Here’s my quick summary courtesy of Mashable and TechCrunch.

Anti-SOPA crowd says: this will allow legislation that will allow censorship.  We would all agree that there are some sites that simply shouldn’t be online – I’m thinking of my kids and freaks out there who like to exploit them, as one example.  However, the end-game means that website owners would become responsible for the content on the site, which in turn means no user-added content (how can we control what comments our readers add?), which in turn could threaten the entire social media and social network infrastructure.

Proponents say: a serious threat exists online to the entire US Copyright system.  Without some action in the form of legislation, jobs and income will be lost and the fine arts industries will suffer or die due to online piracy.

Click on Graphic to view the original.

SOPA STRIKE

Tomorrow, January 18 American Censorship is organizing a ‘black out’ day.  Websites such as wikipedia, reddit, creative commons, google, mozilla all support this cause.  I know reddit and wikipedia are going completely black tomorrow with a message directing readers to American Censorship for more information.  I wasn’t able to see promises from the other sites.  In November the first ‘blackout day’ was held, and over 6,000 sites participated with a “STOP CENSORSHIP” black bar across their logos.

If you’d like to participate, visit this page for ways you can particpate.  The blackout begins at 8AM EST and goes for 12 hours.  If you need help adding the plugins or javascript to your site let us know.  We’ll be donating as many hours as needed tonight to help website owners install the blackout page.  (& remove it tomorrow night)

Further Reading

http://savvyblogging.net/sopa-strike/

http://americancensorship.org

http://mashable.com/2012/01/16/murdoch-twitter-rampage-sopa/

So, are you striking?

We are poised.  We truly are.  We are ready to handle the influx.  We have our new software in place.  We have our shop in place.  We have our staff in place.  We’re ready!  I’m so excited to begin this new year! I know, its a little disgusting how excited I get.  But there’s a lot of website owners out there who need help, and we can do it! Not only that – we’re NICE about it!

Also, in a ridiculously well-timed coincidence I just received a check for $62 from an affiliate of mine yesterday.   And what did I do to promote them?  Nothing except that sidebar ad you see in the sidebar for Genesis.  Referral (aka Affiliate) income provides a very easy second income stream for almost any webmaster.

On to Making Money

We introduced a referral program through our newsletter and for Retainer clients just before the holidays.  And now we’re opening it up to you!  Here’s how it works:

1. You sign up here.
2. You copy the code here.
3. You paste it into a sidebar or post.
4. Your reader clicks on your ad/code.
5. Your reader purchases something from us within 60 days of that original click.
6. You make 30% of that purchase.

Referral Links & Ads & Posts

We’ve included the following text links (these are edited to include your unique referral code in your referral control panel):

• Your Friendly Geeks
• Desperately Seeking WordPress
• WordPress Technical Support
• Blogger to WordPress Transfer Service

5 Tips for Making Money with Referral Ads

Referral ads are a great way to create another stream of income from your blog.  Each and every one of these tips will increase your revenue from referral ads.  Do them all and see what you can make!

1. It is important to pick those ads that would benefit your readers.  Our referral program will make you the most money if you post it in a place where the audience has or wants to have a WordPress website.  
2. Since most of our business comes from recommendations it is a good idea to post about your experience with our company or what you’ve heard to give the ad your personal recommendation.
3. Referral ads do best on pages with similar content.  If you have a blogging 101 section, or a WordPress Tips section – our ads will do well there.
4. All ads do best just before the content begins or within the content itself.  Warning – this is aggressive ad placement.  If your readers will not appreciate an aggressive advertising campaign try the other proven locations – below the navigation bar, or after your signature.
5. Join our #WordPressWednesdaychat on TwitterBonus:  Write a monthly ‘thank you’ post to your sponsors.  They (me!) will appreciate it, and you might be surprised how eager your readers are to support your work.

Take the first step:

Sign up now to earn 30%!

Each year around this time, my kids and I get together and plan a 12 Days of Giving celebration.  The main point is to shift the focus from ‘Gimme, gimme’ towards something a little more attractive.  My kids adore this, and surprisingly so do I!  The first year we made dog blankets for the local dog shelter, rolled our coins for a homeless shelter, made Christmas ornaments and left them on our neighbour’s door handles, made and delivered a hot meal to a new mom, and more that I can’t recall at the moment.  In all it was 12 random acts of service, only one or two that really cost us anything.

From our business to yours?

I would love to do this on a business to business level.  When I was googling for new ideas, it is readily apparent that “Days of Giving” is just another marketing campaign – another sale for a lot of companies.  I regret to say that is not what this is!   Each year as a company, DSWP supports the Kiva foundation (small business loans), World Vision (small business loans to women), and donate a couple of new websites to worthy causes (one public education site, one other).  I’ve had the privilege of giving away websites and our services to whoever I choose.

How about you take a turn?  Who would you like to see benefit from free services by DSWP?

Recipients should meet the following criteria:

• couldn’t normally afford our services
• not-for-profit or charity or friend
• a cause you love & support

To nominate someone:

~Cathy