16 July 2010
From Ian Traynor
York, UK

Hi!

So this is it.. the final, full edition of "Marketing Update"! The first issue came out 14 years ago - on 8th July 1998, and had such gems as "Writing good headlines", "adding alt tags to images" and some personal development advice ("Avoid the negatives") - and I used a now-defunct service called "ListBot" to deliver the newsletter. A year after the first issue came out, I still only has 250 subscribers, compared with the 10k I have today.

Yes, it's a big step, and a hard one, to just abandon publication after all those years. But life is short, and I want to slow down a bit.

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I'm not disappearing completely, and near the end of this "Update", I've given a number of ways in which we can keep in touch, if you want to.

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I've had a load of good wishes expressed by many, many subscribers, and I want to thank everybody who has emailed me, or who has placed comments on my retirement announcement page:

http://www.Ian-Retires.com/the-announcement/

You may notice that I've replaced the BuyIanADrink link in the "Final Reminders" section of this newsletter with an invitation to donate to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds via my JustGiving web page, and I'm inviting you to support this charity, which works with conservation projects all over the world, and not just in the UK.

I personally will be making a donation to the RSPB from the proceeds of.. wait for it.. drumroll..!

My Grand Retirement Sale - Ending Soon!

By the time you read this, there will be just five short days before my Grand Retirement Sale closes for good. It's the ultimate "Subscriber Deal" and the biggest sale I've ever run.

But the price isn't the biggest :-) If you haven't yet looked to see what's in my Sale, here's your chance:

http://www.Ian-Retires.com

There's nearly $2k of real value in my sale.. and this isn't some fancy, made-up figure. It's the prices at which everything in the sale is selling.

• 14 of my own products - some really special ones
    
• 12 gifts from my internet marketing colleagues - some great ones :-)
     
  
• Huge discounts on five of my best selling products

That's what you could be accessing in just minutes from now.

But, as I said, the sale ends soon - next Wednesday, 21st July at 12 noon EST (5 pm BST). And you know me - I always close deals promptly. So, if you've been sitting on the fence, don't wait any longer:

http://www.Ian-Retires.com

On. and there are some "unannounced" bonuses. You won't see them mentioned on the sales page :-)

My Search For "Passive Revenue"

In my retirement, I plan to spend maybe a day or so a week developing "passive revenue streams" - the sort of projects which you spend a little time setting up and then letting the revenue come in over time without doing much more work.

I've got a few such streams already, including my product review site (IanRecommends.co.uk) and some content-rich sites which bring in AdSense revenue.

I've got quite a lot of experience with such projects, but I don't aim to spend much time on developing new streams. Hey, I'm retiring :-)

So, over the past few weeks, I've been looking with interest at several new launches - well, more than just looking.. I've bought into each of them.

Two get the "thumbs up" from me. One get's a definite "thumbs down"! Let me tell you a little about each of them. First, a "hype" warning.. the sales pages for each of these products are absolutely crammed with hype and screenshots of ClickBank accounts and so on. Let me help you to see behind the hype:

* Thumbs Up #1: Underground Traffic Blueprints

Your inbox has probably been deluged with emails endorsing "Underground Traffic Blueprints" ("UTB"). This made me suspicious. Normally, when there's such a feeding frenzy amongst internet marketers, it often means that the product either has massive "upsells" behind the cover price, or some sort of "continuity" (recurring fees) or both.

So I was pleasantly surprised to find that UTB has neither. It's just one very reasonable price to get access to some really powerful video training, all devoted to the holy grail of IMers - getting more people to visit your websites.

In the main section, there's over 6 hours of video training. The emphasis is on using Google Adwords PPC marketing - but with a difference! I know from personal experience that it's only too easy to throw money away with AdWords. Now I haven't had time to watch all the videos yet, but from what I've seen already, there are techniques, completely new to me, that is going to help me to get AdWords traffic a lot cheaper than I've been able to so far. And there are resources which I've not heard of before.

The bonus video section (only available until July 20th) is all about a traffic source which I've been thinking of using, but have not been certain how to avoid screwing things up! I'm certainly glad that I have access to these videos.

The videos are all very high quality, and my only criticism is that there are no downloadable transcripts of the videos.

But I suppose, that at the low price that's being charged, that would be too much to ask.

So, a "thumbs up" from me for UTB. But if you're going to get these videos, do so before 20th July (next Tuesday) to make sure that you also get the bonus videos. Oh, and there might also be a price hike next Tuesday:

http://www.IanSays.com/IUse/UTB

* Thumbs Up #2: Info Product Killer 2010

You might, just might, get this before the price hike at 3 pm EST today, Friday! Sorry I couldn't let you know earlier about this, but even at the increased price, this is great value.

OK, "Info Product Killer 2010" ("IPK") is all about affiliate marketing - but with a difference. The technique, which is better suited to tangible goods, such as electronics, is simple in concept. You set up a mini-site for the product you're endorsing, but you aim to get to this site only people who are on the point of buying this product!

It's a brilliant concept, again, completely new to me, and it's certainly one which I will be using in my retirement.

In addition to this technique, there's some extremely valuable training on "on-page search engine optimisation". I've been doing this for years - but perhaps not as well as I should have been. Although the SEO training is focused on the affiliate marketing technique at the heart of IPK, you can use these techniques on any website.

One thing which makes IPK really stand out, in my opinion, is the fact that you get to see real live websites that are actually using these techniques. Quite often, the originators of such "systems" don't disclose their own websites. But Craig Kaye (who lives about 40 miles from me!) lets his IPK members see some real, practical website examples. And you can find them easily on Google - they're very well ranked.

The videos are of good quality and, important to me, there are some excellent PDFs backing up the video content.

As I said, you might squeeze in under the price hike if you are quick. But IPK is well worth it even at the higher price.

http://www.IanSays.com/IUse/IPK

Oh, there are a few "upsells" to go through before you get access to the Members Area. They were aimed at people who struggle to build web pages, so I didn't go for them. But you might find them valuable.

Thumbs Down: ClickBank Wealth Formula

"ClickBank Wealth Formula" (CBWF") gets the thumbs down from me, not so much because of the content of the training videos (which isn't too bad) but because of the shoddy way that it's delivered.

For some reason, Anik Singal and Saj P decided to use the QuickTime format for their videos. For me, and probably for many other people, this meant that the videos wouldn't play online. So I was faced with the prospect of downloading a large number of huge video files.

Sorry, guys, that doesn't work for me. And the Members Area itself is pretty clunky. There are multiple videos on each page, and before you can scroll down (at least with my Google Chrome browser), you have to wait until all the videos start loading. In addition, there are no PDF transcripts of the videos, which might just have turned my "thumbs down" into a "thumbs up".

If you want to, you can see the sales page at cbwealthformula.com (the most over-hyped sales page of these three products), but I'm not endorsing it!

CBWF is an example of how a potentially good training product has been spoilt by poor delivery.

* The Future Of My "Private PLR Club"?

I'll repeat what I said a couple of weeks ago: I will continue to operate my Private PLR Club. But I'm going to make some changes in the coming months:

• I will be raising the monthly membership fee for new Members. Existing Members will continue to pay the current low monthly fee.
• I will be setting up an Affiliate Scheme for Members, once I've found the right software. I want Members to share some of the success of the Club and to be rewarded for introducing new Members.
• I will be able to spend more time on training Members. This has already been an important aspect of Club Membership and I want to extend it.
• I will continue to find and add new high-quality content to the Members Area, maybe introducing some additional product categories.

Joining my Club is going to be the only way that you will continue to get my help and advice about internet marketing. It's a service that my Members really appreciate.

http://www.PrivatePLRClub.com

* How To Easily Build A Toolbar Or An "App"

You're going to have fun playing with this one! "Conduit" is a free online service which lets you quickly and easily build a browser toolbar or a web-based application.

These can be great ways for your visitors, as the Conduit site says "take away a bit of your website". I can see this also as an excellent way to build viral applications, which can travel around the planet, continually promoting your site.

There's also a Conduit Marketplace, where you can share your stuff with thousands of webmasters. And there are thousands of apps in many different categories - including games. I'm going to have a play around with some of this stuff. It looks like a lot of fun :-)

http://www.conduit.com

* Make The Most Of Google's Tools & Services

It wouldn't seem right not to mention the World Dominator in this final edition of "Update"! Despite its efforts to reach into every corner of our lives, I, personally, am fascinated by and have benefited a lot from the stuff that Google makes freely available.

For example, I check my Google Analytics stats almost daily. This gives me a vast amount of info about what's happening on my many websites:

https://www.google.com/analytics/

I also check Google's Webmaster Tools area fairly regularly. There's a lot of good advice there:

http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/

There's also "Website Optimizer", a way of improving your web sales pages through "split testing":

http://www.google.com/analytics/siteopt/

And then there are Google's taken-over services, such as YouTube, Feedburner, Blogger and so on. You can get more services here:

http://www.google.com/options/

.. and explore what Google is currently experimenting with here:

http://www.googlelabs.com/

Of course, to access most of these services, you need a Google account - and this is available only if you have a Google email account - Gmail:

http://mail.google.com/mail/

I knew that someone must have compiled a li.st of Google's services and, sure enough, a search turned up this page with over 100 Google services listed:

http://www.IanSays.com/GoogleServices

Happy Gooooogling!

The Download Library

This is it - the last freebies I'll be adding to the Download Library. And I've made them some really special products - stuff that I've been actively selling.

But now, as a "goodbye present", you can have them as a gift!

The Download Library will still be available to you in the future, and I won't be changing the password.

Also, I won't be too bothered if you send other people to the Download Library, armed with the Username and Password.

Hey, this could be the ultimate incentive to get new subscribers for you - or the ultimate bonus for anything you're going to sell!

And that's another parting gift for you :-)

"The Affiliate Success Toolkit"
A great collection of tools and resources, all aimed at helping you to boost your affiliate commissions. Currently, I'm selling this collection for 67 bucks.

I've not even allowed Resale Rights for this whole package before, But now, I'm giving it to you to do with what you like! I hope that you don't devalue this product by doing anything silly, such as giving it away. But I'm not placing any restrictions on you.

I've included a complete sales page for the Toolkit - along with sales pages for the individual components of the Toolkit.

"Profitable Blogging For Seniors"
It seems appropriate to make this a gift on the eve of my retirement! I was selling the Personal Use Rights to my 88-page eBook for just 7 bucks, but "up-selling" the Resale Rights for 27 bucks.

Now I'm giving you the full Resale Rights version worth 27 USD! And it comes complete with one of my professionally-crafted sales pages.

Don't worry if you're not as old as me - the advice is good for bloggers of any age :-) But it's an example of taking a product with wide appeal.. and selling it into a narrower niche.

"ScrollerControl"
This is one of my Premium Products, which I'm currently selling for 67 bucks on this page:

http://www.scrollercontrol.co.uk/

Now I'm giving it to you completely f'ree - together with all the bonuses described on the sales page.

So, what does "Scroller Control" do? In a nutshell, it lets you put highly graphical scrollers on any of your web pages. It's easier to show you rather than try to describe it further - it's pretty powerful! You can see working examples on the sales page, and I've put a couple of demo scrollers in the Download Library.

All the scrollers on all your web pages are controlled from one Admin Panel which you install on your web server.

I've included my detailed User Manual in the package, and some other useful stuff as well. You shouldn't have any problem getting it up and running.

But please note, because this is a "freebie", I can't give any personal help with the installation or use of ScrollerControl.

Access the Library here. You'll need the access details, which have been sent in the email edition of this newsletter

Some final reminders..

Keeping In Touch

I'm not going to disappear - I'll still be around :-)

If you're interested, there are a number of ways to keep in touch with me, in addition to email:

1) Connect with me on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/people/Ian-Traynor/812738632

2) Follow me on Twitter

http://twitter.com/Ian_Traynor

3) Link up with me on LinkedIn:

http://uk.linkedin.com/in/iantraynor

4) If you're interested in my photos, I post them regularly on Flickr - mainly nature and travel pics. You don't need to be a Flickr member to view my pics (but only Flickr members can comment on them):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/iantraynor/

5) And, of course, become a Member of my Private PLR Club!

http://www.PrivatePLRClub.com

So, that's it.. the last full "Marketing Update" :-( You may hear from me from time to time - I'll be disposing of some of my domain names, and maybe even some of my products.

Oh, and I have a vague idea of publishing a report describing all the tools and resources I've used in my active internet marketing. But that's just a plan at the back of my mind.

And I'll probably send you a final reminder about my Grand Retirement Sale!

I have really enjoyed the contact with so many friends and subscribers over the years. And when my wife, Ruth, had her successful battle with cancer over a year ago, we were both touched and moved by the fantastic messages of support from so many subscribers.

I hope that you succeed in all that you attempt and that you find happiness in all that you do.

Kind regards

Ian Traynor
Professional Webmaster

P.S. Well, it wouldn't be like me to fail to have a final sales message in a "P.S.", would it? LOL!

Don't miss out in my Grand Retirement Sale. It gives huge value, and it ends at noon EST (5 pm BST) on Wednesday, 21st July:

http://www.Ian-Retires.com