A WordPress Administrator may need to check a plugin’s history on their site for a variety of reasons.

One of the primary reasons is to understand the changes that have occurred over time since the plugin’s installation.

This includes tracking any updates or modifications made to the plugin, which can significantly impact the functionality and performance of the website.

Additionally, checking a plugin’s history can provide valuable insights into any issues or conflicts that may have arisen during its activation or deactivation. For instance, some plugins may not be compatible with certain themes or other plugins, leading to potential problems that can disrupt the user experience.

Furthermore, if a plugin has been deleted, reviewing its history can help determine what caused its removal and whether it had any negative effects on the site. This information can be crucial in making informed decisions about future plugin installations and ensuring the smooth operation of the website.

Information on Plugin Updates in WordPress 

WordPress, a robust and versatile content management system, offers a plethora of plugins to enhance the functionality and user experience of your website.

The process of plugin installation in WordPress is relatively straightforward. It involves navigating to the ‘Plugins’ section in your WordPress dashboard, clicking on ‘Add New’, searching for the desired plugin, and finally clicking on ‘Install Now’.

Once installed, the plugin needs to be activated to start functioning. This can be done by clicking on ‘Activate’ button that appears after the installation is complete.

As for updates, WordPress does an excellent job of notifying users when a plugin update is available. These notifications appear in the form of banners or alerts in your dashboard, prompting you to update for better performance or security enhancements. The update process is as simple as clicking on the ‘Update Now’ link associated with each notification.

However, it’s important to note that by default, WordPress does not provide specific installation and update dates for plugins. While it does keep track of the version number and offers update notifications when necessary, it doesn’t automatically record or display the exact dates when a plugin was installed or updated.

This information can be crucial for troubleshooting purposes or for maintaining a record of changes made to your website. To access this information, you may need to use additional tools or plugins designed for this purpose.

Despite this minor limitation, WordPress remains a powerful tool for website creation and management due to its ease of use and extensive customization options through plugins.

How to Check WordPress Plugin Installation Date and Time

Checking the installation date and time of a WordPress plugin can be a crucial step in managing your website, particularly when troubleshooting or auditing.

While there are several plugins available that can assist with this task, such as “Plugin Installation Date” or “When Last Login”, it’s important to note that these are not strictly necessary. WordPress itself provides a way to check this information without the need for additional plugins.

A. Check WP Files on the Server to See When a WordPress Plugin Was Installed

To do so, you would need to access your website’s file manager, either through your hosting control panel or an FTP client.

Once there, navigate to the ‘wp-content/plugins’ directory where all your plugins are stored. By checking the ‘Date Modified’ column for each plugin folder, you can determine when it was last updated, which in most cases will be the installation date if the plugin has not been updated since its installation.

However, this method might not be as precise as using a dedicated plugin, especially if you frequently update your plugins. Therefore, while it’s possible to check the installation date and time of WordPress plugins without additional tools, using a dedicated plugin can provide more accurate and detailed information.

B. Check WP Database to Find Out When Plugins Were Installed

To check the installation date and time of a specific plugin, you will need to access your website’s database through phpMyAdmin.

Once you’re in, navigate to the ‘wp_options’ table and look for an entry called ‘active_plugins’. This entry contains data about all the active plugins on your site, including their installation dates and times.

However, it’s important to note that this method only works if the plugin was activated after it was installed. If the plugin was installed but not activated, the installation date and time might not be recorded.

Additionally, remember that tinkering with your website’s database can be risky if you’re not familiar with how it works. Always make sure to back up your data before making any changes.

Bonus WordPress Tip: How To Check If A Plugin Is Active

Determining whether a WordPress plugin is active or not is a relatively straightforward process.

First, you need to log into your WordPress admin dashboard. Once you’re in, navigate to the ‘Plugins’ section which is typically located on the left-hand side of the dashboard. Clicking on ‘Plugins’ will open a new page that lists all the plugins currently installed on your website.

Here, you can easily identify which plugins are active and which are not. Active plugins are usually highlighted with a blue background and have an ‘Active’ label beneath their names. Conversely, inactive plugins have no such label and their backgrounds are not highlighted.

If you want to activate a plugin, simply click on the ‘Activate’ link beneath its name. Similarly, if you wish to deactivate a plugin, click on the ‘Deactivate’ link. Remember that activating or deactivating plugins can significantly impact your website’s functionality, so always proceed with caution.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: How can I check when a WordPress plugin was installed?

A: To see when a plugin was installed on your WordPress website, you can use a plugin manager tool like WP Last Modified Info. This tool allows you to browse through the installed plugins and check the installation dates.

Q: Can I find out when a specific plugin was installed on a post?

A: Yes, with a plugin like WP Last Modified Info, you can check the installation dates of plugins on individual posts or pages. Simply click on the post you want to check, and the tool will show you the plugin installation dates.

Q: Is it possible to manually track when a plugin was installed without a plugin manager?

A: While it’s not as convenient as using a plugin manager, you can still find out when a plugin was installed by looking at the plugin details in the WordPress admin area. Simply follow one of the options mentioned above.

Q: What is the recommended tool for checking plugin installation dates?

A: WP Last Modified Info is a highly recommended tool for easily finding out when plugins were installed on your WordPress website. It provides a user-friendly interface and detailed information about installed plugins.

Q: Can I check the installation date of a previously installed plugin that is currently active?

A: Yes, with WP Last Modified Info or a similar tool, you can easily find the installation date of any installed and activated plugin on your WordPress website.

Q: How can I check the installation date of a WordPress SEO plugin?

A: If you are using a WordPress SEO plugin like Yoast SEO or Rank Math, you can check the installation date using a plugin manager tool. Simply browse through the list of installed plugins and look for the SEO plugin to find its installation date.

Q: Is there a way to find out when a plugin was installed without using a plugin manager?

A: If you don’t have a plugin manager installed, you can still check the installation date of a plugin by manually going through the WordPress admin area. Simply follow one of the options mentioned above.

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The post Date Check: How to See When a WordPress Plugin Was Installed first appeared on The WordPress How To Blog.

Do you want to get a tool that can literally double or triple your online income – overnight??

What if I say that you can do this by just a few clicks using your existing WordPress blog – with no new content, no new products, no copywriting, and no coding?

Sounds crazy? It’s true! Read on…

Scarcity Samurai WordPress Plugin by Nobel Samurai

Scarcity Samurai Review – EASILY Double and Triple Your Profits Using Existing Traffic

Scarcity Samurai is a brand new plugin from the trusted Nobel Samurai team. This team is known for comping up with market leading, super useful products.

I can personally vouch for them as I have been using their Market Samurai and Article Samurai products for a long, long time.

Now, they’ve created a powerful WordPress Plugin that is PROVEN to multiply your profits by 2x, 3x, even 4x… with just a few button clicks.

You just need to install this awesome plugin, and you would be able to increase your profits manyfold – overnight!

Here are some of the benefits you can expect when you use Scarcity Samurai:

• Convert your “once off promotions” into non-stop profit machines that run all day, every day completely on autopilot… finally giving you “REAL” set-and-forget passive income
• Multiply your sales by up to 450% in just a few minutes… that’s over four times MORE CASH in your bank account
• Skyrocket your sales page conversions by up to 80% – practically doubling your income overnight…
• Boost your squeeze page sign up rate by up to 40% in just a few clicks, exploding the size of your list at breakneck speed

How? Please see below.

Scarcity Samurai Review – The Secret Behind this WordPress Plugin

Scarcity Samurai uses psychology to increase your sales… It is a proven fact that people respond to an offer much better if it is for a limited time.

But if you want to implement a “limited time offer” on your blog the right way, it would need custom coding, hours and hours of effort, and a ton of money.

Now, Scarcity Samurai does exactly this – you just install this WordPress plugin, and it takes care of all the aspects of a limited time offer.

It flicks a little known switch in your customer’s mind that COMPELS them to buy your products…

And the best part is that Scarcity Samurai automates everything. You just have to set it up once (which is extremely easy as you can see in the videos below), and it tirelessly does its job 24X7.

You can watch the video here, and see the magic behind Scarcity Samurai for yourself!

Scarcity Samurai Review – What Some Other Users are Saying

Scarcity Samurai WordPress Plugin

Here are the things being said about Scarcity Samurai by its users:

• “THE – 2013 IM tool of the year”
• “The best conversion tool ever!”
• “THE game-changer that everyone is looking for”
• “Sales have been pouring in. Thanks for the great product. It’s easy to install, can be setup and seconds, and there is no doubt that it works.”
• “Talk about a PAY RAISE!! My income will more than double this year with this program, I can guarantee it! Thanks again for another amazing program.. you never disappoint!”
• “I installed Scarcity Samurai 2 days ago and already seen a huge spike in conversions!!! This will now always play a role in my marketing!”
• “I love the plugin. It is easy to set up and implement. And has increased my conversions by over 100%! I highly recommend it as it is fantastic value for money.”
• “Scarcity Samurai is SICK!”
• “THE game-changer that everyone is looking for.”
• “I’ve never seen such a must-have tool.”
• “This is probably automation at its best!”
• “A killer product.”
• “This is so point and click simple”
• “This plug-in is an insanely valuable WordPress addition”

How to Install Scarcity Samurai WordPress Plugin

Here is a simple, step-by-step video that tells you how to download and install Scarcity Samurai.

Configuring Scarcity Samurai – How to Use the Multipage Evergreen Scarcity Wizard

Here is a video that tells you what the multipage mode is, and gives you instructions about setting it up using the Multipage Evergreen Scarcity Wizard.

Scarcity Samurai Review – How to Use the Single Page Evergreen Scarcity Wizard

Here is a video that tells you what the single page mode in Scarcity Samurai is, and gives you instructions about setting it up using the Single Page Evergreen Scarcity Wizard.

Get Scarcity Samurai Now – At a 50% Discount

The normal retail price of the PRO-licence for Scarcity Samurai (which allows you to install the plugin on unlimited sites) will be $197.

However, as part of the “Launch Special”, you will would be able to lock in a 50% HALF PRICE discount, and grab the pro version of the plugin for just $97. You don’t even need a discount code!

Please click here to get your 50% discount – remember, this offer is available for a very limited time!

The post Scarcity Samurai Review – EASILY Double & Triple Your Profits Using Existing Traffic first appeared on The WordPress How To Blog.

Traffic and Earnings Report of My Blogs – January 2013

Here are the details of the traffic to my blogs and the income report for January 2013.

I hope you would get some inspiration from the discussion of my numbers over the months!

If you want to share your blog’s statistics, you are most welcome to do so in the comments.

Traffic Report

Website	Month	Visitors	Visits	Pageviews	Posts Published
TheWPHowToBlog.com	01-2013	174	264	696	14
NYWhatToDo.com	01-2013	2088	2244	3898	8
TheCruiseCentral.com	01-2013	125	134	170	1

Income Report

The combined earnings from these 3 blogs for the last month was:

$80.00

The revenue was earned from Google AdSense ads and affiliate commissions from the various affiliate programs these blogs are a part of.

Detailed Income Report

The income for my blogs had been fluctuating quite a bit in the last few months. And the earning from each blog is still quite low to provide a blog-wise break up for the income report.

When the combined earning from these three blogs achieves a respectable amount (which I now plan to attain by December 2013 – so stay tuned and keep visiting!), I would start providing a detailed earnings breakup in my income report for each blog.

Analysis of the Current Month

Content Creation

In the last few months, I had been posting next to nothing on my blogs. However, I started focusing on them again in December 2012, and created a lot of content. I had decided to continue this, and I am happy to report that I have been able to do that!

In December 2012, I had published 22 blog posts across my 3 blogs. And in January 2013, this has gone up to 23 blog posts!

This includes 14 blog posts on this blog, 8 blog posts on my New York blog, and 1 post on my Cruise blog. Less posting frequency was expected for the cruise blog as I noted last month, since I am not focusing too much on it at this stage.

As I noted last month, I have seen a lag of 1.5 – 2 months between content creation and its impact on traffic and revenues. So I am hoping that this increased content creation would show an uptrend in the traffic and earnings in February 2013 or March 2013.

I am keeping my fingers crossed!

Traffic Report

January 2013 has seen a big jump in traffic. Of course, this jump is over the really low traffic of December. But still, a jump is a jump!

The NY blog has has seen the lowest increase – the increase has been about 5%. This is in spite of lots of new articles published in December and January. However, as I said earlier, there is usually a delay between content publishing and increase in traffic & income, so I would be patient!

The traffic to the Cruise blog has also increased significantly in January 2013 – in spite of almost no new content! The traffic in Jan 2013 has doubled as compared to Dec 2012.

The traffic to this blog too has increased significantly in Jan 2013 – it has increased by about 50% on a month-on-month basis.

So I can say that my blogs are finally recovering a little from my lack of new content creation and the Google algorithm updates!

Income Report

The income report does not follow the pattern shown by the traffic report, unfortunately. My income from these 3 blogs has reduced almost 50% in Jan 2013 when compared to Dec2012, in spite of an increase in traffic.

The income report has shown some swings lately, and I expect the income to grow with the traffic in the first quarter of 2013.

Plan for the Next Month

I am really proud of the fact that I have been able to sustain high posting frequency for 2 months in a row.

In February 2013, I want to continue the good frequency of posting on my blogs – like last month, I am targeting 9 – 10 posts on this blog as well as the NY blog. I don’t expect to publish more than 2-3 blog posts on my Cruising blog.

As the regulars to my blog would know, I have outsourced some of the content creation tasks through oDesk. I am very happy with the results I am getting from my oDesk employees, and would be continuing to outsource through it.

Get Details of My Blogs

If you are interested in knowing more about the three blogs for which I publish the monthly traffic and income report, please check out “My Other Blogs – The Companions in Our Journey“.

The post Income Report & Traffic Report for My Blogs – January 2013 first appeared on The WordPress How To Blog.

Top 5 WordPress Themes for Photographers & Photography Blogs

WordPress is a free and open source blogging tool, and a robust Content Management System (CMS).

WordPress allows you to turn your blog into a fully functional online photo gallery while still maintaining all the features of a normal blog.

With a customizable gallery layout included in many WordPress themes, it has become an amazing solution for photographers to build an online presence in a professional way.

WordPress, with its many photography focused themes, is thus becoming a platform or a foundation to help showcase the talents of budding amateur photographers and seasoned photographers alike.

WordPress Themes for Photographers and Photography Blogs

WordPress has various themes that users can install and switch. Themes allow users to change the look and functionality of a WordPress blog without altering the information content or structure.

While there are many themes that are free of cost, you need to pay for premium WordPress themes. With their various tools and picture enhancing features, these premium themes give you – the photographer – the freedom and flexibility of tweaking and posting your pictures the way you want.

You are also able to do it in a style unique to you using the different photography specific WordPress themes available. All you need to do is select a suitable theme for the display of your pictures!

WordPress is also very easy to connect to all the popular social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, which enables you to easily share your work with the world.

DeepFocus by Elegant Themes

DeepFocus Theme – WordPress Themes for Photographers and Photography Blogs

DeepFocus has an interesting tagline: “imagery is my life and life is something beautiful”. And DeepFocus truly delivers on its tagline by showcasing some really beautiful imagery.

DeepFocus is a premium WordPress theme created by Elegant Themes that would transform your WordPress installation into a fully functional, customizable and powerful online photo gallery and blog.

DeepFocus comes with a robust and CMS style homepage that can be easily customized via the advanced theme control panel, making it a great solution for artists and photographers who want to show off their work and build up an online presence.

You can view a demo and explore the theme by clicking here.

Features

• Automatic image resizing
• Advertising management
• 5 color schemes
• Cross-browser compatible
• Valid code
• Extensive theme control panel
• Custom shortcodes
• Complete localization for easy translation
• Premium support and updates

You can view a demo and explore the theme by clicking here.

Photorifc by Themeforest

Photorific – Photography WordPress Theme

Photorific Image Gallery and Portfolio

Photorific is a premium WordPress theme that is great for photography and portfolio websites.

With Photorific, you can set as many background images as you want for every page, post and portfolio item.

This theme also comes with a color picker, 30+ shortcodes, 3 widgets, unlimited sidebars and much more.

You can view a demo and explore the theme by clicking here.

• Full screen Background Image Slideshow (Upload unlimited images for each page/post/portfolio item)
• Custom Background Image(s) for every page/post/portfolio item
• Black and white navigation style (Choose the style you want from the admin panel)
• Various slideshow options
• Various lightbox options
• WordPress short codes for additional styling.
• Searchable forum.

You can view a demo and explore the theme by clicking here.

Core Theme by Themeforest

Core – Premium WordPress Photography Theme

Core Theme – Gallery View

Core is the minimalist photography, portfolio template built with latest WordPress features, such as custom post type, image uploader, etc. Core is built to the latest WordPress standards, allowing for the full use of its various features.

Core theme has a beautiful full-screen slider and extensive galleries that give you all the features and options you need to show off your photographs in the most professional way.

You can view a demo and explore the theme by clicking here.

Features

• 3 homepage styles
• Full Screen slideshow for Photo Gallery
• Built-in Font Manager. You can upload your own font
• Extensive galleries and  Supports multiple images upload
• 4 Portfolio styles
• 8 Custom widgets
• Styled typography and flexible page columns
• Built-in numerous shortcodes
• Unlimited sidebar. You can create and select sidebar for each of your page

You can view a demo and explore the theme by clicking here.

Simplicity by Woothemes

Simplicity – Photography Theme By Woothemes

Simplicity is a business theme that is hugely customizable with a clean layout, featured home page slider, and custom post types for testimonials, portfolio items, mini-features and slides. It allows you to completely configure your home page the way you want.

Simplicity is a responsive WordPress theme which automatically fits your screen size and looks just as great on a mobile phone or a tablet as it does on the desktop.

Easily customizable via the WordPress admin interface, you can upload your own logo or change the color of the theme in one click. It also has built-in swipe support for your portfolio, images and videos.

You can view a demo and explore the theme by clicking here.

Features

• Clean, responsive design
• Theme options
• Page, post and portfolio options
• Unlimited sidebars
• Unlimited colors
• Page templates
• Shortcodes manager
• Social media icons

You can view a demo and explore the theme by clicking here.

Expose theme by StudioPress

Expose – Portfolio and Photography Blog WordPress Theme

Expose is a CSS and showcase gallery WordPress template best suited for gallery type sites and personal portfolios.It comes with 3 skins, and features custom widgets and shortcodes as well as plugins.

Expose theme is one of the highest quality WordPress themes for photographers as it helps to showcase and enhance your pictures in a professional way.

You can view a demo and explore the theme by clicking here.

Features

• Valid XHTML
• Strict tableless design
• Multiple page templates:
  • Index Page with multiple display options
  • Image slider for portfolio entries
  • Gallery display options switched
  • WordPress Shortcodes for additional styling and multiple columns
  • PSD files included
  • Extensive Documentation Included
  • External scripts and resources used

You can view a demo and explore the theme by clicking here.

The post Top 5 WordPress Themes for Photographers & Photo Blogs first appeared on The WordPress How To Blog.

4 Free WordPress Plugins for Customizing the Admin Area of Your WordPress Blog

Customizing the administration area of your WordPress Blog is very important to make sure that you get everything that you want right away, and you don’t waste any time doing tasks that you frequently do.

One thing that you want to make sure is that you take the time to find out what plugins you can use to customize and improve your WordPress admin area, so that it is the way that you want it to be and is tailored to your specific needs.

Utilizing Your Time Wisely With the Ozh’ Admin Drop Down Menu Plugin

If you are new to running a WordPress Blog, there are a few things that you should know about how to utilize your admin area of your blog so that it works not only more efficiently, but will actually cut your work time in half.

Sounds hard, right? Well believe it or not, it is not as hard as you may think! In fact, there is one plugin that you can use in the admin area that will cut your work time in half.

Ozh Admin Drop Down Menu WordPress Plugin

The Ozh’ Admin Drop Down Menu plugin takes the old admin links that you have on the left sidebar, and replaces them with a CSS drop down menu.

It completely takes away all the chaos that you have with continuously scrolling and clicking on several tabs just to get to a place within your WordPress admin area.

The Ozh’ Admin Drop Down Menu plugin offers a faster and more organized approach. The time that you would have used just to get a spot can now be used to be more productive!

PS: I use this plugin on every single WordPress blog that I have, and it is certainly a huge time saver! It also saves you a lot of frustration…

Ability to Check Broken Links

Broken Link Checker WordPress Plugin

How many of us have seen that we put in a link in a blog post the right way, but some time after we post it, we find that the link is not right – either you forgot a letter in the link URL, or it was not the right site?

The truth is, this happens quite often. But with the WordPress platform, you have the ability to use the Broken Link Checker plugin to take care of this issue.

When you use the Broken Link Checker WordPress plugin, this simple plugin takes anywhere from just a few minutes to a few hours to find the broken links on your blog. The time depends on how big your WordPress blog really is, but at the end, you get to find out all the broken links on your blog!

This way, you can minimize the mistakes and have your website have better SEO and better traffic.

Protect All Your Work on WordPress

Have you ever written anything, only to find out that someone stole your work, tweaked it a little bit and then called it their own?

When you use WordPress as your blogging platform, you actually have the ability to use a plugin called the Blog Protector. This plugin allows you to write your blog posts with complete peace of mind – it gives you the reassurance that no one can steal your work.

The Blog Protector Plugin for WordPress Admin Area

That is right! No one has the ability to steal your work ever again, and you do not have to worry about others claiming your work as theirs. This is because this plugin doesn’t allow your blog visitors to select the text on your blog or right click (to save your blog post)!

WordPress over the years has been able to not only become the best blogging platform out there, but also the safest – and that is why more and more people join the WordPress platform every day!

Write Your Blog Posts Wherever You Go

In the not so distant past, you had to use a computer to write your blog posts. But now, you can use apps designed for specific systems to write blog posts, moderate comments, etc right from your mobile phone / smart phone!

Although these are not plugins, these really enhance your WordPress experience and make your life a lot easier. Here are the apps:

• WordPress for iOS (iPhones, iPads)
• WordPress for Android
• WordPress for Blackberry
• WordPress for Windows Phone
• WordPress for Nokia
• WordPress for WebOS

These applications allow you to write your blog posts and publish them right from your smart phone with ease.

Writing Your Blog Posts On the Go with WordPress Mobile Apps

This is simply awesome! This way, you can update your blog when you need to, and you don’t have to worry about rushing home or forgetting what you were going to say – you can post right when the thought comes to your mind!

Now who would not love an app that would allow them that freedom?

There are so many people out there now who are able to take their blogging where ever they go, because they are able to use these apps. They have not only been able to increase their productivity, but also their web traffic.

Become more Productive

So the next time you are in your WordPress blog’s admin area, make sure that you take the time to change and customize the admin area. That way, you can make it work more for you, and you would have more productive and useful time to work on other aspects for your blog.

Plus, you will be glad you changed your admin area using these fabulous WordPress plugins, because you will see how much more traffic would gain simply by saving time on admin functions and utilizing it for other aspects of your blog!

The post 4 Free WordPress Plugins for Customizing the Admin Area of Your WordPress Blog first appeared on The WordPress How To Blog.

Affiliate Income for Bloggers – Best Websites and WordPress Plugins

Are you getting a steady stream of web traffic to your website, and are looking for the best way to make a little bit more money within a short time?

There are many different lucrative ways to do this, but a lot of things that work for a short time may not be sustainable.

However, there is one way that is a great way to make more money with your blog once you have a steady stream of readers – having affiliate income.

Here are a few things you should know about getting an affiliate income from your blog.

What is Affiliate Income?

Affiliate Income is the income you earn when you as the blogger promote or advertise a company’s product or service – either in your blog posts, through your email newsletter or through your social media accounts on Facebook and Twitter.

When the company generates sales through your recommendations (usually, when someone clicks on your link and purchases something), the company will pay you a certain amount. It can either be a percentage of the sales, or a fixed amount per sale.

The payments can be weekly, or can be monthly, or even after you reach a certain threshold (say, $100) – it all depends on the company.

The 3 Main Types of Affiliate Ads

Earning Affiliate Income – Pay Per Click, Pay Per Lead and Pay Per Sale

There are three types of affiliate ads or links you can have on your blog to make money from it:

• Pay Per Click
• Pay Per Lead
• Pay Per Sale

They are all performance based, meaning that you do not get paid until your audience does something.

So if the person goes to your site and reads your blog, they need to click that link or purchase that product before you get any payment from that company.

That is where your craft as a blogger comes in, because you have to use your skill and influence to make them want to click on that product or service referral link.

However, if that is not the type of affiliate income you are looking for, there are some other great ways you can earn an affiliate income – without having to worry about your readers clicking on the referral links.

Monetize Your Blogs with Affiliate Websites and WordPress Plugins

One of the best ways to monetize your blog is to use ClickBank – it is one of the most popular affiliate websites among bloggers. With ClickBank, you can find many products and services that you can advertise on your blog.

Make Money Blogging Using Affiliate Sites

Another great option for bloggers to monetize their blogs and earn an affiliate income is by using Amazon.com’s affiliate program, called Amazon Associates.

But there is more – while you can promote Amazon.com’s products manually as and when you like, you can also use plugins like WPRobot. Such plugins either take the keywords you are using to find products you can advertise on your blog, or can publish blog posts about these products automatically!

Another plugin that you can consider is the Amazon eStore Affiliates plugin. This plugin is really simple and easy to you.

When you use the Amazon eStore Affiliates plugin, your blog is changed into an online store! Use it along with a shopping cart, and you are ready to start an Amazon store yourself!

The bottomline: there are many different affiliate programs and 100s of affiliate plugins out there. Take your time to see which ones work the best for you.

Keeping in Mind: Good Content Always Comes First

Good Content is the Foundation for Steady Traffic and Affiliate Income

One thing you should always keep in mind is the fact that in order to have new web traffic all the time, you need to make sure that your blog always has fresh and well thought out blog posts.

Good content is the foundation of your blog. Your posts should be useful, and when promoting affiliate products or services, they should be persuasive and not aggressive.

There are a lot of bloggers that make the mistake of being too aggressive. Make sure you are not one of them, and you will find that you will have more and more web traffic coming to your blog and earning you handsome affiliate income!

Remember, if people know that you have reliable, well thought out blog posts, they will not just buy products through your links themselves, but also tell more people about you!

The post Affiliate Income for Bloggers: Best Websites and WordPress Plugins first appeared on The WordPress How To Blog.

How to Move Posterous to WordPress – Migrating Your Blog

Posterous, a popular blogging platform, has been acquired. Twitter has bought the company, and this change in ownership has left many Posterous bloggers in some tension.

Although it is unclear about what twitter will do with Posterous, this change is bound to affect many of the regular Posterous bloggers.

The future of Posterous bloggers is still cloudy, and many are looking to move from Posterous to other blogging platforms like WordPress.

Even though Posterous is a great platform to maintain something like a tumblelog, it may not be suitable for mainstream blogging due to some limitations.

Posterous blogs do not support JavaScript at the moment. This doesn’t allow bloggers to have advertising such as Google AdSense on their sites. It also prevents them from having any analytics or tracking programs like Google Analytics.

At this time, the best option for Posterous bloggers is to make the move to another blogging software or CMS. And not just any CMS, but the best blogging platform out there – WordPress.

Let’s see in detail how you can move Posterous to WordPress – the export, the import and the entire transfer / migration process.

Why Have a Posterous to WordPress Migration?

WordPress is beyond doubt the most popular blogging platform out there, and has over 60 million users and bloggers.

People choose WordPress to power their blogs and use it to create some of the biggest blogs online. This is because WordPress is a free, open-source system, and has been built by a community of several volunteers.

Not to mention the fact that WordPress has a wide range of fantastic and free plugins. It also features a bonanza of infinite blog designs and themes.

All these help you to make your blog unique and stand out from the rest of the herd. This is why so many bloggers choose WordPress as it provides them with the opportunity to be different and individual.

And now, WordPress is ready and already set up to welcome Posterous users!

WordPress has a built-in a Posterous import feature inside all WordPress.com dashboards (and for WordPress.org self hosted blog too). It uses the Posterous API, so the import is seamless and easy.

This free Posterous importer tool helps you transfer your Posterous blog posts, comments and other files from Posterous to WordPress.

Move Posterous To WordPress – WordPress.com – Step by Step Guide

The Posterous import tool has made the switch from Posterous to WordPress seamless and glitch free. A few simple and easy steps can help you set up your own WordPress blog in a mere matter of minutes.

Here are the steps:

1. 

   Posterous to WordPress Migration – Export, Import and Transfer of Your Blog

   Create a free blog at WordPress.com, unless you already have one.

2. On the dashboard of your WordPress.com blog, go to Tools > Import. Choose “Posterous” for importing all your posts, comments, tags and attachments from your Posterous.com blog.
3. Selecting the “Posterous” option in the importer, enter your Posterous blog credentials. Basically, type in your Posterous host name, user name and password.
4. Click “Submit”. You will get a message mentioning that WordPress is moving your content from Posterous. You should receive an email in just a few minutes, once the process is complete.

All you have to do is wait for a few minutes. Once you receive the email titled “[WordPress.com] Import successful‏”, you have everything migrated from Posterous, and your very own WordPress.com blog is fully set up!

Transfer Posterous Into WordPress – WordPress.org (Self Hosted) – Step by Step Guide

WordPress.org also has the feature of transferring your entire Posterous blog straight into a WordPress self hosted blog. And yes, it is also as easy and simple as before, and can be completed within a few minutes.

The process is very similar, but let’s take a look at the steps anyway.

1. Login to the administration area of your self hosted WordPress blog, and go to the dashboard.
2. On the dashboard, locate the “Plugins” option. Click on it, and choose “Add New”.
3. Search for the “Posterous Importer” plugin. This plugin allows you to import all your posts, comments, tags, and attachments from a Posterous.com blog. Install and activate the plugin like any other WordPress plugin.
4. Go to Tools > Import. Click on the “Posterous” option.
5. Enter your Posterous credentials. After doing so, click on “Submit”, and wait as WordPress imports your Posterous content into your self hosted WordPress blog.

An alternative is to transfer all your Posterous content to a temporary WordPress.com blog, and then from the WordPress.com blog to your WordPress.org self hosted blog. To know how to do this, please read “How To Move – WordPress.com to WordPress.org & Self-Hosting“.

You now have a self hosted WordPress.org site, with all your Posterous content fully moved & transferred!

Migrating Your Blog from Posterous to WordPress – Conclusion

The fact that the future of Posterous and Posterous blogs is uncertain makes it a great time for you to move from Posterous to WordPress.

Apart from shifting to a more robust and popular blogging platform, this move would also allow you to take advantage of over 18,000 free and open source plugins available to extend the functionality of your blog and customize it.

Good luck for the Posterous to WordPress move and blog migration!

The post How to Move Posterous to WordPress – Migrating Your Blog first appeared on The WordPress How To Blog.

Google AdSense – Pros, Cons and If You Should Have it on Your Blog

Simply, it is a way for people or companies, who want to advertise their products, to sign up with Google. Google in turn signs up with you, the blogger, to advertise these products on behalf of these producers on your web pages.

In exchange, Google provides you with a share of the fees it earns from the advertisers. So basically, these ads are sponsoring your blogs, just that this is done via Google AdSense!

AdSense has taken bloggers and web site owners by storm, blasting itself into the internet scene, and everybody – including their dogs – is excited about AdSense. It has managed to rapidly propel itself into an easy way of monetizing for bloggers, and provides an easy opportunity to make a few extra bucks from the blog.

However, its success and popularity is also due to the fact that it holds the possibilities to become an online business for some, reaping profits of more than tens of thousands of dollars on a monthly basis.

Google AdSense – The Features

AdSense allows you to put up advertisements on your blog, thereby putting the ads in the view of visitors and readers to your blog.

Google AdSense – Everything You Want to Know

These advertisements are relevant to the content of your blog, and thus help to enhance the authenticity of your blog. For example, if your blog is about football, Google AdSense will post advertisements related to football, like those of sporting goods, or football jerseys.

These advertising merchants provide text, image, video and multimedia ads (rich text ads) on your pages and posts. And with just one simple click on any of these ads, presto – you are earning money!

All you need to do to earn money is create a Google AdSense account, generate an ad code and input it in your blog. If you want the ad to appear at a certain place all the time, you can insert the ad code in your WordPress theme’s template files. If you want the ad to appear in your sidebar, you can put the ad code in a text widget in the sidebar.

You will automatically get the advertisements on your web pages – AdSense selects ads specifically to suit your content so as to ensure they match perfectly.

Thus, quality blog content coupled with relevant Google AdSense advertisements help elevate your blog and its popularity, ensuring more readers and more income for you.

Advantages of Google AdSense

Google AdSense – The Advantages

Needless to say that Google AdSense can become a very lucrative prospect for making money for any blogger.

It can help generate revenue, and help to cover any expenses of the blog – like web hosting, domain name registration, buying a premium theme or paying for keyword research tools.

Thus you need not worry about the expenses you incur over the blog.

Also, AdSense can be easily integrated into the web pages of the blog simply by entering a simple code.

Furthermore, as the blogger, you have complete control on the ads – you decide the size, color and placement of the ads on the page. Thus, you can make the ads compatible with your blog.

And if you don’t like a particular ad or an advertiser, you can block it from appearing on your blog altogether.

Also, with just one AdSense account, you can generate and configure ads for multiple websites or blogs, thereby maximizing revenue from AdSense. With multiple blogs, the ads will help you earn even more.

However, you need visitors to earn from AdSense ads, and thus your blog content must be interesting and fresh. Bloggers with sufficient visitors and sustainable traffic can have considerable incomes from Google Adsense.

Disadvantages of Google AdSense

One noteworthy issue with Google AdSense is the necessity to maintain a large amount of reader traffic on a consistent basis for your blog. In fact, 10,000 visitors a month is the supposed to be the optimal level.

Google AdSense – The Disadvantages

Also, even though AdSense provides a continuous flow of revenue, it does not provide a residual income for a sustainable time period – if there is a click on an ad on your blog, you get paid for that event. There is no recurring income or commission.

Another major con when it comes to AdSense is click fraud. If Google detects multiple advertisement clicks on your blog that it considers unnatural, it can shut out your blog and close off your AdSense account without even informing you.

As a result, competitors can force your blog to be shut down by adopting dubious means. And it need not be another blog competitor – it can even be the competitors of the advertised product!

AdSense does not check where the clicks are coming from, but Google is improving at tracking these malicious activities.

Another disadvantage of AdSense is giving up your reader. Advertisements are merely links which take the visitor away to the product’s website, away from your blog. This makes it a huge drawback for bloggers.

Yet another factor to consider is that Google takes a large cut of the ad revenue – if you get $0.50 for a click, Google might be earning another $0.50 – $1.00 for it.

Do you want to part with a large share of revenue that you generated? If you are a large site, you may want to consider directly selling your ad space.

Should You Have Google AdSense on Your Blog?

AdSense can allow you to focus on your content and marketing strategy, which is vital to keep up traffic.

Should you Have Google AdSense on Your Blog?

Since revenue depends on the number of visitors, blog traffic is a must. Your blog must be interesting to draw long-term income, otherwise the readers dry up and revenue falls.

Also, you should know that there are alternatives to AdSense.

Affiliate advertisements pay large commissions upon sale, which can be considerably larger than Google AdSense click earnings. Thus, some ad space on your blog may be used to have these ads instead of AdSense.

Another point is that Google pays out your earnings only after you have accumulated earnings of $100. This also indicates that you need to maintain visitors at a consistent level, and have guaranteed blog readers.

AdSense began as a tool for monetizing, but has burgeoned into a business scheme for bloggers. It has the potential to become your business partner.

But you must focus on your content and not worry about the paychecks. Unique and captivating blog content will ensure constant reader inflow, which would naturally generate high revenue with the help of Google AdSense.

The post Google AdSense: Pros, Cons and Should You Have it on Your Blog first appeared on The WordPress How To Blog.

The Best WordPress Plugins for PayPal – Best WordPress Themes for PayPal

When you hear the word WordPress, about 80% of people think of the blogging platform that millions use each and every day.

But now a days with all of the advancements in computer technology, the internet and blogging technology, WordPress has become so much more than just a blogging platform.

More and more people are actually transforming their WordPress blog into a business that not only increases their readership, but also their customer base.

How is that possible, you may ask?

Well, believe it or not, there are several different WordPress PayPal plugins that have been created to easily integrate PayPal with your WordPress blog so that you can conveniently process payments made by your readers and customers.

The Best WordPress Theme for PayPal

Figero WordPress Theme for E-Commerce and PayPal Integration

WordPress has thousands of themes that you can choose from.

However, when it comes to choosing a theme for an e-commerce site using WordPress, there is one theme particular that is considered one of the best WordPress themes for integrating PayPal and increasing your business.

This e-commerce WordPress theme is called Figero. This theme gives you the ability to sell products through your blog and use Paypal gateway for payment processing, offering a way for customers to buy things right from your blog.

The one thing that makes Figero an awesome WordPress theme to use for an ecommerce site is the fact you do not need to use any other plugin to make PayPal work on your blog!

Turn Your WordPress Blog Into a Shopping Site – eShop Plugin

In the past, you had to do shopping through dedicated online shopping sites like Ebay, Amazon and other online shopping stores.

However now you can add what is called an eShop plugin to your WordPress blog. By adding this simple plugin you can add features such as:

• Product lists
• Shipping Charges
• Out of Stock Messaging
• Zone Settings
• Much more

By adding the eShop plugin, you will be sure to be able to meet all of your clients and customer’s needs with a simple click of the mouse.

You would find that when you use this plugin, you actually increase your sales as well, because your customers will spread the word that it is a lot easier to get their shopping done from your blog rather than other sites!

The Best WordPress PayPal Plugin for Auctions

WP Auctions Plugin – Integrate Auctions and PayPay Payment for Auctions on Your Blog

Auctions are used more and more each day because companies all over want to increase their customer base and clientele.

Did you know that when you have a WordPress blog, there is a WordPress plugin that you can use to hold live auctions on your blog? Its called WP Auctions.

You can also use it to give your visitors live updates on the items in your auction. The best part is that the WP Auctions plugin is a simple, 1-step plugin that takes less than a minute to install!

Best WordPress PayPal Plugin for Donations

If you are someone who is not running a business blog through WordPress, and are just someone that wants to raise awareness to the community about a cause or a topic of interest to you, you can do that through your blog.

But you can raise some money for your cause at the same time too by taking donations. That is right – there is a great WordPress plugin for this purpose too!

The best WordPress PayPal plugin for donations is a plugin called PayPal Donations plugin.

This plugin is really simple – all you need to do is install & configure it, and you are ready to go. You can embed the PayPal Donations button on any post or page on your blog using a shortcode, or you can have the PayPal donation button in the sidebar using a built-in widget.

In seconds anyone that reads your blog will have the ability to make donations to the cause with just one click!

Make Your Blog Work For You – Integrate PayPal and E-Commerce Into Your Blog

Make Money Blogging – Integrate PayPal and E-Commerce Into Your Blog

If you are someone who is looking for the best WordPress PayPal plugin that will work for you, take the time to make sure you have considered all the options available to you for your WordPress blog.

If you don’t spend some time researching and studying your options now, you would wish that you had known about the different plugins and how they could make your WordPress blog more than just a blog but more of a business tool!

Good luck with your e-business…

The post The Best WordPress Plugins for PayPal – Best WordPress Themes for PayPal first appeared on The WordPress How To Blog.

The Best eCommerce Plugins for WordPress

As a small business looking to improve online presence, adding a shop is often high on the list of priorities.

With the powerful adaptability of WordPress, it is easy to find a number of plugins that are designed to help you get started. However, not all of these plugins are created equal.

Even when examining the most popular choices, like those listed below, the available features can vary dramatically. Understanding what each offers and how it melds with your business and customer base before you select one and start setting it up can save you a lot of headache down the road.

With that said, let’s dive in and see which are the best e-commerce WordPress plugins out there!

WP e-commerce – eCommerce WordPress Plugin

The Good

WP e-Commerce is surprisingly feature-rich given its lack of cost, one reason it continues to be among the most popular WP plugins.

It accepts manual payments like checks or money orders, Paypal Payments (Standard, Pro, and Express Checkout), Google Checkout, and Chronopay. If you pay for the upgraded ‘Gold Cart’, you add a number of additional payment portals.

It is very SEO friendly, allowing you to establish meta-information for all products, set up RSS feeds for them, and includes seamless integration with Google and the All in One SEO plugin.

It comes with a number of existing themes, but grants you the flexibility to create your own. Order forms, product organization, product variations, and other features are customizable as well.

Plus it is highly compatible, playing nicely with any other WP plugin. It is a surprisingly simple plugin to add. Upload and install from WP Admin and you are done.

The Bad

This plugin doesn’t allow you to customize invoices or print them. To print, you must go through your browser.

Be warned that the control panel is not as simple as the install. Some users have reported issues with bugs, particularly with recent updates.

Score: B

With the non-existent price tag and robust collection of included features, this is an excellent choice for a business that wants to get things set up swiftly without incurring much cost.

However, its issues with bugs, poor documentation, and invoices leave something to be desired.

Cost: Free base program, Gold Cart (Get it Now)

Cart66 – WordPress eCommerce Plugin

The Positives

Cart66 – eCommerce WordPress Plugin

Cart66 makes it easy to sell a range of products, including digital products and services. It also has currency managers which allow you to expand your market globally while also setting up taxes automatically by state or zip code to ensure proper billing.

All of this is included in the free version (Cart66 Lite) along with the ability to accept PayPal Payments Standard and offline payments.

To get a broader range of payment portals, and the full range of impressive features this plugin offers, you’ll need to pay. For that payment, you get integration with a number of important plugins, like Zendeks, Gravity Forms, Constant Contact and more.

It features detailed inventory tracking, live rates from the top shipping companies globally, support tickets, and you can expand your offerings to membership-only access features. Plus, your customers can set up recurring payments and subscriptions.

The Negatives

Cart66 does not include a built-in storefront, which can be problematic for some. Instead, you add products directly to your site or WP page.

This could be either a blessing or a curse depending on your needs.

Score: A

Cart66 is an excellent plugin for a small business that desires a simple, powerful and flexible tool. It is especially suited for those who are offering digital or membership services or are developing a global audience.

There’s little to gripe about here, though the price may be a deterrent for some.

Cost: Free, $89-$399 (Get it Now)

Shopp – eCommerce Plugin for WordPress

The Pros

Shopp – eCommerce Plugin for WordPress

Another feature-packed plugin, Shopp offers all the basics with a clean, easy-to-use interface and adds to that drag-and-drop sorting, alerts for low-inventory, order notifications, exceptional SEO tools, and easy-to-use promo tools.

Its widgets allow easy access to product and sales history as well as simple tools to help you add and remove elements and products to your site. Plus, with additional add-ons, it offers one of the widest varieties of payment gateways and shipping carriers.

It also has solid tech support and excellent documentation, and all customers gain access to the help desk, with two higher levels of support available for a fee.

The Cons

Shopp is not a great option for a business focused on digital goods or for those who want a solid pre-built theme.

Score: A

This is a fantastic choice for a business looking for a light-weight plugin that is comfortable customizing their design and aren’t selling digital goods.

The customer support and access to a huge array of shipping companies and payment gateways is an added bonus.

Cost: A single domain starts at $55, and additional tools run $25 and up (Buy it Now)

eShop – WordPress eCommerce Plugin

The Advantages

Another solid free plugin for your e-commerce integration, eShop allows you to sell both physical and digital goods through an easy-to-use interface.

It is highly customizable, allowing you to create a cart that suits your needs and fits in well with the design of your site.

Overall, it’s a very basic but functional and sturdy shopping cart.

The Disadvantages

With eShop, you can accept PayPal, Cash or Check, or allow eShop to take in the payments. If you do the latter, you cannot print an invoice for your customer as you would with PayPal.

It isn’t as feature-rich as many of its competitors. It isn’t a good option if you intend to ship outside of the US or require a flexible checkout setup.

Score: B

You get what you pay for, and that is very clear with both of the free offerings listed here.

eShop offers a very basic set-up that is easy to use and straightforward, but not incredibly flexible. For a small business looking to develop a web store focused on the US market, it’s a good choice.

Cost: Free (Get it Now)

James Martin is a technology-focused freelance writer who shares his household with two pups, two cats, a bearded dragon, two gerbils, and two wild teenage girls.

In between menagerie-wrangling, and contributing to education technology sites such as DegreeJungle.com, he spends his time perfecting the art of the home cook and running his Internet Marketing business.

The post The Best eCommerce Plugins for WordPress first appeared on The WordPress How To Blog.