Email Marketing | flyte blog: small business web marketing blog

Archive for the ‘Email Marketing’ Category

Track Email Newsletters Signups In Google Analytics

Tuesday, February 12th, 2008

Yesterday I got an email asking about an article I wrote called "Tracking Conversions: Does Your Web Site Turn Suspects Into Prospects?"

I had talked about how to track Constant Contact subscriptions in Google Analytics…something difficult to do because the signup happens at Constant Contact’s site, not yours.

The trick is in adding a piece of code to the signup form. (The same holds true for any outgoing link.) Basically, you set up an imaginary directory for your outgoing links and GA tracks these clicks as if they were going to that imaginary directory.

For the Constant Contact example, your opening line might look like this:

<form name="ccoptin" action="http://ui.constantcontact.com/d.jsp"
target="_blank" method="post"
onsubmit="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview(‘/outgoing/example.com’);">

If you’re using the older GA code it might look like this:

<form name="ccoptin" action="http://ui.constantcontact.com/d.jsp"
target="_blank" method="post"
onsubmit="urchinTracker(‘newsletter/subscription’);">

How do you know if you’re using the older or newer Google Analytics code? Find out here.

Learn more about tracking outbound links on your site at the GA help section.

Rich Brooks
Measure Twice, Cut Once

Posted in Email Marketing, Web Marketing | 11 Comments »

Email Marketing Tips: How to Build Your Email Subscriber Base

Monday, February 4th, 2008

This month’s issue of our email newsletter flyte log is entitled, How I Increased My Email Signup Rate by 5,000%…and How You Can, Too.

Hmmm…you’re thinking. I know Rich is terrible with math, so he probably moved a decimal point too far to the right. Or, maybe you’re thinking, I know Rich is a marketer, but I think this time he stretched the truth past the breaking point.

Well, math isn’t my strong suit, that’s true. And, I am a marketer and, according to Seth Godin, All Marketers Are Liars.

Yet, as far as my rudimentary math skills can tell, it’s true. We averaged 2 – 3 new subscribers a month before I tried the process I lay out in this month’s issue, and now we average 125 new subscribers a month. (Actually, it’s more. I was counting total subscriber base over a 12 month period, but that includes unsubscribes. Our new subscriber rate is even higher.)

But let’s be honest, you don’t care about my success rate, you want to know how to increase the number of subscribers to your email newsletter. If your email newsletter signup offers nothing more than "Join Our Mailing List," this month’s flyte log is for you.

To avoid missing any future issues, be sure to sign up now!

Posted in Email Marketing, Entrepreneur & Small Business, Web Marketing | No Comments »

Business Blog vs. Email Newsletters: Which Works Better?

Tuesday, January 15th, 2008

Whenever I put together a business proposal I include recommendations for appropriate Web marketing campaigns. Two items that are often included are email newsletters and business blogs, because both have been successful for flyte and our clients who use them.

However, I’m also a big proponent of starting small. When you take too many things on at the beginning it can seem overwhelming and nothing gets done. Unless you have a lot of time and energy to write, starting an email newsletter and a blog may be too much. (Then again, I write an email newsletter, two blogs and distribute articles for article marketing.)

So, this begs the question, which will work better for you, a blog or an email newsletter? It depends on your business model.

(more…)

Posted in Business Blogs and Blog Marketing, Email Marketing, Entrepreneur & Small Business, Web Marketing | 46 Comments »

12 Web Marketing Ideas to Jump Start Your Business

Wednesday, December 26th, 2007

You know those "new" episodes of your favorite TV show when a character gets hit by a car, and then all their friends gather by their bed side and retell their favorite stories through a series of clips?

Welcome to my clip show.

Here’s a quick list of the 12 articles we published in flyte log, our monthly Web marketing ezine:

There’s oodles of ideas in these articles that you can use to jump start your business and build it over the next year. If you’d rather not miss any new articles, please subscribe to flyte log in the box below.

Rich Brooks
Greatest Hits

Posted in Business Blogs and Blog Marketing, Business Philosophy, Email Marketing, Entrepreneur & Small Business, flyte news, Search Engine Marketing, Social Media, Web Copywriting, Web Design & Development, Web Marketing | 3 Comments »

Your 2008 Web Marketing Plan

Tuesday, December 4th, 2007

There’s light fluffy snowflakes falling outside my window this morning as I polish off another issue of flyte log, our Web marketing email newsletter…the last for 2007.

Rather than look back on 2007–as good as it was–it’s time to look forward to 2008 and start making plans. Web marketing plans, that is.

Today’s issue of flyte log is Your 2008 Web Marketing Plan, a month-by-month, itemized list of what you need to do to succeed in 2008.

Your Web marketing plan includes ideas on search engine optimization, blogging, social media, Webinars and more.

Why not take the first step in improving your chances for success in 2008 by signing up for flyte log now, so you never miss another issue?

Posted in Business Blogs and Blog Marketing, Business Philosophy, Email Marketing, Entrepreneur & Small Business, Search Engine Marketing, Social Media, Web Copywriting, Web Design & Development, Web Marketing | 2 Comments »

Promoting Your Event the Web 2.0 Way

Monday, December 3rd, 2007

How do you leverage a the Web and Internet marketing to promote your upcoming event? There are so many channels of distribution, the possibilities are almost endless. Here’s a checklist of what I did to promote an upcoming workshop I’m teaching at flyte called "How to Plan, Build and Promote a Business Blog."

Published the event on the Web Marketing Seminars page on my Web site. This is a no-brainer and the first, essential step.
Added the event information (including a link to the online registration) on Facebook, both on my page and as part of the Portland, ME network so that other local people could find it.
Sent out an email alert to the people who have signed up for my Web Marketing Alerts email newsletter. (You can sign up for this when you sign up for flyte log, our free, monthly email newsletter.)
Added it as an event on MaineToday.com, the online presence for the Blethen newspapers.
Added it as a class through Craig’s list.
Added it at MaineBiz’s event calendar.
Submitted to Maine Public Broadcasting Network’s event calendar.
Posted it to my Internet Marketing 101 blog at MaineToday.com (at least twice.)
Posted it to my flyte blog: web marketing for small business blog (again, at least twice.)
Posted to Eventful.com, which sends to several other sites including Podbot, Google Calendar, del.icio.us/events, Ping-o-Matic, Technorati, and Upcoming. Several of these sites extend that reach even further through their own network. (Found through Joan Stewart, the Publicity Hound, through Denise Wakeman tip.
I also learned about EventCrazy.com that way.

I also plan on submitting this event to the print versions of MaineBiz and the Portland Press Herald.

Will I do this for every event? Probably not, but I will try and track which channel is bringing me attendees, by asking everyone at the event.

Your Turn: What tools do you use to promote your events in this 2.0 world? Leave your suggestions in the comments section below.

Rich Brooks
Business Blog Expert

Posted in Business Blogs and Blog Marketing, Email Marketing, Entrepreneur & Small Business, Search Engine Marketing, Social Media, Web Design & Development, Web Marketing | 19 Comments »

There’s More to Spamming Than the Letter of the Law

Thursday, November 29th, 2007

Today I got an email from Dario R. Franceschi, dariof1@cox.net, to let me know about a fully leased NNN Retail/Office building for sale in Las Vegas.

I’m not in the market.

At the bottom of the email was the following haughty phrase:

Under Bill(s) 1618 TITLE III by the 105 US Congress, per Section 301, Paragraph(a)(2)of S. 1618, a letter cannot be considered Spam if the sender includes contact information and a method of "removal".

Not exactly.

That part of the law says that all "unsolicited commercial email" must require the name, physical address, phone number and the ability to unsubscribe. That’s not exactly the same as saying that the email I received cannot be considered spam.

I consider it spam. I’m sure just about everyone else who got it considered it spam. I certainly didn’t request it. I don’t know how Mr. Franceschi got my email. Maybe he bought a list. Maybe he harvested it off the Web. He certainly didn’t get it from me. We don’t have an "established business relationship."

If you’re tempted to buy a list, consider that there’s more to following the letter of the law. There’s the negative impact your email will have on hundreds or thousands of recipients. Especially if a few of them are bloggers.

There’s only one way to get a good list: build it yourself.

Rich Brooks
Opt-In Email Marketer

Posted in Business Philosophy, Email Marketing, Entrepreneur & Small Business | No Comments »