Andrew Sellick

Well I’ve just got myself a Playstation 3 so as you can imagine I was really happy when I finally got it all connected up?!  Thing is that’s when everything seemed to go wrong.

My first port of call, once inserting the basic settings, was to get connected to my wireless network.  As you can see from the title of this article I’m currently using a BTHomeHub and even with the problems I have had with it in the past I did not think for one second that I would have any issues with connecting my PS3 to the internet.  After inserting my wireless network details and testing the connection everything appeared fine, however, on trying to update the PS3 I kept receiving the following error number 80710723.

Well I have to say I wasn’t expecting that, but nonetheless I decided to search the internet to find a solution.  After a great deal of browsing I came to realise that this was a very common problem but unfortunately solutions weren’t readily available until I found a good post on AVForums where the following instructions are issued:

"I’m also having a bit of bother with this setup changing a nat type 3 to nat type 2 as pro evo currently not working on the network after the 2.0 update.

To assign a static ip on the router side of things, goto hub manager, then find your ps3 under devices. Change the type to gaming console and click keep same ip address.

To open ports, goto application sharing and pick a game from the default list, or create your own port forwarding by going to "If the game or the application you are looking for does not exist, click here to create it (you will be asked for game or application details)." Click manual entry of ports and you can assign port numbers via UDP or TCP.

DMZ doesnt work well with homehub and i reccomend to set your firewall settings appropriately to stop incoming traffic if you are opening ports."

To open the ports correctly I found another very useful site called Port Forward which has a step by step guide detailing how to open ports on the Home Hub for the Playstation 3.

All appears to be working now, although I’m sure as I start to play more online games I will encounter more problems.

Hope this helps..

So I’ve been blogging now for a  while now and I have recently been thinking, "What makes a successful blog?".  To be honest this is a question with endless answers, with many different variations and opinions, however, I thought I would voice my say.

Content

Well as they say content is key, you have to pick a topic from which you have a wide ranging knowledge.  If you can find a niche and strive to become an authority on the topic then people will pay attention.

The regularity at which you add content to your blog also provides a key point in determining whether visitor levels grow.  Frequently added content will help to drive new visitors to your blog whilst also providing regular readers with a reason to keep coming back.

Research research research

Keep your ear to the ground and finger on the pulse looking for the latest news and technologies.  Your users want to find cutting edge articles and if you can’t provide them they will find another site which can.

Create controversy

Now this is something I hear other bloggers mention a lot and to be quite honest I’m not too sure I totally agree, so let me explain.  If your articles cause controversy but you believe in everything your writing and feel you can back up your statements then I have no problem with this.  This is the start of a debate not a war, however, if your sole aim is to cause controversy with the aim of driving traffic and you can’t substantiate your claims/statements then I believe you will only create a negative long term impact on your blog.  Users are not stupid and do not like deliberate and underhand attempts for attention, plus it’s never a good idea to get yourself a bad reputation.

Passion and drive

Your articles must display your passion and drive for your desired topic.  Without this your articles will undoubtedly be a less then entertaining read and more than likely provide very little interest to readers.

Think SEO

You may have the best blog in the world but if nobody can find it whats the point?!  Consider how you name your articles, the keywords you use within your article content as well as your templates HTML structure to name but a few.  Have a look at SEO related sites such as Matt  Cutts dot com and SEO Trickster dot com to help increase your SEO knowledge as your blog will directly benefit.

Publicise

Promote your website and its articles on sites such as Digg, Stumbleupon or reddit.  If your article hits the spot and proves popular with readers then expect huge levels of traffic to descend on your blog, whilst obviously raising your profile.

Guest Blog

Guest blogging, although it could easily fit into the category above, further helps to raise your profile.  Offering articles to popular sites with similar content to your own (making sure you are referenced at the top of the article with a link back to your site) again increases awareness of you and your site, whilst also driving traffic.

Show personality

It is important to show your readers that you are a human being.  By allowing your personality to flow through your articles you can easily endear your readers to you.  This can help develop a sense of community and loyalty prompting repeat visits and high levels of commenting.  Remember users love an active site with frequent commenting.

Monetise

How does monetising make a successful blog?!  Well I guess it does depend on your ambitions for your blog, although as I’m sure your aware any money you make through schemes such as Google Adsense or the Yahoo! Publisher Network can be directly pushed back into your blog for programs such as Google Adwords or maybe you want to pay a friend to create a fresh design.

Network

Talk to other bloggers and listen to their views and opinions.  Not only can this gain you a very vital link if you get on well, but it can also provide you with a very nice topic for you to debate on your blog.  A bit of sensible blog rivalry (debating) never hurt anybody and again can gain you some much needed online attention.

Link to other blogs

Link to other blogs can work on many levels; firstly if trackbacks are enabled on the recipient site then you will receive a link back to your site and the possibility of further traffic and secondly, as stated above in the "Network" section, it can provide a topic for debate with other bloggers gaining you valuable attention.

Link bait

Although many users frown upon "link bait" (articles or content which are "guaranteed" to receive incoming links from other sites) you should never rule it out.  Increasing the amount of inbound links to your site will help increase your traffic levels through referrals as well as improve your natural search rankings, whilst also raising the profile of your site.

Encourage repeat visits

From a must have online tool that users just can’t live without to the killer list of resources, it is essential that users have a reason to keep coming back to your site.  Without this your site will have a very limited life span.  These reasons can also help to provide the required "link bait" as stated above.

Refresh your blog

It is important to visually refresh your blog over time as nobody wants to visit a site that looks like it was built in 1997 so try and keep up with the times.  Mixing up the design of your site can also offer further stimulation and greater levels of interaction to users helping to increase repeat visits and the time spent on your site.

Do not rest on your laurels

Finally it is important to remember that no matter how popular your website/blog you cannot afford to rest on your laurels.  Doing so means your website can only go in one direction, backwards.

Keep those ideas and enthusiasm flowing and I’m sure you’ll all side step this particular hurdle.  Happy blogging!!!

Well it’s finally happened…  The BBC have released a new version of their now famous homepage in beta and guess what??  They’ve jumped on the Web 2.0 bandwagon.

The home page is fully customisable and even includes some snazzy JavaScript effects.  The page options are editable including font size link colour etc, modules can be dragged and dropped in to your desired position and there is even the option to edit modules on an individual basis allowing you to really see your perfect BBC homepage.  I think one of the biggest points to note is the BBC are using jQuery (which is quite a compliment for the jQuery developers) for their new homepage.

This looks like a step in the right direction for the BBC and could become as popular as iGoogle did for Google.  It will be interesting to see any future enhancements that are made as lets face it the BBC are only just catching up with the times and should really be leading the charge, not lurking in the middle of the pack.

Anyway go and have a look at the BBC Homepage Beta yourself.

I am always looking at ways I can further customise AndrewSellick.com to best meet it’s audience needs and after finding Software 77′s free IP to Location database I knew that I had found another string to my bow.

Software 77 do not only offer a free IP to Location Database, they also offer code free to download enabling you to request their CSV download and import it in to your database.  Further more they offer code (in a multitude of languages) to return the country location of the user making this database extremely easy to use.

The only downside is the lack of regional location data as only country specific IPs are supported.

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Have a look for yourself at Software 77′s Free IP to Location Database.

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View the download page to get your hands on the IP to Location code.