Kelly’s inspirational post about dreaming bigger, has really got quite a few of us riled up and ready to go. For me, it couldn’t have been better timing because this week is also the same week my kids start school again. I am excited to reclaim those hours and pour 100% of it into my business once again. Since Kelly talked about affiliate marketing and working harder on it, I thought it would be good to follow up with some tools that can help make your lives as affiliates easier, better, more productive which hopefully leads to more profits. So here goes.
Password manager – I use Roboform on the PC and 1Password on the Mac, others I know use LastPass and Xmarks. Whatever you decide on, a password manager really helps logging in and out of those many affiliate accounts a breeze.
Affiliate link plugin for WordPress – there are a few out there. What does it do? You set a keyword for example “SparkplugU” and tell it to link to your affiliate URL each time SparkplugU is found. All automatic and works for older posts too.
Zemanta – this is a Firefox plugin that will make photo, books, DVD and website resources suggestions for you based on what you are writing about. You can link it up to Amazon – if you’re still their affiliate – and make it easy to add links to products found in Amazon.
A macro utility – Tired of typing your affiliate URL again and again? Copying and pasting is OK but still takes time to open your file, look it up, copy and paste. Too many actions. Use a macro utility. I use something called DirectAccess that helps me do a bunch of things, but one of my favorite uses is for it to help me type in URLs. Instead of typing, I enter a short code and hit ‘End’ the software types the links for me, reducing the amount of typing I do.
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Lynette enjoys discovering new ways to use technology or new technologies to use in a business and in turn help her clients apply them. You can find also Lynette at her blog, Twitter and Facebook
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Sparkplugging Founder Wendy Piersall is dang passionate about helping people start & grow a business while maintaining life balance (somehow). 
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What is a good Affiliate link plugin for WordPress? Do you recommend any certain ones?
Hi Marci, there are actually quite a few out there. Some free some not. I’ve only used one – WPAffiliatePro and written about the rest too. WPAffiliatePro works for me. It’s simple and does the job.
Sweet, thanks! *goes to check out a few of them*
Thanks, I will definitely try the macro utility to save some time
Hey John, you’ll love it. I promise. For me, it did take some getting used to because you have to remember a few codes but like riding a bike, you’ll learn the most common codes and keystroke combos really quick. Hard not to when you’re entering it several times a day.
These lists are always welcome! Thanks!
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Thank you for sharing your good knowledge with us Marci
Sincerely,
Kazooli
Good stuff! Thanks Lynette!
Hey there Kazooli, we all start somewhere right? Affiliate link plugins vary largely from one to another so a lot depends on what you are trying to accomplish. Most of them help the task of copying, pasting and inserting affiliate links easier. For example, WPAffiliate Pro is the one I use. I enter a keyword I want to associate with the affiliate link say, CompUSA. Then I enter the affiliate link into the settings. Each time I or a commenter writes about CompUSA, the word will be linked and using my affiliate link. The plugin also has tracking so I know exactly how many clicks I sent through to the company.
There are other types of affiliate plugins too. Some make it easier for you to display the latest or best deals from a particular store. Hope that helps clear things up for you.