Internet Business Blog

You may recall that I wrote about some of NuSphere’s products and how I used them to develop (secure) PHP desktop applications such as Keyword Permutator. Well, there’s currently a sale on PhpED, their PHP IDE, starting at just $79 for the standard version. Before I knew better, I developed all of my code using just UltraEdit. Whilst I still use UltraEdit for everything else, it doesn’t offer the powerful tool set that PhpED does for PHP development.

With PhpED, you get features such as:

• Debugger - follow your scripts step by step and see how every variable gets populated.
• Web server - run your PHP scripts in a local environment. I like using WAMP5 for local development as it comes with Apache, PHP and MySQL pre-packaged and ready out of the box.
• Code profiler - see just how performant your code is before you risk it on a production server or use it to find bottlenecks in your code.
• CVS client - a handy feature, if you don’t already have a preferred CVS client. I use Tortoise CVS quite happily to keep my source code safe.
• Built-in language reference manuals - no more scrambling around for the PHP or MySQL manuals.
• Built-in database client - much quicker than firing up PHPMyAdmin. My preferred tool is a free copy of Navicat I got from the cover of PC Plus magazine!
• Smarty support - Makes working with templates a nicer experience.
• All of the usual code formatting, syntax highlighting, code completion, code folding etc. that you can get with many other programmer’s editors and much more.

If you’re serious about your PHP and you haven’t yet tried an integrated development environment, I’d recommend at least trialling PhpED. If the sale finishes before you decide to buy then check out the built-in tips for a surprise discount!

Technorati Tags: PhpED, web development, PHP, WAMP, NuSphere

Are you still serving up the same drab sales pages? Want to spice them up with some eye-catching graphics?

I recently came across a fantastic collection of website graphics specifically designed for sales pages. I liked them so much that I bought resell rights to them!

You can get the Marketing Graphics Pro package for just $25. Over 2,000 individual graphics for use on any of your own websites.

cehe@internetmarketingfool.com

If you haven’t yet gotten control of your affiliate links then you’re leaving yourself open to lost time, money and opportunity.

If you’re using the likes of TinyURL to cloak your affiliate links then your income from those links is genuinely in the hands of a third party whom you have no control. If they decide to shut up shop or start charging for their service then you can either pay up or go back, change every instance of those links and that’s a tough thing to do when they’re in a PDF on someone’s computer.

Perhaps you’re already using redirects. That’s good, but are you tracking how they’re used? Do you know which of your links attracts the most clicks? Do you know if your affiliate links work best in certain emails or in certain positions on your web page layout?

The point I’m getting at is that I’m looking for beta testers for a new tool I’ve developed, which will allow you to become a much more effective and profitable affiliate. Participants in the beta test will receive a time-limited version of the product to install and test. Active participants will get free lifetime licenses.

Requirements are:

• You must have a website with PHP and MySQL available
• You agree to provide me with some constructive feedback! Seems obvious, but too many people sign up for testing and don’t feed back.

If you’re interested in taking part and getting something that could increase your affiliate income for free then get in touch.

No more volunteer beta testers, thanks, but if you’re thinking about a publishing a review or offering a special deal for your mailing list then get in touch.

Text Link Ads have quietly switched from using TinyURLs as affiliate links with a JavaScript-based solution that obfuscates your raw affiliate URLs. I say quietly because I’ve not yet received any communication about it from Text Link Ads informing me about the changeover, but they’re right there in the TLA control panel as graphical banners, text links and RSS buttons.

To an affiliate, obfuscation can be a useful tool as it disguises raw affiliate links and prevents hijacking (when people remove or replace your referral ID before making a purchase meaning you don’t get any credit for the sale), but this particular implementation seems pointless as the raw affiliate URL is displayed in plain text in the web browser’s status bar when you hover over one of these new links.

Up until a few days ago, your TLA affiliate links were presented to you as TinyURLs. Now, logging into your Text Link Ads affiliate section, you’ll be presented with a variety of different options for where your affiliate links actually lead to. Choices include the TLA home page, $100 promotion page or the package details page of one of your own inventory websites.

Whilst this might seem like an improvement, the format of the links restrict them to being displayed in web pages only. I can’t figure out why an option for a plain text link allowing the affiliate some modicum of control has been omitted. This new JavaScript-based system isn’t email friendly, has to be displayed on a web page, doesn’t prevent hijacking and obviously isn’t going to work very well in a non-JavaScript environment.

Here’s the code for a typical, new-styled TLA affiliate link:

<script type="text/javascript">
function affiliateLink(str){ str = unescape(str); var r = '';
for(var i = 0; i < str.length; i++) r +=
String.fromCharCode(7^str.charCodeAt(i));document.write(r);}
affiliateLink('%3Bf%27ouba%3A%25ossw%3D%28%28ppp%29sb%7Fs*
knil*fct%29dhj%28tsfusbuXlns%29wow8uba%3A40127%259%23677%27
ni%27AUBB%27Knilt%3B%28f9');
</script>

I would have used one of my new TLA affiliate links in this post, but they don’t appear to display properly in WordPress either however, I did manage to extract the link by right-clicking on the above when it’s displayed in a browser and copying the link.

If you fancy $100 of free text link advertising, give Text Link Ads a try.

If you had to update all of your old style TLA links on your WordPress blog to the TinyURL format using SQL then it’s time to start controlling your own links with your own redirects rather than relying on third party services.

Technorati Tags: Text Link Ads, TLA, Affiliate Marketing

Here’s a tip for anyone hiring a freelancer; don’t part with any money until you get solid evidence that progress has been made on your project.

After recently completing a project with one freelancer, I’ve just had to fire another. Why? Well, to begin with, all seemed well. Although he didn’t have much feedback, what he did have was very good and the bid he tendered for my project seemed to be good value being neither the cheapest nor the most expensive.

The programmer communicated well during the bidding and initial stages of the project. His grasp of English suggested that it was his first language and being able to communicate easily is a huge benefit to any project. He asked questions about the requirements and was able to offer suggestions for improvements.

It wasn’t until well into the project schedule that cracks started to appear…

First, there was a sudden lack of email updates even though I’d stressed that I preferred to keep in regular contact if only to confirm that the project was still progressing as planned, then came the excuses about computers blowing up, being forced to use Internet cafes and other personal problems.

I can appreciate that the unexpected can happen, but in my opinion, it’s unprofessional to let personal matters dominate a working relationship and to leave the customer wondering about the state of their project. After all, I was depending upon him to complete the project and he wasn’t aware of what the effect of it not being completed on time was.

Things then came to a bit of a head when he emailed to say that the work was complete, that he would package up his work and email it in the morning. The ‘next morning’ stretched on for more than a week and eventually a reply came suggesting that his email had gotten lost in the ether some how. I suggested he upload the work and then email a link to me to download. He agreed it was a good idea, but that he needed reassurance so I submitted payment for his work into escrow.

More than a week went by without any contact so I raise a dispute and got my escrow payment refunded.

Next time, I will want to see actual progress!

Technorati Tags: Freelance, ScriptLance, time wasters, project management