All posts by Michael Strejcek

Fedora Linux System Requirements and Download Location of Various Versions

DesktopServers

There are many articles that offer great uses for an old PC. Recommendations include utilizing the old PC as a home server, adding additional Network Attached Storage (NAS), experimenting with other free operating systems (i.e Linux), donating extra computer cycles to science through distributed computing projects (i.e BOINC or SETI@Home), and of course for use as a secondary computer. These articles inevitably mention different Linux distributions (i.e. Fedora, Ubuntu, Mint, Arch, Lubuntu, Slackware, etc) as a viable alternative to the Windows OS. If you blindly go this route you might spend several frustrating hours or days attempting to install the latest Linux distributions on a old PC due to incompatible hardware requirements. Instead, why not put an older Linux distribution on your old machine and ensure that the hardware requirements of the OS and the PC match? As I’m partial to the Fedora Linux distribution I have pulled together the Processor, RAM, Graphics Processor RAM, and Hard Drive requirements of the various versions in the table below. I have also included links to the hardware requirements and the download location of the versions listed. Where hardware requirements of the various versions have overlapped, I’ve only included the link to the latest version for download.

Fedora Core
Version
(HW Req Source)
Processor RAM Graphics RAM Hard Drive Fedora
Download
Location
23 400 MHz 192 MB 256 MB 7 GB 3
4 8 GB 4
511 9 GB 11
12 10 GB 12 
13 384 MB 384 MB 13 
14 512 MB 14
15 640 MB 1,152 MB  15
1617 Pentium 4 768 MB 17
18 400 MHz 1 GB 18
1924  1 GHz 24

If you do install an older version of Linux on you machine, then be prepared to not have the latest and greatest of every application. You will be able to set up a network drive (Samba Share), FTP, and HTTP server; however, the earlier versions are no longer maintained and you won’t receive updates (including security updates). If you are on you own network and behind your own firewall you may be less concerned, but it is still worth considering. You will also have a web browser, but you may receive notifications that it is no longer supported. Other than those potential shortcomings, your machine will perform like new again.


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Best Web Hosting Performance and Feature Comparison; IONOS vs BlueHost vs DreamHost vs HostGator

Performance Server
There are thousands of options when choosing a web hosting provider.  Among the web hosts I’ve seen most often publicized are HostGator, BlueHost, DreamHost, and IONOS Hosting.  Although I am currently using IONOS Hosting and have very been happy with it I am strongly considering switching to DreamHost or BlueHost after comparing the features offered, the performance of each host, and writing this post.  Below I compare the features publicly advertised by each of these web hosting providers and I summarize the testing I performed to evaluate the non-publicized web hosting performance, namely network latency & download speed.
 

Comparing Unpublicized Web Hosting Performance

Although many of the hosting plan features are publicized, their performance is typically not.  Cheap hosting may be feature rich at the sacrifice of performance (server latency and download speed).

Server latency is the time required for a server to respond to a request.  Server latency is affected by different server architectures, processor type / speed, 32bit vs 64 bit CPU architecture, RAM type & size, solid state drives, network switches, load, cabling (length & type), and geographic location (how far away the server is).  Every object on a web page is requested from the server individually. Your main HTML file may load prior to calling for multiple graphics from the server, running scripts, etc.  Per online sources the average number of objects loaded with a typical web page now exceeds 100.  If each of those objects were loaded sequentially, the latency impacts would slow web page load times.  Luckily many of the objects on a web page load in parallel, but there are several that load sequentially.

Download speed is the rate at which data is transferred from the server.  Downloading larger files is not resource intensive with regard to the server architecture, however it is largely dependent on the hosts network architecture, the bandwidth available, and the utilization. Web pages will load faster with a faster download speed.

I set out to explore the performance of the different web hosts.

The Experiment

To test the web host’s server latency i would ping each of the web hosts 100 times, gather the response times, and compare the results.  I would issue the following commands on a Linux computer and gather the response times in text files for further processing.

ping -c 100 www.hostgator.com >> hostgatorping.txt
ping -c 100 www.bluehost.com >> bluehostping.txt
ping -c 100 www.IONOS.com >> IONOSping.txt
ping -c 100 www.dreamhost.com >> dreamhostping.txt

To test the web host’s download speed I would download large files 10 times from each host, capture the download speed, and compare the results.  I decided to only perform this test 10 times as I didn’t want to waste the web hosting providers bandwidth.  DreamHost and HostGator have made a 16MB file and 20MB file available respectively for such a download speed test.  I uploaded the 20MB file from HostGator to my IONOS Hosting to provided comparable results. I also found a 3 MB PDF file on the Smart Passive Income website (known for hosting on BlueHost) for use in the download speed test.  I had initially planned to use this file only to test the methodology prior to signing up for BlueHost. Typically, download speeds tend to increase as the download progresses through larger files as the server and client get into sync, but the results were so favorable for this relatively small file that I used them. I would issue the following commands on a Linux computer and gather the download speeds for further processing.  Please note that I did not include the commands to perform the download from my site or from Smart Passive Income‘s site as I didn’t want to run the risk of having thousands of internet users (or more) hammering our sites.

wget http://marketing.hostgator.com/20MB.zip
wget http://www.hosting.dreamhosters.com/speed/16384.rnd

Experiment Results

Below are the results of my download speed and server latency ping test. The average download speed from BlueHost was the best followed closely by DreamHost and HostGator. The download speed from IONOS Hosting is significantly slower.  The average ping response time from DreamHost was significantly better than the other three. BlueHost came in second with IONOS Hosting and HostGator trailing.

Host Average Download
Speed (MB/s)
Average Ping
Response Time (ms)
HostGator 1.752 84.18
BlueHost 2.076 54.06
IONOS Hosting 0.739 73.38
DreamHost 1.869 16.74

Below is a graphic showing the distribution of the download rates from each of the web hosting providers.  As stated previously, the average download speed from BlueHost was the best followed closely by DreamHost and HostGator. The download speed from IONOS Hosting is significantly slower. The higher the download speed, the faster web pages will load.

Web Host Performance DownloadRate

Below is a graphic showing the distribution of the ping test responses from each of the web hosting providers.  As stated previously, the average ping response time from DreamHost was significantly better than the other three. BlueHost came in second with IONOS Hosting and HostGator trailing.  The shorter the ping response time, the lower the server latency, and the faster web pages will load.

Web Host Performance Response Time

Comparison of Publicized Web Hosting Features

Each of the web hosts evaluated offer several different packages such that your hosting provider can grow along with you.  These hosts offer shared hosting, hosting on a virtual private server, dedicated servers, and managed WordPress hosting.  Shared hosting provides you (and others) with the access to a physical server that is capable of serving pages for multiple websites, each having its own Internet domain name.  This is the least expensive option as the server costs are shared by several individuals.  A virtual private server package provides you (and others) with your own instance of an operating system hosted on a physical server.  You have full access to the operating system;  however, the server’s resources (CPU, RAM, HD, etc) are shared between your virtual operating system instance and others that are hosted on the same physical server.  This is the mid grade option as the server costs are still shared by several individuals; however, the physical server resources can only be divided fewer ways due to the increased overhead of each operating system hosted on the physical server.    The most expensive option is the dedicated server as you are the only one who can access that physical server.  As your website or application demand increases you might progress from shared hosting to a virtual private server to a dedicated server (or servers).  The managed WordPress hosting package is something relatively new being marketed by web hosting providers.  This seems to be marketed towards an audience that wants to have a WordPress blog or website, but are intimidated by the process of installing it within web hosting packages.  The managed WorPress hosting packages are more expensive than the shared hosting packages.

Host Shared Hosting Virtual Private Server Dedicated Server Managed WordPress Hosting
Yes Yes Yes Yes
Yes Yes Yes Yes
Yes Yes Yes Yes
DreamHost Yes Yes Yes Yes

If you’ve made it this far in my post, then you are likely relatively new to web hosting but are savvy enough to manage your own hosting.  The remainder of this article focuses on the shared hosting packages available from HostGator, BlueHost, DreamHost, and IONOS Hosting.  The shared hosting packages are versatile enough for most users needs.

The table below shows the cost of several packages from the web host providers.  The package pricing tiers available from the web hosting providers is fairly comparable between them an range between $6.99 to $23.99 per month.  The only exception is DreamHost that only offers one shared hosting package.  All web hosting providers included a free domain registration in their hosting package with the exception of HostGator.  At the time this article was posted each provider had several introductory offers available ranging from $0.99 to $14.95 per month.  I currently use the IONOS Hosting unlimited package that currently has an introductory offer of $0.99 per month for the first year and have been very happy with it.  If your interested in beginning a blog or website, but are unsure whether you will enjoy it or stick with it this is the package I recommend.  The IONOS Hosting unlimited package introductory offer gives you a year of hosting and your own domain name for $12 for the first year!

Host Package Name Cost ($ / mo) Intro Offer ($ / mo for 1 yr) Free Domain Included
IONOS Hosting Unlimited $6.99 $0.99 Yes
Unlimited Plus $9.99 $4.99 Yes
unlimited Pro $14.99 $9.99 Yes
Basic $7.99 $3.95 Yes
Plus $10.99 $6.95 Yes
Business $23.99 $14.95 Yes
Hatchling $7.96 $3.48 No
Baby $9.94 $4.97 No
Business $14.94 $7.47 No
DreamHost   $10.95 NA Yes

NOTE:  The prices provided within this article are subject to change by the web hosting providers are no guarantee of availability.

Many of the web hosting providers offer unlimited webspace, websites, and bandwidth within their packages.  Of course there is no such thing as unlimited hard drive space or bandwidth as each of the providers has hardware limitations and are governed by the laws of physics. Hosting providers are marketing the fact that they do not restrict your use of the hard drive space or bandwidth available and you may host as many websites as you’d like within your shared hosting plan.

Each of these hosting providers offers 24/7 support and some offer an option of operating system.  You likely recognize the Windows operating system, but you may not recognize Linux. Well whether you know it or not you have probably used a version of Linux (or Unix) and not known it.  The Linux operating system core is utilized in many things you may use very day from your Android cell phone, Chromebook, Tivo / DVR, to your Google searches.  Each of the web hosts provide dashboards for administering your shared hosting package, so it’s likely that you won’t even be aware that you’re using it.

Host Package Name Webspace Websites Bandwidth Support OS
IONOS Hosting Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited 24/7 Windows or Linux
Unlimited Plus Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited 24/7 Windows or Linux
unlimited Pro Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited 24/7 Windows or Linux
Basic 50GB 1 Unlimited 24/7 Linux
Plus 150GB 10 Unlimited 24/7 Linux
Business Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited 24/7 Linux
Hatchling Unlimited 1 Unlimited 24/7 Windows or Linux
Baby Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited 24/7 Windows or Linux
Business Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited 24/7 Windows or Linux
DreamHost   Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited 24/7 Linux

Hosting would be of little use if you couldn’t get files to and from the server, manage the server, and send and receive emails.  Files can be uploaded via the Secure Shell (SSH) or through the control panel dashboards provided by the web hosting providers;  however, the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is the most convenient ways to upload / download files to / from the server in bulk.  I recommend the Filezilla FTP client for uploading / downloading files in bulk. The SSH can be used to manage the server;  however the control panel dashboards are so versatile and feature rich that it’s unlikely that you will use the SSH. The dashboard offered by the various web hosting providers are either the open source cPanel or a proprietary solutions.  Both solutions are very robust and easy to use.  They have to be otherwise there would be a lot of unhappy calls to tech support and a lot of cancelled services.  Several of the packages offered limit the number of FTP & email accounts and email storage (per account).  It’s unlikely that you will need more than a few email or FTP accounts unless you are operating multiple sites or have multiple people supporting it. Email storage may be limited in some of the web hosting packages;  however it’s unlikely that you will be using it as your primary account.  If you do intent to use it as your primary email account, I recommend managing it through a Gmail account that has a bit more storage.

Host Package Name FTP Accounts Email Accounts Email Storage SSH Accounts Dashboard
IONOS Hosting Unlimited 20 100 2GB (per account) Yes Proprietary
Unlimited Plus Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Yes Proprietary
unlimited Pro Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Yes Proprietary
Basic  Unlimited 5 100MB (per account) Yes cPanel
Plus  Unlimited 100 500MB (per account) Yes cPanel
Business Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Yes cPanel
Hatchling Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Yes cPanel
Baby Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Yes cPanel
Business Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Yes cPanel
DreamHost   Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Yes Proprietary

Summary

The web hosts provide a variety of packages that will allow your hosting to grow with you.  Each of the web hosting providers discussed are feature rich with some variation between them. IONOS Hosting is a low cost provider that is good for entry level hosting.  I’ve been using IONOS Hosting for some time now for this site.  I’ve been happy with it, but I’m highly considering moving to DreamHost or BlueHost due to the better performance.  However, I have not yet explored how difficult it might be to transitioning between web hosts.
 

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Increase Words Per Minute Using Android’s Speech to Text

Alex and Emma Movie Image

The other day I was watching “Alex & Emma“, a movie about an author who hires a stenographer to help him write a book in 30 days so that he can pay off his gambling debts and avoid bodily harm.  As I’ve been writing more, I began to wonder what similar tactics I might use to increase my productivity.  In the past I’ve used Android’s Speech to Text feature to quickly compose texts and I began to wonder whether I could exploit this feature to compose longer blog posts, at what rate, and at what accuracy.

The Experiment

As I consider myself a reasonable typist, I decided to perform an experiment to determine whether Android’s Speech to Text feature would be a viable alternative to typing.

I would take an online typing test to measure my typing speed and accuracy.  The online test calculates the words per minute (WPM), characters per minute (CPM), and one can determine the accuracy based on the number of words typed and mistakes made.

I would read a page from The 4-Hour Workweek, one of my favorite books, aloud and have Android’s Speech to Text feature transcribe it.  I would record the time using a stopwatch and derive the WPM, CPM, and accuracy from the results.

I would repeat both tests 3 times and average the results for comparison.

Experiment Results

Below are the results of my online typing test. The average of the three trials showed 63 WPM, 344 CPM, and a 91% accuracy.  According to the web site my average CPM is faster than 88% of the 21 million people that have taken the online typing test. So, I suppose I’m pretty fast.

Typing Test Results

WPM CPM Accuracy
Trial 1 66 360 90%
Trial 2 63 342 92%
Trial 3  60  330 90%
AVERAGE  63  344 91%

Note:  It’s unclear whether the CPM from the typing test includes or excludes spaces.

Below are the results from my reading The 4-Hour Workweek and having Android’s Speech to Text feature transcribe the information. The average of the three trials showed 166 WPM, 798 CPM, and a 91% accuracy!  This is more than double my typing speed and the Speech to Text feature achieved the same accuracy.  The CPM is literally off the chart and is faster than 100% of the 21 million people that have taken the online typing test.

Speech to Text Results

WPM CPM (Spaces Excluded) CPM (Spaces Included) Accuracy
Trial 1 137 664 801 93%
Trial 2 187 882 1,068 90%
Trial 3 174 846 1,019 89%
AVERAGE 166 798 963 91%

Note: Punctuation and returns have been excluded from the accuracy numbers such that the online typing test and the Speech to Text comparison would be valid.  There are voice commands in Android’s Speech to Text feature, but I didn’t have time to get proficient with them.  Plus there are no punctuation or returns in the online typing test.

Summary

Using Android’s Speech to Text feature to generate content quickly is a viable alternative to typing.  In fact, even a non-typist should be able to generate high WPM and CPM rates using Speech to Text transcription.  If you are a decent typist, then you can use Android’s Speech to Text feature to give your hands a break.  Heck, you could even do it laying down and give your back a break.

Knowing what to say and how to say it greatly enhances the speed at which content is created. The rates achieved during this experiment were while typing or reading existing materials. For a descent typist, it’s likely that the productivity gain due to the faster Speech to Text transcription rate is marginal compared to the time spent thinking about an idea, researching it, and constructing the information. However, there’s definitely a novelty in composing the written word through transcription.

Based on the test results, I’m able to screw up 9% of what ends up in the first draft, whether I’ve typed the information or had it transcribed. It’s highly unlikely that the Speech to Text transcription or anything typed will be publishable without further revision.

I’ve been considering using the speech recognition software at work, but I suspect that may be too distracting…  especially if everyone started doing it.

Additional Information

Android punctuation and line spacing voice commands are as follows:

  • Period (.)
  • comma (,)
  • question mark (?)
  • exclamation point (!)
  • Enter
  • new line
  • new paragraph

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Save and Retrieve VBA Variables in the Windows Registry

There will come a time in Visual Basic for Application (VBA) programming when you will want to save a variable that you are able to modify whose value remains persists between sessions. Such a variable is particularly useful when saving users specific settings in your application, maintaining software license keys, or storing anything else you may wish.

One way of doing this is to save the variable within a hidden (or very hidden) worksheet and hope the user doesn’t corrupt the data. Another way of doing this is to save the variable to a file and retrieve it later as needed, but this is a fairly involved process. The cleanest and simplest method I’ve found to preserve these variables is to write them to the Windows registry using readily available VBA functions.

There are 3 VBA functions that are of interest to this approach:

  • SaveSetting
  • GetSetting
  • DeleteSetting

SaveSetting() Function

Public Function SaveSetting(AppName As String, Section As String, Key As String, Setting As String)

GetSetting() Function

Public Function GetSetting(AppName As String, Section As String, Key As String, Optional Default As String) As String

DeleteSetting() Function

Public Function DeleteSetting(AppName As String, Optional Section As String, Optional Key As String) As String

Function Parameters

AppName - String expression containing the name of the application or project to which the setting applies.

Section - String expression containing the name of the section in which the key setting is being saved.

Key - String expression containing the name of the key setting being saved.

Setting - String expression containing the value to which Key is being set.

Default - String expression containing the value to return if no value is set in the Key setting. If omitted, assumed to be a zero-length string ("").

Registry Location Manipulated

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\VB and VBA Program Settings\AppName\Section\Key\Setting

Example

The following VBA code may be used as an example of how to read, write, and delete these registry settings.
Sub Test_Registry_Functions()

‘Save Setting to Registry
SaveSetting "MyApp", "Startup", "Top", "75"

‘Retrieve and Display Setting in Message Box
MsgBox GetSetting ("MyApp", "Startup", "Top")

‘Delete Registry settings
DeleteSetting ("MyApp")

End Sub

References


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Book Recommendations

Professional Excel DevelopmentProduct Details

The best resource I’ve found to take you’re VBA development skills to the next level, including:

  • Application development best practices
  • Protect your source code within a .dll file
  • Create an installer for your application
  • Code execution optimization
  • …and much more.

Product DetailsExcel 2013 Power Programming with VBA

An excellent introduction and ongoing reference for VBA development, including:

  • Developing VBA functions and procedure
  • Data types (string, integer, variant, etc.)
  • Common programming structures (If-Then-Else logic, For loops, Do loops, etc.)
  • …and much more.




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You’re a Sucker for Chasing New Powerball Jackpots

… and so am I.

While news of the astronomical Powerball jackpots are showing up everywhere, little is mentioned of the Powerball game changes on October 7, 2015 that are driving them up.  At that time the game was modified from a pick 5 of 59 white balls & 1 of 35 power balls (59/35) to a pick 5 of 69 white balls & 1 of 26 power balls (69/26) an the odds of winning went from 1 in 175,223,510 to 1 in 292,201,338 respectively.  The $2 ticket you purchase today has less chance of winning than one purchased prior to October 7, 2015.  The changes to the game have also ensured higher jackpots given that the odds of winning were cut almost 60%.

Following a similar process described by Bill Butler here, I set out to determine what other impacts the new game rules had on the Powerball jackpot probabilities.  I plotted the probability of no one winning the jackpot, one ticket winning the jackpot, and two or more tickets winning the jackpot while varying the number of tickets purchased.  The solid lines represent the current 69/26 game and the dotted lines represent the old 59/35 game prior to the October 7, 2015 game changes.

PowerBall Probability Of Winning

This graphic shows that the October 7, 2015 Powerball game changes have increased the probability that there will be no jackpot winner within a particular drawing, decreased the probability that multiple players will win and share the jackpot, and increased the probability that a single player will take home the jackpot in games with higher participation (and likely higher jackpots).

Following the October 7, 2015 Powerball game changes, there will be larger jackpots and the occurrence of single jackpot winners will be more frequent.

In addition to us all being suckers for chasing these larger jackpots, I should also add that I’m a sucker that’s seeding those jackpots. Well, sort of.  I have a yearly Mega Millions subscription that plays my numbers every drawing.  Although I don’t have a subscription to Powerball (yet), I can imagine that many other people do.  Between those of us with automatic subscriptions and those that routinely purchase tickets while at gas stations, liquor stores, etc. we are regularly contributing to the growing jackpot while now purchasing fewer equivalent chances of winning. Once the jackpot increases significantly over the course of several games (due to those of us that regularly contribute and the decreased chance of winning) the jackpot begins to respond exponentially as those that do not purchase regularly begin buying tickets in mass.  The jackpot then increases to the point of being obscene.  The October 7, 2015 game changes appear to have targeted those that do not purchase tickets regularly in the hopes of converting them into regular subscribers.  If this tactic is successful, this conversion will in turn raise the initial and subsequent jackpots more quickly.

We are poised for some record setting single winner jackpots in upcoming years.


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Social Media Profile Links Boost Google Search Ranking

Social Media Post Pic

You may (or may not) know that Google uses inbound links to your site to gauge it’s popularity and relevance.  The most popular and relevant content shows up on page one of Google search results, while less popular content is pushed down in the ranks.  The other day I was to pondering the possible effect on Google Search rankings of inbound links from social media profiles and I inadvertently set up an experiment when I set up social media profiles for my site and experienced some impressive results.

Background

In February 2014, I set up a simple site as a means of gauging interest in a product I was strongly considering building.  The site consisted of a custom URL containing keywords I was targeting, a home page, a download now page, and a contact form.  Since it took me until November 2015 to install WordPress on my Web host, it was a very basic site as I was coding all the HTML & PHP by hand.  Between February 2014 and December 2015, the site remained somewhat stagnant, but I was routinely listed on pages 3 to 5 of Google search results (#21 – #60) for the keywords I was targeting. I also gathered ~200 emails addresses during that time frame through the contact form for future promotion.

Setting Up the Experiment

As of 12/29/2015, I ranked #24 (Page 3) in Google search results for the keywords I was targeting.

On 12/29/2015, I set up social media profiles on the following 5 sites with links to my the main site in each of the profiles:

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Linkedin
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest

In addition to putting links to my main site within each of the social media profiles I also included as many links between the social media profiles as I could. Each of the 5 social media sites is linked to the other 4 social media sites and my product site and my product site is linked to each of the 5 social media sites.  I theorized that the 30 interconnecting links between the social media profiles and my product site would boost its apparent popularity and relevance resulting in a better ranking within Google search results.

The Experiment Results

On 1/4/2016 I revisited the Google search results and I was shocked by my findings.  The product site went from being ranked #24 on page 3 to being ranked #6 on page 1 of Google for same key words!  It would appear that interconnecting links between the social media profiles and a product site boosts Google search ranking.

However, in the interest of full disclosure I should note that I added 8 additional pages to the product site on 1/2/2016.  This may have aided in the increased ranking of the site and I somewhat regret their addition due to the possible impact on this experiment’s relevance.

It will be interesting to see what the impact of my product site’s new ranking will have on my traffic and email address list.

Your Next Steps

First, don’t hesitate to sign up for web hosting and reserve your domain name (i.e. MikeStrejcek.com). I’m currently using IONOS Web Hosting and am very happy with it, but I’m strongly considering switching to Bluehost Web Hosting.  At the time of this post, shared hosting from both providers is $7 – $8 per month for the basic package, $10 – $11 per month for the intermediate package, and I’ve seen specials as low as $0.99 / month for the first year.  The shared hosting service from both providers even includes the registration of your first domain name.

Second, don’t wait 2 years (like I did) to install WordPress through the Web Host’s Control Panel. WordPress is free, installs in a few button clicks, and offers many powerful plugins (most are also free).  Let WordPress handle the technical details while you focus on the content and its promotion.

 

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Blogging Income Potential and Best Practices, an Examination of SmartPassiveIncome.com

As I begin to dip my toes into the blogging world, I wonder what success might look like and what techniques or best practices might be used to get there. I began to think of those blogs that I subscribe to and what insight I might be able to extract and derive from publicly available data.  This immediately led me to ponder Pat Flynn at SmartPassiveIncome.com (SPI) as he routinely publishes his income reports. These income reports coupled with his publicly available RSS feed gave me some unique insight into the posting quantity & frequency, effectiveness of different media types (text, audio, video), and the monetary value of a world class blog like SPI.

I should mention that while I am a long time fan of his blog and podcast I am in no way affiliated with Pat Flynn at SmartPassiveIncome.com. As I derived the information that follows from publicly available data, my projections may not be fully representative of Pat Flynn’s actual business model.  I’m include this disclaimer as its highly likely that Pat will stumble upon this post through his use of Google Alerts.  Pat: Thank you for all your inspirational and insightful posts.

SPI RSS Feed Data Source

FeedlyPicI routinely read SPI through a newsreader (i.e Feedly.com) as opposed to visiting Pat Flynn’s site directly.  At the time I began drafting this post, I pulled 30 months of SPI feed information available within Feedly, 5/2/2013 though 12/9/2015.  Feed data pulled includes a popularity score available within feedly, a link to SPI blog post, and when the post was made.

 

 

SPI Publishes Posts Frequently

SPI Cumulative PostsBased on the RSS feed data, SPI published 267 posts over the 30 month period.  The figure shows the cumulative posts published during this period along with a linear trend line through the data points.  As you can see, SPI has a very routine publishing schedule.

 

SPI Posting HistogramBased on the RSS feed data, SPI typically publishes at least once a week, but has been known to publish more than once a day.  Given Pat Flynn’s posting schedule, SPI publishes every 3.56 days on average.  The figure shows a histogram of the days between posts.

 

SPI Feedly Popularity Score for Various Post Types

SPI Feedly Popularity Score Table3

Pat Flynn publishes an assortment of blog post types in the form of a text blog, an audio podcast, and video episodes.  The table displays the popularity score provided by the Feedly interface, binned by post type. In my breakdown, I noted that roughly half of all SPI Text Blog posts are SPI’s Income Reports and Nitch Site Duel updates.  Half of all SPI Text Blog Posts contain recurring summary information of ongoing activities. 

SPI Most Popular Content Type

SPI Feedly Popularity Score

SPI Feedly Popularity Score Table4

As i begin my blog, I take note of an ongoing trend of bloggers incorporating Audio Podcasts and Video posts into their feeds and i was concerned that a text based blog would not be enough to gain traction in today’s blogging world.   However, based on the Feedly popularity scores for the various SPI posts, it would appear that the SPI Audio Podcast and Text Blog posts are more popular than Video. Only 16% of Video posts exceeded a Feedly Popularity score of >100, while 47% and 41% of all SPI Text Blog and Audio Podcast posts did so respectively.  It would appear that a text based blog is still a very effective format and that moving towards audio podcasts and video posts may be a natural progression for bloggers.

I suspect that the reason text and audio appears to be more popular could be that people can listen to a podcast while doing other things (i.e. mowing the lawn) and can read a blog post when they should be doing other things (i.e. @ work).

When it comes to SPI TV, I’m much more selective and don’t watch all of the video episodes.  I find that if I try to watch a video episode (i.e. SPI TV) on my phone I am unable to do anything else while its’ playing. I can not shut off the screen or go to another application without disrupting the video. This is a drain on my battery, my ability to multitask, and even my data plan.  The only way to overcome this issue is to view it on a desktop / laptop computer, but I typically don’t want to spend any more time in front of the computer after work.

My one recommendation for Pat Flynn would be to refine how the SPI TV video format is being applied .  Pat may want to consider transcribing or providing an audio only version of his SPI TV posts.  Both approaches are not without their flaws, but it may aid in improving SPI TV’s popularity.  There may be more difficulty in editing the transcriptions as the spoken word can be different than the written and there may be some issues with comprehension without the video content  It’s also possible that this could be an education issue, in that I simply haven’t found or been directed to an efficient way of absorbing the SPI TV posts.

SPI Monthly Gross Income

SPI Monthly Gross IncomeI downloaded the SPI Monthly Income Reports between 5/2/2013 and 12/9/2015 from Pat Flynn’s website and plotted the data over time along with a linear trend line.  SPI experienced consistent growth and doubled it’s monthly gross income in the last 2.5 yrs.  Most investments can’t deliver this growth rate.

In the OCT 2015 SPI Income Report, Pat Flynn stated that he has over 140,000 subscribers on his mailing list.  This coupled with the fact that he made ~$120,000 in gross income in OCT 2015, one can conclude that SPI earns $0.86 per month in gross income for each of its subscribers on average ($120,000 monthly / 140,000 subscribers).

Based on the OCT 2015 SPI Income Report, SPI earned $120,217.71 in income for the month and incurred $33,238.32 in expenses.  For every $1 of income earned on SPI, $0.28 (or 28%) is paid out as expenses ($33,238.32 / $120,217.71).  It should be noted that this is a point estimate and may not reflect his actual expenditure for all months in the period.

Based on the projections, SPI nets a profit of $0.62 per subscriber per month ($0.86 gross profit *[1-28% expense]).

Assuming you can build a mailing list as effectively and efficiently as Pat Flynn and you can achieve similar conversions rates, you can begin to evaluate the income potential of blogging. If you have achieved this income and wanted to earn an additional $1,000 per month, then you may need as few as 1,613 subscribers ($1,000 / $0.62) to do so.  Given the worldwide population of 3 billion internet users, you would only need to capture 0.000054% of the market (1,613 / 3,000,000,000).  There seems to be plenty of room for growth in the blogging space as even SPI has only captured 0.0047% of internet users (3,000,000,000 / 140,000).

Although $0.62 per subscriber per month may be a good benchmark for net income, it does not give any insight into how much of that income is the result of his SPI email newsletter, search engine optimization (direct traffic), people that read his blog posts but do not subscribe to his email newsletter (i.e. through a newsreader like Feedly), or through which of his various sites his subscribers are coming from.

SPI Metrics from Alexa.com

Alexa.com estimates site traffic based on a sampling of millions of internet users that have installed their browser toolbar extension and / or directly through sites that have chosen to include their scripts on their web page.

At the time of this posting, the Alexa data for SPI shows:

  • Global ranking of 11,328
  • Top 5 visitor country of origin: – Don’t forget you are writing for a global market.
    • 26% of visitors are from India
    • 15% from the United States
    • 4.5% from Brazil, South Africa, and Australia each
  • 49.4% bounce rate
  • 2.42 daily page views per visitor
  • 2:57 daily duration on site per visitor
  • 13.5% of visitors arrive at SPI through search engines
  • Top 5 search engine keywords:
    • 14.55% Pat Flynn
    • 3.34% Passive Income
    • 2.56% Affiliate Marketing
    • 1.90% Smart Passive Income Podcast
    • 1.82% Bluehost Affiliate
  • Top 5 sites visited just prior to SPI:
    • 21.6% google.com
    • 3.2% facebook.com – Don’t leave your friends behind on social media
    • 2.5% google.co.in
    • 1.9% youtube.com
    • 1.3% amazon.com
  • 4,683 sites link to SPI
    • now 4,684 thanks to mine 🙂
  • A little more than 50% of visitors are men
  • Majority of visits are initiated from home (as opposed to work or school)

This data is based on a small cross section of internet users and may not be fully representative of the SPI audience.  Then again, I’m continually impressed at how accurately CNN predicts the county and state election results every 4 years through similar methods.

Summary

Below is a list of the key insights from this blog post:

Posting Schedule:

  • SPI has a very routine publishing schedule
  • SPI typically publishes at least once a week
  • SPI publishes every 3.56 days on average

Post Types:

  • A text based blog is still a very effective format
  • SPI Audio Podcast and Text Blog posts are more popular than Video
  • Half of all SPI Text Blog Posts contain recurring summary information of ongoing activities

Growth Potential & Income:

  • SPI experienced consistent growth and doubled it’s monthly gross income in the last 2.5 yrs
  • SPI nets a profit of $0.62 per subscriber per month
    • SPI earns $0.86 per month in gross income for each of its subscribers on average
    • For every $1 of income earned on SPI, $0.28 (or 28%) is paid out as expenses
  • Plenty of room for growth in the blogging space
    • SPI has only captured 0.0047% of internet users
  • Don’t forget you are writing for a global market
  • Don’t leave your friends behind on social media

Recommendation to Pat Flynn

  • Refine how the SPI video format is being applied

Your Next Steps

First, don’t hesitate to sign up for web hosting and reserve your domain name (i.e. MikeStrejcek.com). I’m currently using IONOS Web Hosting and am very happy with it, but I’m strongly considering switching to Bluehost Web Hosting . or DreamHost Web Hosting  At the time of this post, shared hosting from both providers is $7 – $8 per month for the basic package, $10 – $11 per month for the intermediate package, and I’ve seen specials as low as $0.99 / month for the first year.  The shared hosting service from both providers even includes the registration of your first domain name.

Second, don’t wait 2 years (like I did) to install WordPress through the Web Host’s Control Panel. WordPress is free, installs in a few button clicks, and offers many powerful plugins (most are also free).  Let WordPress handle the technical details while you focus on the content and its promotion.

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Is Your Dinner Ready When the Smoke Alarm Goes Off… Too?

Then, chances are you may be cooking with Extra Virgin Olive Oil… too.

There’s a craze among my family and friends over the health benefits of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and we are using it on everything.  Many of us (myself included) have even purchased specialized sprayers for their misapplication in the kitchen.  On several dining occasions I’ve witnessed (and participated in) a new cooking ritual where one team attends to the home’s smoke alarm, windows, and doors while the other operates the oven door.  This highly choreographed act opens along with the windows and doors, hits its crescendo during a synchronized dance involving the waving of colorful dish towels to the incessant beat of the smoke alarm’s chirp, and closes with tears, apology, confusion, and the oven door.

The one factor we all seem to have happily overlooked  is the smoke point of the oil we are cooking with.  The smoke point is the temperature at which the oil begins to break down and produce smoke. It should be noted that the smoke point is well bellow the flash point (the point when the oil ignites).

The smoke point for most common cooking oils is in the 225F (107C) to 520F (270C) range and a particular oils smoke point should dictate their application in cooking.  Varieties of canola and peanut oil have a smoke point around 450F (232C) and are typically used in applications such as deep fat friers while extra virgin olive oil has a smoke point around 320F (160C) and is typically used for cooler application such as vinaigrette, pasta / salad drizzles, or eaten with bread and a little pepper.

I can’t help but wonder, what health benefits (not to mention flavor) we’ve negated with our misapplication of the Olive Oils we purchase.


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Protect Your Personal Cell Phone Number and Email Address with Proxies

I was thinking about how I might handle work related correspondence over the upcoming holiday. On one hand, I don’t want to repeatedly jump on my work computer to check work email and voicemail just in case something important comes up and I don’t want to experience the anxiety of not knowing.  On the other hand, I don’t want to broadcast my personal cell phone number and email address as a means of contacting me while I’m away and risk having those be abused as a primary means of contacting me for future work related issues.

As I like to define boundaries between my personal and work related activities, I’ve opted to use a free Google Voice phone number, a secondary email address, and autoresponders to act as a proxy.  This approach allows coworkers to escalate important work related issues without compromising my personal cell phone number and email address.  It also gives me the option to abandon or disable the Google Voice phone number and secondary email address after the fact if (or when) these methods of contact are abused.

In practice, my work email autoresponder references my Google Voice phone number and secondary email address. The Google Voice phone number forwards calls (& texts) to my personal cell phone and the secondary email address forwards email to my personal email address.  This is visually represented in the bullets below.

  • Work Email Autoresponder >> Google Voice Phone Number (Proxy) >> Personal Cell Phone Number
  • Work Email Autoresponder >> Secondary Email Address (Proxy) >> Personal Email Address

Work Email Autoresponder

The work email autoresponder is intended to notify coworkers that you are out of the office. Many out of office autoresponders I’ve seen list only the start date and end date of their being out of the office.

I exclude the start date from my out of the office autoresponder as I find it somewhat redundant.   If you receive my out of the office autoresponse,  I’m probably already gone.  Furthermore, if I’ve taken the whole week off and someone receives the autoresponse on Thursday, then why publicize that I’ve already been out of the office for 4 business days.   Why not let them think that I’m only out Thursday and Friday.

I include only the last business day in my out of the office autoresponder .  If I’ve taken the whole week off, I state that I’m out of the office though Friday instead of stating that I will return on Monday.  If someone receives my autoresponse on Thursday they might think “Ok, he’s only out through tomorrow” instead of “O crap,  he won’t be back for 4 days”.

I include alternative contacts for my main activities and I list my manager as a catchall for everything else as a means of further reducing interruptions while out of the office.  Only if my coworkers are unable to address their issues through the contacts provided and can not wait until I return, do I ask them to leave me a message through my Google Voice number and secondary email address proxies. My coworkers are unaware that the phone number and email address provided in my autoresponder are proxies and are left thinking how dedicated I am to include my personal contact info while I’m out of the office. In the 10 years I’ve been using this autoresponder only a handful of people have taken me up on the offer.

I’m currently using the following message body text in my work email autoresponder.

I am out of the office through DD MMM YYYY, but I plan to check email and voice mail infrequently while I’m out. However, if you require immediate assistance, please contact the following individuals:

  • For project X, contact “FirstName LastName” @ ###-###-####
  • For project Y, contact “FirstName LastName” @ ###-###-####
  • For project Z, contact “FirstName LastName” @ ###-###-####
  • All other inquires, contact “FirstName LastName” @ ###-###-####

If you are unable to resolve your issues though the contacts above and can not wait until after DD MMM YYY, please leave me a message at:

  • Email: MySecondaryEmailAddress@MyURL.com
  • Phone: ###-###-####

Google Voice (Proxy)

Google Voice is a free service and can be used to act as a proxy between your personal cell phone number and the outside world.  In addition to simply forwarding calls / texts to made to the Google Voice phone number there are several other options to consider when using this tool.  I personally have mine set to NOT ring through to my personal cell phone;  however it transcribes received voice mails and texts the transcription to my personal cell phone.  Although the voice mail transcription isn’t always 100% accurate, it typically gives me enough information to gauge the importance of the call.  I also have it set to send me an email containing the voice mail audio in case the transcription isn’t enough.

You can also set a custom voice mail greeting for particular incoming phone numbers.  Just imagine your managers face when he or she is addressed by name in your outgoing voice mail greeting.

Secondary Email Address (Proxy)

The secondary email address can be used to act as a proxy between your personal email address and the outside world.  In addition to simply forwarding emails you may wish to set up an autoresponder when not in use as a deterrent for abuse.  I’m currently using the following subject and message body text in my secondary email autoresponder when it is not in use.
Subject:
Autoresponse: “YourAddress@YourURL.com” Email Address Inactive
Message Body:
You have sent an email or reply to an email address that is inactive.
Please contact me through regular channels.
Thank you,

Michael Strejcek

This secondary email address could be a free advertising supported service such as Gmail or you could implement a virtually unlimited number of custom email addresses using your own domain names through a Web Hosting provider such as 1&1 Web Hosting.

Further Applications

I should note that the techniques outlined above also work for home loans, car purchases, raffles / contests, etc.  If you’ve ever applied for home loan rate quotes, car price quotes, or entered any contests, then you’ve likely experienced the deluge of phone calls and emails that follow those activities.  Just imagine the satisfaction of having all those people fight with your autoresponders and proxies for a change.


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