Welcome to the fourth edition of email marketing tips on July 09, 2008.

Actually I know we are one day late, but lets pretend we were on time.

I want to start and say a big

“Thank You”

to John Lenaghan, who volunteers to host one of the upcoming editions of this Blog Carnival on one of his Blogs. Great! I guess it will be the second edition in August. Let's jump into the subject right away. Today we have 10 great Blog posts in the following categories strategy, copywriting, general tips, resources.

I especially like Marcus Hochstadt's article, he addresses a disease that's common nowadays.

strategy

Marcus Hochstadt presents Freebie Seekers posted at Marcus Hochstadt, saying, “Freebie seekers are everywhere. But did you know that they can literally destroy your Internet business success?”

John's comment: Fun to read and true in its core. Do you recognize those folks or even yourself (I hope not!) Time to change.

John W. Furst presents Squeeze Page: Straight or Reversed? posted at E-Biz Booster Blog, saying, “Is a reversed squeeze page better? Well, there is a way to find out and what is a reversed squeeze page anyway? (It's about getting more subscribers to your email list)”

Hey, that's my own post! Leave a comment below on this page or on the article's page. Be so kind.

Kathleen Gage presents Social Networking; A great resource or simply a waste of time? posted at Street Smarts Marketing & Promotions, saying, “It seems at every turn we are hearing about the ‘latest and greatest’ place to network and build market reach on the Internet. Regardless of the size of your business, there are likely things you could be doing to increase your market reach, but knowing which is the best for your particular needs can be a daunting task. Learn how to choose the best avenue for your social networking”

John's comment: Are you able to create additional email subscribers from Web 2.0 platforms? It depends. Read this post.

copywriting

Miss Copy - Rebecca Dean presents If you ever need a HILARIOUS REVENGE idea? posted at Rebecca Dean

John's comment: A nicely to read reminder: Your copy needs: market research, empathy, proof,… Even for your email campaigns and landing pages.

general tips

Terry Dean presents Internet Scams posted at Integrity Business Blog by Terry Dean.

John's comment: Listen up, avoid what Terry is writing about in your own campaigns and Web presence.

Tip Diva presents Top Ten Tips - E-Mail Etiquette posted at Tip Diva, saying, “If Tip Diva receives one more forward noting that Bill Gates will pay her $1 for each person she sends the e-mail to, she's going to scream. If you are an ignorant inbox clogger, it's time to brush up on your e-mail etiquette for everyone else's sanity”

John's comment: Thanks Diva for writing this description above. unfortunately those tips are not a no-brainer for everyone.

John Lenaghan presents A Warning About Viral Optin Scripts posted at Internet Marketing Chaos

John's comment: Thanks for the warning. By the way, I personally don't like it at all, when my friends give away my email address.

Jordanv presents eNewsletters - Be Smart and Contribute to Your Constituents' IQs posted at Connection Cafe

John's comment: Some useful no brainer guidelines for your newsletter design.

resources

Terry dean presents Blogs You Can Use : Internet Business Coaching by Terry Dean posted at Integrity Business Blog by Terry Dean

John's comment: Some good resources. Terry checked them out personally. They are up-to-date and valuable.

Tammi Metzler presents Get your free grammar and punctuation e-course! posted at Writeassociate's Weblog, saying, “I am a copywriter and freelance editor, and my newly created blog will offer tips about copywriting and correct grammar and punctuation usage.”

John's comment: I guess I should take that course, too… I just signed up, will see…

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of email marketing tips using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Contact me, if you want to host an edition on your internet marketing related blog.

Yours
John W. Furst

P.S.: If you like this edition, check out the previous email marketing tips edition, too.

Technorati tags: email marketing tips, blog carnival

Welcome to the third edition of email marketing tips on June 25, 2008.

Today I present a total of 11 blog articles. Let's jump right away to the submitted posts. The categories include: legal, tools and services, general tips, and strategy.

legal

I found Fred's Blog article myself on the Web (in my Google reader) for you.

→ Fred Black presents Behind Bars: Could the New FTC CAN-SPAM Rules Land You In JAIL? posted at Fred Black: Internet Business Blog.

John's comment: Great: ‘CAN-SPAM for dummies’

tools and services

→ Ed Rivis presents How to increase sales by 300%. posted at Ed Rivis

John's comment: The easier, the better.

general tips

→ terry dean presents What If Its Not Working? posted at Integrity Business Blog by Terry Dean.

John's comment: Giving up is not an option! You always can improve results.

→ Kathleen Gage presents Internet Marketing - What's stopping your success? posted at Street Smarts Marketing & Promotions, saying, “Success for an online business requires a solid foundation. Your foundation needs to include specific systems. One system is that which will build a responsive opt-in subscriber list. Without a solid list you will face insurmountable obstacles to your success. Learn reasons why many people don’t build a list and what can be done about it.”

John's comment: Advice from experience… You need a list.

→ Robert Phillips presents Broken Windows, Broken Business posted at CYBERCA$HOLOGY.

John's comment: Don't let your Email Marketing Campaign's effectiveness escape through ‘Open Windows’. The recommended book is not about Email Marketing, but still shoes relevant business aspects.

→ Jordan V. presents Ideas from Campaign 08: Get the email address written by Tompkins Spann, posted at Connection Cafe.

John's comment: As straight forward as it can be.

→ Patrick Schwerdtfeger presents The Power of Email Marketing posted at Tactical Execution, saying, “A review of autoresponders and how people are using them to build their business and other passive income streams.”

John's comment: I always told you… get their email address. It's an asset.

→ John Lenaghan presents John Reese, Twitter And The Problem With Marketing To Marketers posted at Internet Marketing Chaos.

John's comment: Owning a big email lists creates responsibility. Watch out what messages you are sending out.

strategy

→ Ian Lurie presents Double E-mail Open Rates With This Simple Test posted at Conversation Marketing: Internet Marketing with a Twist of Lemon, saying, “Test your subject lines, double our open rate. It's that simple.”

John's comment: Hands on tips. It's about testing.

→ Erek Ostrowski presents Becoming a Smooth Operator (Documenting Operational Protocols for Your Small Business) posted at Verve Coaching, saying, “While the ability to think on your feet is incredibly important for putting out fires and making good short-term decisions, the long-term sustainability of your business depends on consistently and correctly doing the work that needs to be done, and doing it how and when it needs to be done.”

John's comment: Good idea to create procedures for your Email Marketing efforts as it is for other parts of your business.

My humble post at last, but not least.

→ John W. Furst presents Email Feedback Loops And Some Internet History posted at E-Biz Booster Blog, saying, “Create a feedback loop and make sure you can rely on Email for even very important things.”


That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of email marketing tips using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Contact me, if you want to host an edition on your internet marketing related blog.

Yours
John W. Furst

Technorati tags: email marketing tips, blog carnival

In 1994 about 14 years ago I started to use the Internet at the University campus. Very quickly Email became one of the most important tools for me and it is still today. However, with the upcoming of spammers and anti-spam measures Email has lost some of it's reliability.

I mean, are you sure you receive all important email messages, or are you sure all your messages you send are received?

I'll show you in a minute what I do to make sure Email works reliably for me, even for most important communication needs. Before that, let me tell you, how it all began for me (scroll down, if you are in a hurry).


How It All Began

Do you remember those times, when the “World Wide Web” and it's HTTP protocol were fairly new. I remember using the following services and protocols to find and research information on the Net. (This was not exactly fun and easy like it is today.)

• Gopher
• Archie
• FTP
• Email

I should call this post “Email Marketing Tips - Edition 2 continued”, but that title wouldn't tell much. Indeed a strange thing happened.

When going through the submissions for the latest edition of my Email Marketing Tips Blog Carnival, I though Terry Dean's article about “Cutting Through The Internet Marketing Noise” is fabulous. I emailed Terry right away, thanked him and let him know that it will be in the Carnival.

Then I prepared the Carnival and posted it.

Later in the evening I met with a business friend for a drink and we talked about many different things. At some point I mentioned the Carnival and recommended that he should read Terry's post.

Anyway, he emailed me this morning and asked, “Where's the post you were talking about yesterday?”

Ups!

I simply overlooked it. Shame on me. I'll correct the mistake in the next couple of minutes, but if you don't want to wait. Here is Terry Dean's excellent Blog article.

Cutting Through the Internet Marketing Noise
by Terry Dean

Enjoy.

Yours
John W. Furst

P.S.: Sorry, Terry.

Welcome to the second edition of email marketing tips on June 11, 2008.

I guess it is a good sign that I have received about twice the number of submission for this edition. Nevertheless I will stick with my personal

“call for quality!”

Here are the 8 Blog articles for this edition

(I picked 6 out of 34, wrote 1 by myself, and smuggled another 1 in, which I found myself on the Web. It don't receive spammy submissions, only many off-topic ones, but I don't mind so much. My motto is: If you are not sure whether it fits submit it anyway.)

Thanks to the authors.




That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of email marketing tips using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Contact me, if you want to host an edition on your internet marketing related blog.

Yours
John W. Furst

Update: Sorry Terry (Dean) for the mess up with Cutting Through The Internet Marketing Noise

Technorati tags: email marketing tips, blog carnival

You have heard it before, “The money is in the list”. But not all lists are made equally. Some email lists make their owners millionaires, others don’t do anything. Why is that?

I keep the answers short, through some bullets at you, don’t spell out every little detail, but give you…

…Something To Think About

• You need to sell something!
  
  You get paid, when someone from your list buys something. Hopefully your own products and services or at least something you get a high commission for.
  
  
• People buy when they want or need something.
  
  You better sell respectively recommend something that is already high in demand. Do your market research first!
  
  
• Is your subscriber list targeted for the kind of offers you make?
  
  Sometimes you can get surprisingly high response rates, when you make off-topic offers, but you still need to serve the desire of those people and give them what they want. But in general it works better, when you mainly serve a narrowly targeted market.
  
  
• Is your list responsive? You need to keep your list responsive!
  
  New subscribers are usually more responsive than older ones, but you hold the key for keeping them responsive. Build a relationship with them and don’t promote every crap that’s out there. Offer them help and advice for free, and products they really can benefit from.
  
  People, who discuss, “Why you should not buy anything over the Internet”, might never purchase in your online store, but they might come into your brick and mortar outlet to get the latest offer you promoted to your local email list of customers. See, email can work for off line businesses as well.
  
  
• You need to renew and grow your list on a daily basis!
  
  The more people you have on your list, the more will buy from you, therefore add new members to your list every day. It’s natural that some people will become less responsive and some will dare to unsubscribe. You need to compensate for those, too.
  
  The key factor is not size, but quality! A list that better matches your offer (preferably high value offers), will make you more money than a very big list that you have abused a lot in the past.
  
  
• Great copywriting works!
  
  Kind of a no brainer! The better the copy of your campaigns, the better the results.
  
  
• … Add your bullet for us! Leave a comment below.

This was short and sweet as I have promised.

Yours
John W. Furst

Welcome to the first edition of email marketing tips on May 28, 2008!

Yes, that's the 1^st edition of Email Marketing Tips my brand new blog carnival. I want to fill a void that I feel exists on blogcarnival.com nowadays.

This carnival is to become a useful resource for readers interested in email marketing. Everything else is of secondary interest to me. Sorry for everyone who doesn't agree with me, but I don't see blog carnivals as mere SEO tool that is used to dump your article to as many blogs as possible. (I know some folks will call me names, because of that)

I believe blog readers will appreciate this focus on quality instead of quantity. Let's see, if I am a dreamer or not. Today I am featuring blog articles about

• List Building,
• Copywriting, and
• Tools for email marketing