March 8th, 2009 at 09:11pm
Under Email-Marketing
One of the most effective methods of advertising your e-zine is placing ads in OTHER e-zines!
There are many reasons why, but the top three are:
you’re advertising to other readers whom you know are already interested in e-zines
you can finely target other e-zines whose readers would likely be interested in YOUR topic
it’s easy and inexpensive
First, you’ll need to get your ads ripe and ready. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to write them it should only take you about 10 minutes.
Gimme the meat. What do you have to offer?
No one’s going to give a hoot about your e-zine unless you tell them what they’ll GET out of it.
What does your e-zine show, teach, or share with your reader?
Write them down now. For example, my other e-zine, Publish for Profits, tells how to publish and promote an effective e-mail newsletter..
NOW, translate those features into benefits.
By showing my readers how to publish and promote an effective newsletter, Publish for Profits helps them attract new clients/customers and increase sales. THAT’s what they really care about! Get your result down to one or two sentences. You now have the body of your ad.
Write your headline.
Often times your ad will be stuck in the middle of many others. Use your headline to make YOURS stand out. Here’s where you can really grab the reader, effectively saying, Hey, look over here!
Your headline copy should attract attention and can either sum up your offer or highlight a benefit of your e-zine.
Also, play with CAPS and punctuation to help your headline stand out. You can put your entire headline in ALL CAPS, just capitalize special words, or use asterisks (***) or other punctuation to grab attention.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Don’t overdo it! If you pump your entire ad full of caps and asterisks and exclamation points, it will lose credibility quickly. Grab your readers’ attention, but don’t cram your message down their throats.
Incorporate some power words.
These are words that give your ad ZING and get attention quickly. Here are 16 to get you started. See if any of these apply to YOUR e-zine offer, and use them as appropriate in both your headline and body copy.
you, free, money, profit, secret, easy, yes, save, guarantee, today, first, how to, new, now, discover, learn
Add your call to action.
All good ads give a call to action. Never make your reader have to assume what to do next!
YOUR call to action is obviously to ask the readers to sign up for your e-zine. Do this in your last line or two.
Example: ‘Sign up NOW at http://www….com or by sending an e-mail to subscribe@….com.’
Massage your result into the two sizes of ads you’ll need.
There are generally two ad sizes you’ll need for an effective e-zine ad campaign.
THE CLASSIFIED AD: Most e-zines offer spots for 5-line ads, so this is a great size to have ready-to-go. Remember to use all three components: headline, body, and call to action.
THE SPONSOR AD: If you choose to be a sponsor of another e-zine, you’ll have room for a longer ad. These are usually at the top of the issue and allow for at least 10 lines.
To write your sponsor ad, just take your classified ad and build onto it. Give us more benefits and details. Again, remember to use all three components: headline, body, and call to action.
Remember your words are selling your ezine!
Everyone’s finally catching on to the fact that publishing an e-zine is an incredibly effective self-promotional tool. That means you have plenty of competition, and that you’ll have to work to SELL your e-zine to prospects. We’re all so overwhelmed with information these days, that it’s not enough to just offer us something FREE you need to show us how it will be worth our time!
Take your time to craft a truly COMPELLING ad for your e-zine. It will be well worth it
(c) 2001 Alexandria K. Brown
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alexandria K. Brown, The E-zine Queen, is author of the award-winning manual, Boost Business With Your Own E-zine. To learn more about her book and sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit her site at http://EzineQueenTutorial.com/
Author: Alexandria K. Brown
Keywords: email publishing, html templates, ezine marketing, ezine tips, ezinequeen
Power by History of the Computer | Computer safety tips
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By admin
March 8th, 2009 at 09:11pm
Under Email-Marketing
If you’re looking for low-cost ways to promote your business (and aren’t we all?), I hope you’ve considered publishing an e-mail newsletter, or e-zine. Here are six darn good reasons why you shouldn’t wait any longer:
An e-zine is the perfect way to STAY IN TOUCH with your clients and prospects on a regular basis.
Unless you continually follow up with clients and prospects, they’ll soon forget about you. But imagine calling or writing each and every one of your clients and prospects every week! That would be nearly impossible to pull off.
Well, an e-zine achieves the same goal keeping you on their radar screens, but in an unobtrusive way. This constant contact makes these folks more likely to think of YOU not someone they heard about yesterday when they need to hire a coach.
An e-zine allows you to effortlessly SPREAD THE WORD about you and your business.
If you write a decent e-zine, your readers will be very likely to pass it on to friends and colleagues. Remember that old shampoo commercial that went, And I told two friends, and she told two friends, and so on, and so on…? That principle clients passing on the word about your product or service is called viral marketing these days.
Most publishers begin with only a few dozen subscribers who are their clients and associates. But after several months, you can have thousands of readers on your list thanks to viral marketing mixed with some promotional legwork.
An e-zine is a CREDIBLE and SUBTLE way to promote your services or products.
Instead of simply *saying* how great your business is, an e-zine lets you *show* how great you are by sharing your expertise through tips or client stories. (As my old journalism professor used to say, Show me, don’t just tell me!) You’re avoiding simple bragging, and are instead offering useful information that demonstrates your knowledge. Bravo!
Publishing an e-zine positions you as an EXPERT in your field.
By showcasing your knowledge and skills, you’re likely to attract more and better clients. And by sharing what you know well, you’re saying, Hey, I know my stuff! I’m an expert. If you make a living by providing a service, you’re an expert in your own right. If you’re still uncomfortable with that term, try on the word resource. (Okay, feel better?)
An e-zine is the ideal way to CAPTURE the e-mail addresses of your WEB VISITORS.
If I visit your site today but arent ready to buy from you today, youve likely lost me forever when I click away. BUT if you invite me to sign up for your free newsletter that features helpful information on the topic at hand, Ill be happy to sign up.
NOW youve got me to market to, over and over, as long as you continue to give me the practical content you promised. This is especially powerful because statistics show that consumers dont usually purchase a product or service until after theyve seen multiple messages about it.
An e-zine is CHEAP and EASY to publish especially compared with a print newsletter.
If you were to produce and mail a snazzy-looking *printed* newsletter, you could easily spend thousands of dollars each year. But an e-zine is essentially FREE to put together and publish it just takes a bit of your time.
And you can make it as long or short as you’d like. (Some of the best e-zines I get feature only one tip per issue and are less than one computer screen long.) For best results, keep it simple!
(c) 2000-2003 Alexandria K. Brown. All rights reserved.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alexandria K. Brown, The E-zine Queen, is author of the award-winning manual, Boost Business With Your Own E-zine. To learn more about her book and sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit her site at http://EzineQueenTutorial.com/
Author: Alexandria K. Brown
Keywords: email publishing, html templates, ezine marketing, ezine tips, ezinequeen
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By admin
March 8th, 2009 at 09:11pm
Under Email-Marketing
Many of my clients ask me whether they should publish a paid e-zine instead of a free one. My answer is the classic consultant’s answer: It depends.
First of all, what do you want your e-zine to DO for you? Once you know the goal of your e-zine, the answer will be clear.
If you want to promote your current business and sell more of your products and services, a free e-zine is your ticket to success. If you plan to build a new business around making money from subscription fees, of course you’ll want to charge. However, publishing a paid e-zine is no small task! Here are some important points to consider…
You should only charge for your e-zine if you feature information that is hard to find elsewhere. If you try to pass off paid information as exclusive, but your readers can find it anywhere on the Web for free, you’re not only going to fail, but you’re going to tick people off.
A fee-based e-zine takes many, many hours of work to keep afloat — much more so than for a free e-zine. The publisher of one very successful paid online publication admits he spends over 100 HOURS each month to develop the leading-edge content his readers paid for and expect.
You will never grow as large a list with a paid-subscription e-zine as with a free one. This is obviously because less people will sign up if they have to pay versus if it’s free.
Now, if you had visions of making big money with a paid publication, don’t give up just yet. There ARE many successful paid pubs on the Web that are making their owners very rich. However, you should note that most of these e-zines continue to publish a free e-zine to gather prospects and then convert them into paid subscribers.
So, YOU decide. Can you create content that’s so valuable and special that we can’t find it anywhere else? Are you ready to invest a huge amount of time and effort to publish an extremely high-quality publication?
If not, you’re better off publishing a free e-zine that provides great value. The key to building a large and valuable list of prospects (who are likely to buy from you in the future) is to offer useful, quality content for free. It’s the proven model that works over and over.
(c) 2003 Alexandria K. Brown
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alexandria K. Brown, The E-zine Queen, is author of the award-winning manual, Boost Business With Your Own E-zine. To learn more about her book and sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit her site at http://EzineQueenTutorial.com/
Author: Alexandria K. Brown
Keywords: email publishing, html templates, ezine marketing, ezine tips, ezinequeen
Power by History of the Computer | Computer safety tips
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By admin
March 8th, 2009 at 09:11pm
Under Email-Marketing
Need a fresh idea for your e-zine content? Do an interview!
One of the many benefits of being an e-zine publisher is that you’ll have no trouble finding experts who will take a few minutes to talk with you. People love free publicity and are generally delighted to get in front of your readers.
But don’t assume doing an interview requires an in-person meeting or even a phone date. While those are great, you can also just do an e-mail interview. Once you learn how to do these and realize how easy they are, you’ll do them all the time.
Here’s what to do:
Choose a topic your readers would like to learn more about and that relates to your area of interest.
Identify an appropriate expert to interview on the topic.
Make your first connection via e-mail or phone. (If your expert is a very busy one, you’ll do best to make your initial contact by phone. Be sure to introduce yourself as publisher of e-zine to get her attention.
If your first connection is via e-mail, here’s an example of what you can use:
Dear Fran:
My name’s Steven Tyler, and I publish the biweekly e-zine Senior Biz Success. We feature articles and information on small business success for older folks.
In November we’re going to be publishing an issue on success tactics that are particular to seniors, and I’d love to do a short interview with you. The article would feature your contact information to be seen by our 5,500+ subscribers.
I have five targeted questions that I can send you via e-mail. I’d need your answers back within one week. Then I’d send the edit back to you for a final approval, which I would need within three days.
Are you game? I’d be honored to interview you, and I’m sure my readers would love to know about your Web site and services. I hope to hear back from you soon. : )
(NOTE: You can also use the above example as a template for a script if you use the phone instead.)
Once the prospect says yes, construct three to five questions for her to answer. Remember to ask these questions from your readers’ point of view. List them in an e-mail and send them to your expert.
When you get the answers back, you’ll probably need to make some edits to suit your particular readership.
Follow up via e-mail or phone if you need to clear up any points. If for any reason your expert’s answers weren’t on target, rephrase your questions to get the info you need. Also, don’t feel obliged to include every bit of information your interviewee provides. You’re the editor, so YOU decide what stays and what goes. Keep it focused — that’s your job.
Now, assemble your questions and her answers in a neatly organized Q&A format. Insert a brief introduction that tells your readers why this person is qualified to answer your questions as an expert. Then add her contact info at the end.
Example: Fran Farndale is author of Super Business Tactics for Folks Over 50. Learn more about her book and consulting services at www.superbiztacticsover50.com or write her at fran@superbiztacticsover50.com.
Get approval from your expert on the final version before you publish it.
Not only do interviews give you valuable content to pass on to your readers, but they can also lead to valuable relationships for YOU. Now your interviewee knows who YOU are, and that can possibly lead to referrals or joint ventures in the future.
So stop right now and write down three experts in your industry whose brains you’d love to pick, and get rolling!
(c) 2003 Alexandria K. Brown
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alexandria K. Brown, The E-zine Queen, is author of the award-winning manual, Boost Business With Your Own E-zine. To learn more about her book and sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit her site at http://EzineQueenTutorial.com/
Author: Alexandria K. Brown
Keywords: email publishing, html templates, ezine marketing, ezine tips, ezinequeen
Power by History of the Computer | Computer safety tips
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By admin
March 8th, 2009 at 09:11pm
Under Email-Marketing
The word blog seems to be everywhere, and what an ugly word it is!
Short for web log, a blog is a Web page made up of typically short, frequently updated postings that are listed chronologically. It’s similar to an online journal. Different blog publishers have different types of content and objectives, just like e-zine publishers do. Content can vary greatly, but most blogs I see are used to share news about a certain business, project, person, or idea. I’ve also seen some with personal diaries, photos, mini-essays, and the like. Most blogs feature here’s what’s on my mind type entries written by only one person.
Are blogs the next big thing? Well, people seem to love talking about them. (Do you have a blog? Have you blogged? Want to blog me?) They’re popular, easy to update instantly, and you don’t have to worry about spm filters eating you up.
Do you NEED a blog? Absolutely not. Blogs don’t come close to the marketing power of an e-zine. They require your readers to come to YOU instead of your coming to them.
My friend John Reese has a great blog at MarketingSecrets.com, in which he reveals results to his online marketing tests and news about his programs. (I love his stuff.) He posts to his blog much more than he publishes his e-zine. He says it allows him to share thoughts, resources, ideas, and strategies more quickly and easily. (You can see what his blog looks like here.)
But honestly, I never think to go visit the blog, because I have to … go visit it. Instead I faithfully read his e-zine that arrives right in my inbox.
You May Want to Start a Blog If…
- You’d like your website to rank higher in the search engines.
- You already have a large following of people who would like to keep up with your advice or programs more frequently than your e-zine allows.
- Your business is in a field whose information changes very frequently, such as on a daily basis (e.g. stock trading).
- You have project or personal matter you’d like to update everyone on at once. (For example, my friends who just had a baby post a blog with frequent updates on their little one’s progress.)
- You have so much infomation to share about a certain topic so often that it just won’t work in your e-zine.
Free Tool Helps You Get Started
If you’d like to start a blog, check out www.Blogger.com. It offers a Web-based tool that helps you publish to the Web instantly, whenever the urge strikes you.
Just don’t expect me to come read your blog! : )
(c) 2003 Alexandria K. Brown
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alexandria K. Brown, The E-zine Queen, is author of the award-winning manual, Boost Business With Your Own E-zine. To learn more about her book and sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit her site at http://EzineQueenTutorial.com/
Author: Alexandria K. Brown
Keywords: email publishing, html templates, ezine marketing, ezine tips, ezinequeen
Power by History of the Computer | Computer safety tips
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By admin
March 8th, 2009 at 09:10pm
Under Email-Marketing
In Fall 2003, America Online (AOL) released its brand new AOL Version 9. (Have you noticed all the TV ads?) AOL estimates that up to 50% of their users were using the new version by the end of December 2003.
The biggest new feature with AOL 9 is its aggressive method of reducing unsolicited e-mail (spm) for its users. Basically, AOL wants users to customize their own inboxes and view or receive only the messages that they choose.
While the crackdown is a noble endeavor, it puts legitimate e-mail publishers in the crossfire — people like us who have worked hard to ensure that everyone on our list has opted-in and given us permission to contact them repeatedly.
To make sure that your AOL subscribers are receiving YOUR e-mails, here are a few things you should know.
All Your Graphics Are Blocked by Default
AOL has taken the drastic measure of blocking all graphics from being displayed in HTML e-mails, as well as deactivating the links for any new messages sent to an AOL 9 inbox. The system is also designed to learn what messages are repeatedly marked as spm, and they will eventually be sent to the junk folder automatically, once it maps the user’s behavior.
When an e-mail is received in AOL 9, users have to click a link at the top of each message to view any graphics within your e-mail (Show Images & Enable Links). If this action is not taken, images (e.g. pictures, logos) and links will not be displayed or enabled.
Your Open Rates Are Likely Affected
If your e-mail publishing system uses open tracking to count how many people open your e-mails, you will start seeing lower numbers because the new AOL 9 also blocks open tracking tools by default. (Read on to learn how to improve your results.)
Ask Your Subs to Add You To Their Address Book
At the top of each issue you send, remind those AOL folks to put you in their AOL address book. For example, AOL 9 users: Please add Alexandria@EzineQueen.com to your address book so you’ll be sure to receive every issue of our e-zine.
Once a user puts you in her address book, all your future e-mails will automatically show images and functioning links. This will also allow the e-mail to be tracked properly as opened on your end.
Make Sure Your FROM Address is Consistent
This shouldn’t be a problem unless your list server/e-mail publishing program generates a different FROM address with each e-mail you send. For example, today I got an issue of an e-zine with this FROM address: 16863-return-90-86968736@lb.bcentral.com. But when I looked at the LAST issue of the same e-zine two weeks ago, the return address had some different numbers in there.
This is BAD, because even if the AOL user adds you to her address book, every issue you send will be categorized as from a new sender. By having a consistent FROM address, you’ll allow your AOL 9 subscribers to add your e-mail address into their address book, and all future e-mails you send will be easily received and tracked.
NOTE: There is a difference between your actual FROM address and what some call the from LABEL. My e-zine’s actual FROM address is Alexandria@EzineQueen.com, but it’s labeled as from E-zine Queen.
If you use Outlook or Eudora, you know what I mean. In your inbox list, you see all the from LABELS and not the actual e-mail addresses. For example, you see John Smith instead of jsmith2000@hotmail.com.
AOL does NOT show its users your from label, it only shows your true FROM address. You can usually access and change these settings in your e-mail publishing program. If you’re not sure how to do this, talk with your vendor.
Bottom Line: Never Rely on Images to Convey Your Message
You can be sure that not all your AOL users will bother to put you in their address book, or understand how easy it is to do.
So here’s the bottom line: Have fun with graphics and images in your HTML e-zine, but never rely on them to get your message across. Once each issue is complete and ready to send, look at it and pretend all the graphics are gone. Can your readers still instantly recognize it’s a publication? Do they see it’s from you? Is it obvious to them this is what they signed up for? If not, be sure to add text at the top to make things crystal clear.
I also recommend that if you don’t have AOL yourself, get an account and put that e-mail address on your subscriber list. This will allow you to see how the new AOL 9 works and how your e-zine appears.
(c) 2003 Alexandria K. Brown
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alexandria K. Brown, The E-zine Queen, is author of the award-winning manual, Boost Business With Your Own E-zine. To learn more about her book and sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit her site at http://EzineQueenTutorial.com/
Author: Alexandria K. Brown
Keywords: email publishing, html templates, ezine marketing, ezine tips, ezinequeen
Power by History of the Computer | Computer safety tips
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By admin
March 8th, 2009 at 09:10pm
Under Email-Marketing
When I coach my clients on how to get more business from their e-zines, I’m delighted to see that they spend time on creating content that builds a relationship with their readers.But I see many of these publishers overlooking the very beginning of their valuable relationship with their subscribers. For example, the thank-you page.If I sign up for your e-zine at your site, where am I taken afterwards?I hope it’s not a page that only says something vague like form received or even worse, nothing, leaving me wondering whether my signup was successful.Create a thank-you page where new signups go to right after they complete the form. On this page, be sure to:
Thank me for signing up!
Example: Thank you for subscribing to [E-zine Name Here!
Let me know if I need to do anything else.
For example, do I have to watch my e-mail inbox for a confirmation message? This is ESPECIALLY important if you use a double opt-in process that requires me to reply or click on a link in that e-mail in order to complete my sign-up. If you don’t point this out on the thank-you page, there’s a chance that I’ll assume the e-mail I receive is just a welcome letter and won’t open it.
Make it feel personal.
Include your photo and signature if you can. Being personal helps me feel like I know you, and remember this is important because I’m more likely to BUY from those I feel I know and trust.
Ask for their ideas.
This fast-forwards your relationship with your subscribers by already making them feel like you care. Something like this will do: I’d love to hear what topics YOU would most like to see covered in upcoming issues of [E-zine Name Here. Put your e-mail address right on the page and make it clickable.
You can also insert an automatic subject line in the link such as ezineidea by forming your link like this: mailto:yourname@yourwebsite.com?subject=ezineidea. When someone clicks on that link, it will automatically create an e-mail addressed to you with the subject line ezineidea. This will help you keep these requests organized on your end.
Give me a special offer right then and there.
Why not give them a discount on one of your products or services right there? For example, you could say, I know you signed up for my e-zine to get great tips on [subject matter here. Wouldn’t you like to get started right away? My [book, special report, teleseminar etc. will walk you through the entire process, step by step. And if you act right now, I’ll give you a 10% discount. Cl1ck here to learn more.
Recommend someone ELSE’s e-zine.
No, that wasn’t a typo. Find one or two other publishers whose target market matches yours but who aren’t direct competitors, and cross promote each other on your thank-you pages. This process is also called co-registration.
The copy might read, Don’t miss these other two e-zines that I read regularly and highly recommend! Then follow with brief descriptions and sign-up instructions.
Several publishers I know with very large lists share that this method has been one of their best ways to gain subscribers faster on a regular basis. And your new subscribers will be happy to consider whatever other resources you recommend.
Remember, You’re Laying the Foundation
The point of all this? By taking extra care with your new signups, you lay the foundation for a long and profitable relationship with your readers.
(c) 2003 Alexandria K. Brown
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alexandria K. Brown, The E-zine Queen, is author of the award-winning manual, Boost Business With Your Own E-zine. To learn more about her book and sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit her site at http://EzineQueenTutorial.com/
Author: Alexandria K. Brown
Keywords: email publishing, html templates, ezine marketing, ezine tips, ezinequeen
Power by History of the Computer | Computer safety tips
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By admin
March 8th, 2009 at 09:10pm
Under Email-Marketing
Have you ever accidentally lost an important file on your computer? Perhaps your computer crashed (again) or your cat sauntered over a dooming sequence of keys. Remember that little pang in your stomach you felt when you realized that file was gone for good?
OK, now imagine losing your entire e-zine subscriber list. Did that pang just get a bit more intense? (Ouch!)
Several Internet marketing gurus were recently asked the question, If your office was burning down and you could save one thing, what would it be?
The unanimous answer among all of them was, my list!
Your list is your goldmine. It’s your pool of warm prospects and clients with whom you’ve taken months to build a level of credibility and trust. They’re your ticket to a steady stream of income.
It can take years to build a large collection of opt-in subscribers. But they can disappear in a flash if they’re not protected.
So, are YOU backing up your list on a regular basis? (Be honest!) If not, let’s get you started today.
If Your List Resides on Your Computer…
If you send out your e-zine or e-mail promotions from your own computer, you MUST make backing-up your list a daily habit. And by backing-up, I mean saving your list to a disk or location other than your hard drive. For example, you can save your list to:
a Zip disk (you’ll need a Zip drive)
a CD (you’ll need a CD burner)
a floppy disk (these don’t hold much data though)
an external hard drive (these are less expensive now than they used to be)
a secure, Web-based file storage service.
I currently use option 5 for my computer files. The service I use is called I-Backup, and there are many others out there, starting at as little as $3 per month. I prefer this option because I have so many large files on my computer that I’d have to backup my files to several separate disks or CDs. And because this method is so EASY, I’m more likely to follow through and back-up my files on a regular basis!
I also like I-Backup for traveling, as I can upload files that I’ll need to access on the road. This way I don’t have to bring a disk with me.
If you use a type of list management software that resides on your computer or your own Web server, such as Broadc@st or MailLoop, it can probably schedule automatic backups for you. See the program’s help files or contact their support center for assistance.
If You Use an Online List Service…
Even if you host your list online with a listserve (such as Topica) or an autoresponder service (such as AWeber) that should make their own secure backups, you should still make your own backup copy on a regular basis! Just download or export a copy of your list each week for safekeeping. It should be pretty easy to do. This procedure varies depending on what program you use, so see its help files or contact their support center for assistance.
Consider Purchasing a Battery Backup System
Southern California is known for its frequent power outages, and they were wreaking havoc on my computer. So I purchased a battery backup unit. (I chose APC’s 650 model.) It’s about the size of a breadbox and keeps my computer going for another hour or so in the event of a power outage. This gives me ample time to back up any files I’m working on and shut down my computer properly. It also functions as a surge-protector to keep my computer safe from electric surges. You can buy units like these at any large office supply store, and they range in price from $100 to $500.
Don’t Put It Off Any Longer!
I know that backing-up your files seems like another irritating addition to your busy schedule. But remember that you’ve worked hard to build your list … and your business. So take just a few minutes each week to protect that investment.
TIP: Pick a certain day each week to back up your list. For example, my electronic calendar automatically reminds me to do this every Friday.
(c) 2003 Alexandria K. Brown
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alexandria K. Brown, The E-zine Queen, is author of the award-winning manual, Boost Business With Your Own E-zine. To learn more about her book and sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit her site at http://EzineQueenTutorial.com/
Author: Alexandria K. Brown
Keywords: email publishing, html templates, ezine marketing, ezine tips, ezinequeen
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By admin
March 8th, 2009 at 09:10pm
Under Email-Marketing
Marketers the world over use follow up autoresponders to
increase sales. But, many struggle to write a compelling
message series. Don’t let that keep you from your share of
the profits! Print and follow these instructions; you’ll
soon be following up with finesse.
(Examples in this article use the fictional product Green
Garden Lawn Fertilizer. Any similarity to actual products
is unintended and coincidental.)
Message 1 - Big Benefits:
Many of the sales resulting from your follow up series will
come after the very first message. Keep this message short.
Just take 500 or so words to flesh out a handful of your
biggest benefits. For example, part of the Green Garden Lawn
Fertilizer company’s first message might read:
A Lush Lawn: Green Garden Fertilizer will give you a
lush lawn in just 2 weeks! Density will increase up to 50%…
No More Brown: Watch your lawn become 3-5 shades
greener with regular treatments
Message 2 - Establish a Need:
Use your second message to explain why your product is necessary.
First, lay out the situation leading to a need for your product.
Then, show that your product will meet that need. For instance:
Lawns across the country are looking dull. Homeowners water
and mow to no avail. But, not those who use Green Garden
Fertilizer! They’ve created lush, beautiful lawns
Message 3 - Tool Talk:
In your third message, show the lead how he will go about
actually using your product. Detail any tools or supporting
material that you offer. In the case of our fictional Green
Garden Fertilizer, part of this message might read:
This treatment is a cinch: Simply attach the included
diffuser to the end of your garden hose, creating a
sprinkler. Run the sprinkler for 15 minutes each week.
You will see an improvement after just one treatment!
Message 4 - The Wildcard:
Customize message four for your unique product. Try one
of these ideas:
Have a customer case study? This is a great place
for it.
Selling complimentary products? Detail one of
them here.
Selling a real-world product? Explain shipping
/ tracking now.
Have a bricks and mortar office? Invite the
prospect to visit. Include directions.
Are you personally a visible part of your brand?
Include your bio here.
Message 5 - Questions? Comments?:
Your lead may be waiting to purchase until you explain one
particular thing. By asking outright, you can speed the
sales cycle to a close.
Start the fifth message by asking your prospect if he has
any questions. Give him several ways to reach you, and
include your hours of operation and time zone.
Take the rest of the fifth message to answer some of the
questions your prospects ask most often. For instance:
Are you excited about the lush lawn you’ll have with Green
Garden Fertilizer? I hope so! Let me go over some questions
our customers have asked in the past
Message 6 - Testimonials:
With your sixth message, show off your satisfied customers.
Choose several of your best testimonials, and list them here.
Look for quotes from customers who are obviously excited about
your product, but that still sound believable. For instance,
choose:
I’m thrilled with my Green Garden Fertilizer! Just two weeks,
and my lawn looks better than it has in years.
Instead of:
Green Garden Fertilizer is miraculous! It turned my back lot
into a rolling meadow in days - and that lot is PAVED!
(The testimonials in this article are made up examples. All of
your testimonials, however, must be real. Fabricating
testimonials is illegal.)
Message 7 - Last Chance:
Your final message serves as one last reminder of your product.
Briefly reiterate its most impressive features. Then, throw in a few
testimonials or a very short case study. Round out this message
with your contact information. Our example product’s final
message might read:
Over the past several weeks, you’ve heard about how Green
Garden Fertilizer can turn your lawn around. Customer Dusty
Dan tried it, and he says, ‘My lawn has never looked better…’
Follow Up With Finesse
Automation means that good follow up doesn’t have
to be time consuming. Now, creating a message series is just
as easy!
Beka Ruse is the Business Development Manager at AWeber Communications. Experience the acclaimed customer support and reliability of AWeber autoresponders. http://www.aweber.com/lfs.htm
Author: Beka Ruse
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By admin
March 8th, 2009 at 09:10pm
Under Email-Marketing
A Review on Email Go Getter System (EGGS) by Martin Lee
EGGS is a new autoresponder system that I have started to use recently. The main difference between EGGS and other commercial autoresponders out there is that EGGS is hosted and run entirely on your own web server. This poses many benefits:
*There is no limit to the number of subscribers you can have. It all depends on the amount of web hosting space and bandwidth you have.
*EGGS is capable of sending approximately 200,000 mails in 2 hours, but it depends on the size of the message. The greater the size, the longer the time.
*You own the software and the list; nobody can have a look at how many subscribers you have.
*Unlimited number of autoresponders and messages.
*Ability to send broadcasts.
*Emails will not be filtered off automatically. One main problem that I had with other commercial autoresponders like freeautobot and getresponse was that their emails are sometimes not delivered to hotmail or yahoomail. This is because their ip had been put on a ‘to filter off’ list. No such problems with EGGS as the email are sent from your own server. Of course, your email content must be clean as it might still be filtered off by spam filters.
*Single or double opt-in/removal available.
*Both html and text supported.
The best thing of all is that this software is free! You can download it and offer to donate any amount you like. Donors are even given a link on the main page as a form of recognition.
However, there can never be a perfect software out there. There are some disadvantages to EGGS:
*You have to do some installation of the software on your server. However, the manual is pretty detailed and I have no problems with the installation. In the worst case where you can’t get it installed, there’s always the option of paying them to get it installed for you.
*You can’t select the fields you require in your database. You are stuck with name and email only.
*There isn’t a test function. So if you want to see how your list of 7 emails look, you will have to set the messages to 1 day apart and wait 7 days to receive all the messages. Of course, you can overcome this problem by sending one message at a time but it’s a bit tedious.
*You can’t browse through and see the details of the subscribers in your list. You will have to do it by either exporting the list to a text file and looking at it or browsing the raw database table (in sql) itself.
*You can’t select the users whom you want to send broadcast to. All broadcasts are sent to all users. So, I had to manually set up another mailing list to use as my test list.
*There is a single line advertisement to EGGS right at the end of the message. You can edit the code to remove it but I have no problems promoting such a good software.
*There’s a slight bug with the unsubscribe email send out. Apparently, it’s sent as html even though I had put it as a text message. So, I had to change some of the text. Not a major problem as I wouldn’t worry how the message look to a unsubsriber anyway.
*Inability to track whether the email was opened and for clickthroughs. So, I had to depend on my weblogs to check for clickthroughs.
*If you add a new message to your current autoresponder, it will be sent to your entire mailing list! I learnt it the hard way but thankfully there’s no serious damage.
All in all, a pretty simple autoresponder to use once it has been set up. At the cost (free) and the features I’m getting, I guess I can have no complaints. However, I do hope they can improve on some of the things that I have mentioned above.
Copywrite (C) 2004 InternetMLM - All Rights Reserved. Martin Lee is the founder of Internet MLM, which provides free resources and articles on internet marketing and various business opportunities.
Author: Martin Lee
Keywords: autoresponder, autoresponders, email marketing
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