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In today’s issue…
1. Introduction
2. The Halfway Mark
3. A Special Affiliate Theme
4. SLM Plugin Updated
5. Forum Topics of Interest
6. In Closing
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Hello and happy Tuesday,
It’s been a while; my apologies. Things have been busy, busy,
busy around here.
I hope you’ve had a wonderful weekend and that your week will be
filled with fun and excitement.
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2. The Halfway Mark
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On Sunday, I took some time to revisit my New Year’s resolutions
to gauge how far I’d come. You may be wondering *why*, but in
case you missed it, June 1 was the official halfway mark. We are
now 6 months into 2008 and it’s the perfect time to have a look
at where you’ve been, where you are, and where you want to be.
So, if you haven’t, take a few moments today to reflect and
readjust if necessary. And don’t beat yourself up if you aren’t
exactly where you’d planned to be right this hot minute. Just
think about small alterations you can make to bring you that much
closer to achieving your goals.
Think of it like running a marathon–don’t sprint out of the gate
because you’ll end up losing steam. Pace yourself. Set daily,
weekly, and monthly goals that you’d like to achieve. Each goal
should build on the next. The daily goals should help you
achieve your weekly goals and your weekly goals should help you
achieve your monthly goals.
If goal setting is not your particular cup of tea, then I
recommend reading a book that helps you look at goal setting in
a new way. 
http://www.wpaffiliateguide.com/read/goal-setting/
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3. A Special Affiliate Theme
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Affiliate Sandbox is its name. It comes complete with sidebar
widget support, search engine optimized out of the box, and
ready for your personal touch.
You see, a Sandbox theme comes bare bones–no color scheme, no
graphics, no nothing except the basic PHP/HTML/CSS structure.
I mapped out some basic elements and left plenty of notes
thoughout so you should be able to navigate your way through the
customization. Just add your own colors (via CSS) and graphics,
then upload, activate, and you’ll have an optimized affiliate
website in no time.
I’ve been working on the theme for a good portion of the weekend
and it should be completely finished/tested by week’s end. Once
it is, I’ll be uploading it to the loyalty bonus section.
So, feel free to get excited.
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4. SLM Plugin Updated
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While working on the Affiliate Sandbox theme, it occurred to me
that the SLM Plugin was due for another update.
It’s not a major update, but it does include one small bug fix
and one spiffy new feature.
The bug that’s fixed is the deleting of referrer data when a link
is deleted. In the previous versions, when the link was deleted,
the referrer data for the link remained.
The new feature that’s been added is: KEYWORDS! Let me explain.
Sometimes I like to market links in various ways (i.e. forums,
newsletters, blogs, etc.) and I like to see how the different
approaches perform. In a past life, I would create a brand new
link for each. But, not any more.
Keywords allow you to append a keyword to any link. For instance,
if you created a link called /widgets/ and wanted to place that
link in a forum. Rather than create a new link called
/widgets-forum/, you can just use the original /widgets/ link
and add forum/ to the end (i.e. /widgets/forum/).
Visitors will still be redirected as normal to the widgets
website, but the keyword ‘forum’ will be tracked for your
internal use. And it will also show you click stats for those
keywords.
You can grab the download by logging into your account and
checking under ‘Your Purchases’, or you can read the changelog
online at: http://www.wpaffiliateguide.com/slm-plugin/changelog
If you don’t already own the SLM plugin, then you can purchase it
from: http://www.wpaffiliateguide.com/slm-plugin/
(Make sure you’re logged in to access the pages above.)
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5. Forum Topics of Interest
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Have you been to the forum lately? If not, add it to your
schedule because there is plenty to see. And don’t forget to
join the discussion. Remember, the forum is here for you.
If you haven’t done so already, feel free to drop by the
Introductions & Goal Setting forum to say hello and tell us a
little more about yourself and what you hope to achieve:
http://www.wpaffiliateguide.com/forum?forum=4
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Announcements & Updates
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A little while ago, I wrote a blog entry about the hacks I make
to the core WordPress files before I use them for installs or
upgrades. That entry received a good amount of positive feedback
and I decided to go ahead and share those files with you in a
neat and tidy package.
Read about the changes I make
http://www.wpaffiliateguide.com/forum?forum=10&topic=255
(For reference, it’s WP 2.5.1 and if it’s well received, I may
continue to zip and upload my future versions.)
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WP Installation & Configuration
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If you’re having trouble deciding whether to start off with
version 2.3.x or 2.5.x when installing WordPress for the first
time, this thread may help you decide.
http://www.wpaffiliateguide.com/forum?forum=11&topic=254
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Traffic, Marketing & SEO
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Become a Twitterholic because it could mean good things for your
affiliate marketing business if used wisely.
http://www.wpaffiliateguide.com/forum?forum=12&topic=259
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Datafeed Discussion
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The collections you have laying around could be translated into
cash–all it takes is a bit of time to catalog, convert, and
import.
http://www.wpaffiliateguide.com/forum?forum=7&topic=256
Contemplating using datafeeds converted into RSS format in
WordPress? This is the thread you should probably look into and
feel free to drop your two cents in.
http://www.wpaffiliateguide.com/forum?forum=7&topic=271
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On Display
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Don’t forget that if you’re looking for helpful feedback on your
website, this forum is the place to be.
http://www.wpaffiliateguide.com/forum?forum=14
And since it’s a friendly environment, there’s no need to worry.
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6. Finishing Up
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Remember, if you ever miss an issue of the WP Affiliate Guide
newsletter, you can read it online at the newsletter archives:
http://www.wpaffiliateguide.com/newsletters/. The current
newsletter is usually added within a couple days of being sent
out.
Again, I want to thank you for allowing me to help you with
your WordPress and affiliate marketing journey. I sincerely
hope you put it all to good use and build a prosperous
affiliate empire.
Wishing you much success in all you endeavors.