[teachwny]

Thought I would share a small monetization tip I have for current pligg users. If you are familiar with Ebay Partner Network (EPN) or Pepperjam Network eBay program, then you no doubt understand the profit potential in showing relevant eBay listings on your website.

The phpBay API is easy to use. It's not free, but it will pay for itself over time. I have already made my license fee back and then some! There is also a phpBay Wordpress plugin that is super easy to use if you run any Wordpress powered sites. Basically, you enter a search string, the number of items you want returned, and the category number to narrow it down to the most relevant results. If someone clicks on one of your links, it will set a cookie on their computer for ONE WEEK. Should the clicker buy it now or bid on an item, you will be paid a commission equal to ONE HALF of the Final Value Fee collected by eBay. If you target the right niches, you can easily make $100/mo for very little work.

So, how did I get this thing working? Can I show you some examples?

Examples:

teachWNY.com front page - Scroll down to see the phpBay API Sidebar Widget in action - it's free with your license - I have targeted items relevant to teachers as this is a teacher oriented website

teachWNY.com story page - I have placed a 6 product box beneath the story above the comments section - the phpBay API will return up to 100 auctions at a time!

First Edition Points Wiki - This is a Mediawiki powered site, but I'm showing you the landing page to show you how the listings can be placed in rows instead of columns. With a little bit of css, you can style the phpBay listings to look anyway you like.

How did I integrate these listings into the Pligg template? Glad you asked.

1. I enrolled in the Ebay Partner Network and the eBay program at Pepperjam Network.
2. I purchased the phpBay API (and the equally awesome Wordpress plugin)
3. I configured and uploaded the API to my server.
4. I edited THREE TEMPLATE FILES.

A. Put phpBay API in the right sidebar by editing sidebar.tpl:

Add this code where you want the phpBay sidebar to show up.

{checkActionsTpl location="tpl_sidebar_top"}{assign var=sidebar_module value="phpBaysidebar"}{include file=$the_template_sidebar_modules."/wrapper.tpl"}

B. Create a file at /sidebar_modules/phpBaysidebar.tpl:

<div align="center">
<?php 
require_once("./phpbay/ebay.php"); 
phpBayAPISideBar(teacher, 7, 16706); 
?>
</div>

C. For the listings on the story page, I edited link_summary.tpl - I customized it to show different listings based on the pligg category assigned to the story.

Add this at the end of link_summary, right before {checkActionsTpl location="tpl_link_summary_end"}

{if $pagename eq "story"}
{if $category_id eq "1"}
<br />
<div align="center">
<?php 
require_once("./phpbay/ebay.php"); 
phpBayAPI("english teacher", 15); 
?> 
</div>
{/if}{/if}

{if $pagename eq "story"}
{if $category_id eq "2"}
<br />
<div align="center">
<?php 
require_once("./phpbay/ebay.php"); 
phpBayAPI("elementary teacher", 15); 
?> 
</div>
{/if}{/if}

5. I uploaded my newly customized template files and voila! I've got another income stream on my site. Here's an example of how the {if} statements above can show different listings according to the story category.

Category 1 = Secondary Teaching Jobs - shows auctions relevant to English teachers as I had a lot of English teaching jobs up when I created it

Category 2 = Elementary Teaching Jobs - shows auctions relevant to Elementary teachers

So on and so forth. You get the idea. I have to thank chuckroast for helping me come up with the code for that category specific idea.

SEO TIP! - with a little .htaccess magic, you can rewrite the eBay URLs and images to appear as though they are coming from your site! If someone searches for "dandy blue widget" in Google and you have a phpBay listing for "dandy blue widget," you will likely rank pretty high in the search engine results pages (SERPs) because you've got a pligg site with great content to support your auction listings!

I'm not saying you will be a millionaire or even a thousandaire overnight, but the opportunity exists to monetize the traffic you have with relevant eBay auctions targeted at your user base.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

1. Get yourself an account over at eBay Partner Network or Pepperjam Network (you will receive a $10 sign up bonus if you follow my link!) and wait for approval. I had both of my accounts approved within 24 hours.

2. Buy the phpBay API.

3. Follow my instructions in this post.

4. Profit!