streams

Jan

2011

Clone and Backup ready – new Multiple Streams Theme

I’ve just been testing out the final v1.0.0 release of the Clone and Backup plugin, and it works a treat.

After all the comments we received about hosting requirements we decided that this first version shouldn’t be just limited to cPanel.

Now I love cPanel as it has some really cool features in it, but I know that not everybody is as big a fan as I am.

So we decided that for v1 of the plugin we’d skip the cPanel centric attitude and instead create a version that would work with any hosting platform.

I do have to say that we haven’t tested with other hosting platforms (such as hSphere), but because of the approach we’ve used we can see no logical reason for it not working just fine.

(Please raise a support ticket at http://support.plugingreat.com/ if you have problems with the plugin.)

However, there’s always a trade-off when you want to do things for a broader audience.

In this case it means you have to go create the database and user/password at the destination site. This will take you about 2-3 minutes if you don’t do it very often and probably less than 60 seconds once you’ve done it a few times.

At any rate, if you’ve just registered a new domain and assigned a web host, it’s very likely that you’re already going to be logged into your web control panel. Yep?

That’s the logic we’ve used when thinking about this.

So by going with that trade-off, it means you cant (yet) get the plugin to auto-create a database for you with cPanel. The next step for us is to add in that cPanel functionality as I think it will address 80% of our intended audience.

And it will certainly make things easier for me too. 😉

Then we’ll investigate hSphere and any other popular and common web hosting platforms that we get asked to look at.

This means that if your host uses a proprietary web control panel then it’s unlikely that we’ll provide a streamlined database creation method for it. You’ll have to stick with the generic v1.0.0 method.

Okay?

How it works is like this.

#1 – You create and maintain a copy of WordPress somewhere and we suggest on a sub-domain for convenience. We also suggest this installation has no posts/pages/comments and has all your favourite themes and plugins installed and activated and up to date.

So you have a fully functional copy of WordPress that you’re going to use as your master.

#2 – You take out a new domain or sub-domain (or use an existing one if you like) and while going through your normal admin functions to set it all up, you also create a database for WordPress on that domain, and assign a user and password with full permissions. Your web host is responsible for explaining this to you if you don’t already know how to do it.

#3 – On your master copy of WordPress go to the PG WP Clone admin function and fill in the 6 boxes – destination site, FTP user and password, database name, user/password and click the “Clone This Site” button.

After 15-30 seconds – it may take longer depending on the number of themes/plugins/files etc – your new WordPress installation will be complete and you will be given a link to visit your new installation.

All the login details, active plugins and theme etc for your new WordPress installation will be the same as your master.

🙂

You can now go back to your personal download page and grab the plugin only, with the docs to follow in a day or so. I wanted to get the plugin out to you as quickly as possible for test and feeedback.

It’s easy to use.

(If you didn’t bookmark your personal download page, then please raise a support ticket at http://support.plugingreat.com/ and someone will look it up for you.)

If you don’t have the Clone and Backup plugin, you can still get it with a ten dollar discount at $27.00 from here.

***

Finally… The latest in the Multiple Streams Themes is now complete, and on Tuesday at 6.00pm GMT (1.00pm EST) I’ll be running a 50-copies-only sale at $10.00.

I had this theme designed for my own personal use on the free Page Template Plugin site (available soon), but it’s so good I decided to release it as one of the Multiple Streams Themes.

It’s a “softer” cleaner brighter theme in light blue and white, and I’m also tempted to use it on my personal blog as it contains all the features I want that my current theme doesn’t. So don’t be surprised if you see it change in a few days when I decide for sure. 😉

It comes with a hefty 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 WP 3.x features of custom menus, custom header, and background. That last one allows you to further lighten the feel of the theme or darken it down if that’s your preference.

It’s really nice… 😉

LIVE – Multiple Streams Themes 4

The sale for Multiple Streams Themes 4 including three bonus plugins…

#1 – Ads Manager
#2 – Redirection
#3 – Squeeze Page Templates

…is now LIVE at just $17.00 until launch in January when it rises to $27.00 and you can buy directly on this link here…

If this is the first you’ve heard of it, you can find out more and see a total of four short videos here and here.

-Frank Haywood

Dec

2010

Multiple Streams Themes 4 Bonus Plugin

The video at the end of this post details the bonus plugin I’m including as part of this low cost release of this latest Multiple Streams Theme later today.

Now I know I didn’t have to do this and that I could have released the plugin and templates seperately. There’s certainly a market for these I now know for sure. But rather than do that, and the fact that it’s coming up to the season of goodwill and all that…

🙂

…I decided to include this plugin with MST004.

A bit mad I know, and it’s like throwing money away, but what the heck. 😉

Last week I released the other half of this plugin which allows you to add sales pages to any of your WordPress blogs, which will then survive theme updates and changes.

This half of the plugin does the same thing, but the difference being it allows you to add new subscriber squeeze pages to your blogs.

If you’re not sure what a squeeze page is, it’s a page that is designed to “squeeze” the name and email address from a visitor. ie turn that visitor into a prospect with the final aim being of turning them into a customer.

And from my perspective, this plugin is another step towards turning any WordPress blog into a total marketing machine.

We’re getting there, step by step… 😉

And as you’re a subscriber I’m more than happy to reward that you’re here with me by giving you the very best deals at each step of the way towards that total marketing machine.

This is what I’m going to do.

The FIRST FIFTY sales of MST004 will include the bonus plugin at just $10 for both the theme and the plugin. Outstanding value I know.

(Update: Now at $12.50)

After that, I’m putting the price up to $12.50 for the next fifty, then $17 until the full MST site is live (just a couple of hurdles to jump) together with the affiliate scheme (which I’m being bugged for), and then the theme will be set at $27 without the bonus plugin.

Does that sound more than fair? I’ll just recap.

1-50 = $10.00
51-100 = $12.50
100-??? = $17.00
Site live = $27.00 but no bonus templates.

It’s a cracking theme – our best yet – and there’s a bonus plugin with templates included.

Fantastic…

There’s just one downside to this plugin, and I’ll come clean with you about it now.

You can’t yet run it at the same time as the sales page plugin we released last week. This is because it uses the same method and there’s a clash.

Here’s what we’re going to do to fix it in January…

We’ll release a new unified plugin to everyone for free.

You then install and activate it and copy ALL your templates into the /templates/ directory and the plugin will auto-recognise which ones are squeeze page templates, and which ones are sales page templates.

You’ll then find that instead of a single drop-down, there will be a choice of two, selected by a radio button. You then select which type of page you’re creating and the templates for that page type will appear.

Okay?

I think I’ve already mentioned this here on this blog, but what we want to do is provide a single method of adding many page templates to your blog which survive theme updates and changes, and which is a standard method that all designer / developer types can use to create their own template packs.

In the new year the plugin will be free (and always will be), but we’ll charge for the templates. 😉

Today you’ll be getting five squeeze page templates as a free bonus when you buy MST004.

The sale will go live at 6.00pm GMT (1.00pm EST) today, Friday 10th December.

I’ll add a new post at that time together with the payment link and send you an email.

And finally, here’s the video of the bonus plugin and templates.

[mc id=”1106″ type=”video”]mst004-bonus-plugin[/mc]

-Frank Haywood