If you run a WordPress blog, you probably use Akismet to handle and manage comments left by readers. Akismet is the default plug-in and works very well.

Or does it?

While Akismet does an excellent job in weeding out the spam comments from the legitimate ones, it does have its flaws.

Akismet is Flawed

The problem with Akismet is that it allows blog owners to specify which comments are legitimate and which are spam. This is completely opinion based and differs for each blog owner. Because of this, blog owners could inadvertently mark legitimate comments as spam. Sometimes this happens by accident, and other times they truly think the comment is spam, even if it isn’t. Obviously, one’s opinion can differ from another’s.

Once a comment gets marked as spam, any new comments that reader makes will automatically get marked as such across all blogs that use Akismet to manage comments. This is done through tracking the IP address and email address.

The system is obviously flawed. Akismet allows users to request that they be white-listed again, but it’s no guarantee that will happen.

There are other problems I could get into, such as privacy issues, but I’ll leave that one alone. Here are my two gripes I have with Akismet and why I have found a better alternative to manage comments on this blog.

1. Marking Legitimate Comments As Spam

Most likely you’ve scoured the spam folder, looking for legitimate comments to un-mark as spam. I used to spend a lot of my time doing this, as legitimate comments would get filtered out and be marked as spam, even though they weren’t.

Not only is this annoying, but it wastes so much time – time I don’t have.

2. Not Allowing Legitimate Comments At All

This was the last straw for me. It’s one thing to prevent spam comments from getting through, but when legitimate comments from readers are being blocked entirely, it’s time to make a change. A blog isn’t a blog unless readers are able to comment on posts, and I wasn’t about to ignore this problem. I needed to make a change, FAST!

I don’t know how long this was going on for, but Ana from Traffic Generation Cafe made me aware that her comments weren’t getting through. It was apparent that Akismet was blocking her comments altogether. She advised me that I find an alternative comment management plug-in to handle comments, otherwise I could be losing out on other legitimate comments, and ultimately readers. Thanks, Ana!

So that’s exactly what I did.

Akismet Alternatives

There are quite a few alternatives to manage blog comments. Some paid, some free. If you’re like me, I’m a huge fan of free stuff. Let’s take a look at 5 of them.

5 Free Anti-Spam WordPress Plug-Ins

1. Bad Behavior – Bad Behavior is a PHP-based solution for blocking link spam and the robots which deliver it.

2. Sblam! – Stand-alone PHP script or WordPress plug-in, whichever you choose.

3. AntiSpamBee – Protects your blog from spam by replacing the comment field.

4. Defensio – Defensio is an advanced spam filtering web service that learns and adapts to your behaviors and those of your users.

5. G.A.S.P – This plugin will add a client side generated checkbox to your comment form asking users to confirm that they are not a spammer. It is a lot less trouble to click a box than it is to enter a captcha and because the box is genereated via client side javascript that bots cannot see, it should stop 99% of all automated spam bots.

My Anti-Spam Plug-In Recommendation

I am currently running G.A.S.P. on this blog, and I absolutely love it. If I had to recommend a plug-in to manage blog comments, it would be G.A.S.P. I also use a plug-in called Simple TB Validation. Simple TB Validation performs a simple but very effective test on all incoming trackbacks in order to stop trackback spam.

With both of these plug-ins combined, I get very little comment spam. I still get a small percentage that I just delete, but I don’t have to go sifting through the spam folder anymore. It has saved me a ton of time, and I know it will help you manage comments more effectively.

The best part is, you won’t be turning away readers due to them not being able to comment on your blog. I urge you, consider deleting Akismet and finding an alternative. You and your readers will benefit greatly.

What Do You Use?

What are you using to manage blog comments and combat spam? Let us know in the comments below. And while you’re there, see G.A.S.P. in action by checking the little box to confirm you’re not a spammer.

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I follow quite a few blogs, and I like to comment on posts I find interesting. What irritates me, though, is that some blog owners don’t utilize any sort of “threading” within comments. No “@” replies utilized, either. This can be very annoying.

Not sure what I mean? Here’s an example:

Notice my reply is indented in and is contained within the original comment. This is considered a threaded comment, and any new replies act the same way, getting indented even further in. In this way, the replies are obvious and aren’t mistaken with new comments that aren’t a reply to a particular comment.

Also notice that my reply begins with “@author” and then my reply follows. This lets the commenter know that there is a new comment specifically in response to them. They also receive an email letting them know (more on this later).

What I see a lot on other blogs are new comments that are meant as replies to other people, but the reply is separate from the original comment, and no “@” is utilized. This can make it really, really difficult to determine if the comment is in reply to you, another commenter, or if it’s even a reply at all or a brand new comment from another reader.

Since I make sure I receive emails with any new comments on the posts I comment on, bloggers who don’t take advantage of any type of threaded system make it frustrating for me, and most likely others, as we don’t know if our comment is getting any replies. What this leads to is me having to go to the actual post and check my comment and any new comments to be sure I’m not missing any replies. It wastes time.

There is a much better way to manage comments and replies, both as a blog owner and as a blog commenter.

WP Thread Comment Plug-In

What I recommend doing is installing a very handy plug-in called WP Thread Comment. This WordPress plug-in will save you and your readers a ton of time by eliminating any confusion when it comes to replies and new comments left on your blog posts.

No coding required. No changes need made to your current theme. Just download, install, activate and adjust the settings as you see fit. That’s it. Your blog is then equipped with threaded comments.

Here’s what this powerful little plug-in can do:

• Edit Reply Text & Cancel Reply Text – This is for both you and your readers (Shouldn’t need to be changed)
• Edit Comment HTML – Only change if looks funny.
• Edit Comment CSS – Same as above.
• Edit maximum nest level – This is the amount of replies aloud for one comment thread. I have mine set to 15, although I doubt I’ll ever see it go that high for one comment thread.
• Email notify the parent commenter when there is a reply – This feature is HUGE. I would highly recommend choosing the “default checked” option, so this way, commenters will receive an email when there comment has a new reply, even if they would forget to check the box, as it’s checked by default.
• Edit the subject of notification email – I wouldn’t change this unless you want to.
• Edit Notification Message – Only change if you want to.
• Reply in WordPress Admin Panel – This feature saves me a ton of time. You can reply to comments directly from your Admin panel and automatically have them “nested.”
• Add author in reply comment – I highly recommend enabling this option, so that your replies begin with “@author”.

By now you should see just how vital this plug-in can be for your WordPress blog. If you’re not yet utilizing threaded comments, you should really start. A better way to manage comments will only benefit your blog and your readers.

This may sound too good to be true for some. For others, this may be only a fraction of what they make from their blogs.

No matter which category you fall in, $750 is easily obtainable by implementing various money-making strategies. However, I’ve recently been introduced to a new blogging network that will actually pay you up to $750 per month. Sound crazy? Perhaps…

Blogging Network that Pays You

Guest blogging is super popular these days, and if you’re subscribed to my blog, you’ll know that I regularly publish guest posts on here. I know a lot of other bloggers who allow guest posts on their blogs as well. It’s a great way to build relationships with fellow bloggers/authors and introduce them to a new audience of readers.

But…

Guest blogging doesn’t have any monetary gain whatsoever. The guest author doesn’t get paid, and the hosting blog owner doesn’t get paid. This isn’t a bad thing at all, and frankly, that’s the way it should be. There are plenty of other benefits for both parties involved that don’t involve money.

However, this is about advertisers wanting to get in front of a target market, and they’re willing to pay to be seen.

What if there was a way to get paid for hosting guest posts? Would you be interested?

That’s exactly what WebTrafficControl.com does. They connect advertisers with blog owners and will pay you $15 for every guest post you publish to your blog. This isn’t your normal advertisement/sales type posts, though. The posts are useful, helpful, and don’t try to sell you anything.

They’re essentially no different than any other guest post that you would find on a blog, including this one.

Let’s take a look at the pros and cons to get a better understanding of what WebTrafficControl is all about.

The Pros

I had a chance to email one of the guys behind the blogging network back and forth regarding functionality and what all the blog owner could control regarding the content their blogs would receive.

Here are some of the pros that really stood out to me after some of my key questions were answered:

• Quick process to add WordPress blog to system
• Clean and user-friendly member dashboard
• Built-in moderation system in place to ensure quality content only
• Blog owners can accept/deny each post that is received
• Once approved, articles are automatically posted to the blog via an Author account, with relevant categories
• Each post is relevant and targeted to your blog and your readers
• Posts are informative in nature and not a sales letter
• “Advertisers” download reports of all posts, able to see which articles were left on your blog

My main issue was the blog owner level of moderation, which they just recently implemented. This was important to me as I wouldn’t want an irrelevant/non-targeted post on my blog. My other issue was whether the “advertisers” would know that their articles were being published to my blog.

I was happy to know that both issues were fully addressed with systems in place. Overall, I was quite satisfied with what I found out.

Cons

The only issue I could see, that I find with any form of guest blogging, is the author coming to the blog and replying to comments left on their post. While the authors can download a report of their posts, there’s no guarantee that they will visit the blog/s to reply to comments being left.

I see this as a con only because I’m someone who encourages community and author/reader interaction. Replying to comments is something I require of my guest bloggers, and while it doesn’t always happen, I feel it’s better than no requirement at all. Most are more than happy to, as they also see the value in engaging readers.

Final Thoughts

I have added my blog to the network about a month ago but have yet to receive any articles to add to the blog. They provide you with up to 10 categories you can add your blog to, which increases the amount of articles your blog could receive. So, I would recommend adding your blog to 10 categories if at all possible as it may be a while before you start receiving articles for your blog.

All in all, I feel this blogging network could be good for supplementing your blog with additional, relevant articles, all the while increasing your monthly income.

Your Thoughts?

What do you think? Do you agree with my concerns about moderation and reader interaction?

After reading this, would you be inclined to add your blog to the network as well?

Please do share your thoughts by leaving a comment below…

What a crazy few months. You’re probably wondering why I haven’t posted much, and well, there’s a good reason for that. Life! Yeah… life gets in the way. Funny how that happens.

Seriously, though, I don’t like it at all, and I want to be posting more, and I promise I will be. I’ll still be having guest posts as well, but I want to have more of my own posts mixed in also. I think it’s only fair to you, my readers. That’s my promise to you, so you better hold me to it!

Okay, enough of that. Let’s take a look at last month’s blog posts. All four of them.

May 2011 Blog Posts on ReplaceYourSalary.com

5 Surefire Online Marketing Strategies You Should Know

Organize Your Home Office with Pendaflex Products

Turning Your Talent Into Your Own Business

6 Funny Entrepreneur Music Videos – You definitely have to check these videos out. Seriously!

Blog Posts Around the Web

Here are some blog posts I’ve found from other bloggers I follow that I thought you would find helpful. Take some time to read these as well.

Sabrina shared a post on 5BuckGuy.com about her 3 Worst Internet Marketing Mistakes. I commented on the post sharing mine, although it’s still awaiting moderation. Here are the three mistakes I shared:

1. Lack of focus
2. Poorly investing money into programs that simply don’t work
3. Not investing enough money back into my business

What are your three mistakes? Share them below by leaving a comment.

Alex provided 7 very good reasons why you should switch to Windows 7. I totally agree with him as I’ve been running Windows 7 myself for a couple of months now. I absolutely love it! Read the post to see why should make the switch today.

CompTalks.com offers an easy method to add the Google +1 button to WordPress. This is a new feature from Google that I’ll be posting about a little later in the month. You don’t want to miss it.

Andrew talks about the pages you should have on your blog. This is a must-read. If you don’t have these pages, you need to add them right away!

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for my next post where I’ll talk about a forum I moderate and is a great resource for entrepreneurs.

Cheers!

Spring is in the air, and with it a lot of rain. Now that March has passed and April is upon us, it’s that time again to do a roundup of last month’s posts. The month was full of guest writers, a nice change (as is having the Spring season finally here) and something I hope you’ve been enjoying. If not, I want to know about it, and why.

I plan to have at least another month of guest posts, as they just keep rolling in. I’m excited at the number of requests I’ve been getting and that other bloggers and writers want to contribute quality and useful content to this blog. That means a lot to me.

With that said, let’s take a look at what these guest authors contributed last month…

March’s Blog Posts on ReplaceYourSalary.com

How Working from Home Can Improve Your Personal Development

Should You Pay for a WordPress Theme?

Starting Your Small Business with a Small Amount of Money

Blog Posts Around the Web

Each month I try to share a few blog posts from other blogs I follow. I think it helps to give you an idea of other types of blogs that are out there that you may not be aware of, as well as other bloggers I look up to. Let’s take a look at some posts that stood out to me, and maybe you’ll find them helpful just as I did.

Andrew discusses 16 must-have WordPress plugins for your blog. Plug-ins are the lifeblood of any blog, and there are certain plugins you don’t want to be without. This is a must read.

TechChunks details the announcement that Google is going social. We all knew this was coming, right? I mean, they couldn’t just sit by and let Facebook dominate the internet. They won’t go without a fight, anyway. Definitely a must read and how this could impact search results and marketing as we know it.

Samuel tells you to stop reading and start doing. I’m all for learning, but there comes a point where you’ve learned enough that you can start putting what you learned into action, even if it’s a small task.

That’s all for now.

Again, please share your thoughts on the idea of showcasing more guest authors for the month of April. Do you think it’s a good idea, or would you rather see more of my own posts mixed within? I want to know, from you, the reader. Thanks!

The following is a guest post by Dan Cawrey. If you would like to write for this blog, please check out the guidelines here.

If you are going to be starting your own blog, WordPress is a great way to go. It’s simple, completely configurable through the web, and is run by a company that knows how to make good, free and open software. But once you’ve decided to use this platform as the back end, you need to start thinking about what the front end might look like.

WordPress’s outward appearance is powered by something called a theme. You have a several options when deciding what theme to choose: paying for one, using a free one or designing your own.

Paying

Shelling out some dollars for a WordPress theme is not a bad idea. With this option, you’re guaranteed a premium theme. You’ll get lots of options in the back end that you can customize, and many companies who design professional WordPress themes offer good support. One thing to be careful about, however, is paying too much for a WordPress theme. Don’t spend more than a couple hundred bucks on one, especially if you are just starting out. Check out FlexSqueeze Theme,  WooThemes, OrganicThemes or ElegantThemes for some good designs.

Going Free

You can also opt to not pay for a theme, which is perfectly acceptable for smaller sites. There are scores of themes that are available for free. Actually, there are almost too many to choose from. You’ll never run out of free themes, but you might just run out of time trying to find just the right one.

There is one problem with free themes however, and that’s the fact that being available for no cost means someone else is using that theme. The internet is a big place, but for some, having a sense of originality is important, which may make or break this option. You can Google some free WordPress themes, and the WordPress folks also have about a thousand on their site.

Do it Yourself

WordPress is a fairly simple platform, and as such you can also design your own theme. If you have any experience using HTML and CSS, you can simply start from scratch and make a theme of your own that fits your design tastes.

You don’t need to have a bunch of programming experience, but WordPress runs on PHP so having some experience with that language is helpful for getting things to run just right. This is a great option for those who like to tinker. Check here for the official WordPress guide.

Middle of the Road

The best option for choosing which route to go here is actually a mix. Depending on how original or authentic-looking you want your site to be, you might want to grab a free theme and customize it yourself. If you think you’ll need more advanced back end features, you might want to pay for a theme and then change the front end. The additional changes could be done yourself, or you could hire someone on a site like Elance to help you make so quick (and cheap) modifications.

Starting your own site takes a lot of decisions, but one of the best ones you can make is to choose WordPress and to get yourself a design that fits your audience. Hopefully this guide helps to make your site the best it can be!

About the Author: Daniel Cawrey is a freelance writer. In addition to blogging about credit cards, he also runs his own site (powered by WordPress) on Google Chrome and Chrome OS.

Happy New Year!

There are less than 24 hours until 2011 is here. Do you have a New Year’s Resolution?

I wanted to do something a little different to say goodbye to 2010, so I thought I’d do something similar to my monthly blog post roundups. Instead, though, I’m going to include the best of the best of my 2010 posts.

I got this idea from Copyblogger, and I thought that it was an excellent idea to bring 2010 to a close.

2010 has been a very exciting year for ReplaceYourSalary, and I couldn’t have done it without all of you. For that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I mean it. I’m honored to have such a great community of readers here who support me in my endeavor. If it wasn’t for you, I don’t know if this blog would still exist.

I’ll warn you now, there’s quite a few posts. I was going to limit them to like 10 or so, but I didn’t think that would be fair. Afterall, it’s supposed to be the best of the best here, and I didn’t want to leave anything out.

Check them out and share them with anyone you think could benefit from reading them. And, at the end I have a special opportunity for you, so make sure to scroll down when you’re done.

Best Posts of 2010

5 Things You MUST Do To Make Money Online

Affiliate Marketing is the New Job on the Market

30 Ways to Get Free Website Traffic In Minutes

Proven Strategies to Increase Website Traffic and Generate Sales

How I Get Backlinks to My Blog Posts Resulting in Sales

A Complete Step-By-Step Guide to Setup a Money Making Website

Why I Chose Affiliate Marketing and Why You Should Too

5 Things to Consider Before Publishing a Guest Post on Your Blog

Don’t Make The Same Stupid Mistake I Made… Seriously!

New Blog Theme – I’m Using the FlexSqueeze WordPress Theme

What a Man, a Dog and a Leash Have to do with Internet Marketing

AshMax – The Perfect Work From Home Opportunity?

What are Backlinks, and Why Do I Need Them?

How to Properly Use Backlinks to Increase Search Engine Rankings

5 Link Building Myths EXPOSED

Q&A: Getting Traffic to Your Website

How To Find a Niche Market and Make Money Online

Q&A: Building Links to Your Website

Q&A: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Site Build It Review – Don’t Build a Website Before You Read This

Are You Marketing Your Blog on Facebook?

My Interview on The Lynn Johnson Motivational Radio Show

How to Choose a Proper Domain Name when Building Niche Sites

5 Core Components of a Website

Make Your Contribution

Do you have your own best of the best posts you’d like to share?

I want you to post them below by leaving a comment. I’ll allow up to 3 posts per person. It can either be your own posts or posts from a blog you read. Doesn’t matter… just make sure they’re awesome!

AND…

Please don’t abuse the privilege.

Okay, let me have ‘em…

When it comes to building a niche site, or any site for that matter, there are some core components that I feel make up the site in its entirety.

You may agree with me here, you may not. Either way is fine. This is just what I have observed from my experience with building websites, and most recently, my niche site I’m currently working on.

Here are, what I believe, are the 5 core components that make up a website, or what should be part of every website that you build.

Header

To me, the header of a website either makes or breaks the entire site. It’s the first thing that people see when they come to your site and should leave a positive reaction.

Does your header explain what your site is about? Does it get your message across?

If you answered “No” to either question, then consider revamping your header. And, if you don’t even have a header, then you best get one.

Having a professional looking header for your site will make a huge difference in regards to the trust your visitors place on your site.

There are minor exceptions to this rule, but for any major site or niche site, make sure you have a well-designed header.

When Building a Niche Site

If you notice the header I have for my new niche site (http://getbackyourexadvice.com), it’s nothing real fancy, but it looks nice and gets the point across. You don’t have to purchase professional images.

If you’re comfortable using an image editor, you can find images on the internet that you can use and incorporate to design a nice looking header for your website. Or, you can have one created for you for a small fee. I prefer to use Photoshop.

Also, what I do when I’m just starting to design a site is to get the header done and uploaded to the site before I ever touch anything else regarding the design and style of the site.

The header is the focal point of the site, and the site should be designed around the header, incorporating the colors into the overall site.

Navigation

Once we have the header and overall design out of the way, the navigation of the site should be the next thing to focus on.

You’ll want to decide where you want your navigational links located, as well as what links you actually want to have.

I use the FlexSqueeze Theme to design my sites, and I can either have the navigation above or below the header. I prefer below, so I choose that option, and it’s done.

You can even choose not to show the navigation at all, and with WordPress, you have the option of showing your navigation links in the right-hand sidebar using a widget. That’s an option as well.

There’s not really a right or wrong way to go about it, but it’s important that you do have a clear navigation for the site so people can get around easily, and that they can also easily find the navigation links.

Essential Navigation Links

There are some key links that you should include in your navigation. These, at the very least, should include:

• Home Page
• About Us/Me
• Contact

These, I feel, are essential links you should have. You can obviously have more links if need be, but you should at least link to these important pages.

Monetization

You may think I’m crazy for labeling this as a core component, but in all honesty, it really is. If you’re building a niche site, good chances are you plan on monetizing the site.

When thinking about the design, navigation and all the other components of the site, you should have a plan for how you’re going to monetize the site and incorporate that process into the site.

For instance, if you take a look at this blog or my new niche site, you many notice a few things that stand out.

There’s a Feature area just below the navigation, where I can add practically whatever I want there. I chose to showcase my newsletter and provide a simple sign-up form for people to easily subscribe.

Being able to add more than one column, I can also section the area off and advertise one or a couple other offers as well, which as you can see I have done.

The right-hand sidebar is also a great place to add a newsletter sign-up form, banner ads or whatever else you want to put there.

Bottom line is, you should be thinking about how you’re going to monetize the site while you’re still in the design process.

Unless of course you don’t plan on monetizing or don’t want to until a later time. Have an opinion on this? Check out a guest post I did about when to monetize a website and leave your thoughts there.

Funnel

I’m not talking about a funnel you use when pouring liquids, or a funnel formed from a tornado. Although, that would be pretty cool.

I’m talking about the path that you want your visitors to take when they land on your site. This could be a specific path for first-time commentors, or a path for people who subscribe to your newsletter.

It could even be a series of links that take people to a product you’re promoting.

Whatever action you want people to take, create a funnel and guide them in the right direction.

Pages

Aside from the essential pages you’re linking to from the navigation, there are some other essential pages you’re going to need for your website.

Privacy Policy

Having a privacy policy is an absolute must. In fact, it’s a requirement for any website. I’ve written about having a privacy policy in the past, and there are many reasons to have one. The most important reason, if you need a reason, is because it’s mandatory, so get one up.

Not sure how to write one? Here’s a cool resource that will create a privacy policy for your site in just a few short steps: http://privacy-policy-generator.legalriver.com/.

Terms of Service

A Terms of Service page is just as important as a privacy policy. You have to have one, and fortunately, creating one is just as easy and can be done by going here: http://terms-of-service-generator.legalriver.com/.

Yep, from the same site as above. Thank you, Legal River.

About Page

This is self-explanatory, or should be. This page should be about you or your business/company. You can take a look at my about page for some ideas. Just don’t copy word for word.

Contact

It’s imperative you give your visitors a way to contact you. I like using a contact form with some form of Captcha so that I don’t get a bunch of spam emails.

It doesn’t really matter what you use, as long as you make it easy for people to get in touch with you if they have any comments or questions for ya.

Affiliate Disclosure

If you’re an affiliate, promoting other people’s products, then you must include some sort of affiliate disclosure on your site. You can thank the FCC for that.

It’s really not that big of a deal. I’ll even give you a couple examples to go by or use to copy for your own site:

• http://www.replaceyoursalary.com/work-from-home-blog/disclaimer
• http://getbackyourexadvice.com/affiliate-disclosure

Conclusion

There you have it. Those are the 5 core components that I feel make up a website. Obviously, depending on the type of site, there may be more components if need be.

Now, over to you…

Do you agree that these 5 are essential? Are there any you think I should have added?

Leave your thoughts below…

If you have been doing affiliate marketing as long as I have, you’ll know that your blog is undeniably one of the most effective marketing tools you can use to promote affiliate products and services.

You can find a fair share of reviews and product recommendations on my blog, so I’m speaking from experience. Blogs are powerful, and they shouldn’t be underestimated as a promotional tool.

However, to ensure that you continue to use your blog effectively, you should always be aware of nifty WordPress  plug-ins to make your life easier as an affiliate marketer.

One plug-in I believe to be an essential tool and should be part of every affiliate’s arsenal is MaxBlogPress’s Ninja Affiliate.

MaxBlogPress Ninja Affiliate

I’ll be honest. I’m lazy. Not all the time, but the less work I have to do the better. Since I promote a wide range of programs and products on my blog, it can be tedious to go through posts and link certain keywords with relevant blog posts or even affiliate links.

Then on top of that, I have to track clicks and stats on those links I just created. I don’t want to have to use several tools to manage my links. If I can do everything and automate the process with just one single tool, I’d be stupid not to use it, right?

Well, that’s what the Ninja Affiliate Plug-in for WordPress does. Ninja Affiliate was created by MaxBlogPress. While it was created with the affiliate marketer in mind, essentially any blogger can use this plug-in who want to create links that can be tracked, easily and effortlessly through their WordPress blog.

Keywords/Affiliate Link Management

The most prominent use for Ninja Affiliate is the link management tool and the ability to define specific keywords in your posts that you want turned into affiliate links, or any type of link you want for that matter.

Here are some key features:

• Convert any of your chosen keywords inside any posts on your blog to anchor text affiliate links, or plain old regular links as well. Can be very useful for linking certain phrases to existing blog posts as well.
• Assign multiple keywords to the same link or the same keyword to multiple links.
• Set a maximum number of affiliate links on each page or for the whole blog so as to avoid making your blog looking like a spam site. For instance, say I want the words “ninja affiliate” to link to my affiliate link. If I used that phrase quite a few times throughout my blog post, I don’t want each instance being linked. It would turn people off pretty quickly. Instead, I could choose to have just the first two or three instances of that phrase linked to my affiliate link.
• Easily insert your links using a drop-down box in the write post page.
• Categorize and manage your links in separate groups, specified by you.
• Cloak  affiliate links  to prevent any affiliate sabotage and loss of your hard-earned affiliate commissions.
• Use the affiliate link URL on any web page you want. You’re not restricted to only using the generated links on the blog using the plug-in. Even use the links in your emails.
• Choose to put “no-follow” on your affiliate links. In some cases you may want to do this, so they give you the option.

The cool thing about Ninja affiliate is that it uses a smart caching feature that doesn’t slow down your blog, which I’m sure you know is a big issue with other plug-ins, especially ones of a similar nature.

Both Affiliate Marketers and “Regular” Bloggers Need This Plug-In

I’m sure you can see the benefits that can be obtained, whether you’re an affiliate marketer or just a “regular” blogger that wants an easy way to manage links on your blog.

Ninja Affiliate, as I briefly mentioned before, also provides stats monitoring. Basically what this means is that you’ll be able to track the stats for all of your links, on all of your blogs that you have this plug-in installed on.

And with that said, you only need one license. You can install Ninja Affiliate on as many blogs as you own, without the need to purchase separate licenses. So, buy the plug-in once, and you’re done.

One More Reason Why You Need This Plug-In

Think about this for a minute…

If you have an established blog that has A LOT of content with hundreds or even thousands of posts, then the keyword/link management feature alone is going to expedite your affiliate marketing, link setup work quite a bit. You cannot possibly go to all these pages to manually insert your links, can you?

That would just be crazy! Like I said, I’m lazy. I would have to be nuts to even think about doing such a thing. I have better things to do with my time, and I’m sure you do, too.

Spending a few minutes to setup your list of keywords and target URL’s is all it takes to convert phrases into text links for your entire blog. I have no problem taking the time do that, when the rest of the process will be automated. Seems like a sure winner to me.

Get Your Copy of Ninja Affiliate Today

Here is the link to get this amazing plug-in:

MaxBlogPress Ninja Affiliate

Yes, that’s my affiliate link, currently being tracked by Bit.ly. Sadly, I just found out about this plug-in, so I haven’t had time to get it on my blogs yet. I assure you I will, as I can’t imagine going any longer without it as it will save me a ton of time!

If you click that link you will be taken to a page where you can see all the features of the plug-in, including a video showing you how it works, screenshots and examples, and an order button to buy it.

The price of the plug-in is a one-time payment of $97. They offer a 60-day money-back guarantee if you’re not completely satisfied with how it works. I can’t imagine you wouldn’t be, though!

I think $97 is a good deal, especially since you should be able to make more money from using Ninja Affiliate. Afterall, affiliate marketing is all about tracking your links and seeing what works and what doesn’t. This plug-in takes care of that for you along with turning key phrases into money making links.

I hope October treated you all well (and no pun intended there). October had it’s up and downs for me. The up being I had the opportunity to spend four days in Myrtle Beach, S.C. As you can tell by the picture (playin’ some mini golf) the weather was absolutely beautiful down there. I couldn’t have asked for nicer weather.

Did you do anything exciting this past month? I’d love to hear about it! So, let me know in the comments section!

Let’s take a look at last month’s blog posts that you may have missed

October’s Blog Posts on ReplaceYourSalary.com

It’s All About Traffic and Knowing How to Get It!

Q&A: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

3 Home Based Business Ideas for Senior Citizens

Site Build It Review – Don’t Build a Website Before You Read This

Business in a Box – The Entrepreneur in You

Are You Marketing Your Blog on Facebook?

Bad Economy – Good Jobs?

Other Blog Posts from Around the Web

Now, if you recall I mentioned I’d be adding a new addition to the monthly roundups. The time has come, and I’m pleased to announce the blog posts that I’ve found written by fellow bloggers to be of value and inspiration to me. Check them out, and I hope you’ll feel the same way.

Rich from RichesCorner.com talks about the importance of keeping track of your blog and offers some tracking solutions that blog owners can utilize to do just that. Definitely worth checking out, especially if you’re not keeping track of your blog.

Tia from BizChickBlogs.com talks about protecting your RSS feed and suggests a really cool plug-in to do so. In fact, I now use this plug-in for my RSS feed as it allows you to add custom HTML to the end of your feed. You can add a copyright notice, links, pictures and whatever else you want to say to your readers.

Andrew from WeBuildYourBlog.com talks about time management and the realities of working from home and being your own boss. This is a must read if you work from home.

Ken from The Web Mechanic provides 10 WordPress security tips to keep your WordPress blog safe and secure from unwanted intruders. If you’re not taking all the necessary precautions to protect your blog, you’re leaving it open to hackers that could reek havoc on all your hard work. Don’t let that happen!

Onibalusi from YoungPrePro.com talks about facing criticism as a blogger. It doesn’t matter what you do in life, there will always be people who get satisfaction from putting you down and ridiculing you. It’s important to understand how to deal with people like this and also understand why they act this way. This post explains it all and is a must read.

That does it for last’s month’s roundup. I encourage you to not only read through my posts but also take extra time to read through these other blogger’s posts. They all do an excellent job with their blogs, and it’s been a pleasure following them. I hope you see the value that they provide just as I do.