This guide will cover all the components of starting up in the proxy business. Hosting, domains, scripts, monetization(my favorite part) and everything else needed to establish a proxy.

If you are new to the concept of a proxy I think the best way to understand them is with an example. If you already know, skip this part. Now go take a look at the glype proxy demo site. Glype is a proxy script(don’t worry about that now, I will get to it later). Enter an address into the input form and you will see what it does. The proxy site fetches the site you entered and displays it to you on the proxy site. Kids use proxies at school to bypass filters that block them from visiting MySpace and other similar sites. Because of this there is a huge demand for proxies.

Now the first step is to choose what your domains are going to be. There are a few rules you should follow while choosing domains. If you chose crazycoolproxy.com it would be blocked instantly at most schools just because it contains the word “proxy.” So don’t do that. When I’m picking out domains I try to make them very educational looking, that way they don’t get blocked as easily. You don’t have to make them educational but definitely try to avoid anything that looks like proxy, bypass, anonymous, hidden etc. Also try to get words that are easier to remember and easy to spell. That way users will remember your site better and you will have more returning visitors. As for choosing extensions, I don’t think it matters that much. A .com as always is preferable if you can afford it but a .info will work just as well. If you choose to go with a .info though, make sure the .com of that name is already taken(by a site that isn’t a proxy). Someone could come along and snatch up the .com and steal all your visitors that mistakingly type in .com instead of .info. To start your proxy venture I would recommend getting around 5 domains. You could still do it with 1 though so if you can’t afford it don’t worry about it.

The next step is to get hosting for your proxies. This is a very important thing, probably the most important. Proxies are highly server intensive, you shouldn’t get crappy hosting. For example, when I was starting I hosted my proxies on a cheap shared hosting plan. It worked for a while I guess. After a month I was getting so much traffic that the sites were unusable because they were so slow. I lost all my traffic and had to pretty much start over. Don’t make the same mistake I did. Get a VPS with a good amount of RAM or a shared proxy host optimized for proxies. Eventually you will need to move to a dedicated server, but in the beginning try to minimize your expenses. I recommend using Tech Entrance which is a shared proxy host. Even though it is shared, the speed is spectacular. They have a very powerful server specifically optimized for proxies and don’t oversell. After you outgrow shared hosting, move to a dedicated server.

Well that is the end of my guide, hope you enjoyed it! Just kidding!!! Obviously there is a lot more that has to be said. The scripts, monetization and marketing!! I just thought I’d put up what I did so far because who knows when I’ll finish it. :P Probably have to fix a few typos too…