E-Biz Booster Blog - Blog Carnival

Email Marketing Tips - Edition 5

nospam@example.com (Jennifer Meilhart) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:43:04 -0700

Welcome to the fifth edition of email marketing tips on July 23, 2008.

Seems like we have to pay our dues to the summer vacation time. The number of submissions has dropped accordingly, but we still have 7 posts arriving in this edition. I want to start with my usual

“Call For Participation”

Contact me to host an edition of this carnival on your Internet marketing related Blog.

Get your Blog more exposure!
It's easier than you might think.

Also submit your articles to this carnival.

Thanks in advance for your contribution.

The categories I am presenting today are

copywriting
general tips
tools and services

My favorite story of this edition is Ed Rivis' success story (and my own submission of course.) Here we go.

copywriting

John W. Furst presents 4 Free Awesome Copywriting Resources posted at E-Biz Booster Blog, saying, “Most all of the experienced direct response marketers, Internet marketers, and email marketers will agree that ‘copywriting’ is one of the most important skills that leads to more sales.”

John's comment: I could have added even more great folks like Dan Kennedy, but that would be too much for one Blog post.

general tips

John W. Furst presents this success story reported by fellow marketer Ed Rivis 1,035 email subscribers in 35 days posted at Ed Rivis, saying, “Watch the video to see how in just 35 days I welcomed 1,035 highly-targeted and fully-opted-in subscribers on to my email marketing list… all from one print advert and a dead simple Web page!”

John's comment: That's the kind of detailed success stories we all love to hear.

John Szram presents How I Made Money By Accident! posted at Internet Business Blog By John Szram.

John's comment: Watch out, when editing messages in your email responder. You might as well end up making some sales.

Tash Hughes presents Repeat email ads not so good ? posted at Word Constructions.

John's comment: Right, don't make yourself come across as a lazy, sneaky salesrep in your email campaigns.

Tammy Powell presents An Email Marketing System for Driving Affiliate Product Sales posted at Enlightened Wealth Institute student Tammy Powell.

John's comment: Affiliate Marketing 101 - Version 784. Common wisdom refreshed. Thanks for the reminder.

John Szram presents Start Building Your Mailing List Today posted at Internet Business Blog By John Szram.

John's comment: What are you waiting for? Go. In case you don't have an email marketing service provider, yet. Go with AWeber (that's what I use, and recommend)

tools and services

Patrick Schwerdtfeger presents Social Media Integration posted at Tactical Execution, saying, “Grow your email list and cross-pollinate your affiliations by integrating your activity on various social media platforms like facebook, youtube, twitter and utterz.”

John's comment: And if you think about it Facebook for example gives you something like a “list” when creating a Facebook page or a Group. But be careful with your time and never forget that facebook owns and controls all those features. You might as well get stuck with it.

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
Jennifer M.

P.S.: If you like this edition, check out the previous email marketing tips - edition 4, too.

Technorati tags: email marketing tips, blog carnival

Copyright 2008 by John W. Furst. Some Rights Reserved. Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 2.5. - If you find this content on a site that is violating our copyright, please, report its URL to us. Thanks for fighting copy scrapers.

Email Marketing Tips - Edition 4

nospam@example.com (John W. Furst) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:16:21 -0700

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.

Now, it's your turn!

Contact me and host an edition of this carnival on your internet marketing related blog.

Get your Blog more exposure!
It's easier than you might think.

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

Email Marketing Tips - Edition 3

nospam@example.com (John W. Furst) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:39:42 -0700

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

Email Feedback Loops And Some Internet History

nospam@example.com (John W. Furst) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:25:37 -0700

John W. Furst

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

Here are the details about those ancient protocols and services.

Gopher

Gopher is a distributed document search and retrieval network protocol designed for the Internet. Its goal is to function as an improved form of Anonymous FTP, enhanced with hyperlinking features similar to that of the World Wide Web.

The Gopher protocol offers some features not natively supported by the Web and imposes a much stronger hierarchy on information stored on it. Its text menu interface is well-suited to computing environments that rely heavily on remote computer terminals, common in universities at the time of its creation in 1991 until 1993.

With the vast popularity of the World Wide Web, Gopher is all but disused at present, with remaining sites being run by individual enthusiasts. Source: Wikipedia
Archie

A simple search engine for content on FTP servers created in 1990, which could be queried by email or direct login with telnet, and later via a Web interface
FTP

Most of the information was stored on FTP servers at those days. You had to deal with lots of file listings and plain test files. There were graphics, but not embedded into the document.

Things started to change for the better with the rise of the Web and the use of the Mosaic/Netscape browser. Suddenly pictures could be shown inside a document and could be clicked…

There was something else: Email

It turned out that email became very quickly one of the most important applications and services for me. I was traveling a lot between the USA and Europe, but I still could communicate with my friends and colleagues quite effectively (most of them already had email).

Now more than a decade later Email is still my preferred means of communication for any purpose. Especially for business. (Yes, I also use the phone from time to time.)

The Problem

Email doesn't always reach the recipient's inbox, does it? An error message will usually be returned to the sender, if the email address is wrong, the mail box is full,… but not for any spam filter related issues.

Most email service providers don't support sending back a delivery report (spammers have abused this to harvest email addresses), and even message display reports are not widely supported or turned off in most email clients nowadays.

I want to remark that delivery of a non-registered piece of postal mail (snail mail) is not guaranteed either. And in my experience email works more reliably anyway with the additional benefit that you can retrieve your messages Worldwide while you are traveling.

In fact email deliverability of my personal messages never has been an issue for me and I safely assume no one involved has a problem once an email conversation is ongoing.

However, I remember some people could not get their email through to me sometimes. This can be critical in some situations, where one needs to meet deadlines or something like that.

Let me tell you, what I am doing about this. It's not a perfect solution (because it is not automated), but it works pretty good.

Give People Confidence: Establish A Chain Of Feedback

A very simple solution is to use an autoresponder on your incoming email box that sends back a message to the sender.

I don't use this on general purpose email accounts, but on those where I receive important email messages and notifications.

The senders know a delivery report and error messages will be returned by my mail box.
If not, they should call by phone.
The delivery report also contains further info what to do, if I don't respond let's say in 2 business days.

Here is what I am writing in most of my autoresponders:

Subject: [Auto-Reply] Your Subject

Your message to me@example.com is on its way.

There's a very good chance your email has been delivered to my inbox, unless you have received a 'failure notice' from MAILER-DAEMON@smtp.example.com with a specific error report like 'Mailbox Full', etc.

I usually will get back to you within 2 business days, if a response is necessary.

Yours
me@example.com

P.S.: In case of an emergency or if I don't get back to you in a timely fashion, please, call me at my mobile. Leave a brief message including a phone number(s) where you can be reached. You find my mobile telephone number in my email signature. Thank you.

P.P.S.: However, my preferred media for communication is email.

Feel free to steal it from me, but change the mail addresses and adapt it to your specific needs. As you can see I am not including my phone number in this messages, because I know this email address is only used by parties, whom I have given my phone numbers before.

That's for giving people who need to send important messages to me the confidence that it will be taken care of, and it eases me, because I know there is a closed feedback loop.

It doesn't stop there. On the other hand when I am sending important emails

I always ask for a quick email back to confirm delivery.
If I don't get it, I simple call the other party to check the status.
When it comes to automatically sent email notifications, I don't rely on them. I check status of important things, when my task list shows I should do it, regardless of any email alert. That way I cannot miss anything.

How do you make sure email works in a reliable fashion for you?
Leave a comment and let us know?

Yours
John W. Furst

Rising Above The Internet Marketing Noise - A Strange Thing Happened

nospam@example.com (John W. Furst) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:15:44 -0700

Terry Dean's Slogan: “Earn More. Work Less. Enjoy Life!”

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.

Email Marketing Tips - Edition 2

nospam@example.com (John W. Furst) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 04:33:34 -0700

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.

Strategy

→ Terry Dean presents Cutting Through the Internet Marketing Noise posted at Internet Business Coaching by Terry Dean.

John's comment: You can learn from Terry's thoughts about massive email campaigns, his personal reactions, and his advice to coaching clients. Keep that in mind and don't forget you have to follow some sort of strategy in order to succeed with your business. A proven strategy works best. If you don't believe me, believe Terry.

Copywriting

→ Carol Bentley presents Copywriting: a celebration gift posted at Carol Bentley.

John's comment: Copywriting is a skill you'll need for your email campaigns. Check out Carols offer! She gives away a PDF of her complete book ‘I Want To Buy Your Product… Have You Sent Me A Letter Yet?’ Check it out!

General Tips

→ Manuel Viloria presents Is Listbuilding Just A Dream? posted at Get More Traffic at Manuel Viloria.com, saying, “There are so many groups offering email listbuilding solutions. Here's how to evaluate such services.”

John's comment: 'The money is in the list. Yes, but not every paid list building system works.

→ John W. Furst presents List Building - Tons Of Cash From Email Marketing… posted at E-Biz Booster Blog, saying, “Are you making tons of money from your email list? No, then check against those bullets. You might be on the wrong track.”

John's comment: Tell me what you think. Go there and leave a comment.

→ Jose DeJesus MD presents How to Send Emails that get Delivered and Read posted at Physician Entrepreneur.

John's comment: 7 solid tips

→ Raymond presents Nigerian 419 Scams and Spam Emails Are Funny But They Make Me Paranoid posted at Money Blue Book.

John's comment: Everything you ever need to know about email scams from overseas.

Tools and Services

→ Michel Fortin presents This Plugin Increases Membership Conversions posted at The Michel Fortin Blog.

John's comment: Excellent review and recommendation for a membership software. For instance, it protects download pages and files, offers backend sales and automation, and it even comes with a built-in autoresponder.

Legal

→ Howard J. Sewell authored Changes to CAN-SPAM Law and Your E-Mail Reputation posted at Direct Connections.

John's comment: I found this post on the Web and just thought, I'll take it in for this edition. (I hope the author may forgive me.)

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

List Building - Tons Of Cash From Email Marketing...

nospam@example.com (John W. Furst) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 04:33:09 -0700

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

Email Marketing Tips - Edition 1

nospam@example.com (John W. Furst) — Wed, 28 May 2008 17:52:05 -0700

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

Now I want to say, “thanks for each and every submission”, but most of them were a bit too far off topic.

“If your post doesn't help the reader directly with issues related to email marketing, it's not used.”

However, it's a good feeling for every editor to have a choice between a sound base of blog articles to work with. That means, if you are not sure whether it fits, submit it anyway. It's the editor's job to make a selection, not yours. And to be honest, the ‘InstaCarnival’ feature of blogcarnival.com is very effective for making a selection quickly.

I personally will contribute related posts on a regular basis and have already scheduled to host the two following editions of this carnival on this blog. Since a carnival is meant to travel from blog to blog I invite everyone with a decent Internet marketing related blog to host future editions on their blogs (some restrictions apply). Please, contact me, if you are interested.

Notice: My readers will notice, I have changed the link behavior with this blog post.

By default links will open in the same window, unless marked with “(↑)”.
Use the back navigation button of your browser to return to the previous page.
You also can use your browser's feature to open links in a new window or in a tabbed window.

Here are the 5 blog articles that I have selected for this edition. I have written short comments for each one, too.

List Building

You might ask why you should build an email list? The answer is quite simple. It let's you recycle your Web site traffic and gives you the means for communicating to hots prospects at your pace. If you don't build a list, how would you reach those people again, who came 1, 2, or 3 times to your Web site, but didn't buy your product (you probably had to pay for each of those visits).

By building your own prospect and customer lists you create real asset for your business and declare yourself more independent from traffic sources like pay-per-click advertising, the three search giants Google, Yahoo, and MSN, or Web 2.0.

As an email list becomes an asset, you should strive for quality instead of quantity. I mean this in terms of subscribers and in terms of the value that you provide to them. Email marketing works based on value you provide. No value from you, no gain!

→ Brian Terry presents Become a Listbuilding Genius! posted at Big Selling Website Design.

Brian does not only give a good and even detailed overview, he also gives you more details in PDF files, you can download for free from his post (the PDFs will open in a new window directly).

→ Don presents 7 Tips For Building An Opt In Email List For Increased Profits posted at AffiliateWatcher.Com, saying, "Building an opt in email list is a great way to increase sales and readership for your product or website. Here are 7 tips that will help you get started building a winning email list."

Don's post dates back to 2007 and it proves that the principles did not change over time. His blog is up-to-date by the way and covers affiliate marketing. “Thanks Brian”, you were one of the few, who filled out the remarks in the submission form.

International Marketing

→ Cindy King presents Basic Outline For Cross Cultural Online Marketing posted at Get International Clients.

Many businesses and marketers seem to forget that there are non-technical barriers on the Internet. You can reach people all over the planet via the Web and email in a technical sense, but your point might not come across as intended on the other side. As European I am probably more aware of this, because cultural and national borders are so much closer. Cindy shows in her post what you need to understand in order to improve your multi national marketing efforts.

Copywriting

→ James Lee presents 9 Copywriting and Marketing “Aha's”! posted at Online Business Freedom.

Copywriting is definitely a skill that is useful (a true understatement), when doing email marketing campaigns. His “9 bullets” keep you on track with your copy.

Tools

→ John W. Furst presents Aweber – A Marketing Lesson And Smart Pricing posted at E-Biz Booster Blog, saying, "Are you freaking out? One of the popular Email Marketing Tools provider — AWeber — has new features and new prices. What's in it for you?"

Last but not least, that is yours truly's humble contribution.

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

Aweber – A Marketing Lesson And Smart Pricing

nospam@example.com (John W. Furst) — Mon, 26 May 2008 21:09:14 -0700

Email Marketing Tips

AWeber.com (AWeber Communications, Inc.) is one of the most recommended service providers for email marketing.

For three reasons:

They are devoted to maintain one of the highest email deliverability rates of more than 99% in the industry. That makes sure your messages have the best chance to pass spam filters and block lists on their way to your subscribers inbox.
Essential email marketing features are included without hidden fees.

E.g. Newsletter broadcasting, signup forms, autoresponders, sign up per email, HTML templates, 24/7 easy to use admin interface, unsubscribe and bounce management, various reports, and …
Very competitive and affordable rates.

19.95 $ a month for unlimited email campaigns
with up to 10,000 subscribers.

Well, that one has become history.

Now, AWeber confronts potential buyers with 69.00 $ a month for the same service (unlimited email campaigns for up to 10,000 subscribers).

At first glance that looks like a price increase of a whopping +246 %.

But let me step back for a second and look at this in detail.
(Conclusion: AWeber is still a bargain!)

There is not much rumor on the net about this, because AWeber managed to introduce that price increase rather silently.

Existing customers may remain in the old price plan at their will. AWeber focused on communicating the introduction of two new features and how cool they are.
1. New super fancy tracking and analytics tools and
2. an overall Web site redesign.
Customers will have the choice between upgrading their accounts to include the new features at the new price or sticking with their old plan.

The existence of that choice might be responsible for the silence on the net.
New prospects might not know about the old prices and therefore don't have a reason to complain.

By the way: Even after the price increase AWeber's rates remain competitive. Especially, when you take the quality of service into consideration.

New customers can start with the 500 subscriber plan at 19.00 $ a month. It already comes with all features and no hidden cost. And new customers get a 30 day risk free trial, which means they'll get their money back, if they are not satisfied.

Even a closer look at pricing

A bad taste of this new tiered pricing might come from the fact that 500 seem kind of low, and that 501 subscribers cost as much as 2,500 subscribers. But that's a general feature of that kind of price plan.

AWeber Pricing: Old versus new

A simple example might put your mind at ease. Assume you have a targeted list of 2,501 subscribers that incur a cost of 49.00 $.

What could you do to make some profits?

Would you do anything differently only because your cost has risen to 49.00 $ a month? If you are freaking out now, chances are good that you didn't do anything profitable with your email subscribers anyway. How much revenue are you planning to generate? What is your dream number?

30.00 $ or 40.00 $ a month?

If you see the Internet as a business opportunity and tool, you will have those “dream numbers” in the thousands anyway. So what ?

There are many different flavors of email promotions. It depends on your positioning and your relationship to your email subscribers and your market how you will be able to monetize your list. I give you some examples with the 2,501 subscriber base from above.

2,501 subscribers; 29.00 $ product; 57 buy; 1,653.00 $ revenue

2,501 subscribers; 7.00 $ product; 125 buy;
875.00 $ revenue

2,501 subscribers; 47.00 $ product; 46 buy;
2,162.00 $ revenue

2,501 subscribers; 97.00 $ product; 33 buy;
3,201.00 $ revenue

2,501 subscribers; 497.00 $ product; 11 buy;
5,467.00 $ revenue

2,501 subscribers; 997.00 $ product; 3 buy;
2,991.00 $ revenue

2,501 subscribers; 4,997.00 $ product; 1 buys;
4,997.00 $ revenue

Those examples are picked arbitrarily. What matters is

the quality and responsiveness of the list subscribers
the relationship you have with them
the appealing and value of your offer

If you are great in those aspects, your conversion rates will be much higher than in those examples above.

You can send those subscribers email, after email for no additional cost at Aweber. And Aweber give the tracking capabilities that help you to better manage your campaigns. Sounds like a no brainer. The new tracking features include:

Click Tracking With Your Domain (no aweber.com links in your email again)
New Reports: Track Campaign Activity Over Time, and
Track and Target Subscribers Based On Activity

I hope you are inspired.

Follow proven email marketing strategies. People fail and complain, because they are not following those proven strategies in detail.

Target a market that is proven to be responsive and a market that buys. Check: Are there many advertisers and products for that market?
Turn your Web visitors into email subscribers or you will pay pay-per-click forever.

This is an investment. You need to put in time or money to get people to your Web site at first place. Then, you'll need to give them something of value. … and you need to keep them happy over time.
Sell them your own (preferably) products or services or affiliate products.

Yes, it's true. Money is made by selling something. Many people seem to have trouble understanding this principle.

The marketing lesson learned is: Value first.

AWeber Communications has built its reputation as professional email marketing service provider, and now they moving by introducing the next level of email tracking features.

They are also moving on by finally charging an amount that is a bit closer to what their service is actually worth, and they started to better define their customers. Obviously Aweber wants to deal with business minded customers, who appreciate the value they are providing (Something every business should do, define and select your customers, don't try to appeal to everyone).

You can check out all the features and new prices directly at AWeber Email Marketing Tools (affiliate link)

AWeber remains the service of my choice, and I feel perfectly okay with promoting it that way.

You can start out with professional email marketing tools for just 19.00 $ a month, take full advantage of cutting edge email tracking technology, enjoy the outstanding deliverability of AWeber, and still have a 30 day money back guarantee. They call it “risk free trial”

Check out the new features and pricing AWeber Email Marketing Tools (affiliate link).

Yours
John W. Furst

P.S.: As I am organizing the Carnival of Email Marketing Tips, you certainly can expect more related blog posts from me.

Email Marketing Tips - My New Blog Carnival

nospam@example.com (John W. Furst) — Tue, 20 May 2008 13:30:00 -0700

Email Marketing Tips - Blog Carnival
More Info…

→ Read the latest edition.

You certainly will remember my Tit For Tat Fake Carnival Editions. I have decided to discontinue them altogether for a very simple reason. Lack of value!

It's nice to say Thank You to a carnival editor, who uses your post, but as the quality of many carnivals sucks lately, it did not really provide much additional value to my readers. I guess I have written and complained enough about that.

Time for a change!

I don't claim that I will change the world, but I have spotted a potential info hole in the blogcarnival universe. Tons of carnivals feature articles about personal development, the business mindset, web technology, make lots of money quickly, customer service, etc. But what about …

Email marketing Tips?

There's no particular carnival devoted to this topic. I shall say, there was…

Probably I have spent too much time on the beach this weekend, but I simply decided to create one. Here it is. My…

Email Marketing Tips — Blog Carnival (↑)
How to successfully use email autoresponders and follow-up newsletters in your business.

The facts are as follows:

Description: The tag line says it all! I.e. Tested tips and tricks, copy writing for email campaigns, comparison of providers, scheduling, how to ..., software reviews, web site integration, how to collect email addresses at a fair, legal issues, ..., etc.
Keywords: autoresponder,email,marketing,business,newsletter,list building
Filed under: business
Submission deadline: every second monday at 11pm Pacific time as in Los Angeles, CA, USA
Submission categories: copywriting, tools and services, legal, strategy, general tips
Maintained by: John W. Furst

I will refine the submission guidelines as I move forward with this. And I definitely don't come up with stupid rules, like “1 submission per author, per blog, per edition, but only when the sun shines on the other side of the country you are living in”. It's cumbersome for authors to keep track.

What kind of content seems appropriate?

Again, the tag line, “How to successfully use email autoresponders and follow-up newsletters in your business”, says it all.

Subjects like:

Tested tips and tricks
copy writing for email campaigns
comparison of providers
scheduling
how to …
software reviews
web site integration
squeeze pages know how
how to collect email addresses at a fair
legal issues
the more recent the better
specific advice better than general blabla
…, etc.

I'd like to see a lot of original, recent articles from real people on real Blogs with about info and a real email address.

First edition will be hosted here on this E-Biz Booster Blog on Wednesday, May 28^th, 2008.

Submit your blog article (↑)
before Monday, May 26^th, 2008, 11pm Pacific time as in Los Angeles, CA, USA (GMT -07:00, PDT)
Update: Submission deadline is “every second Monday at 11pm Pacific time as in Los Angeles, CA, USA”

Yours
John W. Furst

Tit For Tat Carnival April 2008

nospam@example.com (John W. Furst) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:17:41 -0700

Thanks For The Carnival

As usual I am posting my fake carnival of carnivals which have used my posts in their editions. You have guessed right, it's just about rewarding them with a backlink.

In previous posts about blog carnivals I have mentioned that I feel the quality of carnivals seems to degrade over time. More and more blog carnivals have become almost automatically created collections of links without much editorial effort. And I had to throw out a number of carnivals for todays post, because they simply did not meet their schedule.

Here is the list of reliable carnivals, that used my mind mapping post this month.

Thanks to the editors.

I more and more doubt that my “Tit For Tat Carnivals” add much value to my readers, since I don't invest the time to go through the carnival editions and handpick a few articles. Sorry for that.

Tell me what you think.
Leave a comment.

I initially wanted to break through the typical “I don't want to deal with you, just publish my post I have submitted!” mindset of most bloggers. But quite honestly I might stop to write those type of posts. This might be the last one of its kind.

Yours
John W. Furst

Update: Another one that came in a bit later.

Issue #7: Thanks from Vida com Esperanca! (↑)

Thanks to this editor, too.