One of the most successful online business models is the membership business model. Before internet marketers began to use Wordpress, they were using membership scripts on static webpages. Some marketers began to make big bucks, others achieved minor success but you don’t have to be a Wall Street Investor to know that monthly recurring income will beat the pants off a single sale any day!

If you’ve been marketing online for a number of years then you know of the mass pilgrimage from static websites over to the Wordpress platform. Most memberships have stuck with their static sites and membership scripts….simply because it works. Plus migrating a membership over to a new platform could end up costing big bucks, be full of bugs and cause you to lose your members….so why bother. Just keep cashing those checks>:)

Well, there have been membership plugins for almost the last 2 years. These plugins were clunky, odd to use and often times just didn’t work. Thankfully it looks like today’s wordpress membership plugins are caught up to their old static membership scripts. These new plugins do some amazing things.

I memtioned in another post about the Wishlist Membership Plugin, a wordpress membership plugin that is probably one of the most powerful plugins I’ve seen to date, because it can do everything short of bake a cake, it can become a little awkward and difficult to use…..especially for the newbie. Another negative about Wishlist is the cost, by far one of the most expensive out there. If you’re in need of everything Wishelist does and your pocket book is stuffed with cash, I invite you to check it out. Seriously, I condone the investment of the best tools possible to build your business, however, often times, finances dictate what type of tools you can invest in.  I’m sure the competition will cause a rethinking of their pricing. But, it you want a membership plugin that can do just about everything under the sun, give the Wishlist Membership Plugin a look.

I started this post because I was excited and wanted to tell you about one very inclusive and affordable wordpress membership plugins called Wordpress eMember Membership Plugin. For the last couple of weeks I’ve been searching for a preferably free membership plugin, however, I found those to be generally lacking in more than one category. In specific I want the membership plugin to add the new member to one of my Aweber Autoresponder Lists. I couldn’t find a free one to do that. In fact, the less expensive ones won’t touch that function.

Once I started reading about all the functions Wordpress eMember membership plugin would do I really got excited….too many to list here, but it does handle the Autoresponder dilema. It’s super affordable at $27 dollars and I’m so excited to see that it will add new members to my selected Aweber Autoresponder list. We all know that building a list is one of the most important aspects of internet marketing. Once a visitor becomes a customer or a member, they will develop a  relationship and trust with you and consequently they are much more likely make a purchase, join another membership or take your advise. That’s why starting a free or $1 membership to access some type of valued content could be the beginning or your own online riches…..keep in mind, your list is a valued asset and don’t blast them with some offer every other day but deliver quality content or suggest they purchase a product only if you’ve had experience and can honestly recommend it.

What’s really cool is that the folks at www.tipsandtricks-hq.com have put together a series of related plugins that integrate with each other. This is so exciting, I can’t wait to give it them a try, they have an estore plugin….take all those ebooks and set up a store….or deliver your products, they have an affiliate plugin and a handfull of other plugins that all seem to be able to be integrated. I want to be upfront with you, I haven’t purchased any of these yet, but have done the research and as soon as I finish writing this post I plan on ordering the membership plugin…although I really would like to try the estore plugin but then again….the affiliate plugin looks like it would be of big help to me. Anyway, this plugin is integrated with other plugins these folks product….let me tell you just a few of the things that the Wordpress eMember Membership Plugin can do:

1. You can create various membership levels including a free
2. Selectively protect the full or a section of an article. Create different membership levels and select what content (eg. posts, pages) can be viewed by each membership level.
3. Very easy to use and it integrates nicely into your existing site. No site redesign or any changes necessary.
4. It is pre-integrated with the WordPress Affiliate Software Plugin. So if you decide to boost your membership signups by introducing an Affiliate Program (award affiliates that redirect visitors who become your member) later then all you have to do it activate the other plugin.
5. Fully Integrated with WP eStore Fully integrated with the WordPress eStore (WordPress Shopping Cart) plugin.

There appears to be a few negatives depending on your viewpoint. Although the plugins are very affordable, they appear to be single user license which means only one site per plugin, there is a multi-site license but I couldn’t find a developers license. I’m only guessing on this one, but I haven’t seen this company around until now which means they are fairly new to the plugin scene and there’s probably not enough history to determine whether their support is going to exist and exactly how good it will be….correct me on this if I’m wrong.

Despite those small negatives, these guys have put together an awesome group of plugins….if they work as good as they say, you can greatly expand they use of any wordpress site…..from membership site to complete ecommerce site! Just imagine what you could do with all the eproducts you’ve stashed away all these years….if setting up an estore or estore/membership site is as easy as they say,  you’ll be able to make good use of the products you have and get good materials into hands of those that need it.

Don’t forget, if you develop sites for others of offline markets such as brick and mortar stores, you now have the ability to easily set up an estore for your clients. Better yet, introduce them to the concept of online memberships and the benefits these have for promoting and distributing their products!

Once more, you can find the plugins at these links:

1. Wordpress eMember Membership Plugin
2. Wordpress Affiliate Platform Plugin
3. Wordpress eStore Plugin

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Hey Josh….I appreciate your post but think your logic is a bit faulty.

Josh basically said that too many people have fallen for the general consensus that wordpress is the best platform for building websites and selling good and services online, he goes on to say its a matter of what wordpress does…..you can read more about it here.

The water is hot and I burn my hand. However, you say not all water burns your hand. Exactly, only hot water!

Thus you say, Google doesn’t prefer wordpress sites but because wordpress has plugins, rss, pings, blah blah blah…it gets indexed first and quicker! If this is true…isn’t WP better?

So is it a matter of symantics or are you just stating the obvious? The point is, you burn your hand because the water is hot…..or wordpress blogs get indexed quicker and can be construed as being favored by Google simply because they have all these gadgets that attract Google and Google likes. Bottom line, Wordpress blogs are better than static sites!

I think I understand what you’re trying to say and I agree with you. If you take a static site and make it do all the things that a wordpress site does, Google will notice it faster and it will get indexed and ranked quicker.

Personally, I prefer using Dreamweaver to build sites and have been using it for 6 or 7 years. Recently (2+ years ago) I’ve been introduced to Xsitepro. I really didn’t want to have anything to do with Xsitepro, however, I was creating graphics and minisites for a plr membership and they required Xsitepro for the minisite platform. After using it for a year, I began to get attached to it simply because you could make a site get spidered, indexed and in the SERPS within 24 hours, often times sooner.

Like Wordpress, Xsitepro automatically does things to the site structure and pages to create an seo optimized website and webpage. However, you use other features such as create an xml feed (rss feed) sitemaps (standard and xml). I’ve found that doing just these 2 additional things and then submitting the feed to rss directories will get a webpage or site spidered and indexed in Goolge in less than 24 hours.

Yep, an Xsitepro site in the serps in under 24 hours. Often times the same time or less than a wordpress site, if I don’t use my Auto Social Poster plugin, the wordpress site does not get indexed in less than 24 hours.

So….in many words and in many ways I completely agree with you. Wordpress sites don’t experience the quick ratings simply because they are Wordpress sites, but because of all the processes involved when creating wordpress sites. Apply those same processes to any static site and you should experience the same results as any wordpress site!

Thanks again,

Scott

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I’ve used many autoblogging scripts, software and wordpress plugins over the last couple of years and if you search this blog for autoblogging, autoblog, autopost or autoposting you’ll find some informative posts on autoblogging. I’ve become somewhat of an autoblogging afficiando, so I thought I’d do a pre-Review of WP Robot just to get the information out there for anyone who is interesting in learning more about autoblogging or autoposting.

I’ve discovered one of the most important features of any autoposter is the ability to randomize and customize the post. The purpose is this is to create content that isn’t just duplicate content, your blog will do much better with unique one of a kind content and that can be accomplished by adding to, changing or subtracting from any autoblogged content. Some of the standard autoposters work with the following sources of content:

• plr articles
• ebay
• amazon
• clickbank
• datafeeds
• rss
• reprint articles
• images such as Flickr
• public domain content
• plr ebooks
• youtube
• yahoo answers

There are many more sources of content that can be autoposted and as time goes on creative minds find new sources of content to use for autoposting along with new methods of autoposting. The methods and means of autoblogging are only getting better and better.

autoblogging or autoposting wordpress plugin

Recently I ran into a new and powerful Autoblogging Wordpress Plugin called WP Robot. I hope to have a copy soon, however, let me tell you want the plugin claims to be able to do.

First, let me clear something up. You might be wondering, “Why is Scott telling me about a plugin he hasn’t even used?”  That’s a good question. First let me tell you there is a free version of WP Robot and I wanted anyone who was interested in autoblogging not to be limited by the lack of funds…..you can try it out with the free version of WPRobot and you can even start making some cash with it. Secondly, I believe this WP Robot is one of the most complete Autoposting plugins available yet!

Most autoblogging scripts or plugins come with the ability to post from one source, some even give you a couple of sources but I have not run into any that can create posts from 7 or 8 different sources and allows you to mix up the posts.

You should also know there are several different licenses available. Anything from a common ebay module to a developers license for the entire set of modules.

Wp Robot is set up with different modules. Each module can run by itself or you can purchase the entire set of modules. The modules are as follows:

Amazon Module
Article Module
eBay Module
Clickbank Module
Yahoo Answers Module
Translation Module
Flickr Image Module

Although I don’t have the full version yet, based on what I’ve read it appears as though this set of modules can be edited and configured to post in very unique and different ways. This is a big benefit for anyone who is an autoposter because no 2 posts will ever be the same. For anyone who fears the duplicate content penalty, this should make them very comfortable. Also, the posts can be configured so that it is next to impossible for the Google spiders to tell where and how the content was imported and assembled. This means the fear of your site being de-indexed is next to zero!

I. Amazon WP Robot AutoBlogger Module

Let’s take a little closer look at some of the modules the can be included in the wprobot plugin. Starting with the Amazon Module.

The Amazon Module lets you pull in any product that is sold on Amazon, plus you can add the reviews that people post on Amazon as additional content in the form of comments to your blog post. This is an excellent way to get unique content on your blog. Here are some of the features:a

-user defined keyword determines which products are selected
-works with Amazon’s affiliate program earning you cash with every purchase
-this is really cool….you can show different information in each of your amazon blog posts such as product description, images, feature lists, reviews, number of reviews, product rating and of course the price. Add all of these or pick only 1….very cool for creating unique content
-if you want the full Amazon Description, it’s possible to scrape the entire description with would include tables and images and place in your blog post
-its unique because you can work with all international versions of Amazon
-you can completely customize the template for your Amazon posts

Consider some of these Testimonies

“WP Robot is an incredible tool for webmasters. I use it on several sites and have seen an increase in traffic and profits. One site went from $0 to an average of $5.00 a day in google adsense. I would recommend this tool to anyone with a WP blog. ”
– by Lonnie Kunkel from Website Development and Graphic Design

“I’ve been using WP Robot since it’s release and I must admit I have been hugely impressed by this plugin and highly recommend buying it. I have also recommended this to several friends. Thanks guys this has already saved my tons of work on my blogs. regards Steve”
– by Stephen Hawkins from Traffic Mystic – Web Traffic Strategies

“The only reason any one would say anything bad about WP Robot, is because they don’t want other website owners to get their hands on this amazing tool. I invested in the highest version and the results have been undeniably empowering for all my blogs.”
– by Star Riley from Support Local Business

II. Article AutoPosting Module

The Article Module will pull in and add a complete article based on your specific keyword

The articles come from 2 big article directories and select an article from the 1000’s of available articles. You can use several languages. Create your own template from the templating system. You can control whether or not you want to conform to the TOS of the article directory by including the author’s box or not! A handful of other options available.

III. eBay AutoBlogging Module

Pulling in ebay auctions is nothing new for autoblogging. However, the way WP Robot does it is very different! There’s a feature called MIX Feature which allows you to put ebay auctions into your other posts created by wp robot and just increases your chances of monetizing a blog post.

Here’s a list of features from the salespage of wp robot:

* Create good-looking eBay auction posts on any keywords you want.
* Earn money for any sale you refer through the eBay affiliate program.
* Add up to 6 different auctions to a single post.
* Select which eBay website to use (i.e. ebay,com, ebay.co.uk, ebay.de, etc)
* Editable post template and many other options, i.e. for better sorting and targeting results.
* MIX feature: Add auctions to posts created by any of WP Robot’s other modules via the templating system.

IV. Clickbank AutoPosting Module

Clickbank gets more powerful and diverse every day. Clickbank makes a lot of people (affiliates) a lot of money and WP Robot allows you to drip feed posts with Clickbank products into your wordpress blog posts. The template feature is a power method of creating unique blog posts and helps make these Clickbank ads different than any other you might see. The best part of the Clickbank AutoBlogging Module is that the folks at WP Robot offer this module for FREE!!

V. Yahoo Answers AutoBlog Module

Yahoo Answers can be an excellent source of subject related content for any blog. The way that content is pulled into your blog and formatted is what can make a difference on whether someone reads your post or skips past it and how it is interpreted by the search engines and indexing spiders. WP Robot allows you to post your questions and answers in different languages. You can zoom into any niche or topic by choosing targetd questions from YA. Filter your results by categories along with an entire list of options that can be uniquely customized.

VI. YouTube AutoPost Module

Google still goes nuts over video and adding Youtube videos to your blog can really turn it into a traffic magnet. Videos really do add to the stickiness of your blog, I know that I’ve personally been stopped by videos and watched videos from different blog posts even if I had no intention of staying at a site….the videos kept me there. WP Robot adds the comments from Youtube which creates additional content because they become comments on your site. You can limit and pull the videos according to language. Once again, the template system allows you to create something unique, vary the size of the videos, which videos are displayed according to keyword and how they are displayed.

VII. Translation Auto-Posting Module

There’s a whole section on the WP Robot site for the translation module. This can be a very powerful feature because it works with the other modules translating them into other languages. Check out the details on the site for more info.

VIII. Flickr Image Auto-Blogging Module

Images are really cool. I design website templates, headers, ebook covers and software boxes….there’s nothing like an appropriate image to draw attention, create stopping power and motivate a website visitor to make a purchase…..so, I’m loving this Flickr Image Autoposting Module!  If you want to increase the stickiness of a blog post….add an image! With this module you can add images to your posts or create an entire blog of images.

Once again, the MIX feature can work with templates and add images from Flickr to all your other modules where you are able to mix up the blog post into a completely unique combination of content….very powerful!

Here’s a the feature list as posted on the WP Robot Site:

* Post images on any topic to your weblog on autopilot!
* Uses the official Flickr API (a API key is necessary to use this module).
* Create posts exactly like you want them to look with the templating option.
* Many customizable options, including choice of image size, licensing and sort mode.
* MIX feature: Add images to posts created by any of WP Robot’s other modules via the templating system. With this powerful feature you can for example automatically add relevant thumbnails to articles posted by the article module.

Keep in mind, you can purchase a single module or you can combine modules. If you purchase all the modules you’ll qualify for a significant discount. For instance, if you wanted the Flickr Module it would only cost you $20.00 and if you wanted the Clickbank Module….guess what, it’s yours free of charge.

The folks over at WP Robot seem to have created a full featured customizable Wordpress plugin that is by far the most complex autoblogging or autoposting wordpress plugin available. You get instant delivery after you purchase. There is a full money back guarantee and of course you will get full updates along with free support.

Most users will want to use this plugin for supplementing their blogs to keep them active. Some might want to create blogs entirely out of autoposted material. What I find very interesting is that the folks at WP Robot have added an Autoblogging Developers License which will allow you to build blogs and then flip them. Could keep you busy for a long time, plus, this has become very popular and profitable if sold in the right venue!

I hope to get a full package very soon. I’ll take the package for a full ride and create a couple of demo sites so you can see what is possible…..I’ll contact the folks at WP Robot and see if I can offer the site in some sort of raffle so keep your eyes peeled for a notice!

I’d really be surprised if you made it through this long post. If you did, go over to WP Robot and pick up the full package….as I write this it is on sale for a nice discount. If funds are short, grab a module or 2 and try your hand at autoblogging to give you a feel on how these plugins work. You can always grab a free version of the autoposting plugin, check out the terms at WP Robot.

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Learning how to customize wordpress for small business applications is essential for anyone working with wordpress. Wordpress marketing has become one of the most popular blogging tools available on the internet today. What a lot of people do not realize though is that it is also a powerful Content Management System that is able to be used for more than just blogging.  When you use wordpress you have the ability to either a blog or use it as a static website, you can easily choose which type of wordpress design would be more effective for your application.

Wordpress was originally designed as a blogging tool but you no longer have to use it just for blogging anymore. The fact that it is open source and you can modify it beyond your wildest dreams with wordpress plugins and changing themes not  to mention anyone knowing a little php and html can jump right into the code and start hacking away, gives wordpress so many options that I don’t think any blogging or cms platform will ever catch up. Learning how to customize wordpress for your small business will open a whole new world for you. With just a few updates here and there you can also use it for your website and you can either in conjunction with a blog or no blog at all. Just the fact that Wordpress was once originally designed for a blogging platform gives Wordpress some compelling advantages. It is designed for easy publishing and changing your content whenever it is needed.  There are also other advantages that are great for small business owners as well.

Using WordPress For Your Small Business

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1. First of all Wordpress is SEO optimized. There are a few adjustments that you will need to make but overall there are several SEO benefits that Wordpress provides to you for free.  This saves you considerable amount of time and effort that is usually needed for providing a properly SEO organized wordpress blog. Search Engine Optimization scares away some of the most experienced marketers, however, seo plugins for wordpress make it easy even for the newbie!

2. Another great advantage of  Wordpress for small business owners is that the content is easily updated and you will not even have to know any HTML to get it done either.  You can easily create new pages or edit your existing pages using a simple rich text editor. This is another great way for you to save money when you are first creating your site. Wordpress is the favorite platform for those doing offline marketing.  As the website developer, you can easily set up a wordpress blog for any business and then give the owner simple permissions to add blog posts only.

3. There are also thousands of people in the internet world that create extensions of the Wordpress program.  Understanding how to customize wordpress can be learned in Rockstar Wordpress Designer…..and even the novice web designer can pick up a couple of tricks that will allow you to customize wordpress themes! Just think how many free themes and ratings, among hundreds of other options, are available to you for free.  For those working with a tight budget, you will not have to pay the hefty price you would normally have to for a web designer because these extensions will allow you to do it for yourself. I found 2 sources for very professional looking wordpress business themes at Gabfire Themes and StudioPress, they both have amazing flexibility and I would probably say they aren’t for the novice wordpress user.

4. If you happen to run into a problem or wish to add on custom features, it is very easy for you to find support as there are thousands of  Wordpress developers available on the net. All you need to do is type in Wordpress support in your favorite search engine and you will be amazed at the results that you will get.  Although if you’re like me, you really want to understand how to customize wordpress themes so you don’t have to pay someone else!

5. The final benefit for small business owners is that Wordpress is easy to install. There are many companies that also offer help with your quick install to get your site up and running in no time. They will install needed plugins and help you on your way to getting your first blog post online.

As you can see there are several different reasons why Wordpress would benefit your small business. Gabfire themes has a variety of themes for any local business or local business directory, while Brian Gardner’s StudioPress offers some amazing business themes that can make any one man operation look like a major corporation and make a major corporation  look like a million bucks! The key fact all revolves around either you knowing how to customize wordpress or hiring a designer who confidently knows  how to customize wordpress themes.

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The Wordpress platform has become one of the most powerful marketing tools on the internet today. When you create a membership site for marketing purposes, you are opening the door to tons of revenue in the end and this can easily be done if you are using Wordpress. This is due to the fact that Membership sites are very lucrative and easy to use if you structure them properly.

Most internet marketers have a mistaken belief that Wordpress is just for blogs or maybe a website. However, this belief is totally false and if they use Wordpress correctly and to its maximum flexibility, they will discover it is a great all around marketing tool. One of the newest marketing aspects of Wordpress has been the use as wordpress membership sites.  There are a number of internet businesses that are using membership site plugins but not every one of them are made the same.  There are a few basic criteria which any membership plugins should have to create a great membership site for your marketing site. One of the newest and most comprehensive membership plugins for wordpress is called Wishlist Member.

Wordpress Membership Site Plugins Criteria For Marketing

1. Membership levels and types:
When you have the ability to create multiple levels of membership you will have the flexibility to allow special promotions or even higher membership levels in which you will give members access to more in-depth information if they pay more for it. Also it is important to have levels that are free, subscription based, and also a onetime payment.

2. RSS Feed Encryptions:
You will want to make sure that any information that you want members only to have access to do not get broadcast through your RSS feed.  If your RSS feed is not encrypted then anyone who would visit or join your site would see the information you are limiting to visitors without even paying for it. Failing to encrypt your RSS feeds can result in losing thousands of dollars in revenue.

3. Content Teasers
This will allow you to have a small portion of certain content for visitors to your site.  In order for them to read on they will have to click on a link which will tell them they will have to subscribe to read the rest of the article.

4. Sequential Delivery
If you have a membership that you are training people or are just wanting to make sure that visitors gain access to certain content that you are offering on a monthly basis you will need to be sure that you have sequential delivery.  If you do not have this then someone can gain access to all of your content from the very first day.

5. Payment Gateways
Some plugins only work with PayPal which gives you major limitations. You will want the ability to work with any merchant processor you wish.

6. Training and Support

You need to have a strong customer satisfaction which is important for any business. If you do not have access to the owner of the plugin then do not use it because it would not work with your marketing business.

These are all necessary parts of your membership site for your marketing site. If your plugin does not have any of these then you will need to search for another plugin that does. You can discover a number of free methods of creating a wordpress membership site and of course there are some paid wordpress membership plugins that are much better…..only you can decide what is necessary with your wordpress marketing site.

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When blogging there’s on constant I run across. You just can’t keep up with your daily blog posts!

You always start with the best of intentions but somehow you miss a day….then 2 days….then 3 or 4 days……before you know it you missed a whole week of blogging.

Yet you would never consider setting up an automated blog because you’ve heard how bad they can be, there’s scraped content, rss snippets of text or totally unrelated content that gets stuck on your blog…your baby.

Hint….have you thought of an Automated Blog.

This is an update, (10-7-2009) I’ve been using Ebook Import for a while now and the results are stunning. My first thought was to use if for breaking up and posting public domain content which is a great idea. However, you can use Ebook Import to break up and autopost entire PLR books to your blog. Actually, you can break up any content that gives you permission to break it up for articles or autoblogging purposes. It’s a great way to add unique content to your blog!

Automated Blog with EbookImport Wordpress Plugin

Let me share a secret that might help you out if considering an Automated Blog. Most plugins for automated blogs just suck…but stick with me and I’ll share some that really work. That is they add good content to your blog, useable content that is valued by your readers.

Here’s one method to get quality content into your automated blog. Drum roll please…….use Public Domain material!

Let’s say you have a blog on Gardens. Public Domain material is perfect for this kind of blog.

In the past, you had to cut and paste content from your public domain book into each post…..that takes a whole lot of time.

Now with Ebook Import Plugin you can import an entire public domain book into your blog, 300 to 800 words at a time. Just create a seperate category in your blog, and let the Ebook Import plugin go to work.

I would use it as a back up to my daily or weekly blogging about gardening. The fill in content can be made unique with the ebook import plugin. Take a look at some of these ebook import features:

Import ebooks that are in text format to Wordpress.

Create pages/blog posts from the ebook based on how many lines you choose.

Set the ebook pages dates in the past or future(for autoposting).

Choose the category the ebook pages are posted to.

Use standard wordpress themes and plugins with your ebooks.

Randomize the time the pages are posted to give a more “human” feel to the post times.

Post the ebook pages in forward or reverse order.

Don’t listen to those noobs who say an automated blog isn’t worth the effort. Grab a copy of Ebook Import and try it out!

Use Ebook Import correctly and you just might keep google happy…which means many visitors to your website and that means a pocket full of gold for you….thus the image of gold coins

By the way….the support behind these plugins is awesome, they also have some really cool free plugins on their site….the Ebay Affiliate Plugin is something to be seen!

Tags: automated blog, import ebook, autoposting, autoblog, autoblogging, ebook plugin, autopost, ebook import

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