tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2383529340126076302024-11-01T03:35:17.881-07:00A place to discuss what it takes to be a legitimate email marketer and establish a good email reputation. Learn how to set your self apart from spammers and those who simply don't know any better.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238352934012607630.post-29744070891449730582009-01-21T19:02:00.000-08:002009-01-21T19:06:16.194-08:00

Purchasing a listPaying $5 for a million email addresses may seem like a good investment, but just think about how those addresses may have been obtained. Most likely they were harvested or collected off the Internet from people who never intended to receive messages from you. Anti-address harvesters put out honey-pot addresses out there with the intent of being picked up by the bad guys. When

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238352934012607630.post-78823101940078435192008-11-18T18:12:00.000-08:002008-11-19T09:28:13.966-08:00

Many people seem to think that they can get into email marketing and make money. Of course the people who sell email lists to unsuspecting Internet users out to make a quick buck do make a lot of money off email marketing scams. Legitimate email marketing however, is a means to an end, not the end itself.First, you must have some reason to send email to people. Buying a list of names and emailing

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238352934012607630.post-2644516741331757892008-10-08T05:08:00.001-07:002008-10-08T05:33:22.652-07:00

The two biggest contributing factors affecting email delivery are the number of failed emails that reside in your email list and the number of spam complaints you get when you send emails. ISPs like AOL and Yahoo use this data when you send bulk email, to either slow you down or halt delivery altogether. It might be better to get rid of these types of addresses from your email list

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238352934012607630.post-17244652769668390142008-10-03T05:28:00.000-07:002008-10-03T06:07:41.124-07:00

The other day, Terry Zink posted an excellent article on security that questions who is at fault when security is breached. Along the same vein, if you sign up for email messages and the proceed to get spam, you may be complicit in your own subsequent deluge of unwanted emails. Even though most reputable sites have some sort of email policy indicating what they will do with your email address,

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238352934012607630.post-24651559470810017602008-09-29T05:08:00.000-07:002008-09-29T05:48:49.475-07:00

After several years in the email marketing business it is easy to get jaded about email marketing. I visit with people who claim to have millions of emails, legitimately obtained and it seems impossible to me. Only the largest, most successful companies can boast of millions of customers and potential readers. It is difficult to imagine that all the people I talk to have a thousand followers, let

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238352934012607630.post-57147482907845876102008-09-23T05:19:00.000-07:002008-09-23T05:48:57.990-07:00

Actually sitting down and creating the email message is one of the most challenging aspects of email marketing. There are many parts you must consider when creating a message that readers will read and hopefully, act upon. Writing the copy and designing the message are two major elements that should be carefully considered. Branding your message across different types of message templates will

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238352934012607630.post-54654771876346856152008-09-17T14:45:00.000-07:002008-09-22T05:53:18.291-07:00

After you acquire a list, actually even while it is still growing, you want to start sending email messages. You don't need to let your subscribers know there are only five other people on the list besides them, begin your marketing program right away. After all, those subscribers are going to be expecting something from you based on your schedule and if you fail to come through for them, you

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238352934012607630.post-83767370024287783392008-09-16T05:13:00.000-07:002008-09-17T15:05:24.874-07:00

Email marketing should not be your sole business model, but a tool to reach your customers to whom you can sell your goods and services. Getting into email marketing as a get rich quick scheme could negatively affect your email reputation. The business model should come first and then you can think about email marketing as a legitimate email marketer. This is the first part in a series on how to

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238352934012607630.post-53786093003544293432008-09-12T05:56:00.001-07:002008-09-12T05:58:26.084-07:00

Wouldn't it be great to always have the ball and always play on offense? Every few minutes you could rush or pass your way down the field and score. The score would rack up and in a 60 minute game you could have hundreds of points. Of course that wouldn't be much of a game would it, but that is the ideal scenario for email marketing. There is a problem however, a big problem, there are 11

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238352934012607630.post-3494397392172523652008-09-11T07:40:00.000-07:002008-09-11T12:55:07.631-07:00

I have seen very few articles, mentions, or news stories about the 7th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on 9/11, so I thought I'd better write my own.Seven years ago, at about this time of day, my wife decided to turn on the TV and watch the news, which we never do. To our amazement they were showing the World Trade Center with fire billowing out of the North Tower. At that point, nobody was

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238352934012607630.post-2386235343579870712008-09-09T19:28:00.000-07:002008-09-10T05:17:02.805-07:00

It is finally football season, which means it is time for football analogies. Getting email delivered is a lot like trying to get into the endzone of your oponent. There are a lot of obstacles trying to prevent you from reaching your goal. There are three ways to help you score with your email marketing campaign.PreparationThe preparation phase is crucial to establishing your email reputation.

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238352934012607630.post-66189210070622244222008-09-02T09:39:00.000-07:002008-09-02T09:45:30.336-07:00

Recently I did some testing based on complaints about failed email deliverability to some standard free email accounts (Windows Live Hotmail, AOL, Gmail, and Yahoo).The TestsUsing a basic HTML message based on a basic template, I ran some tests. All the emails had the same innocuous subject line and were HTML messages, since it is well established that plain text email messages are highly

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238352934012607630.post-87460780452945470752008-08-28T05:42:00.000-07:002008-08-28T05:48:15.788-07:00

Imagine you take a trip to your post box down the road today to pick up the mail. To your surprise, you find nothing. Not one word. All you see is just an empty hole in the wall with zip in it. Annoyance would be the prime emotion here. Maybe even a dollop of disappointment.But what if you find out that all that airy space exists simply because the post office decided to send all your mail back?

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238352934012607630.post-37676898987853956732008-08-26T06:04:00.000-07:002008-08-27T05:36:01.747-07:00

As mentioned previously, email marketing is black and white, you either do it correctly, or you don't. There are seven things you must do to set your self apart from the email marketing wannabes.Grow your list naturallySure, this is hard to do, but it will pay big dividends with establishing and maintaining your email reputation. A purchased list may have a collection of email addresses

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238352934012607630.post-10083960507531201952008-08-25T06:14:00.000-07:002008-08-27T05:35:44.092-07:00

Email marketing is like riding a wave, you have to hit it just right to keep moving forward. With today's fast moving technology the wave may pass you by before you can even paddle to the starting point. Here are three tips for keeping abreast of email marketing technology.Don't linger in the pastJust because you have been doing email marketing since 1997 doesn't mean you are still legitimate.

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238352934012607630.post-33077409892107943852008-08-22T05:46:00.000-07:002008-08-22T06:23:53.796-07:00

Email marketing is black and white, you either do it correctly, or you do not. There are plenty of companies that do it "mostly" correctly, but if they miss one element, then they are not doing it right.For example, if you have a clean, confirmed opt-in email list of highly qualified customers to which you send a newsletter once per month. You stick to your schedule, you only send the newsletter

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238352934012607630.post-37754007469051268562008-08-20T05:34:00.000-07:002008-08-20T07:28:33.218-07:00

SpammersUnsolicited Bulk Emailers are the most obvious contributors to email delivery problems. Their actions negatively impact the Internet on several levels. Each email that is sent, whether delivered or not, takes up processing time on one or more servers. This time is paid for in real dollars by domain hosts and email servers along the entire path of the email delivery cycle. Time spent

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238352934012607630.post-34371617854882601972008-08-18T19:13:00.000-07:002008-09-03T05:23:43.852-07:00

Email technology is a good and useful tool for personal and business communications. However, it is being hijacked and tarnished by unscrupulous criminals called spammers. Most people in the world enjoy an email account or two. What people do not like is getting email messages that they do not want or need. This includes spam email of course, but for many people it also includes messages forward

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238352934012607630.post-30356072384724722462008-08-16T15:53:00.000-07:002008-08-20T05:52:14.847-07:00

Sometimes technical terms are like the menu of a coffee bar that can leave you scratching your head. The email marketing menu lists items like "opt-in," "opt-out," "single opt-in," "unconfirmed opt-in," "confirmed opt-in," and "double opt-in." Articles about mass email marketing often assume their audience is up to speed on all these terms. At Pathfinder Email Consulting, we deal with a lot of

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0