I’ve been using the WP e-Commerce Shopping Cart plugin for WordPress for a few years now. Unfortunately there isn’t much in the way of affiliate or referral plugins for WP e-Commerce. I’ve been on the lookout for an easy solution to track referral sales. I didn’t need something as complex as most affiliate management systems. I decided to have a try at creating an easy solution for tracking referral sales. I ended up with a fairly simple solution, which requires just one modification to your shopping cart theme. It works in conjunction with the “Cookie Monster” plugin.

How it works

First, I’ll explain how this will work so you know what you’re getting into. We’re going to use the Cookie Monster plugin to allow us to capture a cookie based on the URL the visitor uses to enter your website (i.e. http://www.yourstore.com?ref=JohnDoe). The cookie will now be remembered (in this case “JohnDoe”) and stored in the users browser. At checkout the cookie is passed on via a hidden field “how_find_us” which is normally used to determine how the customer found your site (but we’ll be modifying that).

The way this will work for your affiliates is they’ll need to choose an affiliate code, anything really, such as “Bob” or “CompanyInc”, and put that affiliate code ( ?ref=Bob ) at the end of any of your store URL’s (i.e. http://www.yourstore.com?ref=Bob, http://www.yourstore.com/books/?ref=Bob, http://www.yourstore.com/books/harry-potter/?ref=Bob ).

To track any sales that came as a result of referrals go to your WP e-Commerce “Store Sales” page and check either the sale detail page or CSV export of your sales. The CSV export is the easiest way to see all referral sales at once. The referral code will be listed as “How User Found Us: JohnDoe”.

This method is especially simple and beneficial to small/medium online stores who don’t need all the features of a full-featured affiliate system, especially considering the complexity of integrating such an affiliate system with WP e-Commerce.

How to Implement

Simply follow these steps:

1. From your WordPress Dashboard go to “Settings” –> “Store” and then the “Marketing” tab. Check the box to turn on the “Display How Customer Found Us Survey” (hopefully you weren’t planning on using that feature, because this is a slight modification that’s going to change what it does). Now click update.
2. Download, install and activate the WordPress “Cookie Monster” plugin.
3. From your WordPress Dashboard go to “Settings” –> “Cookie Monster”. In the box next to “URL Parameter 1 :” enter “ref” (ref without quotations). Click “Update options”.
4. Open “wpsc-shopping_cart_page.php” in your theme files… (You may want to make a backup copy of this file before changing it, and also another backup copy after changing it, in case it ever gets over-written, or you want to remove the changes)

Find this code:

<?php if (wpsc_show_find_us()) : ?>
      <tr>
         <td><label for='how_find_us'><?php _e('How did you find us' , 'wpsc'); ?></label></td>
         <td>
            <select name='how_find_us'>
               <option value='Word of Mouth'><?php _e('Word of mouth' , 'wpsc'); ?></option>
               <option value='Advertisement'><?php _e('Advertising' , 'wpsc'); ?></option>
               <option value='Internet'><?php _e('Internet' , 'wpsc'); ?></option>
               <option value='Customer'><?php _e('Existing Customer' , 'wpsc'); ?></option>
            </select>
         </td>
      </tr>
<?php endif; ?>

Replace with this code:

<?php if (wpsc_show_find_us()) : ?>
      <tr>
          <td colspan='2' style="height: 5px;">
              <input class="text" value="<?php echo $_COOKIE[get_option('cookie_param1')]; ?>" name="how_find_us" type="hidden">
          </td>
      </tr>
<?php endif; ?>

It’s possible that your code is going to be a little bit different than mine, the important thing is to replace the “how_find_us” drop-down form code with a hidden input field that grabs the referral cookie code…

<input class="text" value="<?php echo $_COOKIE[get_option('cookie_param1')]; ?>" name="how_find_us" type="hidden">

That’s it! You’re done.

You may want to make a test purchase to verify that it’s working. (Be sure to visit your store with a ref code in the URL, i.e. http://www.yourstore.com?ref=Bob )

I build a lot of WordPress websites and it’s great that there are so many plugins available for various functions, but sometimes I run into a situation where the right plugin just doesn’t exist (or if it does I didn’t find it). I needed a widget to display the WordPress recent comments with the comment excerpt and the users gravatar (globally recognized avatar). Here’s what I came up with, modified based on some code from others looking for a similar solution:

Put this into your sidebar template or elsewhere:

<?php $comments = get_comments('status=approve&number=5'); ?>
<h3 class="widget-title">Recent Comments</h3>
<ul class="recomm">
<?php foreach ($comments as $comment) { ?>
    <li class="recomm-wrapper"><?php
        $title = get_the_title($comment->comment_post_ID);
        echo get_avatar( $comment, '53' );
        echo '<span class="recommauth">' . ($comment->comment_author) . '</span>';
        ?> said: "<?php
        echo wp_html_excerpt( $comment->comment_content, 72 ); ?>.."
        on <a href="<?php echo get_permalink($comment->comment_post_ID); ?>"
           rel="external nofollow" title="<?php echo $title; ?>">
           <?php echo $title; ?> </a>
    </li>
<?php }  ?> </ul>

Here’s the CSS styling I’m using (you may need to modify it according to your theme):

ul.recomm {
	margin-left: 0;
	margin-bottom: 36px;
	list-style: none;
}
.recomm-wrapper {
   clear:both;
   min-height: 53px;
   margin-bottom: 14px;
}
.recomm .avatar {
   float:left;
   margin-top:5px;
   margin-right:10px;
   border: #d8d8d8 1px solid;
}
.recommauth {
	font-weight: bold;
}

Go to Utah Liberation to see this code in action: utahliberation.com (bottom of the sidebar)

Here’s how you do this…

Add the following javascript code to the header of your website (somewhere in between the <head> </head> tags)…

<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
<!-- POPUP WINDOW SCRIPT -->
var win=null;
function NewWindow(mypage,myname,w,h,scroll,pos){
if(pos=="random"){LeftPosition=(screen.availWidth)?Math.floor(Math.random()*(screen.availWidth-w)):50;TopPosition=(screen.availHeight)?Math.floor(Math.random()*((screen.availHeight-h)-75)):50;}
if(pos=="center"){LeftPosition=(screen.availWidth)?(screen.availWidth-w)/2:50;TopPosition=(screen.availHeight)?(screen.availHeight-h)/2:50;}
if(pos=="default"){LeftPosition=50;TopPosition=50}
else if((pos!="center" && pos!="random" && pos!="default") || pos==null){LeftPosition=0;TopPosition=20}
settings='width='+w+',height='+h+',top='+TopPosition+',left='+LeftPosition+',scrollbars='+scroll+',location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,toolbar=no,resizable=no';
win=window.open(mypage,myname,settings);
if(win.focus){win.focus();}}
function CloseNewWin(){if(win!=null && win.open)win.close()}
window.onfocus=CloseNewWin;
<!-- POPUP WINDOW SCRIPT -->
</script>

Now place the following code on your website, like a normal hyperlink but with some extra code. Edit this line according to the link you are wanting to open…

<a href="http://www.yoursite.com/awebpage.php" onClick="NewWindow(this.href,'TitleGoesHere','550','400','yes','center');return false" onFocus="this.blur()">OpenThisPage</a>

That’s it.

After spending a lot of time trying to get this process (install Windows XP from USB Flash drive) working I found an easier, quicker, solution (compared to most online tutorials). It’s called WinToFlash.

This tutorial shows you how to install Windows XP from a USB Flash drive. (Seriously, easy!) It would probably also work for Windows 2000, Windows Vista, Windows 7, etc.

Optionally you can follow these nLite tutorials to remove unwanted Windows files before installing Windows:

• http://www.i64x.com/eeexp.php
• http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:nlitexp

I just finished doing this on my Asus 1001p netbook, after removing Windows 7 Starter (which consumed over 500MB of the 1Gig of memory at bootup, no programs running!)

I decided to opt for installing Windows XP via a USB Flash drive. I didn’t have an external DVD drive available. After following various complicated tutorials (which never did fully work for me) I found a very simple way to take the resulting Windows install files created by nLite (or copied from your Windows install disc) and create a bootable USB Flash drive: WinToFlash ( http://wintoflash.com ).

With WinToFlash all you need to have is a Folder on your PC containing all the Windows install files. Then you just open WinToFlash, tell it where your Windows install files directory is, then tell it what letter your Flash drive is (i.e. J: ). It does the rest for you. SIMPLE Once it’s done boot from the flash drive on your netbook (or PC you want to install this copy of Windows on).

When I first tried this I was getting BSOD (blue screen of death) errors when Windows setup was starting. (The problem was not with WinToFlash) After doing some research online I decided it might be due to some corrupt files (the XP disc I copied files from was too scratched up)… so I located another disc and went through the nLite process again (was easy because it saved my previous settings)… then did the WinToFlash process again. This time Windows XP installed without a problem from my USB Flash drive! (much easier than the tutorials that wanted me to accomplish this with 3+ programs and never worked)

The best thing about this is:

• My Windows install was only 270MB (with all Asus 1001p driver integrated and non-essential windows XP stuff removed, thanks to the nLite tutorial)
• Bootup to XP is fast (less than 30 seconds)
• Memory usage is at less than 200 MB even after installing a bunch of programs (disabled non-essential startup processes).
• No CD/DVD drive necessary for installation.

No worries. Follow these simple steps to publish a new Blog post:

Below the following steps are some screenshots to help guide you along the steps to submitting an article… If you are already familiar with WordPress you probably won’t need this guide…

1. Click on ‘Posts’ (from the left side menu)
2. Click ‘Add New’ (also left side menu). You should now see a page titled “Add New Post”
3. The first box is for the Title of your article.
4. The second box is for the article content. You can either paste your article into this box, or type your article (if it’s not already written). If you are pasting from Microsoft Word choose the “Paste from Word” option . You’ll find that by clicking the ‘Show/Hide Kitchen Sink’ button . There are also options for styling your content.
5. To add an image click the ‘add an image’ icon next to “Upload/Insert”. (If this is your first article submission you won’t yet have the ability to add an image.) You can add an image from your computer or from another URL (another website). It is recommended that you choose the ‘From Computer’ option. If your image comes from somewhere else online, find the image and save it to your computer first. If you are adding an image from your computer click ‘Select Files’ on the ‘From Computer’ tab. A box should come up that allows you to browse your computer to find the image you want to upload. Once you have find the right image, select it and click ‘open’. The image should now be uploaded and you’ll be presented with some options regarding how you want the image displayed within your article (size, aligned to the left, right or center, etc). Click ‘Insert into Post’. You should now see the image within your article. If you want to adjust something click on the image and you’ll see one icon that allows you to adjust the options and another icon to delete the image. After editing image options click ‘update’ to apply the changes.
6. Once you are done with the article content, and any images, add an excerpt into the box labeled ‘Excerpt’. The excerpt is typically one sentence, or paragraph, long and it is the article excerpt or ‘teaser’ that will be displayed on your Blog page along with the article title. (If your blog is designed to show excerpts on the Blog page, rather than the entire article ).
7. You typically won’t need to do anything with the other boxes: trackbacks, custom fields, Discussion, etc.
8. Add “tags” to your article in the ‘Post Tags’ area. Tags are keywords or topics related to your article. If your article is about ‘freedom’ and ‘economics’ using those as tags will help people find your article among other articles of similar topics.
9. Categories: Choose an existing category or add a new category. Simple. The difference between a category and a tag is typically that your category is the main topic of the article, whereas tags are sub-topics and other keywords related to the article subject.
10. Now you’re ready to publish your article. Click ‘Publish’.

Branding for startups, small businesses and Entrepreneurs…

Some “branding experts” are saying that you should spend thousands of dollars on branding. Don’t believe them.

First, I must explain, that there may be a valid reason for some companies to spend thousands, even millions, of dollars on branding, however, these are typically large corporations and other well-established companies – the ones that can afford to spend this kind of money on a brand.

Why would you spend thousands of dollars on branding when you may not even know who your target-market is? Or maybe you haven’t even made any profit yet? If that’s you – you still don’t know if what you’re getting into is going to work. Take things one step at a time.

What should you do now?

It might still be a good idea to spend some money on a logo, a nicely designed website and promotional materials…. but don’t overdo it. You probably won’t need to spend more than $300 on a nice logo and could realistically get a website (with a branded design based on your logo) for less than $1000.

Everyone needs a website, it’s an essential marketing tool for your business… but don’t be fooled into spending thousands of dollars when it’s not necessary. It might be necessary depending on what you want to do with your website, but honestly, most businesses don’t need that much to get a great start. Seriously, you might really never need to spend thousands of dollars on these things – take it step by step and see how things go.

One of the first things you should do, before branding, is BRAND IDENTITY… this is the process of figuring out what your target market is, what you are best at, and where you want to put your focus. Your target market should not be everyone. You should specifically define your target market and focus your business on that. That doesn’t mean all of your clients/customers are going to fit into your definition, but it means you’re more likely to enjoy what you’re doing.

Google loves WordPress. I love Google and I love WordPress (it’s very search engine friendly). It makes Search Engine Optimization easy!

If you can operate Microsoft Word, you can probably use WordPress.

It lowers the bar for what it takes to maintain websites. Although WordPress began as a blogging platform, it’s now so much more.

No software needed. Have a laptop and wireless connection? Go to the nearest wi-fi hotspot if you want and blog about your cats or your business. (You can even easily blog from your iPhone or Android phone with WordPress’ mobile app!

WordPress Kills Spam. That’s right, you won’t have to worry about a flood of spam comments (Just enable the built-in Akismet plugin).

Not just a blog. WordPress has a feature called “pages” which allows you to easily create pages on your website. For example, you could add an “about me” page with your biography. You can even create an entire web site using pages in WordPress, with a custom home page and your blog as one of the sub-pages.

Widgets for Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and more. You can add “widgets” to your sidebar and rearrange them without touching any HTML code or messing up your blog. Just drag and drop the sidebar widgets around, and instantly you can have fun stuff in your sidebar.

Customizable. You can make WordPress do just about anything by simply finding the right plugin.

If you ever get tired of how your website looks, simply create, or find, a different WordPress Theme.

Right about now you might be asking yourself “What do I need a Web Designer for if WordPress is so easy and will do all of this for me?” Your Web Designer will be there to setup WordPress and give it a look customized to your brand. Your Web Designer can also setup and customize features and plugins for you to ensure that your site is all ready to go, ready for you to take over, and ready for business!

Choosing a WordPress-based website leaves you in control. It’s also a future-proof solution considering that WordPress is steadily growing as the most popular website platform.

Sometimes when moving a Joomla, WordPress or other website to a different directory or different server you’ll need to change the absolute path for the site to work. In joomla this requires editing the configuration.php file, in WordPress this sometimes requires editing the database or ensuring that you update the settings before moving your files/database over to the new directory/server.

How do I find out what the absolute path is?

The easiest way is to create a file named pathinfo.php and paste only the following code into that file:

<?php
   $path = getcwd();
   echo "Your Absoluthe Path is: ";
   echo $path;
?>

Now, upload pathinfo.php into the root directory of your website and view it in your internet browser ( example: http://www.mysite.com/pathinfo.php )

This will display your absolute path.

As I am creating websites I sometimes come across situations that require a more than basic knowledge and a bit of research to figure out.

Here’s a helpful hint regarding removing blank lines from an html file using dreamweaver, should you ever want to do that without having to manually delete the lines…

1. Click CTRL + F
2. Select “Current document” in “Find in” (You can also select the folder if you have multiple files)
3. Search in “Source code”
4. Tick “Use regular expression”
5. Type “[\r\n]{2,}” (without quotes) in “Find”
6. Type “\n” (without quotes) in “Replace”
7. Press “Replace All”

That’s it. Have fun.

How?

Here are some tips that have been working for me in my quest to have a more productive day:

• Stop trying to multi-task.
• Organize and clean your workspace; get rid of the clutter.
• Create a list of what you want to accomplish.
• Focus on one thing at a time and get it done before starting something else.
• Check your e-mail less often (schedule specific times each day to read and respond to email).
• Reduce the amount of programs and files that are open on your computer.
• If you have side hobbies like I do; set apart a time to work on those, but not at the same time you’re trying to get some work done.
• Take regular periodic brakes and get away from your desk, go outside; Perhaps two 15-minute breaks and a lunch break during your workday.

I realized that if I want to actually get a lot of work done I have to be organized and focused. I’ve accomplished much more this week than past weeks as a result of putting these ideas into practice.