Mark Brownlow has posted 22 sources of inspiration for email marketing designs and tactics on the blog. Each of source is really quite inspring.

Check for yourself

The Lyris Annual Email Optimizer Report is out and it approaches following planning issues:

• How do I get the most out of every marketing dollar I invest next year?
• How do I optimize my email marketing campaigns for better results?
• How do I mitigate risk and avoid costly mistakes?
• Are my marketing peers using tricks I’m not yet using?
• These are questions that are tough to answer but collective wisdom of other marketers might help you to shape your strategies.

The book ask questions like what are best practices to improve email and online marketing results, what optin list building techniques should be used and  how to make use of social media to enhance other online marketing programs.

A total of 1300 marketers try to answer these questions

There are many more. It is free and available for download. They would off course want your name on the optin form they have at their website.

You can download the b0ok here

I had some issues with feed of my site Internet Marketing Meta Reviews. It would deliver the content every time I published a post but the subject title was always as “Internet Marketing Meta Reviews”.

That is not good and does not give any info about what my new post contains, Such a monotonous subject line is less likely to opened by the reader.

Luckily Feedburner allows you to change the email subject title.

How To Change Email Subject Title Of Your Feedburner Feed?

1. Login to Feedburner account.
2. Click on the Publicize Tab
3. From Navigation Menu on the left side, click on Email Subscriptions
4. Click on Email Branding sub menu
5. Now you have the option to change the email title.
6. Change the feedburner email subject / title as required.
7. If you want to add post title as subject line as I did, you need to add ${latestItemTitle} in the field [Directions are available in Feedburner interface.
8. Scroll down and click Save.

After a long time, I have posted a meta review on Internet Marketing Meta Reviews. The review is about the product List Building Automation, by Matt Callen.

You can go through the meta review here.

Email marketing is a very good method of marketing when used effectively. To reach out maximum consumers you need to compose emails in an attractive way. If you turn off a reader because your email looks ugly or distorted, it means you have lost a potential  customer.

Don’t let this happen to you!

There are some basic rules which had been crafted long time back when most of the mails were purely text based. Its good to know them still and they are applicable to HTML based mails too.

Wrap Up The Lines Between 60-65 Characters

Or even less. Most of the text browsers allow autowrpping at the desired row length. If you use notepad you can do so by hitting hard return or “Enter” key.

Why limit your line length!

First it makes your mail lok beautiful and organized as compared to when your mail line length alters with each row.

Secondly, it is easier to read on screen. The shorter span of characters across the screen makes reading easier and more appealing to the recipient of your email message.

Thirdly, some mail clients automatically cause line wrapping and if your mail lines are longer, they would break the lines. It appears chopped up, unattractive and unappealing.

Not All CAPS

In written language all capital letter sentence is deemed as screaming or yelling. As you do not like screaming salesperson, so you would not like a screaming sales letter.
People get turned off by the sight of such message.

Watch Your Grammar And Language

On the other day I received a comment that contained a weird language. It was a mix of text, letters and misspelt words.

Such language might be good for SMSes but not emails. Especially not for business emails.

A mail full of grammatical mistakes and misspelings does not enthuse trust in the reader.

Your email is going to be your first impression. You need to write in a proper way.

Remember most of the marketing is reputation building and that applies to email marketing as well.

Construct your reputation well.

Update:

The site is working fine now.

I was surprised why homeforprofits.com was not loading properly. The site always stopped when Aweber form started loading. Then I checked Aweber.com and it resulted in blank page.

The sites using Aweber’s opt in forms seems to be taking a much longer time to load due to the downtime.

There is no official word from Aweber as yet.

If you are affected and your site is not loading, you can temporarily resolve the issue by removing the web-form code.

I would keep you posted

I have always been using Get Response autoresponder for my email marketing purposes. It has been a good service throughout except for a few minor hitches.

Not very long ago Aweber introduced a service called blog broadcast where you can send your blog posts as broadcasts either automatically or manually.

It used RSS technology.

Soon GR followed with its own version Blog Announce.

But the services differed actually in their method of delivery.

While Aweber allowed you to send complete delivery of the blog post or teaser, Get Response only sent only headlines.

About 6 months back I wrote them to include the feature and they expressed inability,

After much deliberation I decided to switch.

New sign up form is from Aweber.

I would send a call to my subscribers on GR list soon.

So if you want no hassle delivery of the posts to your inbox, just fill the form on the sidebar.

Today is product review day but this product has been making so much waves that I could not resist myself
from writing on this issue.

Internet marketing circles are buzzing with activity as I write about this product, List Control by Frank Kern.

Frank Kern is famous author of Mass Control and Mass Control 2.0

Again Frank comes with another course.

This went live on 15th March and it is highly possible that you would find it sold out when you see it now.

I am sure you must have received a mail promoting list control and the plethora of bonuses being offered.

You must be wondering if this is some kind of magical stuff that would bring you instant money.

You must be thinking that you are being left behind in this frenzy to grab the product which may be closed after the specific number of spots have been filled.

That is how hype works.

Do not feel left behind or curse yourself for not having enough budget to get this product.

Take a deep breath and a glass of ice tea with honey. There is nothing wrong.

You are not being left out. Just do not let the hype catch you.

First of all let us see what this product is all about.

This product is priced at $1997 and there is another option of payment of $795 in three installments of

Here is what you would be getting with the product. The information is taken straight from the website.

4 weekly modules of online video training

Every Friday live group coaching calls or their recordings if you miss one.

Life time access to List Control members’ area

Free pass to Frank’s 2-Day List Control workshop in San Diego during Memorial Day weekend (Space is limited. First come, first served!)

Videos from workshop for free if you miss one.

Frank is also giving you his swipe file which he has used when he wrote the copy for some of the big promotions which also contains the exact sequence for all of my biggest campaigns.

Yes! This much would cost you $1997.

Phew!

Let us come to the hype now.

Because this is a high end product, there are big commissions involved. So there are big bonuses being offered by the affiliates. And the affiliates are themselves so big that people buy at their recommendations.

Every big marketer seems to be promoting it. And then it suddenly occurs to the person at the other end-

May be I am really missing something.

Hold on! You are not.

Note: As I write this, I have started receiving the next set of emails from almost same guys for another product called Traffic Ultimatum as next best product internet has ever generated. So you can think of how recommendations jump.

All these big guns create a frenzy around the product and it is fueled by fans of those big guns without looking into the facts.

DO not get caught in frenzy. Your rational mind gets blocked and you would just follow the instructions and sweat at the same time due to fear of if I lost it………..

Let me ask you a question.

Is there a race?

Why do you think that marketer who bought the List Control would jump ahead of you.

Are you in competition?

If you think so then you would be taken for a ride very often. In life and in internet marketing.

Before you want to buy a product you should ask yourself following questions. This should hold true for every product you buy for your business.

• Is there a need for the product now or in near future
• Does it fit your plan or it is an intrusion of information overload
• Do you have budget at your disposal

This product is about building a list. If you want to know about list building, you might consider buying it. However the information could clash with some other product on same topic so it might not fit in your plan.

And finally you should be willing to spend $1997 on this.

Considering all the views [There is no review available yet. The course starts next week. If you buy now, you reserve your seat.]

I think it would be a good product on list building but it would not be a magic bullet.

No! Nothing can be that.

Even after purchasing you would need to work, probably a lot.

I know I do not intend to buy. I can if I want but I have my plan for this year and list building course does not come anywhere.

There are people who are excited to go to Live Workshop to San Diego and are willing to pay for it alone as otherwise Frank Kern seminars are quite expensive.

For someone staying nearby it could be an exciting offer.

For me, it would be a lot of hassle.

What is your situation?

Base your decision on that, not hype.

You are not loosing something magical.

One of the complaints email marketers are making over the time are declining response of readers. With so much competition around your mail might see trash or junk box as soon as it arrives.

Though opt-in list allows you to provide newsletters to your subscribers with their consent and when people sign up, they know that they will be receiving updates and news from you via an e-mail, nothing stops them from trashing your mail if they find uninteresting.

Heck! Most of the people do not even bother to open the mail to read content.

Why?

We all have so much information flowing around it that we have a kind of attention deficit. Thta means we do not bother to focus our mind enough on a thing. Same goes for email.

It is so easy to subscribe but reading takes time. One can read few emails but yet we subscribe to too many newsletters, emails, updates. Add on to that bookmarks, social bookmark, RSS feeds. All eat up the time of a subscriber he could have devoted to possibly to your mail.

That is why subscribing does not always translate into readership.

Thus it is important to catch the attention and that begins with your subject line.

Tempt your subscriber by providing a well thought out and well written subject. The subject of an email is what is often referred to when a person or a recipient of an email decides whether he or she wants to open or read an e-mail. The subject could easily be regarded as one of the most important aspect of your promotional e-mail.

If your subject is not good enough to get your subscriber’s attention it will not stay in the inbox for long.

Here is what you can do to work on your subject line.

Make It Crisp

Your subject must be short and concise. Classically it has been said that the subject line should provide a summary for the content of the e-mail but I have found that the teasers which tempt but do not reveal the content work quite well.

The idea is to grab the attention of your subscriber and get them to be intrigued to open up your mail.  But do not make them too weird.

And do not make them very long.

Let It Tickle

A good subject must always be tickling the curiosity of your recipient. It must literally force the recipient to open the mail. A certain emotion must be ignited and get them to open the mail. It is essential to use specific words to get the reaction you need.

Use Words That Have Impact

There are many forms you can use for your subject. You can provide a subject that says your e-mail contains content that teaches them tips and methods on certain topics. An example of this is using keywords and keyword phrases such as, “How to” , “tips”, “Guides to”, etc.

Question

Try putting a question to your audience. Imagine the reaction of a subscriber when you ask, “Are you sick and tired of your job?” Or “Is your boss always on your case?” . He would be tempted to open and read the mail. But be careful nod to trick your subscribers by asking off the topic questions.

Action

You can also use a subject that commands your reader. Statements such as “Act now and get this once in a lifetime opportunity”, or “Double, triple and even quadruple what you are earning in one year”. This would put the readerin action gear and a fear of loosing the opportunity.

You may also use breaking news as your subject to intrigue your subscriber.This creates curiosity with the reader and will lead them to open the mail and read on.

Providing a newsletter for your opt-in list subscribers provides many benefits in terms of driving traffic into your site as well as boosting the sales and profits of your site and company.

With a newsletter, you can inform people about your company and products as well as services. You can keep them posted and updated about what’s going-on with your company as well as many of your promotions and offerings.This also gives an opportunity to interact and build relations.

Newsletters can show your expertise and knowledge about the topic at hand and the many benefits you can offer. And there is a chance to turn your subscribers into your customers.

It is therefore a must to have newsletter for your business.

If you do not already have one, I urge you to start one. When you are starting your newsletter, it gives you immense advantage if you take care of following points.

Relevance

Your newsletter should be relevant to your business or related it. Sometimes you might want to share a few things with your readers which is not concerning your business and that is perfectly alright but for most of it, you should focus on your business theme and related activities. Do not dwell too far on what could be regarded as your field of expertise.

If you have a site that sells auto car parts, your newsletter must contain articles or content like photos that pertain to cars, auto parts and such. You may also include content about your company and your staff.

Remember that visitors of a certain site are there because they are interested in what the site has to offer. If they sign up for an opt-in list or for a newsletter this means that they want to be updated for that certain theme or subject.

Be sure that when you publish your newsletter you are providing for the need of the subscriber as well as their interests.

Write Well

Ensure that you have well written, information riddled and content rich articles. You articles will be the body of your newsletter and that they should be able to excite your readers as well as provide information. Articles should be well written and checked for errors such as spelling and grammatical errors for it to look professional and believable.

The trust of your client to you and newsletter is at stake here.

Check Your Facts Before You Send

Make sure that you provide true facts and figures so that your reputation as an expert and knowledgeable in that field is not questioned. If you lose the trust of your subscribers, you loose potential sales.

Serve Fresh

Internet is a fast medium. Things age very quickly here. If  you provide your readers fresh and unique content, they would be yours for a long time to come.

Do NOT Copy

Do not use copyrighted materials as it may put you in trouble.. If you do not have the time to write your own articles,get them written but stay unique. Even if you are not charged with stealing, your credibility is under scanner if yu=our reader also are the readers of material you copied from.