Automate Your Business

Archive for July, 2009

Whilst testing the script and template functionality, I’ve been populating some data onto a test WordPress blog. If you’re interested in seeing what it spits out, take a look here. The post template (the one for the script, not the overall WordPress theme) is  … well.. “basic”, I suppose is the best word for it!

But if gives you some examples of what you can do in the templates – include images with data based on the information in the database, display the data in tabular format, seed the data into some keyword-rich, on-theme test which is spun for some variety, and so on.

Notice that even the WordPress category names are based on a piece of data in the database!

Hope you like it.

I’m about done testing, so I’ll be removing debug statements, compiling the ZIP, writing the manual, and so on, over the next day or so.

Keep abreast of the blog to find out when it’s available – and remember that EMAIL subscribers will get a discount. You can subscribe via the form to the left of each page on the blog.

Autoblogging is very popular at the moment. Having a blog updated automatically is obviously a fantastic tool, and as such there are a number of autoblogging tools to provide content for your blog:

• WordPress plugins like Caffeinated Content that take content from Yahoo Answers, YouTube, or an article directory.
• Other plugins can republish content from other site’s RSS feeds (assuming you have their permission).
• Software that generates fresh content based on a randomisation method (such as splicing bit of articles together)
• Software to upload PLR content to your blog on a scheduled basis.
• And many, many more.

But I’ve recently seen something else which could be another source of content to your blog. Imagine having a database of hundreds or thousands of entries, all around a common theme , all steadily feeding into your blog, day after day, week after week, without you doing anything.

Hmmmm….

Themed content  (eg. Martial Arts Facilities, or UK Restaurants, or  Pet Kennels and Boarding Facilities, or Private Golf Courses – and there are many more topics)….

Regular updates….

On a blog….

All happening automatically….

Does that give you an exciting feeling?

Well, you can have this very quickly – simply install WordPress via your hosting control panel; upload the database file that contains the hundreds or thousands of entries; upload a script I can provide; configure a few settings; and go back to your hosting admin to set up the script to run automatically on a scheduled basis. That’s it. Hands-free daily updated content.

The database will come from OdditySoftware. They provide a large (and growing) set of databases of various types, all formatted ready to use by software. But they don’t give you a method to upload it to your blog or site.

So that’s what I’m doing.

Once you’ve purchased one of OdditySoftware’s databases, my offer is to create a script for you that:

• Offers a template-based method to upload that content to your site.
• Integrates into WordPress (and later into Drupal, Joomla, and most other common content management systems, if there’s enough interest. I could even modify it to build a “static site” (ie, one with HTML or PHP pages, allowing you to customise your site even further).
• Will even create categories based on one of the database fields (eg, State or Town).
• Allows you to set up multiple templates, of which one will be randomly selected.
• Allows you to “spin” the template (both the title AND the main content) so that your posts can have varying text in them.
• Allows you to test the upload and your templates to see what the posts will look like before you actually start uploading the content for real.
• Allows you to upload one, two, or as many new posts as you like over the course of each day.
• Can even “loop around” the database, starting again from the beginning once it’s reached the end (with content spinning and multiple templates enabled this can be a fantastic way to multiply the pages generated from the database).

A few important notes:

• I’m not intimately familiar with all content management software, so if you want to integrate into something other than WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, or static pages, please let me know BEFORE you order, and I’ll check whether I can modify the script for that software.

• You can purchase the software once, and use with as many OdditySoftware database as you can purchase. Of course, you can’t share the software with anyone else, in any manner.

All this will be coming in the next day or two. As usual, a discount will be offered to existing subscribers and customers, so if you’re interested, remember to subscribe using the form to the left.

An unusual one this one: I’ve created the site ProductNameGenerator.com (which is live)  specifically for sale. It’s a fully-functioning site you can use to build a bit of traffic from, and do with that traffic whatever you want.

Have a look at the site, and see if you might be interested.

Some features of the site:

• You can adding new dynamic terms by simply editing some text files.
• You can configure the number of suggestions shown on each page refresh.
• You can show a full-page add every X page refreshes.
• You can show a configurable number of mini-ads on the page, and the ads can be related to the dynamic terms currently showing on the page.
• You can have multiple mini-ads per dynamic term, and the script will pick one at random to keep them fresh.
• Ads are managed via simple text (html) files which you FTP into a specific folder.
• HTML layout is extracted into a template, so you never have to touch the PHP code or JavaScript.
• The refresh of the suggestions is AJAX-based (ie, faster than hitting the “refresh” button!).
• All configuration options can be done via a simple text file.

The buyer of the domain will get sole use of the script (ie, even I won’t be running the script on my own site), a manual to explain how to configure it, the ProductNameGenerator.com domain itself (it expires in about 360 days) *, and a link back from this site for as long as the script is in use. If you are the buyer, you’ll also get full rights to the script – it’s yours, entirely, and in eternity. The script will be unencrypted, and is well commented.

The cost: $125. Purchase here.

* I’ve been stung in situations like this before. So the domain will remain in my hands for a few days, giving you time to create a temporary copy of the site, get it working, etc. Then, once you’ve sent me an email that you’re happy that the site is as described, and you do not want a refund, I’ll transfer the domain to you.

I don’t get too many genuine comments to this blog, but I do get a lot of spam comments filled with many many links. They go into the moderation queue, which is fine, but I can’t help thinking that any comment with more than, say, oh, I don’t know, 10? links, is a spam comment.

Heck, more than 1 is an immediate red-flag, hence the moderation queue.

But I can’t be bothered reading through them all to delete them.

So I’ve just installed WP SpamFree. If you have problems commenting, I apologise. I’m monitoring the plugin to see how it performs

I need to do a quick straw poll on how you access your Windows PCs, whilst I’m planning a possible software project for the future. Can you spare a few seconds?

1. What platform are you running on your PC: XP, Vista, something else?

2. When you turn your PC on, do you have to log in, or does it just to straight to your desktop without requiring a login?

3. I’m looking at writing a piece of desktop software that needs to change some of your user settings (like clearing all cookies) . The easiest way of managing this is by setting up a separate user on your PC, and having the software run as if it was that new user running it. Which means it will clear the new user’s cookies, not all the ones you’ve set up so that you don’t have to keep logging in to forums etc.

It won’t mean that you have to log on as that user - that’s all done behind the scenes. You just access your PC in the usual manner, and the software will run as if it’s that new user logged in, with no other impact to you.

That new user has to have admin rights, otherwise the software won’t run. If I gave you precise instructions on how to set up that user (with helpdesk-based support where needed), would you have any other concerns about doing this?