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Post Mortem - The Most Seductive Ebook

I was more than a little surprised by some of the reactions to my previous blog post. Thank you to everyone that commented, for or against.

And… controversy isn’t a bad thing.

While some took it for what it was intended - a learning exercise for you and me - others took it as somehow… devious. And even more disturbing to me as a digital product seller, some saw the offer as having little value.

Even though… for your money you get 365 PLR products and 101 other products including web sites, some of which are also PLR. Plus the 9 videos and 106 hours of audio interviews with some very famous marketers…

I don’t see how an offer like that can be seen as having little value. I’ve already noted down a few product ideas, just from picking some of the products at random and skimming through the content. (And by the by, monthly membership to resale rights and PLR sites is still very popular - there are a lot of people who see information as being of value.)

I also believe that deals with the mentions of pyramid and MLM. You’re NOT getting nothing for your money, you’re getting quite a lot.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. If you don’t value information yourself, you’re not going to make it selling digital goods.

Anyway…

I saw the ebook and read it through in about 10 minutes. I got to the bottom of page 4 and realised it was actually a sales page in ebook format. “Brilliant!” I thought to myself.

And the reason I thought it was brilliant was because it addresses two problems for a marketer.

#1 - Gets people to actually read your sales copy.
#2 - Avoids the latest Google slap.

But before I go into those, I’d first like to say that the ebook was actually inspired by something that Harvey Segal did in 2005, and is still making him (and likely hundreds of people) money on a daily basis.

http://www.frankhaywood.com/go/st/

(Ross spotted that and made a comment on it, so nice one Ross. What the heck, a copy of AdSpurt for you too as soon as I have a version with the installer fixed.)

Okay, so let’s look at #1.

By taking a bog standard sales page type format and creating a “free” ebook, you actually stand more chance of someone reading it.

You and I both know that many people will skim a sales page, or even go straight to the bottom to see what the price is before reading it. I often do it myself. This spoils the effect of the sales copy for a site visitor.

However, put the sales page in ebook format and people are much less likely to skim, and more likely to read the copy in the order it was intended to be read.

Excellent. If you pick up one learning point from this, then that should be it.

Now for #2.

Google has been intermittently slapping sites for all sorts of reasons, but it all boils down to this. They feel that people should be able to get good search results from their engine, and should be able to find the information they want for free.

As part of this it seems, “free” is defined as at no cost in any terms. So if you’re asking for a name and email address, there’s some thought that Google may now be seeing this as charging for the product. Traditional marketing sites that do this are going to get penalised in search, but I guess mainly newer sites are going to feel the pinch.

Ouch!

But if you give away a free ebook and ask for nothing in return, you avoid that altogether.

And…

There’s nothing to stop you from offering something else that’s useful in the ebook in return for a name and email address, or even as in this case, placing an order button inside.

So, from a purely learning point of view I thought this process was excellent and well worth sharing. Whether you “got it” or not was beside the point, the product on sale inside the ebook is still well worth the small asking price.

Here’s the thing.

From comments I’ve received from the people that have bought the product, I feel they’re pleased with what they have. I am.

The critics are those people that haven’t bought because they feel it’s worthless or a scam.

I think I have that right?

Now we all live in our own little universes and we all see what we want to see. Don’t even try to argue that one with me because I know it’s absolutely true and you won’t get anywhere with me. ;-)

So if you see something as worthless or of little value, then that’s all it will be to you.

(As an example, in my case I see iPods as worthless when you can buy a brand X MP3 player for a fraction of the price. But many people think iPods are a great toy to have.)

And I believe that’s what’s happened here. I don’t know whether people have become jaded or cynical, and see many offers as worthless as a sort of psychological protection device for their credit cards, or what.

But when I saw this product, my first thought was “Aha! Very clever. Now I *have* to go through this process to find out how it all works.” And when I bought, I was very pleasantly surprised with the products in the bundle. I don’t think any newbie is going to be upset by the sheer amount of learning material in this package.

Yes, some of it is 2 or 3 years old, but the sheer volume and overall quality of some of the products in there easily justify the extremely low purchase price.

In the past I’ve bought much smaller resale rights bundles for $47 and been pleased with my purchase. The bulk of these products are private label rights. 365 of them.

Granted, if you’ve been round the block a bit like I have, you may have some of this stuff on your hard drive already, but just randomly browsing through some of it has given me two new product ideas already… :-)

So I feel that any newbie is going to be pleased with the purchase just from a personal use point of view, and that anyone else is going to be pleased that they can make money from it.

Finally, I just checked Google for the search term “make money online for newbies” to see what the spread was like already, and there on page 1 is a link to a blog presenting this product. The blog has no page rank (not even PR0), has very few incoming links, has very little content, and there it is on page 1 courtesy of a single Digg.

As this product goes steadily viral and is raised in people’s awareness, anyone searching for that term for more information on it is going to find that site, download that guys version of the ebook and he’s going to make money from it…

Anyone else wishing to do the same can easily set up a Squidoo Lens or a Hub Page, do a write up, offer the ebook, use social bookmarking to point to the page and wait for the first sale.

No web site required.

And really finally…

As always, if you do nothing, expect nothing in return.

-Frank Haywood

P.S. The installer for AdSpurt is now working, and I have a new version with a much better ClickBank market place search function that is in fact better than ClickBank’s own. There seems to be a slight glitch as I can’t get AdSpurt to work on this blog yet, but I have it working on another blog fine.

I’ll contact the “winners” at the weekend with details of where they can download it.


The Most Seductive Ebook Ever?

You know how sometimes you read about something and straight away you say to yourself “oh my god”?

I had one of those moments on Friday when I found out about a free ebook that has the potential to make you, me and everybody a lot of money, even if you’re the newest of newbies.

This is so simple and so subtle an idea it’s really made me stop and think. And just lately that alone is something worth writing about!

The great thing is there’s no need to sign up to a mailing list in order to get it. You just click on the link and download the PDF.

Now I knew this was good even before I’d read a word of the ebook because it was recommended to me by Martin Avis, and I have a LOT of respect for Martin, he doesn’t recommend any old rubbish - he’s a lot like me in that way.

This new ebook is called ‘Make Money Online For Newbies’. But that’s a misnomer, because you don’t have to be a newbie to make money with this - ANYONE can do it. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a newbie or a very experienced marketer, you’re still going to get something out of it.

The amazing thing about this is ebook is how compelling it is. Even more amazing is the claim that the author makes about the ebook - and you know what? I agree with that claim.

The author says while most online offers will typically generate between 1 and 4 sales per 100 visitors - I agree - with this ebook that figure is pushed up to more like 90% of people will buy, and I include YOU in that number.

After reading for 10 minutes and realising the potential of the offer, it also included me! I couldn’t wait to part with my money. Incredible.

Yes that’s right, this is a free ebook showing you how to make money.

But that’s the really clever part, as there’s also an offer you won’t be able to refuse. And like I said, newbie or old pro, you’ll really want to take advantage of it.

I also think it’s worth repeating again, you don’t need to enter your name or email address in order to get the ebook.

There is absolutely no catch, I guarantee you that.

I also guarantee you that as soon as you’ve read the ebook (which you should do straight away), you’ll learn about a very simple and VERY effective method that you can make a profit from almost straight away.

The cost of the offer is so small, in my opinion it’s not even a consideration at all.

Going by my own reaction, I totally believe the author when he says that 90% of readers will want to take advantage of the offer and part with the small amount of money required to tap into the profits he describes in the free ebook.

So what’s it all about? What was it that stopped me dead in my tracks and literally compelled me to read every word of the ebook and then grab the offer as quickly as I could?

This is one you will NOT be disappointed in. I fully expect to be making money from this for weeks (if not months) for virtually NO effort.

There’s no reason why you can’t do the same.

Make Money Online For Newbies

-Frank Haywood

P.S. I’m so impressed with this that the first person who makes a comment that CORRECTLY describes what’s so special about the ebook will be the first person who gets a free copy of AdSpurt from me when it’s ready.


The Problem With Sweatshops

You know what?  Sometimes when I need it most, the right thing comes to me.

In this case, feeling sorry for myself because I’m over tired and feeling over worked, I came across an article that’s blown away many of my mis-conceptions, and also made me feel a little stupid as well as very humble.

Dare I say it, I even shed a tear.

Going against one of my taboo subjects that I never discuss (sex, religion and politics), the article in question has certainly set me right.

I’ve disabled comments on this post as I don’t want to start an enormous discussion about it.  Agree with the article or not, I’m sure you’ll feel a little more educated after reading.  I do.

http://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/y2008/Powellsweatshops.html

-Frank Haywood


Other Scripts Coming In 2008

Going on from my post yesterday about AdSpurt, I thought I’d mention a couple of other things we’re working on for your internet business.

I don’t want to give the game away entirely, but one is a script that will turn affiliate marketing on its head. I am totally convinced that this product will shake the entire marketing world to its core, and the whole landscape of blog and forum marketing will change forever.

Good or bad? I don’t know. I’ll just be making the gun, other people will be firing it.  (Okay, I’ll fire it a bit too.  More than a bit in fact.)

Here’s a double warning though, just for you, a (hopefully loyal) reader of this blog.

#1 - If you haven’t created your first product yet, just GO and get your act together and get yourself sorted okay?

I don’t care if you don’t know where to start with creating your first product or what it will be about, just get your thinking cap on right now and remember there’s nothing new under the sun.  Just because someone else has already done it doesn’t mean you can’t do it too.

Otherwise we’d have one kind of car, one kind of pen, one kind of shirt and so on… It’s all the different flavours of the world that makes things interesting, so add your own flavour and style to the mix.

#2 - And if you don’t yet have a blog like this one that you post to regularly, GO and sort that out too.

Do NOT be tempted to use Blogger or BlogSpot or any other free blogging service, you WILL regret it. It should be a self-hosted blog (ideally Wordpress), and if you don’t know where to start, post a comment here and I’ll put something together for you to show you how to do it, what plugins to use etc.

You’ll see that script in use here on this site within the next month or so.

The second script has been in the making since 2001, and is a full blown Content Management System (CMS) with a difference.

Instead of having loads of crappy little features that no-one but a geek would be interested in, this is written with YOU in mind. It’s been designed for online business owners to run their internet business through.

It’s already in use on several different WORKING sites in test (the site owners don’t realise what they’ve got because they haven’t been told), and I’ll soon be adding it to the Vendiva.com site and using it as the platform to run my own internet business.

So I guarantee you it will be kick-ass when we release it towards the end of the year.

As well as those two major scripts, there are some other nice little projects and products that I’ll be releasing soon too, so keep your eyes peeled.

-Frank Haywood

(The next script released after AdSpurt will likely be the Instant Survey Script.)


Nickel Script Videos

I’ve uploaded three videos to the Nickel Script web site that show you how to install, set up and use the Nickel Script. You can view them here:-

http://www.nickelscript.com/videos/

On Friday, if all goes well, I’ll also upload the latest version of the Nickel Script to the download page, and add a fourth video to explain the additional changes.

-Frank Haywood


Monetise ANY Website

18 months ago in January of 2007, I had a chat with a friend of mine about how to easily monetise web sites and increase revenue to our internet business.

Most people just use Google AdSense, but I’ve never been convinced that was a viable method as the rewards were too low. I like to see tens of dollars per day, not cents, so it’s never appealed to me, and you’ll never see AdSense on any of my sites.

I know lots of people agree with me on that one, and I read just a couple of weeks ago how someone said they were “blind to them”, and how she filtered them out without even thinking. I’ve even seen AdSense written as “Add Cents” which just about sums it up.

Anyway, in this chat, we had a few ideas, and I even asked one of my developers to have a think about one of the methods, but nothing came of it at the time and it got put away.

Then in about November of last year, there was one of those breakthrough moments. Suddenly we had a method that would work and was almost as easy as AdSense to use.

But instead of Google getting the lion’s share of the advertising revenue, we could have it all instead. That’s MUCH more appealing to everyone.

After all, these are our web sites so why should we share the advertising revenue with a third party? That doesn’t really make sense does it?

Why would you want to give 80% of the advertisers revenue to a middle man? Okay, 5 or 10 percent maybe, but not most of it. That’s just taking the mickey.

You might say “AdSense is easy”. So what? The ease of use should mean you give up the majority of the income? I don’t think so.

Food for thought eh?

So anyway, work started on a script that has changed names a couple of times, and has ended up as being called AdSpurt.

Just like AdSense, you paste a couple of lines of javascript code onto your web site. Once you’ve done that, there’s a little bit of extra work to be done in the admin panel of this site liberating script.

This is how it works.

You enter your keywords into the admin panel, enter your affiliate link to the product you’re promoting, and specify which style of ad is to be shown, there are two to choose from.

Now, wherever the keywords appear on your web site, it automatically gets turned into a link. One kind of link is a “normal” link with your affiliate ID embedded inside it, and the other is a “hover ad” which you can easily identify as a double underlined link.

This means you can take any site you own with content on it, for instance a blog like this one, and monetise it with the high performing ads that you choose.

You earn ALL the commission, there’s no middle man to take your share of the advertising revenue.

Excited yet?

It gets better.

We’ve added the ability to search the ClickBank market place from within the admin panel, choose a product, enter your keywords, click “Create New Ad”, and immediately include the ads on your web site.

AdSpurt will ask for your ClickBank ID during install, so all the ads automatically get generated with your own affiliate link embedded.

For your convenience, we’ve also included a clever proxy script which will allow you to run multiple sites from the same AdSpurt installation and admin panel.

In addition, if you’ve created several ads using the same keywords, then they get automatically rotated so that different ads are shown each time. And looking at it from the other direction, you can also create multiple keywords for the same ads.

Simply put, that’s multiple ads per keyword, and multiple keywords per ad.

Finally and for good measure, to tie this all up we’ve also included a stats page where you can see how well each ad / keyword set is doing, allowing you to split test and find the best performing products. You can download this data as a CSV for further analysis.

Phew!

NOW are you excited? I am!

The possibilities are limitless, and I’ll be working on a bonus product for this that’s almost as good as AdSpurt itself. I know the method works, I just have to write it up.

Imagine this. Create a blog on your niche subject. Populate it (completely legitimately) with brand new articles on your niche topic from article sites. Write a few of your own articles and submit them yourself to article directories. Add your keywords to AdSpurt, and watch the traffic come rolling in.

Keep adding articles from article sites, and over time your blog will be recognised as an authority site. It may take a while, although there are a few short cuts you can do.

Rinse and repeat with your next niche.

Sounds good? Yeah, I know the finding and adding articles is a bit of a pain, but what if you knew how to semi-automate that process? Well, there is a way, and that’s the bonus I’ll include. Actually there are several ways, but they all involve buying extra scripts - I’ll show you how you can do it using software you already have on your PC.

Now although AdSpurt is complete, I won’t be launching it for another month or so, and when I do it will be at $47 for a short while, eventually rising to $97.

But of course, I need some testimonials and a bit of feedback about the product, so here’s what I’ll do.

I’ve just received the final working version of AdSpurt which I’m playing with right now, and in return for some feedback from you, I’ll give it to you for a short time for a much lower price.

I’ve yet to decide when and how I’ll do it, but you’ll be the first to know about it here on this blog.

ONLY subscribers to this blog will get the details as I’ll be putting them in a good old password protected post. If you want to subscribe, go to the home page and over on the right near the top you can enter your name end email address.

-Frank Haywood

(DO I have to say it? Oh okay then. DON’T use your ISP or a free email address to subscribe. The chances of you getting a business email through your providers mail filters are next to nil. Use an email address off one of your web sites instead.)


Server Problems At The Planet

Just a quick post now my server is back up.

You may have read about problems at The Planet data center, but just in case you haven’t, you can find out what happened below.

The explosion took out 3 walls and was caused by a short in a transformer. Fortunately, no-one was hurt.

http://forums.theplanet.com/index.php?showtopic=90185&st=0

-Frank Haywood

Update: The server seems to be responding extremely slowly on port 80, while all other ports are operating at full speed, so I’m not sure what’s going on there. Time will tell…


How SmartDD v2 Protects Your LARGE Downloads

When I released the original SmartDD (v0.98), there were a couple of minor niggles with it that made themselves apparent over time.

I think that the most annoying one for people was securely delivering large files.

To begin with the file size wasn’t a problem, but after a few months I started to get more and more support questions about why some files wouldn’t download.  After clicking on the link, the web page seemed to hang there without doing anything, and finally timing out.

We eventually realised what was happening.  Because of the way that SmartDD delivers files securely, it takes up a memory buffer on the web server equivalent to the size of the file.  If you’re delivering an ebook, it isn’t a problem as the zip files involved are only about 3-5MB.  The delay while creating the memory buffer is almost unnoticeable.

But if you’re delivering a video or an MP3, or any other large file, then it can take several seconds to create the memory buffer.

This became a problem when the file was very large and the time went over 30 seconds.  Many servers are now configured to time out after 30 seconds without a “keep alive” signal from the application.

Another problem was that an increasing amount of servers are being configured to only allow 8MB of memory to be allocated to an application.  Again this is a problem for people who want to deliver large file sizes securely.

Well, we fixed that in version 2.

Now you can specify a normal URL to a file and SmartDD will hide the real link while delivering it via the normal HTTP method.

While this isn’t as secure as the file system method, it’s still very secure.  The reason it isn’t as secure as the file system method is because you have to put the file inside your web space somewhere.  With the file system method you can store your file above the web root where no browser can get at it.

So, if you have small files (less than 8MB), use the file system method for very secure storage and download of files.  If you have larger files, use a URL to the file and SmartDD v2 (and above) will still hide the real location.

The reason I’ve said v2 and above is because we’re almost ready to release v3.  We have to do a little testing first, but when we’re done I’ll roll it out.

There will be a small charge for upgrading to v3 from v2, but I won’t be asking you to part with another $97.

I’ll post more details about the new features etc, here on this blog when I can.

-Frank Haywood


Nickel Sale For The GIMP Videos Now Live

It’s starting at $5.02 and the faster you get there, the cheaper it will be.

http://www.gimpvideos.com/NickelSale/

(By the way, with any luck there will be a new version of the Nickel Script released on Monday.)

-Frank Haywood


GIMP Videos Nickel Sale

Okay, just a quick post to say that everything looks ready for the nickel sale for a set of 12 videos from Stan Craigie showing you how to use The GIMP, and ultimately putting together your own mini-sites.

In case you didn’t know, The GIMP is a free graphics tool that with each release gets closer to rivalling the enormously expensive Photoshop. You can even load most Photoshop format PSD files into The GIMP.

This means you can take advantage of the huge number of existing PSD files out there on the web and use them in your own creations. In fact I just checked my hard drive and I have resale rights for 40 graphics headers in PSD format.

I really want this sale to succeed for Stan, so I tell you what…

Buy Stan’s GIMP videos and I’ll also supply you with the 40 PSD graphics headers too. Included in the pack are some background tile images for your sales pages and a selection of order buttons which you can edit.

If you register with Stan I’ll get him to email you a link in the next few days.

So to me, that sounds like a pretty impressive package for just a few dollars, and remember, once you have the initial skills that Stan will show you, you’re not just limited to using those skills on your own sites.

You’ll then also have the ability to put together your own unique sales page bundles and graphics, which you can sell.

So at 3.00pm GMT (10.00am EST), the sale goes live and I’ll let you know about it here on this blog. Don’t hang around and you’ll get it at the lowest price.

But even if you end up paying $15, it’s still an incredible bargain, and is one those opportunities I wish I’d had 2 or 3 years ago.

Watch this space.

-Frank Haywood