Reprinted from Theebs.com, my old site.¹

Are you tired of people stealing your affiliate earnings from you? Would you like to control links remotely? What about stopping SPAM Bots in their tracks? What about nicer looking links?

We’re going to take care of that problem. The method I’m going to show you is pretty simple and it helps keep prying eyes from your links (Bonus: It also stumps SpamBots and controls links remotely! Read on to find out how!). First I’m going to go over a little information about this method:

DISadvantages of the .HTACCESS method of redirection:

• Requires some work.


• Requires a web site that runs a unix based system (like Apache). (But not total privileges. The .HTACCESS file can be edited on almost all sites, and for almost all folders. I do not know if it works on Windows NT sites or not. Never had the privilege to try.)
• Does not keep the linked site in a frame. (Unless the linked site is a frame redirect page)

ADVANTAGES of the .HTACCESS method of redirection:

• Completely protects the link. .HTACCESS files are not accessible to the public, and therefore the link is never seen.
• Very nice looking links: http://www.yoursite.com/link
• Does not require extra web space for .html files.
• Multiple links can be easily managed through one file. (And if you use an editor like Crimson Editor, which is FREE, you can even edit the file RIGHT ON YOUR SERVER, so there’s no downloading and then uploading.)
• If you use a web server that has CPANEL installed, you can manage the redirects right through there without even knowing a .HTACCESS file exists.

Comparison:

• The FRAME/ENCRYPTION method has a decent chance to not work.
• The JAVASCRIPT methods may not work because the user has turned off JAVASCRIPT.
• The REDIRECT HTML method may not work because some browsers do NOT support META TAG REFRESH commands.
• The 3RD PARTY method (such as tinyurl.com) usually works, but what if the 3RD PARTY site goes down? Or disappears comepletely?
• The .HTACCESS method ALWAYS works as long as the site at the other end is up, but the downside is not everyone can use it. It does not depend on the browser for the redirection like all of the other methods (except 3RD PARTY) do and it is safely stored on your own server. But the people who can, should not pass it up.

Instructions:

You need a file called .HTACCESS in the main folder of your website. If it is not there you can create one by using your favorite text editor. (Do not use Microsoft Word or the like because they destroy the code.)

Your main folder is the location on your server where your front page is located.

Example:

/home/your_site/public_html/

or

/home/your_site/www/

So, in other words, the exact location of this file would be, according to our example:

/home/your_site/public_html/.htaccess

Now for the actual link protection. You’re going to need a line in the .HTACCESS file that looks like this:

Redirect permanent /DIRECTORY http://YOUR_LINK_GOES_HERE

DIRECTORY would be a non-existent directory on your server that represents your product. The key word here is ‘non-existent’.
The directory cannot really exist on your web server.

Example:

For Neil Shearing’s Internet Success Blueprint, I use the following directory:

/l/isb

YOUR_LINK_GOES_HERE would be the link you are trying to hide.

Example:

Also for Neil’s product, my link is the following:

http://www.scamfreezone.com/t.cgi?a=206884&e=/bizop/

So if you put the last two examples together you get:

Redirect permanent /l/isb http://www.scamfreezone.com/t.cgi?a=206884&e=/bizop/

Now I can link directly to his product by sending people to:

http://www.saphrym.com/l/isb

After you finish adding as many lines as you’d like for the links you use, you then upload the .HTACCESS file to your server in the previously mentioned main directory and test your links. (Make sure to upload the file in ASCII mode. Check your FTP program’s manual on how to do this.)

If you use tracking software like AXS, this helps even more, because those link tracking links can be HUGE.

Following is an example of a link redirect portion of an .HTACCESS file:

Redirect permanent /isb http://www.scamfreezone.com/t.cgi?a=206884&e=/bizop/

Redirect permanent /h9 http://secure.hostnine.com/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=saphrym

Redirect permanent /ispm http://www.scamfreezone.com/t.cgi?a=206884&e=/privatesite

Redirect permanent /ispcs http://scamfreezone.com/t.cgi?a=206884&e=/cashflow/

Redirect permanent /yuwie http://www.yuwie.com/yuwie.asp?r=78173

Redirect permanent /ppp http://tinyurl.com/yp76j4

Redirect permanent /arc http://www.saphrym.com/newsletter/archive

That should give you an idea of what you can do with this method of link protection and how easy it is to keep up with your
links since they are all in one file.

NOTICE: I did leave out one line though. It was a mailto: link.

Redirect permanent /email mailto:something@something.ooga

So this method can even be used for SPAM PREVENTION! Take THAT you SpamBots! (Of course the code above does not reflect a real e-mail address. Doing so on this page would have defeated the purpose of the redirect I have in my .htaccess file.) Make sure to use target= for this link so it doesn’t open a blank page where your site used to be. Like this:

<A HREF=”http://www.saphrym.com/email” target=”_blank”>Mail Me</A>

NOTICE: Look at the list again. Look at the final item carefully. It links to a page on my own site, and nowhere else. Why would I do that?

Quite simple. Imagine placing the actual link in your newsletter, on forums, in your eBooks, etc. Now, imagine that link changes. What do you do?

You plan. You put a redirect to any page you think may change in the future (for example, I probably would change my newsletter software when my subscriber list becomes much larger, which will in turn change my archive location). Then, when the page actually does change, you change it only in this file, and it automatically changes everywhere else. REMOTE CONTROL LINKING! Lovely, isn’t it?

I hope this helps someone out there.

1. An article I wrote when I ran the Theebs.com website back in 2000. To find out more about theebs.com, click here. [«]

Posted by Saphrym

I was going to make this into a guide on how to get yourself screen protectors for life. I was going to give step by step instructions, publish it as an eBook, and then sell it to you for $9.99. Actually it was only a temptation. Here’s the information for free:

It all began with a portable Nintendo DS game system. I was looking for a screen protector for it. Looked on eBay, looked on Froogle.com, etc. I couldn’t find one that was reasonably priced, and since I have an original DS instead of the “Lite” version, could barely even find one at all.

So a couple of weeks pass. I’m in Wal-Mart looking around in the craft section because I like to browse, and I wander over to the fabric area. I see rolls of clear stuff. I go look closer and find out they are clear vinyl rolls. I start messing with them and try to figure out what they would be good for. They say they’re for covering patio furniture and the like, but as I stare at them something “dings” in my head.

“Screen Protectors!” I shout. People looked at me weird. The lady that runs fabrics looked like she might call security. So after assuring her I was completely sane, I told her why I got so excited. She got excited too because she had a DS. This time I had to reassure the customers around us that the fabric lady was quite sane. However, I decided not to tell them why we were so excited as this might have caused a relapse that would have spread.

So, that’s how I found the stuff. It’s the second thinnest clear vinyl covering they carry. One is paper thin. You don’t want that. You want the next one.

Now, I know you may be wondering what this has to do with “Screen Protectors for Life,” well, I’ll tell ya: Screen protectors for any device run from $10 to $30. This stuff is able to be custom fit (measure, cut, place). But the really great part, an entire YARD of this stuff only cost me $1.77. Yeah, you read that right: $1.77. And I have enough to probably cover all the portable devices in the city. So, I’m figuring I’m not gonna run out of this stuff until portable devices are installed in your brain and screen protectors aren’t needed anymore.

Oh, this stuff goes on without any glue, liquids, etc. Just press to the screen and rub it with something until it looks good. You could put a tiny drop of water underneath it to make it look even better, but I don’t. I’m fine with it the way it is.

Quick Recap

For cheap screen protectors:

1. Go to a Wal-Mart, Hobby Lobby, etc.
2. Buy some clear vinyl. Not the paper thin stuff, but the next thickest one.
3. Measure the screen you want to protect (great for cell phones too).
4. Measure the vinyl.
5. Cut the vinyl.
6. Clean your screen carefully and completely.
7. Place vinyl on screen (Add a drop of water under it to make it look nicer if ya want).
8. Rub until the air bubbles are gone and it looks nice and clear.

That’s it. You’re done. Enjoy.

Oh, and one last thing, remember The Saphrym Magnet? This material is what I made his glasses out of. So, it can actually be used for crafts too. Go figure. Oh! Oh! What if you attach some to your refrigerator and then use a write-on-wipe-off marker? Or, what if you cover one of your walls with a large piece of it and let the kids paint it with t-shirt paint? It could be rolled up and stored after everyone gets a good look. Hmmm… Let’s see… what else is there? *walks off talking to himself about more ideas for clear vinyl*¹

1. The *something between the asterisks* method of typing is usually used in Internet chat as a way of portraying an action the writer is taking. [«]

Posted by Saphrym

Reprinted from Theebs.com, my old site.¹

Ever looked through a web site’s source code and noticed all of the 6 digit ‘numbers’ that
follow a # sign? Those are color codes. Below is a chart which will show you the codes
you need for the different colors.

Blacks, Grays, and Whites are colored in red text.

000000	000033	000066	000099	0000CC	0000FF
003300	003333	003366	003399	0033CC	0033FF
006600	006633	006666	006699	0066CC	0066FF
009900	009933	009966	009999	0099CC	0099FF
00CC00	00CC33	00CC66	00CC99	00CCCC	00CCFF
00FF00	00FF33	00FF66	00FF99	00FFCC	00FFFF
330000	330033	330066	330099	3300CC	3300FF
333300	333333	333366	333399	3333CC	3333FF
336600	336633	336666	336699	3366CC	3366FF
339900	339933	339966	339999	3399CC	3399FF
33CC00	33CC33	33CC66	33CC99	33CCCC	33CCFF
33FF00	33FF33	33FF66	33FF99	33FFCC	33FFFF
660000	660033	660066	660099	6600CC	6600FF
663300	663333	663366	663399	6633CC	6633FF
666600	666633	666666	666699	6666CC	6666FF
669900	669933	669966	669999	6699CC	6699FF
66CC00	66CC33	66CC66	66CC99	66CCCC	66CCFF
66FF00	66FF33	66FF66	66FF99	66FFCC	66FFFF
990000	990033	990066	990099	9900CC	9900FF
993300	993333	993366	993399	9933CC	9933FF
996600	996633	996666	996699	9966CC	9966FF
999900	999933	999966	999999	9999CC	9999FF
99CC00	99CC33	99CC66	99CC99	99CCCC	99CCFF
99FF00	99FF33	99FF66	99FF99	99FFCC	99FFFF
CC0000	CC0033	CC0066	CC0099	CC00CC	CC00FF
CC3300	CC3333	CC3366	CC3399	CC33CC	CC33FF
CC6600	CC6633	CC6666	CC6699	CC66CC	CC66FF
CC9900	CC9933	CC9966	CC9999	CC99CC	CC99FF
CCCC00	CCCC33	CCCC66	CCCC99	CCCCCC	CCCCFF
CCFF00	CCFF33	CCFF66	CCFF99	CCFFCC	CCFFFF
FF0000	FF0033	FF0066	FF0099	FF00CC	FF00FF
FF3300	FF3333	FF3366	FF3399	FF33CC	FF33FF
FF6600	FF6633	FF6666	FF6699	FF66CC	FF66FF
FF9900	FF9933	FF9966	FF9999	FF99CC	FF99FF
FFCC00	FFCC33	FFCC66	FFCC99	FFCCCC	FFCCFF
FFFF00	FFFF33	FFFF66	FFFF99	FFFFCC	FFFFFF

1. An article I wrote when I ran the Theebs.com website back in 2000. To find out more about theebs.com, click here. And yes, I know this is old information, but a decent HTML Color Chart always comes in handy. So this post is more for me so I know exactly where to find one. [«]

Posted by Saphrym

Reprinted from Theebs.com, my old site.¹

Warning! Are you letting people know your web site’s most inner secrets?

Robots.txt. Many webmasters can see this file pop up in their error logs showing them that a search engine tried to use it but couldn’t find it.

The reason they tried to use it, is because they (they being the NICE search engine robots) try to make sure they don’t go snooping somewhere they don’t belong.

The problem is, for this to work, the robots.txt file has to be in your main directory, and it has to be accessible.

Here’s a good example:

EXAMPLE

That’s right! It’s Google’s robots.txt file!

So anyone can see this file.

Now that doesn’t mean you need to go and completely delete the file to make sure people can’t see your secret stuff. It’s better to keep this file so the search engines keep your secret stuff out of their lists.

But, there’s unscrupulous people (we’ll call them Robot Thieves) who use these files to GAIN access to your private stuff. Some Robot Thieves even send out their own little spy robots to read robots.txt files just to find vulnerabilities (or free products) on your site.

To make sure they don’t have access to your private files, follow these steps:

1. Make sure you do not have any references to actual files in your robots.txt file.
2. Use only directory entries, and put “no access” index files in those directories. A “no access” index file would be a .html or .php file that either redirects back to the main page or tells the person they don’t have access. This will be explained further in a bit.

In other words:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /cgi-bin/
Disallow: /images/
Disallow: /free/

Is a good robot file.

User-agent: *
Disallow: /cgi-bin/
Disallow: /images/
Disallow: /free/something.html

Is NOT a good robot file.

The first one was actually an exact duplicate of my robots.txt file.

Within those three directories I have an index.html file that redirects the user to the main web page by using the following:

<HTML><HEAD>
<TITLE>Sorry, this page is for private viewing. We’re taking you back to the main page.</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY onLoad=window.setTimeout(”location.href=’http://www.saphrym.com’”)>
<A HREF=”http://www.saphrym.com”>Click here</A> if you don’t go back automatically.
</BODY></HTML>

Or if you are using PHP, make an index.php with the following code:

<?php

header(”Location: http://www.saphrym.com”);

?>

That will keep the snoopers out, and it will allow you to still keep the NICE (the ones that actually listen to robots.txt) search engines from spidering the more private parts of your web site.

OVERVIEW:

1. Create a directory to hold your private files.
2. Create a “no access” index.html or index.php file in the folder.
3. Add that directory to your robots.txt file.

That’s all there is to it. Kick those Robot Thief butts!

1. An article I wrote when I ran the Theebs.com website back in 2000. To find out more about theebs.com, click here. [«]

Posted by Saphrym

My wife had a friend visit this weekend. That friend brought this clay stuff called Sculpey. It’s basically like the dough we played with as kids, except that it’s clay and it can be baked to produce some interesting stuff. Now, if you click on the Sculpey link, you’ll find all kinds of amazing projects you can do with this stuff. I decided to give this stuff a try because I know that I’m not a good drawer, but when I design my graphics I basically “sculpt” them from shapes in my graphics software.

First, I did some small flat apples. They came out pretty decent. My wife loves apple designs for the kitchen, so I hot glued them to the salt and pepper shakers. She loved ‘em. Of course, she’s my wife, so she may hate them and was just being nice. I’ll probably never know.

Second, and so far last, I made Saphrym. Now, that little guy up at the top right of this web site is not me. But he is the inner me. My inner geek. And I drew him (on a computer) quite a few years ago. Well, I made him. Out of Sculpey. Here’s a picture of him with magnetic tape stuck to the back of him so he could become a refrigerator magnet (Maybe when I get famous, I’ll sign him and sell him for millions of dollars on eBay):

No laughing! It was just my first try! Sheesh!

Now, if you look at his glasses, they do have a lens-like material in them. THAT material will be the topic of a future blog entry. I didn’t buy it for his glasses. I bought it for something else entirely, but it just happened to work for his glasses.

Posted by Saphrym

Neil, over at NeilShearing.com, started a “Which Internet Marketer has the worst digital watch?” contest. Now, I’m not a professional Internet Marketer like the guys over there, but I put my two cents worth in by proving that not only was I a Geek, but that I don’t even HAVE a digital watch. Matt Garrett, in the comments, had mentioned having a binary watch but hated trying to tell the time so sold it on eBay. So I decided to tell them that -I- had a binary watch. Now all I did was link to the picture of it at ThinkGeek.com. I don’t think people believed me. So, in living color, below is a picture of the watch (which is showing a time of 10:14 by the way) on my arm and next to my face (Ok, so the face part is a fib. Sue me.)

So yes, not only do I have the binary watch from ThinkGeek Gadgets, but I know how to read it. And heck, why not, I’ll explain:

• Two rows of lights. You push the button on the side and the lights light up.
• The top row is the hour. The lights have numbers above them in this sequence: 8 4 2 1
• The bottom row is the minutes. The lights have these numbers below them: 32 16 8 4 2 1
• Basically, you add the numbers above the lights in the top row to get the hour. (So in the picture, 8 and 2 are lit. 8+2=10)
• Then, you add the numbers below the lights in the bottom row to get the minutes. (In the picture, 8, 4, and 2 are lit. 8+4+2=14)
• So again, the time is 10:14.

So, scientifically speaking, if I own the watch and know how to read it, I must be a geek. But look what I chose and designed as a logo. My inner geek.

Posted by Saphrym

This all started a couple of weeks ago. My daughter mentioned something about flag football. She was interested in it. Well, after some research I found out my wife had thrown away the flyer for it so I told my daughter to get a new one from the teacher.

“We need to let her try at least. It’s only flag football. Why did you throw it away?” I asked.

“Because it was football,” my wife said as if that explained everything.

Now, I’m not a sports guy. I like playing basketball and racquetball for fun. But watching it? That’s like watching someone else have fun. I can’t stand it and just don’t get any enjoyment out of it. I say this to tell you that I’m not “pushing” my daughter to do a sport. This was all her idea. Nicole wanted to try flag football. I don’t see the harm in it myself. I figure she can try it and then choose whether to continue or not.

Let’s fast forward to this past Thursday. It’s her first football practice. We’re sitting on the porch and she’s smiling at me in that “I’m so cute you can’t stand it” way while waiting for us to leave to go to her first practice. She’s very excited. We had to catch a ride with a friend because my wife had the van, so we get in his car when he pulls up and take off for the adventure. My wife has made it to the YMCA before we do.

“Mommy! You’re here!”

And with that, we walk around the corner of the building. As we get closer to the field they practice on, something occurs to me, and seems to occur to Nicole at the same time. Without missing a beat, Nicole does a complete 180 degree turn and walks right into my stomach and clenches. See, the thing we both noticed was that the field was full of, oh my gosh, BOYS! Now, I expected this, although I did think there’d be more girls, but no, there were NO other girls on the field.

After some talking with her coach (who let his daughter practice with them just to appease my daughter) and a little time passes by when one single other girl shows up to play for another of the four teams, Nicole finally decides to continue with her exploration into flag football. No, we didn’t force her, but with the excitement she had only moments before seeing all boys on the field, we knew that if she didn’t at least try it that day she’d be every upset with herself later. That’s a benefit of having actually been children ourselves at one time. And guess what? She loved it. She had fun and can’t wait until this coming Wednesday when she gets to play in a game. Now if only she could throw the ball. We’ll have to work on that.

Posted by Saphrym