Author: Patrick Griffin

Patrick Griffin has been marketing online for 15 years. He's a serial entrepreneur and an avid email and content marketing enthusiast with a background in publishing and journalism, including a UK Press Award.

Five Top Tips To Ensure You Write Better Emails

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being clearWhen you write an email for your subscribers are you clear about what you want to say?

Hopefully the answer to that question was ‘yes’ because that is half the battle won. If the answer was “no” or ‘sometimes” or ‘mostly” then please read this post before you write another email.

Unless you are clear about what you want to say each and every time you set out to say something then you really are wasting your time.

The second thing you need to ensure is that you are clear about how you actually present the message. By that I mean that the words you type onto your keyboard must accurately reflect the ideas you are trying to get across.

It is not good enough that you can read your email and say “It could be better but at least I know what I mean,” because this approach will have subscribers heading for the unsubscribe button in huge numbers.

So here are my five top tips to ensure that you write better emails and that every email you send actually says what you want it to say:

  1. Have a plan – Work out what you want to say before you start writing. Unless you are totally clear about what you want to say then you stand no hope of explaining this to others in an email.
  2. Build a structure – make a list of bullet points or brief notes for each of the points you want to make and spend some time putting them in a logical order. This will ensure that you don’t miss out anything important and that you don’t include information that is irrelevant and confusing.
  3. Get writing – Now get to work on the email. Flesh our your points and check it over for grammar and other mistakes. If things don’t make sense then take time changing things around until it does make sense.
  4. Read it aloud – Don’t even think about sending it yet. Read your email aloud because this will instantly highlight any problem areas. Words or phrases that you stumble over will need to be rewritten to make it easier to understand. It is often at this point that you might read a sentence and think “That’s not what I wanted to say at all,” and if this happens to you then go back and correct as necessary.
  5. Get someone else to read it – This is the icing on the cake and will confirm whether or not you have got the other steps right. If someone else reads your copy and says they can perfectly understand what you have written, then you have done a good job and can hit ‘send’ with confidence. If they are confused then you need to work on the part(s) that are causing confusion.

In summary, before hitting the ‘send’ button when you write an email to your list you need to be clear about what you want to say and be clear about how you say it.

How To Drive Traffic To Your Blog With RocketResponder

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blog traffic

 

When you write a blog post you want it to be seen by as many people as possible.

Whether you are writing to inform, entertain, amuse, educate, influence or persuade, you will need an audience to make it all worthwhile.

Ideally you will want people to come back every time you write something new and share your words of wisdom with their friends.

Back in 2005 RSS feeds were the preferred method of alerting people when your blog had been updated, but since then they have rapidly declined in popularity.

Thankfully there is a modern, email-based solution which works to drive targeted traffic to any blog in any niche you care to name.

RocketResponder allows your blog subscribers to be alerted by email every time you write a new post so that your most avid fans never have to miss anything you write.

The results can be immediate with your blog getting a surge in traffic as soon as people get to know about the new content. Combine this with social media links, where your blog readers are encouraged to share your posts, and your traffic statistics can really be dramatic.

RocketResponder is a versatile and affordable tool which allows you to communicate with your subscribers. You can use it to:

– send out alerts when you post new content

– build relationships and boost engagement with your readers

– send exclusive email content directly to your subscribers

– give your best subscribers bonuses or exclusive access to you

– provide help and support

– ask for feedback and much more.

How it works.

1. Sign up to RocketResponder

2. Follow the simple steps to add a new list. It is just a matter of filling in a few lines of information.

adding a new list with RocketResponder

Don’t worry if you have never done this before as there is line-by-line help available to guide you through the process.

Step by step help when adding a list to RocketResponder

Next you will need to add subscribers to your list – these are the people who will receive an email from you each time your blog is updated.

Now here is the really clever part…simply creating the list will automatically generate a unique URL from which people can subscribe to your new list.

So, for example, here is the link to the URL to sign up to this RocketResponder blog.

Click it for yourself and see what happens…you can even sign up the blog if you want to and you will be alerted each time new content is uploaded.

Subscribe to RocketResponder blog list screenshot3. Next you need to enter your blog information so that RocketResponder knows when you post new content. Click on “Manage Blogs” and “Add A Blog” and provide the information required.

Adding a blog to RocketResponder and linking it to your list

With RocketResponder you can have several different lists on the one account. You can choose to inform as many or as few lists as you want about your blog updates. Or if you have several different blogs you can use the one RocketResponder account to manage your subscriber lists for each one and keep them all informed of new content.

RocketResponder will also let you to embed a sign-up form directly to your blog so that new visitors are promoted to subscribe as soon as they land on your site.

There is no complicated code to learn and you can have the entire process completed in just minutes leaving you more time to work on producing awesome content.

There are also two short video tutorials to guide you through the process listed above and the videos can be found below.

Video Tutorial: How To Create A List With RocketResponder

Video Tutorial: How To Add A Blog With RocketResponder

Don’t miss out on blog traffic any longer. Join RocketResponder today and your subscribers need never miss another of your blog posts again.

 

Email Marketing Opt In Options Explained and Analyzed

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yes checkbox

When it comes to using email marketing software then there is always a choice to make over how you build your list.

There are generally two options – whether to use single or double opt in – and this relates to how your subscribers are added to your list.

Email marketing opt in options are basically very straightforward but they can also be surprisingly controversial.

Some people insist that one is better than the other and in fact RocketResponder is very much on the side of the double-opt in camp. (We will explain exactly why later.)

However let’s not get ahead of ourselves in this story of optin email marketing…let’s explain the difference between both methods first.

When you use email marketing software to communicate with your subscribers via email then you will need their permission to do so in order to avoid anti-spam regulations.

This makes sense because it is not really an totally ethical thing to send emails to people who don’t want to hear from you.

The permission is given when your subscribers voluntarily give you their email addresses and indicate that they want you to communicate with them via email.

Single optin email marketing means that as soon as a valid email address is added to your email marketing software then you can begin sending out emails right away.

There is no problem here if the email address owner is the person who signed up to join your list.

However the danger with this method is that it is open to abuse from malicious people who simply know the email addresses of other people and want to cause mischief.

So if Katie is upset with Jon she might sign him up to a whole host of email lists so that he is inundated with emails from lots of people he has no interest in communicating with.

In this case there is no permission but the owner of the email list will have no idea that this is the case.

This is the major flaw in single opt-in systems and is one of the reasons why RocketResponder does not recommend single opt in for users.

Double optin email marketing adds an extra layer of security to protect the owner of the email address.

In this situation the email address is not made “live” by the email marketing software until it is confirmed by the owner.

This works by automatically sending an confirmation email to the address which just joined the list and asking the owner to click a link to confirm that they really do want to receive emails.

Only once the confirmation has been granted will the address be unlocked to allow any further emails to be sent.

This extra layer of protection will mean that it takes longer to build lists because some people will sign up to receive emails but never go on to confirm their subscription.

At RocketResponder we do not see this as a problem – if the person is not even interested to confirm their interest then they are most unlikely not to want to hear from you anyway.

In addition the extra level of protection to subscribers offered by double optin email marketing is why we insist on this method for all our account holders.

 

 

RocketResponder Is Email Marketing Software Made Easy

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writing emails for your subscribers Traditionally email marketing software has a reputation of being a little hard to understand and a bit of a minefield for the non-technical.

However at RocketResponder we believe that using email marketing software should be about as easy as sending a regular email…it is just that the message is going to more people, that’s all.

The problem with a complex system is that the longer it takes to master the less time people will actually spend using it and that just doesn’t make any sense at all.

An email marketing platform is designed to be used and used regularly, so it makes sense for it to be simple, intuitive and fast. Log on, open the email editor, select the list(s) you want to contact, write your email and press send is the kind of complexity that we should be talking about here.

If you have to spend hours studying a manual or struggling to interpret what the complex video tutorials are trying to get at, then the software is far too complicated.

Surely it far better that this is a simple “on demand” tool that you open up and use when you need it and get on with running your business when you don’t.

There is another thing that we passionately believe about at RocketResponder and that is that email marketing software is not just for email marketers. In fact you don’t even need to work online to be able to make great use from such software.

RocketResponder is designed to be as useful for those working online as it is for those working offline…in fact if you have a group of people you need to contact by email on a regular basis then it could be the best email marketing solution for you.

Churches, restaurants, political groups, small businesses, non-profit organizations and charities are all groups who may not traditionally be associated with email marketing, but which could all benefit from it.

In fact the list is virtually endless. Clear communication is vital both in the online and offline communities and email is a great way to get a message across in a clear manner to the very people who want to hear that message.

Today’s email marketing technology means that is now easier than ever before to handle your vital communication yourself, without having to hand it over to an expensive third party.

You really don’t need any great technical knowledge to manage subscriber lists and send them regular emails about things which are important to them and to you.

However you do need to consider whether you are currently using the best email solution for you and whether you are using email marketing effectively for communication.

If you have not considered using email marketing technology like RocketResponder until now, then this might be an ideal opportunity to discover just what it could mean for you.

Six Simple Email Marketing Solutions To Grow Your Business

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business email

Email marketing can be a bit of a minefield and if you get it wrong you can do your reputation (and indeed your business) a lot of harm.

It is never simply a matter of firing off a quick email with the first random thoughts that come into your head and pressing ‘send.’ However judging from some of the marketing emails I receive, it seems that this is exactly what some people actually do.

There is an art to email marketing and these six simple email marketing solutions will help ensure that your emails get opened, read and acted on:

  1.  Never, ever send spam. The golden rule is that you only send business emails to those people who have given you permission to do so. Targeting random people in the hope they want your goods or services (or worse – buying email lists for the same purpose) is not the way to go. Do not do this.
  2. Respect your email list. You may think you have the most wonderful offer that your subscribers will be fighting over to get their hands on. The trick is to promote it well…but not so much that your subscribers will get sick of hearing about it. For example ten emails a day would almost certainly be too much. But would three…or four?
  3. Really know your subscribers. People love personal service and despite the long-distance aspect of the Internet, people still enjoy great levels of personal service. So while most people on your list will know that your marketing message is going to everyone, they still want to think that it has been written just for them. When you really know your subscribers, your emails will always be relevant and you will instinctively know when the time is right to send out another marketing mailing.
  4. Know what you want to say. Before you set out to write any business email you must know what you want to say. If you don’t have a clear idea what your message is and what the desired response to your email is then don’t even consider writing it yet. You have to get this clear in your own head so take time on getting this step right.
  5. Say what you mean to say. Make a list of the key points you want to cover in your email. This ensures that you don’t miss out anything important and that you don’t include anything irrelevant. Use clear, simple and concise language that everyone can understand. You will never get complaints that your emails are too easy to understand.
  6. Don’t mail to sleeping customers. I don’t understand why so many people like to send emails at midnight…I can’t read emails while I am sleeping. Even worse, by the time I am awake then the midnight emails are right at the back of the queue. Spend some time working out when the best time is to send emails to your list. This can dramatically affect your open, click through and conversion rates.

Finally you will want to use a reputable auto-responder to manage your email campaigns. This must be flexible enough to meet your needs, must actually get your emails delivered and be easy to use. RocketResponder was designed to be fast, flexible and efficient – while not surprising you with unwelcome price hikes as your subscriber list grows.

If you follow these six simple email marketing solutions then your emails should get opened by your subscribers and they will be more likely to take the action you want them to take.