How To Avoid Critical Email Marketing Mistakes

Me-Mail Marketing
Sending e-mail newsletters and messages that are all about you or your organization (rather than serving your audience) is not email marketing. This egotistical use of e-mail is called me-mail marketing, and it doesn't work.

Me-mail marketing is selfish and alienates subscribers. They will get annoyed, see no value, unsubscribe, and have a negative reaction to the brand. if an e-mail is more about you than it is about your customers, it is not helpful to anyone.

It is okay to talk about your mission or organization, as long as it is helpful, relevant, and educational, and serves and supports the readers. Just he mindful of the intention. Being less egotistical with an e-mail makes a big difference in the results.

Lack of Strategy
Think critically about your use of email as a marketing medium. Define whom you are targeting. What information can be included in the message that would be of value? Where is the call to action? The goal here is to create an e-mail marketing campaign that will:

• Serve the customers
• Support the sales and marketing messages
• Sell from a place of education and value

Neglecting the Core Foundation of Your EMail Marketing
Loren McDonald, Vice President of Industry Relations at Silverpop, has boiled down the core foundation of a successful e-mail program to three Ps:

• Proposition. What value do customers/subscribers get from the e-mail program?
• Positioning. How does your offer differ from the competitors?
• Personality. What tone and image do your e-mails convey?

Be Authentic and Relate to Your Audience
Whether you're 3 famous defense attorney, a respected marketing expert, or a shop owner, you have something valuable to offer your audience. Show that you can relate to your audience's problems by understanding their perspective. Empathy + Personality = Great email!

Think Beyond the Box
Don't stick to any prescribed box of marketing. Have fun with e-mails make them interesting and engaging. The result could be more subscribers forward-ing them to their contacts.

Make Sharing Easy
Insert social media, forward, and share widgets so that recipients can easily share your e-mails with friends. Online marketing multitasks when e-mail has connections to social media, giving your audience choices about how they can interact with your organization. See if your e-mail newsletter service can insert sharing widgets for social media like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Digg, and Linkedin directly into your templates. Have a call to action that is clear and easy. Having one social sharing link increases click-through rate (CTR) 30 percent, while having three or more sharing links increases CTR 55 percent, according to a study by GetResponse.

List Segmsentation

Segementation will save your lists. too many organizations email to the same list over and over rather than segmenting it into secific groups to serve relevant content. Why work to build an email list if it is abused with irrelevant mesasge overuse, causing the recipients to opt out? When a single list is slammed with nontargeted messages, unsubwribe rates increase. Do your email marketing a favor and customize messages to different groups. Lists can be segmented by location, demographics, psychographics, buying behavior, sales funnel buckets, and more. Online marketing success comes from listening to and understand-ing the audience. The more you can define lists based on interest, behavior, and patterns, the more relevant your message will be.

When it comes to email lists, quality is more important than quantity. Target the people most interested in the service or product, and track their behavior. Find out not just who opened the e-mail, but how many clicked through to the website, how many converted, and which products or services they looked at. 

Ways to Segment Your List
You can segment with information provided when users opt in or, if you have a robust CRM software package, using the information they provide when they interact with your site. Here are a few basics:  

• Preferences stated at opt-in (See the earlier section about customer questioning.)
• Information self-selected (date of upcoming birth, cars liked, etc.)
• Actions taken in e-mail
• User behavior on the website
• Previous buying history
• Geographic location
• Personal demographics (gender, age, income, etc.)
• Collecting information from online surveys

Segment with Landing Pages
The best way to track user behavior is to link the e-mail to a specific landing page that mirrors the language and the offer in the e-mail. Landing pages are defined as pages that communicate a specific product or service or funnel a particular purpose. Landing pages can be part of a website, or can be specifi-cally designed to support a campaign. Landing pages can be used for:

• Keeping track of results from a specific online ad or special offer code for off-line ads
• Buildling search visibility using a key phrase-rich URL and great content for search engine optimization
• Supporting a new product/service as  a comminication tool that sales reps send (It lives on a website, and has ads directed to it.)

The landing page can be as simple or as complex as you desire. Those who click on a link to a landing page are already telling you something about themselves. Because the landing page has a narrower focus than the rest of your site, users may self-select to give you more information to narrow their search even more. For example, suppose your client sells men's sportswear. In your email marketing you have a link for a big-and-tall sale. Clicking on that link tells you that the user is or shops for someone who is big and/or tall. The landing page for that sale then displays content choices for different sizes and different kinds of sportswear (jogging versus basketball). Based on that user's behavior you can then target him or her with more information about tall basketball sportswear.

If you are doing any split testing, where you are trying out different copy, offers, layotus, and so forth in your emails, then each variable should have separate landing pages (they may look identical visually to the casual user, but are coded with wbe analytics to track the result of each variable tested).

This sounds like a lot of work, but the process gets easier and pays off once you decide which variables and goals yo uwan to test.

Email marketing still works for some organizations and industries as compared to Social media marketing. The bottom line with email marketing, like all online marketing, is that the best practices are what work to support an organization's goals. Here some some effective best practices for preparing your email campaign.

TYPES OF EMAIL YOU CAN SEND

Successful email marketing means sending the compelling, relevant content that the client wants to receive. There are dozens of kinds of email clients might want to receive. Here are a few ideas:

• Welcome series ("You're new to X, here's what you need to know.")
• Surveys of potential new products
• E-mail mini-courses (made up of 5 to 10 e-mails) on your topic
• Step-by-step product tutorials
• Post-purchase care/maintenance
• How to get the most out of X
• A new way to use X
• New features
• Upgrades
• Recalls
• Accessories
• Relevant third-party or partnership offers
• Answers to questions
• New deals
• Trends to watch
• Resourceful newsletter with helpful 1inks, resources, and advice

Formatting

Remember that "web surfers scan, they don't read". The same applies to e-mails. The easiest thing for e-mail recipients to do is hit the delete button before they even open the e-mail. Stop them with these best practices.

Create a Compelling Subject line
The subject line is the first thing a recipient sees. Make the message work. The primary goal of the e-mail's subject line is to motivate the recipient simply to open the e-mail, not accept the offer—yet. There are just 50 characters to entice them; on mobile browsers, half that. You only have a split second to grab your audience's attention. Make sure the subject line is concise and to the point. Don't waste space with excess punctuation (Example: Read This!!!)  Sometimes words that marketers think will work are hackneyed, overused buzzwords like free (Example: FREE Download!!!), instead, entice the audience into opening the e-mail with something they can relate to (Example: Learn How to Blog at Our Free Workshop).

Use a Descriptive "From" Address
People are more likely to open e-mails from entities that they recognize, know, like, and trust. In order to save valuable space in the subject line, try to make the "from" address as descriptive as possible. For example, instead of ABC Company, it might be ABC Wedding Planners or a value proposition name like ABC Electronic Deals. Having a descriptive "from" address puts the message and value proposition in context. Some marketers have found that it helps to have a real person's name in the "from" line to create affinity. This "from" address section is an easy area to test and compare approaches for maximum return on investment (ROI).

Set Up HTML E-Mails with Text-Only Mode Backup
Although HTML e-mails (e-mails with graphics) look more appealing, many people receive e-mail in text-only mode. Be sure to include alt text on the graphics that repeats the deal offered, and set up a text version that can be shown in lieu of the image-based version. Since most readers will only be able to see the first few words in the preview pane, put your best and most engaging offer at the very top of your e-mail.

Test in Different E-Mail Clients
It's a good idea to check out prospective e-mails both with and without graphics in the most popular e-mail clients. Also, look at how the e-mails are rendered in the top web-based e-mail providers such as Gmail, AOL, Yahoo!, and Hotmail. Don't forget that more and more people are reading their e-mail on the small screens of their iPhones, BlackBerries, Androids, and other smartphones. If it makes sense for your niche, consider sending text messages with links instead of full e-mails to phones.

Use a Spam Evaluator
Some e-mail service providers have a spam content evaluator that goes through your e-mails before they are sent to determine the likelihood that they will be labeled as spam by filters or users. If this service is not built into your e-mail provider, here are some guidelines to keep your e-mails from getting smashed with a spam hammer:

• Don't use excessive exclamation points (Learn More!!!!!)
• Don't use a lot of capital letters (BUY PRODUCT NOW).
• Be aware of the F-word (as in free), as it can be a big spam-filter flag, if you do use it in your subject line, try not to use it with capital letter or an exclamation point. 
• Don't use too many pictures. Overuse of images can also be a flag for spam.
• Avoid using certain words that are affiliated with high-volume spam use, such as loans, insurance, and prescription drugs.

Do Internal Testing Before the Real Send
Send an e-mail to a "seed list" (a select group of internal people) and have the group open the e-mail on different browsers to make sure that all the links and buttons are working properly and the copy is spelled correctly. Nothing is worse than sending an e-mail with spelling errors, or having a client click on your call-to-action link that sends them to a nonexistent web page. E-mail management technologies often offer a preview and test e-mail functionality, making internal testing very easy and manageable.

More than 90% of the online population uses a search engine (especially Google) to find products, services and information, according to iProspect, a search engine marketing firm. Once a search engine visitor types a query into the search box and receives results, marketing studies show that:

• Natural search received 250% more traffic than paid search
• Natural search converts 30% higher than pay-per-click (PPC) paid search
• The first page of search engine results pages (SERPs) get at least 80% of the clicks
• The second page is SERPs get about 10% of the clicks

So if your website isn't found within the top 10 to 30 search results, no one will find you. And if they don't find it, they will not be your customers- they will find your competitors instead.

A lot of our POS clients are asking how to print a logo on the receipt. It is not a straight forward process like printing from MS Words but this guide should get you there.

STEP1:

Right click on your Epson TM-88IV printer and go to <Printer properties>.

STEP2:

Go to <Utility> and click on EPSON Flash Logo.

\

STEP3:

Under <Bitmap Selection> tab, click on <Open file...> to select your black and white bitmap (BMP) logo file.

STEP4:

Go to <Logo Upload> tab and click on <Upload> - <Device> to upload the image to the printer memory.

STEP5:

Do a test print under <Logo Printout> tab by clicking on the <Print> button, you should see your logo being printed. May need some trial and error to align the logo to your desired position.

STEP6:

Under EPOS, go to <Hareware setup>, under <Print Header Logo>, enters the following code.
29,40,76,6,0,48,69,48,48,1,1.
If you are using TMU-220D, please use these code instead,
28,112,1,48

Save your settings and the logo should printer for every receipt.

Write as simply as possible. Studies have shown that online content that is shared most often is readable to most elementary school kids. This is about providing instant clarity. Most readers want a blog to comb through the relevant subject matter and show them something that is worth their attention. A blog entry can be as simple as "Hey, look at this" with a little narrative as to why blog readers should look at the link, photo, or video that is being shared. lf you want to write long essays on the topic, that's great as long as your analytics numbers show that long essays are what your readers want.

Keep it short. Someone once said that blog posts should be like a mini-skirt—long enough to cover the subject, but short enough to keep reader interest. One of the best bloggers in the business, Seth Godin, writes very short blog entries. Check him out at http://sethgodin.typepad.comi.

Plan a writing schedule and keep to it. You'd be amazed at how creative you can be when filled with last-minute panic. Until you've got your sea legs, start with a weekly entry and then grow to three to five posts a week. Some bloggers have "Weekly Wednesday" or "Monday Motivation" or "Friday Funny" themes so they have a clear focus and day of the week , to prompt writing.

Make a list of topics to cover. If you're stumped by what to write about go back to the blog theme and start thinking about your target customers. Think about how the blog can best educate, enlighten, and engage them. Brand, build, and boost your business. Your expertise, ideas, perspective, tips, tricks, and stories won't help anyone if they're all stashed away in your brain.

Look at the calendar. Every industry has annual, seasonal, or in some cases monthly events that are content creation-worthy. In some cases you can create a draft about a seasonal event long in advance and then plug in the latest news at the top of the posting. For example, the fashion industry has a large focus on spring and fall fashion, accountants get very busy around tax time, and professional organizers have a lot of buzz around spring cleaning.

Create editorial departments. Look at pertinent trade magazines to discover which departments you can adapt to regular blog entries. Any time there is big media buzz around a certain topic that relates to the blog theme, put on that journalist hat to blog about related current events to maximize interest and exposure.

Stay informed. There are a number of tools to keep you up to date on the latest industry news so that when news hits, you'll know and can write about it: 

• Create Google Alerts for topic area keywords or phrases (http://www.google.com/alerts).
• Create an industry news dashboard in iGoogle and then customize the feeds. This will allow you to see all the industry news at a glance.

Look to the key phrases for inspiration. There are key phrase clusters around every organization and industry. Use a web analytics package to look at the keywords and phrases that people are using to find your site. See if any of those keywords lend themselves to regular blog entries. Check out Google Trends for the keywords in the given topic area to see which keywords are on the rise and which are declining.

Take advantage of inspiration. Sometimes the muse strikes. Don't forget it. Write it down and post it. If you want to develop the topic more fully later, you can with the knowledge that you've created two blog postings (a short one and a long one) out of one inspiration.

Plan "think pieces." "Think pieces" can sound scary and formal, but it is simply a three-pronged way to write that includes a quick analysis, background material, and personal opinions. All you need is an opening, three points, and a closer—keep it to 400 words maximum and you're done. Remember that, with blogging, done is better than perfect. The web is flexible; you can always go back and edit.

Slice the onion thinly. Don't feel you need to write everything about a topic in a single entry. You can say, "Stay tuned for Part Two," and give readers a reason to come back (or sign up for the RSS feed) to get more of the story.

Author how-to articles. The web is one of the main places people go to find information. How-to articles are great for customer service and to show expertise.

Include educational articles. Web users are in need of authoritative articles about millions of topics. When readers are educated, they feel empowered. When an organization empowers people, a relationship is built that can launch business.

Share your checklists. If you've got a procedure that works, share it. Lists are easy, organized, and very helpful to those web readers who scan rather than read, and they show expertise.

Try a Top 10 list. Thanks to David Letterman, Top 10 lists have become a staple for content creators. For interesting and relevant blog posts, try a Top 10 list of things people don't know about your topic. 

Interview people in your industry. A blog is a great excuse to network with big names. Create an interview sheet with top questions you would like answers to. Interviews can be conducted via phone or e-mail.

Embed videos from YouTube or other sources. Video is more than just eye candy. It is one of the top content creation ways to engage readers. Video links are clicked on and shared more often than any other content on the web. Regularly search for videos in the topic area of your industry, and when there is something worth sharing with readers, post it.

Link to podcasts. if your organization or someone in the industry has a relevant podcast, link to it. Add some opinion ot thepiece being shared on the blog.

Outsource to experts. Get guest bloggers to write and keep content diverse. Diversifying writers helps create fresh content and can appeal to more readers. guest writers gain exposure and the blog owner gets content- it's a win-win.

Get the best blogging advice every day. Sekking help will inspire the content development process. Get blogging advice or inspiration from people who do it professionally. Make ProBlogger (www.problogger.ent) regular reading.

So What is Google Places?

Just imagine that as Yellowpages busines listing complete with powerful Google maps. The most important thing is that - THIS IS FROM GOOGLE, so it directly affects your Google search ranking. In fact Google Places actually pushes most organic search results down. Take a look below...

Getting yourself listed in Google Places

First thing is to check if your business is already listed. Simply do a search in http://maps.google.com. Let's say you are St. John Ambulance in Singapore, we can do a search either by address or organization name...

Viola! If it is found, you will reach the profile page. See the link above the map? If it states "Business owner?" that means you can proceed to claim ownership, else it will states "Owner-verified listing" which means someone else has already claimed it. Check with your organization if it was claimed by someone internally.

By clicking on the "Business Owner" link, you can proceed to claim ownership of this listing. Continue with updating your business information and Google will provide a few options of validation.

You can choose to validate by PHONE, SMS or POSTCARD, they are all FREE anyway. Try the PHONE validation - it's the fastest.

What if my business is not found?

No worries, just simply go to http://www.google.com/places/ and add yours in!

After all these are done, get you customers to leave their comments via Google places. All comments are visible from the search results. If you have accumulated enough positive comments, that is obvious for anyone to click on it.

Summary

Well it is easy, free and effective to add your business in Google Places. However try not to abuse the system by posting positive comments of your own or create multiple listings. Just remember, Google's artificial intelligence can detect all these and ban your listing.

For a straight 6 months, we are ranked number 1 by TOPSEO in the Web Development Company category. We were number 1 for Oct 2010, Nov 2010, Dec 2010, Jan 2011, Feb 2011 and now Mar 2011. We will continue to excel in our web development deliverables and strive to be the best of the best in this trade.

TOPSEOs, an independent on search vendors ranked us (Efusion Technology) as the top ranking #1 Web developer in Singapore for Nov 2010 and Dec 2010 consecutively. They graded base on PROCESS, STANDARD COMPLIANCE, SCALABLE, ROBUST AND SECURE, MAINTENANCE and we scored full marks for all. The award greatly increase our credibility and is really a recognition of our professional service.

“EFUSION TECHNOLOGY is honored by this recognition from topseos and we will continue to work hard to maintain and go beyond this position that we have secured”, said Lau Wee Kiat, IT Consultant.

EFUSION TECHNOLOGY is included in this list for its consistent performance and the superior services rendered to its clients.

As part of the evaluation process, clients of EFUSION TECHNOLOGY are asked to give feedback on general and project specific questions such as: 

• Rate your overall experience.
• What type of needs analysis was conducted before work initiated?
• What content management system, MVC frameworks, standards were considered prior to coding?
• How often were you advised of the progress of development and how were you able to review the work and offer your input?
• How much of your personal involvement was required in this process?

“The whole industry looks to us to identify reliable and accurate benchmarks and EFUSION TECHNOLOGY has proven by its performance that they deserve to be on this coveted list”, shared Jeev Trika, partner at topseos.

Efusion Technology with our team of dedicated professional web designer and developer will continue to strive for excellence in this industry. Please continue to give us your support in year 2011. Have a great year ahead.

More information on why we are the best web developer. http://www.topseos.sg/rankings-of-best-web-development-companies-in-singapore 

theInsanelyChic.com.sg the first to introduce the range of bags from Petunia Pickle Bottom in USA.

Petunia Pickle Bottom bags are a perennial exhibit of bold lines, daring colors and darling designer details, Petunia Pickle Bottom was created for the steadfast sophisticate inside every woman. Silk brocades, hand-woven tweeds, plush chenilles, intricate cut velvets, and exquisitely detailed embroidery—every one a Petunia hallmark, and every one an expression of motherhood’s myriad facets.

The merchant wanted something that can bring out the brand name, the light blue and bronze color scheme was requested by her.

Design concepts: Chic!, tasteful, classy
Technology: PHP, mySQL, HTML, CSS, FLASH
Shopping Cart: Standard with discount code support and extra product images

Jurong Town Concil (JRTC) now has a showcase for their wonderful residents and MPs on their new CMS (content management system) site, JRTC.ORG.SG. Efusion Technology helped JRTC, and their management team, create a site to launch their council news, latest updates, tender results. The website also features a few key functionality - namely a Constituency Locator, Cash For Trash programme, facilities booking system and best cleaner award.

An important component of the new site was that it have a simple design that let the photos speak for themselves.  Another big factor for JRTC.ORG.SG was that it should be easy for their team to maintain it. The easy to use CMS system will allow any of their non-IT personnel to easily insert new contents. Due to political reasons and some government regulations, some of the contents (especiallly images) took a while to get approved and uploaded. After 1 month plus of extensive work, JRTC.ORG.SG website was launched with approval even from the members of parliment and ministers.

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