Morning!
Ever have one of those days where you simply don't get done what you had promised yourself….you'd do?
Welcome to my particular delightful version of reality!
See, yesterday I had planned on finishing Big Huge Holiday Profits 2010!
I really did! Writing a 75 page book in 3 days is normal for me; when I get into major inspiration mode, the letters flow off my fingertips and deftly meld themselves seamlessly with my Open Office writer application.
But then…I remembered this card that I had made for my husband awhile back.
Now, the husband loved the card! So much so, I thought to meself:
Jeepers self, wouldn't it be nifty if I could make a Perler bead pattern from it?
So I figured, okay, why not take half an hour from my writing and explore what I could discover.
5 hours later, I was done!
And really, what I found out is sooooooooo mega cool, words fail me! They really do!
Are you ready to see what I designed?
Are you are you are you are you are you are you are you are you are you are
you are you are you are you are you are you are you are you are you are you
are you are you are you are you are you are you are you are you are you are
you are you are you are you are you are you are you are you are you are you
are you are you are you are you are you are you are you are you are you are
you are you are you are you are you are you are you are you are you are you
are you are you are you are you are you are you are you are you are you are
you are you are you are you?
Alrighty then, feast your eyes on:
It uses only 20 colors and will take 16 5"x5" squares to complete! G'head, click on the picture to see it in its full unadulterated glory!!!!
And I've never made a Perler beading project before in my entire stoic life!
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
What, me worry?
So….the good news is, I will have a project to complete before Christmas – that will be my gift to the husband. Can't wait to start on it (it would help if I actually HAD the pegboards, mind you, so I'm waiting on that delivery).
Oh, and want to know how I made that design? It's easy! I simply visited
and played around with various sizes/etc. of the image I wanted to beadize.
My first attempt came in at 64 squares (a bit too much even for someone as otherworldly as me), so it did take time (huge bleeping amounts of time) to finally get the image just the way I wanted it.
And if you want to create your own Perler beading projects, you can invest in software (like yours truly did, before she learned about MyPixelPal) over at Fuse Bead Pattern Designer. I bought it and tested it out – it's a nice little software program that lets you draw on pegboards and make your own patter.
So yay for me and my husband – I have a wondrous project to make for him!
And wah for me finishing Big Huge Holiday Profits 2010 yesterday!
So I'm going to spend most of today writing more more more!
Speaking of which, it's really coming together beautifully – every step I lay out I then implement in real time for my own 2010 holiday sales as well.
With that as a rather long, rambling huge introduction, allow me to intrigue and delight you with:
Day 2 of Day 25 – Create Your Special Holiday Sale Autoresponder
Before you begin
To create an autoresponder for your holiday tips and sale, you need, well, an autoresponder like aWeber, getResponse etc.
Services like this these days generally offer unlimited autoresponders, so you'll be creating a Brand New autoresponder for the sole purpose of getting people to buy your holiday goodies.
Why it's important
People generally do not buy the first time they come to your site.
Instead, they might look around, they might surf off…they might never come back!
You want to prevent this from happening by compelling your visitors to sign up for something both niche related AND holiday related.
And here's a secret tip – notice how the title of this day is 'Create…Direct Sales Link'?
Given the fact you haven't yet begun thinking just what you plan on selling…you'd think this was most difficult to do, right?
Ah ha! One of the glories of followup marketing is that you can specify links on your site from the very beginning…and set them up precisely days later.
It's called using a placeholder link like this one called '21store.php'.
All it contains is the following 4 lines.
<?php
$URL="www.weeklyexpertsales.com/showcase/business-online/" ;
header ("Location: $URL");
?>
What you'll be doing is setting up a placeholder link on your site as well!
The benefits are fantastic – having a placeholder, like
www.barbaraling.com/learnmore/21store.php
enables you to fully configure your autoresponder series call-to-action link….in advance.
To where can you point that placeholder link?
Several ideas!
If you're sending a message to people who are already on your autoresponder, you can craft a placeholder page that has a countdown widget like so.
www.barbaraling.com/bhhp-example/
That page is also a dual-purpose page – you'll notice I also have the optin autoresponder form there as well.
It all depends upon what your final goals for your 2010 profits are.
Me, I much prefer building my list, so I myself personally will opt for the optin (as it were. 🙂 ).
You? It all depends what's the most important thing for you.
How to do it
It's time to tap into Twitter again!
Use Twitter to send an update like to:
Making it easy to let my customers know about my #niche holiday sale…fun times!
'course, you'd change '#niche' to your niche, ie, soccer, math, lizards, marketing, beading, etc.
And here's how to get it all done….patiently.
Step 1.) Visit your autoresponder dashboard.
Step 2.) Create and configure a new autoresponder. I call mine (wait for it) “Big Huge Holiday Profits”. You might want to call yours “Dog Training Holiday Tips” or “NASCAR Holiday Secrets” or “2011 Profit Plans” or “Holiday Fashion Bargain Alerts” etc.
In other words, create an autoresponder series that would intrigue your visitors enough to sign up…and then ensure the call-to-action link is your final placeholder/sales link.
Step 3.) Create a page on your WordPress site that allows visitors to sign up
You can also use a Popup Domination thingee instead, or perhaps a sidebar optin. The choice is yours. I much prefer the entire page meself, because I'll be using it as a reference for future blog posts.
Step 5.) Create a placeholder link on your site. Ideally, it will go to your sales page you'll highlighting later on in the month.
Closing thoughts
I'm having you create the autoresponder and the placeholder link at the very beginning of this project, did you notice that?
Why, you might ask?
Well, it always helps to have in your mind the right sequence of actions to do! And as you know that you'll need a sales page, and you know that you'll need a holiday autoresponder…it simply makes profound sense to get them out of the way asap.
'course, that does bring up something rather important! Just what WILL you focus on for your 2010 holiday profits?
Glad you asked! We'll tackle that….tomorrow. 🙂
Can't wait for the entire book to be finished? And want to grab it at a fraction of the final cost?
If so, you can reserve your GOLD copy for only $17!
It's easy to do! Simply paypal me the money below and when it's available, I'll send you your private download link.
How can you get sweeter than that?
Want to learn more? Get the hence to the Big Huge Holiday Profits Prelaunch…
Click below…because you'll love what you discover. 
Hope you've found Day 2 to be most useful indeed. Stay tuned for Day 3 (and don't forget to reserve your copy of the Gold to boot! Your bottom line will thank you for it).
Enjoy!
Grow strong,
Barbara Ling
Get Started Here
You’ll love what you learn… Promise!