seen by the user). Overall, webmasters are looking for proxy exposure and backlinks. By submitting to directories such as SweetProxies not only is it a great way for free traffic (and it only takes a second to submit), but it help you to build up a rating and get hits without needing to bring in crazy referral traffic like topsites require.To submit a site you don’t even need to register a new account, you can submit sites a guest as well as view the listings. Registration is only required if you’d like to rate/sweeten sites or build up a proxy favorites list (known as your ’sweets jar’).

Glen: With the recent Clickbot issues surrouding Proxy.org, how can you protect the proxy owners from this type of activity affecting their Earnings Channels?
Chad: This news surrounding Proxy.org is very serious, as proxy webmasters are very dependant on their adsense accounts and revenue coming from adsense. SweetProxies will not tolerate any sort of ‘bot’ activity on our site that is unauthorized. While this issue is hard to circumvent since the bot operated by visiting regular hyperlinks (of which need to be accessable to regular users) SweetProxies has taken a preemptive step by blocking certain bots server-side.

We will also offer any site the ability, by contacting us, to turn off direct linking to their site and force the user to view their site via the ajax popup window option only. The only alternative we have to this would be to put a human-recognizing system such as CAPTCHA. I think we’re safe from this issue for now, and if something does occur in the future feel free to contact SweetProxies at any time via our clearly visible contact page and let us know of any suspicious activity. While we do monitor our logs for bot activity, our members are our most powerful resource for catching these things. That’s the power of having social user-driven sites!

To clarify; SweetProxies does NOT have any intentions to artificially increase perceived traffic or run bots on our site. We do not run any sort of advertising or promotions that are PPC or per page view. We also do not run Adsense on the site.

Glen: Sweet Proxies seems like a great alternative to Proxy.org, how did you choose the name?
Chad: I bought the name back in August of last year, it seemed to suit the vision of the site because it sounded fresh, it was catchy, and it wasn’t taken! I didn’t have a chance to actually build up the site I had envisioned until two months ago when development started.

Glen: OK Chad, thanks for your time and good luck with the site, expect some promotion and submissions from us
Chad: Thanks and good luck with your blog!

CGI Proxy

Website Description: This CGI script acts as an HTTP or FTP proxy. Through it, you can retrieve any resource that is accessible from the server it runs on. This is useful when your own access is limited, but you can reach a server that in turn can reach others that you can’t. In addition, the user is kept as anonymous as possible from any servers. Common uses include: anonymous proxies similar to The Anonymizer, other personal uses, VPN-like functionality, and others. It’s very simple to install, and very configurable.

When an HTML resource is retrieved, it’s modified so that all links in it point back through the same proxy, including images, form submissions, and everything else. Once you’re using the proxy, you can browse normally and (almost) forget it’s there

Advantages:
Uses up less bandwidth than PHProxy
Quick and easy to setup
Simple to use, just upload the files, type in the web address and go
Allows login to most websites

Disadvantages:
Uses a lot of CPU Processing power
Need a server that can run the CGI Proxy (may need to be configured whereas most Linux servers have PHP automatically)

If Im honest I’ve never fully utilized this proxy and some of the disadvantages may not be fully true as they are not from personal experience just from “the talk of the web”. Give it a try and see what you think.

Some others

Of course there are other scripts out there, heres some links to others you may want to check out:

PHP Proxy Script

Zelune Script

I’m going to be honest here and let you know that there are only 2 commonly used proxy scripts and they are PHProxy and CGIProxy, basically one of them is a PHP Proxy and the other is a CGI proxy if you can’t tell from the names. They both have their advantages and disadvantages so here’s to looking at them to help you decide which to use, but first things first and here’s the good news:

They’re both free

PHProxy
Website Description: PHProxy is a Web HTTP proxy programmed in PHP to bypass firewalls and other proxy restrictions through a Web interface very similar to the popular CGIProxy. School/country/company blocked your favorite Website? Look no further! The server that this script runs on simply acts as a medium that retrieves resources for you. The only IP address shown will be the server’s IP address. So basically, it is indirect browsing. The only catch being that the server has to have access to those otherwise inaccessible resources.

Advantages:

Completely free, just a download required
Setup in minutes, just upload the files to your server and its ready to use
Has lots of themes available Free on the internet
Well known and simple to use

Disadvantages:

Uses up a lot of bandwidth
Default theme is pretty ugly
Cant login to certain websites
Checkboxes are not that simple to remove

PHProxy is what I use on all of my websites (proxies) and it has done me no harm or had any real issues. The only thing I don’t like about it is the checkboxes and the fact there’s no quick solution to removing them and I couldn’t really find a decent guide on the internet so something I’m going to have to look into more. Just because I use PHProxy doesn’t mean you have too so here’s a look at CGI Proxy on the following Post.

How to decide on Domain Names

By now you should know whether you want a tonne of .info’s, to use some domains you already have or created some brandable domains for proxies that people will remember, or just use a mix of everything. With that knowledge looking into which domains to buy will be different from the rest of the options.

Brandable

If you are looking for your proxies to be brandable and be remembered without them just having to be bookmarked then first of all you should be looking at .Com domains although it may ’seem’ like the good ones have ran out. That’s why I suggest you build your own brand with an ending of the domains that sound the same to build your network. For example all the main domains in our network end with ‘oxy’ so that they are brandable for our network and people can relate to them and remember them.

Bulk

You will realise there’s a time you’ve got a tonne of proxies and may wonder why you spent all the money on .coms which are 10x the price of .info’s if you shop on NameCheap (recommended). If you are looking to bulk up your network or start with a lot of proxies from the beginning then I recommend you buy .info’s as they are a heck of a lot cheaper and still do the job just the same. Don’t listen to those who say you can’t rank well in the SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages) with them.

It’s up to you!

At the end of the day it’s your network, it’s your proxies and it’s your money you are spending. Make your mind up about which direction you want to go and get ready to get setup!

Now then, there are many routes you can take when picking proxy domains believe it or not and we are going to look at them.

Route 1

Route 1 is an option few people tend to take; it’s basically getting quality domains that are brandable (.com’s) and working hard to market them and optimise them in order to get them well established and earning good money individually. An example of this is the Privax network which has proxies such as ‘BoratProxy’ and ‘HideMyAss’ which are very brandable and easy for people to remember. Note that .com’s are more expensive then some of the other extensions so keep your budget in mind

Route 2

Route2 is often taken by people who just have a bunch of random domains lying around and want to monetize them so decide to setup a proxy in their words too ‘make a few bucks’. This often includes domains like LLLL (letters) in extensions like .com and .net and these domains are often unpronounceable. People like this tend not too show much interest in their proxies and it certainly isn’t easy for people to remember the name without Bookmarking the site so bare that in mind if you are serious about your proxy venture.

Route 3

Route3 is either used by people who are very clever and know that mass in numbers works well with proxies and can drive big traffic or people who are cheap (or have a low budget) and are just testing the water. You guessed it, I’m talking about the .info extension. People register hundreds of these things, and if you can get them all setup and with a bit of traffic to each you should be able to easily cover the cost of the hosting that hosts them all!

Route 4

Route4 is the experimental route, get any type of domain, .com, .info, .net it doesn’t really matter, have some brandable and have some spammy looking domains. As long as they are making money who cares?

OK so some of these routes may look a little stereotypical but there are people who just concentrate on a certain route hence why there were mentioned here and hopefully it gives you a good idea of the options you have available to you. Of course it’s not just the proxy extension that you have to think about but the actual name itself which we look at briefly on the following page. By all means follow the route you feel will bring you the most money no matter whether people think it’s spammy or not, do proxy users care? Well that’s something you’ll find out with your own testing and tweaking to see what works best for you so that you can replicate it.

Today Im proud to announce our FREE Proxy 2.0 ebook to help you ‘Build, Learn and Earn with Proxies.‘

So, what does this free Proxy ebook include?

• Proxy Domains ~ Which domains you can use to start a proxy and ideas and tips that you should know before you splash the cash on hundreds of those .info’s.
• Proxy Scripts ~ There’s two main Proxy Scripts out there for you to choose from and we look at the positives and negatives in them all!
• Proxy Hosting ~ Arguably the biggest outgoing in a proxy network and something that you must get right and have in place if you are going to be a successful proxy network owner
• Building Backlinks to your Proxy ~ People Search thousands of terms daily in order to get a proxy they can use, yours should be found as well and we look at how you can build backlinks to do just that
• On Page Proxy Optimisation ~ There’s not a great deal you can do to a one page proxy but there are some things so take a look.
• How to get Traffic to your proxy ~ A long list of tips and tricks in order to generate traffic to your proxy websites
• Proxy Monetisation ~ You’ve got the traffic, but where’s the money?
• Resources ~ A list of links to resources mentioned in this guide

Click Here to Download FREE

Please note that this isnt a ‘code friendly’ solution but who cares about code on a proxy?

This solution is very fast, and allows you to remove those checkboxes under the search bar, and its very simple, just find:

<?php

foreach ($GLOBALS['_flags'] as $flag_name => $flag_value)
{
if (!$GLOBALS['_frozen_flags'][$flag_name])
{
echo ‘<li class=”option”><label><input type=”checkbox” name=”‘ . $GLOBALS['_config']['flags_var_name'] . ‘[' . $flag_name . ']“‘ . ($flag_value ? ‘ checked=”checked”‘ : ”) . ‘ />’ . $GLOBALS['_labels'][$flag_name][1] . ‘</label></li>’ . “\n”;
}
}
?>

And edit it so it looks like the following: (Changes in bold)

<div=”style:none;”><?php

foreach ($GLOBALS['_flags'] as $flag_name => $flag_value)
{
if (!$GLOBALS['_frozen_flags'][$flag_name])
{
echo ‘<li class=”option”><label><input type=”checkbox” name=”‘ . $GLOBALS['_config']['flags_var_name'] . ‘[' . $flag_name . ']“‘ . ($flag_value ? ‘ checked=”checked”‘ : ”) . ‘ />’ . $GLOBALS['_labels'][$flag_name][1] . ‘</label></li>’ . “\n”;
}
}
?></div>

Hey, I did say it was simple