Newbie + Wordpress + PHPBay = ???

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mach1canuck

mach1canuck

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Jul 5, 2007
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So I've been a lurker on this board for a while now.
I'm seeing everyone make progress in their own ways...and a few folks make some huge progress.

I'v finally decided to start my own journey....and I'm going to try to detail my methods in the hope it might help someone else make the same choice.
Or avoid it if that case may be.

*Disclaimer* Site is going to undergo changes, especially in the first couple days. So take it easy if the site looks shitty, I might just be changing templates or something.

Day 1, June 30, 2008:
  • Registered domain name at namecheap.com, using ROSEMONTH discount code. ShopNintendoWii.com = $8.41/10 Minutes
  • Pointed domain to my hosting account with hostican = 30 Minutes
  • Used fantastico to install a plain copy of Wordpress 2.5.1 = 30 Minutes
  • Ordered copy of PHPBay, supported affiliate rgordon83 = $49.00/30 Minutes
  • Uploading/Installed PHPBay = 30 Minutes
  • Installed/Modified Limauorange Template for Wordpress from BoB = 30 Minutes
Spent Money - $57.42
Spent Time - 2h40m

Earned income - $0

This is it for now, back in an hour or so.
 


I just started my first phpBay site. It simple as hell if you use the Wordpress plugin. I haven't done much with it since the initial layout and design. I am still on shared hosting and my sites have pretty much cripple the server. It takes a good 10 seconds for phpBay to load up on each page. I should be up on a dedicated server by next week and relaly get thiings going.

I am looking forward to trying SEO, ad I have always used PPC. It's always nice to have a little challenge.
 
  • Edited WP Template for PHPBay "searches" = 30 Minutes
  • Cooked up permalinks = 15 Minutes
  • Made up a halfass homepage and put in a bunch of categories = 2 hours
  • Edited PHPBay Template to have clickable image links and no Bid text = 30 Minutes
To do list:
Make up flavor text for the rest of my categories.
Do up popular keyword list to make up *popular searches* list.
Write up several articles based on keyword list and put them on their own pages.
Submit articles.
Submit to directories.

Any suggestions?
Is the change with bid price hidden a good one, or should I put it back?
 
Last edited:
Ok, added flavor text to the rest of my categories.

Going to do some keyword research, and then write up 3x 400 word articles and submit them.

Anyone have an idea where I can put some blog content on my site?

I have heard it is best to have a static front page...but others say it is best to have recent articles on the front page so that google sees constant updates.

Which is best?
 
mach1canuck said:
Ok, added flavor text to the rest of my categories.

Going to do some keyword research, and then write up 3x 400 word articles and submit them.

Anyone have an idea where I can put some blog content on my site?

I have heard it is best to have a static front page...but others say it is best to have recent articles on the front page so that google sees constant updates.

Which is best?
Click to expand...

I would say it depends on your genre and site. I would have said always go with static front page maybe of featured Wii's but today I just broke myown rule and did recent articles. I'm doing that because I'm sort of walking on trademark infringement eggshells with my new site so I'm trying to make it look as "news/fan site" as possible with links to pages in ebay. Most likely you'll want to stay with static though.
 
Hey Turbo, are your phpbay sites white hat? I'd like to get mine ranked quickly and I'm not sure what exactly to do besides directory submissions
 
If you use pages, you can easily add content to a single page by editing the page.php files with this code:

<?php if ( is_page('Shot Glasses') ) { ?>
<?php $my_query = new WP_Query('category_name=homepage&showposts=1'); while ($my_query->have_posts()) : $my_query->the_post(); $do_not_duplicate = $post->ID; ?>
<div class="post" id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>">
<h2><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" title="<?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
<div class="entry">
<?php the_content(); ?>
</div>
</div>
<?php endwhile; ?>
<?php } ?>

Here are the things you'll need to edit line by line:
#1 Change 'Shot Glasses' to the name of the page you wish to have content on.
#2 Change 'homepage' from category_name=homepage to the name of the category in which you wish to display content from. Change '1' in showposts=1 to the amount of posts from that category in which you wish to display.

Change all of the div class's and id's so that it works with your css document (each style is different). Add that code right before the <?php endwhile; ?> on page.php. If that doesn't work, experiment with the placement of the code snippet. Like I said, all wordpress themes are different. Hope that helps.

Oh yea, here it is in action: Buy Shot Glasses - Find Fantastic Deals on Shot Glasses » Shot Glasses

I'm using a page for the index on my site. I wanted to also be able to add unique content (like a blog) so I inserted the above code on the page.php file. So every time I post in the category 'homepage' it will be displayed at the bottom of that page. You can use the code for tons of cool shit, such as organizing various categories on one page to make your site look like a giant portal instead of a single column blog. Another hack I did is that I didn't want the category homepage to be displayed as a link in the Shot Glass Resource box at the bottom right (which is just a list of my categories). So I edited the category function to this:

<?php wp_list_cats('sort_column=name&optioncount=1&hierarchical=0&exclude=7'); ?>

See exclude=7? Category #7 is the category homepage. It excludes it from the list. Zing.

Cool eh?
 
Very cool ideas James.
I implemented both of your ideas. Are those your own? Or did you pull them off somewhere else?

I am now waiting until my keywords get finished in the KeyWordElite hopper before I write my articles.

The category mod required I get into the wp-includes/widgets.php file. And required a fair amount of trial and error to get the category widget to display and operate correctly and to exclude the proper category.
PHP: 
<?php wp_list_categories($cat_args . '&title_li=' . '&exclude=4'); ?>

In hindsight, I could have picked off the category using phpMySQL.....

Is there anyone else that uses KeyWordElite on here?
 
Hey James, thanks man for that code. I am coming up with my PhpBay site this weekend.
 
  1. Install phpexec widget
  2. Add a phpexec widget to your sidebar.
  3. Enter the following code in the widget:
    PHP: 
    <?php
function phpBaySearch($term) {
  $keyword = $term;
  $category = "1249";
  $text .= '[phpbay]' . $keyword . ',1,' . $category . ', "gc gamecube ds"[/phpbay]';
  echo phpBayPro($text); 
}
phpBaySearch('wii replacement chrome case');
?>
  4. Edit the category to the proper one, enter your search terms, change the amount of auctions displayed.
 
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