E-Marketing Now: 5 tips for crafting HTML emails

admin — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:04:24 +0000

HTML email newsletters are email messages that can be coded to look like a Web page. These types of emails are gaining popularity as they are much easier to scan, navigate and read than plain text emails. Furthermore, publishers also prefer these emails as they can embed code in HTML, which can track the number of opens, forwards and click-throughs. Nevertheless, coding an HTML email can be a mix of pain and misery. The biggest problem with these emails is that people use many different software tools to read their email, from desktop clients like Outlook, AOL, Lotus Notes to Web-based email clients like Yahoo, Hotmail and Google Mail. These software tools display the same email code in a wide variety of ways. Therefore, this type of email may look good on Google Mail but may look horrible on Outlook.

Here are some simple tips for coding HTML emails:

1. Layout
Determining the layout of your email is the first step in coding your email. Single column or two-column layouts are ideal for html emails as they give these emails a better look. While using two-column layout, use a narrower column to contain all the links and logos and use the main column to contain the general idea. After deciding on the layout, use the

tag to code the layout. Tables are the best way to divide the layouts in HTML emails. Use images cleverly in your email to invoke interest among readers without compromising on presentation.

2. Testing with Email Clients
After coding the emails the most important step is checking the HTML email with various software tools. Often this will identify problems which you need to work around. Start testing with Firefox or Internet Explorer. They are the most widely used tools to read emails. If they throw up no problems, minor tweaking will see you through Outlook, AOL and other software tools.

3. Spam Check
Just imagine, after all this hard work that your email ends in the spam folder or recycle bin. So, it is very important to check your HTML email for possible spam before send it to your clients. Spam Check is a free service for highlighting features that might make the spam filters block your mail.

4. BrowserCam
If you want to know all the problems with your email, use BrowserCam. Save your email as a Web page, host it in your server for few minutes and point BrowserCam at your page. It takes screen shots and displays how the email will be displayed with various software tools. This is the best way to eliminate all the errors in your HTML mail.

5. Avoid all other errors
Avoid javascript as most software disables javascript. Avoid using 1×1 images. You might like to use 1×1 images to get the desired spacing, but spammers use 1×1 pixel images to determine if their email has been opened. Avoid a big image above the fold in the email. This is another widely used practice in spam, so your email can easily end up in recycle bin or spam.

HTML emails are a gaining popularity among both the publishers as well as readers. But if don’t take sufficient precautions your email can easily end up in a pile of spam.

Internet Marketing – List Building Is Job One

admin — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 20:39:49 +0000

Too many people start out online with the impression that Internet marketingis about joining an affiliate program with pre-designed pages that youdrive traffic to and make a gazillion dollars. They hang onto thesedreams and often avoid hearing the old saw “The money’s in the list.”But it’s true! Without a list, you’re nowhere in the Internet marketingworld. Without a subscriber base of loyal customers who trust yourrecommendations, your Internet marketing business will be pretty wellsunk, no matter what niche you’re in.

List building is a simple operation. You need a few basic things–a webhost, a squeeze page, an autoresponder service, something to give away,and traffic. These are the five elements of list building success.Let’s discuss each aspect of the process…

Web hosting can be very reasonable these days. With places like HostGator charging $7.95 a month for 600G of storage and 6,000G ofbandwidth, it’s hard to beat the deal. There are many services tochoose from, however you shouldn’t be paying more than about $15 amonth, tops. Just be sure that you have access to MySQL databasesbecause you will want to set up a blog. cPanel hosting with Fantasticomaking this very easy to do. But be sure to pay for hosting. Don’t usefree hosting services. They’ll make you look unprofessional, and in Internet marketing, that’s the kiss of death.

Building a squeeze page is simple, if you use a WYSIWYG (“What you seeis what you get”) editor. You can download a free WYSIWYG HTML editorat http://nvu.com and just type into it as you would any wordprocessor. For the squeeze page, you need a killer headline. If youaren’t good at writing copy, then get headline creator software to helpyou, like Headline Creator Pro. Then, add some kind of image, either ofyourself, your product, or your free gift, three to five bullet points,showing the benefits of your offer, and an opt-in box, which you getfrom the autoresponder service that you choose.

An autoresponder stores the names and email addresses of the people whosign up from your squeeze page and become part of your list. Theautoresponder service will also send these people a confirmationmessage, to ensure that the people actually signed up and want to bepart of your list. This complies with the CAN-SPAM laws in the UnitedStates. Autoresponders also allow you to add messages to the systemthat will be periodically sent to your list. For example, if you’reoffering a newsletter as your sign-up offer, the autoresponder willthen send it out at whatever interval you choose.

But none of this will make any difference, if you don’t have trafficcoming to your squeeze page, right? There are 17 different ways to gettraffic. Some of the least expensive and easy to set up are blogging,writing articles, and linking from forum posts, blog comments, anddirectories. As I mentioned above, setting up a WordPress blog is verysimple, if you have cPanel hosting with Fantastico and takes only aboutfive minutes time. You can make posts in your blog, which has an RSSfeed that search engines love because they’re all text and easy tospider, so your blog should be indexed in the search engines quickly.You can also write articles about your niche that link back to yoursqueeze page, and put them into article directories. You can link backto your squeeze page from forum postings, too, but be sure they’reforums in your Internet marketing niche. You can also comment on blogsin your Internet marketing niche,and you can put your link into respected online site directories, suchas DMOZ.org, Yahoo, and JoeAnt.com. All of these ways will help you toget traffic to your squeeze page, especially if you religiously do someof these things for your Internet marketing business every day.

List building is still the most important thing you can do if you’re inInternet marketing or even in offline direct marketing. Having your ownproprietary list of customers and people who like your information oryour products and who trust you will come to be the most valuable assetyour business has. Don’t lose sight of this! List building isn’tsomething you can do on the side. It should be the number one priorityfor your Internet marketing business, and you should work at it everyday.

Tags: internet marketing | internet marketing | list building | email marketing | email marketing

Programmed for success: The best software for email marketing

admin — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 20:31:11 +0000

It is probably no surprise that email marketers use software to make their jobs both easier and more lucrative. After all, since email marketing is entirely Web based, why not use software to provide more help? Thankfully, experienced email marketers know what they want in an email marketing program are less likely to fall for any old program, hook, line and sinker. If you’re new to email marketing and you’re still figuring out who to go with, here are some important features experienced email marketers consider when they make that important decision:

Database and list management
By a mile, the most critical element of your campaign is your email marketing list. The names and email addresses of people who have opted into your campaigns (thus keeping your email marketing reputation in tact) are the entire foundation of your business, whether it be online or brick & mortar. That’s why you need email marketing software that not only securely stores your list, but lets you segment it and add to it accordingly. Whether you want to merge lists or divide your email lists by geographic location, this is probably the most important element to consider when seeking email marketing software.

Newsletter and email layout tools
Whether you send your campaign to ten customers or thousands, you’ll need software that can tie together all parts of your campaign, from your email list to your layout. Your layout in itself, however, is extremely important. Good email marketing software makes it easy to assemble a good layout through cutting, pasting and other techniques. The best email campaign editors are intuitive ??” designed and tested to follow a logical, self-explanatory course.

Campaign scheduling tools
The more automated the system, the less you have to spend time making it work. After you get your newsletter and your list programmed into your scheduler, all you have to do is sit back and watch your emails go out. Email schedulers and drip marketing campaign software can keep your business running on autopilot while you deal with customer service needs, giving you more time to send more innovative emails to your other clients.

ROI tracking and detailed reports
One of the most important things a person can do to ensure the success and efficiency of their email campaign is to look for the actual return of investment (ROI) each email campaign is producing. Some email marketing software can track your expenses, the number of mails you send and the number of page views, products sold and responses you get. Knowing your ROI will help you maximize a program that is working, and cut the cord on one that is draining money from your system. Good ROI software allows you to simply plug in the numbers and watch the analysis unfold before you.

An all-in-one solution
Thinking about all these different elements can seem confusing, but keep in mind that many email marketing companies offer all these things in a single, Web-based solution. Using a service of this sort, you can create and manage your lists, newsletter layouts and campaign scheduling from one site. Since many of these combination solutions include sophisticated reporting tools, they make it easy to track your campaigns at the click of a mouse.

Marketing Online Through MLM » Business advertising

E-Marketing Now: 5 tips for crafting HTML emails

Internet Marketing – List Building Is Job One

Programmed for success: The best software for email marketing