10.23.2009
WP Mage Ramblings & Tips
by Amy Kay Guenther
I thought I would just ramble on this post and relay to you some of the tips I’ve learned about WPMage.
- The CPMage and WPMage packages come with the necessary plugins loaded and configured. Things like all in one seopack, wordpress stats and more. I’ve learned that I can unzip the package, and add any more plugins I want, so that every future install will also have those plugins. A nifty little timesaver if you want to customize your sites further.
- For my adsense sites, I’m following xfactor’s method of putting just one large block of adsense at the top, which is exactly how the mage installs itself. I just simply disable the sidebar adsense widget.
- I’m creating unique ebay campaigns, adsense channels and amazon tracking ID’s for each site. In addition, tracking ID’s for the CPA offers I have running.
- Greg recommends tweaking the front page with a little unique content to make it look nice in case of a manual review. I have to admit, I’m lazy, and haven’t done this. My front pages simply have an ezine article, but NO links of any kind. To do this, when I first install the site, I insert only one keyword, use no translation, don’t select any monetization methods, and pull only from ezine. After the site is installed, I go into the admin backend, and use the posting mage to load the rest of the posts with ebay, amazon, whatever.
- I did build my own “template.” It’s not a theme, but what Greg calls a “template.” The template defines the layout of the posts. So, for example the, template below is the one I’m using most often. I created it mainly so that my ebay links would display above the content. Then, amazon, then the content. These templates can be configured in any number of ways.
- {$KEYWORD}
[affmage source="ebay" results="100"]{$KEYWORD}[/affmage]
[affmage source="amazon" results="10"]{$KEYWORD}[/affmage]
[mage source="flickr"]{$KEYWORD}[/mage]
[mage source="answers" backup="article"]{$KEYWORD}[/mage]
[mage source="tags"]{$KEYWORD}[/mage] - To include a CPA offer or clickbank product on my posts, I add the code to the whydoworkadsense plugin under CODE #3. Then I change the settings to display code #3 on the pages. Done!
- I am using translation on just a few of my sites. The most readable are en|fr|en or en|es|en. Others think this makes the article 30% unique. You can translate back and forth from like 20 languages, but it becomes more awkward to read.
- Soon, I’ll experiment with creating foreign sites. With the mage, I can translate my articles to end with, say, german. I would use a german .de domain, and be sure to include my eBay Germany ID, and then I have a German site with no more effort than building my US sites. I might try this with just adsense, too. Someone said the German adsense pays nicely.
