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Casual Articles - Electronic Newsletters - Building a Personal Marketing Database
There you are minding your own business (literally), when in charges your worst nightmare, or your greatest opportunity depending upon how you handle it.What you do and say in the next 2 to 20 minutes can earn you a mortal enemy or a lifelong customer who will stay with you regardless of price change or market fluctuation.Techniques:Bad: 1. Become a “Deer in the headlights.” Allowing yourself to become overwhelmed by the situation is an all to common mistake. This is the result of not having a plan for possible negative contingencies. Good: 1. Assess the situation. Note the anxiety level of the other person. If their speech rate high, is there skin flushed, are they sweating, are they pacing? If you know this person decide if they are displaying a noticeable change in demeanor? As long as they are displaying anxiety, you must remain supportive.Bad: 2. Take on a superior attitude. Good: 2. Unless you are dealing with a child, treating someone like one is a bad idea. Even if you are dealing with a child, it isn’t the best way to go about it. At this point, you should attempt to gather as much data about the other person’s problem as you can. Question as much as you can. Remember to keep your questions information seeking and not challenging.Bad: 3. Refuse to negotiate. Good: 3. Remember EVERYTHING is negotiable. Even if you come out on the short side of one deal, what you earn in referrals and good will for repeat business will more than make up the difference.Bad: 4. Become insulted and indignant. Good: 4. Q.T.I.P.Quit Taking It PersonallyTry to remember, the person is angry about the issue, not you.Bad: 5. Don’t follow up. Good: 5. After you have addressed the issue, contact the individual and thank them for giving you the opportunity to rectify there concern. Two of the most expensive aspects of operations are the recruitment and retention of employees and the solicitation and retention of customers and clients. It only makes sense to do everything you can to maximize your effectiveness in these areas.Reg Adkins
The Here & Now time sensitive tip is an eZine you write each week or month. If you enjoy relating your advice to current events, holidays, or seasons, or just like writing a newsletter every so often, this is the best option for you. It is also a great way to promote your speaking engagements, current articles, or recent sightings to keep your readers up-to-date on your activities. If you are just starting out and don’t have a lot of products to promote, this might be your best option because it allows you to create visibility for your marketing efforts before you have product.
The Layout
Laying out your newsletter is extremely important. You have many more options with HTML, which makes your eZine display like a web page, than you do with plain text. However, if you are confined to text, play with color, spacing, and font to be as creative as possible.
In HTML, it is important to create continuity between your website and the newsletter. If you have a logo, a slogan, or any type of branding on your website, make sure that it is also on your newsletter. I am a proponent of creating a column that takes up one third of the page either on the left or right side. While your content goes in the middle two-thirds of the page, this side column is purely promotional. You can use this space to write catchy copy about yourself and your products or services. Or, you can create buttons that make it easy for people to buy merchandise directly from your eZine. But most importantly, the best way to promote your products and your services is to make your newsletter as visually interesting as possible. Use of color, pictures, and design will entice people to buy and help them remember you.
HTML layout also enables you to create hyperlinks within your message to pages on your website, particularly your shopping cart. (You can also do this in plain text, but it is clunky and intimidating.) All the Stuff That Goes on the Bottom
There are a couple of items that need to be included in every newsletter, regardless of its
One very dangerous thing that is seen in the concrete pumping industry from time to time is people having their arms, fingers, etc. amputated in the field due to cleaning out the pump with their hands while the pump motor is running. Remember, never put any body part in the hopper, outlet valve or lubrication box while the pump is running. Many of these amputations are caused because the operator thinks that just because the remote is off everything is all right. However, what happens is they press the stop button on the remote and then they stick their arm or hand into a moving part on the pump and then they lean up against the pump or whatever and the remote button is pushed on and their arm is chopped off. It happens just like that, fast!Remember to read the pump manufacturer’s operating manual before cleaning or repairing your concrete pump. If you have to service the pump and need to put your hands near moving parts, always shut off the pump engine and remove the key and make sure all pressure is at zero.Most pumping companies will see a steady growth in pump jobs due to the summer months ahead. This is a great time of year to service your pumps and equipment. With more pump jobs it means more money. Don’t forget to invest back into your equipment. Don’t get out on a job and have a problem that could have been avoided.Check your hoses for wear spots, and holes in the hose. Also, check the hose ends including the inside. Look for thin metal. Check your reducer and the ends of the reducers. Periodically lightly tap your reducers with a hammer. You can actually hear a very bright “ting” if the metal is getting too worn. When this happens, replace it. Here’s a little side note. Did you hear about the guy who lost his vision due to the hose exploding open in his face. His employer had no workman’s comp and either did the general contractor. Don’t gamble in this business. People can get injured and killed.Here’s a good habit to get into.Start off with good hoses and clamps. When setting up a job, roll out the hose from one end and when rolling it up, roll it from the other end. That way you can inspect both ends daily. If you come across a bad hose, spray paint it to mark it and put it aside. Then either fix it, cut it into two hoses, or throw it away. If the concrete hose
Everyone who receives your eZine is a potential customer. Whether you are selling your services or products, each newsletter is an opportunity to generate revenue. It is also a chance to increase recognition and grow your business.
And the reason it’s free? You want as many names in your database as you can get. In order for someone to give you their valuable, personal information, you need to provide them with something equally valuable in return. Also, if you ask people to pay for your newsletter, some may if they perceive significant value above and beyond the fee, but most will just move on to someone who will give them the equivalent information for free.
Your eZine can be created in either plain text or HTML (HyperText Markup Language) formats, or both. HTML is the same code that is used to create web pages, so it allows you to incorporate design elements such as colors, graphics, photos, and links in your eZine. At one point, plain text vs. HTML format for newsletters was a highly debated topic and the vote was pretty evenly split. With the advancement of technology, such as increased storage capacity in inboxes, this is no longer such a pressing issue; however, there are a couple of things to know.
First and foremost, you want your readers to be able to read your newsletter. There are a couple of great websites that will help you manage and send out your newsletter with this priority in mind; I use Aweber (http://www.aweber.com). This site sends out both types and then the receiver’s email software chooses which format will be the most readable. However, if you cannot send out both, there are certain advantages and disadvantages to either type.
Text: Text documents are the easiest to read because all email servers can receive them. They also are less likely to be caught in spam filters, so you can be sure that your subscribers are receiving your newsletter (see tip 9 for more information on spamming). However, you have to worry about “wrapping” the text so that it looks the same in everyone’s inbox. And, you can only work with text color to make your content and product presentations flashy and visually exciting and interesting.
HTML: As noted above, an eZine in HTML format will display like a web page. However, not all email programs will be able to read it properly. While the technology has improved, many people still own older machines that cannot decipher HTML embedded in an email. Also, the spam rating for this type of newsletter is significantly higher than it is for a text document, so there’s a chance it may end up in your readers’ spam folders. The possibilities for design, color-scheme, and product placement are endless, and usually make it worth your time to explore this option.
Best of both worlds: Another option for format is to send out a plain text message that simply introduces that issue of your eZine, then provides a live link to the full version online, which can include as many graphics and media as you want. This ensures that your email will get through, but also allows you to take full advantage of online resources. Keep in mind, however, that not all readers will be willing to click out of the message to another web page. Consider what’s best for your readers.
Content
It is essential that you take your newsletter or eZine seriously and create high-value content. If you deliver sub-par information, you will quickly lose subscribers. At the same time, however, don’t overwhelm your readers with too much information, even good information. Short is better than long. Many people are inundated with emails every day; they are not going to take the time to read your weekly novel. If you can condense your message into three really pithy paragraphs and deliver great value to your reader, you are golden.
Ideal target: Try limiting each issue of your eZine to 350 words of text. This will fit on most viewers’ screens, without having to scroll down. Subscribers really appreciate having all the content at their immediate view.
Once you’ve struck this balance and engaged your readers, you can then use your content to promote your products, speaking engagements, or your media placements. If you can incorporate a plug for your latest eBook, mp3, or any other item into your newsletter, you will sell infinitely more merchandise. You will do best if you can make a connection between the message you are sending and the product you are presenting. If your message is all about reading body language and you can say, “For more about the subtle messages you send with your body language, check out my new eBook on …” By giving readers a bit of useful information, you are creating an interest in the specific topic, and you can build on that by immediately offering to expand their knowledge of the topic with a related product.
The best balance: While each issue of your eZine is a great marketing tool, there’s good reason to give your readers a break from promotions once in awhile. They’ll surely appreciate the occasional reminder that you are providing a worthwhile service outside of your product plugs, and that might make them even more willing to purchase a product the next time. A good balance is a 3:1 ratio of issues without and with product plugs.
Sell Your Products
Having products to sell and incorporating them into your eZine are obviously a great way to generate income and make your newsletter profitable. I currently make on average about $8,000 a month from products people buy off of my newsletter. That’s a lot of money! I’ve been able to accomplish this by taking the time to create 70 pieces of merchandise. These range from eBooks and mp3s to assessments and soft-cover books. I am also in the process of creating Podcasts and video downloads to complete my range of media offerings.
Explore all of your options. Your products do not have to be tangible; they can be electronic. Things like eBooks and mp3s are great items because there are no manufacturing, distributing, or shipping costs. Once you pay to create the file, that’s it. It’s pure profit!
Also, your products should be as specific as possible. If your newsletter is on a broad topic, such as cooking, create products that address specific issues. You may have “how to grill the perfect steak,” or “when a vegetarian menu is your best option,” or “the top 25 chocolate recipes.” By breaking down your expertise into specific titles that solve a certain problem or meet a specific need, you will be able to easily generate products and start earning money off of your “free” newsletter.
In order to sell products in your eZine, you will need some type of online shopping cart to process the transactions. Most of these systems have the capability to automatically handle the purchase and distribution of eProducts such as mp3s and eBooks (I use AutomatedShoppingCarts.com). Another useful feature called “Ad-Tracking” allows you to track which purchases were made from each eZine so you can monitor your most and least effective product sales copy. Ad-Tracking also allows you to do “split testing,” which enables you to track the results of several versions of sales copy for the same product. This process will let you see which sales copy is the most effective at generating sales. By dividing your web traffic for a product between several destination pages, each with different sales copy, you will be able to easily determine which page is performing best. There are also software programs available to help you test and optimize your online ads.
Promotional Content
There are three approaches to newsletter content: the type that exists to sell products, the type that exists to promote the author, and the type that purely gives information.
Obviously, if you have a lot of products and are using your newsletter to generate income, the first option is the best. However, make sure that the content of your newsletter doesn’t suffer. You are still providing your readers a service and feeding them valuable content. If your content suffers because you are trying too hard to sell your products, you will lose subscribers and ultimately lose money.
If you are a speaker, author, consultant, personal coach, or expert who wants to gain recognition, you should promote yourself in your newsletter. You should talk about what you’ve been doing, your recent articles and media mentions, your speaking engagements, problems you have helped your clients solve, opportunities you have helped your clients seize, and how potential clients can contact you. After all, there is no better product than yourself, so you need to market your services as effectively as possible.
If you don’t like the idea of using your newsletter as a promotional device, the solely informational option is probably what you’ll choose. Companies can use newsletters to educate customers on effective product usage or share ideas from other customers. While your newsletter is still valuable as a database generator, I would advise against abstaining from all promotional copy. If you are going to take the time to create a newsletter, you want it to work for you as much as it can. There is always a way to find a balance between maintaining the integrity of your newsletter and either promoting yourself or your new project/product.
Auto Responder vs. Here & Now Tips
There are two different types of newsletter formats, the auto responder and the Here & Now time sensitive tip.
Auto-responders (or evergreen eZines) are a series of tips or eZines that are created in advance and sent out at set intervals (weekly, monthly, etc). First, you must write several tips or newsletters that you put into a reserve database of eZines. When someone subscribes to your newsletter or tip series, they receive issue #1. Consequently, if person A signed up for your weekly tip a year ago and person B signed up yesterday, person A would be on tip #50, while person B would only be on tip #1. This is a great system if you do not want to create a new newsletter every month or week. Once you write enough tips, you can sit back and wait as your subscriber network reads through them all. However, you need to monitor your newsletters and subscribers carefully. Once your readers start to catch up on the eZines you’ve already written, you need to create more. The downside of this system is that you cannot make your tips relevant to items in the breaking news or seasonal happenings. The topics need to be able to stand on their own.
The Here & Now time sensitive tip is an eZine you write each week or month. If you enjoy relating your advice to current events, holidays, or seasons, or just like writing a newsletter every so often, this is the best option for you. It is also a great way to promote your speaking engagements, current articles, or recent sightings to keep your readers up-to-date on your activities. If you are just starting out and don’t have a lot of products to promote, this might be your best option because it allows you to create visibility for your marketing efforts before you have product.
The Layout
Laying out your newsletter is extremely important. You have many more options with HTML, which makes your eZine display like a web page, than you do with plain text. However, if you are confined to text, play with color, spacing, and font to be as creative as possible.
In HTML, it is important to create continuity between your website and the newsletter. If you have a logo, a slogan, or any type of branding on your website, make sure that it is also on your newsletter. I am a proponent of creating a column that takes up one third of the page either on the left or right side. While your content goes in the middle two-thirds of the page, this side column is purely promotional. You can use this space to write catchy copy about yourself and your products or services. Or, you can create buttons that make it easy for people to buy merchandise directly from your eZine. But most importantly, the best way to promote your products and your services is to make your newsletter as visually interesting as possible. Use of color, pictures, and design will entice people to buy and help them remember you.
HTML layout also enables you to create hyperlinks within your message to pages on your website, particularly your shopping cart. (You can also do this in plain text, but it is clunky and intimidating.) All the Stuff That Goes on the Bottom
There are a couple of items that need to be included in every newsletter, regardless of its
If you like a fast paced environment couched in one of the world's oldest and most stable professions, you may want to become an accountant. Accountants have a set foundation of rules and guidelines, balanced by enough leeway to add creativity to the job. There are a million ways to present financial data for an organization, and accountants have plenty of legroom to be creative - while keeping sound legal practices in this respect.Unfortunately for the anti-school crowd, becoming an accountant requires some form of higher education either technical school or a full blown 4-year course of study at a university. While a four year degree provides more depth in accounting, those with a two-year technical degree aren't left out in the cold: they can start at the bottom of the accounting totem pole and move up through networking and training directly on the job. Those taking this path through accounting may start out a little lower, but the future is still quite bright. In either case, education can also provide a clearer understanding of the opportunities in accounting, along with what path in accounting you wish to take. You can become a certified public accountant, or a certified managerial accountant - along with a dozen other highly sought-after, valuable career paths in accounting.Becoming an accountant is well worth it - these days, companies will pay top dollar for accountants that can come aboard and handle the complex financial affairs of an organization efficiently and - most importantly - legally. Accounting is a great, broad field, and with enough drive, anyone can make a successful future out of it!
HTML: As noted above, an eZine in HTML format will display like a web page. However, not all email programs will be able to read it properly. While the technology has improved, many people still own older machines that cannot decipher HTML embedded in an email. Also, the spam rating for this type of newsletter is significantly higher than it is for a text document, so there’s a chance it may end up in your readers’ spam folders. The possibilities for design, color-scheme, and product placement are endless, and usually make it worth your time to explore this option.
Best of both worlds: Another option for format is to send out a plain text message that simply introduces that issue of your eZine, then provides a live link to the full version online, which can include as many graphics and media as you want. This ensures that your email will get through, but also allows you to take full advantage of online resources. Keep in mind, however, that not all readers will be willing to click out of the message to another web page. Consider what’s best for your readers.
Content
It is essential that you take your newsletter or eZine seriously and create high-value content. If you deliver sub-par information, you will quickly lose subscribers. At the same time, however, don’t overwhelm your readers with too much information, even good information. Short is better than long. Many people are inundated with emails every day; they are not going to take the time to read your weekly novel. If you can condense your message into three really pithy paragraphs and deliver great value to your reader, you are golden.
Ideal target: Try limiting each issue of your eZine to 350 words of text. This will fit on most viewers’ screens, without having to scroll down. Subscribers really appreciate having all the content at their immediate view.
Once you’ve struck this balance and engaged your readers, you can then use your content to promote your products, speaking engagements, or your media placements. If you can incorporate a plug for your latest eBook, mp3, or any other item into your newsletter, you will sell infinitely more merchandise. You will do best if you can make a connection between the message you are sending and the product you are presenting. If your message is all about reading body language and you can say, “For more about the subtle messages you send with your body language, check out my new eBook on …” By giving readers a bit of useful information, you are creating an interest in the specific topic, and you can build on that by immediately offering to expand their knowledge of the topic with a related product.
The best balance: While each issue of your eZine is a great marketing tool, there’s good reason to give your readers a break from promotions once in awhile. They’ll surely appreciate the occasional reminder that you are providing a worthwhile service outside of your product plugs, and that might make them even more willing to purchase a product the next time. A good balance is a 3:1 ratio of issues without and with product plugs.
Sell Your Products
Having products to sell and incorporating them into your eZine are obviously a great way to generate income and make your newsletter profitable. I currently make on average about $8,000 a month from products people buy off of my newsletter. That’s a lot of money! I’ve been able to accomplish this by taking the time to create 70 pieces of merchandise. These range from eBooks and mp3s to assessments and soft-cover books. I am also in the process of creating Podcasts and video downloads to complete my range of media offerings.
Explore all of your options. Your products do not have to be tangible; they can be electronic. Things like eBooks and mp3s are great items because there are no manufacturing, distributing, or shipping costs. Once you pay to create the file, that’s it. It’s pure profit!
Also, your products should be as specific as possible. If your newsletter is on a broad topic, such as cooking, create products that address specific issues. You may have “how to grill the perfect steak,” or “when a vegetarian menu is your best option,” or “the top 25 chocolate recipes.” By breaking down your expertise into specific titles that solve a certain problem or meet a specific need, you will be able to easily generate products and start earning money off of your “free” newsletter.
In order to sell products in your eZine, you will need some type of online shopping cart to process the transactions. Most of these systems have the capability to automatically handle the purchase and distribution of eProducts such as mp3s and eBooks (I use AutomatedShoppingCarts.com). Another useful feature called “Ad-Tracking” allows you to track which purchases were made from each eZine so you can monitor your most and least effective product sales copy. Ad-Tracking also allows you to do “split testing,” which enables you to track the results of several versions of sales copy for the same product. This process will let you see which sales copy is the most effective at generating sales. By dividing your web traffic for a product between several destination pages, each with different sales copy, you will be able to easily determine which page is performing best. There are also software programs available to help you test and optimize your online ads.
Promotional Content
There are three approaches to newsletter content: the type that exists to sell products, the type that exists to promote the author, and the type that purely gives information.
Obviously, if you have a lot of products and are using your newsletter to generate income, the first option is the best. However, make sure that the content of your newsletter doesn’t suffer. You are still providing your readers a service and feeding them valuable content. If your content suffers because you are trying too hard to sell your products, you will lose subscribers and ultimately lose money.
If you are a speaker, author, consultant, personal coach, or expert who wants to gain recognition, you should promote yourself in your newsletter. You should talk about what you’ve been doing, your recent articles and media mentions, your speaking engagements, problems you have helped your clients solve, opportunities you have helped your clients seize, and how potential clients can contact you. After all, there is no better product than yourself, so you need to market your services as effectively as possible.
If you don’t like the idea of using your newsletter as a promotional device, the solely informational option is probably what you’ll choose. Companies can use newsletters to educate customers on effective product usage or share ideas from other customers. While your newsletter is still valuable as a database generator, I would advise against abstaining from all promotional copy. If you are going to take the time to create a newsletter, you want it to work for you as much as it can. There is always a way to find a balance between maintaining the integrity of your newsletter and either promoting yourself or your new project/product.
Auto Responder vs. Here & Now Tips
There are two different types of newsletter formats, the auto responder and the Here & Now time sensitive tip.
Auto-responders (or evergreen eZines) are a series of tips or eZines that are created in advance and sent out at set intervals (weekly, monthly, etc). First, you must write several tips or newsletters that you put into a reserve database of eZines. When someone subscribes to your newsletter or tip series, they receive issue #1. Consequently, if person A signed up for your weekly tip a year ago and person B signed up yesterday, person A would be on tip #50, while person B would only be on tip #1. This is a great system if you do not want to create a new newsletter every month or week. Once you write enough tips, you can sit back and wait as your subscriber network reads through them all. However, you need to monitor your newsletters and subscribers carefully. Once your readers start to catch up on the eZines you’ve already written, you need to create more. The downside of this system is that you cannot make your tips relevant to items in the breaking news or seasonal happenings. The topics need to be able to stand on their own.
The Here & Now time sensitive tip is an eZine you write each week or month. If you enjoy relating your advice to current events, holidays, or seasons, or just like writing a newsletter every so often, this is the best option for you. It is also a great way to promote your speaking engagements, current articles, or recent sightings to keep your readers up-to-date on your activities. If you are just starting out and don’t have a lot of products to promote, this might be your best option because it allows you to create visibility for your marketing efforts before you have product.
The Layout
Laying out your newsletter is extremely important. You have many more options with HTML, which makes your eZine display like a web page, than you do with plain text. However, if you are confined to text, play with color, spacing, and font to be as creative as possible.
In HTML, it is important to create continuity between your website and the newsletter. If you have a logo, a slogan, or any type of branding on your website, make sure that it is also on your newsletter. I am a proponent of creating a column that takes up one third of the page either on the left or right side. While your content goes in the middle two-thirds of the page, this side column is purely promotional. You can use this space to write catchy copy about yourself and your products or services. Or, you can create buttons that make it easy for people to buy merchandise directly from your eZine. But most importantly, the best way to promote your products and your services is to make your newsletter as visually interesting as possible. Use of color, pictures, and design will entice people to buy and help them remember you.
HTML layout also enables you to create hyperlinks within your message to pages on your website, particularly your shopping cart. (You can also do this in plain text, but it is clunky and intimidating.) All the Stuff That Goes on the Bottom
There are a couple of items that need to be included in every newsletter, regardless of its
The Kansas State Agency that oversees the collection and reporting of State income taxes deducted from payroll checks is:Department of Revenue Docking State Office Bldg. 915 S.W. Harrison Topeka, KS 66625 (877) 526-7738 www.ink.org/public/kdorKansas does not require you to use a state form to calculate state income tax withholding.Not all states allow salary reductions made under Section 125 cafeteria plans or 401(k) to be treated in the same manner as the IRS code allows. In Kansas's cafeteria plans are not taxable for income tax calculation; not taxable for unemployment insurance purposes. 401(k) plan deferrals are not taxable for income taxes; taxable for unemployment purposes.In Kansas supplemental wages are taxed at a 5% flat rate.In Kansas supplemental wages are required to be aggregated for the state income tax withholding calculation.You must file your Kansas state W-2s by magnetic media if you are have at least 250 employees and are required to file your federal W-2s by magnetic media.The Kansas State Unemployment Insurance Agency is:Department of Human Resources Division of Employment Security 401 S.W. Topeka Blvd. Topeka, KS 66603-3182 (785) 296-5025 http://www.dol.ks.gov/WC/HTML/wc_ALL.htmlThe State of Kansas taxable wage base for unemployment purposes is wages up to $8000.00.Kansas has optional reporting of quarterly wages on magnetic media.Unemployment records must be retained in Kansas for a minimum period of five years. This information generally includes: name; social security number; dates of hire, rehire and termination; wages by period; payroll pay periods and pay dates; date and circumstances of termination.The Kansas State Agency charged with enforcing the state wage and hour laws is:Department of Human Resources Office of Employment Standards 1430 SW Topeka Blvd. Topeka, KS 66612-1880 (785) 296-4062 http://www.dol.ks.gov/UI/HTML/EnUI_DBR.htmlThe minimum wage in Kansas is $2.65 per hour.The general provision in Kansas concerning paying overtime in a non-FLSA covered employer is one and one half times regular rate after 46-hour week.Kansas State new hire reporting requirements are that every employ
The best balance: While each issue of your eZine is a great marketing tool, there’s good reason to give your readers a break from promotions once in awhile. They’ll surely appreciate the occasional reminder that you are providing a worthwhile service outside of your product plugs, and that might make them even more willing to purchase a product the next time. A good balance is a 3:1 ratio of issues without and with product plugs.
Sell Your Products
Having products to sell and incorporating them into your eZine are obviously a great way to generate income and make your newsletter profitable. I currently make on average about $8,000 a month from products people buy off of my newsletter. That’s a lot of money! I’ve been able to accomplish this by taking the time to create 70 pieces of merchandise. These range from eBooks and mp3s to assessments and soft-cover books. I am also in the process of creating Podcasts and video downloads to complete my range of media offerings.
Explore all of your options. Your products do not have to be tangible; they can be electronic. Things like eBooks and mp3s are great items because there are no manufacturing, distributing, or shipping costs. Once you pay to create the file, that’s it. It’s pure profit!
Also, your products should be as specific as possible. If your newsletter is on a broad topic, such as cooking, create products that address specific issues. You may have “how to grill the perfect steak,” or “when a vegetarian menu is your best option,” or “the top 25 chocolate recipes.” By breaking down your expertise into specific titles that solve a certain problem or meet a specific need, you will be able to easily generate products and start earning money off of your “free” newsletter.
In order to sell products in your eZine, you will need some type of online shopping cart to process the transactions. Most of these systems have the capability to automatically handle the purchase and distribution of eProducts such as mp3s and eBooks (I use AutomatedShoppingCarts.com). Another useful feature called “Ad-Tracking” allows you to track which purchases were made from each eZine so you can monitor your most and least effective product sales copy. Ad-Tracking also allows you to do “split testing,” which enables you to track the results of several versions of sales copy for the same product. This process will let you see which sales copy is the most effective at generating sales. By dividing your web traffic for a product between several destination pages, each with different sales copy, you will be able to easily determine which page is performing best. There are also software programs available to help you test and optimize your online ads.
Promotional Content
There are three approaches to newsletter content: the type that exists to sell products, the type that exists to promote the author, and the type that purely gives information.
Obviously, if you have a lot of products and are using your newsletter to generate income, the first option is the best. However, make sure that the content of your newsletter doesn’t suffer. You are still providing your readers a service and feeding them valuable content. If your content suffers because you are trying too hard to sell your products, you will lose subscribers and ultimately lose money.
If you are a speaker, author, consultant, personal coach, or expert who wants to gain recognition, you should promote yourself in your newsletter. You should talk about what you’ve been doing, your recent articles and media mentions, your speaking engagements, problems you have helped your clients solve, opportunities you have helped your clients seize, and how potential clients can contact you. After all, there is no better product than yourself, so you need to market your services as effectively as possible.
If you don’t like the idea of using your newsletter as a promotional device, the solely informational option is probably what you’ll choose. Companies can use newsletters to educate customers on effective product usage or share ideas from other customers. While your newsletter is still valuable as a database generator, I would advise against abstaining from all promotional copy. If you are going to take the time to create a newsletter, you want it to work for you as much as it can. There is always a way to find a balance between maintaining the integrity of your newsletter and either promoting yourself or your new project/product.
Auto Responder vs. Here & Now Tips
There are two different types of newsletter formats, the auto responder and the Here & Now time sensitive tip.
Auto-responders (or evergreen eZines) are a series of tips or eZines that are created in advance and sent out at set intervals (weekly, monthly, etc). First, you must write several tips or newsletters that you put into a reserve database of eZines. When someone subscribes to your newsletter or tip series, they receive issue #1. Consequently, if person A signed up for your weekly tip a year ago and person B signed up yesterday, person A would be on tip #50, while person B would only be on tip #1. This is a great system if you do not want to create a new newsletter every month or week. Once you write enough tips, you can sit back and wait as your subscriber network reads through them all. However, you need to monitor your newsletters and subscribers carefully. Once your readers start to catch up on the eZines you’ve already written, you need to create more. The downside of this system is that you cannot make your tips relevant to items in the breaking news or seasonal happenings. The topics need to be able to stand on their own.
The Here & Now time sensitive tip is an eZine you write each week or month. If you enjoy relating your advice to current events, holidays, or seasons, or just like writing a newsletter every so often, this is the best option for you. It is also a great way to promote your speaking engagements, current articles, or recent sightings to keep your readers up-to-date on your activities. If you are just starting out and don’t have a lot of products to promote, this might be your best option because it allows you to create visibility for your marketing efforts before you have product.
The Layout
Laying out your newsletter is extremely important. You have many more options with HTML, which makes your eZine display like a web page, than you do with plain text. However, if you are confined to text, play with color, spacing, and font to be as creative as possible.
In HTML, it is important to create continuity between your website and the newsletter. If you have a logo, a slogan, or any type of branding on your website, make sure that it is also on your newsletter. I am a proponent of creating a column that takes up one third of the page either on the left or right side. While your content goes in the middle two-thirds of the page, this side column is purely promotional. You can use this space to write catchy copy about yourself and your products or services. Or, you can create buttons that make it easy for people to buy merchandise directly from your eZine. But most importantly, the best way to promote your products and your services is to make your newsletter as visually interesting as possible. Use of color, pictures, and design will entice people to buy and help them remember you.
HTML layout also enables you to create hyperlinks within your message to pages on your website, particularly your shopping cart. (You can also do this in plain text, but it is clunky and intimidating.) All the Stuff That Goes on the Bottom
There are a couple of items that need to be included in every newsletter, regardless of its
After half a century of buying businesses, people still ask me why I spend so much of my time investing in buying businesses instead of real estate, the stock market and other things like that. And I always tell them -- and this is absolutely true -- the reason I don't do anything but buy businesses is because, in 50 years of doing so, I still have yet to come across a better investment than buying a business. In fact, nothing else even comes close in terms of both return on investment and risk. Let’s put it this way. If you get any financing at all, the cap rate on the average business with some financing is about 60 percent. What I mean by "cap rate" is you’re getting 60 percent of your money back every year. So, if you invest $100,000, you’re going to get $60,000 back a year. I mean, on real estate you invest a $100,000 and you’re going to get 10,000 back -- if that. So, buying a business gets you six times what you normally get with real estate and blows it right out of the water as an investment. But it’s actually more than that because the amount you normally invest (if you use investor financing) is as close as you can get to zero in most cases. And while it's true you need to have an attorney and a CPA help you through the whole process, if you understand what to say to them, they’ll "ride along" with you, not billing you until after you actually buy a business -- so you can pay them with money from the business you bought, and not your own money. You may also have expenses for traveling to different cities, too, if you choose to go long distance. But even with that, you just make sure you tell your investors that at the close of escrow, you're pulling back all the money you invested. Which they will almost never complain or care about. Again, I have yet to see anything else that even comes close to buying a business as far as return on investment and risk go.
Promotional Content
There are three approaches to newsletter content: the type that exists to sell products, the type that exists to promote the author, and the type that purely gives information.
Obviously, if you have a lot of products and are using your newsletter to generate income, the first option is the best. However, make sure that the content of your newsletter doesn’t suffer. You are still providing your readers a service and feeding them valuable content. If your content suffers because you are trying too hard to sell your products, you will lose subscribers and ultimately lose money.
If you are a speaker, author, consultant, personal coach, or expert who wants to gain recognition, you should promote yourself in your newsletter. You should talk about what you’ve been doing, your recent articles and media mentions, your speaking engagements, problems you have helped your clients solve, opportunities you have helped your clients seize, and how potential clients can contact you. After all, there is no better product than yourself, so you need to market your services as effectively as possible.
If you don’t like the idea of using your newsletter as a promotional device, the solely informational option is probably what you’ll choose. Companies can use newsletters to educate customers on effective product usage or share ideas from other customers. While your newsletter is still valuable as a database generator, I would advise against abstaining from all promotional copy. If you are going to take the time to create a newsletter, you want it to work for you as much as it can. There is always a way to find a balance between maintaining the integrity of your newsletter and either promoting yourself or your new project/product.
Auto Responder vs. Here & Now Tips
There are two different types of newsletter formats, the auto responder and the Here & Now time sensitive tip.
Auto-responders (or evergreen eZines) are a series of tips or eZines that are created in advance and sent out at set intervals (weekly, monthly, etc). First, you must write several tips or newsletters that you put into a reserve database of eZines. When someone subscribes to your newsletter or tip series, they receive issue #1. Consequently, if person A signed up for your weekly tip a year ago and person B signed up yesterday, person A would be on tip #50, while person B would only be on tip #1. This is a great system if you do not want to create a new newsletter every month or week. Once you write enough tips, you can sit back and wait as your subscriber network reads through them all. However, you need to monitor your newsletters and subscribers carefully. Once your readers start to catch up on the eZines you’ve already written, you need to create more. The downside of this system is that you cannot make your tips relevant to items in the breaking news or seasonal happenings. The topics need to be able to stand on their own.
The Here & Now time sensitive tip is an eZine you write each week or month. If you enjoy relating your advice to current events, holidays, or seasons, or just like writing a newsletter every so often, this is the best option for you. It is also a great way to promote your speaking engagements, current articles, or recent sightings to keep your readers up-to-date on your activities. If you are just starting out and don’t have a lot of products to promote, this might be your best option because it allows you to create visibility for your marketing efforts before you have product.
The Layout
Laying out your newsletter is extremely important. You have many more options with HTML, which makes your eZine display like a web page, than you do with plain text. However, if you are confined to text, play with color, spacing, and font to be as creative as possible.
In HTML, it is important to create continuity between your website and the newsletter. If you have a logo, a slogan, or any type of branding on your website, make sure that it is also on your newsletter. I am a proponent of creating a column that takes up one third of the page either on the left or right side. While your content goes in the middle two-thirds of the page, this side column is purely promotional. You can use this space to write catchy copy about yourself and your products or services. Or, you can create buttons that make it easy for people to buy merchandise directly from your eZine. But most importantly, the best way to promote your products and your services is to make your newsletter as visually interesting as possible. Use of color, pictures, and design will entice people to buy and help them remember you.
HTML layout also enables you to create hyperlinks within your message to pages on your website, particularly your shopping cart. (You can also do this in plain text, but it is clunky and intimidating.) All the Stuff That Goes on the Bottom
There are a couple of items that need to be included in every newsletter, regardless of its
Today, every large city has at least one major daily newspaper, and many have several papers, including specialized business news, senior citizen news, shoppers guides, advertising sheets, and so on. Some of these papers are published weekly and others may come out every other week, or every month. But in all these ways news and information, and lots of advertising, goes out to the public. Rather than hurting local newspaper distribution, the Internet has actually enhanced and often increased it. I may live in Sacramento, California, for example, but I can jump on the Internet and catch some of the local news in Portland, Maine by way of the local newspapers. I can even subscribe over the Net in just a few minutes. Such public presence makes every newspaper available to the entire world. The result of such exposure is a much wider audience, and more subscriptions. The Need in Your Area More than likely, your area already has at least one daily paper based in a nearby city, as well as other publications, such as The Wall Street Journal and USA Today. I’m sure there are also real estate guides, shoppers, business news, free papers that target farm or city readers, and other local or regional publications. You may wonder if there is really room, or a need for yet another newspaper. Are Local Businesses & Readers Being Served? You need to know the answer to the above question before you go very far in trying to develop a newspaper or other local publication. You need to have an accurate understanding of who you will serve, how you will serve them (what can you offer that no one else is offering), and why. You should be fully aware of other publications in your market area and what they are doing. Take the time to do a little research. Drive around and collect one each of every newspaper, shopping guide or trading post, real estate guide, and free magazine publication you can find. Spend a couple of days looking them over. Go through each publication more than once. Take note of the advertising, the news offered, the features (comics, puzzles, tidbits) offered. Ask yourself how well the people you know are being represented by these publications. How well are the small and medium sized businesses in your area publicized? The second s
The Here & Now time sensitive tip is an eZine you write each week or month. If you enjoy relating your advice to current events, holidays, or seasons, or just like writing a newsletter every so often, this is the best option for you. It is also a great way to promote your speaking engagements, current articles, or recent sightings to keep your readers up-to-date on your activities. If you are just starting out and don’t have a lot of products to promote, this might be your best option because it allows you to create visibility for your marketing efforts before you have product.
The Layout
Laying out your newsletter is extremely important. You have many more options with HTML, which makes your eZine display like a web page, than you do with plain text. However, if you are confined to text, play with color, spacing, and font to be as creative as possible.
In HTML, it is important to create continuity between your website and the newsletter. If you have a logo, a slogan, or any type of branding on your website, make sure that it is also on your newsletter. I am a proponent of creating a column that takes up one third of the page either on the left or right side. While your content goes in the middle two-thirds of the page, this side column is purely promotional. You can use this space to write catchy copy about yourself and your products or services. Or, you can create buttons that make it easy for people to buy merchandise directly from your eZine. But most importantly, the best way to promote your products and your services is to make your newsletter as visually interesting as possible. Use of color, pictures, and design will entice people to buy and help them remember you.
HTML layout also enables you to create hyperlinks within your message to pages on your website, particularly your shopping cart. (You can also do this in plain text, but it is clunky and intimidating.) All the Stuff That Goes on the Bottom
There are a couple of items that need to be included in every newsletter, regardless of its intended use. Most important is an easy way for your readers to subscribe and unsubscribe. Most newsletter service providers insert this link automatically and make it user-friendly.
You also need:
•A link to update contact information. If your subscriber is changing email addresses, make it easy for them to keep subscribing to your eZine.
•A phrase about the author, i.e. “Check out Dr. Alessandra’s website at …” to keep referring your readers back to your site and products.
•A copyright notice—for your own protection.
•A link that they can click on if they want to share the newsletter with their friends.
•If you are a speaker or author, contact information where interested parties can book you for a speaking engagement.
•A privacy policy.
•A legal disclaimer.
Don’t Spam!
Every newsletter or eZine you send out gets rated by the recipient’s spam filter, and could, if you’re not careful, end up in their spam folder! You want to keep this rating as low as possible. To do this, be conscious of your word choice, color scheme, and background template. Certain words, like “free” or “guarantee,” and certain non-web colors or excessive use of graphics trigger spam alerts. Also, limit your database to people who have signed up to receive your newsletter and to those who you’ve done business with. By sending mail to parties who have “opted in,” you will be less likely to be flagged as a spammer.
But why care about spamming?
Well, there are a couple of reasons. First, if your message has a high spam rating, it will never make it to your subscribers’ inboxes. Many eZine systems allow you to monitor what percentage of your emails is actually getting through. It is a good idea to keep on top of these stats. A newsletter is worthless if your readers aren’t reading it. Secondly, there are anti-spam laws in place, both on the federal and state levels. While they aren’t generally enforced unless the violation is egregious, just being aware of these laws is essential.
The federal anti-spam law, called the CAN-SPAM Act, was passed by Congress in 2003. It contains several important provisions that you should know about:
•Your email's "From," "To," and routing information – including the originating domain name and email address – must be accurate and identify the person who initiated the email.
•The subject line cannot mislead the recipient about the contents or subject matter of the message.
•You must not send to anyone unless they “opted-in” to your list by signing up or you have an existing business relationship with them.
•You must provide recipients with a mechanism to “opt-out” of receiving future emails.
•Each violation is subject to fines of up to $11,000.
But most importantly, if you consistently spam your subscribers, the ISP (e.g., AOL, Comcast, etc.) can block your domain name. These big ISPs provide their users with spam-flagging tools. If enough people flag your newsletter as spam, these providers will block EVERYTHING you send. That means that no one from AOL will be able to receive newsletters, emails, or anything else from you. And, unlike the spam legislation, these ISP providers monitor spam very closely because they want to keep their subscribers happy. And if they do decide to block you, there is no warning; they can just flip the switch. Once blocked, it is also extremely difficult to get unblocked, and you must provide the ISP with evidence that you are not in fact a spammer.
Monetizing Your List
Deciding to offer access to your subscriber base to someone else, or sell your list of subscribers, is a slippery slope that will take you down a path of consumerism that may or may not hurt your business. Selling your list to another vendor may result in customer dissatisfaction, spam issues, and most importantly, loss of subscribers. I wouldn’t do it.
However, you can partner with another vendor or exchange your list with someone in a data-share arrangement. If someone has a product that you think would benefit your customers, you can make an arrangement with the seller to give him or her access to your list of subscribers. You can put an advertisement in your newsletter and tie your content to this other product or service. However, make sure that the product you are promoting is not, in any way, in competition with your products or services. Also, you should create an agreement with the other vendors with whom you are exchanging marketing lists so that they promote your products and services in their newsletters. This type of agreement, or exchange of lists, is a great way to expand your marketing reach and also maintain the integrity of your newsletter and the loyalty of your readers.
Keep in mind that a list exchange, or joint venture as it’s sometimes called, is not the same as selling your list. You don’t give up control of the information in your database; you simply agree to mail them your list without giving them access to your actual database. They only get access to your list through you.
Another important issue to keep in mind is to make sure that the person who you are exchanging lists with has a list that’s comparable to yours in some way. Size can matter; if you have a list of 5,000 subscribers, it’s not usually a good idea to exchange your list with someone who only has 1,000. Sometimes, however, the content of the list is more important than its size. If the list contains information on the best 1,000 people out there to whom you wouldn’t otherwise have access, then that would be a good deal. Try to keep the exchange even and in mutual benefit to both parties. This way, your readers get the benefit of exposure to new information, and you get the benefit of expanding your reach through all of your hard work on your newsletters!
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