The 5 Cardinal Sins of Email MarketingBy: 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?
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.View their website at: www.eliteweb.cc
Article Source: http://www.marketingarticlelibrary.com
Showing posts with label E-mail Marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label E-mail Marketing. Show all posts
Sunday, January 3, 2010
3 Essential Tools for Email Marketers By : Jinger Jarrett
3 Essential Tools for Email MarketersBy: Jinger Jarrett
Marketing your business with email is an art.
It's very easy to get accused of spamming nowadays. Add to that the filters ISPs are using, and your message may not get through.
If you do it right, email marketing can become a very effective method of marketing your business.
Before you consider this method, there are three tools I consider absolutely crucial to your success.
1. Educate yourself.Get accused of spamming and you could destroy your reputation forever.
Learn everything you can about email marketing and implement those strategies in your marketing campaign.
Here are two sites you can use to educate yourself about email marketing:
Email Results - http://www.emailresults.com/ - This site offers a newsletter, a directory of lists, and plenty of articles.
Email Education - http://www.emaileducation.com - Also offers articles to help you learn how to use email to market your business. You'll also get information on the latest trends in email marketing as well as the latest news.
2. Email Formatting UtilityOnce you've written your email, you want to make sure it looks professional.
Check for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. Make sure it is easy to read.
You can use this utility to format your emails to the right width. It's not perfect, but it will save you plenty of time because you can format your text at different widths. Overall, it does a very good job.
http://www.format-it.com
3. Anti-SpamBefore you send your message out, you want to check to make sure it can get past the filters frequently used by ISPs.
There's a simple and easy way to check your message. SiteSell.com has created a new feature called Spam Check.
Basically, you can send your email as a test message and find out how the filters rank it. Then, you can make changes to your email before sending it to your list.
http://spamcheck.sitesell.com
Email marketing is a time consuming process. Done right, it can be a very lucrative tool in your marketing arsenal. These tools will help you make your email marketing efforts more effective.
Jinger Jarrett is a certified Web CEO Search Engine Optimization professional living in Alpharetta, GA. You can get her best free search engine resources, software, and ebooks when you download her free toolbar from her special offers page at www.jingerjarrett.com
Article Source: http://www.marketingarticlelibrary.com
Marketing your business with email is an art.
It's very easy to get accused of spamming nowadays. Add to that the filters ISPs are using, and your message may not get through.
If you do it right, email marketing can become a very effective method of marketing your business.
Before you consider this method, there are three tools I consider absolutely crucial to your success.
1. Educate yourself.Get accused of spamming and you could destroy your reputation forever.
Learn everything you can about email marketing and implement those strategies in your marketing campaign.
Here are two sites you can use to educate yourself about email marketing:
Email Results - http://www.emailresults.com/ - This site offers a newsletter, a directory of lists, and plenty of articles.
Email Education - http://www.emaileducation.com - Also offers articles to help you learn how to use email to market your business. You'll also get information on the latest trends in email marketing as well as the latest news.
2. Email Formatting UtilityOnce you've written your email, you want to make sure it looks professional.
Check for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. Make sure it is easy to read.
You can use this utility to format your emails to the right width. It's not perfect, but it will save you plenty of time because you can format your text at different widths. Overall, it does a very good job.
http://www.format-it.com
3. Anti-SpamBefore you send your message out, you want to check to make sure it can get past the filters frequently used by ISPs.
There's a simple and easy way to check your message. SiteSell.com has created a new feature called Spam Check.
Basically, you can send your email as a test message and find out how the filters rank it. Then, you can make changes to your email before sending it to your list.
http://spamcheck.sitesell.com
Email marketing is a time consuming process. Done right, it can be a very lucrative tool in your marketing arsenal. These tools will help you make your email marketing efforts more effective.
Jinger Jarrett is a certified Web CEO Search Engine Optimization professional living in Alpharetta, GA. You can get her best free search engine resources, software, and ebooks when you download her free toolbar from her special offers page at www.jingerjarrett.com
Article Source: http://www.marketingarticlelibrary.com
5 Essential Online Tools for Writers and Publishers By : Jinger Jarrett
5 Essential Online Tools for Writers and PublishersBy: Jinger Jarrett
Writing a newsletter or article can be very time consuming.
First, you have to create your content. Then you have to organize it. Fortunately, there are plenty of great tools online you can use and don't require you to clog your computer with more software.
Best of all, each of these tools is absolutely free to use.
Here are five tools you can use to help you with your newsletters and articles:
1. Newsletter TemplateFormatting your newsletter will probably give you more headaches than anything else.
You want to make it easy for your readers to read, and you want it to look professional when you send it out.
This site solves the problem. All you have to do is select the parts you want to include in your newsletter, cut and paste the elements, and hit submit. It will completely format your newsletter for you, and you can even get some great tips and resources to help you with your newsletter.
http://www.ossweb.com/ez-ezine-template.html
2. Email Formatting UtilityEver gotten a really great forward in your email you wanted to use, but it was too time consuming to take all of the >> out of it?
You don't have to do that anymore. This email formatting utility will strip any unecessary tags for you. You can also use it to format your newsletters and emails to the right character count.
http://www.formatit.com
3. Article FormatterOk, I admit it. Before I found this utility I used to cut and paste my articles into my word processing program just so I could get a word count.
Now you don't have to do that. Not only will this online tool give you a word count, it will also format your articles in an attractive format for submission.
This site is offered by the Freelance Writing Organization Int'l a large database of information for freelance writers.
http://www.fwointl.com/FWOFormatter.html
4. PDF CreatorThis may seem like an odd tool to recommend to a publisher or writer, but wait a minute.
Have you ever wanted to give away copies of your articles and newsletters to site visitors? What about the $249 price tag for Adobe Acrobat?
Then you have to consider your readers computers. What if they have a MAC?
Unless you have a format that can be read by both MACs and PCs you'll exclude certain readers from downloading your documents.
Besides, giving away copies of your articles and newsletters is a form of viral marketing for your business.
This site allows you to convert documents to both HTML and PDF. http://www.gohtm.com/
This site converts text to PDF. http://www.sanface.com/createpdf.html
5. Good Research ToolsThere are tons of places you can do research on the Web. That's the beauty of the Web.
That's also what's horrible about the Web. There's just too much great material online to find it quickly and easy.
Ref Desk - http://www.refdesk.com - is like having your own book shelf at your fingertips.
You can do searches in the major search engines, find dictionaries, word of the day, quote of the day, and more. There are so many resources located here, you may even want to make this your start page.
Find Articles - http://www.findarticles.com - is a large collection of print articles archived on the Web. It boasts over 300 print publications in its database.
Writing and publishing can become a time consuming task. Not only will these tools save you time, they'll save you money too.
Jinger Jarrett is a certified Web CEO Search Engine Optimization professional living in Alpharetta, GA. You can get her best free search engine resources, software, and ebooks when you download her free toolbar from her special offers page at www.jingerjarrett.com
Article Source: http://www.marketingarticlelibrary.com
Writing a newsletter or article can be very time consuming.
First, you have to create your content. Then you have to organize it. Fortunately, there are plenty of great tools online you can use and don't require you to clog your computer with more software.
Best of all, each of these tools is absolutely free to use.
Here are five tools you can use to help you with your newsletters and articles:
1. Newsletter TemplateFormatting your newsletter will probably give you more headaches than anything else.
You want to make it easy for your readers to read, and you want it to look professional when you send it out.
This site solves the problem. All you have to do is select the parts you want to include in your newsletter, cut and paste the elements, and hit submit. It will completely format your newsletter for you, and you can even get some great tips and resources to help you with your newsletter.
http://www.ossweb.com/ez-ezine-template.html
2. Email Formatting UtilityEver gotten a really great forward in your email you wanted to use, but it was too time consuming to take all of the >> out of it?
You don't have to do that anymore. This email formatting utility will strip any unecessary tags for you. You can also use it to format your newsletters and emails to the right character count.
http://www.formatit.com
3. Article FormatterOk, I admit it. Before I found this utility I used to cut and paste my articles into my word processing program just so I could get a word count.
Now you don't have to do that. Not only will this online tool give you a word count, it will also format your articles in an attractive format for submission.
This site is offered by the Freelance Writing Organization Int'l a large database of information for freelance writers.
http://www.fwointl.com/FWOFormatter.html
4. PDF CreatorThis may seem like an odd tool to recommend to a publisher or writer, but wait a minute.
Have you ever wanted to give away copies of your articles and newsletters to site visitors? What about the $249 price tag for Adobe Acrobat?
Then you have to consider your readers computers. What if they have a MAC?
Unless you have a format that can be read by both MACs and PCs you'll exclude certain readers from downloading your documents.
Besides, giving away copies of your articles and newsletters is a form of viral marketing for your business.
This site allows you to convert documents to both HTML and PDF. http://www.gohtm.com/
This site converts text to PDF. http://www.sanface.com/createpdf.html
5. Good Research ToolsThere are tons of places you can do research on the Web. That's the beauty of the Web.
That's also what's horrible about the Web. There's just too much great material online to find it quickly and easy.
Ref Desk - http://www.refdesk.com - is like having your own book shelf at your fingertips.
You can do searches in the major search engines, find dictionaries, word of the day, quote of the day, and more. There are so many resources located here, you may even want to make this your start page.
Find Articles - http://www.findarticles.com - is a large collection of print articles archived on the Web. It boasts over 300 print publications in its database.
Writing and publishing can become a time consuming task. Not only will these tools save you time, they'll save you money too.
Jinger Jarrett is a certified Web CEO Search Engine Optimization professional living in Alpharetta, GA. You can get her best free search engine resources, software, and ebooks when you download her free toolbar from her special offers page at www.jingerjarrett.com
Article Source: http://www.marketingarticlelibrary.com
Help, My Inbox is a Flood Zone! Online Event Planning and Strategic Email Response By : Dina Giolitto
Help, My Inbox is a Flood Zone! Online Event Planning and Strategic Email ResponseBy: Dina Giolitto
The idea of starting your own online event seemed harmless enough. You though, oh, I'll just create a little website where computer geeks can have an online Technology Convention, or Animal Lovers can have a Pet Parade, or Donut Officials can swap recipes at the Donut Hole, or... (fill in your own idea and niche market here).
And then what happened? Word spread. Emails starting coming in. And then emails starting POURING IN. And now? You can't get a lick of "real work" done because you're inundated with emails from folks who want to know more, more, more.
HOW are you supposed to be a skilled Event Commandier if no one can find you under that mountainous pile of overdue correspondence? Solution: Employ Strategic Email Response.
Here are a few tips to protect you from the email deluge and keep you on top of your online promotion game.
1. Divide and Conquer. Can you separate your email correspondents into specific classifications? For example, if you're running an online event, you might quickly figure out that Active Participants and Volunteers counts as one grouping, and Passive Spectators and Prospects counts as another. In the world of email communication, never the 'twain shall meet.
2. Stockpile Your Email Arsenal. Basically, I'm saying pre-write the emails. If you've carefully planned your event from A to Z, then you know at which stages you want to send out alerts, revive the group's enthusiasm, get them to click those links, announce time-sensitive developments or send out notes of appreciation. Write your standard email reply ahead of time so you can grab and send as needed.
3. Employ List Management. There are several well-known email list managers out there that you can use to track open rates and send targeted campaigns. Three off the top of my head: ConstantContact.com, AWeber.com, KickStartCart.com (also has an e-commerce feature built in). Several of these comes with a free trial that can really come in handy if your event is scheduled to run its course in less than three months' time.
4. Spiff it Up with HTML. There's something about an HTML layout that reduces your reply rate. If you send a very small group of people a customized HTML-designed email, you can expect that most members of the group will NOT write back. I have a theory that HTML feels less personal and therefore doesn't elicit a private response, but who knows. At any rate, it cuts down on meaningless banter while building your brand with a graphic template. So DO make HTML part of your email campaign effort!
5. Hit Forward. Over the course of your online promotional effort, you will find that new recruits enter the fold daily. You'll want to get them up to speed on certain email announcements, while side-stepping other limited time only notifications that no longer apply. Just sort your emails by date or subjectmatter, and then hit FORWARD. Delete the extra gobbeldygook, insert the new address, remove the FW: and send. Oh-- and give the email a quick scan for "other people's names" so you don't accidentally address the wrong person!
All of this may seem like extra work. But if you're still relatively small and you're using an online event promotion to expand your network of contacts and get to know other folks in your field a bit more intimately, then you'll want to be available to personally handle email inquiries whenever possible. You know these marketers who dump you on a list, send you whatever the latest email was and expect you to jump on the Happy People Brigade? Do you respond to those guys? My guess is THAT'S A BIG NO.
Copyright 2006 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.
Dina at Wordfeeder.com is driving mass traffic to the First Annual Web Content Awareness Day and she'll drive it to your website next. WCAD launches on February 9, 2006 at WebContentAwarenessDay.com. Sneak Peek: Visit the Countdown to Web Content Awareness Day Blog and learn how you can ride our wave of high web traffic! Paste in this link: wordfeeder.typepad.com/web_content_awareness_day/
Article Source: http://www.marketingarticlelibrary.com
The idea of starting your own online event seemed harmless enough. You though, oh, I'll just create a little website where computer geeks can have an online Technology Convention, or Animal Lovers can have a Pet Parade, or Donut Officials can swap recipes at the Donut Hole, or... (fill in your own idea and niche market here).
And then what happened? Word spread. Emails starting coming in. And then emails starting POURING IN. And now? You can't get a lick of "real work" done because you're inundated with emails from folks who want to know more, more, more.
HOW are you supposed to be a skilled Event Commandier if no one can find you under that mountainous pile of overdue correspondence? Solution: Employ Strategic Email Response.
Here are a few tips to protect you from the email deluge and keep you on top of your online promotion game.
1. Divide and Conquer. Can you separate your email correspondents into specific classifications? For example, if you're running an online event, you might quickly figure out that Active Participants and Volunteers counts as one grouping, and Passive Spectators and Prospects counts as another. In the world of email communication, never the 'twain shall meet.
2. Stockpile Your Email Arsenal. Basically, I'm saying pre-write the emails. If you've carefully planned your event from A to Z, then you know at which stages you want to send out alerts, revive the group's enthusiasm, get them to click those links, announce time-sensitive developments or send out notes of appreciation. Write your standard email reply ahead of time so you can grab and send as needed.
3. Employ List Management. There are several well-known email list managers out there that you can use to track open rates and send targeted campaigns. Three off the top of my head: ConstantContact.com, AWeber.com, KickStartCart.com (also has an e-commerce feature built in). Several of these comes with a free trial that can really come in handy if your event is scheduled to run its course in less than three months' time.
4. Spiff it Up with HTML. There's something about an HTML layout that reduces your reply rate. If you send a very small group of people a customized HTML-designed email, you can expect that most members of the group will NOT write back. I have a theory that HTML feels less personal and therefore doesn't elicit a private response, but who knows. At any rate, it cuts down on meaningless banter while building your brand with a graphic template. So DO make HTML part of your email campaign effort!
5. Hit Forward. Over the course of your online promotional effort, you will find that new recruits enter the fold daily. You'll want to get them up to speed on certain email announcements, while side-stepping other limited time only notifications that no longer apply. Just sort your emails by date or subjectmatter, and then hit FORWARD. Delete the extra gobbeldygook, insert the new address, remove the FW: and send. Oh-- and give the email a quick scan for "other people's names" so you don't accidentally address the wrong person!
All of this may seem like extra work. But if you're still relatively small and you're using an online event promotion to expand your network of contacts and get to know other folks in your field a bit more intimately, then you'll want to be available to personally handle email inquiries whenever possible. You know these marketers who dump you on a list, send you whatever the latest email was and expect you to jump on the Happy People Brigade? Do you respond to those guys? My guess is THAT'S A BIG NO.
Copyright 2006 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.
Dina at Wordfeeder.com is driving mass traffic to the First Annual Web Content Awareness Day and she'll drive it to your website next. WCAD launches on February 9, 2006 at WebContentAwarenessDay.com. Sneak Peek: Visit the Countdown to Web Content Awareness Day Blog and learn how you can ride our wave of high web traffic! Paste in this link: wordfeeder.typepad.com/web_content_awareness_day/
Article Source: http://www.marketingarticlelibrary.com
10 Ways to Stop Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail, AOL, and EarthLink from Stealing Money from Your Business By : Jeffrey Alexander Brathwaite
10 Ways to Stop Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail, AOL, and EarthLink from Stealing Money from Your BusinessBy: Jeffrey Alexander Brathwaite
How many of you are still using Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail, AOL or EarthLink to send email on behalf of your business? How many of you are actually paying both AOL and EarthLink every month to send email to your prospects and current customers? Did you know that every time you send an email using these services you are literally allowing them to take money away from your business? Please don’t get me wrong, I too have used and still use some of these services but I never use them for my business. I use my business email address (jeffb@2thenextlevel.com) for communication, correspondence and marketing. The minute I hit “send,” not only do I get to put my company name in someone’s email box but I also give them a way to get back to my website for additional information on my company—and the possibility of a sale.
Your email address has become a major form of both marketing and branding. So much so that when you send it out to multiple people in the form of an offer you have for your goods or services your company name could be read by millions. So, why would you allow Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail, AOL or EarthLink to get all the credit. These email services already have millions upon millions of customers. Yet you have been letting them take precious marketing and branding dollars right out of your pocket. Every time you send that email you’re giving them a free marketing opportunity to your prospects and customers. Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail, AOL and Earthlink all love it when you decide to start a business and use their email address. It does not matter if you choose a name like mybusinessname@aol.com, you are still giving AOL the ultimate way to market their service.
Ok so now you know what you should not do. Now here are the steps involved in what you should do.
Step 1: Go quickly to a website like proemailaddress.com and register a domain name for your business. If you can’t get your exact business name try and get the domain name of what you specialize in: ex. Wesellrestaurants.com, or how your product delivers performance: ex. Thechaindrive.com
Step 2: In doing the search and then registration of a domain name, try your best to get a “.com” name. “.com” is still the most popular and the most recognized. If you cannot get “.com” go for “.net” and last but not least, “.biz”.
Step 3: Get an email package that will supply you with at least 5 email addresses to start. Get more if you have more people in your company, but 5 email addresses are enough for most small businesses.
Step 4: The two most important email addresses are yourname@yourbusiness.com and info@yourbusiness.com. yourname@yourbusiness.com should go on every marketing piece you give out. This includes your business card, brochure, letterhead and fax coversheet. Try not to put yourname@yourbusiness.com on your website. Use info@yourbusiness.com for this purpose instead. This info email will be your catch-all email address. This will cut down on the amount of spam you would receive at yourname@yourbusiness.
Step 5: Send a change of email address letter informing all your customers that have been using your old Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail, AOL, and EarthLink that you now have a new email address and the old one will no longer be in use. One of the best ways to do this is to use a service like Plaxo.com. Plaxo.com will help you send out the latest information on you and your business via email.
Step 6: Use the auto response or vacation response feature on your old Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail, AOL, and EarthLink email to inform those that are still sending email to you that you have changed your email address to yourname@yourbusinessname.com Make sure you inform them that they should now use your new yourname@yourbusinessname.com email from now on and that your old email address will only be checked once a week for the next 30 days.
Step 7: Create a signature line at the end of your new yourname@yourbusinessname.com again informing those who had your Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail, AOL, and EarthLink of your new email address and to update their spam filters with the change.
Step 8: If you are having problems in keeping up with your email list and want to send out broadcast emails more efficiently, consider using a third party email distribution service like Constant Contact or Broadcast Email Expert.
Step 9: Use the message on your voicemail to remind those that call you that you now have a new email address and/or website. Give them a choice to leave a message or send an email to your new email address.
Step 10: Finally for those of you who use AOL and EarthLink you may decide to cancel these accounts so you can save money. Since Yahoo, MSN, and Hotmail are free you may decided to keep these accounts—but again you should not use them for business purposes. Keep these email accounts for personal use only, and bring more money to your business by bringing more people to your website using“yourname@yourbusinessname.com”
Jeffrey Alexander Brathwaite, aka "JB" is an Internet Technology Coach, Speaker, Broadcast Email Expert (www.broadcastemailexpert.com). JB prides himself on helping small to medium size businesses that are frustrated with dealing with the Internet. If you are having problems trying to deal with Email marketing and distribution, Search Engine marketing or just getting your own website off the ground the right way. Please go to our website www.2thenextlevel.com
Article Source: http://www.marketingarticlelibrary.com
How many of you are still using Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail, AOL or EarthLink to send email on behalf of your business? How many of you are actually paying both AOL and EarthLink every month to send email to your prospects and current customers? Did you know that every time you send an email using these services you are literally allowing them to take money away from your business? Please don’t get me wrong, I too have used and still use some of these services but I never use them for my business. I use my business email address (jeffb@2thenextlevel.com) for communication, correspondence and marketing. The minute I hit “send,” not only do I get to put my company name in someone’s email box but I also give them a way to get back to my website for additional information on my company—and the possibility of a sale.
Your email address has become a major form of both marketing and branding. So much so that when you send it out to multiple people in the form of an offer you have for your goods or services your company name could be read by millions. So, why would you allow Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail, AOL or EarthLink to get all the credit. These email services already have millions upon millions of customers. Yet you have been letting them take precious marketing and branding dollars right out of your pocket. Every time you send that email you’re giving them a free marketing opportunity to your prospects and customers. Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail, AOL and Earthlink all love it when you decide to start a business and use their email address. It does not matter if you choose a name like mybusinessname@aol.com, you are still giving AOL the ultimate way to market their service.
Ok so now you know what you should not do. Now here are the steps involved in what you should do.
Step 1: Go quickly to a website like proemailaddress.com and register a domain name for your business. If you can’t get your exact business name try and get the domain name of what you specialize in: ex. Wesellrestaurants.com, or how your product delivers performance: ex. Thechaindrive.com
Step 2: In doing the search and then registration of a domain name, try your best to get a “.com” name. “.com” is still the most popular and the most recognized. If you cannot get “.com” go for “.net” and last but not least, “.biz”.
Step 3: Get an email package that will supply you with at least 5 email addresses to start. Get more if you have more people in your company, but 5 email addresses are enough for most small businesses.
Step 4: The two most important email addresses are yourname@yourbusiness.com and info@yourbusiness.com. yourname@yourbusiness.com should go on every marketing piece you give out. This includes your business card, brochure, letterhead and fax coversheet. Try not to put yourname@yourbusiness.com on your website. Use info@yourbusiness.com for this purpose instead. This info email will be your catch-all email address. This will cut down on the amount of spam you would receive at yourname@yourbusiness.
Step 5: Send a change of email address letter informing all your customers that have been using your old Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail, AOL, and EarthLink that you now have a new email address and the old one will no longer be in use. One of the best ways to do this is to use a service like Plaxo.com. Plaxo.com will help you send out the latest information on you and your business via email.
Step 6: Use the auto response or vacation response feature on your old Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail, AOL, and EarthLink email to inform those that are still sending email to you that you have changed your email address to yourname@yourbusinessname.com Make sure you inform them that they should now use your new yourname@yourbusinessname.com email from now on and that your old email address will only be checked once a week for the next 30 days.
Step 7: Create a signature line at the end of your new yourname@yourbusinessname.com again informing those who had your Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail, AOL, and EarthLink of your new email address and to update their spam filters with the change.
Step 8: If you are having problems in keeping up with your email list and want to send out broadcast emails more efficiently, consider using a third party email distribution service like Constant Contact or Broadcast Email Expert.
Step 9: Use the message on your voicemail to remind those that call you that you now have a new email address and/or website. Give them a choice to leave a message or send an email to your new email address.
Step 10: Finally for those of you who use AOL and EarthLink you may decide to cancel these accounts so you can save money. Since Yahoo, MSN, and Hotmail are free you may decided to keep these accounts—but again you should not use them for business purposes. Keep these email accounts for personal use only, and bring more money to your business by bringing more people to your website using“yourname@yourbusinessname.com”
Jeffrey Alexander Brathwaite, aka "JB" is an Internet Technology Coach, Speaker, Broadcast Email Expert (www.broadcastemailexpert.com). JB prides himself on helping small to medium size businesses that are frustrated with dealing with the Internet. If you are having problems trying to deal with Email marketing and distribution, Search Engine marketing or just getting your own website off the ground the right way. Please go to our website www.2thenextlevel.com
Article Source: http://www.marketingarticlelibrary.com
Are You Content With the Quality of Your Ezine? How to Send HTML-Formatted Emails in Outlook Express By : Dina Giolitto
Are You Content With the Quality of Your Ezine? How to Send HTML-Formatted Emails in Outlook ExpressBy: Dina Giolitto
How many times has this happened to you: you've been slaving over that email newsletter for hours, perfecting the tables, checking and rechecking the copy, tweaking image files. You're finally ready to send, hooray! You take a deep breath, click... and what happens? Your email newsletter goes out to thousands of people looking like crap! WHY? There was a problem with the images being read. It's enough to drive a marketer over the edge...
Tip: Take this Article and SAVE IT to Your Desktop. Next time you want to send out an ezine, open this up and read the directions carefully!
1. Create your email newsletter in an HTML editor. If you don't have one, purchase DreamWeaver or go for a freeware version here: Nvu.com.
2. Create the "tabloid" where your newsletter will live. Use the "insert table" or a similarly labeled function to do this. Think logically, and create tables inside of tables where your various sections will be placed.
3. Add stylistic elements. Choose a font for the text and another for the headline. Decide if your tables should have a border or not. Add cellpadding (10-15 pixels or so) to every table inside your main table. Cellpadding gives your table's text and pictures a border so they look cleaner and more professional.
4. This is important: Make sure that the page you created does NOT have a background color. If your page has a background color or file, it will create problems if you decide to pop the HTML code into an email or on a network page that you own. In the editor I use, you must click FORMAT and then "page colors and background to edit the background color. Set it to NONE.
5. Fill in the details. Add all of the remaining elements including great copy, images that have been properly named and uploaded to your hosting server, and live links that your readers can click to "learn more," "download," or "buy now". When you're satisfied with the results, save as an .html file to your desktop or a properly labeled folder and publish.
6. Prepare to copy the file. Open a new, blank email in Microsoft Outlook Express. Go to the three tabs at the bottom - Edit, Source, and Preview. You want to be in the SOURCE panel. Open up the html file you created in the editor, and click VIEW>SOURCE. Click Control-C.
7. Transfer the code to your email now. Go back to the email SOURCE panel and do a CONTROL-V. Your code should flow in from the file you saved. Save as a draft just in case you accidentally wipe out the file, at least it'll be in your DRAFTS folder.
8. Take a good look at your newsletter. Do this in the EDIT tab of your Microsoft Outlook Express. The graphics, tables and copy should appear here looking virtually the way they looked in the HTML page you created. If everything is shifted to the left, go back to the HTML document, click the OUTSIDE table, click PROPERTIES, and designate CENTER as your alignment.
9. FIX and SEND! Add the new code back to your email by repeating steps 6 and 7 and then view your email in the EDIT panel once again. When you're satisfied with the results, blind copy your contact addresses, a catchy headline that will be noticed in people's email boxes, and finally hit SEND.
As I mentioned earlier, sending out a newsletter that looks sloppy and contains missing pictures gets a slap on the wrist! Don't let it happen to you. If you keep these instructions handy, they may prove useful for you one day. I know I plan to use them myself!
Copyright 2005 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.
Are YOU Content With Your Content? Get Top Secret Marketing Tips from the Web's Biggest Gurus and Expert Authors on The First Annual Web Content Awareness Day on FEBRUARY 9, 2006. For details on becoming a contributor, visit WebContentAwarenessDay.com or email dina@wordfeeder.com for details.
Article Source: http://www.marketingarticlelibrary.com
How many times has this happened to you: you've been slaving over that email newsletter for hours, perfecting the tables, checking and rechecking the copy, tweaking image files. You're finally ready to send, hooray! You take a deep breath, click... and what happens? Your email newsletter goes out to thousands of people looking like crap! WHY? There was a problem with the images being read. It's enough to drive a marketer over the edge...
Tip: Take this Article and SAVE IT to Your Desktop. Next time you want to send out an ezine, open this up and read the directions carefully!
1. Create your email newsletter in an HTML editor. If you don't have one, purchase DreamWeaver or go for a freeware version here: Nvu.com.
2. Create the "tabloid" where your newsletter will live. Use the "insert table" or a similarly labeled function to do this. Think logically, and create tables inside of tables where your various sections will be placed.
3. Add stylistic elements. Choose a font for the text and another for the headline. Decide if your tables should have a border or not. Add cellpadding (10-15 pixels or so) to every table inside your main table. Cellpadding gives your table's text and pictures a border so they look cleaner and more professional.
4. This is important: Make sure that the page you created does NOT have a background color. If your page has a background color or file, it will create problems if you decide to pop the HTML code into an email or on a network page that you own. In the editor I use, you must click FORMAT and then "page colors and background to edit the background color. Set it to NONE.
5. Fill in the details. Add all of the remaining elements including great copy, images that have been properly named and uploaded to your hosting server, and live links that your readers can click to "learn more," "download," or "buy now". When you're satisfied with the results, save as an .html file to your desktop or a properly labeled folder and publish.
6. Prepare to copy the file. Open a new, blank email in Microsoft Outlook Express. Go to the three tabs at the bottom - Edit, Source, and Preview. You want to be in the SOURCE panel. Open up the html file you created in the editor, and click VIEW>SOURCE. Click Control-C.
7. Transfer the code to your email now. Go back to the email SOURCE panel and do a CONTROL-V. Your code should flow in from the file you saved. Save as a draft just in case you accidentally wipe out the file, at least it'll be in your DRAFTS folder.
8. Take a good look at your newsletter. Do this in the EDIT tab of your Microsoft Outlook Express. The graphics, tables and copy should appear here looking virtually the way they looked in the HTML page you created. If everything is shifted to the left, go back to the HTML document, click the OUTSIDE table, click PROPERTIES, and designate CENTER as your alignment.
9. FIX and SEND! Add the new code back to your email by repeating steps 6 and 7 and then view your email in the EDIT panel once again. When you're satisfied with the results, blind copy your contact addresses, a catchy headline that will be noticed in people's email boxes, and finally hit SEND.
As I mentioned earlier, sending out a newsletter that looks sloppy and contains missing pictures gets a slap on the wrist! Don't let it happen to you. If you keep these instructions handy, they may prove useful for you one day. I know I plan to use them myself!
Copyright 2005 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.
Are YOU Content With Your Content? Get Top Secret Marketing Tips from the Web's Biggest Gurus and Expert Authors on The First Annual Web Content Awareness Day on FEBRUARY 9, 2006. For details on becoming a contributor, visit WebContentAwarenessDay.com or email dina@wordfeeder.com for details.
Article Source: http://www.marketingarticlelibrary.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)