Business In Cyberspace Gaining Age

But there arealso ways in which you dont have to pay so much to make yourself a good list of loyal followers. Having a satisfied web traffic and visitors allows you to put up a foundation wherein you can build an opt-in list and make it grow from there.

An opt-in list allows you to provide newsletters to your subscribers with their consent. When people sign up, they know that they will be receiving updates and news from your site and the industry your represent via an e-mail. But that doesnt mean that all of those who subscribe read them at all. Many lists have been built due to an attachment with free software or for a promotional discount and such. Some are not really interested in receiving e-mails from companies and just treat them as waste of cyberspace and delete or trash them without so mush as opening the e-mail and scanning them.

You can change all that. While forwarding an email message is relatively after producing your newsletter. Getting people to open them is not as easy. You dont want to waste all the time and effort used in making the newsletters, you want people to read them and have their interests piqued. Interested enough to go to your website and look around and most especially purchased and acquire your products or services.

One of the numerous ways you can tempt or persuade your subscriber is by providing a well thought out and well written subject. The subject of an email is what is often referred to when a person or a recipient of an email decides whether he or she wants to open or read an e-mail. The subject could easily be regarded as one of the most important aspect of your promotional e-mail.

Your subject must be short and concise. They should provide a summary for the content of the e-mail so that the recipient will have basic knowledge of the content. This is really vital in grabbing the attention of your readers and subscribers. You want your subject to instantly grab the attention of your subscriber and get them to be intrigued

mrlee wsammie@aol.com Articles Terms of Reprint You have permission to republish or reprint any article from this website in your newsletter, e-zine, blog or on your website as long as you print the entire article, unchanged and include the "About the Author" information. Courtesy notification of use to Article's Author is appreciated. mrlee copyright postsforfree.com

 

Promoting Yourself -- E-mail Secrets For Self-Promotion & Communication

Do you sell? If you say no. . .

Anyone who answers no to that question can quickly discover that they may well be in sales and how to take advantage of that fact. If you are in sales and don't know it, your sales are down. Of course you may sleep well because you don't know it anyway.

You are in sales, no matter what you're doing. That's really good news, even for those who insist that they aren't in sales.

Okay, let's call it marketing, promotion, branding, strategy or even image enhancement. Anyone who's interested in advancing in a job, as an entrepreneur and of course, a salesperson, better be actively selling, promoting, branding, etc.

How do you and I take better advantage of this? That question stops a lot of people just as it slowed me down a few years ago. There are so many choices! What do you do first? How do you do it? How much will it cost?

I'd like to offer some basic tips here. Mostly what I'd like to encourage you to do is take it a step at a time and not be flustered as so many others and I have been throughout this process.

What's interesting is how many people, even those actively selling or promoting online, are missing some basic components that make a difference in their bottom line.

>>E-mail: There are two kinds. Regular that you send out singularly or in small personal groupings via your email program, and broadcasting via a service to your opt-in list. You're on the latter. You've agreed to receive emails from me even if we've never met. Of course, I hope what you receive is worthwhile as should you whenever your broadcast to your opt-in list.

When you're back and forth to friends and family you have your own informal style, just as if you were all sitting around talking.

However, when you're emailing to your market; that is, anyone who is a potential buyer of your services, you obviously should have a more professional style.

If you're an employee of a company, your email style is also important. Even to those whom you are sending informally as they might get forwarded or even intercepted up the corporate hierarchy. Within the corporate structure it's often best to remain professional.

You've no doubt heard that all caps in an email is equivalent to YELLING. So, don't do it: EVER. Please note; all caps herein were to make a point and create a smile. If neither just happened for you, please unsubscribe immediately. : )

I may attempt some humor or irreverence from time to time. I prefer to speak in my own voice. We have, for the most part, established a connection. I don't have to worry about some stuffy CEO looking over my shoulder as I write to you, or worse, after I've written. I'm the stuffy CEO. Well, not too stuffy, I hope. Let's continue:

Always insert a relevant subject line. If you're responding to something that is no longer the subject, remove the Re: and put a new subject line so that it can be quickly retrieved. The organized types will appreciate you all the more.

Use paragraphs and structure the same way you would in a business letter. Now, I always like you to know that I'm no grammarian and would love to have all my stuff checked before you see it. I don't. but, I will also use a proper format. Someone who writes in a constant stream, not bothering to separate into paragraphs is a pain, even in friend-to-friend emails.

Use proper capitalization and (hopefully for me) punctuation. At least do the best you can. All lower case is as much a bore as all UPPER case. It shows a lack of consideration too.

Always use your signature feature in business emails. I have several, depending to whom I'm sending. My branding site with a lot of links looks like this:

Tom Justin is president of Command Communications, Inc. A communications & Strategic marketing firm. Justin is also an author, personal coach and popular motivational/inspirational speaker who has spoken before hundreds of audiences throughout the World.

CCI, through Justin and his associates, has a background in TV production and consultation of programs ranging from talk shows to infomercials to corporate videos.

tjustin@mindspring.com - http://www.tomjustin.com

I have a brief signature that I use to promote my books. What you will want is to have people click on your site's link. I have friends who like to forward humor and motivational sites. I always forward such things to them with one of my signatures. If they leave it in when they forward it to their list, etc., I may get an unknown amount of new visitors to my sites.

Whether it's a free report or a link the sales page, there is always more exposure to the possibility of gaining a new visitor. Here's what I use for the book, *How to Take No For An Answer And Still Succeed*:

If You Haven't Been Rejected Recently, You Aren't Living Close Enough To Your Potential!

Here's Why> http://tinyurl.com/9wjx9

If you're a psychologist or other professional, use signatures for any number of ethical promotions. You can offer a genuine service by giving away a special report or even a link to a particular site that would interest many who get your email.

You might have signatures for written for segments of your email recipients. If you're a speaker, one for meeting planners. Your book, another or just a simple statement of your work followed by contact information.

Even if you don't have a website, signatures can be an additional promotional tool. However, if you do, you will want to create a site that can only be accessed if the visitor gives you at least their email address. This is ideally a site that is offereing something back such as a no charge newsletter or special report. We'll cover more on that later.

Your email is the lowest Internet tech for marketing and communication.

In the meantime, if you haven't already done so, set up some signatures and start using them. Send me your best signatures and I'll announce the best one to my entire list. You can tell a greater audience who you are.

For Tom's free report, "How To Use The Power Of No," visit tomjustin.com

 

Website Promotion Using Email Marketing Software

Everyone likes to do business with people they know and trust.

The best way to build that trust is to keep in contact and provide helpful information on a regular basis.

You should be capturing prospects email addresses and following up enquiries automatically. If not, you're letting valuable dollars in lost sales slip through your fingers every day.

You can do business with your customers whenever you want with a well designed, easy to use, automated email marketing and newsletter system.

No more waiting for customers to come to you!

Create articles using any word processor, such as Microsoft Word, and simply copy and paste into the system’s HTML editor window. You can then edit your articles, add highlights, pictures, images, special fonts, and graphics – all without any knowledge of HTML programming.

In fact your email campaigns can be personalised using autoresponders, increasing response rates by 100% to 300%, and even more if you use it cleverly.

When you have created a page or article in the system, you can then send it to everyone in your database or to targeted groups of names.

Think how this could increase your cashflow for very little cost.

No matter what business you are in a robust Newsletter and Email Contact System can boost your sales to incredible levels.

AND HERE IS A BONUS – with integrated e-marketing systems you can create web pages, announcements, articles, newsletters, or brochures right in the system and quickly add them to your website at the click of a button – it really is that EASY!

INTERACTIVITY is the key to building a web presence! The more often you interact with your customers, the more business you will do with them. I don’t think anyone would argue with that.

David and Matthew at BaristaBasics.com.au were quick to see the advantages of using an Email Marketing and Newsletter system to promote their Barista coffee training classes online and sell their range of products, books, CDs, and videos.

A big advantage for them is they can write an article and post it to their web site at the click of a button – no HTML or programming knowledge required. And their customers can book classes online and buy and pay for products and services in real time using their user friendly shopping cart.

Any business that wants to maximize the value of their website and increase their conversion of inquiries to sales needs an integrated email marketing and newsletter system that incorporates an autoresponder and contact management customer database.

Combined with good search engine optimisation, an automated e-mail software and an email marketing and newsletter system gives the small business person an effective,low cost way to compete online and to convert inquiries into cash customers.

Mike Greenfield is Marketing Director, SiteDesignNOW.com and NOW Technology Systems, a Web Development company specializing in ONLINE CATALOGUES, EMAIL MARKETING, AUTORESPONDER SYSTEMS, and NEWSLETTER Systems. You can contact Mike@SiteDesignNOW.com http://www.sitedesignnow.com

 

The Power of a Simple Email List

Let me tell you a little story about the power email lists. We'll call this person Harry, just to protect his identity. Harry had spent many months building a website about his favorite subject, gardening. He launched the website hoping that someone would find it useful, and he promoted it as best he knew how in forums, articles, and as many search engines as he could manage. He had even managed to write a short ebook giving advice about how to maintain a working garden through-out the year. All you had to do to get the book was to sign up to his email list, to which he posted additional gardening tips every once in a while. Harry did this for fun, he had a good job and a supportive family. All of that was about to change however.

Harry's company downsized later that year and all of a sudden he wasn't bringing home any income. His wife, while she still loved him was pressuring him to find a new job and fast. The bills were starting to pile up and Harry was starting to get really stressed out. Then he remembered his email list, he had never sent them anything that resembled an advertisement, but he thought that it couldn't hurt. When he went to check on the size of the list it had several thousand people on it. Harry couldn't believe that he had that many people interested in what he had to say about gardening, this convinced him to put his plan into action.

Harry found a small website that sold gardening tools. They also offered an affiliate program, which paid a 20% commission to anyone who sent them a paying customer. Since Harry didn't feel comfortable recommending a set of tools that he himself had not tried, he ordered a set - despite his wife's objection. When he got the tools in the mail a few days later they turned out to be excellent quality and did their job very well, so Harry decided that he would recommend these tools to his email list members, even though he was afraid that some of them might leave once he started sending them advertisements. What happened next changed Harry's life forever.

About 20% of the people on his email list, nearly 1000 people, actually bought the tools through Harry's affiliate link. The tools cost $30, and Harry got $6 per sale. In less than a day Harry had made an extra $6000 with almost no work! To make a long story short, Harry never found another job. He now works for himself making about 4-6 thousand dollars every month from home by recommending gardening tool and books.

The End.

Just kidding, it's not quite the end for us. What I am trying to demonstrate to you with this article is the fact that an email list can be an incredible resource when you are trying to get an online business off the ground. You can't just use any old email list though, you need to have a target group of people that are interested in what you have to offer.

The best and most honest way to go about building an email list is to gather the email addresses of people that visit your website. I consider it an absolute must if you are going to get anywhere in the internet marketing game. You can place a simple web form on your home page, just like I did for beattherichjerk.com, and you can start collecting the email addresses of people that are interested in what you sell.

There is a catch to all of this, you need to keep in contact with these people on a regular basis. You don't just want to gather up the emails and keep them for when you want to sell people something. You need to offer them some content of value that is related to the topic of your website. You also need to contact people on a regular basis in order to keep your website and your information fresh in their minds. Having a newsletter is a great way to keep people informed about what you have to offer them.

As demonstrated by the story above, having a list of targeted and interested people can be of great strategic value should you decide to send them offers or advertisements. Once you have built up a strong email list and given people a valuable resource, you will have built up a certain amount of trust between yourself and the members of your list. If done right, your mailing list members will value your opinion very highly. This is good news when you send them an offer on a product or service because they trust your opinion enough that they are willing to pay their hard earned money for the things that you recommend.

As was hinted at in the story, I think that you should only recommend products or services that you have actually tried. Many people will not have a problem with recommending a program that they have not tried, just to get the cash. I think that this is dishonest and can erode the relationship that you have built up with your email list.

So, what kind of things can you offer people to get them to sign up for your email list? One of the best things is free information. This can be free ebooks, articles, or anything else that you can give away for free that will get people to sign up for your list. You can write these ebooks and articles yourself, or you can download other ebooks that people have offered for free and give those out. Just make sure that you contact the author to make sure that you can do this. Most people won't have any problem with someone else distributing their already free information for them.

Whatever you do, DO NOT abuse the power of the email list. These people are your customers, they need to be treated with respect or you could find yourself without an email list very quickly. People don't like being spammed or sold on products that don't solve their problems. Be nice and you will find that everyone will get along just fine.

Also, I highly recommend that you do not sell or rent out the use of your email list to anyone else. This is another way of eroding your relationship with your customers. Once the list starts to get very large, greater than ten thousand, then you can think about renting out advertising space in the list. Until then you would be taking a chance that a vast majority of your customer base would leave. Selling your list to someone else, unless it is part of a deal to sell the website, is a big no-no. You won't know how the list will be used, so don't risk the relationship with your customers.

For more information about building email lists and using them to become financially free, go to http://beattherichjerk.com.

 

The Essential Email Marketing Glossary

ASP - Application Service Provider. ASP’s provide internet based software.

Access - Database software. Part of the Microsoft Office Suite. Organizations often store customer data in Access databases.

Autoresponder - a set of immediate or time-delayed messages that are emailed to someone after they request it

Blacklists - Lists of domains and IP addresses that have been reported or accused of sending spam. You can check blacklists at www.openrbl.org and www.dnsstuff.com.

Bonded Sender – A type of delivery insurance, stamp of approval company for Email marketing companies. If you purchase the IronPort Bonded Sender Certificate, they will guarantee that your mail gets delivered to the large ISPs that they have relationships with.

Bounce back handling - The process of dealing with email messages that bo unce. Caused by a 'bad' email address or an address that is temporarily over its size quota or on a server that is temporarily down.

Bounces – Emails that have been sent back to sender as the recipient email address was invalid or presently not working.

Click-through tracking – Tracking the number of clicks that occur on each link in an email message.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) - The ability to keep track of every interaction with every prospect and customer and keeps tracks of trends and tabulates results of such notes on an aggregate scale. Essentially, an intelligent interface that allows keeping notes of every action, sale, phone call, email, fax, etc. Allows businesses to better know their customers and target messages to portions of their customers and prospects. CRM is an integrated system designed to identify, acquire, and retain customers. CRM helps organizations maximize the value of every customer interaction by managing and coordinating customer interactions across multiple channels and departments.

CSV – Comma separated value. A specific format in which each new field is separated by a comma. Ex: John,Smith,john@smithman.com,male,37.

Custom fields – Fields that one may use to personalize each message (see mail merge personalization). These custom fields allow our customers to import and store additional data such as address, city, state, zip code, country, birthday, spouse’s name, dog’s name, product purchased, date of purchase, notes, or any other data.

Database – A storing of records. Databases are made up of tables. Tables are made up of columns and rows. Data is stored in a field (aka cell). Popular types of web databases include SQL and MySQL. De-duping – The act of removing duplicates from a list.

Delivery speed – How fast a mailing software can deliver mail.

Domain - what one types in to go to your web site.

Double opt-in (confirmed opt-in) - Single opt-in is when a visitor subscribes to a newsletter via a form on the web site. They have opted-in once. Double opt-in is when a visitor subscribes to a newsletter via a web site and then is sent a confirmation email. The visitor will only be added as a subscriber if they verify their email address and desire to receive the newsletter. Generally, the visitor must either a) click a link in the email or

( b) reply to the email. This is called double opt-in. Using double opt-in will give a listowner a cleaner list (no bo unces) and less spam complaints, although they will lose many of their subscribers who, for one reason or another, forget to or do not confirm their subscription.

Email client – what a person uses to view their email. Popular email clients include Microsoft Outlook, AOL mail reader, and Eudora. There are also popular web-based email clients including Hotmail and Yahoo. Often, HTML messages will display differently in different email clients. Email list management software – Software that allows users to collect, import, and manage subscribers. Email marketing software – Allows users to send out newsletters to their lists and track results. Standard features include mail-merge personalization, message scheduling, and bo unceback handling.

Excel – A spreadsheet program which is part of the Microsoft Office Suite. Used by many organizations to store the data for their lists before import. Can be used to convert data into CSV format.

Ezine – An ‘electronic magazine.’ Essentially the same as an email newsletter. Usually sent on a regular schedule. Contains content. Not an anno uncement or promotion list.

Feedback loops – Set up with Internet Service Providers. Once a feedback loop is set up, the ISPs will contact you and ask you to deal with the complaint. If a feedback loop is not set up, the ISPs may blacklist you without giving a chance to defend yourself. AOL, Juno, and Netzero provide feedback loops.

Harvesting Emails – Using a spider to extract emails from pages on the internet, either through a search starting from a single page or a search based on a specific term put into a search engine HTML – Hypertext markup language, the basic programming language of the Internet.

HTML Built-in Editor – Allows users to create their own HTML newsletters right on the sending page, without knowing HTML.

HTML templates – An arrangement of graphics within which a email newsletter content can be inserted. Importing – Bringing subscribers into the system in mass quantities. Once a data file is in the proper CSV format, it can be imported into the system.

IP address – The Internet Protocol Address. Ex. 209.51.151.158. Before the dynamic name server (DNS) system was setup in 1994, one would have to type in numbers (the IP addresses) to go to a web site. The DNS system allows one instead to simply type in the domain name. The DNS translates the domain name into the IP address and then directs the visitor to the server (or part of the server) that the requested domain name is hosted on.

ISP – Internet Service Provider. The provider of dial-up or broadband internet service that a consumer or business uses. Common ISPs are AOL, Juno, Netzero, Earthlink, and Time Warner.

Mail merge personalization – The ability to, on the fly for each email, insert data from the database into specific fields in an email. For example, one may place Dear [fname] in an email. When each email is sent out, a call to the database is made to retrieve the actual first name of that subscriber. It then ‘pastes’ this data into the email. Dear John or Dear Judy will result. This is a powerful tool as it allows our customers to send out personalized emails to their subscribers. One could send out a message such as:

Dear [fname] [lname];

I wanted to personally thank you for purchasing [product] or [date]. I hope your [disease] is doing better. Please let me know how you have been and if I can answer any questions. Maximum lists – Many of our competitors will only allow the creation of one list. Some get around this by offering different ‘interest groups’ or ‘targeting’ within this list.

Message headers – The ‘hidden’ lines of text/code that is above each email message. Every email sent has a header.

Message preview – The ability to see what a message looks like before it is sent.

Message scheduling – The ability to set a time in the future for a message to start to be delivered to recipients.

Metrics – Term used to refer to message statistics such as open and click through tracking, number of bo unces, number of unsubscribes, etc.

Multi-part MIME - All messages have a header on them called Content-Type. A message can be sent as text, text/html, or multipart/alternative. If it is sent as multipart/alternative, the message is sent using formatting referred to as Multi-part MIME. The advantage of sending via multi-part MIME is that the email will automatically display as HTML if the subscriber’s email client can read HTML, but revert to text if the subscriber’s email client cannot read HTML, or has it turned off. Within a multi-part MIME email, both the HTML message and text message are sent. Between the HTML message and the text message there is a boundary. This boundary is defined in the Content-type header.

Multiple message autoresponder - A series of messages that is sent out at certain time intervals which are set by our customer. One could use a multiple message autoresponder to send out a ten day ecourse for example. One email ("tip") would be sent each day for 10 days. This can be a very good way to increase a visitor to sale conversion rate, build a relationship with a prospect, and improve the likelihood of a prospect or customer remembering your brand.

Open Tracking – The ability to keep track of the number of opens ("reads") a message gets.

OpenRBL.org - Web site through which one can view what blacklists a site is on.

Opt-in – A term that refers to any subscriber that has specifically requested an email newsletter. If they have signed up through your web site, they are opt-in. If you used a spider to harvest emails from the Internet and then added these persons as subscribers to your site, they are not opt-in. This latter tactic is often used by those who send out spam.

Permission-based – (see opt-in). Essentially, any list that contains only opt-in subscribers and does not contain any purchased lists or lists of persons who have asked to receive one type of newsletter and will be sent what they have not requested, such as additional promotions or newsletters on a different topic.

ROI – Return on investment. The amount of money one makes from an investment divided by initial investment.

Sign up form – A form that is to be put on a web site and allows visitors to subscriber to a company’s newsletters and anno uncement lists.

Single opt-in – A subscriber that joins via a web form who does now have to ‘verify their email address’ or reply to a confirmation email to join. Most newsletter owners prefer single opt-in, as it maximizes the number of subscribers on a list, although bad email addresses are possible.

Spam – unwanted email that was sent without the permission of the recipient. Also known as unsolicited commercial email. One of Broadwick’s main challenges is ensuring our customers do not send spam. To accomplish this, we have a strict Anti-Spam policy. We also deal with any spam complaints promptly. We will terminate the account of any customer who has sent spam. Many times, however, a complaint will be made in which the message in question was not actually spam and the recipient had actually requested it. When we receive complaints, we will read the message, look to see if the subscriber actually opted-in via a web form or was imported in, and then taking all in account, make a decision on what action to pursue.

SpamCop.net – A blacklist (but time based). A service that tracks spam and forwards spam complaints to ISPs and hosting companies. If one does not have the proper relationships or feedback loop with the ISPs, a few complaints to an ISP or hosting company can get your internet access and hosting turned off. If you are blacklisted by Spamcop and stop sending email, you’ll be out in 48 hours or so.

UCE – Unsolicited Commercial Email. Another name for spam.

URL – Uniform resource locator. Another name for a web site address.

Unsubscribe link – The link at the bottom of each email which allows visitors to unsubscribe or modify/update their information.

Web-based – Can log into online

Welcome email - Email that is sent to subscribers after they subscribe to a newsletter. Doesn’t go out unless the client (our customer) sets this option.

Whitelisting – Opposite of blacklisting. Many ISPs have lists of sites with which they have built good relationships with and trust. If your sending fits their standards, it may be possible to add yourself to a whitelist. If you are on a whitelist, your mail has a much better chance of being delivered.

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.email-marketing-software-resource.com/

 

5 Ways To "Force" Your list To Open Your Emails

Actually, I have already revealed a hint in the “summary” section of this article. Did you get it?

Number 1 – Get your list to look forward to your mails

How do you achieve that? Firstly, you should start off by giving good solid content/information that your list would be happy to receive. Stick to doing this and you will never fail! In addition to that, add a “teaser” that will get them looking forward to your next mail. An example: “In the next issue, I will be revealing the single top most error made by email marketers and why you are still committing it! Do away with this and you can expect to at least have a 50% increase in response”

Number 2 – Craft a killer subject line

This should be the part you spend most time mulling over simply because it is that important to your whole email marketing efforts! No matter how good your email copy is, it won’t get read unless you have a good headline. One of the many tricks I can reveal is the “curiosity factor”. Humans are innately curious and just by piquing their curiosity you can create an “itch” in them – they would have no choice but to open your mails. An example: “I saw you the other day…”, “Did you mention something like that?”, “This is your own. I am giving it to you now”

Number 3 – Be consistent

If you are consistent your list will know what to expect and would easily recognize your mail. Whether it’s the “from” field or the way you write your messages, they recognize you and will eventually grow familiar to you.

Number 4 – Keep your list happy!

It may sound simple but it is harder then it seems! Keep asking them what they want and, as far as possible, give it to them. Pamper them, make they feel good. This way, when you actually send a promotional email, they will be more responsive to it because you have already gained their trust.

As you finish reading this article, you would’ve realized the importance of maintaining a very close relationship with your list. For a complete set of ways to make your list absolutely love you please visit http://www.listprofitmachine.com There’s no stopping in profits for you now once you mastered all the steps to achieve that!

 

What the Best Web-Based Email Marketing Solutions Offer

If anyone thinks that email marketing has gotten easier in the past few years, they couldn’t be more wrong. For starters, the majority of people get a lot of SPAM in their e-mails every day, making them more aggressive with the DELETE button (even with legitimate offers and newsletters that they’ve elected to recieved). And of course CAN-SPAM compliance issues make the entire web-based e-mail marketing process “easier said than done” to say the least. That’s why choosing an e-mail marketing service should be done with a bit research and a lot of care. Here are a few things to look for while you seek out your ideal service.

1. Easy Set-up and Management. Your ideal service will be easy to use, maintain and configure, with enough options to give you what you need from the very beginning. Be sure that there’s adequate customer service and support available to you when you need it.

2. “Smart” Tracking Features. This is mandatory feature, enabling you to know instantly which autoresponders and messages are pulling in the most, as in direct marketing you really need to be able to track everything you possibly can. This way, you can easily figure out which offers and messages are working the best and eliminate the ones that aren’t performing.

3. Database Access. The ability to access and manage your database of prospects is imperative to any successful e-mail marketing plan. You should be able to add subscribers, view removals, update messages, etc. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (when it’s convenient for you, not your service provider).

4. The ability to “get it in”. Messages from many e-mail marketing solutions will have a tough time getting through ISPs, let alone staying out of the “bulk” folder. The best email campaign on the net won’t do anyone any good if it gets deleted before it can be read. Ensure that any prospective solution actually gets a high percentage of messages through to recipients.

Of course there are other features you’ll certainly want, like CAN-SPAM compliance (to keep you and your autoresponder out of legal trouble), SPAM-Check (to analyze your message and tell you how to improve it so your message gets to the recipient’s inbox, not their bulk folder), and the ability to attach files to your messages. While these special features might not seem critical to you now, one day in the future they may just be a necessity, so be sure that your e-mail service can expand to meet the needs of your growing business.

Stewart Hayden recommends that you visit http://www.getresponse.com/ for more information on email marketing.

 

Write a Newsletter That Will Make Money as Well as Inform

Creating a free Newsletter can bring sales as well as give your readers information they find interesting. Newsletters can be a very important way to bring traffic to your website and build your online business.

When writing content of any kind, do not saturate the content with product links. Mention them once, possibly twice but no more. It is important to try to bring your product links in at the right time and not to put them in very often.

In a lot of cases, people get online to get information. If you are publishing quality information in your newsletter, more and more people will opt in to read your newsletter. If you offer your newsletter on your site and mail your list when your newsletter is ready, you may be able to up your chances to make sales through links on your site. You can also offer your newsletter through your blog. Blogs are becoming a very popular way to get traffic to a website these days. More about that in an upcoming article.

Creating a newsletter keeps your opt in members in contact with you and helps build credibility for you. If they trust you, and you do what you can to maintain that trust, there is a good chance they will buy something from you rather than from stranger. Usually people don’t buy when they see something for the first time. When they see the link for this product a few times, they get their curiosity up and click the link. They still may not buy right away but if they are interested, there is a good chance they will eventually buy from you and not someone else. It is very important that you keep your newsletter frequent and on time so you will not lose your sale when the time is right for them to buy.

Another possibility of making money with a newsletter is from advertisements. If you are able to keep your newsletter frequent and on time and build a substantial reader base, you can sell advertising spots on your well received newsletter. This could mean a few hundred dollars a month for something you are doing already.

You need to become good at writing so that it becomes more fun than a chore. This would not be hard for some people as once they start, the words just keep flowing. If you practice this and force yourself to do it, there is a good chance you will find this to be true. It is important to keep your information as informative as possible and not just babbling on. When you start babbling you will soon lose their interest. If it gets bad enough, they may unsubscribe. You want to keep your information as important to them as possible.

There is a considerable amount of time and work put into writing a newsletter. You will find this, especially when you first start. Your time will be cut considerably as you gain confidence in yourself and become better at it. You would be surprised at how much you know about a subject once you start to write about it.

To help you get started. Pick a subject, look it up on the internet and start writing about it with your own words and opinions. If you think this is cheating, your wrong. You are doing the research for your readers and condensing it into a newsletter for them using your own words and opinions.

Happy writing with prosperous news.

The author allows the use of this article as long as this resource box and the links remain usable Ken Bishop

 

Email Marketing Tips - How To Create A Squeeze Page

In order to build your opt in list and generate sales you need targeted leads. The primary goal of a squeeze page is to collect the name and email address of each visitor.

With a highly optimized squeeze page its possible to achieve conversion rates as high as 50% or more (meaning 50% of the visitors to the squeeze page submitted their name and email address).

A squeeze page consists of a headline, bullet points, and a subscription form. You can also add testimonials and audio or video messages to increase your conversion rates.

Use a clear and precise headline that clearly explains what you are offering. You have just five to ten seconds to grab the attention of your prospects with your headline or they will leave your squeeze page instantly. Try to answer the question "What's In It For Me?" as this is what your visitors will be asking themselves when they first see your squeeze page.

Use bullet points to list all of the benefits that you are offering the prospect. You are trying to convince each visitor that what you are offering can solve their problems and improve their business.

Use a subscription form to collect the name and email address of each visitor to your squeeze page. All you need is the HTML code for the subscription form that is provided to you by the auto responder service you are using (such as Aweber). Just copy and paste the code into your squeeze page where you want the subscription form to be.

Make sure that you use a call of action phrase such as "get your free report now" or "get free instant access" to encourage visitors to submit their name and email address. You can also use call of action phrases such as "send my free report now" or "give me free instant access" for the text in the submit button of your subscription form.

Its possible to create a high quality squeeze page that is small enough to fit into the browser window (without needing to scroll down). You can do this by creating a wide page (about 800 pixels wide) and placing the headline with bullet points on the left and the subscription form on the right.

To increase your conversion rates you can also offer a free bonus gift such as a report or ebook. This works best if you create a unique bonus yourself, related to what your offering, that is of great value to the prospect (making you different from everyone else).

Here is a great example of an effective squeeze page that uses the strategies explained above to produce a high conversion rate collecting leads: http://www.marketingoasis.com/su/

Once you have set up your squeeze page and follow up messages you will need to start sending visitors to your website. Submitting content to article directories and writing press releases are the most effective ways of generating unlimited free targeted traffic.

This article was written by Simon Akers who is the editor of the Marketing Oasis newsletter, a free internet marketing ezine packed with tips to help you succeed and increase your profits: http://www.MarketingOasis.com

 

Internet Newsletter's Tone of Voice

One of the main goals of newsletters is to inform subscribers of news and events and urge them to visit your website for more information. They are essential items in any online promotion strategy, and you won't find a single major website that doesn't use this marketing tool to their advantage. Apart from other important elements that determine the success of a newsletter, such as the informational value, graphic aspect and user friendliness, there is another item that many webmasters and newsletter publishers overlook is the tone of voice of their newsletter.

Addressing Your Audience

As with any advertising campaign, a newsletter should have a very clear target. In other words, the person writing the newsletter should have a precise audience they are writing for. The writer has to address the needs and expectations of the target audience. If your public is formed mostly of people new to the Internet or to any high tech topics you might have, try to adapt the tone of voice to that. Make sure to place small explanations of less popular terms, even if you or the writer know exactly what they mean. Acronyms such as HTML or LCD or any other "techy" terms should have a parenthesis explaining what the letters mean.

Adapt your Message to the Readers

The form and content of the newsletter should always be flexible enough to adapt to your major subscriber group. If you run a surfing website, try to have a surfer write the newsletter. Address the surfers in a more relaxed, laid back and engaging way. You don't have to use the word "dude" but you should avoid fancy academic terms as well. On the other hand, if you run a home security agency website for example, you will want your newsletter messages to inspire confidence and professionalism. The surfing newsletter should have more photos of surfers and waves, while the home security one should have less graphics and more statistics and recent news.

Using a Call to Action Technique

The web is full of calls to action, both in newsletters, web pages or advertising banners. "Click here" or "follow this link" are all calls to action - they ask the web surfer to act in a certain way. Regardless of the nature of your newsletter, a call to action is essential if you want to drive the subscriber to visit your website. One common way of convincing eNewsletter readers to follow a link to your website is to offer them 80% of the information in the newsletter, and promise them the remaining 20% on your website. Of course, this has to be a truthful promise - don't trick anyone in visiting your website as that will only work once, while your purpose should be to create a loyal group of subscribers. You can also insert links throughout the content of the newsletter. However, the most important place to insert a link is at the very end of the main text. By the time they reach this area, the readers will already be curious enough about the subject and they will want to explore the topic further - give them this chance by directing them towards your website.

The tone of voice can be considered the "soul" of your newsletter - it can be the one that makes it unique and original. The tone of voice can give a new shape to purely informative content and "brand" it as your own.

Check Out - Is This the Best Internet Newsletter Package Ever Released? visit http://StartingAnInternetNewsletter.com Copyright 2006 – Balwant Gohil. You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made, the author's name is retained and the link to our site URL remains active.

 

Tips To Writing Effective Subject Lines

Email marketing is one of the most powerful methods of making money online. But no matter how great your email campaign is, if your prospects and subscribers do not open your emails, your campaign is as good as dead.

In order to get your emails opened, there are some tips i suggest you follow. Let's take a look at them.

===> Write Like You're Writing to a Friend.

When you go into your inbox online, you'll notice that emails from friends with "informal" subject lines recieve your attention first.

You can attract this kind of attention by writing a simple "unofficial" sentence.

Write lines like "I hope this will be of help", "The day I met Akin Alabi", I must be mad to give you this.

Be imaginative and you'll come up with quite a few related to your message.

===> Ask a Question.

Asking a question in your subject line creates curiosity and makes your subscribers open your emails.

Just ask a question related to your message and you're done.

For example, if you're giving out a special offer, you can ask a question like "Will you take this up" or "What if I give you all these?

===> Don't Hype.

A lot of marketers are often tempted to convey a marketing message in their subject lines which usually result in hyped up subject lines.

If you're lucky enough to get past spam filters, your subscribers will still not be happy with you. Remember no one likes been sold to.

Personally, i usually delete messages like "Make millions", or subject lines with too many capitals as well as fancy gimmicks like a row of asterix.

===> Always Personalize.

Always remember to include the firstname of your subscribers in your sunject line. This is a very important technique.

People tend to take a close look at subject lines that has their firstname in it.

You can easily do this using your autoresponder service.

===> Use "regular" Sentences.

If you have a regular schedule of sending out email campaigns, try giving your campain a "regular" name.

For instance, if you send out your newsletter at the begining of every month, you can always use the line "your newsletter is ready".

Also, if you send out special offers your subscribers love you for, you can keep using the same line like "my gift to you this month" over and over agin.

Using the above tips will help you write more effective subject lines which will improve the rate at which your subscribers open your email and ultimately your bottom line.

That i'm sure will put a smile on your face.

Thanks for your time today.

Akin Alabi specializes in helping "average joes" earn a living online. Get more info from his website www.averagejoeaffiliate.com

 

Marketing Your Direct Sales Business

Marketing your direct sales business is one of the most important steps to success. After all, if you don't have customers, you don't make any money. I've provided a few proven ideas that I've used to market my Passion Parties business and hope that you'll have success following these same ideas.

Unfortunately, some of the most effective direct sales marketing methods also take the most time. However, these are all ideas that I've used to achieve great results.

Postcards to Friends/Family - One of the easiest and most productive marketing concepts is to identify your core group of friends and business relations. Make a list of 100 people that might be interested in your new business venture then send a quick postcard to each one. At first, you're not trying to sell anything, you just want to let everyone know you begun a new business. Then, when you come into contact with these people over the next few weeks you can follow up. Asking "Did you get my postcard last week?" is a great way to follow up without sounding pushy.

Flyers - Perhaps you've seen pamphlets or flyers at the local supermarket or retail store. Most of these advertise vehicles or other items for sales. But, I've had some success by creating flyers with tear-off "discount" stickers that can be used when booking one of my parties. For instance, create a flyer with 10 tear-off tabs offering 10% off the purchase of any item. Many people are enticed by these discount offers.

Business Cards - There are still a few situations where the handing out of business cards can be a