Personalize Emails for Better Response Rates
Every once in a while I need to send out a message to some or all of our contacts, both clients and prospects. Maybe I'm telling all of our Maine contacts about the Web Marketing course I'm teaching at USM, or today I announced that we're moving to a new office this weekend and I wanted to share our new contact information.
In the past I'd send out these email blasts with all the recipients in the BCC file to protect everyone's email info. The "response rate"--the people who actually emailed me back--was always a sickly zero percent. Plus, a number of people didn't receive the emails since their corporate network blocks emails without an employee address in the To or CC fields. Lastly, if the list of recipients was too long, my SMTP server would reject the outgoing email as possible spam.
I recently started using a program called Email Merge X for the Macintosh. (I'm sure there are equally good products for Windows.) It allows me to import any contact list and generates personalized emails to each recipient. So, instead of one email with 300 recipients in the BCC field, it will generate 300 personalized emails based on whatever criteria I have in my contact database.
I did this to avoid the BCC blackout and get a higher delivery rate. What I discovered was that people started replying to these emails and taking action.
When the opening salvo is "Howdy!" or "All," no one cares. But when people see an email addressed to their name, they pay more attention.
It seems like a small thing, but if you're trying to engage people, try using their name. Already my missive about our impending move has generated a dozen congratulatory notes just a few minutes after it was sent.
For the curious and bored, here's what I said...
Dear Rich,
This weekend flyte will be moving into bigger digs so we can add a conference room, roller disco and herb garden...all part of an employee perks program I'm putting into action. Because of this we will be difficult to reach on Friday and early Monday.
All mail should continue to go to our PO Box:
flyte new media
PO 17711
Portland, ME 04112All deliveries, humans and pets should go to our new offices:
flyte new media
136 Commercial St. Ste. 201
Portland, ME 04101All surfers, robots and search engines should continue to visit our Web site:
or our blog:
Our phone number will continue to be 207.871.7921, although we will be adding direct lines in the near future.
How to Increase Sales at Your Web Site
Would you like to increase sales or generate more leads on your Web site? Then read on....
One of the biggest reasons Web sites fail to generate more business for their owners is that the message, or the delivery of that message, is too complex.
As people try to navigate the data smog they're exposed to each day they are constantly attracted to a simplified message. The more complex the message or the delivery, the more chance they'll feel overwhelmed and want to leave the site.
Nick Usborne, author of Net Words: Creating High-Impact Online Copy, has written an article called Six Ways to Keep Your Web Pages Simple and Increase Sales over at MarketingProfs.com.
Nick recommends simplifying your message and offer, and reducing your use of graphics. Ironically, he also recommends using fewer columns, but the page the article resides on has three columns, two with graphics and calls-to-action to take you off page.
Regardless, this article is essential for any site owner who wanted to throw "just one more thing" on his or her home page.
Been Plagiarized? Find Out with Copyscape
With your Web site copy available to anyone with an Internet connection, it's very easy for another company to "pay homage" to your content by swiping it. However, with a Web site called Copyscape, it's just as easy for you to find out where your copy may have ended up. Copyscape is free, although there is a premium service available.
A few years ago, while doing a casual search, I discovered that our own government had taken an article I had written and posted it to their site without giving me proper credit. (Actually, without giving me any credit.) The only changes they had made was taking out the funny parts.
More recently I discovered Copyscape. At Copyscape's home page you can enter in a URL (say, your home page) and Copyscape will search the Web to bring back other sites that may be uncomfortably close to your own writing.
I've used it before to uncover several sites that were plagiarizing our copy, and most of the sites have since taken down the offending text. Today, as I was writing this post there were only two sites that came up, and one of them was a blog comment on a French blog that I think was complimenting us. (Thanks to Babel Fish.)
The other makes me think we've been outsourced. Here's our current home page content:
And here's the copy:
You can click on either for a bigger version. As you can see, it's not an exact copy, but it's pretty damn close.
Is there someone out there taking advantage of your hard work? Find out today with Copyscape.
Getting Your Message Across on the Web (and Beyond)
Are you staying on message? Are you delivering a compelling story to your clients?
I had the pleasure of sitting on a panel today for the Maine Marketing Association's Fall Seminar called "Right On! Staying on Message No Matter What." The keynote speaker was Roy Heffley of Bob Moomey Communications, and I was joined on the panel by Paula Mahony of Words@Work and Scott Stone of Schiavi Home Builders.
I talked about how blogs are the perfect tool to tell a compelling story to your audience. Paula and Scott talked about how they changed the message the Schiavi was telling their customers about the homes they built.
Roy spoke about how can we cut through the clutter that is modern day culture. He had a number of good points and illustrations, but two of the points that really resonated with me were:
- Your message must focus on and appeal to your audience
- Your message must differentiate yourself from your competition (otherwise you're competing on price.)
Whether the medium is a podcast, a blog, a Web site, a banner ad, an email newsletter, a printed newsletter, a TV advertisement, a radio advertisement, a newspaper ad, direct mail, or a telegraph, it doesn't matter. What matters is the message.
Be clear, be consistent.
Now, go check your Web site and see if your prospects are interested in what you have to say on your home page.
Internet Marketing Seminars in Maine
For those of you with a desire to learn more about Internet Marketing and a burning desire to meet me in person, next week is your Mardi Gras.
Monday, October 16: I'll be presenting "How to Plan, Build and Promote a Business Blog" for MESDA from 6pm - 8pm at their offices in Westbrook, Maine. Entrance is free, but they ask you to register for a door prize. (Directions.)
Tuesday, October 17: I'll be part of a panel put on by the Maine Marketing Association called "Right On! Staying on Message No Matter What: Crafting and Communicating Effective Messages That Will Break Through the Clutter." It's from 9 - 11:30am at the Glickman Family Library on the USM campus in Portland. Roy Heffley is the keynote speaker. The cost is $35 for members, $45 for non-members, and $15 for students or anyone with a fake student ID. You can register via email or just show up. (Directions.)
Wednesday, October 18: Is the first class of the Web Marketing for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses at the University of Southern Maine's Center for Continuing Ed. The classes continue each Wed. evening (10/25, 11/1 & 11/8) from 6:30 - 8:30pm. The cost is $195 and you can learn more and register here.
Thursday, October 19: I'll be taping a segment for WCSH's evening news magazine 207. Topic and broadcast date TBD.
Whether I get any real work done next week is also TBD.
Senator Collins and Net Neutrality
Meeting with Senator Susan Collins in her offices in Lewiston yesterday was an interesting experience. I went there with Jon Bartholomew of Common Cause Maine, Fletcher Kittredge of GWI, Lance Duston of mainecoastdesign and world-famous blogger of the Maine Web Report, and Assistant Professor Michael J. Socolow of the University of Maine Orono.
Senator Collins was very welcoming, and listened to us all as we went around the room and explained why we felt Net Neutrality was good for Maine and the Maine economy. She asked some good questions at the end and we had a chance to respond.
I don't envy the job of the senator. It's either got to be the most interesting or exhausting job to listen to group after group of people come in and explain why their cause is just and how we need your vote on this very important issue. God knows I wouldn't have the patience.
One thing that should be made clear is that this is not and should not be a partisan battle. Lance and I have very different opinions politically, but we're both for Net Neutrality. The stronger language that we're arguing for was brought to the Senate by Maine's own Senator Olympia Snowe, republican, and Senator Byron Dorgan, democrat.
I know I talked about it the other day, but I thought I'd share the notes I made for myself to prepare for the meeting. I know that not everyone agrees with me, and that's good. That's democracy and freedom of speech at work. I'd hate to lose that.
- Net neutrality is good for small businesses by allowing us to compete on a level playing field where we can succeed or fail based on the quality of our products, services and ideas and how well we run our business, not by our ability to partner with or pay giant tariffs to telcoms and cable companies.
- With 95% of businesses in Maine having less than 50 employees, that means that Net Neutrality is good for Maine and the Maine economy
- There are small businesses with disruptive ideas and new technologies that are competing against the very quasi-monopolies that can impede our access to our prospects once Net Neutrality is gone for good.
- The growth of Web-based applications that can help small businesses cut costs and increase sales will be stymied as the startup companies that create them won't be able to afford access to the "fast lane" of tiered service.
- I've recently chosen a VoIP solution for our telecommunication needs; now Verizon could choose to slow or even stop access to my VoIP phones because VoIP competes with their phone services.
- I've recently begun conversations with an Australian company to provide services for them. Previously I would have been unable to work with them because the phone calls were prohibitively expensive. With Skype I can now use my existing Internet access and talk to them for no additional fees.
- It's in these quasi-monopolies best interest to give preferential treatment to themselves and their partners; the language in the telecommunications bill needs to be strong enough so that these companies can't do what's in the nature, in the name of "increasing shareholder value."
- With 95% of small businesses failing within 5 years, and small businesses providing more new jobs to the US economy, should we really be making it more difficult for entrepreneurs to start new business, add to the economy and hire new employees?
Discuss.
Business Blog Seminar in Westbrook: 10/16
Would you like to learn more about business blogs? Are you free Monday evening from 6 - 8pm? Are you looking for a full night of infotainment at absolutely no cost to you?
Then I have the perfect evening planned for you, you cheapskate.
I'll be presenting "How to Plan, Build and Promote a Business Blog" for MESDA, The Maine Software Developer & Information Technology Industry Association, this coming Monday, October 16th, from 6:00 - 8:00pm. (Get your map and directions here.)
If you've been considering adding a blog to your Internet marketing plans, make plans to be there.
You'll learn:
- What blogs are and how they can help your business.
- How to plan for a successful blog.
- What makes for a popular, compelling blog.
- Why search engines love blogs.
- How to promote your blog and drive traffic to it.
If that's not enough there's even a door prize: Google Hacks, Third Edition Tips & Tools for Finding and Using the World's Information, by Rael Dornfest, Paul Bausch, and Tara Calishain. However, you need to register and be present to be entered.
If you can't make it, but would like to read my article The 10 Biggest Mistakes Small Business Bloggers Make, you can go ahead and download it. (Email registration required.)
Hope to see you there!
Is Net Neutrality Important to Your Business?
I'll be part of a group meeting with Senator Susan Collins on Thursday to talk about Net Neutrality and how we need the government to reinstate this basic premise of the Internet.
This has become a highly divisive issue recently, with the telcoms and cable providers on one side (Verizon, TimeWarner,) saying they need the ability to create a tiered Internet where businesses could pay more to get their content delivered faster.
On the other side are content providers (Google, Amazon,) and groups like Common Cause that feel it's important to keep the Internet as a level playing field.
I find myself firmly on the side of net neutrality's defenders. Although I understand that giant video files are beginning to clog network pipes, allowing a tiered system for the Internet goes against some of the basic premises of the Internet and harms small businesses in the process.
What is Net Neutrality?
Net Neutrality is the idea that all content sent over the Internet (in this case) should be treated equally.
Why is Net Neutrality important to small businesses?
The Internet has been an amazing tool for small businesses, and I'm not talking about Silicon Valley startups that sell out to Google or Yahoo for a billion dollars.
Small businesses, many based here in Maine, have the same opportunity of reaching prospects and clients as giant companies do, if they know how to leverage their Web site and Internet marketing.
What the telcom's would like to do is offer tiered service: businesses could pay to become partners of Verizon or AT&T and have their content get preferential treatment. Their content would be delivered faster than that of their rivals. Consumers wouldn't really know why a competitor's site was taking for ever to download, but they wouldn't care. They'd just move on to another site.
Every day I do searches at Google. If a site on the results page takes more than a few seconds to come up, I often choose the next result. I'm guessing you've done that a few times yourself.
Well, imagine if the reason why that site is taking so long to download is because they couldn't afford or refused to pay an additional fee to the telcoms? They may have a better product, or a better service, but they've been boxed out by the duopoly that is held by the telcoms and cable providers.
Although many opponents of Net Neutrality claim that we don't need any more government regulation, it was actually recent regulation that CHANGED the laws.
Net neutrality is critical to Maine businesses. We need to keep the playing field level so that businesses can succeed or fail based on the quality of their products and services.
We live in an incredibly exciting time right now, with the Internet as a major disruptor of the way things used to be. Eliminating Net Neutrality will have a negative impact on businesses, freedom of expression and marketplace competition.
Examples of how a lack of Net Neutrality have stymied businesses outside of America are on display in this article from Inc. magazine called One Internet, Indivisible.
If you'd like to learn more about Net Neutrality be sure to check out Maine Internet Freedom's blog.
Text Navigation Helps Your Search Engine Rank
Search engines uses mathematical algorithms to determine whether your site should rank above your competition. There are many variables that make up this algorithm, all varying in weight or importance.
Your site's navigation is an important variable in this algorithm. Search engines send programs called spiders or robots to visit your site that follow the links on your page and index the content. The search engines then use this information to determine how relevant your site is to a given search.
These spiders aren't especially smart, and many things can trip them up. They have difficulty with Flash, for example, so if you have Flash navigation you should have a back up plan for driving qualified traffic to your site, such as pay-per-click advertising.
Spiders are also blind, meaning they can't see images. They can read the "alt" tags (what you often see in the yellow boxes as you roll over an image), but they don't necessarily give them a lot of weight in the algorithm. In other words, they can follow an image link to your portfolio page, but they don't know if the button read "Architect's Portfolio" or "Free Tapas."
As a Web site owner looking for good rankings, you want to make your site as easy to navigate as possible for these spiders.
Lately, search engine experts have realized how much impact replacing an image-based navigation with a text-based-navigation can have. Image-based navigation doesn't necessarily mean having an icon of a house for your home button; images of text are treated as images by the search engine spiders.
For example, the image below can't be read by the search engines. Although you can read it, it's an image of text, not really text.
Get it?
Image-based navigation has been popular for a while with Web designers and site owners because images appear the same in every browser in every operating system. Text, on the other hand, can appear at different sizes, wrap differently, be resized by site visitors, and unless you're on a Mac, the font can appear jagged. In fact, unless the visitor has the font installed on their computer, it won't even show up!
That's a strong argument for image-based navigation.
However, if search engines are a big part of your marketing mix, you may want to reconsider your current image-based design.
The Search Engine Roundtable reports on a thread at WebmasterWorld.com on the Power of Text Navigation.
The site in question changed only their navigation to text and went up 45 positions (4.5 Google pages) for their "trophy" keyword. They also saw other keywords rank in the top three after being on secondary pages at Google.
Now, if you change your navigation to text-based, but your buttons still have generic labels like "portfolio" or "about us", then you probably won't see much impact. But, if your navigation includes important keywords, such as "Portland Coffee Houses" or "About Pediatric Services" you'll most likely notice a much bigger difference.
In other words, YMMV. (Your mileage may vary.)
Can Your Web Site Close the Sale?
Web sites have been heralded by businesses as a sales force that works 24/7. However, does your Web site know how to ask for the sale?
Too many sites are nothing more than online brochures, never asking the visitor to make a buying decision or leading him or her down the sales funnel.
Every page on your site needs at least one call to action, a compelling question or phrase that gets your site visitor to interact, click, call, contact or buy from your site.
Unfortunately, many site owner's idea of a compelling call to action is "click here" or "learn more." Besides the lost search engine optimization opportunity (more on that another time), these phrases are dull and unhelpful.
I've compiled a list of 37 Calls to Action to Get People to Read, Click and Buy at Your Web Site to get your creative juices flowing. Once you've completed the article, please visit this post on my [other] blog and leave your best call to action (real or made up) in the comments.
The best call to action will get a link from my [other] blog (PageRank 7) and a mention in next month's flyte log, our email newsletter.
Oh, that's right. 37 Calls is the title of this month's flyte log. Should you subscribe? Well, would you like to drive more qualified traffic to your site and convert that traffic into business?
Now that's a call to action.
Web Marketing Course at USM
If you enjoy the subject matter of this blog, but you'd prefer a little more interaction and perhaps specifics on how YOU can implement some of these ideas on your own Web site, blog or email newsletter, I've got good news.
I'll be teaching a course called Web Marketing for Entrepreneurs and Small Business at the University of Southern Maine this month as part of their Center for Continuing Education.
We'll be talking search engine optimization, email marketing, blogs, podcasts, viral marketing, e-commerce, home page strategies and more. Last time we got into wikis.
The course will be Wednesday evenings from 6:30 - 8:30pm, October 18th - November 8th. For more information and to register online check out the Web marketing course page on the USM Web site.
Not sure if this class will help? Here's an unsolicited thank you email I received:
Rich,
Thanks to applying what I learned from you to my new site, in the last month I have zoomed up in the Search rankings (when any part of my name or ‘Maine’ is included with key terms, I get at least three listings on first page), increased the amount of time people are spending on the site, increased my new visitors to 25% of my traffic and tripled the rate of new subscribers to the ezine.
Chris Trout
OK, enough self-love. Hope to see you there.
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