Was making up some content posts for a few of my blogs and was greeted by an Akismet error within my WordPress Dashboard.  Annoyingly this error was showing up at the top of every single Dashboard page, not just the plugin or home page.  I had assumed that it was just a problem on Akismet's end and apparently I was right.

After getting the error for about 15 minutes I figured out that my server was unable to contact any of the 5 servers operated by the Akismet spam plugin.  Once I manually checked the servers, via a button at the bottom of the troubleshooting page, everything went back to normal and there were no more errors.

Simple annoyance, no issues, and spam still seems in check.

According to the Akismet website they have reportedly stopped over 11 billion spam comments.  Unsettling however is the figure that only 83% were actual spam.  No doubt Akismet is the best solution to fight spam, but consider that as of this posting Akismet has made over 913 million errors.  Internet wide, but still a good reminder to always check your spam moderation que, you might have some worthwhile comments.

The majority of sites that I operate work off of the WordPress blogging script.  I have been unable to find a comparable website backend that stream lines my affiliate marketing.  Everything is made easier in Word Press due to it's huge inventory of plugins, which allow for simple tasks like adding Amazon products to posts or full on automated scraping of articles and products.

Below are the Word Press affiliate plugins I can't live without. (Affiliate links are used, thanks for your support.)

phpBay Pro ($79.00) - My online life has changed since finding this handy little affiliate plugin.  Basically the WP plugin adds items from eBay onto your blog and can be customized to fit your sites style.  Items can be inserted in a shop type manner or as a few items listed at the bottom of a post.  This plugin has great support directly from it's creator Wade and is under constant improvement and updates to follow the changes within eBay.  phpBay Pro works with the eBay Partner Network and with Pepper Jam Network.

See phpBay Pro in action - Used Hybrid Cars

Amazon Auto Poster ($29.99) - I've only started using this WP plugin about a month back and it's already paid for itself.  As you can tell by it's name, this plugin scrapes product listings at Amazon.com and then creats blogposts automatically.  The items are scraped per your keyword choices, starting point, and category.  The posts generated can then be scheduled up to 9 days out or published immediately.

See Amazon Auto Poster in action - Flip MinoHD Camcorder

Article Auto Poster Premium ($29.99) - Again, I just started using this plugin about a month ago and it's already provided me with additional traffic, sales, and profits.  Just like the plugin name says, it scrapes ArticlesBase.com for the keyword you choose and generates blog posts off the articles found.  Each keyword creates it's own job to publish a post based off of that keyword as often as you want.  This is a great method of generating long tail keyword search traffic and keep your blog updated when you cannot be bothered with writing content.

See Article Auto Poster Premium in action - 10 People To Surround Your Band With

AD Rotator (FREE) - This free Word Press plugin makes ad management on your blog a no brainer.  You create a catalog of advertisements, which are then grouped by php code that you place within posts or on your theme files.  This will automatically rotate the ads you placed within the group.  Weights can be adjusted and there is no limit to the amount of ads that you use.  Great way to keep ads fresh on your site through multiple page views and try different affiliate products.

Closing Statement

I use a lot of different plugins with my Word Press blogs, but these are the ones that I can't live without and provide me the most commissions.  No, the majority of them are not free, but very quickly they can be paid for with just a little traffic.  Pair these WP plugins with a browser plugin like Affiliate Espionage and you'll see your weekly earnings rise.  It still takes hard work, but thanks to plugins our work as marketers can be streamlined.

Like any digital product your mileage may vary.  However, the items listed here I use on a daily basis and can vouche for their usefullness.  For more affiliate news and information please read my affiliate blog on Blogspot, where on my latest post I describe what makes a BAD landing page.

Update 7/2/09 - The Amazon Auto Poster and Article Auto Poster are now known as WP Robot.  I'm still on the fence on my opinion of the new wordpress affiliate tool.  First reactions is that there is only an option to schedule and not 'Publish Now', which makes it difficult to edit these posts before going live.  We'll see.

The Google Blog Search powered Incoming Links widget on the dashboard of my WordPress blog is no longer functioning.  This has been going on for a few days now and I know I have links, although it shows none.  I've verified incoming links because I'm getting ping backs and interlinking amongst my own blogs as well.

Perhaps this function is broken because of a change in Google Blog Search or in the latest update of Word Press.  I can't remember if this just started happening around the time of upgrading to WP 2.8 or not.  Either way, it was a nice feature to have, especially when said blogs weren't pinging and were just mentioning your posts in passing.

Oh lord, lately I've been ramping up the frequency of blog posts on all of my blogs.  What's annoyed me beyond belief is the fact that the Word Press dashboard refuses to take me back to the dashboard or give me a blank slate to immediately start on another post.  No, I have to set there and be notified that it was posted and asked if I want to view it.  Damn't, just give me a blanks late to start over.

Yes, I'm being picky, and I'm fully aware that a blank slate for a fresh post is just one click away.  But damn't, it's annoying, I don't want to have to do it and it's something I miss of Word Press releases of days gone by.

Does anyone have a mod, plugin, anything that will automatically take me to the dashboard or better yet give me a clean slate to starta  new blog post?  The last thing I want to do after spending 20 seconds typing out a thought out post is to stare at it and maybe edit it.  My ignorance of poor grammar, shoddy typing errors, is what keeps me from blowing my brains out at night from a long day of content creation.

Where has RSS footer been all my life?

Two years ago I had a wildly successful video game system blog that generated great traffic, but most of my content was constantly getting stolen.  Black hat sites and the like would take my RSS feed and build thin affiliate sites out of them, with of course no link back to me.  Attempting to get my content removed was a waste of time.

Now I've been using RSS footer on some of my niche blogs and it works GREAT.  RSS Footer is a wordpress plugin that will automatically add a link to your site at the bottom of each post, with the option of adding a link back to the specific post, complete with anchor text.  The features are customizable and you can even add bits of html code, to be displayed in your RSS feed only.

No longer will I have to worry about people stealing my content via RSS, as a matter of fact I want people to use it.  Generating links has never been easier for my niche content blogs and I'm hoping to really start feeling the SEO love before too long.

More than a simple WordPress theme, Semiologic is an Internet marketing website building framework that was designed with ease of use in mind.

The theme's collection of features are configurable by easy to use administration interfaces. And in the event where these don't cover your specific needs, the theme's pluginable nature allows for ultimate customization.

Download Semiologic

More on Using Semiologic Theme With 2.6.X

In the past it's never been a problem for me to find a little bit of time to make a single post a day, sometimes more on my multiple blogs. However, since I now have a little mouth to feed, and often times at all hours of the night, I'm exhausted and don't have the time needed to commit to blog posting. Well, with a little bit of searching I found a solution to my problem, future blog posting.

According to Wordpress.com you can type out a post, just as you normally would, and then edit the time stamp to the time you want it actually published. Therefore, I can now make multiple blog posts, when I have time, set the stamps to auto-publish once a day and walk away. It's a perfect solution to those days when being productive just isn't an option.

For a full explanation on Future Blog Publishing check out the official Wordpress site.

Let me start by giving a brief over view of the Wordpress plugin phpBay. It's a tool used to help integrate you're eBay affiliate marketing with any Wordpress powered blog. By entering a few variables and filters you can easily add a list of eBay items into your post with each link automatically containing your referral link. It's not a free plugin and requires a one time fee for unlimited domains for $39.

Who could benefit from such a plugin?

Almost any blog could benefit from this plugin. Chances are even personal blogs go into details about certain products from time to time and this is just another tool in your shed of marketing. However, just because you could benefit from the plugin doesn't mean it's for everyone. eBay affiliate commissions can be minimal and require substantial traffic to convert to anything worth getting a check for.

Can it be used with other advertising programs?

Typically when people ask this they mean, 'Can I use phpbay with Adsense and not get banned?' Yes, you can use this side by side with Google Adsense, because it is not a form of contextual advertising.

List me the Pros of phpBay.

• plain and simple installation, exactly like every other WP plugin.
• decent selection of options to make sure you display the right eBay items.
• fairly inexpensive for what you get.
• good customer support.
• does not require a mysql database, therefore ideal for light weight hosting.

List me the Cons.

• only one instance of phpBay ads can be displayed at one time, therefore you must place phpBay ads after the <more function. (See below for more of my frustration in this.)
• not enough options. Although decent I'd like to see the ability to integrate it into sidebars, not just in posts and better category selections.
• costs money. Yes I did list that as a Pro, but as many free WP plugins that are available, this should be one too.

Summary

It was a decent purchase and defintely not a waste of money like so many other programs and scripts available out there. I would consider this plugin juvenile in it's existence and would hope for some more development in the very near future. The inability to display more than one instance of itself on a page is very frustrating and should at least be remedied with a short cut fix.

Adsense Deluxe is a perfect example of a plugin that was designed to work with no more than X instances of itself on a page. This should be easily integrated into phpBay so that if it detects more than one instance of itself on a page it doesn't load the others. As it stands now, it will screw up your RSS feed without placing the code after the <more tag.

Currently there is nothing else really to compare it to in the marketplace of Wordpress plugins. However, when compared to other eBay affiliate tools like BuildANicheStore, it has a long way to go. Check back soon for my review on BANs.

More on phpBay Review