The following articles discuss best practices of email marketing - including actionable hints and tips on everything from creating a subject line, to testing and measuring your success - all in a crisp and concise format aimed at helping you become an expert email marketer: Benefits of Email Marketing Building Your List Permission Elements of an Effective Email Campaign Email Newsletters Planning & Strategy Resources Online Marketing Miscellaneous Benefits of Email Marketing 4 Tips to Turn Readers into Clients Is it easy for those readers to make the connection between your fabulous newsletter content and the valuable services or products that you provide? This connection is very important because it's the one that will convert your readers into clients or customers ... 5 Good Reasons to Outsource Your Email Send When a business tells me they are already using some form of email marketing to communicate with their target audience, the question I ask is: "how are you executing and managing your email campaigns ..." Get Going with Email Marketing We can all learn from another company's experience and benefit from the email marketing knowledge they have gained through their own trial and error. Our friend and customer relationship management expert, Chris Selland, tells his story and gives us some practical advice on email marketing ... The Holiday Gift That Keeps On Giving The holiday season is fast approaching and with it comes a strong demand for shopping, both online and offline. Don't leave your customers out in the cold! Use email marketing to make the most of the spike in holiday traffic and spending, and create a positive impression of your company that will last long into next year ... Why Email Marketing? Five Great Reasons. Email marketing is one of the most powerful marketing tools available to businesses of all types and sizes. No matter how you define success, you can achieve outstanding results with email marketing while investing only a small amount of time and an even smaller amount of money ... What we have here is a failure to communicate In the movie Cool Hand Luke (1967), Luke said, "Sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand." Maybe that's true in poker, but not when you're talking about communicating with your customers ... Building Your List 5 Tips for Building a High-quality List Finding new ways to grow an email newsletter list is always a hot topic for email marketers. After all, the bigger your list, the higher the impact on your business ... I Hear You Knocking, But You Can't Come In How to get more subscribers by sharing relevant information up front. Our friend and newsletter expert, Michael Katz, tells us how ... You're Only As Good As Your List ... and What You Email To It Your email list is one of your most valuable assets, but building one can be a slower process than some of us might like. In this issue, our friend and marketing expert, Nancy Michaels, gives her advice on increasing your email marketing effectiveness, and recommends the top ten people who should be on your email list ... Seriously Dude, Where's My Email? In a previous article entitled "Dude, Where's my email?," I gave an overview of all types of email bounces. Today, in the sequel, I want to cover a few of the hottest subjects in email marketing today: email blocking, email filters and false positives. I'll define the issues and terms, explain what industry experts are doing on your behalf and tell you what you can do to make sure your permission-based email gets through ... Grow Your Email List My inaugural issue of Email Marketing Hints & Tips way back in March of 2001 addressed the importance of building an email list. Almost two years later, many companies have not managed to gather the email addresses of all of their customers and prospects, nor have they asked for permission to use email addresses for ongoing communication. If this sounds like your company, what are you waiting for ... Dude, where's my email? Undeliverable emails, email "bouncebacks" or "bounces" for short, are becoming more and more of a challenge for email marketers these days. Why should you be concerned? Because customer acquisition is expensive, and email bouncebacks could mean the loss of customers and prospects that you paid dearly to acquire ... List Rentals Going for Broker Your house list is one of your most valuable assets because it is 7 times less expensive to market to an existing customer than it is to acquire a new one. But, as valuable and responsive as your house list is, building one can be a slower process than some of us might like ... New Year's Resolution Collect More Email Addresses Did you know there is an Email Marketing Hints & Tips Archive? I have selected what I believe is one of the most useful articles in the archive to re-publish for this final issue of 2001. It just happens to be the very first one I wrote way back in March ... Building your list, checking it twice, 4 easy steps Any season 'tis the season to build your email list of prospects and customers, but there's no time like the present. This issue of Hints & Tips is all about helping you build your list quickly and easily so that you can start reaping the benefits of communicating to your targeted audience ... A Site Visitor is a Terrible Thing to Waste If you're not collecting email addresses on your homepage (and anywhere else you can), you are missing out on opportunities to turn one-time visitors into your best customers ... Permission How Anti-spam Laws Apply to You This issue of Hints & Tips is designed to help you make an educated evaluation of your current email address collection and emailing processes and feel confident that you are following both the law, and the best practices of email marketing (they happen to be the same thing) ... The Facts About Confirmed Opt-in The promised sequel to "10 Tips on Getting and Keeping Permission ..." 10 Tips on Getting and Keeping Permission. Today's issue of Email Marketing Hints & Tips is part one of a two part series on permission. "Why two whole issues on permission?" you might ask. "Isn't it pretty clear?" "You either have it, or you don't. You're a permission based email marketer, or a loathsome spammer. End of story ..." Permission How to "do the right thing." In April of last year I wrote a Hints & Tips on permission the right way to get it and the right way to use it. All of the points in that article still hold true. Congruently, permission is still a subject of heated debate among email marketers and email recipients alike ... Extractors and Crawlers and Bulk, Oh My! If these words sound unappealing, they should. They are terms commonly used to describe software that snatches email addresses from all over the Web and sends "UCE" or Unsolicited Commercial Email better known as spam ... Permission: Getting It and Using It Just because you collect an email address, doesn't mean you have really gained permission to use it ... Elements of an Effective Email Campaign 6 Tips to Get Your Email Opened and Read According to a recent Doubleclick study, consumers increasingly value permission email marketing messages and prefer them to other types of marketing ... Keep Your Customers with Email I have been to a few tradeshows and seminars lately and have taken the opportunity to talk to a wide variety of small businesses. One question I always ask is "How do you communicate with your customers and prospects ..." The 7 Components of Effective Web Marketing When it comes to web marketing, it's all about 'conversion' how many of your site visitors you can convert into a lead, a sale, a member etc. Crafting Effective Subject Lines These days, with shady email marketers using Subject Lines that sound almost legitimate, it's important your Subject Lines are precise and carry the information your prospects need to differentiate yours from the pack ... 7 Tips to Make Your E-newsletter Sell In my role as Email Marketing DivaTM for Constant Contact®, most of the questions I answer every day have something to do with email newsletters. Today, our friend and newsletter expert, Debbie Weil, does the talking. She's got 7 hot tips on the content of your email newsletter and how you can make it sell ... 5 Tips to Increase Your Email Deliverability Your email deliverability is important because customer acquisition is expensive, and undeliverable emails could mean the loss of customers and prospects that you paid dearly to acquire. Since it is fifteen times less expensive to market to an existing customer than it is to acquire a new one, your efforts to understand and decrease your email bounces no matter why the bounce occurred will be well worth your time ... Checklist 25 Questions Before You Send The email marketing landscape has certainly changed over the past year or so (the most significant changes being the increase in email blocking and filtering and the signing of the new Federal Can Spam law). These changes have resulted in updates to email marketing best practices that all legitimate email marketers should follow ... The 4 Secrets to an Effective E-Newsletter It's no secret that offering value to your customers in the form of useful information is one of the best ways to initiate, develop and solidify relationships. But, how do you continue, issue after issue, to make your newsletter stand out in the crowd and keep your readers reading? Our friend and newsletter expert, Michael Katz, tells us how ... Get More Clicks With a Good Call-to-Action What do we mean by "clicks" or the click through rate? Click Through Rate (or CTR) The percentage (number of unique clicks from an email divided by the number of opens) of recipients that click on a given URL in your e-mail ... 'Tis the Season Eight Holiday Tips Thanks to the immediacy of email marketing, there's still time to get your piece of the pie. Use email marketing to make the most of the spike in holiday traffic and spending, and create a positive impression of your company that will last long into next year ... "Email Promotions that Deliver Results." I have covered the elements of effective email promotions in several past issues of Hints & Tips. This time, let's take a look at a holiday promotion that not only exemplifies those elements, but even better delivered a click through rate of more than 22% ... I Get a 'Click' Out of You: Writing Email Copy Like any hit song, good email copy can capture the attention of your recipients, striking a chord that makes them take action and click through to your site ... I've heard that line before ... A great "Subject" line will keep you from getting denied and keep your email from getting deleted ... Email Newsletters Real-life Small Business Newsletter Tips It has been said that experience is the best teacher. So, for this issue, I went in search of a small business owner who could share real-life email newsletter experience. That's when I found Betsy Harper, CEO of Sales and Marketing Search a small business owner who has been publishing her "Framing the Issues" email newsletter for more than three years with great success ... Newsletter Tips: Teasers or the whole article? Whether you're thinking about starting an email newsletter, or have already launched one, you may have considered whether to include entire articles in your newsletter, or go with a teaser that links to the full article on your website. In this issue, our friend and newsletter expert, Debbie Weil, shares some tips that can help you make the right decision according to your audience ... Are You Listening or Just Talking? Your email newsletter doesn't have to be just another outbound communication to your customer base. You can use it to encourage two-way communication that will bring you closer to your customers and increase your understanding of what they want and need. Our friend and newsletter expert, Michael Katz explains ... I Read the News Today, Oh Boy Part II When I wrote part one of "I Read the News Today, Oh Boy" way back in July of last year, I didn't necessarily expect to be writing a part two. But, "oh boy," do I see a disturbing trend ... "E-Newsletters That Work." I get a lot of questions about email newsletters from Hints & Tips readers, so this week I asked good friend and newsletter expert Michael Katz to share his thoughts on the subject. Michael surprised and delighted me with his new e-book: E-Newsletters That Work. It is a valuable guide that provides straightforward, how-to information on creating a powerful newsletter that begs to be read, and forwarded ... More Newsletter Tips and a Real-world Example Whether you are in the midst of developing a newsletter, or tinkering with the one you already have, you can benefit from taking a look at what makes other email newsletters successful. Check out the TimeShareValues newsletter and you will see what I mean ... Holiday Greetings Are Not Enough As an email marketer I am duty bound to extol the virtues of holiday greetings sent via email rather than direct mail. Email greetings are less expensive, easier to create, quicker to deliver and likely have a better chance of being opened than any direct mail these days. But, a holiday greeting alone cannot compare to the results you can achieve with, say, an email newsletter. Our good friend Michael Katz of Blue Penguin Development agrees. Here is what he has to say on the subject ... I Read the News Today, Oh boy ... Email Newsletters are growing in popularity. Why? Because companies of all sizes know that offering value to their customers in the form of information is the best way to initiate, develop and solidify relationships. Whatever the size of your company, you too can develop your own email newsletter ... Planning & Strategy Send two emails and call me in the morning Sending too many emails, too often is enough to make some of your subscribers downright sick, so make sure time is on your side when you hit the send button ... When Bad Things Happen to Good Email Marketers I first started writing Email Marketing Hints & Tips in March of 2001 and I remember when, much to my surprise and disappointment, I received my first spam complaint ... Strike One. . . You're Out! Whether you are considering starting your own E-newsletter, or already have one in place, it is important to remember one thing: Your devoted and faithful subscribers have working unsubscribe links and they are not afraid to use them ... Your Subject line: fabulous or filtered? As promised, this issue is all about the "Subject" line and how to make sure yours serves as an advantage in getting your emails delivered and opened, not an obstacle. Here's our friend and marketing expert, Nancy Michaels, with some great Subject line tips ... Your From line: benefit or barrier? In this issue of Email Marketing Hints & Tips, we'll cover the From line, and what you can do to make sure your From line serves as an advantage, instead of an obstacle ... Tips on planning for 2003 As we quickly approach the end of 2002, we look forward to the beginning of a brand new year filled with promise and opportunity. This brief lull between holidays is a great time for setting goals and planning your email marketing strategy for 2003 ... Testing, Testing ... 1, 2, 3 If at first you don't succeed, "try, try again" and "test, test again." One of email marketing's greatest advantages is that it is easier (and much less expensive!) to test than any other marketing vehicle. This means with just a little effort, you can increase the effectiveness of your campaigns and get the results you're looking for. Email marketing author and expert, Kim MacPherson, explains how ... Achieving the perfect consistency ... Variety may be the spice of life, but perfect consistency is the key to a successful marketing mix. Consistency will not only save you time by helping you simplify and focus your marketing efforts but, more importantly, it will help you set and routinely meet the expectations of your customers and prospects. And that equals a positive impact to your bottom line ... Your campaign checklist 20 vital questions. Perhaps you have an email campaign sitting in draft form, notes jotted down on napkins and scraps of paper or just a clever email marketing idea or two in your head ... Campaign Testing 1, 2, 3's Kudos to savvy expert email marketers who consistently meet or exceed the goals of every campaign. For the rest of us, however, email marketing is not an exact science, but an ongoing learning process. That's where testing comes in. And, it just so happens that email marketing is easier and less expensive to test than any other marketing vehicle ... Sometimes It's Good to Get Ahead of Yourself The execution of a single effective email campaign, much less your entire email marketing strategy, requires some serious thought, planning, scheduling and tweaking. So, take some time to look ahead and develop an email marketing plan to keep you focused and on track to meet your goals ... If you have a USP, it may be contagious! Your USP is what makes your company, product or service the best solution to a problem, the best way to fulfill a need or desire or the best way to achieve a goal ... Resources A List of the Best Summer Reads and Resources Today, I'd like to share with you some of my favorite resources for email marketing and other online marketing information ... Top 20 Terms You Should Know Part Two In today's issue, you will find 20 additional terms to expand your email marketing vocabulary. Learn these, and your coworkers may deem you an email marketing Guru or Diva ... How Anti-spam Laws Apply to You This issue of Hints & Tips is designed to help you make an educated evaluation of your current email address collection and emailing processes and feel confident that you are following both the law, and the best practices of email marketing (they happen to be the same thing) ... "Top Tips to Write a Persuasive Case Study" Case studies, when written and used correctly, can be very powerful marketing tools. The reason being, a good case study can bring even the most abstract concept to life, illustrating how your company, product or service solved a real business problem for a customer. In other words, the proverbial "proof is in the pudding." Our friend and email markeing expert, Debbie Weil, gives us the recipe ... Knowledge is power, so feed your head. Many of you smart marketers are already planning your online marketing strategies for the fast approaching fall and back-to-school season. And chances are, you will need resources and information to assist you in formulating and executing those plans. Well, here is some expert help ... Top 20 Email Marketing Terms You Should Know If you have ever felt out of your depth in a discussion about email marketing, rest assured you are not alone. The top twenty common email marketing terms and definitions below will help you expand your email marketing vocabulary and make you look and feel like an expert ... 3 Favorite Questions for Hints & Tips Readers 2001 I always look forward to answering reader questions because they help me to stay focused and on-topic for Hints & Tips. Why are these my favorites? These questions are frequently asked and reflect common misconceptions about what is and what is not good email marketing. I hope my answers are of help to you ... Online Marketing Miscellaneous Create a Website that Draws a Crowd How do you create a new website or improve your existing website to increase your online success? This week our friend, and award-winning business writer and author, Sheryl Lindsell-Roberts gives us some great tips on writing and designing a website that gets results ... Search Engine Marketing Tips, Tricks, and Strategies We've talked previously about ways to build your email list. One is providing a way for your website visitors to opt-in to hear from you. Great idea, right? But as rocker Tom Petty once said "the waiting is the hardest part." Where are those elusive site visitors? And how can you attract more of them so that your list (among other things like sales and brand recognition) grows faster? Our friend and search engine expert, Kevin Lee, explains ... 7 Tips to Get Online Mileage Out of Your PR Public relations is all about making contact with members of the press, freelance writers and anyone else who influences your target audience. A good PR strategy will attract attention to your company, create a buzz with a viral effect and ultimately drive more traffic to your site or store. It's easy to incorporate public relations into your email marketing strategy. Our friend and online public relations expert, Renee Shallis, gives us some great tips ... Online Marketing on a Shoestring Budget If your tight marketing budget has you at the end of your rope, try marketing on a shoestring with these suggestions from our friend Hollis Thomases from WebAdvantage.net ... Seek and Ye Shall Find - 6 Search Term Tips After re-evaluating our own company's approach to search term listings, we at Roving ended up working with, and ultimately partnering with, Overture Services. We learned a lot in the process. So, I asked Overture SVP, Lisa Morita, to contribute an article including her top tips for maximizing search term listings ... Acquiring new customers, by request Acquiring new customers is one of the hardest things to do in business today. This issue of Hints & Tips provides details on another way, in addition to traditional email marketing, to use the Internet and email to acquire those elusive new customers we are all searching for ... The 7 "Redeeming" Values of Online Coupons Did you know that every year in the U.S. alone, more than 100 billion coupons are handed out in supermarkets and other retail stores, in catalogs, via snail mail, on the Internet or on the street ... How to be a lean, mean marketing machine Guerilla warfare is marked by extremely subtle, flexible, somewhat unconventional, yet highly effective tactics. This issue of Hints & Tips features an article with some great "guerilla" marketing tips from our partner, AllBusiness ... Those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer If your business is like most small businesses, summer may be crazy and hazy, but "lazy"? Never! When you are operating at Internet speed, it can be both difficult and time consuming to stay current. For those of you using your vacation time to catch up on your reading, here is a list of my top ten favorite resources ...