kathleen Ward asked:


Now WordPress site owners have the ability to roll out full-featured paid membership sites by simply adding the WP-Membership plugin from Synergy Software Group. It’s easily configured using built-in forms and settings along with multiple payment gateways.

Recognizing the rising demand for paid membership sites, as well as the popularity of the WordPress platform, Synergy Software Group developed a plugin offering the most-requested membership site requirements including the ability to process recurring subscription payments through multiple payment gateways/processors.

WP-Membership ships with a PayPal® payment module that interfaces directly with PayPal’s Instant Payment Notification (IPN) application interface. This provides the site owner with the ability to set up multiple subscription levels, with various length of subscription and pricing options, using the Internet’s most popular payment processor. Optional merchant/payment gateway add-ons are available for Authorize.net®, and YourPaySM, with support for additional payment gateways under development.

WP-Membership is used to control access to the membership site either in its entirety, forcing everyone who wants to access site content to enroll as a member, or on a page-by-page basis. This provides the site owner with the ability to develop teaser content to attract visitors, while still being able to monetize the site by requiring membership to access the protected areas.

Like most WordPress plugins, WP-Membership is easily configured using built-in forms and settings. The site owner simply chooses from among the various membership settings, configures their payment processor, and goes live with a complete membership site.

WP-Membership is available for $29.97 for a single domain license from: http://www.wp-membership.com  Lifetime FREE upgrades are included.



Content for WordPress

Rocky John Tayaban asked:




Let’s face the facts; there are a gazillion websites on the internet. You don’t have the luxury of publishing a mediocre site when, at most, you have only a few seconds to capture the reader’s attention. Your site design is the web with which you catch your fly. Whether they stick and stay is up to your content. One of the main reasons Thesis Wordpress Theme has become so popular, is that it provides a clean, elegant design with enough flexibility to allow you to tailor it to any need.

Design – Thesis Wordpress Theme Version 1.3



Thesis Version 1.3 continues where previous versions left off, by providing stellar typography, user accessibility, interface design and search engine optimization. The overall look is professional, with sufficient gravitas to lend authority to your content. Elements of the overall design are endlessly customizable through the easily navigated user interface. Layouts and fonts are controlled without the need to fiddle with the site’s core code. Everything is laid out in an intuitive manner which doesn’t require an advanced degree in computer science to navigate. This attribute alone makes it a perfect choice for anyone deploying a site for the first time. The interface abounds with nice ergonomic touches such as the inclusion of an asterisk next to web-safe fonts on the selection menus. And let’s not overlook the “B.A. Save Button”! But even this trademark item is customizable, although Chris Pearson, Thesis’s creator, doesn’t advise it.

Changes from Thesis Wordpress Theme Version 1.2

Many improvements were added to version 1.3 however, there are three additions that deserve special mention. The new Thesis Layout Constructor allows you to mix and match the column order any way you like, maximizing the possibilities between one, two or three column layouts. Content can be located in the middle or either side of the sidebars, all with the click of the mouse. This is possible due to a new HTML module structure creating six new possible layouts. In addition to this added flexibility, Thesis Wordpress Theme now adds a Framework Selector which allows you to select between a page framework and a full-width framework. In full-width mode, your headers and footers carry to the edge of the browser’s viewable space. Again, the concept is flexibility without having to touch the underlying core code. The third major improvement over version 1.2 is a more robust hook system. Previously, if you wanted to customize your theme, you hacked away at the HTML for each individual template file. This process was time consuming at best, and a recipe for disaster at worst. Once you worked out all the bugs, you were off and running, but what if you decide at some point to change your theme? Guess what? You get to do it all over again. The hook system, which was introduced in version 1.2, solves that problem by creating one of the most critical ways to customize your theme without touching the underlying code. Even more importantly, hooks do their work while assuring forward-compatibility. Thesis Wordpress Theme now has thirty-one hooks which allow you to add and subtract content such as ads, pictures, design attributes etc.

Thesis Wordpress Theme And Search Engine Optimization

The whole point of a website and/or blog is to drive traffic to it so that you can share your unique content. To do so, you must optimize your code for search engines, without landing in the dreaded Supplemental Index. To begin with, Wordpress is designed to be very amenable to SEO, but even with that on your side, the way your theme(s) are built have an enormous impact on how search engines view your site. Thesis Wordpress Theme includes code that is optimized for search engine retrieval without any customization. With Thesis Wordpress Theme you can easily optimize the content of a page and manage keywords for better pass-through. Of course Thesis plays well with plug-ins like SEO Title Tag for more control, but out-of-the-box, Thesis handles SEO well.

Thesis Wordpress Theme – Pricing And Support

Thesis provides purchase options to fit the needs of every level of user. The basic package, or Personal License, sells for $87 and includes a single seat license for one production site and one development server. The catch with this package is that the footer information must remain intact, although this is truly a small nit to pick. For a little less than double the price of the basic license, or $164, you get the Developer’s License which gives you unlimited use of the theme on any number of sites and the ability to remove the footer link. If you’re unsure, and just want to dip your toe in the water, you can opt for the Personal License and then upgrade to the full-up Developer’s license later for an additional $77. What do you get for your money? Well, as it turns out, quite a lot: Theme upgrades are free for life. You get total access to Thesis Forums, free tidbits to customize your theme such as styles, images and the like, all available for download, and unbelievable support. This touches on an itchy subject. We all know that claims of superior user support are, more often than not, marketing hype designed to make you feel better about putting forth the green. Except that in this case, it happens to be true. The creator of Thesis, Chris Pearson is often the one providing support, often within a day of posting your question. But you don’t need to take my word for it, just check out the testimonials page.

Thesis Wordpress Theme : The Conclusion

Yes, there are thousands of free themes out there available for download, and yes, you can create your own with Wordpress template functionality, but why? If you’re a novice webmaster or just starting to blog, then you probably don’t have the requisite skills to do all the hard-core coding. On the other hand, even if you have god-like coding fu, why bother? You have far more important things to spend time on such as researching and writing content and managing your ad revenues. Especially if you are in the latter classification, Thesis Wordpress Theme will pay for itself rather quickly. There simply is no other Wordpress theme available that delivers so much for so little. That is why Thesis is one of the best choices of Wordpress theme available today. And for the same reasons, I use Thesis Wordpress Theme for my blog.

Thesis Wordpress Theme Version 1.3.2 is already out. And the newest version of Thesis includes more fantastic features that makes blogging more efficient. Some of the added features are: more SEO options and improvements, fixes on SEO plugin compatibility, improved multi-media box functionality, new page template functionality and hooks, design and layout changes, and MANY MORE!

What do you think of Thesis?



Website content

Nancy Dewitz & Bob Listerman asked:


Well, it’s been awhile since we have posted any ezine articles, and you may have wondered why that is. Well, Bob and I have been very busy looking at alternative ways to drive traffic to our web site, but first we had to figure out how to get that cost prohibitive, money-sucking web site out of the basement in the search engine rankings; it was at 3.8 million. Our pay per click costs were killing us.

Our goal has always been to learn Internet Ad Copy well enough to be in the top 10 organic listings, the free listings, on the left side of the page, instead of paying per click for advertising on Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Being in the organic listings, the free listings, on the left side of the page means a huge financial burden would be lifted off our shoulders. All we had to do was get our web site ranked in the top 10.

Our gut instinct told us that having a Multi-Media blog was the answer. Multi-Media means you have video, audio, and content on your site. We call this Network Marketing 2.0. We just had no clue how to do that. Being pioneers, we decided to look into a Word Press blog as we thought that was the way to go.

From February on of 2007, I worked like a dog on a free WordPress blog, doing all the maintenance and multitudinous upgrades myself. I complained and whined to Bob on a regular basis saying, "This is an absolute crock." You see, the biggest fly in the ointment was the unbearable amount of maintenance on the blog while still doing our main business activities to generate revenues. Bob took most of that load off my shoulders, but still, it was a nightmare involving 10 to 20 hours a week with techno tard skills. I don’t know what plug-ins work where, what didn’t work now because of an upgrade, and so on. The blog upgrades started coming in at the rate of one to two per month. The first three times I upgraded the blog, I wiped the whole thing out and had to start over which meant our blog was not even appearing on the web.

Back in mid August 2007, Bob and I agreed that something had to give. We were fortunate enough to pay attention to our email from Simon Leung and got on a call about blogging and automated blogging software. Our prayers were answered even if we knew nothing else about blogging.

As we continued to listen to the call about using a blog to drive traffic, we got more excited by the minute. The tools seemed so logical and simple and now we could get the education about how to use these tools. My partner was in total agreement with what needed to be done. Naturally, my partner was going on vacation again so he said, "We’ve got the tools. You go, girl." And so I did. Shazaam. Ninety days later our web site was assigned a Google Page Rank of one (1). We felt like we died and went to heaven.

So if you’re still with us, you’re saying to yourself, What’s the catch? What’s the trick? To be honest, the ranking did not come from the web site itself. It came from where we linked to. We’re not talking about trading links and all that sort of rot. Not at all. We linked to our own sites.

The best link we have from our Building Your Biz site goes to our blog. Now, this is just not any blog, obviously, if you can move that quickly up through the search engine rankings on Google. It’s special. You can go out and get a free blog through any one of the hundreds of companies out there or you can get some cut-rate job. However, you have to look at what the blog software does for you. Is it easy to use? Does it get your posts, podcasts, videos (we don’t have one yet on the site that is ours) out through the RSS feeds and wherever else it’s supposed to go? Remember, I said we are techno tards.

Well, the traffic is really picking up from all directions and sources we never even imagined. People are opting in and staying on our lists. Now all we have to do is figure out the next step, conversions. Again, that process will happen in another 90 days as we are now getting more tools to help us do that again. (However, this time Bob’s vacation time is canceled until further notice.)

By the way, Bob being a doubting Tom and me being a doubting Thomasina, we really had to know if a high page rank really lowers your pay-per-click cost. I just had to try it one time to see if our theory really worked. Can you imagine having 15 click-thrus to your site for under $4? We were ecstatic.

The key to everything we do can be boiled down to one practice every home business owner must adopt, and that is Learning with a capital L. Learning is a nonstop process for those who are dead serious about their businesses and want to generate really, really good revenues. Whether you’re an affiliate marketer, direct marketer, or network marketer, education is key. Take it from us, Bob and I have spent thousands and thousands and more thousands of dollars on courses that ended up being worthless trash. We have an incredible stack of CDs and DVDs we’ll sell you. Someday, we’ll even review them for you.

However, no matter where your traffic comes from (and a lot of it will be free if you follow what we’re doing), you still have to continue using 20th Century Marketing skills and build your business through the telephone, Internet, and Ad Copy. We say this for two reasons. One, do you want to forget about making money for 6 months or more while you learn? Two, if you are a network marketer trying to build a business with the verbal marketing skills of a dolt, you may have some serious problems with your credibility.

Building your biz requires a phenomenal amount of knowledge and business know-how. There are tools to be mastered. But most important of all, you want a prospect who is totally warmed up to you, knows, likes, trusts and respects you before they ever meet you. A blog helps you achieve all that and more, like a great Page Rank.

Building your biz in the 21st Century can bring you the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat. You can bang your head against the wall and wonder why it hurts like we have, or you can try shortcuts until you are lost in the Kalahari Desert, or you can do what two techno tards did and have a tried and true path to success. To find out how we blog, click How To Blog under Blogroll on the right side of the screen.

Your Coaches,

Nancy Dewitz & Bob Listerman

co-Founders, Promarketers

National Growth Business Experts

http://www.buildingyourbiz.com

http://buildingyourbiz1.com



Content – Members-Only Content for WordPress

Danny Wirken asked:


When users complained about inline links that are becoming way too obtrusive, someone was bound to find the answer. Jeremy Curry has created the WordPress Plugin Linknotes. These are like footnotes, only with links.

Plugins

WordPress is a state-of-the-art semantic personal publishing platform that focuses on aesthetics, web standards and usability. Plugins are the tools to extend the functionality of WordPress. The core of WordPress is designed to maximize flexibility and minimize code bloat. Plugins provide a way to offer custom functions and features that will enable each user to tailor their site to their specific needs.

As the purpose is to extend functionality, not all WordPress users require plugins. At best, some may only require a few and not every plugin that is available. The choice list is long thus it is up to the user to determine what is required based on his/her specific circumstance.

WordPress plugins are designed by volunteers and are available for free to the public. However, plugins are the responsibility of the author and the user. They are all works-in-progress as WordPress continues to grow and expand.

The creators of plugins are the people who saw the need and came up with the solution. Many needed the solution for their own site thereby providing the opportunity to see the plugin in action. Others develop plugins for someone else when they had the time to do it.

Not all plugins are easily installed but authors and developers try to make the process as easy as possible. There are a few things one needs to know before installing any plugin. Since there are several versions of WordPress currently available, different plugins are likewise available for the different versions.

The first thing to do is to get the correct information before installing. This can be done by reading through the readme files and web pages including any comments regarding the plugin on an author’s website. Installation is much easier when equipped with the right information. Plugins require downloading and uploading to install.

Plugins may also require modifying WordPress files and templates thus familiarity with PHP, HTML, CSS and CHMOD may be necessary. Make a note in the code of any changes done to the files or templates by using comments before and after the changes and also in a text file saved to one’s site and on one’s desktop to serve as reminder of any additions or modifications to default files or templates. This will assist the user if there is any need to repeat the procedure in case of any future problems with the site.

Before installing any plugin that will result to dramatic changes, frequent backups of database and files should be made. Some plugins work independently of a blog’s content and file and only adds a little something special to the page. Others would require modification of content and file, including changes in database. The user should make sure that the plugin will work in his/her existing version. Upgrading is an option to consider when a plugin cannot work for a particular version.

Troubleshooting Plugins

Problems arising from plugin installation or one that stopped working after upgrading would request some steps to remedy. The user should check whether the author’s instruction has been followed to the letter. Any plugin tags or usage within the template files should be checked for correctness, right spelling and appropriate placement. The file should be uploaded to the plugins folder under wp. content. When a new version is being uploaded to replace the old, the old version prior to uploading should be deleted.

The user should check whether the plugin has been activated in the Plugin Panel of his/her Administration Panels. Deactivating and reactivating the plugin would verify if it makes it work. Visiting the plugin author’s website which is typically linked from the Plugin Panel will show if there are other people having the same problem and if an answer has been posted. It also updates the user whether a new version has been released.

The plugin authors can be directly contacted through their website or email requesting assistance. It is possible that someone else might have found the answer to the same problem a user is experiencing. Searching the Internet for the name of the plugin and the trouble being experienced can provide the elusive solution. Another way is to visit the WordPress Support Forum and post a clear question about the plugin and the problem. If the problem persists and there seems to be no solution in sight, the user should check other similar plugins to use.

Some plugins may become outdated and may no longer work with the newer version of WordPress. Most authors will upgrade their plugins to accommodate the newer version. Others will not thus the plugin becomes obsolete with the improvements in WordPress.

The Linknotes Plugin

This plugin allows the user to make links in his/her blog posts appear like footnotes. Installation is very easy as in other WordPress Plugins. However, the text should be formatted appropriately for usage. Normal links would simply need to have the Link. quicktag clicked in the Write Post page to enter the URI.

Jeremy Curry, the developer of Linknotes has added quicktags to the plugin. This addition would no longer require the replacement or editing of any files just by downloading VO.3. Linknotes is considered by many as the blog version of footnotes. Linknotes only affect the post content and pages but not excerpts or any other body of content.

Curry developed this plugin when he read that someone was in need of such as a solution. He went off to the WordPress Support Forums and couldn’t find anything that was exactly what he wanted. He then proceeded to work on it.

Since it was difficult to do it from scratch, he used the Textile Plugin as the base. He removed some features from it and added a bunch of modifications. He came up with the Linknotes plugin which was more customizable, bloglines- friendly and has quick tag buttons which can easily be turned on or off in the plugin file. This answers the requirement of making a link to open in a new window.

The quicktag also adds a superscript number beside the word or phrase which was hyperlinked. This would tell the reader that there has been a Linknote added which he/she can refer to after consuming the whole post. This plugin hopes to do away with the disruptive practice of having hyperlinks in the middle of the sentence.



Content for WordPress