Internet Marketing, Muncie, Indiana
Developing a relationship with media covering your industry or your local region can be a great source of exposure, including getting links from trusted media web sites. Distributing releases online can be an effective link building tactic, and opens the door for exposure in news search sites.
These are some simple steps and rules to follow to create your own simply branded photo strip:
1. Image Choice: Decide on 5 images that work in random order. The key difference between personal profile photo strips and the ones on your Facebook page is you cannot change the order.
2. Image Size: These images are horizontal and scaled to 97 X 68 pixels. So either create them at that size or make sure they scale and crop well at that size.
3. Create Photo Album: Create an image album specifically for your photo strip to keep them separate from other content.
4. Upload Images: Add your 5 images here, upload them, and they will automatically load into your photo strip as the most recent uploads. Decide whether you want to publish the images or not for fans to comment on the update.
5. Upkeep Images: Keep it clean. When you add other images to the wall or other photo albums, you will need to X out those images to bring all 5 photo strip images back into view.
Want to double or triple the number of new leads and customers you generate each month with your emails? Try focusing your Email campaign with copywriting techniques.
Copywriting is the art of using attractively written content focusing around a service or product to sell. A tool used to tempt the reader by making the items for sale seem attractive, desirable and at the same time beneficial. Copywriting is often described as a play on words where the best and the most persuasive campaigns win.
Whenever you email someone, you’re basically trying to sell a point. So what better way to communicate than with the language of copywriting.
The secret is to balance the right blend of benefits and features in your Email marketing copy. Here are some tips to try in your next email marketing campaign.
Go for the gusto in selling your email messages with sound copywriting techniques. Sell your audience on reading more, navigating on your site and communicating in some way to show they got your message.
Anchor text helps tells spiders what the linked-to page is about. Links that say “click here” do nothing for your search engine visibility.
The success of your email marketing campaign is often based on a set of complex factors. However, a number of these issues can be proactively managed to ensure an optimized response. When developing your next email campaign, consider the following guidelines.
1. Your list.
Certainly one of the most important aspects of any email marketing campaign, your list is directly correlated to your success. Are your names recent? Have they agreed to be marketed to? Have they shown an interest in products or services similar to your own? Make sure that you are using a house list (names you collected on your own).
2. Your subject line.
Getting a user to open your message is paramount any email marketing campaign. The best way to determine the subject line that works best is to break your emails into three random yet equal groups. Measure the response to each email and use the highest producing one as your control. In follow up emails, try to beat the response rate of your control email.
3. Your sender information.
What information appears on the sender line of your email? Will your prospects recognize it? Do they want to hear from you? Often times, emails are deleted without ever being opened due to an indiscernible sender name. Your sender name should be brief and easily understood.
4. Track your results.
Tracking allows you to determine who opened your message and clicked on a link or multiple links within your email. By determining what worked and what didn’t, you can replicate success on your next email. As described above, tracking is particularly important when testing subject lines, imbedded links, and other direct response vehicles.
5. Make sure your unsubscribe method is in place and working.
The CAN-SPAM act of 2003 requires that all email messages contain clear directions on how to opt-out from subsequent mailings. Provide an unsubscribe mechanism that allows those receiving your email to send you and email and indicate their desire to opt-out from receiving further emails from you or your business. If recipients no longer want to hear from you, it’s in your best interest to remove them from your list.
6. Your images are correctly referenced and you’ve used alt tags in each image.
Improperly referencing your images can cause them to appear broken when you send your message – the dreaded red x. To insure the image is referenced correctly it must appear as, img src=”http://www.yourdomain.com….” rather than, img src=”/images/picture.jpg”. Alt tags are another important part of your images. The new security features on almost every email client these days disables images automatically. Having alt tags in place allow your reader to identify the image and determine if it is safe to enable.
7. Test, Test, Test!
No matter what your involvement with email marketing happens to be, it is essential that you follow the guidelines above for successful results. In addition, the key is to test, test, test! After each email campaign, measure your opens, click-throughs, and purchases. Document the specific date, time, list, subject line, and content used to produce your results. Refer back to your documentation prior to your next campaign.
Email doesn’t have to be a complex form of marketing. There are many best practices you can follow and some simple rules that ensure effectively delivery, open and conversion.
Your content on your website needs to be fresh. Updating on a regular basis is crucial for increasing traffic. Yes, we’re talking blogging. An active blog can increase traffic, will make your website more ‘sticky’ (visitors visit frequent and more often), and can give a voice to the organization.
If you are like most people, you dread logging into your email marketing program and seeing that you have lost list members due to them unsubscribing. I am here to tell you three good reasons to look forward to getting unsubscribes.
The first is that you are actually using your list. The only way that I have ever seen to not get an unsubscribe is to never send an email. If you are not going to use the list why go to the time and effort to build it. So congratulate your self when you get the unsubscribe because you are actually using your list.
The second thing is that someone is opening your email. To unsubscribe they had to at least open the email and click the unsubscribe link. The good thing is that your headline worked and got them to open your email. Now if you are using dishonest headlines, (“You have won”, “your account status”, and other headlines along those lines) this is not a good thing and you are reaping what you have sown. If you are using a solid headline that matches your email and it gets opened, this is a good thing. Your headline is doing its job.
The third good reason to be glad to get unsubscribes has to do with personality. Now here is a shocker, not everyone is going to like you or your writing style. Those that don’t will unsubscribe. The good thing though is that if they don’t care for your style you will never build a relationship with them. If you can’t build a relationship with them they will most likely never buy from you. So each unsubscribe will make your list more targeted to people who actually like your style and are more likely to respond favorably to your offers that meet their needs.
So now you have three good reasons to no longer dread seeing that people have decided to unsubscribe from your list. Rejoice in the fact that you are actually making your list stronger and more profitable in the long run.
If you are attempting to create a successful blog for personal or business reasons, you should know that looks do count. Many bloggers make the mistake of thinking that looks are not as important as content, since readers are essentially reading your blog for the words, not the way it looks. The fact is that people will not take your words seriously if your blog looks less than attractive. To have a successful blog you have to have it all. You must have interesting content as well as a great look. If you want to update the look of your blog, consider these areas of importance.
Easy To Scan
The way your blog reads on a page is an extremely important part of your blog’s look. You should always remember to keep your blog posts short and to the point. If you are treating your blog as a personal diary, your posts may be a little longer than normal. But, if you are trying to get more traffic to your blog, then you really want to focus the attention with short posts that offer the main point easily. Most blog readers will only scan your posts, not read them word for word. So keep this in mind when you are writing. The shorter the post, the more likely they are to read the entire thing. If your blog is easy to scan because the posts are short and the breaks are clear, you will have a great looking blog.
Professional Edge
When designing or redesigning your blog, try to make it as professional looking as possible. Even if the blog is not for a business, the more professional it looks, the more seriously people will take it. If you have the funds, you might even want to get a professional to put it together for you. No matter what you have to do, just keep a level of professionalism in your mind throughout the design process.
Friendly Colors
Most people don’t think twice about what colors they choose for their blog. The facts are that some colors come across better on the web than others. Blue and black are easy to see, so they are always great choices to use. Sea-green, beige, or purple are also great soothing colors to use for a blog. You should stay away from using colors like pink, yellow, or any neon varieties. They are extremely hard on the eyes when reading them online and can deter people from reading your blog. Keep these color tips in mind when you design your blog to get the best results available.
Appropriate Graphics
It has been noted that the use of pictures on your blog is a great way to boost traffic. Blogs that offer pictures that correlate with their content are fantastic. Readers love to connect with the content further through pictures. With most blogging software offering ways to easily add pictures, it should not be a problem for most publishers to add them right into the blog.
Successful Layout
Most people who design blogs and websites will tell you that the layout does matter as well. The way a blog looks to the reader in important in terms of layout. The layout should be clear and defined. If the reader is confused by the layout, they will likely not stick around to explore. They will most likely go right on to the next blog available. If a professional design your blog, you will likely not need to worry much about the layout. Look at your site like a reader would and seek out the best advice you can. Lastly, simply test different layouts on your friends and family to see which ones they find the most suitable for your blog.
Blogging has been around for a few years now and it amazes me that many businesses and non-profit organizations have not tapped into this valuable marketing strategy to move their mission forward.
If you run a business site, but do not currently have a blog, there is a great chance that you are leaving money on the table. Regardless of what kind of business you are in, a dynamic and interactive blog will improve customer response and add profits to your bottom line.
When you use a blog as the platform for your newsletter, you can post each of your promotions to the web, and then invite your subscribers to your blog to view your most recent update. When readers follow the link from your email to your latest blog post, they will not only have the opportunity to respond to the current promotion, they will be able to browse your blog and take action on offers you made last week, last month, even last year.
Blogging is a great way to generate new web traffic for your domain. By setting your blog software to ‘ping’ search and directory portals each time you make a post, you can alert a large number of people about your new content with the single click of a button.
Also, search engines are more likely to spider your site on a regular basis if you update your content frequently.
You can configure your blog so readers are able to leave comments and questions about your articles. They don’t have to take the time to send you an email, they can just click on the comments link and post their feedback right there on the spot. This is one of the easiest ways possible to encourage productive interaction among your prospects and customers.
Blogging requires no special technical knowledge. Sure, there is an advanced side to this marketing strategy, but just adding a blog to your domain and making posts on a regular basis can improve your traffic flow and customer response tremendously.
An easy way to direct more traffic to your site is by developing relationships with other websites. Make certain that your link-partner has a good web-reputation, of course. It’s as simple as sending an email and just asking.