Of course, with so many eyes, criticisms were to be expected. First and foremost, the article shouldn’t have been numbered; many of the readers interpreted it as an attempt to rank the web development skills against one another, when in fact they were listed in alphabetical order. Thankfully, I got the editor to correct this and note the ordering.

As for the list itself, surprisingly few people disagreed. This came as a bit of a shock, considering the list was about 25% research and 75% professional experience. The only noteworthy exception was that many felt ASP should have been replaced by ColdFusion. If I could go back and make that change now, I would, but I’m not about to compromise the integrity of the article after it’s already been published, discussed, and Dugg.

All in all, I’m happy with how the article faired. It’s definitely earned a prominent place in my writing portfolio. If you haven’t read it yet, you can catch it over on Read/Write Web. It stands as a pretty good guide to marketable web development skills. Just substitute ASP for ColdFusion and you’ll be on the right track.

Note that this script is designed to block simple spambots. A dedicated human spammer or a more sophisticated bot will still be able to bypass it. If you’re looking for something more robust, I recommend giving reCAPTCHA a try. Of course, I’m also happy to improve the script for anyone who cares to offer constructive feedback.

Of course, there’s no way for me to get PhotoShop from my old computer to my new one short of swapping hard drives (or shelling out the money for a new version). I won’t be mourning the loss of it, though. Thanks to this whole “Web 2.0″ thing people keep talking about, there are plenty of free, online photo editing alternatives that can get the job done just as effectively.

Take Picnik, for example. Instead of a software suite that costs $100s and gives you a ton of functionality that you’ll never use, Picnik is a free, browser-based program that offers the short selection of features that most of us actually care about. You can crop, resize, rotate, adjust brightness and contrast, etc. No, it’s not PhotoShop, but without installation or a price tag, I know I’m sold.

Here was my problem. My friend Adam asked me to write some code to include recent post lists outside of WordPress on a client’s site. For those who know a thing or two about WordPress, this wouldn’t normally be an issue; just use the following two lines of code and you’re all set to make use of built-in WordPress functions:

<?php
define('WP_USE_THEMES', false);
require_once('/path/to/wp-blog-header.php');
?>

Unfortunately, the site he wanted me to do this on used Smarty templates. Now, I’ve heard good things about Smarty, but I know less than jack about using it. After spinning my wheels for awhile, I finally discovered that I couldn’t include WordPress in Smarty templates without generating fatal errors.

As you might have guessed from the title of this post, my solution to this was to separate the WordPress code into an external PHP file and include it as pre-parsed output. To do this, simply set allow_url_fopen to true (either in php.ini or through the ini_set() function). Then, include the output file using its http path rather than its file path. Here’s the code I used:

<?php
ini_set('allow_url_fopen', 1);
echo file_get_contents('http://www.domain.com/path/to/file.php');
?>

The result is that you get the raw output of the file without the code, completely separating it from the normal flow of execution. It becomes more like reading a text file. In my case, it allowed me to create dynamic WordPress post lists from within an active Smarty template file. I don’t know about you, but I’ll be filing that one under “handy tricks” in my PHP handbook.

• Overall, almost three out of four (72.7%) web professionals reported having a blog.
• Almost half (49.6%) have had a blog for three years or more.
• Surprisingly, the number of web professionals with blogs showed little or no variation between different genders and salary ranges.
• Web professionals younger than 40 were slightly more likely to blog than those over 40.
• Web professionals in creative fields (e.g., writing and design) were slightly more likely to blog than those in technical fields (e.g., development and project management).

Perhaps the most interesting finding was the lack of difference in blogging between web professionals of different salaries. This implies that a personal blog or website is not necessary for professional success, and may in fact do little to help advance your career. Of course, this flies in the face of what most of us web pros hope our blogs might accomplish. Considering the lack of causality, I’d say further research is needed to determine whether or not blogging is a useful career advancement strategy.

No matter what profession you’re in, a resume accomplishes the same thing: It says what you can do. That’s it. From a hiring perspective, however, that really isn’t enough. You can say what you’re capable of, but a potential employer will never know until they’ve seen it for themselves.

You have to show them what you can do. If you’re applying to be a copywriter, include some samples of your writing. If you’re applying for a developer position, attach samples of your code. If you’re interested in design work, show me your portfolio.

This tip actually comes from my experience on both sides of the fence. I never got so many compliments from interviewers and employers as I did when I started including six pages of code with my resume. In retrospect, that simple action played a major role in landing me my last two jobs. If only the applications we received had something to that effect, it would make choosing candidates infinitely simpler.

Just put yourself in the shoes of Human Resources and you’ll understand why. Resumes can be fraudulent. People often joke about “creative exaggerations” and outright lies on resumes. As they say, talk is cheap. On the other hand, a solid example of your work is much easier to trust.

So remember, when you’re a web professional looking for work, don’t just tell potential employers that you’re the right person for the job; prove it by showing them what you can do.

It’s not difficult to tell when you’re “on a wave.” Writing one post will take you little or no effort, and you’ll often feel inspired to write more. When this happens, the important thing is that you don’t fight it. Keep writing as long as the feeling lasts. Here are a few ways to keep going after you’ve filled your normal quota.

• Build a cushion of emergency posts. It’s possible to develop a “cushion” by writing several time-independent posts in case of a blogging emergency. That way, your blog is protected from occasional periods of inactivity.
   
• Post ahead of schedule. With advance posting, you can get ahead of your normal posting schedule. Similar to a cushion, this allows your posting frequency to remain consistent despite delays. The only difference is that, instead saving the posts for a rainy day, you set them up to post automatically so your blog can fly on auto-pilot for a few days. Ideally, you can use this time to write even more posts and stay well ahead of schedule.
   
• Compose a series. Many of the best series posts are written all in one sitting, so a wave is the perfect opportunity to write one. You can write one long post and break it up afterward, or write the whole series in sections. By doing it all at once, your series will flow very well from one post to the next.

Exactly how you ride the wave doesn’t matter as much as riding it in the first place. By taking advantage of these upswings, you can maintain a consistent post frequency in spite of occasional downturns. Done correctly, your audience won’t even be able to tell the difference.

Pros of Google AdSense

• Reputation. AdSense is often listed among the best ways to monetize a website. Google is a well-known and trustworthy brand, so there’s no need to be concerned over offensive ads, network outages, or missed payoffs. It’s also because of its reputation that Google has an extensive advertiser network, so they can serve up well-targetted ads for almost any subject.
   
• Contextual targetting. Other advertising programs like Chitika or Commission Junction require you to hand-pick your ads. The AdSense system customizes ads to your page automatically. This is a real convenience that frees up your time for other website activities.
   
• Customizability. AdSense can be tailored to almost any website. You can create ads in multiple sizes and tailor the colors to match your site as you see fit.
   
• Tracking. AdSense provides extensive click tracking for its affiliates. You can also set up custom channels to track ads by individual type or site. For the performance optimizing gurus out there, AdSense sets the bar.
   

Cons of Google AdSense

• Contextual targetting. You may have noticed that this is listed as a pro as well. It’s also a con because it’s driven by an algorithm and can often fail to produce well-targetted ads. For example, I’ve made several posts over on the World of Warcraft section of Project Paradox concerning spells for the game’s warlock class, to which AdSense has repeatedly served up psychic adviser and new age occultism ads. Any human being who read the article would know that these ads are inappropriate, but AdSense has difficulty telling the difference. It’s possible to curb this to a certain extent by filtering out specific ads, but it gets tedious very quickly.
   
• High minimum payoff. If you do some shopping around, you’ll notice that the minimum payoff of most advertising programs is $25 or perhaps $50 at the most. AdSense’s minimum payoff is $100. For a small website owner, it can take months to earn that much. Case in point, it took Project Paradox a year and a half to achieve its first payoff.
   
• Protracted payoff schedule. This is somewhat related to the minimum payoff problem. Whenever you get a payoff, it takes about a month and a half for the check to reach your hand. This isn’t a big problem if you’re earning more than $100 every month, but it’s just an added wait for those who don’t.
   
• Ad whoring. An old coworker once said that putting AdSense on my site made me look like an “advertising whore.” There really isn’t any avoiding this, since you have to place ads in obvious locations if users are ever going to click on them. This may turn some users off to your site. It’s just the price you have to pay for monetization.
   
• Unpredictable topic worth. Unless you’re very clever, there’s no simple way of determining how much advertisements for a particular topic will be worth. And while the industry has some general guidelines for high-paying topics, there are lots of variables that Google keeps hidden. When using AdSense, you can expect your returns to be unpredictable on a page-by-page basis.
   

There are certainly other pros and cons of AdSense, but those are the big ones. Despite a few hitches, I’d highly recommend it for anyone looking to make a few bucks off their website. If you’re interested, you can use the link below to learn more and sign up.

Here is my epiphany: Affiliates are leeches. In any affiliate relationship, you should always assume that the other party is trying to cheat you, period. This is the only way to be safe and keep your costs from inflating.

What do I mean by “leeches”? Quite simply, affiliates will try everything to draw more money out of you than you should actually be paying them. If they get paid for impressions, they’ll inflate their numbers with bots. If they get paid for clicks, they’ll send fraudulent traffic. If they get paid for actions, they’ll submit spam. In any instance, they’ll try to deliver valueless marketing to increase your payout.

Like leeches, of course, you’ll never notice they’re doing it unless you’re vigilant. The only way to avoid the problem is to double- and triple-check what they’re doing. I often find myself saying, “90% of marketing is tracking,” and it’s especially true of affiliate marketing. Trust nothing an affiliate sends you until its value is confirmed. If given the choice, only pay out for marketing that produces results. Any affiliate that seems too good to be true probably is, so trust no one.

Granted, there are legitimate affiliates out there. Heck, I’m one of them. I look forward to a long and profitable relationship with Google AdSense and Text Link Ads because I don’t try to cheat them. Bear in mind, though, that I’m in the minority; I wouldn’t advise anyone to count on more than 5% of their affiliates being honest.

The advice bears repeating. If you’re using affiliate marketing to promote your website, be it through paid search like Google AdWords, third party affiliates like Commission Junction, in-house affiliate contracts, or whatever, beware. You’re swimming with leeches, and if you don’t check what they’re doing, they’ll suck you dry.

Of course, brainstorming domain names and performing manual whois lookups can be frustrating and eat up valuable time. Instead of doing everything by hand, just head over to Bust a Name and plug in the keywords you’re considering for your domain. The tool will automatically combine keywords with root-level domains and check their availability. It’s a great way to save your time for other important activities, like design and deployment.