The Promotional Email Subject Line Must Create Curiosity

The goal of an email subject line is to entice the reader to open the message. A smartly written subject line has a good chance of accomplishing that goal if it is eye catching, concise, and creates a strong sense curiosity.

What are some simple guidelines for creating email subject lines?

For anyone who has written promotional email copy, one of the biggest challenges is coming up with a subject line that can get the reader to open the email. Especially when you realize that online prospects are regularly inundated by a multitude of email subject lines.

Even the most experienced online marketers are challenged to come up with new and provoking copy for email subject lines. Many of the gurus say use whatever works. Experiment, observe what other marketers are doing, and test different variations of the copy to find out which one produces the best results.

One of the most common mistakes email writers make is trying to actually sell their promotion within the introductory subject line. The purpose of the subject line is to only stimulate enough interest so that the reader is motivated open the email, to see what is inside.

If you fail to create a subject line that catches the readers attention, most likely your email will be deleted in a nanosecond.

Likewise, if you offer too much information in the subject line, the reader either accepts or rejects that limited content and usually sees no need to open the email.

Should the subject line be personalized with the receivers name?

If you ask this question of successful online marketers, you will usually get one of three responses.

... absolutely include the name

... it is just not that important anymore

... only if it naturally fits the line of copy

Some marketers feel the consumer is now numb to the overuse of including personalization. Yet, psychologists will tell you everyone loves seeing their name, and it creates a connection with the visitor. The bottom line is that you will have to test this for yourself. When it comes to including the receivers name, much depends on where, when and how the subject line copy is used.

The more important question is whether including the receivers name in the subject line can help to increase results. Many savvy marketers believe it does add value if it is done appropriately. In other words, do not include personalization simply for the sake of using the name. If you are going to use someone's first name in the subject line, make sure it flows with the copy and does not come across as forced. Employ a writing style that is conversational and creates curiosity.

The email subject line is a curious piece of copy. It encompasses very few words and is often purposely vague. The readers attention must be captured and enough interest created to have the email opened. So few words, but absolutely critical if the email itself will ever be read.

David Schaefer is a success coach and entrepreneur and writes on the topics of personal development and Internet marketing. He offers a FR.E.E Marketing Report about taking advantage of a Successful Tested and Proven Affiliate Marketing Program at http://InfiniteIncomePlanRevealed.com -- Also follow him at http://twitter.com/davidschaefer

Being the King of Email Marketers

If you've undertaken an email campaign, then you understand how important it is to get your emails opened and to improve your sales (assuming you're selling something). With email marketing constituting such a dominating branch of marketing in general, and with junk mail being as ubiquitous as it is today, it's no cakewalk launching a significantly successful email campaign. The problems are myriad: you may not stand out from the rest of the emails pitching a sale; your reader may not even understand that you're pitching a sale; or perhaps you've been inexplicably blacklisted. Whatever you particular difficulty with email marketing, there are some tried and true methods to improve your campaign that in no time will have you feeling like the king of email marketing. Take a look at these recommendations, and start improving your operation today:

? Never betray people's trust. As the person in charge of an email marketing strategy, you've got some serious responsibilities on your shoulders, the most important of which (altruistically) is preserving confidentiality. You may think that passing along sensitive info-which includes email addresses-will go unnoticed, but that is a short-sighted plan to be following. You need to put a strong, ethical business conduct at the forefront of your entire operation. Enhance people's trust (once you've earned it) with third-party guarantors' logos, like the BBB, assuming you're an accredited member.

? Tame your impulses. Just because you think it's a good idea to send out emails to your mailing list every 10 hours, doesn't mean your subscriber will think the same. Calm down and show some restraint! You only have so much to say to your readers, so stop beating the dead horse and lighten up a bit. It is best for you to be a little cautious, and avoid the predictable demise of an incessant mass-email sender.

? Start tracking your stats. Hopefully you've been smart enough to get the right email marketing software on board, in which case, use it properly! Don't conjecture about what works and what doesn't: it's almost all there in the numbers. Though there are always the unknown variables that can affect an email campaign, generally, tracking the efficiency of catch-phrases and general email composition is the best way to know what works and what doesn't. You have this information at your disposal, so employ it wisely.

? Aim for the first impression. Remember, people decide whether or not they are going to read something from anyone other than friends, family, and colleagues based on the subject of the email and those first 40 characters or so of the email. Don't throw this crucial part of your email away carelessly to inconsequential vocabulary. This is really what you'll be tracking with your software, so make sure it's working.

That ought to be enough to get you clued in to some of the wiser practices in email marketing. Just remember that, before everything else, you need to be confident and courteous, always showing a strong degree of certainty in what you're offering at the same time that you show a degree of respect and restraint with your reader.

Consider iContact for your email marketing campaigns. It's a powerful platform that generates sophisticated results with the simplicity of a point-and-click interface. iContact is your best choice for email marketing software.

Establishing Priorities For Your Email Campaign

If you are running a marketing campaign, then you should be running an email marketing campaign, too. The internet is one of the most cost-effective mediums for reaching potential buyers, and emails are the surest way the internet offers to do just that. The need for an email campaign is not that questionable for many businesses (unless you happen to have the luck of selling a tremendously popular product that is necessary for human survival...but that's not the case for most of us), but how to establish one and squeeze as much potential out of it as possible is up for question. Anyone venturing into the terrain of email marketing should take stock of certain realities first, create a clear picture of priorities and methods, and then start putting the gears in motion.

The first thing to be done is simply establishing the objective: are you selling a product, looking for affiliations, trying to broaden your readers base? Email campaigns aren't always just about sales, although that is usually the top priority. One objective might be to promote a more personalized form of interaction between you and the reader or customer, in order for you to get to know your market better. Whatever it is you want to achieve, keep that foremost in your mind and let your marketing strategy proceed from this starting point.

Next, get to know a bit about how other companies in your niche are conducting their marketing strategies online. Learn from the success and failure of others. This is not done with the intention of copying, but rather seeing what you are competing with and figuring out how to overcome it. Identify the weaknesses in other campaigns and make sure you avoid them.

A fundamental aspect of your emails should be the first four inches, and they should become a top priority within the email itself. Be aware of how most common email providers work, and keep the important catch-phrases near the beginning and in the subject line. It shouldn't take a recipient the time to read your entire email to understand what it is you are sending them emails for.

Then, it is important to establish what your own expectations are. What is the definition of success for you? Do you need you email campaign to provide almost all of your sales, or will you be content if it only expands your customer base 10-15%? Make sure you are using the right tracking software to keep a clear picture of what the impact of your email campaign on your overall business operation is.

It is important to establish these sorts of priorities before beginning your marketing strategy online, as otherwise you will be like a ship without a compass on the high seas: adrift and doomed to imminently sink. If, on the other hand, you do manage to set these issues out in a clear action plan, you will be much more likely to find that your efforts are rewarded. Remember, planning first, execution second always!

Consider iContact for your email marketing campaigns. It's a powerful platform that generates sophisticated results with the simplicity of a point-and-click interface. iContact is your best choice for email marketing software.

Five Strategies For Improving Your Email Campaign

If you've been running an email campaign, then you can surely appreciate the importance of doing things right. With the quantity of junk out there today, spam filters are getting ever more stringent and the tolerance of people for what they consider to be unsolicited mail is dropping to lower lows than anyone could have foreseen a few years back. That's because email usage is such a casual, common aspect of daily life now, whereas just a few years back it was still considered a relatively recent, under-exploited phenomenon. Of course, the best strategy for keeping your email campaign out of the junk folders is by staying double opt-in and not committing any infractions of the law with how you handle people's personal data. Beyond these (hopefully) self-evident principles, there are some slightly more nuanced techniques that can help you achieve results that will surely surpass your most optimistic forecast. In light of this, I've drafted the following list of what are in my opinion the five most effective tips for the email marketer that already has the basics set up, but wants to start seeing some more reaction to the constant efforts they surely expend.

1) React to your results. If you've been tracking your email campaign with email marketing software, then be sure to notice what it is that provokes more interest, more open rates, and more sales! Don't pretend to obey some strict, orthodox formula that someone you don't really know passed on to you: the market is not a sedentary force, but rather one that is in constant movement and frequently changing its likes and dislikes. You need to stay at the pace of your readers and customers, otherwise you'll slip into oblivion and obsoleteness.

2) Get some better PR. Find creative ways to get recipients with a certain media presence to opt-in to your list: it could result in you getting some positive PR and spreading awareness of your existence. Think of how you can hook media personalities like a reporter, a politician, a public employee, or even simply a local business leader (not your competition, obviously!). Though it's a bit of a long shot, even one such case would be a big deal for an average, middle-sized business.

3) Worship the opener. You've got to understand that your subject line and first 40 characters of text are your one and only hope. Do not risk your campaign's success by making this precious space a wasteland of useless words; each, precious bit of vocabulary is essential to getting your subscriber to open the email. Don't use exclamation marks or $ in either part, and don't make it too salesy. The more relevant and personal it is, the better.

4) Include links to the right places. If you're trying to sell something, then make sure to put a direct link to the purchasing page, with no pop-ups or detours along the way. Your homepage is also an obvious link to put in the email.

5) Know your ISP. You may think you're following all the right guidelines, but if you don't keep your ISP informed about your activities, you run the risk of upsetting them and being completely shut down. The wrath of ISPs is instantaneous and merciless, and you are unlikely to withstand the blow.

Hopefully these tips will help sharpen your email marketing tactics a bit. Good luck with getting the results you need.

Consider iContact for your email marketing campaigns. It's a powerful platform that generates sophisticated results with the simplicity of a point-and-click interface. iContact is your best choice for email marketing software.

Getting Creative With Your Email Campaign

Mass emails are very effective for getting the word out about your business, its services or products, and for garnering a broader, more loyal customer base. The problem with email campaigns is that they are often really, terribly boring; the content commonly sloppy, the aesthetic composition unappealing, and the exact purpose of the email not clear at all. These follies can ruin what would otherwise be a great medium for spreading awareness about your business and attracting customers, and any person undertaking an email marketing strategy is highly recommended to acquaint themself with the best forms for streamlining their campaign and making it more creative. Of course, there are standard rules that cannot be tampered with, but outside this realm of inviolable rules there is wiggle room enough for you to carve out your very own style as an email marketer. And, as always in business, standing out from the crowd is good for business.

Emailing 101 establishes for any new email marketer the rules of the game: keep your lists permission-based; do not sell or share contacts' info without explicit permission; keep the content relevant and well-written; and do your best not to exacerbate your recipients patience with too many emails. Those ideas basically sum up the foundations of a good campaign, with maintaining a strong code of conduct as the cornerstone of it all. Remember never to transgress lest you not care about your marketing strategy at all.

Moving beyond these core concepts, there are methods to keep your campaign fresh and creative. Take, for example, the idea of using email feedback: you can use your recipients as sounding boards for ideas you are thinking of incorporating into your emails. A question or two at the end of the email, or a link to leave feedback at your site, can be safe but sure ways to forecast the reaction to new marketing techniques. Just think, it's better to avoid a possible catastrophy by hearing that it would not be well-received beforehand, than suffering the opt-out rates that its implementation would almost surely imply.

Or consider the use of visual and audio elements. Though flashy colors and banners are commonplace in emails already, it is always pleasant to see original designs that still deliver a strong message. Audio can help to enhance your emails' allure, but make sure that you keep it relatively simple, as the time required to load large audio clips cuts back on their effect.

Just generally including new elements to your emails will keep your readers interested; after all, maintaing exactly the same format in all your emails for a very long time raises the risk of your business being perceived as not innovative and creative. Keep new offers flowing, keep creating newer bonuses, and experiment with phrases and images. With your email marketing software, you will be able to correlate the effectiveness of certain formulas with higher volumes of purchases (especially those done online). As usual, it's a balancing act, and if you respect the core ideas that help guarantee your marketing success, then you can allow yourself to adapt to your market and learn from your experience.

Consider iContact for your email marketing campaigns. It's a powerful platform that generates sophisticated results with the simplicity of a point-and-click interface. iContact is your best choice for email marketing software.

More Than Merely Marketing

Marketing is a tricky field, where the whims of the broader public reign and contingency plans are constantly being implemented. Forecasting is a tough prospect in marketing, as the dynamics of the trade are in such constant fluctuation. In general, marketing is something we experience on the TV, on the highway, while shopping or strolling through the commercial district of town. Yet email marketing reaches beyond these limitations and enters into a person's personal life unlike any other form of marketing (except for perhaps the now obsolete marketing by snail mail), and as such requires a deft strategy that fully takes into account the implications of this augmented intimacy. A good email campaign needs to leave the reader feeling valued, respected, and more than anything else, feeling like an individual and not a statistic. Of course, all these things are easier said than done, and plenty of cocky email marketers have set out on the road of email marketing only to stumble and fall into the bucket of junk mail (the tomb of online marketers). Though there are very specific, technical concepts to be applied once your email campaign has entered a more mature stage, the only way to secure the loyalty of your readers (and hence reach that mature stage) is to apply some basic concepts of respect and personal attention that necessarily must form the basis of your strategy. Here's a look at what would be the central principles for starting up a successful email campaign:

? Making it a personal affair. Don't refer to your reader with a code or a number, but rather do so by name (the fuller the better). People like to know that you know who they are; otherwise, they won't be very interested in what you're sending them. Then, make sure to get from them as much information on interests and hobbies as possible, so that you can include material of interest for each particular recipient according to what they told you. This will make them feel like you know them, and that you care. You do care, don't you?!

? Showing deference. Do not keep unwilling recipients on your contacts list: it's just a bad business practice. Show your readers how much you respect them by offering them opt-out options in every email. This sort of tactic, beyond being requred by law, let's the reader know that you don't take their interest in receiving your emails for granted. Never take anything for granted in marketing, whether it's via email or not. Of course, this all assumes that you have a list of contacts that voluntarily opted-in to your mailing list...make sure that's the case!

? Being professional. You must always treat your audience as if they were an educated bunch, whether or not that is the case. So, if your content is ripe with orthographical errors that a seventh-grader could catch, you're undermining your overall objective. You need to keep your image professional, and sloppy typos and other errors (bad word order, incorrect format, etc.) are no way to do so.

? Keeping it pertinent. If you've got a neatly-written email that addresses the reader by name and clearly shows them the way to opt-out of the list, but that simply communicates nothing of interest to the reader, then you're making a whole lot of effort for nothing. This remits back to the idea of knowing what their likes and interests are, but beyond whatever supplemental add-ons you put at the end of the email, you need to make sure that you are aiming your product or service at the right crowd. Also, recognize that something can only remain pertinent for a limited time, or at reasonable intervals; hearing the same message 20 times a week means the message has ceased to be pertinent!

So, keep your email campaign ethical and conquer those online customers-in-waiting!

Consider iContact for your email marketing campaigns. It's a powerful platform that generates sophisticated results with the simplicity of a point-and-click interface. iContact is your best choice for email marketing software.

Staying on Top With Email Marketing

Doing business in the 21st century marketplace is easier in some respects-and more challenging in others-than it was in the pre-digital era . What is definitely necessary today, that wasn't not so many years ago, to execute a strong marketing strategy is to assert your presence in the online world. Though print and other "physical" marketing methods still fulfill a central role in most business's overall strategy, online marketing is increasingly conquering a prioritized position within the grand scheme of marketing techniques. Chief among the online strategies for marketing is email marketing: the email campaign is the best way to enter into the consideration of potential or habitual customers on a regular basis, at a fraction of the cost of non-electronic methods. So, crafting a wise email marketing strategy is an important process for any business today; following we'll take a look at some good pointers for setting up a good campaign.

The initial phase of an email campaign can be a little intimidating, as the process of merely acquiring email addresses to send your content to can overwhelm newbies. It is hard to swallow the idea that your mailing list will start absolutely empty, but if you want to start out on the right foot, then swallow hard and put some work into getting contact info the right way. Make sure that the opt-in link on your site is extremely prominent to fatten your mailing list up to a decent level (what exactly that is depends on your business, your niche, and your ambition; some businesses are content with a hundred or two, while larger businesses are sending to several thousand). Remember to have a double opt-in process, to verify the willingness of your contacts to receive your content.

After succeeding in putting together a decent list, you need to make sure you get to know your readers. Personal information is a marketer's elixir, and as such should be treated with the utmost respect and professionalism. Keep contacts comfortable by implementing a strong, ethical privacy policy, and make sure they can find that policy without too much digging in your site. Find out what your readers' ages, hobbies, jobs, and interests are if you can, and utilize the information you harvest to be able to supply even more relevant material to each recipient.

Relevance is a maxim in the field of email marketing. You will give off an air of incompetence or aloofness (or worse) if you are sending completely irrelevant material. If your lists are opt-in, as they should be, then you should already be well on your way to keeping things relevant; but don't take anything for granted, and keep yourself up to date about your readers' wants with occasional requests for feedback or opening up public voting on certain elements of your marketing. Don't become entrenched in any one style, as the market is a metamorphic beast that punishes those who get too cozy.

Staying ahead of the competition means remaining closer to potential customers than the competition, and if you properly execute your email campaign, you will be able to do just that.

Consider iContact for your email marketing campaigns. It's a powerful platform that generates sophisticated results with the simplicity of a point-and-click interface. iContact is your best choice for email marketing software.

Staying Out of the Spam Filters in Your Email Campaign

Whoever has delved in the email marketing realm can understand that it's no easy affair avoiding the spam filters and the junk folders...much less avoiding becoming blacklisted (the worst nightmare of any email marketer). Despite the most earnest efforts of the most ethical, scrupulous email marketing strategist, it is possible to drive your operation into the ground for reasons which you may not even be aware of! The variables are many, and the chances of a failure in communication or a simple misunderstanding ruining your entire email campaign are high, so beware of what you do, and always consult with current legislation as well as your ISP in order to steer clear of the most common errors.

The laws governing email marketing, despite being scantly enforced (mostly due to the exorbitant volume of transgressions), are clearly spelled out in the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. You'll find your basic requirements therein: strictly permission-based mailing lists, an opt-out link that takes effect immediately and only requires visiting no more than one webpage and providing no other data than an email address. These are the fundaments of a legitimate email marketing campaign, so be sure to comply.

As far as your ISP is concerned, you should probably pour as much attention on this subject as the previous one. Though lacking the legal authority to fine you for any evil deeds, your ISP has the significantly more damaging ability to completely demolish all your email campaigning accomplishments and efforts. If you're not in communication with your ISP, and are running a significant email campaign (especially if you haven't been duly diligent in acquiring your contacts), then you are on a collision course with disaster. No major decision in your emailing strategy that goes beyond basic questions of composition-where to put the logo, what to write about, whether or not to hire an editor/copywriter-should be taken without consulting your ISP for possible negative consequences. Think of your ISP as your deity, and of yourself as the easily-sacrificed minion.

The confidence which your subscribers have in you will count for the remaining part of how to stay out of the junk folder. Don't take their good will and pleasant disposition for granted, no matter how tame and complacent they may seem to you at first. If you don't handle their info correctly, if you fail to answer a request that they may have of you, if you flood their inbox as if the world were ending tomorrow, you will be inviting them to block you forever. Show them that you care about them, that you know who they are, that you have a responsible privacy policy, and that, above all else, you are a professional. That means that you can't send them something that they'll confuse with their 10-year-old daughter's writing. No matter how cool your product is, if you don't wrap it in the right packaging-email content, in this case-it won't tempt anyone at all.

So, make sure that you stay strong and ethical in your tactics, and do your utmost to stay out of those filters. Your business's success could very well depend on it!

Consider iContact for your email marketing campaigns. Its a powerful platform that generates sophisticated results with the simplicity of a point-and-click interface. iContact is your best choice for email marketing software.

The Road to Email Marketing Purgatory

A good email marketing campaign is the gospel of today's business community; a bad email campaign is the surest way to land your business in e-purgatory, meaning no results to your emailing efforts-or worse, directly undermining your business's objectives. No business today can really afford to forsake a good email marketing strategy, so it is paramount that, before setting out on that road, that the unexperienced new-comer learn a bit about what constitutes a good, effective campaign, and what are the pitfalls and possible travesties of the same. With a focus on what are the errors that commonly cripple most campaigns, here's a beginner's guide on how to craft the appropriate marketing strategy for your new email campaign.

? Forcing your way in! If you are prying your way into a recipient's inbox, then you are not only being a complete pain in the neck, but you're probably overstepping the boundaries that the law imposes on email activities. You need to have ready and willing subscribers to your email campaign, and this is achieved through double opt-in links on your site. This is how you harvest an interested audience, and avoid scores of contacts that don't care about your content and are likely to report you as spam.

? Selling personal info! Don't be tempted by third-party offers of monetary compensation for the personal data that you have on your contacts. Keep an ethcial conduct throughout your campaign, and what's more, keep your readers comforted and reassured that you're not engaging in any questionable practices by posting a privacy policy and no-share policy on your site with links in every email.

? Opening the floodgates! No matter how interesting the content of your emails is, nothing justifies flooding your contacts' inboxes. It's just simply terribly annoying, and will create resentment in even the most likely of customers. Keeping with the idea of ethical conduct, you need to show some restraint, which will be returned in kind over time in the form of appreciative customers and readers. Stay on your readers' good side at all times.

? Running a shabby show! If you've got something to offer, then present it in a favorable way. Christmas gifts come in pretty wrapping; billboards have cool photos and shiny lights; window displays are always neatly arranged: so why wouldn't your email need to be tidy and pleasing to the eye. Keep things simple, but elegant, with a nice color scheme and prominent, attractive logo. Don't clutter, and don't confuse.

? Leaving out the sales pitch! What worse thing could you do than getting all the other details right but forgetting to call your customers-in-waiting to action?! You need to make sure that the first and last impression that the reader will have is that there is a specific, discernable product or service being offered. Otherwise, your campaign becomes a lot of pretty imagery with absolutely no purpose...a perfect waste.

With these basic fouls of email marketing out of the way, you'll have the road open for you to advance your marketing strategy and begin to incorporate more efficient techniques, like using the proper software to monitor your progress. But, as always, the basics come first.

Consider iContact for your email marketing campaigns. Its a powerful platform that generates sophisticated results with the simplicity of a point-and-click interface. iContact is your best choice for email marketing software.

Typical Mistakes of the Average Email Marketer

Today, businesses with email campaigns are a dime dozen, and rightly so, as foresaking this powerful medium would be like refusing to have an online presence itself. If you want to succeed in the market, you need to take full advantage of all the marketing options available to you, and these days email marketing figures chief among them. Many email campaigns are mundane affairs that only achieve a degree of success for the business based on the validity and attractiveness of whatever is being offered, not the form in which it is being offered. Yet not all businesses have the advantage of providing absolutely necessary and fundamental products and services, and therefore need to enhance the attractiveness of their offers by implementing certain techniques to draw in customers. Especially for those operating in the luxury services or products field, there is no room to rest on one's laurels and let good business opportunities pass you by.

With this basic idea that what counts is not only what is being provided, but furthermore the way in which it is being presented and provided, here goes a list of typical mistakes which anyone running an email campaign ought to avoid.

? Imposing yourself on your recipients. A billboard can't waltz into someone's living room, so your emails shouldn't be able to waltz into unsuspecting email inboxes. You need to be running a legitimate operation (not only to stay out of legal problems, but also to stay on your ISP's good side), which means that your mailing list is entirely opt-in-double opt-in is better. You don't want to go making enemies on the internet, now.

? Writing like a grade-schooler. Unless you want your readers to think that they're receiving a joke from a kid with too much time on his hands, then create gramatically excellent content. If your copy is sloppy, your sales will fail. If you're not comfortable with writing enough original content with impeccable syntax to fill each edition, then hire a proofreader or writer. It's worth the invesment.

? Forgetting to deliver. This is marketing after all, and you need to be putting your product or service front and center. Remember that the composition of the email is very important in this respect: the subject line and the opening sentence are the gold mines of any successful email campaign, as they are what will catch the reader's eye, though also make sure you end on a strong note for those that read all the way through your email. Keep links for those wanting to realize a purchase clearly visible and make sure they take the person directly to the payment page. There should never be detours for a person willing to buy in the moment, as that desire is usually more fleeting than you'd like to know.

? Not staying on top of requests. If one of your contacts asks you for information or requests something of you, don't miss out on the opportunity to prove your attentiveness and develop faith in your reputation and competence. If you say requests will be answered within 24 hours, then you had better make sure you can make good on your word.

These are some of the most common mistakes to be committed in the field, and it's important for your business that you know how to avoid them. Experiment with new ideas, and keep these lessons in mind at all times!

Consider iContact for your email marketing campaigns. Its a powerful platform that generates sophisticated results with the simplicity of a point-and-click interface. iContact is your best choice for email marketing software.

You and Your Email Marketing Campaign

Most likely, if you are reading this article, you are someone that has recently begun their own email marketing campaign, and are looking for a little guidance on how to achieve some better results. Yes, you are in the right place! This article is meant for those who have recently made the very wise choice of starting an email marketing strategy to improve their business's sales and online presence. An email campaign is simply a revolutionary tool in business marketing, and anybody that thinks that they are going to succeed in a business endeavor without an email campaign is either delusional or in a very small, luxury market.

What you need to understand as the recently-anointed head of an email marketing strategy is that you have a lot of responsibility on your shoulders. However, the bright side is that it's not that incredibly difficult to fulfill your responsibilities-assuming that you have a relatively decent moral compass and a little business acumen. The responsibility lies in the fact that you have one of the most powerful marketing tools known to mankind in your hands, and you need to use it carefully; the ease lies in the fact that sending emails is a simple task, and thanks to today's email marketing software, a lot of aspects of your campaign can be automated.

Speaking of responsibilities, if you are running an email campaign, then you have people's private information in your possession: do not abuse this power. The downfall of nine out of ten email marketers is due to the misuse of personal data. This includes acquiring your mailing list illicitly as well as passing along confidential info to other parties. You need to develop trust with your customers, and this is not accomplished through cheating and stealing. And though it may be comforting to think that the laws governing email (yes, there actually are laws regarding the internet!) are difficult to enforce, and seldom are actually implemented, it's not only the law that's out to shut down your illegal activities-it's your ISP, too, and you do not want to make them angry.

Consequently, you will appreciate the necessity for strictly permission-based mailing lists. Next on the list of responsibilities comes having a little business acumen: that means that you need to doing things intelligently! Don't send boring, quasi-illegible gunk to your contacts' inboxes, and don't send anything to people who don't care at all about what it is you have to offer. Refine your craft a bit, with an editor or directly copywriter, and hone in your audience. That relates to the opt-in nature of your campaign in the first place.

Lastly, you need to understand how and why people use their email accounts. Remember that most email providers offer preview panes for incoming mail, and therefore you need to exploit those first few lines of your email-and the subject, of course. Then, remember that an email account is used to maintain correspondence, so don't go sending out offers you don't intend to honor, promises you don't intend to fulfill, and don't forget to keep in touch with the people that, luckily for you, have chosen to reply to your emails.

Sounds easy, right? No worries, with a little practice, these things will become second nature to you. As long as you keep it legit and ethical, you're likely to find good results.

Consider iContact for your email marketing campaigns. Its a powerful platform that generates sophisticated results with the simplicity of a point-and-click interface. iContact is your best choice for email marketing software.

Types of Email Marketing

Before you begin your email marketing campaign, you have to consider just what your objective is. Of course, you want to sell, but the business of marketing is a little more subtle than that. In fact, there are many ways to go about selling your product or service via an email campaign. As it were, email, besides being extremely cost effective is also quite flexible.

Direct Email: A direct email approach is pretty straightforward. It consists of sending out a promotional message in an email. The information contained in the email can simply be an announcement of new items, a special offer or discount, or it can be a friendly introduction.

Retention Email: The retention email takes on a different character. In this instance, you're trying to keep customers coming back. You want loyalty. So, instead of a simple promo, a retention email should aim at developing a long term relationship with your customers. It should offer something more than just advertisements. You want to give your customers valuable information. You want to entertain your customers, keep them smiling during the day.

Once you determine what sort of email campaign you want to design, there are many different approaches you can take.

Email Newsletters: An email newsletter doesn't focus directly on sales. The purpose of a newsletter is to foster a relationship with your customer. You do this by giving them information that's of use to them, whether it be a weekly column about how to stay in shape, or a monthly recipe special. The content should be entertaining, easy to read, and thoughtful; it should reflect the core values of your company. Newsletters are an excellent opportunity to develop your brand, to make it stand for something. In the end, a good newsletter will lead to an indirect increase in sales.

Catalog Emails: An email catalog is an electronic representation of your product listing. This approach is more direct than a newsletter; it gets straight to the point. Of course, you do want to deliberate carefully about the design and aesthetics of the catalog. If your email catalog is hastily put together, without thought or care, you might as well abandon your email campaign and start over. Design is everything.

Best of Email: This approach goes along the lines of a catalog, but rather than displaying all your wares, you showcase a selected few that you have handpicked. The structure is fairly simple-all that's required are a few promo shots, some quick copy and links to process orders.

Top Ten Emails: If you don't want to do an all out newsletter or if you want to simply mix things up, you might want to think about sending a top ten email. These consist of facts and tips that will promote your product while giving customers helpful information. Any variation, e.g. top five ways to save money and look beautiful, or seven can't miss tips, etc., works well too.

How To Email: This is very similar to the Top Ten approach, except rather than offering a list, you offer a tutorial. Show your customers how to make a birdhouse or knit a sweater, for example.

Press Release: A press release are the perfect way to get your company news coverage. This is especially useful if you have media contacts.

There is no one size fits all solution. Try out different methods to see what works best for your company. Get creative. Just remember to keep your customers at the forefront.

Consider iContact for your email marketing campaigns. Its a powerful platform that generates sophisticated results with the simplicity of a point-and-click interface. iContact is your best choice for email marketing software.

The Fundamentals of Email Marketing

For any business, one of the most important aspects of staying in the game is advertising. Currently, advertising can take many forms-there are radio spots, television commercials, social networks, Twitter, blogs, flyers and the list goes on. Here, however, we will talk specifically about email marketing. As the name suggests, email marketing is a form of direct marketing communication, which leverages email. In a general sense, the term covers every electronic mail you send out to a client or potential customer-however, in a more specific sense it refers to newsletters, targeted persuasion letters and direct promotional emails. The aim of email marketing is to enhance customer relationships, to buoy customer loyalty, and to foster repeat business; you want customers to keep coming back, to refer your business to their friends, and to be in the know about what your company is offering.

Email marketing is often overlooked; people simply don't know how to get started or haven't got a clue about how it works. But it does work. Most likely, you've already got information about your customers and potential customers lying around; you can leverage this to your own benefit. Email marketing is probably one of the best, most cost effective ways to do this. Email is free, after all and it can reach a whole world of clients.

Before you get started, you have to ask for permission. If you have already dealt with a client, they have agreed to receive certain information from you, such as order confirmation numbers, receipts, etc. however, you still do have to ask them permission to send them marketing materials. Their explicit approval, or opt-in, is absolutely necessary. Once your customers do opt-in, set up a schedule for sending out information. Try to avoid frequent emails, as customers do not want their email inboxes inundated. Rather, schedule monthly or bi-weekly newsletters.

Strategize. Analyze what type of email to send and to whom. Different types of emails work for different purposes.

The design and content of your newsletter is vital. If poorly conceived and executed, it can be the kill switch. However, a well thought out email campaign will win you more clients. Think about plain text or HTML (this basically means it's coded to allow for images, logos, color, etc) it makes a difference. You can even poll your clients to see which they prefer. Also, take into consideration the different webmail services and email software out there. Each one displays emails differently.

Once you've implemented your design, you have to think about content. Hire a professional copywriter to take your campaign to the next level.

Next, consider how you will deliver your emails-many webmail services have spam-blocking mechanisms that automatically block letters, even legitimate ones. You may want to consult specialists in this industry.

As soon as you've started your email campaign, there's going to be a lot of data that needs to be analyzed. Use this data as a guide for future tactics and strategies.

Always remember that you should never spam. Many countries have anti-spam legislation, which could work against you. Get to know those laws and abide by them.

Consider iContact for your email marketing campaigns. It's a powerful platform that generates sophisticated results with the simplicity of a point-and-click interface. iContact is your best choice for email marketing software.

Five Email Marketing Techniques You Can't Ignore

The world of email marketing may be confusing to newcomers. There's a lot of buzz about how to go about it and what works best. The problem is, it is often difficult figure out what really works. In order to help you sort things out, we've compiled a list of practices that are sure to get you results.

Be Relevant: There's nothing more compelling than relevance. Customers don't like random ads thrown into their face. They want their questions answered. They want to know what's in it for them. If you can show them what they get out of the deal, you've just answered the golden question. Show your customers something that will save them money, time, or provide interesting, valuable information. Offer some tidbit of information that your reader may have not even considered, but could prove extremely useful. Show them how to do things. Try writing feature articles-these often prove more effective than a thousand promo emails.

Get Personal: Perhaps one of the top cardinal sins of email marketers is being impersonal. These marketers send out mass emails that solely hawk their products within any touch of warmth or personality. This type of email marketing campaign is the kind that gets quickly buried. Speak to your client directly. Make your emails personal and inviting. Your client should feel valued. Send out different emails to different groups. Follow up with thank you notes to responders. Make your client feel like an individual you respect. Remember the words long-term relationship.

Create Your Brand and Stick with It: Don't follow the crowd. Be original. If you can't distinguish yourself from your competitors, what's to keep your readers from hitting the delete button? Think about your goals and how you want to achieve them. Once you've clarified your purpose, create a style that reflects that purpose. Be consistent with your design, your tone, layout, timing and message. It should all tie together to form a coherent whole.

Mange Your Bouncebacks: Sometimes your emails will get bounced. It happens. Frequently. Be sure to check your bouncebacks and eliminate records that have bounced more than once. These simply don't serve your purpose. Lessening the number of invalid addresses in your mailing list is crucial. It will improve your tracking results and save you money and time. You don't want bad addresses to bog down your campaign.

Test, Test, Test and Learn: There are many extremely useful email marketing software services out there for your use. Take advantage of them. They will help you determine what strategies work best. Check your statistics often. Compare them to each of your previous email campaigns. Test out different tactics. Test new subject lines. Test different copy and images. Send out separate emails to different recipients and analyze the reaction. Track results and learn from them. When working with an email marketing campaign you have to be willing to learn and change. Carefully study your results and improve from there. You could even add polls or surveys to get input from your clients. Creating a communication channel with your clients is a great way to succeed.

Consider iContact for your email marketing campaigns. It's a powerful platform that generates sophisticated results with the simplicity of a point-and-click interface. iContact is your best choice for email marketing software.

Email Marketing - Avoiding the Spam Filters

Spam filters are dreaded in the email marketing business. Granted, no one likes spam, but today's filters often reel in legit permission-based email. After all the hard work you've put in building up your list, making sure that everyone has properly opted-in, it's disheartening to find out that all your work has simply ended up in the virtual garbage can. So the question becomes, why, if you've done everything right, colored within the lines so to speak, do your emails get treated like spam? Often, legitimate emails get tossed into the spam folder because there is something that the filters deem spammy about it. Here are some tips you can use to avoid the spam box.

Watch Your Wording: Many advanced spam filtering systems use something called a 'point system' whereby phrases used commonly in spam are targeted. If an email contains these point words, it is filtered out and the intended recipient never receives it. Some such words to avoid include Free!, Million Dollars, Loans, Credit, Serious Cash, Lose Weight, Discount!, Eliminate Debt, Reverses Aging, New and Improved, and other similar market jargon. These words scream spam, so try to stay away from them if possible. Other filters will look for the word unsubscribe or removal requests which indicate mass email distribution.

Graphics: Many webmail services don't automatically display graphics. The reader has to press a button to be able to see them. Moreover, spam filters will often calculate the ratio of graphics to text within an email and determine from there if it is spam; emails laden with images will get filtered out. Although you may be tempted to use images to give your emails a fresh design, try to go image light. Only use images that add real value to your message.

Carefully Choose Your Contacts: Be sure to target your email campaigns to those who want to receive your emails. Do not send the same email to 30 people within the same group or company. Spam filters will go all out on such messages, labeling them bulk sender, and thus preventing any future messages to go through. If you do want to send messages to companies, limit the number of recipients and don't send your emails out all at once.

Timing: If an ISP spam filter detects an inundation of emails, they will think it is a spammer. So while these mails may be accepted, they will probably be relegated to the spam folder. To avoid this situation, send your messages at different intervals. Slow down your mailing speed.

Update Your Lists: Check your lists often. Get rid of bounce backs. Immediately unsubscribe users who have chosen to unsubscribe. If you don't manage your lists, you could be blacklisted by various ISPs.

Personalize the 'To' Field: ISPs will filter out mail that doesn't contain the recipient's name. Don't BCC or CC when sending out mass emails.

Consider iContact for your email marketing campaigns. It's a powerful platform that generates sophisticated results with the simplicity of a point-and-click interface. iContact is your best choice for email marketing software.

Avoid These Email Marketing Blunders

Email marketing campaigns can be extremely successful if executed properly. However, newcomers and rookies do tend to make mistakes. Before you let yourself get carried away and start blasting emails at anyone and everyone, take a look at this list. Study it and avoid these common blunders.

No Permission: If you don't have a permission-based mailing list you could be breaking spam laws. Many business owners buy mailing lists or compile them using devious methods, which more often than not are not only unethical, but also illegal. No one wants to be bombarded with spam. Spam will hurt your business's reputation. Get permission.

Poor Content or Pitching Like A Mattress Salesman: Many first time email marketing attempts come across weakly because they have no valuable content and the copy is written by the business owner, who more often than not is not an expert when it comes to good writing. Instead of filling up your emails with ads and all caps messages like PRICE MARKDOWN or CRAZY SALE, tone it down. Keep your content topical and interesting; leave out the bravado. You should want to read your email.

Impersonal Emails: Many rookie email marketers make the mistake of trying to cover too much ground. They send out impersonal mass emails to 100,000 people. In so doing, they don't make their customers feel special or valued. You want to keep things tight. Don't go overboard-make your customers feel like they are unique. Add personal touches.

Not Testing Your Campaign First: Many marketers unfortunately learn this lesson the hard way. It is imperative that you try out different email approaches. Test out designs, layout and content with different email programs. Each webmail service will display your email differently which means you have to test it first. Set up different accounts with Hotmail, Yahoo, and Gmail. Try out different operating systems and different computers.

Making Your Readers Jump Through Hoops: Don't make it extremely difficult for readers to sign up for a newsletter or for product updates. Customers do not want to fill out endless forms.

Similarly, make it easy for customers to unsubscribe if they want to. Don't force your emails on them. Keep things simple.

Assuming People Care: Make sure to send emails to people who have requested them. Don't just send out emails to a list of prospects or to your sales contacts. If you have a list of people who know you, but haven't specifically requested emails from you, first send them a personal invitation to opt in; otherwise, your email marketing campaign could fall flat on its face.

Sending Out Too Many Emails: Keep timing in mind. If you send out an email every day, people will get tired of your company fast. You want to send out messages at opportune times-when do you think your audience will actually read and respond to your emails. Don't assail their email inboxes.

Ignore Campaign Reports: There's lots of email marketing software out there that will help you analyze your results. These can be extremely helpful; however, if you simply ignore the results, you might not realize that your client list is slowing shrinking, or that your current strategy isn't working. Always check your stats!

Consider iContact for your email marketing campaigns. It's a powerful platform that generates sophisticated results with the simplicity of a point-and-click interface. iContact is your best choice for email marketing software.

The Wonderful World of Email Marketing Software

Our purchases are a pattern of behavior most of the time, that is why programs such as TiVo can suggest shows you might like based on the shows you have programmed in. People are not too hard to figure out in some respects and purchasing behavior is one of those fairly predictable areas of human nature. This predictability is what programs such as email marketing software operates on to a large extent.

When companies are trying to reach out to their customer base or create new customers they can email their information and materials to all of the addresses they are able to acquire. In order to do this more effectively, businesses can purchase email marketing software. This kind of software comes with all kinds of special features to help maximize the effectiveness of a company's marketing. Depending on the price, the software can come with all types of bells and whistles for businesses to analyze their email advertising.

A hurtle that companies come across when using email marketing is that the customer has to authorize that materials can be sent to their email address. There are many laws and regulations surrounding business marketing emails but once a person has provided their email and agreed to its use, companies take full advantage of it. A company can buy email marketing software for anything from it being free to the software costing five hundred dollars, but the price is directly relative to the quality and ease of use of the product.

The software lets companies take their customer database and organize their email addresses into an easy, usable format. The scheduling feature of most software allows businesses to direct their attention to other details while the system takes care of sending out emails. By using information from the customer database the software is able to make personal messages to send out to customers with suggestions of what products to buy or what they might be interested in. This feature illustrates the pattern of personal buying behavior and how businesses can use technology to capitalize on it.

Email marketing software also manages the emails that bounce back as well as keeps an account of how many emails were opened and the number of times customers used hyperlinks in the messages to look at the websites. The software can also handle when people choose to unsubscribe and removes them from the customer list, which is something the program can import as well. The software can also help a business appear more professional and well put together. The design options allow companies to use templates in order to create more impressive emails.

As email marketing becomes more and more popular the software that supports it will become more advanced and intricate. Customers will be studied by people and technology alike in order to determine the best way to encourage consumers to buy a certain product or request a particular service. email brings marketing right to the target audience and oddly enough the software adds a bit of a personal touch.

Consider iContact for your email marketing campaigns. It's a powerful platform that generates sophisticated results with the simplicity of a point-and-click interface. iContact is your best choice for email marketing software.

The Jolly Green Email Marketing Giant

Today's technology means that we can all keep in contact with one another easily and frequently. Emailing is hugely popular and with fun gadgets like the Blackberry and iPhone people can be connected to their email all day every day. With people relying so heavily on the internet and their email, it is no wonder that modern marketing has adapted to this new use of media. email marketing is the newest and best way for businesses to get their name and products out into the world.

Though they have to receive the consent of consumers, companies can send out emails with links to their website and information about their services. By using email marketing software, businesses can reach thousands of people instantly. There are obvious economic advantages to this approach to marketing, but there are also some other perhaps unintentional perks to this brand of advertisement.

To really have a shot at being successful, a company wants to acquire name recognition, getting people to talk about them and spread the word. In order to create this popularity, businesses need to advertise heavily and email marketing allows them to do this. The thousands of emails they send out within seconds would have been extremely labor intensive and expensive to do with regular printed mail.

Thousands of pages of paper, envelopes, and stamps would have been wasted in mailing out advertisements and promotions. Now, an email campaign reach those same people but without using a single piece of paper. This "green" approach to marketing benefits both the environment and the company that is utilizing it. The emails can be sent out instantly, wasting no paper thereby having less of an impact on Mother Nature, while costs to the company go down since they no longer have to buy all of the paper and other accessories to mail out thousands of advertisements.

Email marketing software also allows companies to organize their contacts and set up a schedule for emails to be sent out, freeing up time for the marketers to focus more on their work than time consuming mail concerns. emails can be sent out repeatedly so consumers are exposed to the company's name and products over and over, yet the only effort it takes is pressing send and few other resources are needed for this to happen.

In today's digital world companies are moving further and further away from a dependency on paper. While paper is still being used by the truckload, emails, online advertisements, and other forms of marketing on the internet have provided the dual benefit of helping businesses reach more and more people while lessening their harmful impact on the environment. An interested customer only has to click on a link and they will be given all of the information they need, without a single piece of paper being brought into the mix. People who are not interested only have to delete the email and it is out of sight instantly, the only trash being that of the virtual variety.

Consider iContact for your email marketing campaigns. It's a powerful platform that generates sophisticated results with the simplicity of a point-and-click interface. iContact is your best choice for email marketing software.

Stepping Lightly With Your Email Marketing

The introduction of email marketing has opened up a whole new door for marketers, but with the convenience comes extra responsibility and regulations. Some companies abuse the privileges of information and access of the internet and indiscriminately send mass emails to individuals who have not consented. This spam is a serious headache and system administrators work vigorously to deal with and discourage it. The existence of spam makes the lives of legitimate marketers more difficult because consumers often have a hard time distinguishing between junk emails and legitimate ones. Once someone sees a company's email in their inbox they might delete it without a second thought or glance.

Many people have spam filters incorporated in their email in order to protect them from these illegitimate messages. This is also a problem for legitimate email marketers because their emails are often mistaken for spam and are filtered out, never reaching their customer. Along with trying to ensure that their emails are not mistaken for spam, email marketers must also make sure that their email marketing does not violate any of the laws that surround the topic.

The United States created the "Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act" in 2003, more easily remembered by the clever acronym CAN-SPAM. There is also the European Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations and the Internet service provider's acceptable use policy. email marketers must comply with all of the stipulations outlined in all of these policies since email marketing is an international phenomenon.

CAN-SPAM carries with it an $11,000 fine for every violation of spamming every single recipient. The gravity of this punishment has led to the creation of software that helps companies remain within the confines of the law. Permission is the key to avoiding any of these emailing regulations, and email marketing software has features such as offering the option to unsubscribe in just one click. This software also prohibits the importing of lists of customers who have not given permission; any illegally purchased list of email addresses is not allowed to be used.

To protect themselves against being mistaken for spammers, many companies that use email marketing have created a double opt-in way for customers to subscribe to receive information. This method requires that a person select a particular link and enter a specific code in order to confirm that the individual requesting the information is the actual owner of the email address. The agreement acts as a kind of virtual handshake between the marketer and the recipient, verifying that the customer does indeed want the information. This manual confirmation is the best way for companies to avoid being charged with spamming.

With the combined effort of special software and thorough confirmation methods, companies can utilize the benefits of email marketing. While spam still plagues the internet, these special measures and heavy penalties have alleviated a lot of the abuse. With the decline in spam perhaps legitimate email marketers can operate with a little more ease for the benefit of all.

Consider iContact for your email marketing campaigns. It's a powerful platform that generates sophisticated results with the simplicity of a point-and-click interface. iContact is your best choice for email marketing software.

Your Email Marketing Plan of Attack

The world of email marketing requires creativity and diversity. The whole point of advertising is to make one company stand out from another, making a favorable distinction between the two. With so many businesses out there offering the same goods and services, effective marketing is essential to the survival of any company. Developing a strategy to acquire more customers is necessary to optimize every penny spent on advertising.

On the internet this strategizing takes form in email campaigns. Through emails companies want to try and keep their existing customers while simultaneously trying to seduce more. Through campaigns, businesses can focus on what information they want to send out into the world. With each campaign they can highlight different aspects of their business and send the information to interested parties.

With the help of email marketing software a company can create a campaign and send out more personalized messages to people. The software takes information from the customer list, follows the theme of the company's campaign, and creates appropriate, tailored emails to send out to consumers. These campaigns can take the form of e-newsletters that keep customers up to date with new products and promotions in the company. Making people feel important and like an individual is an important quality of these emails. If recipients feel as if they are just a number in a mass email then they will feel less inclined to pay attention to the information being given to them.

The effectiveness of email campaigns is increased when they include incentives for new people to join and existing customers to stay. Along with software there are companies that exist to help other businesses design effective emails. Going beyond the templates that are available with software, these companies make sure that the campaigns are attractive, impressive, and professional. Capturing and maintaining the interest of the email's recipient is the main goal of successful email marketing.

Going beyond just customers, good campaigns can impress potential business partners and website subscribers as well. A series of strong campaigns can highlight the different merits of a company, strengthening it all around. The software that helps in polishing campaigns can also tell a business when the best time is to send out the emails. The feedback information that programs provide show companies how many of their emails were opened and what customers did with the information. If a campaign is going very well than the business should continue with their emails and perhaps follow up with a similarly focused campaign.

The activities of the email recipients tell the company about their individual customers and allow them to personalize their emails even more. The information can even help businesses determine the best days and times to send people emails. By knowing these little details, companies are increasing the probability that the information will actually be read and the links followed, and hopefully purchases will be made. The feedback information also lets companies look at the success of different campaigns and compare

Consider iContact for your email marketing campaigns. It's a powerful platform that generates sophisticated results with the simplicity of a point-and-click interface. iContact is your best choice for email marketing software.

More Bang For Your Email Marketing Buck

Companies spend a lot of money on marketing to make sure their business stays afloat. Placing ads in newspapers, magazines, billboards, and websites, are all attempts to coax customers over toward a company's products or services. Email marketing allows companies to reach thousands of people with extreme ease and efficiency. Most people check their email multiple times a day meaning the probability of them seeing a business' advertisement or promotion is extremely high.

By establishing a connection with their customers via email, companies can make sure they stay on people's minds through order confirmations, e-newsletters, and discounts. This strategy is more monetarily beneficial and efficient for businesses because they are connecting directly to people and know that their name is being seen, even if it is just in the subject of the email and is then deleted, they know it was least seen. email marketing software also has features that allow companies to track the success of their emails.

Businesses can keep tabs on how much return they are getting on their emails. The features provided by the software allow companies to see things such as how many people clicked on the links within the email, how many people opened the email, how many purchases were a direct result of the message, and the amount of emails that bounced back. All of this information tells a company how successful their email campaign is and what changes they might need to make in order to increase their success rate. These numbers are extremely important for a company to operate at maximum efficiency. All successful businesses look to get the most they can for the least cost.

Physically mailing marketing materials is a very costly undertaking and it does not provide the kind of information feedback that email marketing does. Every cent is well spent on this method of marketing because a company knows exactly what kind of risk they are taking. With the feedback features provided by the software businesses can know more quickly if their marketing technique is working as if not, what other options or changes they should consider. With printed mail a business might not realize how unsuccessful that approach was until a lot more time and money had been wasted.

The success rate information is what makes email marketing such a popular advertising avenue for companies. By linking them directly to their customers, businesses can concentrate their advertising funds toward emailing promotions and information. If the feedback shows a high success rate, than investing money in this area is a good idea. With printed letters and promotions as well as advertisements, billboards, and websites, the company has to hope the customer comes across or notices any of these displays. emails go straight to the customer in a place where they cannot miss it since a lot of people's lives revolve around their emails. The features in software, the high level of personal contact, and the reduced use of materials such as paper make email marketing an economically sound decision for any company looking to get its name out there and keep growing.

Consider iContact for your email marketing campaigns. It's a powerful platform that generates sophisticated results with the simplicity of a point-and-click interface. iContact is your best choice for email marketing software.

The Secret Tour of Business Reviews Featuring Market America!

How many times have you read your junk e-mails? Most of the time, the first words spoken about one of those advertisement is "scam". Those senders are making a living sending the annoying e-mails that clutter up the inbox. In the article to come will be inside information describing the truth behind Market America reviews.

So there are many criticisms from the public about Market America and you are just looking for an impartial report so you can decide whether this is a good fit for you. You have come to the right place. First, take a few minutes and check out the website, you will find that it is has the form of a shopping mall gateway for you to become an unfranchise owner, all you need to do is purchase whatever it is you are looking for.

First things first, forget all that you have read or been told. Let's start at the beginning; history is always a good place to start. In 1992, James H. Ridinger founded Market America in Greensboro, NC after his affiliation with Amway.

Market America has focused on brokerage and products for Internet Marketing. As you noticed on the website, there are so many different categories containing even more products, just like in a shopping mall; there are things for health, everything to make you beautiful/handsome, and there is even furniture.

The biggest controversy began when Market America distributors believed that recruiting new members would create larger and more streams of cash. Being an online retailer had become "old news"; why, because making money online quickly and easily became such a strong desire and "sales" is the sole priority.

My research revealed that they hold seminars on a quarterly basis on several different locations which provides you with the necessary business skills and tools. There is also a well known "unfranchise business" concept. All Market America products and services distributed have a point value assigned to them called business volume (BV). On average, BV is 80% of sales $. For example $100 equates to 80 BV.

Research shows that every quarter in many different locations, Market America organize seminars providing the distributors with the business skills and tools. Market America offers the distributors a part of the business in the form of a franchise with all the benefits just no fees. The business concept earned them the title of the well known "Unfranchise business". Market America has an interesting compensation plan; each product has an assigned point value which is referred to as business volume (BV); which is equal to 80% of one dollar, i.e. $200 equals 160 BV.

Then there is the recruiting of new members which plays a huge role in the compensation. The distributor is required to recruit two people which are placed in what is called a downline. They are placed underneath and you and you are now their mentor. One is on the right and one is on the left, when each attains a certain amount of BV points there is a commission check issued for the work that the people under you achieve.

If you are reading this article, you are either researching the company or already have your mind made up but just need to have something to justify why you chose to become "unfranchised". Here is an example, we will use Joe the Plummer is at a service call and the home owner begins talking about his unfranchised business online. He tells Joe about how much money he is making with Market America. Joe the Plumber is a reasonable guy; he takes what the homeowner says at face value, because the homeowner could be lying.

America, be sure you are stable enough and willing to take a loss at the start of the business. The moral to this story is that everyone in marketing does things differently. Some will succeed and some will not. Market America extends a substantial money making opportunity, it is up to the individual to make their decision based on how much determination and desire in going to be put into the growth.

In summary, this review has proved that insurance based online home business opportunities are legitimate. In addition, learning how to market an online business successfully put you leaps and bounds ahead of the competition.

Matthew J. Gruenke - Top Internet Marketer who works with top Industry Leaders. My passion is to educate and to help others reach their Financial Goals, Freedom, & Success. To learn more about Matthew Gruenke I would encourage you to go to http://mymysterywealth.com and his team of Marketing Mentors at http://www.infofrommatt.com

The author Matthew Gruenke is a successful top income earner in the home business industry. He devotes his time and energy into his team to ensure their success.

God Bless You & Your Family~

Easy Squeeze Page Profits - 5 Simple Tips

Squeeze pages and variations thereof are being used extensively lately. In essence they are a sales page geared for one thing only...to entice the reader to subscribe to an email list. In this article I briefly touch upon 5 elements that will assist in putting together a successful squeeze page system.

Freebie. A person usually signs up to an email list in exchange for something. This is usually (but not always) a free report in the form of a pdf file. So to build your email list, you need a product to offer. If you cannot produce one yourself, you can have something written by a ghost writer. The offering does not have to be a work of art, but should be compelling enough to satisfy the curiosity of the customer.

Headline(s). Use a catchy headline to get the reader's attention with bold type and a bright colour. The headline should pose a question or state a potential need for the reader. An optional sub heading of lesser size can re-enforce the main headline.

Compelling Copy. The body of the page should state how this free report can address or solve the issue put forth by the headline. This can be a short bullet list of the main features of the report. Some marketers implement a story into the text. It is usually a sob story or how the author came about the info. Cheesy, hype, but it works.

Call to Action. This is where you instruct the reader as to how they can get this report. Some marketers attach some sort of urgency to the action. 'Offer only good for a limited time' or something like that. Also, it is important to make it clear that in order to obtain the report, the reader is to subscribe to your email list. Be friendly and courteous. Re-assure the reader his info is safe and he can unsubscribe at any time. You will also need a payment processor to accept online payment. Paypal and Clickbank are two of the more popular services available.

Auto-Responder. In order to maintain your email list(s), you need a good auto-responder. You can manage it yourself but this can be a daunting task once you have several hundred subscribers. Aweber is an excellent service. Highly recommended.

Using a squeeze page to build a strong email list is a crucial component to a long lasting marketing campaign. The simple but effective tips presented in this article allows you to be well on your way to exploding your email subscription rate.

Jo Richardson is the author of '7 Key Elements', a free report that looks at the crucial elements required for a successful internet marketing strategy. This report can be found at http://www.efomarketingtactics.com.

Email Mortgage Marketing - The Key to More Loans in Less Time

More and more mortgage brokers are now turning to email mortgage marketing to keep money rolling in. While an increasing number of people say they rarely surf the Net, the vast majority check their email every day. Email marketing is the most effective way to influence prospects and keep clients informed and happy. It is also extremely inexpensive. Where you might have mailed out mortgage post cards every month, you can now email a newsletter every week for a fraction of the cost.

Increasingly, mortgage brokers need to embrace email mortgage marketing in a big way in order to stay ahead of competitors. Those who formerly used a service to send out their newsletters, loan programs, and rate updates are now doing all the emailing themselves using email software specifically designed for mortgage brokers. This new technology is powerful yet easy to use and allows any loan officer to handle their own email marketing that previously required expensive professional help.

In particular, one email program called Magnetic Email, automates the prospecting process so you can find Realtors quicker. It's a one-of-a-kind email system that helps you meet with more Realtors so you can stop getting rejected. You can even purchase a bulk list of real estate email addresses from a preferred vendor and reach thousands of Realtors with the click of a mouse.

Where do you begin? If you have no email mortgage marketing experience, no knowledge of programs and no idea what to promote, the very thought of email marketing can seem impossible.

What prospects like to know is that they are doing business with an expert. Make prospects aware of your mortgage acumen, presence, and commitment. Practice consistency with email being your tool of choice. It's your greatest marketing weapon.

However, unless you're testing and tracking your performance, you may be losing sales. You can dramatically increase your sales simply by taking the time to test and track your email activity, something a good email {software|solution|program} can do for you.

Not only will it help you to determine what's working and what's not, but it will also enable you to focus your efforts on producing more new clients.

If you have a mortgage website, that's great, but without an effective email mortgage marketing campaign your efforts will be anemic. So how do you take advantage of email marketing? The best method is to begin your own client list and target Realtors.

Email mortgage marketing has arrived, but are you using it? Good email marketing software can speed up your business in half the time and create less work if you will utilize it. Today, email mortgage marketing has become so simple, it's no longer excusable to say you don't do it.

Discover how to use email mortgage marketing to grow your business. Jeffrey Nelson's email software for loan agents helps close more loans in less time. You can learn more about it by visiting AgentMagnet.com

A Simple Approach to Email Marketing

Today's marketers can easily approach a pool of potential or existing customers with a survey or other response vehicle that provides them with instant and beneficial feedback. They can do this through several methods, but the most popular is through an email marketing device. This is usually a link to a survey which is sent out through an email to a large number of addresses. When the recipients agree to take the survey by clicking on the link embedded in the original email, the results are recorded and can be accessed by the sender of the email at a later date.

Sounds great, right? It is, but the catch is that most businesses and organizations don't have the "set up" for creating such a simple system. So, what's the answer? Luckily there are many reliable and easy to use email marketing services that supply the tools and templates for creating such powerful marketing materials.

Email marketing services offer far more than just access to survey creation and tracking however, and anyone involved with marketing on a small or large scale should investigate the potential such a service provides. For example, many marketers hesitate to jump into an email campaign because they are afraid their efforts are going to wind up in many "spam" folders on a recipient's email server. The better email marketing services however have success with a large number of ISPs because they are known to be trustworthy sources of valid information, and not the dreaded spam.

Additionally, the better email marketing companies provide wonderfully easy to use templates from which a professional marketer could create a whole range of direct email marketing pieces. Just think, these services allow the download of many email address lists. Each list could have a customized template created with very specific language, surveys and relevant information. Any responses are then tracked by the service's system and the user can then create reports and assess the results of their completely controlled campaign.

With email marketing it is nearly impossible to lose. In fact, statistics have documented that email marketing provides the highest ROI (return on investment) out of all the direct marketing approaches. Add to that that this is now considered the preferred advertising method of choice by more than 80 percent of professional marketers in the United States.

Email marketing simply makes sense because more than ninety percent of all Internet users have access to an email account. This is a very direct way of communicating with millions of people for very little cost. This is easy to illustrate through a discussion about surveys. As stated earlier a survey is a great way to drive customers to a business or site, and to get direct feedback. Before email marketing allowed for electronic surveys, a company would have to design the survey, print it, mail it and provide for a postage paid response vehicle. They would then have to manually enter and study the data gathered from the surveys to generate a report. With email marketing the surveys are sent without postage, paper or processing and the results are tracked and reported on with only a few clicks of the mouse!

For the most effective email marketing campaigns, choose iContact. It's a powerful platform that generates sophisticated results with the simplicity of a point-and-click interface. iContact is your best choice for email marketing software.

Email Marketing - It Just Can't Get Any Easier

Email marketing is for those that lack time, money or are just downright to busy to worry with other forms of advertisement. How long does it take to construct a well written email that serves as information as well as an advertisement for a service, products or other events? Correct! It takes minutes or less and the email can be sent to hundreds, thousands with one click of a button. It just doesn't get any easier than this and in about 99% of the cases email marketing is as effective as any other marketing campaign.

Everyone has emails and that makes it possible to correspond and send them information about the business to their personal e-mail address. Now there are questions such as how do I get the email, what do I say in my email and is it going to be effective, but these are all easy questions to answer, just read on. First, email addresses are very easy to get. If that is a business e-mail address, simply do a Google or Yahoo search with the name of the business and town in which they are located. This will lead you to the businesses website, where then you can find contact information which typically includes e-mail addresses. Second, the email should be constructed in such a way that it offers the receiver something special. Whether it be a discount, savings or an unannounced sale, just make it sound like they are getting something ahead of everyone else.

As stated before, email marketing has become one of the leading marketing tools today. It is because it is a virtually free, easy and with the popularity electronic mail, it just may be the best!

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3 Things That Helped Barack Obama Win the Election That You Can Emulate in Email Marketing

Have you seen Barack Obama's website? It's pretty impressive. His home page is actually a squeeze page.

Have you signed up for Barack's newsletter? If you haven't you should. He does a terrific job of demonstrating the powers of email marketing.

I wonder who is advising him with his internet and email marketing. If Barack Obama wins the election, his masterful job of email marketing will definitely help.

Along with his email and internet marketing efforts. Obama has a terrific grass roots ground operation. He takes his supporters from registering online, to offline.

Some of the things I like about Barack's emails are the following

1) Asks for $5-$10 donations consistently. He keeps asking me to donate! A lot, but a small amount. No wonder he is breaking records in the donations category.

He is mastering the art of the "first offer", something inexpensive that any one can afford.

2) Asks you to participate. He wants you to be part of this election. He wants you to interact with his campaign and interact with his website etc.

This gets you to participate. The more time you spend with him, the more likely you are to donate. If you donate, the more likely you are to vote.

Imagine someone donating $20 to Barack Obama, and then voting for Mccain. No way, that will never happen. When someone donates, even if it's only $5, they are basically giving their vote. Barack Obama is selling their vote to the American people. The best part is, they get a voter, a loyal contributor, and along with $5.00...

They are not buying votes, but are selling them!

3) The emails are very personal and current. After every debate or event in the news they would email you!

So you will know what's going on in the campaign, the election and the US as a whole.

When Joe Bidden got nominated as Barack's running mate, Joe introduced himself in a personal letter to the people on Barack's list! What a way to make a connection.

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Email Marketing Tips - Why Are Your Emails Not Producing Amazing Results?

Often the people who are shouting from the rooftops that email marketing is dead or doesn't work didn't carry out the strategy properly. Most likely they are either not getting enough opens, not enough clicks, not enough sales or all of the reasons just mentioned. There are solutions to fix each and every one of these problems. Let's talk about them.

First up on the list is getting more opens. How do you this? By writing a powerful and compelling subject line. Your subject line should be as important as a headline on your sales letter. It's what most of your subscribers are going to be reading. You'd want to include the major benefit of your offer in your subject line. Write at least 5-10 subject lines before deciding on the best one.

The next reason that email marketing might not be working for you for now is because of a low click through rate. This goes hand in hand with opens. If you get more opens, you are likely to get more clicks. Having said that, a few simple tweaks can increase your click through rate. One simple tactic is to plug in your link early in your email. Don't put at the bottom, where it's below 'the fold' and subscribers have to scroll down the entire email to see it. Your content is also very important in determining your CTR.

The third solution to solve your sales problem is to simply promote quality, relevant products that fit your subscriber list. If you are in the Internet marketing niche, for example, don't promote an article marketing product to people interested in looking for AdWords tips.

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