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How to get subscribers?
How do you get subscribers?
Getting subscribers to your mailing list is just a matter of having
something others want. You may have insight on a certain subject,
offering a great download to the subscribers, running a contest where
the only requirement is to subscribe, etc.
There are many ways to get subscribers but the main requirement is for
you to give potential subscribers something they want or need.
There is just one rule you should follow; Be Honest. Honesty will get
you a more targeted subscriber which in turn will benefit you.
Treat your Emailing Marketing subscribers like Gold.
Why? Because if you treat them with honesty, don't talk down to them and
give them good information on a consistent basis, your members will
repay you by not only reading your newsletter but participating in the
"calls for action" within the newsletter.
A good newsletter can get a much higher return then a website and
that is why many companies are now heavily focusing on their Email
Marketing Campaigns.
This probably goes against everything you have learned about email
marketing but don't be afraid to "yada yada". That is not to say that
you can just talk about something that has no relevance to your
newsletter but if you have a good story don't hold it back. Subscribers
are just people and a good or funny story always can keep our attention.
Your subscribers will get a better understanding of you and look forward
to getting your newsletter to just see what you have to say. Happy,
attentive subscribers are loyal subscribers
Should you use HTML email or plain text?
This question is asked all of the time and the answer is easy, "plain
text". Your newsletter should be sent in text and not HTML.
HTML email can look great and add some eye candy to your newsletter but
like in real life too much candy can be bad. Plus because spammers only
really use HTML emails, people are either filtering out all HTML email
or finding ways so their email software will read all email in plain
text, your newsletter may not get delivered.
If you want place a link on top of the text email to open an HTML
version of the newsletter.
Getting your email read.
In internet speak typing in ALL CAPITOL LETTERS is the same as
yelling and SPAM filters watch out for that, plus it annoys people.
Avoid all caps in your subject lines and email headings.
Limit you fingers to hitting the punctuation keys only once. Email
filers will definitely flag an email with more than one "!!" or "???".
Be careful with your punctuation and try to remember what your
elementary school teacher taught you. You do not want to have to sit in
the corner or miss recess. You need to test.
Before you send out a newsletter you need to test it to make certain
that everything is formatted correctly. Test your hyperlinks and make
sure you have included the http:// and do not use IP address numbers in
place of actual domain names.
If you have a lot of subscribers with AOL.com email addresses you
need to set up a special hyperlink for them.
In a plain text email a hyperlink such as http://www.anydomain.com would
be able to be clicked on and open a browser to the URL but because the
way AOL's email software handles email it would not. You would have to
add this line <a href="http://www.anydomian.com">http://www.anydomain.com</a>
to allow AOL subscribers to make the link clickable.
Send a test newsletter to yourself so you can see it just like your
subscribers will. Any successful Email Marketing Campaign needs to come
from a person and sent to a person, so test it to make sure it comes
across that way.
The Google Toolbar is more powerful than just helping you to Search the
Web and block pop-ups. It is a great tool to use to help your website
get spidered and thus listed on Google. Go and download the toolbar and
select the advanced setting option. Once the toolbar is installed go to
your website a few times a day for a week or so and before you know it
the Googlebot will be making visits to rank your website.
Email Marketing
Email Marketing is a very inexpensive, highly rewarding form of Internet
Marketing. Having your own double opt-in mailing list is almost like
having the goose that lays the golden egg and whenever you need another
egg all you have to do is go out and get one.
Maybe that analogy is a little exaggerated, but the principals behind a
successful email marketing campaign are the same.
A double opt-in email marketing campaign is also rewarding because your
subscribers wanted to receive your newsletter and took the time to
opt-in. A double opt-in list is not only more targeted and successful
than a single opt-in list; a double opt-in list is much safer.
With a single opt-in list it is easy for anyone to submit any email
address, even if it is not theirs and they are doing it for a friend.
The persons email address they submitted may not want to be on your list
and they will not know that they subscribed until they start receiving
emails from you. These subscribers will probably not ever open your
newsletter and may report you for sending SPAM. We all know how bad SPAM
is getting, so don't contribute to the problem.
Double opt-in is an enhanced permission that tackles these issues.
With double opt-in, the submitted name is not immediately added to a
mailing list. Instead, an email is sent to the address, asking to
confirm that your name should indeed be added. If the recipient of the
confirmation email does nothing, the submitted address is deleted and
never added to the Email Marketing Campaign. The name is only added to a
list if the recipient responds to the confirmation email and thus double
opt-in.
Content is King
The best tip that can ever be given to help you with Search Engines is;
Content is King.
The more quality content you have on your website the better. Search
Engines are always looking to make their search results more relevant
and up to date so keep adding new content.
Deciphering Email Confirmation Requests
by Leo A. Notenboom
I emailed a colleague and within minutes got this email in response that
said something like "please visit this link and to confirm your identity
in order for your mail to be delivered". What's that all about? Is it
safe? Could it be spam, or phishing, or something else bad?
Welcome to spam wars. This episode could be entitled "Revenge of the
spammed".
What you're probably seeing is something called challenge/response. In
the last couple of years it's become a popular way for some folks to
control the amount of spam they get.
A lot of people love it. But a lot of people, people like you and me who
aren't spammers, absolutely hate it.
Here's how it works: when you sign up for a challenge/response (c/r)
service, all of your incoming email is filtered by the service. If the
email is from someone that the service recognizes is a legitimate, real
person or valid sender, you get the email. But if the email is from
someone the service has never heard of before, things get interesting.
When email is received from a sender that the c/r service has never
heard of before:
The c/r service quarantines the email. You do not get it right away.
The service then sends that confirmation mail you mentioned back to the
sender. That's called the "challenge".
When the sender follows the instructions, which usually involves
clicking a link, and filling in one of those "match the picture" forms,
they are validated as a "legitimate" sender. That's the "response".
Once validated, the original email they sent to you is delivered.
Once validated they are validated for good. They are assumed to be
legitimate, and their email to you is delivered without additional
delay.
Now if the sender never fills out that form, never responds to the
validation request, then their mail is never delivered, and you never
see it.
The theory is that spammers will not respond to the challenge, and their
mail will never be delivered. People who are legitimate will complete
the challenge, get validated, and have their email delivered as
expected.
There are so many problems with this technique, it's hard to know where
to begin.
Who's paying? - many people are vehemently opposed to
challenge/response, because it shifts the burden of spam prevention on
to the legitimate senders of email that isn't spam. The innocent pay the
price, as it were. In fact I know several folks who simply will not
respond to a challenge response system, ever.
Not all senders are people - say you purchase something at an on-line
store. That store sends you an email confirmation. The c/r system
quarantines that confirmation, sending a challenge back to the sender.
MOST online merchants (and other online services) are simply not able to
respond to the challenge. So the legitimate email will never be
delivered.
Not all senders are who they say they are - you've seen lots of issues
with email spoofing ... sending email as if it came from one person, who
had nothing to do with it. If that spoofed sender has been validated by
the c/r system, spam that appears to be coming from their address will
get through.
Challenges look like phishing attempts - how many times have we heard
"don't click on links in email you aren't sure of" ? The fact is that
most challenges look a lot like many of the phishing attempts we see
these days. If someone doesn't quickly and easily understand what it is
they're looking at, they should (rightly, in my opinion) delete it and
move on. That could mean that their legitimate email to you may not get
through.
Now in many cases, one of the positions that most c/r service providers
take is that you, the customer and email recipient, can proactively "whitelist"
email addresses. That is, you can tell the service that email coming
from addresses you provide does not need to be verified. Some will even
automatically whitelist addresses that you send email to. Both very nice
features.
But the practical reality is that c/r service users are not taking the
time to whitelist all the email addresses that they should. And many
cannot predict all the senders from whom they will get legitimate email.
Challenge/response is a nice idea ... but in my opinion, and that of
many, many others, it fails the test of practicality. In the real world,
it has too many flaws, and has the potential to prevent too much
legitimate email from being delivered.
Spam is definitely a problem. Challenge/response is a very flawed
solution.
Write E-mails that Get Opened, Pass the Filter Test
Marketing Tip, February, 2006
Did you know that 22 percent of nonspam e-mail doesn't get delivered?
That means two e-mails lost for every nine sent out. It's because the
spammers have killed e-mail both by burying the real stuff and by
causing most ISPs to filter the mail.
We've already talked about the From and Subject lines. The third key in
writing e-mails that get opened is to send e-mails that don't get caught
in spamcatcher filters--because if you want your post to be opened, it
has to be seen. If the filters grab it, your recipient may not ever have
the chance to see it.
In the above paragraph, I reworded two bits to avoid that trap. I said
"not ever" because the one-word version that begins with "n" and ends
with "ever" is one of the trigger words. So are the words you get if you
drop the first letter off "where" or "know.." And I did the word that
begins with "sp" and ends with "catcher" as one word, because the first
four letters would ring a filter bell.
And you may have wondered why you sometimes see spaces in the middle of
words in my newsletters--it's to avoid triggering these robots' appetite
for e-mail.
Learn to phrase things differently. Instead of the word that begins "fr"
and continues "ee," for instance, I might say "no-cost," "without
charge," etc. For me, writing to beat the filters has become automatic
(and given that I write about marketing and pro fit, it's a challenge).
I still run my stuff through a checker, and there will be a few items
that I miss, but even my first draft scores are pretty low.
Most filters will rank a piece of mail, and those above a certain score
will be blocked entirely or held for review before delivery. So,
typically, you can have a few of the filter hooks but not too many.
In addition to word traps, some filters are set for format traps.
Fortunately, those are easy to avoid--if you know what they are. This
isn't a complete list, but it'll get you started:
* Html formats (see next month for a full explanation)
* Strings of all-capital letters (this is why I am violating grammar and
not capitalizing every letter of Html)
* Multiple exclamation points and/or dollar signs
* Documents that are excessively long (yes, I'm guilty, I confess)
* Double-high priority flag
OK, so how do you know? Run it through at least one of these:
http://www.ezinecheck.com/check.html (this is the one I use most often,
because it's extremely easy to use and tells you the results right
away--but it flags fewer words than some others)
http://spamcheck.sitesell.com/ (follow the instructions *exactly*--and
you'll get a report by e-mail within a few hours)
http://www.lyris.com/resources/contentchecker/ (another one that e-mails
the report)
Use a Professional Signature
Use a Professional Signature This is an important tip to use on every
email that you send. Even your friends may not always remember your
website address or business phone number and will quickly look to an old
e-mail to look it up.
When preparing an email signature it’s important to include Your Name,
Company Name, and your Physical Address or Website Address. You may also
include your phone number.
Creating Demand
with Email Newsletters
By Julia Hyde
Your Web site is live, and you have implemented a public relations
campaign and have purchase advertising in trade journals, magazines, and
newspapers. But your site's daily visitors are still in single digits
and your sales are ... well, let's just say that early retirement is no
longer an option.
Now what?
It's time to try email marketing; more specifically, an email
newsletter. Email newsletters are cheap an easy to create and send, and
they are proven to increase sales.
Of course, there are many other reasons why email newsletters make good
business sense. Here's just a few of them:
Create a marketing campaign on a shoestring budget.
Measure the results and find out what works and what doesn't.
Build personal relationships with a large group of people.
Track customer behavior and collect user information.
Starting your email newsletter campaign
Before you start any type of marketing or advertising campaign, you need
a plan. You don't have to put together a 200-plus page document
outlining all your goals and objectives, but you do need to define some
basics before you begin.
At the very least,
your plan should:
Identify your audience. It's not enough to say, "They're people who like
widgets". Take your cue from magazine publishers. They know exactly who
their target audience is, how much money they earn, what social group
they fit into, and what motivates them to buy. Find out who your
customers are, then tailor your newsletter around their needs and
desires.
Check out your competition. Every business has competition. Find out
what they are doing by researching their product or service. What could
you do better? Is there a gap in their service you can fill?
Identify your newsletter's purpose. What do you hope to achieve with
your newsletter? Do you want to give your subscribers information about
your product to help them make purchasing decisions? If so, you must
first show them how it can make them smarter, healthier, wealthier, or
more successful.
Do you want to position yourself as an expert in your field? Your goal
here is to provide your subscribers with well-written articles that
address issues in your industry. Whatever your objectives, your purpose
will determine what content goes in to your newsletter.
