Should I Start a Proxy Site?

[dhscott]

Should I, or should I not start a proxy site. That's the question...

Having seen vast numbers of them on here alone, and the fact many of them seem to go for a fair bit of money, I thought I may have a go.

I have a domain or several lined up incase my first choice goes so domain choice does not matter. What does matter though is hosting, the proxy script etc. How much does it cost? Do you need special hosting or will regular hosting do? Are databases required? Can you get a free proxy script or would you rather pay for a half decent one etc. etc.

All these questions I need answering.

P.S. PHP Preferable, not savvy with other languages really.

 

[cwnt]

Regular hosting will usually do, but make sure that the host allows the hosting or proxies. Try contacting them first.
Databases are not usually required, although may be if you wish to keep logs.
Most people use a free proxy script called PHProxy, which can be found here.
Hope this helps.

 

[nRnF]

Be prepared for bandwith at your hosting

 

[chimaera]

Not many hosts allow proxies, so I'd check that side of things out before starting one.

 

[vslevin]

I've thought about this too. Anyone here who runs a proxy site care to share their bandwidth stats?

As far as hosting goes, you could always just get a dedicated server or VPS.

 

[Optinom]

proxy sucks up the resources. Most hosts dont allow. Better to go for vps or dedicated if u plan to make it big!

 

[Morph]

Proxies slurrp up the resources BIG TIME, but potentially offer a lot of revenue, selling them is good bucks also, but the craze is starting to simmer down though. Proxies are 10 to the dozen now.

 

[dhscott]

If someone could PM or post their monthly stats, i'd be grateful. I can see which hosts to avoid then, i.e. Bandwidth Wise

 

[Morph]

On a proxy i used to own i was getting a good few thousand uniques per day and was averaging about 11 gigs of BW a day.

 

[fish]

There are a couple free proxy scripts available based in PHP or CGI. A popular one is PHProxy (available here: http://whitefyre.com/poxy/). You really should get at least a VPS if not a Dedicated server to host a proxy. They not only eat up bandwidth but also server resources which is why they are not allowed on most shared hosts. Proxies seemed to have cooled down a lot lately, probably because of webmasters flooding the market with them for sale...since they tend to get traffic pretty quickly once listed on proxy.org.

 

[dhscott]

11 gigs is not too bad.

I suppose the only thing you really have to weigh up is income vs costs

I will contact a few hosting companies to see whether I can host a proxy site or not.

 

[vslevin]

11 gigs is not too bad.

I suppose the only thing you really have to weigh up is income vs costs

I will contact a few hosting companies to see whether I can host a proxy site or not.

Yes, but thats 300GB+ a month, which you are not going to get on a shared host unless they're dramatically overselling.

 

[dhscott]

I have really ruled out shared hosting for proxy sites. It does seem logical for hosting companies not to allow them on shared hosting. I have seen basic VPS packages offering 50gb of bandwidth a month here in the UK for £29.99 a month (About $50-$55) so I might start off with one of them initially.

However, if I can get hosting in America, I will get it there as you get a lot more for less!

 

[cwnt]

I would recommend HostingDepartment if you are looking for proxy hosting. They provide shared, reseller, VPS and dedicated solutions, all of which allow proxies.

 

[weblord]

you need a good vps account to start with, or a dedicated server with lots of ip addresses. just in case one ip is banned you have so much more alternative ip's

 

[FanCube]

Do you have any experiences with abuse of your proxy services, such as people using your service for illegal activities?

 

[dhscott]

This one is really for proxy site owners:

How much profit a month do you make?

Profit = (Income - Costs) or (Advertising / Sponsorship Revenue - Hosting & Domain per Month)

It'd also be interesting to know how you make your money considering Google Adsense is not allowed on Proxy Sites

 

[fish]

It's my undertanding that you can use Adsense only on the front page of a proxy site but not on the proxied pages. Same goes for YPN. Other advertising networks like Bidvertiser and Adbrite don't seem to mind if ads are on proxied pages though.

 

[voyde]

you can use ads on a proxied page

(example -

www.voyde.us/pubweb/
(just a modfied proxy script)

type in google.com and click browse, you get google ads on the top of each page

 

[chimaera]

voyde, that's incorrect. It is against their terms and conditions. If you don't remove those ads your site will be banned very soon ...