Affiliate marketing posts from seasoned affiliate marketing pro Missy Ward.

20 WordPress Plugins that Marketers Can’t Live Without

by Missy Ward

Recently, in a forum thread some of the affiliate marketer members discussed their favorite WordPress plugins that had been the most effective for them.

Based in part on the conversations that took place on this forum, we were able to put together a list of the top 20 plugins that marketers cannot live without. Whether you use one or all twenty of these, they will, in most cases, give your WordPress sites the extra boost that they deserve.

1. Exec-PHP
By using shortcodes, this plugin executes all of the reusable PHP code that is on your page. It allows you to organize, test, and and reuse all of your PHP code including that code in posts and widgets.

2. Google Analyticator
With this plugin, your site gets the JavaScript that it needs to enable Google Analytics logging. It also contains widgets that allow you to display Analytics data in the admin and on your blog.

3. Pretty Link
Pretty Link lets you display links how you want them to look. You create the look of each link and can even use your own domain name while Pretty Link tracks the stats behind the hits on each link.

4. WP-Polls
This is the ideal plugin for anyone who wants to have a poll on their site.

5. phpBay Lite
If you rely on Ebay for any of your business, this plugin will help you to maximize every aspect of targeting Ebay traffic.

6. Facebook Like Thumbnail
When Facebook changed their like button so that it acted more like a share button, they also changed how they displayed the thumbnails. Now, you can control the thumbnails that people see just the way that you want to.

7. Subscribe to Comments
With this plugin, you give your readers control over which comments, which posts and which notifications they want to receive emails about.

8. W3 Total Cache
W3 Total Cache improves the performance of your server so that your readers get a better experience. The plugin relies on tools like caching and content delivery network integration and support.

9. WordPress SEO by Yoast
If you are ready to optimize your site’s SEO, this is the most complete plugin for the job. It optimizes everything from the page’s content to its images to its meta descriptions and more. (My favorite plugin!)

10. ManageWP
If you have more than one site, this is the tool that will keep them easily organized and accessible.

11. Gravity Forms
This allows you to create, build, and make live your WordPress forms easily in minutes. Its built-in tools allow you to configure your choices and embed your forms easily.

12. Dynamic Widgets
You make a few selections about when and where you want your widgets to appear, and this plugin makes sure that your widgets are only where you want them to be.

13. GD Star Rating
Now, you can let your readers rate and review your articles with this plugin that includes optional sidebar widgets that allow you to display stats created by this plugin.

14. Duplicate Post
With Duplicate Post, you can clone any page and make it into a completely new draft.

15. Intense Debate
Make the most of the comments and conversation on your site with this plugin that includes easy moderating tools, tools to integrate the conversation with sites like Twitter, and much more.

16. Microdata for SEO
This installs a button that allows you to create a Microdata Code within your post or page.

17. Simple Social Plugin
The icons that come with this plugin allow your readers to share your content on Twitter or Facebook with the touch of a single button.

18. WordPress Database Backup
As the name suggests, you can back up all of your data with this plugin.

19. WPTouch Pro
You can create unique sites for mobile browsing with this plugin.

20. Use Google Libraries
You can take some pressure off your server and increase your chance that someone has cached your files with this plugin that is linked to Google’s AJAX Libraries API.

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Illinois Affiliate Marketers Get a Reprieve from Affiliate Nexus…

by Missy Ward

Back in February 2011, I wrote about an Illinois “anti-affiliate” Bill that if enacted would force out-of-state retailers to collect Illinois state sales tax for Internet sales, based on the premise that affiliate marketers create nexus in Illinois.

In the following month, Illinois Govern Quinn misguidedly signed into law HB 3659, which essentially abolished Affiliate Marketing in Illinois.

Affiliate Marketing Finally Gets a Break

After many months of diligent work from folks involved within the affiliate marketing industry, Judge Robert Lopez Cepero of the Illinois Circuit Court issued a ruling that finds the Illinois Affiliate Nexus Tax unconstitutional. He went on to declare that nexus wasn’t established by the activity outlined in the statute.

At this point, it is not clear whether Governor Quinn will challenge the decision, but it is a giant leap in the right direction for the affiliate marketing industry.

Here is some coverage from Illinois ABC station discussing the situation:

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OneLoad (Powered by TubeMogul) Updates TOS Regarding Affiliate Marketers

by Missy Ward

Back in February, TubeMogul moved its video syndication and analytics service to its own site, OneLoad.com.

If you're not familiar with OneLoad, its a tool that gives folks the opportunity to upload their videos to multiple sites (like YouTube, Vimeo, MetaCafe, Facebook, Twitter, Blip.tv and more) at one time and track the results from all of the sites, in one place. I've been using the service since 2007 and found it to be a great time saver. It's free (for non-commercial use) and offers different pricing tiers for its commercial use customers.

After receiving notification of the name change, I didn't think much of it (other than having to remember the new website address) until I read a blog post on Daniel Clark's QAQN blog, where he discussed his dissatisfaction regarding OneLoad's policy as it related to affiliate marketers.

At the time, their sign up page indicated:

Old OneLoad Terms of Service

and Section 4e of their Terms of Service stated:

“…upload, post or transmit unsolicited commercial email or “spam”. This includes unethical marketing, advertising, or any other practice that is in any way connected with “spam”, such as (a) sending mass email to recipients who haven't requested email from you or with a fake return address, (b) promoting a site with inappropriate links, titles, descriptions, or (c) promoting your Content by posting multiple submissions in public forums that are identical. Also defined as “spam” are any videos involving affiliate marketing, network marketing, cash gifting, multi-level marketing, phishing, or any videos that a reasonable person would consider to be a scam or misleading. Further, “spam” can include any content that TubeMogul deems not entertaining or informative;”

After reading that post, I reached out to the folks at OneLoad, and although sympathetic, they were not ready to change the language in their Terms of Service. That was a problem for me, because many of the presentations that I've done in the past as well as one scheduled for an upcoming conference in June, promoted the service as an efficient way for affiliate marketers to upload their quality videos to top video and social networking sites and track their effectiveness.

But, what was most upsetting to me was the fact that OneLoad was still wary of the affiliate marketing industry overall, despite its dramatic growth and positive forecast. I knew I had to reach out to Brett Wilson, their CEO to get a better understanding of their past issues, to see if there was a way that his company and affiliate marketers could work together in the future.

Oddly enough, TubeMogul had a booth down the same aisle as Affiliate Summit during SXSW in March. This afforded me the opportunity to talk with Brett quickly and follow up after the show. To sum it up, some of the issues that they were experiencing with a portion of the affiliate marketing videos, directly related to policies the video sites had themselves — they just don't want overtly commercial content.

I get that. I don't want to watch overly commercial content either.

Brett mentioned that OneLoad would be happy if affiliate marketers used the service with well-produced videos that have some entertainment value. (More commercial use customers means more $$ for OneLoad.)

I explained that in order for that to happen, they'd have to modify the language in their Terms of Service so that legitimate marketers could feel confident that their accounts were not going to get shut down just because they tagged a video as “affiliate” or “affiliate marketing”.

And so, they did. Here's the new, re-worded section, which offers protection to affiliate marketers who are producing quality videos that are not scammy or misleading.

“…upload, post or transmit unsolicited commercial email or “spam”. This includes unethical marketing, advertising, or any other practice that is in any way connected with “spam”, such as (a) sending mass email to recipients who haven't requested email from you or with a fake return address, (b) promoting a site with inappropriate links, titles, descriptions, or (c) promoting your Content by posting multiple submissions in public forums that are identical. Also defined as “spam” are any videos involving network marketing, cash gifting, multi-level marketing, phishing, affiliate marketing with low quality content or any videos that a reasonable person would consider to be a scam or misleading. Further, “spam” can include any content that TubeMogul deems not entertaining or informative;”

I'm glad that OneLoad.com was open to changing their policy because their service really saves marketers a lot of time and definitely helps with getting a better idea of what their customer base wants.

If you're new to OneLoad or need some help getting started, they offer a New User Webinar every Friday, which you should check out.

Let me know your thoughts.

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Join the Affiliate Summit Central 2012 Virtual Community

by Shawn_Collins

Affiliate Summit has partnered with Vivastream to provide a platform for Affiliate Summit Central 2012 attendees to network before, during, and after the conference.

If you’re registered for Affiliate Summit Central 2012, take advantage of the agenda planner and networking site.

Once your account is set, you will have a customized, interactive guide to help you plan out your conference experience, as well as assistance in finding fellow attendees who match your highlighted interests.

Be sure to get the Vivastream app from the iPhone, Android, or Blackberry app store, or go to http://www.vivastream.com/m on your mobile device.

We will be sending access codes via email to registered attendees. Anyone can join and access the main parts, but only Affiliate Summit Central 2012 attendees will be able to access the area to network with speakers, exhibitors, and other attendees.

Join the Affiliate Summit Central 2012 virtual community.

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