Affiliate Theme Review by Unique Blogdesigns
Unique Blogdesigns has released their Affiliate Theme, Unique Blog Designs has stepped it up to the next level. The Affiliate Theme by UBD is THE IDEAL wordpress theme for affiliate marketers. With the Affiliate Theme you can have a website up and running within 5 minutes just like they advertised. All you need is content to add to your WordPress website or blog.
I was able to launch a website to start marketing affiliate items within minutes. Three days later I was converting leads and collect CPA from Market Leverage.
An advantage to using the Affiliate Theme by Unique BlogDesigns is you dont have to know web design or anything. You just need to know how to install WordPress and install themes. If you use Simple Scripts like I do with my BlueHost web hosting account (Web Hosting $6.95 Per Month / Free Domain), there is really nothing else you need to do besides to FTP the files to the themes directory. After that everything uses a graphical user interface. You just click and select options and your site is good to go.
Other special features is the ability to easily add graphics to post and conversion URLs to various links within the post. The “button” feature is one of the feature I like the most about the Affiliate Theme. The “button” feature highlights your final message like a “sign up here” or “click here” message. We all know that banner ads are often useless but this is a different story. Almost all of my conversions click on the button.
Support by UBD was excellent and their support forum already has a good knowledgebase. When I had a problem with the early releases, I would say that tech support from UBD had about a 6 to 8 hour turnaround. Which is pretty good response.
If you are going to become an affiliate marketer and will be launching multiple sites the Affiliate Theme is the theme for you. No more tinkering with landing pages. Just use the Affiliate Theme to create landing pages. If you purchase the Affiliate Theme (Super Affiliate Edition) it comes with pre-made header pictures to make your life even easier. The header pictures addresses the most common affiliate marketing offers out there, which speeds your launch even faster and helps you make money quicker.
Click here if you are ready to purchase the Affiliate Theme.
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Review of WordPress Featured Gallery Content Plugin
One of my favorite plugins in the Featured Content Gallery Plugin. The Featured Content Gallery WordPress Plugin is probably the most useful plugin to have. The plugin allows you to highlight WordPress posts and pages that you have written.
The Featured Content Gallery plugin allows you to create a content box you WordPress blog. The content box can contain a background picture for each post. For each content in the content box the background picture will be displayed along with custom text or a preview of you page or post. The plugin will automatically scrolls through your featured articles or you can manually scroll through the featured articles.
Installation is easy. Some WordPress themes already come with the featured content gallery plugin code already integrated into the theme. If the theme does not have the code integrate all you have to do is paste this code where you want it:
<!–p include (ABSPATH . ‘/wp-content/plugins/featured-content-gallery/gallery.php’);–>
The options are easy to setup. First you should setup the size of the content box. Then you select what you want displayed, you can either choose by category name, or by specific ID number. You can also display the number of items to display in the featured content gallery box. When you create the post ensure you select the correct category to be featured and ensure you configure articleimg as a key, entering the URL to your image to be displayed. The other options to configure are related to the gallery border color, background color, and text color.
What I would change about this plugin? Have the plugin auto resize the images. You almost have to find pictures that fit or have to resize pictures. It would be nice if the plugin automatically resized images. That is my only complaint about the plugin. Otherwise this is an excellent plugin.
The Featured Content Gallery WordPress Plugin is developed by iePlexus. You may download the plugin from this link. The link also contains detailed installation and setup instructions.
Social Media WordPress Plugins Review
Over the past couple of days I have been playing around with Social Media Wordpres Plugins. Some may call it Social News WP Plugins. These WordPress Plug-ins allow readers to instantly share your posts or articles on your Blog to the masses through social media outlets such as Digg, Yahoo Buzz, Facebook, etc…
Through your blog software such as WordPress these plugins can be easily configured. The two I have stumped upon are the Sharethis plugin and the Digg Digg Plugin. I have previously reviewed the Digg Digg Plugin, you can read it here.
Most WP themes are compatible with these social media plugins. As you will see in my review of Digg Digg it can cause your WordPress blog to load slower than usual. Hence the Sharethis plugin comes into play. The Sharethis plugin is pretty easy to configure. It is a three to four step process to install. Its pretty basic steps setup and install. Register for an account on the Sharethis site , then configure your Sharethis code, download and install the plugin (FTP and Activate), and then copy the code into the configuration field for the plugin.
The Sharethis Social Media WordPress plugin has the same functionality as the Digg Digg WordPress Plugin but more. Digg Digg limits your blog search engine submission to only four social media and news outlets, while Sharethis allows for 20+. The plugin shows the twenty most popular social media outlets but if you click on the more link it will allow for more. The plugin also allows functionality to link to your blog or another blog or email the post or article to another person all from one single location.
I would definitely recommend the Sharethis plugin. I am keeping both the Sharethis plugin and the Digg Digg plugin for now for testing purposes. If you like this article Shareit, Digg it, Stumble it, etc… Give me a Digg !
Signup for the Sharethis Plugin and check it out for yourself.
-Happy Blogging
Digg Digg Social Media WordPress Plugin Review
The Digg Digg Social Media WordPress Plugin is a great WP plug-in. This WordPress Plugin is particularly useful because it integreates a Digg button, reddit me button, dzone button, and Yahoo buzz button on a post or page on your blog. You no longer have to do anything to have someone digg your posts. The WP plugin will automatically create the URL to be dugg at the top or middle or end of your post.
This WordPress plugin is by far one of these best plugins for social media. One of the drawbacks that I have noticed is that it is a little slow in loading the pages when you it configured. It maybe because the icons or buttons are high resolution graphics. I have not investigated that closely. I have found a slight workaround, I dont have the buttons showing up on the home page so atleast the home page loads faster. I also use the compat icons when possible.
The social media plugin is developed by Programmer Life. The plugin can be downloaded from WordPress Digg Digg Plugin page.
I’ve got it configured in this review, Digg it below and check it out !
Top WordPress Plugins | Blogger911
For any WordPress blog I highly recommend these top WordPress Plugins. The plug-ins are must haves for WordPress. They should be incorporated into everyone’s blog design.
Top WP Plugins that Blogger911.com recommends:
1. All in One SEO Pack – This WordPress plugin automatically optimizes your titles for search engines and generates META tags automatically.
2. Google Sitemap Generator – The Google Sitemap Generator Plugin automatically creates a google sitemaps compliant XML sitemap. Every time you add, edit, or change content it will update the XML sitemap.
3. WordPress Automatic Upgrade - Worried about upgrade to the latest version of WordPress ? Have no fear, install this WP plug-in and with a click of a button your WordPress software will be automatically upgrade to the latest version.
4. WordPress DB Backup – Backs up your WordPress database for easy restore in case there is a problem with your WordPress site. It can save it to a file on your web host provider or better yet email you a copy of your database so you can archive it.
5. Related Posts Plugin – The Related Posts Plugin will display older posts that maybe related to a newly posted post. This is an excellent tool for a “sticky” blog. It keeps the reader engaged and on your site more.
6. DD Form Mailer – Allows you to create forms such as contact information or newsletter signups.
7. WordPress Audio Player – Need a way to introduce yourself on your blog? Need a way to embed a podcast on your blog? Try the WordPress audio player plugin. Embedding an audio player into a post couldn’t be easier.
8. Whydowork Adsense Plugin – Whydowork Adsense plugin is a WP plugin that inserts adsense code into a post, below a post, above, etc… without having to modify the theme or template files. You can insert almost anything into posts with this plugin not just adsense code.
9. WordPress e-commerce – The WordPress e-commerce plugin allows you to setup an e-commerce site or ad a shopping cart to your WP blog in no time. You can easily setup a product list and start accepting payments through Paypal or Google Checkout.
10. WP-Polls – The WP-polls allows you to create polls for your WordPress Blog. It adds a voting feature to your website.
Whether you are blogging for money or blogging to blog these are ten of the most essential plugins available. There are many more useful plugins out there but I think these are some good ones to start with. Your blog setup process should involve installing these plugins. If you don’t have these plugins installed, contact your tech guy now and have him or her install them. If there are more that I am missing please don’t hesitate to contact me rob@blogger911.com.
Unique WordPress Widget Titles | Blogger911
Unique WordPress Widget Titles can be easily created by adding a couple of simple lines to your stylesheet.css. I found this article titled, Pimping Your WordPress Widget Titles.
Changing the widget titles will make your boring WordPress widgets appear bold and alive. You will be able to have individual fonts for widget titles, blocks as background to widget titles, different colors to widget titles, etc…
WordPress 2.7 is Released with New Interface
WordPress 2.7 (Codename “Coltrane”) has been released and I have upgraded all my blogs with the new version the most noticeable thing about WordPress 2.7 is the change to the dashboard in the administration page.
The nagivation is now to the left side of the dashboad. You have all the same functions its just a different look and feel. The usuability is still excellent.
There should be no learning curve for this it is extremely straighforward to use. I used the WordPress Automatic Update plugin and it worked without flaws also.
I will post feedback and upadates as I dig around more.
You can download WordPress 2.7 here.
You can download the WordPress automatic upgrade here.
Please not I upgraded from v2.6.1. If you have an earlier version please make sure you read the details if you have previous versions of WordPress.
WordPress 2.6.3 Released
WordPress released a new version to WordPress. It addresses a security vulnerability. You can reinstall or just update two files.
You can download WordPress here.
Two files will need to be replaced:
Thats all you need to do. Just ftp into your web hosting account and replace those files.
Installing WordPress for a Test Environment
Here are directions on how to install wordpress and xampplite for a testing environment on a PC. You can make changes to your themes and plugins first in your testing environment before making the changes to your production website. Coming soon I am working on steps to backup your current production website and restoring it in your testing environment for a better testing environment.
Download XAMPP Lite (.exe is recommended) – http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html#646
Download WordPress - http://wordpress.org/download/
Install Xampplite – Xampplite provides an apache server emulation. Installing xampplite on your machine will make your machine will allow you to run WordPress on your machine.
1. Drag Xampplite-w3.exe to the Virtual Machine window.
2. Double click on Xmapplite-w3.exe, extract xampplite to C:\
3. Click Extract.
4. Open the xampplite folder on your C:
5. Click setup_xampp.bat
6. Press any key when prompted.
7. Click on xampp-control.exe.
8. Click on the Start Button for Apache. Click Unblock if prompted.
9. Click on the Start Button for MySQL. Click Unblock if prompted.
Create the wordpress database
1. Open the browser in the virtual machine.
2. Type in http://localhost/xampp/splash.php for the address.
3. Click on your language.
4. On the left side under Tools, click on phpMyAdmin.
5. Look for the Create new database fields on the right side.
6. Enter wordpress for the database name.
7. Select utf8_unicode_ci .
8. Click Create.
Install WordPress
1. Extract the wordpress files from the wordpress zip file.
2. Extract the files to c:\xampplite\htdocs
3. open c:\xampplite\htdocs\wordpress\wp-config-sample.php.
4. Modify the following
define(‘DB_NAME’, ‘wordpress’); // The name of the database
define(‘DB_USER’, ‘root’); // Your MySQL username
define(‘DB_PASSWORD’, ”); // …and password
define(‘DB_HOST’, ‘localhost’); // 99% chance you won’t need to
Your database name should be wordpress.
Your db_user name should be root.
The db_password should be left blank
5. Save the file as wp-config.php.
6. In the browser window go to http://localhost/wordpress/wp-admin/install.php
7. Enter your blog title.
8. Click Install WordPress.
9. Copy the username and password.
10. Click Login.
11. Change the password to a password you can remember.
12. WordPress is now configured.
To access your wordpress admin page go to – http://localhost/wordpress/wp-admin
To access your wordpress website go to – http://localhost/wordpress
Plugins and themes can be copied to
C:\xampplite\htdocs\wordpress\wp-content\plugins
C:\xampplite\htdocs\wordpress\wp-content\themes
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Setting up a WordPress Testing Environment with Virtual PC
This details how to setup a virtual testing environment with Windows XP and Virtual PC. You can setup a wordpress testing environment on your machine but using a virtual testing environment leaves minimal footprint and modifications to your current machine. The same principles apply when working with other virtual environments but this is catered toward Windows XP and Windows Vista Users. If you would like to install WordPress on your PC instead of a virtual environment check out these instructions on how to install a WordPress testing environment on a PC.
System Requirements:
• Windows XP SP3 or Windows Vista SP1
• Atleast 4 GB RAM
• 10 GB of availabile disk space
Here is what you need to do:
NOTE: The XP virtual hard drive will expire after a certain date. You want to make sure you backup your files in case it expires. If you want a long term solution, install xampplite directly on your machine. Here are the instructions to install WordPress and Xampplite directly onto your workstation.
1. Download Virtual PC 2007 – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=28C97D22-6EB8-4A09-A7F7-F6C7A1F000B5&displaylang=en
2. Download the virtual PC image of your choice. I have only tested this on Windows XP, but is should work on Vista also. - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=21EABB90-958F-4B64-B5F1-73D0A413C8EF&displaylang=en (XP SP3 with IE6 is recommended).
3. Download XAMPP Lite (.exe is recommended) – http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html#646
4. Download WordPress - http://wordpress.org/download/
5. Install Virtual PC 2007
6. Expand the downloaded image that was downloaded in Step 2.
7. Start Virtual PC and add the VHD.
a. Click on the New button on the Virtual PC Console.
b. Click Next.
c. Select Create a virtual machine.
d. Enter a name for the virtual machine.
e. Select the Windows XP as the Operating System.
f. Adjust the RAM if needed, I recommend atleast 500 MB or up to 1GB if you have enough RAM.,
g. Select An existing virtual hard disk.
h. Click Browse to find the expanded virtual PC image. For this example we are using the XP SP3 with IE6 VHD. Select XP SP3 with IE6.vhd.
i. You can choose Enabled undo disks to revert back and commit any change. For this case I have chosen not to enable the undo disks.
j. Click Finish.
8. Go back to the Virtual PC console.
9. Highlight your Virtual Machine you just created, click Settings.
10. Click on Networking, on the right side select your network adapter. If you want Internet access from the virtual machine, select your network adapter that is connected to the Internet.
11. Click OK
12. Click Start to start your virtual machine.
Install Xampplite – Xampplite provides an apache server emulation. You can install this on your machine without Virtual PC. With the Virtual PC, you have the ability to uninstall things and to have an actual server like environment.
1. Drag Xampplite-w3.exe to the Virtual Machine window.
2. Double click on Xmapplite-w3.exe, extract xampplite to C:\
3. Click Extract.
4. Open the xampplite folder on your C:
5. Click setup_xampp.bat
6. Press any key when prompted.
7. Click on xampp-control.exe.
8. Click on the Start Button for Apache. Click Unblock if prompted.
9. Click on the Start Button for MySQL. Click Unblock if prompted.
Create the wordpress database
1. Open the browser in the virtual machine.
2. Type in http://localhost/xampp/splash.php for the address.
3. Click on your language.
4. On the left side under Tools, click on phpMyAdmin.
5. Look for the Create new database fields on the right side.
6. Enter wordpress for the database name.
7. Select utf8_unicode_ci .
8. Click Create
Install WordPress
1. Extract the wordpress files from the wordpress zip file.
2. Extract the files to c:\xampplite\htdocs
3. open c:\xampplite\htdocs\wordpress\wp-config-sample.php.
4. Modify the following
define(‘DB_NAME’, ‘wordpress’); // The name of the database
define(‘DB_USER’, ‘root’); // Your MySQL username
define(‘DB_PASSWORD’, ”); // …and password
define(‘DB_HOST’, ‘localhost’); // 99% chance you won’t need to
Your database name should be wordpress.
Your db_user name should be root.
The db_password should be left blank
5. Save the file as wp-config.php.
6. In the browser window go to http://localhost/wordpress/wp-admin/install.php
7. Enter your blog title.
8. Click Install WordPress.
9. Copy the username and password.
10. Click Login.
11. Change the password to a password you can remember.
12. WordPress is now configured.
Goto http://localhost/wordpress/wp-admin to access your WordPress admin page.
Goto http://localhost/wordpress to see you wordpress website.
Plugins and themes can be copied to
C:\xampplite\htdocs\wordpress\wp-content\plugins
C:\xampplite\htdocs\wordpress\wp-content\themes
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