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blogio blogging blog » plugins http://blogio.net/blog blogging about blogging... Fri, 09 Oct 2009 08:40:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 Affiliate tracking plugin http://blogio.net/blog/2009/10/09/affiliate-tracking-plugin/ http://blogio.net/blog/2009/10/09/affiliate-tracking-plugin/#comments Fri, 09 Oct 2009 08:40:16 +0000 Nico http://blogio.net/blog/?p=264 I’ve been looking for an affiliate tracking plugin for wordpress and couldn’t find a single one. There are numerous plugins available that let you track the performance and manage affiliate programs that you have signed up for, but I was looking for the exact opposite: letting your signed up users refer new members and get credited for it.

I decided to write my own plugin for it, which I have just submitted to the wordpress.org plugin repository. It still needs to be approved for publication on the site, but you can already download it here.

The plugin lets your signed up members send traffic to any page on your wordpress site, appending ?affid=username to the end of the url (replacing username with their own username on your site) If someone registers on your site, the referring member will get credit for the new member. The plugin also lets you specify a page you want people to be send to after logging in (instead of the wordpress admin panel)

]]> http://blogio.net/blog/2009/10/09/affiliate-tracking-plugin/feed/ 68 Ad Buttons version 2.0 http://blogio.net/blog/2009/09/27/ad-buttons-version-2-0/ http://blogio.net/blog/2009/09/27/ad-buttons-version-2-0/#comments Sun, 27 Sep 2009 11:53:20 +0000 Nico http://blogio.net/blog/?p=248 Ad ButtonsVersion 2.0 of the Ad Buttons plugin has been released. Now, the plugin itself hasn’t changed much, but an exciting new feature has been added: Ad Buttons Ad Network Ads. The Ad Buttons Ad Network has been created for the plugin and allows you to show 3rd party ads on your blog. So, if you don’t know what ads to add to your site, let adbuttons.net handle it for you. The credits you earn by showing ads on your site can be used to finance your own ad campaign on the network.

Right now, adbuttons.net is still very limited, but functioning. I like to give people access to the system as early as possible, so I can extend the software based on feedback from the users. I’ve done the same with the Ad Buttons plugin and, based on your feedback, this seems to be a model that the users like.

Joining the Ad Buttons Ad Network is not mandatory, you can still use the plugin to manage your own ad inventory for your blog.

]]> http://blogio.net/blog/2009/09/27/ad-buttons-version-2-0/feed/ 31 Geo targeting your ads with Ad Buttons http://blogio.net/blog/2009/09/14/geo-targeting-your-ads-with-ad-buttons/ http://blogio.net/blog/2009/09/14/geo-targeting-your-ads-with-ad-buttons/#comments Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:39:22 +0000 Nico http://blogio.net/blog/?p=244 The plugin has been download over 10,000 times to date and I’m still getting a lot of positive feedback on it. This encourages me to keep working on the plugin and keep adding new features. Today I’m proud to present a feature that I have been thinking about for quite a while: country based ad serving, aka geo targeting.

A lot of CPA programs only pay for conversions from certain countries. There is no point in showing these ads to people from other countries. It would be better to show these visitors other ads.

Per Gustafsson has made the ip2nation database that enables you to retrieve the visitors country. I have incorporated the ip2nation database into the latest Ad Buttons plugin release. This enables the program to know from which country your visitor is and enables you to control which ads are served.

Unlike other ip2nation plugins that are available, Ad Buttons is currently using the latest version of the ip2nation database and has update functionality already build into the admin panel so you can update the database with one click when a new version is released.

]]> http://blogio.net/blog/2009/09/14/geo-targeting-your-ads-with-ad-buttons/feed/ 9 Scheduling ads with Ad Buttons http://blogio.net/blog/2009/08/17/scheduling-ads-with-ad-buttons/ http://blogio.net/blog/2009/08/17/scheduling-ads-with-ad-buttons/#comments Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:12:35 +0000 Nico http://blogio.net/blog/?p=208 My Ad Buttons wordpress plugin just got a little better again. After a few updates that didn’t really add any new functionality, I’ve just released version 1.4.0 which now allows scheduling of the individual ads.

Ad scheduling is simply done by specifying a start and end date for the ad. When filled in, the ad will show in your admin panel with the appropriate status: scheduled, active or expired. I’ve received quite a few questions about ad scheduling, so there you have it!

To support scheduling, a few new fields had to be added to the database. They should be automatically added when you run the automatic upgrade process. If you want to update the plugin manually, make sure you disable and then re-enable it in your wordpress admin panel to make sure the database is updated for your installation.
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]]> http://blogio.net/blog/2009/08/17/scheduling-ads-with-ad-buttons/feed/ 39 And another one http://blogio.net/blog/2009/08/11/and-another-one/ http://blogio.net/blog/2009/08/11/and-another-one/#comments Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:37:26 +0000 Nico http://blogio.net/blog/?p=193 I want to start by saying thanks to all the nice people that have emailed me with feedback on the Ad Buttons plugin! Meanwhile the plugin has been downloaded over a thousand times and seems to be getting a nice field test.

Thanks to your feedback, I could iron out a few major bugs and it gave me inspiration to continue development on the plugin. Some helpful features have been added since the initial release and today I have uploaded another update. Earlier today AdSense ads have been added to the plugin, after which I got quite a few questions regarding layout control.

After quite a few hours on the programming chair I’ve managed to integrate a really easy to use way of giving you control over the ad layout. You can now easily change the appearance of your ads. This latest update has just been uploaded to the wordpress.org plugin repository and should be available for download shortly is available for download. If you already have the Ad Buttons plugin installed, you should be able to auto-update from within your wordpress admin panel.

]]> http://blogio.net/blog/2009/08/11/and-another-one/feed/ 5 A brand-new Ad Buttons release http://blogio.net/blog/2009/08/11/a-brand-new-ad-buttons-release/ http://blogio.net/blog/2009/08/11/a-brand-new-ad-buttons-release/#comments Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:15:32 +0000 Nico http://blogio.net/blog/?p=187 I’ve just uploaded a new Ad Buttons release to the wordpress.org plugin repository. This time it’s more than only some bug fixes. I have incorporated Google AdSense ads into the Ad Buttons plugin. You can now select to show an AdSense 125 x 125 ad unit right alongside the ad buttons. Clicks and views for the AdSense ads are not tracked by the Ad Buttons plugin, but you can create a custom channel in your AdSense account to see the detailed stats of the AdSense button.

AdSense ad colors can be changed right on the Ad Buttons settings page and an ad preview is shown for your convenience.

]]> http://blogio.net/blog/2009/08/11/a-brand-new-ad-buttons-release/feed/ 13 It just keeps getting better http://blogio.net/blog/2009/08/08/it-just-keeps-getting-better/ http://blogio.net/blog/2009/08/08/it-just-keeps-getting-better/#comments Sat, 08 Aug 2009 20:24:18 +0000 Nico http://blogio.net/blog/?p=182 All the nice feedback I am getting on my Ad Buttons plugin is quite motivating! I decided to put a few hours into it, to get things cleaned up a bit. Things have been moved around a bit in the menu and should be easier to find now. I have also added a new option to the settings page: target attribute. This gives you control over how links should open. You can choose to open links for the ads in a new tab or window, in the current one or not use the target attribute at all, so your page can validate for a strict DOCTYPE

]]> http://blogio.net/blog/2009/08/08/it-just-keeps-getting-better/feed/ 2 Yet another Ad Buttons plugin update http://blogio.net/blog/2009/08/07/yet-another-ad-buttons-plugin-update/ http://blogio.net/blog/2009/08/07/yet-another-ad-buttons-plugin-update/#comments Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:32:52 +0000 Nico http://blogio.net/blog/?p=179 I’ve been getting quite a few mails from people that had problems getting the plugin to work. Turns out that the installation procedure, which creates the necessary database table didn’t run correctly when activating the plugin. I never noticed the problem on my own blogs because I already had the table created with an earlier version of the plugin.

The problems started when I uploaded the plugin to the wordpress.org plugins repository. My earlier versions where running in a folder named ‘ad buttons’ which contains a space in the name. The name of the folder has been changed by wordpress to ‘ad-buttons’ (with a hyphen) The code has been fixed to work correctly now and has been tested on a fresh install of wordpress. If you had trouble activating the plugin, just upgrade to the latest version, deactivate and then activate it again.

If you are running into any other problems with the plugin, don’t hesitate to contact me!

]]> http://blogio.net/blog/2009/08/07/yet-another-ad-buttons-plugin-update/feed/ 3 WP Ad Buttons plugin update http://blogio.net/blog/2009/08/06/wp-ad-buttons-plugin-update-2/ http://blogio.net/blog/2009/08/06/wp-ad-buttons-plugin-update-2/#comments Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:42:37 +0000 Nico http://blogio.net/blog/?p=175 I have just uploaded another update to the Ad Buttons plugin. No major changes, just a bugfix. People who where using the plugin might have noticed that the widget title couldn’t be changed. This has now been fixed and you can enter your own custom title in de widget screen. If you don’t specify anything, it defaults to ‘Sponsored Links’

The plugin has been downloaded 550 times since I uploaded it to the wordpress.org plugin repository. I have gotten quite a few nice feedbacks and some very interesting suggestions for improvement. Keep your questions and suggestions coming!

If want to give the plugin a try, head on over to the WP Ad Plugin page. Anyone who is already using the plugin can automatically upgrade to the latest version from the wordpress admin panel. I am working on a new release with some added features, so stay tuned!

]]> http://blogio.net/blog/2009/08/06/wp-ad-buttons-plugin-update-2/feed/ 15 Know your visitors: StumbleUpon http://blogio.net/blog/2008/12/28/know-your-visitors-stumbleupon/ http://blogio.net/blog/2008/12/28/know-your-visitors-stumbleupon/#comments Sun, 28 Dec 2008 22:54:38 +0000 Nico http://blogio.net/blog/?p=127 Social media websites can be a good traffic source for your website or blog. There are several WordPress plugins available that make it easier for your visitors to submit a page they like to their favorite social media site.

StumbleUpon is one of the sites that can bring a heap of new visitors to your site. I’ve seen 18,000 page views in a single day on one of my sites, all traffic from StumbleUpon. The number of visitors that came to my site from StumbleUpon decreased considerably over the next couple of days, but I was still getting over 1,000 visitors a day for about a month.

We all want traffic, right? Well, actually, most webmasters think it’s all about the number of visitors, but what they really want is to make some money from ads running on their site. If you are running AdSense ads on your site, StumbleUpon traffic, or rather social media traffic in general, is no money maker. If you want to get a good return on all that free traffic, you have to know who your visitors are!


So, who is stumbling? Your typical StumbleUpon user is not as easily described as the average Digg user. StumbleUpon has a much broader user base than Digg. You can find any kind of people on StumbleUpon, which of them get send to your website depends on the category that your site was submitted to.

One thing that can be said about StumbleUpon users is that they are bored, not boring, just bored. See, the whole point of StumbleUpon is to give bored people something to do on the web.

I know I’ve spend countless times staring at a search engine, trying to figure out what I wanted to search for. I didn’t have anything better to do, and just wanted to browse the ‘net, but I had no idea where to start.

Today, whenever I feel like just browsing the web, with no particular goal in mind, I just hit the Stumble! button in my browser and I will be taken to an interesting site. I’ve put the subjects I’m interested in into my profile page, so the system knows what I like and doesn’t send me to just any random website.

When you get visitors from StumbleUpon to your website, you know they are people that are interested in the topic of your site, you also know that they are bored and where not looking for your website in particular. Visitors from search engines came to your site by searching for something that is on your site, they will probably also click on your AdSense ads, because the ads show links to sites on a similar topic. StumbleUpon visitors will not click the ads on your site, when they are done reading, they click on the Stumble! button to be send to the next website.

A few might click an ad, bookmark your site or even subscribe to your rss feed, but most of them will not. The best thing they can do, is give your site a thumb-up, so it will be send to more StumbleUpon users. So, if you are enjoying this post, please give me a thumb up!

What about other ways to make money from the StumbleUpon traffic? Your best bet would probably be CPM ads, these are ads that pay for each time it is viewed, instead of requiring a click to make money. This depends on your websites topic however, I’m mostly writing for webmasters and they are generally more web-savvy than your average visitor on other sites. Most of my visitors use the Firefox browser and I’m pretty sure a lot of them have some ad-blocking extensions installed, so they will never see the CPM ads, and will not make me any money.

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