iCinch Article Directory

The History of Email Marketing

2011-03-14T15:58:00.001-04:00

Most of us jump on our work and personal computers several times each day to check our email. It has become an effective method of communication for work, personal relationships, and marketing. You may have noticed you get more emails encouraging you to purchase items than ever before. This is because email marketing has come one of the most popular methods of reaching consumers who make purchases online.

Email come into existence in the 1990’s as the internet was starting to become more popular. Businesses quickly figured out this was a great way to reach customers. It was also less expensive than mailing out advertisements to homes. By 1995 the number of email advertisements sent out that year was more than the number sent out by regular mail. Businesses spend a great deal of money creating email marketing campaigns that won’t be confused with spam.

In fact, email marketing hit a huge road block when spam filters became so popular. Many email marketing campaigns had to be revamped as they were being wiped out by the filters. Businesses were losing money on the marketing campaigns and not getting any results. However, savvy computer programmers and businesses soon learned that effective email marketing titles and headlines as well as using their real email address helped get the emails past the various spam filters.

The internet was once used for research, entertainment and work related functions. The idea of shopping online has become very convenient in our society. After all, it allows you to compare prices in a flash. Most of us are too busy to run from store to store. Shopping online has given those in remote locations the chance to get all the gadgets out there they desire. It is only logical that consumers are paying more attention to email marketing since this is the method they are using to do a large portion of their shopping. Email marketing has become mainstream. Almost every website gives the consumer the opportunity to give their email address and consent to being solicited with email advertising.

On the other side of the coin are those who hate getting their email filled up with email marketing ploys. This is why every email sent from a business has to include a link that gives the consumer the opportunity to opt out. Businesses have to respect this choice made by the consumer and remove them from the mailing list. This was the result of legislation stepping in when the idea of email marketing started flooding every email address out there. There are rules and laws in place now to protect consumers against having their privacy invaded. The penalty for violating these laws include expensive fines and the possibility of jail time.

However, with the acceptance of email marketing by consumers comes their demands for effective advertising that meets there needs. Getting the email to the consumer is only half of the battle. The information you send them has to grab their attention and entice them to take the link to your website and make a purchase. Your email should be a teaser that it going to make the consumer curious enough to go directly to your website at that very moment. There is a lot of competition out there and businesses are having to come up with wittier and smarter email marketing campaigns to keep their consumers interested.

Email marketing will continue to evolve as those sending them have to find innovative ways to capture the attention of the consumer while getting ahead of their competition. Don’t expect email marketing to be replaced any time soon. It is anticipated 2.8 million dollars will be spent on email marketing campaigns in 2008. With that volume comes more responsibility on the end of the businesses that use email marketing. Not only do they have to follow the laws and regulations set, they have to respect the consumer as well as appeal to them. Businesses know that email marketing is on the rise so they have no choice but to participate in it or be blown away by the competition.

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Direct Advantages of Email Marketing

2011-03-10T15:42:00.000-05:00

Email marketing is a wonderful way to reach large numbers of customers in a short amount of time. This is a very inexpensive marketing method that is effective. It will result in getting more traffic to your website thus generating more sales. Email marketing can be used by any type of business regardless of the products or services they have to offer.

One huge advantage of email marketing is it can be effective for both large and small businesses. When it comes to regular commerce, the larger company can afford to print up colorful fliers and ads. This is much harder for smaller businesses due to the expense. Email marketing can be done using software so that even small businesses can create effective and professional looking email marketing campaigns on a small budget. This will hopefully help them increase their sales.

Email marketing is an effective way to deliver the information you want to get to consumers in the method they enjoy using. Most everyone has email these days and it is common to log on and check for messages several times each day. It also allows you the opportunity to reach consumers around the globe. There are no boundaries when it comes to location with this method of marketing.

On average email marketing costs 78% less than other types of marketing. This savings is after the cost of research, testing, and sending the emails. It also takes the cost of consulting into consideration. Email marketing consulting is often less expensive than other marketing consultants. This means you can choose to save money or maybe invest more but reach more people. In addition to saving money, you save valuable time. Your emails can be scheduled to go out at times when you are out of the office or working on other projects.

To appeal to your consumers, email marketing allows you to use graphics, games, music, videos, and other types of materials to gain their interest. This is something most other marketing concepts don’t allow. Sure, they offer one or two choices but it seems like everything is possible with email marketing concepts. Since you have the name and purchasing history of the individual, you can personalize the email. This makes the customer feel more trusting towards you as well as more loyal to the company. It is much better than getting a piece of mail at home that says dear customer. You will be able to create marketing lists that allow you to send a marketing campaign only to a target market. This is a very effective way of sending different campaigns to different customers.

The process of email marketing gives you tools for measuring the success of the marketing campaign. You can measure the click through rate, conversion rate, find out how a person linked to your website, and many more ways of analyzing data.

Customers can choose to opt out by clicking the link in your email marketing campaign. This saves you money by knowing who isn’t interested in receiving your information. There is no way to know that with other types of marketing campaigns. For those who are interested in your email marketing campaign, you will see the responses quickly. This is a great way of knowing what is effective for future marketing endeavors.

Email marketing is one of the most common as well as most successful marketing methods available. With the volumes of consumers on the internet everyday it only makes sense to use it from a business point of view. Email marketing is a great way to reach a volume of people quickly and inexpensively. Email marketing is a great opportunity to communicate with your customers. This is an effective way to be able to analyze your marketing tools so you will know what is working and what areas you need to continue improving.

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Affiliate Traffic Tricks: Generating Traffic With a Newsletter

2011-03-07T22:16:00.002-05:00

With affiliate programs, you can easily sell products without even having to have the product in your hand. As nice as it sounds, you still need to have you own website; it is a requirement for many affiliate programs. Having a website is ideal, but to really make money with affiliate programs, you need to have a website that receives a relatively high amount of traffic. If you would like to increase the amount of traffic that your website sees, you should examine newsletters. They are a great way to increase website traffic.

Before examining how newsletters can help you increase your websites traffic, it is best that you first understand newsletters. When it comes to understanding newsletters, there tends to be a little bit of confusion. Newsletters come in a number of different shapes, sizes, and styles; they are all used for different purposes. Newsletters are essentially emails that are sent to those who have requested to receive them. Some use newsletters solely to update their customers and other uses them just as means of regular communication. Despite a variation in purposes, one the most common uses of a newsletter is to increase traffic.

One of the most common questions asked, concerning email newsletters is “why?” A large number of individuals, namely affiliate program participants, wonder why they should even bother writing and then distributing a newsletter. In all honesty, there are an unlimited number of reasons why you should write and distribute newsletters to those who are interested in receiving them. The number one reason is because you can do it as little or as often as you want. Many webmasters only send out newsletters as often as their time allows them to do so. It is also important to note that your newsletter content can be whatever you want it to be. In fact, you may even want to think about tying in your affiliate program or the products that you
are selling.

In conjunction with an affiliate program or an affiliate product tie in, you can not only use newsletters to increase your website traffic, but also to promote your affiliate products; products that you are responsible to help sell. You can do this by writing a quick review or recommendation of the products or products that you are helping to sell. If you haven’t tried the product yourself, you may want to try and find other internet users who have. Most of the time, you will find that many internet users are more than willing to write a quick review, just for the sake of helping others.

If you are an article writer or if you enjoy writing, you may want to write your own newsletters. If you are not an article writer or if you are, but you just don’t have the time to produce you own newsletters, you don’t have to. There are a number of alternatives for you to choose from. One of the easiest alternatives is to pay a professional to write your newsletter for you. If you are looking for a free way to make a newsletter, you are urged to examine article directories. Many article directories give out free usage rights for their articles. This means that you can easily find newsletter content, that you didn’t write, without having to spend a dime! When using article directories, it is advised that you use articles that are, in one way or another, related to your website or the affiliate products that you are helping to sell.

As you can see, there are a number of reasons why you should at least think about writing and disturbing a newsletter. In addition to those reasons, there are also an unlimited number of benefits to using newsletters to your advantage. Whether you make the decision to write your own newsletters, hire a professional, or use free content from article directories, you are urged to give newsletters a chance. In the end, you might be surprised just how effective they are.

Have you ever received a newsletter in your email? A large number of internet users do and many actually read them!

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Choosing A Profitable Affiliate Program

2011-03-05T22:22:00.000-05:00

Affiliate programs are a great way to make money online; if you choose the right affiliate program. That it why it is extremely important that you carefully choose which affiliate program or programs you want to join. When it comes to choosing an affiliate program, do you know what to look for you? If this is your first time joining an affiliate program, you are urged to keep on reading. Below are some guidelines that you may want to think about following.

Perhaps, the most important thing that you need to remember, when choosing an affiliate program, is to not pick the first affiliate program that you come across. This is a big mistake that many affiliate program participants make. Unfortunately for you, this can be a costly mistake. What many do not realize is that the product you choose to promote will reflect on you and your business. That is why it is important that you take the time to thoroughly examine an affiliate program first. You will want to choose an affiliate program that involves a product that you can stand behind, one hundred percent.

One of the best ways to know that you are dealing with a legitimate affiliate program and a quality product is to test that product out. Although you are advised to do this, you may not want to or you may be unable to do so. If that is the case, you can still research an affiliate program or even the product that is being sold. You can easily do this online. One of the best ways to do your research is to perform a standard internet search. Search with the name of the affiliate program or the product being sold. You can also check out websites that are known as scam websites. These websites tend to profile companies, individuals, or business opportunities that regularly scam consumers.

Before applying for or signing up for an affiliate program, you are advised to read all of the rules, restrictions, or guidelines associated with that affiliate program. Unfortunately, you may find yourself disqualified from an affiliate program right off the bat. For instance, there are a large number of affiliate programs that prohibit their products from being advertised on websites that display pornography, foul language, and other offensive content. Familiarizing yourself with an affiliate program’s rules and guidelines will prevent you from being denied from a program or later dismissed from one.

Perhaps, one of the most important things to remember, when choosing an affiliate program, is the product that you will have to sell. In conjunction with making sure that the product is a quality one, you will also want to make sure that it is related to your website or business, in one way or another. For instance, if your own website focuses on computer programming, you will not want to join an affiliate program that sells pet products. Joining an affiliate program that is related, in one way or another, to your own website may increase your chances of making a sale; thus increasing your profits.

Although it is important to choose a quality product to stand behind, you also need to remember that your goal is to make money. One of the easiest ways to make a substantial amount of money is to choose an affiliate program that pays their affiliates decently. The average commission for affiliates is three to five percent of each sale made. While this is a good percentage to make, there are higher paying affiliate programs. You may want to look for affiliate programs that pay around ten percent. In fact, there are even a select number of affiliate programs that pay around fifteen percent in commissions.

The above mentioned guidelines are just a few of the many that you will want to take into consideration, when choosing an affiliate program. Although the above mentioned points are helpful, the most important thing to keep in mind is your judgment. Using your best judgment is the easiest way to choose an effective affiliate program.

If carefully chosen, you could easily make a full-time living just with affiliate programs.

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Get a Free Blog

2011-03-03T22:07:00.002-05:00

bOver the past few years, blogs have become incredibly popular. Just about everyone who uses the internet also has a blog. You want to get in on the action, but you're not sure how to get your own blog.

Luckily for you, sites like Blogger.com have made it easy to set-up and make posts on a blog. In this newsletter, we will go over everything from signing up for a blog on Blogger.com to choosing a template (look) to finally making a first post.

What is Blogger.com?

Simply put, Blogger.com is a site that hosts blogs for free. This makes it even easier for you to have a blog because there is no need to set up a web site and host the blog yourself. All you have to do on Blogger.com, once you've signed up, is login to your blog, write a blog post and click submit. It‘s that simple.

What will my web address be on Blogger.com?

Your web address will be http://yourname.blogspot.com. One thing that people dislike about Blogger and other free blog sites is that they don’t have as great of a freedom in choosing a name. You are limited to choosing only what is available. So if you’re looking for http://yankeesfan.blogspot.com, you probably won’t be able to find that.

Signing up for a blog on Blogger

The first thing you’ll do is go to blogger.com. Next, you’ll scroll down the page and click on the button labeled “Create Your Blog Now”.

You will then be taken to a page where you will enter an email address (used to log into your blog), a password, and a word verification. You’ll also have to check “I Accept Terms of Service”. Click continue.

Next, you will be taken to a page where you will choose the blog title, blog address, and another word verification (which is done to prevent auto-signups). When you type in your blog address, you can click a link that says “check availability”. This will tell you whether or not the desired name is available. If the first name you wish to have is not available, keep typing in different variations of the name until you find one that is available.

After you have put in all the information, click “Continue”.

Choosing a Template

After you click “Continue”, you’ll be asked to choose a template. The template can be changed at any time after you sign-up for the blog, so you don’t have to choose an “official” template now.

If you scroll down, you’ll see a variety of different templates. Click on the one that you like best and then click “Continue”.

Your First Blog Post

After you’ve chosen a template, you’ll see that your blog has been created and that there is a button to “Start Posting”. Click that button.

You’ll be taken to a page that is similar to the posting page at a message board. There is a “Title” field, where you can put in the title of this particular blog posting. Then there is a larger field, which is the body of your post. Type all you want in this “Body” field, as there is no limit.

Note that there are options above the field to bold, italicize, underline or spell check the text. There is also the option of changing the size and color of the text, plus the ability to add bullet points, numbered lists and even pictures. For now, you’ll just do a simple “Welcome” post.

In the “Title” field, type “Welcome!” In the “Body” field, type your message. You could start with a simple introduction, talking about yourself and the purpose of the blog. When you’re done typing the message, click the “Publish” button. It is worth noting that you can choose to save the post as a draft, if you want to go back and later finish the post.

After you’ve clicked “Publish”, you’ll see that your blog has been published successfully. Click the “View Blog” link to view the results of your work. You’ll now see your post.

Logging into Blogger after the first post

You’ll go to Blogger.com and click on the “Old Blogger” link at the top right of the page. Type in the email address and password that you signed up with. You’ll be taken to the “Dashboard” of your blog. If you want to enter a new post on your blog, click “New Post”. Then follow the instructions mentioned in the previous section. Or if you want to edit the template, add/edit elements to your page, you’ll click “Settings” and then “Template”.

That’s all there is to it. Blogs, whether they are hosted at blogger.com or another free blog site, are incredibly useful and fun.

Blogger makes setting up and running a blog very easy for those who have never done it before. So what are you waiting for? Sign-up for a free blog at Blogger.com today and enjoy posting!

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Post Regularly & Frequently to Your Blog

2011-03-01T20:21:00.000-05:00

Keeping people interested in your blog, whether it is a business or personal blog, is key to attracting a lot of regular visitors. Many blogs have died because people have just lost interest. The main reason for the lack of interest is simply a lack of posts by the blogger. Regular, frequent posting, which will boost your blog’s ranking in search engines, is essential to the survival of any blog.

You might be asking yourself, what is frequent posting? How many blog entries should I make on a given week? How do I make frequent consistently good posts? What are the reasons for me to post frequently? Let's go over all of the above ...

What is frequent posting?

Frequent blog posting is posting enough to keep your readers interested. Obviously, people will not want to come back to a blog that hasn’t been updated in months. They want to see consistent posting so that they know coming back to check the blog next week to see if there are more posts won’t be a waste of time.

How many blog entries should I make each week?

This is one of the tougher questions to answer. It really depends on the purpose of your blog. If it’s a personal blog, a weekly or twice weekly update is an excellent idea. A political/sports/music/religion blog should have 3-4 posts per week. Business blogs should have at least 2 posts, but preferably 4 each week.

The thing to remember is that quality counts. Posting frequently just for the sake of posting frequently tends to result in subpar posts which people won’t care about. It is important to find a balance—frequent, quality posts that won’t result in burnout on your part. Why create 4 poor quality posts each week when you could post 2 quality posts per week?

How do I create quality postings on a consistent basis?

It’s all about following a consistent pattern of writing. Maybe you’re not a natural writer and this is difficult. That’s why we’ll give you an outline to help you.

1. Pick a topic that is interesting to you and to your readers. Maybe if your blog is a personal blog, you could write about the latest happenings in Hollywood.

2. Carefully think about what you’ll write about the topic. It makes it easy to make quality blog postings if you know exactly what you’ll write. Plot out everything about the post before even beginning to write it.

3. Before writing your content, pick out some keywords that are relevant to your blog. If you naturally use keywords throughout your post, you will please search engine spiders which will get your blog ranked higher on search engines. Your visitors won’t mind the use of keywords if they are used in a tasteful way.

4. Begin writing your post. Don’t limit yourself to a particular amount of words. Just do what’s natural. And if any blog post is hard for you, just take a timeout and relax. You should be able to finish the post a bit later on, after you’ve had some time to think things through, you should be able to finish the post with no problems.

Why is frequent posting important?

Blogs are meant to be outlets for individuals or businesses. They are used to get an opinion out on something and to engage readers. Readers need to have something that makes them want to keep coming back to a blog. That something is usually quality, frequent posts.

Gaining and maintaining visitors isn’t the only reason to post often in your blog. Catching the eye of a search engine—and achieving a high ranking—is another valid reason for posting frequently. Most likely, each posting in your blog features some keywords or keyword phrases scattered throughout it. Logic says that the more natural keywords you have on a blog, the better. Thus, the more posts you make on your blog, the more keywords you have on there. And the more keywords you have, the more likely a search engine bot is to crawl your site. The more your site is crawled by bots, the more likely it is that you will have a high ranking on a search engine.

- Cynthia Brandolini

P.S. Frequent blog posting can be easy as long as the person who is posting takes the time to plot out what they’ll write about. So take a few minutes to think about your post and then just do it!

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