Email Marketing

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Email marketing isn’t going away. Our Inboxes are full of them and for good reason: they work.

There are things to know before you begin. There ARE laws governing email.

Each marketing email needs to include how to unsubscribe instructions. Simply put: “reply to this email with unsubscribe in the subject line”. You must remove any and all requests from your email list. The risk is getting your email flagged as “spam”, which means you won’t reach your recipient. Getting blacklisted is to be avoided.

The pretty image emails (HTML) you receive can be created with the help of your web designer. These are actually hosted. All the files for the email layout reside on your server. The email file is so small and downloads quickly as it refers to your website folder to grab the images for the layout. Quick and custom layouts.

You can design your email – but you can’t guarantee how it will be viewed. Each person defines their email. I personally block all images. Outlook then asks if I want to “view the images”. While amazon.com sends me a lovely layout – I receive a clunky email with boxes for pictures…which are blank. The web designer has inserted text, so I can decide if I need to see the picture.

Just as with a website you can code the font to be used, but if the user does not have that font on their computer it will substitute another and the layout will change to accommodate it.  Macs have fonts PCs don’t and vice-versa. There are universal fonts – which is what you see on most websites.

Another option: You can create your email design in Publisher and save to send as email. Using Publisher means you must optimize the photos. If your email is laden with graphics the file size will be large and clog Inboxes, that alone will get you blocked or flagged as spam. One of my clients sends me the images for the newsletter email and I re-size and optimize. The finished file is larger than an HTML hosted email would be, but small enough to be acceptable to send as an email. This is a great way to begin –  and budget minded. Also note – the above user email rules apply – and your design may not show up as you intended. It can be frustrating, but if you keep it simple – it is do-able. Test, test, test is the key.

If you are doing it yourself – you need to check with your web hosting regarding email lists. If you are starting out and have less than 300 emails on your list you are probably within their limits. But most web host companies limit how many emails you can send within a day – if their maximum is 300 – you won’t be able to send any other business emails in that day.

There is a good reason behind this limitation. When so much email is being sent through a server (where your web site resides) it is using up resources better left to keeping your website downloading fast.

Next up is the spamming factor. If web hosting doesn’t limit the email activity spammers run rampant. Most websites are hosted on shared servers. Once spammers get ahold of a server they will drag down all the sites on that server. Once the spamming activity is tagged by Yahoo, Google – webmail – it will begin to blacklist that IP address as spam – which now compromises all the sites. Be thankful to your web hosting for being watchful!

Now, what to do with a large email list? Move into the email marketing companies. There are tons to choose from. Many have templates you can use to fill in and compose your layout. These are fee based and you upload your email list. They also have the software in place to help out with being blocked and never reaching your recipient, controlling who opts out and so on. They know what they are doing and it saves you some headaches.

Custom Website

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You’re thinking about your first website and you feel overwhelmed?

Why a custom website?

Templates are fine if you know enough to fully fill out all the boxes which means you know how to build a website to some extent. There is much behind the scenes, unless you typically view source code you are unaware of and the importance.

Putting your business into a professional’s hand is so important.

There was a time when launching a website was easy enough and you could make mistakes and still do fine through Google. Times are so different. Thus it is no longer a hobby.

So where to begin preparing to create your website?

For the visual design find 3 websites you like – even one element: the color or the layout. This gives your designer an idea of what you envision.

If you have a logo that can dictate the color scheme.

Your website wants to make a large footprint. One client has 237 pages – which would be a huge task to begin your first website. Five pages is so small it is difficult to maximize your content to feed search engines. Ten pages allows for a well rounded entry level.

Begin to think about your pages: Home,  Contact Us, About Us are standard pages, also Testimonials. Your Home page and About Us pages often share content. If you have a mission statement for your business that is valuable.

Think about organizations you belong to (Chamber of Commerce) licensing, BBB.

Photos and more photos. People are visual and truly a picture is worth a thousand words. Digital photos are the best, but old snapshots can be edited, color improved and are quite usable, so don’t shy away if they represent your product or service.

Whether you use a Testimonials page or not – collect these. They can be sprinkled on your other pages if your budget won’t afford a stand alone Testimonials page. Ask your valued customers for a couple lines, or find old cards of thanks for your service.  Read an earlier blog of mine:
https://www.brendasimon.com/blog/?p=119

Now, you’re ready to call your designer!

Google background

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Google

Did you get caught with Google‘s background this week? Yikes. I am pretty easy going, but this was so distracting. I enjoy the white background and simplistic home page for Google. It has everything right where you want it – easy loading page, easy navigating page.  Suddenly on Thursday I landed on Google to find a faded white Google name – and all the navigation buttons white with a drop shadow and difficult to read; and then this slower loading huge image.

Next up how to change it. A handy “change the background” link in the lower left corner. The catalog of choices was few when I was there.  I finally created my own and positioned it to just cover the white Google name.  But, still their choice of white on white with a drop shadow was a bit odd for all the other buttons/links.

Their forums were lit up with unhappy users…and accusations of mimicking Bing flying furiously.  (We DO take our Google seriously.)

Happy to find by Saturday Google abandoned the idea.  Now, you can choose to have an image…or not.  Thank you!  I like a white background.

Website Copyright

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Website Copyright Issues

Each website owner has to own the rights or have permission to use the content on his/her website. In the beginning of the Internet people felt they could use anything “up there”.  Artists and musicians were the first to be hit. ASCAP has gone a long way in protecting digital rights for musical compositions and continues.

Now web users recognizes theft of music and art, but photos are still being grabbed from websites. As a website owner you are liable for the content of your website.

Recently a nonprofit organization had an image donated through a prior connection many years ago. It turned out that “donation” was a reworked art from a museum. A letter was sent to the organization to pay a sizable sum. They have pulled it down and hope this and an apology will be enough. The sender of the letter has deep pockets, they go after people on a regular basis.

With digital cameras and Photoshop mediocre photos can be polished and “pop”. If you need a studio shot iStock photo is an affordable resource. You purchase the RIGHTS to use the photo. Done deal. Read the fine print as ALL rights are NOT included. Most of the time anything you print and resell will NOT be allowed. You can use the purchased image in your print ads, but not to put on a mug and sell. For less than $2 you are headache free.

This also includes written content. You cannot copy and paste from another website. Besides that issue: Google will recognize duplicate content and you lose value with Google.  Websites exist to help write your content.

After you launch your website you don’t want any legal headaches.

Website Testimonials

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Have you ever read customer reviews or testimonials before making your decision to buy products or services? You’re not alone.

Quite an increase in the past 2 years, these reviews are becoming more and more important to online shoppers, or before picking up the phone to call for services. Recently released data tells us 2 out of 3 online consumers spend a minimum of 10 minutes scouring product reviews and testimonials before making a choice to buy, or for those of us selling services – before they pick up the phone. It goes on to further say 1 in 3 consumers spend 30 minutes or more.

There are now website dedicated to authenticating the testimonials on your website to let your web visitors know these were not made up.

Even negative reviews factor in to authenticity. Ever wonder why amazon.com allows reviewers to post pro and cons? Not only does all this activity drive their website, but the absence of negative reviews in this environment can indicate someone is deleting negative feedback. Allowing the negative raises the website’s trustworthiness.

It comes back to an old marketing idea of letting others speak about your business. Get those testimonials!

Pay for YouTube?

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YouTube and another video site, Hulu, are each moving toward paid content. Looks like they will be in the form of premium membership will allow access to some content. Most likely the famous: “What my dog is doing?” videos will still be free to view.

In this new configuration some content developers would be able to charge for their videos.  Sounds like people will get quite creative and competitive to bring out new and useful content!

Website Business Value

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Most businesses recognize the need for a website for their own purposes. It turns out now the website is an asset when obtaining a business loan. Recently an incoming client was told he needed to have a website in order to apply for a business loan.

It’s nice to know all the time spent to create your website is seen as an asset. Of course – if you sold your business…once again you would have value!

Add a Video

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Adding video to your website helps drive your website.

Many people search Google for videos. Whatever your product or service add a simple video to convey your message.

How do I create a video?

This video (below)  is not  video at all, but a slide show.  While it is all labeled video on Google – your decision will rest on how much time you have to give to a video project.  Editing consumes so much time. Proofing and tweaking is critical as “timing” matters in  commercials, you can’t skimp on quality.

This piece (below) took  2 hours. It is custom, not automated. That time separates your quality from others.  It is 57 seconds in length. Make sure your viewer has time to read, but not get bored waiting for the next movement.

People value their time in their search. To this end keep your video simple and short. If you aren’t creating a “how to” video get to your point. Make your message represent your service and wrap it up. This is the same formula for any book or script: you need a beginning, middle and end.  It doesn’t have to be complicated.

Look at this one: “Clutter?” with a good visual move onto “what we do well” to help with your problem, more visuals; then all the areas (kitchens, closets, etc.) we can help with clutter and finally: who we are.

This video is hosted on YouTube, but used on my client’s Google Maps profile. Always with the website included: http://www.rylexonline.com/

Something simple without the editing challenge of video.  It’s a simple commercial. Visit my site for more elaborate ideas:

Domain Name

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Price change in domain name.

Today my resource for domain name (website name) purchase  announced an increase beginning June 18, 2010 for .com and .net name. The increase is 50 cents. Namesecure.com is the resource I use.

Namesecure was recently purchased by NetworkSolutions. I checked NetworkSolution’s pricing, which is not easily displayed. For a one year domain they begin at $15.99. This offers a couple of items with it, but if you are launching a full website these aren’t necessary.  They have another plan for $34.99 per year.

If this is your first time buying a domain name be careful. The price should continue to total under $10.00/year. GoDaddy is offering 6.99/year until you look up a .com and the price jumps to $10.69.

.com is the extension you want for your domain name. Others are cheaper, but the reason is simple: we’re still .com-minded.

Web Hosting

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Web Hosting is the only monthly/ongoing fee for a website.

What is web hosting?

Every website resides on some computer somewhere. These are typically called “servers”. (Part of the confusion for new website owners can be the different names used for the same item.) Servers are basically computer hard drives. Web hosting services have lots of these – stacks and rooms full of servers.

How to choose your web hosting begins with your preference. Most of my clients don’t have time or desire to research this and I handle it for them.  I set up their webmail as well.

But if you want to choose your own you need to research the company. Find out how to reach tech support. Can they be reached by phone? Email tech support is often enough, but you need to know how to reach tech when there is an issue. And something WILL come up.

Don’t base your choice on price alone. Have you ever had your computer’s hard drive get very sluggish as it ages due in part to reaching the used capacity? The same thing happens with servers. The more packed into them the slower they become over time. You do not want your website to download slowly due to the server. Don’t confuse this with your own (or a visitor’s) download time. This you cannot control. If a visitor tells you the site wouldn’t load – you check it out and it is fine – you can be comfortable it was on the visitor’s end.

If you choose your own web hosting you will need to provide your web designer with the user name and password and the name of the directory the website is uploaded into.

While cheap hosting isn’t desirable you don’t need to over pay. If you are using a simple site with static pages (no Flash, multi-media, audio, video, etc.) you can meet your needs for around $15/month.  You can pay less if you pay annually.

I stopped paying annually with the 2008 economy downturn.  I could foresee companies folding with my clients’ fees paid for a year. Another concern was maintenance expenses for web hosting (all those servers). I wondered if the companies would cut back on maintenance and upgrades to the servers which would mean declining performance to our websites.  I experienced this when one company was sold another. The hosting began to suffer. I now pay web hosting fees monthly on behalf of my clients. I am in a position to move my clients if the hosting begins to decline.

If you are launching an e-commerce site. There are a number of other issues and your hosting needs are higher. You must be on secure servers and there are associated fees.

Read the web hosting’s uptime stats. While some offer to credit you back should their down time be longer than 45 minutes in one month – read the fine print to see what this dollar amount will be. (It’s very small.)

There are a number of web hosting review websites you can check out. It’s a place to begin. Read the fine print and email any host you are considering. Their response time can give you some idea of their customer service attitude.

Web hosting is the foundation for your online business. Make an informed choice.