Target Bulk Email Marketing Softwares

Crystal Reports For Microsoft RMS - Overview For Developer/Report Designer

2009-10-19T21:05:00.000-07:00

If you are software developer or database administrator - we would like to give you the clues on Crystal Report creation for Microsoft RMS
Database: Microsoft SQL Server or MSDE - this means that you can deploy native SQL driver for connection or use ODBC for flexibility.
Tables Structure – it is extremely self-explanatory: Customer, Transaction (invoices, returns, layaways and others), TransactionAmount, Cashier, Tender to give you examples
Links - Usually master table has ID column and Transaction-related table links by [Entity]ID column: Transaction.CustomerID=Customer.ID to give the idea. This query will give you customer info of sales transaction: select b.FirstName, b.LastName, a.* from [Transaction] a join Customer b on a.CustomerID=b.ID. Please pay attention to the brackets around Transaction - transaction is reserved word in MS Transact SQL - the Microsoft blend of SQL92
Hints on dataflow/synchronization – Microsoft RMS uses worksheets technology and all the data goes from stores to headquarters database through worksheets. Headquarters database doesn't create its own transactions - so be careful and do not try this type of data integration.
SQL Views and Stored Procedures - yes - feel free to create them directly in RMS Headquarters database and deploy in your Crystal Report.
Advanced Techniques - in MS SQL Enterprise Manager you can create Linked Server to all ODBC/OLEDB compliant databases: Ctree, PervasiveSQL/Btrieve, MS Access, ORACLE, DB2, Unidata, Navision (C/ODBC) and using OPENROWSET construction you can create geterogeneus view and stored proc - then you can have the data from multiple systems in your Crystal Report.

Crystal Reports For Microsoft RMS - Overview For Developer/Report Designer

2009-10-19T02:54:00.000-07:00

Email Marketing and the High Price of Irrelevance

2009-04-03T06:27:00.000-07:00

A huge buzzward in email marketing lately is relevance. When you're not sending relevant messages that your readers care about, you see your unsubscribe rate increase, your spam complaint rate increase, your open rate decrease, and your ROI plummet.
Unfortunately, if you're not testing, tracking and tuning along the way, you might not realize you've missed the "relevance mark" until your list has taken a huge hit.
For most of your readers, email is no longer a novelty. They aren't going to hang on every word you have to say simply because they are so impressed with the channel of delivery. Your readers are way too busy and way too overwhelmed with their over-crowded inboxes to waste their time with your email messages that no longer interest them.
You might be thinking "Hey, no big deal, if they don't want to hear what I have to say, just let them quit reading. There are other readers where they came from."
But let's take a look at some hard numbers.
I'll make the math easy... let's say your list is 10,000 names. If 10% of your readers find your messages irrelevant to the point that they simply delete your mail without ever opening it, that's a loss of 1,000 readers. But let's say that each of your readers generally refer 2 new readers to your list. These 1,000 readers will no longer be good for any referrals, so that's a loss of another 2,000 readers.
What if another 5% of your readers find your messages so irrelevant that they unsubscribe. Subtract those 500 readers, plus the 1,000 lost referrals. Now you're down 4,500 readers.
Now let's say another 5% of your readers find your messages irrelevant. But, since they don't bother unsubscribing, you keep sending to them. They keep finding the messages irrelevant, you keep sending, irrelevant, send, irrelevant, send. By this time, this 5% gets annoyed and reports you as a spammer. (Yes, I know it's not fair, after all, they never unsubscribed. But believe me, it happens - and it happens WAY more often than you realize! Just check your sender reputation for proof.) Your messages will no longer be delivered to them, so you've lost another 500 readers, plus another 1,000 lost referrals.
But here's where it gets messy. Let's say 10% of your readers are using AOL for their email service (I'm just choosing AOL as an example. This applies to every ISP.) If your original list size was 10,000 names, that would 1,000 readers from AOL. Using the same 10% logic, we can assume that 50 of your "spam reporters" are from AOL.
Most ISPs have a limit of less than 1% spam complaints. That's 1% of the mail being delivered to that particular ISP, not 1% of your total list size. If you receive 50 spam complaints from 1,000 readers, that's a 5% complaint rate. AOL can very well decide to block all of the messages you send to all AOL addresses, not just the ones who complained.
That's a loss of another 1,000 readers (not just the 50 complainers), plus the 2,000 lost referrals. And that's just from the few complaints from AOL readers. You still have 450 complaints from other ISPs to worry about.
When you look at these numbers, it's easy to see how getting sloppy with your email marketing campaigns can quickly have detrimental effects. You just can't afford to be irrelevant. Consider these tactics to improve the relevance of your own email marketing campaign:
Segment your list to the nth degree.
Quit sending the exact same message to every single person on your list. If Joe Smith has already purchased Product B, why are you bothering him with an email promoting nothing but Product B? If you're hosting a local event tomorrow, is it necessary to send a last-minute reminder to your readers on another continent?
Get to know your readers.
Use surveys, quizzes, message boards, online forums and other techniques to get to know your readers. Ask for feedback, ask for suggestions, find out their preferences. This will help you to consistently provide the content they want.
Treat your readers as individuals.
Chances are, you have tons of information on your individual readers that you aren't taking adequate advantage of - things like past purchases, product preferences, original subscription date, even the time of day he prefers to read his email messages. Why waste your time (and your reader's) with generic messages?
Give your customers preferential treatment.
I work with many small businesses who see email marketing as a prospecting tool. But after a prospect makes a purchase, he's still on your mailing list, isn't he? And isn't he more valuable to you than a prospect? So why aren't you treating him that way?
Email marketing remains one of the most cost effective forms of marketing at our disposal. But, as marketers, there are things we can do and mistakes we can make that drive those costs up. Remember, your email campaign does not end once you hit the send button. In fact, that's when the real work just begins. That's when you must track, test and tweak to ensure that you are maintaining relevance in your readers' eyes.

Medical center apartments close to Hermann hospital Making good use of a classified site How to Choose the Best Beach Resorts Garden Tool And Garage Storage Solutions For Spring Cleaning Cure Acne with natural steps Try out Coffee house drinks How To Play Online Blackjack Network Security Management Services Local attractions to visit while on vacations at the Grupo Mayan resorts Yes i have seen GOD, Have you? Short Sale Help – Learn More about How to Stop Foreclosures It is time to recognize the significance of credit repair software I found some great deals on new wedding favors! Custom Floor Mats: The Floor Mats with Exciting Features Best Tips for Carpet Cleaning Intimate Beach Wedding at Nigi Nigi Too Boracay Beach Resort Role of Translators and Interpreters in Global Business How to lower down your Mobile bill How can we deal with opinion issues? Wildlife Resorts in India

Email Marketing - Increase Your Sales With Video and Email

2009-03-28T00:45:00.001-07:00

Video holds a strong attraction for consumers and if properly adopted in email marketing has the potential to make your business one of the most talked-about and profitable on the web, simply through embracing people's desires to share and be entertained. For proof that consumers want to watch entertaining marketing videos, you need only take a look at the array of advertisements, viral videos, how-to guides and other video shorts hosted on sites such as YouTube.
The question is: how to spread the word? Starting with your own consumers in an email marketing campaign is the most logical step because:
They've already invested in your brand and are more likely to be receptive towards your message
The video will have the most value to them, especially if it has informative brand, service or product content related to their interests and past purchases
They will have friends in their address book who might want to watch the video too, provided the content is strong enough
Two common ways of including video in email are to either embed the video within the body of the message using code or to attach it as a separate file that recipients can download and open at their convenience.
So why aren't more companies using video and email marketing?
The thought of an email marketing campaign with video that displays and plays the moment it's opened is a tantalising one. That's because, to be frank, copy and images alone don't jump off the screen in the same way video with its visual, audio and textual elements combined does. Some companies have even reported increases in 'click-through' rates (leading to more sales conversions) of up to 50% after adopting an 'email and video' approach.
However, the reality is most emails with video embedded or sent as file attachments won't display in email clients and desktop applications. This is usually for one of several reasons:
Spam filters redirect the email to the junk folder or block it completely because they suspect the attachment / code of being a virus
Slow user connection speeds and / or large file sizes prevent users from playing the video in the email
The video player is not supported by the email client or desktop application and fails to load
...and these are just the technical hurdles your email faces; consider for a moment how your audience might react.
Some will be pleased with the video, others will hate it, either because they can't open the email for the technical reasons stated above or because it upsets the consistency of your previous email marketing campaigns (especially if you don't indicate the presence of a video in the subject line or in prior emails). If these upsets occur too frequently, subscribers will get fed-up and either unsubscribe or stop opening your messages.
Does this mean video in email marketing is off-limits?
Not entirely: the embedded and attached video tactics mentioned above are just two out of a possible three. What we haven't mentioned is linking to videos hosted on your site - a safer option that allows your subscribers to view the video at another location without unexpectedly crashing their computers.
By sending an email with a link to the video, they can decide whether to follow the link or not, depending on if they think it is relevant to them and if their connection speed can support it (you could host multiple versions of the video in different sizes to make it as inclusive as possible). This approach keeps the email's file size down, has greater success with spam filters, provides you with a useful metric i.e. how many people have watched the video - and takes subscribers needs and expectations into consideration.
Tip: To improve the search rankings and number of site impressions you receive, it's preferable to host videos on your own site instead of external locations like YouTube. That way any links and traffic the video inspires will be directed to your domain, boosting your rankings.
Best practice tips to get people visiting your video
Here are several easy-to-follow tips that will help promote interest in your email marketing campaign and accompanying video:
Capture subscribers' attention by mentioning the video in the email's subject line; write something intriguing to get the highest open-rate e.g. 'Video Exclusive: How to Interest Subscribers'
To generate further interest once subscribers have opened the email, place image stills from the video prominently in the body. Pick the ones that you feel are boldest and represent the video best
To get the highest click-through rate, make it clear you're linking to a video by combining image stills with related video icons like play buttons and computer media player skins, such as the kind seen on YouTube
Ensure maximum click-through to the video landing page by including hyperlinks on the image stills and a text link to the video beneath it
Make the call to action in the text link unambiguous: 'Click here to be taken to the 'How To Interest Subscribers' video tutorial'
It's possible that some of your contacts' email clients might have images automatically disabled, in which case the image stills will not display. That's why it's important for you to have the text link beneath the image as it provides subscribers with an alternative route to the landing page. As an additional tip:
Adjust the HTML alt tag for the video to provide a description of the image e.g. 'Image Still from Video Tutorial'. That way, if the image fails to load when the email arrives, recipients will know there is supposed to be one displaying and will click the option to 'load images'
Encouraging recipients to share your video
Making a video is easy - making a video subscribers want to share because it's entertaining, informative and relevant is more difficult. Decide on the creative elements that will bring the best result for your video and use these final, additional tips on how to get people sharing it:
People take pride in being the first to know about something big; if your video has viral potential i.e. people are going to want to share it - reinforce the unique position your subscribers are in with flattering copy and clear calls to action e.g. 'Want your friends to be in on the action? Send them an invite / Forward this video to a friend'
Make it as quick as possible for subscribers to forward emails by creating an email template that includes the link and explains why it's been forwarded; include an information field for their friend's names and email addresses on the landing page. Once the names and addresses have been entered, users should be able to click 'send' and expect a fully-working email to deliver on their behalf
Establish credibility (and increase the likelihood of high open-rates) by making sure the email subject line communicates the content clearly and the 'from' name reads as your company
If subscribers enter their friends' first names in the landing page data field, use mail merge to include it in the opening 'Dear...,' which will help build trust
Go one step further towards creating credibility by taking the first name of the person who wants to forward the mail in the data entry field as well. Use mail merge to have it insert automatically in the subject line e.g. 'Daniel Wants To Share This Video With You'
Increase video exposure by supplying a URL and HTML embedding code next to the video, allowing viewers to post the video on their own website or blog
Follow these simple best-practices and you will see an increase in the number of people opting into your email marketing campaigns: that's more qualified leads for you to send campaigns to and turn into loyal customers.
Not only will this grow your email marketing list organically, the resulting inbound links and traffic to your site should see it rise higher in the search engine rankings, meaning a sustained increase in the number of sign-ups you see long after the video has been launched. Embrace your subscribers' desire to be entertained and share with their friends, and create more new sales leads for yourself by combining email marketing with linked video.

Does Your List Hate You?

2009-03-25T06:52:00.000-07:00

I began the journey of online home business and the acquisition of ready made websites was surely the vehicle for achieving the successes of the elite.
Or so I thought.
Online marketing techniques and how to be skillful in marketing products are not initially explained when a beginner first enters the "be your own boss and earn truckloads of cash" compendium and competes in the major league economics of the cyber space communities.
Online marketing may be compared to a sporting tournament and is simply this; your playing the game against the experienced professionals with inner circle tactics and enlightened physical and technological tracking senses.
To work smarter and not harder in life is valid; working smarter has connotations of education in market research and understanding of human behavior in order to sell products online. Customer focus is paramount in the planning and operational techniques to internet marketing mastery with much attention to sales products via email. Who is the market for the products of the successful and usually rich. Is it the beginner affiliate or the just the buyers or are they one and the same?
I cannot count the number of rags to riches under the radar successes broadcasts via email campaigns to my in box. Can it be believed that people suddenly appear from no where , on their own, from their own efforts can and do publish extra-ordinary Clickbank profit printouts. The conclusion is the once disguised success story was not an enigma there has to be a teacher/mentor or high profile Joint Venture partner. Of course, that is it! now the learning can be begin.
Every apprentice has a master, including apprentices of the online marketing fraternity. What if you are not an indentured apprentice and why does it take no less than 6 months (if your not on your own) up to 2 years and more months for the first dollar to rise from the Clickbank vaults?, How do newbies attain the insight how to propagate oodles of money to their bank account? Easy answer, follow someone who is already making a killing online.
Okay what if you want to follow and may think eBay, Pay Per Click or Multi Level Marketing is not your cup of tea. There are alternatives and is, and always be that even the now, very successful, make money on autopilot super affiliate evolves not from thin air but from the bringer of knowledge, the teacher that shows the students the only way, right way to online success. The beginner 's selection of marketing technique to employ and whom to follow, has important consequences. being;
Money, that a beginner may not recover should a system of their choosing is not right for them. Not to be a tradesman of many but a master of one marketing technique.
The beginner choices are many and with the right influence perhaps a well organized.,structured learning center for new recruits begins online now.

Small to Medium Sized Businesses

2009-03-17T03:18:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered why when you click on a search engine and type in a topic why certain sites are on page 1 and others are on page 500? Like so many people trying to succeed on the web, I had no idea. A mentor or mine has recently taught me the key to understanding search engines and how to get your products and services in front of millions of buyers by doing just a bit of work.
Knowing what keywords to use within you web page is the golden ticket to placing yourself at the top of the list with search engines. How segmenting your keyword list with generate the type of "hits" and "sales" to top internet marketers are achieving.
There are 2 types of key words. There are "short tailed" keywords as well as "long tailed" keywords. Knowing the difference between the two will give you the "golden ticket" to the front of the line.
Too many people focus on the short tailed words like cars, motorcycles, or boats. There keyword searches and use are far too general and position themselves in areas of the web where there are 3 or 4 million others. Knowing how to position yourself by using long tailed keywords will place you on search engine pages where the people typing in these keyword phrases are far more motivated to buy.
This is the key to my success! An example of this is such. Don't just use the keyword car parts. Broaden the keywords on you site to include keyword phrases such as 1967 and older car parts for Chevrolet Camaro's. The person who searches the web and types this phrase into a specific search engine is far more concise and motivated. This is who you want to target.
There is one "free" amazing tool on the internet for figuring out how your competition is getting their site to the front line. Pay close attention and I will now show you have you can "poach" off their success and generates huge profits.
Go to a specific search engine and use keywords to find your competition. Copy their URL and go to Google Documents and paste their URL into the specific area provided and you can break down their entire site. By reading their "Meta Tags", you can snatch the keywords from their site that are so appealing to the search engine that is putting them on page 1 for free.
Complete this process for the first 3-4 sites that come up on the page you desire to be on top of and you will have all the keywords you need to implement into your site that will bolt you to the top of the list. Very important! Stay away from the sites at the very top and sides of the page. These sites are spending tons of money a month to be there and they are of no use to you. Focus on non-paid sites only.
I hope this information creates you all a tremendous amount of success.

Using Email Lists to Build Your Business

2009-03-13T09:20:00.000-07:00

The internet is a powerful tool that brings the world together in ways that no other medium can. No other medium offers the ability for instant feedback like the internet does and no medium offers a company a better chance for real time interaction with their customers than the internet. Part of that instant interaction with customers is the ability to gather email addresses and update customers when things are happening in a real time way. For example, if you were to collect a large email list of customers waiting for your next product release then you could get the hype started for that release by sending out regular updates to that email list and build the anticipation for your new product. It can be said that nothing travels faster than new information on the internet and you can use that to your advantage as you continue to build email lists.
There are many ways you can use to collect email addresses but there are a few things that you need to keep in mind prior to adding an email address to your contact list. First and foremost is the need to get permission to send information to an email address. Always include something in your email sign up form that informs the customer that they will receive update emails from the company once they supply their email address. You can give the customer an option that excludes them from receiving updates and you should honor that request. When a customer requests to be excluded from an email list then any email sent to them can be considered unsolicited and if you continue to send unsolicited emails to a lot of people then you will get labeled as a spammer and that involves the law and losing your ability to send emails. It is in your best interest to get permission to use each and every email address you acquire.
The best way to collect email addresses is to make the email address part of the form required to sign up to get technical support from your company. Of course you need to give the customer the option of not receiving emails from you but if they choose to receive emails then you have the email address of a customer who is already familiar with your product and should be more receptive to product updates and the hype surrounding the release of new products. Word of mouth is the most powerful form of advertising so if you can get your core customers talking about your products because of email updates they get then that can start an internet buzz and that is worth its weight in gold as far as marketing experts are concerned.
There are other forms of collecting emails that can add to your list but may not be as effective as the customers that already have your products. No matter how you add to your email list you are still adding to the amount of people you are sending the word out to and that direct marketing approach is always very powerful. A passive way to collect email addresses is to simply set up a form on your website that allows people to sign up for product updates via email. If you are getting sufficient traffic to your website then this list should be growing on a daily basis. Another great way to add to your email list is to partner with companies that have products complimentary to yours and then put out an internet advertisement allowing people to seek more information about your two products. For example, if your company develops video games then you could partner with a popular video game console maker and announce your newest game and then ask people to submit their email address for future updates.
Email is a direct conduit to an end user and a very valuable way of marketing new products and updates to existing products. As long as you have the address owner's permission to send them emails you have a very positive way of increasing your company's exposure and selling power.

Internet Email Marketing - Quantity Vs Quality

2009-03-12T03:40:00.000-07:00

Internet email marketing is all about numbers. The more people you have on your list, the better your conversions will be. Well, that is the myth. The truth is that quality outweighs quantity every time when it comes to email marketing on the Internet. If you have 10,000 untargeted leads on your list, then you are likely to have a very low conversion rate. However if you have 1000 very keen and targeted prospects on your email list, then you are likely to see an excellent conversion rate for every promotion that you send out.
Your optin page is the most crucial aspect of your email marketing campaign; if you can't get people to sign up, then you won't have anyone to promote to. One tip to increase your sign ups is to make sure your optin page or optin form is well laid out, easy to use, and simple for people to sign up. Your form should always appear above the fold of the web page (so people can see it without scrolling down) and that it is highly visible to visitors. You can test a number of different layouts to discover which converts the most number of subscribers.
Finding JV partners to work with can assist your conversions greatly and can also build your list quickly. You can give JV partners content for their subscribers to read that contains information about your site and optin newsletter. Because you are giving free content to your JV partners, they will usually be happy to publish it in exchange for a link to your site or a promotion about your email list.
Email is an extremely powerful form of online marketing and can even take on more importance than your website. A targeted email list is worth its weight in gold and as such, you should spend considerable time not only building your list, but refining the optin process and the actual email campaign.
When it comes to getting the most out of your Internet email marketing campaigns, always put quality before quantity. While it is sometimes feasible to purchase leads for your list, make sure they are highly targeted and interested in what you have to offer or else you are just wasting your business funds.

Email Marketing Tips For Beginners

2009-03-11T02:35:00.000-07:00

Many companies are operating just fine without a website. But to thrive in today's economy, a company must market themselves using email marketing.
Your customers or clients need to hear from you so they know you're still in business. Sending an offer or a discount on your products or services would be a great way to say thank you for their continued business. With prospects, email marketing builds a relationship and greatly improves the chance of them buying or using your services. Research shows it takes 7 to 9 points of contact to ever make a sale and you may never make it to the second point.
The question we often receive is this: "Don't I have to have a website first? How can I use email marketing without a website"?
Email marketing works great without a website. Think of how you do business now. How are your customers buying from you now? Do they call you when they need you again? Or do they stop by your store? Either way, email marketing reminds them of your business and places your phone number or address at their finger tips. When they need you, you are there - in that inbox where people look multiple times a day.
If you have a website, remember that people need to know about it and think of searching for it. With the millions of sites on the internet, how will they find you? If you're not prepared to spend money on a website that pulls internet browsers to you, be proactive by sending emails to them.
Studies show that 86% of people will buy from you again when given a valuable follow-up offer! 86 percent! That number is huge. It costs several times more to get a new client than to keep an old one so it is crucial to build loyalty with your existing customer base. When you have a list of interested prospects, stay in touch with them by sending valuable content to build credibility and trust. Email marketing is the best way to turn prospects into buyers.
One way to increase subscribers to your email list is with a lead capture page. This is a "one-page website" with the sole purpose is to capture one's email address. You advertise an offer such as "50% Off Hair Color; Go to www.phoenixhairsalon.com to get your coupon". A person goes to that site, enters her email address and we email her the coupon. Now we have her email to continue emailing her! Ah ha! This lead capture page is extremely economical to build and maintain because it's only a one-page site, nothing as complicated as a full blown website.

Public Speaking - 5 Tips For Writing an Engaging Speech

2009-03-07T00:22:00.001-08:00

To be considered a great public speaker, you need to start from the beginning: crafting an engaging speech. The task may seem daunting but by breaking it down into small parts, even the most reluctant writer can create an interesting and impressive speech. Some speakers utilize the services of speech writers to ensure the quality of their material; their expertise lies within the delivery of the speech. However, many of us cannot afford that luxury and need to write our own. Follow the following 5 Tips for Writing a Public Speech to get started
Choose a Topic You Care About: The easiest speech to write is one for which you already know and understand the topic. Writing a speech, and then delivering on a topic that doesn't interest you will also likely disinterest your audience. Write about something that interests you, or better, one that you feel passionate about. If you have been assigned a topic, you need to decide what it is that makes you care about that topic and then write about it so that your audience will want to hear about it.
Know Your Audience: Think about the make-up of the audience that will be listening to your speech. There's a difference in how you interact with your professional and social peers; delivering a public speech follows the similar difference in expectation. Age, education and venue are other factors to consider. You want to speak to your audience in an engaging manner, so you must be sure that you are communicating to them in familiar terms.
Combat Writers' Block by Starting with a Bullet List A list of general ideas does not need to have perfect formatting, nor even be typed on a computer. You can write this on the back of a lunch napkin, for all it matters! What does matter is that you have ideas that are relating to or are sub-categories of your main topic/title. If you haven't gotten that far, write down topic ideas, then take those titles and write a list of ideas. Once you have something in writing in front of you, the task will not feel so large.
Start Writing for Each Point Once you have 4-5 ideas written down, pick the one that immediately jumps out at you and start writing. Don't worry about sentence structure, perfect wording or order. You'll have time later to edit, right now you simply want to write. As you write you will likely find yourself swerving towards a line of thought and ideas that hadn't been forthcoming in step 3 are suddenly filling your head. Go with it! It's always easier to remove content and edit for too much length than it is to add more.
Edit & Proofread Read the written draft once, fixing mistakes, wording and sentence problems. You may want to remove entire sections, change their order or add more to a section in order to complete a thought. Then, read it aloud and repeat. Words that appear great on paper often do not "hear" as well to your audience. I recommend repetition of this step at least 3 times. Feel like you're missing something? Have someone else read the draft to ensure you're not lulled into a rhythm that causes you to miss important or difficult.

Public Speaking - 5 Tips For Writing an Engaging Speech

2009-03-07T00:22:00.000-08:00

Business Opportunities and What Happened to Yahoo?

2009-03-06T03:38:00.001-08:00

Not long ago, actually a few years back, I used Yahoo on a daily bases. I preferred them to Google. It just felt all more 'friendly' to me - their home page, people, I watched on TV a story about them...
On my friend's advice I started to use Google here - there. I still preferred Yahoo, though. Especially the simple feature they provided - a single tick in a box to choose Australian sites only for search. It was convenient.
Once I started to get deeper into internet, building website, I immediately recognized the importance of Google.
But what had happened to Yahoo? I still prefer their home page - not sure for how much longer. They got the most annoying way of advertising. And I found it takes them a long time to 'listen'. This had been 'topped up' by the special way of using misleading headlines to grab our attention.
Imagine you click on an article. It is interesting and you have little time in between work. BANG! A side to side banner covers your page. And guess what? You are asked to give a feedback on that ad!
If I want to eat McDonald's I simply stop there when I'm hungry (if that would be my wish). Not to wipe it in front of my face - are they expecting me to get up and buy one? Not in their wildest dreams!
These ads are highly disturbing. We are advised in marketing not to do anything even close to it.
Who did come up with such an idea? They seem to have stopped this after two months or so just to restart it all again! (By the way, I have sent them feedbacks, of course...) Believe me it can really make people feel annoyed...It was very strange - I would not expect this from Yahoo. A puzzle.
But it didn't stop there... I respect and like Nicole Kidman. When I saw an article with a heading "Nicole goes post-op transsexual' - I automatically clicked on it. Did I read what it said? Possibly not.
Once opened the heading was suddenly different "Nicole PLAYS post-op transsexual'. To me there is a difference between to 'go' (to become) or 'to play'.
We all know the keywords and headlines should be relevant to the article. So we don't mislead our readers and search engines with it. Why would someone in a position of Yahoo need to crave for attention? Trying to make it look 'juicy'?
Talking about headlines, to be relevant to the subject, I had no idea how to connect this topic to be relevant for my use while not misleading you about the content. It would be funny to commit the same sin.
By the way I'm talking about Australian site. Was it happening worldwide? I have no idea. And guess what? I still have my Yahoo home page.
To the previous paragraph (I lost my plot...); there are ethical ways of marketing. No need to wipe a flashing banner under anyone's nose. You bet it will make me 'click'. Which direction? Yep. Off that site!
Business opportunities are endless. Trying to reach customers with screaming - yelling advertising does not go well with me. Having technology doesn't necessary mean we have to use it. We are lucky the armed forces are not that eager to show off their latest weapons in a similar manner.
Would you like to establish your own online business? To build successful web sites but you have no idea how? If yes, please, continue reading - it will tell you all you need to know in Business Opportunitie.
Copyright © 2008 Tibor Santa This article may be freely reproduced as long as URLs are active and there are no changes made to text.
Tibor Santa is a publisher living in Australia. His deep interests in Eastern medicine reflected in studies of Japanese Acupressure, practicing Martial Arts, Qi Gong, Yoga, Reiki, and other forms of healing.

The Princess Academy

2009-03-05T00:31:00.000-08:00

After hearing a number of people recommend Shannon Hale's The Princess Academy, I couldn't resist trying it out myself. I found it to be a delightful read, perfect for children and young adults, and rather engaging even for us 'big people.' More than your average fairy-tale, the novel creates a protagonist that exceeds the usual boundaries.
The premise of the novel is fairy-tale typical. When the priests of Danland determine that the prince's bride will come from the slopes of Mt. Eskel, an academy is set up to permit potential brides to learn the knowledge and manners of the court. Young Miri is one of the twenty girls taken from the quarry-rich village down the mountain. As she learns more about life beyond what she has yet experienced, she finds herself struggling with her desire to marry the prince. She wants to help her family to have a better life, but she also loves her home and does not wish to leave. When bandits capture the school, Miri must use not only her book knowledge but also the knowledge she has gained about herself to rescue herself and her friends.
Although the novel has a fairy-tale premise, Hale goes beyond the simple story and creates three dimensional characters that are both realistic and engaging. The headmistress appears cruel and overly harsh, but by the end of the novel we recognize her motivation. Miri's desire to "marry the prince" and leave he rhumble home is both typical and human, but she also struggles with her love of Mt. Eskel. And though the motivations of one of the more spiteful girls is rather psychologically typical - bad childhood and all that - it is also presented in a credible light that makes it not completely trite.
What I most enjoyed about this novel, however, was the way that Miri uses the knowledge gleaned from the academy not just to acquire a husband, but instead to improve life for her village and her family. Through her studies and desire to read, she finds that the villagers have long been cheated, and uses that information to improve life for all. When she realizes that her older sister and the boys (and even the parents!) also wish to learn, she sets up an academy in her village so all can study. In doing so, she teaches young readers that even children have power to apply what they learn, if they but seek it; that knowledge and study both have real-world applications and can make life better now instead of just 'after graduation.' The young women are empowered by their mind and by exploring and expanding on their natural gifts and talents, and these are the things that really matter.
In short, rather than just being a fairy tale where the prince is astounded by beauty, The Princess Academy encourages young adults - especially young women, who are the most likely target audience - to apply themselves and to seek benefits from that application now rather than later. Between this premise and the engaging and excellent writing style that makes the story live in the reader's mind, this is a book I would recommend to anyone.

Email Marketing Software Helps You Keep Track of Your Marketing Campaign

2009-03-03T04:02:00.000-08:00

For an advertising or marketing campaign to run smoothly and effectively good organization is required; for larger emailing campaigns this usually requires some kind of email marketing software. However, email marketing software has a lot more to offer than you would probably imagine.

Prospect Finder

Finding prospects can be a very time consuming activity. Some email marketing tools allow you to collect targeted email addresses from visitors to your web site. Creating a newsletter for visitors adds value to your site and keeps your company in front of your prospects.

Autoresponders

Responding to your prospective clients with a well-written and partial sales email is vital to winning business and gaining repeated business. Using email-marketing software you can set up autoresponders that will send these emails for you as soon as your visitors or customers complete certain actions, which are predefined by you.

Verify, Verify, Verify.

With modern legislation on spamming it is common practice to verify email addresses; getting prospects to click on a verification link makes them an opt in lead, meaning you can contact them as you will regarding your service or your product. Don't forget, though, you must always offer them the opportunity to stop receiving communication from you.

Removal Service

Once you have your bulk email list up and running and you've been contacting people on a regular basis to forge a good relationship and sell your products you will undoubtedly get emails that become dead links. You should be removing these to save time, effort and space in your email.

Spamming policies mean you should also always offer your prospects the chance to stop receiving your targeted emails. Even though you won't want to let go, sometimes you have to.

Obviously, email marketing software offers you the capability to send targeted emails to everyone on your email lists. That's what this software was originally intended for and what it is most commonly used for to this day. You can organize your prospects into categories and even status. You could run several campaigns at once and your email marketing software will keep track of which prospects belong to which campaign and therefore, send the correct email to them.

Most email marketing software will be able to schedule emails for you, so you could for instance send an email to new prospects that contains a link to your catalogue. After a week you may wish to contact them to answer any questions. This technique will put your company name back in their minds and possibly produce more sales. Or, perhaps you sell a consumable good that most people buy once a month. You can set your email marketing software to contact your customers one month after purchase, perhaps offering them a discount for repeated business.

All of these are genuine ways to use email marketing software. Bearing in mind that some estimate as many as 70% of Internet users from the USA have made purchases on the back of an email marketing campaign, most agree they are useful tools to help your website or business succeed.

Email Marketing Software Review: Email Benchmar

2008-05-05T23:07:00.000-07:00

Email Marketing Services

E-mail & Newsletter campaign management made quick and easy! Newsletter and email campaigns are a proven way to not only stay in touch with existing clients, but recruit new ones. The problem with newsletter and email marketing strategies is that many times,

These campaigns can be both tedious and time consuming, taking up hours to create and send each e-mail and newsletter campaign. Benchmark's bulk email marketing services have eliminated the drudgery, the tedium, and the hassle of publishing and managing any e-mail or newsletter campaign, taking newsletter and email campaign publishing and delivery to the next level!

Benchmark's newsletter and email campaign management services provide the finest, easiest, most affordable method for handling the online and offline publication and delivery of newsletters and mailings of any type, whether they are promotional, personal, or seasonal.

There are many newsletter and HTML email publication and delivery services out there and Benchmark realizes this. But we've designed a system that eliminates many of the hassles associated with newsletter campaigns and e-mail publication and delivery, providing clients with a foolproof system that few (if any) email marketing service can match. New Email Campaign Features

Create Drip Autoresponders

Craft no-fuss, easily managed drip campaigns with our email autoresponder tool. Using this feature, you can set it up so our system automatically sends out e-mails or newsletters based on the response of your customers. Let Benchmark do the work for you. Once you’ve set up your drip campaign, you’re ready to move forward.

Find out more Generate List Builders

Use our ListBuilder tool to gather customer contact info on your own Web site. We have 12 buttons to choose from (or you can upload your own) and flexible features to help you mine e-mail addresses, names and other info.

Once you’ve chosen your ListBuilder, create single opt-in and double opt-in autorespond e-mails where you can either automatically respond to customers and thank them for signing up, or send a second e-mail verifying that they’d like to hear from you. Find out more Use Characteristic-Based Campaign Tools.

This feature lets you triage and send e-mails according to specific customer interests and traits. Use our tools to sort and send e-mails to customers based on their age, what types of items they buy, whether they have a pet or other attributes. Find out more

Email Marketing through Newsletters

2008-05-01T03:41:00.000-07:00

So you want to start publishing an online newsletter? Why? Because that’s what all the online marketing experts and gurus said to do. You’ve been told you’ll pull in lots of new customers if you just start publishing an online newsletter AND purchase their list magnet ebook. I am not going to tell you that because I know it’s not that simple. In fact, I’ll tell you the truth as I’m always compelled to do, and offer you an alternative while I’m at it.

First, publishing is the fun part. Writing and getting articles and finding resources to offer your subscribers really is the fun part of your online marketing campaign. However, then comes the part where the rubber meets the road: sending that newsletter out to your subscribers. First, you’ll need a list to send your newsletter to. Second, you’ll need an auto responder for subscribers to make sure you’re in compliance with the “double opt-in/opt-out” so you won’t get in trouble with your ISP or the spam law. You’ll need to decide if you’re going to publish and send out your newsletter daily, weekly, or monthly and get it delivered when you say you will.

This is just the basics. You’ll find it gets more complicated as you go on, especially legally. You’ll have many of your emails come back because they were “bounced” by these rigid new spam filters installed by our diligent ISPs to stop (yeah right) spammers. You’ll also have some of your new subscribers “forget” they subscribed and turn you in as spammer. Oh, what fun! So, what do you do? You want to publish; it’s a great way to establish your online marketing presence and also your credentials in your field of expertise. So, what do you do?

Well, I accidentally found the solution and I’m going to share it with you. Before I started online marketing through email publishing, I was submitting articles I’d written to online article banks. That is another way to promote yourself in your online marketing campaign. While I was submitting an article to www.thephantomwriters.com,

I noticed a banner there that mentioned a new way of publishing –without email, without spam, but WITH RSS technology. I knew what RSS was because I had been receiving different online newsletters for webmasters. I subscribed to those so I’d know what was going on in the world of technology just for my own knowledge. RSS is “really simple syndication”; well that’s one of its definitions anyway.

The banner on The Phantom Writers site stated that Quikonnex had the solution to our online marketing ezine dilemma. Good thing I went there, saw the writing on the wall, and took the leap of faith! Whew! I almost made the email marketing error.

Quikonnex is a great way to keep the fun you want as a publisher, and more. You don’t need those lists, or auto responders, or need to worry about spam, or any of that junk. Here’s what is even better – the search engines get pinged each time you submit an article or “item” as we call them on Quikonnex. You don’t need a delivery date.

You can submit “items” as you come across them. You can use graphics without overloading a subscribers inbox like in email. You don’t need email, as your subscribers subscribe through a “viewer”. They can keep in contact with you through your personal private messenger provided so generously by the founders of the Quikonnex system at no additional charge to you.

You get live online support and twice weekly training and meetings, all inclusive in the minimal monthly charge. One of the best things: all of your “items” go in to a database that is clickable under category titles you create in templates. Very simple, fun, and best of all, hassle-free.

So instead of sending out email newsletters that may get read, then deleted after all your hard work, you publish on a “channel” that is a syndicated RSS feed, with an “editor” provided if you don’t know HTML, that goes into a readily retrievable database, that pings the search engines and then stays on the internet indefinitely meaning it is searchable!

This means your newsletters are cumulative, they don’t get deleted, and all your hard work stays available for each new subscriber who comes along without you doing anything. You just keep on publishing! How great is that??? So before you take the email plunge, consider the benefits you’ll have publishing the new way – in living RSS technology.

Email Marketing Explained

2008-05-01T03:31:00.000-07:00

Email marketing is, as the name suggests, the use of email in marketing communications.

What sort of email?In its broadest sense, the term covers every email you ever send to a customer, potential customer or public venue. In general, though, it's used to refer to:

Sending direct promotional emails to try and acquire new customers or persuade existing customers to buy again Sending emails designed to encourage customer loyalty and enhance the customer relationship Placing your marketing messages or advertisements in emails sent by other people Give me an analogy...You can think of these three main forms of email marketing as the electronic equivalent of:

Direct mail Sending people a print newsletter Placing advertisements in subscription magazines and newspapers There is, however, one extremely important difference - the issue of permission (see later).
Why is email marketing so popular?Email marketing is so popular because:

sending email is much cheaper than most other forms of communication email lets you deliver your message to the people (unlike a website, where the people have to come to your message) email marketing has proven very successful for those who do it right For more information, see the article Why do email marketing?.
Let's briefly review the three types of email marketing:

1. Direct email: Direct email involves sending a promotional message in the form of an email. It might be an announcement of a special offer, for example. Just as you might have a list of customer or prospect postal addresses to send your promotions too, so you can collect a list of customer or prospect email addresses.
You can also rent lists of email addresses from service companies. They'll let you send your message to their own address lists. These services can usually let you target your message according to, for example, the interests or geographical location of the owners of the email address.

2. Retention email: Instead of promotional email designed only to encourage the recipient to take action (buy something, sign-up for something, etc.), you might send out retention emails.
These usually take the form of regular emails known as newsletters. A newsletter may carry promotional messages or advertisements, but will aim at developing a long-term impact on the readers. It should provide the readers with value, which means more than just sales messages. It should contain information which informs, entertains or otherwise benefits the readers.

3. Advertising in other people's emails: Instead of producing your own newsletter, you can find newsletters published by others and pay them to put your advertisement in the emails they send their subscribers. Indeed, there are many email newsletters that are created for just this purpose - to sell advertising space to others.

Where's the catch?This all sounds great of course. Imagine how much cheaper it is to send a message to thousands of email addresses, rather than thousands of postal addresses!

It's not that simple, unfortunately. Quite apart from the complexities of designing and delivering email messages to the right people, getting them to actually read and respond to your message, and measuring and analysing the results, there is the issue of permission.

What's "permission"?Responsible email marketing is based on the idea of permission. This is a complex issue and the subject of intense debate in the marketing community.

Essentially, you need an email address owner's permission before you can send them a commercial email. If you don't have this permission, then the recipients of your mail may well regard your message as spam; unsolicited commercial (bulk) email.

You do not want to send spam!

If you are accused of sending spam, then you may find your email accounts closed down, your website shut off, and your reputation in tatters. In some parts of the world, you may even be breaking the law.
Quite apart from these practical considerations, there is also a strong argument which says that long-term successful email marketing relationships with customers and others can only work anyway if they're permission based.

The big question, of course, is what constitutes permission...and that is the main subject of debate. It's important to remember that it's not your views, or even the views of the majority, that count, but the views of those receiving your emails and those responsible for administering the infrastructure of the Internet.

An example of permission is when your customer buys something from your online store and also ticks a box marked "please send me news about product updates via email". You now have "permission" to send that person product updates by email, provided you also give them the opportunity to rescind that permission at any time.
Educate yourselfIt's important to stress that anyone considering email marketing must read up on the subject of permission and spam. If you don't understand the importance of permission and the risks of ignoring it, then you could be heading for commercial disaster.

Don't panic, though. It's actually relatively easy to ensure that the address lists you use or build yourself are permission-based.

OK, now that you're armed with some brief background information, browse the rest of this site to find the resources you need to develop a better understanding of how email marketing can work for you and your (potential) customers. Or to speed things up, try some of these