Affiliate Theme is developed by the people at Unique Blog Designs (Nate Whitehill, Josh Mullineaux and Matthew Blancarte.) They are also the people behind Theme Wars, and Squeeze Theme.

The only reason I am including the links to the above sites, is to avoid confusion with other similarly named sites. There are a couple of other affiliate type themes for Word Press available on the internet.

What the Affiliate Theme is Supposed to Do

• Make building and customizing affiliate sites using Word Press easy
• 6 unique layouts
• Built in color picker
• Lifetime access to Resource Center and Support
• Optimized for PPC and SEO campaigns
• Ability to build dynamic, high converting affiliate marketing web sites using a single theme

Where the Affiliate Theme Fails

• The Affiliate Theme is buggy
• Support is not handled in a timely manner
• It is not easy and very time consuming if you have to deal with Affiliate Theme support and buggy issues
• They do not post or offer any money back guarantee with their product on their sales page
• It is over priced

My Experience with Affiliate Theme

I purchased the Affiliate Theme from Unique Blog Designs on September 29, 2009 for $124.95, but it was not until December 22, 2009 when I actually installed the theme. Major fail on my part, I admit, for not testing this sooner so my chances of getting a refund would be greater. Lesson learned

I assumed this would be  a great product and didn’t think I would have  issues since some big players in affiliate and internet marketing were singing the praises of this product, such as: John Chow, John Reese, Johnathan Volk, Yaro Starak, and Zac Johnson.

From the  first installation of Affiliate Theme I was having problems. I joined the Affiliate Theme support forum and posted my first support issue on December 23, 2009. It took 7 days for a forum moderator to reply to my post. This should have been an immediate red flag. It was suggested that I submit a support ticket and I did so on January 3, 2010 and it was January 6, 2009 before anyone attempted to check out my support issues.

By that time I had uninstalled and reinstalled Word Press and uninstalled the affiliate theme as well. I reinstalled theme, placed another post on the support forum that support was not being handled in a timely manner. That post was deleted by the forum moderators.

On January 26, 2010 I was finally contacted by support about the issues I was having and on January 28, 2010 was advised the problem was corrected and the thread I had posted on the forum was closed.

On January 29, 2010 I emailed Nate Whitehill back that I was still having issues and the problem was not resolved. As of today I have not received a reply. *See update below*

On February 5, 2010 I sent a tweet to Nate Whitehill, a post on the forum, a support ticket and a screen shot of the formatting issues. The forum moderators have now set my comments up where that do not post immediately and have to be approved.

February 7, 2010 I removed the Affiliate Theme from my web site because I cannot afford to waste any more time on this theme. Time is money

I purchased this theme (developers option) because I owned several domains and I wanted to build affiliate sites using this theme. So far I have yet to build one site much less multiple sites.

I have been dealing with buggy issues with this theme since December 23, 2010 and as of February 7, 2010 it is still not working correctly.

Update

February 8, 2010 I was sent the following tweet from Nate Whitehill:

“Sorry for the delay – will have a response for you tonight.”

February 9, 2010 I received an email:

Hi Renee,

I understand by your tweet you are no longer using Affiliate Theme. I would be happy to give you a refund if that is the case. Let me know.

Thanks,

Nate

February 9, 2010: I sent an email to Nate that I would like a refund since I was unable to use this Wordpress Theme.

I received the following email from Nate Whitehill tonight at 7:08 PM:

Hi Renee,

Not a problem. I am sorry you had trouble using Affiliate Theme. We are almost finished with version 2.0 of the software which adds a lot of great new features and makes integrating affiliate offers even easier.

I just sent you the refund.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks,

Nate Whitehill | Co-Founder | Unique Blog Designs, LLC

I am happy to report I have checked my PayPal account and I do have a refund

My Issues With the Affiliate Theme

• Control panel was not showing up correctly as shown in their video tutorial (corrected)
• At first offers were not appearing on the main page like they were supposed to (corrected)
• The header and sub title are linked to the conversion URL instead of the post as checked on the settings (corrected)
• Categories were not displaying correctly and the page was scrambled mess and not readable (semi-corrected) Appears correctly sometimes and other times the sidebar and the link post title is scrambled and not readable.
• Control panel showing version 1.2 when I was using version 1.3 (corrected)
• If visitors can not read the page, I’m not going to be able to sell affiliate products
• Shady practice of deleting negative comments and issues on the support forum
• This theme has not been completely developed and is not stable enough to use on multiple sites
• In viewing the Support Forum post of other users, on some occasions it is 1-2 weeks before a post is answered by a moderator

While searching the web for Affiliate Theme reviews I stumbled across a review of Unique Blog Designs Squeeze Theme. This is an excellent in depth and honest review.

Had the Affiliate Theme lived up to my expectations, I would have purchased the Squeeze Theme and joined their affiliate program for both themes. I cannot in all honesty recommend nor promote their products via affiliate links.

Related posts:

1. My First Blog Entry
2. Still Working on Blog Design and Content
3. What is Affiliate Marketing? – The Brief Definition

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So you’ve jumped on the Twitter band wagon and you’ve heard you can make money via Twitter and you want a gazillion followers. First stop right there, TwitterPants! This blog is about what NOT to do.

He who is without sin, let him cast the first tweet. Yes, I have been guilty of some of these things when I first started tweeting. What’s worst…I have witnessed some of the so-called social media gurus and big name bloggers  (especially tips #3 and #4) commit these offenses.  Perhaps they feel since they have numerous followers they can get away it.

If you are yearning to get reported for spam, unfollowed or blocked,  just take up the following Twitter practices.

10 Twitter Practices To Avoid:

1. Tweet @ replies to people who are not following you with your affiliate links. Instead just send a regular tweet and give people the option to click on your link if they want. Most won’t, especially other “serious” affiliate marketers. Sure clueless newbies will click your link and I assume that’s what you are wagering.
2. Tweet a direct message with an affiliate link or the latest product you are promoting. If someone is interested in more information on your product, they will ask you. Isn’t that what your Twitter URL is supposed to do…refer followers to your web site. (Which brings me to the next offense.)
3. Use a URL shortener for your Twitter bio URL. That just screams spam or affiliate link to God knows what! Most likely it’s always a link to a porn site to which you have to register to view pics or a new fangled program to gain a million Twitter followers overnight. Don’t be so shady.
4. Tweeting a link that takes the user to a bookmarking or social media site. Most annoying. Why take some one half way around the world to read the information? Tweet a link that takes the user directly to the link. If the user wants to vote your post up or down or bookmark it, they will more than likely do so from your web site or blog. Surely you have some of those neat little buttons on your site to let the reader bookmark or share via their favorite social media site. Using this technique might get your post voted down by someone who is ticked off at your twitter tactics.
5. Retweeting other people’s Follow Friday tweets. Follow Friday is about recommending people whom you think are follow worthy. If you are not following someone on Twitter, why the heck would you want to recommend them? No one will take you seriously. Research and get to know the people you are following and make your own recommendations.
6. Twitter Fights. Name calling and fighting on Twitter is  juvenile and makes you look very unprofessional. I have seen some ugly things go down on Twitter. Be the bigger guy/gal and hit that block link on your side panel and go on about your business. Trust me, it ain’t that serious and certainly not worth your time.
7. Get a Twitter profile pic. Again this just screams spam. Take the time to upload a picture. The picture doesn’t necessarily have to be of you…just pick a picture that reflects your personality or your business. You might want to refrain from posting a pic of boobs unless you are a porn star and they are your boobs.
8. Write a Twitter Bio. Take the time to write a Twitter bio and it might gain you a few followers. Tell  users about yourself with your bio. Bios can be witty and funny or as serious as you want them to be. If people don’t know who you are, why would they want to follow you?
9. It’s not all about You. I hate to burst your bubble, but it’s not all about you! Add value to your tweets. Tweet and retweet other links besides your own. Get to know people by interacting with them…after all this is social media and it’s all about being social.
10. Just say “No” to cutesy Twitter apps and games. This is Twitter. This is not Facebook or MySpace. Invites to join Mafia Wars or Farmville, play games, or cutesy hearts are just down right annoying. If you do not personally know (in the “real” world) the person, think twice about sending these annoying little tweets or direct messages. They will get you blocked faster than you can say “Tweet, Tweet.”

For additional information on the correct way to use Twitter, you might want to download or read online Mashable’s Free Twitter Guide Book.

BTW the adorable little Twitter Queen graphic on this blog post was downloaded from the Little Box of Ideas and was designed by Sneh Roy.

These are some of the major annoying practices on Twitter. Feel free to add your own comments.

Related posts:

1. My Twitter Philosophy, Do You Have One?
2. Domain Name Purchase Offer…Scam or Spam?
3. New 2009 Free Copy of Social Media Daily

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After countless spammy and useless comments, I have decided to write a comment policy. Please, take a moment to read the policy before posting a comment policy.

We welcome comments from all of our readers and definitely want your feedback.  Rather than just totally turn off the comments, I have implemented this policy.

You will find a permanent link to the comment policy in the top link bar. Thanks.

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1. Domain Name Purchase Offer…Scam or Spam?

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So you have a friend or relative who’s into affiliate marketing and you’re just dieing to make some money on the internet. Well before you just leap into affiliate marketing, you need to know a few things.

This kind of sounds like a Jeff Foxworthy post.

Affiliate marketing might not be for you, if….

• You want to get rich quick
• You need to make money immediately
• You don’t have some basic computer skills, such as:
  • Check and send email
  • Copy and paste
  • Some knowledge of HTML
• You don’t know how to build a web site (You can do affiliate marketing without this skill, you just have a bigger advantage if you have this knowledge)
• You are lazy
• You think you can just throw up a web site and expect to make money
• You are planning on spamming people (you could get prosecuted and your email and web hosting accounts could be suspended)
• You don’t have a couple hours a day to devote to affiliate marketing
• You are not willing to spend some money (hosting, domain name, etc.)
• You are not willing to learn and do your research
• You are expecting some one else to do it for you (it’s work and are you willing to pay someone to do your work?)
• You are paranoid of the internet

Everyday I see eBooks, videos, and sales pages telling people how they can make money immediately on the internet. Everyday someone buys a product they do not need and worst yet they go on to buy many other worthless products.

Just how does one learn all this stuff? For any beginner I would recommend, The Super Affiliate Handbook by Rosalind Gardner. This was the first book I ever purchased on affiliate marketing and you will refer to it again and again.

The Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other People’s Stuff Online

by Rosalind Gardner

The definitive, #1 Clickbank best-selling guide to affiliate marketing.

Again this is one affiliate marketing book you simply can’t go wrong by purchasing.

Related posts:

1. What is Affiliate Marketing? – The Brief Definition
2. Affiliate Programs – The Signup Process
3. Review: Affiliate Theme by Unique Blog Designs

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I’ve been using Twitter for a couple of months  and in fact I  have a couple of Twitter accounts for other web sites. At first I wasn’t too sure about Twitter…what was all the hype about? Twitter what? Now I love it!

Finally I decided I just needed to develop some sort of  Twitter policy or philosophy and take some actions on my accounts.

First off, I think I did what most people do (affiliate marketers) – followed all the “big name” SEO, SEM, internet marketing, affiliate marketing and social media gurus. I’m not trying put down ALL the “big name” gurus but, I began to notice a pattern. (There are some exceptions.)

1. They weren’t following me
2. They tweeted amongst themselves mainly with occasional tweets to others
3. The quality of their tweets weren’t that great
4. Some of them just aren’t very “nice” (so much for personal branding that they are always  touting)

The next thing I did was unfollow the “gurus” and took a long serious look at why I was on Twitter.

Why I Am On Twitter

1. To network
2. Socialize (yes, this is social media)
3. Learn something
4. Self Promotion
5. Amusement/Boredom

First I was blindly following EVERYONE, then I stopped.

After careful thought, I came up with the following personal Twitter policy:

How To Get Me To Follow You

1. Follow me
2. Be nice, funny or informative (or all three)
3. Be patient while I check you out and decide if I want to follow you

How To Get Me To Unfollow You or Not Follow You

1. Be argumentative
2. Belittle people
3. Rudeness
4. Send me spammy DMs
5. Excessive tweets trying to sell something
6. Follow me (to increase your numbers), then unfollow me
7. Excessive vulgar language (My ex-husband was a biker/musician and trust me I can “hang” with the boys. Some of the language is enough to make a biker blush..insert disclaimer here —> Not all bikers curse.)
8. You post in a foreign language

How To Get Me To Block You

1. Be Rude and Crude
2. Follow and Unfollow, Follow an then Unfollow again (If you can’t make up your mind, I’ll do it for you.)
3. If you follow just so you can shoot off a couple of spammy DMs my way in an effort to sell your latest product and then unfollow me (this is an absolute sure fire way to get blocked)
4. Personally attack me online (I’ll block you, it’s not worth my time to deal with you ’cause I’m busy.)

My Views On Other Twitter Practices

Answering @replies

1. I do try to answer @replies in a timely manner but there are times when I am away from my computer for extended periods. I most always try to reply back…if I have something to say.
2. If I miss you please don’t be offended. There are times when I have a lot going on.
3. I think it’s just good manners to acknowledge someone when they have taken the time to speak to you (I grew up in the South and my granny made it very clear, “Hon,when someone says something to you, you are supposed to say something back. Don’t be rude now.”)

Handling DMs and Auto DMs

1. Well I don’t normally answer DMs since most are “Thanks for following me, download my free report on how to make $1,000 a day on Twitter” plus a link to their site.
2. Once in awhile I do get a good DM and I respond.
3. At first I did try auto DMs, your typical…”thank you for following me blah blah blah.” This is another practice I have discontinued. They clutter up your inbox. I don’t want my inbox cluttered, why should I clutter someone elses

Retweeting

Some things I have observed about those who are retweeting.

1. The same people get retweeted over and over (referring to gurus again)
2. Most gurus retweet other gurus tweets primarily (Insert Disclaimer Here —> There are some super helpful and friendly gurus who retweet others

Why  would I  retweet your message?

1. If I thought it was amusing, funny or informative
2. If you are following me (Why would I want to retweet some gurus tweet who has 10,000 followers and is only following 125 people and I ain’t one of them. What’s he/she gonna do for me? Retweet my next message? I sincerely doubt it.)
3. I would prefer to retweet a tweet of the lesser known person, who happens to be following me and who quite often has something to say that just as important as the above gurus.

Following & Unfollowing Issues

You know life changes and your interests change and that leaves you perfectly free to follow and unfollow anyone you choose to reflect those changes. Of course I am free to do the same.

Do I get upset when someone has unfollowed me? NO. This is not grade school. It happens, get over it, and move on.

Though I am an affiliate marketer and webmaster I do follow people that have no interest in what I do but they are following me. I’m an equal opportunity Twitterer and I embrace people from all walks of life and all ethnicities. Some of the people I’ve followed, I have done so simply because their tweets brighten my day

What Am I Tweeting About

1. I’m still playing around and trying to find a healthy balance of personal and business related tweets
2. You will probably never see me tweet about politics or religion (I think of  Twitter as a great big bar room, plus as a retired bartender, I’ve seen more fights break out over politics, religion or a pool game. Thanks goodness Twitter doesn’t have virtual pool.)
3. Some self promotion
4. Helpful information that I have found relating to computing, the internet, social media, affiliate marketing
5. Plus I don’t mind jumping in and answering a question or offering assistance to other Tweeples

I hope I haven’t missed anything. If so, leave me a comment about your Twitter Philosophy.

You can follow me on Twitter @reneethronson.

Related posts:

1. How Not To Win Friends and Influence Followers on Twitter
2. New 2009 Free Copy of Social Media Daily
3. Free Copy of Social Media Daily

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No, I’m not there yet, but I’m on my way….just be quiet and let me drive!

Today I stumbled across a blog by Andy Hagans, Tropical SEO, and I loved his post on The Dream.

I don’t personally know Andy Hagans, so I did what any internet savvy person would do I Googled him…’cause I was curious if we were near the same age. Well long story short he’s probably a few years younger than I am.

No doubt age is probably a factor in one’s goals. In my younger days I would probably have wanted the jag (I’m a sucker for nice wheels – it could end up on the list) and a 3,000 square foot house. I realize not everyone shares the same dream as an internet or affiliate marketer and I’m quite sure my dreams in my thirties were different from my dreams now.

My dreams contain some of the elements Andy pointed out in his post. So I thought I would share some of my dreams and what I envisioned as my ultimate “wealthy affiliate lifestyle”.

1. Life on a tropical island or houseboat – where I could wear shorts, a t-shirt and flip-flops year round
2. A pimped out ride – actually I do LOVE my 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse GS, it just needs some TLC
3. Passive income – so I could work less and play more
4. Work for myself
5. Be debt free – pay for everything with cash
6. Contribute something to society – either with monetary donations or my time (volunteer work)
7. Sleep late every day – of course I would have plenty of extra money to buy cool pajamas, a pair for every day of the month!

I probably could have written more on what I didn’t want, but why focus on the negative? Bottom line is I’m striving for simplicity and self sufficiency.

What are your dreams?

Related posts:

1. What is Affiliate Marketing? – The Brief Definition
2. Affiliate Marketing Might Not Be For You, If

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Signing up for an affiliate program step by step process:

1. You join an affiliate program by signing up with a user name and password and URL (if you have a web site). On the sign up form you will provide your contact information, such as: your name, address, and phone number.
2. Normally you will need to furnish your Tax ID or social security number, if you are a sole proprietor. If you live in the US, you will have to fill out and submit a W9 form( taxpayer identification and certification form).
3. You may also choose your preferred method of payment, such as, check, Pay-Pal or direct deposit.
4. You may also be given the option to choose the type of affiliate terms you would prefer, such as: pay per lead, pay per click, or pay per sale.
5. The affiliate program may approve you automatically, or they may have to review you site or confirm via telephone before you are approved.
6. Once approved you will be given a unique affiliate user ID or code, which you will use to promote their  product  and it will also be used to track the sales that you generate through their program.
7. You may also be provided with a link to log into and review your stats  and sales.

You are on your way to becoming an affiliate marketer.

Related posts:

1. What is Affiliate Marketing? – The Brief Definition
2. I Will Be Reviewing Products
3. Review: Affiliate Theme by Unique Blog Designs

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Affiliate marketing is an internet-based marketing practice in which a business (Affiliate or Associates Program) rewards affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate’s marketing efforts.

Simple explanation – Affiliate Marketing is commission based selling on the internet.

Commissions are based on the purchase price of the product offered (Pay per Sale), a set value based on clicks generated (Pay per Click), or by actions such as new user registrations or downloaded products (Pay per Lead).

Merchants benefit from partnering with affiliates because it is an inexpensive way to increase their sales, generate leads, drive traffic to their sites, and promote their products.

Affiliates benefit because these programs are free to join and it’s a inexpensive way to start an internet or home-based business.

Related posts:

1. Affiliate Programs – The Signup Process
2. Affiliate Marketing Might Not Be For You, If
3. Review: Affiliate Theme by Unique Blog Designs

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A couple of weeks ago I added this new Word Press plug-in, WP-Ban to my site. This plug is by Lester Chan and I might also add he has a number of other awesome Word Press plug-ins.

WP-Ban gives you the ability to ban users by IP, IP Range, host name, user agent and referrer URL from visiting your WordPress’s blog. It will display a custom ban message when the banned IP, IP range, host name, user agent or referrer URL tries to visit your blog. You can also exclude certain IPs from being banned. It also gives you statistics on how many times they attempt to visit your blog. It allows wild card matching too.

So far I have blocked 70 attempts from banned IPs.

The beauty of this plug-in is that when they are banned their comments don’t show up and and you don’t have to worry with deleting them…very time saving

I have blocked some IPs and they are still sneaking through…it maybe a user problem (mainly me) but I will continue to play with the features to learn how it works. All in all I’m pretty happy with this new plug-in. Great work Lester  Chan!

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Michelle MacPhearson has updated her free eBook, Social Media Daily.

Social Media Daily is an eBook and is available in PDF format. All you have to do to download your copy is sign up with your name and email address.

Basically the eBook is a blueprint for marketing your web site with social media, social bookmarking, social networking and other Web 2.0 fun.

It was late when I downloaded the copy and I haven’t had a chance to go over the newer version. This little book is well worth a download.

Related posts:

1. Free Copy of Social Media Daily
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