By Sean Kenaston
In 2006, 40% of all email sent throughout the world was considered SPAM. This begs the question, “Will my email get to my subscribers?”
Every day it gets harder to determine if an email is legitimate; users find it difficult to distinguish between legitimate emails and spam. Spammers continue to find clever ways to bypass email filters and as a result the filters increasingly block valid emails in a desperate attempt to keep up. Many marketers find filters frequently catch their commercial emails.
The sheer volume of spam people receive has also created other problems. People will often mistake valid commercial emails, from mailing lists they’ve subscribed to, as spam and thus the email never gets opened. As this trend continues, some experts predict email will no longer be a useful marketing tool.
What can you do to avoid being marked as spam?
The best thing you can do is limit as many factors that may cause your email to be flagged as spam as possible:
* If you’re not doing so already, use a double opt-in mailing list. This will ensure they do in fact want to receive emails from you, plus they will recognize your name, which prevents any emails you send from being mistaken as spam.
* Once a subscriber has signed up to the mailing list, display a message on the website that tells them to add your email address to their white list to prevent it from being flagged as spam.
* Send your email as plain text. Avoid HTML emails as those tend to get picked up by the filters a lot more than plain text.
* Avoid using high threat key words such as ‘Free’, ‘Discount’, ‘Offer’, and ‘Money’ in your subject line as well as the email body. Most spammers these days are smart enough not to use these, but filters will still pick up on them and consider your email suspicious. If you need to use these types of keywords, you can space them out like ‘F r e e’, or include separating characters like ‘O-f-f-e-r’.
Will people abandon email for another electronic medium?
It’s difficult to tell where email marketing will be a year from now. In 2004, Bill Gates predicted there would be an end to all spam by 2006. Well, I don’t need to tell you that the exact opposite has occurred – there is more spam today than ever before, and there is no sign it will be letting up any time soon. It will only continue to get harder to find ways around the problem.
The good news is email marketing has already stood its ground. When blogs and podcasts emerged, many believed they would replace email as the dominant marketing media, but it did not happen. Yes, people embraced blogs and podcasts, but they still subscribed to mailing lists as they had before, despite the spam.
Email is still a strong marketing media and every indication shows that it will remain useful in the years to come. Unless everyone in the world suddenly decides to stop using email, there will always be a way to reach subscribers on the web this way.
About the Author:
Sean Kenaston is an Associate Editor at Ratings Hub - the first and only ad and affiliate link free site that provides 100% user-based reviews of various Internet marketing products and services. It is absolutely free and it’s the only place on the Internet offering completely unbiased feedback on products used by every type of marketer, from beginner to guru and everyone in between. Please visit www.ratingshub.no-nonsense-marketing.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sean_Kenaston
Monday, January 29, 2007
Friday, December 08, 2006
Email Marketing is Not Dead: Top 10 Reasons to Publish an Ezine
By Patsi Krakoff, Psy. D
Email marketing is far from dead, despite the fact it can be a challenge to build an opt-in list of email addresses. Even with the popularity and ease of publishing on blogs, an ezine should be a standard in your online marketing toolbox. Ezines are easy, accessible, inexpensive, instant, and interactive
Here are ten reasons to publish an ezine:
1. Gain name and fame; become widely known as an expert in your field to people you might not ever see or meet. You establish yourself as a thought leader and demonstrate your expertise in a way you could never do on a website or brochure.
2. Cultivate a relationship with your readers; establish trust and credibility. Your ezine is an opportunity to teach, to share interesting information, and to share your philosophy and real life experiences. Readers get to know you. Show them what you know, and also that you care. (There is that old adage that says 'people don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care!')
3. Create quality content for your website. When you post your ezines on your website, you increase the chance of search engines picking up your site because you have more pages and more content.
4. Stay in touch with past, present and potential clients. You never know when, where or why a person will contact you for services, so you need to stay in touch, and make it easy for them to contact you. Some say people need to hear from you 5-7 times before they are ready to hire or buy.
5. Give people up-to-date information on programs, services and products you have created that can help them. How else will they know what you have to offer?
6. Create alliances and affiliations with other ezine publishers, programs and service providers that interest your readers. They will love you when you offer solutions from other sources that you don't provide yourself. You become a go-to resource for many of their needs. You can also earn passive income through affiliate programs.
7. Reinforce your branding. Your services may be great, but every business needs a look, a logo, colors, a name, a tag-line quote-things that sum up in one glance the essence or feel of who you are and what your business stands for. Your ezine is one more opportunity to put forth your brand.
8. Expand and grow your database: Ezines can be forwarded to a reader's friends and associates. Your list of subscribers can grow with people you might never come in contact with. You can reach a global audience instead of your local area.
9. Create a two-way dialogue with your readers: Ask your readers questions, survey them about topics, ask for their opinions and feedback. Your ezine can help you keep your finger on the pulse of your ideal clients; you can use their feedback to create more ezine content, or other products such as telecourses and e-books. And this in itself sustains the idea that you are really interested in them and in providing the kinds of services that are important to them: you care.
10. Bottom-line: sales. You turn prospects into clients. Your ezine can be a magnet to your website, to your products, to your services. People are more likely to buy from you when they feel they know you. Ezines are particularly effective for selling services where there may be a long sales cycle and where the relationship is important.
For more leading edge ezine tips go to www.coachezines.com . You can also subscribe to Newsletter Nuggets at www.newsletternuggets.com. Get Patsi's Secrets of Successful Ezines 7-Step Mini-Course to learn what you need to know to publish a successful ezine. snipurl.com/Ezine_MiniCourse Patsi Krakoff, Psy. D. is a writer and Internet Marketing expert with over 7 years experience marketing online and founder of Customized Newsletter Services.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Patsi_Krakoff,_Psy._D
Email marketing is far from dead, despite the fact it can be a challenge to build an opt-in list of email addresses. Even with the popularity and ease of publishing on blogs, an ezine should be a standard in your online marketing toolbox. Ezines are easy, accessible, inexpensive, instant, and interactive
Here are ten reasons to publish an ezine:
1. Gain name and fame; become widely known as an expert in your field to people you might not ever see or meet. You establish yourself as a thought leader and demonstrate your expertise in a way you could never do on a website or brochure.
2. Cultivate a relationship with your readers; establish trust and credibility. Your ezine is an opportunity to teach, to share interesting information, and to share your philosophy and real life experiences. Readers get to know you. Show them what you know, and also that you care. (There is that old adage that says 'people don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care!')
3. Create quality content for your website. When you post your ezines on your website, you increase the chance of search engines picking up your site because you have more pages and more content.
4. Stay in touch with past, present and potential clients. You never know when, where or why a person will contact you for services, so you need to stay in touch, and make it easy for them to contact you. Some say people need to hear from you 5-7 times before they are ready to hire or buy.
5. Give people up-to-date information on programs, services and products you have created that can help them. How else will they know what you have to offer?
6. Create alliances and affiliations with other ezine publishers, programs and service providers that interest your readers. They will love you when you offer solutions from other sources that you don't provide yourself. You become a go-to resource for many of their needs. You can also earn passive income through affiliate programs.
7. Reinforce your branding. Your services may be great, but every business needs a look, a logo, colors, a name, a tag-line quote-things that sum up in one glance the essence or feel of who you are and what your business stands for. Your ezine is one more opportunity to put forth your brand.
8. Expand and grow your database: Ezines can be forwarded to a reader's friends and associates. Your list of subscribers can grow with people you might never come in contact with. You can reach a global audience instead of your local area.
9. Create a two-way dialogue with your readers: Ask your readers questions, survey them about topics, ask for their opinions and feedback. Your ezine can help you keep your finger on the pulse of your ideal clients; you can use their feedback to create more ezine content, or other products such as telecourses and e-books. And this in itself sustains the idea that you are really interested in them and in providing the kinds of services that are important to them: you care.
10. Bottom-line: sales. You turn prospects into clients. Your ezine can be a magnet to your website, to your products, to your services. People are more likely to buy from you when they feel they know you. Ezines are particularly effective for selling services where there may be a long sales cycle and where the relationship is important.
For more leading edge ezine tips go to www.coachezines.com . You can also subscribe to Newsletter Nuggets at www.newsletternuggets.com. Get Patsi's Secrets of Successful Ezines 7-Step Mini-Course to learn what you need to know to publish a successful ezine. snipurl.com/Ezine_MiniCourse Patsi Krakoff, Psy. D. is a writer and Internet Marketing expert with over 7 years experience marketing online and founder of Customized Newsletter Services.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Patsi_Krakoff,_Psy._D
Monday, October 09, 2006
The 5 Cardinal Sins of Email Marketing
by: Robert Burko
One of the most frequent questions my customers ask me is "What should I do to make sure my email marketing campaign is a success?" My answer is always different, depending on the client's industry, campaign goal, and many other factors. But in today's e-marketing landscape, there are a few pointers that stand true for any client, a few things that can really make or break an email campaign.
You could overlook these, and you'll still have an email campaign. But if you're stuck wondering why your email messages are yielding little to no response, you may want to take a closer look and consider if you're commiting any of these 5 email marketing sins:
1. When new subscribers sign up, I should treat them just like my old subscribers.
One of the most overlooked aspects of email marketing is the welcome message, or the message your subscribers receive as soon as they sign up for your email list. The welcome message is your first opportunity to connect one-on-one with your subscribers. Think of it as your first impression, since this is the very first of, hopefully, many email messages you'll be sending them. Of course, you want to make a good first impression: be courteous, friendly and very mindful of your audience. Make sure to remind them of the benefits of signing up, include links to your website and tell your readers how to get a hold of you if they need. It's also important to ensure the welcome message arrives shortly (if not immediately) after the recipient signs up. So your best bet here is to choose an email service provider that sends automatic welcome messages to your subscribers on your behalf. Some of the top email programs will allow you to fully customize your welcome message, so it reads, looks and feels just like your company.
2. All my subscribers are the same, so I should just send the same messages to all of them.
Well.. actually, no, and no. It's not rocket science: subscribers are individuals, just like you and I. They have different preferences, different habits, different personalities. Addressing your subscribers by their names is a good start (and an easy thing to do, since most reputable email service providers automatically insert your subscribers' names into the greeting field). But, in most cases, this personal greeting is just not enough. Say you own a clothing store, and you sell men's, women's and children's clothing. John Smith is a customer, and he loves your menswear collections. But he's busy, and he has no women or kids to shop for. So why would he waste his precious time browsing through your specials on blouses and bibs? It's been proven: In a recent study by DoubleClick, email users were 72% more likely to respond to a business e-mail if its content was based on the interests they had specified. Choose an email service provider that allows you to set up interest groups, and then allows your subscribers to choose which groups they want to belong to. Back to the clothing store, you would produce 3 separate emails (men's, women's, children's) and only send them out to the subscribers who want to read them, creating higlhy-targeted, personalized and effective email campaigns.
3. When a reader clicks on a link from my email, it doesn't matter if they end up on a page that looks nothing like the actual email.
Um, actually, it does matter. First-off, you want to provide a consistent image of your brand. That's just Branding 101. You wouldn't create business cards that look one way, letterhead that looks another way, and a store sign that looks completely different. So why would your email marketing campaign look nothing like your website? Chances are you already have a website, so all you really need to do is customize your email campaign to have the same look and feel. Many email service providers will be able to create you a custom template that matches the exact look and feel of your website. However, beware of the price. While some email service providers charge at least a few hundred for this, others offer free custom templates as part of their services.
4. My email recipients may enjoy my messages, but they don't really want to share them with their friends.
Here's the good news: According to a January 2006 report by Sharpe Partners, 89% of US adult Internet users share email content with their friends, family and associates. And 75% of them forward emails to up to six other recipients. It's called viral marketing, and it basically translates to word-of-mouth through email (as long as you provide good content, an essential aspect of any email maketing campaign). Some email service providers have taken this insight into consideration, so they have integrated the all-important "Forward to a Friend" feature in every email you send. A few email providers will even go a step further, and allow you to track which subscribers are forwarding your messages, so you can get a true glimpse at your "brand ambassadors" (and maybe offer them some extra perks).
5. After I send out my email campaign, there's nothing left for me to do.
If you look at it that way, you're really missing half the process, and jeopardizing the success of your future campaigns. Here's why: any reputable email marketing program will include campaign tracking and reporting. These allow you to view how many of your messages were opened, which bounced back, which links were clicked on, and, with some email providers, exaclty which recipients clicked on each link. This data not only converts email marketing into an incredible lead generation tool, but it also allows you to learn more about your subscribers. So if you operate a travel agency, and you see nobody clicked on the Mexico vacation link, but 200 readers clicked on the New York vacation link, you'll know next time to place a greater focus on New York vacations. You could even send a follow up campaign to those 200 readers with a special offer for a New York vacation upgrade. That's lead generation and a highly-targeted upsell in one shot. Are you taking advantage of these?
About The Author
Robert Burko is president and founder of Eliteweb.cc, an Internet portal and suite of Fortune 500 services for small businesses. Elite Email Marketing is a leading email service provider, and includes all the powerful features highlighted in this article.
rburko@contact.eliteweb.
Source : articlecity.com
One of the most frequent questions my customers ask me is "What should I do to make sure my email marketing campaign is a success?" My answer is always different, depending on the client's industry, campaign goal, and many other factors. But in today's e-marketing landscape, there are a few pointers that stand true for any client, a few things that can really make or break an email campaign.
You could overlook these, and you'll still have an email campaign. But if you're stuck wondering why your email messages are yielding little to no response, you may want to take a closer look and consider if you're commiting any of these 5 email marketing sins:
1. When new subscribers sign up, I should treat them just like my old subscribers.
One of the most overlooked aspects of email marketing is the welcome message, or the message your subscribers receive as soon as they sign up for your email list. The welcome message is your first opportunity to connect one-on-one with your subscribers. Think of it as your first impression, since this is the very first of, hopefully, many email messages you'll be sending them. Of course, you want to make a good first impression: be courteous, friendly and very mindful of your audience. Make sure to remind them of the benefits of signing up, include links to your website and tell your readers how to get a hold of you if they need. It's also important to ensure the welcome message arrives shortly (if not immediately) after the recipient signs up. So your best bet here is to choose an email service provider that sends automatic welcome messages to your subscribers on your behalf. Some of the top email programs will allow you to fully customize your welcome message, so it reads, looks and feels just like your company.
2. All my subscribers are the same, so I should just send the same messages to all of them.
Well.. actually, no, and no. It's not rocket science: subscribers are individuals, just like you and I. They have different preferences, different habits, different personalities. Addressing your subscribers by their names is a good start (and an easy thing to do, since most reputable email service providers automatically insert your subscribers' names into the greeting field). But, in most cases, this personal greeting is just not enough. Say you own a clothing store, and you sell men's, women's and children's clothing. John Smith is a customer, and he loves your menswear collections. But he's busy, and he has no women or kids to shop for. So why would he waste his precious time browsing through your specials on blouses and bibs? It's been proven: In a recent study by DoubleClick, email users were 72% more likely to respond to a business e-mail if its content was based on the interests they had specified. Choose an email service provider that allows you to set up interest groups, and then allows your subscribers to choose which groups they want to belong to. Back to the clothing store, you would produce 3 separate emails (men's, women's, children's) and only send them out to the subscribers who want to read them, creating higlhy-targeted, personalized and effective email campaigns.
3. When a reader clicks on a link from my email, it doesn't matter if they end up on a page that looks nothing like the actual email.
Um, actually, it does matter. First-off, you want to provide a consistent image of your brand. That's just Branding 101. You wouldn't create business cards that look one way, letterhead that looks another way, and a store sign that looks completely different. So why would your email marketing campaign look nothing like your website? Chances are you already have a website, so all you really need to do is customize your email campaign to have the same look and feel. Many email service providers will be able to create you a custom template that matches the exact look and feel of your website. However, beware of the price. While some email service providers charge at least a few hundred for this, others offer free custom templates as part of their services.
4. My email recipients may enjoy my messages, but they don't really want to share them with their friends.
Here's the good news: According to a January 2006 report by Sharpe Partners, 89% of US adult Internet users share email content with their friends, family and associates. And 75% of them forward emails to up to six other recipients. It's called viral marketing, and it basically translates to word-of-mouth through email (as long as you provide good content, an essential aspect of any email maketing campaign). Some email service providers have taken this insight into consideration, so they have integrated the all-important "Forward to a Friend" feature in every email you send. A few email providers will even go a step further, and allow you to track which subscribers are forwarding your messages, so you can get a true glimpse at your "brand ambassadors" (and maybe offer them some extra perks).
5. After I send out my email campaign, there's nothing left for me to do.
If you look at it that way, you're really missing half the process, and jeopardizing the success of your future campaigns. Here's why: any reputable email marketing program will include campaign tracking and reporting. These allow you to view how many of your messages were opened, which bounced back, which links were clicked on, and, with some email providers, exaclty which recipients clicked on each link. This data not only converts email marketing into an incredible lead generation tool, but it also allows you to learn more about your subscribers. So if you operate a travel agency, and you see nobody clicked on the Mexico vacation link, but 200 readers clicked on the New York vacation link, you'll know next time to place a greater focus on New York vacations. You could even send a follow up campaign to those 200 readers with a special offer for a New York vacation upgrade. That's lead generation and a highly-targeted upsell in one shot. Are you taking advantage of these?
About The Author
Robert Burko is president and founder of Eliteweb.cc, an Internet portal and suite of Fortune 500 services for small businesses. Elite Email Marketing is a leading email service provider, and includes all the powerful features highlighted in this article.
rburko@contact.eliteweb.
Source : articlecity.com
Monday, October 02, 2006
Why Email Marketing Matters
By Ryan P. Allis
According to a study by the Winterberry Group, email marketing brings in $15.50 per dollar spent This is about 17% more than direct-mail campaigns and 73% more than telemarketing campaigns. In short, email marketing matters and if you’re not sending out at least monthly email newsletters to your subscriber base, you should be. The true cost comes from acquiring the prospects and clients, not the three or four hours needed to create a monthly newsletter.
Many organizations, once they have spent the thousands of dollars acquiring their clients, fail to market to their existing base. I’ve met quite a few marketing managers who would rather continue spending $200 a pop for new qualified prospects rather than $0.01 per person to build the relationship with their existing clients and recommend new products or encourage re-orders. I’ve found that sending relevant email communications to persons who have requested to receive them is the single most effective way of cultivating the type of relationship needed to turn your prospects into customers and your customers into lifetime product evangelizers.
As a reader of this article, chance has it that your organization is one that already sends out a newsletter, or at least is considering doing so soon. Once you began sending your own newsletter, however, it is important to follow two important rules that will increase your likelihood of achieving your marketing goals, whether they are to increase repeat orders, convert a higher ratio of prospects, or obtain top-of-mind brand awareness.
The first and most important rule is to only send relevant content to persons who have requested it. What does this mean? Well, let’s say you are a travel and adventure planning company. If someone has subscribed to your Kayaking Monthly Newsletter, don’t move them over to your European Vacations list and send them an article on Dining in Tuscany. In most cases, you will very quickly lose any prospect or reduce the lifetime value of your relationship with an existing client. If the person also subscribed to it, it would be okay to send him or her a monthly company newsletter that from time to time had information on other topics, but don’t mix newsletter bases just to increase mailing volumes.
It is important to note that just setting up an interest segment and adding it to your sign up form doesn’t require you to create a monthly newsletter on that topic, but once you get a few dozen to a couple hundred people interested in that area (depending the value of the product or service you are providing), it will likely pay to have quality content developed on that topic for distribution in interest specific newsletters. This can be easily done within the IntelliContact email marketing software by either creating a list specifically for persons interested in a topic or creating a segment of persons with a specific interest.
The second rule is to be consistent with your sending frequency. Depending on your type of business and your subscriber interest level, the right volume for you could be weekly, biweekly, or monthly. Once you find the frequency that is right for your organization (and this could vary newsletter to newsletter), stick with it. We see a lot of companies whose email strategy can only be defined as “ad hoc.” Rather than blasting out a promotion whenever sales are lagging, we recommend having an emailing schedule for each newsletter and sticking to it, whether it be every Saturday, every other Wednesday, or on the 15 th of each month. As an example our company newsletter, the Permission - Based Email marketing Monthly goes out on the 28 th of each month.
What type of results can you expect from regularly sending out regular email newsletters? Here are two examples from users of IntelliContact the email marketing software my company Broadwick provides. Biotage is a company based on Massachusetts that provides DNA sequencing instrumentation. They send out event notifications and company updates to 20,000 or so subscribers each month. David Shultis, Marketing Communications Manager of Biotage, notes, “We've seen open rates at around the 38-42% mark for our large mailings. There has also been a 'pass-along' quality of our emails, as we've noticed new names that were not originally on our mailing lists responding to offers.” Another IntelliContact user, Julie Ibrahim, Vice President of the Tiger Sports Shop says “The monthly newsletter keeps us and our inn at the forefront in the minds of our past and potential guests. Thus with the continuous news from us and our region, we are kept in mind, with no sales effort or pressure.” If your organization wants to see marketing results like these, it may be time to start or expand your usage of permission-based email marketing.
If you stick with sending relevant, high quality content-rich emails on a consistent basis to persons who have requested to receive your emails, you will increase your prospect to customer conversion rates and customer lifetime value at a fraction of the of the cost of traditional methods and take advantage of the best type of marketing possible—free marketing through authentic customer word-of-month.
Ryan Allis is a well known author who writes articles and CEO of Broadwick Corporation, providers of Email marketing software IntelliContact Pro.For additional information on Email marketing for more tips, ideas and solutions about email marketing please visit http://www.intellicontact.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ryan_P._Allis
According to a study by the Winterberry Group, email marketing brings in $15.50 per dollar spent This is about 17% more than direct-mail campaigns and 73% more than telemarketing campaigns. In short, email marketing matters and if you’re not sending out at least monthly email newsletters to your subscriber base, you should be. The true cost comes from acquiring the prospects and clients, not the three or four hours needed to create a monthly newsletter.
Many organizations, once they have spent the thousands of dollars acquiring their clients, fail to market to their existing base. I’ve met quite a few marketing managers who would rather continue spending $200 a pop for new qualified prospects rather than $0.01 per person to build the relationship with their existing clients and recommend new products or encourage re-orders. I’ve found that sending relevant email communications to persons who have requested to receive them is the single most effective way of cultivating the type of relationship needed to turn your prospects into customers and your customers into lifetime product evangelizers.
As a reader of this article, chance has it that your organization is one that already sends out a newsletter, or at least is considering doing so soon. Once you began sending your own newsletter, however, it is important to follow two important rules that will increase your likelihood of achieving your marketing goals, whether they are to increase repeat orders, convert a higher ratio of prospects, or obtain top-of-mind brand awareness.
The first and most important rule is to only send relevant content to persons who have requested it. What does this mean? Well, let’s say you are a travel and adventure planning company. If someone has subscribed to your Kayaking Monthly Newsletter, don’t move them over to your European Vacations list and send them an article on Dining in Tuscany. In most cases, you will very quickly lose any prospect or reduce the lifetime value of your relationship with an existing client. If the person also subscribed to it, it would be okay to send him or her a monthly company newsletter that from time to time had information on other topics, but don’t mix newsletter bases just to increase mailing volumes.
It is important to note that just setting up an interest segment and adding it to your sign up form doesn’t require you to create a monthly newsletter on that topic, but once you get a few dozen to a couple hundred people interested in that area (depending the value of the product or service you are providing), it will likely pay to have quality content developed on that topic for distribution in interest specific newsletters. This can be easily done within the IntelliContact email marketing software by either creating a list specifically for persons interested in a topic or creating a segment of persons with a specific interest.
The second rule is to be consistent with your sending frequency. Depending on your type of business and your subscriber interest level, the right volume for you could be weekly, biweekly, or monthly. Once you find the frequency that is right for your organization (and this could vary newsletter to newsletter), stick with it. We see a lot of companies whose email strategy can only be defined as “ad hoc.” Rather than blasting out a promotion whenever sales are lagging, we recommend having an emailing schedule for each newsletter and sticking to it, whether it be every Saturday, every other Wednesday, or on the 15 th of each month. As an example our company newsletter, the Permission - Based Email marketing Monthly goes out on the 28 th of each month.
What type of results can you expect from regularly sending out regular email newsletters? Here are two examples from users of IntelliContact the email marketing software my company Broadwick provides. Biotage is a company based on Massachusetts that provides DNA sequencing instrumentation. They send out event notifications and company updates to 20,000 or so subscribers each month. David Shultis, Marketing Communications Manager of Biotage, notes, “We've seen open rates at around the 38-42% mark for our large mailings. There has also been a 'pass-along' quality of our emails, as we've noticed new names that were not originally on our mailing lists responding to offers.” Another IntelliContact user, Julie Ibrahim, Vice President of the Tiger Sports Shop says “The monthly newsletter keeps us and our inn at the forefront in the minds of our past and potential guests. Thus with the continuous news from us and our region, we are kept in mind, with no sales effort or pressure.” If your organization wants to see marketing results like these, it may be time to start or expand your usage of permission-based email marketing.
If you stick with sending relevant, high quality content-rich emails on a consistent basis to persons who have requested to receive your emails, you will increase your prospect to customer conversion rates and customer lifetime value at a fraction of the of the cost of traditional methods and take advantage of the best type of marketing possible—free marketing through authentic customer word-of-month.
Ryan Allis is a well known author who writes articles and CEO of Broadwick Corporation, providers of Email marketing software IntelliContact Pro.For additional information on Email marketing for more tips, ideas and solutions about email marketing please visit http://www.intellicontact.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ryan_P._Allis
Monday, September 25, 2006
The Ultimate Email Marketing Guide: 15 Tips To Fast Email Marketing Success! Part 1
By Jon Rognerud
A practical "how-to" list for email marketing success, from small to large business.
Email marketing is easy (--ponder--) if you know how to do it. Wow, you have heard that one before, I'm sure. Is that not always the case - with almost anything? So, why even say it?
Because - in this case it is really true.
However, so many small businesses make it more complex than it is; they don't fully understand or grasp the impact of list building, what tools, services and techniques are available, and don't recognize what a successful campaign and its results can and will mean for their businesses.
We believe that a) simplicity of application, b) knowledge - and c) immediate action are the first steps to success. And, everything done in an ethical way - you got permission based marketing. Full speed ahead!
1. Get the legalities out of the way.
Did you know that recent changes in the search engine algorithms now recognize a privacy policy page as an important metric in the total number of items that helps your ranking and visibility? In fact, Google has over 100 variables that make up the secret sauce of their algorithmic search engines. Only two engineers at Google know it. (Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google chose not to learn it himself).
So, you should write and always provide a link to your privacy page. Starter text can be obtained from links below - and always make sure to review with your legal counsel for a final review. You will then include a link to it from your outgoing email campaigns.
Here are some places to start:
a) http://www.truste.org/pdf/WriteAGreatPrivacyPolicy.pdf
b) http://www.marketingpower.com/content4740.php
c) http://www.microsaw.com/privacy_policy.htm
2. Your site must capture user via first name (last name) & email address.
Burn this into your head - make it your site requirement - day one. There are too many online businesses that forget this simple rule. It's a must. If you are reading this article, then you probably already realize the importance of mailing lists. Your audience is looking for good (relevant!) materials to solve problems in their life and business. Capture these visitors, and continue to provide this information and free information, you can grow your business by 1000% or more almost overnight, in some cases in any future mailing. It's super-important to have - and build a quality mailing list.
On your 'landing page' (sometimes called a sales page, gateway page, squeeze page, splash page) you should try to include this capture form on the "top of the fold" of your webpage. (Think of this as single sheet of paper, folded in half. The visitors will read the top portion first, from left to right - almost in an F-shaped order).
Therefore, make sure you:
Place this input form in a strategic location, "above the fold"
Make this coding your first priority for implementation - don't make it the last - or never (which many companies do)
3. Example Signup forms.
Search the internet for example sign up forms. A great technique is to look for companies that have this in their URL. Try this in Google (type into search box): allinurl: "free newsletter" (it will search any site that has this contained in the TITLE of the page).
Some examples of successful forms:
http://www.microsaw.com/myform.htm
http://www.marketingtips.com/newsletters
http://www.redhotcopy.com/workshop.htm - using interesting "slanted" pop-under and image (a black/white banana)
Note that you should always apply "up selling" techniques: links to other complimentary tools, software, articles & e-books.
In other words, give something away for free.
This is the Stephen Covey "emotional bank-account" working at its best. Web surfers are getting smarter and not just links to privacy policies and terms of use are recognized, but easy to read pages that are brief and to the point, score high. (Ed note: An example can be seen on the right side at http://www.microsaw.com/myform.htm - the "free 5-day SEO email course").
4. Popups, popunders, popup blockers & search engines.
Traditional popups (yes, the annoying ones) are banned from search engines like Google.
Therefore, smart marketers have come up with other means. They are called "popunders". They use specialized JavaScript to display a pop-up box, but it's not tracked or recognized by popup-blockers or the search engines (Ed. Note: this could change, as the search engines change their smarts all the time).
As of writing, you should use a pop-up box, and capture first name, last name & email. Don't make it an intrusive one though (it needs to follow your style sheet guidelines, in other words). Another way to go is to use what's called 'house-banners' -- ads that display compelling graphics, text - and uses your own local advertising system (example: double-click).
Here's what to do to capture interested visitors:
Apply a page that "slides" onto your page, and have it appear after 5 seconds.
Display this email form capture on all pages.
Only show it once, and only repeat 2-3 days later (assuming they come back). Many of the email marketing systems include this feature for you.
Annoying, but it works. I went from 5% signups a day a 75% increase overnight - only a few weeks back.
Tip: Make a note that the popup is from your site- not a partner site. (sometimes popups are thought to be from sponsors, make a note to your visitor that it's from you).
5. Do you have a newsletter you are trying to promote? Up-sell is the answer!
If you are promoting a newsletter, outside of just getting visitors to sign up, there are 3rd parties vendors that can help you publish and sell your newsletter. Throughout all campaigns, you must make sure to provide useful, relevant and unique content.
Some options for you:
Coregcomplete.com - get signups on thank you pages of other subscription forms this is a great way to promote your wares
Getsubscribers.com
Partner with companies you find, and call them up. Search for 'newsletter publishers' in Google.
When you write articles (yes, you should) - make sure to make a note in the "About Author" that you publish or have newsletters available.
TIP/Warning: Beware of commercial co-regs -- they typically have poor quality names and offers.
Jon Rognerud is a recognized authority on the subject of SEO and Online Marketing, and has spent over 10 years developing websites and marketing solutions for companies like Overture, Yahoo and Expedia.
His website, Los Angeles Search Marketing at http://www.microsaw.com, provides a wealth of informative articles, resources and complimentary email courses on everything you will ever need to know about SEO and Search Marketing. He lives with his family in Southern California.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jon_Rognerud
A practical "how-to" list for email marketing success, from small to large business.
Email marketing is easy (--ponder--) if you know how to do it. Wow, you have heard that one before, I'm sure. Is that not always the case - with almost anything? So, why even say it?
Because - in this case it is really true.
However, so many small businesses make it more complex than it is; they don't fully understand or grasp the impact of list building, what tools, services and techniques are available, and don't recognize what a successful campaign and its results can and will mean for their businesses.
We believe that a) simplicity of application, b) knowledge - and c) immediate action are the first steps to success. And, everything done in an ethical way - you got permission based marketing. Full speed ahead!
1. Get the legalities out of the way.
Did you know that recent changes in the search engine algorithms now recognize a privacy policy page as an important metric in the total number of items that helps your ranking and visibility? In fact, Google has over 100 variables that make up the secret sauce of their algorithmic search engines. Only two engineers at Google know it. (Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google chose not to learn it himself).
So, you should write and always provide a link to your privacy page. Starter text can be obtained from links below - and always make sure to review with your legal counsel for a final review. You will then include a link to it from your outgoing email campaigns.
Here are some places to start:
a) http://www.truste.org/pdf/WriteAGreatPrivacyPolicy.pdf
b) http://www.marketingpower.com/content4740.php
c) http://www.microsaw.com/privacy_policy.htm
2. Your site must capture user via first name (last name) & email address.
Burn this into your head - make it your site requirement - day one. There are too many online businesses that forget this simple rule. It's a must. If you are reading this article, then you probably already realize the importance of mailing lists. Your audience is looking for good (relevant!) materials to solve problems in their life and business. Capture these visitors, and continue to provide this information and free information, you can grow your business by 1000% or more almost overnight, in some cases in any future mailing. It's super-important to have - and build a quality mailing list.
On your 'landing page' (sometimes called a sales page, gateway page, squeeze page, splash page) you should try to include this capture form on the "top of the fold" of your webpage. (Think of this as single sheet of paper, folded in half. The visitors will read the top portion first, from left to right - almost in an F-shaped order).
Therefore, make sure you:
Place this input form in a strategic location, "above the fold"
Make this coding your first priority for implementation - don't make it the last - or never (which many companies do)
3. Example Signup forms.
Search the internet for example sign up forms. A great technique is to look for companies that have this in their URL. Try this in Google (type into search box): allinurl: "free newsletter" (it will search any site that has this contained in the TITLE of the page).
Some examples of successful forms:
http://www.microsaw.com/myform.htm
http://www.marketingtips.com/newsletters
http://www.redhotcopy.com/workshop.htm - using interesting "slanted" pop-under and image (a black/white banana)
Note that you should always apply "up selling" techniques: links to other complimentary tools, software, articles & e-books.
In other words, give something away for free.
This is the Stephen Covey "emotional bank-account" working at its best. Web surfers are getting smarter and not just links to privacy policies and terms of use are recognized, but easy to read pages that are brief and to the point, score high. (Ed note: An example can be seen on the right side at http://www.microsaw.com/myform.htm - the "free 5-day SEO email course").
4. Popups, popunders, popup blockers & search engines.
Traditional popups (yes, the annoying ones) are banned from search engines like Google.
Therefore, smart marketers have come up with other means. They are called "popunders". They use specialized JavaScript to display a pop-up box, but it's not tracked or recognized by popup-blockers or the search engines (Ed. Note: this could change, as the search engines change their smarts all the time).
As of writing, you should use a pop-up box, and capture first name, last name & email. Don't make it an intrusive one though (it needs to follow your style sheet guidelines, in other words). Another way to go is to use what's called 'house-banners' -- ads that display compelling graphics, text - and uses your own local advertising system (example: double-click).
Here's what to do to capture interested visitors:
Apply a page that "slides" onto your page, and have it appear after 5 seconds.
Display this email form capture on all pages.
Only show it once, and only repeat 2-3 days later (assuming they come back). Many of the email marketing systems include this feature for you.
Annoying, but it works. I went from 5% signups a day a 75% increase overnight - only a few weeks back.
Tip: Make a note that the popup is from your site- not a partner site. (sometimes popups are thought to be from sponsors, make a note to your visitor that it's from you).
5. Do you have a newsletter you are trying to promote? Up-sell is the answer!
If you are promoting a newsletter, outside of just getting visitors to sign up, there are 3rd parties vendors that can help you publish and sell your newsletter. Throughout all campaigns, you must make sure to provide useful, relevant and unique content.
Some options for you:
Coregcomplete.com - get signups on thank you pages of other subscription forms this is a great way to promote your wares
Getsubscribers.com
Partner with companies you find, and call them up. Search for 'newsletter publishers' in Google.
When you write articles (yes, you should) - make sure to make a note in the "About Author" that you publish or have newsletters available.
TIP/Warning: Beware of commercial co-regs -- they typically have poor quality names and offers.
Jon Rognerud is a recognized authority on the subject of SEO and Online Marketing, and has spent over 10 years developing websites and marketing solutions for companies like Overture, Yahoo and Expedia.
His website, Los Angeles Search Marketing at http://www.microsaw.com, provides a wealth of informative articles, resources and complimentary email courses on everything you will ever need to know about SEO and Search Marketing. He lives with his family in Southern California.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jon_Rognerud
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