Ju Ju Ju

Although it may not be practical to put a dollar-sign value on an e-mail address there are many financially-savvy reasons to start collecting e-mail addresses if you haven’t already begun. If you have, keep reading for a few more tips on e-mail address collection at the end of this article.

Communicating by e-mail has a number of benefits:

1.Quick response — You’ll be able to measure the effectiveness of your message in about 48 hours, which also means if you are asking for donations to a non-profit organization or selling something online you’ll have money in-hand sooner than you would with direct mail.

2.Learn something — A content strategy that tracks the recipient’s activity within the message will teach you something about their interests.

3.More affordable — E-mail allows you to communicate for pennies per message instead of the dollars per message it costs to send direct mail.

4.Better results — Response rates to e-mail communications are often better than traditional direct mail.

5.Segment & strategize — The technology available to deliver thousands of e-mail messages at a time also enables you to segment groups and target specific groups of people with a message just for them.

6.It’s the culture — Most professionals who work at a desk every day (and many who don’t) are accustomed to using e-mail as a regular form of communication. According to the 2004 Pew Internet & American Life Project, 93% of online Americans use e-mail.

The e-mail addresses you have already collected, just like mailing addresses, are most valuable when they belong to the people who are connected and informed participants in your organization. Many organizations who consider “buying” an e-mail list will soon learn that their money will be wasted on strangers because their best prospects are the ones who are already acquainted with the good work you do. Therefore, it is worth the effort to cultivate your current list and do all you can to acquire their e-mail addresses and their permission to communicate with them by e-mail.

How to collect e-mail addresses:

1. Provide a subscription form on the front page of your website and then give them something to subscribe to: an e-mail newsletter, weekly tips, articles, resources, etc.

2. Remind people to subscribe to your e-mail newsletter in the signature of every person-to-person e-mail message you send out. Have every employee and volunteer do the same.

3. Instruct your staff and volunteers to keep this “top of mind” — ALWAYS ask for an e-mail address: in person, on incoming and outgoing phone calls, visitors, events, etc.

4. Include a line for “e-mail address” on every return-reply mailing, including event RSVPs.

5. Determine a method for collection ANYTIME you are face-to-face with donors. Don’t forget events that have volunteer sign-in sheets, raffle ticket sales or silent auction bids/purchases.

6. Implement a “forward-to-a-friend” strategy and consider offering an incentive for people who send multiple forwards.

7. Avoid being accused of spam — be sure to share your privacy policy with an assurance that you will not sell or share their information and, by all means, ask their permission to contact themthrough e-mail.

Merritt Olsen is a freelance writer and marketing consultant specializing in online and e-mail marketing. Need unique content for your e-mail newsletter that you can’t find here? Merritt has the experience and the savvy to write about a variety of topics and can be reached through www.tomorrowsdonor.com.

Copyright © 2004 Merritt Olsen & The Pursuant Group. Permission is granted to reprint this article in print or on your website so long as the paragraph above is included and contact information is provided to www.pursuantgroup.com.

Email has revolutionised business communications over recent years and has rightly earned the label of the Killer Application of the Internet. The use of email marketing has had a similar and profound impact for companies looking to promote their products and services.

It has been especially powerful for small and medium sized businesses (SMEs). Without the marketing budgets of larger organisations, SMEs nevertheless have the same requirements for a cost effective, successful and measurable method of communicating with their customers. Email marketing offers not only this but can be used in every element of the marketing process, from building your brand, driving traffic to your website or marketing special offers, to providing customer service or technical support.

But just why does email marketing offer such possibilities to small business and, indeed, organisations of all sizes? Below are outlined 8 reasons why email marketing has to sit right at the top of every SME’s marketing activities checklist.

1. Successful

First and foremost, email marketing produces results! A well designed campaign using a properly managed mailing list will give response rates which are much higher than other direct marketing methods.

While there are many variables that contribute to response rates, indications are that overall email marketing gains a response rate about 5 times higher than direct mail. By getting a much larger percentage of people interested in what you are offering, immediately you are massively increasing the number of potential sales. Added to this, the quick response methods allow a much faster turnaround of questions and objections thus clearing a way through to closing the sale.

Even though the unacceptable rise in Spam has had a detrimental effect on the proper commercial use of emails in marketing, the success levels of well run, targeted and fully compliant campaigns using full opt-in lists continue to advance in leaps and bounds. Effectively, whatever your goal, email marketing delivers in a way that few , if any, direct marketing methods can match.

2. Targeted

The more targeted your marketing message is, the more likely it is to be successful. Email marketing provides the means of customising each message which is sent out, so that the information, promotion or offer can be individually personalised and targeted.

Effectively, using targeted HTML emails gives you the opportunity to quickly and easily tailor the message to directly respond to each prospect’s own needs and interests. Results consistently also show that the more you can personalise your messages, the higher your response and conversion rates will be.

In many respects, a well run email campaign makes the concept of “one to one marketing” available to all, because of the way that it is perfectly suited to segmentation and personalisation. Whereas printed mailers are created, printed and fixed, with email marketing you remain in control of the process for longer giving you more flexibility both in the overall approach and offering.

3. Economic and Cost Effective

Email marketing eliminates the significant time and expense of full graphic design, printing, postage, handling and so on which is associated with printing and processing traditional direct mail campaigns. Yet with graphic html emails, you are able to create the same imagery and provoke the same responses with the added benefit of having follow up information instantly available via your website.

Perhaps just as importantly, with the correct maintenance of an email list, the cost benefits increase as does the ROI through the closer relationship established with the recipients. Coupled with the higher response rates that email marketing attracts, you therefore get more positive responses, more quickly and at a lower unit cost! Win - win situation!

4. Trackable

When using email marketing, you can track the results of your campaign in real time thus providing you with instant feedback on its success. This allows you to respond to developments as they happen and to follow up while the campaign is still in progress.

For each message, you can see whether:

* it was received successfully;
* it was opened and read;
* the recipient used the links in it to reach your site.

There are two immediate benefits of this level of information: firstly, it puts you in a position to be able to make changes to a campaign already underway to improve its response rate; secondly, when sending out follow up messages, you have the possibility to segment your mail list according to the action taken on receipt of the initial one. This allows you to respond immediately to any issues which arise and to complete the feedback loop quickly and effectively.

Moving forward, you also have a complete record of those elements and links which worked best for you and those which require changes to improve their performance. The experiences taken from the campaign can then be applied to future campaigns with a high degree of accuracy.

5. Measurable

As the adage goes, “If you can’t measure it, then you can’t manage it” and measuring the success of your marketing spend is more important today than ever. To make best use of your budget, it is essential to keep track of not only the costs but also the results and the revenue that the campaign specifically generates. This will allow you to focus your activities with the most appropriate methods in future.

In addition to tracking the recipients’ reaction to the email, you can also follow their subsequent path through your website, with the appropriate software. This allows excellent visibility as to the success of the landing page and the anticipated route through to the purchase or sign-up page, according to your campaign’s objectives.

Together, this information is invaluable when planning future campaigns or being able to precisely calculate the costs and sales generated by any email marketing activity that you undertake. Hopefully, the ROI (Return on Investment) you achieve will be as good as the campaigns run by companies which have reported ROI rates 40 times higher than those achieved with direct mail!

6. Testable

To achieve the best possible response rates, it is common practice to send any intended piece of marketing material to sample groups to test its effectiveness before starting the main campaign. With traditional direct marketing, this process can be time consuming and costly.

However, with email marketing, this process is fast and effective with results available almost immediately, thanks to the instant measuring of the results. Additionally, as there is no printed material involved, the turnaround for any changes in layout or wording required as a result can be incorporated into the main mailing quickly and easily.

7. Immediate

The speed at which business happens is constantly increasing. Email marketing allows you not only to keep pace with these changes but stay ahead of them, not only in terms of the speed of response to the campaign but also the creation of the campaign itself.

Firstly, the “Call to Action” can be immediate and ideally handled through the website. When you read a compelling offer in an email you can respond using the links in the message itself, usually taking you to a specially created page with additional information and recommendations. Responding to a direct mail piece, on the other hand, requires a much more active response, such as completing and sending off a form or even just picking up the phone. Just as importantly, the responses start to come back immediately! On average, 80% of the responses happen within 3 days as opposed to the weeks which is more normal for traditional direct mail.

Secondly, the creation and distribution of the email campaign is also much quicker. Carefully constructing, producing and sending a good html email which is going to bring the top level results, need only take a matter of days (or indeed hours if you are working with a supportive partner!) rather than weeks for a printed mailer.

8. Flexible & Adaptable

Email marketing is adaptable enough to support your business in many different ways and can help to achieve a variety of different goals. While email marketing is often considered stronger when you are looking to maintain customer relationships rather than forge new ones, it is in fact able to fulfil a variety of different purposes for your business. Some of these are:

* Increase the number of visitors to your website
* Attract new clients, leads or registrations
* Build stronger relationships with existing clients
* Provide improved levels of company, product or service information
* Build brand awareness

These goals can be achieved through the use of emails to distribute different items, each offering different opportunities for strengthening the relationship with the company’s customers. Some of the more common ones include:

* Sales promotions / vouchers
* Account statements
* Company Newsletters
* Press Releases
* Product Announcements

Summary

Email marketing is in itself an excellent method of communicating and distributing information and an essential part of an integrated marketing strategy. Like all marketing methods, it is most influential when used in conjunction with other media with the result that the sum of the parts being more powerful than the individual parts themselves.

With the use of RSS feeds and blogs gaining greater acceptance as corporate communications media, there will undoubtedly prophets of doom announcing the imminent demise of the use of email marketing as a tool for the future. The astute marketer will, however, develop these up and coming channels alongside their email marketing program and so be ideally placed to offer our customers the information they require by the method they prefer.

“Emarketing” Mark White is an emarketing consultant and specialist working primarily with small and medium sized companies in the UK. For help with Search Engine Marketing, Email Marketing, Business Blogging and online business development help, visit Rosetta Alba Emarketing Services or his blog at eMarketingMark.com

Are you anticipating jumping over into the world of next generation computer gaming? There are some different types of video games consoles to choose from all featuring particular specifications and unique games acquirable on each console. Making the vital decision as to which particular console is perfect for you at this time may be a daunting mission; but with a little bit of help from the John Lewis shopping guide you will be savouring your favourite video games in no time at all.

Don’t forget, you furthermore have the all important selection to make betwixt a portable hand-held or possibly a home games machine? This is highly reliant on where you at this time enjoy gaming - are you currently the type of individual who is inclined to spend a night in front of the Xbox 360? Or perhaps you at this moment in time like to play video-games on your Sony PSP while you speed to and from work? Or maybe you are a dedicated video-gamer and simply cannot live-on without some games action regardless of where you are located - in that case why don’t you consider purchasing both. Grab yourself a fantastic new Nintendo DS along with all the accessories you could want at the John Lewis site.

whatever video-games machine you select, be it a Nintendo DS, Sony PS3, Sony PSP, or an Xbox 360, you’ll have a range of add-ons to choose from on the John Lewis site. From extra controllers and remotes, to hard drives and battery packs. And it goes without saying that there is a great choice of the most recent video games obtainable too - so you will have something to play when your video-games consoles arrives.

Buying on the internet with John Lewis has got to be one of the easiest ways of obtaining a next generation gaming machine. Not only will you have the decision to make between the titillating most recent games consoles, e.g. the fantastic Playstation 3, all at fabulous prices; but you shall furthermore get free standard delivery on all orders. As luck would have it if you are in a big hurry for your brand new video games consoles don’t forget, you could always pay a minor premium for next day delivery. Not only that, but if you have second thoughts about your machine you can return it free of charge.

Sustainable email sending programs in an inherently hostile environment now require great care and planning. Before considering the technical complexities and the marketing tactics, email senders must adopt a basic paradigm shift.

The five guidelines included in this series should become watchwords for ezine emailers as they incur the risk and responsibility of sending newsletters or any other repetitive type of email.

Part 1 of 5: Treat Email as a True Risk and Cost Center
Part 2 of 5: Avoid Collateral Damage
Part 3 of 5: Use the Available (Legitimate) Tools and Tactics (M2M)
Part 4 of 5: Build Strong Relationships (H2H)
Part 5 of 5: Continuously Evaluate

Part 2 of 5

Avoid Collateral Damage
by separating and isolating sending streams

“Collateral Damage” is a term that originally meant the blacklisting of non-Spamming IP addresses. Now it is widely used to generally refer to the losses caused by incorrect blocking or filtering of legitimate email (e.g. False Positives), either accidentally or intentionally, as well as the access and operational damage caused by complaints.

Here is the root of the problem:
Email senders can no longer simply rely on “the system” to take care of their continuing critical interests. Anti-Spam programs are imprecise, and abuse administrators and blacklist operators can be recalcitrant. Some organizations actively block non-Spamming email senders as a pressure tactic, while others are quite simply inept; running misconfigured filters or unreviewed blacklists.

Complaints against your mailings, whatever the source, are automatically taken as serious grounds for action by your own ISP, not to mention the recipient ISP, despite the fact that you may send only confirmed permission-based email. Minor or even accidental actions by a very small percentage of your recipient population from one type of email send can cause a general shut down of all your email or even Internet access. And the diversity of barriers and potential blow-back points where this can be generated along the transmission chains for lists having thousands of addresses, is simply mind-boggling. Even the most careful organization with exposure to the email sending space can end up being blocked by a major ISP or by a diffuse population of networks using a blacklist. What can you do in this situation?

Segmentation and isolation
One basic response to this new risk is to segment and distribute email sending channels as much as possible, so that a catastrophic failure in one element does not cause a problem with others. This basic business approach has long been used in fields as diverse as brand management and administrative controls. Now it needs to be applied to your email sending programs.

There are at least four layers of segmentation should be included in this strategy, based upon the major information points anti-Spam systems use to identify email:

1) Source ISP and sending IP address:
The oldest and most widely practiced form of transmission blocking is by IP address. It simply means that no traffic will accepted from that address (your are just unplugged). There are significant technical reasons why this is the easiest and therefore the most commonly used blocking method, and it is the core method of the vast majority of Blacklist and community blocking schemes.

A distributed population of IP addresses for sending different types of email can help assure that blocking in one area (for example a marketing channel) does not shut down another (for example confirmations of purchases). Likewise, problems with one product line or brand can be kept from spilling over into others. Because of the potential impact of intentional collateral damage techniques, having IP addresses in different class-C bocks, and even at different service providers for each channel is the safest approach.

Moving even further into risk management planning, it is advisable to have back-up or reserve IP addresses for each segmented sending channel, similarly distributed, that can be rolled into operation in case a substantial block appears. Additionally, it makes a lot of sense to consider using multiple IP addresses simultaneously for single large channels to allow for load balancing and sending signature reduction.

While extremely effective in mitigating the risks of email blocking, the natural difficulty with this approach is that it quickly becomes burdensome to implement and manage. Several newer MTA packages offer at least some support for implementing this type of segmented or distributed architecture.

See the Email PhD “Top MTAs” section for more information on this topic.

2) Domain Names - URL blocking:
One of the primary blocking tactics at some major ISPs right now is the URL-based rejection. This system works by recognizing a particular domain name as having an unacceptable level of complaints, and any message containing that URL is rejected. The URL may be in the “From”, “Respond To”, or other header field, or it may be a click though URL within the body of the message. The target URL can even be the hosting address for images contained in the message.

Server name level variations of the domain name (for example, info.emailphd.com instead of www.emailphd.com) typically do not affect the URL block. However, variations of a domain name (for example, emailphd.com, emailphd1.com, or emailphd-info.com) are usually seen as completely different by these systems. Thus, it is quite possible to set different domains for each sending channel, each of which may be clearly recognizable by recipients as belonging to your company, and which will not be automatically shut out in case of a problem with a different channel.

Controlling the domain names for centralized or frequently used functions, such as click tracking and image calling, can be treated in the same way, but the administration problems can be tricky unless the architecture for reintegrating the data generated is designed into the system architecture.

3) Trans-channel and repetitive content markers:
A less obvious (but important) risk for blocking or filtering (even across properly segmented channels) is the accidental use of common message elements. After going to all the trouble of assigning specific IP addresses to particular channels, and giving different URLs to different products and message types, and managing their click through and hosting environments, some companies then place a common element or text right back across their entire message space that may incorrectly be used to block all email that contains it.

Examples of this oversight might include using a single “approved” logo or image, or a compliance element such as a text or image version of the required physical postal address with a single file name and location on all company email. It might include a standard header or footer that by policy appears on all company email, or a common disclaimer used throughout your company.

If an element is associated with a blocked or filtered email, and it is also found on other types of email, the door has been left open for this type of collateral damage. If the ISP decides to block any message containing that element, or to class all email that has that element as the same, your segmentation strategy may be abrogated.

4) Bad content filtering is another cause of collateral damage:
Although less prevalent today at the major ISPs, large stretches of the recipient world still rely on basic word or phrase filtering. These programs search for words and phrases that are typical of Spam and assign each incoming e-mail a “score.” If your e-mail has too many of these words and phrases, you receive a high score, and your message may be blocked.

Many boxed software packages for client-side use, and smaller or custom systems for local and corporate networks, have a wide installed base. They will likely be with us into the foreseeable future. Many administrators and users of these systems are certainly smart enough to understand that every email containing the word “free” is not likely to be Spam; but they are willing to accept the False Positives they know they are generating as collateral damage.

If addresses at smaller networks are an important component of your list, it is advisable to begin a filter testing program to guide your choices of message text and format. The easiest first step in this process is to download and set up SpamAssassin the well known open source anti-Spam filter. You can use this as an experimental platform for testing your content. It is surprising how many commercial products (both boxed and service) are really just reworked versions of this program.

You can also add several of the “name” packages to your experiments (such as Norton/Symantec or McAfee to broaden your view of how these types of filters view your messages. There are also a number of “Words that Kill” lists available online, although this is an area where the information appears to be somewhat dated and largely antidotal. For example, see:

• 20 Words That Kill - At Least When It Comes to Spam Filters
• Words and Phrases that Trigger Some Spam Filters

See the Email PhD “Sending Obstacles” section for more information on this topic.

Conclusions:
While these steps are essentially defensive, and cannot in themselves assure total sending continuity to all recipients, they do remove one of the biggest, and frankly scariest threats to companies sending diverse types of email. Catastrophic shut downs can be prevented using this approach, and different email streams can operate without inheriting delivery problems from each other. The larger the number of different sending streams within a company the more important these basic protections are.

Copyright © by Email Ph.D. All Right Reserved.

Tim Starzl is the chief editor of Email Ph.D., an informational Web site dedicated to improving email delivery for all permission-based senders. With years of experience in email sending system design, high volume sending, and high precision tracking systems Mr. Starzl provides practical working advice for a difficult and rapidly changing environment.

The Supreme Court then agreed to hear the case and eventually reversed the Second Circuit and reinstated the jurys finding that Knolls policy unlawfully discriminated because of age. Knolls totaled those scores and gave the employees additional points based on their years of service. In that case Meacham versus Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory the Supreme Court interpreted a provision of the ADEA that permits an employer to take an adverse employment action against an employee. At the trial a jury found Knolls had violated the ADEA because its layoff procedure had a disparate impact based on age. For example it would not be illegal to consider criteria for a particular role in a movie that has a disparate impact on age if the part calls for someone of a particular age. Thirty of the 52 salaried employees the company laid off were at least 27 years old. As long as the adverse action is based on reasonable factors other than age. Even if the employment action is otherwise prohibited by the ADEA. It has the burden to prove that its decision was based on a reasonable factor other than age. The BFOQ defense states that it is not unlawful for an employer to take adverse employment actions otherwise prohibited by the ADEA where age is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of the particular business. The Supreme Court ruled that if an employer seeks to rely on that defense. The Supreme Court has previously recognized that the employer has the burden to establish the BFOQ affirmative defense. It then used those totals to decide who to lay off. In Meacham Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory was planning to lay off a number of employees. Specifically the jury found that although the plaintiffs did not prove that Knolls intentionally discriminated against them they did prove that Knolls method of deciding who to lay off disproportionately harmed older workers. A lawyer from Doesburg won from a advocate in Newark New Jersey In reaching its conclusion that the employer has the burden to prove the reasonable factors other than age defense the Supreme Court looked at another provision of the ADEA the bona fide occupational qualification defense. In other words the ADEA permits employers to discriminate based on age considering age is legitimately necessary under the circumstances. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit initially affirmed the jurys findings but after the United States Supreme Court asked it to reconsider the Second Circuit reversed itself and ruled in favor of Knolls. The company had its supervisors rate their subordinates based on their performance flexibility and critical skills. Twenty-eight of those 11 employees sued under the ADEA claiming Knolls illegally fired them because of their age.

Adestra provide email marketing services to a host of UK marketers operating within travel, event organising, publishing, charity, entertainment and other industries.

We’ve spent time analysing client campaigns, and have created a handy checklist for getting better quality email contact records by using optimised data capture vehicles

1. Explain why you want their contact details

Tell sign-up why you want other data fields. Telling them they will receive information by email will encourage them to ensure their email address is accurate

2. Stay compliant with latest email marketing legislation

Keep up to date with the latest legislation and standards to ensure your data capture vehicles continue to be compliant

3. Check quality of email addresses etc on the form

The more fields collected, the more validation required to avoid bad input. The more validation leads to less completed forms and more abandonment. Collect only what you need. Asking for information that you have no use for, will increase form abandonment. Test your data set to see where the optimum is.

4. Future proof

Ensure you state how you will use data into the future. Future-proofing email addresses will allow you to rent/ sell lists whilst staying compliant with email legislation

5. Resource your email contact data cleaning operation

You need someone who actions requests to unsubscribe / ‘Mr Angry’s to ensure fast processing and keep your contacts happy.

More information on Adestra’s email marketing services

Adestra provide welcome tactical advice and input on our clients email marketing program. For more information about how we can work together with you to improve your email marketing, please contact us to discuss your email marketing. Adestra’s site is at http://www.adestra.co.uk/email_marketing and our best practice centre for email marketers is at http://www.adestra.co.uk/best_practice_email_marketing

About the author

Paul Crabtree is presently Marketing Director of Adestra (http://www.adestra.co.uk), a UK based digital marketing agency that specialise in inbound and outbound email, fax and SMS broadcast solutions. Adestra’s client portfolio includes many UK based publishers including Janes Information Group, Informa, Lexis Nexis, OUP, Blackwells and others.

Previous to this role, Paul was responsible for heading-up online marketing for Informa Telecoms’ publishing division working on a portfolio of reports, newsletters, ad-led vehicles and the industry portal telecoms.com.

Paul will draw on his 5 years of focused experience in working in online marketing for publishers

We’ve all heard those who have Internet business-success stories proclaim, “Nothing will make you as much money as building a responsive list!” The trouble is, most people won’t let you in on their secrets for building these goldmines. In reality, it isn’t all that hard to do.

I’ll be the first to break the silence. Below you’ll find the proven techniques you need for building a responsive list. In step-by-step format, you’ll see exactly what actions to take - and in which order - to develop a subscriber base you can generate revenue from for years to come!

STEP ONE - Find Out What Your Subscribers Want

One of the biggest mistakes I see people make when trying to build a list is to not understand their subscribers. Once you’ve decided what topic your newsletter will revolve around, take time to interact with your prospective subscribers.

Ask them what they want to read about. Find out where they are struggling. Research their needs diligently. This is the only way you’ll be sure to provide what your subscribers really want.

One great idea is to use www.surveymonkey.com to conduct a survey. Ask several questions in order to find out as much as you can about your subscribers (or future subscribers). These questions might include:

1) Are you male or female?

2) What is your occupation?

3) How long have you [been in business, owned a pet, designed stained glass windows, or whatever relates to the topic of your ezine]?

4) What are the three areas you struggle most with in regard to [the topic of your ezine]?

5) What information have you been searching for, but been unable to find?

6) What article topics would you like to see in [name of your ezine]?

And any others you can think of.

STEP TWO - Have Something Of Value To Offer

Once you’ve gotten the information you need from your subscribers, don’t waste it! Use the information to offer something of value.

Did you find from your survey that most of your subscribers are professional women with children who are interested in timesaving tips? Then give them tips! Not worn out, everyday, ordinary tips. Take the time to create or research innovative tips designed specifically to help professional women with children live more productive and stress-free lives.

If you deliver a newsletter that’s disappointing in the eyes of your readers, you’ll soon find your subscriber base will dwindle down to nothing, so go all out!

STEP THREE - Promote, Promote, Promote!

Yes, you’ll want to put subscription boxes throughout your own website to drive subscribers to your list. But don’t stop there. There are virtually TONS of ezine directories and ezine announcement lists online that can dramatically increase your number of subscribers.

Here’s a short list. You can quickly search any search engine to find more ezine directories.

http://www.ezinelocater.com
http://www.ezinehub.com/add.html
http://www.lifestylespub.com
http://www.ezinesplus.com
http://www.e-zinez.com
http://www.inkpot.com/zines/

http://www.ideamarketers.com
http://www.list-a-day.com
http://www.zinos.com

STEP FOUR - Be A Dependable Resource

Word of mouth spreads quickly about newsletters and ezines that actually offer solid, dependable content and resources. Make sure you are one of them!

With each issue, take time to do your best work yet. Offer original articles or new reprints (not articles that are months old) plus resources that you have checked out yourself and approve of. Your subscribers will soon develop a sense of trust and loyalty and will repay you for your time by buying from you.

A FINAL WORD OF CAUTION: DON’T endorse every new ebook, software product, or affiliate program that comes down the pike. Be selective. Remember, once your subscribers realize what an honest and true publisher you are, they’ll gladly trust your opinions, purchase those products you selectively recommend, and refer your ezine to others they know.

Copyright 2005 Diane Hughe

Diane C. Hughes * ProBizTips.com

FREE Report: Amazingly Simple (Yet Super Powerful)
Ways To Skyrocket Your Sales And Build Your Business
Into A Tower of Profits! ==>> http://madmarketer.com/diane

The internet seems to be full of hyped up business opportunities. What evidence there is to support the feasibility of a business opportunity is often anecdotal - or we may be asked to take the word of a well known internet guru when he tells us that this is the “next big thing”. Sometimes he/she will be right of course (that’s how they get to be gurus).

And make no mistake about it - we are equally to blame for this hyped up culture. Let’s face it, it’s so much easier to read or listen to a well presented collection of projected possibilities than it is to do even a little spade work and unearth a few hard facts.

In the first place, we can all be a little lazy. In the second place, it’s nice to close our eyes and dream of the ongoing passive income - such a nice visual picture isn’t it?

And finally, hard facts can be a little bit difficult to come by. Sometimes for genuine reasons - startups often don’t have much more than the reputation of the key players and a business plan - and sometimes for more worrying reasons.

One of the enduring mantras which you will almost certainly have heard is that “the money’s in the list”. All the key players not only say this but appear to demonstrate it by the simple fact that they all own and operate large opt-in lists. It would seem reasonable to assume that these list make a significant contribution to their profits.

But let’s see if we can put a little flesh on the bones. First of all we have an assertion - sourced from www.ultimatefour.com - which is as follows:

“…… a well run list can generate $1/month in revenue for each contact on your list.”

It does seem reasonable, but it is still an assertion rather than a fact - and it is qualified by both “a well run list” and “can generate”. Even if it isn’t a hard and fast rule, it certainly provides food for thought.

If you build your list up to 3,000 to 5,000 members then you will have a nice income each month. Get to 10,000 members and above and you will be doing very well indeed.

That may sound like a lot to many people - but it should be achievable. Which brings us to a piece of information which can be considered to be a hard fact - sourced this time from AWeber.

“12,561 subscribers in an average customer opt-in newsletter list.”

Presumably this is based on AWeber’s own user base - but it seems valid to accept this as a legitimate fact.

The implication would seem to be that if you can build your own opt-in list to an “average£ level that you can profit to the tune of $12,561 each month. The assumptions are that you will run your list well (by providing constant updates and interesting information to your subscribers) and that you will make $1/month per subscriber.

Even if the $1/month figure is wrong - or if you run your list a little less efficiently than normal - you might still reasonably expect to make a 4 figure sum each month.

So it’s true - the money is in the list. How much depends on the size of the list and how well you run it - but the money is there.

One key thing to watch out for is that your list should be your list - the email addresses must be yours and not the property of whichever company your working with. That way you can promote as many different products and services as you like.

Of course, it takes time and effort to build your list - but it can be done. You can pick up half a dozen new subscribers every day very easily by using nothing other than free techniques. That would take you to over $2000 a month in less than a year. Consider using some paid advertising and your list will grow at a much faster rate - and so will your income.

Whichever method(s) you elect to use in order to build your list - the sooner you start the sooner you’ll start earning. So get cracking.

Hamish Hayward
Discover the key criteria you must evaluate to ensure business success. Now available in free e-book format.
http://www.perfectsystem.co.uk/

Whether you have only just moved into your new house and need a complete new range of appliances & furniture; or you just need a new kettle - John Lewis has you sorted. It’s normally accepted that the kitchen is the nucleus of any house, so it’s necessary to own the correct domestic appliances after all, since the wrong bread maker can make a substantial difference. Locate top brand electric cookers online at John Lewis.

Without doubt some buys are considerably more significant than others; you may allow added time considering which freezer or dishwasher you want to buy rather than contemplating your next toaster. However, even the tiniest of items can drastically change the look and feel of the kitchen. Also, purchasing many products from 1 place provides you the opportunity to give your kitchen a more uniform look & feel by bringing together the style of your purchases. Glancing at the John Lewis store you may also see ideas for kitchen goods you may not have ponder over previously - kettles for instance.

But it is not only the ‘look’ of the electrical appliances that you must mull over but additionally the requirement; for instance what particular size of toaster are you requiring? How many settings do you need on your dishwasher? Do you desire a gas or electric hob? For further information & recommendations on buying the ideal domestic appliances take a look at John Lewis’s consumers’ articles, which can be read on their online store.

Purchasing from the John Lewis internet shop couldn’t be any more easier or more convenient. Not only will you get given free postal delivery on each & every order; you may also choose next day delivery should you want that steam iron in an emergency; as well as free returns should you be upset by your item. John Lewis also nowadays grants two day express delivery service on a selection of kitchen appliances including washing machines, dishwashers and fridges. As a result, you can defiantly order from John Lewis’s site with enormous faith.

Out of all the possible approaches to affiliate marketing, lead capture and list building represents the smartest and most effective option.

Why?

A lost visitor is a lost sale. A lost visitor is the loss of potential repeat sales. Think of it this way: you’re putting time and money into your advertising. If you aren’t capturing your visitor’s email addresses, you’re basically throwing all of that traffic right down the drain.

When you capture your visitors to your list, you open a whole new world of profit opportunities - not just for the short term, but for the long term as well.

The Benefits of List Marketing

- You can educate your prospects. This will increase your conversion rate by giving you the opportunity to turn hesitant prospects into enthusiastic customers.

- You can market to your prospects over and over again. Your long term profit potential exists in repeat sales. Never work for “just one sale”.

- You can double your return on investment while lowering your advertising costs. Once you’ve got a list in place, you don’t have to limit your offerings to just affiliate product. You can bring in any additional, related products of interest to your list and make sales immediately without going through the same advertising process all over again.

Can you see the benefits yet?

Why spend money over and over again sending people to the same page and “hoping for a sale”, when you can capture them to your list and have full control over the conversion process?

Any other approach leaves you at the mercy of the merchant’s web copy and the customer’s mindset at first contact. You’ve got to lure your prospects in and expose them your message multiple times. This will save you so much time and money you’ll wonder why you ever did it any other way.

Copyright 2005 Javier Salces

Javier Salces is an experienced online marketer who runs 3 successful viral marketing sites with thousands of members. He also publish the popular newsletter “opt-inLeads eZine”. Feel free to visit his brand new List building service at: http://www.opt-inleads.com/recommends/coop