Thesis Theme has a nice little Multimedia box, that can be put to use for various purposes.  In this post, I will show you how it can be used as your Affiliate Ads rotator.

And that without writing any code in the Custom files!

1. Preparing Affiliate Images and Links

First, you will need to prepare your Affiliate Images and the corresponding links. Since we are setting up things on the sidebar, don’t go for Banner like Images (e.g., 468 x 60). Also, try to use 5 Affiliate Ads or less on the Multimedia box (otherwise, it gets too rotating!)

For illustration purposes, I am using Affiliate Images of dimensions 300 x 250 (Width is 300px and Height is 250px)

Once you have the Images and the Affiliate Links ready, move on to the next step

2. Uploading Affiliate Images

You should have a FTP Software (like Filezilla) and FTP Access to your WordPress Installation to complete this step.

• Navigate to /wp-content/themes//custom/rotator folder
• Delete all the existing Images named as sample-1.jpg etc.
• Upload all the Affiliate Images you prepared to this folder

Done!

3. Setting up the Sidebar and Affiliate Links

Now it’s time to get into WP Admin => Thesis Administration Area. Get into the “Design Options” section of your Thesis Installation!

Expand the section labeled “Site Layout” to choose the Sidebar Width:

• If you use “2 Columns”, then the Width of Sidebar 1 must be 300px
• If you use “3 Columns”, then the Combined Width of Sidebar 1 and Sidebar 2 must be 300px
• In short, the Combined Width of Sidebars must equal the Width of your Affiliate Images

Expand the section labeled “Multimedia Box” and choose the following options:

• Rotating Images under the Default Settings
• Enter the “Alt Text” for each Image that appears (all images you uploaded should appear here)
• Enter the Affiliate Link corresponding to each Image using “add link”
• Save your “Design Options”

Sample of Multimedia Box Setting

4. Nothing more!

Just reload the Home page of your Blog and you should start seeing the Rotating Affiliate Images. On clicking each Image, the user will now be taken to the Target Affiliate Link.

And, remember we never wrote a single line of code in any of the files!

Here is a sample from our Test Page:

Sample Ad Rotator

It is recommended to use a masked Affiliate Link, which we will talk about in the next post.

Did this post help you? Let us know what you think… and don’t forget to share it with others

Here is an incredible WordPress 3.0 Theme just released by FreelanceFolder and you are going to love it as a Freelancer!  And, it’s called the Client Machine!

What’s so cool about this Theme? Read on to find about it.

About the Theme

In their words, it’s an “Incredible WordPress Theme.  Exclusively for Freelancers”

And that’s precisely what it promises to be…  Here are some of the highlights of the Theme:

• Create and Manage Invoices from within your WordPress Theme. Clients can login, view their Invoices and also pay them directly from here!  (Awesome – this is a killer feature!)
• Highly Customizable Home Page – Your Home Page is your zone.  Do whatever you want to put in there – Testimonials, Widgets, About Boxes etc.  Here is an awesome sample home page
• Create and Manage Winning Proposals – And again, all of this from within your WordPress Theme!  (Again a killer!)
• Other Features include…
• Custom Post Types and Rich Admin Settings
• Automatic Portfolio display using Custom Templates. Here is a sample Portfolio Page built out of Client Machine
• Elegant Lightbox Integration for (graceful!) Popup windows

One thing that’s probably missing from the Sales Page is a mention on the SEO, which is one of the considering factors for WordPress Theme Buyers.  But I guess with such a professional design, it must have been taken care of.

Why you should Act Now?

Because, they currently offer a 40% discount on the original price of $99.  Yes you can grab a copy of “The Client Machine” for just $59

(This offer runs for 5 days as of this writing, until 7 September 2010)

So what are you waiting for?  Go to The Client Machine Sales Page, see the promises for yourself and grab a copy!

Ever encountered a situation where you were scouting for WordPress developers to solve a problem in hand?  Ever spent hundreds of dollars in getting an answer for otherwise simple WordPress problem?  Your life is about to become simpler.

What is WPQuestions?

WPQuestions is a “problem solving” community for WordPress.  It is much focused on succinct and small problems, that can be solved quick.  Also it enables WordPress Developers to make money for tips and solutions they provide

How it Works?

The way it works is simple.

• Both Askers and Experts must be registered with the Community
• Askers create a question and suitably price it, based on the complexity
• Typically the question runs for 3 days or end as soon as the best answer is chosen by the Asker
• Experts answer the questions
• Asker awards the question money to the best answer
• If there are multiple answers that are unique and relevant to solve the problem, the Asker can split the prize money
• Money gets credited into the Paypal account of the Expert

Very simple!

So what do you think of this community?

Evolution, as with everything else is life, is very applicable to your well deserved Blog. In this post, you will find out the different stages of your Blog’s Evolution and what should be your focus areas at each of them.

The Skeleton

At this stage, your Blog and its concept is introduced to the Web. Though online, your Blog is not well known to your Prospective Readers and Search Engines.

You key focus areas at this stage must include: Creating a Clean Design for your Blog, Nail down on the Key Topics and Keywords that your Blog will stand for, Setup Analytics, Configure Newsletters and RSS Feeds, Start Planning and Writing Great Content

The Baby Steps

At this stage, your Blog is known to a handful of Readers and Search Engines (to a certain extent). But it doesn’t yet get the traffic and visibility, it deserves. Your Blog gets into this stage, when it has about 25+ posts.

Your key focus areas at this stage must include: Continue Writing Focused and Great Content, Review and Improve SEO, Build Traffic using Social Networking Sites, Building your Subscriber Network, Offering Free content like eBooks etc.

The Consistent Performer

At this stage, your Blog becomes a Consistent Performer. It has a few loyal Readers and enjoys some consistent Traffic. But there is scope for Improvement in terms of Network and Traffic.

Your key focus areas at this stage must include: Retaining and Growing Subscribers, Offer absolutely focused content for your Subscribers, Start Planning and creating Products that you can sell through your Blog, Open up your Blog for Guest Writers, Participate in Forums and Expose your Blog to other fellow Bloggers, Be a Guest Blogger in related Niche Blogs, Use Affiliate Marketing to sell related Products

The Content Warehouse

At this stage, your Blog is already a Star. It enjoys Superior Traffic and becomes a Brand Name for its Niche. It is a platform to sell your Products and starts making Money.

Your key focus areas at this stage must include: Revisit your Blog Design and make your Prime Content easily available, Focus on making more Money selling Products, Create Membership and Subscription based Content, Create Value for your Subscribers and turn them into Brand Ambassadors

The Winner

At this stage, your Blog is an Icon. It becomes a premium repository of niche specific content. People talk about your Blog and link frequently to popular content.

Your key focus areas at this stage must include: Look for Joint Ventures, Create Membership Sites that can be promoted through your Blog, Use targeted Affiliate Marketing to make more Money, Look out for Selling Opportunities

So what stage is your Blog in now? What are the 3 things you plan to do in the immediate month? Share it with us as comments to this post. We would love to hear them.

Photo Credit: kevindooley | Photo Link

It’s time to embrace another version of the Thesis Theme and things just get better with each one.  Here’s a peek review on What’s New with the Thesis Theme 1.8.

Header Image Upload made just easier!

With the earlier versions of the Thesis Theme, you’ll have to play around with the custom.css file for setting up the Header Image.  But with 1.8, Thesis Theme makes it much easier and you can upload a Header Image using the Thesis Administration Panel.

Navigate to Thesis => Header Image and you’ll be able to Browse for and upload an Image of your choice.

Header Image Upload made easy with Thesis 1.8

Even better, Thesis can suggest you an optimum width of the Header Image that can be used, based on the existing layout settings.  Much simple, eh!

You can upload Favicons too!

Like the Header Images, Thesis 1.8 makes it easy to setup the Favicons which were earlier done using the Additional Scripts option under Document Head.

All you have to do is prepare a Favicon (a 16 x 16 Image with an .ico extension) and upload it using the Thesis Admin Interface.  If you aren’t using Thesis, here is another post to help you setup a  Favicon for your WordPress Blog.

Yes, Thesis supports WordPress Custom Navigation Menus

Wordpress Custom Nav menu

Do you want to go beyond configuring Pages and Categories in Navigation Menu with the Thesis Theme?  You will just need WordPress 3.0 and Thesis Theme 1.8.

WordPress 3.0 helps you define Custom Navigation Menus which can include Pages, Categories or even External Links.

Here are the steps to use WordPress Navigation Menus with Thesis 1.8…

• After installation of Thesis 1.8, go to WP Admin => Appearance => Menus
• Create a new Custom Menu by giving it a Name
• Add the required Pages, Categories and External Links to the Custom Menu and Save Changes
• If you have more than one Custom Menu, choose the Menu to use by selecting the Primary Menu
• Go to WP Admin => Thesis => Site Options and choose WordPress Nav Menu as Menu type under Navigation Menu

Improved and much Easier SEO Setup for Categories & Tags

Page Options, which was introduced in Thesis 1.7 is now gone with Thesis 1.8.  The primary use of the Page Options was to provide the SEO Details for individual Pages, Categories and Post Tags.  Now they’ve been moved into more appropriate locations, to make their management easier.

• Page SEO Details can be provided in the Page Edit view
• Category and Tag SEO Details have been moved into WordPress’ Category and Tag Edit Pages

In addition to the regular SEO Details like <title> and <meta> description tags, you can now provide an Introductory Headline and Introductory Content to each Category and Tag.  This definitely has a greater implication for the SEO of your Blog.

SEO Details for Categories and Tags

Thesis now offers full support for custom taxonomy pages in addition to category and tag pages.

Other Changes from Thesis 1.7…

• You can now enable support to use a Publishing tool like Windows Live Writer from within Thesis Theme
• Thesis now offers support for the Google Fonts Directory.  These are web-safe fonts and can be used to improve your Blog Design

Some Gaps… Chris are you listening?

Search Engines show only a certain number of characters in the <title> and the <meta> description tags.  Thesis 1.8 tries to show you the number of characters as you type the <title> and the <meta> description, so that you know if to make them short.  I see 2 gaps here – Thesis doesn’t suggest what is the right number (may be an alert when the number is exceeded?) and on saving the text the count reverts back to ’0′.

If you already using Thesis Theme, 1.8 gives you another leap towards excellence If you are considering on a Premium WordPress Theme, grab Thesis and find out what wonders it can do.

About 3 years back, I knew nothing about WordPress.  It all started with an obsession to Blogging and I began learning WordPress as an end-user.  With a Programming background, I could not help but start exploring the code and getting my hands dirty.

Towards the middle of 2009, I got myself a copy of Thesis Theme for WordPress (affiliate link) and things change thereafter.  I started creating Custom Skins and accepting Customization Projects – and thus started my Freelancing journey.  Currently, I am pretty good at Thesis Theme Customization and if you don’t believe, you might want to take a look at my Portfolio Site.

Taking another leap into WordPress Theme Frameworks, I am getting into Genesis Theme for WordPress.  I am learning bits and pieces of it.  As a result, you will start finding Genesis Theme Tutorials at Thoughts Unlimited and I will soon being taking Genesis Child Theme Projects.

Thanks for all the support by you readers.  Keep watching and you have lots to learn!

Typing is a necessary business and personal skill. There is tweeting, blog posting, forum responding and more. At their foundation, there is typing. Here are some tips and resources to help you get up to the typing speed that you desire.

1. Learn the Layout: Study your keyboard and learn the layout. Memorize where everything is on your keyboard so you can work your way into touch typing. Once you know the layout of the keyboard, you can start dictating to yourself.

2. Keep Your Hands in the Home Position: Put your left index finger on the ‘f’ key and your right index finger on the ‘j’ key. These are called your home keys. They are the central position of the keyboard where your fingers do not have to travel long distances to make it to specific letters.

3. Practice With a Book: Take your favorite book, prop it up and start typing. Look at the pages rather than the keyboard. Occasionally look at the screen to make sure that your hands are in their proper positions. You are training your fingers to work without any crutches.

4. Type to the Music: Listen to familiar songs and try typing the lyrics while the artist is singing the song. You have plenty of flexibility with the choice of songs. To start, stay away from the syncopated and complex songs. While practicing, you will find yourself typing to the rhythm of the music.

5. Type in Short Bursts: One great way to learn to type is to choose text and start typing as quickly as possible. Set a timer to go off after a minute. Your fingers will become faster and faster at finding the keys.

6. Typing Web: This is an interactive site which teaches users how to type. The lessons are informative and easy, filled with plenty of practice sessions. The site prefers that you register, but it is definitely not required. Typing Web encourages that the site be used as part of a teacher’s curriculum.

7. Goodtyping: There are 27 guided layouts at this typing tutorial. The program itself is offered in different languages like Spanish, French and Italian. You can choose up to 20 keyboard layouts.

8. Peter’s Online Typing Course: You can learn how to type quickly and accurately with this site. The lessons are very practical, without relying on some of the flash and glamour that are prevalent with the other sites. it takes each bit of the keyboard one by one, and has an interactive set of exercises.

9. Learn 2 type: This site takes typists of all skill levels. The exercises are scaled to your level of typing expertise. If you register, you can pick up where you left off. You have the QWERTY, Dvorak and AZERTY keyboard layouts available.

10. Only Typing Games: This collection has plenty of typing games. You can kill bad guys and make the aliens pay for their transgressions with your typing skills.

11. Free Typing Games: Give yourself a chance to relax and educate yourself by playing typing games. You can play a variety of games like Keyboard Revolution, Martian City Defender and Desert Typing Racer. You can defend the world from invasion with your typing skills.

If you devote time each day to your typing, you will soon be tapping the keyboard like a pro. When you find that your speed is flagging, you can refresh yourself by heading to a typing site or playing a game. Have fun, and best of luck!

Photo Credit: laffy4k, Link to Photo

Source: ItzaFineDay

As a blogger, you have quite a number of responsibilities. You need to provide great content, have a visually appealing site, and somehow get visitors to your blog. Fortunately, there are others who are in the same situation. Here are ten places to find help for your blogging and internet marketing.

1. Create Blog Forums

Get information about Xanga, Blogger, Myspace, Livejournal and Friendster on these forums. You can also receive graphics assistance and design assistance. You can also talk about items and events which are not related to blogging, like music and television shows.

2. Digital Marketing on LinkedIn

This group was intended for professionals who want to learn more about internet marketing and ecommerce. They discuss the practices over SEM, SEO, PHP and email marketing within their field.

3. Bloggeries

This site encourages people to be active in the forums by sharing half of the Adsense revenues with the creator of the thread. You can talk about finding the best WordPress theme, SEO, SEM and social media in these active forums. There is even an area where you can buy, sell and trade blogs.

4. Blogging Tips

This is one of the smaller blogging forums on the web, but it provides a chance for you to be part of an engaged and active community. With 127 active members, there are still thousands of posts which may provide you the answers that you are seeking.

5. Digital Point

This is a gargantuan site which is devoted to making money on the internet through blogging and other methods. If you have something that you need answered, look through their forums and there is probably an answer or information available.

6. Professional Bloggers on LinkedIn

The Professional Bloggers group on LinkedIn was founded by Darren Rowse, the founder of Problogger.net. It is intended for those who want to learn about the business of blogging. This LinkedIn group will teach you the basics of blogging and generating traffic for your site.

7. Bloggst

At Bloggst, you can submit your blog’s feed to the site and they will broadcast any updates that you make. The more people who know about your site, the more popular your blog becomes in Google’s eyes. There are thousands of participants on this forum to interact with.

8. Blog Catalog

Blog Catalog is one of the largest blogging sites in the world. Submit your site to the catalog, and it immediately becomes available on their site. There are people from all walks of life, including those with your interests. Blog Catalog encourages people to look at their groups section to find others of like mind.

9. Authority Blogger

On Authority Blogger, there are threads for everything having to do with blogging. You can find bloggers to write your posts as well as bond with the other subscribers.

10. Warrior Forum

The Warrior Forum has been around for twelve years and has a thriving membership. The members are centered around internet marketing, including article marketing, affiliate marketing, ad networks, SEO marketing and much more. This is the forum to join if you are serious about monetizing your blog.

With the variety of places to go, you can find a place to call home. You want a forum or group that is friendly and welcoming, one that makes you feel at home. Good luck!

James is a full time writer and analyst at a leading ink cartridges store based in England where he writes reviews for products like the HP 300XL ink cartridge as well as covering the latest news and developments in the design world on their blog.

When you started blogging, you probably had no idea of the time that it would take. You wanted to make content that was easily readable and distribute it to the world. Writing 300-500 words a day sounds easy, but it takes a lot of time and planning to do it efficiently. Here are ten tips that will help make the process more efficient.

1. Keep a list

Carry a memo pad with you to capture the moments when you say, ‘I should write a post about that,’ or ‘that’s pretty interesting.’ When you sit down to write a blog post, you will have a ready-made source of ideas so that you can spend your time writing instead of daydreaming.

2. Schedule posts

Most blogging software allows you to schedule your posts. With scheduling, you can get ahead of the game and pre-write posts that are fascinating or important to you and still keep the schedule that you’ve set up. You can also back-date posts in case you miss a day.

3. Stay focused

Writing in a Notepad window with your browser closed is the best way to stay focused on what you are writing. That way, you are not distracted with the latest and greatest events which are occurring in the world. Turn your phone off for a few minutes, and put your hands on the keyboard.

4. To-Do lists

There are plenty of things for you to keep track of. To do lists act as reminders of what needs to be done for that day and the coming day. Throughout the day, keep a list of the things which need to be done to keep your blog running. You won’t be suck for something to do.

5. Use Pen and paper

Hand writing is a wonderful way to disconnect from the fast-paced internet world. You write slower and have more time to think about what you’re writing down. As a result, the quality of your posts will improve. If you type too many words a minute, the meaning can be lost from the brain to the keyboard.

6. Develop Recurring Series

Inspiration can often strike to write a series of posts about one specific subject. These posts often build upon one another and are written concurrently. Give your readers bite-sized posts which tackle a specific topic. Write a story and separate it into parts.

7. Create time limits

Working under deadline produces some amazing results. Set yourself a time limit for how long you will work on the blog post. Make sure that it is a hard limit, and your brain will soon conform to the schedule that you’ve set. This is a great method that can be used for people who are constantly running.

8. Don’t worry about SEO

A lot of time gets wasted in discovering how the proper keywords are going to be put into a post. Writing the post naturally will make it more entertaining to read. You will save yourself a lot of time by eliminating the SEO restrictions.

9. Use your passion

Passionate writing makes for fast writing. There is little time spent for the research because your topic has already been studied. Readers are much more interested in hearing what you have to say if you’re writing from the heart.

10. Don’t edit your content away

Editing often removes the passion from a piece. Bloggers sometimes spend hours working on a post, crafting it so just the right words are used. Sometimes a post can be edited away to nothing. Stick with only one or two editing passes and your readers will be thankful.

Blogging efficiently takes focus, inspiration and practice. When you sit down at the keyboard, you should have something which is itching to get onto the page. Good luck, and happy blogging!

Source: Muffet

Your landing page should provide a clear and compelling reason to buy your product. That sales pitch should turn your passive users into active customers who interact with and enjoy the merchandise that you sell. Here are some tips to create a more effective online sales pitch.

1. Tailor the pitch to the customer

The product that you’re selling should provide a solution to a customer’s problem. When they find you, they want to know what you can do for them right NOW to solve their problem. Prepare a message that addresses the reason that they came to your site.

2. Be engaging

Your sales pitch needs to be interesting and entertaining to the reader. Use action verbs rather than passive ones and that will get their attention. Customers don’t want something that puts them to sleep any more than you do.

3. Offer case studies

Customers want to know how your product helped others in similar situations. Present problems to the customer and outline ways that your product or service eliminated them. Unlike testimonials, this is content written by you.

4. Break your content up

The average reader doesn’t want to be faced with a dissertation when they get to your landing page. Break your content up into a list format or short paragraphs. Your customers want a fast and accurate breakdown of the benefits of your product.

5. Create a pitch with integrity

Customers want to know why you are passionate about your product. Be completely honest about why you enjoy using that product over similar products in the field. Your passion and integrity will shine through.

6. Offer testimonials

Having someone else tout your product is one of the most important forms of organic marketing. Honor the customer who took the time to write by including their testimonial on your site. That feedback is valuable.

7. Pitch one product at a time

Too much information about too many products dilutes your message. You don’t want them to have any opportunity to be confused about what you’re offering. Instead, you want them to have an intense focus on buying the one thing that will satisfy their needs.

8. Let the readers know what’s in it for them

Use an effective headline to dramatize the solutions that you offer. Customers REALLY want to know what’s in it for them. The primary question your site’s visitors ask is, ‘What can YOU offer ME to make MY life better?’ An effective answer to that question creates more conversions.

9. Include a call to action

Your readers have made it to the bottom of the pitch. What should they do now? Provide them links and a call to action to guide them to your sales page. Make it as easy as possible to buy your products and services. Close the sale as you would in the brick and mortar world.

10. Proofread and grammar check your pitch

Typos and grammatical errors are unprofessional. They show that you do not care about your work. They distract your readers from the content of your site and can potentially turn them away. Proofread your pitch. Read it aloud to see how it flows. Look for grammatical errors.

Making an effective sales pitch is the key to converting online prospects into online customers. Your presentation should be short and sweet, addressing the customer’s needs. The attention that you pay to your sales pitch can lead to conversions.