LiewCF.com: “Download: The Google SEO Starter Guide (2010)” plus 1 more

LiewCF.com: “Download: The Google SEO Starter Guide (2010)” plus 1 more

Download: The Google SEO Starter Guide (2010)

Posted: 28 Sep 2010 03:19 PM PDT


googlebot cartoonGoogle has updated The SEO Starter Guide (2010), which was first published in 2008 to include glossary, more example images, SEO for mobile sites.

The SEO guide ebook layout has been redesigned and better readability. It is now look like a “book” instead of just another word document.

google seo starter guide table of content

The content includes:

  1. SEO Basics
  2. Improving Site Structure
  3. Optimizing Content
  4. Dealing with Crawlers
  5. SEO for Mobile Phones
  6. Promotions and Analysis

This is a Must-Have SEO ebook for all webmaster and bloggers! It’s free! Click here to download (PDF)

Massive Malicious Traffic Attacks. Cloud Hosting to Rescue?

Posted: 28 Sep 2010 12:11 PM PDT


web server load spikes

In the past week, my server was down couple times due to massive attacks from unknown sources targeting liewcf.com (this blog).

The malicious traffic caused high server load (load spikes) and brought down the server. Restart web services didn’t help.

That was very frustrating. Website uptime is essential for a full-time blogger, just like how important is the car for a taxi driver.

Website down = No traffic = No $$$

I spent hours and hours sitting in front computer to monitor the server load. Mood was down as the server down…

Fighting attackers!

Here I have to praise the support of my hosting provider — Liquidweb.

In order to monitor my server for load spikes that happen randomly, server admins are assigned for 24/7 close monitoring. *thumb up*

At the end, the server admin blacklisted the IP addresses to return the server to normal stage.

So far, the server performance is good now. There are still some load spikes now and then, but eventually they goes down before bringing down the server again.

How about cloud hosting?

Cloud server is not a solution for random load spikes. It does not auto scale. It is flexible but only when you configure it manually (on-demand server).

It is good only when your server need to scale up/down frequently. Also, most cloud server is self-managed. I am not a server admin guy.

Fully managed cloud hosting like Rackspace Cloud Sites (not Cloud Server) does auto scaling but it is pay-per-use. Thus, you might end up paying a bomb in order to keep your website online under massive attacks. Not cost effective.

Future protection?

This is not the first time and will not be the last time.

The server has some server protection software installed but they are not bulletproof. I cannot afford the enterprise class of hosting environment (multiple server, hardware firewall, load balancing, etc).

I am considering to add a hardware firewall though.

How do you deal with malicious traffic attacks?

Update: Just when I want to publish this article, the server experienced another load spike last for few minutes…

Malaysia iPhone 4: What are Missing? | LiewCF.com

Malaysia iPhone 4: What are Missing? | LiewCF.com

Malaysia iPhone 4: What are Missing?

Posted: 25 Sep 2010 05:09 PM PDT


Malaysia iPhone 4 has been launched by Maxis and DiGi on 24th September 2010. While we are jumping up and down to celebrate the arrival of iPhone 4, there are few things about iPhone 4 we don’t get in Malaysia.

NO free iPhone 4 casing

free iPhone 4 case program

Apple promised to give free iPhone 4 casing to everyone who purchased iPhone 4 before 30th September 2010. However, neither Maxis nor DiGi ever mentioned about the iPhone 4 Case Program.

According to a blogger who attended the Maxis iPhone 4 launch has confirmed that no free iPhone casing/bumper from Maxis.

I had then asked about the “free iPhone case” program. Mr. Van Obeke confirmed that the free case will not be offered to customers of Maxis.

Malaysia’s neighbor, Singapore got their iPhone 4 few months earlier and now they are still entitled to get free bumper or casing via the Singapore iPhone 4 Case Program

Unfair? Yes.

NO contract-free iPhone 4

contract-free iPhone 4 in Singapore

Malaysians do not get contract-free iPhone 4. DiGi or Maxis, both require iPhone 4 buyers to sign up for their contracts, minimum of 12 months (Maxis). If you are non-DiGi-non-Maxis user, then you are forced to switch to buy iPhone 4.

Compared to Singapore, they could have contract-free iPhone 4. They can even online order iPhone 4 on Singapore Apple store!

Envy? Yes.

NO White iPhone 4

Where is WHITE iPhone 4?

If you remember, iPhone 4 comes in two color: black and white. But only black iPhone 4 is available now. There is no sign of WHITE iPhone 4 yet, in Malaysia and Worldwide.

Wanted? Yes.

Update: There’s rumor saying that white iPhone 4 may be sold at Wal-mart Stores!

NO “grip-of-death”

iPhone 4: death grip
(image courtesy: CultOfMac)

The most unwanted but famous feature of iPhone 4 is the “grip-of-death” which drops call when you hold the phone “incorrectly”. It might scare off many potential iPhone-4-owner-wannabe.

So far, the responses from Malaysia iPhone users, who have owned iPhone 4 months before official launch, are possible that we have no significant drop call problems under local telco networks.

Good news? Yes.

What else is missing in Malaysia iPhone 4?

At Last, Malaysia iPhone 4 is Here On September 24th! | LiewCF.com

At Last, Malaysia iPhone 4 is Here On September 24th! | LiewCF.com

At Last, Malaysia iPhone 4 is Here On September 24th!

Posted: 21 Sep 2010 01:25 PM PDT


maxis iphone 4 launch event

MALAYSIA: The rumor has been confirmed. Malaysia telcos, both Maxis and DiGi, to launch Apple iPhone 4 on 24th September 2010.

Maxis iPhone 4 launch event

Maxis already announced the iPhone 4 launch events and iPhone 4 plans on its website.

The pre-launch event starts at 23rd’s night. Then, it is the midnight launch event at 12am(OMG!). The day launch event is at 24th & 25th. All launch events held at The Gardens Hotel & Residences, Mid Valley City.

I wonder how many Apple fans will be there, in the midnight, for iPhone 4. I have been invited as media to the midnight launch event but I cannot make it.

Too bad, there’s “Maxis iPhone 4 Media Offer”(read: discount!) for the media who attends the event.

How about DiGi iPhone 4?

While DiGi still keep their iPhone 4 plans secret, they published an interesting photo on Facebook fan page to hint the iPhone 4 launch date.

digi iPhone 4 kambing

What do you think this means? For me, it is “Apple iPhone 4 shipping on 24 September 2010 from DiGi”.

However, on DiGi iPhone 4 website, there is no information about launch date nor DiGi iPhone 4 plans. Perhaps they want to drop a “bomb” (read: very good deal) during Maxis iPhone 4 launch?

Buying advice

I would suggest you wait for both telcos to reveal their iPhone 4 plans and compare them to pick the best for yourselves.

Don’t rush to be the 1st iPhone 4 owner in Malaysia. (Well, there are already MANY Malaysians using iPhone 4 now. :P )

When Google says “This site may harm your computer” about Your Website… | LiewCF.com

When Google says “This site may harm your computer” about Your Website… | LiewCF.com

When Google says “This site may harm your computer” about Your Website…

Posted: 20 Sep 2010 03:20 PM PDT


google search result label site as harmful

Yesterday was not a good day for many Malaysian webmaster and myself. Google has detected malicious software on our websites and redirect every visitors to a warning page with link to the diagnostic page.

What happened actually?

We are the victim of the failure of Innity, an online advertisement network. According to the official announcement, their server was affected (hacked?):

…In summary, a portion of our domain; innity.net, which operates as a content delivery network focused on delivering static banner files to our end user, was affected in Indonesia and this led to Google classifying our domain as being infected by malware.

Though the company took necessary actions to solve the problem but Google will take up to 48 hours to clear the warning…

The damages after listed as malware site

Believe me, it is one of the worst nightmare to your website.

  1. Direct visitor to your websites will blocked by the scary malware warning and they will leave and might never come back again.

    google malware warning

  2. The Google will append “this site may harm your computer” in your site’s search engine results.
  3. Twitter.com bans your site URL. Every tweet containing the website URL will not get published.
  4. For a full-time blogger like me, it means drop in online income for the period!

What can we do after listed as malware site?

If you have signed up Google Webmaster Tools account, you will get notified when Google detect malware on your site and Google will send you an email.

In Google Webmaster Tools account, click on your site, then click “Malware” under “Diagnostics” to see the details of the harmful code found on the site.

There, you can click on “request a review” link to request a review of your site after you have removed all the harmful code.

The “Request a review” link might only appear couple hours later after your site listed as malware site.

Read about malware and hacked sites

What did I do to solve the problem?

I have removed all the innity’s advertisement codes immediately and requested a review on Google webmaster tools page.

Now, nothing I can do anymore except “WAIT”.

My two cents

Patient is very important when something bad happened unexpectedly.

Though Innity’s response promptly in this case but the damage is done. I believe the case hurt many of its publishers. No website owner want to get banned because of a single advertisement script.

Anyway, this is not the worst time in my blogging life. The worst nightmare was banned by Google because of selling text link ads. It took couple months to get back into Google search engine result pages.

The problem will be solved eventually and I shall continuously bring your the great content.

P.S. Thanks to everyone who notified me about the bad news. *hug*
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