Nagel Family Website

I had to install the Zend Optimizer on my server the other day; I have a Plesk dedicated server with GoDaddy, which uses IonCube (I think for Plesk itself). Anyway, I came across some problems which I imagine are pretty common, so here are the solutions.

Getting the IonCube error?

The Loader must appear as the first entry in the php.ini file in Unknown on line 0

The answer can be found here.

I created a “zend.ini” file with the Zend lines from php.ini in there and placed it in /etc/php.d.

zend_extension_manager.optimizer=/usr/local/Zend/lib/Optimizer-3.3.0
zend_extension_manager.optimizer_ts=/usr/local/Zend/lib/Optimizer_TS-3.3.0
zend_optimizer.version=3.3.0a
zend_extension=/usr/local/Zend/lib/ZendExtensionManager.so
zend_extension_ts=/usr/local/Zend/lib/ZendExtensionManager_TS.so

That fixed this error. Then I had a new error, “Fatal error: Unable to read X bytes in file.php on line 0″, which I found the answer to here.

So upload the files in binary. Now I have Plesk + ionCube + Zend Optimizer all installed together

This entry was posted by Eric on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 at 11:20 am and is filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

I’ve been really busy lately, especially on the weekends. This past weekend was Jason’s 1st Holy Communion followed by a party at our house, followed by the Blue & Gold dinner w/ the Cub Scouts. I was so happy when that day was over!

Then on Sunday I decided to take a day to myself and work in the garden. 5-1/2 hours later I was done for the day. In that time, I dug 2 new beds, moved some retaining bricks, turned over the herb garden, harvested my compost from last year, and cleaned up the front lawn. I didn’t take any week 3 garden photos ’cause I thought the camera was broken - it’s dying, but still works. Won’t be long before it’s dead, though. Anyway, after the seeds exploded out of the ground, they seem to be slowing down now. I plan on moving the plants into the garden on Mother’s Day.

I’m in my final week of wingate testing at UB and I can’t wait to be done! Hopefully the report will be written up soon after and I can see if my time was worthwhile. Monday was a VO2 Max study, Wednesday (tomorrow) is a single wingate, and Friday is an endurance test. Then, Jason & I go camping for the weekend!

Anyway, back to work…

This entry was posted by Eric on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 at 4:46 pm and is filed under Family. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

I was just reading some of the Easter Eggs from last night’s Lost and I noticed a couple others that didn’t make this list.

First, when Alex turns off the fence, the code is 16 23. As in 4 8 15 16 23 42.

Second, Jack is taking some antibiotics for a “stomach bug“, which is a viral infection. Antibiotics fight bacterial infections, not viral. So either Jack lied about the stomach bug, or he’s hiding the truth. Or he’s a REALLY bad doctor.

This entry was posted by Eric on Friday, April 25th, 2008 at 2:07 pm and is filed under LOST. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

I’ve been pretty successful pushing “As Seen On TV” products (available via the As Seen On TV Network), and have learned quite a bit. I’ve come up with a few pros and cons to consider before starting a new campaign for a TV product.

Pros

• Free advertising - I don’t know about you, but I’m not running commercials to sell affiliate products that I promote. As Seen on TV products sell the user over the TV, but consumers still buy online.
• Pre-sale already done - the user typically has already been sold after watching the infomercial. Reiterate the points, but get them to the buying page ASAP.
• Online video - these offers replicate the infomercial online, but you’re not allowed to use their video on your website. First free tip: make an image that looks like a video player and link it via your affiliate link.

Cons

• Single provider - if the provider pulls the offer, there goes your source. It’s happened to me before. And again. And it’ll probably happen again.
• Shady sales process - I wanted to test tracking and see the order process for myself, so I ordered a product I was promoting. My confirmation said I had enrolled in an auto-renew service, but I never had the chance to opt-out of that. I had to call to cancel it.
• Bad tracking - Of the products I’ve seen, the user orders, and is then asked if they want product A, B, C, D, E… M, N, O, and P. If they give up before they get to the end, your tracking pixel isn’t shown and you don’t get credit for the sale, but the user is still charged and the order is processed. So even though you gave a valid lead, you don’t get credit for it.
• Typically flat rate commission - even though the user goes through an up-sell process, you don’t get a percentage of that. So don’t bother selling the additional pieces.

So if you’re just starting out, look at the As Seen On TV Network for some infomercial products to start promoting.

Here’s a bonus hint: brand bidding on Looksmart and Ask.com give terrific ROIs, but horrible volume. I think it’s worth taking a few minutes and throwing the product name in a quick adgroup. 410% ROIs are great

SUPER-DUPER BONUS HINT: Get a .tv domain name. Yeah, they cost more than your typical .com, but the user just saw the ad in TV, so it’s a perfect fit!

Final hint of the week: Don’t mention PPC when signing up for the As Seen On TV Network. Get your account, then tell them you want to do PPC.

This entry was posted by Eric on Friday, April 25th, 2008 at 8:50 am and is filed under Affiliate Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Friday night / Saturday morning were supposed to be beautiful for sleeping, but once again the kids had a different idea. Saturday I was up with Morgan at about 3:30, maybe 4:00. She was cling-y and eventually got sick. Luckily, after cleaning her up, we were able to fall back asleep for a bit. All I remember was waking up and Becca and Jason were downstairs, watching TV while Morgan & Laura slept on one couch, and I on the other.

After we awoke and dressed, we all went to Reinstein Woods for some Earth Day celebrations. The kids did a few crafts, while I picked up materials on energy conservation, composting, and other “save the Earth” things. The only new thing I read about was a water garden, which basically takes runoff (from driveways, rooftops, etc) and directs it to a garden. Interesting concept, but I’ll stick with our rain barrel (which I’ve been using to water the garden since it rained last week - still 3/4 full). This was our first trip to Reinstein Woods, and we look forward to returning. Here’s a photo of Morgan getting a close look at a painted turtle:

We saw plenty of ducks, Canadian geese, a few minnows, and a beaver lodge. There’s a few beavers living there, according to one of the volunteers we asked. However, finding a turtle coming out of the pond and getting a close-up was the highlight of the trip.

When we got home, after a quick lunch, we took a siesta and avoided the crazy hot weather here in Buffalo. Then I did more work in the garden, while the kids played in the backyard and Laura worked in the kitchen. Saturday night I took care of tedious business things, like entering credit card charges into QuickBooks and paying contractors.

Sunday Andy and I went for a little 2-mile run, then extended the trip by walking a bit. We were walking along this trail by 2-mile creek and when we looked up, there were 3 deer standing less than 30′ from us. After contemplating what to do, we continued on the trail, getting closer to the deer until we passed them and continued on our way.

When I finally got home & cleaned up, I got to work on a project that I’m doing for Steve. The hardest part of some jobs is just gathering the information together - this job was particularly easy, but without the proper login information, I had to put it on my server, only to move it later. Instead of spending too much time looking for the passwords & URLs, I figured I’d just move it tomorrow.

Now it’s dinner @ the in-laws, then fighting w/ the kids to go to bed at a reasonable time, because it’s back to school for them tomorrow. As for me, I have a resting week at UB, only having to do 4, 30-second bouts on the wingate bike. Next week we’re tested again, then DONE. Thank goodness - this study is a long one!

This entry was posted by Eric on Sunday, April 20th, 2008 at 4:24 pm and is filed under Family. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Two weeks have passed since we started the garden, and I had some concerns this week, but it’s coming along nicely. Aside from the Carnival Peppers, everything has sprouted and I’ve moved some plants outside and many in individual containers (from the egg cartons).

Here’s the photo of the plants enjoying the beautiful weather we had today:

The bell peppers were scaring me, but between last night and this morning, 9 sprouts came up out of nowhere! I moved a few of the squash into the ground today. While we still have a month until the last average frost date, if I know a frost is coming I can cover those that are in the ground. If I loose them, I have plenty more. The directions said to plant more than are needed, in case something doesn’t germinate, but it seems all of my seeds are coming up, so I have to do something with them.

This entry was posted by Eric on Saturday, April 19th, 2008 at 8:40 pm and is filed under Outdoors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.