If you’ve installed CommentLuv on your blog and are seeing an Internal Server Error when leaving a comment, here’s the problem.

First of all, your site is probably hosted with Hostmonster or BlueHost. These two hosting companies have the same owner. Both hosting companies use CPU throttling if a script or chron job is taking too long to process.

Unfortunately, I did not know this until now. This site is hosted on Hostmonster. When I checked my Control Panel, I discovered my host is throttling my site more than normal, probably because of high traffic volumes.

Anyway, there will sometimes be a conflict between caching plugins and CommentLuv. It seems like this conflict is more common if your site is on Hostmonster or BlueHost. (Ironically, I switched this site from GoDaddy hosting to Hostmonster last year because I thought Hostmonster would be better.)

Fortunately for me, another CommentLuv customer discovered that WP Super Cache was causing the Internal Server Error. When he disabled that plugin, CommentLuv worked just fine.

As it turns out, I was also using WP Super Cache, so I disabled it. Problem solved!

I tried installing the Quick Cache plugin in place of WP Super Cache, but the Internal Server Error returned. So, for now, I am not using any caching plugin on this site.

To sum up, you might get an Internal Server Error when one or both of the following conditions are met:

1. Your site is hosted by Hostmonster or Bluehost.
2. You use any cache plugin with CommentLuv at the same time.

Andy Bailey, the creator of the CommentLuv plugin, responded to me in the support forum. I thought his response was quite helpful:

cache plugins are notoriously troublesome for anything that requires a dynamic site. there are plenty of blogs that have commentluv and use cache plugins but because there are so many options and configurations of hosting I cannot give an exact set of settings to use. the truth is, if you are not completely familiar with cache plugins settings and what they do then it is pretty much hit and miss when you install one if it will work or not.

there are also many users on bluehost that use commentluv with no issues. it is possible that your site is saying internal server error because an error is happening when commentluv tries to fetch posts.

there is no way to tell what is going on in your case until you check your error log. that should show you what is going wrong.

I hope this post helps you solve any Internal Server Error you get with the CommentLuv plugin.

-Ryan M. Healy

P.S. Click here if you’d like to add CommentLuv Premium to your blog.Similar Posts:

• CommentLuv: Get Keyword Backlinks Every Time You Leave a Comment
• Alexa Says My Site Is “Very Slow”
• Read This If You Have an aMember Site
• Need Help Setting Up Your Blog?
• Warning: 34 Million People Can’t Read Your Blog!

I bought and installed the CommentLuv Premium plugin over the weekend.

Now, every time you leave a comment, CommentLuv will automatically pull in your latest blog post and create a link to it.

Because I have the Premium plugin, there are some additional things you should know:

• Once you’ve left 10 approved comments, you’ll be able to choose any of your last 10 blog posts to be linked instead of only the most recent.

• If you’ve left fewer than 10 approved comments, you can Tweet, Like, or +1 the post to get more posts to appear as options to be linked.

Even better, I’ve reverted back to the standard WordPress Comment system. I’ve also installed and reactivated the DoFollow plugin, which means all CommentLuv links will pass PageRank back to your site.

If you’re looking to improve your site’s search engine rankings, you’ll benefit simply by commenting on the posts I write.

I hope you like the new commenting features.

And I look forward to more of your comments.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

• CommentLuv Internal Server Error
• How to Generate Traffic from Blog Comments
• One Thousand Comments & Counting
• PageRank 2
• Why I Allow Only 14 Days for Comments

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is dangerous to the Internet.

It is also dangerous to all online businesses and anybody who voices an opinion on the Internet. I’m guessing that includes you.

Here’s a good video that explains what SOPA is all about (hat tip to Salty Droid):

Tens of thousands of people have already spoken out against SOPA.

But now there is a new threat: the Protect IP Act (PIPA).

PIPA is as bad or worse than SOPA.

As I write this, both bills are on the table. Whether one passes or both pass, it will have far-reaching negative impacts on the Internet.

Here are two good editorials about PIPA. I recommend you read both.

• PIPA is the new SOPA

• My Call to Senator Schumer’s Office on PIPA: It’s So Much Worse Than I Thought

In the second article, Amanda Peyton describes what she discovered when she called Senator Schumer’s office (Charles Schumer is one of the co-sponsors of PIPA). She writes:

The first question I asked was “why does the Senator support this legislation?”

The guy on the other end of the phone said: “well, he’s a co-sponsor so he’s not changing his position.”

He must have known why I was calling.

Asked the same question again. This time the reply I got this time was different: “Senator Schumer is in favor of censoring the internet.”

This is the real issue. It is not about piracy. It is about censorship.

The stated reason for the bill is to stop piracy. This is because most people will be in favor of stopping piracy, so this is what is pitched to the public.

But the real reason for the bill is censorship… the ability to control what is said (or not said) on the Internet. Almost nobody in the U.S. will support censoring the Internet, which is why the real reason is kept secret.

I imagine some will find this duplicity surprising, but it’s “business as usual” in D.C.

Politicians do they same thing to drum up support for wars. They tell the public that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction; but what they really want is to preserve the status of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.

Later the truth comes out that Iraq never had WMD. Of course, by then it is too late.

And so it goes.

If we don’t do our part to stop SOPA and PIPA now, the Internet will never be the same.

With that in mind, please share this post on Facebook and Twitter… and keep hounding your representatives. Thanks.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

• Today We Tell Congress to Shove It
• Please Ignore Armand Morin
• Why You Should Never Claim You’re the Best
• 5 Business Predictions for 2012
• Is It Ever a Good Idea to Mix Politics and Marketing?

In March of this year, I wrote a blog post titled “Best Link Cloaker?”

In that post I talked about my efforts to find a good link cloaker, and how — after trying multiple free and paid options — I had finally found a service I truly loved and felt good about recommending.

Fast-forward 9 months. I still use that service… I still love it… and I still recommend it. It’s called LinkTrackr.

The reason for this post is to let you know that you can save 20% on any plan when you sign up by December 31, 2011. Simply go to this link:

• http://clickora.com/linktrackr

When you place your order, use the coupon code BYE2011 to save 20%.

Discount is valid until December 31, 2011.

Track and Cloak Affiliate Links in a Single Place

I promote affiliate products in at least three different markets.

Because I use LinkTrackr, I’m able to see all activity in all markets in a single place.

Plus, because I’ve created groups for my affiliate links, I can drill down to see each market on its own.

I have personally seen my affiliate commissions go up this year, and the increase corresponded with the time I started using LinkTrackr.

I think there are three reasons for the increase:

1. My affiliate links no longer look like affiliate links.

2. It is now harder for people to circumvent or hijack my affiliate links.

3. Because I’ve set up a single dedicated domain for all my affiliate redirects, my subscribers have grown accustomed to clicking on links that start with clickora.com. This is one of my favorite features of the service. You can do the same sort of thing if you want. (It’s super simple.)

7 Things You Can Do with LinkTrackr

Here’s a brief list of things you can do with LinkTrackr:

• Cloak and mask affiliate links easily with web-based link cloaking software.

• Track hundreds of banner ads, PPC campaigns, and other advertising clicks.

• Accurately track sales conversions and make smarter advertising decisions.

• Track affiliates sales and performance with pixels and postback URLs.

• Split-test your landing pages to improve your conversion rates.

• Get free viral traffic and qualified prospects from popular social media sites.

• Automate blog monetization with a simple-yet-powerful WordPress plugin.

As you can see, LinkTrackr is useful no matter if you promote affiliate products or not… because… you can also use it to track the success of all your online advertising campaigns.

Save 20% Between Now and December 31st

Interested in test-driving the service? Then go to:

• http://clickora.com/linktrackr

During the checkout process, use the coupon code BYE2011 to save 20%.

Just make sure you sign up no later than midnight on December 31, 2011.

My Best,

Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

• Best Link Cloaker?
• How to Shatter Your Productivity Barriers in 2012 – the 80/20 Way
• Can I Promote Your Affiliate Program?
• Affiliates Are Still Being Ripped Off
• How Many of Your Affiliate Links Are Dead?

Over the course of the last 12 months, I’ve moved more of my data to “the cloud.” This means more of my data is stored on servers that are accessible via the Internet. I can access my data from any computer with an Internet connection.

This means I’m no longer dependent on any single computer or hard drive to access important documents and information. And I can travel more easily since I can do almost anything I need to do from almost any computer — whether it’s my computer or not.

Indeed, cloud storage has made my life simpler.

But for all the merits of cloud storage there are still numerous dangers of using the cloud — dangers that are only beginning to emerge. Here are a few risks associated with relying too heavily on cloud storage.

Unexpected Changes in Terms of Service

Dropbox is one of the more popular cloud storage services. I’ve used it for specific client projects before. It’s convenient and easy to use.

Nevertheless, Dropbox updated its Terms of Service in July 2011. The new legalese caused many Dropbox customers to lose trust in the company. Heated discussions took place on message boards and blogs all over the Internet.

Since then, Dropbox has clarified their Terms of Service to allay people’s fears. Still, the point remains: The company that provides your cloud storage could at any time change their Terms of Service such that your data is at risk.

Sudden Account Suspension or Deletion

Google’s erratic behavior with regard to AdWords, AdSense, YouTube, and Gmail accounts is now well-known.

Thousands of Google accounts have been suspended without notice or any kind of recourse. All the data stored in those accounts probably still exists, but it can no longer be accessed by the one person who needs it most: the person who created it.

Not good.

Google has many cloud-based services. The most popular one, of course, is Gmail. Others include Google Docs, Google Groups, Google Reader, iGoogle, Google Bookmarks, YouTube, Picasa, Blogger, and more.

If you use any of these services, you are at the mercy of Google. What happens when a power-tripping employee shuts down your account… or your group… and then denies you the courtesy of even the smallest explanation?

Big Companies Become Targets for Law Enforcement

The bigger the cloud storage service, the more likely they will become a target for “law enforcement.”

I use that term loosely because we’re quickly slipping toward a police state where federal agents seize data and physical property based on hunches, false accusations, and pretense. Following due process of law is becoming the exception to the rule.

If you store data with high-profile companies, your risk goes up. All it would take is some trumped-up charges for law enforcement agents to gain access to all your sensitive data.

Most big companies cave to government demands because they have too much to lose. They’d rather sacrifice a few unlucky customers than pick a fight with a nasty alphabet agency.

Issues with Encryption and Security

Some cursory research reveals distrust in certain forms of encryption used by some cloud storage companies. In other words, the security of your data will vary depending on who you choose to maintain it.

Furthermore, there may be security settings you need to tighten up the moment you set up your account. Private files are often accidentally indexed by Google due to improper security settings. This makes it easy for snoops to find your data, download it, and distribute it.

Be Smart About Choosing a Cloud Storage Provider

It might seem like I’m against cloud storage. I’m not. I’m still a big fan of the concept.

But for it to be a safe long-term solution, you must exercise caution. You must do your research and know exactly what you’re getting into.

Here’s a brief list of storage services to investigate (these are not affiliate links — just a list of providers I put together):

By the way, I’ve been using Google Docs for most of my writing and file storage to avoid any cross-compatibility issues when switching between a Mac and PC. I also use Basecamp for project management. But I’m thinking it’s time to start using a paid cloud storage service.

If you have any experience with cloud storage, recommendations, or warnings, please leave a comment below. I would love your input.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

• Your Diminishing Privacy
• Redundancy in Business
• How Accurate Were My 2011 Business Predictions?
• Are You Lifting Your Kilt for Google?
• 5 Business Predictions for 2011

Do you have a bunch of paid and free PDFs languishing on your hard drive?

Here’s how to blast through them in a fortnight — without sitting in front of your computer screen for hours at a time.

• Step 1: Get a Kindle. (I got mine as a Christmas gift last year.)

• Step 2: Email each PDF to your private Kindle email address (issued to you when you register your Kindle). Put “Convert” in the subject line.

• Step 3: Make sure you’ve got a WiFi connection, then synch your Kindle. All the PDFs should download to your Kindle within a few minutes.

• Step 4: Read the PDFs on your Kindle!

This has got to be the single biggest unexpected benefit to having a Kindle — the ability to read PDFs away from my computer.

Note: Amazon does charge a small fee to convert a PDF to Kindle format, but it’s more than worth it… because… you’ll finally get some value from all those ebooks you’ve purchased!

Update: Antone Roundy shared the following tip for getting your PDFs converted for free…

You can get the PDFs converted for free if you add “free.” into the email address you send them to (i.e. “…@free.kindle.com”). You just have to have WiFi to get them automatically loaded on your Kindle (“free” doesn’t deliver them over 3G).

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

• All the Best Time Management Tips in One Place?
• Amazon Introduces Broadcast Email Service
• 3 Fascinating Business Predictions that Made Me Think
• Results of the Kindle Marketing Experiment
• Video #4: Copywriting Fees

Shopping carts… if you’re an online business owner, you can’t live with ‘em and you can’t live without ‘em!

Every shopping cart sounds amazing when you read the sales copy. It’s only when you start using it every day that its deficiencies become apparent.

I know very few clients who are totally happy with the shopping cart they currently use. In fact, one of my clients is actively thinking about switching to a new platform.

So when I came across Sage Lewis’s article — “3 Things You Don’t Have to Worry About” — his argument against switching shopping carts caught my attention…

I have seen too many people get new shopping carts for their Website when the one they have is just fine.

I’m going to tell you a secret about shopping carts. You ready?

THEY ALL SUCK!

Sorry shopping cart people. I wish that wasn’t the case. But it is. They are hard to use both as the site owner and site user.

Just stick with the devil you know. I have used and setup more shopping carts in the last 15 years than the average bear. And while I have never found one that I’m deeply in love with, I also have not come across a single one that I hate to the ends of the earth.

They all suck and they all are good enough.

If you really want to change your shopping cart you better have a damn good reason. Don’t do it just because you are annoyed with the one you have. Trust me. You’ll be annoyed with all of them.

Because I’ve worked with scores of clients, I’ve also used a number of shopping carts.

A few of the more popular ones I’ve used include 1ShoppingCart, UltraCart, and InfusionSoft, and they each have their quirks and shortcomings.

Switch from one to another and you’ll probably still be annoyed.

As Sage points out in his post, the better use of your time and energy is to improve your business’s key metrics.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

• Google’s Big Mistake
• Sidewiki: The Great Wall of Google
• Sabotage! When Social Proof Backfires
• 7 Traits Scam Artists Have in Common
• Why the Fortune Is in the Follow-Up

Although I’ve used Thesis on this blog for a few years now, I’ve been experimenting with different themes on other WordPress sites I run.

So when I began to create PaidOnTime.net with my friend and business partner Ken Gary, I began to look around at other options.

I knew I wanted the site to have a “slider” at the top so I could quickly convey the main selling points. And I also wanted the site to have a clean, professional look.

Finally, I settled on Woo Themes. I actually joined their WordPress Developer Club so I could try out any of the 90+ themes they have, and I settled on the Biznizz theme for Paid On Time.

As I’ve learned more about the Woo Themes framework and functionality, I’ve begun to like them even more.

For instance, because of how they’ve built their themes, it’s very easy to add slick-looking buttons and quote boxes to your site. You can add them to any page or post using “short codes” from a drop-down menu.

You can see an example of how the short codes work on the PaidOnTime.net sales page. All the call-outs and the order button at the bottom were inserted using the Woo Themes short codes.

The reason I mention this at this particular point in time is because Woo Themes is running a special Easter sale.

Right now, you can get 5 themes for the price of 1, which is a pretty good deal. That’s 5 WordPress themes for $70.

And if you prefer to join their Theme Club and get access to all 90 themes, you can get 20% off the initial fee.

Woo Themes doesn’t run sales that often — only a few times each year. I know that because I was trying to find a sale when I signed up. So if you’re interested, you can check out Woo Themes here…

• Click here to learn more about Woo Themes

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

• Need Help Setting Up Your Blog?
• Improve Your Blog 3 Ways
• Bye-Bye Email Subscribe Button
• Programming at a Discount
• How to Enhance Your Blog with a Facebook “Like Box”

I’ve known for the past couple months that page load times on my site have been slowing down.

I don’t know if it’s because of the traffic, the number of pages on the site (about 400 now), or just crappy hosting.

Yesterday was TERRIBLE. It was taking 2-4 minutes for my site to pull up in my browser. That lasted all morning. Then around lunch time, the site stopped loading altogether. I kept getting 500 Internal Server Errors.

Extremely frustrating.

So I contacted GoDaddy’s support because this particular site is on GoDaddy hosting. (I have other hosting accounts with DreamHost, HostGator, and LiquidWeb.)

Their response was not helpful: “During our review of your account, we did not see any issue with the operational status of your hosting account and your site appears to be setup and accessible without issue.”

But even Alexa knows there’s a problem with my site. Check it out:

Alexa says the average load time for RyanHealy.com is “Very Slow,” 3.182 seconds to be exact. GoDaddy says nothing is wrong.

Hmmm… methinks it’s time to move to a different hosting account.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

• CommentLuv Internal Server Error
• Free AdWords Grader
• Your Lack of Money Is a Money Problem (Or at Least You Think It Is)
• Traffic Patterns – What Influences Traffic
• Google’s Big Mistake

One reason affiliates lose commissions is because they don’t cloak their affiliate links.

Most affiliate links are long and ugly. If you’ve been online for very long, you can easily tell the difference between a regular link and an affiliate link.

Anytime you use a blatant affiliate link, your potential buyers may feel resistance and avoid clicking your link.

Furthermore:

• Long affiliate links sent in an email can “break” and become un-clickable.

• ClickBank affiliate links can be easily hi-jacked by other CB affiliates.

It’s for all these reasons and more that I recommend all affiliates use a high-quality link cloaker and link tracker.

My Quest to Find a Good Link Cloaker

I’ve tried a number of link cloaking solutions through the years.

Probably the cheapest method is to modify your .htaccess file. It’s free. But… you don’t get any consolidated statistics, and modifying the .htaccess file can be risky. (I used this technique on one of my sites, but had somebody else do it because I don’t know how.)

I’ve also tried paid WordPress plugins as well as a paid link cloaking service. The paid service was good in theory, but in practice it caused me a lot of headaches. Because of the constant errors, I canceled after about 4 months.

I share all this with you because it’s important that you know that I’ve been trying to find a good link cloaker for YEARS! And I think I’ve finally found it…

The Best Link Cloaker?

Thanks to Michel Fortin, I discovered a new link cloaking and link tracking service that I’ve fallen in love with! It’s called LinkTrackr.

This service not only cloaks your links, but also provides you with consolidated link tracking statistics on a slick dashboard. Here’s a screen shot:

But what I like most about the service is this:

You can register a domain and have ALL your affiliate links use the same domain.

For example, I registered clickora.com for my affiliate links. I then set the nameservers to point to LinkTrackr. Now, whenever I set up a new affiliate link, it looks like this:

• http://clickora.com/linktrackr

After the .com, I can put any text I want. This makes all my links short and difficult to circumvent. And all my link tracking stats are in a single place!

What’s more, the week I started using the service, my affiliate commissions started to go up. This has been the single biggest benefit for me. The tool pays for itself.

Free or Paid… You Choose!

Another thing I think you’ll appreciate about LinkTrackr is that you can use their free service or their paid service.

I started with the free service, but upgraded immediately to the paid service so I could use my own domain for all my redirects.

To sign up for a free account (or paid account), please click this link. Yes, it’s my affiliate link and I will get a commission if you sign up for the paid service.

• http://clickora.com/linktrackr

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

• An Affiliate Marketing Tool I Love
• Affiliates Are Still Being Ripped Off
• iTrackerPro to Offer Free Level of Service
• Can I Promote Your Affiliate Program?
• Simple SEO: How to Get Ranked