LinkMan
PHP link manager

PLEASE NOTE: I cannot provide free installation support for this free script! Please use the above e-mail address to contact me ONLY about possible bug reports, suggestions or comments! Thank you!

INDEX

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

Copyright 2004-2009 Klemen Stirn. All Rights Reserved.

The LinkMan may be used and modified free of charge by anyone so long as this copyright notice and the comments above remain intact. By using this code you agree to indemnify Klemen Stirn from any liability that might arise from it's use.

Selling the code for this program without prior written consent is expressly forbidden. Using this code, in part or full, to create competing scripts or products is expressly forbidden.

Obtain permission before redistributing this software over the Internet or in any other medium. In all cases copyright and header must remain intact. This Copyright is in full effect in any country that has International Trade Agreements with the United States of America or with the European Union.

Removing copyright notice ("Powered by" statement)
Removing any of the copyright notices without purchasing a license is illegal! To remove PHPJunkyard copyright notice you must purchase a license for this script. For more information on how to obtain a license please visit the site below:
http://www.phpjunkyard.com/copyright-removal.php

DESCRIPTION

PHP reciprocal links manager will automate your link exchange.

Changes in 1.7
- fixed a bug with manually approving new links (reported by DC, www)
- LinkMan now checks for duplicate links waiting approval

Changes in 1.6
- LinkMan can now generate new links pages when the first page is full
- admin panel has been moved to admin.php
- you can now manually approve or reject new links submitted
- several other minor changes and fixes

Changes in 1.5
- you can now ban websites from your link exchange
- admin panel will display a warning if allow_url_fopen is disabled
- fixed adding new links to the top of list but under featured links
- fixed link redirection mixup in (only version 1.4 downloaded before 10th April 2008)
- several other minor changes to the user interface

Changes in 1.4
- improved reciprocal link checking code
- you are now able to edit links from admin panel
- option to make links featured
- option to display website thumbnails
- option to display Google PageRankTM
- option to block websites with too low PageRank
- option to block links with rel="nofollow" link attribute
- option to block links from pages with meta robots noindex or nofollow
- new more powerful SPAM filter
- option to block superlatives from title and description
- option to block duplicate website submissions
- settings can now be set from within the admin panel
- updated user interface
- changed the way new versions are marked (1.4 instead of 1.04)
- many more minor features and changes

REQUIREMENTS

THANKS TO

I would like to say THANKS to everyone who in any way contributed to the development of this script, especially to (in no particular order):

» Installation

Please take 5 minutes time and read installation instructions carefully and completely! This will ensure a proper and easy installation.

  1. Go to your FTP client and FTP to the public directory on your server (where the rest of your website is; usually "public_html", "www" or "site") and create a folder where you will install LinkMan.
    Example: /public_html/linkman
    Corresponding URL: http://www.yourdomain.com/linkman

  2. Upload all LinkMan files to this folder except the update.php file. The "img" folder (all files in this folder) must be transferred in BINARY mode, other files in ASCII mode (refer to your FTP client instructions for details on how to set transfer mode properly).

  3. Make sure that PHP scripts have permission to write to files banned_websites.txt, linkinfo.txt and settings.php - on UNIX (Linux) servers you must CHMOD (set permissions for) these files to 666 (rw-rw-rw-).

  4. Make sure that PHP scripts have permission to write to folder apptmp - on UNIX (Linux) servers you must CHMOD (set permissions for) this folder to 777 (rwxrwxrwx).

  5. To configure settings open your LinkMan admin panel (admin.php) in browser, for example:
    http://www.yourdomain.com/linkman/admin.php

  6. To login enter default password: admin

  7. Click the Settings link from the top menu and configure your LinkMan. You will find more information about LinkMan settings below under Available Settings.

If you have done all this your LinkMan should work now.

File links.php is your links page, access it at:
http://www.yourdomain.com/linkman/links.php
or simply use just:
http://www.yourdomain.com/linkman

If you have Show "Add a link form" enabled your links.php page will already display the form which can be used to add new links to your link exchange. If not you can use the code from form.html to create your "add a link" form. Modify the look as much as you like.

You may edit header.txt and footer.txt files to add your own header and footer to the links page. You will have to use full image URLs in the code. For example instead of <IMG SRC="images/image.jpg" ... > use <IMG SRC="http://www.yourdomain.com/images/image.jpg" ... >! Same goes for any Javascripts or CSS files if you are calling them from within the header or footer.

Good luck with the script!

» Available Settings

  1. These are the settings available in your LinkMan admin panel:

    Variable Description/Setup
    Admin password This will be your password for the admin panel. Change it from the default password admin. Use only letters a-Z, A-Z and numbers 0-9.
    Website URL URL of your website. This is the URL your link partners will have to place on their website.
    Website title A short title of your website like "My lovely website"
    Website description A brief description of your website.


    NOTE:
    IF YOU WISH TO GET LINKMAN UP AND RUNNING AS SOON AS POSSIBLE YOU CAN SKIP OTHER SETTINGS AT THE MOMENT AND LEAVE THEM ALL ON DEFAULT, JUST CLICK THE SAVE SETTINGS BUTTON AT THE BOTTOM.


    Show "Add a link form": If enabled the "Submit your website" form will be displayed at the bottom of the links page. Set to NO to hide the form. In this case you can use the form.html file instead.
    Notify me of new links If set to YES you will receive an e-mail notification at your admin e-mail address every time a new link is added to your LinkMan. Set to NO if you don't want to be notified.
    Admin e-mail address Your e-mail address where new link notifications will be sent. Only required if Notify me of new links is enabled.
    Maximum links Set to the maximum number of links you will allow submitted or select the Accept unlimited links to not set a limit. If you set a limit once it is reached no new links can be submitted (unless some are deleted).
    Allow pages If set to YES LinkMan will create a new page with links after the Links per page limit (see below) is reached. Set to NO if you want to disable generating new pages and show all links on a single page.
    Links per page The number of links that will be shown per page. This setting is only used is Allow pages is set to YES.
    Manually approve links If set to YES you will have to manually approve or reject any new link submitted to the link exchange by clicking a link in the e-mail that is sent to you. Links will not appear in your exchange until you approve them.
    URL of approve.php Set to the URL address of the approve.php file in your LinkMan folder, for example:
    http://www.yourdomain.com/links/approve.php
    Use Security image Setting this to YES (recommended) will require entering a "security number" in order to successfully submit a new link to LinkMan. This will help fight spammers who try to submit links automatically. Set to NO if you want to disable the security number check.

    RECOMMENDED SETTING: YES
    Enable SPAM filter If set to YES LinkMan will check all new submissions with a SPAM filter and block any submissions which fail the check. To disable the SPAM filter (for example if you run an adult or gambling related website) set to NO

    RECOMMENDED SETTING: YES
    Block superlatives If set to YES LinkMan will block titles and descriptions which contain superlatives (words like best, biggest, largest, cheapest, funniest, ...). This only works if SPAM filter is enabled. To allow superlatives set to NO.

    RECOMMENDED SETTING: YES
    Normal links or redirects: Use normal links = normal URLs will be used for links (example: http://www.google.com).
    Redirect all links = redirects will be used for links
    (example: http://www.yoursite.com/linkman/go.php?url=http://www.google.com).
    Featured normal, reciprocal redirect = featured links will be normal, reciprocal links will be redirects
    Add rel="nofollow" to links If set to YES links will have the rel="nofollow" attribute. Set to NO to disable.
    Add new links to Bottom of list = new listings will appear to the top of the links.php page.
    Top of list = new listings to appear below old listings.
    File with link data File where all the link data will be stored (advanced users only). You may leave this as it is.
    File with banned websites File where a list of banned websites is stored (advanced users only). You may leave this as it is.
    Show URL after title Set to YES to display website URL next to title in links list. Set to NO to hide website URLs.
    Show Google PageRankTM NO = don't show Google PageRank
    YES = show Google PageRank
    YES, in admin panel only = show Google PageRank in admin panel only but not on the links.php page
    Minimum PR to accept website Minimum Google PageRank to accept a website to the link exchange. Possible values are from 0 to 10. Setting it to at least 1 or 2 can be helpful in blocking spammers. Don't set it too high though, it shouldn't be higher than your website PageRank.
    Minimum reciprocal URL PR Minimum Google PageRank of the website where the reciprocal link to your website must be placed. Possible values are from 0 to 10. Setting it to at least 1 or 2 can be helpful in blocking spammers. Don't set it too high though, it shouldn't be higher than your website PageRank.
    Block links with rel="nofollow" Setting to YES will block website from the link exchange if the reciprocal link has rel="nofollow" attribute. You should disable this (set to NO) if you have Add rel="nofollow" to links set to YES.
    Block noindex, nofollow pages Setting to YES will block website from the link exchange if the reciprocal link is located on a web with meta robots noindex or nofollow tag.
    Block duplicate links If set to YES LinkMan will block duplicate website submissions from the link exchange. Set to NO to allow duplicates.
    Show thumbshots NO = don't show any website thumbshots (small screenshots)
    YES, for all links = all links will have a thumbshot
    YES, for Featured links only = only Featured links will show a thumbshot
    Thumbshots service URL The query URL of your favorite thumbshots service.

    IMPORTANT! If you use the default one (thumbshots.org) note that they require a link to their service from your website or they can disable your server to access their server! Get a link here and place it on your website.
    Hide these sections on load Select which sections of the main admin page are hidden by default. You can hide sections you don't use regularly and reduce the height (scrolling required) of the main admin page.
    Debug mode If you are having problems with LinkMan set to ON to enable debugging (will show PHP errors). Should be set to OFF for normal usage.

» Upgrading from previous versions

To upgrade from version 1.6 to 1.7 follow these steps:

  1. BACKUP your old LinkMan
  2. Upload ALL files to your server except banned_websites, linkinfo.txt and settings.php (and in case you modified header/footer or style don't upload style.css, header.txt and footer.txt).
  3. open file update.php in your browser, for example:
    http://www.yourdomain.com/linkman/update.php
  4. DELETE file update.php
  5. Test everything. All your current links and settings should stay intact.

To upgrade from version 1.5 to 1.7 follow these steps:

  1. BACKUP your old LinkMan
  2. Upload ALL files to your server except banned_websites, linkinfo.txt and settings.php (and in case you modified header/footer or style don't upload style.css, header.txt and footer.txt).
  3. Make sure folder apptmp is writable by PHP scripts. On Linux server chmod this folder to 777 (rwxrwxrwx).
  4. open file update.php in your browser, for example:
    http://www.yourdomain.com/linkman/update.php
  5. DELETE file update.php
  6. Login to your admin panel (name changed to admin.php!) with your password and click the Settings link to configure your LinkMan.
  7. Test everything. All your current links and settings should stay intact.

To upgrade from version 1.4 to 1.7 follow these steps:

  1. BACKUP your old LinkMan
  2. Upload ALL files to your server except linkinfo.txt and settings.php (and in case you modified header/footer or style don't upload style.css, header.txt and footer.txt).
  3. Make sure file banned_websites is writable by PHP scripts. On Linux server chmod this file to 666 (rw-rw-rw-).
  4. Make sure folder apptmp is writable by PHP scripts. On Linux server chmod this folder to 777 (rwxrwxrwx).
  5. open file update.php in your browser, for example:
    http://www.yourdomain.com/linkman/update.php
  6. DELETE file update.php
  7. Login to your admin panel (name changed to admin.php!) with your password and click the Settings link to configure your LinkMan.
  8. Test everything. All your current links and settings should stay intact.

To upgrade from older versions (prior to 1.4) to 1.7 follow these steps:

  1. BACKUP your old LinkMan
  2. Upload ALL files to your server (also settings.php!!) except linkinfo.txt and update.php (and in case you modified header/footer/style don't upload style.css, header.txt and footer.txt). Files inside "img" folder should be uploaded in BINARY, all other files in ASCII mode.
  3. Make sure file settings.php and banned_websites are writable by PHP scripts. On Linux server chmod these files to 666 (rw-rw-rw-).
  4. Make sure folder apptmp is writable by PHP scripts. On Linux server chmod this folder to 777 (rwxrwxrwx).
  5. Login to your admin panel (name changed to admin.php!) with password admin and click the Settings link to configure your LinkMan.
  6. Test everything. All your current links should stay intact.
  7. If you are using Google PageRank login to the admin panel and click the "Update PageRank" link to get PR of existing links!

Good luck with the script!

» Troubleshooting

PLEASE READ BEFORE ASKING Since this script is free no support is guaranteed. You will find solutions for some common problems below. If you can't get the script to work please go through this readme file again carefully and repeat the installation step-by-step (also delete old files and folders from the server). Also please feel free to FIRST SEARCH for solutions and then post any questions or problems you might have to PHPJunkyard forum!

1. What is CHMOD and FTP?

I have prepared a simple FTP and CHMOD tutorial which will help you FTP files to your server and set correct CHMOD settings.

2. My LinkMan doesn't work, HELP!

Here are a few things to check:

  1. did you upload the img folder in BINARY mode and all other files ASCII mode?
  2. are linkinfo.txt and settings.php files world writable? CHMOD them to 666 (rw-rw-rw) if you are on a UNIX server
  3. go through the entire setup process again carefully
  4. are you sure your host supports PHP?

3. How can I stop spammers from posting links?

Make sure you have these settings enabled (set to YES):

  1. Use Security image
  2. Enable SPAM filter
  3. Block superlatives

You can also set Minimum PR to accept website and Minimum reciprocal URL PR to 1 or 2 to block website with low Google PageRank.

Also consider enabling manual link approval so you can approve/reject each link before it is added to the exchange.

4. How can I modify the links.php page to fit my website design?

You can modify the links page by modifying the HTML code inside header.txt and footer.txt files. All code that is inside header.txt will be printed before links and all code in footer.txt after links.

If you are not that familiar with HTML code you can try this simple trick. It is based on my Cut and paste code into HTML document article (visit it for an example with screenshots):

  1. Use your web page editor to design your links page. Try to keep it simple.
  2. Where you want the links to be displayed enter this text: CODE_HERE
  3. Save it to a file and open that file in a text editor like Notepad or Wordpad
  4. Find the CODE_HERE text inside the code (you can use the search function).
  5. Now copy and paste all the code above CODE_HERE into header.txt and all code below CODE_HERE into footer.txt
  6. Upload header.txt and footer.txt to your server
  7. Now open your links.php page and you should see the new design (refresh the page if not).

5. Where is the admin panel?

To access LinkMan administration panel open admin.php in your browser, for example:
http://www.yourdomain.com/links/admin.php
(change the URL to the actual URL of admin.php on your server)

6. I am manually approving links but don't get an e-mail when a link is submitted?

Make sure PHP mail() command is configured properly on your server and that your Admin e-mail is set correctly in the admin panel settings.

7. Links for approving/rejecting links don't work

Make sure URL to approve.php is set correctly to the URL of approve.php on YOUR server in your admin panel settings.

» Copyright removal

You may NOT edit or remove any copyright or Powered by statements in LinkMan code without purchasing a license! For more information please visit http://www.phpjunkyard.com/copyright-removal.php

» Stay updated!

Join my FREE newsletter and you will be notified about new scripts, new versions of the existing scripts and other important news from PHPJunkYard.
Click here for more info

» Please rate this script

If you like this script please rate it or even write a review at:

Rate this Script @ Hot Scripts

Rate this Script @ The PHP Resource Index

» Get more useful FREE scripts!

Looking for more free PHP scripts? Here is a list of PHPJunkyard FREE scripts:

» What else?

That's it! If you use PHPJunkYard free scripts or any portion of their code please place a link to PHPJunkYard.com on your website. I won't sue you if you don't, but I believe it is a fair trade for a free script/code. Think about it. You can find link suggestions here.

Best regards,

Klemen Stirn
PHP JunkYard
http://www.PHPJunkYard.com