How true is the claim? I’ve no idea. I guess it depends pretty much on their definition of a user friendly DIY portal.

MyPortal is a web hosting package provided by Edorey, the company behind Portal Whizz.

Basically, MyPortal runs on the Portal Whizz CMS engine. MyPortal is thus, the baby sized package of Portal Whizz.

Following is the package comparison:

The portal engine running in the backend is actually based on fullxml which was once developed by John Roland and Marc Chouteau. The last stable production release of fullxml was in 2002. I guess, the code behind Portal Whizz right now is probably based on that stable release.

MyPortal’s engine runs on an XML database backend. This is among the reason why they can offer a very cheap CMS package to the masses. It’s Windows based, however, thus a Windows Web Server license would still be required.

I have yet to take a look at the source of the backend engine. Will take a brief look at it soon. I can only take a look at the old fullxml source, though. The current engine is no longer open source it seems. They also claim, they were part or the fullxml development team way back then.

Pros

Webmaster Friendly Admin Interface

I have to admit, the backend administration interface is very user friendly. I’ve tried my hands on a number of CMS products before. Nothing compares to the ease of use of the Portal Whizz backend. Yes, you name it, I’ve done Mambo, Joomla, XOOPS, Drupal,  and DotNetNuke. I’ve played with them at one time or another. They all have a pretty complicated backend that needs a couple of months to master.

The Portal Whizz backend, on the other hand, takes just a few hours, at most, of tinkering to master. To make things even easier for a newbie webmaster, once the portal layout and content has been initialized, the webmaster can maintain the contents directly from the administrator’s front end.

Take a peek at the Admin Home Page included here. The red squares at the side of the Page and Article titles are Edit Points. Administrators need only to click on these red squares to edit the respective content item.

Complete Portal Package

Take a look at the modules included in the Portal Whizz package. They’ve got:

• Newsletter
• Forum
• SiteMap
• Guest Book
• Directory
• Knowledgebase Manager
• Internal Messaging
• RSS and SEO
• Daily Quotes
• Visitor Stats and Tracking
• Surveys and Polls
• Forms Manager
• Multimedia Gallery
• Classified Ads
• Calendar
• Upload Manager
• Download Manager
• Member Manager
• Banner Manager
• Themes and Skins

I don’t really know the exact implementation details of all the modules. However, from the names of the lot, I’d say they pretty much cover almost everything one needs to run a full fledge portal of some kind. All a webmaster needs to do once they login into their portal is to turn those modules on and they should be up and running.

Of course, some tweaking, tuning, and initializing needs to be done on some of the modules. The Forum needs to have some initial Topics and threads, the Classified Ads need some categories, Newsletters need to be created, etc. The thing is, for a newbie webmaster without any technical background, this is not too hard a task to perform. If compared to running other types of CMSes, Portal Whizz provides an ultimately easy administrative experience for the webmaster.

Too bad, they don’t offer all the modules into the MyPortal package. So, if you are getting the MyPortal package, be aware that you only get a portion of the modules available for the more expensive Portal Whizz Packages.

Pricing unmatched for a portal solution

MyPortal offers probably the cheapest portal solution around. At RM50 per year, I don’t think there is any other cheaper offer around. By offering a solution at RM50 per year, MyPortal will certainly be attracting a whole lot of interest from small businesses who have been thinking about entering the internet scene.

Let’s see now. RM50 per year. That’s roughly about RM4.15+ a month. Less than RM0.15 per day. Any business out there can’t afford to spend RM0.15 a day for internet exposure?

Cons

DNS management

I deem DNS Management a crucial part of a hosting package. Granted, the MyPortal and Portal Whizz Premium packages come with only a subdomain. However, using your own domain is an option in the MyPortal package. It also comes standard in the Portal Whizz Super package. The thing is, nowhere in any of the documented materials is there a mention to the extent of domain management that’s provided.

Since, there is no mention anywhere about domain management, I’m assuming here that none is provided. To me, this is something which the company needs to take a look into.

No Blogging Module

There’s a whole lot of modules in the system, however, I don’t see any module specific to blogging. I’d expect that such a module is available in this era of bloggers.

While yes, you can probably just create a page called Blog and create articles in that page. I have a problem with this. When creating articles as contents of a page, the articles are arranged within the page in creation order from top to bottom. Thus, new articles will be inserted towards th bottom of the page. I could not find a way to change this order. Perhaps there may be a way, I don’t know.

The articles also lack any form of tags or categorizations. Two of the most important aspects of a blog. Even Blogspot has now created labels to categorize blog entries.

Ugly URL

In terms of SEO, the page URL plays a part in getting the page to the top spot of the SERP. At present, the URL churned out by the backend engine is pretty much outright ugleeee. There’s no indication to the topic of the content the URL is pointing to. It’s very worm like.

The problem with these type of worm like URLs is search engines don’t really like them. As such, it affects the SERP of the pages. It makes it even harder for the pages to be ranked in the top spots for SERP. Getting a top spot SERP is important for businesses. The higher you are in the SERP, the more traffic you get. Of course, the URL is not the only thing to consider in SEO. It is however, an important part of SEO.

Another problem with this ugly URL is when you view it in a web statistics and tracking report. It’s going to be very hard to identify the page in the stats if the page title is not available. Such is the case with the internal stats report provided in the portal engine. Looking at the report, there is no way I can ascertain which of the many pages in my site is attracting the most visits.

Site based SEO

Most people don’t really understand this. Search engine optimization is page based. It is not site based. When you do SEO, you’ve got to optimize each page for the search engine. Thus, the meta tags must be optimized for each page.

The current implementation of SEO in Portal Whizz is site based. You define meta keywords, meta description and title once for the site. These are then implemented into every page in your site. Basically, in SEO terms, this is the wrong way of doing things.

Naturally, all your pages will not have the relavent content coresponding to the keyword you’ve set for your home page. It is a portal, anyway. What does a portal have? A portal normally contains information on many topics. How can a site based keywords, description and title satisfy the SEO required for a portal?

No control over Adsense placement and type

It’s good that Adsense is included automatically in the package. However, I have a problem with the adsense placement. In addition to that, I can’t seem to add more adsense scripts into the portal. At present, I can see only a single adsense box - at the top of the portal.

I would like to be able to position my adsense ads to my liking. If its possible, I would also like to add a couple more adsense ads into the portal.

I also can’t seem to find a way to change the Google Id associated with the Google Search box. Changing the publisher-id in the Google Adsense settings field does not change the id associated in the Google Search box. Is this a bug in the system? Or is there a different set of settings to change which I did not find?

Conclusion

At first look, I am impressed with the MyPortal package offering. It really is an attractive offering. The ease of use and low price of the package is surely an offer hard to refuse.

However, being a somewhat experienced webmaster, I find that the system lacks a lot of the required features necessary to succeed in today’s internet marketing arena. As such, I deemed the MyPortal package only suitable for absolute beginners. If you are thinking about competing seriously in the internet, you should get yourself trained to use other web packages. Do note that they will cost a lot more than RM50.

If RM50 is all you can afford to spare right now and a total newbie in terms of the internet, then go for it. Use it to get yourself trained about the internet and web hosting. Hey, where else can you get an RM50 per year hands on training?

Besides, I’m pretty sure, Edorey will do something about all the shortcomings I’ve mentioned above. I will inform them about all these sometime soon. Why?

Simple, I see the potential in their offering. Thus, I have enrolled as a MyPortal dealer. So, as a dealer of MyPortal, it is my responsibility to provide the truth behind what I’m promoting. Yes, the system lacks some features right now. However, at RM50. I believe it is the best way to get the majority of small businesses out there into the internet.

The way I see it. I’m helping these small businesses to grab a piece of the pie from the internet market space. In a market space of multi billions, even if they get only 1% of the traffic, it would certainly be more than enough.

So, would you like to join me as a MyPortal dealer? Here’s a tip.. Dealers get 40% of each MyPortal accounts registered. It’s also a yearly residual income. You get 40% everytime the customer renews yearly. Give me a buzz at +6012 3165551 if you’re interested.

Here’s an existing MyPortal client site if you would like to take a look at a sample.  Check out the Puspanita DBP Portal.

Interested in the RM50 MyPortal Package? Give me a buzz at the number above, or leave your details over at the Build Your Own Web Page Portal Site - MyPortal Step By Step Guide And More.

The two contenders in the recent FA Cup 2008 completed the first leg with comfortable wins. Both Selangor and Kedah cruised past their opponents in their respective matches last night.

• Selangor vs Johor FC - Selangor edged Johor FC with a 2-0 win
• Kedah vs Terengganu - Kedah took charge with a convincing 3-0 win.

Both Selangor and Kedah continue their fine form after their wins in the TM Piala Malaysia 2008 Quarter Finals.

Selangor vs Johor FC

In Shah Alam, it was their final appearance with Selangor at home for the 3 Selangor imports. The Selangor trio of Frank Seator, Elie Aiboy and Evans Chisulo bid farewell to their fans. No imports for next season, said FAM recently.

The Selangor  Red Giants started the match with vigor. They clearly wanted an early score. They went for the kill from the word go. Johor FC were on their back foot through out the match. They never posed any real danger for the upbeat Selangor.

Selangor deservedly got their first goal in the 18th minute. Safee Sali finishing off a low cross from Indra Putra. The goal raised the heat even further for Johor FC. The home team had many more chances at goal after that. They were however, denied goal by poor finishing up front.

Frank Seator rocked the Johor FC goal post with a thunderous shot from 30 meters in the 40th minute. The score, thus, remained 1-0 until the half.

After the half time breather, Selangor continued their pressure on Johor FC. They kept Johor FC back pedaling through out the match. The Red Giant’s goal keeper had pretty much nothing to do between his goal posts.

E. Aiboy, could have put the homers two up in the 60th minute. S. Sali’s sent the ball to E. Aiboy across a gaping open goal. E. Aiboy, however, failed to convert, even with the goal keeper already well beaten.

The visitors looked to have succeeded in keeping the scoreline at 1-0. However, much to the pleasure of the home fans, two second half substitutions combined together in the dying minutes of extra time to produce Selangor’s second goal. A. Yahyah, coming in from the left, sent in a hard low cross across the Johor goal. The drive was met by the onrushing R. Surendran and directed straight into goal.

Kedah vs Terengganu

Over in Stadium Darul Aman, Kedah too had no problems facing Terengganu. Kedah had total control of the match. Terengganu was never in the game. At half time, Kedah was already up by 2-0. Badrul Bakhtiar and Marlon Alex James scoring in the 25th and 40th minutes respectively. Kedah’s third came in the 75th minute. Khyril Muhaimeen netting in the third for his team.

A Look Ahead

Johor FC will host Selangor at the Pasir Gudang Stadium in the second leg. They will have a daunting task of overcoming Selangor’s two goal advantage. Johor FC, have shown in the past that they are capable of the task, however. They did overcome UPB MyTeam’s 2 goal advantage to advance to the semis.  Can they do it again?

An early goal by Selangor in the return leg would diminish any hope of a comeback by Johor FC. Johor FC would need to win by a four goal margin should Selangor score another goal in the 2nd leg. Selangor should take on an attacking mindset in the coming match. A defensive stand could swing the momentum into Johor FC’s advantage.

A two goal lead may not be enough for Selangor. They have been very unpredictable in terms of defense. Among the four in the TM Piala Malaysia 2008 Semi Finalists, Selangor probably has the worst defensive record in the Malaysian Super League 2008 with 36 goals allowed. Johor FC could take advantage of this fact.

Kedah, on the other hand, has a three goal advantage on their side. Terengganu will need to quickly go for the kill and get at least two very early goals to stand a chance in qualifying for the final. Terengganu will no doubt have a Himalayan task ahead of them. Have they got what it takes in them to overcome this 3 goal deficit?

Who do you think will advance into the Malaysia Cup 2008 Final? Who do you want to see in the final? Will we see an FA Cup 2008 rematch?

Four Malaysia Cup 2008 matches were played last night. Selangor faced PDRM at Selayang Stadium. Perak hosted Kedah in Ipoh. Terengganu traveled north to face Perlis. MyTeam journeyed south to meet Johor FC. The second leg of the Quarter Finals was a high scoring affair. Only the Perlis vs Terengganu match failed to produce any goals.

In the end, only four teams managed to continue their journey to the Malaysia Cup 2008 Semi-Finals. Malaysia Cup 2008 is almost coming to an end.

The 4 football teams who made the cut are:

• Selangor
• Johor FC
• Kedah
• Terengganu

Of the four, who will survive and move on to the Final match?

PDRM vs Selangor Recap

Selangor Red Giants grabbed their semi final berth with an away win against PDRM. Both teams drew 3-3 last night at the Selayang Stadium. They drew 0-0 in the first leg of the quarter finals.

The Red Giants’ imported striker, Frank Seator, scored two goals from the penalty spot to ensure Selangor’s place in the semi finals. The second penalty came two minutes from full time. Selangor was behind 2-3 before they were presented with the penalty. F. Seator was brought down in the penalty box by Yosri Derma Raju. Referee, R. Krishnan, without hesitation, pointed to the spot. Selangor, thus, claimed their spot into the 2008 Malaysia Cup Semi-Finals.

It was Selangor who drew first blood with a goal in the 12th minute. Safie Sali drew the penalty call when he was brought down in the box. F. Seator had no problems thrashing the ball home dead center for Selangor to take the early lead.

PDRM followed suite with a Nizaruddin Yusof equalizer 7 minutes later. Off a corner kick, the former Selangor striker headed home into Selangor’s goal 20 minutes into the game. The score remained at 1-1 until half time.

After the breather, Selangor came out with more intent. They took the lead for the second time in the 56th minute. Shukor Adan took his chance well and made it 2-1 for Selangor.

As if awaken from a stupor, PDRM took charge after the second Selangor goal. They got their game together and began making advances into their opponent’s box. Selangor, on the other hand, seemed content with their one goal lead and just defended in numbers.

PDRM got their break in the 80th minute. After pushing hard, they finally broke the Selangor defence. Norfarhan Mohamad leveled for PDRM from a free kick. Two minutes later, while Selangor was still languishing from PDRM’s second equalizer, Noh Alam Shah slotted PDRM’s go ahead third.

Leading, with only minutes to go, PDRM became contented. They paid the prize for their lackadaisical display after their third goal. F. Seator made sure that Selangor continue to stay on course for their 33rd Malaysia Cup title.

Malaysia Cup 2008 Quarter Finals 2nd Leg Results:

PDRM 3 vs 3 Selangor (Selangor advances, away goal rule)
Perak 0 vs 2 Kedah (Kedah advances, 5-0 aggregate)
Johor FC 5 vs 1 UPB MyTeam (Johor FC advances, 6-4 aggregate)
Perlis 0 vs 0 Terengganu (Terengganu advances, 7-6 penalty)

Malaysia Cup 2008 Semi-Finals fixtures:

Selangor vs Johor FC
Kedah vs Terengganu

Have you got a blog? Why did you start your blog?

I started blogging in 2002. I just joined the iDesign family back then. The techies in iDesign, was running and hosting a blogging platform of their own. It was called Kepompom.com. I can’t recall how many bloggers we hosted on kepompom.com back then. Quite a large number I’d have to say. The blogging engine was developed by one of the prolific developer we had. Eventually Kepompom had to be brought down (Are you among the many kepompom bloggers? Give me a buzz if you are.).

After Kepompom, I decided to run my blog in my very own domain. Hence, in July 2003, the domain Kodeexii.Net came into existence. My blogging platform of choice was Blosxom - The Zen of Blogging on Linux. Blosxom is a perl script blogging engine which was already plugin enabled back then. My blog was hosted on a workstation, which was lying idle, at the office.

My blogging journey in Linux and Blosxom only lasted for about a year or so. Had to move to another subsidiary. Since I now have no control over the network, I thus had to fallback to Blogger as my blogging platform to run The Kid on The Blox in November 2004.

After about half a year blogging on Blogger, in June 2005, I started experimenting with Dasblog. I’ve found a way to host my blog on one of the servers at work. Thus, after testing and playing with Dasblog for a while, I moved my domain to another server running on windows. Dasblog became my blogging platform for a while.

I once again had to move my blog in the middle of 2006. The company installed a new firewall and access to my domain was blocked. I thus made another move to another hosting and blogging platform. I had recently bought myself a Hosting with Bluehost. I thus utilized this hosting account to host my domain.

Since the new hosting runs on linux, I had to drop Dasblog. Wordpress became my choice for my blogging engine. It was the most popular and widely used engine at the time. Even now, I think.

That’s my  blogging journey after 6 years. In the beginning it was sporadic. I posted only like once a month or so. Now, after 6 long years, I’ve gotten the hang of it. I’m posting regularly now. Not daily, but regularly.

I believe there is still a lot of room for improvement, though. I do believe my writing has improved over the years. Improving my writing skills is actually my main reason to blog. I probably should also now start working on getting more traffic to my blogs and perhaps make some money out of it too.

Blogging has also exposed me to the various technologies available out there on the internet. I learned about domain, hosting, apache, linux, IIS, .Net, MySQL, etc.. all from evaluating, implementing and maintaining my blog.

So, do you own a blog? Why did you start? Have you ever taken a look back at your blogging journey?

Is a mentor really neccessary?

In this internet age, there is no doubt that you can easily find information. Most, if not all, of the information you need are now available at the touch of a Google Search button. There are a multitude of forums, blogs and membership sites where you can get information about anything that you want.

There’s just too much information on the internet. If you just rely on the net, you are most likely to end up with analysis paralysis. You would have an immense collection of information which you don’t know what to do with.

All those information you’ve amassed, needs to be massaged into knowledge. Knowledge comes from experience. To gain experience, you need to turn all those information you’ve compiled into actions that can be performed. In short, you need to practice what you’ve learned.

A mentor, with years of experience and knowledge, simply accelerates your learning process. A mentor, from experience, will be able to inform you why certain methods are successful or not so successful.

A mentor provides you with a model which you can emulate. You basically model the actions of your mentor. Do what he does. Do it how he does it. Do it when he does it. By modeling your mentor, you will ultimately transform all the actions you simulate into your very own behavior.

There’s a saying, that if you do something repeatedly for at least 40 days, that action will become part of your behavior. So, basically, if you want to be like your mentor, just model your mentor and do whatever the mentor does for at least 40 days straight.

Yes, you probably can succeed without a mentor. The journey will just be a little bit longer. You’ll be acting on the information you collected without a guide. If a certain method or action is not successful, you’ll only know about it after you’ve done it.

Which path are you willing to take? The short or the long path? Either way, the most important thing is to ACT on it. As a matter of fact, ACT Now!

P/S: If you’re Malaysian, here is a source for possible local mentors.

Thank You Very Much, Azam, for the wonderful lunch.

There were 12 of us, altogether. Azam organized a lunch for us all at the famous Medah Ikan Bakar Jalan Bellamy. Located somewhere behind the Istana Negara. The place supposedly serves one of the best Ikan Bakar in KL. It is after all, one of the more famous food outlet in KL.

I’ve heard about the place for quite sometime now. Never had the chance to go. Actually, I never had the urge to go. Don’t really know its actual location before today.

Getting there was fairly easy if you know your way around the Istana Negara area. Just drive your way to Istana Negara. As you approach Istana Negara (Istana should be on your left), there is a left turn right before the Istana Negara. Take that left turn. Drive on until you reach the end of the road - a T junction. Make a right. Drive to the end. Make another right and you are there.

It was already past noon by the time I reach the Medan Ikan Bakar. Parking was almost full. Luckily I managed to get a parking spot right beside the public toilet. Quite a modern public toilet too.

There were about three restaurants there. Azam chose the last one. He said it’s the better of the three. Fine by me. Luck was on our side once again. We had no problem finding a place where all 12 of us can sit together.

First order of the day, as everyone got seated - Two large jugs of Juice to quench our thirst. Juicy Asam Boy juice. I’m salivating as I’m writing this. Hahaha. As for food, Kak Zm, NaNeeNoo, and a few others took care of it. Since there were like 12 of us, the best way to order is to “Makan Hidang”.

So, off went Kak Zm, NaNeeNoo, and saper tah lagi to get them savory food. I just sat down and waited and wiping my saliva which was trickling down the side of my mouth.

Ikan Pari Bakar, Ikan Terubuk Bakar, Udang Bakar, Sotong Bakar, Kerang Bakar, Sambal Tumis (Bakar?) and Sayur Sayuran Tempatan. That was the menu for lunch. A true Malaysian Recipe indeed.

The food was exceptionally good. A tad hot and spicy, but very good indeed. Now I know why the place is well known. I believe all twelve of us filled up our tummy up the brim. NaNeeNoo also get to show off her Kerang Bakar with one hand expertise. I couldn’t do it.

Once again, with feelings - Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Azam, for a splendid lunch. Next month?

Forget about Search Engine Optimization for a bit. Forget about Pay Per Click for a bit. Forget about Article Marketing for a bit. While the methods mentioned works like a charm, they require you to either work really hard or pay a certain amount for the traffic that they bring to you. Giveaway events on the other hand, costs nothing and doesn’t require you to work really hard to bring in traffic.

All you need to do is prepare a few web pages especially for the Giveaway events. Register your product in the Giveaway event. Promote the Giveaway event. Wait for the Giveaway event to launch and watch the traffic come into your site. Don’t forget to put up your list building script in those pages of yours.

.. if you participate in the giveaway event, you will ultimately receive tons of visitors. All visitors coming from the marketing effort of every one who participates in the giveaway event. …

Excerpt: Getting Traffic to Website With Giveaways - Internet Marketing Expose

Here’s a Giveaway Event specially tailored for Internet Marketing beginners. The Niche Giveaway Episode 2: Get Started Online.

For a limited time, a special giveaway event is taking place…

… and You are Invited!

Hundreds of successful internet marketers came together to provide you with all the info and tools that you need to build a successful internet business.

If you sign up now, you’ll have access to:

• Step by step tutorials
• ‘How To’ Videos
• Audio products
• Guides and Info-reports
• Easy touse software

And a lot more!

Learn from the Big Guns!

Signing up is free, so you’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Better make a start before the traffic starts to pile up.

So, insyallah, by the end of today evening, a new baby will be delivered into the world.

Will try to update things as soon as possible. Will probably be a tad busy doing new baby stuff today, though.

Oh yes, if you’re wondering which hospital, it’s Hospital Ampang.

[Update: 10:30PM]: New baby was delivered into the world at 12:25PM.  Mama spent a few hours in labor, after being induced at around 9:00AM. At 12:15PM Mama requested for the nurse and the labor process started. 10 minutes later, we were joined by the latest member of our family - a cute little baby boy. Weighting in at 3.37kg, he is a tad bigger than our eldest who was at 3.26kg.

Mama and baby are both well and healthy. Alhamdulillah. My thank you goes to the staff of Hospital Ampang for a job well done.

Tomorrow, I will have to go in and ask if they have a circumcision service for babies. I’ve asked the nurses in the labor room and maternity ward. They don’t seem to know anything about it. They claim that it has never been requested before. Hmmmmm.. Are we the first parent to request for such a service in Hospital Ampang?

Following up on the 2007 success, Ansara is now in the midst of preparing to organize another blood donation campaign. Yes, the successful Nationwide Pre Ramadhan Blood Donation Campaign is coming up once again. The set of dates which have been picked for the event: 29th - 31st August 2008. The event will be held in 14 Jaya Jusco located all over the country.

The reason behind this pre-ramadhan event is due to the fact that most muslims do not donate blood during the ramadhan. The hope is that this event is sufficient to cover for the lack of donors in ramadhan. This event is held nation wide, hence, blood banks all over the country will have the chance to stock up on blood from this event alone, should it be as successful as the last event.

PDN has requested that the second set of dates, i.e. Friday Saturday and Sunday 29th 30th and 31st August 2008 be chosen as this years’s nationwide pre-Ramadhan blood donation campaign to make the campaign as close as possible to Ramadhan, only then will it be more meaningful and relevent. The 3 senior managers from AEON Jusco too were more keen and very enthusiastic towards choosing the second set of dates because from their experience and previous records, they are very confident of a bigger than usual crowd at all their Jusco shopping centres throughout Malaysia during the Merdeka long weekend which will help boost the number of blood donors for the campaign.

Excerpt taken from the official announcement at the Ansara site.

We collected 2,160 bags last year. Can we achieve more this year? I believe we can. Let’s all spread the word out together. Create a post about this event in your blog if you have one. Discuss about this event in the forums that you frequent. Put it up as your status message in your social network profiles and instant messages.

How many bags will come from Ansara Muar members?