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Blog Rush Exploits

September 24, 2007 by Leave a Comment

burglar.jpg
In the Blog Rush Dash board there is a message about low CTR due to gaming of the system by some users, “Click- through rates are very low right now due to problems with some users cheating the system.”

There are several sites giving out information on how to exploit the BlogRush software.

I hope John’s team can address and resolve these issues very soon, or it will really compromise the effectiveness of the tool. So far John as been up front with his communication about some of the issues BR has faced since it’s launch.

Filed Under: Blog Widgets

Excluding Pages In The WordPress Sidebar

September 24, 2007 by 1 Comment

WP_video_tutorial.gifI created a [tag]Youtube[/tag] video to show how you can exclude a page from showing up in the [tag]Wordpress[/tag] sidebar of your blog. I did a quick search on [tag]Google[/tag] for a [tag]plug-in[/tag] but was not able to find anything. If anyone knows of a plug-in please post on the blog.

Find:
The first thing you will need to do is edit the sidebar.php file. Do a search for the following function: [tag]wp_list_pages[/tag].

Edit:
Next you will need to find the post ID for the page you want to exclude. Once you know this you will add this “&exclude=5” to your wp_list_pages function.

Example: <?php wp_list_pages(‘sort_column=menu_order&title_li&exclude=5’); ?>

Upload:
Once you have modified and saved your file then upload to your server and the page will be updated.

Done

Filed Under: Featured Sub, How To Videos, WordPress Video tips

Try Mango.com Not Working

September 23, 2007 by 1 Comment

Last Friday I read about a new language site called trymango.com. I have a life goal to be fluent in Spanish (scroll to the bottom of the page), so I immediately registered for this online language learning site. To my surprise the application did not work in [tag]FireFox[/tag]. So next, I tried [tag]IE[/tag] and the application loaded partially… Check out the screen capture.

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After hours of trying, I can not get this site to work. It just sits on loading for hours. This leads me to the point of this post, if your site is not ready for primetime keep it locked down. This site is not even ready to be called [tag]beta[/tag]. We are not talking about a ton of priority one bugs; the site does not work at all.

Releasing a site in this state is a quick way to blow through potential customers and risk your company’s reputation.

It is in Beta so I guess I really can’t complain. Right? Wrong. I see many companies releasing buggy software and applications and slapping the word beta on them so they can tell their users “but it’s beta, we are still working out the bugs…”

Traffic is only one side of the equation. I hope [tag]TryMango.com[/tag] can work through their issues, because it seems like a great idea and I really want to get on with my [tag]Spanish lessons[/tag].

Filed Under: Website Reviews

Traffic Tactics – How It Works

September 22, 2007 by Leave a Comment

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Opening message at Traffic tactics.com

I have received a number of emails from Carlos and Lupe Garcia this week. Who are [tag]Carlos and Lupe Garcia[/tag]? They are [tag]internet marketing[/tag] millionaires. But they weren’t always living in the lap of luxury. Read more from their pitch page about their journey from rags to riches. Why the flurry of new emails? They are selling a $10,000 traffic creation mentoring program. Part of their [tag]Traffic Tactics[/tag] program. (There are no affiliate links in this post.)

Full disclosure: Carlos and Lupe have been involved in questionable business opportunities in the past, questionable from a moral and ethical stand point. They sold [tag]cable box descramblers[/tag] and [tag]diet patches[/tag]. I have read on other blogs the [tag]FTC[/tag] shut their diet patch business down, but I can not confirm this report.

The high level details are as follows:

How do they get their traffic?
They buy bulk traffic using credit from Yahoo, MSN and other sources. They claim to have a number of tactics they use during negotiations which allow them to buy traffic on credit and limit the risk if the campaigns are not successful. I assume pre-negotiating favorable out clauses.

Does it work?
Yes and no. Yes it works for products with large demand and mass appeal. Your conversions and creative should be optimized before you even think about trying their methods.

No, it won’t work for small niche products and non tested products. You can lose your shirt if you have not optimized your campaigns and have an unproven product. Conversions should be tested, test again and tested again…

What are they pitching?
$10,000 coaching program

Should I pay $10,000 to learn how to buy banner traffic?
That depends on several factors. Do you have the right product for this type of advertising? Do you have an extra $10,000 to risk on this venture?

Every business opportunity has risks and rewards. In the case of Traffic Tactics you can read the “pro” side of the story on their pitch page. They also have a video they use to sell their mentor program. For the flip side read this blog post to get the other side.

I personally would not sign up for this program.

Filed Under: Program Reviews

Future Posting In WordPress (Video)

September 21, 2007 by Leave a Comment

This is a simple how to video on future posting in [tag]WordPress[/tag]. Why would you want to [tag]future post[/tag]? There are several reasons. You may work a full time job where blogging is not an option. Therefore, you write several posts on your off time and “future post” them through out the week. Maybe you are going on vacation and want your readers to have fresh content even when you are miles away from a computer, sipping a Corona, getting a tan on some white sandy beach in [tag]Mexico[/tag]. In any case, future posting is simple in the WordPress interface.

Here are the steps:
1. First write your post like normal
2. Before you publish set the date and time you want the post to appear.
3. Publish the post
4. The post will not appear until the date and time you designated

Filed Under: How To Videos, WordPress Video tips
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