Email broadcasting remains an incredibly valuable marketing tool.

But, much as other aspects of Internet Marketing, it has changed and is likely to continue to change, but there are some rules you can count on if you want to pursue a strategy.

1, The single biggest issue continues to be spam. You do NOT want to be labeled a spammer.

2. A good targeted email list WHICH YOU HAVE BUILT YOURSELF is about the least expensive and most effective marketing there is.

3. It is almost impossible to buy a usable email list. In some specific instances you can get a list for example, if you are exhibiting at a trade show. That are also many organizations and publications that will send out your email broadcast to their list. They are rarely inexpensive, in fact, they often cost about as much per address as mailing a post card.

4. So the many offers you get for cheap email lists are NOT legitimate.

5. You can build an extremely valuable list yourself, but it isn't going to happen overnight.

6. You have to get people to give you their email addresses. That means you have to give them a reason why THEY would want to give it to you. Everyone is tired of spam, so they aren't just going to give you their address for the heck of it.

Got it?

So let's say you have a list. What do you do with it? Stay tuned....

Posted by Richard R. Byrd at 11:17 AM | Permalink

When you send an email with a link to a web page, if that link is very long, many email programs will spread the URL over two lines and the link won't work.

The cure for this is a "link shortener" which is a service that gives you a short URL that redirects to the page you want.

This also works when you have to fit your message in a limited amount of space, like Twitter's 140 characters.

One issue with link shorteners is, will they be around forever? Because you don't want to save a shortened version of a link only to have it non-functional because the link shortening service went out of business or something.

Well, Google now has a link shortening service, and you know Google isn't going to drop it.

It is http://goo.gl - just go to their site, paste in the URL, click "shorten" and get the shortened URL you can paste into an email, text message, tweet or whatever.

If you're signed in to your Google account when you do this, you'll build a library of them you can look up later so you don't have to save the information elsewhere if you will be reusing shortened links.

Useful.

Posted by Richard R. Byrd at 06:53 AM | Permalink

This information has moved to http://www.fastf.com/knowledge/email-boradcasting-successful-pattern.htm

Posted by Richard R. Byrd at 12:37 PM | Permalink

This information has moved to http://www.fastf.com/knowledge/email-broadcasts-deliverability.htm

Posted by Richard R. Byrd at 08:51 AM | Permalink

The biggest danger of doing email broadcasting, is not running afoul of the law (that is, the CAN-SPAM act). If you are a legitimate business that is easy to comply with.

Internet Service Providers have a MUCH lower threshold. While it is legal to send unsolicited email under CAN-SPAM, it violates the Terms of Service of pretty much every ISP and email subscription broadcast service in the country. Also most ISPs have limits on how many emails you can send per hour or day.

Continue reading "Spammer!" »

Posted by Richard R. Byrd at 08:30 AM | Permalink

(This is part two of an article on how to do email broadcasting.)

Door #2 says, knowingly violate the rules but do it in such a way that you never come up on their radar screen.

I strongly recommend Solution #2, and it isn't hard to accomplish. There are basically two ways to do this.

If you are sending to a list of people who really do know you and the list isn't too large, go ahead send it out through your ISP. Or you can use a subscription service for larger lists. Either way, chances are the percentage of people who complain or ask off is likely to be so low as to not trigger labelling you as spam.

There is an alternative, which works just fine even with huge lists from dubious sources. You send the emails out from a domain other than your regular one; and you send out using an "SMTP service".

If your emails are all @fatfreds.com, also register fatfred.com (without the "s") and send your broadcasts from "newsletter@fatfred.com". That way it can't come back onto your main domain hosting service.

An SMTP service is simply a barebones emailing service. We use one located in England. If they get complaints, they simply send them to you to unsubscribe.

The problem with any other system is your ISP, if someone complains, will probably NOT tell you who is complaining. They'll just tell you to knock off the spam. It is so easy for AOL users to report your email as spam, you are going to get complaints. So you have to have a way of finding out who is complaining.

All this adds up to a system which is a bit complex. It is also more expensive than just broadcasting through your ISP or a subscription service.

It is still WAY cheaper than any other form of marketing, and if the list is any good at all, and your email is well designed, it will be VERY cost effective.

(At Fast Forward we have a turnkey email broadcasting system based on the above. We've been using it successfully for almost two years. Call for more information.)

Posted by Richard R. Byrd at 08:01 AM | Permalink

About 3-4 years ago spam became such an issue that Congress stepped in.

One reason was because states were starting to pass laws - and they didn't necessarily agree with each other. You can imagine what it would have been like with 50 states having different rules, since email is by its nature, national or international!

Continue reading "CAN-SPAM act" »

Posted by Richard R. Byrd at 02:20 PM | Permalink

I am frequently asked about purchasing email lists. Here's the straight dope on the subject.

Three or four years ago, you could pay a company $1000 or so to send out 1 million emails to a targeted list.

Those days are gone, killed by spam and the CAN-SPAM act.

If someone is offering to sell you an email list at ANY price, it is almost certainly a scam. There are essentially no legitimate lists for sale. There are certain circumstances where you can get a legitimate list for free (see below).

If someone is offering to send out email on your behalf, to their own list, for less than about 35 cents PER EMAIL, it is almost certainly a scam. That's right. Email lists are considered so valuable, they charge as much to send an email as it costs to mail a postcard.

Legitimate organizations that will broadcast your email to their list are usually magazines or associations. They will have to approve your email before sending it - and may have severe restrictions such as on size or content.

With rare exceptions, the ONLY legitimate ways to obtain email addresses for your own use are:

1. Compile them yourselves, such as from lists of your own customers or prospects, or newsletter signups.

2. If you exhibit at a trade show, you will often get an email list from show attendees and/or exhibitors - sometimes with strings attached on their use.

3. If you are a member of a trade association of some sort, you will often get an email list of other members - sometimes with strings attached on their use.

Of course, no matter how you obtain emails, in broadcasting you have to follow the CAN-SPAM act rules, AND make sure you don't get on the wrong side of Internet Service Providers (labeled as a spammer). More about these issues in the next couple of days.,

If someone is telling you anything else, they are preying on your hopes and ripping you off.

So what do you do? Get busy and find ways to build lists using 1 to 3 above! Because email marketing IS one of the most cost-effective methods of marketing that exists. IF you can get or build a useful list.

Posted by Richard R. Byrd at 01:33 PM | Permalink