Direct mail tips

Friday, March 30, 2007

5 Newsletter Writing Tips

Are you considering adding a newsletter to your website but need some newsletter writing tips to get you started?

Do you have concerns like: How much of my time is this going to take up? How long should each email be and how many emails should I send out in total? What if I no longer have anything relevant to say? Can I keep up the quality of my newsletter over a certain length of time?

The first thing that you must remember is to always offer some interesting and useful information. You will no longer have any subscribers if you do not. Next, you will want your newsletter to remain fairly short. These days, people are inundated with emails, so they will appreciate it if you send them something that they can quickly scan and then put to good use.

Put some thought into the best possible format for your emails. You will want a model that can be easily reproduced week after week. To make your job simplier, you can choose any one of the following newsletter writing tips as your standard format or you can combine them, whichever. The final choice is yours.

1. Tip of the Week

Come up with at least 24 tips on your main topic. You could brainstorm a specific topic and get enough content for at least 6 months of weekly newsletters. When you focus on your area of expertise this should not be a problem. You will find it best to do this by (a) explaining the problem and then (b) offering a tip that will solve the problem. The length of each email should be from 150-500 words.

2. Top Ten

This format is easy to create and it works. For example, if you are an expert in health and fitness you could give advice on the "Top Ten Health and Fitness Tips","Top Ten Tummy Flattening Techniques", "Top Ten Weight Lose Tricks for 2007". Be sure not to go over board with the word length, just a few sentences for each tip will be fine, not half the page.

3. Three Ways to…

Finding ten ways to do things can sometimes be a little challenging. A quick newsletter tip is to provide only three tips instead; it is much simpler and can be alternated with the "Top Ten" format.

4. Before and After

Just like the "Tip of the Week" format, this tip introduces a problem and then immediately provides a solution. The "before and after" format does however work better with case studies as this is one way of interacting directly with your clients.You can ask them to send in details of something in their possession that requires a makeover; such as a website page, an article, their wardrobe etc, and then you can present them with your solutions.

Or you can ask for "before and after" examples from your readers who have been able to do this themselves, and with their permission show them to your other subscribers. (If you are using text only format for your newsletter, then you can include a link to your website page which has the photos on it). This especially works well if your newsletter is related to health and fitness – the photos will motivate your readers when they see the changes of others through diet and exercise, even weight training.

5. Checklists

Are you trying to learn something new? There is nothing quite like the checklist format to make sure that you do not leave out any steps along the way. Checklists can really save loads of time and your readers will appreciate getting one. All you will need to do is write a short introductory paragraph, make your list and then close with some final tips. You can base the whole of your newsletter on the checklist format, or you can just present one on occasion as a change from the regular newsletter format.

One final tip: You may want to set up a yahoo or gmail account just for your newsletters. Spend some time checking out websites related to your interests, and subscribe to their newsletters. Occasionally, check your emails and study what layout other editors are using. If you see a specific format that you like, print it out and put it in an "ideas" folder. Just unsubscribe from those that are only filled with never-ending sales pitches or junk.

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Wednesday, March 28, 2007

3 Causes of PC Crash and How to Fix Them

PC Crashes are caused mainly of the following:

  • Inappropriate Software drivers for a new hardware or inappropriate hardware
  • Virus attacking the Windows operating system
  • Corrupted Windows Registry
  • If you have recently installed a new device, for example, a new TV PCI adapter, check to see if the software drivers you have installed are appropriate to your particular hardware configuration. You will be able to tell if it is the one causing the crash if after you remove the new hardware physically, your computer stops crashing. To resolve this, you have to check with the hardware vendor what appropriate software driver for your PC is. They could have an updated driver for you to download to fix a bug to the software driver.

    A virus, spyware, or trojan attack can also be the cause of a computer crash. These viruses commonly attack the Windows Operating System core files like the ntdll.dll and ntoskrnl.exe files. Viruses come from clicking on an unknown link or opening an attachment from an e-mail. Always keep your anti-virus definition files updated to be able to detect and clean the latest PC virus infections.

    Windows Registry corruption is also a common cause of PC crash. Frequent installation and un-installation of programs and corrupted software drivers lead to corrupted Windows Registry. The Windows registry, stored on your PC in several files, records the relationships or links between hardware, memory space, and addressing. If these links are broken, your PC will malfunction, hang or crash. A good Registry Cleaner tool is needed to automatically restore these links.

    Manual registry cleaning using regedit is not recommended since setting those data type and values manually is also one of the main causes of invalid links in the registry.

    Recommendations to fix and prevent computer crashes:

    • Install new hardware with the latest software drivers from the hardware vendor. Check hardware compatibility with your existing PC.
    • Always keep updated on Microsoft Patches to prevent security vulnerability attacks on the Windows core operating system.
    • Run Registry Cleaner tool regularly, at least once a week, to clean any errors on the registry.
    • Always keep your Spyware removal tool and anti-virus software updated of latest spyware and virus definitions. Regularly scan your PC and remove spywares and viruses.

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    Sunday, March 25, 2007

    Optimize Computer Performance

    Most people who own a computer totally neglect it. I mean, from the time they bought it, until now, they have really done nothing to it other than install and uninstall software. They basically use it for 3 things: Internet, Email, and some minor word processing stuff. But that is it. And since they only use it for this, they really do not get in to how to optimize performance. But over time, your computer will start to really slow down. You will end up clicking on a program, and waiting. You should never really have to wait. If you are waiting, then you need to do something. I will tell you the single best thing you can do to optimize computer performance.

    You computer runs from a set of files called the registry files. They are somewhat difficult to get to, and if you start changing them, you can really mess some stuff up. But there are other ways these files get messed up. Sometimes, when you uninstall software, it will remove a shared registry file another program also needs. Or, if you install a program, it may change a registry file another program needs. This causes your computer to be slow.

    See, registry files tell the computer what to do with a software program. If this file is messed up or corrupted, the computer does not know what to do. Sort of like if you are at a 4 way stop with 4 other cars. Everyone just looks at each other. This is similar. It is errors like this that can easily be fixed.

    Find a good registry software and get a scan of your computer. This will tell you if you have any errors which need to be fixed. I promise you will have errors. I run mine every week and I have errors. Once the software finds the errors, let it fix them for you. That's it. Probably takes about 10 minutes. This will return your computer back to top speed, and prevent the slowness. Running a registry scan of your computer is the single best thing you can do to optimize computer performance.

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    Friday, March 23, 2007

    Opt in Email Marketing - Targeted List Building Strategies

    In any business, especially online, it's a well known fact that not all customers are created equal. In the same vain, not all email lists are created equal and you would often hear marketers boasting about the size of their lists, but does size really matter? The answer is a simple, and resounding NO. You can make just as much money with email marketing using a list of 1,000 as you would with a list of 100,000. It's all about how responsive your list actually is.

    Email marketing (or permission marketing), is still one of the most lucrative ways of making money online. We are all sick and tired of the saying that 'the money is in the list' but as clichéd as it sound, this really is still true. It is however necessary that we make some more refined distinctions if we want to tap into this. In opt in email marketing, targeted leads are probably the number one consideration if you want to build a highly responsive list. For far too many marketers the a 1% conversion rate is acceptable. Conversions do not always rely on good copywriting alone. If you give people what they really want, you don't really need to sell them. When opt in email marketing is very targeted and specific, the whole selling process becomes much more synchronized. There is nothing harder than selling someone something that they don't really want or need. There is nothing easier than selling someone something they really want and need.

    Working with a highly responsive mailing list is indeed a very different experience – not only in your approach, but also in the quality and quantity of your contact with them. Marketers with huge, unresponsive lists have to send out three to four emails a week just to get some response while those with highly targeted lists can afford to send only one or two emails a month, and they tend to have a much higher response rate. What this comes down to is leverage – doing less work, bagging more sales and gaining more credibility and improving your relationship with your list.

    Opt in email marketing targeted at specific products or services can not be that easy to build. List building in itself caries it's own challenges and with the sheer amount of freebies floating about, it's become quite hard to build any kind of list. In many ways this is the real work behind any successful online business – it's success lies in it's list and the customer relationship that they create, maintain and grow.

    So, how do you build a highly targeted and highly responsive opt in email list? Well, there are many strategies, but it relies on you drawing up a profile of your ideal customer. What does your ideal customer look like? What does she like and dislike? What is he likely to look for and expect? Once you know exactly who you are talking to, you will find that you are much more natural in your approach to your list and you will be more relaxed because you know them. Although this does not sound very important, it does come through in many subtle ways – and this is what makes all the real difference in building rapport with your list. Having huge 'random' list is so hard to sell to because you don't know whom you are talking to.

    Highly responsive opt in email marketing targeted at your ideal customer is the key to success online. The challenge however is in building such a list. This can be a very costly and very time consuming task and there is no guarantee that you will be successful. Pay per click tends to be very low level traffic and building a highly responsive list from Adwords is indeed a big challenge tat can be very pricey. Building big websites with sign up offers can be very time consuming and in very competitive markets this is not really an option. Joint ventures is probably your best bet, but most marketers will be reluctant to give you a crack at their list without some big reward.

    The answer, I believe lies in co-registration. It is one of the most underused, yet it's potential is massive. With co registration you can build a very targeted, highly responsive opt in marketing list in a very short time. With co-registration you buy subscribers and some co-registration services will even give you the option of 'specifying' the kind of customers you want to target. These co-registration services are most often high traffic sites with a lot of credibility which in itself already qualifies your leads.

    With opt in email marketing targeted leads are everything and with co-registration you can quite literally buy these qualified leads for as little as $0.15 per lead! Not bad if you consider what you might pay for a mere click in a pay per click campaign. Focus your efforts. Focus your information and focus on your ideal customer. Not only will it make your life easier, but it will probably grow your bank account much quicker than anything else you will do online.

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    Monday, March 19, 2007

    The 5 Mistakes Internet Marketers Make In Email Marketing

    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 subscriber 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.

    Saturday, March 17, 2007

    Solid Results with E-mail Marketing

    How E-Mail Marketing Will Better Your Business

    Are you sick of dealing with the increase in postal stamps, lost mail or return addresses? You can eliminate these problems with the use of email marketing. With this system you will save your business time and money by acquiring a new source for contacting your clientele. Email marketing is instant, digital and an inexpensive. The following three points will give you confidence when changing to e-mail marketing.

    Benefit From Instant Contact

    After you have postmarked all your letters, waited patiently for the postal person and then waited days for them to be delivered, you begin to wonder when or if they were received. You can end the agony and the long process of postal mail with electronic e-mail. This Internet system is instant and arrives in seconds to minutes, allowing clients to respond quicker. In addition, if an e-mail address is incorrect or non-existent you know immediately with a returned address failure.

    Be Digitally Interactive

    With e-mail marketing everything that is sent to your clients is digital. Your promotions can be more colorful and informational. Email marketing turns your print images into electronic media, compiled of endless graphics and text. With this system you can refer clients to other helpful websites and guide them to action. You will no longer use all the ink in your printer.

    Save Time and Money Now

    Take a minute to think about the thousands of dollars that are put into printing hard-copy marketing materials. Not only are you paying for the paper and ink, but also the stamps and envelopes. E-mail marking will save you thousands by getting rid of those materials you once saw as necessities. Those materials and others become obsolete when using digital media.

    Now you can invest more time into designing your e-mail campaign. Deadlines become less stressful because you don't have to figure in postal service delivery times. Also you get rid of timely printing and stamping.

    Advance your business by eliminating paper marketing. With email marketing you can contact clients immediately and quickly, incorporate digital imaging and text, while saving time and money.

    Thursday, March 15, 2007

    Verify Bulk Email Lists

    The internet has changed the world. Internet access has put so many conveniences at our fingertips. With the click of a mouse one can buy a range of different products. This has given rise to online marketing. There is a huge market online waiting to be tapped. There are a number of ways to tap this market. One cheap and efficient way of doing this is through bulk email lists. Always remember to verify bulk email lists.

    Errors In Bulk Email Lists

    Bulk email lists are a list of a number of potential clients which is stored somewhere. Sometimes these bulk email lists are correct and sometimes there are errors in the email addresses. For example digger!yummy.com or digger@yummy.con are two instances of errors in writing the email address. Some of these erroneous addresses get added to our lists as well. In such instances mailings to there addresses "bounce."

    Types Of Email Bounces

    There are two types of email bounces.

    The hard bounce – These are messages that can never be delivered. Sometimes there is an input error when the subscriber is opting into your list. Messages to such email boxes never reach. Sometimes the subscriber is no longer using the email address with which they opted into your list.

    The soft bounce – These are messages that can be delivered at a later time. They are caused by the recipient's mailbox being full.

    It is a good idea to unsubscribe hard and soft bounces from the mailing list after a set number of bounces. It is a good idea to keep the toleration limit for hard bounces as two and soft bounces as eight. After this number of bounces, you must clean up the addresses that are bouncing.

    There are reasons that bouncing emails must be deleted. If they are not, you waste a lot of time going through emails that are bounces. It is a waste of valuable time.

    Another reason is that you can get into real trouble if not deleting "bounce" emails. This is one way to identify spammers. If repeatedly sending messages to a "dead" email id, you could have a problem with the ISP that is receiving those messages. These are the reasons that it is important to verify bulk email lists.

    Managing Subscribe And Unsubscribe Requests

    It is essential to manage all unsubscribe as well as subscribe requests. This is especially important if your users are not automatically subscribed or unsubscribed. If unsubscribe requests are not immediately dealt with your mail may be treated as spam. You may find yourself in trouble with your ISP. On the other hand, all subscribe requests are potential customers and must be added to your mailing list immediately. Verify bulk email lists regularly for this reason.

    Remove Duplicated Addresses

    Remove addresses that have been inadvertently duplicated. Doing this ensures that your mails are not sent to the same prospect twice. This can be very irritating for a prospect.

    Segment Your Subscribers

    When you verify bulk email lists remember to segment your subscribers. Personalize your message to each one of them. You will be surprised at the difference in response using this method.

    Email marketing is the wave of the future. When dealing with the various issues involved in it, remember to stay current by verifying bulk email lists. Stay on top!

    Tuesday, March 13, 2007

    5 Ways To Lose Blog Readers

    1. Write too many sponsored posts in too shorter space of time. Sponsored posts are great; bloggers earn a little, the company your writing about gets some attention, the sponsor gets some money (from the company) and the reader has something to read, so why is it dangerous?

    It's simple. Sponsored posts often do not reflect the bloggers real views. This is especially common in new bloggers who do not understand this. They just want the cash regardless of whether they loose some readers because they are overly-flattering in their post. It is especially dangerous if you have not properly researched and spent time using what ever you are reviewing. You should all know by now that you must be careful about what you endorse. Just imagine... your reputation would be left in tatters if an affiliate program you recommended suddenly closed it's doors for no reason and you and your referrals lost all their earnings. Some sites do allow you to write negative reviews, but this is only useful if you are actually going to use the site and find out it's bad points; which you are less likely to do if you are writing a sponsored post every day.
    Note - I am including posts about affiliate/referral programs here, because in the long run they are sponsored posts.

    2. Not replying to your blog comments.. Not only will this piss of your readers and make them feel little and insignificant but it's just plain stupid. There are numerous benefits of replying to your comments.

    Benefits

    • A comment may be suggesting an improvement you could make to your blog. Even if you carry out their advice, replying makes it more obvious you are open to criticism and makes them feel happy because they have said something useful. This means they are more likely to return to your blog to get more of that feeling!

    • First time visitors to your blog often judge it by the number of comments they see (which is a sort of very rough traffic/popularity guide). If you reply to your comments that number will be higher, especially if you spark of a debate. If they see a high number of comments they may request a link exchange, or just become regular readers. It may seem like a small point but it all adds up.

    • Some comments are questions. You wouldn't want your reader (who thinks you know the answer!) to lose faith in you, so answer their questions!

    • Some comments are compliments, which we all love. Saying a quick 'thank you' is polite and encourages more compliments to come your way.

    • Some comments are spam. Don't reply, delete them.

    • Your more knowledgeable readers may disagree with what you have said and spark off a debate. If you don't reply it looks like you are hiding from them. It also shows your expertise if you can come up with arguments to counter what they have said.

    3. By hiding things from them. This is a very broad category and has several possible interpretations.

    a) If you are a successful blogger throw a rope down the mountain and help your readers to the top with you. After all, that's probably how you got to the top.

    b) Lying about affiliate programs - this is covered in part 1.

    c) Your earnings. This is especially relevant to blogs in this niche. Why pretend to have earned more/less than you really have? I know some people out there are apparently 'offended' by revealing their blogging earnings, but if you are then this probably isn't the niche for you.

    I try to be as open as possible about this blogs progress, which I why I make a Weekly earnings report and a Google Analytics Weekly overview.

    4. By making your archives difficult to access. In my opinion this is the single biggest limitation of blogger blogs, (the lack of categories). I have tried to get around this by referring to past articles as a write but there are some that hardly ever get linked to. This is most important for the regular readers of your blog. Most of my 'new visitors' don't arrive to the homepage of this blog, but emerge somewhere in the archives so Google has done a good job of indexing them all.

    5. By cluttering up your site with ads. This is an obvious one, multiple big banner ads are a no-no, and too much AdSense will send your readers in the other direction. There are ways of integrating ads so they don't stand out so much (which also gets you more clicks). For an example of this see my post on Kontera. Banner ads have been 'scientifically' proven to get less click through than Text Link Ads and too many banners on a single pages results in one long loading time for people with slower connections. This is true for all images so don't include too many.

    Those are the 5 ways to lose blog readers. There are others of course but hopefully the basics are covered there. Many of them are pure common sense but you would be surprised how many people fall fowl of them. Number 1 is the most prevalent in my opinion, because the authors see it as a sort of 'happy medium' between a site full of ads and a site that provides a service so make sure you spread sponsored posts out.

    Sunday, March 11, 2007

    3 Things You MUST Have To Succeed In Internet Marketing

    In the 4 years that I have been marketing online, I have learned a lot. Technology is constantly changing and new methods of promotion and creating products are always coming out. And yet, when I think about all the changes and all the additions, it still comes down to 3 things that you MUST have to succeed in Internet marketing. I will cover those 3 things in this article, and hopefully after doing so, you will have a clear picture of what you need to do.

    The first thing you need is knowledge. I'm not talking about knowledge of just one thing. You need a complete well rounded education on EVERY facet of Internet marketing. That includes advertising methods, technology; such as autoresponders, web design etc., writing instruction, the different kinds of programs available to the marketer and the list goes on and on. There is so much knowledge to be had in regard to marketing online that it can be overwhelming to say the least. But lack of knowledge in even just ONE area can lead to TOTAL disaster. That is why 95% of the people who try to market online end up broke. So knowledge is key.

    It doesn't end with knowledge. You also need content, lots of it. If you think I am kidding, take a look at the search engines whenever you look up any topic at all. What do you find at almost every website? You find content. Content is what makes the entire Internet go. Without it, we'd all be out of business. Well, content is not easy to get. It's either very expensive, if you're going to buy it, or it's very hard to create yourself if you're not exactly a crack writer. Content is one of the biggest stumbling blocks for Internet marketers. They just don't know how to come up with enough of it, which is another reason they fail.

    The third thing you need is MANY products to sell. Another misconception among marketers is that they can just join one program or promote one product and make a living with that program or product. This is another myth that needs to be killed and quickly. You can NEVER make a decent income with one product or program. Programs collapse and products become outdated. That is why you need multiple products to make a substantial living on the Internet.

    If you're interested in learning more, I have a special report that you can get in my bio box that tells a little about me. The report is free so all it's going to cost you is your time. Hopefully, you will learn something from it and have a solid idea of what you will need to do in order to have the success online that YOU want to have.

    To YOUR Success,

    Wednesday, March 07, 2007

    Would You Buy From Anonymous?

    A short while back I was undertaking some sales development work for a client and as part of the assignment I undertook to build them a specific target list of CEOs and business owners in the services sector; generally small to medium sized businesses whose Unique Selling Proposition centres on their service quality and customer relationships.

    As the results came back from my initial telephone and internet trawl, I was astounded to see the number of service businesses adopting a 'no names' policy! Now if you are the CEO of a large pharmaceutical company with links to organisations who do animal testing, I can readily understand why your company might be reticent about handing out the CEO's name and telephone number - but a services business?

    Intrigued by this phenomenon, I dug a bit deeper. Not only did 30% of businesses not want to give out names on the telephone, but also not once did the young lady (usually) on the other end of the line ask if I was either an existing customer or a prospective new one. So here was a service or sales opportunity lost, not to mention the possibility that I was a disgruntled customer with a problem to resolve – or it seems in a large number of companies, not resolve.

    I then had a deeper look at a sample of the companies' web sites; not one web site from this group had any personal contact details on at all – I might as well have been trying to contact Martians for all the human presence available. The contact details supplied ranged from the usual anonymous 'info@', to 'sales@', 'enquiries@' which we see frequently, to perhaps the least appealing I have ever seen – 'accounts@'! I understand that people are concerned about spam or unwanted calls from over eager sales people but these can be easily prevented. Personally I like calls from sales people, particularly the good ones as they provide valuable learning experiences.

    This leads me back to one of the principal lessons I learned early in my sales career. 'People buy from people'. OK, I know e-commerce is a big deal these days and we should all exploit the power of the web to ease our sales processes. But if you are truly proud of whom you are, what you do, and the customers you serve surely you should at least put your names out there on the website? The best practice sites put photos of the owners, directors, or principal managers too. The only differentiator many service businesses have is the quality of their service and the personal knowledge and contact with their customers – so flaunt it! Make yourself known! Would you buy a business critical service from someone who wouldn't give out their name? Neither would I.

    Sunday, March 04, 2007

    Affiliates, How Responsive Is Your Email Marketing?

    The following article is one of a series of articles which focus on Affiliate, Article and Internet Marketing. All of the articles are based on real experiences and research done over twenty years as a personal and business coach. They are also written in response to questions which I have been asked as well as address common challenges that people have with affiliate marketing, article marketing, internet marketing or running an online business in general. I sincerely hope that you find the following information of value. One idea, one tip, one clue can make all the difference.

    Affiliates, How Responsive Is Your Email Marketing?

    Email marketing is a powerful way to promote products. It does not matter whether it is your sponsor's products and services or your own. You will still find this form of marketing very effective.

    Your email marketing will begin with your opt-in list. This can easily be built by offering a free newsletter about your industry to your website visitors. You place a subscription box on your website that will capture names and email addresses of your subscribers.

    You can also be extra careful and make this a double opt-in, meaning that the subscriber must confirm their subscription before they join your list.

    With the plethora of free giveaway sites, we are faced with a two edge sword - the advantage is that if you have a product or service to add to the giveaway, this is another great way to add subscribers - the disadvantage is that you can also attract the freebie hunters who will either enter a spurious email address or will never have any intention of buying from you.

    This is why savvie marketers will always use a double opt-in.

    Once you have built a good sized list you can place small ads for your product in your newsletter and can even start an announcement list for those who are looking for new products, tools and opportunities.

    Email marketing can take several forms.

    1. There is of course your free newsletter, which will have a couple of ads, as mentioned above.

    2. Then there is information please mailer, which can help you close many sales. You have a link on your website, or in your publication, for readers to click on, if they need more information. The mailer will be a sequence of emails that give more information about the product and a call to action at the end. These are very effective in closing sales and getting the click through to your sponsor's site.

    3. You can also send special announcements to your entire list about new products and services that you think will meet their needs.

    There are 2 tools you need:

    1. An autoresponder

    2. Email signature file

    Can Spam Act: It is very important to comply with the Can Spam Act when sending email. Always give your name, company name and physical address at the bottom of your email. It is very important to provide an opt-out or unsubscribe link at the end of your email.

    Spam filters: Always Spam check your email messages before you send them out.

    Much of email marketing can be put on auto pilot and prescheduled with your autoresponder. It is a very cost effective and highly effective form of marketing.

    ========SIDEBAR========

    Affiliate, Article and Internet Marketing in general isn't as easy as many would have us believe. I fully understand (through my own experiences) that it is a lot easier said than done. However, you are here, right now, because you have a desire to improve your business, grow your business, and be more successful. These articles are here with the sole intention of helping you to make the whole process a lot easier.

    ======END SIDEBAR======

    In summary, a way to improve your profits

    Email marketing is still a powerful form of promotion. However, we all know that few purchase on the first point of contact and that's why autoresponders are so good and save a lot of time and effort. A short series of email messages can be set up easily and scheduled to be sent over a period of time.

    * Your actual messages should be in HTML and text, as there are many email clients who still do not accept HTML.

    * Use an autoresponder to mail out your messages to save your time.

    * Spam check your mail before you send it out so that you can get by the Spam filters and ISP blocks. Good autoresponders will sometimes provide you with a Spam checker.

    * Always include your email signature file in every email you send out.

    * Be compliant with the Can Spam Laws and include your physical address and name in every email. Also do not forget to provide an unsubscribe link when advertising to your lists.

    * You can use short articles and information about a product to send to potential customers and clients to help you presell the benefits and then close the sale.

    Your email signature file: You should not make it more than 5 lines. It should include; your name, your company name, a free offer like your free newsletter, and of course your URL.

    With these points in mind you will be able to make a successful and effective email campaign, which will help you to close more deals and make more sales.

    NOW is the time!

    O.K. you have read the article. Now is the time for action. Without action, this article adds no value whatsoever to your online success. But remember, without action, you cannot blame this online marketing article or any article for that matter. So, take action NOW.

    Even if only one piece of advice, one piece of information, one tip makes a difference, then the whole article has been worth it for all of us.

    NOW is the time!

    Saturday, March 03, 2007

    Bulk Email Internet Marketing - Autoresponder

    Bulk email internet marketing can be a very profitable way of making money online if you know how to go about it. It's not difficult, but there are certain steps you have to take and it does not happen overnight. Let's have a look at the five quick steps you can take to speed the process up.

    Step One to bulk email internet marketing: The Autoresponder

    For bulk email internet marketing, you must have an autoresponder. You will not make money through bulk emailing if you do not have an autoresponder do it for you. Just imagine you having to send out a few thousand emails manually! You couldn't do it. And a few thousand is what bulk email internet marketing means. Not fifty, not a hundred, but a few thousand. You need software to look after that for you, and that is what an autoresponder does.

    Not only does it send out all the mails to every address in the list you direct it to, but it also sends out thank you emails to everybody that responds, and provides them with the message that you have programmed it to send. This could be a lead to a landing page for a sales message, a simple free offer if they take further action or a direct call to action to make a purchase. You decide, and the autoresponder sends it. This is absolutely crucial to bulk email internet marketing.

    There are several autoresponders available on the internet that will work for bulk email internet marketing, though those that carry out all the tasks you will need it to do not come free. However, if you can find a free option, it is worth your while to use it to start with, and then you will have a better idea of what you need once you understand more about your requirements. Many web hosting options offer very good email options that include autoresponders, and some email systems also offer this, though they tend to be too basic for your needs. That is the first step because you cannot run a mass mailing program without an autoresponder, and without mass mailing, you do not have bulk email internet marketing.

    Of course, any discussion about bulk email internet marketing would not be complete without a warning about spam laws. Learn the laws in the US (CAN-SPAM) and other nations; violation often includes big fines. So before you begin your bulk email internet marketing campaign, do some research.

    Thursday, March 01, 2007

    Affiliate Marketing Online Sites



    Many people have decided that unless you're a major corporation it is almost impossible to make money on the internet. However, the fact is that there is a tried and true method for generating the extra income that many people need and want. It's called affiliate marketing online and in some areas it's becoming the new cash cow on the internet. With affiliate marketing online you can be paid to help companies sell their products or services. The best affiliate programs allow you to do this with no financial risk to you and often much of the work is done for you.

    Internet poker rooms and casinos offer some of the better affiliate marketing online programs. These companies have found that by paying a generous commission to affiliates that make referrals they can bring in more players and as a result make more money off the gamblers. They allow affiliates to register free and there is no charge for training or for the tools they provide such as banner ads for websites and text ads for e-mails. The people who sign up for the affiliate marketing online program make referrals and when the referrals start gambling on the website the commissions start piling up.

    With a good affiliate marketing online program you can get great service and support and the website will do everything necessary to retain the referrals you make. It is the best win-win situation on the internet and you can't go wrong by taking a close look at these opportunities.