Monday, August 18, 2008

Email Marketing - 2 Ways to Make Money With Email Marketing

By Sean Mize

Email Marketing is one of my favorite ways to make money online – in fact in a lot of ways, it is the only way I make money online. Sure, people buy things from my sales pages, but they get to my sales pages via my email marketing.

I use article marketing to drive qualified traffic to my web site, then I use squeeze pages to drive the traffic to my email marketing campaign. Next, I use my email marketing campaign to drive traffic to my sales pages – on a regular basis, day in and day out, I can drive traffic to my sales pages.

Do I want an extra 1000 visitors today? I simply mail an email or two. That’s it. With email marketing I can literally dial up my visitor count.

But to do that, you have to first build the email list. And that takes time to do – but you really have to do it (in email marketing we call that list building).

So what are the 2 ways to make money with email marketing?

1) Drive traffic to your sales pages.

2) Drive traffic to affiliate pages

You see, in making money with email marketing, the biggest thing is driving traffic. Sure, I have to have a great product, or I have to have an affiliation with a great affiliate company, but I have to drive traffic to my pages – and email marketing is the fuel that does that for me.

Do you want to discover the secret to generating over $180,356 per year online?

Download this: How to Make 6 Figures Online

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Sean Mize is an internet marketing strategist who teaches internet marketers how to increase their income by creating high ticket classes and coaching programs.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sean_Mize

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Email Marketing Is Still The Most Effective Despite Problems

By Christopher Kyalo

There is no denying the fact that email marketing is the most effective method of driving traffic and sales to web sites today.

Email marketing is a form of direct marketing that is even more effective than traditional direct marketing. The latter relies on snail mail and it usually takes days for mail to reach recipients. One of the advantages of email marketing is that it is instant. You send out a message and it reaches the recipients immediately.

When you incorporate all the strengths of direct marketing into email marketing, like testing and targeting, then what you end up with is one of the most powerful marketing weapons ever invented.

Email marketing has of course not been without its' problems. Spam of mass unsolicited email has been a major problem that has given email marketing a bad name, such that when you mention it folks are quicker to think about illegal emails than they are to grasp that you are talking about legitimate and legal email marketing. Even more serious a problem is the fact that spam has caused many ISPs to set up filters that sometimes cause us not to receive email that we actually want and some of it has even been specially requested. For instance when somebody subscribes to an email newsletter.

Still, despite all the challenges, email marketing remains a powerful and potent online marketing tool, more so for those with the skills and knowledge to use it.

Find out more about the Best email marketing campaign for you

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christopher_Kyalo

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Fast Email Marketing - 5 Easy Steps to Advance in Email Marketing

By Sean R Mize

In the online world of business people have to pay close attention towards the means they use to promote their web sites and web based businesses. In the present time email marketing is considered to be one of the best ways to market your products and services. Email marketing is good in the sense it costs you less. You can reach a bulk of people through one email. This method of marketing is very effective if you take care of certain small steps.

If you want to advance in email marketing, you need to understand few basic things. These steps will help you in understanding the ways by using which you can make your email marketing campaigns really effective. First of all, you need to have an effective list of email addresses. If the list of email addresses that you have is a good one, your chances of getting good response are improved. If this is not the case it will not be possible for you to get maximum benefit out of your email marketing efforts. Once you have a good email addresses list, you can prepare your email. Your email needs to be concise and impressive. The subject needs to be attractive. The body of the email needs to be informative. Also, you can improve the performance of your email marketing campaign by having an auto responder in place. Taking care of these five steps will lead you to a successful email marketing campaign. You can get maximum benefit from your email campaign now.
Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, ‘Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide‘

Download it free here: Secrets of Article Promotion

Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 1574 articles in print and 11 published ebooks.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sean_R_Mize

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Easy To Do Email Marketing

By Janie Jenkins

When you are ready to do email marketing you will want an email marketing strategy. Part of that strategy is to figure out what you want to market through your emails. Permission-based email marketing is a powerful way to connect with people and bond so they will want the products and services you offer.

Email Marketing Strategy

Define your topic of interest. What do you like to talk to people about? What do you like to learn more about? What do you like that other people like? What types of other people like what you like? Answering these questions will lead you to powerfully targeted email marketing. Targeted email marketing will bring you the highest and most rapid results.

Permission-based Email Marketing

After you have created your email marketing strategy and defined who will appreciate your targeted email marketing, your next step is to receive permission to send emails to those highly targeted people. One email marketing strategy not mentioned above is to create a compelling reason and an automated process for people to easily give their permission to receive emails from you.

How to Make Money from Your Email Marketing

As you connect with your subscribers using email marketing strategies, you will need a product or service to offer them as you go along. You may create the product or service yourself or use the products others have already created. Offering products of others to your subscribers is the perfect combination of permission-based email marketing and affiliate marketing.

The most important thing to do is get in the game and give it your best effort!

Janie Jenkins is the "Easy To Do" instruction expert. Discover how easy it is to do what seemed like your most complicated ambition. Email Marketing Strategy

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Janie_Jenkins

Monday, September 3, 2007

Using Ebooks To Boost Your Email List

by James Robertson

You have a website and want to build your mailing list. If done in the most efficient and effective way, it can increase traffic dramatically. But how exactly do you do that? One of the most effective techniques is by giving out a free ebook download.

Traffic translates to sales so you aim for it for your website. Visitors want free stuff, so you hope to meet them halfway. Offer a free ebook to your visitors. They would love that. And for what cost to them? Nothing except their name and valid email address. Now that's attractive.

Here are easy steps for your opt-in list to get you going in no time:

Offer a digital ebook for free that entices them by letting them subscribe or sign in to your opt-in list. Fresh content is what your visitors want. So make sure to tell them that fresh content is guaranteed upon signing up.

After you have them in your opt-in list, keep them interested. You got them to sign up because you offered a free ebook download. So get them excited with a few informative emails and probably an ebook that can't be found anywhere else. This not only keeps them coming back but also gives value to your product.

Keep your visitors asking for more. A free ebook given out regularly would do the trick. Send them free content weekly or every other week. But make sure you're doing this in well-planned intervals. You don't want to end up spamming their inbox.

Viral marketing. Don't forget to allow your existing members to invite or send a link to your friends. This strategy not only increases your list, it also creates a two-point entry allowing new members to sign up.

You hope to build healthy traffic activity in your website. Traffic would mean sales for your website. So get your free ebook ready all the time. Giving away a free ebook is a proven and effective strategy for your website's success.

source : goarticles.com

Friday, July 20, 2007

The 5 Mistakes Internet Marketers Make In Email Marketing

by: Rasheed Ali

Email marketing is great for internet marketing income. Realise what you are doing wrong in internet marketing!

1. First Name Basis

Using the first name in the subject box and in the e-mail is proven to generate more clicks in order for your subscribers to read the email. However, do not use too much of the first-name basis strategy in the subject box for every single email. It is a mistake Internet marketers do that tends to get over-used, making the subsciber uneasy.

2. Create a Powerful Headline

Most of the emails I used to subscribe to had headlines could make me sleep even before I could read them. Headlines must be powerful in order for the impact of curiosity to take place. Most Internet marketers focus more on the content of the email rather than the headline. Create a headline that attracts attention to the niche that you're in. If the headline said, "Jo Han, Maximize Your Sales Now!" This headline could intrigue entrepreneurs like me who want to expand their business and generate more profits.

3. A Content List

Most internet marketers do not feel the need to do this in email marketing. This is applicable only to short emails, but for long emails sch as a newsletter, it is more preferable to create a content list in your email. A content list is like a content page in a book, except in an email. Now creating content list in email marketing lets your subscribers know what you will be covering in your email. Create content lists that arouse the reader to further read the email for more effectiveness in promoting your product.

4. Your First Sentence

The first sentence in your email should leave your subscribers with an impact of curiosity to read on the rest of the email. Most Internet marketers just go straight into promoting the product without even invoking feelings into the subscriber. For example, there was first sentence in one of my emails that went like this: ‘My Mega Birthday Blowout is now LIVE'. Now, if I am a subscriber, I'll be wondering, "What the hell is he talking about?" That subscriber will have no choice but to read on the email copy to find out more. No one wants to be left out of something that someone wants to tell them about.

5. The Content

In email marketing, when you are promoting your product in an email, the mistake a lot of Internet marketers make is to describe and teach what was in the product. Although a lot of knowledge is good, teaching them is not. Why would you want to promote your product in your email when you already have a website promoting it? You have to write an email copy that can make the reader excited, curious and eager to know more. And just as they are burning up for your product, provide them with the link to your website. Implement certain copywriting techniques in it. Learn more content generation and email copy techniques by subscribing to other Internet marketers' emails.

These five mistakes in email marketing that most internet marketers make is something that you should watch out for. Learning from mistakes are good in this internet marketing journey. However, learning from mistakes that might cost you your sales is something not to be reckoned with.

Source : articlecity.com

Sunday, July 8, 2007

Email Marketing - 2 Ways to Make Money With Email Marketing

By Sean Mize

Email Marketing is one of my favorite ways to make money online – in fact in a lot of ways, it is the only way I make money online. Sure, people buy things from my sales pages, but they get to my sales pages via my email marketing.

I use article marketing to drive qualified traffic to my web site, then I use squeeze pages to drive the traffic to my email marketing campaign. Next, I use my email marketing campaign to drive traffic to my sales pages – on a regular basis, day in and day out, I can drive traffic to my sales pages.

Do I want an extra 1000 visitors today? I simply mail an email or two. That’s it. With email marketing I can literally dial up my visitor count.

But to do that, you have to first build the email list. And that takes time to do – but you really have to do it (in email marketing we call that list building).

So what are the 2 ways to make money with email marketing?

1) Drive traffic to your sales pages.

2) Drive traffic to affiliate pages

You see, in making money with email marketing, the biggest thing is driving traffic. Sure, I have to have a great product, or I have to have an affiliation with a great affiliate company, but I have to drive traffic to my pages – and email marketing is the fuel that does that for me.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, ‘Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide‘

Download it free here: Secrets of Article Promotion

Do you want to learn how to build a massive list fast? Click here: Email List Building

Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 900 articles in print and 9 published ebooks.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sean_Mize

Friday, May 25, 2007

Email Marketing Tips For Affiliates

By Christopher Kyalo

Affiliates who make colossal amounts of money online are usually experts at marketing and many are constantly searching for tips via email newsletters and from marketing sites that will dramatically impact on their traffic and affiliate revenues.

If you want to be a successful affiliate, it is not too difficult to pick up email marketing tips and become an expert in this important and effective form of online marketing.

The first of many email marketing tips that you must be aware of is the fact that you must constantly look for ways to trap the email addresses of visitors to your site. It does not matter how few they are, the most important email marketing tips demand that you constantly grow your opt-in email list daily as you are involved with other campaigns. You could offer some valuable information through a special report to all who subscribe to your newsletter and thus leave you with their email addresses.

The way people actively seek clients to buy online is the same way that each site owner should aggressively be harvesting email addresses. It is a email marketing tip worth taking careful note of that a large opt-in email list is better than money in the bank. There are many online entrepreneurs who make a good regular income with nothing else other than their opt-in email lists. Of all email marketing tips you will ever come across, constantly building your opt in email list is the most valuable and powerful.

You will have to combine these tips here with the ultimate bulk email marketing secrets to get explosive results.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christopher_Kyalo

Friday, April 13, 2007

Email Marketing - Organic is Better

By Scott Lindsay

Many online businesses look at email marketing as a viable means of directing traffic to their website. Buying lists from a third party can be expensive. This type of email marketing is often viewed as spam because the recipient did not ask to receive the material you sent. Most businesses that use this type of list will work to invite recipients to opt in to future listings with a promise to make this a one-time email unless they actually sign up.

Some ecommerce merchants also use rented lists. This can also be expensive and the list can only be used once. Recipients often have the same feeling about this type of email marketing campaign, which is often viewed as spam.

Organic Email Marketing

This takes longer and is built on a more ‘grass roots’ concept. This type of campaign only relies on those that have already made contact with your business and have willingly provided their email address for future emailings.

This type of ‘opt in’ relies on free membership offers. The visitor willingly provides their contact information in exchange for free membership benefits. This scenario provides a positive means of connection with a more receptive audience.

The good news is the collection of email addresses can be derived from a multitude of sources. If your business receives customer calls you can collect emails by phone. Other possibilities include online web forms as well as tradeshows and other personal contacts.

If you can make it easy to opt in and then provide details in each mailing on how to opt out you will minimize the number of spam complaints your business may receive.

A more organic approach is helpful to the long-term success of your business because it allows you to begin with a smaller group of very interested customers and then continue adding to a list of individuals that places value in what you are sending them.

When you start with a bought or rented list you ultimately wind up in a pronounced adversarial relationship with those who are more interested in keeping spam out of their mailbox than whatever ‘good’ information you might be sending.

It is also a great idea to make sure your valued customers are assured that your email list is not for sale. Provide your recipients with the assurance that no third party will receive their information and that you are concerned about their privacy.

An organic list may be harder to establish, but it is targeting a more relevant group of potential customers who want a reason to trust you. Make sure they find that reason.

Scott Lindsay is a web developer and entrepreneur. He is the founder of HighPowerSites and many other web projects. Get your own website online in just 5 minutes with HighPowerSites.com at: http://www.highpowersites.com Start your own ebook business with BooksWealth at: http://www.bookswealth.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Scott_Lindsay

Monday, January 29, 2007

Is Email Marketing Dying?

By Sean Kenaston

In 2006, 40% of all email sent throughout the world was considered SPAM. This begs the question, “Will my email get to my subscribers?”

Every day it gets harder to determine if an email is legitimate; users find it difficult to distinguish between legitimate emails and spam. Spammers continue to find clever ways to bypass email filters and as a result the filters increasingly block valid emails in a desperate attempt to keep up. Many marketers find filters frequently catch their commercial emails.

The sheer volume of spam people receive has also created other problems. People will often mistake valid commercial emails, from mailing lists they’ve subscribed to, as spam and thus the email never gets opened. As this trend continues, some experts predict email will no longer be a useful marketing tool.

What can you do to avoid being marked as spam?

The best thing you can do is limit as many factors that may cause your email to be flagged as spam as possible:

* If you’re not doing so already, use a double opt-in mailing list. This will ensure they do in fact want to receive emails from you, plus they will recognize your name, which prevents any emails you send from being mistaken as spam.
* Once a subscriber has signed up to the mailing list, display a message on the website that tells them to add your email address to their white list to prevent it from being flagged as spam.
* Send your email as plain text. Avoid HTML emails as those tend to get picked up by the filters a lot more than plain text.
* Avoid using high threat key words such as ‘Free’, ‘Discount’, ‘Offer’, and ‘Money’ in your subject line as well as the email body. Most spammers these days are smart enough not to use these, but filters will still pick up on them and consider your email suspicious. If you need to use these types of keywords, you can space them out like ‘F r e e’, or include separating characters like ‘O-f-f-e-r’.

Will people abandon email for another electronic medium?

It’s difficult to tell where email marketing will be a year from now. In 2004, Bill Gates predicted there would be an end to all spam by 2006. Well, I don’t need to tell you that the exact opposite has occurred – there is more spam today than ever before, and there is no sign it will be letting up any time soon. It will only continue to get harder to find ways around the problem.

The good news is email marketing has already stood its ground. When blogs and podcasts emerged, many believed they would replace email as the dominant marketing media, but it did not happen. Yes, people embraced blogs and podcasts, but they still subscribed to mailing lists as they had before, despite the spam.

Email is still a strong marketing media and every indication shows that it will remain useful in the years to come. Unless everyone in the world suddenly decides to stop using email, there will always be a way to reach subscribers on the web this way.

About the Author:

Sean Kenaston is an Associate Editor at Ratings Hub - the first and only ad and affiliate link free site that provides 100% user-based reviews of various Internet marketing products and services. It is absolutely free and it’s the only place on the Internet offering completely unbiased feedback on products used by every type of marketer, from beginner to guru and everyone in between. Please visit www.ratingshub.no-nonsense-marketing.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sean_Kenaston

Friday, December 8, 2006

Email Marketing is Not Dead: Top 10 Reasons to Publish an Ezine

By Patsi Krakoff, Psy. D

Email marketing is far from dead, despite the fact it can be a challenge to build an opt-in list of email addresses. Even with the popularity and ease of publishing on blogs, an ezine should be a standard in your online marketing toolbox. Ezines are easy, accessible, inexpensive, instant, and interactive

Here are ten reasons to publish an ezine:

1. Gain name and fame; become widely known as an expert in your field to people you might not ever see or meet. You establish yourself as a thought leader and demonstrate your expertise in a way you could never do on a website or brochure.

2. Cultivate a relationship with your readers; establish trust and credibility. Your ezine is an opportunity to teach, to share interesting information, and to share your philosophy and real life experiences. Readers get to know you. Show them what you know, and also that you care. (There is that old adage that says 'people don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care!')

3. Create quality content for your website. When you post your ezines on your website, you increase the chance of search engines picking up your site because you have more pages and more content.

4. Stay in touch with past, present and potential clients. You never know when, where or why a person will contact you for services, so you need to stay in touch, and make it easy for them to contact you. Some say people need to hear from you 5-7 times before they are ready to hire or buy.

5. Give people up-to-date information on programs, services and products you have created that can help them. How else will they know what you have to offer?

6. Create alliances and affiliations with other ezine publishers, programs and service providers that interest your readers. They will love you when you offer solutions from other sources that you don't provide yourself. You become a go-to resource for many of their needs. You can also earn passive income through affiliate programs.

7. Reinforce your branding. Your services may be great, but every business needs a look, a logo, colors, a name, a tag-line quote-things that sum up in one glance the essence or feel of who you are and what your business stands for. Your ezine is one more opportunity to put forth your brand.

8. Expand and grow your database: Ezines can be forwarded to a reader's friends and associates. Your list of subscribers can grow with people you might never come in contact with. You can reach a global audience instead of your local area.

9. Create a two-way dialogue with your readers: Ask your readers questions, survey them about topics, ask for their opinions and feedback. Your ezine can help you keep your finger on the pulse of your ideal clients; you can use their feedback to create more ezine content, or other products such as telecourses and e-books. And this in itself sustains the idea that you are really interested in them and in providing the kinds of services that are important to them: you care.

10. Bottom-line: sales. You turn prospects into clients. Your ezine can be a magnet to your website, to your products, to your services. People are more likely to buy from you when they feel they know you. Ezines are particularly effective for selling services where there may be a long sales cycle and where the relationship is important.

For more leading edge ezine tips go to www.coachezines.com . You can also subscribe to Newsletter Nuggets at www.newsletternuggets.com. Get Patsi's Secrets of Successful Ezines 7-Step Mini-Course to learn what you need to know to publish a successful ezine. snipurl.com/Ezine_MiniCourse Patsi Krakoff, Psy. D. is a writer and Internet Marketing expert with over 7 years experience marketing online and founder of Customized Newsletter Services.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Patsi_Krakoff,_Psy._D

Monday, October 9, 2006

The 5 Cardinal Sins of Email Marketing

by: Robert Burko

One of the most frequent questions my customers ask me is "What should I do to make sure my email marketing campaign is a success?" My answer is always different, depending on the client's industry, campaign goal, and many other factors. But in today's e-marketing landscape, there are a few pointers that stand true for any client, a few things that can really make or break an email campaign.

You could overlook these, and you'll still have an email campaign. But if you're stuck wondering why your email messages are yielding little to no response, you may want to take a closer look and consider if you're commiting any of these 5 email marketing sins:

1. When new subscribers sign up, I should treat them just like my old subscribers.

One of the most overlooked aspects of email marketing is the welcome message, or the message your subscribers receive as soon as they sign up for your email list. The welcome message is your first opportunity to connect one-on-one with your subscribers. Think of it as your first impression, since this is the very first of, hopefully, many email messages you'll be sending them. Of course, you want to make a good first impression: be courteous, friendly and very mindful of your audience. Make sure to remind them of the benefits of signing up, include links to your website and tell your readers how to get a hold of you if they need. It's also important to ensure the welcome message arrives shortly (if not immediately) after the recipient signs up. So your best bet here is to choose an email service provider that sends automatic welcome messages to your subscribers on your behalf. Some of the top email programs will allow you to fully customize your welcome message, so it reads, looks and feels just like your company.

2. All my subscribers are the same, so I should just send the same messages to all of them.

Well.. actually, no, and no. It's not rocket science: subscribers are individuals, just like you and I. They have different preferences, different habits, different personalities. Addressing your subscribers by their names is a good start (and an easy thing to do, since most reputable email service providers automatically insert your subscribers' names into the greeting field). But, in most cases, this personal greeting is just not enough. Say you own a clothing store, and you sell men's, women's and children's clothing. John Smith is a customer, and he loves your menswear collections. But he's busy, and he has no women or kids to shop for. So why would he waste his precious time browsing through your specials on blouses and bibs? It's been proven: In a recent study by DoubleClick, email users were 72% more likely to respond to a business e-mail if its content was based on the interests they had specified. Choose an email service provider that allows you to set up interest groups, and then allows your subscribers to choose which groups they want to belong to. Back to the clothing store, you would produce 3 separate emails (men's, women's, children's) and only send them out to the subscribers who want to read them, creating higlhy-targeted, personalized and effective email campaigns.

3. When a reader clicks on a link from my email, it doesn't matter if they end up on a page that looks nothing like the actual email.

Um, actually, it does matter. First-off, you want to provide a consistent image of your brand. That's just Branding 101. You wouldn't create business cards that look one way, letterhead that looks another way, and a store sign that looks completely different. So why would your email marketing campaign look nothing like your website? Chances are you already have a website, so all you really need to do is customize your email campaign to have the same look and feel. Many email service providers will be able to create you a custom template that matches the exact look and feel of your website. However, beware of the price. While some email service providers charge at least a few hundred for this, others offer free custom templates as part of their services.

4. My email recipients may enjoy my messages, but they don't really want to share them with their friends.

Here's the good news: According to a January 2006 report by Sharpe Partners, 89% of US adult Internet users share email content with their friends, family and associates. And 75% of them forward emails to up to six other recipients. It's called viral marketing, and it basically translates to word-of-mouth through email (as long as you provide good content, an essential aspect of any email maketing campaign). Some email service providers have taken this insight into consideration, so they have integrated the all-important "Forward to a Friend" feature in every email you send. A few email providers will even go a step further, and allow you to track which subscribers are forwarding your messages, so you can get a true glimpse at your "brand ambassadors" (and maybe offer them some extra perks).

5. After I send out my email campaign, there's nothing left for me to do.

If you look at it that way, you're really missing half the process, and jeopardizing the success of your future campaigns. Here's why: any reputable email marketing program will include campaign tracking and reporting. These allow you to view how many of your messages were opened, which bounced back, which links were clicked on, and, with some email providers, exaclty which recipients clicked on each link. This data not only converts email marketing into an incredible lead generation tool, but it also allows you to learn more about your subscribers. So if you operate a travel agency, and you see nobody clicked on the Mexico vacation link, but 200 readers clicked on the New York vacation link, you'll know next time to place a greater focus on New York vacations. You could even send a follow up campaign to those 200 readers with a special offer for a New York vacation upgrade. That's lead generation and a highly-targeted upsell in one shot. Are you taking advantage of these?

About The Author

Robert Burko is president and founder of Eliteweb.cc, an Internet portal and suite of Fortune 500 services for small businesses. Elite Email Marketing is a leading email service provider, and includes all the powerful features highlighted in this article.

rburko@contact.eliteweb.

Source : articlecity.com

Monday, October 2, 2006

Why Email Marketing Matters

By Ryan P. Allis

According to a study by the Winterberry Group, email marketing brings in $15.50 per dollar spent This is about 17% more than direct-mail campaigns and 73% more than telemarketing campaigns. In short, email marketing matters and if you’re not sending out at least monthly email newsletters to your subscriber base, you should be. The true cost comes from acquiring the prospects and clients, not the three or four hours needed to create a monthly newsletter.

Many organizations, once they have spent the thousands of dollars acquiring their clients, fail to market to their existing base. I’ve met quite a few marketing managers who would rather continue spending $200 a pop for new qualified prospects rather than $0.01 per person to build the relationship with their existing clients and recommend new products or encourage re-orders. I’ve found that sending relevant email communications to persons who have requested to receive them is the single most effective way of cultivating the type of relationship needed to turn your prospects into customers and your customers into lifetime product evangelizers.

As a reader of this article, chance has it that your organization is one that already sends out a newsletter, or at least is considering doing so soon. Once you began sending your own newsletter, however, it is important to follow two important rules that will increase your likelihood of achieving your marketing goals, whether they are to increase repeat orders, convert a higher ratio of prospects, or obtain top-of-mind brand awareness.

The first and most important rule is to only send relevant content to persons who have requested it. What does this mean? Well, let’s say you are a travel and adventure planning company. If someone has subscribed to your Kayaking Monthly Newsletter, don’t move them over to your European Vacations list and send them an article on Dining in Tuscany. In most cases, you will very quickly lose any prospect or reduce the lifetime value of your relationship with an existing client. If the person also subscribed to it, it would be okay to send him or her a monthly company newsletter that from time to time had information on other topics, but don’t mix newsletter bases just to increase mailing volumes.

It is important to note that just setting up an interest segment and adding it to your sign up form doesn’t require you to create a monthly newsletter on that topic, but once you get a few dozen to a couple hundred people interested in that area (depending the value of the product or service you are providing), it will likely pay to have quality content developed on that topic for distribution in interest specific newsletters. This can be easily done within the IntelliContact email marketing software by either creating a list specifically for persons interested in a topic or creating a segment of persons with a specific interest.

The second rule is to be consistent with your sending frequency. Depending on your type of business and your subscriber interest level, the right volume for you could be weekly, biweekly, or monthly. Once you find the frequency that is right for your organization (and this could vary newsletter to newsletter), stick with it. We see a lot of companies whose email strategy can only be defined as “ad hoc.” Rather than blasting out a promotion whenever sales are lagging, we recommend having an emailing schedule for each newsletter and sticking to it, whether it be every Saturday, every other Wednesday, or on the 15 th of each month. As an example our company newsletter, the Permission - Based Email marketing Monthly goes out on the 28 th of each month.

What type of results can you expect from regularly sending out regular email newsletters? Here are two examples from users of IntelliContact the email marketing software my company Broadwick provides. Biotage is a company based on Massachusetts that provides DNA sequencing instrumentation. They send out event notifications and company updates to 20,000 or so subscribers each month. David Shultis, Marketing Communications Manager of Biotage, notes, “We've seen open rates at around the 38-42% mark for our large mailings. There has also been a 'pass-along' quality of our emails, as we've noticed new names that were not originally on our mailing lists responding to offers.” Another IntelliContact user, Julie Ibrahim, Vice President of the Tiger Sports Shop says “The monthly newsletter keeps us and our inn at the forefront in the minds of our past and potential guests. Thus with the continuous news from us and our region, we are kept in mind, with no sales effort or pressure.” If your organization wants to see marketing results like these, it may be time to start or expand your usage of permission-based email marketing.

If you stick with sending relevant, high quality content-rich emails on a consistent basis to persons who have requested to receive your emails, you will increase your prospect to customer conversion rates and customer lifetime value at a fraction of the of the cost of traditional methods and take advantage of the best type of marketing possible—free marketing through authentic customer word-of-month.

Ryan Allis is a well known author who writes articles and CEO of Broadwick Corporation, providers of Email marketing software IntelliContact Pro.For additional information on Email marketing for more tips, ideas and solutions about email marketing please visit http://www.intellicontact.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ryan_P._Allis

Monday, September 25, 2006

The Ultimate Email Marketing Guide: 15 Tips To Fast Email Marketing Success! Part 1

By Jon Rognerud

A practical "how-to" list for email marketing success, from small to large business.

Email marketing is easy (--ponder--) if you know how to do it. Wow, you have heard that one before, I'm sure. Is that not always the case - with almost anything? So, why even say it?

Because - in this case it is really true.

However, so many small businesses make it more complex than it is; they don't fully understand or grasp the impact of list building, what tools, services and techniques are available, and don't recognize what a successful campaign and its results can and will mean for their businesses.

We believe that a) simplicity of application, b) knowledge - and c) immediate action are the first steps to success. And, everything done in an ethical way - you got permission based marketing. Full speed ahead!

1. Get the legalities out of the way.

Did you know that recent changes in the search engine algorithms now recognize a privacy policy page as an important metric in the total number of items that helps your ranking and visibility? In fact, Google has over 100 variables that make up the secret sauce of their algorithmic search engines. Only two engineers at Google know it. (Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google chose not to learn it himself).

So, you should write and always provide a link to your privacy page. Starter text can be obtained from links below - and always make sure to review with your legal counsel for a final review. You will then include a link to it from your outgoing email campaigns.

Here are some places to start:

a) http://www.truste.org/pdf/WriteAGreatPrivacyPolicy.pdf

b) http://www.marketingpower.com/content4740.php

c) http://www.microsaw.com/privacy_policy.htm

2. Your site must capture user via first name (last name) & email address.

Burn this into your head - make it your site requirement - day one. There are too many online businesses that forget this simple rule. It's a must. If you are reading this article, then you probably already realize the importance of mailing lists. Your audience is looking for good (relevant!) materials to solve problems in their life and business. Capture these visitors, and continue to provide this information and free information, you can grow your business by 1000% or more almost overnight, in some cases in any future mailing. It's super-important to have - and build a quality mailing list.

On your 'landing page' (sometimes called a sales page, gateway page, squeeze page, splash page) you should try to include this capture form on the "top of the fold" of your webpage. (Think of this as single sheet of paper, folded in half. The visitors will read the top portion first, from left to right - almost in an F-shaped order).

Therefore, make sure you:

Place this input form in a strategic location, "above the fold"

Make this coding your first priority for implementation - don't make it the last - or never (which many companies do)

3. Example Signup forms.

Search the internet for example sign up forms. A great technique is to look for companies that have this in their URL. Try this in Google (type into search box): allinurl: "free newsletter" (it will search any site that has this contained in the TITLE of the page).

Some examples of successful forms:

http://www.microsaw.com/myform.htm

http://www.marketingtips.com/newsletters

http://www.redhotcopy.com/workshop.htm - using interesting "slanted" pop-under and image (a black/white banana)

Note that you should always apply "up selling" techniques: links to other complimentary tools, software, articles & e-books.

In other words, give something away for free.

This is the Stephen Covey "emotional bank-account" working at its best. Web surfers are getting smarter and not just links to privacy policies and terms of use are recognized, but easy to read pages that are brief and to the point, score high. (Ed note: An example can be seen on the right side at http://www.microsaw.com/myform.htm - the "free 5-day SEO email course").

4. Popups, popunders, popup blockers & search engines.

Traditional popups (yes, the annoying ones) are banned from search engines like Google.

Therefore, smart marketers have come up with other means. They are called "popunders". They use specialized JavaScript to display a pop-up box, but it's not tracked or recognized by popup-blockers or the search engines (Ed. Note: this could change, as the search engines change their smarts all the time).

As of writing, you should use a pop-up box, and capture first name, last name & email. Don't make it an intrusive one though (it needs to follow your style sheet guidelines, in other words). Another way to go is to use what's called 'house-banners' -- ads that display compelling graphics, text - and uses your own local advertising system (example: double-click).

Here's what to do to capture interested visitors:

Apply a page that "slides" onto your page, and have it appear after 5 seconds.

Display this email form capture on all pages.

Only show it once, and only repeat 2-3 days later (assuming they come back). Many of the email marketing systems include this feature for you.

Annoying, but it works. I went from 5% signups a day a 75% increase overnight - only a few weeks back.

Tip: Make a note that the popup is from your site- not a partner site. (sometimes popups are thought to be from sponsors, make a note to your visitor that it's from you).

5. Do you have a newsletter you are trying to promote? Up-sell is the answer!

If you are promoting a newsletter, outside of just getting visitors to sign up, there are 3rd parties vendors that can help you publish and sell your newsletter. Throughout all campaigns, you must make sure to provide useful, relevant and unique content.

Some options for you:

Coregcomplete.com - get signups on thank you pages of other subscription forms this is a great way to promote your wares

Getsubscribers.com

Partner with companies you find, and call them up. Search for 'newsletter publishers' in Google.

When you write articles (yes, you should) - make sure to make a note in the "About Author" that you publish or have newsletters available.

TIP/Warning: Beware of commercial co-regs -- they typically have poor quality names and offers.



Jon Rognerud is a recognized authority on the subject of SEO and Online Marketing, and has spent over 10 years developing websites and marketing solutions for companies like Overture, Yahoo and Expedia.

His website, Los Angeles Search Marketing at http://www.microsaw.com, provides a wealth of informative articles, resources and complimentary email courses on everything you will ever need to know about SEO and Search Marketing. He lives with his family in Southern California.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jon_Rognerud

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Email Marketing at Its Easiest

By Sean Mize

Do you have a mailing list, but you just don’t know what to do to communicate with it? Do you have a web site, and you get some traffic, and you are making sales, and you just know you could make more, if only you were mailing your traffic regularly? Are you simply overwhelmed at the process of writing an email sequence to send to your list? If any of the above are true, you are not alone.

You see, many web businesses do not do the business they could simply because email marketing seems overwhelming.

So how to make it easy?

For each individual, the sticking point is something different. In the next few minutes, I am going to go through each of the sticking points, and give you advice to “unstick” them. If you are not stuck in one point, move on to the next.

1) You must have an auto responder service. An auto responder will mail your mailing list on a regular basis without any intervention from you (after you have written the emails, of course).

2) You must include an opt-in form on your website for people to add their name to your mailing list. Your auto responder company can provide this for you and then you can simply cut and paste the html code into your web site.

3) You must write an email sequence. This is probably one of the hardest things for the beginner to do. Just write like you are writing to a friend. To see an example of how this works, subscribe to a few newsletters or mailing lists online, and keep all the emails. Read them. Decide what you like, what you dislike. What types of emails did you most enjoy reading, and which did you want to delete? The key here is to learn from what others are doing successfully.

4) Use your auto responder’s tracking program to determine which of your emails are being opened (that helps you test your headlines), and to test which of your emails lead to additional clicks to your web site (that allows you to test the effectiveness of your writing).

Just remember that when you are just getting started, there is a long trial and error learning curve. Anytime you learn something, note it, or write it down so you don’t make the same mistake again.

Sean Mize is a successful offline and online entrepreneur and marketer, and is the author of “15 Steps to Internet Success“. To receive a free copy, simply follow this link: Search Engine Marketing

Are you interested in learning how to build a responsive mailing list? Click here: List Building

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sean_Mize

Thursday, September 14, 2006

The good and bad of email marketing

by Daya vincent

This is an exclusive service and one of our best Internet marketing tools! Proven successful! We can communicate via email and express our new ideas, techniques and strategies implementing on the website link. So it is give imperative that u must have a clear picture on what is going on in linking services and collecting databases fields and fresh information on day by day. To make people conscious about what you are and what your site can do, email marketing is considered as an unbeatable tool to promote business via email. Email marketing can be defined as an easy tool that helps business people increase their revenue by attracting more people to the site by sending email campaigns concerning the site.

Let us have a glance on email marketing, its role/use in business promotion.

* The email marketing is extremely cheap when compared to other forms of advertising and campaigning programs. It doesn't require printing, publishing, paper etc and cost incurred in such types of work can be avoided if we use email marketing as our campaigning tool. * It is an instant method of campaigning and we never have to wait for hours or days to reach messages to intended users. * It lets the advertiser "push" the message to its audience, as opposed to a website that waits for customers to come in. * It is easy to track. An advertiser can track, un-subscribes, open rates, positive or negative responses, click-through, rise in sales. * Advertisers can reach substantial numbers of e-mail subscribers who have opted in to receive e-mail communications on subjects of interest to them. * It has been proven successful when well done

With above benefits it comes with some bad effects too. Spam, the main danger of email marketing sometimes creates hindrance in taking benefits as part of email marketing. Mainly email marketing is used by companies to interact with their customers whereas spam can be defined as a set of unsolicited mails that fills customer's inbox and make it out of use. It is frequently difficult to distinguish between legitimate email marketing and spams. At first spammers attempt to represent themselves as legitimate users rendering the real issue. To avoid these spammers a lot of spam filters are now introduced in the field that helps blocking only spams and not the legitimate emails.

Eventhough email marketing has the above specified risk, it can overcome easily by the introduction of spam filters and provide people the full benefits of email marketing.

Don't wait, no need to think more, use email marketing as your site promoting tool and become top in the business. To know more about emailmarketing and its services, follow this link and know and explore our email marketing services.We provide our clients tips and tricks for site promotion, how to increase site traffic and thus increasing site revenue.
About the Author

Daya Vincent is the content writer of http://www.newagesmb.com a offshore software development and website design experts. Our focus is Web design, Web Programming, logo design, Internet Marketing , Flash Presentations ,ecommerce solutions and Search Engine Optimization.

source : goarticles.com

Friday, September 8, 2006

Email Marketing Is Still King Of The Internet

By Lewis Leake

I know! I know! Everybody and his dog has probably been telling you that email marketing is dead. Many people predicted that spam would be the death of email marketing. That blogs and RSS feeds would take over.

Well, if you've noticed, it just ain't so. It just hasn't happened. Sure Blogs and RSS feeds are important and should be a part of your internet marketing strategy but they just can't compete with email marketing when it comes to sales and marketing. Email marketing is still king of the internet.

Think about it, how do you get people to your blogs? I'm talking return visitors! You're probably getting your visitors to opt-in to your list so that you can send them an email reminder whenever you add something to your blog.

Email marketing through publishing an ezine and sending it to your opt-in list is extremely profitable, even if you have a small list. The nature of ezine publishing creates loyal readers and highly responsive buyers for your products and services.

Why is email marketing such a powerful marketing strategy:

- the majority of people check their email every day

- there is a significant savings in time and money

- millions of people subscribe to get information that they are interested in

- increases customer loyalty because of frequent contacts

- email builds your brand

If you have a responsive opt-in list then the potential for email marketing profits is enormous. Thousands of successful internet marketers can't be wrong when they say "The Money Is In The List."

Build your responsive, opt-in list. Send them useful and informative information in your newsletter. Find out what they want. Find that product or service. Offer it to your list. Then do it again and again.

Email Marketing is still King!

Lewis Leake is the webmaster of http://www.emailcash.com where you will find articles, product reviews and resources to help you develop successful email marketing strategies.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lewis_Leake

Sunday, September 3, 2006

Get Your SUBSCRIBERS to READ Your Emails - Using These 3 Email Marketing Tips

by: Ashley Keane

As home based business owners, when we do marketing by email we ask ourselves, “Why are many of my subscribers not reading my emails? Why are they not buying my products?”

There are many reasons why your subscribers don’t WANT to buy YOUR products. The 3 most common reasons are:

1) Every email they get from you is about products that helped you.

2) They feel you don’t really want to solve their problems because you don’t know anything about them- but their email address.

3) Your emails have a “one size fits all” message. Your emails make them feel like one in a crowd, not like a special subscriber.

It’s not too late to change those common mistakes! Commit to really care for your subscribers. You'll see them forwarding your emails and you'll get more free targeted traffic!

Even more, they’ll look forward to hearing from you. Hence, make them feel special using these 3 tips in your email marketing campaign.

----- Tip 1) Don’t send the same message to all your subscribers. Have your subscriber list divided into at least 3 sublists like by country, US state, date subscribed, and interests.

- Sublist 1: Country, US state of where they live

Have a great product you know will help your subscribers save time? Don’t tell all your subscribers about it at the same time. Think of ways to make your various subscribers feel special.

For instance, let’s say most of your customers live in Ohio. Make them feel special with an email that says something like:

I’m writing to you because you live in Ohio and your state is one of my top 3 states served. In other words, more subscribers have bought my product “5 tips ebook” than in most states in the country!

As my way of saying thank you, I’m offering you, (and only my Ohio subscribers) this related product at 40% off the purchase price! I’m only offering this special for 4 days. After 4 days, all my subscribers and website visitors will need to buy it at regular purchase price. I’m glad to serve you.

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Wednesday, August 23, 2006

EMail Marketing Tips for Small Businesses

By Jo Ann Joy

You must give the readers the ongoing opportunity to “opt out” or “unsubscribe” and stop receiving your emails. This requires you to have an auto-responder so that you can automatically "unsubscribe" anyone that requests it. If you convince people to accept your emails and give you their email addresses, you have to think of ways to hold their interest.

I receive emails every day from coaches, experts, and others who claim to have the secrets to one thing or another. After the first few emails, I noticed that they were long and redundant and stopped being interesting. They did not provide me with any benefit, and I “unsubscribed.” You need a short email that packs a punch by offering discounts or some other benefit that they can only obtain from you.

If you cannot offer a discount, then provide original, helpful information that will give them a reason to read your emails. Give them information or advice about their business that will be useful and convince them that they will benefit from a visit your website. Keep the information concise, and use numbers of bullet-points.

Your email must capture attention with its headline and entice the reader to open the email. In the email be sure you include multiple links to your website, and tell readers who you are and why they can rely on your information. For example, provide a very short bio with an informational email. However, spend very little time talking about yourself and your business. Email marketing concentrates on customer benefits.

Your email will be more attention-grabbing if you include photos and graphics. The links on your email should direct the reader to a landing page that describes your product or service. Directing the reader to a landing page is more effective than directing them to your home page. Be sure that your website contains a Privacy Policy that assures people that you will not sell or misuse any personal information.

Jo Ann Joy, Esq., MBA, CEO The future of your business starts here!

Discover the secrets to success and grow.

About the author:

Jo Ann Joy is the CEO and owner of Indigo Business Solutions, a legal and business consulting firm that is a “one stop shop” for small businesses. We provide legal and business services and all professional services for businesses, and they will not be "referred out" to other professionals.

Jo Ann has a law degree, an MBA, and an Economics degree. She is a strategic business attorney who works closely with businesses to improve their performance and their chance of success. Her background includes commercial, corporate, contracts, real estate, accounting, financial planning, mortgages, marketing, product development, banking, and business planning and strategies. She ran a successful business for 10 years and writes and gives presentations on many different legal, tax, and business subjects.

Please visit our website at http://www.IndigoBusinessSolutions.net for more information on business, legal, and tax topics and for free copies of articles.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jo_Ann_Joy

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Email Marketing For Success

By Paul-Marc Abrioux

Email marketing has become increasingly difficult as strict Spam laws and filters put a tight hold on many honest marketing efforts. Sending targeted emails does, however, still have the potential to reward the marketer with serious profits. While there is a small percentage of people who will buy or join impulsively, the greatest potential for success building lies in effective follow up marketing. The use of an autoresponder, a good advertisement-free autoresponder, is therefore essential to succeed with email marketing.

Research shows that a great number of people become interested in what they are being offered through email only after six or seven emails. To this result the goal of the email marketer is to maintain the prospect's interest through a series of emails, without the prospect losing interest or becoming annoyed with the sender, which usually results in the prospect unsubscribing from the autoresponder.

Effective marketers know that a good autoresponder series should stay in touch with a prospect for anywhere from 30 days upto one year. Timing is crucial when it comes to marketing. A prospect who has no interest one day might be in a better posistion to receive the same information one, two or three months down the road. An effective autoresponder campaign attempts to solve this issue or poor and good timing, by staying in touch and patiently waiting.

Paul-Marc A. enjoys a successful home based business and has helped countless others with their online marketing. To find the best home based business ideas and opportunities so you can work at home visit http://www.YourInternet.ws

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul-Marc_Abrioux