Blog Archive: January 2015
How Amazon Associates Receives Their Checks in Republic of Georgia - Part 2
| Living in Georgia | 43 seen
Welcome to the 2 part of my blog series on how Amazon Associates receives checks and gets them redeemed in the Republic of Georgia.
How participants of the Amazon Associates program are getting paid in the Republic of Georgia by a bank check is a blog series I originally made at the end of 2014 / start of 2015 while struggling to redeem my first bank check issued by Amazon,
Although it's still technically possible to withdraw bank checks in Georgia, at the end of 2016, I flew to the US and opened a bank account there, see: How To Open A Bank Account in the U.S., As A Non-resident Non-citizen, Wells Fargo Bank
For complete series of my adventures while living in Georgia with Georgian banks and checks from Amazon, please see:
- How Amazon Affiliates get paid in the Republic of Georgia - Part 1
- How Amazon Associates Receive Their Checks in the Republic of Georgia - Part 2
- How Amazon Associates Receive Their Checks in the Republic of Georgia - Part 3 - Waiting 40 Working Days
- How Amazon Associates Receive Their Checks in the Republic of Georgia - Part 4 - Bank Commission Fees
I created the first post of this series at the start of November 2014. Back then my earnings for August, September, and October has reached $486.00 and I was looking for ways to get paid.
Prior to that, I did set up a minimum threshold of $450.00 on Amazon Associates before processing the payment - because I'm aware of bank commission fees.
Direct deposit is not an option right now for me, because I'm not a holder of a US bank account, and neither I'm a US citizen. I'm left with two options - gift card or check.
The first check from Amazon was issued at the end of December (December 27, 2014) - I received it via snail mail here in Georgia on January 28, but before I got an envelope with a check inside it, I got a sticker on my apartment building's entrance door from Georgian Post.
Sticker from Georgian Post
I was lucky enough to notice this little sticker with my name on it. In case you are wondering, in Georgia it's not common to have a postal box.. why should you have one, if a postman can stick a sticker with your name on it on the entrance doors of your apartment building?
Since I have no clue, what is written on it - and what should I do now - I contacted a friend of mine living in Germany who can read Georgian, and with help of his transliteration, I learned I must go to Tsereteli Avenue 95.
On the second day, I went to the Georgian Post branch on Tsereteli avenue and got my mail:
Mail from Amazon
Georgian Post Stamp
It turned out mail arrived in Georgia, already on January 23, though I received a sticker with the invitation to visit the post office just on January 28. 5 days - who cares about 5 days?
Amazon Check
And here it was - my first check from Amazon Associates, worth Four Hundred Eighty-Three Dollars And Sixty-Three Cents.
I straight went to my bank, but turned out - my bank turned me down, by saying it was not possible to clear that check... I went to the central branch of my Bank - they turned me down again. I went to another bank, they turned me down as well. Luckily I found a bank - which hadn't any issues redeeming a check sent by Amazon - Bank Republic. You can learn more, about how banks turned me down, and how I found that the Bank Republic is a great option in this post.
Right now I'm waiting for those dollars to land in my bank account.
Do you have a story to share on receiving and clearing Amazon checks abroad? Please leave your comment!
From Fitness Centers to Rafting Adventures: Living in Georgia's Top Activities
| Travel guides | 6 seen
As a celebration of my 100th post in the 'Living in Georgia' category, I decided to put together a travel-friendly guide of the best places, activities, and ideas that I have discovered during my time living in this amazing country.
Starting from the day I began this blog on October 11, 2013, I will take you on a journey of different activities to experience in Georgia, from visiting fitness centers to trying out thrilling rafting adventures. You will have the opportunity to explore ancient Georgian sites and discover the diverse regions of this beautiful country. Additionally, I will be sharing some restaurant reviews for your culinary adventures.
So pack your bags, get ready to explore, and join me on a journey to discover the best of Georgia! Don't forget to check out my other 99 posts in the 'Living in Georgia' category for even more inspiration.
'Bank Republic' Georgia Offers Check Redemption
| Living in Georgia | 19 seen
Some time ago I made a post about how Amazon Associates are getting paid in the Republic of Georgia, I was wise enough to call that article "Part 1" because I knew there will be a long and probably complicated procedure of "cashing" a check sent by Amazon Associates here in Georgia.
Again, some time ago I wrote a post about how to open a banking account in the Republic of Georgia for foreigners, in that post I suggested sticking with ProCredit bank.
Update: TBC bank took over the Bank Republic a few years ago. I currently do not hold an account with the Bank Republic or TBC. For the time I was using Bank Republic - one of the best banking experiences here in Georgia.
If you need consultancy or help with opening a bank account in Georgia, visit the Terramatris website: Opening Bank Account in Georgia
Recently I finally received my first Amazon Associates check, so I went straight to my bank - ProCredit bank.
Unfortunately clerks there had no idea what to do with a check, I got really interested, and pardon me strange answers - like the minimum checksum must be no less, than $1,000, I cannot redeem a check because I'm a natural person and finally "best of all answers" - I cannot redeem a check in Georgia at all. I asked - can my beloved bank suggest to me what should I do then - and got an answer - they do not care, it's not their problem. I can agree this is not their problem, but it would be polite to give me at least some suggestions on what to do, right?
I will wrap up another post, about how I dealt with a few banks that day, but for ease of this article I will stick with its topic - there is one bank, where I believe it's possible to redeem a check - and it's Bank Republic I'm talking about.
And here is my story in brief
I just went into one of the Bank Republic branches on Marjanashvilli, Tbilisi (right next to ProCredit bank) - showed my check to a bank employee - and got a victorious answer - sure, it's not a problem to redeem your check buddy, in a matter of 14 days you will receive your funds. And our conversation started.
I was told that I can have a free check account at the Bank Republic for redeeming my checks, but I would need to pay then some additional money for actually withdrawing any money from that checking account, I was offered to open a bank account for 37 Lari, which includes Visa Classic card, internet banking, 3 multi-currency accounts (GEL/EUR and USD). I agreed to open a 37 Lari account.
It took some 1 hour to do all paperwork, including opening a bank account, getting done to write my surname correctly, and applying for a check redemption.
I was informed about check redemption prices, which are something as follows:
- 0.8% or a minimum of $35.00
Which I believe is a pretty fair amount!
And I was told that I will receive that money in my bank account in 14 days.
Overall - I'm pretty happy with my "new" bank, and hope that everything will go smoothly right now (I'm still waiting for money to be transferred to my new bank account at Bank Republic)
I hope a precedent will be set, and those few Amazon Associates here in Georgia, looking for ways to get their checks cashed will learn that the Bank Republic might be their choice.
About Bank Republic
Holding a leading position in the retail and corporate banking services market, the Bank Republic Société Générale Group enjoys the status as one of the most successful financial institutions in Georgia. Thanks to its universal business model, Bank Republic Société Générale Group remains a reliable long-term financial partner for individuals, micro, small and medium enterprises, organizations, and large corporations.
Established in 1991, Bank Republic is one of the first privately owned banks in Georgia. In 2006, the French international financial group Société Générale purchased 60% of the bank’s shares. In 2009, the group increased its share participation to 80%. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has also been a bank shareholder since 2006.
Currently, Société Générale owns 93.64% of Bank Republic’s stock, with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development holding 6.36% of shares.
Official website: www.br.ge
If you need consultancy or help with opening a bank account in Georgia, visit the Terramatris website: Opening Bank Account in Georgia
'Hilton Batumi' Hotel Will be Opened in May, 2015
| Living in Georgia | 10 seen
Today looking through Georgian news, I found another interesting news about plans of opening Batumi Hilton hotel in this (2015) May. I lived for a short period of time in Batumi, back in 2012, and I do remember they had a lot of visionary ideas around the city, including the Hilton Batumi hotel.
Update: Hilton hotel has been opened, and see my review here: Hilton Batumi Hotel Review
Finally, seems there is some progress, so enough preface, according to GHN (You can read original here):
in May in Batumi city will be opened five star hotel "Hilton Batumi". The opening of the hotel was announced at the end of 2014, however the final official opening ceremony will take place at the beginning of tourist season in summer time, reports GHN.
There are no comments about why the opening of the hotel was delayed. For this time there is not known average price of the rooms of the hotel.
The hotel Hilton Batumi consists two buildings, one building is hotel, another one will be living building. There are totally 23 floors and 248 rooms.
As the management of Hilton Batumi explains the price on standard and luxe rooms is depended on many factors and that's why the average price is not determined yet. Hilton Batumi will make season offering for the customers and will be presented in premium price segment on the market.
With the information of Hilton Batumi on the first floor of the hotel will be restaurant Pelion that will be opened during whole day long and The Lobby Café and The Nephele Sky Bar will offer to the customer original products.
The hotel contains conference center for 120 delegates. The hotel also has ballroom that is divided in three parts and is considered for 380 delegates. In the hotel there will be high class spa and fitness center, also pool.
About Batumi Hilton Hotel
A vibrant city in Georgia, Batumi is rapidly establishing itself as a lively and popular tourist destination on the coast of the Black Sea. Occupying a prime location in the heart of Batumi’s city center, the stylish Hilton Batumi hotel offers easy access to the beach and Batumi Bay and is surrounded by a wealth of shopping opportunities, tempting dining, glitzy casinos and eclectic nightlife. Batumi Airport is just a 10 minute drive from our contemporary Georgia hotel. For your convenience, ample onsite car parking is available.
Enjoy stylish surroundings and a range of contemporary amenities when you stay in one of this Batumi hotel’s 250 guest rooms and suites. Refresh in the elegant bathroom and stay connected with internet access at the generously sized desk. Hold a prestigious corporate event or celebration for up to 600 people at this hotel in Batumi with a wealth of business facilities, including nine flexible meeting spaces, contemporary A/V technology, an Executive Lounge and a 24-hour business center, offering a variety of amenities and services to help you stay connected.
Treat yourself to a therapeutic massage or beauty treatment in the luxury onsite spa, work out in the modern fitness center or swim lengths of the indoor pool. Sip signature cocktails and champagne as you take in glittering city views from the balcony of our chic rooftop bar, Nephele. Enjoy a relaxed lunch in the inviting, all-day dining restaurant, Tandila and savor tempting Georgian specialties in the sophisticated ambiance of Pelion restaurant.
Official website
Veterinary Clinic Natia Beridze in Tbilisi
| Professional services | 100 seen
In case you are looking for a veterinary clinic for your pet, I can suggest you Natia Beridze on Nutsubidze street in Tbilisi. Natia is a fantastic person, she just loves animals so you shouldn't be worried that of your pet wont be taken care properly.
You (your pet) can get here all possible animal vaccinations, blood tests, surgery and even all paperwork regarding travel documents.
Logo and address details for Natia Beridze veterinary clinic
Pay attention to Town Musicians of Bremen in logo - I really love it!
Inside at Veterinary Clinic
Animal photos
Kote - Sheriff of this veterinary
Kote is a friendly cat, who will like to take a tap in your lap, while Natia and others will take care of your pet.
Parking lot near Veterinary Clinic
Natia and her personnel speaks English, I can strongly recommend this veterinary clinic in Tbilisi for all pet lovers.
Drupal 8 Configuration for Nginx Server Blocks, Ubuntu 14.04
| Drupal Development | 12 seen
After a long period of doubts should I start testing and developing with Drupal 8, which stable version is not yet released, yesterday I decided to give a try for a Drupal 8 beta release.
I bought a new Linode VPS, quickly deployed there Ubuntu 14.04, and installed Nginx as a web server. I did it because my current server is PHP 5.2, and Drupal 8 is asking for at least PHP 5.3. So - not to mess up with my existing server configuration, a new Linode seemed the best option.
All went pretty smoothly, I had some problems configuring Nginx virtual server blocks, but after a couple of hours of investigation all went right (I forget to do the server restart a few times, to apply new changes).
Anyway, when the virtual server was configured, and DNS pointed, I quickly installed Drupal 8 on one of the sub-domains (I'm looking to do a Drupal 7 upgrade to Drupal 8, for my existing blog - the one you are reading right now)
Unfortunately, my Drupal 8 website didn't loaded, because of incorrect Virtual Server block settings (what works for Drupal 7, seems doesn't works for Drupal 8). Luckily I found a working solution on a Drupal website:
Nginx server blocks for Drupal 8
server {
listen 80; ## listen for ipv4; this line is default and implied
#listen [::]:80 default ipv6only=on; ## listen for ipv6
# This is the full path to your index file
root /var/www/www.example.com/public_html;
index index.php index.html index.htm;
# Make site accessible from http://localhost/
# This will be your domain name
server_name example.com;
location / {
index index.php;
# This is cool because no php is touched for static content
try_files $uri $uri/ @rewrite;
expires max;
}
location @rewrite {
# Some modules enforce no slash (/) at the end of the URL
# Else this rewrite block wouldn't be needed (GlobalRedirect)
rewrite ^/(.*)$ /index.php?q=$1;
}
# pass the PHP scripts to FastCGI server listening on 127.0.0.1:9000
location ~ .php$ {
#fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
# With php5-fpm:
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php5-fpm.sock;
fastcgi_index index.php;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
include fastcgi_params;
}
}
Now it worked great, My Drupal 8 was up and running.
As a Drupal developer based in Tbilisi, I have the skills, expertise, and experience to help you build high-quality websites and web applications using Drupal. With my deep understanding of Drupal's architecture, I can help you leverage Drupal's capabilities to build scalable, secure, and highly performant web solutions that meet your unique needs.
When you hire me for your Drupal development needs, you can expect a highly collaborative and transparent process. I take the time to understand your business requirements, technical specifications, and design preferences, and work closely with you to deliver a custom solution that meets your specific needs. I am committed to delivering projects on time, on budget, and to the highest standards of quality.
My portfolio of work includes a range of projects, from small business websites to large-scale web applications. I have experience working with clients in a variety of industries, and I am dedicated to providing a personalized approach to each project. Whether you need a simple brochure website, an e-commerce platform, or a complex web application, I have the skills and expertise needed to help you achieve your goals.
In addition to my Drupal development skills, I have experience with other web development technologies and frameworks, including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP. This allows me to take a comprehensive approach to web development and ensure that all aspects of your website or web application are built to the highest standards. So if you're looking for a Drupal developer in Tbilisi, look no further than me.
Il tredicesimo apostolo (The Thirteenth Apostle) TV series
| Worth to Watch | 77 seen
A long time has passed since I wrote about the TV series I watch - it could mean just one - I watch them less. Well, that doesn't mean I'm not watching any more TV series at all. I'm!
So - here comes one interesting TV series from Italy - Il tredicesimo apostolo (The Thirteenth Apostle) is an Italian television series produced in 2012. Directed by Alexis Sweet.
In short, the plot revolves around a young priest named Gabriel, who is a professor of theology. In collaboration with the psychologist Claudia, he has been researching the mystical phenomena.
I wouldn't call this a super masterpiece, taking into account that in every tense episode there is thunder and rain behind the window, but in overall, this is pretty the same, something from Dan Brown archives :)
Episode from TV series
Starring: Con Claudio Gioe’, Claudia Pandolfi, Luigi Diberti, Chiara Nicola, Glenn Blackhall, Yorgo Voyagis, Stefano Pesce, Tony Bertorelli e Tommaso Ragno
Official Facebook Page
Affordable Rental Prices in Catalonia, Spain - Starting EUR 400.00/month
| Travel guides | 14 seen
Today I was looking for long term apartment rentals in Spain and I was surprised of how cheap some of them are. Honestly, looking through some of the photos I was surprsied.
I have been in Spain just once, and I have seen just a small part of it, last autumn we headed to Catalonia, we visited places like Barcelona, Girona, Figueras, Roses, Cadacues, Sitges and other. You can read a full review of my Spain + Andorra travel guide here.
I found a rental site of http://www.kyero.com/ where according to Kyero are listed more than 175,000 real estate rental and sale offers from more than 2,000 agents in Spain.
I decided to higlight just some of the offers in Catalonia (in places I have visited during my latest Spain trip)
Barcelona:
Apartment for Rent In Barcelona EUR 550/month
0 bedrooms 1 bath 35 m2 built
heating - air conditioning, heating
utilities - city gas, water, telephone
outside - terrace
other - lift
View rental offer here
Girona
Town house for rent in Girona EUR 1,300/month
3 bedrooms 2 baths 230 m2 built 420 m2 plot size Pool
Living on the Golf of Girona. A beautiful semi-detached house on the Golf de Girona located only 5 minutes from the city and 30 from the Costa Brava. For golf lovers, the Golf de Girona is one of the best designed and maintained golf course in Catalonia. This house has recently been completely renovated with modern and practical designs. It has open spaces , plenty of light and is bright, cheerful and comfortable. The house is on one floor and has a loft of 30m2 giving access to a terrace. There is a private garden, and a large porch for spending quality time outdoors. Wood is present throughout the house, and gives it a warm and friendly feel. The property has all the amenities that modern life demands: central vacuum, electric shutters, alarm and many more features. The huge garage accommodates 5 cars. This property is part of a small community and has access to a shared swimming pool surrounded by grass and trees, designed with simplicity. A house enjoyable indoors and outdoors.
View rental offer here
Roses
Apartment for Rent in Roses EUR 450.00/month
1 bed 1 bath 40 m2 built Pool
Located in newly built residential. It has 1 double room, sunny living room, large terrace, equipped kitchen, bathroom with shower, TV with French channels, parking, swimming pool and garden. For the rent must to pay 2 months deposit, one month, agency, and the current month's rent. We need the last three payroll and contract work.
View rental offer here
Sitges
Apartment for rent in Sitges EUR 400/month
1 bed 1 bath 80 m2 plot size
For Long Term Rent
Bright and airy
Double bedroom apartment for rent Sant Pere de Ribes of 45m2
Very large 30m2 terrace that gets the sun all day. Perfect for relaxing and dining outside.
Located in the beautiful Spanish village of St Pere de Ribes, just a 5 minute drive to Sitges centre
The apartment offers open plan living and is well equipped with a fully fitted kitchen and spacious living areas.
being offered part furnished.
View rental offer here
Personally speaking I'm more interested in small costal town like Roses, Caduceus rather big cities like Girona or Barcelona. And doing my quick "investigation" I have found that in such remote costal towns prices are more than suitable.
Restaurant 'Деловой ...' Review in Tskneti
| Restaurant reviews | 17 seen
Welcome to another Tbilisi Restaurant review - today I will speak of a restaurant located in Tbilisi Suburbs in Tskenti.
The problem is that I don't know name of this restaurant, today I asked a locals and they told it's called a 'Biz... of something', in Russian they used a word 'Деловой'... well sorry I cannot give you a more details of this restaurants name. But I must admit I like 'Деловой...' very much.
We arrived here after a bowling match at Kopala bowling centre.
Before I will dig into food photography - let me mention one more thing, here they speak Georgian only, so either have a interpreter with yourself, or learn some basic Georgian.
We managed to order mcvadi, kava, kitris i pomidori, imeruli khachapuri, ghvino, lemonadi, tkemali, sacabeli and some other goods. for counting thing all you need to know - erti, ori, sami... and finally asking for a check - angarashi ashelaba!
As usual for taking photographs I'm using my Samsung phone and usingInstagram(link is external) (then taking them from Instagram and adding to posts - you can read a blog post on how I turned my Instagram account into a photo blog
Restaurant sign in Georgian
Restaurant located near Tskenti road
Grilled barbecue
Gazebos at this Tskneti restaurant
Heh, I learned a word 'gazebo' from a South African guy when he showed me his fish farms here in Georgia. And now I have a chance to use it :)
Imeretian Khachapuri at this Tskneti restaurant
Pork Barbecue at this Tskenti restaurant
Tomato and cucumber salads
Though they don't speak here any other language than Georgian, damn, this is one of the most delicious and yummiest places near Tbilisi.
Kopala Bowling Review in Tskneti
| Entertainment | 55 seen
Kopala Bowling is a bowling center located in the suburbs of Tbilisi, the mountainous village of Tskneti.
This is one of the few places in Tbilisi and the neighborhood to play bowling.
We have been familiar with this place for ages, as in the past we came here quite often.
Kopola is not only a place where to play bowling, actually Kopola is a hotel with bowling and other entertainment facilities inside.
We actually booked one night stay at the start of Septemebr 2022, and enjoyed both playing bowling + having indoor swimming pool.
Prices:
- For bowling 1 hour working days: 20GEL*
- For bowling 1 hour weekends: 40GEL*
- Turkish coffee at cafeteria: 3 GEL*
*Prices are as of 2015; in 2022 there have been high inflation and the cost have risen. We paid GEL 30 for 1 hour blowling, but we got a 20 GEL discount because we were staying at the hotel.
About Kopola Bowling Centre
The entertainment and Bowling center “Kopala” is situated in downtown of Tskneti resort area, which is fifteen minutes drive from Tbilisi center. It is comparable to European highest-level standards with its contemporary equipment and guest service. It is the interesting place for adults as well as for children, for both newcomers and professionals. Bowling is the competitive to traditional means of relaxation such as restaurant, dancing halls, movies and computer games. Kopala Center also has a billiard club, entertaining machines, fitness center, swimming pool, sport bar, comfortable hotel rooms, and of course all in low prices that create ideal environment, where we offer you the splendid opportunity to get a maximal pleasure and satisfaction.
Mobile Devices in Digital Economy: My Case Study with Black Friday and Cyber Monday
| Blogging | 12 seen
Today I red an interesting article on Forbes The Digital Economy Is The New "App Economy" By Ross Mauri, IBM.
According to the annual IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark results, overall online sales rose 13.9 percent for the 2014 holiday season. Cyber shopping during November and December set another record high, while mobile traffic accounted for 45 percent of all online traffic. On Black Friday, for example, mobile devices accounted for one-in-four online purchases. In essence, with this increasing reliance on mobile devices, the digital economy is rapidly become the app economy.
Since I'm a proud Amazon's Associate since August 2014, I too have some data to report. In short, yes last Black Friday and Cyber Monday helped me to earn pretty decent income, it started with $704.00 in November and grown to best so far $2029.00 in December.
Tracking Outbound links
I'm using Google Analytics to track my blog's progress over time, and I have set there event based goals to track clicks on outgoing links (Links to Amazon, for example)
Clicks to Amazon (Black Friday)
As you can see from image above desktop users still are the majority with 64.89% of total visitors on November 28, 2014 (Black Friday), leaving mobile users (26.03%) second and tablet users third (9.08%).
Now, the interesting part comes here - while total mobile user count was 26.03%, there were 50.65% outgoing clicks to Amazon store from mobile users, while only 33.87% from desktops and 15.48% from tablets.
Clicks to Amazon Cyber Monday
You will find pretty the same scenario on December 1, 2014 (Cyber Monday) as well. While there are 69.26% of total users coming to my blog from desktop, just 38.31% desktop users were clicking on Amazon outgoing links. Mobile users kept first place with 46.20% of outgoing links to Amazon.
Now - I must admit - both of Black Friday and Cyber Monday were the best in terms of income report for my blog, still I would like to see more overall picture of full November and December 2014
Outgoing Clicks to Amazon November - December
Well - I'm not seeing here nothing unusual (different from first two images) - while desktop users still are the majority of my blog visitors (69.41%), mobile users (49.15) are more into clicking to outgoing links to Amazon, and (probably) making any further purchases there.
In over days, I believe there is a lot of misunderstanding of mobile users, desktop users, tablet users e.t.c.
There are folks claiming that mobile has overtaken desktop already in 2013, or 2014, well I believe there is a lot of such websites, which primary audience comes from mobile devices, but I wouldn't call it 100% sure for all web. In my case, there are still 69% of visitors visiting my blog from desktop computers.
Yes I agree - more people are clicking on Amazon links browsing my blog from their mobile devices and hopefully making purchases, earning me minimal but fair commission.
Another interesting pattern - bounce rates are lower for mobile and tablet devices that for desktop. The same applies for average session duration, for mobile and tablet users it's higher than for desktop.
It will be interesting to observe what will bring year of 2015.
Second Traffic Spike Happened - more than 3,500 Unique Visitors on January 19
| Blogging | 4 seen
Another major traffic spike to my blog happened on January 19, 2015, when total unique visitor count reached 3,584.
Update: Read how I got 10,000 page views in day a year later.
Previous or first major traffic spike happened about a year ago on January 24, 2014, when unique's totalled in more than 1,000.
I believe there will be some who are going to smile about such results, I mean those of you who are receiving traffic more than 5,000 unique visitors per day, but for me - well, it's a great achievement. Best so far!
Traffic Spike more than 3,500 unique visitors per day
As you can see in above image my traffic went up on January 19, 2015 and totalled in 3,584 unique visitors.
First thing I was concerned when I noticed a traffic surge - will my VPS will handle this spike, there was no need to be worried, my Linode VPS handled it with ease:
Linode VPS CPU Usage
Nothing unusual here, got around 32% of CPU on January 19, 2015
Linode VPS Network Usage
The only thing I noticed on my Linode VPS - increase in outgoing network traffic.
This leads me to think that with my existing server configuration I could go up to 100,000 monthly visitors without headaches, but I'm not 100% sure about that.
What made such traffic spike?
In July I wrote a post about minimum wages in European Union in 2014. At the end of 2014 that post started to gain some attention, got shared on several forums and then (as I believe) got shared on Facebook.
As of today that post has attracted 330 Facebook shares and likes.
The country of origin - Lithuania. I believe for Lithuanians it was interesting to compare their minimum wage with rest of European Union member states.
If you are interested in minimum wages in EU, please, feel free to visit that post and compare.
Traffic from Lithuania accounted for 54.65%
When first traffic spike happened to my blog I wrote following words about things I probably did wrong:
What about social share buttons - again wrong - I have removed them from site. So nobody, had possibility to share this link, and get even greater exposure.
So it's time to implement Google Adsense the right way, add social share buttons, and wait for another traffic spike.
It has been already a one year since I said that - what has changed?
I decided to compare how well I was prepared for second traffic spike,and compared that one with first one:
Traffic Spike 2015 vs Traffic Spike 2014
First - this time I got 3 times more traffic than first time, the stats that makes me glad are:
- Average session duration: it's up for 144.42% from 18 seconds in 2014 to 44 seconds in 2015
- Bounce rate: It's down by -4.16% from 91.00% in 2014 to 87.22% in 2015
- Average page per session is the same: 1.15
In Conclusion (Waiting for third traffic spike)
Traffic spikes come and go, I'm not focusing on traffic spikes, I'm more interested in steady (predictable) traffic growth. One thing is common for traffic spikes, they might come a a surprise (as it happened this time and did happened first time to my blog).
One thing you should pay attention is your hosting plan, either you sit on a shared hosting or have your VPS, investigate how much traffic it can handle. Speaking of me - I believe my existing server configuration could handle up to 10,000 unique visitors in a day (of course, time will show)
I believe you won't get rich if you are montezing your site with Google AdSense only, in case some of your affiliate posts goes viral I believe there is a huge chance to earn some decent chunk of money from that.
The Dezerter Bazaar (Market) in Tbilisi - Day Before New Year's Eve
| Living in Georgia | 29 seen
In this article, I have listed a few photos from the visit to the Tbilisi Dezerteer market on December 30, 2014 (
Warning - Some of the images may be inappropriate for some users, on few of them are pictured slaughtered animals.
I'm not a vegetarian but I must admit, there are times when walking through this market I have considered becoming one.
Georgian version of Christmas trees
Well, to explain this version of a Christmas tree I would need to wrap up another blog post, but in short - I have no idea why Georgians make such Christmas trees.
Pumpkins for sale at Tbilisi Dezerter market
Mandarins at Tbilisi Dezerter market
Tbilisi Dezerter Bazaar
Piglets for sale at Tbilisi Market
Well, this is another interesting trend in Georgia. As New Years comes closer, more piglets are eaten.
Chicken for sale at Tbilisi market
I don't know why they are yellow, personally I would avoid to buy any of meat products at Bazaar, probably they are just fine, but my inner feeling just keeps me avoiding of such products.
Onions for sale at Tbilisi Dezerter Bazaar
Vegetables at Tbilisi market
Crowded Tbilisi market
Pickles at Tbilisi market
Fireworks for sale at Tbilisi Market
Another issue in Tbilisi - during holiday season you will notice a lot of petards blown in front of your footsteps.
Fruits at Tbilisi Dezerter Bazar
In short - Tbilisi Dezerter Bazaar is just a regular market, well if you are hopping it will be like La Boqueria Market in Barcelona, you are wrong - it wont.
The infrastructure at Tbilisi Dezerter bazaar is poor, market is overcrowded and you have a chance to get knocked down by a car which will deliver goods in a markets rush hour.
Of course - here you can get plenty of vegetables, fruits, meat and even fish for much better price than in local shops.