I finally did it…
After many months of asking clients to use text based template I finally bit the bullet and installed a swish new order form for ordering automated blogs. To use it all that is needed is to copy/paste the information that we need to share into the form. When the 'Submit' button is pressed all the data is uploaded to a server and I get an immediate notification that the order has been placed.
Because I am using a trusted 3rd party server to host the form there is no worry about spam or hijacking of the form. I am aware that some people prefer to be ultra-cautious about data and so it is still possible to send hosting account info to me by email, but, in my opinion, this system is more than secure enough for our needs.
If there are any questions about this improved system please just send me an email.
Andrew Wilson.
Filed under Install WordPress, What's a LAMM? by on Oct 28th, 2007. Comment. 
Since we started building blogs (automated blogs) for clients in September 2006 we have been providing automated services to reduce the amount of work that the webmaster must do in order to maintain his site.
The automation usually needs some kind of timing and one important element of the timing has been provided by an external service. www.cronservice.co.uk. In my opinion it is better to run the service from within the site as this avoids any kind of external service quality issues and is under the control of the site owner. Sadly we did not have access to a good quality tool for the purpose. Well, now we do. I have been trying out a plugin called VirtualCron which can be downloaded from here: http://www.worldwidecreations.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2578.
You may need to register with the forum to get the download.
So, now, if you choose you can move away from the external service and have all the actions of the site under your control. I think this is a good thing.
Installation is easy. Documentation is on the admin page of the plugin when you log into your site and look under options for VirtualCron. There is also a support forum for the tool at the download address.
Basic instructions (which make more sense when you have the plugin installed) follow.
1) Download the plugin from the address above.
2) Install the plugin and activate it as normal.
3) Place a link to each page of the site by inserting a link to a tiny/invisible graphic on every page by pasting a link into the Statcounter admin box. The format of the link is shown on the admin panel.
4) Then you make a cron job in the virtualcron page, I suggest that to start with you just copy the format like this: * 6 1,4,7,10,13,16,19,22,25,28,31 * * pasted into the box marked "Run Custom Timing" and tick the appropriate check box.
5) Insert the URL to be called in the following format into the box marked "Command or URL to
Execute": mydomain.com/strangle.php
6) Check the box marked "Activate URL", save and that is it.
In the example setting above you will have posts going off from SmartRss every third day at about 06:00
The first number in this case 6 can be changed to any number between 0 and 23 and you might want to do so as that is the hour the script will run and you might want to give a more random effect by changing that time.
The Virtualcron plugin controls all the Rss feeds coming to your SmartRss plugin (wp-adin/options/smartRss ).
All new sites are being set up with this plugin. If you choose to install VirtualCron then please let me know and tell me which sites so I can remove your sites from the external service (we don't want you getting too much new content, not good SEO.)
If you wish me to install VirtualCron for you then please let me know, we will have to charge for this at $10 per site but if you wish we will include this in a site update whereby we will add VirtualCron, add up to 100 syndicated articles, all made 'unique' by using tips as we have been doing previously, into your site for new keywords. If not already present we will add a new article directory source of content that updates the instant new content is distributed giving you the freshest content available, often before it is indexed in the search engines. The cost to 'refresh' your sites is just $20 per site. Emails for update orders to refresh (@) knowhow-now.com
Thanks for using our services!
Andrew.
Filed under Blog Setups, Blogging Tools, Install WordPress, LAMM add-ons, What's a LAMM? by on Jul 3rd, 2007. 2 Comments.
Automatic Posting On WordPress Blogs (automated blogs)
There are several ways to manage automated posting and other functions on WordPress blogs (automated blogs).
automated blogs use three systems. The first is a cron job that runs roughly every other day. It triggers the Rss feeds that bring in news and other feeds from other sites across the internet. To ensure consistency and reliability we use an external cron service to provide the trigger that makes the new post appear. The service is set so that the timing is not exact, it changes a little each time the cron job runs.
Second we have future dated posts, these articles are inserted when the blog is installed but have a date of posting set sometime in the future, usually we set these articles to be posted at random times once each day.
Thirdly we have articles controlled by an WordPress plugin called wp-autocron, this provides a 'pseudo-cron' and is pretty reliable. It does not need a cron job to be installed on a server in order to work. But, wp-autocron is triggered by visits to the site by a human, or a search engine spider. If the site has no activity then no content is collected from the external sources. This is not really a problem as most sites are visited pretty regularly, usually by humans! If you see a time based function that does not seem to be working on your automated blogs, then try making a visit to your site. It might just be that, particularly on a brand new site, that you have not had a visitor for a few hours.
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Filed under Blog Setups, Blogging Tools, LAMMs Techniques, What's a LAMM? by Andrew on Mar 18th, 2007. Comment.