Electronic mail, better known as email, is the most important tool used on the Internet. It’s much faster than snail mail, less expensive and enables you to instantly communicate with your visitors and customers.
Although most Internet Service Providers include email accounts for their customers, these accounts really aren’t adequate for a Internet business — especially if you get a large amount of email. Not only do the email addresses contain your ISP’s name, but they are also very limited on features and options.
There are many email programs available on the Internet. However, the best program I’ve found is Eudora. Eudora is a standalone email program that works with any ISP. It will enable you to easily organize your email by filtering your messages into specific mailboxes. This feature alone can save you a great deal of time. What’s more, your email address will be your own domain — not someone else’s. One of my favorite features is the ability to create an unlimited number of personalities. What this means is that you can specify the “from” address depending on the message you’re writing. For example, if you’re answering a support request, you can set up a personality that displays support@yourdomain.com or whatever you’d like as the “from” address. Best of all, it’s free. For further information about Eudora, visit: http://www.eudora.com
Basic Email Guidelines
Although writing an email message may seem simple, there are some important issues that need to be taken into consideration.
Subject Line
The subject of your email is the most important part of your message. Your subject should be short and provide a summary as to what your message is all about. This is especially important if you need to grab your readers’ attention. For example, if you send out a mailing to your ezine subscribers, you want the subject to instantly grab their attention and intrigue them to open your message. Just because they subscribe, doesn’t mean they’ll actually read your publication.
Formatting
Although there has been a great deal of controversy over the best email format — HTML or text, text is still the best option. HTML messages may look nice; however, not all of your readers will be capable of viewing your message. If you’d really like to use HTML, the best way to accommodate all of your readers is to create two versions and allow your readers to make the choice.
Line Length
When you begin typing your email message, keep in mind, some email programs don’t automatically wrap the text. What this means is that although your message may look great to you, your email recipient may receive your message as one long sentence or it may look something like this:
Thank you for your interest in our
products.
We are dedicated to providing you
with quality
products to assist you in your
endeavors.
To prevent this problem, limit your line length to under 65 characters per line. This can be accomplished by using a hard carriage return (hit enter) at the end of each line.
If you’d rather not have to manually format your text, you can do so online at the following web address:
http://www.web-source.net/format_text.htm
Linking
When placing web addresses within an email message, some email programs will automatically create live links with web addresses beginning with “www.” However, other email programs will only create live links when the web address begins with http://. To alleviate this problem, always include the full URL beginning with http://.
The America Online email program is in a class of its own. Their email program won’t create live links with any form of web address. In order to create a live link within AOL, you must include a complete HTML link. To accommodate all of your readers, consider including two links for each URL — one beginning with http:// and the other with the complete HTML link code.
When including an email address within an email message, always include “mailto:” directly in front of the email address. This will enable most email programs to create a live email link. AOL will require the complete “mailto:” HTML code.
Another important consideration is the use of punctuation with web addresses — especially periods. Some email programs will include periods within a live link. When clicked on, the browser will return an error. There are a couple of ways to alleviate this problem. You can enclose your web address with brackets and place a period after the closing bracket. Or, you can place your web address on a separate line like this:
http://www.yourdomain.com
When including a long web address within your message, some email programs will force part of the URL to the next line. When the live link is created, only a portion of the URL will be live. When clicked on, the browser will return an error. To avoid this problem, try to keep your web addresses short. If necessary, you may want to consider creating a redirect HTML page with a shorter URL.
The appearance of your email message is an important part of your professional image. If you follow these simple guidelines, you can almost completely alleviate these potential problems.
About the author:
About the Author:
Shelley Lowery is the author of the acclaimed web design
course, Web Design Mastery. http://www.webdesignmastery.com
And, Ebook Starter – Give Your Ebooks the look and feel of a
REAL book. http://www.ebookstarter.comVisit Web-Source.net
to sign up for a complimentary subscription to Etips and
receive a copy of the acclaimed ebook, “Killer Internet
Marketing Strategies.” http://www.web-source.net
Write for Publicity Shelley LoweryIf you’re looking for a powerful way to get free publicity and build your credibility at the same time, then writing articles may be your answer.
If you’ve been on the Internet for a while, you’ve probably subscribed to a few ezines. Many ezine publishers will include an article written by a guest author. At the end of the article are a few lines of text about the author referred to as bylines or resource box. These lines of text are basically just an advertisement for the writer. They usually contain a couple of lines about the author and a web address.
The writer gives the publisher permission to publish their article, free of charge, in exchange for the publisher including the author’s bylines.
By writing articles and allowing them to be freely published, your articles will have the potential to be viewed by millions of Internet users. They may be published by several ezines with subscriber bases of a few hundred to several thousand. In addition, they may be displayed in ezine archives or on high traffic websites.
Most ezine publishers prefer short articles between 500 and 750 words. Short “tip” articles of just a couple of paragraphs are also very popular. Articles should be formatted to 65 characters per line or less, including spaces, and written in short paragraph sections.
When you begin writing your article, avoid using your standard word processing programs, as they do not allow for proper formatting. Instead, use a text editor such as NotePad. It should already be installed on your desktop.
When you begin typing your article, use a hard carriage return (hit enter) when your text reaches 65 characters, including spaces, and leave a space between your paragraphs. This will enable publishers to easily copy and paste your article into their publication. By taking the time to properly format your article, you will increase your chance of being published significantly.
Most publishers receive many article submissions each week and only select a few to b
e published. Here are some basic guidelines to assist you in getting published:
(1) Make sure you follow the publishers’ submission guidelines. Articles submitted to publishers that don’t follow the submission guidelines will most likely be deleted.
(2) Make sure your article is properly formatted. Publishers won’t take the time to format your article. They’ll simply delete it and move on to the next article submission.
(3) Keep your bylines down to 6 lines or less. Publishers will not publish articles that contain excessively long bylines.
(4) Select a descriptive title to intrigue your readers. Use a powerful headline that demands attention and try to keep it all on one line.
(5) Use proper grammar and spelling. Publishers will not take the time to edit your article. Make sure you read your article several times and use spellcheck.
(6) Avoid articles that are nothing more than a sales letter. Publishers want quality content and will simply delete an article that is written like a sales letter.
(7) Avoid referring readers to an affiliate URL. Articles containing affiliate links may make your article appear to be biased and untrustworthy.
(8) Write your articles with a sincere desire to teach and inform. Talk to your readers and share your expertise.
Once you’ve written your article, you’ll need to develop a list of publishers that may be interested in publishing it. The best way to accomplish this is to display your articles on your website. Place a subscription box on each of your article pages to enable your visitors to subscribe. This list should be used to send your new articles to your list of publishers.
In addition, you can visit some ezine sites to locate publishers who may be interested in your articles. A good place to start is eZINESearch.
http://www.ezinesearch.com
Search through the database for publications that may be interested in the type of article you’ve written.
Another great way to promote your articles is to submit them to article announcement groups. These groups enable writers to submit their articles to an entire group of publishers, completely free.
Article Announcement Lists:
Article Announce
Subscribe:
mailto:article_announce-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
AABusiness
Subscribe:
mailto:aabusiness-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
AAInternet
Subscribe:
mailto:aainet-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Articles Archive
Subscribe:
mailto:articles_archives-subscribe@egroups.com
Free Content
Subscribe:
mailto:Free-Content-subscribe@egroups.com
Make sure you review the submission guidelines prior to posting your article to an announcement group.
Here are some additional promotional resources to help you get published:
http://www.web-source.net/articlesub.htm
http://www.web-source.net/syndicator_submit.htm
http://www.authorconnection.com/
http://www.ideamarketers.com/
http://www.ezinearticles.com/
http://www.marketing-seek.com/
http://www.netterweb.com/articles/
Writing and distributing free articles on the Internet will be one of the best promotional decisions you’ll ever make. Not only will it provide you with free publicity, but if your articles are good, you’ll become a trusted professional in your area of expertise.
About the author:
About the Author:
Shelley Lowery is the author of the acclaimed web design
course, Web Design Mastery. http://www.webdesignmastery.com
And, Ebook Starter – Give Your Ebooks the look and feel of a
REAL book. http://www.ebookstarter.comVisit Web-Source.net
to sign up for a complimentary subscription to Etips and
receive a copy of the acclaimed ebook, “Killer Internet
Marketing Strategies.” http://www.web-source.net
Testing and Tracking Your Marketing Strategies Shelley LoweryDeveloping and implementing a strategic marketing plan is an essential part of your success. However, unless you’re testing and tracking your strategies, you may be losing a great deal of time and money.
You can dramatically increase your sales simply by taking the time to test and track your results. Not only will it help you to determine what’s working and what’s not, but it will also enable you to focus your efforts on the strategies that produce results.
When testing your marketing strategies, keep in mind, a strategy that produces results for one person may not produce results for you. There is no ’set in stone’ strategy that works for everyone. You must develop your own style and technique and test your results to determine what works for you. Below are some ad tracking resources to assist you in your testing and tracking endeavors.
Ad Tracking CGI Scripts
LnkinLite
http://www.dtp-aus.com/cgiscript/lnkinlte.shtml
If you’re looking for a simple way to track clickthroughs, then LnkinLite may be your answer. This free script will enable you to easily keep track of the number of clicks a specific link receives. Instead of using your standard link within your advertising, you can use a link created by this script. It will track the number of clickthroughs and instantly redirect your visitors to your URL.
Willmaster’s ProLinkz
http://www.prolinkz.com/
This powerful script is a link creator, tracker, disguiser and manager all in one. It will enable you to create uniquely coded links that redirect to any URL you specify and count all hits and referrers. Cost – $45.00
AdTrackZ
http://www.adtrackz.com/
This script will enable you to set up an entire ad tracking campaign including statistical reports for referring URLs, what browsers your visitors have installed, what operating systems your visitors are using and much more. Cost – $47.00
Ad Tracking Services
LinkCounter
http://www.linkcounter.com
A free service that tracks the clickthrough rates of your links. In addition to tracking your links, LinkCounter hides the URL of the link destination. This will prevent users from removing or changing your affiliate ID when visiting an affiliate site through your link.
HyperTracker
http://www.hypertracker.com
The PRO version of HyperTracker contains a number of advanced features including: unlimited advertising campaigns, tracking of sales and actions, special scripts that let you promote your own website address in your campaigns and much more.
Cost – Starting at $10.95 mo. They also offer a free version.
Adminder
http://www.adminder.com
An online tracking system that will enable you to track an entire advertising campaign. It will enable you to see how many visitors were generated by each of your ads, keep track of sales that were generated by each ad and calculates the cost-per-click, cost-per-sale, and click-to-sale ratios for each ad.
Cost – $19.95 mo. (for a limited time)
Statcruncher
http://www.Statcruncher.com
Statcruncher tracks and reports exactly which ads, banners and links are producing results. They provide you with access to their powerful web-tracking system that will enable you to track your ad campaigns 24 hours a day in real time. Cost – $49.00 yr.
If you’d rather not use any of the products and services listed above, you can use some alternative methods. Below are some example tracking methods you can use to track your response rates:
URL
You can track your ads simply by adding some special coding to your URL. To code your URL, add a question mark followed by a special tracking code to the end of your web address. Your coded link will still open your web page. Your code should look somethin
g like this:
http://www.yourdomain.com/?ad1
The text after the question mark should identify a specific ad. You can code it however you’d like.
To view your results, you’ll need to look at your log files. Your code will be displayed within your log files beside your URL.
You can track your email responses to specific ads by using the email subject. Select a specific word to be placed within the email subject for each ad. Although you can request that a certain word be placed within the email subject, many times it won’t be supplied. To avoid this problem, you can create a special email link that will automatically fill in the subject when clicked on. Your link should look something like this:
mailto:you@yourdomain.com?subject=ad1
Testing and tracking your strategies is an essential part of doing business. By concentrating your efforts on strategies that produce results, you can not only increase your sales, but you’ll also save yourself a great deal of time and money.
About the author:
About the Author:
Shelley Lowery is the author of the acclaimed web design
course, Web Design Mastery. http://www.webdesignmastery.com
And, Ebook Starter – Give Your Ebooks the look and feel of a
REAL book. http://www.ebookstarter.comVisit Web-Source.net
to sign up for a complimentary subscription to Etips and
receive a copy of the acclaimed ebook, “Killer Internet
Marketing Strategies.” http://www.web-source.net
Networking Your Marketing Strategies Shelley LoweryA network is a group of points or locations interlinked with specific paths. A network can be computers, people, web sites, or anything that is linked together to form a group.
Remember the old adage, “There is power in number?” You can utilize this power by developing a network of locations all promoting your products or services.
Web Sites
Networking your web sites in one of the best marketing strategies you can use. The concept is simple. Develop several web sites promoting similar products, and link them all together.
Let’s say for example you have a web site that focuses on dogs and offers the following products:
Dog grooming course
Dog grooming supplies
Dog obedience training
Dog breeds guide
Dog show supplies
Rather than using one general site to market all these products, develop five separate targeted sites and create a network.
Your first step will be to register five separate domains, each targeting your products. Your domains might look something like this:
doggroomingcourse.com
doggroomingsupplies.com
dogobediencetraining.com
dogbreedsguide.com
dogshowsupplies.com
Selecting the right domain names is an essential part of developing your network. Your domain names should include your primary keyword phrase.
A keyword phrase is two or more words that best describe your web page. However, selecting the right keyword phrases can be a bit difficult.
Goodkeywords.com offers a free little software program that will assist you. Simply type in a keyword and the program will provide you with a list of additional keyword phrases.
http://www.goodkeywords.com
Each site within your network should be strategically optimized for the Search Engines and solely focus on your primary keyword phrase.
For example, the dog grooming course site might provide visitors with free dog grooming tips, articles and advice. The dog grooming supplies site might provide visitors with tips on selecting a good grooming table, or tips on how to properly use clippers and scissors.
All of the content within each network site must be completely targeted to each site. This in-turn will drive highly targeted traffic to each site.
In addition, each site should also link to all the other sites. This can be accomplished by setting up a special link section within each site. Your link descriptions should be your primary keyword phrases:
Dog Grooming Course
Dog Grooming Supplies
Dog Obedience Training
Dog Breeds Guide
Dog Show Supplies
To get the most out of your network, consider publishing a generalized ezine that targets your main keyword. In this example, dogs. You can then set up a subscription form on each site and collect new subscribers from each.
Can you see how powerful a network can be? You’re targeting several different keyword phrases, driving highly targeted traffic to each site, sharing the traffic with your other sites, and collecting email addresses from each.
Networking is not exclusive to web sites. You can use this same technique to network all of the following:
Products
When marketing similar products, develop a network by promoting all of the products within each individual product. For example, within each of the above dog products, we would promote all of the other products.
Free Ebooks
Free ebooks offer a great way to promote your products. For example, each of the dog sites above could offer a different free ebook that provides tips, articles and advice that targets their specific audience. In addition, each of these ebooks should promote the sites and the other ebooks to
create a network.
Autoresponder Courses
Autoresponder courses not only provide your visitors with great free content, but they also provide you with a great opportunity to promote your web sites and products. For example, the dog sites can each offer a different autoresponder course. Each of these courses should also promote the sites and the other courses.
Affiliate Sites
Just as you can network your own products and web sites, you can also network affiliate products that target your market. This technique involves registering a domain name for a handful of targeted affiliate programs, developing customized affiliate pages, and setting up your sites just as you would for your own products.
Although this article provides some basic networking techniques, it’s far from complete. Networking is one of the most powerful marketing strategies used on the Internet. Use your imagination and develop a networking plan for your business. It will be well worth your time and effort.
About the author:
About the Author:
Shelley Lowery is the author of the acclaimed web design
course, Web Design Mastery. http://www.webdesignmastery.com
And, Ebook Starter – Give Your Ebooks the look and feel of a
REAL book. http://www.ebookstarter.comVisit Web-Source.net
to sign up for a complimentary subscription to Etips and
receive a copy of the acclaimed ebook, “Killer Internet
Marketing Strategies.” http://www.web-source.net
Tags: Internet Marketing, keywords, market, marketer, Marketing, optimize, promo, Promotion, Promotional, Search, Search Engine, Search Engine Marketing, submission