by Ken on February 8, 2010
Today I was notified by the folks at WishList member that I have passed my certification test #3.
That makes all three tests now so I guess I’m officially going to become a certified WishList Member installer whenever they get around to formally announcing it and giving me their certification seal to put on my web site.
Each of us in the certification program had to go through a series of 3 tests where we built web sites according to the “client’s” specifications.
Building the sites would show that we had mastered the material that we went over in the membership training course and the certification modules as well.
Each of the three tests got progressively harder and utilized more-and-more of the WishList member features.
My first test was Trevor’s Widgets:
http://kencinnus.com/trevorswidgets/
My second test was for Ronald McDoogle’s online eCourse: The Awesomeness!
http://kencinnus.com/ronaldmcdoogle/
My third test was for Billie and Bobbie’s Male Grooming Products and Beard Course:
http://kencinnus.com/billiebobby/
It will cost you $1 to see the content there! It is connected to my PayPal account which is one of the payment systems that works with WishList Member.
It was a lot of fun to build these sites. I learned a bit more about Wishlist Member and even more about things you can do on your membership site, whether you use WishList Member, aMember or anything else.
Stay tuned for more information about the differences between aMember and WishList Member.
by Ken on January 31, 2010
Today here on my moon base on the dark side of the moon I started working on a version of my aMail plugin for iContact.
I think that iContact has just about the best API of any email service provider I’ve worked with so far. It looks like this plugin for aMember is going to be very, very tight. It’s going to solve a lot of frustration I’ve had with the limitations of other companies that I’ve made plugins for.
If you’re interested watch this blog. The finished product will hopefully be available in a week or so. I might need some beta testers, although I usually give that opportunity to my Everything Bundle customers first.
If you already have tried iContact and you like it or you don’t like it please comment below.
by Ken on January 28, 2010
I’ve updated my amProtect WordPress plugin to help you protect content that you only want to show to non-members.
Right now I don’t think there is any other plugin that is doing this. WishList Member does not do this…yet (but they probably will some time).
Ok, so you’re probably wondering what this is for and how it works.
Normally, when you are using amProtect, you are protecting content on a page so that it only shows up if someone has purchased the product/subscription that matches the product id you put on the amprotect tags.
If they are not logged in they get a login or register link that you get to format.
If they are logged in but have not purchased that product then they get an upgrade message that you format.
But with the new update to aMember you can also put in an entire sales message in place of the content for when a member is not logged in at all.
To do this you would just wrap your content around the message with these tags:
[ amprotect=nonmember ] your content goes here [ /amprotect ].
(I’ve put some extra spaces in the tags above so they would show.)
If the visitor is not logged into aMember then they see that content. If they are logged into aMember then they don’t see that content and there is no replacement message either. It is like you used the amsilent parameter on the amprotect tag.
Here is a live example:
If you can see this message then you are not logged in.
[amprotect=all,amsilent] , you are logged in so you are seeing this message.[/amprotect]
Depending on whether you were logged in or not and on what you purchased, you would see different messages above. Let’s break it down further…
Let’s say you have a site with Free, Silver and Gold levels. The product ID for the Free level is 1, Silver is 2 and Gold is 3. The price group for the Free level is also 1, Silver is 2 and Gold is 3 as well.
Here is what a post would look like that was just for Gold Memberships (and remember I put some extra spaces in the amprotect tags so you could read them here):
[ amprotect=nonmember ]
This is my sales message to someone who needs to log in and either buy silver or gold. Of course I would encourage them to buy the gold. This content will not be displayed at all if they are logged in. I would probably tell members to sign in using the login in the sidebar and then, for non-members, I would include a link to my aMember signup page for just the Gold product like this: /amember/signup.php?price_group=3&product_id=3.
[ /amprotect ]
[ amprotect=1,2,amsilent ]
This is my upgrade message for someone who is either at the Free or Silver level but they are logged in. They would be the only ones to see this and because of the amsilent that I added, if they were not logged in or they were Gold they would not see anything in its place. It would point them to the member page for the gold upgrade product (or better yet the fancy order page that comes with amSalesPages): /amember/member.php?product_id=3&price_group=3
[ /amprotect ]
[ amprotect=3,amsilent ]
This would be the actual private protected Gold level content that I was providing for my Gold members. If they were logged in they would see this. If they were not logged in or if they were only at the Free or Silver level then they would not see this content or any message because of the amsilent tag. Otherwise they would see whatever message I configured the amProtect plugin with for the case when members are logged in but are not active on a required product. And of course a non-Gold or non-logged in member will see one of the two previous pieces of content instead.
[ /amprotect ]
So I hope this explains how this new feature works and when you might want to use it.
Get more information about the amProtect plugin here.
by Ken on January 11, 2010
For hundreds of years, intelligent men sought to transform lead into gold. Alas, it was all in vain. The best alchemist could never accomplish the feat.
Yet who could have ever guessed that one day you would be able take bits and bytes — fragments of electricity — and convert them into cash?
This is the “modern miracle”: That you can turn your words into the coin of the realm.
What’s more, you may be just one letter away from wealth beyond your wildest dreams.
Advertising history is rife with examples of sales letters that have generated millions of dollars in profits. Some of these letters were 10 pages long… and some were only two!
Here’s the bottom line: With the right training, anybody can turn words into wealth. And my friend and colleague Ryan Healy shows you how to do it here…
http://www.CopywritingCode.com
Who Is Ryan Healy?
Ryan is a good friend and colleague of mine. We actually used to work together back when we both had jobs. And we still meet at Chipotle for lunch every week.
Here’s what you should know about Ryan. Since he quit and became a freelance copywriter, he’s worked with 75+ clients, written hundreds of sales letters, and thousands of emails (literally).
More importantly, he’s discovered what it really takes to generate sales on the Internet. (He’s written almost ALL the sales copy for my plugins — and while I can’t disclose any specific numbers, I can tell you they’re selling well.)
The tips and training information Ryan shares in his Copywriting Code membership site is excellent.
He teaches you how to write better headlines, how to discover your ideal customer, how to build a million-dollar swipe file, a fast and easy way to “write” a sales letter — basically all the copywriting secrets you need to…
Sell More Memberships!
If you would rather not hire an expensive copywriter — and would rather learn how to write copy that sells and do it yourself, I highly suggest signing up for Ryan’s Copywriting Code.
Not to mention, you can’t beat the price. (Just $19.95 a month.)
Also, in the interest of full disclosure, you should know that Ryan and I are business partners, so I will earn a small commission if you sign up through my link.
Either way, I endorse Ryan’s work and think you should check it out.
-Ken Gary
P.S. CopywritingCode.com is in its early stages of development… which is why it’s so inexpensive right now.
And Ryan tells me that if you sign up now, you’ll lock in your low rate for as long as you remain a member — even as more content and features are added to the site.
Click here to check it out.
