Marketing Via Messageboards & Email Discussion Li

Marketing Via Messageboards & Email Discussion Lists An Alternative View

by: Sean Burns

One of the most suggested means of getting traffic to a site in the early stages is to get involved in messageboard and email discussions on your topic of choice. The idea is that you can show your expertise and therefore get traffic to your site via your signature file (most discussion lists allow you to include your signature file with your post a few lines with your name, site address and maybe a very brief description). Whilst this is a valid tip, I don’t believe that the real reason for why you should do this has been investigated far enough previously.

Firstly, if you post an ad for your site on a discussion list, your are spamming and will create a bit of a fiasco. This does not make good business sense. So, the way to do it is to look for people asking questions and answer them. The issue here is your reasons for doing this. If your reason is purely to drive traffic to your site, you probably won’t be terribly successful and, sometimes, people will work out what you are up to. Therefore, your goal should be to be seen as an expert in your field, not to get traffic to your site.

Even if you don’t include a signature with your posts, you can still make a name for yourself and, in the long term, this will prove to be a far more profitable approach. I have visited many discussion lists in my time and it is easy to see the people that have gained respect. From a business point of view, they are the ones who will benefit from this approach, not the people who post simple answers to try to get an immediate effect.

Your goal must always be to achieve success in your online venture and your personal credibility will play a major role in this. So, when looking at marketing on messageboards and in Email discussion lists, establishing your credentials as an expert in your field must be your number one priority, not short term traffic generation methods.

About The Author

Sean Burns is the author of the WebmastersReference.com Newsletter http://www.webmastersreference.com/newsletter. More than five years of experience in site design, marketing, income generation, search engine optimisation and more is passed on to subscribers hype free. Sign up today to get real information of real value to webmasters.

[email protected]

This article was posted on January 06, 2003

by Sean Burns

Autoresponders: Ease Your Life

Autoresponders: Ease Your Life

by: Pavel Lenshin

What every small business operator always lacks is time. Sometimes lack of time leads to inefficiency, what in its turn, leads to business failure even if you have plenty of financial resources.

That is why there are so many programs designed to automate every business step starting from sign up process and ending with processing online payments.

Autoresponders play a special part. At the dawn of their usage they greatly assist in solving the most timeconsuming business task that is customer support. Nowadays there are other ways of how autoresponder can help with your everyday routine tasks. Below are the most common tasks where autoresponder fully reveal its potential:

Customer support;

Singup/unsubscription procedures;

Timely delivered emails;

Electronic materials on request;

Response tracking.

The usage of autoresponder as a customer support is based on the topic your customer interests in. Whether it is problems with program installation, billing or general question, it will reply with prewritten answers the same moment email was received from customer.

In very basic way autoresponder can simply notify customer/visitor that his/her inquiry was received and will be answered within 24 hours.

Subscription/unsubscription is also usually required instant notification. The majority of existed mailing scripts have an automatic notification feature, still in its basis it is the same old autoresponder.

Ezine or newsletter subscription is not the only process where autoresponder can give you a hand. They help in many cases with all sorts of email notifications of successful sale, accepted inquiry, thanking for completing the survey and many other cases.

Next way of autoresponder usage proved to earn huge income to many online entrepreneurs. Timely delivered follow up emails that are based on autoresponder are widely recognized as a musthave marketing strategy. The theory behind claims that biggest customer response is gained at 8th contact only. That is why business owners setup a follow up autoresponder sequence that, when signup for, starts emailing prewritten messages on specified time basis daily, every other day, weekly, biweekly etc, generating the biggest possible response rate on complete autopilot, without any need of owner interference.

Email courses are small variation of previous strategy. They were designed to educate interested people, work the same way as product followups do, still serving as a perfect marketing tool for generating subscribers, customers without any hassle.

Publications on request play another important role. It may be articles, reports, brochures, schemes, ebooks, audio, video files, any electronic media may be emailed in the body of the email message or as an attachment to every person immediately on their request and to an email box they considered to be the fastest to download from, presumably, ISPกs.

As strange as it may seem, autoresponder may be used for tracking response rate as well. For instance, by putting slightly different autoresponder email addresses on different webpages you can easily count how many requests came from each page, testing which webpage generates the biggest interest.

To track ezine advertisement response you will also have to setup a different autoresponders for each ezine you plan to run your advert in. At the end you will see how many people each ezine has sent you and generated the biggest income.

Dominating majority of webhosting plans, offered today on the Internet market, come with simple, usually unlimited, email autoresponders. That means they can help in 4 main cases that we have discussed above, except for timely delivered emails. That is because they imply onetime reply email, so you can setup (1) customer support emails, (2) subscription notifications to both your subscriber and yourself, (4) publications on request, (5) response tracking, but (3) timely delivered emails like email followups or courses.

In order to offer automatic, say, weekly, email courses you will have to look for:

custom autoresponder internet application (script);

3rd party autoresponder providers.

The rule of thumb is to know your needs and resources. First choice is preferable if you know what FTP and CGI mean or have someone with basic knowledge of how scripts are setup, want to install it once and forever, have time and money to make onetime investment. You can even try to find free script that in some cases may be even quicker to setup than sign up for some 3rd party service.

Autoresponder service, provided by independent Internet company, is easier for new comers as all technical stuff will be hidden, leaving simple webinterface to manage your autoresponders. For such convenience Internet companies will charge you on monthly or yearly basis, although there are free socalled adware autoresponders available.

In general you can find discounted allinone services, hosting offers or mailing lists coming with followup autoreponders and allowing you to save money.

About The Author

Pavel Lenshin is a devoted Internet entrepreneur, founder of ASBONE.com, where you can find everything to make your business prosper. Discounted Internet services,

FREE ebooks http://ASBONE.com/ebooks/

FREE reports http://ASBONE.com/reports/

[email protected]

This article was posted on November 04, 2003

by Pavel Lenshin

The Ultimate PR Edge: Getting Reporters To Open Yo

The Ultimate PR Edge: Getting Reporters To Open Your EMails

by: Bill Stoller

You know that getting publicity is vital to the health of your business. You probably also know that email is the way most publicity seekers get in touch with reporters to score that precious coverage. Here’s what you don’t know: The vast majority of emails sent to journalists never get read.
Bottom line: if your emails don’t get read, you have no shot at getting the publicity you so desperately need.
Hereกs how to beat the odds:
Avoiding the Spam Trap
To a spam filter, your humble email pitch may appear to contain an array of trigger words and suspicious phrases. A server that relayed your message may be on a blacklist a กdo not openก list of known spammers. Or perhaps the filter’s having a tough day and has decided to start blocking things arbitrarily. You can’t prevent every instance of spam blocking, but you can take some steps to help lessen the chances of your email ending up in a black hole.
The most important step is learning how spam filters think, and creating emails that avoid the usual pitfalls. Fortunately, you’ll find that once you can do this many spam triggers are easily avoided.
Rather than taking up space here with all the howto’s, allow me to simply direct you a terrific site on the subject: http://www.wordbiz.com/avoidspamfilters.html
Getting Your EMail Opened & Read
After beating the spam filter, next up is getting your email opened and read. The key: the subject line. No matter how on themoney your pitch, a subpar subject line will kill any chance of getting the reporter’s attention. You’ve got one shot at getting your email opened, make the most of it with a killer subject line.
Here’s how to do it:

Place the word กNewsก or กPress Infoก or กStory Ideaก at the beginning of your email subject line, in brackets e.g.: [Story Idea]:
Try to incorporate the reporterกs first name also at the beginning of the subject line.
If you know the name of the reporterกs column, for instance กCooking with Lindaก, also try to incorporate that. One more thing if the reporter doesn’t write a regular column, try to at least include their beat (e.g. Joe, re: your future pieces on the wifi industry).

With these three tips in mind, a successful email subject line might read:
[Story Idea]: Linda, Hereกs a Tip for Your กCooking with Lindaก Column
That’s a heading that will stand head and shoulders above the rest.
Here are a few more email do’s and don’ts: Do:

Make the information you place in the subject line short and to the point. Often, reporterกs email software cuts off the subject at only a few words.
Don’t get cute or be too vague in your subject line. For example กHere’s a Great Story!ก is vague and sounds like spam; ‘this Will Win You A Pulitzer!ก will make you look silly (unless you’re delivering the scoop of the century, of course!).
Try to make your most newsworthy points at the top of your e mail message don’t expect a reporter to scroll down to find the news.
Include your contact information, including cell phone, email address, regular address, fax number & website URL at the beginning and end of the email.
Include a link to your website if you have additional information such as: photos, press releases, bios, surveys, etc.

Don’t:

Include more than a short pitch letter or press release in the body of your email.
Allow typos or grammatical errors.
Include an attachment with your email. In this day and age of sinister viruses, reporters automatically delete email with attachments.
Place the following words (by themselves) in the subject line: กHiก, กHelloก the mediaกs spam filters will pounce and destroy.
Send an email with a blank subject line.

A cool tip: Use Google News (www.news.google.com) to search for recent stories that have appeared relating to your industry or field of interest. Then, email the reporter directly (use a subject line such as Re: Your July 5th piece on electric cars). Give positive feedback on the story and let him know that, next time he’s working an electric car story, he should get in touch, as you’re an expert with provocative things to say. Give a couple of supporting facts to back up the assertion, include your phone number and web link, and ask if he’d like to see a full press kit. This technique really works!

About The Author

Bill Stoller, the กPublicity Insiderก, has spent two decades as one of Americaกs top publicists. Now, through his website, eZine and subscription newsletter, Free Publicity: The Newsletter for PRHungry Businesses http://www.PublicityInsider.com/freepub.asp, heกs sharing for the very first time his secrets of scoring big publicity. For free articles, killer publicity tips and much, much more, visit Billกs exclusive new site: http://www.publicityInsider.com

This article was posted on July 21, 2004

by Bill Stoller

Email Marketing Tips

Email Marketing Tips

by: AnnaMarie Stewart Venton

If you don`t know it yet, you will probably learn over time, that email marketing is probably THE most effective way of marketing online. That is, IF you do it the right way.

Here`s a couple of hints and tips that have worked for me:

I have a habit of signing up for safelists that offer free pro memberships to the first soso many members. I find that smaller safelists are most responsive. Once they reach around 1000 members or so, the actual opening and reading of mails seems to die off.

Think about what would make YOU open an email. What would grab YOUR attention? Try to make the subject both interesting and captivating, with just a touch of urgency.

Make sure your subject line isn`t misleading. That`s such a huge turnoff to most marketers. They open a mail with a great subject line, and find that it bears absolutely NO relevance to the mail itself. Not only will they most likely delete the mail right away, but they`ll probably remember who sent it, and never open mails from that person again.

Remember, if you`re going to use safelists for your email marketing, get a seperate email address for all the mail you`ll get from other members.

I probably have about 10 socalled กjunkmailก accounts, where I get all my safelist mails. I go through my mails every day, and yes, I do delete a lot of them right away.

Sometimes though, something catches my eye, and I take a closer look. If the subject line`s are interesting, I open them ALL. I find it`s a GREAT way of keeping on top of what`s happening in the world of internet marketing.

Now, if safelists are just NOT your cup of tea, you need to work out how to create a warm market, for your own personal use.

The best way of doing this, is by building your very own contact list. Whether you want to publish an ezine, or just create a mailing list is up to you, but make sure you do it properly. I personally find my contacts through chat. I go to as many chatrooms as I can find, and make sure my profile is uptodate and lets people know that I`m an online marketer.

That way, if people are interested in learning more about me, they`ve at least got a starting point, and from there, it`s pretty easy to get them to allow you to add them to your mailing list.

Don`t harvest email addresses, it`ll only end up in tears. Don`t buy mailing lists, no matter how cheap you can get them. Most of the lists that are for sale are made up of harvested email addresses. Harvested emails are by no means กoptinก and you can be pretty sure you`ll end up getting a spam complaint. It`s a surefire way of losing your isp, webhost or even both. Pure SPAM is the biggest nono out there.

No matter which way you decide to go, it`s going to be hard, mostly because of all the spam filters that are now in place. ISP`s are really cracking down on spammers. So much so, that even legitimate emails are getting filtered out.

I`ve gathered together a few sites that I find very helpful when I`m writing my ezine, and sending mails to safelists etc. It`s quite amazing to see what actually sets spam filters off. Take some time to go through it all. Bookmark the sites. If you`ve ever wondered if your mail is getting through, you can easily check, just by looking for the trigger words.

Here are a few sites/articles that show you some of the words that are considered to be spam triggers:

http://www.iprofitsystems.com/articles/spamfilters.html

http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt8/spamfilter_phrases.htm

http://www.internetbasedmoms.com/ezine_killer.htm

http://office.microsoft.com/Assistance/9798/newfilters.aspx

This one I absolutely love. It`s real fast, gives you a quick review of your mail onsite, and sends you an email with more information. I use it every time I send out a กmarketingก email of any kind.It`s most definitely one of the best กspamก checkers I`ve found. http://www.lyris.com/contentchecker/

Email marketing can be a lot of hard work, especially as, according to the averages, people need to see your offer AT LEAST 7 times before they กbiteก. Be consistent, get your mails out there, but also be responsible. The last thing on earth anybody wants, is to be accused of spam. Spam accusations can hurt both you AND the website/product/program you`re promoting.

Don`t be afraid to add a little กpersonalก touch to your emails, just don`t go totally overboard by telling people the ins and outs of your life…hehehe

Above all, enjoy what you do.

AnnaMarie Stewart Venton

AnnaMarie Stewart Venton publishes Not Just Another Ezine. An interactive online ezine full of marketing hints, tips and info. Win free advertising in her AdCash games. Visit http://annamarketing.com for more information or mailto:[email protected]?subject=subscribe

This article is available for reprint in your optin ezine, web site or ebook. You MUST agree not to make any changes to the article and the RESOURCE BOX MUST be included.

(c) 2002 AnnaMarketing.com. All Rights Reserved

About The Author

AnnaMarie Stewart Venton publishes Not Just Another Ezine at http://annamarketing.com. Dedicated to helping marketers succeed, and have a bit of fun at the same time. She also hosts weekly กGet To Know Each Otherก chats for all online marketers. Download your free Money Chatter Viral Marketing Tool here: http://annamarketing.com/MC

[email protected]

This article was posted on June 03, 2003

by AnnaMarie Stewart Venton

Is Your Business Making These Mistakes When Custom

Is Your Business Making These Mistakes When Customers Contact You?

by: Peter Geisheker

In this marketing article I would like to discuss the importance of presenting your business in a professional manner when customers and sales prospects contact you.

The first thing I want you to do is think to yourself, กIf I were a customer contacting my business, what would I think of this business? Would I think this is a friendly and professional business with great service or would I think it was unprofessional and a bit of a joke?ก

I ask you to go through this exercise because from my experience of working with clients on improving their sales and marketing programs, many businesses are presenting themselves in a very unprofessional manner and they are losing sales because of it.

Here are some guidelines for providing your customers and sales prospects with a professional experience when they contact you:

1. Answer your phone in a friendly and professional manner and say the name of your company. Don’t answer your phone by saying, ‘this is Mike.ก Instead, say, กHello, this is Mike with XYZ Corp. How may I help you today?ก

2. Do everything possible to make sure your phone is answered by a live person. In today’s fastpaced world, people want instant gratification. If a prospect is ready to buy and calls your business and nobody answers the phone, your prospect will probably go to your competition and buy from them. How many times have you gone through the phone book to purchase a product or service and kept calling different companies until you got a live person on the phone? I do it all the time. If you are not answering your phone, you are losing sales.

3. If you are unable to answer your telephone, you better have voice mail. Nothing is more unprofessional and irritating than calling a business and the phone just rings and rings and there is no voice mail. If you do not have voice mail, shame on you! Immediately stop reading this article and call your phone company and get voice mail.

4. Check your voice mail often and return phone calls quickly. If you want to make more sales, do everything you can to return phone calls quickly. And by quickly I mean in under 2hours. If you wait a day or two to return a prospect’s call, you have probably lost that sale and the only one to blame is YOU.

5. Have a fax machine. It makes your business look very unprofessional when a customer wants to send you a fax and you have to tell them to send it to your local copy shop (or not to send it at all) because you don’t have a fax machine.

6. If you have a website, use your website’s domain name for all employee email addresses. Businesses that are using hotmail, yahoo or aol email addresses look unprofessional. If you do not have a website and you are forced to use a yahoo, hotmail or aol email address, at least use something that looks professional. Using กhotgirl28ก at email.com is horribly unprofessional. You may laugh and say nobody would do that but I see it all the time.

About The Author

Peter Geisheker is CEO of The Geisheker Group. (http://www.geisheker.com). The Geisheker Group is a marketing firm that specializes in developing strategic marketing and advertising programs. Our passion is helping our clients attract new customers and increase sales.

This article was posted on September 13

by Peter Geisheker