I write reviews on my WordPress blog here and obviously link to the website of the product or service I’m reviewing and it recently occurred to me that it might be handy to know exactly how many people I’m sending to these websites for free! I tried manually adding tracking to links in articles but that’s a bit tiresome. I tried one or 2 other plugins also but nothing has worked as well as the Google Analyticator plugin by Ronald Heft. Continue reading External/Affiliate Link and Download Tracking in WordPress
Month: March 2010
Tornado in Leitrim!?
Very strange thing happened this morning in Keshcarrigan, Leitrim. Was in the toilet and there was a crazy rumbling noise all around me and the extractor fan looked like it was gonna pop out and hit me in the face. My partner started shouting at me that stuff (big stuff!) was flying around the garden and we all got a bit panicky! I had vision of the roof and walls lifting off the house and me sitting there on the toilet for all to see! I went out the back and everything was upended including a massive swing which took four of us to move last week and which had been lifted up, flipped over and fecked on top of a wooden fence, smashing it. My business sign out the front which itself is damn heavy also got wrecked.
The weird thing is that it was fairly calm and sunny only minutes before and we were thinking of going out with the dogs and baby. My partner said it got dark really quick, start lashing with hailstones and severe winds then minutes later it was calm and sunny again! I even thought it might have been some nuclear type wind!
Scary global warming…
Leon.
O2 Mobile Call Divert Codes
I just moved to a village in Leitrim (Keshcarrigan) with virtually no coverage on the O2 network, yeh I know I shoulda checked coverage before we moved in or at least believed the previous tenant who pointed it out to us when he was showing the house! Anyhow, I’m here now and I’ve tried a few things with my iPhone as suggested by Apple and O2 support including restoring to factory settings, swapping Sims, etc but the signal is just crap. The only other thing I could think of doing was to redirect calls to my mobile to the land line, but that wasn’t very ideal or efficient. Continue reading O2 Mobile Call Divert Codes
Web Designer Versus Client
Every now and then a situation comes up for me whereby a web design client will question a website graphical element or logo I’ve designed and suggest something different.
Fine normally, I’m open to different views and criticisms but what if they want something that is clearly wrong or what if they presume to know better than me even though they’ve presumably hired me for my expertise!?
Should I stand my ground or let the client ruin the site and have my name on crap? Is the customer always right?
Vote now..
Leon.
WordPress Banner Ads Plugin Review
Blogs in general (including some of my own posts here!) are some of the most trafficked sites on the net and the first thing that pops into most people’s heads when it comes to monetizing that traffic is advertising. I’ve been using some of Tribulant’s excellent WordPress plugins and was delighted to see that they had a Banner Advert plugin as I needed one for a new online venture AboutLeitrim.ie.
Tribulant’s Ad plugin is compatible with the current version of WordPress (2.9.2 as I write this) and goes in easily in the usual way. Here’s a quick rundown on what the plugin can do:
- Multiple Predefined and Custom Ad Sizes & Zones.
- Multiple Sidebar Widgets.
- Manual Embedding/Hardcoding into your theme.
- Page and Post Embedding.
- Order or Random Ads
- Static Image, Text and Flash Ads supported.
- Integrated Ad Banner Upload.
- HTML and Google AdSense supported.
- Banner URL’s.
- Ajax Ad Rotation with Time setting.
- Impressions, Click and CTR Tracking.
Some standout features for me are:
- Template embedding of Banners and zones.
- Ad Ordering or Random rotation (you choose).
- Click Tracking.
- Ad placement/Zone flexibility.
- Ad duration settings.
The click tracking might be a method of charging your advertising clients per click or view rather than monthly, weekly etc..
The plugin is very reasonably priced at $30 ($149.95 for Developer/Multi Site version) and perfectly stable.
Demos, Documentation and Support available HERE.
Get it HERE.
Reverb Studios Reviews Suggestion
Customer Reviews of a companies products or services have become a very big deal online in recent years. Research has shown that if someone reads a positive review of your offering or service online they will be most of the way to buying from you!
On my own blog, the Reviews Category consistently gets more hits than any other and I myself would always look for reviews before buying anything.
I have recently setup a partnership with Ireland’s leading supplier of Review software for websites, LouderVoice. They can supply you with very simple to use plugins for your site that will allow visitors and clients to Rate your service or product and leave comments directly on your site. These reviews can be displayed prominently and should lead to greater sales conversions and excellent customer feedback. Customer reviews can also be routed to Twitter and Facebook for maximum exposure for your site.
Visit www.LouderVoice.com/About for more detailed information or to signup.
Please use the Partner code LV-REVERBSTUDIOS if you decide it’s for you!
Leon.
Reverb Studios Design 