To get spiders come to your site or blog, you need to tell them that you updated your site. That's why having an updated ping list is a good thing.

I already had an old list but with too many dead ping servers. So I went online and found many older lists(thanks) or older post about that subject. The reasons I wanted a new list was for 3 reasons:

1. MyStarterBlog

I wanted to had a ping function in a theme for MyStarterBlog(my own software). I created a new batch of small MSB sites to make money online from them since I'm doing Internet Marketing. Plus,  I don't use WP for the reasons I don't want to be bothered with the whole security/MySQL issues that gave me problems in the past. It's set and forget for those make money sites.

That's why I generate my sites using MSB because it creates a flat file blog/site. I need to upload to site with every change. In this case, my money 3 pages blog/site took about 100KB. For 1 installation of a WP blog, I can have 40+ MSB sites thus taking less space or resource on my hosting account.  I don't need a MySQl database either. The themes are SEO optimize, RSS ready, sitemap... but was missing the ping feature until now.

So, I found some php code to ping my sites made with MSB. I modified a few lines at the start for MSB and it was simple.

1. Download the code/ping list(173 ping servers, zip format, 2.9KB) to your MSB theme directory. You should change the default file names for your own needs.

2. Generate or regenerate the MSB blog/site.

3. Upload the updated new files

4. To ping,  just do that in your browser:

http://mywhateversite.com/ping.php or new name of the php file

Voila! It's done.

My goal was to be able to use the current MSB version and be optional for users. So, if you don't want this ping list for MSB, just use the list for ....

2. BMD

In BMD(a must for bloggers in my opinion), you can promote your new blog post or site to social bookmarking sites. It has a feature to ping your account page on those social bookmaking sites. This way your post will then be crawled.

One cool feature is that it also let me test each of them(active or not) and find duplicate. Those 173 ping servers were active when I created my list. I had 350+ at the start from copying lists. It took me some time or should I say BMD to check them out.

3. WordPress

As I'm writing this, I still using WP to write on this blog. So, I wanted to update that ping list too.

I may in the future convert my blog to MSB like I did with another blog that I did not allow comments (no enough time to respond/too much spam). I'm glad I did that since it make me passive money even if I don't update it often this days.

However, I might just keep WP here since MSB is mostly for secondary/no comment allowed blogs or make money sites(set and forget) for me.

I hope you like the ping list.

Btw, when a ping server is still live, it make it faster to ping  in BMD or MyStarterBlog and WP.

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Today, you might had noticed the Free Traffic Bar banner I put on the site. I started to play with it to see how I could use it to get free traffic to MyStarterBlog. Since I use my browser all day long, why not drive free traffic at the same time?

What is it?

The idea is simple: You install a plugin(Firefox, IE) that will show me a small toolbar ad in my browser. When I browse in Firefox, I earn credits that will show my own ads to others too. Now, I do expect the CTR(click trough  rates) to be low but would expect the conversion to buying MSB a little higher.

At this time, they have 45236 members. I'm guessing that a lot are Internet marketers but you can select the type of ads your want to be shown. This way, the ads are more targeted.  Plus, social bloggers could use that to their advantage by showing non money ads to be different.

Free vs Paid

The free version offer limited options unlike the paid version where you get a lot in return like free monthly credit, more ads, discount on ads....

I recommend that people try the free version first to see if they like it or not. After a few months you should reevaluate how much traffic you gained.

The one time offer

But if you have the money to spare, you should consider the first one time offer. It's not cheap since it's $297 but does offer 1 million credits, 25000/credits each month after that and more. I did not think about it so it's too late for me. But, I can still upgrade later but with 500 000 credits and lose some of the exclusive.

Here is how it can pay out for you if you buy the 1 Million credits.

You sell a $7 ebook.  If .001% of the 45000 buys your ebook, the one time offer would pay for itself.

45 x $7 = $315

I can be wrong but the 1 million credits would show your ad more often than not in front of users.

Btw, they do offer other lower monthly plans: $3.99, $9.99, $19.99.

Conclusion

In my case, my ad for MyStarterBlog is being shown to "Web Site Management::Content Management Systems/Blogs" only. If I can make a few sales just for browiing, I don't have any problem with that.

Watch the video and download the Free Traffic Bar.

P.S. I made this post Part 1 because I expect to make an updated post later on.

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For the past few months, I was busy with my new software. That's the main reason for the lack of update on my blog. It took longer to do than I expected. That's the "joy" of programming.

So Today, I'm officially launching my alternative to WordPress, Joomla, Blogger: MyStarterBlog(MSB).

Where to use MyStarterBlog?

Like many bloggers, I have secondary WP blogs that I don't update often. I'm sure a lot of my bloggers have some secondary blogs too.

By secondary, I mean that I don't post or update WP to the new version like I should.  And last year, I learned that the hard way. One of my blog that was much more updated(post) than the others was infected. I wrote about it: Removing wp-stats-php Infection From WordPress.

I will convert all my secondary blogs to MSB soon. The first 2 are already done: MISFan.com and 1 Cool Review.

Is it easy to use MyStarterBlog?

If you are using WordPress, I'm sure you can use MSB. Install the software, enter some information about your blog, add posts and upload the files to your domain.

When you add another post, you only need to upload a few changed files.

Offline(MSB) vs Online Blogging(WP, Blogger...)?

Since the blog is "generated" on your computer, you don't have to mess with setting up a MySQL database. Because MSB does not have a backend, it's more secure than WP.

For example, the example blog(24 posts) below only use 200KB.

http://www.mcgrathinfosolution.com/msb_example/

Because WP use a backend, you would need to upload 4000KB+ the first time.

The comment part was tricky since I don't use MySQL on the server. Since they are secondary blogs, I generally deactivate the comments.

But in case a blogger want to interact with his/her readers for a post, the reader can send a comment by email directly on the post. It uses a captcha to reduce spammers. Here is an example of the subject line:

[My Starter Blog Example] Comment: "Post 24 has a longer title"

If you find the comment has merit, you could add the comment to the post.

Is MSB SEO optimized/Google Friendly?

I asked Rob from NicheMate to make sure that the included themes are SEO optimized from the start. He did a good job on that.

I also wanted 3 pages to be there by default in each theme:

About: I often like to know more about the blogger or blog.

Contact: I once had reviews done but had trouble contacting the blog owner to correct mistakes.

Privacy Policy: Depending on the kind of blog, you might want to tell users what you will do with their email for example.

You can add extras pages if you want like an advertisement page, reviews rules  ...

The URL of each post will be based on the title of the post. The RSS feed and the sitemap.xml will be created too. For a post page, the H1 tag will use the post title and the blog title will use H2.

What's the difference between the Free vs Registered versions?

The Free version support 1 blog and has a footprint on each page to MyStarterBlog. I want to spread the word about MSB.  The link is nofollow  so Google will like that. It's free so I want some publicity in exchange.

The registered version support unlimited blogs, can import text files(batch mode) and WP XML exported files. Of course, no footprint on each pages.

I imported mcgrath.ca(362 posts) and it worked. The downside is that I would loose permalink(URL) and the usage of many WP plugins. Again, it's for secondary blogs or for someone who want to start a new blog.

How much for MSB?

First, I considered the time(months) I put into MSB and WP which is mostly free. You should know that WP does make money from WordPress.com (Premium blogs). That's one of their way they use to pay to support the self hosted WordPress distribution we use.

Second, I  wanted to make it affordable for most people.

Third, I wanted to thank the supporters of MSB my own way.

So, the price is .....Drum roll please ....

Only $17USD but I will refund $10 to those that will publish a small 100 words post on their blog or main blog to help get the word out. The link in the post can be nofollow or dofollow.

If you do a post, the final cost to you is just $7 and the time for the post.

Like AuctionSiteWriter, it comes with free upgrade for life.

Now, go download MyStarterBlog!

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