Offer Closed

***

Corner peel ads are those nice little ads that look like a small piece of the web page has peeled away.  When you hover over them, they peel back more of the page to reveal your ad.

What’s really nice about the Corner Peel Ads plugin is that it doesn’t use Flash, it instead uses javascript to do the page peel.  As a result the plugin uses very little CPU and will work on older machines without locking them up.  Yeah I’ve seen that happen with Flash based solutions.

With this plugin we’ve also included TEN example peel ads PLUS the Photoshop PSDs and blank no-text PNGs for them all so you can easily edit these to your own preferences.

And finally, we’ve also made it very easy to add your newly amended ads by including a built-in browser uploader to add them.

It’s all VERY easy to use and people have told me how useful it is to have a reliable and straight forward plugin to use.

I’ve always believed the trick with a good corner peel is you don’t have to always have it active.  Just activate the plugin when you have something new you want your visitors to see.

While you can have them running the whole time, I think that quite often, “less is more”.

Okay?

Today at 6.00pm GMT (1.00pm EST), I’m running the final sale for the Corner Peel Ads plugin at just $10, and I’m making just 25 copies available at this price.

As a bonus with this sale I’m including a full client / flipper licence which means you can use it on your client sites and also on blogs you intend to flip for profit.

-Frank Haywood

Offer Closed

***

People LIKE these. 

But first…  Before I tell you about this new sale…

A few weeks ago I ran a nickel sale for two OTHER sales helper plugins.  The sale is currently still live (I’m taking it down after this weekend) and you can get to it here if you missed it:-

http://plugingreat.com/2shns/

Okay?

Back to the new ones…

TODAY I’m starting a NEW weekend sale for two other “sales helper” plugins.

#1 – The first plugin allows you to add a special offer to your sidebar that counts down, expires and disappears.  It’s cookie driven and won’t re-appear if the visitor refreshes the page (unless you want it to).

I’ve been using this to good effect on a few of my own sites since I saw this in use when visiting other sites.  I don’t know about you, but I’ve been tempted more than once by seeing a little countdown timer and I’ve eventually just HAD to click it before the time ran out just so I could see what it was before it was too late.

Curiousity is a wonderfully powerful emotion, and I’ve always figured if it works so well on me then it will work really well on other people too.

Including your visitors… 

#2 – The second plugin has been designed directly to enhance your sales copy.

It works by allowing you to present short and snappy single lines of copy with a little “show” link that your visitor can click on to view more detail about the benefit or feature.

It turns out that people think this is really groovy as it allows them to skim through sales copy looking at short bulleted style information that they can then expand out if something in particular catches their eye or interest.

All in small easy to digest chunks. 

Is that cool or what?

Today Friday 20th January at 6.00pm GMT (1.00pm EST), I’m running a final 25 copies only sale for these two ADDITIONAL sales helper plugins for just $10.

Watch out for the update to this post when it goes live.

-Frank Haywood

Offer Closed

***

I first released this plugin in January this year at v1 and it’s gone through several changes and bugfixes until we finally have v2.  If you purchased it before now, just go back to your personal download page and get the new version as there’s no upgrade fee for early buyers.  I decided to do that because we had quite a few problems with the first few versions and different server configs.

The original version was lightning fast (5 seconds or less) but we ran into problems with servers that couldn’t handle the speed or the (sometimes) massive file sizes generated and it caused failures.  So we slowed everything down by splitting things up into smaller chunks and it’s now much more reliable for everyone.

We think we made the right compromise of reliability over speed, and I haven’t seen any problems since we did that.

What does the plugin do?

It will clone or backup (to a zip file) your WordPress blog and optionally it will include non-WordPress files too.

The clone function allows you to specify another domain on another server (target) and it will FTP your entire source blog to that domain and install WordPress for you.  All the menu permalinks are auto-adjusted to the target domain so that they don’t point back to the source.

This means that if you’re in the habit of installing lots of WordPress blogs (like we do), you can create a standard source blog with all your favourite themes and plugins installed and activated, and clone the entire thing to another domain.  You then have a really good starting point to set the site up the way you want it.

Or you can just use it to backup your existing blog to a zip file and download it.

Or for speed, you can specify the FTP details for a backup server on the settings page.

You then just check a box and click the “Process Now” button, and the blog is zipped up and sent to your backup server.

Or you can even do all of the above at the same time.  It’s pretty cool.

You’ve probably seen plugins like this priced at $47 to $97 (it’s hard to get this right and the prices reflect it), but today at 6.00pm GMT (1.00pm EST) you can pick up Clone and Backup in this final 25-copies-only sale at just $17.

In the new year, the plugin will go on sale at its regular (much higher) price on its own web site, so this is your last chance to get what I think is the bargain of the year. 

-Frank Haywood

Offer Closed

***

***

Before creating this plugin, I tried out or looked at over 20 different image slider managers.  These were either WordPress plugins or standalone scripts.

If you look around yourself you’ll see so many of these that I thought there must at least be ONE that does what I need, but I could hardly believe it when I found that NONE of them do…

All I wanted to do for some of my sites was to be able to insert sliders at the top of some of my pages that would rotate between banners and screenshots, and also allow me to place a selection of different slider ads in my sidebar that only occupied one position and showed a different ad every few seconds.

I also wanted the slider images to optionally display text and HTML with clickable links.

I wanted to be able to make the whole slider image itself clickable so I could put “Click Here” graphics on the image.

And finally I wanted it to work with any theme.

That’s not a big requirement is it?  But the small list of things I need the plugin to do are VERY useful to us marketers.

Here’s the thing. I’ve found that until creating this that there’s no plugin that does all of what we need.  There are plugins that will allow us to add ONE slider to a page or post, but not multiple sliders.

There are comprehensive plugins that do image gallery management and display, but not sliders.

There are plugins that allow clickable links OR clickable images, but not both.

There are plugins that only work by editing the theme code and pasting in some PHP.

And so on.  I don’t think ANY of the sliders worked with widgets.

It’s almost unbelievable isn’t it?  But I’ve seen this same issue time and time again.

Developers write code for other developers.  Most developers don’t get or understand (or even want to) marketing.

Developers miss the little subtleties that we marketers require.  And it’s the little things that make the difference between what works and generates additional revenue for us, and what ends up as frustration.

So…

I had Slider Manager developed, and it does ALL the things we need most of all from a slider.

My #1 priority in developing this was to get it working and keep it simple.  Sometimes you can’t avoid complicated, but I try to avoid it wherever possible.

So what you can do is create multiple sliders (groups) and of course multiple images within each slider.

Within each slider group, you specify the width and height, pause and animation time, and a selection of animation effects.

Each image can have text and a HTML link added to it, or you can make the image clickable.  Or BOTH. 

When you save the slider group it generates a short code tag that you can then add anywhere in your POSTS and PAGES and also in your TEXT WIDGETS!

Hurrah!

-Frank Haywood

Offer Closed

***

Well, I have a plugin that does that (now at v1.1.2) and it’s dead easy to use and incredibly useful.

It complements the plugins I released last week perfectly.

After installing and activating, you’ll see a new block on every page or post called “Content Replacement”.  You simply click the “Add” button, then add the HTML snippet you want to show and give it an optional date and a time range and click “Save”.  You’re then given a [short-code-tag] to add to your post.

Copy and paste this into your page or post where you want the snippet to appear, and that’s it.

What will then happen is that when the start time is reached, the HTML snippet will display on your page or post.  When the end time is reached, the snippet disappears.

(A nice little bonus side effect is if you want to permanently add some PHP or javascript to a particular page, you can just set the start and end to “Any Date” and paste the short code in.)

Here’s a poorly kept little secret.  This Content Replacement plugin is what I use to start and end these weekend sales that I run. 

I simply create a HTML snippet with either a link to a sales page or a PayPal payment button, and set it to appear when the sale goes live.  At the end of the weekend it unpublishes itself.  I also create a second snippet that publishes itself at the end of the sale to say “offer closed.”  Then finally I set up a broadcast email to go out a minute or two before the sale starts.

That means I can be off out gallivanting or sitting at the dining table with the family, safe in the knowledge that the whole thing will start and end without me doing a thing.

(One time I set it all up in advance, went away for the weekend and found an extra $1100 in my PayPal account when I got back.)

Is that cool or what?

And of course you don’t just have to end the sale, you can also use it to change the price by stacking up a series of snippets which publish and unpublish themselves at different times.

If you don’t already have this plugin, the sale starts today at 6.00pm GMT (1.00pm EST) at just $10 for the first 25 sales.

If you’re a subscriber, I’ll drop you a line when it starts, be there or be square.

-Frank Haywood

Update: The weekend nickel sale for the very cool Sales Helper Redirect plugins is now LIVE and you can get to it here:-

http://plugingreat.com/2shns/

***

***

On Friday 2nd December at 6.00pm GMT (1.00pm EST), I’ll be kicking off a nickel sale for not one, but TWO new plugins.

Yes, it’s a two-for-one nickel sale.

The sale will start at $6.97 and the price will increase by 5 cents with each sale.

The sooner you buy, the lower the price you get.   The first person will get it at under $7, the first 20 at under $8.  Typically in previous nickel sales I’ve run the first 20 sales happen within 5-10 minutes of the sale opening, and the first 100 in the first hour.

If you’re quick off the mark you’ll get both plugins at the lowest price anyone will ever get them, as eventually both will be sold separately.  Even if you get in during the first hour it’s likely you’ll get the pair for under $12, and well worth every penny.

So what do these plugins do?

They’re both what I would term “sales helper” plugins, but you can use them in plenty of other situations too with a little imagination.

Plugin #1 – You know how WordPress will allow you to set a date and time for a post or page to be published?  But what it won’t do is allow you to set a date and time to *unpublish* them?

Now there have been plenty of instances where I’ve had to manually remove or amend pages when the offer I was running there expired – it’s a pain.  And there have also been other circumstances where I’ve wanted to redirect visitors to another page explaining that the offer is closed rather than just see a 404 page.

So I’ve had this first plugin created that will do either of those.

You can choose a date and time to unpublish your post and page, and then a URL to redirect to.  If you don’t specify a URL, then the plugin will just show a 404 page.

Brilliant!  And exceptionally useful. 

Plugin #2 – The second plugin works very nicely with the first and perfectly complements it.

It allows you to put a countdown timer on a page that will redirect any visitors to the page to another one when the timer expires.

This means you can set up details of your offer in advance, let people see the build up to the offer (and sign up to a mailing list for first notification), and then at the right time redirect them to the offer page.

And then *optionally* using the first plugin you could even eventually unpublish the offer page and redirect any new visitors to your permanent page without having to do a thing.  Cool. 

Don’t you love automation like that?  Anything to make life easier when things are becoming a little hectic.  You do all the work up front and then don’t worry about it all working as it should and away it all goes.

I’ll keep you updated with developments as we go.

-Frank Haywood

Offer Closed

***

This is one you really don’t want to miss, it’s one of the coolest little plugins I’ve ever created.  I did a short pre-launch for it a few months ago and then took it away, and it’s now about to go officially live.

If you’re a new subscriber or you missed it in the Spring, then this is your last chance to get it at a knock-down price.

Plugins like this one and other sales helper plugins I’ve released up to now will all come into play as part of a winning strategy to build your business that I’m going to share with you.

You.  Will.  See. 

Another month and you’ll be going “Ohhh!  That’s what he was on about!  Clever clogs…”

If you miss it, then you’re going to end up paying a LOT more than the price it is today, at a later date when the penny drops.

But for today if you’re fast you can get it at just $10.00 in this sale.  First come first served.

What does it do?

The Promo Tools plugin can help you by allowing you to easily create WordPress 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.

(Click the images for larger versions.)

So 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.

Here’s demo of an image link generated from the exmaple code above.

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

It’s really cool to do this for your affiliates and you’ll benefit greatly from it too.

It makes the whole process a lot simpler for affiliates, and the easier it is then the more likely they are to promote for you.

It’s not always about percentage commission, sometimes it’s about how fast and easy it is to do, and if you make your affiliates have to jump through hoops, then it becomes more unlikely they’ll promote for you.

Use this plugin, and make it easy for them (and you).

The pricing will rise as sales are made:-

1-25   = $10.00
26-50  = $12.50
76-100 = $15.00
100+   = $27.00

Offering these low prices to you is my way of saying thank you for being a subscriber.

At 6.00pm GMT (2.00pm EST) today (3rd November) this page will be updated with the buy button.

Please don’t get here too late and then end up writing to me to say you missed it.  This happens quite a lot.

This is a great little plugin and if you have any kind of aspirations towards becoming successful online, then you’re going to need this one.  It’s definitely one for your marketing arsenal.

-Frank Haywood

Offer Closed

***

In fact I rely on it so often that I take it for granted.

I was only reminded how useful it was when one of my friends – Martin Salter – said “That is freaking awesome!”

I’ve been doing some work with Martin on a project (more on that another time) and I’d changed the theme about three times when Martin told me I was breaking some code he’d added to the original theme.

D’oh!

It turns out he’d added some javascript affiliate code to the header.php, and also amended functions.php to add some Twitter code.  Every time I updated or changed the theme, the javsacript and PHP he’d added disappeared.

Aha!

As soon as I realised what was going on, I showed him the Scripts Manager plugin and that’s when I received that “Awesome!” comment.

This plugin allows you to add javascript code to both the header and footer areas of your WordPress installation without changing any of the theme code.  After I realised Martin was also adding PHP into the functions file of the theme, I had Scripts Manager tweaked to include the ability to do that too.

So with this plugin you can now easily add javascript and PHP to your blog without having to fiddle with theme code.  You can do this globally, and even override individual pages and posts with other code if you want to.

(For the more technically minded you can also add “onload” javascript too.)

The beauty of this is that you can change themes as many times as you like and everything just continues to work as it should.

Like I said, I rely on this plugin so much that I install it on every blog, add my javascript tracking code for StatCounter (you can use it with Google Analytics just as easily) to the footer section and then forget about it.

If a few weeks later I change the theme or upload a new version of it, so what?  My tracking code and functions etc just keep on working.

It’s only when you’ve gone through the pain of finding you’ve not been tracking visitors or some other code hasn’t been working for the last two weeks that you realise how completely useful it is.

If you don’t already have this plugin, then the final pre-launch sale starts today at 6.00pm GMT (1.00pm EST) at just $10 for the first 25 buyers.  This post will update at that time to present the buy button.

After this weekend sale is over or when 100 sales occur, the price of the plugin will rise to $27.

-Frank Haywood

P.S.  If you DO already have this plugin, then it’s a free update to the latest version.  Just go back to your download page and you can grab it from there.

Offer Closed

***

It’s amazingly useful and I don’t know why I haven’t thought of this before.

You know how when you install a new blog (or worse still you’re working with an existing one that might be a clients installation) and there are certain “must have” plugins that need installing?  Usually you can either FTP them all up at once (which is how I’ve done it up to now) or install them one at a time by using the browser uploader.

FTP is easy enough and I guess quick enough (unless there are lots of files in a plugin), but sometimes if you’re working with someone else’s blog, they don’t give you (or don’t want to give you, or sometimes they don’t know) their FTP details.

So then you’re stuck with having to upload them all via the browser or search through the WordPress repository in the admin panel and adding them that way.  It’s a pain.

Either way it can take a long time if you have about 15-20 standard plugins to install.  Especially if you’re working with several new blogs per day.

What this new plugin does is allow you to set up your list of plugin locations in advance, and the plugin will go fetch them from wherever they’re located and install them all for you.

This can be a location in the WordPress repository for free plugins you’re using, or a location on one of your own domains if it’s a premium plugin.

All you have to do is know the URL where each zip is located and either do a quick copy and paste into a box, or just upload a text file with all the URLs in.  For extra speed you can even add the text file into the plugin zip if you want to and the plugin will find it when it’s uploaded.

So now instead of installing all your plugins one at a time, you get to install the whole lot in one go.

Pretty cool eh?

When you click the “Submit” button, then all the plugins in the list are retrieved concurrently and independently of the others, so there’s no waiting for each one to complete before the next one starts – they all run at the same time. 

The pre-launch sale will start Tuesday 18th October at 6.00pm GMT (1.00pm EST), and I’ll send you more details and a reminder before then.

I wonder if you have any suggestions for some favourite plugins you’d like to see in the default text file list of plugins we include?  If you do, please leave the full URL of the zip file AND the page it’s on when you make the comment.

-Frank Haywood

Offer Closed

***

Links like this last one for the TouchBase client plugin:-

http://www.frankhaywood.com/touchbase/

Jeff L (hi Jeff) asked which script or plugin I was using.  Well, it’s one of my own plugins, and I realised that while I use it constantly for all kinds of things, I hadn’t promoted this for quite some time.  D’oh!

And the thing is, it’s exceptionally useful and very easy to use as it hooks into the WordPress permalink system.

This is one that’s well worth picking up even if you don’t yet do affiliate marketing because it will track clicks and cloak them if you want it to.  It will also allow you to store details of the affiliate program right inside your WordPress blog.

So how does it work?

After installation and activation, you’ll see a new admin settings menu called “PG Affiliate Link Cloaker”.

Clicking this will take you to a page containing a list of all the affiliate links as you add them.

To add a link, simply create a new Page or Post – we suggest you use Pages, but there might be some circumstances where you want to use Posts.

On the Page creation screen, if you scroll down you’ll see a new section called “Affiliate Link Cloaker”.  There you can add your affiliate link, cloak or hide it from menus and even store your login details for the affiliate program.

Looks pretty good doesn’t it?  I use it all the time to track clicks, I don’t just use it for my affiliate links.

Today Friday 7th October at 6.00pm GMT (1.00pm EST), I’m making this available in a weekend sale at just $10.00 for the first 25 buyers before including it on the Plugin Great site at a regular price of $27.00.

You can either check back here then, or keep an eye on your email for a reminder.

-Frank Haywood