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.
 
View Comments & Reply...

Thought I would share this site with everyone. If you are looking for some cheat sheets for php, css, html, etc, check out this site:
 
http://www.addedbytes.com/cheat-sheets/
 
Cheers
Dan View Comments & Reply...

I don't have the time line, dates, etc, but I know Ramil and his family were moving. If I remember, he told me he was making two moves. I know many of you are trying to reach him by message, but please be patient. When Ramil returns, he may have hundreds of messages and not have time to answer them all.
 
I would recommend not sending another message (IM) to Ramil until he has posted that he is back and ready for business as usual.
 
Meanwhile, lets hope all is ok and wish Ramil and his family the best of luck getting settled in their new home. View Comments & Reply...

If a picture is worth a thousand words, than the image below explains what this mod can do for your site. Put it simply, it makes my members happy and keeps them coming back.
 
For example this call displays individual audio by audio ID
 
{audios:limit=1,audio_id=3,cache_name="mus"} -- see top of image below
 
This call displays a member's audio by member ID
 
{audios:limit=10,member_id=2,cache_name="musics"} -- see bottom of image below
 
View Comments & Reply...

Mr Fatlizard does it again. Another great mod. Read below my review.
 
If you are looking to rank your site and images in google, there is a paid mod for vldPersonals that is worth every penny. You want proof, that’s coming, but first a quick run down of the new mod I just tested on my site.
 
vldKeyword makes your images visible to search engine spiders by filling in the “alt” tag of that image with a keyword. Alt tags are considered an essential tool for ranking your site in search engines like google.
 
So you are saying, what’s the big deal, I just go fill in my alt tags. Wait! Lets talk more about search engines.
 
One thing search engines like is content changing on a regular basis to help the spider determine how often to crawl your site. For example, if your home page has CONTENT 1 and the next day you change it to CONTENT 2, and on day 3 you change it to CONTENT 3 and rotate it back to CONTENT 1, 2 and 3, the search engine spider registers how often you change content and schedules when and how often to crawl your site accordingly. Having a search engine spider visit your site often is a good thing.
 
vldKeyword rotates the keywords in your alt tags. I’ll say that again, vldKeyword rotates your keywords in your alt tags which will bring the search engine spider to your site more often. The more the spider visits, the better your chances of having more of your site indexed in search engines like google. Even better, with keywords being rotated in your images alt tag, good chance your site may be ranked on several keywords, instead of just a few.
 
PROOF
 
I said I would give you proof. Below is a snap shot of a keyword search in google for one of my sites. Out of the 5 images listed below for the keyword “filipina lady” two of the images belong to my site. Obviously, both of those images alt tags contain the keyword “filipina lady”.
 

 
CHECK IT OUT
 
If keywords in your images alt tag interest you, you need to head over to http://www.fatlizard.com.au/vldkeyword to buy. If you have any more questions, that is the place to ask.
 
Good luck and get those images ranked as soon as possible to help get traffic and revenue to your site. View Comments & Reply...

After your site is up and running, getting traffic to your site is an ongoing adventure. I'm sure there are as many ways to get traffic to your site as there are vldPersonal owners, but one area that you always hear about is "Content is King."
 
There are several ways content is generated on my sites:
 
1. New member joins and adds his profile data. There may be two problems here: (1) if you closed off profiles to search engine spiders and (2) the content the member provides may not be targeted for your niche.
 
2. Blogs - I love this one. If you can get members to do a lot of blogs on your site, you will be adding content. Ramil's (vldCrowd) Blog Mod with RSS for comments has made a huge difference in getting content indexed by search engines as well as being picked up by social sites (i.e. facebook, myspace, digg, etc).
 
3. Custom Pages is another way to add more content to your site. Webmasters can easily create custom pages from the CP. Starting with version 2.5.5, vldP made custom pages a little more SEO friendly, but it does not come close to what Ramil's (vldCrowd) Custom Page SEO Mod can do. Since getting Ramil's custom page mod, my custom pages are on the fast track of being indexed by search engines. Ramil's mod adds all the flexibility you need for the Custom Page head tags and plus it has RSS. Also, I can easily put the title of custom pages with a link to the Custom Page on any template. Quite frankly, the next version of vldP needs to adapt Ramil's mod if it wants to take Custom Pages to the next level.
 
There are many more ways (i.e. adding News) to add content, but the above are some of the main ways of adding content to your site.
 
Let me elaborate a bit more on the "Content is King" concept.
 
Many webmasters believe Content is King because they believe that another webmaster will link to the content on their site. If you know about google rankings, inbound links to your site is google's way of rating your popularity (page rank). However, getting other webmasters to link to your Content is easier said then done.
 
My Content strategy is: the more Content indexed by google the more territory I own in google's database for my site's niche. The more pages google spider indexes, the better my chances of being found in a search engine. For example, if I add a new Custom Page a day, in theory I would have an additional 365 Custom Pages in a year indexed by google for my site. The beauty of Custom Pages is the webmaster can be very targeted in the Content he uses. In other words, he can use words (called keywords) that reflect the type of niche he owns so when google indexes the page it increases the chances to be found by those who use google search engine. For example, just about every custom page I create, I try to include the word "asian dating" in my Content hoping that when a person uses google to look for an Asian dating site, he uses asian dating as their search criteria and one of my custom pages will appear in their search results. The more custom pages I create, the more territory I own in google's index and the better the chances are that I'm found with certain keywords in google search which in turn means more traffic and more revenue.
 
I'm also quite keen on RSS. I won't go into an explanation of RSS, but with the SEO Custom pages and the built in RSS feature, I'm well represented on social sites (i.e. facebook, myspace, digg, etc) and google search engine. If you think you need your site tweaked with SEO mods, you may want to ask Ramil's recommendation of what SEO custom job he recommends for your site. One way to get more traffic and increase your revenue, is to invest in mods that makes your site beat your competition in the SEO world. View Comments & Reply...

I have been using vldPersonals for two years now. I have no doubt that I am not using vldPersonals to its fullest potential. Just recently I understood, thanks to Ramil, how to best use Custom Pages. Prior to learning the right way, I was using Custom Pages, but not to its full potential.
 
One of the most important files in vldPersonals are what they call extensions. There are two areas in vldPersonals that maintain files needed for extensions.
 
1. includes/ext folder
2. your template folder
 
The php files in the ext folder execute the extension while the tpl files in your template folder will format the extension.
 
If you look in your template folder you will see files that look like this: ext.members.tpl. All extensions start with ext.
 
To use these extensions, you have to place a call in another template. For example, a call to utilize ext.members.tpl on my home page is:
 
{members:limit=22,photos=1,cache_time=0,cache_name="new"}
 
The above call will display new members on the home page.
 
There are other extensions that are waiting to be used, but you need to place the proper call in a template to utilize them. The problem is, most people don't know what the proper call is to utilize that extension.
 
If I understand the parts of the call, one is the variable and the other part is the parameter. For example, in the above call, limit is the variable and 22 is the parameter. (if this is wrong, please correct me).
 
You can get a clue of the different calls by taking a peek at the php file in the includes/ext folder. For example if you look at includes/ext/ext.members.php you will see some familiar terms that is used in the above call (i.e. limit).
 
I actually have a harder time figuring out what the parameter is. Some are easy, like 22 in limit, but others are not so easy to figure out what they are.
 
I wish there was a utility that could tell how to use the full potential of every extension in vldPersonals. I have said more than once to Vlad, that I felt I was not utilizing the extensions to their fullest. But you know what, I bet I'm not the only one.
 
Maybe we can start sharing the different calls we use on our site. If you do want to share, please be sure to tell us what version of vldPersonals you are using
 
My Calls
 
Ok, I thought I would be the first to share some of my calls:
 
vldPersonals Version 2.5.3
Heavily Modified by Ramil
 
My homepage.tpl has quite a few calls. Here they are:
 
{banners:group="hometop"} - this is simply a call to call a banner I created in my CP. In this case, I named the banner group hometop
 
{members:limit=22,photos=1,cache_time=0,cache_name="new"} - this is a default call to list new members. The photos=1 tells the call to only list members who have active photos. It is worth pointing out that the cache_name needs to be unique. For example I may want to use this same call more than once. If I do, I should make sure that each cache_name is unique for each call.
 
{audios:limit=1,audio_id=37, cache_name="music"} - this call is to list a specific audio file. I’m pretty sure this call comes from a mod that Ramil did for me but those who use a later version of vldPersonals may have it as well. I noticed that some of Ramils modifications seem to show up in later versions of vldPersonals :)
 
{videos:limit=18,cache_time=0,cache_name="yout"} - this call lists youtube videos. This was a mod done by Ramil.
 
{blogs:limit=5,groups=2,orderby="random",cache_name="blogs1",cache_time=0} - this call lists the blogs on the home page. I’m not sure if by default all the above params are available. I had a mod done by Ramil, so the above may or may not be part of the default call.
 
My header.tpl calls
 
{polls:polls="engine",cache_time=0} - this is a default call to list polls
 
{members:limit=5,photos=1,orderby="lastvisit",groups=2,cache_time=0,cache_name="sidelarge",template="ext.members_side.tpl"} - this call is an example of the power of vldPersonals that I bet many are not aware of. To be honest, not sure you can do this in 2.5.5 but I can in 2.5.3. The term that Vlad uses when explaining this call was “Passing the Template”. Basically I duplicated the ext.member.tpl and gave it a new name called ext.members_side.tpl. Why did I do this? Because I wanted to use the member extension with different formats and the only way I could do that was to create another extension in the format I wanted while still being able to use the default member extension for new members. I think there is documentation on vldForum for this. Powerful stuff.
 
{pages:limit=10,tag="articles",separator="<br/>",orderby="page_id",orderdir="desc"} - this call lists my custom pages on my side bar. I believe you can do this in 2.5.5. I have version 2.5.3 and had a mod done by Ramil. Ramil’s mod is probably better so I may have more versatility than the default call for 2.5.5. View Comments & Reply...

Recently I got a message from a vldCrowd member asking me how one of my sites had so many backlinks. There is no magical formula but much of your backlink success will depend on utilizing every possible scenario you can to get backlinks. Before I discuss some of the methods for getting links, lets look at some the terms used in backlinking:
 
BACKLINK: are incoming links to a website. These inbound links are important to search engine rankings because many different search engines have algorithms that measure the number of backlinks a website or web page has, and ranks those web pages with more backlinks in a higher position.
 
DOFOLLOW LINKS: is a link telling search engines to crawl or follow the link to its location letting the search engine index the page.
 
NOFOLLOW LINKS: is a link telling search engines not to crawl, or notice, the link.
 
Here is a list of some BackLinking methods:
 
1. Forum signature. If you look on vldForum, you will see several links in my signature. vldForum is golden because all signature links are dofollow links (links that search engine spiders can follow). Many forum links are nofollow (links that can not be followed by search engine spiders). So believe me, if you find a forum that allows dofollow links in your signature, take advantage of it.
 
2. Blog comments. I’m not big on this, but if I do come across an interesting blog and want to leave a comment, I will leave a link to my site. The same dofollow and nofollow principal can apply to blogs as well. For that matter, any link on any type of site can either be dofollow or nofollow.
 
3. Link exchange. I have given up on link exchange. I use to do it religiously. But over the years google has devalued these type of links and it isn’t worth the effort. Link exchange usually isn’t a one way link. You have to exchange links with another site to get your link put on their site – this is called two way linking. For example, if I want to exchange links with site B, I have to put Site B’s link on my site and in turn Site B puts my link on their site. Contrary to a one way link site, like vldForum, I can put my link on vldForum and vlad does not expect or ask me to put his link on my site – this is called one way linking.
 
The other negative aspect of link exchanges is after you exchange links, the other site could easily remove your link at a later date (many webmasters do this...basically they are cheating). I use to monitor all sites that I exchanged links with to ensure my link was still on their site. If not, I removed their link from my site. Man, this was time consuming and not worth the time and effort, especially now that google had devalued these type of links.
 
4. Directory Submission. More and more webamsters are saying this is not worth the effort. I still do it at times, but overall I do not put a lot of effort in to it. It is still worth the effort to get your link in some of the more notable directories like DMOZ, but overall, most directories have lost their value. Worse, many directories are nofollow links.
 
5. RSS linking, social sites, social bookmarking, etc. I do quite a bit of this. Thanks to some of the mods Ramil has created for me, I have automated a lot of my RSS linking on social sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. The real value with this type of linking is that it can create a buzz about your site and bring traffic. I did a blog on this at vldCrowd. Here is the link to the blog: http://www.vldcrowd.com/member/8/blog/view/252/
 
6. Article Distribution. At the moment, I would recommend this type of backlink strategy over most other linking strategies. Basically you write an article and put links to your site in the article’s resource box (a resource box is similar to an About Me box -- see bottom of this page for example). For example, I wrote an article yesterday and submitted it to over 130 article sites. All links are one way links. I’m not sure if all the sites will publish the article, but usually my success rate for publication is pretty high.
 
The above are some of the more popular linking strategies, but if you research the subject, you will find hundreds of recommend ways to get backlinks. I think the most important strategy for getting backlinks is just doing it. In other words, when ever the opportunity presents itself to get a backlink to your site, do it. However, do a little research and stay away from backlinking methods that can get your site banned by google and other search engines (i.e. buying links).
 
Also recommend you learn a little about how to construct a backlink. One very important SEO (search engine optimization) concept of backlinks is keywords in your anchor text. A good example of using keywords in your anchor text for a backlink is my signature on vldForum. I want my anchor text to use words that may be used by those who use google (or any search engine) to find my type of site. After all, if a person is looking for an Asian Dating site, good chance they will use the words Asian Dating in google search box. Consequently, to let google know what type of site my links represent, my anchor text should contain keywords people might use to find my type of site when searching in google. For example, if you look at the Resource Box below, the links all contain keyword anchor text.
 
RESOURCE BOX
 
Filipina Eyes Association has several Asian Dating Sites with free membership. You can check out their sites at:
 
Asian Dating and Asian Girls
Filipina Lady and Asian Dating
Asian Wife & Asian Dating
 
View Comments & Reply...