Biz Tips Blog: Internet Marketing Tips

Internet Marketing: Six Ways to Improve Your Double Opt-In Rates

You probably know that having a double opt-in* process for your newsletter/ezine list is a must in business-to-business email marketing. It can be a confusing process to implement, depending on your ezine subscriber management system, but the benefits are clear:

• less chance of being called a spammer by someone who doesn't remember filling in the form (or because someone else filled out the form with their email address);
• fewer bad email addresses in your list;
• some mailing list delivery services require it!

BUT--sometimes your would-be subscribers don't click that link they receive from you in the confirmation email. And so you lose 10, 20, even 50% of your "subscribers". Arghh! How can you improve your opt-in rates? Generally, the more compelling and relevant your "offer" is to folks, and the easier it is for them to complete the process, the better opt-in rate you will enjoy.

1. Have some really strong copy that describes your ezine and the benefits they will receive.
2. Provide an incentive for folks to subscribe. A free ebook, ecourse, etc.
3. Remind folks that they must confirm (click the link in the confirmation email) to receive the incentive. You can do this on the signup or thank you page.
4. Help them make sure they receive the confirmation email, by offering a page explaining how to add your ezine to their whitelist.
5. Show them how to confirm. A snapshot of the confirmation email, with the confirmation link circled, is one way to make it crystal-clear.
6. Make sure your confirmation email matches the description of your ezine. Use the same wording, etc. Nothing will reduce your confirmation rates like using the generic confirmation email text!

Implement these permission-based email marketing best practices, and watch your subscription confirmations soar!

*Double opt-in defined:

1. new subscriber fills out a form on your site
2. your list management software sends a confirmation email with a special coded link
3. new subscriber clicks the link
4. subscriber is added to your list

Single opt-in eliminates steps 2 and 3.

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Email Marketing by the Numbers

We just learned that Chris Baggott's new book, Email Marketing By The Numbers, is now available on Amazon.com. Why are we excited about this? Well, Patsi is one of the featured authors.  It's a "compendium of ideas" culled from many people.

I just ordered my copy and Patsi's copy is on the way. After we have a chance to review the content, we'll post more about our observations.

Chris Baggott is Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of ExactTarget and we interviewed him on Blogging and Beyond in February about whether or not email is dead. Can you guess his answer?!

Book Promotion: How NOT to do it

This morning Patsi received an email asking for help on a new book promotion.  I'm reprinting the email here in its entirety to show you what NOT to do when you are seeking partners to help with your product promotions.

Hi,

We are working on promoting a book to as many people as possible to make it become a bestseller at Amazon.com on January 9, 2007.  The key to the success of this plan is to get a large number of people to purchase the book on a single day.
So we  need to  the  ezines list of  your  website or  subscribers who can  promote the book for us.
Regards,

Mac

What's wrong with this picture?!!!

Ezine Success Tips

For all you frustrated ezine publishers and those of you who are contemplating starting an ezine, Patsi and I have just completed a special report on Ten New Rules For E-Newsletter Success. The report is free to download and at the moment the only place to get it is on the sales page for our All in One Ezine Publishing System.

In addition to the Ten New Rules, you learn the Four Simple Keys for Publishing a Newsletter That Gets Results plus 8 reasons why you should send out an ezine.

There's no obligation to buy the System.  And, you will learn a lot from the Special Report.

Chris Knight Reviews Our All-in-One Ezine Publishing System

We're very pleased that Christopher Knight of EzineArticles.com and EmailUniverse.com has reviewed our new product All-in-One Ezine Publishing System.

Being biased of course, I'd say his review is balanced and fair.  Check out Chris' review here.

Customized Newsletter Articles Directory Launched

Executive Coaching Article Site Launched by Customized Newsletter Services

Finding articles for use in coaching and consulting newsletters just got easier with the launch this month of www.CustomizedNewsletterArticles.com.

(PRWEB) September 18, 2006 -- If you are an executive coach or business consultant and send out regular newsletters or ezines, you can find articles with full reprint rights through a new article directory called Customized Newsletter Articles.

The article directory site was launched this month by Customized Newsletter Services, an online marketing company that provides complete ezine publication services and content to business professionals.

“We’ve made it easy for professionals who are looking for content to be able to search by category,” said Patsi Krakoff, Psy. D., a psychologist who has been writing executive coaching articles since 1999.

More details on the press release.

NetAim Training Sessions on Ezines

Are you a member of NetAim - The Internet Association of Information Marketers?  Patsi and I have been invited by Tom Antion to present 3 training sessions on ezines for NetAim members on Thursday, August 31.

NetAim offers monthly training sessions for beginning, intermediate and advanced Internet marketers.

I've been thinking a lot about NetAim because I attended an Internet Marketing Summit last week for the Outer Circle members.  I realized what a phenomenal deal this is...monthly dues are $100.  Not only do you get monthly training, but the opportunity to attend an annual retreat at Tom's retreat center for a full day of training.  There were 5 of us at the event last week which means we set the agenda for what we wanted to go into indepth. 

Tom answered every single question each of us had throughout the day; no issue was too small or too dumb.  We spent about half the day on eBay strategies which I'll be focusing on soon (again).  The rest of the day was spent on video strategies.

Tom generally charges $1000 an hour for his time so for $1,200 a year, you get amazing access and training from one of the best, most successful, and definitely most down to earth guys making a living on the Web.

If you would like to attend the sessions tomorrow, you can join NetAim for as little as $15 per month.  If you join, let me know and I'll make sure you get the info to attend the class at your membership level.

Email Opt-in Video Tutorial

After writing my previous post, I decide to create a video to illustrate what you can now do with the enhanced double opt-in system on KickStartCart.  It's included in our program on ezine broadcasting, and I decided to post the video here too since I wrote about it.

KickStartCart Beefs Up Email Opt-in

If you use KickStartCart (or any one of the other private label 1ShoppingCart systems), you may have noticed a significant upgrade in the email opt-in features.  In their ongoing efforts to combat spam and false subscribes as well as to provide more flexibility to publishers, they have implemented a number of features to customize your opt-in confirmation messages.  I'm posting info from 1ShoppingCart here about the upgrades:

Update to New Opt-in Tools – We are now offering a variety of new Opt-In Tools to provide you with the utmost flexibility in growing the best mailing list possible!

Changes include:

Second Chance Opt-in – You can now send out an Opt-In message with the click of a button to every unverified prospect on your list in order to move them over to our Tier One delivery system. (i.e. non-customers/affiliates who were not subjected to the opt-in process previously) Once they confirm their subscription by clicking the link in their Opt-In message, they will automatically begin receiving mail from the Tier One system

Ezine Broadcasting: Should Your Eggs Be All in One Basket?

Joan Stewart, the Publicity Hound, contacted me yesterday when she received the announcement about our teleclass on ezine broadcasting.  We had an interesting email exchange that she's given me permission to share with you.

Joan

Are you going to talk about other alternatives to the shopping
cart, or is this simply a pitch for the shopping cart?

Denise

I don't really consider this a pitch for the shopping cart but a how-to class for those who want to use this system or for those who may be considering this system. We won't be covering other systems because this is the only one we use and recommend to our clients. With the free trial, as you know, there is no obligation for people to pay for it if they choose not to use this system. [It's an excellent way to "try before you buy".]