Sorry, I’m late, I got stuck while out and only got back a few minutes ago.
The Nickel Sale for the WordPress AutoResponder Plugin is now live and the link you’re after is:-
NICKEL SALE CLOSED
30
Apr
2010
Month: April 2010
28
Apr
2010
WordPress AutoResponder Nickel Sale
UPDATE: The Nickel Sale is over but you can purchase the WordPress AutoResponder using the payment button below.
***
As you might have guessed from the title, the plugin I’ll be launching is a WordPress autoresponder.
I’ve long thought about how nice it would be to have a simple autoresponder *plugin* rather than have to mess about with setting it all up in an autoresponder service. I don’t know about you but I’ve always thought it a bit like using a sledgehammer to crack a peanut.
I have plenty of little niche blogs that I’d like to gather names and email addresses through, but because they’re niche sites, it’s never seemed worth the hassle of setting it up in the autoresponder service I use.
I mean, come on, how useful is it in my main niche to gather a list of people interested in petrol lawn mowers for instance? 😉
Even ignoring the niche aspect of the plugin, I figured that for lots of people just starting out that the last thing they’d purchase is a monthly autoresponder service.
If you stop and think about it, there are plenty of bloggers out there setting up their first sites who have read that they need to be gathering email addresses, but aren’t quite sure about it all, and don’t want to commit to a service.
So I looked around to see what was available in the way of AR plugins for us marketers. I expected to find at least one half decent plugin, but to my surprise the one that really looked promising didn’t allow you to gather a name – all you could get was an email address.
Also, the interface was a bit clunky and it meant you had to go to different areas of the WP admin panel to do different things. I wanted it all in one menu area.
And then there was no widget so you could easily place the form in the sidebar like I do on my personal blog. I know that’s very effective, and is important to have in.
There were a couple of other plugins that sort of claimed to do the job, but it was clear they’d all been planned by developers not marketers. Many of them are just simple list mailers and have no kind of delayed autoresponder ability. It seemed that nobody really knew quite what it was that WE needed.
And that’s why I created this plugin.
I fully intend to turn it into a powerful tool that’s a first choice for bloggers, and my pledge is that all minor version releases up to v2 will be free upgrades. I have some great ideas for it as I really know what’s lacking from many autoresponder services – I’ve felt that pain.
So on Friday 30th April at 6.00pm GMT (1.00pm EST), I’ll be kicking off this nickel sale.
***WARNING***
The last nickel sale I did a few months ago went a bit pear shaped as the autoresponder service I was using failed to send out the email until nearly 2 hours after it was supposed to go out. Many people were left waiting for it but didn’t get it until many sales had already gone through, and so didn’t get as good a deal as they would have done.
So my advice is, if you want to be one of the first to grab it and get it at it’s lowest price, keep an eye on my blog.
Regardless of whether or not the email is sent out on time, if you hang around on my blog at start time, you’ll see a post appear with the location of the nickel sale. Okay?
That’s how lots of people got in early last time, and that’s probably how it will happen this time too.
-Frank Haywood
01
Apr
2010
Fame And Traffic
For a long time now I’ve been saying that having a personal blog is a very good idea, but a lot of people still don’t get it.
People like to buy from people, not from busineses, and as an example of what I mean, the first thing I always do when considering purchasing a product is do a quick search for the product owners name.
If I find it, I take a quick look at the site just to see if there’s a real person behind it all and for peace of mind, and in most cases it’s a blog.
Usually if there’s a couple of other products they have for sale, I check them out too, and at any rate blogs are good place to see if there’s any special deals going on, like product bundles at a reduced price. I’ve managed to pick up a couple of those and been really pleased with the purchase.
Make sense so far?
But there’s also a traffic aspect to owning a blog too, which isn’t apparent until you stop to think about it.
My answer doesn’t vary…
You can buy traffic, or you can generate it yourself.
By buying traffic I mean any method that costs you money. Pay per click, banner ads, directory listings, affiliate traffic (you pay a commission), hiring content writers to write articles and submitting them and so on.
Generating it yourself is for all those people who have the time but not the money to buy it.
And doing it yourself (or seeming to) is a lot more effective in most cases than paying for it, as it’s the “Holy Grail” of traffic generation – highly targetted.
It’s certainly easy to do.
#1 – Write something interesting and useful for your target niche and post it on your blog.
#2 – Go hunting for similar blogs in your niche and leave valid and interesting comments. Can I EVER stress this enough? No “me too” comments EVER. Okay? If it’s a good enough comment, then REAL people will start to click through and find your site. When they do, capture their name and email address.
#3 – Sign up to a few forums in your niche, put a link back to your blog in your signature, and get involved in a few interesting threads. I’ll say it again, no “me too” comments. Be helpful, and don’t discuss stuff you don’t understand. If you see a thread that’s gone bad, such as a flame war or has gone over the top in some way, DO NOT COMMENT. If you join in, you will be seen as a jerk and won’t be taken seriously. Remember, you want to help and be interesting. REAL people will start to click through and find your site.
#4 – Goto #1.
If you have products for sale, then list them somewhere prominent on your blog, but not “in-your-face” prominent. The sidebar near the top after your sign up box is just fine. (Remind you of any blog you know?)
Traffic that comes through to your blog means people will find ALL your products. If you run affiliate schemes for your products (and you should be), then people signing up will drive even more traffic directly to your sites.
Wow! It’s as simple as that, it really is.
You may even want to pump it all up a bit… How?
Well, here’s a brilliant method I’ve just learned about that will bring in a torrent of traffic to your blog.
Yes it takes some work, yes you might find it a bit scary, but if you have the chutzpah and energy to do it, the rewards are incredible.
And… you don’t have to go at it as hard as this person did, you can also scale it down just to try it out. But definitely, definitely… Doing it will bring you in highly targetted traffic, guaranteed.
You can read more about it here:-
http://www.frankhaywood.com/go/htbwt/
-Frank Haywood
