The proxy business experiment: Pros, cons and tips of running a proxy site

Discussion in 'General Marketing' started by amund94, Jan 12, 2008.

  1. #1
    I found this article and I thought it might be interesting..;)
    Source: http://paymentblogger.com/2007/04/1...t-pros-cons-and-tips-of-running-a-proxy-site/





    A few months ago I was seeing many proxy websites sold at the popular webmaster marketplaces. What made me interested about this business is that a full automated site can earn big sums from $10 - $100 per day with no work at all. So I thought it would be cool to experiment a little and establish a proxy site.

    The result was very good as I made a site that earned about $300 per month with no work at all, and I later sold it for $3000 which was really cool. I know that this sum may not seem great to many people, but please have in mind that this site cost me about $30 and about 20 hours of work (including promotion and everything)

    Today I feel like I have to share my conclusions about proxy business and maybe some tips for those who are interested to start a proxy web site.
    Benefits of having a proxy site

    The biggest and most important benefit of running such a site is one, automated money. But before you start being excited on this check the….
    Cons of running a proxy web site

    I know earning automated money is what every webmaster wants, but in this case there are many problems too. Here I will try to describe the problems I got into while I was running my proxy :

    1. Proxies create overhead. That means that a proxy site can be easily crash your server if you have enough traffic, so consider that very well :)
    2. Bandwidth. I had months where I was using 3 TB (terrabytes) of bandwidth which was more due to…
    3. Hotlinking. You should be careful that other sites don’t steal your bandwidth in order to hotlink other sites
    4. Abuse. Hackers and cybercriminals use proxies to do their “job”. So you must be very careful, and be sure that your host allows you to have proxy web sites.

    I know the cons are too many, but I have to tell you the truth and know exactly what you may face in the future before you start.
    How to establish a proxy website

    Now let’s say you want to start a proxy web site(I am sure most of the people will stop reading till now :) ). Here are the steps you have to follow :
    Domain name

    The domain name is a very important factor in the proxy business, but not the way it is for other kind of web sites. My experience learned me that a domain with keywords “myspace” or “proxy” is very bad for that kind of site, because these are the keywords that network admins search when they ban sites from their network ;)

    Instead you can use words, like “hide”, “seek”, “surf”, etc.
    Proxy script

    In general there are a few scripts for proxies but only two are commonly used : phproxy and the CGI proxy. The first one is very easy to install, uses less server resources, but it has a big disadvantage. It can’t be used to visit myspace (login issues).

    So as the most of the people will use a proxy site to visit myspace from school or work, CGI proxy is the way to go here. It is a little difficult to install it, but if you can’t you can easily find someone to install it for you (freelance sites, webmaster forums, etc.)
    Promoting a proxy web site

    The promotion of a proxy is a really easy part. You just need to do 3 things :

    1. Get a $20 ad at proxy.org. It really worths your money as it can bring many visitors, and if some of them start to promoting your site, the results can be significant.
    2. Join proxy topsites. It sounds so 90’s technique but it works great with proxies.
    3. Try to promote at myspace. There are groups about proxies, and you can always send bulettins to get some extra traffic. Another good thing you can do, is link to your myspace profile from your proxy site, so people who like your site can add you as friend.

    SEO is not really important in proxies, and a good SEO campaign can harm you as it can help admins find you
    Monetizing a proxy site

    This is the nice part. All you have to do is to put 2 big adsense boxes in your home page (check this proxy) and an adversal popup in your proxified pages (you can read an adversal review here)

    Please notice that it is forbidden to use adsense in the proxified pages, so if you want to add there ads from another network along with adversal, use something like CodeAds or adbrite (which is not the best, but still is an option)

    Affiliate marketing is probably not something that can work with proxies, but you may try it. I did and haven’t any good result.
    Final conclusions

    The proxy business is a risky business but still it is nice to run such a site, as it is full automated and after the initial work you will have to do, you wont have to do anything to make money from it. If you want a final piece of advice, please have in mind that proxies got blocked from network admins all the time, so if you got your site to a state that it earns some decent money sell it

    Well I think that’s all for this tutorial, I hope you enjoy it
     
    amund94, Jan 12, 2008 IP
  2. Mailzas

    Mailzas Peon

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    #2
    Man this is great tutorial! I am not in proxy business, but if I were this is great reading.
     
    Mailzas, Jan 12, 2008 IP
  3. chap_onlne

    chap_onlne Peon

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    #3
    thank dude but a little note i run a php proxy that support successful log in to myspace, check it in my sig
     
    chap_onlne, Jan 12, 2008 IP
  4. hatifahanna

    hatifahanna Peon

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    #4
    thanks for sharing ...it is really informative
     
    hatifahanna, Jan 12, 2008 IP
  5. amplifiedshock

    amplifiedshock Active Member

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    #5
    Great article!

    Can you give a link to the proxy software?
     
    amplifiedshock, Jan 12, 2008 IP
  6. libertygone

    libertygone Active Member

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    libertygone, Jan 12, 2008 IP
  7. amund94

    amund94 Well-Known Member

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    #7
    amund94, Jan 14, 2008 IP
  8. greenfday6

    greenfday6 Member

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    #8
    great read.
     
    greenfday6, Jan 25, 2008 IP