Here's a screenshot of Aug. 30's mysql issues. WordPress serves that up when it can't connect to the db. I emailed Rimuhosting about it and they figured out I was having issues with one of my favorite WordPress plugins called Counterize, which allowed me to produce those interesting stats at the footer of KikayEx which says 'x number of visitors visited today, xx number the past 7 days. xxx number total since forever, and so on...'. We activated an option on mysql to produce a 'mysql-slow.log' which lists down all the mysql queries that take more than 2 seconds to complete. The results were stunning, as Counterize apparently had queries that take as long as 20 seconds, and at a given morning (not even a whole day), there were 40 queries already. Here's how it looked:

/usr/sbin/mysqld, Version: 5.0.22-Debian_0ubuntu6.06.3-log. started with:
Tcp port: 3306 Unix socket: /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
Time Id Command Argument
# Time: 070904 6:30:17
# User@Host: kikay[kikay] @ localhost []
# Query_time: 12 Lock_time: 0 Rows_sent: 57768 Rows_examined: 690442
use kikaydb;
SELECT DISTINCT referer FROM wp_Counterize;
# Time: 070904 6:30:20
# User@Host: kikay[kikay] @ localhost []
# Query_time: 11 Lock_time: 0 Rows_sent: 57768 Rows_examined: 690444
SELECT DISTINCT referer FROM wp_Counterize;
# Time: 070904 6:30:23
# User@Host: kikay[kikay] @ localhost []
# Query_time: 11 Lock_time: 0 Rows_sent: 57768 Rows_examined: 690445
SELECT DISTINCT referer FROM wp_Counterize;
# Time: 070904 6:32:09
# User@Host: kikay[kikay] @ localhost []
# Query_time: 19 Lock_time: 0 Rows_sent: 57769 Rows_examined: 690450
SELECT DISTINCT referer FROM wp_Counterize;
# Time: 070904 6:32:16
# User@Host: kikay[kikay] @ localhost []
# Query_time: 20 Lock_time: 0 Rows_sent: 57769 Rows_examined: 690452
SELECT DISTINCT referer FROM wp_Counterize;
# Time: 070904 6:32:22
# User@Host: kikay[kikay] @ localhost []
# Query_time: 28 Lock_time: 0 Rows_sent: 57769 Rows_examined: 690451
SELECT DISTINCT referer FROM wp_Counterize;
# Time: 070904 6:32:23
# User@Host: kikay[kikay] @ localhost []
# Query_time: 33 Lock_time: 0 Rows_sent: 57769 Rows_examined: 690450
SELECT DISTINCT referer FROM wp_Counterize;
# Time: 070904 6:32:25
# User@Host: kikay[kikay] @ localhost []
# Query_time: 21 Lock_time: 0 Rows_sent: 57769 Rows_examined: 690453
SELECT DISTINCT referer FROM wp_Counterize;
# Time: 070904 6:32:28
# User@Host: kikay[kikay] @ localhost []
# Query_time: 14 Lock_time: 0 Rows_sent: 57769 Rows_examined: 690454
SELECT DISTINCT referer FROM wp_Counterize;
# Time: 070904 7:41:52
# User@Host: kikay[kikay] @ localhost []
# Query_time: 16 Lock_time: 0 Rows_sent: 57775 Rows_examined: 690535
SELECT DISTINCT referer FROM wp_Counterize;
# Time: 070904 7:41:55
# User@Host: kikay[kikay] @ localhost []
# Query_time: 22 Lock_time: 0 Rows_sent: 57775 Rows_examined: 690535
SELECT DISTINCT referer FROM wp_Counterize;
# Time: 070904 7:41:56
# User@Host: kikay[kikay] @ localhost []
# Query_time: 25 Lock_time: 0 Rows_sent: 57775 Rows_examined: 690533
SELECT DISTINCT referer FROM wp_Counterize;
# Time: 070904 7:41:58
# User@Host: kikay[kikay] @ localhost []
# Query_time: 21 Lock_time: 0 Rows_sent: 57775 Rows_examined: 690535
SELECT DISTINCT referer FROM wp_Counterize;
# Time: 070904 7:42:01
# User@Host: kikay[kikay] @ localhost []
# Query_time: 28 Lock_time: 0 Rows_sent: 57775 Rows_examined: 690535
SELECT DISTINCT referer FROM wp_Counterize;
# Time: 070904 7:42:06
# User@Host: kikay[kikay] @ localhost []
# Query_time: 11 Lock_time: 0 Rows_sent: 1 Rows_examined: 632760
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM wp_Counterize WHERE timestamp >= '2007-09-04' AND IP = '58.71.15.98';
# Time: 070904 7:57:52
# User@Host: kikay[kikay] @ localhost []
# Query_time: 13 Lock_time: 0 Rows_sent: 57776 Rows_examined: 690554
SELECT DISTINCT referer FROM wp_Counterize;
# Time: 070904 8:09:36
# User@Host: kikay[kikay] @ localhost []
# Query_time: 11 Lock_time: 0 Rows_sent: 57776 Rows_examined: 690563
SELECT DISTINCT referer FROM wp_Counterize;
# Time: 070904 8:10:29
# User@Host: kikay[kikay] @ localhost []
# Query_time: 11 Lock_time: 0 Rows_sent: 57776 Rows_examined: 690565
SELECT DISTINCT referer FROM wp_Counterize;
# Time: 070904 8:10:32
# User@Host: kikay[kikay] @ localhost []
# Query_time: 13 Lock_time: 0 Rows_sent: 57776 Rows_examined: 690565
SELECT DISTINCT referer FROM wp_Counterize;
# Time: 070904 8:12:59
# User@Host: kikay[kikay] @ localhost []
# Query_time: 19 Lock_time: 0 Rows_sent: 57776 Rows_examined: 690569
SELECT DISTINCT referer FROM wp_Counterize;
# Time: 070904 8:13:02
# User@Host: kikay[kikay] @ localhost []
# Query_time: 17 Lock_time: 0 Rows_sent: 57776 Rows_examined: 690570
SELECT DISTINCT referer FROM wp_Counterize;
# Time: 070904 8:13:05
# User@Host: kikay[kikay] @ localhost []
# Query_time: 23 Lock_time: 0 Rows_sent: 57776 Rows_examined: 690570
SELECT DISTINCT referer FROM wp_Counterize;
# Time: 070904 8:19:28
# User@Host: kikay[kikay] @ localhost []
# Query_time: 11 Lock_time: 0 Rows_sent: 57776 Rows_examined: 690579
SELECT DISTINCT referer FROM wp_Counterize;
# Time: 070904 8:19:35
# User@Host: kikay[kikay] @ localhost []
# Query_time: 17 Lock_time: 0 Rows_sent: 57776 Rows_examined: 690579
SELECT DISTINCT referer FROM wp_Counterize;
# Time: 070904 8:19:36
# User@Host: kikay[kikay] @ localhost []
# Query_time: 15 Lock_time: 0 Rows_sent: 57776 Rows_examined: 690580
SELECT DISTINCT referer FROM wp_Counterize;

At any rate, I got rid of the inefficient Counterize and replaced it with Firestats, which still provided me an interesting footer (you can check it out at the bottom area of KE), but certainly not as entertaining. I still haven't done the same with BallEx and MomEx as of today, so if you wanna see how it originally looked you can check the sidebar of each and compare it.

Firestats was a great improvement and didn't take as much of a mysql hit, so I basically got my cake and ate it too. Well, at least for another two weeks till today. This is because the site speeded up so much better that hits exponentially increased, bringing Kikay to an almost 50% increase in readership, almost 600 unique hits a day. While that's big, BallEx regularly hits 800 unique hits a day, but has less pageviews than Kikay. Kikay's unique hits + pageviews means that people go to it and 'leaf' through its pages, meaning they hang around a lot to read everything.

So as soon as the mysql inefficiency was fixed, I was now running out of RAM just from serving up pages. I had only 3 services running, namely Apache, Mysql and Named, which we quickly turned off since it was useless. I have a total of 4 WordPress sites plus 2 phpbb installations, and didn't even have email so I could save from installing spamassasin which I knew was a mysql hog. 484mb was apparently not enough. Here's a screenshot of it at 9am, which again happens at approximately 5pm later in the day.

Keep in mind the fact that I probably should do things like remove Counterize from the rest of the sites and find other inefficiences, but doing so requires a lot of time and effort which I'd rather spend on, say, more profitable ventures like trying to get Kikay Shop to earn more. Besides while I'm sure the WordPress Plugins are the ones that are giving me pain, I like the sites the way they are and really dont wanna remove any of them. For example, I really liked Counterize, and if I hadn't found Firestats I figured I'd rather take a mysql hit than remove it.

Rimu has replied with three things I could do. First, install a php caching app called eaccelerator. As of today, this has already been done. Another is to tweak mysql. I really don't have time to do that I think. I'll read through it a bit and if its something I can finish in an hour maybe I will, but I doubt it. The last thing is to move to a different webserver, and they recommended lighttpd or nginx, of which I think lighttpd seems to have a better user base. Lighttpd also happens to be the one used by Youtube, so that's definitely a good word for it as well.

Of course, I understand changing one's webserver midstream is like changing your house's foundation while still living in it. But at the same time I need to act like the boss here and insist it get done no matter how hard it is. Rimu has, like all good geeks will do, implemented the changes piecemeal, starting with eaccelerator. But I've already told them I want lighttpd as well, and am asking how much for them to do it. I don't wanna meddle in the details anymore, a big difference from what I'd have done in the past. A year ago I'd probably be all geeky and installing these on a spare server already just to get a feel of it, and maybe attempt to do it myself. But I'm over that now. I NEED KIKAY EXCHANGE TO GO FASTER. There is nothing more important than my sites loading properly like they should. At the moment, 600 kikays aren't happy, and so therefore I am unhappy as well.

At any rate, these changes, I assume, will probably be good enough to improve the site to handle approximately 500 more unique hits. Any more than that, and I dunno what else to do because I really dont wanna spend any more money on RAM. At that point, I probably need to start looking into managed hosting, or, like Migs said, shared hosting, but I'm assuming the costs to be astronomical. That's fine really, as long as there's business to back it up.

Sigh. Need to get things done fast.

And lo and behold, I chanced upon the results of our contest with her - an online contest where she asks schu owners to send in pictures with the theme 'Are you wearing your today',(ongoing with still a month to go) and I was absolutely floored with the results so far. In particular, this one:

by Aggie, taken at the very recognizable Bulwagang Pilipino steps, and this one:

by Leah, showing how she uses her shoes for work.

I gotta tell ya, I am just absolutely ecstatic about the results of Ruby's contest. It's not that I doubt her ideas, but, ok yeah, I wasn't really into it because I didn't think it through too much (I was pretty busy with other things). So to see it work out like this, with entries of people who obviously put up a lot of time and effort into making them, is really terrific and goes far beyond anything I'd have dreamed of.

Ruby and I are into another project, and albeit I dislike the habit of making promises that it's coming soon (mainly because, well, let's face it with my workload and everything, it might very well not), I'm gonna put in a little more effort in making this one come true, more so in the light of, heck, her ideas really do click and we've got a winner here obviously.

Anyway, here's the 250x250 image I made for the contest that's on KikayEx's sidebar. Click it to check the contest out - I don't think you can enter pics anymore but at least you can vote for your fave entry:

To those who understand WordPress (and here's the techie part), 2.1.1 deprecates (a fancy word for retires), the next_post_link and previous_posts_link, essentially keeping you, the viewer, from moving away from the first batch of post on the index page. I have been pulling my hair out trying to find a decent fix, but no go.

Enter Lester Chan's WP-PageNavi 2.11 Plugin, and my prayers were answered. The truth is, I didn't wanna use a plugin as I wanted to exhaust all efforts trying to find the 'legal' way first. But after two or so weeks searching (ok well maybe a total of 3 - 4 hours, which is already a lot still), I considered myself exhausted, and the fact that IT LOOKS GREAT, I decided to go for it.

So here's how it looks like at the start:

and after tweaking it's CSS, here's how it looks like now:

doesn't it look GREAAAAAT?!?!?! I added it on both the top and bottom areas.

Ok, now here's the SEO explanation. (I have decided to include my SEO opinions to help people out who wanna learn these things):

1. Each page in one's blog, especially to one like Kikay, a fashion publication, represents an article that is valuable even months or years after it is published. Unlike, say, a news publication, Kikay publishes things like makeup advice or store features and interviews. News, on the other hand, is almost useless once it gets old (except for historical reasons, who likes to read old news?). Therefore, it has content that doesn't get old, can always be rehashed, and can still garner hits and pageviews way long after it's initially published. The more content we make (and we produce 6 posts a week), the more interesting and important the site gets exponentially.
2. I'm sure Kikay has a lot of visitors that remember seeing something on the site and want to get back to it, but may not be sure what to enter in the 'Search' field (I am often doing that myself). Allowing you to go through each page one at a time can help improve that search.
3. Allowing easier navigation makes the site more interesting because, even if the primary posts do not interest the viewer too much, allowing easy access to the older ones lets people find something that is.
4. Most importantly, Kikay's biggest issue is that it has a low 2.45 pages per visit statistic, wholly in part I'm sure, to the fact that they can't view the pages. This plugin is actually better than just 'next page' and 'previous page', as you can jump through several pages if you like. I'm hoping to at least quadruple that number after this. Yes you read right: Quadruple. I always aim high when it comes to Kikay Exchange.
5. Finally, Kikay's main viewership, young females, are voracious browsers. Kikay's Google Analytics indicate an average viewing of almost 10 minutes, meaning each visitor checks it out way longer than just reading the most recent posts. Allowing better navigation lets them check it out even longer, and I expect that 10 minute viewership to increase at least by double in the next few weeks.

I'm probably gonna place this plugin on all the other sites as well, especially Momex, which has articles in topics like child rearing and schooling that are always hit and will always be important year after year. That's not the case I think with Ballex, which is mostly opinions and news - but then again who knows? I didn't think the Sim league would do so well and now a mere 4 weeks later it's getting 100+ hits a day.

Apparently, 53.76 people (48%) use their credit cards online all the time, while an even 29.12 people (26%), either haven't done so yet but are 'willing to give it a try', or haven't yet and 'probably never will'.

This is an interesting insight into the mindset of, arguably, the most active consumer type - Women Shoppers - on Philippine internet today, re a terribly important topic - using their plastic to buy things online. Businesses hoping to take their business online would do well to take note.

This poll ran from March 26, 2007 to July 1, 2007, and was participated in by 112 unique users, most likely (it cannot be decided for sure), Philippine women residing in the Philippines - as opposed to those based overseas. Should you need more details on our parameters, or want to suggest your own poll idea, or even sponsor one, click our 'About' page and use the form there, or leave a comment below with your contact info.

Publications are free to use the above, and any other poll we do in the future, as research material so long as you don't forget to let us know.

Hi there!

I'm glad to hear that you guys can make it to the exclusive launch event that will unveil Dove's next Campaign for Real Beauty. You've been chosen to attend because of your influence in the blogging sphere, and we hope that you can help spread our message to other like-minded women.

See you there!

It was from Madz of OgilvyOne Worldwide, Dove's PR. Funny how I'd always wanted this to happen, and when it does it sort of feels surreal. At any rate, we attended and had a great time:

Some people had more fun than others :)

Anyway, not only was it the 1st press event I've attended not as a PDI or some magazine correspondent, but as a publisher of my own publication as well.

KikayEx serves as a proof of concept for me. A combination of a few things I felt strongly would work, and it looks like it is. There are one or two more pretty new concepts I've been itching to execute, one having to do with how ad spots are sold, and another with selling stuff on the 'net.

Once we get to try it out on Kiks, I'll be taking the same formula to other industries (aka make more Exchanges). I honestly cannot wait.