Many companies have given up trying
to find out what types of website submissions are being
accepted and rejected by the major search engines,
and they are searching for alternative ways to promote
their wares on the web. Some have turned to banner
ads, which are costly and, for the most part, ignored
by potential customers. It is also almost impossible
to reach a "targeted" audience with banner
ads. Others, however, are turning to bulk email marketing
as a means of advertising their products and services,
and are having tremendous success with it.
Bulk email marketing has become a big
business. Before the internet evolved, businesses
relied on the old adage, "Location, location,
location." In today's world of e-commerce the
new philosophy has become, "Marketing, marketing,
marketing." Every day new websites are being
created, and their owners are realizing that to compete
in this new arena they have to look seriously at
the concept of email marketing.
Bulk email is not necessarily SPAM.
SPAM is untargeted bulk email, or any untargeted
advertising that is sent to a large audience, many
of which have no previous relationship with the sender.
Bulk email can be used to contact an existing customer
database, completely with their permission. Many
times though, the ISP will not allow even this type
of emailing. Many seem to feel that even though the
user is paying for the service, the ISP can dictate
exactly how the connection is used.
In order to bulk email properly, you
need to get a list of addresses of people who will
allow you to email them. This is called opt-in email.
A customer list that is obtained when folks enter
their information as they download some software
is a good example. This is easily captured by a web
form and installed into a database. It can be as
complete as you would like, however, you should keep
in mind that the more information you require to
be entered, the fewer people will bother.
Once you get an opt-it list, you will
need to provide real content to your readers, along
with any ads you may have. In fact, the emails should
be very heavy on the content side.
One option is to link a web page to
the email. This allows you to put additional content
on your web site for your readers, and the search
engines. You can also get a lot more information
on a web page that is easily read, than in an email
reader.
Our favorite opt-in email company is
AWeber. Their cost is quite inexpensive, only $19.95
per month. They are able to have very high reliability,
in fact, they can deliver 99.34% of your emails.
They have templates and sales letters available,
The number of emails is unlimited, and they have
excellent customer support. By joining AWeber, you
can email your cusotmers and prospects, without being
branded a spammer.
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