For all the business owners out there that struggle to bring in an online audience you are not alone. Search engine optimization can be very frustrating for those local business owners who just don’t have that savvy online marketing bone in their body. The eBusiness Symposium has been constructed for those business owners that know they need a helping hand and don’t know where else to turn. This comprehensive event will help with all aspects of online marketing. This Boston internet marketing event will teach you everything from email marketing campaigns to know how to properly use the search engines to your advantage. Many of you small, medium or large business owner that have ignored the internet for fear of the unknown it is time to put that fear aside, put your helmet on and start learning. Baby steps are all you need to get the ball rolling for your online marketing campaign.

Nick Stamoulis, President of Brick Marketing and long online marketing guru, will be conducting the search engine optimization portion of this event. Nick Stamoulis brings 13 plus years of online marketing experience to this event and the knowledge he holds will help you drive a new audience of business to your already growing business. Nick has experience public speaking in small business forums and internal company departments looking to train their existing marketing teams. Nick will be teaching the ABC’s of SEO will allow all business owners to embark safely into the land of the search engine and try to tackle their specific online audience. After attending the eBusiness Symposium you as a business owner will have the confidence to tackle your online audience head first.

The ABC’s of SEO is constructed in helping you learn all the basics with a small emphasis on advanced techniques so that you can find your online audience successfully. This event is really catered towards anybody that is interested in growing their business online through various online marketing strategies. For all those local business owners that do not have anywhere to turn for help this Boston Internet marketing event will help them learn different online strategies that will help them grow their online business. This event will also train you on pay per click and social media marketing so your online marketing approach can be a well rounded approach with various avenues of online streaming directly to your website. The ABC’s of search engine optimization at the eBusiness Symposium Internet marketing event will help attendees grasp the basics of search engine optimization so that they can take a step out of the darkness and into the light of the internet.

Don’t wait until the last minute, early bird registrations going through September 12th. Save $25 per registration by doing it now. For more information on how to register please visit the website today and pre-register for your space.

There are many marketers that have either been doing email marketing or getting involved in email marketing, and they all have the same goal. To convert emails to profit. I want to outline some of the key features that make certain clients more successful than others. I do know firsthand that not everyone can have all the items needed on day one to send a successful email campaign, but this should get you a step in the right direction.

Below is a list that is comprised of 3 BASIC components that help someone to create an email blast using an Email Service Provider.

• Double Opt-In Email List
• (HTML/Text) Email Ready to Go
• Basic understanding of Email Technology

The first two are pretty basic. The third bullet is important. Having an understanding of Delivery Rates, Click Through, Opens, Internet Service Providers (ISP’s), White Lists, and Black Lists will help you to evaluate your campaigns success before you send a single mailing. Knowing everything about Email Marketing is a lot to ask, but learning the basic email components can go a long way in helping you achieve results with your campaign.

Justin Lavino is an Account Executive for Net Atlantic. Net Atlantic provides email newsletter hosting, discussion group hosting, and web hosting.

It`s not easy to get people opening emails these days, not with all the spam that still makes it through the spam filter. Your subject lines will have a lot to do with whether or not your emails stand out in the inbox. Here are a few types of subject lines that tend to catch people`s eyes.

Questions: Most people feel obligated to open an email with a question as the subject line.

Outrageous claim: They want to know if you are actually telling the truth, so try making an outrageous claim that you then either prove or disprove.

Shocking: Who doesn`t love a good shocker? Get your readers opening those emails by startling them.

There are plenty of ways to get people to open your emails, but one of the best is to simply have a killer subject line. It definitely takes practice to get that perfect headline, but if you can manage it, you`ll get more opens!

When it comes to email marketing, there is a fine line as to how much information you should give away for free and how much you should save for paid subscribers or your ebooks. While you want to give subscribers enough to keep them reading your emails, giving it all away for free often won`t help you out in the long run. So how do you decide what you should be offering and what should be kept for paying customers?

The trick is to give people something they can use and then let them know that they could be doing a LOT better if they purchased what you are selling. It`s not enough to simply suggest the benefits, let them actually experience it for themselves by giving the readers a little taste of what is to come.

If you offer ten methods of promotion in your ebook, for example, you might want to offer just one in your email marketing campaign. It can be a good way to let them know just how much value you are going to give them with the actual product.

For software, a trial version of this works very well, along with tips on how to use it for the best results. Giving your readers a reason to buy is the best way to go with email marketing.

The natural human tendency is to make everything more complicated. It`s not necessary, but we do it and this applies to email content, as well. It`s very common for an email marketer to stress out and overthink his or her articles, but the truth is, the simpler the better.

Focus on just one point per email newsletter and you`ll be amazed at how much easier it is to write your email content. You can focus your mind on that one point, rather than wondering how to fit everything in. It doesn`t need to be complicated and you won`t confuse your readers if you stick to just one point, either.

Don`t give up. Keep pushing forward, even when you feel worn out and exhausted from trying to pump out email content. It`s important not to give up and you`ll get back into the groove at some point.

Email content shouldn`t be a source of stress. If it is, consider hiring it out instead. There are plenty of great freelancers who will be able to do wonders with the topics you offer them and turn them into quality articles for your readers.

One of the most important parts of email marketing is getting people to sign up for your opt-in list. Without subscribers, your email newsletter is pretty pointless, so it`s definitely worth working hard on.

The first thing you`ll want to have is a good offer. Why should people sign up for your email newsletter? Your opt-in page needs to make them want to sign up, so make sure your offer is in their face, whether its for an ebook (having a virtual cover will help) or an e-course.

It`s also important to let people know just what they are signing up for. Tell them if you will be sending weekly tips, the occasional update or the latest news on a daily basis. This ensures that they understand what you will be sending them and you`ll have fewer unhappy unsubscribes.

Make your opt-in page a great one, with good colors and easy to read fonts. As long as the actual sign-up process is relatively easy, you should have good results with the opt-in page.

For any email marketer, there comes a point when you really wonder if it`s worth doing your own writing all the time. This is especially true for those who have multiple email lists and aren`t able to keep up with the email content required for all the different email newsletters that go out each week.

This is when it comes in handy to have backup in the form of a freelance writer. A professional writer can turn out good quality articles that will provide your readers with great, informative email content . . . and you don`t have to wrack your brain constantly to come up with great ideas.

Some email marketers find it easiest to outline their email content ahead of time and have the writer stick to that outline, but others are more interested in letting a good writer find their way and come up with all the ideas on their own, subject to approval once written. However you do this, it`s worth it in the amount of time you`ll be saving.

Hiring a writer doesn`t have to be costly. You can usually make a deal for sets of articles, 10-20 at a time and simply use them when you are running out of time and inspiration. It`s worth it to provide great information in your email content without stress.

When you write your articles for email newsletters, are you writing at a level that makes sense, given your target audience? Most people will automatically respond “yes”, but it might need a second look.

If your email newsletters are aimed at teens, it isn`t enough to just write with the latest lingo. You need to know how to talk to teens without talking down to them. Writing for parents? Don`t assume they know the basics, but again, don`t talk down.

Your actual writing should be at a level that everyone will be able to understand, as well. Most experts say aiming for a sixth grade level is ideal for most writing. While you may enjoy using big words, keep in mind that the majority of readers won`t understand what you`re talking about, so provide an explanation or limit your use of extended vocabulary unless you know your readers will get it.

When you write email newsletters that are designed for the readers, you`ll end up with a much higher response rate and happier subscribers.

It`s really hard to create top quality email content on a continuous basis. In fact, you`ll probably find that you sometimes end up sending out email content that really isn`t up to where you want it. It does happen sometimes, but you can avoid this by simply finding your groove.

What does this mean? Basically, we all have times when we get into the flow of writing and it just comes pouring out. The best way to take advantage of this is to have plenty of ideas ready and to simply keep writing them until your focus runs out.

When you are in the groove, you should be able to turn out more than enough email content for several newsletters. Unfortunately, most people simply stop when they have completed what they need for the latest email. It really does pay to keep on going and get a stockpile of email content built up.

The next time you just aren`t feeling it, pull out some of the pieces you wrote when you were in the flow and you should be just fine.

Email Service Providers work hard to get email delivered. There is more to it than just software and flashy GUI’s to make users happy. Servers must be maintained, software must be kept up to date, and reputations must be earned.

The real trick is maintaining a healthy IP reputation. This is by far the most significant reason to use an ESP. ESP’s maintain white lists with major ISP’s like Comcast, Verizon, Yahoo, AOL, etc. Companies like yahoo and hotmail all filter based on the IP range’s reputation and the content in the email. Here’s my visualization of how it works:

Two body guards are standing in front of the CEO’s office. You watch as several employees approach, and are turned away. You approach, and with a simple wave of your ID badge, you are through. This is just like yahoo or hotmail monitoring your IP range. A good IP reputation makes entry easy.

Next, you have to get past the CEO’s executive assistant. At this point, you put on a good show for the executive assistant, show her some fancy brochures and she lets you in. This is usually where content filtering comes into play, so you still have to word your mail correctly or you’ll be sent to SPAM folders.

In the end, the mail to your subscriber base has a better chance of getting delivered if you use an ESP rather than an in house solution. Spend your marketing time right, and don’t end up as SPAM.
Justin Lavino is an Account Executive for Net Atlantic. Net Atlantic provides email newsletter hosting, discussion group hosting, and web hosting.

Most subscribers are more than thrilled to have the chance to get an extra freebie if they have the chance and you can get more subscribers by offering extras for more names. The tell-a-friend technique has been used for years as an email marketing technique and it really does work.

It`s relatively easy to write a short report or record some audio that has some helpful info that your readers will want to learn about. Offer this as your secondary freebie and it`s quite likely that your new subscribers will be recommending their friends.

When using an email marketing technique like this, it`s a good idea to include a note from the friend when you email new subscribers. Something like “John Q invites you to learn all about winemaking” or “Would you like to join John Q as he loses weight?” This ensures that the person knows it`s not random spam, but has come from a friend.

Having subscribers recommend a friend is a great method of gaining even more subscribers and can be a non-intrusive and completely free way to do so.

List rental is becoming more and more common these days as email marketers become desperate to reach out and find a more willing audience. However, it isn`t always the best way to go. You can spend a lot of time and money on list rental and it may not get you any good results.

It`s easy to be scammed in the business of list rentals. Some lists are really nothing more than a huge list of emails gleaned from forums and websites, with no particular relation and it would be spam to write them. These lists are often sold for prices that are too good to be true, so watch for them. If the list rental company cannot offer you a good background on the emails, you will need to proceed cautiously.

List rental is sometimes worth it. If you get a good list that ends up being responsive, you should be able to get your money`s worth, but if you go with the cheapest list available, you`ll find that it is practically useless. Use common sense and you`ll end up with a far better result.

There are so many areas that are liable to get you caught up in the spam filter that it is pretty much impossible to guarantee that you`ll get through to the inbox every single time. However, there is one way to guarantee this.

Whitelisting is the best spam avoidance system available, but most people have no idea how to use it. That`s why you, as an email marketer who wants their email newsletters read, need to educate your readers.

Most subscribers are more than willing to set up a whitelisted address, once they know what it is. This is particularly true when you tell them that they need to do this if they want to receive the free gift you are sending them. These welcome emails more often than not, end up in the spam file and that just won`t do.

Let people know how to ensure that they not only get the item you are giving away, but also receive your future emails. By telling them what to do, you will raise your open rates by quite a bit.

It really is important how your email design looks. The subject line certainly works to draw people in and get them to open your email newsletters, but the email content and email design is where the real reckoning will happen.

If you have great content that is literally impossible to read because of your email design, you can bet that no one will be hanging around, trying to figure out how to fix the email so they can read it. In today`s busy world, people are quick to drop anything that isn`t easy.

Keeping your readers reading is a vital part of email marketing, as you well know, so if your email design can affect that, why not be sure to make it a great part of your marketing campaign?

Your email design really does matter and it`s a good idea to put some serious time and thought into it. Your readership will thank you for it.

Whether you are hard up for material or not, some great email content can come out of using the emails and notes sent to you by readers. These are often in the form of a testimonial or they may be a pressing question.

You can post the testimonial to help your business, since third party recommendations often come in very handy when you are trying to get people to take interest in your product.

Answering reader questions will bring you two different benefits. One, you get some email content that will obviously benefit your readers, since they are the ones who asked and two, you`ll be really connecting with your readers.

If you do decide that you want to use reader`s emails as your email content, it`s a good idea to ask for permission from the person who wrote the email, first. Unless it`s a question, in which case, it shouldn`t be a problem. Linking to the person`s blog or website is also a nice gesture.