Affiliate Marketing is Seldom Static

With the ability to capture voice memos using the new 3.0 iPhone software, I figured there should be an easy way to publish them direct to WordPress considering there is a built-in share feature on the app that allows you to email the memo. As it turns out, it was a little more complicated than I thought for several reasons.

The “post by email” WordPress option does not support email attachments. I somehow missed this disclaimer after having already configured my own “super secret” POP3 email address and wondering why the attachments were not showing up. Secondly, the iPhone voice memos are only available in .m4a format on not the more common and user-friendly MP3 format.

After all was said and done, I ended up with the following “dirty” solution because although the process is still straightforward (record memo, email, and post on the fly), the presentation and execution leaves something to be desired.

Step 1: Head on over to Posterous.com and create a new account if you don’t already have one. Posterous allows us to get around the whole Wordpress “post by email” attachment problem. Please note that you will need to cough up your Wordpress credentials in order to configure Posterous to work with WordPress.

Step 2: Download and activate the Anarchy Media Player plugin. This media player “automagically” replaces inline .m4a links with a playable widget.

Step 3: Record a voice memo on your iPhone and share it by sending an email to post@posterous.com. Be sure to send it from the same email account you used when you signed up for Posterous.

Step 4: That’s it. The voice memo should now show up on your blog with an inline audio player for instant playback.

Although this isn’t the most elegant solution, it works. I would have preferred more control over the post formatting and I still haven’t figured out how to make the .m4a files podcast friendly even after adding the requested directives to my .htaccess file. However, what you get in return is up to 1GB free hosting from Posterous and ease of use.

If you’re interested in checking out the end result, click here.

  
Download now or listen on posterous

Memo.m4a (106 KB)

Sent from my iPhone

Posted via email from seldomstatic’s posterous

Selling ads doesn’t generate only profits; it also generates torrents of data about users’ tastes and habits, data that Google then sifts and processes in order to predict future consumer behavior, find ways to improve its products, and sell more ads. This is the heart and soul of Googlenomics. It’s a system of constant self-analysis: a data-fueled feedback loop that defines not only Google’s future but the future of anyone who does business online.

SOURCE: Secret of Googlenomics: Data-Fueled Recipe Brews Profitability

Yesterday, Shoemoney mentioned open registration for new .me domains starts today. After toying with the idea of registering domains like buy.me, sell.me, try.me, etc., I concluded it was highly unlikely I would score any of them and quickly dismissed the idea. It wasn’t until early this afternoon I heard rampant rumors of .me domain name registrations gone south. Sure enough, the demand for .me domains far exceeded expectations and servers at various registrars got pounded, triggering false confirmations and shattered domainer dreams.

With all of the hype surrounding the .me registrations, I couldn’t help but wonder what good domains, if any, were still available for registering. I started plugging away at the Go Daddy bulk registration tool and realized within the span of a couple minutes that my searching for single word .me domains was futile. Moving on, I brainstormed two-word .me domains using Google and stumbled across a gem (at least that’s what I thought having recently read about the need for an iphone social network on TC).

I immediately registered the two-word domain with Go Daddy half-thinking it was going to get rejected anyways. However, the “Congratulations! Your registration request for the domain name(s) below was successful” email and $40 debit proved otherwise. Looks like I’m the proud new owner of the following domain:

www.peoplenear.me

Soooooo… Anybody interested in starting up an iphone social network?

With thousands of free Wordpress themes available for download, how do you decide which one is right for you? Rather than base your decision solely on looks (ooh, that one’s purdy), take a look under the hood and examine the CSS, custom functions, and more. Having just switched themes, here are some tips on choosing the right Wordpress theme for you:

Looks
Although you shouldn’t base your entire decision on looks alone, I still don’t recommend running a butt ugly theme. Give your visitors something pretty to look and they’re more likely to stick around. Your bounce rate will thank you later.

Layout & Usability
How many columns is too many columns? Can visitors easily navigate your site and access your content? Is it easy for them to subscribe or contact you? Before you can choose the right Wordpress theme, it is important to understand your own goals and those of your readers. A good theme will accommodate both.

Easily Customizable
It should be easy to customize your free Wordpress theme. However, if you have to dig through unorganized stylesheets or non-commented PHP code, the theme may be more trouble than it’s worth especially considering most default themes will need to be tweaked in one way or another.

Custom Functions & Features
Free themes typically include only the bare bones essentials and do not offer more advanced features such as custom 404 pages or stylized comments. Other goodies might include dashboard management tools for custom theme functions, built-in advertising options, and social media sharing solutions.

Theme Author & Support
Just because it’s free, doesn’t mean it’s any good. Would you rather download a free theme from an experienced publisher or a one-off designer’s coding nightmare? Additionally, does the author/publisher provide any support or regular updates for the theme?

All things considering, I opted to run a slightly modified free UBD Moneymaker Theme courtesy of Unique Blog Designs. It looks pretty, is usable, easily customizable, equipped with premium features, supported, and provided by a company known for their unique blog designs.