Rags To Stitches Productions: THIRD PARTY TOOLS ~ Web Design and Development

Showing posts with label THIRD PARTY TOOLS. Show all posts

Social Media Management Made Easy

5:33 PM Author: RAGS

I have often written about and recommended the use of social media for Internet Marketing efforts, and with the vast amount of networks in which we need to be active, managing all of them can prove to be overwhelming. I personally promote my Dart Shirts business on Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, YouTube, Pinterest, FourSquare and Tumblr. How do I stay on top of all of them? A simple tool called HootSuite.

HootSuite is a social relationship platform for businesses and organizations to collaboratively execute social media strategies across the major social networks from one secure, web-based dashboard. Advanced functionality includes tools for audience engagement, team collaboration, account security and comprehensive analytics for end-to-end measurement and reporting.

One of my preferred and most used features from HootSuite is the ability to schedule posts in advance, as well as post to one account and have that one action take place across multiple social networks. The ability to post once across all of my networks saves an immeasurable amount of time, and the scheduling feature allows me to leave the office when necessary and have my marketing tasks set on auto pilot.

Free 30 Day Trial of HootSuite Pro
Schedule and automatically publish 100's of messages
Manage and post to multiple Social Profiles
Add up to 9 Team Members to your account

Save your time and your sanity. Improve productivity by managing all of your social networks within HootSuite. The dashboard is designed for you and/or your team to listen, engage and measure all from one simple interface.

Facebook
Simplify your social media with HootSuite's advanced Facebook functionality. Post updates, add images, monitor feeds, and more. Teams can manage complex campaigns – including Profiles, Pages, Events, Groups, and Search.

Twitter
With HootSuite’s Twitter integration, you have all the tools needed to grow, nurture, and engage your audience. Use HootSuite to send and schedule Tweets, listen using search, list and keyword tracking streams, as well as monitor Mentions, Direct Messages, Sent Tweets, Favorited Tweets, and more in dedicated streams.

Google+ Pages
HootSuite’s Google+ Pages integration allow brands to use HootSuite's business-focused functionality for account management and publishing targeted messaging to circles. Share and comment on posts, search public posts and updates, see recent user activity, as well as view comments and +1s.

LinkedIn
Connect with clients, broadcast news, amplify recruitment efforts, and monitor industry conversations with HootSuite’s LinkedIn management. HootSuite allows you to post directly to your Company Pages, Groups and Profiles, as well as create job search streams.

Wordpress
Not just for microblogging, use HootSuite's WordPress management to schedule and cross-post content to multiple WordPress accounts. The publishing platform integration also allows you to reblog noteworthy posts and create a stream for blogs you're following.

Foursquare
HootSuite’s Foursquare management combines way-finding, social marketing and gaming which encourages everyday socialites to “check in” at locations to alert their friends, share tips and even become mayor of a location.

App Directory
The HootSuite App Directory allows you to add even more social networks and tools into your dashboard. Example networks include Tumblr, YouTube, Flickr, as well as marketing focused tools such as MailChimp, SocialFlow, InboxQ, Constant Contact, and many more.

Start your Free 30 Day Trial of HootSuite Pro today, and make your social media efforts more effortless.

Email Currently Leading Social Media for Generating Sales

3:22 PM Author: RAGS

A new E-Commerce Customer Acquisition Snapshot from Custora found that over the past four years, online retailers have quadrupled the rate of customers acquired through email. While Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other social networks are still valuable and important elements to have in your marketing scheme, email is still proving itself to be just as important for anyone selling online.

In order to maintain and reach your target audience professionally and effectively, I can't recommend Constant Contact enough. Their tools provide you with a very easy and manageable way of maintaining your recipient lists, remaining spam compliant, ensuring delivery and making sure your message is delivered in a professional way. And when it comes to closing a sale through email marketing, those tools are a necessity.

Find out more and sign up for your FREE trial of Constant Contact today, and increase your sales tomorrow.

Social Campaigns: More Likes, More Shares, More Business

5:58 PM Author: RAGS

Social Campaigns have become a major tool for businesses to reach out to their target market with multiple benefits. With Social Campaigns from Constant Contact it's easy to run frequent promotions and offers on Facebook that deliver meaningful results such as sales, leads and donations.

It all starts with a special offer you host on Facebook. You promote this offer to your fans, followers, and subscribers and encourage them to share the offer with their networks. In order to accept your offer Facebook users must "Like" your Page. Those people are also encouraged to share the offer with their friends extending the reach of your business.

This leads to more people "liking" your Page and taking up the offer, which means more business for you!

In addition to the powerful and beneficial email marketing tools they offer, Social Campaigns are just as easy using Constant Contact.

1. Plan: Choose your business goal, select a template, and create an offer.

2. Publish: Build your social campaign, publish it on Facebook, and share your social campaign to your email subscribers, fans, and followers.

3. Promote: Complete simple follow-up tasks to drive traffic to your campaign offer via email and social media with the included 14-day calendar.

Try Constant Contact and Social Campaigns FREE!

Create Your Facebook Landing Page for Social Media Success

1:53 PM Author: RAGS

February is a great time for you to turn fans into customers with Social Campaigns. And with the tools and coaching Constant Contact offers, they can help you create a Facebook Landing page and build marketing campaigns that engage not only your existing audience, but new Facebook fans, too.

Here's what you can do with Social Campaigns:

Start for FREE Your first campaign is free, and Social Campaigns is always free up to 100 fans.

Share Promote to your campaign to your Facebook fans, Twitter followers, LinkedIn connections, and email subscribers.

Customize Pick a Facebook landing page template and create a professional-looking Like page.

Measure Online reporting shows how your campaigns drive page visits, shares, and new Facebook fans and email subscribers.

Edit Use our flexible editor to give your campaign the look and feel of your organization.

Learn Get free personal social media marketing coaching and support by phone, email, chat, and in person.

Schedule Set your social media marketing campaigns to start and end when you want.

Engage Create a Facebook landing page that keeps you looking professional when you're not running a campaign.

All this, plus Constant Contacts professional Email Marketing tools for even further benefits and a great addition to your marketing efforts.

See how Social Campaigns works. Watch the video below:

Sign Up FREE Today! No Credit Card Required!

Widget Workshop

4:29 PM Author: RAGS

Printwear Magazine, October 2011.

In the latest Internet Strategies column we explore Widgets and the many ways they can benefit your web site from the display of products and services to viral actions on social netowrking websites. Dive into the Widget Wilderness!

Read This Article Online
Subscribe to Printwear Magazine

Internet Marketing Calendar

1:29 PM Author: RAGS

Last year in my Internet Strategies Column I suggested a Holiday Internet Marketing Calendar for keeping the holiday marketing efforts rolling out in a timely manner. This year I've decided to create a Google Calendar to share which will cover the entire calendar year. I will add events to it as they unfold should any new marketing opportunities come to my attention, so it will stay current throughout each year. Feel free to subscribe to this calendar or use it to modify and create your own!

And don't forget to utilize the great features Google Calendar has to offer such as sharing, email and text alerts and more to keep your scheduling on track!

Marketing Mobility

6:09 PM Author: RAGS

Printwear Magazine, June 2011.

Throughout our daily lives it has become easy to ignore the growth of the mobile market. Aside from tuning in our own mobile devices and cell phones the subject seems to be so common that perhaps we're ignoring some opportunities to market our businesses to the millions of mobile users who spend a significant amount of time online. In this Internet Strategies column we take a peek into Location Based Services such as Foursquare, and how you could be getting traffic through your shop doors through these online channels.

Read This Article Online
Subscribe to Printwear Magazine

New Web Site for Garrett Computer Services

5:12 PM Author: RAGS

Garrett Computer Services is a customer oriented business with 18 years of professional experience in computer repair and data network design, implementation and management servicing the Texoma area of North Texas.

Garrett - clearly being fully capable of all things technical when it comes to computers - was in need of a strong web site to handle his online marketing with. When it comes to having a basic, informational web site rather than a full blown e-commerce enabled project I've been recommending WordPress enabled sites to clients looking for an affordable solution to going online as well as having a finished product they can maintain on their own. And that suited Garrett Computer Services perfectly.

The new web site features a welcoming home page that immediately tells visitors they've found the right place, and all the other web pages feature a contact form on the right hand side of each page to function as a call to action that requires no extra clicks of the mouse or searching to locate. Thus serving the purpose of turning visitors into contacts and leads no matter what services they may be exploring.

Using the WordPress Dashboard, Garrett can easily maintain and update his web pages through the simple text editing functions, as well as use the post feature to keep his clients updated with computer tips on a regular basis.

I'm happy to have helped Garrett Computer Services get their business online and hand them the keys to driving their new web site towards a successful online presence. Feel free to contact me if you're in need of the same!

New Website for TLK Marketing

3:38 PM Author: RAGS

Recently TLK Marketing Inc., Wheeling, IL contacted me after reading Turning Leads into Sales Through an Organized Website in my Internet Strategies column.

TLK provides everything from custom embroidery and chenille to screen printing, uniforms and ad specialty items and had been receiving plenty of inquiries asking "Where is your web site?"

When it comes to having a basic, informational web site rather than a full blown e-commerce enabled project I've been recommending WordPress enabled sites to clients looking for an affordable solution to going online as well as having a finished product they can maintain on their own.

Using the WordPress Dashboard TLK Marketing can assign user accounts to staff members who can be given simple tasks to keep the web site current, and with the simple text editing interface literally anyone can manage the web site content, images and updates.

I'm happy to have helped TLK Marketing get their business online and hand them the keys to driving their new web site towards a successful online presence. Feel free to contact me if you're in need of the same!

Email Marketing Services

3:15 PM Author: RAGS

Printwear Magazine, January 2011.

Although social networking and the good ole fashioned search engine strategies have been the norm these days, e-mail marketing still has a place in todays online promotional tools. In the January issue of Printwear we re-visit the subject and suggest one of the many e-mail marketing services that benefit any business in communicating and marketing online.

Read This Article Online
Subscribe to Printwear Magazine

EMail Marketing Made Easy

If you use email on a regular basis, you're probably already receiving E-Newsletters from some of the companies you do business with. And while there's a tremendous amount of variation out there regarding what constitutes an E-Newsletter (or "electronic newsletter" or "E-zine" or "email newsletter;" they're all the same thing), they do have certain elements in common.

First and foremost, E-Newsletters arrive in your inbox as email messages. The sending company writes the newsletter, drops it into a predetermined email format, and sends it to a list of people who receive it on the other end. There's a fair amount of technology that runs in the background to do this efficiently and effectively, but when you boil it all down, it's just an email sent to many people at once.

To dig a bit deeper, think of an E-Newsletter like an electronic magazine, with three principal pieces:

1. Content. The words themselves - what you write and how you write it.

2. Formatting and Layout. Like a magazine, an E-Newsletter has a consistent look from month to month for organizing and laying out the content. Fonts, graphics, sections, headings, links, etc., all come together to create the design and layout.

3. Delivery and List Management. Once the newsletter is assembled (content + layout), there needs to be a "machine" for sending it out to a predetermined list of people (your subscribers). The machine takes care of the logistics behind delivery. In addition to sending the newsletter out, that includes things like adding/removing names; managing bounced emails; sending automated messages to readers as they come on the list or make changes to their personal information; and collecting and reporting on data regarding reader behavior and preferences.

Taken together, these three elements make up an E-Newsletter.

Why publish an E-Newsletter?

"The cost of acquiring a new customer can be as much as 5 times the cost of keeping an old one." (source: Peppers and Rogers).

"A 5% increase in retention yields profit increases of 25 to 100 percent" (source: Bain and Co.)

"Permission e-mail campaigns are ten times more effective than direct mail campaigns." (source: IMT Strategies)

The results of this research and dozens of other studies add up to a simple conclusion: It's a lot more cost effective and profitable to grow your business by increasing revenue and referrals from existing customers, than it is to keep chasing strangers. If you've got a "house list" of business relationships, you've got an extremely valuable asset. An asset that a quality E-Newsletter is perfectly suited to take advantage of.

Specifically...

An E-Newsletter Increases Lead Generation And Cross Selling. As your newsletter arrives month after month, it keeps you top of mind with customers, prospects, partners and others, and provides an ongoing, low-key mechanism for highlighting your full range of products and services.

An E-Newsletter Increases Customer Lifetime Value. Competitors can buy their way into your market by matching your pricing, matching your products and even matching the look and feel of your company. What they can't buy are your relationships. Every newsletter that you send serves to solidify the connection between your company and your customers.

An E-Newsletter Provides A Low Cost, Instantaneous Channel For Sending Messages. Your database of email addresses gives you instant access to your customers and prospects. Once the machine is set up, in addition to sending an E-Newsletter, you can send alerts, advisories and messages as frequently as you wish.

An E-Newsletter Opens Up A Two-Way Dialogue With Customers And Prospects. E-Newsletters allow recipients to easily and immediately interact with you. Comments are made, information is requested, an exchange of ideas between you and your customers flows easily in both directions.

An E-Newsletter Hypercharges Your Existing Marketing Efforts. Your E-Newsletter doesn't compete with your web site, print newsletter or existing marketing materials. It leverages them. It creates a steady pulse and focus that ties your other marketing efforts together.

An E-Newsletter Provides Instant, Measurable Results. Advertising, sponsorships, and many other traditional marketing tactics offer few options for measuring the return on your investment. E-based tactics on the other hand, are instantly trackable. With each E-Newsletter you send, you'll know how many people opened it; how many links were clicked on; who clicked on which links; and more. Fact-based, real time metrics.

If you already send printed materials out to your contact list - whether as a print newsletter or in some other fashion - the most immediate and measurable benefit of switching to an electronic format is a savings in time, printing and mailing costs. With a variable cost per newsletter of nearly zero, you will never again have to weigh the benefits of printing more materials or agonize over whether or not person X is "worthy" of the cost of sending information.

What About SPAM and Privacy Concerns?

The hottest topic in email marketing today is SPAM. As corporations and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) work to control the amount of unsolicited email entering their systems, they may inadvertently filter out legitimate emails, including some E-Newsletters. In industry lingo, this type of error is known as a "false positive," and the result is that some emails sent to people who have requested them don't ever reach their destination.

But, let's put that into perspective. Even with SPAM's impact, a good E-Newsletter sent to your house list will still be opened by over 40% of the people it's sent to. Given typical response rates to traditional marketing tactics, that's as much as 40 times better than the percentage of people who read your newspaper ads; respond to your direct mail; or return your unsolicited phone calls.

The fact is, for the small business owner, an E-Newsletter represents the first time in history that we've ever been able to cost effectively communicate with our entire customer and prospect base over and over and over again. Not only that, but thanks to the inherently democratic nature of email (i.e. the big boys don't get any more space in the email inbox than the rest of us), an E-Newsletter gives us the opportunity to not just compete with, but outperform our much larger competitors for the attention of readers.

And so, while SPAM has certainly reduced some of the effectiveness of E-Newsletters in recent months, this remarkable tool is by no means past its prime.

How Much Time And Money Does It Require?

I hope that by now you're convinced of the value of an E-Newsletter for your business. The next logical question, of course, is how much does it cost in time and dollars?

The answer depends on a few things.

1. First of all, there's the content. The more you write by yourself from scratch - as opposed to compiling from other sources, or farming out to other writers - the more time it will take. Although it's less expensive to write original content, you'll want to assess whether you've got the resources in-house to put it all together each month.

2. Next, you'll want to consider design. For maximum effectiveness, your E-Newsletter should reflect your unique brand and style. While you can customize a standard template, your best results will be obtained by creating a look and feel that's just for you (i.e. using a professional designer).

3. Finally, there's monthly production: formatting the content and getting it out the door on a regular basis. Here too, you'll want to weigh the benefits of doing it yourself (less expensive) vs. hiring a firm such as mine to manage the details for you (less worry and error).

As a rule of thumb, if you do the work yourself, you should figure on two full days of work per newsletter - one day to develop the content; one day to manage the layout and delivery logistics. You should also count on the first newsletter taking an additional two or three days to develop the format and style.

Conclusion

Pound for pound, an E-Newsletter offers the small business owner an opportunity to reach out to customers and prospects in ways that were simply not possible just a few short years ago. Whether you do it yourself, farm out the entire process, or strike a balance in-between, this new tool is well worth adding to your repertoire.

Please check out Constant Contact to see how it can help you get started with an E-Newsletter. I have been using it and recommending it to anyone and everyone with an email marketing campaign.

New Web Site: Wesley Christian Preschool

5:14 PM Author: RAGS

I recently finished up a quick web site for Wesley Christian Preschool which is a perfect example of how a small business can use WordPress as a do it yourself tool for managing your online presence. Although WordPress was designed for blogging, when utilized correctly it can be a great platform for creating a fully functional and effective website.

I've been recommending WordPress to clients who have the need for maintaining their own web site for several reasons. The benefit of maintaining the site themselves clearly eliminates the need for calling me - and paying me - to make any changes when necessary. It also provides them with the tools to post current news about their business, keep their customers informed, blog and connect through their social networks.

In this particular case, Karen and her administrative assistant were having issues with editing and maintaining their web site through their previous setup. As you can see below, their WordPress dashboard is as easy to use as a word processor. Now Karen and Nikki can spend their time doing what they do best at Wesley Christian Preschool and easily keep their web site up to date through this new method.

Feel free to contact me if you're business is ready to go online in a affordable and reliable way, creating a web presence that you can take over after development and drive from the seat of your own home or office.

Getting OUT of the CafePress Marketplace

1:37 PM Author: RAGS

CafePress Shopkeepers will no doubt recall their decision to change the marketplace. I recall the chaos in the forums as I was very active there at the time, and my advice to everyone was simple. Opt out of the marketplace.

This meant making sure none of you images were tagged at all, and that you had opted out through your shops settings. As it happens I've discovered there can be a flaw so I wanted to bring it to shopkeepers' attention.

I left one - just one - bumper sticker tagged which made it available in the marketplace. The bumper sticker includes mydartshirts.com under the design, so I thought maybe that would be some way of reaching the marketplace without actually being in the marketplace. Ever since I've removed all the tags from my images and opted out of the marketplace things have been fine. Until this week...

Two straight days this week I received notification for sales from the marketplace for a total of 11 shirts. The designs were NOT tagged nor am I opted into the marketplace. I just don't know how I'm going to spend the $18 and change CafePress seems to think my work is valued to be. I sell 11 shirts and I get less than a Jackson?

How can this happen? Naturally I went off to investigate...

To see if any of your designs are tagged at all, type in your shop URL with the following modification:

http://www.cafepress.com/sk/yourshop

By doing that I discovered that visitors shopping the marketplace can easily wind up on that page, and even if you only have one design tagged they can discover your shop and purchase anything. Armed with the discounted CafePress marketplace cookie that pushes then through as a marketplace sale.

So... Shopkeepers check your status by using the URL with that /sk inserted and double check your designs. You may think you're unreachable from the marketplace and find out otherwise.

Free Workshop: Getting Started with Constant Contact

9:50 PM Author: RAGS

Constant Contact guru and Regional Development Director Lisa Sparks will present "Social Media Marketing Made Simple" in a free two-hour workshop coming to Florida.

For Those with 60-Day Trials Only! "Getting Started with Constant Contact"

Note This workshop for ONLY for those people who already have a Constant Contact FREE 60-day trial account. If you don't have a trial account, please set-up here before you register to attend this event.

Getting Started with Constant Contact (Learn how the system works!)

More than 350,000 businesses use Constant Contact to help grow their business! This workshop will help you create and enhance your first email marketing campaigns - we'll provide tips, techniques and guide you through the tools and features in the Constant Contact system.

You'll learn to:

Set up your account options

Build and manage your contacts

Create great looking emails

Brand your emails to match your website

Work with images

Analyze email reports to maximize results

Text editing

Other great shortcuts and tips!

NOTE: You do not need to bring a laptop, though you are welcome to for note taking.

Miami Beach (choose either the morning or afternoon session)
Tuesday, September 21
10 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Cost: $0 (Please bring your business card.)

or

1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Cost: $0 (Please bring your business card.)

The Mondrian Hotel
1100 West Avenue
Miami Beach, FL 33139-4760

Parking: Valet discounted to $15. Parking garage on corner of 10th and West just across from the Mondrian Hotel and on-street parking.
Click here to register

Fort Lauderdale
Tuesday, July 27
4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Cost: $0

Hampton Inn Downtown Fort Lauderdale
250 North Andrews Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
Click here to register

Don't *%^& With The Art Department

9:14 PM Author: RAGS

Today CafePress may have turned a positive Internet entity into a graveyard of former talented designers. If you follow my magazine column you know the company I am talking about. For those unfamiliar, CafePress is a fulfillment service that provides print on demand production for online designers and shopkeepers.

From their web page:

In a nutshell we sell T-Shirts, apparel, gifts for the home, stationery, gear, and other stuff that gets printed on. But the interesting thing is, we don't design a thing. Our shopkeepers create the designs. So every time a shopkeeper designed product sells, they make money.

Great Program, Great Traffic

The CafePress web site averages a reported 11 million unique visits per month, and see as many as 2000 new independent shops join the online network each day. The great thing CafePress has (or after today, had) going for it is the designers. Anyone in the imprinted sportswear industry knows that it is the designs and creativity that sell. With a virtual army of designers covering thousands of styles, markets and audiences CafePress has probably one of the largest art departments in imprinted sportswear history. And, they set their own pay scale and are happy with that!

Prior to today the policy was simple for designers. Open your CafePress store, upload your designs and start selling. You are given a base price for each item and the profit was left up to you by marking up each item to what you feel is a fair price for what you have created for the market.

I have had my dart shirts web site going strong there for quite some time now, and as many of you know I have marketed the web site effectively in the search engines, online forums, blogs and other channels around the Internet. After today that will pay off, as I have had to pull all of my designs out of the CafePress marketplace.

Don't *%^& With The Art Department

The announcement arrived in this mornings email. CafePress will now be setting prices for anything appearing in their marketplace, and providing the designer 10% commission for each item sold through the marketplace. Thinking that was surely a typo, some joker broadcasting a 4/20 prank message to shopkeepers or me just plain reading it wrong I was off to investigate.

Unfortunately I found that to be true. CafePress has taken it upon themselves to set a 10% commission - on a pricing structure they create - and apply it as a "reasonable licensing fee" to the designers. What that means is the very graphic designers, photographers and artists that generate sales through CafePress have now had their income cut by an estimated 70% to 80%. Plus, they will have no say in pricing.

What This Means

Shopkeepers who have successfully created a CafePress store that does not rely on marketplace traffic are not going to suffer very much. The way I understand this new policy, all sales through your shop remain the same: your pricing with your designated markup. So in my case, in all honesty I feel like my target audience will find my web site first if not right after searching the marketplace and finding that all of the talented designers have pulled out. Other shop keepers who have kept their Internet marketing strategies focused outside the marketplace will likely experience the same.

However the thousands of designers and entrepreneurs who have been selling through the marketplace and finding success are now left out in the cold to either move to a different print on demand company or suffer the pay cut. Many are reporting that this decision will more than likely destroy what was their primary source of income. Others are simply shutting down, while the majority are just packing up and leaving for another place to sell their creativity.

What it means for CafePress is yet to be determined, I can only imagine it isn't very pretty with the majority of the art department packing up and moving to the competition.

Having brought all of that to the blog, I apologize to any readers of my magazine column that joined in on last years "Online Adventure" series and have been working on a successful CafePress web site. Of course, if you've been successful with the marketing tips I included and not relying on the marketplace for your traffic you're fine for now just as I am. Despite that, I am still disappointed in this turn of events.

A Word On POD / Fulfillment Services

For anyone researching fulfillment services and print on demand opportunities, consider this a heads up. I won't deny CafePress still has my nod of approval for the way things are set up for their premium shops, the shopping cart system itself and the services offered. I decided to go with them for those reasons and more.

However, I will no longer offer my designs in their marketplace under these new terms. I will also be keeping my eyes peeled for a place to move my dart shirts web site. And I will stand by my peers as an insulted graphic designer who has been offered a mere 10% commission on the artistic expression that made CafePress what it is... Or was.

Blog Rolling the Subject

If you post a blog I have missed feel free to add the link in the comments section with your opinion or shoot me the link. And of course, linking back can only better the subjects chances of search engine goodness.

Ms. Dow Antiques ~ 'Tique Talk: Cafe Press Creates Zazzle's Lucky Day

Spiritual Counseling, Perfume, Healing and Me: Cafepress? No More!!!

Writing With Impact: Cafe Press Shopkeepers Unite

365 Days on South Dixie Lane: Cafepress and other things I'm sick about

Amuzed Grace: Kicker

Mattie’s Soapbox: Standards in Best Business Practice

Paul Hood: CafePress Fires 6.5 Million People

Tools For Email Marketing

7:17 PM Author: RAGS

I'll be straight up honest with you when I say that each end every month I have been selling products and services online, my list of newsletter subscribers has grown and sales have increased through Email Marketing. I am using Constant Contact, the same service I recommend to my clients and most of them enjoy using regularly. Constant Contact is an easy to use third party tool that pays for itself as each and every monthly newsletter or alert I send generates WELL MORE THAN enough sales to cover the cost, and the benefit of the things I get to do behind the scenes in terms of marketing my online store and achieving success.

Email Marketing and Online Surveys build lasting relationships with your customers and keep them coming back. Not to mention having an opted in list of subscribers gives you the chance to contact those who may be browsing but buying at a later time. Email Marketing and Online Survey are the tools you need to help grow your business. They're affordable. They don't take a lot of time to use. And they're effective. In fact, more than 250,000 businesses use Constant Contact to drive their success because they know using our tools to communicate with their current customers generates more referrals, customer loyalty, and repeat business.

Email Marketing lets you connect and get relevant messages out to people who want to hear from you. Online Survey helps them tell you what they really think about your designs, products, and communications - giving you new ideas and feedback to better understand and meet their needs.

The insights you'll get with Online Survey help you focus on how to meet customer needs and deliver what they want. And with Email Marketing, you can deliver relevant, professional-looking email campaigns that get opened, measured and acted on.

Create professional email campaigns and online surveys quickly and easily; choose from more than 200 easy-to-use newsletter templates and 40 survey templates. Or customize your own to compliment your web site.

Get survey feedback and measure email campaign results in real time with instant tracking and reporting, and uncover revealing trends and patterns.

Use online polls to keep your website fresh and your visitors coming back. Find answers to the questions you've been wondering about!

Manage your email and survey lists, and reporting all in one place with your integrated Constant Contact account.

Create targeted email lists based on survey response, and follow up with relevant email communications. Use the targeted lists to allow subscribers to opt-in for info on multiple interests, products and services.

Get help every step of the way with online educational resources and award-winning, free, and unlimited customer support.

My affiliation with Constant Contact gives me the opportunity to offer by blog readers and clients a FREE 60-Day Trial. Get Email Marketing, Online Survey or both. No risk. No obligation. No credit card gets you started with the award-winning service, and support more than 250,000 customers - including mine - know and trust.

Click here to start your FREE 60-Day Trial!

Got three minutes? Why not take a Video Tour?

Note: This video tour is from August 2007 and does not cover many of the newer features and benefits. It does however give you a good look inside what Constant Contact has to offer.

The Power Of The Press Release

7:45 PM Author: RAGS

As any marketing consultant will tell you, press releases have a powerful impact on getting your business in front of an audience. I remember back in 1996 when I had just started a single head embroidery business in North Dallas. I was featured in IMPRESSIONS Magazine as a single head operation finding niche markets in my area, and I promptly sent a press release out to every newspaper in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

The response was to say the least, IMPRESSIVE. In fact, as I recall I had to hire help within a few weeks to keep up with the workload I had suddenly generated.

I have recommended, written and submitted many press releases for customers throughout my career however I have to admit I am limited to a smaller database of publications, which generates a smaller amount of responses.

Writing your own press release can be challenging, but the real challenge - and time sonsuming task - is finding the proper contacts and news outlets to send your press release to, as well as having a good chance of having it published.

By using a service such as Advanced PR, for one low price you can reach millions through magazines, newspapers, radio and TV broadcasting companies, contacts you and I simply do not have. Announce your new web site, let everyone know about an award or new product you have, promote a seasonal sale or even celebrate the anniversary of your company each year and get your business out there in the public. While you comfortably run your business as usual, Advanced PR:

Distributes Your Press Release to Thousands of High Profile News Agencies

Makes Sure You Get & Receive Press Coverage in All Applicable Trade Publications

Generates Press Releases Are Personalized & Highly Targeted to Editors, Reporters, Journalists and Program Directors

Offers Various Distribution Options Including Email, News Wires, Fax, Audio & Search Engine Distribution

Provides Professional Writers on Staff to Create & Write Your Press Release

Uses An Extensive 690k Press Database Covering Thousands of Subjects

Has Guaranteed Press Release Coverage of Your PR

The value of the exposure and recognition that a tv blurb, newspaper or magazine write-up, editorial or product feature can have is often times enough publicity to launch small companies into multi-million dollar businesses and transform mid-to-large size companies into the billions. You can't underestimate the value of press and publicity. The golden rule is… "If you get press attention, you WILL GET ORDERS!"

Survey Says

9:57 PM Author: RAGS

Promowear Magazine, Nov/Dec 2004.

Targeting a qualified audience in your marketing strategies can be a difficult task. You may like to know what section of the local newspaper the majority of potential customers read before placing an ad, or perhaps what radio programs they may listen to in order to purchase some advertising air time. If you are looking for answers like these, consider the use of a survey. Details in this months column.

Powerful and professional tools for online surveys! Constant Contact is a service I personally use as well as many of my clients. You can choose from a template with pre-written questions or start from scratch, add your company logo and modify the design to compliment your web site or brand. Question types range from multiple choices to rating scales, and the ability to use skip logic to display certain questions based on answers to previous ones. It features customizable greeting and closing pages to thank participants or tell them about an incentive, offer a coupon or get creative with your audience.

Click here for your FREE 60 day trial!