With all the new rules and laws governing email privacy on the Internet, there are definitely some things to avoid when emailing your subscribers you should know about.
Electronic mail, better known as email, is a very popular low cost marketing medium that many businesses have fallen in love with using.
Unwanted promotional emails used to flood in boxes to the point that new regulations had to be put in place to eliminate the annoyance of spam.
With the current use of opt in emails, the annoyance has been virtually eliminated. Now people must subscribe to your list, before any promotional newsletters or sales materials can be sent to them.
Implied consent is given through the use of the opt in procedure by the recipient. In addition, to eliminate any misunderstandings, an unsubscribe link must be placed in your opt in list emails, every time you communicate with your subscriber.
With all these privacy considerations, there are still some things to avoid when emailing your subscribers.
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Never send shocking, disturbing, or pornographic content in your newsletters to your opt in list.
Deciphering the age of your recipients is next to impossible and many complaints can be avoided by simply refraining from using this type content.
Controversial issues should also be avoided unless your site is of a political nature. Generally, it’s best not to be branded by your subscribers as a controversial figure.
Stick to business.
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Never send someone in your list emails after they unsubscribe from your list.
First of all, always provide an unsubscribe feature in your site along with an unsubscribe link in your emails.
When a subscriber from your list files a request to be taken off, you had better take them seriously and remove them immediately. If you continue sending them emails, you have become a spammer.
If you get reported as a spammer, you may be reported to the authorities and could even be blacklisted by the internet service providers. Spamming can get you and your business into a lot of hot water, and will cost you a lot of lost subscribers.
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Monitor your unsuccessful, or bounced email sends.
Bounced emails, or undeliverable messages, are messages that were not received successfully by the intended recipient.
There are many reasons for bounced emails. They can happen because of busy servers, full in boxes, or abandoned and invalid email addresses. Regardless of the reason, note any bounced emails and see if the bounce can be corrected.
Some things to avoid when emailing your subscribers such as misspelled addresses, can be easily corrected, so check the spellings of bounced emails.
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Keep a clean list and erase email accounts that for whatever reason, do not receive your emails.
Keeping your list clean and manageable is essential in order to maintain accurate statistics, and records as to how many people are actually receiving your emails.
This is how to get automatic Tweets on your Twitter page, when you get too busy or overwhelmed to do it yourself.
Twitter Feed, is a simple free tool you can use to pull in RSS feeds from your blogs, article sites, or any other site that has an RSS feed you want to hook up with.
You can use Twitter Feed with only your own blogs, or in conjunction with your friend’s blogs and other quality sites that you would like to use to update your blog.
This works great for people who are often too busy to post to their own blogs on a regular basis.
First do a Google search for Twitter Feed, go to their website, and sign up for your free account by providing your email address and creating your password.
- You will then be directed to the second step where you create your feed for your blog.
Here is where you name your feed, and insert the RSS feed URL for your website.
The URL of your feed will depend on which blogging platform is used, but you can usually find it by clicking on a button or icon labeled “RSS”, “Atom”, “Syndicate”, or something similar or by clicking on the icon located in the right hand side of your browser address bar.
If you still have trouble finding it, you can always check the documentation of the blogging platform software that you are using. This should tell you how to find the feed URL.
You can click on the advanced settings to further customize how you want your feed sent.
- Next you move to step two where you configure your publishing services.
Here you can get automatic Tweets on your Twitter page, Laconia, Ping.fm, Hellotxt, or Facebook by just clicking on each service and either joining, or activating and authenticating your existing subscription.
That’s all the work you need to do to finish your feed and to get automatic Tweets on your Twitter page.
You can create all the additional feeds you like by signing into your dashboard and following the above procedure.
This is probably one of the easiest ways to get automatic Tweets on your Twitter page, Facebook, and your other publishing services.
Do you really need graphics on your website in order to create a thriving business?
Well, NO not really, but the correct use of graphics on your website will dramatically increase the effectiveness of totally bland site.
There is no cut and dried answer to the graphics question, because many marketers make tons of money on websites and landing pages that have very little to no graphics on them.
Sometimes ugly sites work well because the visitors feel they’re not being specifically targeted by Internet marketers.
A few graphics on your website or landing page is OK.
Here are a few facts about graphics.
- Sometimes plain ugly websites with no graphics make tons of money.
- In most cases, although you don’t need graphics, they have been shown to increase the effectiveness of a website.
- In certain instances, ugly websites with an amateurish look, can actually create a sense of authenticity.
- A professional polished look is usually best when selling to businesses.
- Always consider your target market when deciding whether or not to go for a professionally polished look on your website.
- One or two well-placed photos can turn a bland HTML page into something that captures people’s attention.
- The so called minimalist look, with fewer graphical elements, is often the most effective use of graphics on your website or sales pages, and can easily be done on your own.
The minimalist sales page design has no header graphic, no footer graphic, and no background image. You start with a headline and use a few pics, an ecover graphic or two to better explain the product you are selling, and possibly your logo. That’s all.
If you need graphics on your website for a polished, professional looking sales page; consider outsourcing the work to a graphic artist to do it for you.
You can get some of the most well-known Internet marketing mini-site designers to do the work for you at prices that range from under $200, to $1000.
Just do a Google search to find them, however be cautious when using random freelance graphic artists. You need to avoid image licensing problems that could arise with some of the freelancers.
If you decide to do your own graphics, and go for a minimalist design; you can get your own photos from several sources.
- Use images or photographs you have created on your own
- Use licensed images from stock photo sites
You can create your own images and ecovers using PhotoShop, or other lower priced software programs like it. A quick Google search will display several options.
When using public domain images, beware of “non-commercial use” clauses. Don’t waste your time looking for a perfect public domain image, when you can quickly license one for under a couple of bucks on a stock photo site.
When licensing from a stock photo site such as Istockphoto, photos.com, shutterstock.com, or one of the many others on the web; make sure they provide high quality pics, a good selection, and a cheapo price!
Also be sure that the selection you make is licensed for business and resale purposes. Read the terms of the license to sidestep any legal problems before they occur.
When you decide that you need graphics on your website and which look to present; either an intentionally ugly look, a minimal graphics look, or a professionally designed graphics look, then put them up using any of the above suggestions and see the difference.
