Opt-In Techniques to Create a Buzz

Writing by Brick Marketing on Monday, 31 of March , 2008 at 3:08 pm Leave a comment

Opt-in techniques that create a buzz are something that work extremely well for building your list . . . but how exactly do you go about creating that rush of excitement that makes people want to sign up for your opt-in list? There are a variety of techniques to get your website visitors to sign up for your email marketing list.

Exciting Opt-In Techniques

  • Limited time offer. Creating urgency is a great opt-in technique that you can use with just about any giveaway, a free ebook or discount, etc. Let people know that it is only for those who sign up within the next week or two.
  • Contests. Holding a contest that requires people sign up for your opt-in list is a great technique to boost your list. You can give away your own product or ask companies to donate.
  • Subscriber only. Why not offer special coupon codes to only your subscribers? Let people know that they have to sign up for your list if they want to receive these handy codes and coupons for discounts.

Creating a sense of urgency or exclusivity is a great opt-in technique that the big boys have been using for years. It´s a method that you can use to get more people to sign up for your opt-in list as well and functions extremely well.

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Category: Opt-In Techniques

Email Marketing: Alternatives to Newsletters

Writing by Brick Marketing on Sunday, 30 of March , 2008 at 1:36 am Leave a comment

Not every email marketing campaign has to be based around a newsletter. In fact, you have quite a few different options for connecting with your subscribers and they don´t even have to be regular . . . unless that´s what you prefer, of course.

Email Marketing Alternatives

Ezines: These are slightly different from a newsletter in that ezines tend to be longer and have more information, rather than news. They are most often available in HTML format, though you can also offer text. Sent out on a regular basis, weekly or monthly.

Updates: Let subscribers know about the latest changes to your website. These are sent out as needed, not usually more than once a month.

Special offers: This is another email marketing option. Special offers can be anything from freebies you offer to coupons for a third party business. Send these out whenever you want, no schedule is required.

Tips: This is a very short email marketing email with just a quick tip and your business info below. These are usually sent on a daily basis, but it is very easy to set up an autoresponder ahead of time so you don´t have to think about it too often.

Email marketing doesn´t require that you constantly send out email newsletters. Tailor your email marketing campaign to your website and your subscribers and you´ll be able to chance it or adjust the schedule to your target market.

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Category: Email Marketing

Email Content Without Stress

Writing by Brick Marketing on Saturday, 29 of March , 2008 at 12:11 pm Leave a comment

Email content can be stressful. When you feel pressured to write every few days, it can be very difficult to come up with something your readers will actually want to pay attention to! Unfortunately, apart from hiring someone, you don´t have much choice except to churn out email content yourself, but there are a few ways to lower the stress of doing so.

  • Write ahead. When the inspiration hits, type up as many short articles as you have time for. Save these and the next time you don´t have time to write fresh email content, just use one of your evergreen pieces.
  • Guest articles. Ask readers if they would like to be featured in your email content. Have them write about their experiences with your products or even a tutorial.
  • Start early. If you send your email newsletter out every Friday, start writing on Monday. That gives you several days to work on your email content and it will be less overwhelming.

Email content can be stockpiled only if it doesn´t have anything timely in it. If you are reporting on breaking news, you´ll have to be writing as it happens, or your newsletter won´t hold the same impact! But by following these tips, you can help create a more peaceful atmosphere to work in and to create your email content.

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Category: Email Content

3 Email Marketing Tips to Make Your Newsletters More Effective

Writing by Brick Marketing on Friday, 28 of March , 2008 at 5:19 pm Leave a comment

Email marketing is not always as effective as it could be. If you feel that your email campaigns could use a little boost and bring in more results, you might want to try some of the tips we´ve compiled for you. These are designed to make your email newsletters work better.

Don´t be afraid of long emails. You might have more to say than can fit above the fold on an email. That´s fine. While very long emails might not get a lot of people reading to the bottom, many have very good responses and if you are using the space effectively, there´s no reason you shouldn´t try writing a longer email.

Fix the problem fast. At the very top of your email marketing newsletter, you should include the problem that your readers are facing. Then explain how to fix it and then how you can help them do that with your product or service.

Be enthusiastic. Writing a school report style email newsletter won´t get you too far, but writing with a real passion and enthusiasm about your product most certainly will. You should be excited about what you have to offer and let people know that!

Following these email marketing tips will help turn your email newsletter into a powerhouse of sales for you. It really does help to change small things, like the position of your sales pitch and the tone with which you write. Email marketing is something that really does well with small tweaks, so try these tips and see if they don´t help you out.

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Category: Email Marketing

Are Your Email Newsletters Making an Impact?

Writing by Brick Marketing on Thursday, 27 of March , 2008 at 3:33 pm Leave a comment

How do you know if your email newsletters are being noticed? If no one cares, you probably need to change a few things in your email newsletter to make it have more of an impact, but first, you need to check and see if it is actually interesting to your subscribers.

Are your open rates dropping? If so they may be indicative of a lowered interest in your email newsletters.

Do you get emails after your email newsletter goes out? That´s a great sign that things are going well, people are interested in your email newsletters.

Do you get testimonials? These are a very good indication that your email newsletters are doing their job!

Are your subscribers buying products that you recommend? Then you know that they trust your opinion and are listening to what you have to say.

You should be able to tell if your email newsletters are making an impact by looking at the results. If no one every writes you about something you included in your newsletter and you don´t see any results after promoting something, it´s time to look at changing your tactics, which we´ll look at in upcoming posts.

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Category: Email Newsletters

Email Design: Choosing a Header

Writing by Brick Marketing on Wednesday, 26 of March , 2008 at 8:30 pm Leave a comment

Email design is very important since it is how your clients will see you. Your header is the first thing that people will see when they open your email, so you want it to be impactful and to convey the feeling you are aiming for with your email design in general.

Designing your header can be a bit tricky. There are just so many options. Which font to use, size, color . . . it´s a complicated process. Here are a few tips to help you out.

  • Keep it simple. Going super fancy will just increase load times for your email and annoy people.
  • Company branding. Remember that you want to carry your business brand over into your emails, so your header should reflect that in color and style.
  • Get their attention. Your heading should catch your readers´ attention in a good way. Do that by making it a bit bigger than the regular text.

Your header really can be the way you spread your brand recognition and this is extremely valuable. You´ll find that more people think of you when they need your type of product and the continuity between your website and your email design will create a more professional image, as well.

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Category: Email Design

Email Marketing via Viral Content

Writing by Brick Marketing on Tuesday, 25 of March , 2008 at 11:20 am Leave a comment

Email marketing has a variety of techniques associated with it, but one that is always going to work well is to create some viral content and turn it into a free report with giveaway rights. Let´s take a look at how to put this email marketing technique to work for you.

Email Marketing Through Viral Ebooks

  1. Create your content. It should be something very useful that will appeal to a wide variety of people interested in your industry. You want it to be something that everyone will want to take a look at. This should be fairly short, no more than 20 PDF pages, with your sign up page URL throughout. Using your URL in the footer or header of each page is a great email marketing technique.
  2. Create your email course. This should take the information that is in your viral ebook and elaborate on it.This can be set up on an autoresponder, set it to send a lesson out every few days.
  3. Now start promoting your viral content. Give it away free to top bloggers and websites in your industry and let them know that they can give it away free, as well.

Soon, your ebook will be circulating the internet, sending readers to your webpage where they can sign up to learn more or for weekly tips delivered to their inbox. Repeat as often as you like, not all your viral content will be a huge success, but when you make it, you´ll be very glad you tried this email marketing technique.

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Category: Email Marketing

Why Email Marketing is Still a Good Option

Writing by Brick Marketing on Saturday, 22 of March , 2008 at 2:49 pm Leave a comment

With stricter spam filters and higher delete rates, many people are predicting the end of email marketing. However, the end isn´t in sight just yet! Whether you have been working in email marketing for a while or are just considering getting into it, this is still a great business option.

Email Marketing Positives

  • Higher open rates than direct mail.
  • Email marketing is very fast.
  • It´s far cheaper than direct mail.
  • Extremely easy to get started in.
  • Can be set up on autopilot.
  • Earns you money, even while you´re on vacation.

Email marketing can still be a great business if you are dedicated to it. It´s not without work and a bit of hassle at times, but compared to something like direct mail, it is an excellent way to go and there are plenty of people earning a living and then some from this type of business.

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Category: Email Marketing

Opt-In Techniques: Use Holiday Giveaways to Grow Your List

Writing by Brick Marketing on Friday, 21 of March , 2008 at 1:28 pm Leave a comment

Every holiday, there are huge giveaways, one of the most popular opt-in techniques out there for building your list. These can be a great way for you to grow your list of subscribers and reach far more people than ever before, even if you are just getting started in email marketing.

First, you´ll need a product to give away. This should be something useful and captivating, but also something new. There´s nothing worse than finding the exact same product several times in the same giveaway or in every giveaway that you hit! It´s pretty cheap to hire a freelance writer to do a small e-report or book and you can give that away, or if you´re handy with coding, write a simple script to offer. The idea is to either help people earn money or learn something useful from your product.

Next, you´ll need to find some giveaways. This is super easy considering that there are literally dozens of them going on at any given time. Just do a search for the holiday you are interested in, along with the word “giveaway”. For example, “Easter giveaway”. This should turn up a few opportunities and you can also subscribe to internet marketing lists where you will be sent invites for many giveaways.

Once you have decided on a giveaway to try your new opt-in technique, you´ll need to write a description and upload a photo. Now, since your product is virtual, you will need to design an ebook cover or image to go with this. Don´t use your own photo! That just looks tacky. You will want to write an enticing blurb to make people want to sign up and don´t forget to spellcheck, you could turn a lot of people away by having spelling mistakes in your description.

Finally, make sure that you are set up so that your autoresponder will capture the email addresses of those interested in your product and send them the free ebook once they have confirmed their email. This is a very handy opt-in technique that just about anyone can use.

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Category: Email Newsletters

Email Content: Where to Find Inspiration

Writing by Brick Marketing on Wednesday, 19 of March , 2008 at 10:35 pm Comments (1)

Email marketing can be tough. It´s not always easy to keep up a steady stream of interesting articles for your subscribers. Pretty much every single email marketer runs into problems with the idea well drying up and it can be quite devastating. But it doesn´t have to ruin your email marketing, not if you know where to look for inspiration and ideas!

Magazines: If you don´t have any magazines that relate to your industry, head to the local bookstore, magazine stand or library and browse through a couple. There are publications on just about every topic, so you´re bound to find something that works.

Google Alerts: Using your keywords to get Google Alerts sent to your email account can be a great way to stay on top of the most recent news in your industry and gives you references which can be extremely useful in making your email content more interesting.

Reader questions: Using the questions your reader send you as fodder for email content is an excellent method of getting ideas when you can´t think. And, you know it´s something they are interested in reading!

Your problems: Chances are that you run into technical issues related to your industry from time to time. While these can be very frustrating, it also makes for great email content. Let your readers know what happened and how you solved the issue.

Tutorials: When you have nothing else to write about, offer a simple tutorial. This could even be a video and you simply link to it in your email content.

There are plenty of places to get inspiration for your email content. It´s completely normal to hit a wall once in a while when it comes to email content ideas, but you don´t have to let that stop you!

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Category: Email Content

Opt-In Techniques That Could Kill Your Business

Writing by Brick Marketing on Wednesday, 19 of March , 2008 at 11:27 am Leave a comment

There are a lot of opt-in techniques out there and some of them are very good. But some will destroy your list and cause your email marketing business to come crashing down around you. Avoiding the bad opt-in techniques is definitely a good idea if you want to earn money online.

Opt-In Techniques to Avoid

  • Single opt-in. While it might seem easier for your subscribers, single opt-ins almost never work out. People forget that they signed up and they don´t have an email for confirmation, so you will almost certainly be labeled as spam at least a few times, something that can really hurt your reputation.
  • Asking for too much information. The more information you have on your subscribers the better, right? Wrong. While that information helps you target your subscribers better, the multiple question opt-in technique will cause a drastic drop in sign ups. Anything more than a name and email address is probably too much for the majority of people.
  • Not delivering on a promise. If you say that you´ll be sending out tips on a daily basis, you had better do it, not just once a week. When you make promises to your subscribers, you need to follow through or you will find yourself with a destroyed rep and a dying business.

Opt-in techniques are important, but it is equally important to figure out how to deliver what your subscribers want, without making them angry. Get people to sign up, but don´t mess up and cause them to mark you as spam, which could be a factor in bringing your email marketing business down.

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Category: Opt-In Techniques

Skip the Spam Filter and Get to Your Target

Writing by Brick Marketing on Tuesday, 18 of March , 2008 at 8:18 pm Comments (1)

Spam filters are an email marketer´s worst nightmare. A nasty filter can grab your best email newsletter and toss it out into the cold where no one will ever see it. This is obviously not very conducive to email marketing, so you really need to skip that spam filter and get into the inbox, where your subscribers can see you.

How to Skip the Spam Filter

Get whitelisted. If you are on someone´s email list, the spam filter will skip your email completely, so it is well worth asking your subscriber to do this and give them instructions on how to do so.

Avoid spam words. Certain words will set off the spam filter. Things like “free” “buy now” and “limited time offer” tend to get flagged as potential spam.

Never use All Caps. This is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. This almost always automatically results in being sent to the spam folder, so stay far far away from All Caps, even if it´s just for a couple of words.

Spam filters might be nasty, but if you are careful, you can usually get past them. Don´t forget that spam filters aren´t really out to get you, they are specifically designed to look for spam and if that´s what your email newsletter looks like to the filter, it will get chewed up and spit out!

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Category: Not Spam

Email Content: Adding Value to Your Newsletters

Writing by Brick Marketing on Monday, 17 of March , 2008 at 7:11 pm Leave a comment

Email content on its own can get pretty repetitious, but you can add value by including links to multimedia extras. These can be audio files, video or even a slide show that you´ve put together to illustrate your points. It´s completely optional content, but your readers can check out the extra info if they have the time and most will be thrilled to have the opportunity to get more information on your topics.

Video: You can do a lot with video. Try offering a tutorial on how to use a specific product or service that you are promoting. There are plenty of screen capture programs that do this and you just have to navigate and speak while recording. Or you could do a simple video tips episode, show customers interacting or talking about your products.

Audio: MP3s are a very popular audio file type and it´s pretty easy to do a short recording to give extra value to your readers. Interviews with clients or big players in your industry.

The idea of adding multimedia productions, however simple they may be, to your email content is to simply give your readers an extra viewing of your message. You can really benefit from this . . . your readers will enjoy the extra email content in various formats and you will enjoy higher response rates. Just be sure to include a link to your sales page at the end of any multimedia production.

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Category: Email Content

Email Design: Make Your Signature Line Sell

Writing by Brick Marketing on Sunday, 16 of March , 2008 at 9:19 pm Leave a comment

Email design is very important if you want your readers to keep reading, but if they make it to the bottom of your email, what do they find? Your signature line is in the perfect place to capture those who have actually read to the bottom of the email and you can use it to your advantage. Think of your signature line as an ad and make it perform!

Email Design Tips for Signature Lines

  • Include a link. This will direct the reader to where they can find more information, though this could be a an affiliate link as well.
  • Add a tag line. A good tag line can get people to do whatever it is that you want them to do.
  • Repeat call to action. Your call to action should be included in your email, but having it again in the signature line can really grab their attention and it gets you out of the way.
  • Give contact info. People want to know how to stay in touch with you and if you include your contact information in the email design, you can rest assured that your readers will trust you more, since you are offering some personal info.

Your signature line is a vital part of a functional email design. It can really boost sales, too, something that everyone wants to do!

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Category: Email Design

Email Content That Sells

Writing by Brick Marketing on Saturday, 15 of March , 2008 at 6:25 pm Leave a comment

Is your email content good enough to sell? Many people don´t think of email content as copywriting, but it essentially is if you are using it to promote your business. If you look at it as copywriting, then you will find yourself working harder to make your emails sell.

Tips for Email Content Copywriting

  • Use adjectives. Adjectives are vital in good copywriting and email content to help you engage your readers and make them want to buy what you´re selling.
  • Anecdotes. Who doesn´t love a good story? Collect some success stories related to your product or service and use them as email content.
  • Call to action. Don´t forget to tell your readers what you want them to do at the end of each email and you´ll find that more of them actually do it.

Email content is very much like copywriting in many senses, so learn more about copywriting and then apply it to your email content and enjoy the results. Putting some interest into the product reviews and descriptions and using testimonials in your email content is an excellent method of interacting with your subscribers.

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Category: Email Content

Email Marketing Journal


Email Marketing Journal is an Email Marketing Blog that discusses all aspects of opt-in email marketing for the new and advanced reader.
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