But this isn’t the case.  While most customers have become much more savvy they also still receive, send and request email.  The trick is to do it better – stand out from the crowd – and make a difference in the number of people who then know, like and trust you enough to pull out their wallets and buy from you.

Return on investment has always been important, but in today’s economy it is more important than ever before.  Email marketing, social networking and social marketing are all very cost effective techniques – especially for the small marketer.  However, that isn’t a reason to treat the entire process without concern.

Here are some of the top mistakes that marketers make when they email their customers or potential customers:

1. Keep your emails simple and encourage the reader to click through to your site.  By loading the email with graphics, flash or java script you have a better chance of being filtered by the spam filters so clients never see you.  Or worse, your client is tired of waiting for graphics to load so they just click “delete!”

2. Be sure your customers have a way of getting back with you.  The easiest is to allow them to reply to the email they are reading.  It may be more difficult for you but the idea isn’t to make it easy on you – the idea is to make it easy on your customer.  If this isn’t possible make it very easy for your customer to find the link to your help desk.

3. Be sure that your links are active, correct and your email addresses are correct.  Nothing ticks a customer off faster than sending an email to a non-responding address.  Most people are more forgiving when links don’t work but even this sets you up for lowered expectations from your customers – never a good place to be.

4. DO NOT send an email with missing information.  We all make the occasional mistake with email but most autoresponders give you the opportunity to send your email “later” or “immediately”. Even if you choose a time that is just an hour later – pick later!  This gives you a chance to send a test email to yourself.  Look for errors in the address, content, links and email addresses.  Who hasn’t received an email that says – Hi {firstname_fix}!  If you type in the code yourself make sure it’s typed in correctly!

5. Email gets caught in the spam filters.  What could be worse for a marketer than their customer not receiving the email AT ALL?  Watch your subject lines and content and, if in doubt, send it through Spam Assasin for a good indication of whether or not you pass the test.  Aweber is one of the autoresponder services that includes this ability when you create your message.

Although I’ve never used this particular solution myself it has come highly recommended by a couple of friends and has received kudos at the Warrior Forum as well.  If you are opening a new online store, require a shopping cart and can’t quite yet afford a hosted and supported model then this was made just for you.

osCommerce has quite a few features that allow stores to be set up quickly and easily – even for techno-newbs like myself.  You can check out the software at osCommerce.com – participate in the forums, read through the information and check it out for yourself.

Be sure to come back and let me know what you think.

I have to be honest and be thankful that it’s the only medicine I ever take – and I’m not sure if my dark chocolate is the reason for that.  OK – I say that tongue in cheek – I know it isn’t ONLY the dark chocolate that keeps me healthy – but I do rest my belief on a single study supported by Dove Chocolates.

Several years ago researchers finalized a study which indicated with some statistical evidence that people who ate dark chocolate received enough  flavonoids and phenols   to gain positive cardiac health benefits.  So, being the chocoholic that I am, I took it to heart – literally.

As a Nurse Practitioner I am all too familiar with the manipulation that can be done with statistics so they say exactly what what researchers want them to say – especially when the study is supported by a company who holds a stake in the results.  It is one of the reasons that all studies must be duplicated with similar results before doctors are willing to change their medical recommendations.

But, in this case I compromised.  At the time I began this habit there were no other studies that confirmed the results – but I didn’t care.

We all make decisions based on emotion and justify with facts.  I am emotionally tied to dark chocolate and anything that can justify my addiction is good for me.

TIP: Remember your customers needs, wants and desires – sometimes decisions are made for silly reasons but if you can justify them with real facts you’ll have a very happy customer!

Today is different. Today I find it easier to differentiate between the wanna be’s and the actual Be’s.

But it wasn’t always that way.

So how do you determine who is telling it like it is and who is blowing smoke out their proverbial smoke stack?

I use a couple criteria.

1. Longevity. This doesn’t necessarily mean that if someone is new to the market they don’t know what they’re talking about but you can tell from their marketing, blogs and conversations whether they are intent on building a business or just passing through skimming whatever money they can. People who are intent on being around give good information and don’t have shady business practices.

2. Reputation. I know that a reputation can be sullied rather quickly with the immediate communication on the Internet BUT there are ways of figuring out what part of the information is from one disgruntled customer or if the information rings true for many. I look for forum reviews or posts where the individual isn’t selling a product. NOT a blog post that says – Don’t Buy Anything From Russell Brunson Until You Read THIS!  Those are just product reviews. No one who wants to stay in the Internet Marketing field will intentionally bad mouth another marketer – they may bad mouth a technique or tactic but not a marketer.

3. Reputation. Did I already say this? Well, there’s just one more point here. Before I take information from a marketer and incorporate it into my own business I also check out the reviews of their products on forums. I look for problems with returns, customer service issues or comments that the product was over priced.

4. Content. Is the content they send out in their ezines have any validity?  When I was new to the field that was hard to determine. But, today, even if I was new I could use a filter system I developed to determine if the content was accurate and valuable. Basically the filter goes like this: “If sounds too good to be true it is.”   NOT “it probably is” – it just is.  Also, I love to hear from marketers who do two things – send actual information that is helpful – free – and share information about themselves so I can get to know them as a person. I don’t read people who send out two or three promotions a week without any content or tips – even if they are only one or two lines of tips.

4a. Content. (I’m doing it again) When someone is interested in only selling to me then I have to question what they are selling. Because NO ONE can produce one or two products a week for themselves, they must be promoting other products. LET ME CLARIFY: There is nothing wrong with promoting products which deliver quality information or software of teach something of value that the marketer has reviewed (honestly) and can give his/her recommendation. I find it hard to believe that there are actually that many products produced each week that meet this criteria. But that’s just me.

5. Business. And the final criteria I use doesn’t really have to do with whether the marketer is trustworthy, but rather has to do with whether or not the products, services and information will keep me focused or get me distracted. If my basic business model is producing affiliate sites for Adsense, Amazon and Clickbank then someone who specializes in offline marketing isn’t someone I want to read. There are only so many hours/minutes in the day and I just don’t have enough of them to be distracted.

Hope that helps you weed out the marketers who are only after your money and those who really want to lend you a hand to learn a business model you work successfully.