Email Marketing Made Easy: www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

Email Marketing Club: The Day I Got Dumped By An Auto-Responder

2005-11-29T22:21:00.000-08:00

The latest Email Marketing Club is ready and it is full of all sorts of goodies for you such as:

- free ebook downloads
- product highlights
- Email Marketing Made Easy ebook updates and
- special bonuses if you read the entire e-zine!

We also have a really great article!

Check out:
Email Marketing Club: The Day I Got Dumped By An Auto-Responder

Happy Emailing,

Joan Pasay
www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

Read this article to get the straight goods on RSS Feed Marketing and how this technology is affecting Email Marketing

2005-11-29T17:35:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago our Email Marketing Club talked a lot about RSS Marketing. If you missed the article you can check it out here:

‘RSS Feed Me’

RSS refers to a technology that is commonly called Really Simple Syndication. In layman’s terms RSS uses XML format (a programming language which you need to know nothing about to use it...) for distributing news headlines and other content on the Web. You have probably seen RSS in action on many websites and never realized it.

The Email Marketing Made Easy Blog uses RSS technology. If you are picking up the Email Marketing Made Easy Blog with your My Yahoo! or another customizable webpage/RSS reader you are using RSS technology.

Some online marketers are really excited about RSS technology because they feel that Email Marketing can be enhanced (or even replaced) by RSS Feed Marketing. At Email Marketing Made Easy we agree that RSS technology is important and can, in some cases, be a great addition to Email Marketing. We don’t however encourage any of our clients to throw out Email Marketing and dive into the pool of RSS Feed Marketing blindfolded.

Why?

Go ask 10 people if they know what an RSS Feed is, and if they subscribe to any RSS Feeds. You will most likely quickly realize most people don’t know what RSS is or have ever heard of it.

But that will change. When Microsoft gets around to releasing their next Internet browser RSS Feeds will most likely become more popular. Netscape, Opera and other Internet browsers already support RSS Feed additions but currently these browsers are not widely used. For those who are RSS Feed hungry the hope is that Microsoft’s new browser will saturate the minds of all who use it to adopt RSS Feed Marketing into their life.

So what does all this mean?
Some of the very large, an expensive, Email Service Providers that cater to big business have recently launched technology that basically sends personalized marketing messages (like lots of the Email Marketing messages you receive and send today) using RSS technology. The major selling points are:

-The subscriber does not have to give their email address to get the marketing messages (they simply subscribe to the RSS feed - a process which does not require providing any personal information).
-The messages are Spam proof (at this point in time you can not Spam an RSS Feed reader).
-There is no chance of phishing (Spam emails trying to access login information for online accounts – PAYPAL, EBay, Banking, etc.).
-The RSS Feed marketing messages can be personalized just like an Email Marketing message.

All of this is wonderful and we agree that as time progresses RSS marketing of this nature will become more widely accepted.

So what do Joan Pasay and Email Marketing Made Easy recommend?

If your company can afford the fees of one of the large Email Service Providers ($1000 a month or more...) we encourage the adoption of RSS technology in a controlled environment. Joan Pasay and her team can help you develop an RSS Marketing Strategy and roll out a successful campaign.

If your company is like most, and is unable to pay the hefty fees associated with the larger Email Service Providers we recommend the following:

Wait.

But don’t be idle.

Email Marketing Made Easy uses the services of a great Email List Provider that offers RSS Feeds archives of all the Email Newsletters that get sent. This means you can encourage your subscribers to ‘pick up’ (a common term for adding an RSS Feed to a customizable webpage or RSS reader) your e-newsletter archives. We know this all sounds a little technical but it isn’t. If your readers are into RSS Feeds and you provide the RSS URL your RSS savvy customers will know what to do with it and in less than 10 seconds your archived e-newsletters will be resident in your customer’s RSS Feed reader.

The Email List Provider's name is AWeber.

We highly recommend getting into RSS by using AWeber’s services. Here is how to do it:

Signup for AWeber account.

Send your e-newsletters as you normally would via AWeber.

Encourage your subscribers and customers to pick up your RSS archived newsletter feed.

Monitor the activity and usage of the RSS feed.

Use this data to make an educated decision as to when it would be appropriate to add personalized RSS Marketing into your marketing mix.

Will AWeber ever offer personalized RSS Feed Marketing like the large expensive Email Service Providers? We’ll have to wait and see. We have been told that they are working on it and we expect they will keep up with the trends as they always have. AWeber is one of the oldest Email Service Providers on the Internet and they have yet to disappoint us and we are sure they will launch technology that will be cutting edge.

A note of caution:

There are a few smaller unknown companies that offer personalized RSS Marketing service and software at a reasonable fee . These companies usually run Email Marketing list management services in tandem with RSS Marketing. If you choose to try one these services please use the same selection criteria you would use for any business transaction you do. While we won’t mention any names in this blog (become our client and we will happily tell you who to stay away from) please exercise caution. Make sure the company:

-Offers a 1-800 customer service number.
-Has a street address and phone number posted on their website.
-Offers a money back guarantee policy (make sure the policy can actually be executed)
-Is an established business
-Actually has employees (including technical help – this is VERY, VERY, VERY IMPORTANT!!!)

In the event you purchase software to perform this function make sure there is 1-800 technical help number available for installation and upkeep.

***Search online for feedback re any company you are checking out. If there are unsatisfied customers you will quickly find them on various business forums. Read the feedback! You might save yourself some time, money and heartache.

Need help getting adding RSS Feed Marketing to your Email Marketing efforts?

We can help: Check out Email Marketing Made Easy's services here

Want to check AWeber and get your e-newsletters archived in RSS? Check out AWeber here, and yes they more than meet the criteria above!

PS. There are other great ways to add RSS Feed Marketing into your online mix. Check out our Services page for more information.

Have you signed up for our Email Marketing Club yet? What is your excuse? Signup here.

Email Marketing Made Easy

Email Marketing Club: Special Treats Edition

2005-11-23T16:05:00.000-08:00

The Email Marketing Club is on a one week holiday but there are special treats for you here (and below):

http://emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/club/2005/11/email-marketing-club-happy.asp

Check out Email Marketing Made Easy's services:

Coaching, Mentoring and/or Consultation for:
*Email Marketing
*E-zine Marketing
*Auto-Responder Marketing
*Internet and Web Marketing
*RSS Feed Marketing

Related Services:
*Creative Email/E-zine List Building (without Spamming)
*Email List Management, Delivery and Measurement
*Internet Marketing Effectiveness Reviews (E-zine, Email, Website, Blog, etc.)
*Article/Blog Ghost Writing
*E-zine/Email Newsletter Copywriting
*Auto-Responder E-course Copywriting
*Auto-Responder Management
*General Internet Copywriting (Website, Flash, Sales and Customer Service Applications, etc.)

Book an introductory coaching session here:

(use the coupon, it's good for 15% off until Nov.30/05)

Use this link to get your discount:

http://www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com/coupon/?id=EXN955003111

If the link won't work for you, here is the coupon code: EXN955003111

You can enter the coupon code here:

http://www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com/coupon/

Joan Pasay
www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

Want To Make Your Email Marketing Efforts A Sure Winner? Follow Product Life Cycles.

2005-11-22T15:06:00.000-08:00

"Spam and the cluttered inbox have not killed the email medium for marketers. With a clear messaging strategy that is built off of a lifecycle relationship driven approach, there is still tremendous value that can be derived from email."

David Daniels, research director at JupiterResearch

We agree with David. Following Product Life cycles really is the way to go with Email Marketing. Want to learn more about how you can incorporate Product Life Cycles into your Email Marketing efforts?

Download our FREE Ebook:
Email Marketing Made Easy: How To Make More Money By Following Product Life Cycles.

Email Marketing Made Easy's Services - CLICK HERE

Joan Pasay
Email Marketing Specialist
www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

MP3 Interview: Joan Pasay of Email Marketing Made Easy Interviewed By Lee Raito

2005-11-22T14:56:00.000-08:00

Joan was recently interviewed by Lee Raito of BusinessSexcess.com

Hear the entire interview here for FREE!

Joan Pasay MP3 Interview

Check out Joan Pasay, her ebook and all the Email Marketing Made Easy services at these links:

Email Marketing Made Easy: How To Get Your Customers To Give You More Of Their Money EBOOK

Email Marketing Made Easy Services

Check out who did the interviewing:

Business Sexcess

MarketingSherpa's Email Marketing Benchmark Guide is out - Executive Summary Link Below

2005-11-17T15:46:00.000-08:00

MarketingSherpa's Email Marketing Benchmark Guide has just been released. You can check out the executive summary here:

The report summarizes key trends you will want to know about and incorporate into your own Email Marketing Program.

MarketingSherpa's Email Marketing Benchmark Guide - Executive Summary Link

Enjoy,

Joan Pasay
Email Marketing Made Easy

The Weekly Email Marketing Club is ready -- RSS Feed Me

2005-11-16T18:15:00.000-08:00

The weekly Email Marketing Club is ready. You can check it out here:

http://emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/club/2005/11/email-marketing-lesson-rss-feed-me.asp

Why not check us out? Our full list of services are here:

http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/pages/services.asp

Take care,

Joan Pasay
www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

Email Marketing Lesson: If You Realize You Made A Mistake After You Press Send, Just Admit It

2005-11-14T16:10:00.000-08:00

Copyright --Joan Pasay 2005

A few months ago I started getting a bunch of junk Spam messages. All the messages had the same subject line. Thinking that the emails were hocking cheap Ritalin, I left them in my Spam filter and continued with my daily tasks. Besides, my ADHD was under control with my five Starbucks lattes-a-day personal remedy. Within seconds, I totally forgot about the Spam messages.

When I was doing my up my Christmas list a few weeks later, I got to my Dad's name and thought, "Dad is pushing eighty, I wonder if he might like some Viagra as a stocking stuffer?" I suddenly remembered all those Ritalin emails. Maybe the online drug shops had a whole variety of pharmaceuticals other than Ritalin, and I could get a great deal on my Dad's Viagra.

I went back to my Spam filter and searched for all the messages with that same subject line. They weren't hard to find, the subject was only one word -

"Whoops!"

But there was no Viagra to be found. No Ritalin for that matter either. What a rip! Now what would I get my Dad for Christmas?

To make matters even worse, I realized all those Spam emails with the "Whoops!" subject line weren't Spam at all. They were a whack of messages from a whole bunch of email lists I actually subscribe to. It seems a "Whoops!" message is a legitimate message that really means,
"I made a mistake, check within for details."

All my 'Whoops!" email messages detailed URLs that had been mistyped, web addresses that had been moved, wrong dates, wrong product prices, incorrect phone numbers and a whole variety of other issues all covered under the subject line -- "Whoops!"

I even had one message that had "Double Whoops!" as a subject line since this was the second email message from the same company in a two-day time period that was riddled with errors.

I don't know if "Whoops!" is the greatest way to admit you made an error. How many people even have "Whoops!" in their active vocabulary? I wonder what else might be a more effective email newsletter subject line when a mistake has been made?

- "Whoopsy daisy" -- No, too, childish.

- "My parents are cousins, I can't help it!" -- No, too personal.

- "Gall darn it, dagnamit, another error!" -- No, your subscribers will think you need a few sessions of anger therapy.

- "Sorry, I am too cheap to get an editor" -- No, that is what your subscribers will think, but it probably isn't the greatest option for your subject line.

Maybe:

*Sincerest apologies, URL error in [insert newsletter name here]

*Sorry to have wasted your time, telephone number error

*We will try harder next time, pricing error in [insert newsletter name here]

I asked a few business associates what they thought of the "Whoops!" subject line. They all agreed it sounded like someone attempting to be 'down home' and trying to appear like a bumbling friend instead of a business who is having some difficulty with the e-newsletter editing process.

I guess the lesson here is to just admit you made an error and not try to cover it up with a "Gee wilickers, I think I just might be a moron" type subject line.

None of this gets me my Dad's Viagra, but it has lessened the load on my over-worked Spam software. I have set the software to rescue all "Whoops!" email marketing messages and put them in the Deleted box where they belong.

Brought to you by:
Email Marketing Made Easy

Need help getting going with your own Email Marketing Program?
We can help - Click here to get started

Mailer Mailer Industry-Specific Open and Click Rates per Day, new report available to download.

2005-11-14T16:04:00.000-08:00

MailerMailer has a new Open and Click rates report. You can download it here:
http://www.mailermailer.com/newsletter/SpecialReportOpenandClickRates.pdf

If you want to receive more reports like these, signup for the MailerMailer E-Newsletter:
MailerMailer E-Newsletter

Enjoy,

Joan
Email Marketing Made Easy

Need help getting going on your own Email Marketing program? We specialize in Email Marketing: Click here to get started

Business Sexcess: I am always reading new books and here is one I think you should check out

2005-11-09T17:26:00.000-08:00

When you live and breath marketing like the team at Email Marketing Made Easy does you read a lot of books.

Here is one I think you should check out:
BUSINESS SEXCESS

Yes, you are reading the title correctly. Sam Heyer and Lee Raito have taken business success tips and wrapped them up in a tasteful sexual tapestry. The book is very memorable, not just for the sexual analogy but for the sage business advice.

You can check out the book here:

Click here to take a look at Business Sexcess

Joan Pasay
Email Marketing Coach

Check us out here:
http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/coaching

The Weekly Email Marketing Club is ready -- Find Out How My Grandmother's Saggy Underwear Helped Mr. Pibs

2005-11-08T21:09:00.000-08:00

The latest Email Marketing Club is ready. Check it out here:

Your Marketing Reminds Me Of My Grandmother's Saggy Underwear:
http://emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/club/

Want to get the Email Marketing Club delivered to your email inbox? You can!

Join the Email Marketing Club now and receive a gift - guaranteed to increase your status with your friends, co-workers and boss.
http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/email_marketing_club

Pickup the Email Marketing Club RSS Feed here:
http://emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/club/atom.xml

Earn good karma. Forward this email to your friends, enemies and anyone else you know that has an email inbox.

Copyright 2005 - Joan Pasay.

The Weekly Email Marketing Club is ready -- Find Out What Would Jesus Email

2005-10-31T16:46:00.000-08:00

The weekly Email Marketing Club is ready!

Click below to find out --

What Would Jesus Email?

http://emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/club

Want to get the Email Marketing Club delivered to your email inbox? You can!
Join the Email Marketing Club now and receive a gift - guaranteed to increase your status with your friends, co-workers and boss.
http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/email_marketing_club

Pickup the Email Marketing Club RSS Feed here:
http://emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/club/atom.xml

Earn good karma. Forward this email to your friends, enemies and anyone else you know that has an email inbox.

Copyright 2005 - Joan Pasay.

Email Marketing Error 101: I Got An Email From My Hero, And Was I Ever Disappointed

2005-10-31T16:38:00.000-08:00

Copyright 2005 --Joan Pasay

Ok, I admit it. I have a few heroes. Who doesn't?

But what do you do when you find out one of your heroes can't spell, construct a sentence or sign his name?

It all started when I ended up on the website of one of my heroes. He said he had a Blog so I assumed he was telling the truth. Since he only had posted the name of the Blog, without a link, I emailed him to ask him where this supposed Blog was.

I did not really know if I would get an email back but within about ten minutes I heard my little inbox chime and there it was.

An email from my hero.

Boy, was I excited! This guy had answered my email!

I wondered what it would say. Words of wisdom? Would tiny pearls of enlightenment be attached?

I was kind of giddy when I pressed open.

And there it was.

Four lines of something that barely made any sense.

It appeared to be two sentences however neither had a capital letter at the beginning. The word 'I' was used twice, again without the use of a capital letter.

I checked the From field. It said the name of my hero. But how could I tell who sent this? There was no signature with a name, web address, or anything. Just a big blank white space.

The cryptic message seemed to explain that there was no Blog and talked about some discussion group I had never heard of.

My heart sank.

-Where was the inspiration?

-Where were the pearls of enlightenment?

-Where did this guy go to school?

I learned a lot that day.

-Even heroes can have terrible email manners

-Even heroes can miss out on email marketing opportunities by neglecting to use an email signature

-Even heroes can lose an admirer by quickly typing out gibberish to get a faithful fan out of their inbox.

Thanks hero, I am glad you emailed me. I realized you are a person just like me. You are no longer my idol. My aunt is an English teacher. If you want some private tutoring, I can send her contact information to you. If you want to improve your marketing efforts try complete sentences in proper English and an email signature with at least your name, web address and contact information.

Brought to you by --
The weekly Email Marketing Club e-zine:
Join now and receive a gift - guaranteed to increase your status with your friends, co-workers and boss.
http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/email_marketing_club

and by:
www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

Home of the ebook -- Email Marketing Made Easy: How To Get Your Customers To Give You More Of Their Money. (Visit the link above to check it out)

and by:

Joan Pasay the Email Marketing Coach. Find out Joan can help you reach your marketing goals:
http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/coaching

Earn good karma. Forward this email to your friends, enemies and anyone else you know that has an email inbox.

Copyright 2005 - Joan Pasay.

Email Marketing Advice: That FROM Field Can Really Sting You In The Butt

2005-10-28T13:46:00.000-07:00

It sure is a big responsibility to be in charge of the company Email Newsletter. Once a week you, and only you, are responsible to carefully craft an email marketing message and get it out to all of your sacred e-newsletter subscribers.

You take the job seriously and get started early in the week. You want this email message to be really great. The company is counting on you! Your email marketing campaign is one of your employer's core marketing activities.

1. It is Wednesday. You take the afternoon and carefully craft the weekly company email message.

2. It is Thursday. You spell check the weekly company email message.

3. It is Friday. You ask your marketing buddy across the office to proof the weekly company email message. You don’t want to embarrass yourself with grammatical errors or an article that does not make sense!

4. It is Saturday. You sleep on it and are confident the weekly company email message is ready to go.

5. It is Sunday. You take the day off and have a really great afternoon with your boyfriend. You are worry free! Your weekly company email message is all put to bed and ready to go.

6. You wake up early on Monday morning, get to the office and login into your Email List Management service and get your weekly company email message all queued up.

7. You press send and watch your weekly company email message go into cyberspace. “Oh, goody!” you exclaim. “Think of all the business I am going to bring into the company with this carefully crafted email marketing message!”

8. It is Monday, one second later. A subscriber receives the weekly company email message in their inbox.

9. It is Monday, two seconds later. Your subscriber looks at the FROM field.

10. It is Monday, three seconds later. Your subscriber seems perplexed. “Hmmm, who is Mary Franklin?” they think.

11. It is Monday, four seconds later. Your subscriber takes a deep breath, says, “Never heard of her,” and presses the delete button.

12. It is Monday, five seconds later. You are in a meeting with your new boss. You yelp, grab your butt and scream, “I think I just got stung by a bee!”

You did. And you let it out and you painted the target on your hiney.

Your name might mean something to you but your email list subscribers probably have no idea who you are and will freak out when they see a strange email in their inbox from some gal named Mary Franklin.

If you are Anthony Robbins you can get away with it.

Since I assume you;
-have never walked on fire
-are not almost seven feet tall and
-don't have a huge toothy grin

You don’t qualify to put your name in the From field of your weekly company email marketing messages.

Think about it from your subscriber’s point of view.
-They subscribed to an email list from your company.
-They expect to receive a message from your company.

Instead they receive a message from someone named Mary Franklin. Someone they have never heard of, never met, never seen, and is not mentioned in any literature that belongs to the company.

I think the only logical reaction would be to press the delete button. Wouldn’t you do the same thing?

Here are some suggestions for a FROM field that will mean something to your email list subscribers:

-Your company name and URL (Hey, you can put anything you want in here, so the clearer the better).

-The name of your periodic mailing (only if it is well- branded).

-Your company name AND the name of your periodic mailing.

Keep your name to yourself. I hate to bruise your ego, but no one cares if a message comes from you expect people who know you.

Feeling like you have a few swollen, red bumps on your rear?

Go check your FROM Field.

Brought to you by Joan Pasay and Email Marketing Made Easy

Check out the -- Email Marketing Club: The only place on the Internet where Email Marketing is FUN!

Join now and receive a gift - guaranteed to increase your status with your friends, co-workers and boss.
Click below: http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/email_marketing_club

Check out our popular ebook Email Marketing Made Easy & one on one expert Email Marketing coaching at http://www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

Earn good karma, forward this article to everyone you know who has an email address.

Copyright Joan Pasay - 2005

The New Email Marketing Club: Oct. 25/05 -- Starbucks, A Sexy Lady, And My Search For The Ezine.

2005-10-25T08:48:00.000-07:00

This is the first edition of the new Email Marketing Club:

The Only Place On The Internet Where Email Marketing Is FUN.

I hope you like the new theme.

To your happiness,

Joan Pasay
www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

You can see the Email Marketing Club online here:
http://emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/club/

You can pickup the RSS Feed here:
http://emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/club/atom.xml

************************************************************
Starbucks, A Sexy Lady, And My Search For The Ezine.
by Joan Pasay -- Copyright 2005.

The other day I heard someone at a 6:00 am network meeting proclaim- "I have an ezine!" Still half asleep, and hopped up on my third cup of coffee, my mind raced to try to figure out what he was talking about. I remained silent and sent my best early morning grin the way of the self-declared ezine-ite and knew I had a task for later.

"What the heck was an ezine?" I thought. It sounded sort of like a European motor scooter or something but I did not want to embarrass myself like the time I thought SEM was some kinky couples thing, only to find out it was Search Engine Marketing. I had to switch networking groups after that incident...

So after the meeting I went to the only place where you find out these sorts of things - Starbucks, during the day. Everyone knows that entrepreneurs that have a 'home office' really work from Starbucks. I even think Starbucks invented the concept to sell more fancy coffee drinks.

After ordering my latte I asked the barista if he knew what an ezine was. He instantly blushed and turned towards the comfy chair section. I didn't get it.

What did the comfy chairs have to do with ---

And then I saw her....

The hair, the clothes, the face, she was the sexiest woman I had ever seen. She looked so familiar but I was sure I would have remembered meeting someone who looked like her.

Feeling like my 4:30 am shower and one minute makeup session was quite insufficient I turned back to the barista and mumbled, "What does she have to do with an ezine?.." but he was off blending some mocha, no whip, double shot of espresso adult-Slurpee and I found myself talking to a shelf overflowing with bags of coffee.

I grabbed my latte and headed to the comfy chairs and -- the woman.

As I got closer I knew I had seen her before. But where?

She noticed me staring and smiled. "Hello, want to join me?," she whispered. Her voice sounded like Marilyn Monroe singing 'Happy Birthday Mr. President'.

I introduced myself and mentioned the barista told me the sexy lady could tell me what an ezine was. She giggled like a sex kitten, leaned towards me and whispered,"Can you keep a secret?"

A secret! This was getting exciting! I gulped back half my latte,burning my throat in the process and choked out a "Yes". I knew I was getting close, this definitely had nothing to do with a European motor scooter! "Ok, ok," I thought. "Tell me what the heck an ezine is!"

I closed my eyes in anticipation of finding the truth. I knew I was about to be enlightened. I held my breath - finally I would find out what an ezine was! I waited, eyes closed, my heart beating in anticipation. I took a deep breath and squealed at the top of my lungs, "I am ready, tell me what an ezine is!"

But when I opened my eyes the sexy woman had vanished. Instead there sat John Stossel. There was also everyone else in the Starbucks all gathered around me thinking I had just experienced some sort of caffeine-induced Kundalini awakening.

"You already know what an ezine is," said John Stossel."I do?" I said, trying to assure my new audience I was mentally stable.

And then in John's reporter-like style he said, "An ezine is a periodic electronically published newsletter or email newsletter. Sometimes they are posted on a website but most of the time they are sent via email or even RSS. Email newsletters were getting old so we cooked up a new, sexier name."

And with that John Stossel vanished and the sexy lady appeared again. My Starbucks audience all filed back to their comfy chairs and I sat there silent.

The milk frother hummed in the background and the sexy lady patted my hand. "Don't worry about it. Beauty and value are on the inside...even with an ezine," she said.

I took a long time to walk home that day. I had been duped by a marketing gimmick. That guy at the 6:00 am network marketing meeting was bragging about his email newsletter!

I guess exclaiming to an audience of half-asleep business persons trying to remember if they had let the dog out before they came to the meeting, "I have an email newsletter!" would be kind of lame.

I felt different writing my weekly e-newsletter, um, er, ok, weekly ezine that afternoon. I felt more alive, kind of lighter. Would my readers notice the difference? I had to promise the sexy lady that I would not reveal the secret that an ezine is simply an email newsletter so don't tell anybody,ok?

Ezine does sound a lot sexier than 'e-newsletter' and we all know sexy sells.

************************************************************

So what goes in an ezine? E-newsletter? Email Newsletter? Or whatever you want to call it?

*Something your customer will value such as industry news, teaching or how-to articles. If you can't write articles yourself there are tons of resources on the Internet that offer free articles. My articles are regularly re-published in ezines all over the Internet. I keep the copyright and get to promote Email Marketing Made Easy and our products. The other ezines get content and I get free advertising!

*Promotions for your products and services.

*Promotions for other companies' products or services you think your customers would appreciate (usually you will earn some sort of commission for sales or you charge a fee for the ad space).

What should you call your periodic mailings?
Whatever you want to call them. I call mine the Email Marketing Club. I have a client who calls his 'Weekly Specials E-flyer'.

Remember what the sexy lady said (and by the way I am still trying to determine if the sexy lady and John Stossel were one and the same person)...

Beauty and value are on the inside.

The weekly Email Marketing Club newsletter, ok ezine,is brought to you by www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

Home of the ebook -- Email Marketing Made Easy: How To Get Your Customers To Give You More Of Their Money. (Visit the link above to check it out)

And home of --Joan Pasay: Email Marketing Coach. Signup for an introductory one-on-one coaching session here:
http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/coaching

Join the Email Marketing Club now and receive a gift - guaranteed to increase your status with your friends, co-workers and boss.
http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/email_marketing_club

Check out the Email Marketing Club Blog:
http://emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/club

Pickup the Email Marketing Club RSS Feed here:
http://emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/club/atom.xml

Want to earn good karma? Forward this email to your friends, enemies and anyone else you know that has an email inbox.

Copyright 2005 - Joan Pasay.

Want to know an Email Marketing secret?

2005-10-20T20:45:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, October 25 2005 something is going to happen.

Prepare to be surprised, slightly shocked and a very happy you found out about Email Marketing Made Easy before your friends did.

Bookmark this page OR include us in your RSS Reader.

You don't want to miss this.

Joan
www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

Email Marketing Lesson: How To Cure Email Marketing Irregularity and Constipation

2005-10-20T20:39:00.000-07:00

This diary entry is based on real life events.

Dear Email Marketing diary,

About six months ago, I went for my yearly visit to Dr. E. Newsletter. He poked and prodded and checked to make sure everything was working as it should, then he sat down on his little stool, looked me straight in the eyes and asked:

"How is the plumbing?"

I blushed, made note of the nearest exit, squirmed on my seat and said, "I thought you were a marketing doctor. Since when do you ask questions about, er, uh, the pipes?"

"I'm talking about your emails dummy," he said. "Any blockage, inconsistency, irregularity or even -- constipation?"

Still too shocked to comment on his analogy, I stuttered while answering. "Uh, we send out e-newsletters. Probably about fifteen in the last year."

"What prompts you to send your messages?" he asked.

"When we have things to announce, like a few months ago one of our author's published a new book so we told all our email subscribers about it. Then a few days later we got her book signing tour dates and locations so we emailed again to let the subscribers know where they could meet her. She appeared on CNN, so of course we had to tell everyone about that, and then yesterday we announced her e-course, so we emailed everyone again."

"Sounds like you have been active. What were you doing before the book came out?" Dr. E. Newsletter asked.

"Oh, not much, everything was same old, same old, not really much to say. The author had not written anything new for a few years so we didn't really have much to communicate." I explained. "We really don't want to bore people when we have nothing new to say. We had not sent any emails for about a year before the book came out, we had to retrain on the software, our skills were rusty. We had even forgotten the password to the admin panel!" I playfully giggled.

Feeling pretty proud of myself I sat back, looked around the examination room, crossed my arms and noticed my shirt was drenched. I was sweating like a pig! Was I sick? Had I picked up something in this office?

Dr. E. Newsletter noticed my physical condition and became very silent. He got out his prescription pad and started to scribble something.

I panicked and started talking very quickly, "We are not sick, you just said we are active. What are you giving me? I don't want any marketing drugs."

"Your emails over the past few months sounds like you were blocked and constipated for a year and then digested a book and got a case of Montezuma's Email Revenge. You said you had sent about fifteen emails in the last year. How many of those were sent after the book came out?" Dr. E. Newsletter grunted.

"14..." I said, turning my head away in shame.

"Take the prescription, your email marketing campaign sounds like you need it," Dr. E. Newsletter said as he shoved the pad towards me.

I left the doctor's office that day a little shaken up. Dr. E. Newsletter had compared my email marketing campaign to a common bowel condition. Was my campaign really in trouble? Did it really stink?

It was two days before I even remembered to look at the prescription Dr. E. Newsletter had given me. What kind of a drug would I have to take to fix this?

Turns out, his prescription was pretty easy to follow. We only had to take one dose and we were regular again.

From the desk of Dr. E Newsletter:

Take one does of Pepto-Bismail and

1) Send your email marketing newsletters on a pre-determined regular schedule.

2) Keep to the schedule, or stop sending e-newsletters.

Dr. E. Newsletter was right. We rarely got much of a response from our email newsletter
campaigns. It probably had to do with our customers rarely hearing from us and then getting bombarded with messages when we wanted them to do something.

One customer even sent us a well written, but scolding, email that said she felt dirty when she would get our messages. It was clear we were only sending her email messages when we wanted something.

I booked a six-month check-up with Dr. E Newsletter. I go next Friday. I am actually looking forward to the visit. We've been sending e-newsletters once a week for about five months now. Oh sure, in the beginning we pulled our hair out a little, but after awhile we got in a groove and now the weekly email message gets sent every Wednesday at noon. Even in the summer when most of the group is on holidays we band together and get that e-newsletter out.

After my last visit to Dr. E Newsletter I vowed to never have my email marketing campaign referred to as constipated, irregular and (I am even ashamed to think it..) Montezuma's Email Revenge. How embarrassing!

Dr. E. Newsletter mentioned to me that 'Email Irregularity' was the most common condition in email marketing. He said he prescribes gallons of Pepto-Bismail every week.

Readers: Email irregularity is a condition that is extremely dangerous. The customer in the story who said she felt dirty when she would get intermittent emails is a real person. Maybe your customers feel like she does.

This story was inspired by 4 different companies who suffer from Email Irregularity:

*A semi-famous author / coaching company who had not sent an email message in over two years, wrote a new book and then sent a flurry of messages hocking the book.

*A very famous author / business guru who had not sent an email message for months, made a new website, changed some business methods and sent a number of emails in a very short period of time hocking the new business approach.

*A baby products company that sends emails on a very inconsistent basis, and then sent two in one week, both hocking new products.

*A movie distribution company that usually sends an email message about once a month, and then decided to sent three messages in two days.

How would you have felt on the receiving end of these Email Marketing messages?

Having a regular scheduled email marketing campaign encourages:

*Your customers to expect to hear from you. Who knows, they might even look forward to your messages if you are providing real value.

*Repeat customer sales. The more times a customer hears from you, the more likely they are to partake of your services again. (The key is for them to hear from you frequently on a regular basis).

*A perception that you are still in business, you are consistent and you are always ready, willing and able to provide more goods and services.
Just in case you aren't clear on the symptoms of 'Email Irregularity' here is a quick summary. If you experience these symptoms follow Dr. E. Newsletter's prescription right away:

*No consistency in the frequency of your Email campaigns - Things are rather irregular.

*A flurry of email messages when something happens in your company Usual sending triggers are a new business approach, a new website, a new product or service - Montezuma's Email Revenge.

*Long periods of time when you don't send any email messages - Total Blockage. Your customers will think you are really sick or even are dead.

Joan Pasay is a dynamic e-marketing coach & the author of:
Email Marketing Made Easy: How To Get Your Customers To Give You More Of Their Money. For online and offline businesses.

Joan's ebook provides over 100 creative email ideas geared to keep your Email campaigns fresh, frequent and regular.

You can check out here ebook here: http://www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

Become a member of Joan's free Email Marketing Club: http://emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/email_marketing_club

Feel free to send this article to anyone you wish who you think suffers from Email Irregularity and Constipation.

Copyright 2005 - Joan Pasay

Email Marketing Manners 101: Clearing Your Inbox By Forwarding Email Messages To Someone Else

2005-10-20T18:43:00.000-07:00

This week I received an email message entitled to Stephen. Since my name isn't Stephen, and I am not even a guy, it got my attention. Seems that a well-meaning customer service rep at a company I deal with decided that the way to answer my help request was to pawn me off on someone else.

I understand that one person at a company can't do everything but what are you really saying when:

*You receive an external help request from someone who deals with your company and you

*Deal with it by sending an internal message to another employee who can take care of the issue and

*Carbon copy the internal message to the customer who sent you the help request

Does that mean you are off the hook?

Am I the only person who thinks this is super rude?

Am I the only person who thinks that a customer might be:

1. A bit confused when they get an email from someone they don't recognize?

2. A bit confused when they get an email clearly addressed to another person?

I think the customer would feel pawned off and not appreciated.

Even worse, they just might delete the message because it is addressed to someone else (thinking it is Spam).

My story does not end there. My issue has not been resolved! Do I email the customer service email again, or do I email 'Stephen', the guy that I think is taking care of my issue because I was cc'd on an internal email conversation?

Maybe it would have been better if the customer service rep had emailed me and told me the issue was being taken care, and she would leave the request open until the issue had been solved.

I don't like getting emails that clearly indicate I have been pawned off.

I also don't like getting called Stephen.

And I really don't like being clueless as to the status of my issue.

Customers don't need to know who is taking care of what in your company. They need a response that indicates you care about their issue and it will be resolved. Next time you think it is appropriate to simply 'clean out your inbox' by pawning off an external help request to someone else in your company, think about how the customer will feel when they get a strange email addressed to someone else.

Using Email requires manners and a little thinking about how the recipient will feel when they get your message. If email manners are an issue for you than admit it, and use the telephone.

Joan Pasay is an Email Marketing Specialist and author of the eBook,

"Email Marketing Made Easy --

How to Get Your Customers To Give You More of Their Money."

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MailerMailer Metrics Open and Click Rates by Day Report just released today!

2005-10-18T14:13:00.000-07:00

Most of you know I am a great fan of MailerMailer. They have issued another great report that you will want to take a look at.

And while you are at it why not signup for their newsletter? They offer great information as well as reports just like these.

Newsletter signup click here.

Download the Clicks By Day Report here:
http://www.mailermailer.com/newsletter/SpecialReportOpenandClickRates.pdf

Joan Pasay is an Email Marketing Specialist and author of the eBook,
"Email Marketing Made Easy -- How to Get Your Customers
To Give You More of Their Money."

Sign up for her FREE weekly Email Marketing Club newsletter at http://EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com/email_marketing_club

Get our Articles RSS Feed athttp://EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com/articles/articles_rss_feed.asp

View our full list of Articles athttp://EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com/articles/index.asp

Email Marketing Lesson: How To Build An Email List, Part Two of Two

2005-10-16T22:42:00.000-07:00

Do you remember the word I made up last time?

Unjoin.

Today I'll let you know what the concept of unjoining means and how it will get you in trouble with your customers.

So, what does it mean to 'unjoin' a list before you join it?

Here are two real life examples I came across the other day from two very large companies who should know better (I will leave the guilty parties unnamed).

Real life example one - From a large multinational car company website:
I do not wish to receive

( ) ABC Company special events and promotions
( ) ABC Company Retailer promotions
( ) Marketing Surveys

Do you see where this company is requiring the customer to unjoin the list before they even joined?

If the customer did not check the boxes above they would be put on three email lists! I call this reverse permission email marketing and I think it stinks.

Real life example two - From a large national telecommunications company website:

(x)Yes, I want to receive via e-mail, information and special offers on products and services from XYZ Company and its affiliates.

Whoops, this company has already checked the box for the customer! This is a sneaky way to get more email addresses on your Email marketing list. Lots of people don't notice the pre-checked box and submit the form with the box checked.

The result?

Email marketing messages flooding an unsuspecting customer's inbox.

Did the customer ask to be added to the list?

No.

They were tricked into being put on the Email marketing list.

Now, I know all of readers of this article would never do this to your sacred customers. Why would you?

*****It just ticks people off and you are getting customers
on your Email list who really don't want to be a part of it*****

So how do you really ask customers to be on your list?

You ask people to join and let them join if they want to.

Don't:
-trick people into joining by pre-checking boxes-ask people to say which newsletters they DON'T want to receive

Here are some ethical ways to ask:
Offline businesses:
-use a blank check box on a paper form that you are using to gather information
-use a blank check box on a paper "customer profile" form
-use a blank checkbox on a paper contest entry form-use a signup sheet at your cash register and get the customer to signup on the spot

Online businesses:
-use an email newsletter signup form on your website
-ask the question (with an unchecked check box) when your customer is paying for their order online
-ask the question (with an unchecked check box) when your customer is placing a customer service request

Here is my three-step Email list building recipe:
1. Always ask your customer's permission to add them to your Email marketing list.
2. Be thankful for the email addresses you get on your Email marketing list.
3. Know that the customers on your Email marketing list really want to hear from you and will respond when you email them.

Joan Pasay is a dynamic e-marketing coach & the author of:
Email Marketing Made Easy: How To Get Your Customers To Give You More Of Their Money. For online and offline businesses.

Sign up for her FREE weekly Email Marketing Club newsletter at: http://EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com/email_marketing_club

Get our Articles RSS Feed at:http://EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com/articles/articles_rss_feed.asp

Feel free to send this article to anyone you wish.

Copyright - Joan Pasay 2005

Email Marketing Lesson: How To Build An Email List, Part One of Two

2005-10-13T15:49:00.000-07:00

So why do so many people cry and pull their hair out when it comes to building an email list? It's really simple - they don't know how to do it.

Before you start building an email list you need to know one thing.

What I'm about to tell you is so paramount you will want to stop reading this email and get a post-it note and pen ready so you can write it down.

What is this one thing that is so important?
If you have your post-it note and pen ready I will tell you!

Hmm, I sense someone is still looking for their post-it notes in their desk.

Ok, now we are ready...

The one thing you need to know before you start building an email list is:
****People like to be asked before you put them on a list****

I know it is not much of a novel concept but some people don't seem to understand why this is important. Here are a few reasons:

-People don't like getting emails unannounced (if a person does not ask for something, then gets it, he/she won't expect it. The email will be a surprise. People don't like surprises unless it is a new car.)

-People will stay on an email list longer if they actually decided to go on the list in the first place.
So asking people to join is key. In the industry, it's called Permission Email Marketing or Opt-in Email Marketing.

Sounds pretty simple.

When you start building your email list you have to ask people to join (or rather, you would be wise to ask people to join). It's up to you.

Lots of companies don't ask people to join their email lists. I experience these types of emails everyday and always treat them the same - I delete them before I read them.

So let's talk about your email list.

-How will you ask people to join?

-Are you operating online? If so, what tools can you use on your website?

-Are you operating offline? If so, what tools can you use at your place of business?

Here are some suggestions that will help point you in the right direction:

1. Ensure you are clear about the frequency of your e-newsletters.
For example: If your e-newsletter will be weekly, say so. If you intend to send five emails a day make sure your signups understand this.

2. Once the above is covered, clearly ask people to join your list.

and

3. Don't ask people to un-join your list if they don't want to join.

Un-join?

If you are wondering if un-join is a word, it isn't.

If you are wondering what the heck my last point means, you'll have to wait until Email Marketing Lesson: How To Build An Email List, Part Two of Two.

Joan Pasay is a dynamic e-marketing coach & the author of:
Email Marketing Made Easy: How To Get Your Customers To Give You More Of Their Money. For online and offline businesses.

Check out Joan' s ebook here: http://www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

Sign up for her FREE weekly Email Marketing Club newsletter at: http://EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com/email_marketing_club

Get our Articles RSS Feed at:
http://EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com/articles/articles_rss_feed.asp

Feel free to send this article to anyone you wish.

Copyright - Joan Pasay 2005

Marketing Sherpa Report Just Released: 71% of Big Companies Use Email Marketing But Most Make HTML Mistakes

2005-10-13T15:35:00.000-07:00

Source: Marketing Sherpa

SUMMARY:This morning at 10am, Silverpop exclusively released the results from its 2005 Broken Link Study to MarketingSherpa's research team.

Turns out 71% of the top 360 US companies (as ranked by D&B) now offer an email opt-in on their Web site. Unfortunately some of them dampen responses to their lovely HTML messages with a mistake that even email newbies should know to avoid.

Here are the details including five charts:
#1. Percent of Company Web Sites By Industry Offering Visitors Email List Opt-In 2002/2005

#2. Email Systems Used by At-Work Email Users in the US

#3. Personal (At-Home) Email Addresses by Domain

#4. Delivery of 360 Top D&B-Rated Companies' Broadcast Emails

#5. Percent of studied HTML email images and/or links blocked/broken by email client

As well as three real-life illustrations and a handy table of 'Add Sender to Contact List' instructions for 7 popular email clients:

OK, color us dumbfounded that 29% of 360 companies listed in D&B's top rankings don't offer an email opt-in form anywhere on their Web sites.

According to a new study by the research team at Silverpop (released today exclusively to MarketingSherpa), big companies are not always on the cutting email marketing edge. Or even past making newbie mistakes it would seem.

You'll find a handy link to charts and illustrations below.

In the meantime, here's the facts and advice you might want to take away from the study:

HTML Email Doesn't Work Properly for Millions of Recipients

As we've been reporting for years, HTML email breaks in a wide variety of email inboxes. This isn't due to the programming on your creative team's end -- it's to to the fact that the email client (aka system) your recipient views your email in routinely breaks your message.
Depending on the email system, your HTML images may be blocked so recipients see a blank white box and/or your live hotlinks may not work properly.

AOL 9.0 Outlook 2003, and Gmail are most infamous for blocking and/or breaking HTML. Older versions of Lotus Notes are also at fault.

How many of your recipients are using one of these systems? It's nearly impossible to tell (you can tell what domain name a recipient uses but not which version of an email client they are on.) However, we have included two charts (link below) to give you some idea of how popular the biggies are.

Can you "fix" your email so it displays properly?

Unfortunately tweaking your HTML email so it shows up properly in every email client is impossible. To a large extent, you're at the mercy of your recipient who will hopefully know and care enough to follow instructions so they can view HTML email in all its glory. (Link to handy table of instructions below.)

And you can't count on Multipart MIME to help much because the email client *is* displaying the HTML version not the associated text-version. It's just displaying the HTML version as a broken, ugly thing.

If your HTML message had no text at all that wasn't in image format, then no text will show up on the screen.

Solutions:
#1. Add a hotlinked text-line at the top of every message (can be in tiny type) that says something such as "Did your email system mangle this newsletter? See it Online."
Note: Don't say "Click Here" because that wording as a hotlink in an HTML-heavy message can get you filtered as a spammer in some systems.

#2. Remind your opt-ins incessantly to add your send email address to their address book which means your email won't be filtered or hurt in most systems. Best places -- on "thank you" landing page they see when they opt-in, and in your welcome-to-our-list autoresponder. Some mailers such as TJMaxx.com also add a reminder in text at the top of every HTML email they send.

The bad news is, most email recipients are lazy especially when it comes to commercial email. They leave address settings on default, they don't bother clicking to see images. Fewer than 5% of your recipients will heed you if you do both #1 and #2. But heck, those are very motivated prospects and may be among your most valuable list members.

Next:

#3. Get yourself and your email creative team sample email accounts at Gmail, AOL 9.0 etc. Keep all settings on default so you see worst possible scenario of what may happen to your HTML creative.

Often you'll find yourself adding more text wording to messages than you had initially. Images simply can't be relied on for the entire message. Neither can HTML click buttons. If a recipient can't see the button, they're not going to click.

Good luck, and here are those charts we promised....

Useful links related to this article:
5 Charts, 3 illustrations and one handy table from this
article:http://www.marketingsherpa.com/htmlesd/study.html

____________________________

So Email Mareting Made Easy readers, what does all this mean?

-It means if you choose to send Email Marketing messages with HTML some, or all of these issues may be happening to you.

-As mentioned it is impossible to prevent these issues from happening.

Does that mean we should all send text messages 100% of the time? No, but you may want to consider the option.

My ebook addresses the HTML/text issues at length, as well as how effective Email Marketing is in getting repeat customers. You can check out my ebook here:

www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

Joan

My business partner will freak out when he reads I did this....

2005-10-07T14:05:00.000-07:00

I happen to know that my business partner is about a week behind on reading my BLOG so I know that by the time he reads this I will be in the clear.

I'm offering a deep 50% discount on my "Email Marketing Made Easy: How To Get Your Customers To Give You More Of Their Money" e-book, but only until Oct 12 2005,

{this way I know for sure the offer will be over by the time my partner reads this blog :) }

Why am I doing this?

*I like to see my business partner get a little freaked out once in awhile..

*It is Thanksgiving here in Canada this weekend. I am very thankful for everything I have been blessed with:

* family
* great, great lifelong friends
* a beautiful daughter
* a great home country
* clients I really care for
* and most of all -- life

and I wanted to pass a little good cheer onto you.

So, as I am celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend enjoy your discount:

Use this link to get your discount: (good until midnight Oct 12 2005)

http://www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com/coupon/?id=TAK105021015

If the link won't work for you, here is the coupon code:TAK105021015

You can enter the coupon code here:
http://www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com/coupon/

Remember this offer ends Oct 12 (long before my business partner will have read this :) !!!

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving,

Joan Pasay
www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

Check out Joan's free six part Email Marketing e-course:
http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/jump_start/mini.asp

Check out Joan's free Email Marketing Club:
http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/email_marketing_club/index.asp

Feel free to send this BLOG to anyone you wish.

Copyright 2005 - Joan Pasay

Want Email Marketing Articles on your website, for FREE?
*It is easy
*No programming required
*If you can use a mouse you can do it (cutting and pasting required)

Click on this link to get Email Marketing Articles on your website today!http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/articles/articles_rss_feed.asp

Email Marketing Lesson: One of the Seven Deadly Sins That Will Sabotage Your Email Marketing Campaign

2005-10-07T13:54:00.000-07:00

As I was looking around the Internet this week I was reminded of something that I have seen so many email marketers miss. It's so simple I can't believe anybody does it, but everyday I open my inbox, I see it dozens of times.

What is it?

-Well it's something that takes about one minute to set up-It's critical to your success as an Email Marketer-If you miss it, your open rate will surely suffer-It's one of the seven deadly sins that will sabotage your email marketing campaign.

Interested to know the sin?

Putting something that means nothing in your From field.

The From field is the part of the email message that identifies where the message is coming from (e.g., Jack's Flowers). The From field in your email marketing message can be set to anything you wish.

When your subscriber gets your email message, the first point of contact is their inbox. If the subscriber recognizes the information in the From field, the message is quickly opened.
If your subscriber doesn't recognize the information in the From field, the message is likely to get deleted before it's opened.

Why?

Do you readily open messages from people you don't know? I sure don't. I don't want to get bombarded with emails promoting little blue pills, or worse, somebody's cruel virus.
Putting something that means nothing in your From field is certainly the surefire way to get your email message in the delete box - before it even gets opened!

Wondering what should go in your From box?
a) The name of your business
b) The name of your e-newsletter (if the name is recognizable)
c) Your web address (if it is recognizable)

Do NOT use your personal name unless you are well known.

Okay, I agree if I got an email from Anthony Robbins I think I would recognize his name. However getting an email from Mary Johnson (when I don't know her) it is another story.

This is usually the way that companies blow it with the From field:

Some well-intentioned employee who is responsible for sending out the e-newsletter sends the email message from their email address. Unfortunately that employee doesn't realize that no one will recognize their name and will most likely delete the message before it gets opened.

So what do you do now?

Immediately go and check what you have set up in your From field on all of your e-newsletters.

If you are guilty of the From field sin, ask forgiveness from the email gods and move on. If you were already one step ahead of me and had a great From field entry - congratulations!

Joan Pasay
www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

Check out Joan's free six part Email Marketing e-course:
http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/jump_start/mini.asp

Check out Joan's free Email Marketing Club:
http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/email_marketing_club/index.asp

Feel free to send this article to anyone you wish.

Copyright 2005 - Joan Pasay

Want more Email Marketing Articles on your website, for FREE?
*It is easy
*No programming required
*If you can use a mouse you can do it (cutting and pasting required)

Click on this link to get Email Marketing Articles on your website today!http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/articles/articles_rss_feed.asp

Email Marketing Lesson: The Easiest Way To Make Your Email Newsletters Effective

2005-10-07T13:41:00.000-07:00

If you grasp today's lesson with clarity and apply the principles to your future Email Marketing campaigns I know you will not only be sporting a spring in your step but your wallet will need to be expanded as well.

Oh, and I almost forgot, mastering these principles won't take a lot of your time and it isn't hard to learn. After today's lesson you will understand the easiest way to make your Email newsletters effective.

Interested?

If you are like most people, you experienced a very positive emotional reaction when you read the paragraph above. If you are like most people you are still reading because you want to find out how you can have that emotion again and again.

The first part of this lesson fulfilled a universal emotional need. If you were able to actually see yourself with a 'spring in your step and a fat wallet' I imagine you were smiling.

Draw a positive emotional response from your Email newsletter subscribers and watch the open rate skyrocket, the click rate jump,and the response rate amaze you. And this not only works when you sell happiness, it works with a whole bunch of other universal emotions like:

-Peace of mind. What do you think life insurance is all about?

-Understanding. What do you think those books for 'people who are dummies' are all about?

-Saving time. What do you think those kitchen gadgets that cook up a tender, juicy roast in 15 minutes are all about?

-Making things easy. What do you think most of the technology we love and enjoy is all about?
And the granddaddy of them all...

-Saving money (the emotion is healthy pride or feeling smart). How many products have you purchased because you thought using the product would save you money?

And the list doesn't stop there.

Years ago the founder of Revlon cosmetics admitted to selling nothing more than 'hope'.

In the factory we make cosmetics; in the drugstore we sell hope. -- Charles Revson
(founder of Revlon Cosmetics)

Look around you and you will start to notice companies who sell fun, love, friendship and many other emotions all masked in a packaged product or service.

I already mentioned this principle was pretty easy to get a hold of and I wasn't joking. If you take a few steps back from your product or service you will quickly see what positive emotional reaction you think people will have when they partake of what you are offering.

After you have a firm grasp of this emotion, simply place it in your next Email Newsletter!
Here is a checklist you can use to make sure you get it right (you can do one, or all of them):

*Describe the emotion you want your Email subscribers to feel.

*Paint a picture, in words or with graphics, that will bring forth the emotion. (Why do you think there are smiling people in so many advertisements? The seller wants us to feel happiness when we think of their product or service! The seller wants us to think we will be happy if we purchase their product or service!)

*Twirl the emotion around your product or service throughout your Email.

*Tell (and show) your e-newsletter subscribers how they will feel when they get your product or use your service.

Data and facts and figures are great but the majority of people just want to feel a positive emotion. Give your e-newsletter subscribers a spark of that emotion and you'll see a positive reaction - your subscribers will indicate they are hungry for more of that emotion!

Hungry for more means:

* Your e-newsletter subscribers will stay on your list (which is good, if you don't make a sale today, you just might make a sale with the e-newsletter you send next week.)

* Some of your e-newsletter subscribers will purchase your product or service today.

Now, the readers of this lesson who have not had their 'ah-ha moment' or 'I get it' are saying...

"This is the sleaziest thing I have ever heard!"

Is it?

I'm not telling you to lie to your Email Newsletter subscribers! If your product or service is not intended to bring forth some type of positive emotional reaction, your troubles can't be addresses in this lesson.

I am simply suggesting you use the emotions you think are attached with your product to promote and sell it.

You have to be clear on the emotion your product is attached to. Linking 'peace of mind' to an Email newsletter selling motorcycles might not be too intelligent. Many people have the perception that motorcycles are unsafe. Attach freedom and fun and you'll be writing a five star e-newsletter.

Want to get started?

*Identify the emotions you want to attach to your product.

*Use the checklist provided above.

And write an e-newsletter that will put a spring in your step. Be careful though, you'll have to dance around your really fat wallet.

Joan Pasay
www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

Check out Joan's free six part Email Marketing e-course:
http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/jump_start/mini.asp

Check out Joan's free Email Marketing Club:
http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/email_marketing_club/index.asp

Feel free to send this article to anyone you wish.
Copyright 2005 - Joan Pasay

Want more Email Marketing Articles on your website, for FREE?
*It is easy
*No programming required
*If you can use a mouse you can do it (cutting and pasting required)

Click on this link to get Email Marketing Articles on your website today!
http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/articles/articles_rss_feed.asp

Email Marketing Lesson: RSS Feed Marketing Is Coming To A Browser Near You

2005-10-07T13:37:00.000-07:00

Everywhere you look these days people are talking about RSS Feeds. Now the stakes are even higher because traditional ‘Email Marketing’ messages via RSS Feeds are coming to a customizable webpage or browser near you.

I think the idea is pretty nifty however I am wondering how long it will take to be mainstream.
Should marketers take notice? Yes, marketing messages through RSS Feeds should be something you should at least look at.

Should you start doing it? Probably not.

Yet.

Why not start with asking your Email List Management provider if they have the capability or are thinking about it. If you operate all of this from in-house you will probably have to get a
software upgrade or use another package.

Start taking notice of how many e-newsletters you signup for or Email Marketing messages you are getting that give you the option of getting the messages via RSS Feeds.

Make a note to start thinking about sending marketing messages via RSS Feeds. You won’t be doing it tomorrow, you won’t be doing it next week but sometime in the next few years when your boss says:

“Harry, my kid says he gets messages from his favorite online music store via RSS Feeds, why can’t we do that?”

You can smile and say,

“We’ve started doing that six months ago.”

Joan Pasay is a dynamic e-marketing coach & the author of:

Email Marketing Made Easy: How To Get Your Customers To Give You More Of Their Money. For online and offline businesses.

Check out Joan here: http://www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

Signup for Joan's free Email Marketing Club:
http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/email_marketing_club/index.asp

Feel free to send this article to anyone you wish.

Copyright - Joan Pasay 2005

Why do my Email Marketing Club newsletters go into my Deleted Box?: question from, Christina - EMC member

2005-10-06T17:08:00.000-07:00

Hi Joan.

I wanted to let you know I'm really enjoying your emails.

However, something I find strange is that all yours emails are being plunked into my Deleted file automatically - something inside them is triggering a spam message. Given you specialize in avoiding spam, I find this rather ironic. I've looked at your emails and honestly don't know what the trigger might be. Very little of my email gets popped into the Deleted file, so I thought you might want to know about this.

I'm glad I've been able to go in and "rescue" the messages from the Deleted file that come from you, as you are providing good and valuable info. Thanks for what you do.

Warmly,
Christina

My reply to Christina,

Thanks for your message Christina.

I don't really specialize in avoiding Spam, I specialize in Email Marketing and use all the tools available to try and avoid getting caught in a filter. There are many reasons why our emails may be ending up in your filter. You might want to try adding the Email Marketing Club newsletter email address to your

WHITE LIST or
YOUR FRIEND LIST or
YOUR UNBLOCKED LIST

You may have blocked our emails by mistake and now the emails just go in the Delete box automatically.

All Spam Filters are a little different. Usually there is a feature to 'add a sender's address' to a friendly/accept list. You will want to look at your specific program and see if that feature is available to you.

All of this could also be caused because of a setting within your network (if you have one), a setting by your ISP (dial up account), or just a 'rule' in your Email Client (Outlook, or whatever you use) that is set too sensitive.

I think if you try the 'add this email address to a friend list' it will fix things. If it doesn't I would guess the email address has been blocked in error. In that case, just unblock the email address.

Thanks for the feedback, I always appreciate hearing from my newsletter subscribers.

Hope you have a really great day,

Joan

Blog Readers:
The only way to never get your email messages in a Spam Filter is to not send any. If this works for you - great. If it doesn't use the services of a reputable email list management service provider and educate your audience as much as you can.

Here are two I trust:

AWeber
Intellicontact

Comments? Suggestions? Want your questions answered?

Email me: joanpasay@EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com
(if you are a spammer, don't bother I have a very good Spam filter -- I guarantee you your emails WILL end up in my deleted box and you future messages will never reach me!)

Join the weekly Email Marketing Club:
Email Marketing advice, teaching articles, lessons, homework (only sometimes) and Email Marketing Club only special offers (deep, deep discounts found no-where else!).

Take my FREE six part Email Marketing E-course: 6 emails packed full of Email Marketing lessons and tons of exercises geared to get you up and going with your own Email Marketing campaign in a hurry.

Joan Pasay
www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

Coaching: http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/coaching/index.asp

Articles (and RSS FEED information you can put on your site or your MyYahoo/MyMSN): http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/articles/index.asp

RSS FEED for Email Marketing Made Easy Articles - FREE Content For Your Website / Your Email Newsletters and BLOGS

2005-10-06T16:36:00.000-07:00

Did you know you can have the Email Marketing Made Easy articles on your website / Blog or in your MyYahoo (customizable homepage)?

Want it for FREE????
Click here: http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/articles/index.asp

1. Go grab our Email Marketing Made Easy Articles RSS Feed code
http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/articles/index.asp

2. Dump it onto your webpage /Blog / MyYahoo and you are done!

***It is easy and takes no up-keep on your part!

***It also requires no technical expertise from you - if you can cut and paste (something you do with your mouse) you qualify to use our Email Marketing Made Easy Articles RSS Feed

Everytime we post a new article your feed is automatically updated, you do nothing!

Here is the direct link to the Email Marketing Made Easy Article RSS Feed area (you can see what it looks like too...)

DID YOU KNOW?
You can also re-publish our articles in your own E-Zines (as long as you leave the article as it, with author area intact and copyright intact)

SOMETHING YOU WANT TO READ:
Here is a gold nugget for you -- our Email Marketing Articles are part of our affiliate program. Use one of our articles on your website, in your email newsletter, or on your BLOG and your affiliate linking code goes with it!

Interested? (I can not imagine the reason why you would not be, it is almost like free money)

Join our affiliate program. After you join you will receive an email with all the details and your personalized affiliate links. You also get a personal affiliate admin panel so you can check your sales, your clicks and check out all the linking options.

Feel free to use your personal affiliate links anywhere you want to.

So,

-you get to use the Email Marketing Made Easy Article content for free (sounds like a no-brainer)

-you get commission on sales that are logged from your affiliate links (sounds like a super no-brainer)

So take your pick:

Yes, I want to make money AND use the Email Marketing Made Easy article content:
CLICK HERE To Join the Affiliate Program:
http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/affiliates/index.asp

No, I have enough money already and only want the Email Marketing Made Easy article content:

CLICK HERE for the Email Marketing Made Easy Article RSS Feed details:
http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/articles/index.asp

Joan Pasay
www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

Coaching: http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/coaching/index.asp

Articles (and RSS FEED information you can put on your site or your MyYahoo/MyMSN): http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/articles/index.asp

A message from HB, an Email Marketing Club member

2005-10-06T16:25:00.000-07:00

A message from HB, an Email Marketing Club member:

Miss Email Marketing guru!

I wanted to forward an example of email marketing that has impressed me from West Jet airlines asking me to confirm that I do wish to receive their guest-partner mailing list. This is a good idea in case you accidentally hit a subscribe button this is"honorable email marketing" as they give you a call back to opt-out of you wish....I've seen this a couple of times in my travels as of late and likeit!

HB - your email marketing student

HB’s email message she was referring to:

Please reply to this email message to confirm your subscription to guest_partners.

Your email address has been entered for a subscription to the guest_partners mailing list. However, your new subscription requires a confirmation that you received this email message and want to join this mailing list.

If you do not want to join, do nothing. You will be automatically removed.

To confirm that you do want to join, simply reply to this message.

Make sure that your message is addressed to: (URL to confirm was here)

To unsubscribe immediately, you send an email message to: (URL to unsubscribe was here)

HB,

I can understand why you like this type of approach. In the industry it is called double opt-in email marketing. This is the reason you will see a lot of companies using this approach:

-it guarantees the person who belongs to the email address wants to join the list (someone else could enter your email address and sign you up for list)

-it also allows the owner of this list (in this case Westjet) to have an audit trail of the subscription. In the event that a subscriber later complains to Westjet (or Westjet’s email list management service / or email hosting company) that Westjet is Spamming, they can show that the subscriber did indeed join the list.

Email Marketing Made Easy uses double opt-in with all their Email Marketing newsletters and Email courses. We only want people on our Email lists who really want to be there!

Thanks so much for your email HB!

Do you want to send Joan something that you really like (or don’t like) in the Email Marketing world?

Do you have an Email Marketing question you want to ask?

Email me – I’ll answer your questions or post your comments in a future blog entry.
joanpasay@EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

Join the weekly Email Marketing Club: Email Marketing advice, teaching articles, lessons, homework (only sometimes) and Email Marketing Club only special offers (deep, deep discounts found no-where else!).

Take my FREE six part Email Marketing E-course: 6 emails packed full of Email Marketing lessons and tons of exercises geared to get you up and going with your own Email Marketing campaign in a hurry.

Joan Pasay

www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

Coaching: http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/coaching/index.asp

Articles (and RSS FEED information you can put on your site or your MyYahoo/MyMSN): http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/articles/index.asp

New Product Announcement: Privacy Policy Generator

2005-10-02T15:57:00.000-07:00

Oct 02 2005 New Product Launch: Privacy Policy Generator

If you need a privacy policy and you don't know where to begin or how to get one our Privacy Policy Generator is perfect for you.

***Enter your business vitals and in less than one minute you have a customized Privacy Policy - complete with HTML code for your web person.

***Web Developers use our Privacy Policy Generator for your clients, your access is unlimited!

If you purchase my ebook:
Email Marketing Made Easy: How To Get Your Customers To Give You More Of Their Money.

access to our Privacy Policy Generator is FREE.

If you don't need the ebook, lifetime access to the Privacy Policy Generator is only $19.97

Blog readers can use the link below for a 10% discount on the ebook (coupon expires Nov 01 2005)

Use this link to get your discount:
http://www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com/coupon/?id=TAK605010111

If the link won't work for you, here is the coupon code:TAK605010111

You can enter the coupon code here:

http://www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com/coupon/

OR a 10% discount on the Privacy Policy Generator

Use this link to get your discount:
http://www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com/coupon/?id=JKL205010111

If the link won't work for you, here is the coupon code:JKL205010111

You can enter the coupon code here:

http://www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com/coupon/

take your pick, but act fast these coupons won't work after November 01 2005!

Joan Pasay
Email Marketing Specialist and author of:
Email Marketing Made Easy: How To Get Your
Customers To Give You More Of Their Money.

FREE Email Marketing E-Course: CLICK HERE to sign up today:
http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/jump_start/mini.asp

Email Marketing Lesson: How To Stop Being A Bore With Your Email Marketing Messages

2005-09-27T22:13:00.000-07:00

Before you say

“Joan, my e-newsletters are not boring…”

Let’s make sure we understand what constitutes a boring email message.

Boring Email Marketing messages don’t keep your customer’s attention.

Often, boring Email Marketing messages don’t get read.

More often, boring Email marketing messages get put right into the delete box.

Ouch!

But there is something that is worse than all of this.

***It makes me sad just to think about it.

Boring Email Marketing messages often result in your customers hitting the unsubscribe button.

Double Ouch! :(

Why does this make me sad? (see my face above)

If your customers don’t want to hear from you again you have lost the permission to talk to them
Customers that don’t want to hear from you don’t give you anymore of their money

It also means

I’ve blown it.
I’ve failed to keep my customer’s attention.
I’ve lost an opportunity to share my business and products with a potential sale.
I will have to try really hard to get the customer back (without the aid of Email Marketing – which will be super hard and in some cases impossible).
My Email Marketing messages where boring and sleep inducing (which is not really the ego stroke I am looking for).

It really all comes down to a simple key that lots of businesses seem to miss.

You might want to write this down because it is really important. Maybe even print this BLOG and highlight this part – your business health; even life may depend on it.

You have to realize:
-There is so much information bombarding people these days that if your customer doesn’t find something of interest in what you are saying they simply turn 1 degree in any direction and get information from someone else.

The key is to provide VALUE.

I will say that again – PROVIDE VALUE.

Many people think to ‘not be boring’ is to provide a flashy, color rich presentation.

***This is not what I am talking about.***

If your e-newsletter is five lines long, text based and full of things that your customers find valuable they won’t care about what it looks like.

One of my clients runs a little bulk food store. One of his recent e-newsletters offered a 15% discount for orders over $25. I thought that was an extremely generous offer!

-This storeowner understands that his customers value saving money (your customers probably do too).

-His e-newsletter is text based and outlines product specials of the week and the special email only subscribers offer {the 15% discount}. The e-newsletter is very short and takes only takes about 3 minutes to read.

-One of his recent weekly emails generated a 15-20% response rate. (If you can get 5% some would consider you a god…)

Here are some things you will want to ponder this week before you write your e-newsletter.

-What do my customers value?

-How can I give them this item(s) in my e-newsletter?

I’m going to give you a special treat this BLOG. If you never learn anything else about Email Marketing and you know what I am about to tell you, you will know enough to always be successful.

Think for a few minutes about it and I know you will see what I mean --

*****Fulfill universal needs in your e-newsletters.*****

If you understand what universal needs are then go on your way and be well in your Email Marketing efforts.

If you aren’t too sure tune back in about a week I will explain them in detail and give you a list to take away and use as a checklist every time you press the send button.

Here is a hint. I am going to fulfill one right now:

What you read in a lot of my Blog enteries is a lot like my Email Marketing coaching sessions.

I could just tell my clients what to do and send them on their way.

But I don’t.

***I teach in layman’s terms and at a speed my clients can handle.

***I check for understanding.

***I see my clients take steps when they are ready.

***I watch as my clients get results AND watch as my clients understand what they did to get the results.

Want to find out for yourself? Why not take a look at your current Email Marketing results and ask yourself if you might need a nudge in the right direction. You probably do – why else would you be reading my Blog all the time?

Entertainment? I hope not, I am only mildy funny…

Get yourself the help your Email Marketing campaign needs now -- at a reduced rate. It is my way of saying thanks for being a part this Blog.

Use the URL below, it’s good for a 28% savings (over $97 that stays in your pocket!) on your first session.

Use this link to get your discount:
http://www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com/coupon/?id=EXN786010102

If the link won't work for you, here is the coupon code:
EXN786010102

You can enter the coupon code here:
http://www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com/coupon/

(Coupon expires Jan 01 2006)

I'll let you in on a secret -- Most companies only need one session. But if you think you need more I won't mind!

Some of my clients need regular coaching for a period of time as they get up to speed on being effective in their Email Marketing. Each week we talk, learn and take another step towards customers becoming repeat customers – all with a little thing called Email Marketing.

Have a great day,

Joan

Joan Pasay
www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

Check out Joan's free six part Email Marketing e-course:
http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/jump_start/mini.asp

Check out Joan's free Email Marketing Club:
http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/email_marketing_club/index.asp

Feel free to send this article to anyone you wish.

Copyright 2005 - Joan Pasay

Want more Email Marketing Articles on your website, for FREE?
*It is easy
*No programming required
*If you can use a mouse you can do it (cutting and pasting required)

Click on this link to get Email Marketing Articles on your website today!http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/articles/articles_rss_feed.asp

A Great Resource For Spam Legislation Related Information

2005-09-24T10:45:00.000-07:00

Lots of people are always asking me about Spam Legislation. I have found a great resource that highlights many Spam laws, legislation and related information in various countries.

If you are wondering what the deal is in your neck of the world (or in countries you send emails to - YES, it might matter!) check out

www.spamlaws.com

This website is maintained by:David E. Sorkin a full time law professor.

NOTE:If you review the laws or legislation for your country and still have questions please contact a legal professional in your local area. They will be the only ones licensed and qualified to advise you.

Take care,

Joan Pasay
Email Marketing Specialist and author of:
Email Marketing Made Easy: How To Get Your
Customers To Give You More Of Their Money.

www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

Spam: Where it Came From, and How to Escape It: by AWeber's Beka Ruse

2005-09-23T15:22:00.000-07:00

In 1936, long before the rise of the personal computer, Hormel Foods created SPAM. In 2002, the company will produce it's six billionth can of the processed food product. But that mark was passed long ago in the world of Internet spam.

Who Cooked This!? (How did it all start?)
The modern meaning of the word "spam" has nothing to do with spiced ham. In the early 1990's, a skit by British comedy group Monty Python led to the word's common usage. "The SPAM Skit" follows a couple struggling to order dinner from a menu consisting entirely of Hormel's canned ham.

Repetition is key to the skit's hilarity. The actors cram the word "SPAM" into the 2.5 minute skit more than 104 times! This flood prompted Usenet readers to call unwanted newsgroup postings "spam." The name stuck.

Spammers soon focused on e-mail, and the terminology moved with them. Today, the word has come out of technical obscurity. Now, "spam" is the common term for "Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail", or "UCE."

Why Does Bad Spam Happen to Good People?
Chances are, you've been spammed before. Somehow, your e-mail address has found it's way into the hands of a spammer, and your inbox is suffering the consequences. How does this happen? There are several possibilities.

Backstabbing Businesses - Businesses often keep lists of their customers' e-mail addresses. This is a completely legitimate practice and, usually, nothing bad comes of it. Sometimes though, the temptation to make a quick buck is too great, and these lists are sold or rented to outside advertisers. The result? A lot of unsolicited e-mail, and a serious breach of trust.

Random Address Generation - Computer programs called random address generators simply "guess" e-mail addresses. Over 100 million hotmail addresses exist - how hard could it be to guess some of them? Unfortunately for many unsuspecting netizens - not too hard. Many spammers also guess at "standard" addresses, like "support@yourdomain.com", "info@yourdomain.com", and billing@yourdomain.com.

Web Spiders - Today's most insidious list-gathering tools are web spiders. All of the major search engines spider the web, saving information about each page. Spammers use tools that also spider the web, but save any e-mail address they come across. Your personal web page lists your e-mail address? Prepare for an onslaught!

Chat Room Harvesting - ISP's offer vastly popular chat rooms where users are known only by their screen names. Of course, spammers know that your screen name is the first part of your e-mail address. Why waste time guessing e-mail addresses when a few hours of lurking in a chat room can net a list of actively-used addresses?

The Poor Man's Bad Marketing Idea - It didn't work for the phone companies, and it won't work for e-mail marketers. But, some spammers still keep their own friends-and-family-style e-mail lists. Compiled from the addresses of other known spammers, and people or businesses that the owner has come across in the past, these lists are still illegitimate. Why? Only you can give someone permission to send you e-mail. A friend-of-a-friend's permission won't cut it.

Stop The Flood to Your Inbox
Already drowning in spam? Try using your e-mail client's filters - many provide a way to block specific e-mail addresses. Each time you're spammed, block the sender's address. Spammers skip from address to address, and you may be on many lists, but this method will at least slow the flow.

Also, use more than one e-mail address, and keep one "clean." Many netizens find that this technique turns the spam flood into a trickle. Use one address for only spam-safe activities like e-mailing your friends, or signing on with trustworthy businesses. Never use your clean address on the web! Get a free address to use on the web and in chat rooms.

If nothing else helps, consider changing screen names, or opening an entirely new e-mail account. When you do, you'll start with a clean, spam-free slate. This time, protect your e-mail address!

Stay Off Spammed Lists in the Future
Want to surf the web without getting sucked into the spam-flood? Prevention is your best policy. Don't use an easy-to-guess e-mail address. Keep your address clean by not using it for spam-centric activities. Don't post it on any web pages, and don't use it in chat rooms or newsgroups.

Before giving your clean e-mail address to a business, check the company out. Are sections of its user agreement dedicated to anti-spam rules? Does a privacy policy explain exactly what will be done with your address? The most considerate companies also post an anti-spam policy written in plain English, so you can be absolutely sure of what you're getting into.

Think You're Not a Spammer? Be Sure.
Many a first-time marketer has inadvertently spammed his audience. The first several hundred complaints and some nasty phone messages usually stop him in his tracks. But by then, the spammer may be faced with cleanup bills from his ISP, and a bad reputation that it's not easy to overcome.

The best way to avoid this situation is to have a clear understanding of what spam is: If anyone who receives your mass e-mails did not specifically ask to hear from you, then you are spamming them.

Stick with your gut. Don't buy a million addresses for $10, no matter how much the seller swears by them! If something sounds fishy, just say no. You'll save yourself a lot in the end.

The Final Blow
The online world is turning the tide on spam. In the end, people will stop sending spam because it stops working. Do your part: never buy from a spammer. When your business seeks out technology companies with which to work, only choose those with a staunch anti-spam stance.

Spam has a long history in both the food and e-mail sectors. This year, Hormel Foods opened a real-world museum dedicated to SPAM. While the museum does feature the Monty Python SPAM Skit, there's no word yet on an unsolicited commercial e-mail exhibit. But, if all upstanding netizens work together, Hormel's ham in a can will far outlive the Internet plague that is UCE.

Beka Ruse fights spam as the Business Development Manager at AWeber Communications. Ad tracking, live stats, and a strict anti-spam policy: Automated E-Mail Follow Up From AWeber.

Great article Beka, thanks for continuing to fight Spam. Be sure to check out AWeber - click here to find out more: AWeber

Joan Pasay

Email Marketing Specialist and author of:
Email Marketing Made Easy: How To Get Your
Customers To Give You More Of Their Money.
www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

MailerMailer Metrics Report just released today!

2005-09-19T15:25:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday,

I came across this great report that MailerMailer just released. It summarizes their Email Marketing Metrics Report: H1 2005.

For those of you who don't know, MailerMailer is one of the larger email list management services out there (and one of our recommended providers).

The report is based on 350 million email messages that were delivered in the first part of this year.

Check it out here:
MailerMailer Metrics Report

MailerMailer direct link - Click Here (they currently have a really great FREE trial offer)

Joan Pasay
Email Marketing Specialist and author of:
Email Marketing Made Easy: How To Get Your
Customers To Give You More Of Their Money.

www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

PS. Don't miss out on our FREE Email Marketing E-course: Click here to take it now and start your first homework assignment.

Email Marketing Mistake 206: I Think Your Form Just Ate My Email Address

2005-09-17T21:16:00.000-07:00

I signed up for an e-newsletter today - at least I hope that is what happened. I am actually not entirely sure. I was going about my day and thought I would go to the website of one of the major political parties in Canada and signup for their e-newsletter.

Unlike our cousins to the south Canadians head to the polls quite frequently because no one really knows who they want to lead the country and our ruling party is a minority. It makes for heated questions periods full of shouting, insults and frequent threats of looming elections. Being a responsible citizen I thought I should get informed, and how better to than to start getting the opposing party’s email marketing messages.

I’m really serious about this and I assumed this political party was too. I just have one problem. I think the e-newsletter signup form ate my email address. The signup form was on the homepage and was easy enough to find. I entered my email address and pressed ‘go’. And ‘go’ it did! Where, I might never know. The page reloaded and my email address vanished. I checked to see if the leader of the party had changed to David Copperfield. Who knows, I might have missed something while I was on summer holidays. No such luck, it was still the same guy with the same suits that matched his boring hair color.

But where did my email address go?

-Did a thank you page appear to let me know I’d been added the email list? No, the page just reloaded.

-Did I get onto the email marketing list? I have no idea.

-Did I get an opt-in email to confirm my participation? Nope.

Did I get a ‘welcome to the email list newsletter’ email message? Nope again.

Now I don’t know what to do. My confidence has really been shaken. I think I might not get a good night’s rest tonight. That form ate my email address and it is really bothering me. I guess I will wait and see if I ever get an e-newsletter from this political party. Will I vote for them in the next election? I’m not sure. If their form ate my email address what will they do with my tax money? Will that disappear too?

Maybe I should try to find a contact email address on the website and ask them if my email address got added. Or maybe I should forget the whole thing and rent Dr. Strangelove and make a batch of popcorn.

I wonder if there are other political parties out there who might want my email address.

I know what I am going to do tomorrow – sign up for the other political party’s e-newsletter.

Joan Pasay is a dynamic e-marketing coach & the author of:

Email Marketing Made Easy: How To Get Your Customers To Give You More Of Their Money. For online and offline businesses.

Read more about Joan here:http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/pages/about_us.asp

Feel free to email this blog to a friend!

Email Marketing Made Easy Affiliate Program is up and running

2005-09-17T13:26:00.000-07:00

Email Marketing Made Easy Affiliate Program Announcement - September 17 2005

Many of you have been asking and waiting and I am happy to announce our Email Marketing Made Easy Affiliate Program is up and running.

Click here to signup now:
http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/affiliates/index.asp

Here is a quick summary –

-It’s free to join and approval is automatic

-The commissions are generous (18%)

-The program is two tier, which means if one of your click thrus sign up they become your second tier and you get commissions on their sales (2%)

-Everything is automated and real time. (You even get an email every time you make a sale!)

-And YES, you can use your affiliate link to purchase Email Marketing Made Easy products for yourself (or your clients).

Joining our affiliate program is a super way to offer great products to your clients at reduced prices. Feel free to pass the savings along to your clients – or don’t!

Here is a really cool feature that makes it a no-brainer to signup:

THIS BLOG IS PART OF THE PROGRAM!

This means
-If you link to this blog (with your personal affiliate tracking link) and
-Someone buys something from Email Marketing Made Easy

YOU MAKE COMMISSIONS!

Here is the link again to sign up :
http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/affiliates/index.asp

Link methods include:
-Text links galore
-Email newsletter inserts links
-Blog Links
-Banners

and much more.

There are also a whole bunch of FAQs on this page if you want to check those out as well.

If you have any further questions feel free to email me, I’d be happy to help you out!

joanpasay@EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

Have a good one,

Joan

PS. Remember signing up is free and you can place your affiliate links on your website, in your email newsletters, on your blog or anywhere else you wish.

NEW Mini Email Marketing JumpStart E-course for FREE!

2005-09-13T15:46:00.000-07:00

Just a short note to make sure you are the first to know about my new Mini Email Marketing JumpStart E-course.

It's a six-part e-course loaded full of lessons that get you started with Email Marketing right away.

-Each lesson is jam-packed full of easy to understand instructions.

-You even get rewards when you do your homework!

Did I mention it was FREE?

Check it out by visiting:www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com/jump_start/mini.asp

Joan Pasay is a dynamic e-marketing coach & the author of:

Email Marketing Made Easy: How To Get Your Customers To Give You More Of Their Money. For online and offline businesses.

Read more about Joan here:http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/pages/about_us.asp

Feel free to email this blog to a friend!

Email Marketing Mystery: The Case Of The Duplicate Freaky Email Marketing Message

2005-09-10T11:00:00.000-07:00

The other day a friend of mine received a rather strange Email Marketing message. What made it even more odd was that this was the second time he had received the identical type of message in just a few weeks.

When he told what the Email message said the hair on the back of my neck started to crawl. I got a little freaked out. Was something from the metaphysical trying to send a message to my friend via these emails?

What else could be the reason for such a strange Email Marketing message?

I, being the Internet snoopy pants that all my friends know me to be, decided I had to find out.

Like all good Internet detectives I started from the beginning.

Duplicate Freaky Email Marketing Message Investigation Step One:

I had to know if my friend subscribed to these Email lists. Thinking the answer would surely be no based on the oddity of the email messages, I was shocked to find out he had indeed subscribed to these lists.

So, my case of the Duplicate Freaky Email Marketing message had a beginning - Opt In Email Marketing.

Duplicate Freaky Email Marketing Message Investigation Step Two:

I thought it would be prudent to find out who owned these Email Marketing lists. I pondered the possibility that there might just be some connection to the metaphysical with the Email list owners. Who knows - maybe the late Cory Rudl had decided heaven was too boring without an Internet and decided to return and was starting out by sending my friend these messages.

-The first Email list belonged to a person who claimed to know everything in the known universe about Pinging Blogs.

-The other list belonged to a person who is quite well known in the informational Internet marketing community. (Translation selling e-books, online courses and other related stuff like that.)

Well, I found no sign of Cory Rudl trying to send my friend a message. There did not seem to be a connection with the owners and the metaphysical. I moved on.

Duplicate Freaky Email Marketing Message Investigation Step Three:

Since I did not receive the Email Marketing messages myself I knew I needed to see them just to make sure my friend was relating the information to me correctly. Who knows maybe his new pair of glasses had the wrong prescription in them or something. I had to make sure what he told me was actually true.

This is where I still get a little freaked out, even after having had intense hypno-therapy, with the nature of these Email Marketing messages.

Two separate Email Marketing messages from two separate list owners told my friend to:

'Get off his ass'

Just so you believe me here is an excerpt from one of the Email Marketing messages:

I want to encourage you to:
-get out of your house
-get out of your head
-get out of your chair
-get off your ass
and get out from in front of the screen and
see what the real millionaires in this business are really up to

Duplicate Freaky Email Marketing Message Investigation Step Four:

I thought long and hard about the implications of two un-related Email Marketing messages, from two separate Email list owners, sending the same message.

Could these Email Marketing messages be a sign of direction from a metaphysical being who thought my friend was lazy? Were these messages an attempt to encourage my friend to, well, 'get off his ass' and seek another activity?

Since I had already found no direct link with the list owners and the metaphysical I knew I needed help. Having no connection myself to any such metaphysical element I determined a psychic would probably be the best bet for an answer.

Madame Emael was, well, a little unconventional in her approach.

I told her my story.

She got out her crystal ball chanted a few things that sounded a lot like 'Buy Google Stock' and then burst into gales of laughter.

She invited me to stay for the rest of the day and meditate with her.

Because I really cared about my friend and knew I was getting close to the answer I agreed to stay.

I found out her version of meditating was scoping around the Internet via Google until my eyes were swollen and hanging out of their sockets. Regardless, I do think that after 10 hours of surfing I was definitely in the alpha state.

Madame Emael told me tales of wonder and awe that day as we zipped around the Internet. I also solved the case of the Duplicate Freaky Email Marketing Message.

Were beings from the metaphysical sending my friend the message to -

'get off his ass' because he was lazy?

Madame Emael let me in on a secret.

My friend had experienced what is becoming quite common - Receiving offensive Email Marketing messages that cross the line.

Is there a lesson to be learned here?

"Get off your ass"

is something you tell your lazy brother in law who thinks 'helping you move' means drinking beer and flirting with the moving truck driver.

You don't give your Email list members the message that they are lazy.

I got back to my friend and told him his near metaphysical experience was a hoax.

He told me he was considering un-subscribing from the Blog and Ping guy's Email Marketing list as he was rather offended by the 'ass email' incident.

He has decided to give the other list owner another chance.

I guess that is what happens when someone crosses the line with Email Marketing - we take out our crystal ball and chant something that sounds a lot like

'did that guy just say I was...'

And ask the metaphysical gods if we should press the unsubscribe button.

Joan Pasay
www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

Check out Joan's free six part Email Marketing e-course:
http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/jump_start/mini.asp

Check out Joan's free Email Marketing Club:
http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/email_marketing_club/index.asp

Feel free to send this article to anyone you wish.

Copyright 2005 - Joan Pasay

Want more Email Marketing Articles on your website, for FREE?
*It is easy
*No programming required
*If you can use a mouse you can do it (cutting and pasting required)

Click on this link to get Email Marketing Articles on your website today!http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/articles/articles_rss_feed.asp

AWeber is Compliant with MSN/Hotmail's Sender ID Changes. Your own time clock is ticking to MSN's countdown.

2005-09-03T16:41:00.000-07:00

AWeber is Compliant with MSN/Hotmail's Sender ID Changes. (blog post courtesy AWeber)

Microsoft has begun Sender ID look ups, displaying a large yellow alert box called a "safety bar" above messages that are not authenticated. Sender ID is the Microsoft implementation of the popular SPF authentication system which indicates which IP addresses a specific Sender or Return Path is permitted to send from.

The safety bar will alert recipients that, "The sender of this message could not be verified by Sender ID."

Sender ID "Safety Bar" screen shot.

AWeber is Compliant:All opt-in messages sent to MSN/Hotmail thru AWeber are fully compliant with Sender ID. They will not generate any type of unauthenticated "safety bar" warning.

Consequences of Non Compliance:In November Microsoft will begin placing messages that are not Sender ID authenticated in the bulk folder.

This will have a dramatically impact upon email deliverability for businesses using services that are not Sender ID compliant. Businesses attempting to run their own software or servers for newsletter delivery should be aware of these changes. Modification of systems is required or seek the assistance of outsourced email newsletter and follow up services like AWeber.
It is important to stay on top of technical trends and requirements to ensure reliable email deliverability.

Resources
Microsoft's "Safety Bar" Press Release.

Learn more about Sender ID from Microsoft.

Learn more about SPF.

Click here to check out more about AWeber,

Ms. E

Joan Pasay is a dynamic e-marketing coach & the author of:

Email Marketing Made Easy: How To Get Your Customers To Give You More Of Their Money. For online and offline businesses.

Read more about Joan here:
http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/pages/about_us.asp

Feel free to email this blog to a friend!

Real World E-Newsletter Statistics: Prepare to be surprised!

2005-09-03T16:08:00.000-07:00

I always am happy when I come across real email marketing newsletter statistics.

Why?

It helps me know what is actually happening in the real world. These stats are hot off the press from our friends at AWeber. No, they are not out of some dusty textbook they are from the month of July 2005.

What do the mean for you? A lot if you take the time to read them.
Here are real stats from real e-newsletter campaigns.

Enjoy.

There are 12,561 subscribers in an average customer opt-in newsletter list.

4 minutes and 24 seconds is the average amount of time between when a customer queues a newsletter and when AWeber completes delivery.

94% of newsletter broadcasts are finished sending within 5 minutes of when they are scheduled.

98.4% of newsletter broadcasts are finished sending within 30 minutes of when they are scheduled.

99.34% of all email was delivered successfully in the last 30 days.0.66% of all email was undeliverable in the last 30 days. (mailbox closed, non-existent user, etc.)

Average open rate of HTML and Text/HTML newsletters is 29.7% over the past 30 days. (Yikes, better make sure you attend to those subject lines to make sure your e-newsletters don’t bomb like these ones did…)

Sunday generates the highest average open rate of 41.1%, followed by Saturday at 36.7% for newsletter sent date.

Average Open Rate by Sent Date: (higher is better)
Sunday 41.1%
Saturday 36.7%
Wednesday 34.0%
Friday 32.8%
Tuesday 29.6%
Thursday 24.6%
Monday 23.2%
Sunday generates the fewest undeliverable bounces at 0.36% for newsletters sent on that date.

Average Undeliverable Rate by Sent Date: (lower is better)
Sunday 0.36%
Saturday 0.45%
Friday 0.47%
Thursday 0.56%
Wednesday 0.77%
Tuesday 0.83%
Monday 0.88%

Monday is the most popular day of the week for customers to sendtheir newsletters with 17.1% of newsletters being sent.

Percent of newsletters being sent by customers weekly:
Monday 17.1%
Tuesday 17.0%
Thursday 16.2%
Wednesday 15.8%
Friday 14.5%
Saturday 10.3%
Sunday 9.0%An

8:00 AM EST send time generates the highest open rate of 50.6%. Interestingly sending at 9:00 AM EST has a significantly lower open rate of 33.7% with the worst time to send being 3-4 AM at only 19% open rate.

Plain text messages are the most popular format of sending newsletters with 65.9% of all newsletters sent. Mime format Text/HTML messages follow at 23.8% and a remaining 10.2% of customers still send HTML only messages even though it is strongly recommended to always include a plain text version. (Take note all you die hard HTMLers! Send a text message too, or leave the HTML to the other guys who don’t care if their email marketing messages never get thru! See what I mean below…)

Plain text messages generate the fewest undeliverable bounces at 0.46%. Mime format Text/HTML follows at 0.56% and HTML only messages have a whopping 1.09% undeliverable rate. (Eeek!!!!)

This is a significant reason behind AWeber's recommendation to always send a plain text alternative with HTML formatted messages.

Subject line personalization using the date generated an average open rate of 51.4% compared to personalization using the subscriber's first name generating 40.9% open rate. Newsletters sent without personalization of any type in the subject line generated average open rates of 28.9%. (Use some personalization or you will end up in the loser’s circle with an open rate of less than 30%).

17% of customer newsletter subject lines sent in the last 30 days contained date personalization while 19% used the subscriber's first name. 56.3% of subject lines did not contain any type of personalization. Interestingly, using the subscriber's full name or last name generated lower average open rates at 20%. (Never would have guessed this one, take note of the ineffectiveness of using the subscriber’s full name!)

Take advantage of these real stats from real email marketing campaigns. Be sure to send a copy of this blog to your marketing staff and anyone else you care about.

Want some help with your email marketing?

Visit my coaching page to book a introductory consulting session - http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/coaching/index.asp

Want to get involved with a great email list management service that really knows their stuff? Click below to get started with a demo of AWeber.

Click here to get started with a demo: AWeber Email

Want to know who I use for my email marketing campaigns? AWeber.

Want to see how I construct my email marketing messages?

Signup for my free Email Marketing Club and receive a FREE Ebook entitled: Email Marketing Made Easy: How To Make More Money By Following Product Life Cycles.

http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/email_marketing_club/index.asp

Until next time,

Happy emailing

Ms. E

Joan Pasay is a dynamic e-marketing coach & the author of:

Email Marketing Made Easy: How To Get Your Customers To Give You More Of Their Money. For online and offline businesses.

Read more about Joan here:http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/pages/about_us.asp

Email Marketing Game: The Game of "Did Your Email Message Grab My Attention?", distribution pending...

2005-09-01T16:13:00.000-07:00

I have an interesting morning work routine. It’s sort of like a game really.

I call it - “which Email Marketing messages will I read today and which Email Marketing messages will I delete without reading?”

or

Did Your Email Message Grab My Attention?

I have to play this game because if I read every Email Marketing message I received I would never be able write in this blog, attend to personal hygiene or do anything else for that matter.

So how does the game work?

It is pretty simple really. There are only three rules.

Scan the SUBJECT lines of emails in your inbox and see which Email Marketing messages grab your attention.

Only open the Email Marketing messages that grabbed your attention.

Delete the Email Marketing messages that didn’t grab your attention.

After playing the Did Your Email Message Grab My Attention? game the other day I wondered if anybody else plays this game too?

I asked around and found out that everyone else I knew played Did Your Email Message Grab My Attention? as well!

I was so happy!

I thought I was the only one!

Maybe there was an opportunity to issue a board game or a game-show called:

"Did Your Email Message Grab My Attention?"

My mind exploded with ideas on how I could market this new game that already had such a wide player base.

After about 10 minutes of getting quite high on my own ‘Did Your Email Message Grab My Attention? game distribution euphoria’ my kettle started whistling and I was suddenly jolted back to reality.

I thought of all the poor little email marketers that had spent so much time and effort on constructing the email messages that I was playing my game with.

Was I being heartless?

How could I take something like an Email Marketing message and turn it into a game?

I pondered my behavior long and hard and then thought…

Wait a minute!

I gave these companies permission (in most cases) to email me. I did not tell them I would open and read every message!

I quickly re-entered my ‘Did Your Email Message Grab My Attention? game distribution euphoria’.

I’m already one step ahead of the competition!

My market research indicates everyone is already playing the game (unofficially) so I know I there is a good chance my ‘official version’ will sell like hotcakes!

Joan Pasay
www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com

Check out Joan's free six part Email Marketing e-course:
http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/jump_start/mini.asp

Check out Joan's free Email Marketing Club:
http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/email_marketing_club/index.asp

Feel free to send this article to anyone you wish.

Copyright 2005 - Joan Pasay

Want more Email Marketing Articles on your website, for FREE?
*It is easy
*No programming required
*If you can use a mouse you can do it (cutting and pasting required)

Click on this link to get Email Marketing Articles on your website today!http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/articles/articles_rss_feed.asp

Email Marketing Lesson: A really great example of Email Marketing in action, thanks to Amazon

2005-08-21T19:23:00.000-07:00

I am always happy to see a company using Email Marketing effectively. Why? Because I see it so rarely.

I get a lot of email newsletters. I purposely signup for tons of them to see what companies are doing. It's a great way to get ideas of what to do and more often what not to do.

About two years ago I bought a few books by Laurie Beth Jones from Amazon. Laurie Beth is the author of the popular books "Jesus, CEO" and "The Path". I guess she recently released another book.

Since I bought the Laurie Beth books from Amazon and told them it was ok to tell me about other products by the same author, or similar books, they emailed me - - two years later!

As this time my profile was sitting there waiting....

Kudos to Amazon!

Just in case you don't understand what happened here is the scoop so you can copy what they did with your own email marketing campaigns:

I bought a Laurie Beth Jones book from Amazon two years ago.
When I paid for my purchase Amazon asked me if it was ok if they emailed me about other Laurie Beth Jones books, or similar books.
I said yes (clicked yes).
Laurie Beth Jones released another book.
The book release triggered a broadcast email to everyone in the database who told Amazon they wanted to hear about more Laurie Beth Jones books.

This is a great example of:

Permission Email Marketing: they asked me if it was ok to send me stuff, before they sent it.
Product related followup emails: instead of emailing everyone on the Amazon list, Amazon only emailed the persons who had bought similar products (in this case books by the same author). Followup emails, based on previous purchases, are a very effective way to get repeat sales.

Interested in doing something like this with your company?

I can help, visit my coaching page for more information - http://www.emailmarketingmadeeasy.com/coaching/index.asp

This software would be a great compliment - Opt In Pro
Ms.E

Joan Pasay
Email Marketing Specialist and author of:
Email Marketing Made Easy: How To Get Your
Customers To Give You More Of Their Money.
www.EmailMarketingMadeEasy.com