Month: May 2011

New Multiple Streams Theme – MST008

Update 6th July 2011:

The videos for this theme have *finally* been completed and you can see them here:-

http://multiplestreamsthemes.com/videos/mst008-videos/

Update 22nd June 2011:

MST008 has been updated to v 1.0.1 due to an easy to fix but annoying bug…

Some people may have been having a “headers already sent” problem with this theme. We didn’t see this on our test bed, so maybe the server(s) we’re using are more forgiving than others. It happens when some spaces or blank lines get inserted into a PHP file where they shouldn’t be.

Happily, WordPress know about this issue, and there’s an explanation of it here if you ever come across it yourself.

Just go back to your personal download page and grab the latest version, we’re sorry about any inconvenience.

Update: I’m sorry for the delay, the theme and plugin bundle is now available. There were a number of small issues I had with the theme, now all resolved. Please go back to your personal download page and you can grab it from there. 🙂

Offer Closed

***


The latest in the Multiple Streams Themes (MST008) is now *almost* complete, and on Friday 26th May at 6.00pm GMT (1.00pm EST) I’ll be running a 48-hour 50-copies-only PRE-ORDER sale at $10.00.

It comes with a nice selection of pre-designed banners including blank JPEGs and PSDs for them, plus umpteen sidebars, a selection of built in page templates, plus plugins (Ads Manager, Redirection, Squeeze Page Templates), and a set of theme options too.

The theme options allow you to turn on and off the header, top boxes and top and bottom ad areas, change footer text and add analytics code if you don’t have the Script Manager plugin.

And of course the theme supports the common WP 3.x features of custom menus, and background. That second one allows you to further lighten the feel of the theme or darken it down if that’s your preference.

And… after several requests we’ve added an extra “ad sidebar” at the top, so instead of the usual 3 ad blocks for sign ups, freebies, etc, there are now FOUR.

And finally, we’ve included a slider area at the top under the menu where you can place presentational images, extra ads etc.

It’s really nice, very businessey, probably the most professional looking theme so far… 😉

More on this tomorrow, but just in case you’re thinking “Hang on! I’ve bought all of them – what happened to MST007?” Well, someone else is working on that one, so they’ve got a bit out of order. When it’s done I’ll release it don’t worry. 😉

For now, MST008 isn’t quite ready as I’ve asked for a couple of under-the-hood changes and I’m expecting to get it in the next few days.

You can get a sneak preview of the theme here:-

http://mst008.multiplestreamsthemes.com/

The pre-order sale starts tomorrow at 6.00pm BST (British Summer Time, which is GMT+1).

-Frank Haywood

Posted by Frank Haywood in internet business, software, wordpress plugins, WordPress Themes

Promo Tools Plugin 48 Hour Special

Offer Closed

***

Today (Saturday) at 6.00pm GMT I’ll be running a 48 hour special for a great new plugin called the Promo Tools plugin.

I know it’s unusual for me to run a pre-launch sale like this at the weekend, but I won’t be around until Friday afternoon (possibly evening), as I have a scheduled hospital visit.

(The same goes for the affiliate scheme – I’ll have some news for you about that too.)

I then want to release the plugin officially and immediately when the sale is over.

As part of the scheme, I’ll be using the new Promo Tools plugin – it seems to be perfect for our needs.

In case you don’t know what a promo tools page is, it’s usually a page dedicated to supplying an affiliate with a set of promotional tools together with their affiliate link embedded in them.

And that’s exactly what the Promo Tools plugin can help you with.

It will allow you to create pages that you can fill with promo tools you create for your affiliates such as pre-written blog posts, articles, emails, forum signatures and banners.

With this plugin, once you’ve set up the tools, all an affiliate has to do is paste their aff link into the box at the top and every single promo tool on the page gets auto-populated with their affiliate link.

Then they can copy the code for banners etc and paste it directly into their web site.

It makes the whole process a lot easier for affiliates, and the easier you can make it, the more attractive it becomes.

And while I know this is contrary to the 80:20 rule I live by, experience tells me it’s the many little things like this that make the BIG difference.

Many apologies for these changes, I know it will all be worth the wait.

-Frank Haywood

Posted by Frank Haywood in internet business, software, wordpress plugins

Affiliate Scheme

Update:

Thanks for all the kind comments.

I hit a bit of a problem today and I’ve been forced to put this back until the weekend. 🙄

And unfortunately I won’t be around tomorrow and until Friday afternoon, because of a scheduled hospital visit.

Many apologies, I know it will be worth the wait…

***

I know a lot of people are waiting for details of the affiliate scheme. I get an email or two about it every week and that’s been going on for a while now.

I’m sorry it’s taken so long to get going, but it IS up and running now and I’ve been testing and fiddling with it the last couple of days.

And it’s a GREAT scheme. I know it’s me that’s saying that (and why wouldn’t I?) but I don’t think I’ve ever seen any affiliate scheme that has more potential to generate you as much income as this one, and here’s why.

#1 – Software sells itself.

You may have missed the bit of fuss about this a few weeks ago, but I have to agree with the marketer who raised the point, as it’s true. While many people will now hesitate to buy the latest fad in learning, a useful tool is almost always seen as a good buy and chargebacks are low.

#2 – You’re not just joining an affiliate scheme for one single product.

I see this is one of the biggest problems with many affiliate schemes. The person running the scheme may have several other products and services, but typically when you join an affiliate scheme for one product you’re not able to reap the rewards of the sales of any other products.

So you end up sending buyers to the product owner who then sells his or hers other products to the new buyers without having to give you a cut.

NOT FAIR and NOT with this scheme.

All my products (and if you didn’t know – I have a LOT) are part of the SAME affiliate scheme.

Promote ONE product (even a free one) ONCE, and you earn 50% commission from sales of ANY and ALL of them through the prospects you send.

You’ll even be able to just link to one of my blogs and the prospect will get cookied. If they buy, you get the commission.

I can see that depending on how good you are at traffic, it should be a reasonable expectation to make a full time living just from promoting my products let alone anyone elses.

And I don’t think I’m being over the top with that statement, I think it’s a perfectly viable thing to be able to do.

At this stage I don’t know the numbers yet, but certainly you stand more chance of earning a commission through this scheme than most others because of the benefit you get of multiple chances of a sale

#3 – You can link to any landing page you like.

Including your own write ups or reviews, or even your own sales copy, and still get your prospects cookied.

We have the technology… 😉

Now I can’t say I’ll allow this to continue permanently as it *might* get abused, but certainly in the early days of the scheme I’m going to allow you to create links to any page you like.

If it does show signs of being abused, I’ll stop this aspect but leave any links you already created in place and untouched.

#4 – I’m going to randomly hand out $100 every month to one of my affiliates, and it could be YOU.

I’m having a bit of code written that will randomly select an affiliate each month. If this is popular (and I don’t see why it wouldn’t be) then I’ll increase that amount, and add in some additional variants to increase your chances.

But you have to be in to win it. 😉

This aspect will come online in the next 3-4 weeks.

***

Okay…

You know what?

I’d definitely sign up for this scheme if it was me reading about it. 😉

But before I give you the link to the page (tomorrow, Wednesday), I’d like to tell you about a new plugin that I’ll be using as part of this scheme, called the Promo Tools plugin. I’ve just received the final version today and given it a quick testing and it seems to be perfect for our needs.

In case you don’t know what a promo tools page is, it’s usually a page dedicated to supplying an affiliate with a set of promotional tools together with their affiliate link embedded in them.

And that’s exactly what the Promo Tools plugin can help you with.

It will allow you to create pages that you can fill with promo tools you create for your affiliates such as pre-written blog posts, articles, emails, forum signatures and banners.

With this plugin, once you’ve set up the tools, all an affiliate has to do is paste their aff link into the box at the top and every single promo tool on the page gets auto-populated with their affiliate link.

Then they can copy the code for banners etc and paste it directly into their web site.

It makes the whole process a lot easier for them and the easier you can make it, the more attractive it becomes.

Shall we see how easy you find it to use? 😉

More news on this and the affiliate scheme tomorrow (Wednesday).

Have I missed anything?

-Frank Haywood

Posted by Frank Haywood in internet business

WordPress Updates RSS Feed

Update: The sale is now LIVE and is currently $15.00.

Sales from 101 onwards will be $27.00 until the plugin goes officially live.

Buy now

***

Tomorrow Today Wednesday 4th, I’m going to be pre-releasing a cracking little plugin that I can’t believe no-one has done before.

Again, it was James Dunn who wrote to me asking if it was possible that we could supply him with a smart phone app that could somehow pick up plugins etc, that needed updating on WordPress blogs.

He wanted it to be able to keep an eye on a selection of client sites and then notify him when a theme or plugin or WordPress itself needed some update attention.

My first reaction was to say no, but I thought it would be a good idea if WP blogs could somehow tell us they needed updating in some way. (Apparently there are some expensive monthly services that will do this.)

So I had a little think and did a bit of research, and this is what we came up with.

The plugin will create a new RSS feed on your blog, listing everything that needs updating. You specify an obscurely named feed, and a URL is generated from that name.

Then all you have to do is use the RSS feed reader of your choice.

Most new smart phones have RSS readers pre-installed as free apps, or you can get them at very low cost from the relevant market places.

OR…

You can get yourself a PC based RSS reader, and there are even small free apps that sit in your Windows system tray and monitor feed activity.

Whatever your choice of platform, when the feed gets updated, you get notified and you can then go give the blog some update love by following the admin link in the feed. 😉

Really cool huh? And blimming useful too – I already have it installed on a dozen different blogs…

Anyway…

Tomorrow at 6.00pm GMT, I’m pre-releasing it at just $10.00 for the first 50 buyers.

Be there or be square. 😉

-Frank Haywood

Posted by Frank Haywood in internet business, software, wordpress plugins