I run this websites and a few others, including my more popular Amateur Traveler website on a bluehost.com account. I started to run into problems with performance as my site started to push past 2000 page views a day, especially when I would get bursts of traffic from sites like StumbleUpon. I started to get issues where the CPU on my website was “throttled” as much as half of the day. I investigated more expensive hosting options but eventually found I could get better performance from my WordPress hosted site for free using a few small changes to two files: .htaccess and robots.txt.

Before you implement these changes I would also recommend using a caching plugin like WP Super Cache or W3 Total Cache.

.htaccess

Most hosting websites use a free webserver program called Apache to run their websites. With Apache you can change the local configuration for a site using a file called .htaccess which lives in the top directory of your WordPress site. It should be in the same directory as wp-config.php.

Caching

The first set of changes to add to this file are a series of commands that make certain static files like images save for longer in the user’s browser. Setting these commands will allow fewer and fewer downloads of files from your server as a user returns to your site. There is a risk here that as you need to change an image, for instance, you will need to rename the image file so that a user’s browsers will download it promptly. So you might not want to increase the caching time on your css and javascript files if you plan on changing them constantly.


# Expire images header
ExpiresActive on
ExpiresDefault "access plus 7 day"
ExpiresByType image/gif "access plus 3 months"
ExpiresByType image/jpg "access plus 3 months"
ExpiresByType image/png "access plus 3 months"
ExpiresByType image/jpeg "access plus 3 months"
ExpiresByType text/javascript "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType application/x-javascript "access plus 1 month"
ExpiresByType text/css "access plus 7 days"
ExpiresByType text/html "access plus 1 day"
ExpiresByType text/plain "access plus 1 day"
ExpiresByType application/x-shockwave-flash "access plus 3 months"


Spiders

The way that search engines work is that they send a program (called a “bot” or a “spider”) to grab the contents of your website periodically. You can make these bots more efficient by using a plugin like Google XML Sitemaps (or WPMU Google Sitemap on a multi-site configuration) to create a file with a map of all of the pages of your site. Normally you can communicate with these programs via a file called robots.txt which we will deal with in a minute.

I did find that one spider from the Chinese site Baidu was ignoring the content of my robots.txt file so I am blocking that spider via the following lines of code in the .htaccess file. The reason that I am blocking Baidu is that I found that the spider was hitting my site a thousand times a day but only sending me maybe 6 page views a day of user traffic. Note that access from spiders will not show up in Google Analytics so you will have to look at your webserver logs to see what kind of traffic you are receiving.


RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Baiduspider [NC]
RewriteRule ^.* - [F,L]


Robots.txt

The file robots.txt should also be in the top level directory of your website. It tells the robots/bots/spiders how they should deal with your website. It tells them what content they should and what content they should not spider. The less content they spider then the less load on your system. So what you want to do is tell the spiders not to look at content that you do not want to show up on Google.

When you install a sitemap creating plugin mentioned above then you can tell the various bots about where they can find your sitemap in your robots.txt file. You can also tell Google via the Google Webmasters tool.

Sitemap: http://chris2x.com/sitemap.xml.gz


These commands block the comments form, directories that should be hidden, trackback’s and other dynamic pages.


User-agent: *
Disallow: /cgi-bin
Disallow: /wp-admin
Disallow: /wp-includes
Disallow: /wp-content/plugins
Disallow: /wp-content/cache
Disallow: /wp-content/themes
Disallow: /trackback
Disallow: /feed
Disallow: /comments
Disallow: /category/*/*
Disallow: */trackback
Disallow: */feed
Disallow: */comments
Disallow: /*?*
Disallow: /*?
Allow: /wp-content/uploads

Another bot that I found that was spidering my sites a lot, but not sending any appreciable traffic was the Majestic12 bot which is part of an open source search project. These lines block that bot. You could put other bots here but if, for instance, you block the Google bot then you are saying you don’t want traffic from Google.

User-agent: www.majestic12.co.uk
Disallow:

You can also slow down how often various bots will crawl your site. These two lines tell Google and MSN not to crawl my pages more than once every 1 minute and every 5 minutes respectively.

User-agent: msnbot
Crawl-delay: 300
User-agent: Googlebot
Crawl-delay: 60

With just these changes I found that I could get more performance from my website for what it was intended, serving pages to real users.

I had a non-profit pitch a story for the Amateur Traveler recently and in the process of getting that story ready for publication I think there is a valuable lesson. What the author had missed was the chance to make the story personable and therefore more memorable. The first version of the story about volunteer travel destinations started like this:

From its humble beginnings in the 1960’s, volunteer travel has grown into a hugely popular phenomenon, offering an immensely rewarding and highly varied world of opportunity.

Today’s volunteer traveller is spoilt for choice; since this particular strand of tourism began in the 60’s, the possibilities have grown enormously from their initial focus on conservation into a broad and seemingly endless list of projects.

Whether you are embarking on a voluntary project in order to gain valuable experience in a particular field for your future career, or simply for the love of helping out, there really is something for anyone and everyone.

Your Own Experience

There is nothing wrong with those paragraphs per say, but neither do they leap from the page and shout “read on”!  So I wrote back to the author with this advice:

I like the article but the first set or paragraphs buries the lede. I think the article would be a lot punchier without as much of this. You might think about starting with your own experience.

The author returned a second try at the opening paragraph:

My unforgettable experiences in the remote rainforests of Peru saw me taking part in a wide range of exciting activities, from midnight river-trips in search of caiman, to feeding the jaguar at the rehabilitation centre. However, this type of project is only one of many different areas of conservation you can get involved in.

Show Me Don’t Tell Me

The problem that I ha with the new paragraph is that it told me he had had interesting experiences or at least it told me about them but it still didn’t engage or involve me.  I replied:

That’s better, but you still missed a chance to actually tell your story. You mentioned a “midnight river-trips in search of caiman”. That’s both sounds like your best content and the best advertisement… but you didn’t tell the story. What I am looking for is compelling first person narrative in the first and maybe last paragraph. Picture how much better this article would be if you started with something like:

We panned the murky waters with the beams of our flashlights. The hair on the back of my neck stood up as I wondered what might be watching us form the jungle as I was looking for the twin reflections of the eyes of a caiman. A relative of the alligator, the caiman hunts by ambush. I am sitting in a boat, in the dark in the middle of the night, on the Amazon. “What’s the worst thing that could happen?”, I asked myself.

And received a third version and the final opening of the story:

Slowly edging our way along the river bank, the light from our torch scanned for the unmistakable orange glint reflected in the eyes of this night-time killer. A close relative of the alligator, the caiman is a highly evolved predator, always ready to pounce. As we made our silent approach, my heart was pounding; this was my chance to finally catch this incredible creature. My hand shook as I reached down to the murky water, tales of lost fingers echoing in my head. And then nothing; it had seen me coming. As we moved on, I sighed with relief disguised as disappointment.

Caiman hunting really was the tip of the iceberg during my time in the remote Peruvian rainforest. By the end of those three months, I had witnessed many of the animals I had grown up watching on documentaries with amazement. From feeding the jaguar at the rehabilitation centre, to early morning outings in search of the mysterious giant otters, my experience was unforgettable. A voluntary wildlife conservation project really can involve a vast variety of different issues. Not only could you be going to some of the most exciting, remote and beautiful places on earth, but you could also encounter the incredibly diverse and important species that these locations have to offer. Taking part in a wildlife conservation project is a worthwhile and memorable experience, wherever you choose to go.

Tell A Story

The final article “Wildlife Conservation Projects around the World” may not yet be ready for a Lowell Thomas award, but compare it to the first draft. I receive a lot of articles like the first version lest you think I am picking on the author and even more articles that are not worth putting more time into. The writing and editing on my blog has been influenced by a class I took at the Book Passage Writing conference last year from Spud Hilton. Some of the advice he gave includes:

1. Have a point to the article. Too many articles I get say “I went here and I did that”. They are a journal entry not an article.
2. Don’t bury the lede. Your opening sentence is very important. I recall the sample opening sentence he gave us form a travel story: “Don’t worry the turbaned man grinned, the snake around your daughter’s neck is not poisonous.” That’s a sentence that makes you want to read more.
3. Get to your point quickly and then get rid of the paragraphs that don’t support your point. Perhaps you can save all that other information for another article with an appropriate point.
4. How would a good story teller capture the attention of the audience. They might not start chronologically. When I tell of my trip to New Zealand last year I start with the experience of “blackwater rafting”, spelunking with a wetsuit and an inner-tube. I don’t start, “I got off the plane and headed into customs”.

On November 20th  I will be teaching a one day short course at DeAnza College called “Blogging for Profit”.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course will look at

• How to pick a topic for blogging
• How to use keyword research
• How to setup and maintain a blog using WordPress
• How to personalize your blog using templates and plugins
• How to maintain your blog
• How to get advertising for your blog
• How to sell products using affiliate links
• How to use your blog to build your reputation
• How to work with PR firms

There is no materials fee, but blog hosting is recommended and costs around $7 a month and other tools will be discussed but not required.

INSTRUCTOR BIOGRAPHY:
Chris left his day job in January 2010 to focus on consulting, podcasting and blogging including his popular Amateur Traveler podcast / blog. He was the Executive Vice President of Engineering and Operations for a company in Silicon Valley (LiveWorld) that runs online communities for companies like eBay, Marriott, American Express, Campbells, Kimberly Clark, A&E, and Mini Cooper.

SCHEDULE:
November 20, 2010 – 1 Week(s) – Sat – 9 AM to 5 PM

REGISTRATION:

Registration will open later in August at Impact Short Courses

the problem

As many of you know my podcast the Amateur Traveler was in the running for a Lonely Planet Blog Award. This competition had two phases. The first phase was a popularity vote and the second phase was a vote of the judges. I was confident I would do well with the judges but I have always hated the popularity vote. In high school I was neither a social pariah nor was I class president. As a shy person by nature I hate shilling for votes. But this was a contest I wanted to win. When the contest started I was about 500 votes down before I even knew I was in the running. I sent emails to my small email list, twittered, got my friends to twitter for me, brought it up at work, mentioned the contest on my podcast and I closed the gap some but I was still way behind.

the power of mailing lists

But then my friend Craig Martin of the Indie Travel Podcast sent an email to his mailing list and rocketed into first place. So I went to my email box and found the emails for people who had written me about the show and ask them to vote for the show. A funny thing happened. They voted and in great numbers. When I send a twitter message my typical response rate is around one click for every 50 people who follow me. This was more like one response for every 3 emails. That was amazing enough but the next part is what really surprised me.

my tribe

No one wrote me and said to stop bothering them. Instead many people wrote emails like these:

I voted for you. I love your show, although I don’t get a chance to listen to it quite as often since my daughter Chloe was born in August. The first time I did listen to Amateur Traveler after she was born the topic was Acadia National Park. That was a great surprise because we live in Maine (about 4 hours south of the park), and although I’ve done a lot of traveling around the country and in Europe, I haven’t been to Acadia since I was 8 years old.

It was a nice reminder that even though our travel experiences will be different now, there are some great places to explore right in our own state. I also purchased a state park pass recently, and can’t wait for summer! Now if only this snow would go away…

Thanks for taking the time to put out the show. It is appreciated.

Nicole

I voted for you and I really enjoy the show. Best of luck.

Thelma in Missouri

Done. It´s a pleasure to help you and give something in return for your great podcast

Jose

Good luck Chris! Thanks for all the great shows and all the time and effort you devote to them.

Lottie

Thanks for the email. Already voted for you – both from home and at work, so the site won’t accept another email from me.

Good luck, and thanks for your continued dedication to the podcast. I thoroughly enjoy it. You continue to open up small pieces of the world to those of us who have an interest in travel but limited opportunity. It truly is appreciated.

Thanks, again, and keep up the good work. Blessings,

Gerry

Thanks for the email? People were thanking me for asking them to do me a favor. People were actually glad to help. Oh, that’s what Seth Godin meant!

It starts with permission, the understanding that the real asset most organizations can build isn’t an amorphous brand but is in fact the privilege of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who want to get them.

Building a tribe is about providing value. When people appreciate what you have been doing for them they are glad to return the favor.

postscript

Ironically, I won the vote handily and then lost the judging. The judges were not in my tribe. I can live with that.

The article I was writing yesterday was “7 Things You Should Pack/Bring When You Travel To San Francisco“. Once you have mentioned to take warm clothing and a camera, what’s left? So I sent out a tweat:

I am writing a blog post on “7 things you should pack when you travel to San Francisco”. I am a few short. Ideas?

Within about a half an hour I had five good responses from slightly over 1000 followers. That is about a .5% response rate, but I only needed two ideas and I had at least one I would not have thought of.

MikeTRose @chris2x Allergy medications. For some reason, East Coasters like me get the sniffles in SF.

That made perfect sense to me with the dampness of San Francisco, but it was outside my experience so it would not have occurred to me.

I think there are takeaways from this experience:

• I might do this in the future even if I can come up with 7 things on my own. Why not write a list of 9 things instead.
• People helped me out so I gave them credit because fair is fair.
• I had a 3rd takeaway a minute ago, what am I missing?

When I finally got around to trying out the phone I was also surprised that the music library contained some surprising choices. Am I a prude? Yes, probably I am. I was not expecting that their list of music genres would include a very Anglo-Saxon word for the sex act. I was expecting to see words like rock, pop, or blues. When you are sending a phone to someone to review who also happens to produce a bible study podcast I also wonder about the wisdom of songs with artist labels like “Anti-Christ”.

I don’t feel the need to slam the phone or the phone’s maker because I think this mismatch was partly my fault for not asking more questions. I also feel no need to endorse the phone as I think this is a product that might be a bit “off-brand” for me. A little more homework on my part or theirs might have prevented what was a waste of time and what could have been a PR disaster.

“Amateur Traveler – The Amateur Traveler is a travel show that helps you find the best places to travel to. It includes both a weekly audio podcast and a twice monthly video podcast. It also includes travel news and resources.”

This is an ongoing effort to refine the description of the site.

When I created the Amateur Traveler site I made what I think is a classic error. The tag line I used at the time was “travel for the love of it”. I was trying to explain why I had chosen the name Amateur Traveler. But what I did not do is explain to someone why they would want to come to this site at all. It is difficult when you are familiar with a website to see if with the same eyes as someone who has never been there.

How many seconds do you have before someone forms an impression of your site?

Try showing your site to someone who has not seen it before and ask them what this site is about and why someone would want to go there. If they can’t tell you, you have a problem.

What is a visitors first impression?

Since a visitor may not stay long on your site their first impression may be their only impression.

What draws the eye of a new visitor?

Show your site to someone and ask them before you show it to point to the first thing that gets their attention. It may not be as accurate as eye tracking software but it is a lot cheaper.

1. Check Spelling While Typing – I can turn on a feature right here in my browser (Safari) to spell check as I go. Right click (or command click in a text area to bring up a menu. From the Spelling and Grammar menu select “Check Spelling While Typing”. Now as I type, words will be spell checked.
2. TypeItForMe – This wonderful tool can allow me to create aliases for frequently typed phrases like the name of my most popular podcast so that I can type “atp” and get “Amateur Traveler”.
3. TypeItForMe 4.0 – The latest version of TypeItForMe can also correct my simple typos as I go. If I type “tihs” I get “this”. It also has the ability to replace misspelled words.
4. Speech – I am bad editor. My brain tends to correct typos and grammar errors when I read. But I am a much better audio editor. You can have the Mac speak any section of text. From the Application menu (such as “Safari” from within the browser) select “Services” then “Speech” then “Start Speaking Text” to have your Mac read back to you the selected text.
5. Google – When in doubt remember that the google spelling dictionary is one of the better ones. If you can spell the word close to the correct spelling, Google might be able to get you the rest of the way.

To see these techniques in action, watch the attached video.

The word “amateur” does not mean a beginner or someone who is bad at doing something, or at least it did not originally mean this. An amateur was someone who did something for the “love of it”. A century ago it was the professional who was under a cloud of suspicion as someone with impure motives.

Lets take the example of Jim Thorpe, sometimes called the “greatest athlete of all times”:

At the tender age of 24, Thorpe sailed with the American Olympic team to Antwerp, Belgium for the 1912 Olympic Games. Remarkably, he trained aboard the ship on the journey across sea. He blew away the competition in both the pentathlon and the decathlon and set records that would stand for decades. King Gustav V presented Thorpe with his gold medals for both accomplishments. As stated in Bob Berontas’ “Jim Thorpe, Sac and Fox Athlete”: “Before Thorpe could walk away, the king grabbed his hand and uttered the senta3ence that was to follow for the rest of his life. ‘Sir,’ he declared, ‘you are the greatest athlete in the world,’ Thope, never a man to stand on ceremony, answered simple and honestly, ‘Thanks King.’”

Thorpe’s glorious Olympic wins were jeopardized in 1913 when it came out that he played two semi-professional seasons of baseball. The Olympics Committee had strict rules about Olympians receiving monetary compensation for participating in professional athletics. Thorpe, who stated he played for the love of the game and not the money, was put under the microscope. Ultimately, it was decided that his baseball experience adversely affected his amateur status in the track and field events. His name was removed from the record books and his gold medals were taken away.

When Scientific American used to run a column called the Amateur Scientist from (1958 to 1978) they were not trying to encourage stupid people to build proton accelerators in their basements (Accelerator, proton. how to construct, 1971 Aug, pg 106). They were instead harkening back to the days of the renaissance man (or woman). It used to be encouraged for people to dabble in science out of a genuine interest without regard to what they did for a living. And why not, the most influential theory of the 20th century was proposed by an amateur scientist who worked as a patent clerk.

Mark Spitz was an amateur athlete as were all Olympic athletes of his day. One could be an amateur and still be the best. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are professional athletes. Jose Conseco was a professional athlete so a professional may not show professionalism any more than an amateur needs to be amateurish.

It is not my intention to try and swing the pendulum back to the days of Jim Thorpe or the early days of the internet when any hint of commercialism was seen as wrong. Rather we should see that whether or not a person is paid for their endeavors is not the sole measure of the value of their work. Edward R. Murrow was a professional journalist, but so was William Randolph “You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war” Hearst. A professional journalist can make making money their sole goal or they can aim somewhat higher.

So let’s not, as if we could, strive for an internet void of commercial interests but instead evaluate work based on value and quality remembering that the Ark was built by an amateur, the Titanic was built by professionals.