You already know how convenient, flexible and affordable WordPress is but is there a way to make money with it?

As it turns out, there are countless ways to make money with WordPress and the people at AppThemes have made it easy for “the rest of us” to setup some of them, starting with classified ads and job postings.

Both ClassiPress and JobRoller install easily in mostly any WordPress 3 setup as a theme with lots of handles to tweak it in lots of ways. In the end, the standard themes look good but redesigning it to look less generic might be a sound idea.

The prices are affordable and “unlimited sites” options are offered to developers who want to profit the most from these advanced WordPress themes.

AppThemes has been founded by David Cowgill, a self-declared WordPress enthusiast, user and developer, ever since it was released, in 2005. Being a WP evangelist, the motivation to start up his own WP-centric company came in May of 2010. Since then, AppThemes has captured the attention of a growing crowd of WP developers who don’t necessarily want to spend their days —and nights— coding and who would gladly pay a one-time fee to have the job done by somebody else.

Nobody can expect a ClassiPress or JobRoller install to automagically start making money for its owner on its own but with the right customizations (that the intended customers expect) and savvy marketing, that’ll bring you that much closer to thinking about quitting the “day job” so many web developers hate, anyway.

Although I haven’t come across what seemed to be a highly profitable install of either ClassiPress of JobRoller, it could happen in the coming years as the scripts mature and offer exciting options which help differentiate it from the competition.

It would be wise to buy your access to these themes while they’re still quite affordable because over time, the membership price could go up as the value of the themes rise.

The AppThemes developers are geographically far from one another but it seems to work well for them as the look of the themes is both elegant and distinctive while the coding is relatively strealined, with the remaining bugs actively being work out.

AppThemes adds value to WordPress and as such, any serious developer will at least want to keep an eye on what they’re developing, like Clipper for coupons, Vantage as a highly visual business directory and Sage, a how-to WP app.

It is to be expected that more companies, akin to AppThemes, will pop-up offering nicely presented themes but for the moment, they are pretty much “it”.

You see, iWeb.com lures its victims (or “clients”, whichever fits) into its web of deception with extra-low hosting prices, especially if you pay for ten (10) years. It initially makes financial sense to go with them but again, it’s just a trap to lock you in their crappy shared hosting scheme.

Since so many people fall in iWeb.com’s web hosting trap, their web servers quickly get loaded up.

That means that although bandwidth is allegedly unlimited, the server resources aren’t. As such, having more visitors come to your site will inevitably put more stress on the “shared” server.

And this is where it gets ugly.

The typical web hosting customer, running a few WordPress sites, doesn’t see anything coming when more visitors come to read his articles and that’s when “it” happens: the account suspension!

Yep! A total account suspension of all of your web sites — just like that!

This is what your web visitors will see:

It’s a mix of absolute horror… and humiliation.

What kind of hosting company acts like that? iWeb.com, it appears.

Nevermind your reputation going down the drain or the unbearable stress for any normally constituted person who sees his web sites being made completely unavailable, at the same time both his control panel and FTP account have been locked.

One would think iWeb.com would have a sensible “account suspension” customer service team looking to help explain what’s going on (usually too many concurrent visitors or a variant, coming from more traffic) but that’s just not the case. iWeb.com will “suspend” your account in the blink of an eye but it might take days or weeks before your account is allowed back online.

Some might call it a genuinely “horrible service”.

Apparently, this has absolutely no significance for iWeb.com which continues to suspend accounts for dubious and sometimes downright secretive reasons.

How can such an untrustworthy web hoster be allowed to continue doing business, with such a poor record? Apparently, uninformed investors continue to pour money in this operation and they must be praying that scorched customers don’t take the time to tell the world how bad their company really is.

Just to add insult to injury, their staff has trouble communicating in English. Quebec being a French-speaking province shouldn’t be an obstacle to finding truly bilingual individuals, especially in Montreal but at iWeb.com, true respect for the customers seems like a distant concern so it just goes inline with the rest of their web hosting service.

So if you’re still thinking about hosting your web site at iWeb.com, don’t! Unless you absolutely want to be humiliated in front of all your web visitors, iWeb.com isn’t a credible option for any remotely serious web site.

If you’ve spent too many sleepless nights trying to build up enticing content intended for your site’s visitors, you know how much of a toll it can take on “the rest of your offline life”.

Since none of us, in their right mind, that is, wants to waste their life away publishing content which might be found elsewhere, for free, a WordPress plug-in like WP Robot might save you so much time, it might even end up saving both your bank account and your family (since you’ll spend way more time, with those you love).

There’s no way spending hours in front of your computer will ever make sense so let WP Robot get your RSS content from leading sources like eBay, Amazon, YouTube, Flickr, Oodle and Twitter or from lesser known sources which you’re quietly leveraging into a value added archive which will grow more enticing, over time, especially when the original sources stop carrying the content, in which case, you need to “pull” the full articles and not just the exerpts.

Either way, WP Robot gets your content on auto-pilot.

Even when you sleep, WP Robot grows your article base to make your web destination as useful and interesting as possible. All that without requiring your presence. Ah! Blissfully perfect!

Of course, keeping an eye on what’s being posted with WP Robot is a must because you don’t want the content to display badly. Furthermore, you absolutely want to correct some chunks of content in what’s being reposted to maintain quality, diversity and rather importantly, uniqueness.

If you still have a few hours to kill, you may even decide to write up a few articles, on your own. Since you have so much automated content being published, your manual articles will help distinguish your web site from all the other who don’t have these “unique” wise words!

Is WP Robot for you?

The real question is: how can it not be? Seriously, posting content is such hard work, you deserve a “WP Robot break”, once in a while. How about now? Now would be a good time for you to bank on the combined SEO-power of WordPress and that of WP Robot’s ability to pull in RSS content from some twenty (20) major sources.

At around 200$ for the entire plug-in (with the modules), you’re bound to quickly recoup your investment. Just open up a niche site and see your advertising revenues soar. You may even advertise your own company, in these otherwise newly generated free content destinations.

With WP Robot, you buy peace of mind with a plug-in which delivers results. This is impressive given the plug-in connects with several platforms which don’t necessarily allow extensive RSS grabbing (for re-publishing purposes).

So there you have it: WP Robot is a web editor’s best “discreet” helper to get your newly acquired content published, on a regular basis.

All over the world, millions of bloggers are thinking up new ways to bank on their content (or products, or services). To sell these offerings, some of them might want to consider turning their “free blog” into a “membership blog” where some things are free and some others are only made available to paying visitors (or customers).

Since WordPress doesn’t ship with the capability to bills members to access different levels or sections, the only option is to turn to a plug-in such as WishList.

This plug-in is sold for either US$97 for a “single site” license or US$297 for a “multi-site” license, which makes it an affordable solution for paid membership sites.

A free option for the WishList plug-in would be nice but that doesn’t seem to be in the works, for now.

So, what do you get, with WishList?

How about easy integration, detailed support guides, training videos, one (1) year of unlimited updates and support as well as four bonus goodies that just sweeten an already fair deal.

Also, with WishList for WordPress, you get the following:

• Unlimited membership levels;
• Simple installation with either new or existing blogs;
• Flexible membership options (i.e.: free, trial or paid);
• Sequential content delivery (from “level 1″ to “lever 2″);
• Control over the viewed content;
• PayPal shopping cart integration;
• Easy member management;
• Multi-level access memberships;
• Total content protection;
• Secure RSS feeds;
• Subscription length control;
• Login redirection to the page of your choice;
• Sneak peak content display;
• Custom error pages; and
• Partial content display.

If you’re a blogger looking to install the WishList plug-in into your WordPress site, you should be able to do it within an hour. Most of the work, on your part, will be to figure out how you want to structure your sales to optimize successful conversions.

Regarding the plug-in itself, it works well and doesn’t seem to slow down the pages loading time, which is a definite plus.

Money shouldn’t be an issue for getting your hands on the WishList plug-in because as soon as you start operating a paid membership site —if your offering is any good— you’ll make your “initial plug-in investment” back very quickly.

So if you’re seriously looking to build a membership web site, WishList delivers.

Tags: wishlist, wishlist plug-in, plug-in, plugin, wordpress, member, members, membership, online membership, paid memberships, money, revenue, publisher model, adsense, google adsense, blog, bloggers, wordpress

Pretty much every seasoned web user has an account with at least one of the popular social networks, like MySpace, Facebook, Hi5 and LinkedIn.

There are countless more such networks and the trend seems to be reaching every niche one can possibly imagine.

It’s a good thing because the more people work together, the faster we can achieve great things but then again, not all social networks vye to reinvent a better world as most of them are just endless streams of largely useless chatter where people interact without actually attempting to truly connect.

Not all communications have to be meaningful to be interesting for those engaging in it but it can seem like a lot of lost energy to fuel such large networks that basically amount to nothing. But that’s irrelevant, in a way, because millions of people still stampede towards these “rate me if you like me” type of social networks so in itself, there has to be a genuine need underneath all that digital noise.

So people, from the world over, are assisting to the rise of the social networks.

In and of itself, that’s big but is this a prelude to something even bigger or is social networking as we know it as good as it’s going to get?

That’s an excellent question and while nobody can say for sure, the featureset of a typical social network pretty much engulfs everything else with Twitter-like streams, blogs, forums, friend rings and chats, all packed into a single web destination which feels coherent to the user. So, featurewise, social networks pack quite a punch. Not all the features are as developed as “single application scripts” but to the user, that seems to matter very little as all they see is the feature itself and not the technology supporting it.

Social networking has everything to do with the cloud where the size and speed of hosting appears to be somewhat infinite, from a user’s standpoint. It’s probably the web 2.0 most compelling spinoff since a social network is often the place where people finally settle after looking at all sorts of other web services.

And since online social networking is generally free, millions of people just open up an account figuring it’s a good deal. Over time, some build up very rich offerings in their “social realm” and others never return after signing-up. The social networks nevertheless connect hundreds of millions of people daily for business and pleasure.

Among the niche-type social networks to watch out for, the following cities now have their own job-centric social networks: Miami, Daytona Beach, Tampa Bay, Detroit, Toronto and Montreal (with more cities to come). It’s an excellent idea as employers and workers are always looking for new ways to connect, locally.

As you can see, social networks will continue to evolve and amaze those who watch them thrive in all sorts of directions, with more power, more storage and more features than ever before.

For all these reasons and many more, it may seem like social networks have reached a plateau but in reality, they may just be warming up for a highly networked future.

Tags: social networks, social networking, online networks, people, connect, connections, online friends, myspace, facebook, hi5, linkedin, networked, jobs, business, niche networks, members, free

Email, calendaring and groupware don’t necessarily have to go through Microsoft Outlook to be enjoyable.

One such alternative which deserves to be seriously considered is built onLinux using AJAX and is aptly named AtMail 6.0 and you can download a free version of their client, with or without the server, which can handle up to five (5) users, for free.

This client and server ensemble provides an enterprise-class solution which helps everybody in the team actually feel part of it.

Along with full source code for easy customization (in AJAX, which makes it humanly comprehensible), version 6.0 adds…

• a single interface for all email needs (with tabs for direct access to the features);
• a conversation view of email messages (so you see the list of the latest emails while reading one, in particular… like Hotmail’s interface, if you prefer);
• new thread support (which helps you keep your sanity when you play “message-tennis” with many people); and
• direct reply capabilities (akin to some forums where you can “quick reply” to any thread).

Because the platform is built on AJAX, development is zippy and heavy on all advanced features you expect from an enterprise-class email solution.

AtMail 6.0 also offers integrated web-based email management for remote install, upgrade and maintenance.

This product is solid and clearly on the right path but, it isn’t “there”, yet.

This being said, the fact that it’s built on AJAX should appeal to the web 2.0 crowd and those who undertstand that the open source community tends to move faster than the closed source folks who can hardly compete with thousands of passionate developers who just ooze with creative ideas to futher AJAX‘s feature set.

The free version is obviously as affordable at it gets but the paid version of AtMail 6.0 are probably a bit steep for smaller companies with a 25 seat client going at 400$ and if you add the server, it jumps up another 100$. Cutting that price in half would’ve surely helped the product gain wider adoption with smaller customers. For 1k users, it’s just 1,250$ which, for that kind of volume, is surprisingly affordable.

So if you’re courageous enough to look past MS-Outlook and Gmail types of solutions, AtMail 6.0 may well be worth your while.

Tags: atmail, atmail 6.0, 6.0, email client, email server, e-mail, full source code, linux-based, built on ajax, ajax, ajax email server, email needs, conversation view, remote install, remote upgrade, remote maintenance

Power management for our computer devices and appliances has come a long way.

Now, using setups such as Eaton‘s Intelligent Power Manager, an administrator can oversee and entire network, without having to walk to a specific device to -really- understand what’s going on. Well, in extreme situations, that might still be necessary but under normal circumstances, it’s all mouse clicks and smiles.

For those who aren’t yet familiar with Eaton’s technology, the Intelligent Power Manager software is designed to be a cost-effective and secure way for IT administrators to remotely monitor and manage networked power and environmental devices, across the enterprise.

And even if you run a smaller operation, being able to flip the switch remotely on any device is pure bliss.

The software can carry out a scan for UPS systems (all vendors are supported) using both XML web services and SNMP protocols.

The Intelligent Power Manager also discovers and manages other critical power components, suc as ePDU products, shutdown modules and the now ubiquitous environmental sensors.

The idea of having total remote control on all powered devices is just too much of a thrill to ignore, especially if your job involves darting through the corridors to see what’s going on every time somedy calls-in saying “hey, the server’s not responding”!

Eaton isn’t the only player in town offering these kinds of solutions but you might want to check out their Intelligent Power Manager to see if it can fit your particular needs.

Tags: eaton, eaton corporation, intelligent power manager, ipm, environmental sensors, shutdown modules, epdu, xml web services, snmp protocol, power up, power down, power on, power off, computer devices, network appliances, remote management

Network managers need to react quickly when something goes wrong and one way to achieve that is to tool up with FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer 4.0, which have your single or thousands of Fortinet appliances under your control.

In the new version of both FortiManager 4.0 and FortiAnalyzer 4.0 unified threat management security platforms, the new firmware enhances the management capabilities, thus providing greater flexibility and control for multiple devices, in enterprise setups.

This major update includes improvements in the performance and scalability of FortiManager which allows administrators to both deploy and manage tens, hundreds or even thousands of FortiGate (or FortiWifi, usually for remote offices) devices within the network and from a single FortiManager platform.

But the real kicker here is the enhanced workflow in FortiManager which allows administrators to reduce the amount of work required to manage a large number of devices.

You can also factor in improved disaster recovery features and slightly improved correlation between vulnerabilities and security policy in FortiAnalyzer which, from this point on, includes a vulnerability management component.

The end-to-end network monitoring is rather elegantly presented and easy to work with. Network admins who are used to overseeing large groups of user will appreciate this added control.

Keep in mind that FortiManager delivers a lower TCO for Fortinet implementations by minimizing both initial deployment costs and ongoing operating expenses.

In bigger enterprise environments, network managers can control administrative access and simplify policy deployment using role-based administration to define user privileges for specific management domains and functions by aggregating collections of Fortinet appliances and agents into independent management domains.

By locally hosting security content updates for managed devices and agents, FortiManager appliances minimize web filtering rating request response time and maximize network protection.

Yes, managing Fortinet devices is now smoother than ever — it’s still a lot of work but it definitely gets done faster.

Tags: fortinet, fortigate, fortiwifi, fortimanager, fortianalyzer, 4.0, network devices, network appliances, network security, network administrators, network management, security platform, disaster recovery, security policy

Protecting your network is no small task.

Nowadays, the rage is all about unified threat management security platforms and the new Fortinet wireless LAN protection products lineup will help you do that without the wiring headache.

Large companies may have a bunch of Fortigate 1000-and-over appliances setup at their head office but for medium-sized office settings, the more affordable wireless counterparts might be enough to protect your digital realm.

Let’s start by saying that the FortiWiFi line of wireless security gateways add a built-in 802.11a/b/g wireless access point to the enterprise-level, multi-threat protection of FortiGate appliances. Again, if you’re not a wiring fan, this is “it”.

The FortiWifi appliances provide network, content and application protection for wired and wireless networks without penalties in performance or manageability. They combine Fortinet’s FortiOS security OS with FortiASIC processors and other hardware to provide a comprehensive and high-performance array of fully integrated security and networking functions including:

• Firewall, VPN and traffic shaping;
• Intrusion Prevention System (IPS);
• Antivirus, antispyware and antimalware;
• Web filtering;
• Antispam;
• Application control (e.g.: IM and P2P);
• VoIP support (H.323. and SCCP);
• Layer 2/3 routing.

FortiWiFi appliances are fairly accessible, as far as deployment and management go. With a web-based user interface that allows users to be up and running in less than an hour, sometimes under 15 minutes, it’s a highly functional line of appliances.

It’s important to add that these wireless appliances can also be managed remotely via the FortiManager line of management appliances. This combination of local ease of use and remote management makes FortiWiFi appliances valuable for…

• remote office settings;
• wireless service providers;
• retail stores; and
• broadband-connected telecommuter sites.

In addition, FortiWiFi devices can be powered by Power over Ethernet (POE) to further ease installation and deployment and reduce your equipment investment. Obviously, it’s better if you can find an electrical outlet but POE can be a lifesaver in remote spots (like when the FortiWifi is installed above the ceiling fixture).

So let’s take a look at the lineup…

• FortiWiFi-80CM
  • A wireless security gateway that adds a built-in 802.11 b/g/n wireless access point to the enterprise-level, multi-threat protection of FortiGate appliances.
  • In addition, 3G wireless broadband connectivity via an ExpressCard slot and a built-in analog modem for dial-up failover capability enhance deployment and failover options.
  • The FortiWiFi-80CM boasts market-leading performance for remote office, SMB, and retail applications.
• FortiWiFi-60B
  • It offers standard 802.11 a/b/g support plus 3G wireless broadband connectivity via a PC Card slot and a built-in analog modem for dial-up failover capability, making it the perfect choice for rapid Point of Sale (POS) deployments or flexible security offerings by wireless service providers.
  • It has dual Wide Area Network (WAN) ports for load balancing or redundant internet connections, a DMZ port, and six integrated switch ports for multi-user environments.
• FortiWiFi-50B
  • It’s more affordable and ideal for small remote offices and telecommuting applications.
  • It offers standard 802.11 b/g support, dual Wide Area Network (WAN) ports for load balancing or redundant internet connections, and three integrated switch ports for multi-user environments.
• FortiWiFi-30B
  • This one offers full-featured, enterprise-class UTM inspection for the smallest remote offices, branch offices, and retail outlets.
  • The FortiWiFi-30B adds 802.11 b/g support to Fortinet’s easy-to-use, easy-to-deploy entry-level platform.

As you can see, your entire network is now easier than ever to secure.

There are many products on the market that can help you secure a network but going with an appliance-based security model frees up precious processor time on all your computers.

If you already have Fortinet products in your mix and you like their management capabilities, you’ll probably want to expand your realm of protection, up to thousands of Fortinet devices, with their line of wireless appliances.

Tags: fortinet, fortiwifi, secure, security, wireless device, wireless appliance, 30b, 50b, 60b, 80cm, switch ports, multi-user environments, poe, remote office, 3g wireless

Yesterday, MyID has announced that they’ll be auctionning a huge domain name —job.ca

This is very big news since job.ca stands to be the biggest domain name ever auctioned in Canada.

And whoever gets it will likely keep it forever so if someone needs that incredible name, now is probably the last chance in their lifetime they are given to bid for and win it.

Billions upon billions of dollars are being spent and made every year, regarding employment, in Canada.

Using the job.ca domain name provides an unbelievable strategic advantage for whoever uses it over all those who don’t have such an outstanding name.

And the “job.ca” suffix is just the beginning because the current owner had already registered the provincial suffixes such as…

• job.bc.ca
• job.ab.ca
• job.sk.ca
• job.mb.ca
• job.on.ca
• job.qc.ca
• job.nb.ca
• job.ns.ca

…and they’re all going to be awarded to the winning bidder. The other provincial suffixes can also be registered by the winning bidder, when in control of the “job.ca” domain name.

By all means, this event is likely going to make history for two reasons:

• the biggest domain name ever auctioned in Canada; and
• the expected largest bid ever made for a Canadian domain name.

If a company deals in the Canadian job market and doesn’t bid on this name, the C-level managers need to fire their marketing manager. Job.ca is way too big an opportunity to miss.

Lots of interested parties will want to get their hands on the job.ca domain name, such as:

• Job boards, domestic and foreign
  • The job.ca name is enough to completely reshape the job posting and resume acquisition landscape, in Canada.
  • No job board can pass this opportunity up because the consequences of having a competitor get such a huge name could prove financially suicidal.
  • Just imagine, for one moment, that “company A” gets job.ca and markets it, all over the country. How are all the other job boards supposed to counter that? That’s why every job board will likely bid way up to make sure they secure what will become the biggest “job-related” web address, in Canada.
• Employment agencies
  • For any serious canadian employment agency, winning the job.ca auction would mean almost instant gains, in terms of lucrative new customers.
• Universities, colleges
  • All educational institutions, in Canada, have placement services which, in many ways, are a vital cornerstone of their ongoing success. If students get a job once they graduate, more people will buy their education programs. It’s that simple!
  • By getting their hands on job.ca, a placement service could benefit from untold publicity, prestige and instant credibility. Year after year. Basically forever. This is the hottest investment they can ever make.
  • And the job.ca domain name will likely go up in value, forever.
  • By all means, this is a blue chip domain name.
• Large employers
  • Canada counts some of the richest employers on Earth and as such, they’d love to grab the job.ca domain name for their own job-related promotion activities.
  • People instantly understand that a given employer is at the very top if it uses job.ca, the shortest and most powerful job domain name ever to be registered, in the country… even before the CIRA was created!

Among the bidders for job.ca, expect to find bankers who understand cornerstone domain names are a new form of highly valuable currency that goes up in value all the time. It’s highly portable and generates revenue on its own.

Domain name speculators might also feel the urge to chip in because if they win the job.ca domain name, they might be able to auction it off for much more, the next day. Potential buyers who missed the name the first time (and again, it would be unwise to ignore this historic auction) will basically go all out the second time around to get it so if a speculator gets the name, there’s a good chance a new record will be set shortly after the anticipated record bid, on the first auction at MyID, June 24-25, 2009.

These are exciting times, indeed.

While people realize the economy may have slowed down a bit, it changes nothing to the fundamentals. Employers want to find talented people and workers are looking for jobs. And both meet at job.ca. Naturally. It’s intuitive.

If you’re looking to buy up one super-valuable domain name this year, job.ca is most likely it.

Nothing spells unlimited profits like the job market which generates untold billions of dollars, per year, in Canada alone. Job.ca is a golden bridge, or so to speak, to one of the most, if not the most, lucrative market, ever.

There’s no question people all over the world, and especially Canada, know the true value of the job.ca domain name. It’ll be very exciting to see who gets the name and consequently, crushes the competition by using the most intuitive, memorable, credible and timeless Canadian job-related name ever to have been registered.

Tags: job.ca, job, job-related, canada, canadian, domain, name, domain name, domains, domainers, domaining, domain investment, domain blue chip, myid, myid.ca, myid auction, myid domain name auction, the biggest name ever auctioned in canada, canada’s biggest domain name, biggest auction ever, canadian namespace, cira, job.bc.ca, job.ab.ca, job.sk.ca, job.mb.ca, job.on.ca, job.qc.ca, job.nb.ca, job.ns.ca, job market, canada’s job domain name, auction in june, 2009