I’m always sceptical whenever I read ads that try to sell you the idea of “websites that make you money automatically”. I mean if there was such a thing, wouldn’t the advertiser be better of doing it themselves instead of teaching others and creating competition? The only “automatic earner” for me has been web proxies and this how I started one. :)

In this article, I’m going to talk about web proxies and the power of social marketing.

What Is A Web Proxy?
Some schools and offices use a firewall to block access to certain websites, e.g. Myspace.com, because they feel that it’s a distraction for their staff and students. A web proxy is basically a service that helps you “trick” the firewall so that you access the blocked site through the proxy instead of directly.

Think of a web proxy as an extra layer between you and the website. I tried to illustrate this point through my diagram below and hopefully, it makes sense to you:

When you visit a website through a web proxy, the pages are actually downloaded to the proxy first, before they are served to your Internet browser. Hence, your firewall thinks that you’re looking at the proxy page when you’re infact accessing the blocked website. This service also provides you anonymity since the accessed website only sees the proxy and knows nothing about you. While this was intended to protect the privacy of web surfers, it’s also used as a mask for illegal activities, e.g. by sex offenders.

Why Start A Web Proxy?
You are solving a problem by letting people access Myspace.com or Youtube.com at work/school for example, and that means that your users will keep returning and even tells friends and colleagues about it, i.e. free marketing. The only problem is once the school/office IT Administrator finds out and blocks your proxy, you will lose your visitors since your proxy is no longer useful to them. The positive side of it is that users of other proxies that got blocked may start to use yours. You only need to put it effort in setting up the proxy and after that it’s maintenance-free.

How To Start A Proxy?
First, get a good budget web hosting plan - at least a VPS but preferably a dedicated server. Memory is more important than processor speed and you should target 1-2 GB RAM. You may receive lots of low-quality traffic from restrictive (e.g. communist) countries like China and Iran, wasting your system resources in the process. Solve this by using an IP filtering service called Traffic Cleaner so that you receive only high-quality traffic (e.g. US and UK) on your proxy and send the rest to a landing page.

Next, install one of the proxy scripts from Whitefyre or CGI Proxy (both FREE), and customize the design.

How To Monetize A Proxy?
You’re allowed to stick Google ads on the mainpage but not on the “proxified” pages - try Adbrite or sell banner spots instead. The usual places to stick Google ads are two 300×250 blocks side-by-side, above the form and a 468×60 below. I’ve gotten anywhere from $0.02 to $0.20 per click, so I’d focused more on getting traffic and selling banner spots instead.

This is how a proxified page looks like. You can sell banner spots on the green bar at the top BUT do not stick Google ads there. If you do, your ads will filter down to the visited website - this is against Google’s TOS and will get you banned!

How To Market A Proxy?
I won’t go with proxy topsites because they’re a waste of time IMO - you probably have better luck exchanging links with other proxies. I will instead start with social bookmarks and networks like StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit and Netscape. This was how Myspace Proxy X got indexed by Google in under 24 hours and managed over 1,000 unique visitors in just 3 days. Study the stats below carefully and you’ll learn where to market your new proxy:

Ready to start your own web proxy and make money “automatically” now? :)