The holidays are here. At Filipina Eyes - http://www.filipinaeyes.com/online-dating-gallery - I have quite a few members that found love and are looking forward to the upcoming Christmas. Their spirits are high and their wishes came true.
 
As a webmasters, my sites continue to grow and have their swings from month to month, but all in all the growth has been steady. If only google would stop changing their algorithm from month to month, I may have even a greater increase in traffic.
 
I usually reflect on the past year and get ready for 2011. Some of the best things I did in 2010 was:
 
1. Made my site more interactive with Ramil's mods. The My Status mod, the YouTube mod, and now the new Wall of Love mod gives members plenty of ways to network their profile and find love.
 
2. I used a number of marketing techniques: (1) adwords, (2) facebook ads (3) article writing (4) hired a freelancer to do articles (5) be active on niche forums (6) and misc things that I took advantage of when the opportunity presented itself. By far facebook ads and article writing has been my biggest contributors to traffic.
 
3. I changed a number of servers in the past year. I still feel I'm paying way too much for the server performance I'm currently getting, so it is one issue I may look more into for 2011.
 
4. Content -- if you look at my Filipina Eyes site - you will see I have written quite a few articles for the site. Creating content means there are more pages being indexed by google and other search engines. The more pages indexed, the more search engine territory my site occupies which increases my chances to be found in google and other search engines.
 
5. Links with keyword anchor text is still probably the number one SEO (search engine optimization) technique webmasters focus on. A link without a keyword in it is almost useless (it finds your site but does little to establish your niche in search engines). If you don't know the difference, suggest you do a little research. To give you a clue, all you have to do is look at my signature on vldForum. You will notice my signature links have my niche keywords as anchor text for the link. After all, when someone is searching for an asian dating site in google, they will use search terms like "asian dating" "filipina lady" "filipina dating" etc, so it is important that my links reflect keywords people use when searching for an asian dating site in google.
 
The upcoming year (2011) will be a new challenge. For all you vldCrowd webmasters, I hope Santa fills your stockings with lots of traffic so your site grows.
 
Happy Holidays
Dan View Comments & Reply...

I just updated my site with a great mod that I thought I would share with other vldCrowd members. It has been on my main site for two days and members really like it.
 
The mod is called "Wall of Love" mod. You can see it in action at:
 
SITE WIDE WALL OF LOVE (scroll down a bit to see)
 
MEMBER'S WALL OF LOVE
 
The mod gives my members another way to find love on my site. If they sign another member's Wall of Love, that member will get a email telling them someone signed their "Wall".
 
From a webmaster's perspective, it is a great way to keep members coming back to the site.
 
The linking system for Wall Messages is unique. If you go to the above URLs, the linking works like this:
 
1. MEMBER'S WALL OF LOVE - click the message on the wall and it will go to the originator of the message (the member who left the message).
 
2. SITE WIDE WALL OF LOVE - click the message on the wall and it will go to the profile where the original message was written.
 
As you can see, two member's benefit from the above linking system, helping both members to network their profile.
 
You can see my instructions for members at: INSTRUCTIONS FOR MEMBERS
 
Great mod! This is a paid mod. As usual my site keeps ticking with the help of Ramil. View Comments & Reply...

I have had several paid mods done to my site by Ramil. If someone asked me what are the most important mods I would say:
 
1. My Status Mod
2. Blog Comment Mod
3. Youtube Mod
4. Blog/Comment Youtube Mod
 
Just recently I had the Blog/Comment Youtube mod done to my site. It is paid mod that I would add to the list of essential mods.
 
Many of my members would request that they add youtube video to their blogs. They would even put a link to the youtube video in their blog.
 
It was time to make a change. Ramil to the rescue. Now members can add youtube to their blog.
 
Ramil even added Group permissions so I can decide who and who can not use the mod. In this case, I decided to reward only my most loyal members by allowing them the ability to post youtube video to their blogs. For blog comments, I decided to give only the admin permission to do so.
 
My point is, if you are not adding interactivity to your site so members keep coming back for more, you are missing out on making your site a success. The cost of the mod usually pays you back in no time with more membership and more revenue. View Comments & Reply...

Recently I needed to upgrade cometchat from 1.6 to 2.0.3. The following notes pertain to my site, but it may be a good guide for those who are trying to upgrade.
 
Please backup before making changes. If you use this guide, I'm not responsible for any problems that may occur with your site.
 
The big change in 2.0.3 is they now use integration.php file.
 
1. When upgrading from 1.6 to 2.0.3, compare the two config.php files. Make note of the differences. Now make the changes in 2.0.3 integration.php that were part of your 1.6 config.php.
 
2. Upload 2.0.3 to the remote site.
 
3. Check Permissions:
 
config.php - 777
 
plugins/filetransfer/uploads - 777
 
4. Run install.php - This will create or make changes needed to database table.
 
5. Remove install.php (I do this for security reasons).
 
6. TEMPLATES: My templates stayed the same as they were for 1.6 except what use to be in the footer.tpl in 1.06 is now in header.tpl between the <head> tags.
 
PLEASE NOTE: If you are installing cometchat fresh, this is not the guide for you. Note above that I said for those who are using 1.6 to compare their config.php file with the 2.0.3 file and incorporate the differences in 2.0.3 integration.php file.
 
When I first installed 1.6, I paid Ramil to do it and he made all the necessary changes to the config.php file for it to work. Only after he made those changes, did I have a workable cometchat config.php file for vldP that I could use in my comparison when doing the upgrade to 2.0.3
 
Obviously if you are starting out with a fresh install, you need to set up your config.php file properly. That is why I hired Ramil to do my first install of cometchat.php. View Comments & Reply...

I have written tons of articles in my time under many pen names. Recently I was asked if I would write articles for a website on a continuous basis. After I wrote some articles, more requests for writing assignments came in. Most of the articles are not dating niches.
 
I'm curious. If you own a dating site, would you pay someone to write articles? If so, how much would you pay for an article between 500 to 600 words?
 
Most of the articles I have written, were used to submit to article directories. I even spun a few for them (I spun them myself, not with software) so they could submit different articles to more than one directory. View Comments & Reply...

Hey Bud, sorry we missed your birthday on the 16th. I hope it isn't too late for your friends to say:
 
Happy, happy, happy Birthday to the greatest vldPersonal Mod code writer and dear friend on the net.
 
Hope all is going well and that you and your family is adjusting well to your new home in Thailand.
 
Take care and again, happy birthday!
 
Dan View Comments & Reply...

I’m always looking for ways to create more interactivity amongst my members. As soon as gifts became a standard feature for vldP 2.5.x I immediately considered upgrading but held off (upgrading is no fun if you have a lot of modifications).
 
FatLizard Gifts 2.5.3 to the rescue. I purchased it as an existing customer of Fatlizard so I got it a great price. But even if I wasn’t a previous customer I would of got it.
 
Where to begin. Obviously you have to be a 2.5.3 user. There is no fear of installing it. It comes with an outstanding manual (pdf format) with detailed instructions. However, FatLizard is there to help if need be.
 
Gifts does what every webmaster wants for their site – bring back members. Once you get new members, you need a way to keep them coming back. Gifts 2.5.3 does an excellent job doing that.
 
Release of Gifts 2.5.3 couldn’t be better. It is here in time for the holidays so your members can enjoy the gift of giving.
 
Obviously I’m endorsing Gifts 2.5.3 for anyone who is serious about running a dating site. If you are interested contact FatLizard. Here at vldCrowd you can find FatLizard’s profile at:
 
http://www.vldcrowd.com/fatlizard/
 
Happy Holidays and you can make it even merrier for your Members with Gifts 2.5.3
 
db3204 View Comments & Reply...

Ramil and myself did quite a few vldPersonal videos on youtube. Here is the link to the homepage:
 
http://www.youtube.com/user/vldPersonals#p/u
 
If you can't see all the videos, when on the youtube home page click the UPLOAD button at the top to see all videos. Most of the videos are tutors but we did do some videos for the fun of it.
 
cheers
 
p.s. I can't log in to the account anymore -- not sure why -- maybe Ramil remembers the password? View Comments & Reply...

 
In my effort to try to sort out members who are scammers and players from those members who are serious about marriage, I came up with the following idea. Maybe there is a better way or maybe this is not everyone's cup of tea, but here is my tutor in case you are interested (even if you don't like the idea, there is some good lessons here about coding).
 
I called the project Serious for Marriage (SFM) project. Hence, you will see the name Serious for Marriage or SFM used throughout the tutor.
 
Lets get started
 
1. Created a Serious for Marriage (SFM) Profile Group with the label being marriage. I created the SFM Profile Group WITHOUT any fields. I will use the SFM Profile Group label, marriage, for coding.
 
2. Created a Members Group called Wedding (id=10). I will use the id number for coding.
 
member_profile.tpl coding
 
I will show you the coding than explain below.
 
OPEN: member_profile.tpl
 
FIND: <!-- BEGIN profile_groups --> (there are two, you want to use the 2nd one)
<!-- IF group_label != "general" -->
<div class="datainfo profile" id="profile_data_{rowcnt}_content" style="display: none">
<dl class="datainfo">
 
Note: your coding may be slightly different than the above.
 
BELOW <dl class="datainfo"> ADD:
 

Coding Notes:
 
-- By looking at the above coding, you can see I used the Serious for Marriage Profile group label "marriage" in the coding. I also used the Member Group IDs, including the new Member Group I created called "Wedding" (id=10).
 
-- The above coding is for the public profile area. Depending on if they are logged in and what member group they belong to will determine what message is displayed.
 
-- Besides the logged in group members, it is coded to display a message for visitors as well.
 
IDs for the above Groups are:
 
id = 3 is Visitors (default id)
id = 2 is Regular members (default id)
id = 9 is a Special Group I created
id = 1 is the Admin Group (default id)
id = 10 is the Wedding group I created.
 
-- I created a logo and used tables for my message, but you can make the message format as simple or as complex as you want using css and html. If you copy the code from this tutor, note that you would have to create an image or if you don't want to use an image, make sure to remove the image source from the above code.
 
-- The images below show you want the above coding looks like in the public profile area.
 

 

 

 
account_home.tp coding
 
The member_profile.tpl template is for the public profile area. The account_home.tpl is for the area that members use to edit their profile. Only the member has access to his account home area. Lets code account_home.tpl
 
OPEN: account_home.tpl
 
FIND: <!-- BEGIN profile_groups --> (there are two, you want to use the 2nd one)
<!-- IF group_label != "general" -->
<div class="datainfo profile" id="profile_data_{rowcnt}_content" style="display: none">
<dl class="datainfo">
 
Note: your coding may be slightly different than the above.
 
BELOW <dl class="datainfo"> ADD:
 

Coding Notes:
 
-- account_home.tpl coding is very similar to member_profile.tpl coding. However, with account_home we don't have to worry about visitors.
 
-- in the above coding, if the member is part of the Wedding group (id 10) his message included SFM Links to pages related to the SFM group.
 
-- If you copy the code from this tutor, note that you would have to create an image or if you don't want to use an image, make sure to remove the image source from the above code.
 
-- here are some images to show what the above coding looks like:
 

 

 
PROJECT FILES
 
1. Created a Serious for Marriage Profile Group without fields - settings/custom fields/add group
 
2. Created a Wedding Members Group and set the group permissions - settings/member groups/add group
 
3. member_profile.tpl - edited the template to show a message explaining the SFM status of the member (see above code).
 
4. account_home.tpl - edited the template to show members their SFM status when they visit their "My Profile" page (see above code)
 
5. SFM Gallery - a custom page to display images of SFM members. Only SFM members have access to this page. The following files support the SFM Gallery.
 
-- ext.members-sfm - created the extension to format the image sizes for the SFM gallery. It is used in the custom template (page.sfm) and passed through the member extension call. However, you can use the default member extension call for this project. The call looks like this:
 
{members:limit=50,photos=1,cache_time=0,cache_name="smf",groups="10",template="ext.members_sfm.tpl"}
 
NOTE: learning how to pass a extension template through a default call is one of the most useful things you can learn using vldP script. I use it at least 8 or 9 times on my sites. It is a life saver when you want to use different formats other than the default format of an existing extension. However, you can use the default member extension call for this project.
 
-- page_sfm.tpl - this is an external template to format the gallery. It contains the call I mention above. When creating this type of template, you create it outside of the control panel.
 
6. Requirements Page is a custom page created through the control panel. It is nothing more than a custom page with rules and criteria to be a member of the SFM club
 
7. SFM Discussion Page is a custom page with comment enabled so SFM members can discuss topics of interests. Only SFM members have access to this page.
 
8. Message Template - created a message template in the control panel to send members a welcome message if accepted into the SFM club
 
9. Links - put links throughout the site to the Requirements page.
 
Note: if you don't know how to create any of the above files, there are many tutors on vldForum on how to do. Any questions, let me know.
 
HOW TO USE
 
Now that I got everything setup, I need to put it to use. Basically what I did was create a Requirements page with the criteria and rules to be a member of the SFM club. If they don't meet the rules or criteria, they can not be in the club. My attempt was to make the rules tough enough so only members who are serious about marriage would apply. Those who are not serious about marriage can still use the site, but they will not have access to the SFM pages. Hopefully, this will help weed out scammers and players from the serious members looking for marriage.
 
There is a link throughout the site so all members can check out the requirements to be in the club. If they are interested, they must send me a membership request asking to be in the SFM club. If they do not meet the requirements, they can update their profile to do so or their membership request will be denied.
 
Here is what the Requirements Page looks like: http://www.asian-wife.net/serious.html
 
If the member meets the Requirements, I edit their profile in the CP and change their Member group to the Wedding group. The above coding takes care of the rest.
 
WEDDING GROUP AND CALLS
 
When you create a new member group, many webmasters forget that they may be excluding that new member group from other calls on the site. The only way to be sure is to check your other calls. For my site here is how I added the Wedding group to other calls.
 
ONLINE MEMBERS CALL - acount_home.tpl and member_profile.tpl
 

LAST 100 VISITORS - page_latest.tpl and page_latest2.tpl
 

note: page_lates.tpl and page_latest2 is an external custom page. The reason I created two is because they are formatted differently and I may switch them up to keep the look fresh.
 
LATEST VISITOR CALL - header.tpl
 

IMPORTANT: calls should not have spaces or line breaks in them. I had to put the line break in the above code so it would format properly for this blog
 
The above calls are for version 2.5.3 so not sure if they work in other versions. As you can see in the above call, I added the Wedding group to the call. The Wedding group ID is 10 -- you use the ID number to add the wedding group to the call.
 
You may of noticed ID 9 in the above call which is another group I created not related to this project.
 
After you are done making changes to your calls, you may want to test it.
 
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