I do a lot of development in linux/unix. In fact, that’s where all my development is, but I spend a fair amount of time in the “CLI” or command line interface. I use putty and ssh in to edit files and look at logs and just generally do what I do.

Today I ran into a problem with a file and I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. I kept getting an error and the spacing was off so I started suspecting a hidden character. vi, the command line editor I use in linux can show you hidden characters. Just type:

:set list

And bingo, hidden characters are revealed.

Turning them back off is just as easy:

:set nolist

Write that down, it comes in handy.

Updated 2/25/10: Thanks to Stephen in the comments, I’ve updated the above commands. I had the : in the wrong place!

I’m getting ready to kick start We Heart Pets. It already gets some decent amount of traffic from all the hard work Aeryn has put into it and with both of us writing and adding features I can see it being a very solid site for us. In it’s prime it was doing about 1000 unique visitors a day according to webalizer (which is a bit inflated, but just as a baseline) and it’s about half that now. I suspect in 3 months it’ll be double that. I need to get Google Analytics up on it as it’s much more accurate.

The template is based off the one I did for this site and for Twitter Hacks. And speaking of stats, Twitter Hacks is doing about 1000 page views a day on average and around 120 rss subscribers. It’s doing really well in terms of natural growth.

While I want to rush into getting as many sites going and profitable as possible I just want to take it slow and get each one going full steam before I decide if we can handle another project. My wife and I both love books, but the margin is so low on them that it’s hard to justify putting in a ton of work for such a small product. Still, we may build our book site just as a fun project once we get a little further along. We do have one unique product in mind for that niche that we haven’t seen anywhere yet and it’s hard enough to create that it’ll be useful to anyone who loves books, I think!

Last week and this week has been rough. My Windows PC got a major trojan/virus, which I haven’t had in years. It was stupidity induced trying to help out a family member, but that’s how it goes. I’ve been needing a format for years though and when antivirus and spyware tools couldn’t identify or clean the infection it was time to format. I also happen to have just bought a Macbook Pro, which I love. So it’s time to ask:

What do you use for web development on your Mac and/or PC?

On my PC, I use Photoshop, FileZilla and Putty. I usually use UltraEdit and Homesite, but the versions I had were from a previous job (I bought the pc when I left) so now I have to re-buy them myself. I’m 99% sure I’m going to buy UltraEdit for the search and replace alone. It’s fairly cheap and has a ton of great features. Homesite is a little pricey, but I haven’t found anything that feels as good. I’m toying with Alleycode, which is free. If I have to pay for it I’m going to buy Homesite. But if you guys have a great tool that’s free, I’d love to hear about it.

On my Mac I’m using Transmit, Coda, Terminal and Textmate. I’m not as proficient with the Mac a I am with the PC yet so I’m not sure I could just abandon the PC all together, but it’s very tempting at this point. The Macbook Pro is about as solid as you could hope for. You can pry it from my cold dead hands!

So, what are you using? I’d love to try out some new stuff. I have 30 day bets for Homesite and UltraEdit so I have some time before I have to buy. I’d rather spend money on advertising or PPC rather than buying more software.

There seems to be a Google PageRank update happening. A friend noticed yesterday or the day before that a clients domain had regained it’s PR rank after the last hit everyone took for either buying or selling text links. I didn’t see the change until today and I’m still seeing some movement on some domains so I don’t think it’s fully over. I have seen some of my sites moving up and some moving down. Luckily, I don’t care about PR, but some people do. All I care about is being listed in the search engines so I want to do everything I can to stay within the guidelines. As long as I can do that and continue to build my traffic through natural means and/or PPC advertising, I’ll be a happy camper.

Anyone else notice anything major during this update?

I noticed a link coming into my site from Problogger from a guest post I did over there when Darren was away. Typos aside, I still think it’s a pretty decent article on productivity and how I do things. Other than working from home now, my daily routine is very much like it was then. Let me quote myself, which may be a first?

There a couple of points I want to make before I get into how I do things. So many people complain about not having time to do stuff, or that their kids get in the way or that they are just too tired when they get home etc. The fact is, if you want to do more, or not even do more, but do something other than your’re doing (maybe your’re spending all your time watching kids, or working in the garden, whatever) then you need figure out what your priority is. You can tell me all day long that you want to be a writer, blogger or web developer and do more, like I do, but if you don’t make it a priority then you’ll never do any of it. If you really want to do it, then do it. It’s that simple. Don’t tell me about why you can’t do it. There are days when it’s hard for me. Don’t lecture me that it’s because I don’t have kids, Aeryn and I decided not to have kids. Don’t tell me you have other things to do. I do too. I just decide what’s most important to me. Watching TV, reading a book, going out to eat, laundry and the million other daily chores, or is my priority writing, blogging and working on my web sites? Sometimes I have just as much trouble getting to what I love to do because of life just as much as the next person. But at the end of the day, I want to be a writer. I want to blog. I want to build up my websites. So, before you decide that you need to get something done, you need to decide what that really is. That will make the rest of the decisions easy.

Head over and ready my Productivity Tips. I think I’ll have to brush up that article, fix the typos and repost with some of the cool tricks I’ve added to my day.

My friend, MissZoot, whom you may know from her free blog templates and whom I worked with at 451 Press is now doing the full time blogger / freelancer thing. I’d first like to welcome her to this totally new kind of freedom and stress! Though the freedom is well worth the stress. MissZoot’s a local so it’s always fun to know other people who you can meet up with and share ideas on what’s working and what isn’t.

I also wanted to link to her latest projects to help spread the word. The first one is Pregnant And Unemployed. I’ll quote here as she explains what it’s about:

I mean, if you were a blogger (of four years) and you found yourself suddenly unemployed and pregnant, what would you do? Well…launch another blog of course. It’s not going to be as personal as this one is. It is going to be more about products/recipes/lessons – but I would love it if you could come by and help me with some of the issues I’m already having as a Work From Home Mom. I’m hoping to get some good submissions and get some advertising for that site and maybe help make enough money to make ends meet for the next 8-9 months.

The other project is something I know a bit more about, TV. And like her, I’m very upset that The 4400 has been canceled! The nerve. Anyway, make sure to check out TV Bloggin.

I love MissZoot’s writing style and humor and I hope she succeeds at this thing we call “working from home”. Check out her sites, subscribe to the feeds and spread the love!

Looks like I’ll be going to SXSW 2008 again this year. It’ll be my second time. Right now I’m just waiting on my email confirmation and then I’ll book my flight tomorrow. This year should be even better because I’m staying right across from the convention center. No more cabs and shuttles! I still remember the area pretty well and I know what to expect from the event. If anyone else is going to be there and wants to meet up, drop me an email (chrispian[at]gmail.com).

I may try to do some event blogging while I’m there, but mostly I’m looking forward to learning from all the talented folks who’ll be there and meeting new people!

Update: Looks like everything is all set! Woot!

As I’ve been doing my research to get down and dirty with affiliate marketing I’ve been hitting the usual places:

• A Best Web
• Affiliate Programs
• Aff Earners
• Earners Forum
• Webmaster World
• Digital Point Forums
• Sitepoint Forums

I also read a few affiliate blogs, like Shawn Collins. Aside from some good and some not-so good ebooks, does anyone have any recommended reading on affiliate marketing. I think I know enough about the process to get crackin but I’d still love to keep researching and learning. So if you’ve got a great spot for affiliates, drop me a link.

It’s really a shame that Jeremy Palmer is no longer selling High Performance Affiliate Marketing, because I would become an affiliate in a heart beat. A client loaned me a copy of his ebook to review for a project and I just recently finished reading the while thing. I’m a skeptic when it comes to ebooks trying to sell the idea of making money. Most of them are big circle jerks that sell the idea of selling ebooks or some other round robin logic loop that will burn your brain cells instead of teach you a single thing. Well, they will teach you to be weary of ebooks, God knows I am.

High Performance Affiliate Marketing may be the first ebook I’ve read that I actually felt like I learned something from. It’s not high level, it’s not rocket science, but it is full of solid advice and useful information. The section on setting up a PPC campaign would have been worth the price alone. While you won’t learn any secret forumla for affiliate success, you will gain a good understanding of how things work.

One of my favorite things about the book was how honest and upfront Jeremy was. He flat out tells you that this isn’t a short cut to riches, just like anything that’s worth doing, it takes hard work. But, if you stick with it and make it work, then you’ll end up doing less work than you would if you had a regular job.

When and If Jeremy start selling the book again, you can be sure I’ll be signing up as an affiliate. If you can get a copy from somewhere, do it. It’s worth it.

It’s officially 2008 here, so Happy New Year everyone! I’m glad 2007 is over and I’m looking forward to 2008. Hopefully that will involve meeting more of you in person, meeting more people, having fun and making money doing it!

Cheers!