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Archive for January, 2011

It’s starting to get crazy. It used to be a pleasure to get your email. Now it is a chore having to wade through dozens, even hundreds of unwanted email messages a day. Spam has reached epidemic proportions. Here are 5 things that you can do to cut down on how much unwanted junk reaches your inbox.

1) Protect Your Email Address

Make sure that your email address is not visible anywhere on the web. If it is on a webpage it can be harvested by ‘spambots’ – computer programs that scour the Internet for email addresses to add to their spam database. Use a contact form on webpages for people to get in touch. This does not leave a footprint that spambots can use.

2) Use Disposable Email Addresses

You should have one main email address that you protect by only revealing to close friends. Some providers will then allow you to have a number of disposable email addresses that forward all email to your mail email address. You then only give out your disposable email address online.

For example you make an online purchase using a disposable email address. A couple of months later you start getting spam sent to that email address. You can then stop using that address, and start using another disposable one.

3) Use An Email host With Antispam Filters

Some email hosts have antispam functionality built into their system. This will intercept a lot of spam before it even reaches you.

4) Use Personal Antispam Software

There are a number of antispam products that are on the market. Some are built into Internet Security Suites by the likes of big names like Norton and McAfee. There are also free products available such as Cactus Spam Filter

5) Never Reply To A Spammer

If you do receive spam, do not reply to it. This will only confirm that the email address is live and result in more spam being sent to you.

3 Ways To Boost The Effectiveness Of Your Email Marketing Campaigns

With a good mailing list, you can make a nice income. Even if your email list conversion rate is small, with a huge list, this can result in alot of revenue. But some people just don’t know how to get the most from their list. Sure you may have heard that “the money is in the list”, but when you try to implement opt-in email marketing yourself, you achieve dismal results – even with a sizable list. So what’s the problem?

If you’re doing opt-in email marketing as your primary way of selling products and you’re still losing money when you know you should be in the profit zone, then there’s only 1 possible explanation for it. You’re not doing all the things that you should be doing in order to make your campaigns profitable.

You probably just jumped right on in and figured that since the average conversion rate for websites is 1-2%, if I sell using an opt-in list and follow-up on my prospects everyday, then my conversion rate should be way higher than this. Well, this is not necessarily true.

Your reasoning is somewhat sound but if you’re sales are flat, then that means something isn’t working, right? All kinds of things could be working against you. You have people filling in bogus email addresses, your messages could be ending up in the spam folder, you could be emailing your prospects every single day – and they are just tired of seeing your name in their inbox – so they just ignore or delete your message.

All of these are issues that all email marketers face, and are legit reasons for your campaigns not being as profitable as they could be.

But if you’re looking for guidance, and need help on making your email campaigns profitable, then you have landed on the right article. Because I’m going to show you 3 tips for improving the effectiveness of your campaigns – for those subscribers who want to hear from you. Here’s tip number 1:

TIP #1: Build trust amongst your subscribers

To build trust, tell your subscribers who you are and what your story is, and why this is important for them. Simply launching an email list and delivering tips and techniques will get you some sales – but it won’t produce the phenomenal conversion rates that you crave. And if you can get subscribers to know who you are before they join your list, then this is even better.

You can do this by writing articles, posting videos on Youtube, and joining forums and sharing your expertise. This way they can view you as an expert of some sort even before they join your list – so they know you have good and relevant information to share. Getting subscribers via advertising is fine, but be aware that these people will have no knowledge of who you are – so this is why you have to introduce yourself and build trust as much as possible. Here’s tip number 2.

TIP #2: Make your sales page as descriptive as possible

Your subscribers want to believe in what you say about your product, but a so-so sales letter simply won’t do the trick. In fact, the more valuable information you share in your newsletter, the more they want to see and hear about in your products – and you can only tell them about your product’s features and benefits through your sales letter.

Research your market well and talk about all of the problems that they’re facing in their life right now – and how your product can help fix it. This will go a long way in further building trust in you and your products, and to boost your conversion rates. Here’s tip #3:

3) Offer discounts only for subscribers that’s not available for the outside world

Everyone loves a deal, and when you can offer a discount to your subscribers, it makes them feel special. This is and old “cave man” selling technique that still works today. What you want to do is every few months have a “subscriber discount sale” and inform your subscribers that they can get your product or a few of your products at a discount – for only the next 24 hours. This inspires a flurry of excitement, and if your list is large enough, can result in a spur sales quickly for you.

These techniques are simple, but are proven ways to increase your opt-in list profits. Be sure to start using them as soon as possible.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Adrian Hargray is the owner of the Instant-Downloadz.com website where he shows you email marketing secrets you can use to make more money from your email list. To learn more, visit the following website for more details: Email Marketing Tips

3 Tips To Write Email Subject Lines That Will Boost Your Email’s Open Rate

The number one factor that will determine if a new business prospect will open up your email, is the subject line. This world lives and breathes by emails. Even those who don’t have their own personal computers or laptops at the very least have email accounts. So it makes sense for anyone starting an email marketing campaign to create email subjects that are compelling, to the point, and that beg the reader to open the message. Here’s a look at some methods that will create emails that are begging to be read, or that at least pique the curiosity enough to be read.

1) It needs to be short and yet to the point:

It might be tempting to write an email subject line that reads very passive. It’s intimidating to reach out to those who might not have ever heard of us. There are so many other emails, and forms of media competing for their attention. Who’s to say that they will really care about what you have to say, or about what you have to advertise and sell? The fact is that you have to believe in what you have to offer enough to present it in a bold and pointed way. Really, if you don’t feel confident in what you are saying or advertising, then why should the reader?

2) It should be engaging:

It’s not enough to say, “Read me please”, or “For you kind reader”. So what? These subject lines are guaranteed to go right to the trash bin. Not only are these subject lines boring and weak, they don’t tell the reader anything. If anything, they can be perceived as being emails containing viruses or other malware. This is the last thing that you would want your advertising to suggest. So be sure to create a subject line that makes a person say “Hmm”, and then want to open the email for more information

3) It should be relative to the body of the email:

If you create a subject line that has nothing to do with the body of the email, all you will succeed in doing is making people very angry. Then they will block your emails forever. Some people think that if they create a sensational email subject line they will automatically draw more readers. Bait and switch is never a good idea. Bottom line, your subject line should always relate to the body of the email.
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3 Tips For Using Email Autoresponders To Increase Your Sales

To have success in your internet marketing business, you need a list. Backend sales account for 80% of all business revenue, and if youre not following up on your prospects and customers, then youre missing out on alot of sales. So in this article, I am going to show you some tips for following up on your prospects and customers for the best results as possible.

The one thing that you will need is an autoresponder. With an autoresponder, you automatically email and follow-up on your prospects at given time intervals. Autoresponders work for you everyday non-stop, and this is the kind of productivity that you need in your business.

Heres the first tip for using autoresponders properly in your online business.

1) Send your emails in text form

You always want to send your emails out to prospects and customers in text form. This way you can get through the spam filters and reach your intended prospect. Alot of users view HTML emails as an ad and this isnt the kind of thing that you want your customer to be thinking. You want your customer to think that its a personal email from you to them. Personalization can increase your response and make you alot more money if you have a big list.

You dont have to have alot of fancy graphics to get your message across. Messages like these are huge and may have a hard time passing the spam filter. So do yourself a favor and send your emails in text form. Its one of the best things that you can do for your email marketing efforts.

2) Use personalization

As I stated above, personalization will increase your response rates. You want to include your recipients name into all emails so that you can get their attention and help them to focus in on your email. You can even take this tip further by personalizing the landing page that you want them to visit, but this option is totally up to you.

You want to include your customers name in the subject line and in the body of your emails. This will help you to make more money in the long run and alot of autoresponders make it extremely easy for you to do so when creating your emails. This small extra effort on your part will make a huge difference in your bottom line, so be sure to start using it today.

3) Email more frequently

You want to email your prospects and customers more frequently. If you dont email your customers at all right now, then you will want to email them at least once per month. And when emailing your customers, you want to make your offers relevant.

Dont just send an email just to send one – your goal is to make money with your emails. You can setup a simple autoresponder series of messages that are set to go out every 30 days. This will allow you to email once per month and will allow you to make more money in your business.

All of these autoresponder tips will allow you to earn more money in your business. Be sure to start using them today to start seeing better results from your email marketing efforts.

3 More Additional Ways To Grow Your Email Marketing List

Majority of companies would give you the same answer when you ask them as to how they grow their email marketing list. Heres their regular answer: creating newsletter signup on their sites, exchanging business cards at trade shows and purchasing lists.
There is a need for companies to get active subscribers regularly, this is the way to ensure that email marketing becomes effective and generates regular income. Read on to find the three additional techniques that would help you grow your email list :
Use a Facebook pay-per-click campaign to advertise your offering. Facebook is an excellent platform to generate subscribers for your newsletter. Using Facebook pay-per-click campaigns, you have the opportunity to advertise your newsletter to its specific demographic; this would achieve excellent results for you. Run a test on your sign-up form. Heres the way to go when you want to generate the maximum number of those subscribing newly to your email list; Placement of your form should be above the fold. You can double the number of your new subscribers by placing your form above the fold. Every webpage should contain your form; this way, visitors would be able to sign-up from any page they land on. Let your subscribers know what they are signing up for. Ensure that you tell them what they will gain by signing up for your newsletter. Also, set expectations from the onset (it is the best way to get quality subscribers) do you send your newsletter weekly, daily or monthly? Give a free item for signing up. This is an excellent way to attract people to sign up. The freebie could be a sample packet or white paper. Freebie also has the additional benefit of showcasing your value.

Swing into action, start building a larger and more improved email marketing list right away.

Have you seen those emails that have signatures that are just great? They look professional and catch your eye. Well now you can discover how to make one like that for your own email! For this, I have written up 20 tips that will help you in knowing how to create your email signature the best they can be.

1. Store it as short as you can whilst outlining all of the information you consider most eminent (4 lines is the customary guideline).

2. Summarize information into smaller amount of lines through adopting pipes () or colons (::) to set asunder the writing.

3. Keep in mind that simple open-and-shut writing is most fitting; skip colors, choice fonts and artwork.

4. Adopt the arrived at signature separator (– ) to help your email footer get accepted as such by email clients.

5. Take it easy with HTML coding as it may not resemble how you want it to look like for every user.

6. Make sure you test your email footer with as many email programs as you can, particularly if you utilise HTML, because you will find that the way each email client renders HTML will be different..

7. Make sure your logo(s) or other images are not too large, otherwise your email signature will take too long to load. Additionally, remember to upload the files to your server, and use an absolute URL – that means the full web address, not just /image1.png, etc.

8. Consider using an email email footer service if you have specific coding needs or desire to include pictures and other design elements.

9. Provide written out URLs instead of employing hyperlinks in your email to make secure the link will go through in the sent message.

10. skip including multiple phone numbers and email addresses. Pick your contact preference and get rid of the rest.

11. simply include IM details and Skype consider information if you desire to be contacted that way by anyone who sees your message.

12. pass over your mailing address – not every recipient wants or should have access to that data.

13. Include links to your most central social media profiles, simply if they are appropriate.

14. Include your email address. You can’t rely on various email clients to include header information in replies and forwards.

15. Create different versions, both in length and content and know when to adopt each version (i.e. use a shorter version on replies).

16. Make sure you update your signature on your mobile device if you frequently adopt it to direct messages. Here are few quick how-to’s on popular devices:

17. Don’t attach your vCard to your messages. Not every user uses them and even those that do don’t need to receive them repeatedly.

18. Reconsider including a quote; as it can take excessive space and it could give the wrong impression.

19. leave out including a legal disclaimer unless required to do so.

20. avoid including a virus-checked message at the bottom of every email. They are unnessary and annoying.

Email Marketing 15 Tips For Good Email Subject Lines

Use a number in your subject line. This will improve response rate. For example, if you are including five tips in your email, then using 5 Tips… as part of your subject line will increase open rates. For example:

7 Cutting Edge Strategies to Increase Sales…

10 Essential Secrets to Website Success…

13 Groundbreaking Ideas for Saving Money…

10 Ways to Increase Sales…

7 Mistakes to Avoid…

End subject line with three ellipses… Notice the three little ellipses (…) in the above examples of good subject lines. These are commonly used by good copywriters because human beings are conditioned to find out more when an idea has been planted in their mind, and so they read on to find out what follows. Ellipses act like a subliminal prod. The reader has had this unfinished thought planted in his mind, a loop has been opened, and the only way to close the loop is to read what follows.

Include an identifier at the beginning of every subject line. Particularly when your subscribers are expecting to receive a series of emails from you, helps brand your email as instantly recognisable as coming from you. You could use your name, business name or a number in a sequence, at the start of the subject line.

For example: Fast Profits Video #1………. Fast Profits Video #2………. and so on.

When you consistently provide quality content in your emails and your subscribers like to read them, including an identifier in the subject line helps make your emails easily recognisable so they will be opened and read.

Your subject line must be consistent with the content in your email, however you state it. When your subscribers open your email they need to be in the right frame of mind to read it, if you want them to take action on the email.

Use Email Subject Line Swipe Files to give you inspiration. Monitor your subject line open rates to see which subject lines are performing best. You should maintain a swipe file of all your best subject lines. Get ideas from top direct mail companies and magazine covers because they know what they are doing.

For example:

The Biggest Mistake . Make

The Real Secret to .

The Fastest Way to .

Ask a question in your subject line that can only be answered by reading your message. Subject lines that ask a question arouse curiosity and imply that a solution is being offered within the email.

For example:

Sharon, are you tired of feeling overwhelmed?

John, do you have time to relax at the end of the day?

Use punchy, exciting words and phrases in your subject line to create interest.

For example:

the latest breakthrough

a novel approach

ahead of its time

essential secrets

cutting edge

groundbreaking

You can get some great ideas from Words That Sell by Richard Bayan. This is an excellent thesaurus type of book which can be a great source of inspiration for all kinds of copywriting both online and offline.

Here are the 12 most powerful words in the English language, according to Yale University researchers, proven to attract attention and stir emotion in readers:

You, Save, Results, Health, Love, Proven, Money, New, Easy, Safety, Discovery, Guaranteed

Use these words in your subject lines, in your opening sentences, and in the body of your email.

Use the word this in your subject line. This is so powerful because it arouses the recipients curiosity, and they must open the email to find out what this is. Other powerful e-mail openers are here and about your…

Use the time benefit factor in your subject line if your product or service will save people time.

Example:

Achieve the same fitness levels in half the time…

Complete priority tasks faster and save time…

Create scarcity and urgency in your subject line if your offer is limited by time or quantity:

Example:

Only 4 days left to buy at our special offer price…

Just 7 more days to book your exclusive spa treatment…

Mike, you have just 48 hours to respond…

Only 7 positions left, book your place now…

Just 175 copies remaining, act fast…

Your emails will become more effective when you become good at communicating that something is time-sensitive or quantity-bound and it simply cannot be ignored. What do YOU do when you feel the sense of urgency or scarcity?

Command action in your subject line by encouraging your subscriber to act immediately:

Examples:

Act now, John, youll be glad you did…

Linda, you must watch this incredible video…

Use breaking news in your subject line if you are promoting something brand new:

Latest iPhone now available online…

Announcing official launch of new Range Rover…

Refer to quality content and/or advice in your subject line when including content that teaches, informs or instructs:

Example:

Sammy, 5 tips for saving fuel…

Elizabeth, 10 steps to a stress free life…

Use a capital letter only at the beginning of the first word of your subject line. Capitalising the initial letter of each word in a subject line, or using all CAPS throughout, are definitely out. These shout SPAM and your email may not be delivered.

Keep length of subject line less than 60 characters. The shorter your subject line the better endeavour to keep it under 50 characters in length because research has indicated that subject lines with 50 or fewer characters had click through rates 75% higher than for those with 51 characters or more. 60 characters is the absolute maximum length you want. You want to avoid part of your subject line being cut off as a result of the size of the recipients screen or their screen resolution.

This information has been extracted from my new ebook just published on creating a money making website.

Segmenting your email lists is an effective but rarely used techniques. In this article, I want to share with you 11 different ways you can segment your email lists.

Prospects that are now your customers

The moment any email list member becomes a new customer, it is time to switch them to a different level of your list. Special offer emails will be designed to this group of individuals and will not be sending to your existing prospects list.

Product lines ordered

If your current corporation has a large collection of unique product lines, it is a great idea to segment your prospective buyers and also clients by product or service line. Provide this segment certain offers as well as content relevant to the products they are interested in or even purchased.

Average ticket value

Many times a buyer of who paid $1,000+ on average is actually worth far more than a client that will ordered goods from you than those that order about $100 on average.

Key buyers

VIP consumers will love to be recognized remembered and offered better attention. Send gifts and exclusive material or information and some of your best promotions to them.

Newest visit

If you have transactional customers who only purchase your type of product once every 3 years (for example), do you think it is a smart idea to segment this type of buyer so the moment you identify their recent visit or click of a specific campaign through your site, that they would be the perfect target for increased attention and offers vs. other times with this form of customer buying cycle?

Demographics

Demographics might include things like age, race, gender, education levels, career, place of home, relationship status, number of children, income or additional socio-economic aspects, etc.

This isn’t to be confused with “Psychographics” or the identification of a particular characteristics that your customers possess that would have an impact on their buying selections. These could possibly be factors that include understanding their behaviour, passions, ideas, ethnic identity, etc.

Interest-based preferences

If you have done surveys within the last year, you no doubt know a number of email members have different interests which will help you classify their interest levels in a variety of offerings associated with your primary product or service.

Open rate or CTR action rates

Basically, email list members which open your e-newsletter or even click on something on a frequent basis are clearly a lot more engaged as compared to members that do not click on things… for that reason, you can test delivering a higher regularity to your most engaged members to boost conversion or response.

Sales Produces Sales: (Follow Up Campaigns)

As soon as you’ve segmented your clients from your prospects, its time to speed up the series of emails that they’ll have as a distinct email segment based on the different types of products they bought. Your ultimate goal would be to boost the wise decision they made by buying from you and help them to purchase the next phase of items from you.

Acquisition Channels

Wherever your email members came from is called an acquisition channel’ and different acquisition channels include different characteristics. Example: Co-registration email list members will usually react or even convert in different ways compared to organically obtained email members.

Location

Your prospects or clients in a foreign country seriously don’t need to read about your own domestic holiday talk. Better to segment by the major countries you serve to be able to offer geo-targeted emails that are much more linked to your members.