Thank you for choosing DotComBlitz! **************************** **DotComBlitz Requirements** **************************** To run DotComBlitz, you will need: PHP 4.1.0 or higher MySQL 3.20.0 ************************************** **DotComBlitz Installation and Setup** ************************************** DotComBlitz is easy to set up. Simply unzip the file you downloaded from our site and: *****CAUTION! You cannot change the directory structure or rename any on the directories or subdirectories. If you do, the script will fail. You can install the script in any directory or subdirectory you choose or create, but do NOT rename or change any directories included with the script.**** 1) Using your hosting resources create the MYSQL database, user and password and keep the info available for step #2 below. 2) Using a text editor: Open the LICENSE_KEY file and enter your license code where indicated. Save the file. If you did not receive an email with this information when you made the purchase, please contact us immediately through http://DotComBlitz.com 3) Upload the files, in binary mode, to your server. You can upload into your sites root directory or create a subdirectory and upload into that. *****CAUTION! You cannot change the directory structure or rename any on the directories or subdirectories. If you do, the script will fail. You can install the script in any directory or subdirectory you choose or create, but do NOT rename or change any directories included with the script.**** 4) Make the config.php file world writable (e.g. "chmod 666" on Linux/Unix) and make the log directory world writable (e.g. "chmod 777" on Linux/Unix). 5) Use your browser to go to the admin page, by clicking on LOGIN, at the top of the page. Login with the default administrative account (user name: admin, password: admin) and click on the Administration link in order to access the administrative interface, where you define the MySQL server connection info, create the database structure and specify the configuration settings which are specific to your installation. Until you create the database, many strange errors may occurr. Before contacting support, please make sure you have completed the installation correctly. Note: You are STRONGLY encouraged to set a new login name and password for the administrative account. 6) Since RankFinder (if installed) is meant to run continously on your server, you will need a mechanism which allows it to resume operations after a server reboot. For this you will setup a crontab task which will regularly check if RankFinder is running, by using the lynx or links utilities (depending on which one is available on your system). To do this, simply define in your crontab a task like the one below: lynx -dump //cron/dcb_cron.php > /dev/null Of course, you will replace with the actual name of your server and with your actual path to your RankFinder installation. You can safely set this task to be run every minute from crontab, since it doesn't consume many resources. If your server uses links instead of lynx, replace accordingly the command name. If you do not set up the cron, the prgram will not run properly and all campaigns will have to be started by hand. You are now ready to use your DotComBlitz program! Go to your program at http://www.yoursite.com/yourDotComBlitzdirectory/ where you will find a complete menu. **************************** **notes for advanced users** **************************** You may edit the header/footer files in the main directory to match the look and feel of your site. What we have included is from our site and these are meant to act as examples for you. The same is true of the resources and contact pages. All other files to edit can be found in the /modules_templates subdirectories. The entire site colors, fonts etc are controlled via the main.css file. If you have your own registrar affiliation, and/or are a Pool.com affilate, you can set up your own registrar and backordering links by editing /config.php as indicated in the file. Simply search for "4-nics" or "pool" and change the appropriate info on that line. Please be cautious with your changes, as different registrars etc require different parameters. You may also change the default whois server by searching for "whois.com" and change the appropriate info on that line. Please be cautious with your changes, as different whois servers etc require different parameters. You will then need to comment out one of the lines referring to "$whois_link". We advise not making any changes unless you are having problems. Inside this same file, you will want to set the name and email address that will be used as the 'from' address when the program mails information (ie: basket contents) to you or your users. The number of submissions allowed for bulk popularity searching can also be adjusted in /config.php, but it is recommended that you leave it at 10 for faster results. The file "config_whois.php" is used for the whois tools module. Whois servers can be added or deleted here. Please exercise caution here. There should be no need to delete any of the whois servers! To enable of disable tlds to check, please edit $global_tlds_to_check in the "config.php" file. For the DotCom Generator, you can add to, edit or delete any thesarus you desire. Simply do the edit or add a thesarus in the /modules/mod_namesug/thesaurus directory and then make corresponding changes in the /modules_templates/mod_namesug/mod_namesug.html file. Please note the search and reference structure. The RankFinder module (if installed) allows for the use of proxies in it's operation. You can add any proxies you desire in the appropriate place in the config file. All other RankFinder settings should be done via the admin section as outlined in Step #5 above. **************** **Module Notes** **************** ----Drop List---- A drop list is a list of domain names that are scheduled for deletion. Once deleted, they will become available for registration. With the Drop List module, you can search drop lists by keywords and gather ranking information. Rankings can be a very useful indicator of the value and traffic potential a domain has. Drop lists are not completely accurate, as different registration entities drop domains on different time schedules, and the domains are subject to last minute re-registration by the previous owner. However, most domains do drop on schedule. In the results of your search, you will find a 'backorder' link. When you backorder a domain, you are requesting registration on it before it drops. This generally costs more than waiting until is drops and doing a normal registration, but if the domain name you wish to acquire is popular, it is likely that others are backordering and are likely to register it before you can do it through a normal registration process. One of the most successful backordering services is http://www.pool.com The backorder link will connect to their site. ----Expired Domains---- This module will search for domains that have been 'put on hold', which means that their registration has expired and they are in the pre-deletion cycle (not yet available for registration), or domains that have been deleted (are available for registration), depending on your input. Rankings can be a very useful indicator of the value and traffic potential a domain has. ----Future Expires---- Future Expires will search for names that will expire sometime within hte next year. These are very much subject to the current owner re-registering them before the cycle begins. ----DotCom Generator---- This is a name generator. Enter keywords for a site name, and the DotCom Generator will come up with a variety of names related to your keywords. ----Keyword suggestions---- This module will tell you how many people searched for particular keywords, and provide suggestions for other related keywords. This can be usefull if you are using a pay per click search engine and trying to decide what keywords to bid on, or if you need ideas for additional keywords to use in your website. Popular keywords are also useful for use in domain names. ----Search Engine Submit---- The Search Engine Submit module allows users to submit a site to multiple search engines at one time. Many search engines require the submitters email address. You might consider creating a special email address just for this purpose, as this will generate some unwanted mail, though you may want to look through it for any required confirmations prior to listing your site. You can edit or add to the search engine links by going to http://www.yoursite/yourDotComBlitzdirectory/subadmin. When editing or adding to the search engine links, you will need to go to the particular search engine and make a submission by hand, carefully noting how the submission process works and the items you need for the different editable fields. ----Bulk Popularity and Ranking Check---- Will check for the domain's popularity and ranking based on the keywords entered. ----Golden Drops---- This module allows you to query the DCB central database and see which of the current Pending Delete domains are well-ranked in search engines. Please note that, unlike the Search Expired Domains or RankFinder modules, this module doesn't spend time in querying the search engines. Instead, the results are fetched from our central database, where we constantly check the most recent Pending Delete domains to see how they are ranked in search engines. ----RankFinder---- This system allows you to check search engine positioning for very large amounts of domain names using a very handy "fire and forget" method. This module requires the customer to register and allows you to charge fees for them to process their lists of names. ----Your Basket---- Any domains you wish to keep in mind for future registrations can be placed in your 'basket' by clicking on the 'add' to basket link when available. Each time you go to your basket the status of those domains will be updated. ******** **FAQs** ******** What does expired, on-hold, deleted mean? When a domain is not re-registered by it's owner, it expires and goes into the deletion cycle. The deletion cycle goes through several stages. First, it's placed 'on hold' and the nameserver on the domain name is removed so that the website no longer works. The name then goes into the 'redemption' period, which lasts 30 days. The third stage is 'pending delete'. Once the name reaches pending delete, it will normally 'drop' (or be 'deleted' from the registry) in six days. The timing on this is different depending on who it was originally registered with and what .extension it is, but normally the entire process lasts 45 to 60 days. Why does my browser hang on 'searching' when I do a search? Your browser needs to have javascript enabled to use DotComBlitz If you are using Internet Explorer, go to the menu on the top and select 'tools', then 'internet options', choose the 'security' tab, then 'custom level'. Scroll down to 'Scripting' and enable 'active scripting'. Why didn't the domain I was trying to get drop on the indicated date? Several factors are involved. First of all, expired domains can be re-registered by the former owner during the redemption period. Secondly, actual drop dates depend on the register and some drop on different schedules than others. If you were trying to catch a popular name, it may have dropped and been caught by someone else before you got it.