Email Marketing

Q: Adam from Manchester, U.K., sent in this note:

“I am having a hard time figuring out how to deal with a high percentage of people who come to my web site, signup for my e-zine but never confirm their email address. Sometimes this is as high as 60% of total subscribers. Since I am using the recommended double opt-in process, I don’t know what I can do to have most of my subscribers confirm their address.”

A: Actually, Adam is not alone in this. I have received messages from several subscribers that are experiencing the same problem.

Let’s first examine why this is happening. When I visited Adam’s web site, and subscribed to his e-newsletter I noticed that after clicking the submit button, I was taken to a generic web page, provided by his Email Service Provider (ESP). The page simply said “Thank you for subscribing.”

Please read the rest of this article on my email marketing consulting blog, or leave a comment or ask a question here.

If you have an online presence, most likely a brochure web site, you’re very likely thinking it’s not really bringing you any new business. In most cases it’s “I built it, but they never came.”

Some years ago I was in a similar situation, but I discovered blogs. When I realised how powerful they are in

1. generating more traffic to my site
2. pre-qualifying the visitors
3. giving me points in Google

I just had to re-build my web site using blogging technology.

But then I discovered social media: Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, etc. and found a way to connect those external sites to my own blog. Now every time I post on my blog, my Linkedin and Facebook pages are updated, and an automatic “tweet” is sent to my Twitter account.

If you’d like to learn more, please consider joining me for a 3-hour seminar on business blogging, social media and email marketing I am hosting on April 29, in Oakville, at the e-Spot.

Eric Laffoley, a small business owner based in Burlington, is one of my happy clients said about the last session (or play on YouTube):

As if you needed any more reasons to attend one of my highly acclaimed business training seminars, I am adding another one: attend any Contacts2Clients business seminar in April, May or June, and you will be entered into a draw for a chance to win an Apple iPod Nano with video, a value of $190 (with tax included).

My 3-hour seminar will give you tools and knowledge to use the internet to generate leads, build relationships and close more deals using simple online marketing strategies: business blogging, social media networking and opt-in email marketing.

Click here to learn more about the seminar, see testimonials and to register

Contest rules are simple: attend one of my paid training seminars and each time you attend you will be entered to win the grand prize. The grand prize is one Apple iPod Nano in orange. Only one grand prize will be awarded at the final seminar in June when all attendees’ names will be entered into the draw. Your chances of winning the grand prize will depend on: how many times you attend a Contacts2Clients seminar, and on the total number of attendees. The prize will be drawn by computer at Random.org

A few years ago I redesigned my email marketing consulting web site into a blog. Very soon after the rebuild, I started noticing:

1. more traffic to my site
2. the visitors were more interested in what I do
3. higher Google page ranking

If you type in the words “email marketing consultant” into Google, my blog comes up on page one of search results, and it’s been coming up on page one since November of 2008, when I first tested it.

Today, as soon as I publish on this blog or any of my other blogs, I can be sure that Google will index my new page within half an hour. This kind of response from search engines cannot be expected with a regular, “static” or brochure-type web site.

If you’d like to learn more, please consider joining me for a 3-hour seminar on business blogging, social media and email marketing I am hosting on April 29, in Oakville, at the e-Spot.

See and hear what one of my happy clients said about the last session (or play on YouTube):

I wrote a short “how-to” article over on my Email Marketing Blog about why some URL links may render as non-clickable in Gmail. It’s not clear at this time if this is a bug in the Gmail web client, or it’s an intentional feature, but one thing is clear: Google is once again unnecessarily making our lives harder.

If you’re using email to promote your business, to stay in touch with your membership, it’s very likely that you have a substantial number of contacts who are using Gmail as their primary email. Make sure you read this article on how to fix the URL problem in text-only Gmail.

An Email Service Provider is an online service that enables you to:

• manage your email contacts (clients, leads, subscribers, etc)
• create and send personalized email messages to each contact individually
• your contacts can change their own preferences: change their email address, unsubscribe from your list(s), subscribe to other lists, etc.
• track how many of your emails were sent, delivered, opened, bounced, and how many (and sometimes who) clicked on links in your emails
• and much more

I am still surprised at how many emails from business owners I receive which are clearly sent to a group of people, using desktop email programs, such as Outlook. The usual clues are using words such as: “Dear All,” or “Dear Friends”. Very often the person sending the “email blast” puts all the recipients in the TO: field and we all can see each other’s names and emails. This may be OK if it’s a small group of people who all know each other, such as members of your local hockey team, but when it comes to strangers, then this is a serious privacy issue.

If you find yourself sending emails to large groups of people, your best bet is to sign up with an Email Service Provider. They are easy to use and very low in cost, sometimes even free.

For the ultimate in ease of use, try MadMimi, I highly recommend this very affordable service. MadMimi has the most easy-to-use email creation wizard that anyone with basic computer skills should be able to use it with ease. MadMimi’s customer service is top notch, so if you ever get stuck you can chat with them online, or if after business hours, they will reply by email.

If your list of contacts is under 100, you can continue to use MadMimi for free, until you reach 100 subscribers.

Watch the video then come back to read these related blog posts:
MadMimi Brings the Fun Back to Sending Email “Blasts”
New Feature at MadMimi: Automatic Social Links

If you’re using an Email Service Provider to send your email newsletter or flyer — and if you’re not, you may be breaking the law, depending on where you live — you should keep an eye on email bounces.

I wrote this article on how to keep your email list lean and clean over at my Email Marketing Blog. Please check it out and comment, or ask me a question about your own email marketing challenges.

One of two Email Service Providers that I use and recommend is MadMimi. Their deceptively simple email editor is the easiest-to-use I’ve found after testing a dozen or so email service providers over the years.

Recently, MadMimi added a cool feature that all of you social media fans will simply love: the ability to add a set of icons that link to your favourite social networking sites, such as Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook. Just pick the sites you use regularly and Mimi will place specially designed icons to the bottom of your emails automatically.

These are the sites currently supported:

MadMimi is still free to use for as long as your list is under 100 subscribers! Try MadMimi today!

Check out also these related articles on my Email Marketing Blog:
Cool New Tool for MadMimi
MadMimi Brings the Fun Back to Sending Email “Blasts”

Some statistics say that as many as half of your email recipients have image display turned off. Read this article to find out how to make sure your email campaigns still present useful information even if your ezine subscribers don’t see the images.

Here’s another related article Email Design: 3 Easy Steps to Perfect Email Display

I can’t say enough about how much lighter I feel knowing that Boris has my back for my website and my ezine updates. His constant thirst for self learning makes me count on him on a continuous basis because he always has something new to teach me. I have recommended Boris to many of my clients and will confidently and happily do so in the future without hesitation.

Boris’ Top qualities: Great Results, Good Value, High Integrity

Grace Attard
Founder of the e-Spot™

Note: This testimonial was originally published as a recommendation on Linkedin

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