I just came across a really cool widget for monetizing your blog using the new AuctionAds.com service.

The Auction Ads Widget allows you to monetize your website by displaying live eBay auctions in your blog sidebar. If you are familar with the way Google Adsense operates (which uses javascript to display ads), you will be right at home with this new Auction Ads Widget. All configuration can be done in the Widgets section of your  Wordpress installation.

Requirements

The only requirement to use this Widget is that you should have an AuctionAds.com account. It easy and free to sign-up and just takes a minute to do. After sign-up you will now have a Publisher ID which you can enter into the widget configuration area.

Widget Installation

Simply extract the file to your wp-content/widget/ directory. Go to Presentation tab and select Widgets (WP 2.2) or Sidebar Widgets (WP 2.0+). You can drag and drop the AuctionAds widget onto the sidebar. Configure it with your AuctionAds.com ID (which you will have received after signup) and Campaign ID if you have one. Select the appropriate layout and change the color according to your own theme color. You can enter a keyword or multiple keywords so that you can trigger appropriate Ads for your blog. Click save… and thats it!

Auction Ads Sample

Download

Soon, you can be on your way to maximizing your blog’s revenue potential using AuctionAds. You can download the new AuctionAds Widget here.

• 0 Comments

The latest version of WordPress 2.2 has just been released and is now available for download here. This version includes a number of new features, most notably Widgets integration and over two hundred bug fixes.

Latest Wordpress 2.2 Features

• WordPress Widgets allow you to easily rearrange and customize areas of your blog sidebars with drag-and-drop simplicity. This functionality was originally available as a plugin by Automattic.com but now Widgets are included by default in the core Wordpress code.
• A new Blogger Importer that is able to handle the latest version of Google’s Blogger product and seamlessly import posts and comments without any user interaction.
• Infinite comment stream, meaning that on your Edit Comments page when you delete or spam a comment using the AJAX links under each comment it will bring in another comment in the background so you always have 20 items on the page. (sounds geeky, but try it!)
• Wordpress 2.2 now protects you from activating a plugin or editing a file that will break your blog.
• Speed Optimization should make Wordpress feel a bit more snappy and lighter on your server.

There has also been dozens of User Interface and Accessibility improvements, ranging from more concise wording around options and links to things like a view and preview link above the content box when you are editing a post or page.

Download

The latest Wordpress 2.2 can be downloaded here. Have fun!

• 0 Comments

The Sitemap Generator Plugin by DagonDesign.com has just been updated to Version 3.01 and is a great addition to any blog because it creates a genuine sitemap for your entire WordPress powered site. This is not just another XML sitemap plugin, but rather a true sitemap generator which is highly customizable from the options page in your WordPress admin panel.

This Plugin has many features built into it such as; support for multi-level categories and pages, category/page exclusion, multiple-page generation with navigation, permalink support, choose what order to list items in, show comment counts and/or post dates, and lots more.

Requirements

The updated Sitemap Generator Plugin plugin requires WordPress 2.1 or later.

Download

The Sitemap Generator Plugin V3.01 can be downloaded here.

• 0 Comments