A couple of month ago I have written about the basics on how to choose a domain name. Today let me add one important point.

A friend of mine runs a successful business and just has launched a new website with some great tips for lead generation. I wanted to read one of his articles again and typed-in his URL. Instead of his homepage I saw:

Error: Server not found

This was quite a surprise. He has one of those domains where you have a hard time to remember whether to add the “s” for plural or not. Like in

car.com or
cars.com

The weird mess up on his part is that he even has a very beautiful logo with …labs, but his domain name is …lab.com.

I don’t think I am the only one making this mistake, but I am one of the few who actually try the other version as well. The average web surfer might just give up right away.

Of course I wrote to him immediately and shouted,

A business owner who publishes a monthly email newsletter asked me for advice. The business in question is a European based specialist for color trends and consults with designers in the fashion and home design industries. In this particular case, Carol, wanted to know how to increase the open rate for her newsletter editions. Her company publishes the newsletter once a month.

I think my response might be transferable to your business or website as well. That is why I thought I should share it with a wider audience.

The content and design of the newsletter I was giving the advice on is rather intriguing. However, it is a constant challenge to keep readers engaged and interested over a longer period of time. I gave Carol the following tips to think about.

5 Tips on how to engage your readers and increase your open rate

(1) Make it more personal!

Have an editor, a spokesperson write the newsletter in a colloquial tone. Introduce that character as a person with a back-story, and also address the reader on the personal level. An email is communication from one person to another. A newsletter should not be an exception.

I just have found this video, which demonstrates …

Well, just watch it. It's only 2 minutes or even shorter. (I didn't look at the timer.)

And then, please, leave a comment and let us know what you think.

That's what the description at YouTube reveals,

The Man In The Chair Ad — Then and Now

BMAintheUSA is based in Chicago. The Business Marketing Association is a leading marketing organization serving the professional development and networking needs and interests of some 2,500 senior business-to-business marketing professionals and 21 chapter organizations throughout the U.S.A.

So, what do you think?

Leave a comment, now.


Yours
John W. Furst

Image source: Based on Type A Mom Conference (↑), ©2009 by rbucich/flickr (↑). Modifications ©2010 by John W. Furst - Some rights reserved. - CC-BY-SA 3.0.

It’s time to adjust the clocks in Europe again.

Tonight (or tomorrow morning if you will) clocks will be advanced from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. when daylight-saving-time begins in Europe this spring.

That means we (including me) lose one hour that we don’t get back until next fall when daylight-savings-time in Europe will end on Sunday, October 31, 2010. (Of course we will get it back without interest being paid. Maybe we’ll save a bit on the electric bill, but I’m not really sure about that.)

Attention to you folks in the USA and Canada: The time difference to Europe will get back to normal again.

Here are some examples to demonstrate the ‘usual time differences’ between USA, Canada and Europe.

America	Europe	Time Difference [hours]
New York	London	5
	Berlin	6
Chicago	London	6
	Berlin	7
Denver	London	7
	Berlin	8
Los Angeles	London	8
	Berlin	9
Example: 10 a.m. in Denver is 6 p.m. in Berlin

You’ll find additional information and tools at timeanddate.com (↑).

• Daylight Saving Time–first half of 2010 (↑)
• Daylight Saving Time–second half of 2010 (↑)
  
  
• Overview over start and end times for 2010 (↑)

_____
Browsing tip: Links designated with (↑) will open in a new browser window.

I think the next transition is on April 4th, when daylight-saving-time ends this year in Australia.

Kind of confusing, isn’t it.

Have a ‘short’ night sleep
(if you are in Europe.)

Yours
John W. Furst

Recently I have asked that question in a marketing related, private forum. The answers were quite interesting and mostly driven by fear.

• I don’t want to annoy my readers.
  
  
• I am glad to find something to write about every now and then.

Have you ever been not really in the mood for writing a blog post or a valuable message to your e-mail list members? I have to admit that I felt a bit like that this morning. So I browsed through a popular article directory and wanted to find one useful article, which I can republish and share with you. But before I found an appropriate article, I decided to write this one myself instead.

Here is the lesson I have learned about articles in article directories

• It seems that everybody who can write writes and submits articles to article directories. It takes some time till you find an author who has genuine expertise, who does not rehash the same facts as everybody else.
  
  
• The best and only good part of most articles is the title.
  
  
• Only a few really good articles from a few writers get re-published a lot.
  
  
• In most cases you could and should write a better blog article yourself.

What turns me off most are false claims, and assertions which are not substantiated by facts or resources. For example I read the following statement.

“Studies reveal that one newsletter a month is optimal in communicating with your subscribers.”

That’s Bullshit Marketing!

I mean, come on, even common sense tells you that this is bad advice. And the pseudo-expert author even tries to make it more believable by calling his source “Studies.” Where are the studies? Why doesn’t he refer to them? I guess I do not really need to answer that question, do I.

Welcome to the nineteenth edition of email marketing tips on March 23rd, 2010.

This is the first edition of my email marketing tips blog carnival this year. I have hand-picked all entries myself and hope that I will get useful blog article submissions to the next edition.

By the way: Here is the complete archive with highlight of the best contributions with useful email marketing tips.

Today’s categories:

• copywriting
• general tips
• practical tips

Browsing Tip: If not stated otherwise all links in this email marketing tips carnival edition will open in this window. Use the back button of your browser to come back here or open links in a new window or tab.

copywriting

Sonia Simone wrote The Betty Crocker Secret to Email Marketing that Works posted at Copyblogger, saying, “You’ve heard it a thousand times: the money’s in the list. If you’re serious about getting results online, you need to build a list of people who are paying attention to you, typically an email list.”

John’s comment: A must read article! I only have one objection: “The money is not in the list! It’s in the relationship with the list.”

Doberman Dan wrote David Deutsch’s Advice To Copywriters posted at Doberman Dan - Direct Response Entrepreneur, saying, “At John Carlton’s Action Seminar David Deutsch shared several life-changing pieces of advice with me. David is one of the handful of top “A list” copywriters… the very best hired guns who write for the HUGE direct response companies like Boardroom, Agora, Rodale and Phillips.”

John’s comment: With that tip you actually can earn while you learn. Doesn’t matter if you get started with direct mail or you simply start to build an list of your own.

general tips

Okay, here is the post I procrastinated for a long, l o o o … o o n g time.

Please, don’t ask me, why I finally got moving and finished it today. It’s certainly not the sunshine and beach weather that prevented me from doing this earlier. If it were, I wouldn’t get anything done at all. We have dream weather here a lot.

However, if you insist asking, I will respond,

“It was Frank Kern. He is guilty of having me finish that post.”

You might or might not know who Frank Kern is. He is one of the most successful email copywriters and business strategists in the Internet marketing community. Many call him a guru. Last week Frank launched his latest product, an interactive e-mail list building training program. The launch strategy was interesting to watch. It gives us a hint regarding the very old question:

“Single Opt-in or double opt-in?”

But first things first.

E-mail solution providers and to some extent law makers…

The Internet Marketing Arena was held hostage by Frank Kern, who was launching his latest product,

L I S T C O N T R O L
(offer expired!)

last week.

‘LISTCONTROL’ is a one month interactive video training program for people who want to start an online business.

The course has a strong focus on email marketing and relationship building.

I made a quick teaser video about the launch.

At the $1,997.00 price point it’s not an inexpensive program, but at first Frank Kern has a great reputation, secondly the buyer is protected with a rock-solid money back guarantee, and thirdly Frank addresses issues most beginners get stuck with in other courses, ebooks, and trainings.

In a live interview with video marketer and co-founder of Traffic Geyser (↑), Mike Koenigs, Frank said

[…] Listcontrol particularly covers beginner questions in module 1. […]

Something his famous and legendary product Masscontrol (fall of 2008 and 2009) did not teach that directly. But Listcontrol wouldn’t be a course by Frank Kern if very advanced topics weren’t covered. And this starts with content syndication in module 1 which is something beginners don’t need to worry about, but advanced folks will love to implement right away.

Major marketers in the Internet Marketing Community Promoted Frank’s launch

Such a launch stirs up the pot and while Frank’s affiliates feed the frenzy, others condemn such product launches altogether. There are usually three groups of people. Wait, really it’s four.

• buyers
• almost buyers
• non-buyers
• those who don’t notice the launch at all

It’s usually the non-buyers who loudly protest against that sort of product launches.

However, there are two critical facts to consider:

• Launches work for many reasons (enough stories for another post.)
• The largest group is people who don’t notice the launch at all. (6 Billion people or so; a product launch is very targeted and not a spam campaign.)

As usual with Frank — techniques get refined — this launch is different. I don’t have any accurate figures on the metrics, and I know Frank Kern would not talk about specifics before the refund period is over anyway.

… therefore, just a few comments from me as they came to my mind during the last couple of days.

Observations About The Listcontrol Product Launch

I just have read a not so bad blog post. However, when I checked out the about page I got turned off.

“This is an example of a WordPress page, you could edit this to put information about yourself or your site so readers know where you are coming from. You can create as many pages like this one or sub-pages as you like and manage all of your content inside of WordPress.”

Come on. You can do better than that.
And you should.

Anybody who is getting serious about putting your blog in their RSS reader or subscribe to your e-mail list will want to know more about you.

The about page is a great place to let your readers know who you are, what you can do for them, and why they should listen to you.

But first things first.

Some Ideas For An Entrepreneurial About Page

• You have a name, haven’t you. Use it. Introduce yourself with a short bio. … or introduce each team member who writes in the blog on a regular basis.
  
  
• Of course we want to see your photo(s). A nice photograph makes it more personal. You do not want to miss this step.
  
  
• What problems can you help the readers with?
  
  
• Why are you qualified to help them?
  
  
• Tell them how they can stay in touch with you. An optin form on the about page i snot such a bad idea. However, remember the good rule of thumb: “One page, one action.” Don’t offer too much.
  
  
• By the way: Have you ever thought of putting a personal video message (↑) on your about page? I guess, it’s time to do that.

Now go to work.
You don’t have to get it perfect.
5 % better than your competitors will do.


Yours
John W. Furst

P.S.: I just realize I should update the about page of my own as, well.

P.P.S.: In the context of legal issues with online publishing, you MUST NOT have an anonymous blog anyway. Pen names are fine, but readers, customers, and the government must be able to contact you based on the information on your website without having to go through hoops. (I’m not a lawyer. This is not legal advice!)

P.P.P.S.: Do you have anything to add? Any comments? I am sure you have. Let me know.

When you get stuck, you have two options.

• Do something.
• Do nothing.

Check out this video.

It made me laugh out. Before you call them idiots, think about… metaphorically most people are a bit like this when it comes to life.

Rich Schefren outlines the right fuel and a strategy that gets you back on track with your business growth.

What Single Trait Separates…
The Winners From The Losers?

THINKING!

Winners Spend Time Thinking

Are You Spending…
More Time Learning Than Thinking?

WHY?

Get To Work!

Check out Rich's post if you want to learn more:
Business Growth… Fueled By The Power Of Thought! (↑)


Yours
John W. Furst

Daylight savings time has started in the USA (↑) today.

In Europe it will begin in two weeks, and it will end in Australia in three weeks.

Especially if you are in Europe you could easily miss online events in the USA during the next two weeks.

Be aware of those time changes when planning or attending online events.

Here is why.

For example, when it is 1pm in New York it is usually 6pm in London. Between March 14 and March 27, 2010, however, it will be 5pm in London, only 4 hours later.

Then on March 28 daylight savings time will rule on both continents and time difference will be the usual 5 hours till the clocks will be reset in fall of 2010, again.

Life could be easier if daylight savings time were changed on the same weekends all over the world, but that's not the case.

To make things worse, Hawaii (and many other regions in the world) don't observe daylight savings time at all. On top of that Australia and New Zealand are on the southern hemisphere. While we start daylight savings time in the North, Australia will end it on April 4, 2010.

Tip: TimeAndDate.com (↑) offers detailed information and tools. Like a timezone converter, etc., …

Personally I am adding timezone information to event details. Don't leave room for assumptions. Don't assume your readers are educated about timezones, it's your job to communicate in a way they understand easily.

Here is an example for unambiguous event information.

Webinar starts on Friday, March 12, 2010 at 3:30 p.m. EST (UTC-05) as in New York, USA

or

Teleclass starts on Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 3:30 p.m. EDT (UTC-04) as in New York, USA.

Note: EST is Eastern Standard Time and EDT is Eastern Daylight Savings Time.

Yours
John W. Furst

P.S.: Especially US marketers seem to be unaware of — or lazy about — timezone issues that go beyond Eastern versus Pacific time. Check out my previous post on this subject: Email Marketing And Troubles With Timezones.