Outstanding Affiliate Manager
About a year ago, I needed to find some Affiliate Management Software for a client. They didn’t have a huge budget and wanted a fair amount of features. So, as usual, I began my search with the various Open Source offerings that were out there. I was not impressed. Then I moved on to the commercial offerings. While there were several out there, they either had a monthly fee, charged by the affiliate or were prohibitively expensive.
I easily looked at 25 different packages between the Open Source and Commercial offerings and was about to toss in the towel in frustration when I found iDevAffiliate. It had everything I was looking for and more:
- Affordable (Starts at $99.99)
- No recurring fees (You buy it ONCE. You host it. You own it.)
- Multiple ways to pay
- Per Sale -Flat Rate
- Per Sale -Percentage
- Per Click
- Per Lead
- Multiple Payout Levels (up to 100 Per Payment Style)
- Fully Configurable (lots of options)
- Robust Marketing Support For Affiliates
- Add unlimited text ads for Affiliates to use
- Add unlimited banner ads for Affiliates to use
- Add unlimited Flash banners for Affiliates to use
- Add unlimited HTML ads for Affiliates to use
- Add video training
- Add PDF advertising materials
- Page Peel Ads (this is really neat)
- Sample Ad templates in PSD format
- Multiple Language Support
- Outstanding Affiliate Interface
- Create and Track Campaigns
- Create and Track Keywords
- Traffic Logs and Statistics
- Conversion Ratios
- Export Tracking Data
- Interfaces to and works with a HUGE number of shopping carts and payment gateways
- Pay Affiliates via a Built-In interface to PayPal or via Hard Checks
- Optional Module to Export Payment Data to QuickBooks
Needless to say, I was very impressed. When I had a look at the online demos, I was sold. I recommended that we go with it and the client agreed.
PLUS – Outstanding Support
Setup was easy and went without a hitch. Shortly after we began using the program, we noticed something amiss. I e-mailed support and was expecting the typical two day delay. I got a response later the same day. They pointed out that it was a configuration issue and told me exactly what I did wrong and how to fix it. One the very first try.
About a month later, I found something else that looked amiss. It was a relatively trivial item about the way the graphic charts were displayed to the Affiliates. Again I e-mailed support and they confirmed it was an issue. Within two days, they had developed a patch and sent it to me and all was well.
I don’t know about you, but my feeling is that there is a LOT of software out there. To me, what separates the good from the bad is how they handle support. I’m happy to say that the folks at iDevDirect do an OUTSTANDING JOB!
Oh, and one other thing I discovered is that this software has built-in fraud detection and other outstanding tracking features to insure accuracy.
Find Out More. See The Demos. Click on the Banner Below.
Convert Any Document To A PDF For FREE
There are actually a COUPLE of ways to do this and I have been using these methods for YEARS with no complication and great success. These methods just work.
Plain. Simple. Easy. (and FREE) – Just the way I like it! Just the way it SHOULD be.
METHOD 1 – Open Office -> Just use the Convert To PDF Feature found in Open Office. It’s as simple as you can get: Just Press the PDF button toward the top of your screen!
If you’re not familiar with Open Office, I have another post here which describes it. For those of you who want the abridged version – it’ll do just about anything that Microsoft Office will. It even reads and writes in Microsoft compatible formats.
METHOD 2 – Cute PDF -> Once installed, Cute PDF makes your computer think that you have attached another printer to it. But, when you “print” to THIS printer, the end result is a PDF file instead of a printed page. Pretty neat, huh? Also, FREE! Just check it out here: http://CutePDF.com You’ll want to look for and download the CutePDF Writer.
Ten Tips For A Great Domain Name
Location. Location. Location. That’s the common phrase you’ll hear when it comes to considering a physical location for your business. It’s what will have a significant effect on the price you pay for your brick and mortar business location, too.
Just as you needed to take time and carefully consider naming and locating your physical business, you’ll need to do the same thing when it comes time to establish a business on the Internet. You will need a Domain Name – the common English representation of your online business. If you’re new to the online world of business, commonly referred to as eCommerce, here are some pointers for you to consider when naming your online enterprise.
1. Make It Unique
Be sure to make your domain as unique as possible. The more unique your name is, the better it is for branding purposes. Also, make sure that the name is not too close to an existing domain name or does not contain a trademarked name or phrase. Choosing a name too similar to one for an already established firm is going to work against you.
2. Dot-Coms FIRST
Whenever possible use only a “.com” extension. This will save your potential customers a lot of confusion. Despite what the originators of the internet intended when creating the various extensions (.com, .biz, .net, .org, .info, etc.) people still make an automatic assumption that all domain names end in “.com”. So use that to your advantage.
3. Think Of The End Result
Search Engine Optimization is a field unto itself – but it simply means doing everything you can to have your website listed at the top of the major search engines for your chosen keywords. These key words should describe what your website will be about.
Put yourself in your potential customers position. Try to think of what someone looking for the product or service you offer would type into a search engine to try and find it. For instance, if you have a service to help people with their resumes, they might type (I Need A Better Resume). Your domain name could be something like BetterResume.com or ResumeHelper.com
4. Make it Easy to Remember
Your domain name should be something that most people find easy to remember. Think of if you have to tell somebody what your name is. Will they be able to remember it without writing it down.
5. Keep it Short/Simple
Keep your domain name short and to the point. Having a shorter name plays into how easy it is to remember, and how easy it is to type correctly. Remember the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) principle.
6. Avoid hyphens and numbers
Stay away from hyphens or numbers in your domain name. Domain names can only be letters, numbers, and dashes. Using numbers (such a 4 instead of for) can add to confusion and lost opportunities.
7. Make it Relevant
Try to keep your domain name descriptive and relevant to your content. When someone hears it, or sees it for the first time, it should give them a general idea of what your website is all about. In other words, your domain name should be a bit intuitive. This will help people find you when searching for what you are selling.
If you are selling dog collars, a domain like woof.com, while being “in the vicinity,” does not really tell them that you are selling dog collars.
8. Skip Something Trendy
Don’t try to be trendy or hip or catch the latest fad. That is, unless your website is specifically targeting those people who think they are trendy and hip. Or you are selling something related to the latest fad going around.
What passes for hip now will likely fade into the background and work against you in the long run. Remember that your domain name is quite possibly the very first thing your potential customers see or hear of you.
9. Watch for Dual Meanings
Some people have registered and used domain names without really looking into other ways in which they could be interpreted.
therapistfinder.com can be thought of as “therapist finder” OR “the rapist finder”
penisland.com can be seen in two ways as well “pen island” OR “penis land”
madriver.com might be either “ma driver” OR “mad river”
10. Register Using a Major Registrar
Stick with one of the major players when registering your domain name. You might pay a few dollars more for the name, but those few extra dollars might save you from hours and hours of trouble in the long run. Don’t go to some out of the way place who you’ve never heard of just to try to save a few bucks. Your domain name is not the place to try and save.
Who are some reputable registrars? Places like Network Solutions, Go Daddy, Bulk Register, eNom, HostGator, and Yahoo to name a few.
There you have it, my tips on creating a long-lasting, great domain name. If you’d like help brainstorming your domain name, feel free to contact me using the Contact link above.
KeePass Password Keeper
KeePass Logo
Do you have little sheets of paper and post-it notes hanging around with all your passwords to the various sites you manage? Then this little gem of software will help you keep them all in order, in one place, safe and secure from prying eyes.
Plus, it’ll even help you automatically log in to those sites once you get there.
Yes, I can hear you saying “But I already have that built into my web browser.” Sort of. But what you have built into your browser is nowhere near as secure as this! In fact, if you store your passwords in your browser, even a guy like me, with almost no ‘hacking’ experience, can have access to all your passwords with just a little effort.
If you have to keep a LOT of password and login information around, I’ve found this tool to be quite useful. I like the way I can categorize things, store additional information and comments, color code my listing, give each listing it’s own icon (I use the favicon from the site itself) and quickly copy and paste login information.
KeePass Main Screen
To get you started, KeePass will import your existing password information from your browser. In my case, it took a little extra effort. I first had to export my password information from Firefox and then use an add-on tool to KeePass to import the data in. It was a slight inconvenience for someone with my experience.
But if you don’t feel like ANY hassle, you can just start by entering all those little scraps of paper into KeePass and just enter the new information for existing sites as you visit them. Before long, KeePass will have everything it needs to make your life easier and it will become a trusted friend. As a web developer and someone who manages many websites for clients as well, having this little tool around is nothing short of outstanding!
Clicking on the screen image above will take you to the site. It will open in a new window.
UPDATE: 12-25-2009 There is a new Plugin available which lets you automatically grab the favicon for a site. I suggest you download it to make things a lot easier for you. Up until this morning, I had been collecting my icons manually. You can download my icons here.
Open Office – The FREE and Open Productivity Suite
I began using Open Office around 2004 and have been an avid supporter of the AWESOME OFFERING at a most AWESOME PRICE ($0.00). That’s right, it’s FREE for the download thanks to thousands of software developers worldwide who have contributed to making it an incredibly robust offering.
It has all the critical components you’ll find in that giant offering from Microsoft called Microsoft Office.
- Word Processing
- Spreadsheet
- Graphics
- Presentations
- Database
All there – fully functional and FREE. The best part is that it will read and write the various Microsoft Office formats for each of its most popular components.
Check it out: Open Office
Categories: Software, Tech Tips Tags: DATABASE, Graphics, Office, Open Source, Software, Spreadsheet
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