MaineBusiness.com

Email Marketing Advice: Increase Your Subscriber Base

This month's issue of our email newsletter flyte log is entitled, How I Increased My Email Signup Rate by 5,000%...and How You Can, Too.

Hmmm...you're thinking. I know Rich is terrible with math, so he probably moved a decimal point too far to the right. Or, maybe you're thinking, I know Rich is a marketer, but I think this time he stretched the truth past the breaking point.

Well, math isn't my strong suit, that's true. And, I am a marketer and, according to Seth Godin, All Marketers Are Liars.

Yet, as far as my rudimentary math skills can tell, it's true. We averaged 2 - 3 new subscribers a month before I tried the process I lay out in this month's issue, and now we average 125 new subscribers a month. (Actually, it's more. I was counting total subscriber base over a 12 month period, but that includes unsubscribes. Our new subscriber rate is even higher.)

But let's be honest, you don't care about my success rate, you want to know how to increase the number of subscribers to your email newsletter. If your email newsletter signup offers nothing more than "Join Our Mailing List," this month's flyte log is for you.

To avoid missing any future issues, be sure to sign up now!

Tourism's New Math: What Maine's Tourist Economy Needs Now

There's a front page article in the PPH today about a new method of calculating tourism's impact on the Maine economy, and a lot of people aren't happy about it. It's hard to know what the impact will be, but as the article notes,

If tourism promotion doesn't appear to be generating as much
bang for the buck as previously thought, [Vaughn Stinson, chief executive officer of the
Maine Tourism Association] said,
lawmakers could be less supportive of continued funding. His
concern is heightened by the state's budget shortfall.

The bottom line is that companies involved in the tourist industry here in Maine may be getting less support from the MTA, because there's less money to be spent on tourism marketing. This impacts ski resorts, hotels, B&B's, snow mobile rentals, restaurants, and a thousand other businesses that are part of or support the tourist industry.

If I were in tourism I would be planning ahead. Hopefully the funding will still be there, but the possible slack must be picked up by individual businesses. No surprise, but I'd be blogging, developing one or more email newsletters, budgeting money for search engine optimization, and reviewing my Web site based on my analytics. I'd be creating a presence on Facebook and MySpace. In short, I'd be preparing for the worst.

Even if the funding comes in at last year's levels, businesses that are marketing themselves--especially in a recession--will be in a better position to take advantage of it.

Rich Brooks
Web Marketing for Maine Businesses

12 Web Marketing Ideas to Jump Start Your Business

You know those "new" episodes of your favorite TV show when a character gets hit by a car, and then all their friends gather by their bed side and retell their favorite stories through a series of clips?

Welcome to my clip show.

Here's a quick list of the 12 articles we published in flyte log, our monthly Web marketing ezine:

• Your 2008 Web Marketing Plan
• How to Use Social Media to Reach New Customers
• Business Blog Success: 10 Tips for a Profitable Blog
• Increase Your Search Engine Visibility: Three Things You Can Do Today
• Nine Indispensable Online Tools for Your Web-Based Business
• Four Tips to Maximize Your Email Marketing Results
• The Secret to a Web Site That Sells
• Six Blogging Myths That Are Holding You Back
• The Dangers of Relying on Google for Business
• Holistic Web Marketing: An Integrated Approach to Online Success
• Tracking Conversions: Does Your Web Site Turn Suspects into Prospects?
• Informational Products: Selling Your Knowledge Online

There's oodles of ideas in these articles that you can use to jump start your business and build it over the next year. If you'd rather not miss any new articles, please subscribe to flyte log in the box below.

Rich Brooks
Greatest Hits

Your 2008 Web Marketing Plan

There's light fluffy snowflakes falling outside my window this morning as I polish off another issue of flyte log, our Web marketing email newsletter...the last for 2007.

Rather than look back on 2007--as good as it was--it's time to look forward to 2008 and start making plans. Web marketing plans, that is.

Today's issue of flyte log is Your 2008 Web Marketing Plan, a month-by-month, itemized list of what you need to do to succeed in 2008.

Your Web marketing plan includes ideas on search engine optimization, blogging, social media, Webinars and more.

Why not take the first step in improving your chances for success in 2008 by signing up for flyte log now, so you never miss another issue?

Web Marketing for Public Relations

I'll be part of an all-day conference for the Maine Public Relations Council this Wednesday, October 17. The annual conference's theme is "The Art and Science of Communication," and goes from 8:30 - 3:30 at the Sheraton Hotel in South Portland.

My topic will be Web Marketing for Public Relations. This is a new lens from which to view Web marketing, at least for me. However, in putting together the presentation I was just blown away by the tools that today's PR professional has at his or her disposal. I mean, I got really excited. I was pacing around the kitchen table as I was creating my slides. And the future looks even more exciting.

If you're a public relations professional, or you're just looking for ways to gain more visibility for your company you can't afford to miss the MPRC's annual conference. Admission is $100 for members, $140 for non-members. Details and registration information can be found on their events page.

Rich Brooks
Web Marketing for PR

5 Ways to Track Your Online Spending for Maximum Results

Wouldn't it be great to know exactly which Web marketing campaigns were generating sales for you, instead of just site traffic?

If you could easily determine whether it was your blog, or organic search results at AOL, or a paid ad you took out on an email newsletter, that was getting the cash register to ring, would you be interested in finding that out?

Of course you would; if not, you'd be reading Catching Flies, Catching Fish. (And more power to you, BTW!)

By installing and utilizing a free copy of Google Analytics, you can. GA (Google Analytics) allows you to track your incoming links in a number of different ways, allowing you to quickly determine which campaigns are contributing to your bottom line. GA tracks campaigns using a combination of five marketing "dimensions":

1. Source: where the traffic comes from; i.e., Google, Yahoo, an email newsletter, another Web site.
2. Medium: qualifying the source; i.e., organic search results v. paid search placement.
3. Term: the word a person types into the search engine.
4. Content: the version of the ad. Best used in content a/b testing; i.e., which version of the ad a person clicked on.
5. Campaign: to qualify which campaign the link came from; i.e., "Hot Summer Specials"  v. "Back To School Specials."

In a completely unrelated aside, I'll be leading a Working Lunch Seminar entitled "Google Analytics for Online Success" this Wednesday from noon - 1:30 at flyte's offices in Portland, Maine.

Lunch in included, seating is limited, so register online now. (Or just learn more.)

Maximize the Results of Your Email Newsletter

What's the one downside of email newsletters?

Once you've sent them out, they're gone into the ether. Everyone who subscribes after that moment won't receive it, the search engines can't index it, and there's no additional return on investment.

So how do you maximize your results for your email newsletter? Read on:

• Archive your newsletters at your Web site. It amazes me that not everyone does this. Take the same article you're sending out and post it in a newsletter archive section of your Web site. Now this article is a page that can be read by future visitors and archived by the search engines, giving you more search engine visibility on keyphrases that you are targeting.
  
  Bonus Tip: Feel free to change the title if necessary. Since your email subject line doesn't need to concern itself with search engine optimization you may have ignored SEO in crafting it. Your archived version should have an article title (header) and a page title that is keyword rich, putting your best keyword phrases up front.
• Link to your archived article from your home page. If you're publishing an email newsletter once a month, that's new content that the search engines can index. However, if the links are buried deep within your Web site, they search engines may never look for it. Put a link on your home page that links directly to the article.
  
  Bonus Tip: Don't use "click here" or "read our new newsletter" as the hyperlink. Instead, use that keyword rich title as the hyperlink, i.e., The Secret to a Web Site That Sells. Since search engines give weight to the words in a hyperlink--aka anchor text--it will help you at the search engines.
• Link to all articles on your site from all articles. All of these intra-site links will also help you with search engine optimization, as well as let visitors easily find other articles at your site, establishing your expertise and showing just how smart you really are. Check out our article Six Blogging Myths That Are Holding You Back as an example if you're not sure what I'm talking about.
  
  Bonus Tip: Depending on the number of articles you have, you might also organize them by "related articles," rather than just by date as we have.
• Blog it. You do have a blog, don't you? The day you publish your email newsletter you should blog "around" the topic and link to the archived page on your site, again, using the keyword-rich title as the hyperlink.
  
  Bonus Tip: Remind blog readers that to avoid missing any future issues of your email newsletter they should subscribe now, and link to where they can subscribe, or include the subscribe box right within the blog post if possible.
  
  Bonus-Bonus Tip: If you use email bait--a giveaway to entice Web site visitors to subscribe to your email newsletter--mention it here as well. Like our free article The 11 Commandments of Writing Web Copy for the Non-Copywriter.

If you have any other ideas on how to maximize your email newsletter, let me know! If you don't have an email newsletter yet, contact us or sign up for a free trial account at Constant Contact.

Rich Brooks
Email Marketing Expert

Free Web 2.0 Handouts to Download

Yesterday I spoke at the Maine Marketing Association's Web 2.0 Conference; my topic was Web Sites for Action! Anne Kennedy of Beyond Ink spoke about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Aileen Cahill talked on Online and On Target which talked about the benefits of a Web 2.0 Web site and how to get your customers participating.

It was a great turnout--I'm guessing over 80 people--and there were a lot of good questions for all three presenters. Whether you were able to attend or not, the Maine Marketing Association has posted all three presentations up at their Web site for anyone to download.

PowerPoint handouts (or in my case, Apple's Keynote) are pretty hard to understand if you weren't there for the presentation, so if you review the handouts and still have questions on Maine Web Design or Internet Marketing, please feel free to ask.

What is Web 2.0 Anyway?

If you've been looking for information on Web 2.0 and how you can use it to turbo-charge your Internet marketing, I've got some good news.

The Maine Marketing Association will be putting on Web 2.0 - Internet Strategies for Power Marketing on Monday, May 21st, 2007.

There will be three workshops in this all-morning event:

• Online and On Target - Strategies for One to One Marketing at the Speed of Light by Aileen Cahill, author of Internet Marketing: Building Advantage in a Networked Economy
• Web Design for Action! by Rich Brooks (that's me!)
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization) by Anne Kennedy of Beyond Ink

The festivities begin at 8:30am and will be held at the Ambromson Center in the new Hannaford Hall building.

Registration is $35 for members and students, $45 for everyone else. Pre-registration is appreciated.

Rich Brooks
That's Me!

Email Open Rates: Best and Worst

Tara Robinson of Zugunruhe Coaching forwarded me a link to a study at MailChimp, an email service provider, that listed the subject lines of the best and worst open rates for clients using their service. The results were very surprising based on my experience. Here are the top 5 for each side:

THE BEST (60% - 87%):

1. [COMPANYNAME] Sales & Marketing Newsletter
2. Eye on the [COMPANYNAME] Update (Oct 31 - Nov 4)
   
3. [COMPANYNAME] Staff Shirts & Photos
   
4. [COMPANYNAME] May 2005 News Bulletin!
   
5. [COMPANYNAME] Newsletter - February 2006

THE WORST (1% - 14%):

1. Last Minute Gift - We Have The Answer
   
2. Valentines - Shop Early & Save 10%
   
3. Give a Gift Certificate this Holiday
   
4. Valentine's Day Salon and Spa Specials!
   
5. Gift Certificates - Easy & Elegant Giving - Let Them Choose
   

At first glance, it would appear that boring, generic, subject lines with company names listed beat out Valentine's day gift lines every time. In fact, MailChimp says:

On the "best" side, you'll notice the subject lines are pretty
straightforward. They're not very "salesy" or "pushy" at all. Heck,
some people might even say they're "boring." On the "worst" side
however, notice how the subject lines read like headlines from advertisements you'd see in the Sunday paper. They might look more "creative," but their open rates are horrible.

However, there are a couple of variables NOT mentioned here that might make all the difference in the world.

First off is the size of these lists. I've seen it reported before, and I've certainly noticed it from anecdotal evidence, that the larger your list, the lower your open rate. Now, obviously a 1% open rate is abysmal, no matter your list size. Maybe this is because over time subscribers become less likely to open your email newsletters. Generally, they know what you have to say, and they may be so busy that they don't have time to read another article on Web marketing, or they already bought their Valentine's day gifts.

Secondly, the spamminess/deliverability of the messages. If the "worst" ranked subject lines were coming from companies that used words and phrases that set off junk filters, that would definitely reduce the deliverability and thus open rates of these email missives.

Thirdly, many of the "best" messages appear to be intra-office messages. If companies are using this email service provider to send messages to staff, (i.e., [COMPANYNAME] Staff Shirts & Photos, ATTENTION [COMPANYNAME] Staff! and ATTENTION [COMPANYNAME] West Staff!!) then it's likely that the staff needs to read these emails.

Fourthly, what appears in the "from" line. Other studies have shown that the "from" line has the biggest impact on open rates, even more than subject lines.

Fifthly (is that even a word?), how these companies got their list. I'm assuming that MailChimp is a legitimate email service provider (ESP), so they have rules on how you can generate a list. For example, most ESP's won't let you import a purchased list. In fact, Constant Contact will call you if you import a list that's big enough to raise a red flag to ask how you developed your list.

Lastly, the companies behind these emails. Now, I'm not sure if the following email subject lines are related to the MailChimp brand, but look at these subject lines from the "worst" list:

1. [COMPANYNAME] Pioneers in Banana Technology
2. Technology Company Works with [COMPANYNAME] on Bananas Efforts
   
3. Now Offering Banana Services!
   
4. True automation of your Banana Research
   

I'm guessing these banana missives are all coming from the same company, and perhaps they've already proven that their email newsletters provide no value to their readers.

And even though I've already used the word "lastly" already, how about the time of day these emails are delivered, or their frequency, or whether they deliver on the promise when people first subscribed to them?

There's a number of reasons why an email may fall on the "best" and "worst" list, and subject line is just one variable.

MailChimp sums up by saying:

So what's our advice for email subject lines? This is going to sound
"stupid simple" to a lot of people, but here goes: Your subject line
should (drum roll please): Describe the subject of your email. Yep, that's it.

When it comes to email marketing, the best subject lines tell what's inside, and the worst subject lines sell what's inside.

I'm not sure that this is what I took away from their list. There are a lot of email subject lines in the worst list that describes what's in the body of the email, i.e. "Valentines - Shop Early and Save 10%." And, I'm not sure that "[COMPANYNAME] Newsletter - February 2006" from the best list is very descriptive.

I will agree with one of the findings of MailChimp, however:

Always set your subscribers' expectations during the opt-in process
about what kinds of emails they'll be receiving. Don't confuse
newsletters with promotions.

You can see the full list of best and worst performing email subject lines here.

If you'd like to learn more on how to build your email subscriber base, and get your emails delivered and read, be sure to check out our Working Lunch Seminar, How to Use Email Marketing to Build Your Business, this Wednesday, May 9th in our offices in Portland, Maine.

An Uninspired Approach to Email Marketing

Here's an uninspiring come-on line I see all the time on Web sites:

Join Our Mailing List

followed by the obligatory signup box.

I can't imagine too many people giving up their email address at a Web site they've just discovered based on a value proposition like that. It's basically the dating equivalent of opening with "give me your number." This approach will definitely turn off your best prospects, and you'll only get numbers from the most desperate people out there. (In case you're confused, I'm arguing that this is a bad thing.)

If you want to get subscribers to your email newsletter, you need to give them something in return. In fact, you should position the email newsletter as a value-added item that complements the free white paper, raffle entry or other giveaway you're offering.

If you'd like some concrete examples of how you can build your subscriber base, as well as how to get your emails delivered, opened and read, be sure to check out our email marketing seminar, How to Use Email Marketing to Grow Your Business, on Wednesday, 5/9/07, in Portland, Maine.

Rich Brooks
Email Marketing Seminar in Maine

How to Act Like a Spammer

Nobody likes to think of themselves as a spammer. However, too many businesses (and non-profits!) act like one when they start up an email newsletter.

Just because you have someone's email address doesn't mean they want to hear from you, much less receive an email newsletter on a regular basis. Even when you have a business relationship with someone they may not be interested in getting weekly or monthly missives with links back to your site or store.

I've worked with many companies who are frustrated that they have hundreds or thousands of emails in their database and I tell them they can't just add these emails to their subscriber base.

"But they want to hear from us!"
"But they're our customers!"
"But we're offering something that will really  help them!"
"But we're just trying to provide them with important information!"

Some of these may be true. But put yourself in the shoes of your customers, prospects and suspects for a moment. Do you enjoy suddenly getting a colorful HTML newsletter that you never subscribed to? Is there anything that a new vendor can do to piss you off more quickly then start sending you spam?

So how do you get your contact database to subscribe to your email newsletter? Here's the advice I give most companies.

• Plan on getting most of your new subscribers through your Web site. Have your Web developer set you up with a Email Service Provider (ESP) like Constant Contact. (There are plenty of excellent ESP's out there. Flyte happens to be a reseller of Constant Contact, but that happened after we had been using them for a while.) Add the subscribe box to most if not all of your Web pages.
• Give site visitors a reason to subscribe. No one needs yet another email newsletter. So give them a compelling reason to share their email with you; I call this "email bait." Target the needs or desires of your audience. We use a few different downloadable articles like "10 Questions to Ask Before Setting Up a Web Site" and "The 11 Biggest Mistakes Small Business Bloggers Make." Other compelling arguments might include a raffle for Red Sox tickets, discounts in your online store, or a trial offer of your product or service.
• Invite your contact database to subscribe. Even some purists may blanch at this, but personally I think it's OK. Send this email to your database, informing them that you have a new email newsletter your launching and explain why they would want to join. If you've created a compelling piece of email bait, let them know that as well. Then link to your Web site where they can subscribe. Let them know that if they don't want your newsletter there's nothing they need to do.

Remember, it only takes a moment to destroy the good will you've created with your customers. Better to have a small list of interested subscribers than a large list of people you're frustrating with every email.

Drive More Traffic To Your Web Site

Would you like to drive more traffic to your Web site? Rank higher at the search engines? Understand how a blog or podcast could attract more prospects and customers? Would you like to know about new forms of Web marketing, like social bookmarking and tagging?

Well, we have just two spots left for this Wednesday's Working Lunch Seminar at flyte: Building Traffic at Your Web Site.

The session goes from noon - 1:30 and includes lunch. For details, directions, and to register for one of the last two remaining spots, be sure to check out our Web Marketing Seminars page.

How to Build a B2B Web Site

If you're audience is other businesses, you need to have a B2B approach for your Web site. Galen De Young provides a lot of helpful advice in an article entitled B2B Search Engine Optimization: Driving Conversion.

This is the 2nd article in a series, and this one focuses primarily on different incentives you might offer at your Web site to build trust and establish your expertise with prospective buyers. She covers newsletters, white papers, podcasts, case studies and more.

While not all of the elements might be right for your business, it's about testing out different campaigns to see what works, and using analytics to measure success and failure.

Sounds pretty holistic to me.

What Is Holistic Web Marketing?

Too often Web site owners focus all of their attention on ranking well at the search engines at the expense of building a Web site that will convert this traffic into business. Or, they spend a lot of money on a Web site design, but never sink dime one into promoting their site. Or they build up a big email subscriber base, but don't know how to get these subscribers to take action.

The problem is that these site owners are focusing on just one element of their Web marketing, instead of viewing their Web marketing as a whole.

Web marketing these days takes an integrated, multi-faceted approach if you want to succeed. To better explain how to create a more effective online marketing plan, flyte has created a model called Holistic Web Marketing.

You can learn more about Holistic Web Marketing at flyte's blog.

More Votes Are In: Maybe I'm Not a Jerk After All

As many of you may know from reading my recent post, "The Votes Are In...I'm a Jerk!" I sent an email to my Maine contacts that wasn't universally loved.

The email started with the subject line, "You Won't Be Hearing from Me Again!" and continued in that sarcastic tone that is my way of talking. The purpose of the email was to promote our upcoming Working Lunch Seminars and getting people to subscribe our a new mailing list, flyte's Web Marketing Alerts, so I wouldn't have to bother everyone with these marketing emails.

I thought it was clever and different enough to cut through the clutter. However, two people complained, one contractor thought she was fired, and one prospect thought I was angry she was taking too long making a buying decision.

Oops.

So, I sent out a follow up email with the subject line, "I'm Sorry." Within just a few minutes I had dozens of responses, and within a day over 100 people had responded out of the 540 I sent it to.

(Please note that all of these people are friends, business contacts, or people who have filled out the contact form on our site agreeing to our privacy policy that we'll "gently" market to them.)

The majority of people, it turns out, got the joke and were sympathetic. Others thanked me for the mea culpa email. Others were relieved that I wasn't sick/hurt/fired/suicidal. A few referenced Joe Biden or the Turner Broadcasting snafu in Boston.

In the end dozens signed up for our new email mailing list and we sold 7 or 8 seats to upcoming Working Lunch Seminars at $50 a pop.

So, did I learn anything?

• A few negative responses DOESN'T mean your marketing campaign is a failure. In fact, it's probably a sign that people notice it.
• Being clever and being clear aren't the same thing. I should have been clearer in my message so that no one thought they were fired and people knew what to do.
• A mistake is only bad if you can't learn from it.
• Apologies are so few and far between, they may be a great way to cut through the clutter. (However, don't abuse this tactic.)

If you'd like to see all the responses I received from my second email I've posted them here.

The Votes Are In: I'm a Jerk

Late last night, with a Geary's Hampshire Ale in my hand, I sent out what I thought was a funny email to my Maine contacts with the subject line: "You Won't Be Hearing from Me Again!"

It continued in that snarky vein, trying in vain to explain that I didn't want to fill people's email boxes with emails they didn't want. If you want to be alerted to Web marketing classes or events to please sign up for our new email newsletter, "flyte's web marketing alerts."

So far I've received two negative replies about my attitude, one distressed email from a contractor who thought I was firing her, and an apologetic email from a prospect who thought I was angry because she hadn't made a buying decision yet.

Yikes.

Marketing and advertising should never be dull, but perhaps I was a little too flippant with this particular campaign. I'm not alone these days.

Now I just need to decide if sending out a mea culpa email would be the right thing to do, or just add fuel to the fire.

Lesson learned: don't drink and Web market.

12 Web Marketing Articles to Read Right Now

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know I'm a big fan of email newsletters. They're very cost effective, they keep you in front of your best prospects and customers, and they help you establish your expertise.

The only downside is that once they're sent, they're gone. If you're producing a content-rich newsletter you should archive these newsletters on your Web site. This helps you with the search engines as well as providing this content for people who have just discovered you.

To that end, here's a quick list of the twelve flyte log newsletters flyte published in 2006. Enjoy! More can be found here: http://www.flyte.biz/resources/newsletters/

• New Year's Resolutions for Your Web Site
• Use Your Blog to Attract the Long Tail of Search
• 37 Calls to Action to Get People to Read, Click and Buy at Your Web Site
• PayPal: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
• Blog Marketing: How Blogs Can Increase Your Reach and Deliver New Customers
• Boost Your Search Engine Rank: Proven Methods to Increase Incoming Links
• Search Engine Optimization: Stop Guessing and Start Researching
• Keyword Research: Five Ways Your Prospects Search for You
• Lead Generation Online: Is Your Web Site a Leaky Bucket?
• The Secret to Great Search Engine Rank
• Broken Windows, Broken Web Sites: Why Your Web Site is Underperforming
• Search Engine Success Through Article Marketing

As always, you can subscribe at our Web site.

Should You Purchase an Email Mailing List?

In the "real world" buying lists of prospects is an age old tactic to reach new customers and make more sales. But does it work in our brave new world of email and electronic communication?

Do a Google search on "buy email lists" (as I just did) and you'll pull up about 141 million results. Many of them make claims of "fresh opt-in email lists" or your ability to "buy targeted email lists" either for B2B or B2C.

However, I would have real concerns about how they acquire these opt-in lists. How did these people opt-in? How can they opt-in to receive email messages from you when they've never heard of you?

Maybe they signed up for some service on a Web site and forgot to uncheck the "receive targeted emails from our partners" box. Maybe they agreed to receive emails from businesses in return for getting free movie tickets or being entered in a drawing for a free iPod nano.

Is this your best prospect?

The up side of a purchased list is that it can quickly drive a lot of traffic to your Web site or online offering...assuming it's a compelling offer and the list you bought is high-quality.

The down side of a purchased list is the ill-will and spam reports you might generate from the hundreds or thousands of people you've angered. As you might know, people get a bit crazy when it comes to spam. Is this how you want people to think about your company?

At flyte we've made a decision not to work with purchased lists. If clients want to buy a list we wish them well, but we won't help them. The Email Service Providers we recommend for email marketing, such as Constant Contact, won't allow bought lists on their service...they know these lists create too many spam reports to be worthwhile.

The best mailing list you can have is the one you create yourself. There are lots of legitimate, sustainable tactics that will drive traffic to your site where you can create a compelling argument for people to subscribe to a newsletter or mailing list.

Better to develop a high-quality list of 10 people who buy than to buy a list of 10,000 who just hit the "Spam Report" button.

Internet Marketing for Values-Based Businesses

I'll be running "Internet Marketing for Values-Based Businesses," a workshop at the MEBSR Annual Fall Sustainable Business Conference.

MEBSR--Maine Businesses for Social Responsibility--hosts this event every year...which is why they call it their Annual Fall Conference. The theme of this year's fall conference is "Practical Tools for Business Success."

How does an ethical business succeed on the Internet where email spam, click-fraud and search engine schemes seem to rule the day?

By enabling a long-term solution that engages the Four Pillars of Internet Marketing. Learn how to use search engine optimization, permission-based email marketing, blogs, podcasts and non-malevolent viral marketing to engage like-minded customers and prospects, drive more qualified traffic to your site and convert that traffic into business.

Besides my workshop, there will be two keynote speakers, Kevin Hancock of Hancock Lumber and John Warner, the Director of the Center for Green Chemistry at UMass Lowell.

Date: Friday, December 1st, 2006
Time: 8am - 5pm
Place: University of Maine Hutchinson Center, Belfast, ME (Map & Directions)
Cost:

• $100 MEBSR members ($150 after Nov. 10th)
• $150 non-members ($175 after Nov. 10th)
• $15 students ($35 after November 10th)

I know the 10th is coming up soon, so please register now! You can call 207.338.8908 or download the conference PDF.

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 04112

All deliveries, humans and pets should go to our new offices:

flyte new media
136 Commercial St. Ste. 201
Portland, ME 04101

All surfers, robots and search engines should continue to visit our Web site:

http://www.flyte.biz

or our blog:

http://www.flyteblog.com

Our phone number will continue to be 207.871.7921, although we will be adding direct lines in the near future.

Rich Brooks
flyte new media

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.

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.