Break The Habit - Just Say 'No' To eMailWritten by Lois M. Jeary
In beginning, email was an effective tool for getting our ezines out and our marketing messages to our readers. The truth is, email is no longer a viable alternative. In all likelihood it may not recover unless some serious changes are made to technical protocol of how email can be created.In meantime, your business has been suffering in a big way. And if you continue to rely on email, you may find yourself out of business. Publishers today have become extremely frustrated with email as their method of delivery and for good reason. Do any of these sound familiar to you? - ISPs cancelling your service without explanation - risk of being placed on a ban list - creating a special issue for email to avoid tripping filters - re-creating issue for your website archives - mundane and mind-numbing list maintenance tasks - processing unsubscribes - processing bouncebacks - dealing with unwarranted spam complaints - should you use opt-in or double opt-in - trying to find email addresses that don't exist If that's not bad enough, how many of you send out a note a day or two after you've sent your ezine to say 'If you didn't receive latest issue, it was probably caught in filters'? What a colossal waste of valuable time. You should be taking advantage of some of emerging technologies that are available today. A large number of publishers have gone to a weblog format for presenting their information and while a step in right direction, there is still a big gap in their use. They still use email to notify you about new content. Quikonnex is best one I've come across so far simply because it offers so much to both publisher and subscriber. And you don't require a 'techie degree' to use it. It's a complete direct-to-desktop publishing service that offers media-rich content management in your choice of text, html, audio and/or video as well as two way communication with your readers and fellow members. It's most user-friendly content management and communication system you'll find today. It's easier to use than email and more interactive than a website. Best of all, no programming is required.
| | Building an Email Marketing ListWritten by Megan Corwin
There's a marketing estimate that it takes something like seven contacts with a potential client before they purchase. Email is a wonderful way to handle these contacts for a variety of reasons: 1) you can send one message to a large number of people 2) compared to traditional hard copy marketing it can be a lot less expensive 3) if you use a list management system you can get instant results like how many people opened email and how many "click throughs" there were to links in email The most important part of an email campaign is having a list of qualified email addresses to send your marketing piece. So just how are you supposed to get those email addresses? The best method is to have a sign up form on your website to capture visitor's information. Here are some DOs and DON'Ts for creating a list for your online business. DO: - Offer an incentive for them to give their email address. People usually won't give away their personal information unless they get something in return. Ideas for incentives include: a free report or guide, entry into a contest, product demo or samples, a complimentary consultation, etc.
|
