Whether or not to go with WordPress multi-language
There are obvious reasons to put a site in different languages. Creating content is more difficult than translating it. Therefore, it can make a lot of sense simply to go the extra mile and add more languages for the many millions of people who do not speak English. In an increasing integrated world, particularly with activist groups but also for commercial reasons, having multi-languages can be a way to greatly expand traffic to a website.

The downside is that translating content into different languages takes a lot of time unless the site is small. Since computer translated writing is still far from natural and sometimes unreadable, human translation is required for the added languages to attract many readers. Before adding more languages, stop and consider whether the content has a broad enough scope to be useful to people living in other cultures and markets. It may not be worth the effort of putting the site into more than one language.

Research first
Since it is obviously not going to be practical to translate a site into every possible language, choose the languages it will be translated into very carefully. More than the number of speakers of a language, consider the likely needs, interests and tastes of people in the culture. This must also include such things as the colors, images and other things that will go on the site.

Be ready for translation work
Until computer power reaches the point where it can really handle all the intricacies of language, making a real multi-language site will require human labor to properly translate everything. Fortunately, there are many freelancer and translation services that can handle this task online. While this will cost money, it will bring a lot of extra traffic for the right kinds of sites.

Site planning
A WordPress multi-language site will require a deal of planning to be successful. The first major point to consider is the web address of the translated pages. While it is possible to simply use the same domain name with different endings in the URL or a sub-domain, it is better from a long-term SEO and trust point of view to register a local domain for the country in which the language is most used. If this option is used, it may be best to use WordPress multisite to manage the different URLs.

Character codes also need to be considered. Many languages use different letters or totally unique scripts. Unicode usually works best as it allows these unique character codes. Keep in mind that these varied characters may necessitate different font faces, and simpler fonts are generally the safest bet.

Layout needs to be planned since many languages are not displayed left to right and top to bottom the way English is. Because of this, things to include navigation (for example, perhaps the navigation bar will need to be placed on the other side) also may need to be handled differently depending on the language.

In addition, sites with multilingual content usually require an entrance page that gives visitors the option to easily choose the language they would like and switch anytime.

With more content and visitors, more storage and bandwidth may be required. Monitor the site to make sure speed is not compromised.

Plugins to ease the way
If all of this sounds complicated, there is no need to fret. There are plugins that can greatly ease the burden of building a WordPress site in multiple languages. The following are some of the top Multilanguage plugins, both free and paid.

WPML
While WPML is a paid, there is nothing better for those who would like the most professional multilingual website in the shortest time possible. It contains 40 languages in the default installation with more variants available, and the variants can be installed on the same domain, sub-domains or entirely new ones. With a large number of options for managing the website (some will say too many), plenty of configurations are possible. The most unique feature is the translation management systems available in some versions that make it easy to send out and manage content to be translated by others online.

xLanguage
This plugin handles a lot of what is needed for a WordPress site in various languages. Different languages can be set for different themes. For SEO, it is possible to set the site so that search engine crawlers see the separate languages each under their own URLs. The language displayed can be set by the browser’s preferences or by the site visitor.

qTranslate
This plugin also allows easy access to professional human translators as well as simple switching between languages for visitors. Other features include setting different languages to separate URLs and numerous built in languages.

mLanguage
For those who just want their posts to show different languages and not radically change their sites, this plugin may be the way to go. Simply tag the content for the language it is written in with the appropriate language tag. Visitors can then choose which language they would like, and the plugin will display it.

Global Translator
While automatic translations leave a lot to be desired, they are certainly the easy way to go. A poor translation is sometimes better than none at all. This plugin uses various translation engines to automatically translate a site into potentially 48 different languages. Since this plugin will add the language code at the beginning of the URL, the content will be created in a way as not to hurt rankings for the language the site is written in.

Commission Junction works over 1500 top brands, including Yahoo, Dell, Home Depot and many others. The company has offices all over the world and can provide many tools to help webmasters be successful marketing online. Commission Junction has different ways for webmasters to earn as well as creative banners and links to help with promotions and increasing revenue from the website. It requires webmasters to apply to each merchant opposed to having an open venue model like other affiliate marketers. This leads to different terms and refund standards with individual merchants instead of a standard for the entire network. The user interface and webmaster services may not be the best but Commission Junction has established a strong place among the top of affiliate marketing industry.

ClickBank (www.ClickBank.com)
ClickBank has been rated the number one affiliate-marketing network for the year 2011. This affiliate-marketing network has been around since the late 1990s and has a strong niche in the digital information, and retails products online. ClickBank has over 50,000 different products for affiliate marketers to choose from and there are currently over 100,000 active affiliate marketers. ClickBank claimed to paid affiliate marketers over 1.8 billion annually with over 35,000 transactions per day in 2011. ClickBank offers up to 75 percent commission to affiliate marketers and provides direct deposit for quick and easy payments.

ClickBank has a wide variety of high-end digital products and accepts over 13 different currencies from around the world. It also allows affiliate marketers to work with any of the available merchants without individual applications. ClickBank has a referral program for finding qualified vendors to join ClickBank as well; the compensation is a small percentage of each sale from the vendor. ClickBank is a great resource for blogs and niche websites selling eBooks and digital products. This affiliate-marketing network can be very lucrative for both novice and experienced webmasters alike. ClickBank has many popular products and software that appeal to both the major mainstream and niche markets of demand on the internet.

Amazon Associates (https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/)
The Amazon Associates is one of the most popular affiliate programs on the internet. This is another flagship brand; one of the oldest and best-performing affiliate programs available on the internet. Amazon is a very popular retail website that receives 40 percent of its revenue from the affiliate program. Amazon is not the easiest affiliate program to navigate, but it is one of the most profitable and trusted networks on the internet. The program is free to join, and the Amazon program provides many innovative tools to help webmasters promote affiliate products and build a wealthy online business.

Amazon has product image links, normal text links and enhanced links with product images and text along with the Amazon logo. If the visitor buys anything on Amazon after following the link, the site owner will be paid; the purchase does not have to be on the specified landing page. This is a benefit to most marketers because many visitors will purchase something from Amazon more willingly than from another website. Amazon also has professional banners and widgets to help marketers promote products. Amazon has aStore, which enables webmasters to build up to 100 storefronts that only take minutes to make with no programming knowledge.

LinkShare (www.linkshare.com)
LinkShare was founded in 1996 and was rated the top affiliate marketeering network for 2011 by a number of media outlets. This is one of the most popular and profitable affiliate-marketing networks to join on the internet. LinkShare works with many Fortune 500 companies like J.C Penney, American Express, Avon and 1-800 Flowers.com to name a few. LinkShare provides three services to drive the revenue for the network. This affiliate network has focused their efforts on affiliate marketing, lead generation and search marketing as well. LinkShare offers real-time reporting to make it easier for affiliates to track significant trends in their sales numbers.

The affiliate network is free to join and only has a one-dollar threshold for direct deposit. This affiliate network has innovative products to help promote popular merchants, and the customer service is top quality to support a variety of diverse webmaster needs. LinkShare also has different levels of affiliate programs to accommodate different levels of webmaster and ecommerce needs. Experts from the company can serve as consultants to help guide and manage the online business into profitability and sustainability. The headquarters is located in New York City, but the company does have locations all over the country.

Shareasale (http://www.shareasale.com/)
Shareasale gets generally positive reviews online from webmasters and bloggers. This affiliate network could be a great jumping-off point for a new online marketer. Shareasale is based in Chicago and was founded in 2000. Currently, this affiliate network has more than 2,500 retail products and over 2,000 merchants for affiliate webmasters to work with. The affiliate network offers customized links and high commission rates in niche markets. Shareasale pays webmasters once a month as long as the minimum $50 threshold is met; the network pays by direct deposit, PayPal or check by mail.

The affiliate network also has a small referral program for webmasters as well. Shareasale pays the affiliate webmasters based on the performance or sales generated and according to the specific terms that vary for each particular merchant. Shareasale will be most beneficial to webmasters with at least minimal knowledge of affiliate marketing as the amount of information can be overwhelming for some. There are many creative links and banners to help webmasters convert sales and increase commissions daily as the traffic generation techniques improve. Shareasale is one of the largest affiliate marketing networks a webmaster can join on the internet.

PepperJam (http://www.pepperjam.com/)
PepperJam Network is a mid-level affiliate-marketing network that gets relatively positive but mostly mixed reviews. PepperJam Network was founded in 1999 and is now one of the more renowned CPA networks today. The network hosts its own referral program and pays webmasters for approved affiliate applications. PepperJam is free to join and is a lucrative program for the people that dedicate a consistent effort and have steady online traffic sources. PepperJam provides a commission summary, transaction details, summary reporting and creative link details as well as other services to help webmasters be successful.

Pepper Jam is a GSI Media company that is near the top of the ranks for online technology and marketing.  Pepper Jam takes a “better the work, better the pay” type approach and in turn is very strong on the customer service side.  This affiliate marketing company is very user friendly; Pepper Jam establishes long relationships with their merchants through their expert customer service and up to date technology.  Pepper Jam’s customer service and industry experience combined with their innovative technology makes this is an excellent source for affiliate-marketing positions.

oneNetworkDirect (http://www.onenetworkdirect.com/)
The oneNetworkDirect affiliate network currently has the largest digital retail product collection available online. Digital River was founded in 1994; the company now operates the oneNetworkDirect affiliate-marketing network. The company has its headquarters in Minnesota. Digital River focuses on helping large global companies manage profitable ecommerce ventures online. Some of the most popular merchants that work with the OneNetworkDirect  affiliate network are McAfee, Roxio, Big Fish Games, the Microsoft Store, Logitech, and EA Sports Games to name a few. Many of the software products mean high margins for webmasters and there are many creative banners and links to help boost conversion rates.

The network pays the affiliates directly, and oneNetworkDirect provides a trial tracker to help increase commission for webmasters. The software products for this affiliate network are consistently in high demand, so there is a great potential for earning sales revenue here; the products pay up to 80% commission. The affiliate network also offers extra bonuses and rewards for ever-achievers as well. This is a network is definitely worth researching for webmasters who are involved in the technology or software niche. The payment threshold is only $25, and the network pays out to webmasters once a month.

Avantlink (http://www.avantlink.com/)
Avantlink is a smaller innovative affiliate network that is worth looking into. This affiliate network has innovative tools for webmasters and a very active blog for support as well. The tools can help webmasters increase their commissions because the software keeps the prices and items up to date with the merchants at all times. Avantlink wants professional and serious affiliates in their program. The most noticeable brand name merchant is Eddie Bauer for now, but the affiliate network does have a wide variety of products, especially in the household and outdoor equipment sectors.

Avantlink could be a profitable network for webmasters who are interested in a specific market or underserved niche. The network does not have big brand name merchants yet, but the standards are still high so affiliates can be certain the products and landing pages are of top quality. Avantlink has been recognized as one of Utah’s fastest growing companies for 2011. The innovative tools are what differentiate Avantlink from its competitors. There are tools for customized links, dynamic deal feeds, deals of the day, embedded video ads and other link widgets as well. There is also Avantlink WP to make the network tools easily function on within WordPress.

Google Affiliate Network (http://www.google.com/ads/affiliatenetwork/)
Google originally purchased its affiliate network in 2008; the search engine empire has been steadily growing the affiliate-marketing network since then. Google Affiliate Network is one on the best affiliate marketing networks for people to join if they are already fans of Google. The affiliate network has over 850 popular advertisers who have a variety of products for nearly every market. The payments are tied in with the Google AdSense account so reaching the threshold is even easier for active webmasters with AdSense. There are several Google tools to support webmaster’s affiliate campaigns in this network.

Google provides easy product searching and link building for webmasters as well as customizable links for the more advanced users. Google also provides link subscriptions to keep the merchant’s products fresh on the webmaster’s website. The real-time reporting is very thorough and can be customized; many webmasters use Google Insights and Adwords along with AdSense to build a strong foundation for affiliate campaigns. The commission varies with each individual merchant, and affiliates are typically paid within 30 days of the sale. With the support of the other platforms and the Google Affiliate Network, Google can be a one-stop shop for all of a webmaster’s affiliate campaign needs.

eBay (https://ebaypartnernetwork.com/files/hub/en-US/index.html)
The eBay Partner Network is a well-known affiliate-marketing program offered by eBay for webmasters and bloggers to make money.  eBay is one of the most popular name brands on the internet so this can be a very lucrative affiliate network for almost any type of experienced network on the internet. The eBay Partner Network went through some structural changes around the year 2008 to raise the quality of the leads generated by the lead program; this reform purged many affiliates and focused the compensation on quality clicks and leads that translate in both the short-term and long-term. eBay has reshaped an affiliate program that is now based more on quality visitors than quantity.

Webmasters will still need to be experienced and have some substantial traffic on a website in order to be accepted. The changes in the affiliate program make it easier for webmaster to focus their efforts into one or a small number of high-quality sites opposed to a multitude of micro niche sites with superficial content. Assertive and experienced webmasters are able to make thousands of dollars each month with this affiliate program by sending quality clicks and visitors to the online auction site. eBay totes that the top 25 affiliates in the program make more than $100,000 per month. Webmasters can use links, banners and images to send visitors to the eBay website. Once the visitor signs up, confirms and buys, bids or lists an item the earnings per click data goes to the webmaster. The minimum payout threshold is $25; eBay uses either PayPal or direct deposit to send payments once a month.

Affiliatenetwork.com (http://affiliatenetwork.com/)
Affiliatenetwork.com often ranks in the top 20 affiliate-marketing networks. This subsidiary affiliate network focuses on lead generation and performance based advertising. The network has many good offers for consumers and has a strong in opt-in email service for affiliates. For the most part, the network works with merchants and affiliates in highly profitable specialized niches. Some of the markets Affiliatenetwork.com works in are sub-prime financial, including auto loan, credit and cash advance offers. This network focuses on supplying merchants with high-quality customers while providing high revenues for publishers as well. Some of the offers online associated with this network are CashBailOutUSA, HomePaycheck.net, CashWire 1500, AutoLoanBailout and Diplomasforjobs.com. The minimum payment for this network is only $25. The reviews for this network are generally positive, although there are a few dissatisfied with internet users who felt the network was disorganized in regards to in-house communication and customer contact. There are currently more than 175 offers available for webmasters on this network. Most of the offers are highly profitable cash advance and auto loan websites.

AffiliateFuture (http://www.affiliatefuture.com/home.asp)
AffiliateFuture is an affiliate network that is focused mainly on the UK and has a wide variety of merchants available. The affiliate network has affiliates in America, the UK and Europe as well. This affiliate-marketing network is free to join and has no obligations for affiliates or merchants once they sign up. Affiliates can decide to start or stop working for any affiliate they decide. The wide selection of available merchants makes this a great choice for webmasters involved in promoting products for niche websites. This affiliate network does not have the larger name brands of the other major networks, but the wide variety of products makes up for no-name brands.

The AffiliateFuture offers real-time tracking and pays once a month so webmasters are easily able to track their expected commissions every month. This network has rent-a-car services, merchants that sell supplements, books, shopping affiliate programs and beauty affiliate programs as well. Almost any kind of merchant can be found on the AffiliateFuture network. There are some small issues in regards to communication, tracking and the referral program depending on the user’s location. AffiliateFuture does seem to wholeheartedly attempt to resolve disputes with affiliates though.

Peerfly (http://peerfly.com/)
Peerfly is a CPA network that gets positive reviews from most webmasters who use the affiliate network and is one of the best. The affiliate network is based in Florida and was founded in the year 2008. This affiliate network is very reputable and is a member of the Better Business Bureau. This CPA network has stringent standards and is quick to suspend or ban any webmaster they feel is manipulated or circumventing their system.

This network has very popular trial and various types of offers that pay most webmasters as least one to three dollars.  Some of the featured offers provided by the Peerfly affiliate network are the SnoreZip Trial, As seen on TV, Smoke Deter and Lower My Bills.  This affiliate has over 545 offers for webmasters to promote. The minimum payment threshold for this network is $50 and the pay can be monthly, weekly, biweekly or even sometimes on a daily basis by request. The affiliate network offers a 5 percent referral commission to webmasters as well. The pay can be sent by wire, check by mail or by PayPal. Many webmasters are successful in obtaining consistent income with several offers and programs provided by this network.

Linkconnector (http://www.linkconnector.com/affiliate.htm)
Linkconnector is a small affiliate network that receives relatively mixed reviews. This affiliate network does not have any major brand name merchants; affiliates have complained that some of the merchants are rather suspect. However, there are also many happy affiliate marketers pleased with their Linkconnector’s experiences. This network is very adamantly against fraudulent behavior by the affiliates in the network. The affiliate network pays once a month, and the minimum threshold is $100 for payout. This is a smaller affiliate network in the industry, but they do offer a variety of ways for webmasters to earn high commissions.

Affiliates can be paid a number of ways when working with the Linkconnector affiliate network. This network allows affiliates to manage many campaigns under one account by applying easy link creation and dynamic feeds as well. Affiliates can be paid by pay per sale, pay per call, pay per go, pay per click or pay per lead transactions. The affiliate network provides webmasters with a number of ways to track the information to follow the commissions and conversion rates throughout the month. This can be a very lucrative network for assertive webmasters able to develop a niche among the list of diverse merchants at Linkconnector.

ClixGalore (http://www.clixgalore.com/)
Some webmasters have ClixGalore rated as one of the top affiliate networks available on the internet. This is a smaller network with high-quality incentives for both merchants and affiliates. There are currently over 9,500 merchants and over 20,000 active affiliates apart of this network. This is a global affiliate network with a presence in the USA, India, Japan, Australia and the UK. There are a limited number of name brand merchants available, but there are many unique products that provide affiliates advantages in niche markets. There are a few different types and tiers of commission available in this network.

There are many webmasters who have problems with this network because of payment problems and more often subpar customer service. There are a number of complaints about the quality of service and communication when dealing with the network. There were settled disputes, when the network contacted the webmaster and apologized, as well as disputes that went unresolved as well. Webmasters should take the time and do some extra research exploring options before settling with this affiliate network. This network has a variety of tiers of pay and programs to incentivize webmasters to earn high commissions.

Affiliate.com (http://affiliate.com)
Affilaite.com is one of the most popular CPA networks around and a favorite of many marketers. This large network was founded in the year 2001 and has a great variety of merchants and available offers to help webmasters gain high commissions. There are only relatively few isolated negative reviews. The affiliate network can provide real time direct tracking so webmasters can stay informed of the weekly payments. This can be a very valuable network to webmasters working in micro niche websites. Other webmasters are able to make substantial conversions from just one or two favorite offers.

Some of the available merchants on this website provide services related to the automotive business, different opportunities related to education, babies and family, beauty, careers, credit and debt, dating, diet/ Fitness/Exercise, electronics, food and grocery, men’s’ interests, mobile and ring tones, rewards and giveaways, sweepstakes, travel and others as well. This is one of the most well respected networks in the industry. Affiliate.com accepts both novice and experienced webmasters. The network also has domain services and an email marketing service to help webmasters increase their commissions.

ClickBooth (http://www.clickbooth.com/)
ClickBooth is a very popular affiliate network with some webmasters and advertisers. The company is based in south Florida and has been rated as one of the top affiliate networks in the world and as one of the fastest-growing private companies. This affiliate network offers CPA and CPC offers for advertisers to earn high commissions. The network works with some of the top companies on the internet like Google and Yahoo. ClickBooth pays out over 15 million in commissions each month and there are currently over 70,000 webmaster affiliates. This network also offers a 2% lifetime referral commission to webmasters as well. The network pays out once a month, and the minimum payout is a $50 threshold.

ClickBooth has over 4,000 offers available for webmasters to promote on their websites. Over 400 of these offers are exclusive to the ClickBooth network. Both the CPA and CPC programs from this network have proven to be extremely profitable for some webmasters. There are text links and image links that offer a variety of easy ways to earn high commissions. Webmasters also have the ability to customize banners to match specific website themes. The programs vary greatly so it will take some time finding the most profitable offers that fit an appropriate and viable niche. There are webmasters who claim this network is a fraud and report payment problems, but the overwhelming majority of the reviews are extremely positive with long-term testimonials and accolades.

Adknowledge (http://www.adknowledge.com)
In 2010, Adknowledge affiliate network acquired the popular Hydra network. Adknowledge is an affiliate and exclusive CPA advertising network. This affiliate network has now become the largest private affiliate network in the world after the acquisition of three other networks as well. Adknowledge was founded in 2004 and currently has over 10,000 advertisers in the network. Adknowledge provides affiliate network opportunities for webmasters, monetization opportunities for game developers and email marketing opportunities for those with massive contact lists. Adstation is their email-marketing platform that allows webmasters to choose ads and custom templates to apply to emails.

This affiliate network has two different programs for websites. Their XML Feed is a CPC program claiming high payouts, and there is also the Engage widget that recommends relevant ads and reputable articles beneath content. The Adknowledge provides both CPC and CPA opportunities for affiliates. This network requires the website be at least two months old and must have a good Alexa ranking with considerable numbers of visitors every day. There are real-time statistics available and many tools in the user-interface to help webmasters optimize commissions with the network.

Paydotcom (http://paydotcom.com/)
Paydotcom is very similar to the ClickBank affiliate program. This affiliate-marketing network has many of the same products as its rival ClickBank and some it does not. Many webmasters find this affiliate network easier to use than ClickBank, although the user-interface is lacking and over-simplistic to other users. Finding information within the tracking system can be a task at times for some marketers; the information is not as instant or obvious as with ClickBank. Paydotcom pays by PayPal once a month, however this affiliate network does not pay the webmasters directly. The merchants pay the affiliates, so there can be delays receiving paid commissions at times.

Affiliates can earn up to 80 percent of the commission through links and various widgets provided by Paydotcom. The network provides the ability to create instant order buttons, secure download pages and other useful tools as well. Some of the top sellers in this network right now are The Best Spinner, My Data Team Global Data Entry & Traditional Data Entry Jobs, the 3WayLinks.net Subscription, Instant Article Wizard and The Smart Cash System – Make $4000 Per Week From Home program.

Skimlinks (http://skimlinks.com/)
Skimlinks offers an innovative and effortless platform for webmasters to create additional revenue from content on websites.  This network has over 17,000 merchants in over 25 different affiliate networks so affiliates can receive high commissions. By simply installing a plugin and registering the websites, webmasters can make additional income off the appropriate merchants in the Skimlink network that match the websites content. Many webmasters like this network because of the easy opportunity to make extra revenues with minimal work.

Skimlinks uses Skimwords and Skimlinks to automatically monetize the links and content already on the website. This allows webmasters to earn additional revenue from their content easily.  The network has a poor tracking system, and reporting can be delayed for up to two days at times. Many webmasters are not able to track what the visitors are actually buying through Skimlinks. However, marketers can track the clicks for outgoing links. This network platform is a great avenue to earn from major big brand merchants that were otherwise seemingly impossible to join. This is a favorite for webmasters who have been previously denied to programs that may be a part of this vast network.

Remember testing
Before deciding on a method for inserting AdSense into WordPress, remember the principle of testing to find the optimum setup. It is often best to try different colors, fonts, sizes, placements, etc. of ads to see what setup will attract the most visitor clicks. For this reason, it is a good idea to choose a method that will allow for ads to be changed easily to allow for testing.

In addition, always be careful to follow the Google’s terms of service as to how ads are placed and avoid any problems (for example, be careful when placing ads next to images). Google will ban advertisers it judges as not following the TOS.

Paste into WordPress posts manually
The AdSense code can simply be inserted into each post. As long as the code is pasted in on the HTML tab, it can be put anywhere in the post. To make the text wrap around the ad, paste it in like this:

<div style=”display:block;float:right; margin: 5px 5px 5px 5px;”>
(your AdSense code)
</div>

Change the “left” to “right” to adjust what side the ad will be on and the numbers to adjust the spacing around it.

The obvious drawback to this method is the extra time it will require for each post. More importantly, if you decide to experiment with different ad sizes, positions, colors or networks, it will be necessary to go through every single post that needs changing.

Directly into theme templates
For those comfortable working with code, it is possible to put the AdSense code directly into the theme code. By going into Editor in WordPress and selecting different theme files, for example, Header for the top of the theme and Single Post for individual blog pages, it is possible to drop the AdSense ads directly into the theme code and have them display on the areas of WordPress the theme controls. How to do this is covered in more detail here.

The drawback of this method is that you will need to go into the code every time you would like to change something and will have to enter everything again if you change the theme.

As a WordPress widget
AdSense code can simply be put in a text widget (more details here) and displayed wherever that widget is placed. One limitation of this method is that the ads can only be displayed where it is possible to place widgets.

Themes with built in AdSense support
Many WordPress themes have features that make it very easy to place AdSense in the site. In fact, some themes claim to be specially designed for AdSense and thus higher rates in which visitors click on ads. These claims should be looked on with some skepticism if they appear hyped, but there are themes that work very well with AdSense. For example, CTR Themes are highly rated. While this is a factor to be considered, it is important to choose a theme based on its overall appeal and not just on how it handles AdSense.

WordPress plugins
For those who would like an easy, flexible and automated way to insert AdSense into WordPress, a plugin is usually the best way to go. While a complete listing can be found here, some of the top ones for AdSense are as follows:

AdRotate makes it easy to manage ads from the dashboard and organize them into groups to appear on different areas of the website. Other features include email warnings when ads are about to expire as well as the ability to set the number of views, and previews in the editing stage.

Ad Injection allows for ClickBank, Amazon Associates and other networks besides AdSense. The number of ads can be set according to the length of the post, and their positions in the post can also be determined. Furthermore, there is ad rotation and many other features.

Ad Rotator is a simple plugin designed for what its name suggests.

Advertisement Management specializes in giving the ability to add advertisements into a site directly from the backend into eight different ad spots.

Simple Ads Manager
This plugin offers a lot of flexibility in displaying ads. Its numerous features include the ability to display ads by zones, support of various types of ad codes and displaying ads by types of pages or by page tag.

Ad placement
The placement of ads can make a big difference in click through. Places ads are frequently found include above, below, within and to the sides of content. Google heat map shows what areas of a page are typically the most effective areas to put ads.

Getting started with blog affiliate marketing

Before you start your marketing site, you will have to choose the topic. The most important thing is to select one that interests you so that you can write about it as an expert. This means that you can provide loads of useful information for your readers, who will keep on returning for more. Register a domain name related to your niche.  Once you have got the niche selected, you will have to decide on your blogging platform. WordPress is good with search engines, and it is easy enough to set up. Most people starting up a blog choose this platform.

The benefits of blog affiliate marketing

When you do blog affiliate marketing for a living, you will find that there are many options, products and methods to choose from. Still, this is the beauty of this marketing method: you will get all the flexibility you need, and your blog posts will keep on making money long after you posted them. However, updating and monetizing your blog is hard work, but the more you update your site, the better it will rank. You generally need to do at least some email marketing to really make money in online marketing. If you build a relationship with your readers, you can send out offers and cash in. Although setting up a system requires planning, time investment and patience, the rewards can be outstanding.

Promotion methods of blog affiliate marketing

Unfortunately, blog marketing needs advanced promotion methods. With millions of blogs published online, to beat the competition, you have to start an aggressive campaign from the beginning. The simplest way to get traffic to your blog is through search engines. You will need to study some basic search engine optimization skills to include on-page SEO. To get your blog affiliate marketing site ranked in search engines, you have to use the right keywords in your posts. Building links to your blog through article marketing is one of the best ways of promoting your site at a low cost. You can also do video marketing, social bookmarking or create competitions or quizzes as well as various off-page SEO techniques. Anything you do to build up traffic to your blog will make you more money long term. However, you need to know that affiliate marketing is not a “get rich quick” scheme, and you will need loads of determination, patience and most likely some expert guidance on how to monetize your site. Alternatively, you can team up with other website owners, with relevant content to exchange links or buy low cost traffic.

Choosing networks and offers for online marketing

Selling ads

To monetize your blog, you might decide to simply run ClickBank or Adsense ads. While this is not technically affiliate marketing but selling advertising, it is a way to monetize just about any type of site and does not require targeting the content to the ads. Blog owners are paid for each click visitors make on the ads. These clicks will pay anything from pennies to tens of dollars, but this form or marketing generally requires a lot of traffic to generate a significant income.

CPA blog affiliate marketing

If you are confident that you can pull in a lot of targeted traffic, you might choose a CPA affiliate marketing system. In this case, you can get paid for generating leads for companies, and you do not have to sell anything in most cases, but simply need people to sign up for a free offer or submit their email address. Depending on how the offers pay, you may need to get loads of conversions to make money. The benefit of joining CPA networks is that you will usually get information on how much other people make per click promoting the same offers. However, you will have to consider that the offers change regularly, and you need to change your links as well as content when one of the CPA promotions is paused or cancelled.

Clickbank marketing

If you choose to promote Clickbank products on your blog, you have to make sure that you find ones that are relevant to your existing content. You also have to look for high gravity products. Selling digital products is one of the most profitable online marketing methods since products will pay a high percentage of the sale. You will need to read reviews of the program and create your own opinion, sales page and bonus offers if you want to beat the competition. Writing Clickbank reviews will only become profitable if your readers feel that you know what you are talking about. If you can afford it, you should buy and review the product yourself, to give your readers full insights and gain their trust so they will buy from you.

Selling affiliate products

A middle road between selling ads and digital products is selling affiliate products. These products tend to be easier to sell than digital goods, but it is harder to sell a product than to get someone to simply click on an advertisement. The content should be related to the products being sold. Amazon, Commission Junction and LinkShare are some of the biggest networks and offer a lot of products.

Obviously, there are other models and networks as well. Apart from the reputations, payment plans and reliability of these networks, be sure they offer the right variety of offers and conversions to suit the blog they will be marketed on as well as your personality.

Advantages of WordPress Multisite

Implementing Multisite for WordPress is the best way to take the webmaster experience to the next level. Master accounts can host an unlimited number of websites that are edited by users or locked by admin. Themes and plugins can be used by all the sites or only selected ones. The savings in time in installing and upkeep is significant for anyone with a number of websites.

In addition, eliminating the need for a separate WordPress installation for each site reduces the demands on the server and helps sites run faster and more smoothly.

There are extensive plugins to make WordPress Multisite management and security easy tasks for even for a novice webmaster or blogger.

More WordPress options with Multisites

WordPress Multisite has many characteristics to make it a great content management system for any avid WordPress user or webmaster to use. The capabilities are limitless when plugins are added to this extensive Multisite function. The neat part about WordPress Multisite is the versatility that is available to webmasters from the top down. Multisite can differentiate between the smaller site admin and the network admin for the entire account. The owner of the WordPress account can decide to make each smaller site or blog as similar or dissimilar as needed. The websites under the umbrella WordPress account can share the same properties, themes and plugins or webmasters can choose to have different properties for each site.

In addition to the ability to isolate or conglomerate various groups of websites under one WordPress account, Multisite allows webmasters to designate different URLs for each website or blog as well. WordPress account holders can designate varied domains or different paths to each website under one master domain. There are also WordPress multisite plugins that help webmasters designate an individual domain for each website under the master account. Webmasters should have a basic understanding of HTML, but there is enough WordPress support online to guide anyone through installation and customizations.

Secure the WordPress Multisite

Putting all the eggs in one Multisite basket makes reliable security even more important. There are many ways assertive webmasters can manipulate HTML, use plugins and applications to enhance the security of the WordPress network and protect the data from hacker attacks. Webmasters can use HTML to protect against spam and limit access to crucial data as well. One of the most important tips for webmasters to do is to establish different accounts for the network admin login and the logins to add content to the sites. It is important to consider all levels of security when building a multisite.

The best WordPress Multisite plugins

There are WordPress plugins that will help webmasters in several different ways. There are site-specific plugins, network plugins and must-use plugins. Webmasters will dictate which use for site-specific plugins; network plugins and must-use plugins will be applicable to all the sites under the master account. Security and speed are two of the most important factors for the success of any blog or website, and the proper use of Multisite can help.

WordPress plugins like Exploit Scanner will scan the network of sites for malicious content or questionable files. Askapache Password Protect is a plugin that can be used to add further security to measures to the multisite as well. This plugin will help protect the multisite from hacking attacks. W3 Total Cache and Cloudfare are cache plugins to help the multisite run faster for internet users and other bloggers on the multisite. Cloudfare also adds extra security measures along with the plugins WP-DB-Backup and WordPress Backup that create secure backups of the multisite data.

User Role Editor and Multisite User Management are multisite plugins that help the admin user define and manage roles for people on the multisite. The Domain Mapping plugin allows webmasters to map domains onto subdomains, for example, jibjab.com can host under widget.com. This feature allows individual websites under the master accounts to have unique domains apart from each other. WPMU Theme Info manages the various themes while WPMU Plugin Stats and Multisite Plugin Manager are for managing the plugins throughout the multisite.

Apart from its other advantages, the ability of admin user for the WordPress account to lock the content of the smaller sites or leave them open to modification such as when building a WordPress blog, creates many interesting opportunities for innovative business models or community networks. Enable Multi-Site allows Multi-site to be installed very easily. In addition, an explanation on how to get started by migrating multiple blogs can be found here.

Understanding avatars on WordPress

Signing up for Gravatar takes only a few minutes and internet users are able to have their own personal avatar on any website. Avatar WordPress plugins create different options for webmasters to manage the Gravatars for the website. Webmasters can choose to use the plugins or HTML for Gravatar on WordPress to achieve the desired effects. PHP knowledge is necessary for the more customized tasks. There are new avatar WordPress plugins available each week that can fulfill various needs for bloggers and webmasters alike.

Users are able to choose their own Gravatar from the website when they link it to their email. This is a fast-growing service but not everyone has an avatar just yet. Many of the visitors will not have an avatar so a default Gravatar logo image will be shown instead when they comment on the WordPress site. There are also instructions for procedures involved with retrieving user avatars. Webmasters and bloggers are able to use PHP or plugins to set a customized preferred image opposed to the default Gravatar blue logo. Webmasters should remember to make the preferred image noticeably different from the website favicon or logo so visitors do not confuse the comments.

Gravatar plugins for WordPress

WordPress provides several avenues of support for novice webmasters who want to add Gravatars to their website or blog.  There are many different places to find systematic instructions for the necessary PHP scripting to add the Gravatar functions and customizations to the WordPress website. For many bloggers and webmasters, using plugins is the more time efficient and practical choice to make. Gravatars2 Enhanced Caching Plugin and Gravatar.com Plugin are able to help most webmasters with setting up the avatar WordPress functions on theie sites.  Using the Custom Avatars for WordPress plugin enables webmasters to replace the default avatar for users who do not have a Gravatar account. These plugins are all relatively easy to use even for novice webmasters and bloggers.

Other Avatar plugins for WordPress

Webmasters can use plugins like Simple Facebook Connect to replace the Gravatar commenting with Facebook commenting instead. By using this plugin, webmasters can select how much they want to integrate Facebook into their WordPress site. This extremely popular plugin among WordPress users was recently developed. Using Add Link to Facebook helps webmasters attach avatar photos and customized images to Facebook links on the WordPress site.  Author Avatars List is a plugin that allows webmasters to list the avatars of blog users of a multiuser blog in the sidebar. The list and avatars are completely customizable.

Post Avatar is a plugin that makes it easy to include an avatar with each post. Using Add Local Avatar gives the webmaster the choice of having local private avatars or global avatars for the website users. This is a popular plugin for enabling users to use their Twitter avatar on the WordPress websites. Users are able to upload their own individual avatars as well. User Avatar is another plugin that allows individuals to pick their own avatar for the website and allows users to crop and edit the photo from the site.

Having WordPress avatars available for comments is standard in the industry and is paramount for online success. People do not want to feel limited when they visit websites; there is too much competition to neglect informal details like WordPress avatars. Using WordPress plugins make the task easy for webmasters to set up Gravatar or Facebook avatar commenting on any blog or website. Implementing avatars functions on the website can be one of the most effective ways to fuel the social marketing needs of the WordPress blog or website.

Why embed video in WordPress or any website?
Reading is just one way people like to get information or be entertained. By embedding video, a website can be given a whole new dimension. Embedding videos into WordPress that are related to the topic will often keep people on pages much longer than they otherwise would be. This not only increases the time that people spend on a site, which will help with Google rankings, but it also makes it more likely that people will notice and click on products and ads that may be on the site. Anything that increases the value of a site and helps visitors is good.

Inside vs. outside hosting of videos
Some people want to upload their videos into their WordPress sites to give them more control over their content. This is generally not a good idea for a couple of reasons.

The first reason relates to video marketing. When videos are hosted on sites like YouTube (the more sites the better), they have increased exposure and will probably be viewed more.

Another factor is bandwidth. It is actually kind of a neat deal to host videos on other sites. These sites are paying for the storage and bandwidth when the video is hosted on their servers. This is a good deal for the sacrifice of some control.

Outside videos
While people can get the full benefits of video marketing by using their own videos (those who do not want to make their own might want to hire freelancers to do the job), it is totally legal to embed those made by other people. The only condition is that they enabled embedding when they uploaded the video (the video will not work if they have not). Take advantage of this to add quality videos to a website.

How to embed YouTube in WordPress
With the newer versions of WordPress, embedding video could hardly be easier. There are two ways.

The first is to simply copy the link of the video (the link in the URL box) and paste it into a WordPress post. The only note of caution is that it must not be posted as a hyperlink (or it will simply show up as a link in the post). Therefore, if posting under the Visual tab, highlight the link and click on the “break link” icon in the editor if the link is active.

The second way is to use the embed link feature below videos in YouTube. Find the video you would like to embed and click the Share button just below it. Then, click the Embed button and the embedding code (starting and ending with “iframe”) will appear. Before copying the code, select the size and other options you would like, since this is the major advantage of using this method rather than the first one above. After that, copy the code and paste it into the desired location on the WordPress post. Just be sure you are under the HTML tab (NOT the video tab).

For those who would like a video reference as to how this is done, see the following embedded video in WordPress.

Troubleshooting
In the unlikely event that the video is not working, check the following:

• Make sure you are using the right link. Be sure you are using the link in the URL box of the video and not the channel of the person who posted it.
• Check to make sure embeds are enabled (it normally is by default). This option is found after logging into WordPress under Settings > Media. Then, make sure the box is checked next to “When possible, embed the media content from a URL directly ont o the page. For example: links to Flickr and YouTube.”

Embed Vimeo in WordPress
Vimeo videos can be embedded in WordPress by posting the video link into a post the same way YouTube videos are. Just make sure this link is not hyperlinked either.

Videos from other sites, to include DailyMotion, blip.tv, Flickr (both videos and images), Viddler, Hulu and Qik can also be embedded in WordPress. A complete listing can be found here.

WordPress video plugins
To address compatibility issues with some sites and offer more options for embedding video, there are a number of WordPress Plugins that can make embedding videos easier for you and more dynamic in the posts. The following are some plugins to consider for those intent on making the most of embedded and other types of videos on their sites.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/all-in-one-video-pack/
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-video-plugin/
http://thenextweb.com/2009/01/13/10-cool-video-plugins-for-wordpress/
http://best-plugins-for-wordpress.com/reviewed/video-plugins

WordPress custom theme options

The theme used for WordPress is extremely important to making a good impression with new visitors, so taking the time to prioritize the agenda and research the options is a necessity. There are a few different options available when considering custom WordPress themes for the website. Some people pay designers, programmers or freelancers who are able to build these themes, or use their programming knowledge to do make just what they would like. It is also possible and popular to use websites to build custom themes. In addition, many themes now available for WordPress typically offer options that make them highly customizable.

Customizable themes

WordPress has many options for available themes that are free for webmasters to take try on their blogs as well. Many of the popular themes for WordPress are highly customizable. There are a good deal of different themes to choose from right now, and designers are constantly coming out with new releases every week. Constructor is one of the free themes for WordPress that is customizable enough to create almost any appearance for WordPress that the blogger desires. There are many amateur bloggers with no programming knowledge who use the theme options to create unique WordPress sites These program options allow bloggers to change the font, images and colors of their websites.

Custom WordPress online WYSIWYG options

Sometimes building the theme of a website is the most efficient way to move on to other aspects of the project. Too many choices for WordPress themes can often be overwhelming and confusing to newer webmasters.  Many of the WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) programs make the process as simple as dragging and dropping widgets to build the prefect custom WordPress theme. Lubith and Templatr are two websites that make creating a personally crafted custom WordPress theme an easy task for nearly any internet user.

Building a theme from scratch

Bloggers and webmasters can even choose to build their own theme from scratch if they have the programming and web design knowledge. The basic process of how to do this can be found here. Novice users can find websites and support groups on the WordPress website and online forums to help troubleshoot obstacles while building a custom WordPress theme. Themekraft is an online community, store and blog for custom themes for WordPress and BuddyPress is as well; this site can be a great resource for answering simple but technical questions or finding unique custom themes.

Hiring a professional to help with WordPress

Several different web design companies and programmers will create custom themes specifically catered to individual webmaster or business owner needs. Hiring a designer or programmer may be the best decision when professionalism is a priority, when there is a very degree of difficulty involved or the tasks are extremely essential. Web programmers and designers have shown that the possibilities are endless when creating unique WordPress themes. Freelancer sites are the best place to start for those who would like to go this route.

Researching the available options and prioritizing the agenda for the goals of the website are imperative before settling on a decision. Be sure to use due diligence when deciding on the theme, since they make such a huge difference in any website. Many assertive and confident webmasters may ultimately decide to take on the task of building their own custom WordPress themes, although the many options available means this is far from a necessity. Regardless, the right WordPress theme is enough to keep interested visitors coming back for more information, and the WordPress user interface makes it possible for webmasters to get the exact look and feel of the website in mind.

Facebook comments will add instant credibility and an appearance of professionalism to a WordPress site. The ability to add Facebook comments on the WordPress site will increase the traffic and create more quality links for the site as well. Visitors will be able to use their Facebook login to leave comments on the WordPress site. Many people stay logged into Facebook while online; these visitors are identified automatically so they can instantly leave feedback on the WordPress blog. Friends will be able to see the comments posted away from Facebook and will follow the link if interested.

Facebook plugins for WordPress

The most popular plugin by far is Facebook comments for WordPress. This plugin allows for seamless integration of Facebook comments onto the WordPress site. Many of the options are customizable so webmasters can adjust the settings as their WordPress needs evolve. The style of the comments can be edited to match most themes for WordPress. A Facebook comments for WordPress plugin also allows webmasters to edit the number of comments, notification settings, and the order of the comments as well. There is some minimal coding knowledge required to install this plugin.

Webmasters choose the comments’ location to be on webpages or on the posts. Bloggers can also choose to integrate the Facebook comments into the WordPress comments or to treat them separately. Some webmasters use Facebook comments for WordPress instead of comments directly through WordPress because they can choose to hide comments more easily. Webmasters will also be able to decide whether they want the comments to show up on the user’s Facebook profile as well in order to generate more traffic. This is the most popular Facebook plugin because of the plethora of options and the professional appearance.

Facebook Comments is a plugin that makes installing Facebook comments for WordPress an easier task. About twenty percent of the people download Facebook Comments to save time and effort with the initial setup. This plugin provides shortcode that can be inserted into the posts, templates or webpages on just about anywhere in the WordPress site. Webmasters can use their own settings to edit each comment box before adding it to the website. This plugin is extremely useful for novice webmasters and bloggers who want to save time with setting up the comments.

Simple Facebook Comments For WordPress is an even easier plugin for webmasters to use. Bloggers can quickly add Facebook comments to a WordPress site in less than five minutes using this plugin.

Facebook SEO plugins for WordPress
One of the newer Facebook plugins that has become instantly popular is SEO Facebook Comment. For many webmasters, this is the only Facebook plugin they ever need to use. This plugin will find all the Facebook comments on the site and automatically add them to the WordPress website. SEO Facebook Comment will help webmasters keep their WordPress professional and intact incase Facebook ever has server issues. Adding the comments to the WordPress database will also make the comments on the site more accessible to Google. This plugin is easy to install and will help Google associate the Facebook comments with the WordPress site.

Crawlable Facebook Comments is another plugin that webmasters can use to improve the SEO of the WordPress site. This plugin sends all the Facebook comment information to the source code so Google can associate the comments with the WordPress site. This is one of the best ways for webmasters to be sure that Google can access the dates, replies and author information from Facebook comments when the search engine crawls the WordPress site.

Using different plugins to add Facebook comments for WordPress will create many different streams of new traffic for the site. Not all the Facebook plugins are the same so webmasters should prioritize their social networking and WordPress needs before making any final decisions. However, most of the available plugins for leaving Facebook comments on WordPress only vary slightly in regards to their functions and capabilities. Adding comments and Facebook like buttons is easy and effective for improving any WordPress website.

All of these books are free or low priced and have Kindle versions. In no time, you can be gaining the knowledge offered in any of them and uncovering valuable insights on affiliate marketing online.

Work from Home: Affiliate Marketing Editionand Work from Home: 1-Click Riches are a popular pair of books by the same author. Affiliate Marketing Edition is volume 2 and concentrates on more details on how to be successful in affiliate marketing while the former covers creating a passive online income. While the guides are relatively brief, they are packed with information and very competitively priced.

How To Become A Super Affiliate is authored by someone currently making a six-figure income in affiliate marketing. Learn how to use WordPress to market online. Of course, the fact that this book is free at the time of this writing also helps.

Amazon offers one of the best affiliate programs out there and offers a massive selection of products. With so much to choose from, there are plenty of opportunities in niche marketing. Affiliate Niche Research, Keyword Research & Site Building (Supertargeting Affiliate Training) covers how to select the right niches. The process involves many steps from domain selection to keyword research. This book can help you do them properly the first time and start out right.

For those new to affiliate marketing, Affiliate Marketing Made Easy will provide the background information needed. Topics covered include the basics of affiliate marketing, domains, hosting and various methods of advertising.

The McGraw-Hill 36-Hour Course: Online Marketing (McGraw-Hill 36-Hour Courses) is setup in a course style and covers different components of online marketing. These include websites, blogging, analytics, SEO, email marketing and social media marketing. Lots of practical knowledge to get people started online.

Laptop Lifestyle – How to Quit Your Job and Make a Good Living on the Internet (Volume 1 – Quick Start Guide to Making Money Online) Although it certainly is not as easy as the title may imply, this book does cover a lot of practical knowledge on how to make money in affiliate marketing. It contains a 4-step process to help people get started generating income online. Do not expect to be able to quit your job soon, but this ebook has information that can be useful for those who are not at an advanced level in affiliate marketing.

While this is not solely about affiliate marketing, How I Made My First Million on the Internet and How You Can Too!: The Complete Insider’s Guide to Making Millions with Your Internet Business helps people to understand internet jargon needed to succeed in online business ventures. The author covers his story, tools needed, online marketing basics and information on attracting visitors to websites.