Filipina Eyes Future Changes

[dan]

NOTE: if you don't want to read this techo stuff, enjoy the video at the end of the comments.

These past few months has been hectic in trying to keep up with and understand about varied functions related to running a website. For the member, the following may help you understand where Filipina Eyes is going and if you are new to online dating it may help you get up to snuff.

First let me start with servers. Most newbie webmasters sign up for a web host and get a domain name at the same time. In 99% of the cases, you will start out with a shared host. This simply means you share your resources ( processor, memory, bandwidth, OS software) with other sites. There can be thousands of sites sharing the same resources.

The advantage is cost. The disadvantage is when there is a problem, it could be related to another site on your shared server or you run into limitations as your site grows.

Most shared servers allow you around 20% of the shared cpu processor. As you grow, you can start to run into limitations if you need more processing power. I believe Filipina Eyes has come close to or is nearing that stage of their growth. I could simply stagnate and stay where I am, but that seems to defeat the purpose of having a site. As more members join, send emails, or interact with the site’s resources (i.e. database) the more likely that they may run into a bottleneck on a shared server.

My other concern is that the web is changing directions quite rapidly. Web 2.0 has been around for a little while, but it is now hit main stream and I notice many dating sites are now 2.0 ready. What this means for the member is that they can interact with the site (i.e. blogs, video, music, photos, etc) in real time and updates are provided instantly. I tried to adapt Filipina Eyes to web 2.0 but piece meal non -integrated scripts don't always give the best performance.

This leaves me thinking what direction should Filipina Eyes go with server and software? For server, I’m considering what they call virtual private servers (VPS). Remember, I’m on a shared server right now. With VPS, the host will partition the drive and you get 100% of that pie and are isolated from other members. The step up from VPS is dedicated server where you get 100% of the whole server. Cost is the only drawback, but I may have to make a leap of faith hoping the investment will be paid back simply because I will have room to grow – otherwise I’ll stagnate at where I am now. I’m sure as I grow, so will the problems with being on a shared host.

For software it may be time to look into web 2.0 integrated software that is geared towards dating or social networks. It is obvious that Filipina Eyes has several sections. We have several html pages, a gallery, a blog, a forum, etc. Web 2.0 integrates these functions and it provides web 2.0 functionality: latest messages, latest matches, newest members, hot or not hot, etc, etc, etc.

I’m actually thinking of trying the new software before jumping to a new server. The logic is that integrated software is tightly coded and does not create the cpu leakage that modified software does. For example, over the past years, I have used phpbb, 4images, wordpress, smf, and many other php scripts. None of them are geared to be a dating site out of the box. Yet they can be modified and customized to get as close to being the type of site you desire but usually at the expense of poor modified coding. These sites allow 3rd parties to create modifications (mods) to add or change a function of the script. That is where the problems begin. The 3rd party coding doesn't always integrate well with the original code. It may work, but not without burdening your resources. For example, every time a member queries the database, the code structure may take longer to process than your shared host allows....what a member gets is an error instead of what they queried the database for. As you grow, this means more queries and eventually more problems. Heck, right now if I have 20 or 30 members sending out an email or searching for an email at the same time or within seconds of each other it can put a strain on the database.

It took me a while to understand how coding can effect your server's performance but it is easy enough to prove. Most servers have at the root a temp file and inside that temp file is usually a file listing every time a query exceeds their cpu limitations – plus it tells you what file and what actions caused it.

For now, all I can say is for $8.00 a month for a shared host, I can’t expect much. I hate change, but it is necessary if you want to keep up with technology and growth. I know my members don’t enjoy change either. But if problems start to become an overwhelming concern, than complaints will start coming in. Right now if there are a few problems here and there but goes away within a few minutes seems liveable, but not something I want to let get out of hand.

I need to make room for growth and to do that I may have to upgrade to a better server and software. I will keep educating myself and when and if the time comes that change seems to be needed to keep my site on par, I will let you know. My thought is to get through the rest of 2007 as is but than again if my growth starts to get out of hand during the holidays I may be forced to change sooner than later.

Keep the faith. I'm working hard to keep Filipina Eyes FREE and still give the best service I can.

Dan.

p.s.

For the old timers who have been a member of Filipina Eyes for a while, you may bring up the point that membership of Filipina Eyes was this large or larger than this at one time. You may be right, but at that time the gallery was nothing more than a place holder for the images. To actually contact a lady you had to access another html page (very non web 2.0 design).

We had to change from that to a design that had more customer interaction (update and create their own profile, upload their photo, etc). This customer interaction puts more burden on the resources. However, by not updating, I would of eventually been so far behind the power curve that in time I may of been so outdated it would of been useless to upgrade.

Even though we are not on the cutting edge as is, we do offer some of the web 2.0 functions that keeps us in the ball game for now.

Yep, if you are going to be a webmaster and want to grow, be prepared to make changes.

[dan]

I got an email asking me to define growth. I replied but thought I would comment here as well since some good points were brought up.

The obvious indicator is traffic. But in todays niche sites, traffic is not the only factor to consider. Which would a dating site rather have as traffic (1) 500 visitors who were looking for vacation spots in the Philippines or (2) 250 visitors who were looking to meet an asian lady for romance. Obviously #2 since that traffic is more than likely will stick around your site while #1 will probably leave as soon as they realize the site doesn't have what they are looking for.

I hear more and more webmasters talking about quality traffic, the above is what they are referring to.

My site's weakness is that all my traffic is on the gallery. They may land at a certain page of the site, but as soon as they find the link to the gallery that is where they go. They stick around, look at the member's photos and if they like what they see, they may join. After they join, they can log in to the gallery, but do not have access to the members contact information until they have uploaded a photo. Once they uploaded a photo, they get access to the other members contact info.

The gallery is the heart and soul and I consider the traffic on the gallery quality traffic. I talked about the weaknesses of shared servers above and usually any limitations I may run in to is related to the gallery's traffic.

However, a site that does get traffic spread throughout the site has a lot to say about getting quality traffic if it generates revenue. If someone has a blog and that blogs brings in traffic, it can be a boost to the site's quality.

I think what a person needs to do is look at their logs and judge if their traffic is quality traffic by how long they stick around versus if they come and exit within seconds of landing. The numbers may look good but it may not be a boost to the bottom line if they are leaving as fast as they came.

Lately I started to gage my traffic by their actions as well. When I get a lot of members on the gallery and they are interacting with their account or other members, it is a good sign as far as I'm concerned. This is where you can have performance issues with a shared server. At any given time I can see 75 to 100 visitors on the gallery. Out of those 100 some are members some are visitors. Some visitors search or look at every photo on the gallery, but because they are not a member yet, they can not do much interaction with the gallery features. While 20 members who have full permission, can use up a lot of resources just by the data base queries they have access to that visitors do not.

Oh well, maybe the real measurement is the bottom line...REVENUE! Or in our case, Adsense.