Are you making any of these email marketing mistakes?

Email marketing is very effective, and there are some who people believe that email marketing is literally the most effective form of marketing that ever existed. But, you may be misusing this form of marketing if you’re not setting everything up right from the very beginning.

1. Building An Untargeted List – If you’ve spent time building your list using lead bait that is not targeted and focused enough, you may have a lot of freebie seekers on your list. To clear your list, run an aggressive and targeted campaign to get them to pay attention and if they don’t, cycle them off your email list. I know marketers who only build “buyer’s lists”, but to me this seems too restrictive.

2. Meaningless “From” Name – We all look to see who an email is from before anything else. Set up a “from” name that makes sense to your email recipients. Many people use their real name, and this has proved to be one of the best choices. You can also make it personal by using a name that means something to the audience like “Your Online Mentor” or something that speaks to them in that way. I simple use “Connie Ragen Green” in the majority of my autoresponders and broadcast messages, but I have been known to use a variation of this like “Connie Ragen Green | Internet Marketing Six Pack” to designate a specific course or product.

3. Weak Subject Lines – Most people don’t open emails that they feel are too sales oriented. Therefore, put something in the subject line that directly tells them what’s inside, and makes them want to read more. Break up your list and test at least two different subject lines to see what works best. I have been known to use song lyrics as my subject lines, as well as word play and interesting questions and phrases.

4. Poorly Worded Opening Sentence – Most people view part of your messages in the view screen of their email software. What do they see when reading that first sentence? Spend some time making it interesting enough right up front so that they want to open it to read more.

5. Lack of Personalization – Even when audiences know that this is automated, they still prefer it over the lack of it. Personalization increases click-through rates enormously, so make sure it is working properly. Wrongly coded personalization is worse than none at all. Test your messages. Remember that #2 above, the “from” name is most important, with the personalized approach coming in a close second to that.

6. Broken Links – Nothing is worse than having a great message, a perfect call to action, fabulous subject lines people clicking through, only to discover the link is broken. That’s why testing messages before sending them out is so important for your success with email marketing. Remember that you must use the http:// at the beginning of your links if you are sending text emails, and that the first letter of your domain should be lower case.

7. Not Using Analytics – Your email marketing software offers the ability to test many different analytics, from open rates, to click through rates and more. Learn how to set it up to work for you so that you can use that information to improve your marketing.

8. Emails That Are Too Long – While long blog posts are a big deal today, long emails aren’t. People get bored reading emails that don’t get right to the point. Avoid emails that are much longer than two hundred fifty to three hundred words. Get to the point as soon as possible.

9. Bad Formatting – This is yet another reason to test how your emails look on a variety of systems. Make sure you check for formatting issues. Formatting that makes the email hard to read, lack of word wrapping, and unresponsive messages all lose clicks and may lead to unsubscribes over time.

If you are making any of these email marketing mistakes, you can begin right now with fixing these problems. The hardest one to fix is proper targeting of your market, but the rest can be fixed today with just a few tweaks.

I have used several different services to send out my emails, and have used and recommended Aweber since 2010.

What other questions do you have about email marketing mistakes, techniques, and strategies for your online business?

Love Writing Again – Is This Possible?

Years ago I dreamed of being a writer, yet I did little writing of my own. Imagining myself as a writer of screenplays and novels gave me hope that my life would somehow be complete if I became a writer. I spent a summer as an intern for a production company in Los Angeles years ago, and this experience of spending time with both staff and freelance writers made it all seem even more glamorous and appealing to me.  I was an avid reader, and many times what I was reading motivated and inspired me to write. Yet I was not consistent with my writing until I came online in 2006.

As an entrepreneur I realized immediately that I was going to need to write every day for some aspect of my business. Whether it was blogging, emailing my list, writing articles and short reports, or writing a book, the concept of being a writer was one that I had to embrace if I were to be successful in my business.

After now having written more than two thousand blog posts, almost a hundred short reports, ten thousand email messages, and twelve bestselling books, I decided that it was high time to start to love writing again. I happened upon a post written by Melissa Chu, someone who helps writers to get productive and develop good work habits. She makes some excellent points here, including this section on Reshaping Your Daily Routine…
1. Reshape your daily routine

“Having a routine is immensely helpful in making writing a habit. When Ernest Hemingway wrote, he made sure to keep to a schedule. “I write every morning as soon after first light as possible,” he once said in an interview. “There is no one to disturb you and it is cool or cold and you come to your work and warm as you write.”

Now is the perfect time to look at your schedule and figure out how to carve out time to write. Maybe you write better in short spurts throughout the day. Or perhaps blocking out an hour in the morning works better?

For me, it’s become a daily habit. Even if I don’t wake up feeling the urge to write, it’s just something I do automatically. Using an hour or so that I’ve blocked off, I write regardless of how I feel, knowing that I’ll eventually get into the mood to write if I just get started.

Make a commitment to write something today, no matter how much (or how little).”

Once I began thinking of my writing as a daily activity, and not as a task or chore, I began to love writing again. It is a daily gift I give to myself, and the result is a body of work I never could have imagined when I began my online business. My writing has opened an untold number of doors for me over these past ten years and for that I will always be grateful.

How has the process of writing and publishing your words benefited your life and your business?

New Rules for Online Marketing 2016

In this latest podcast I discuss my annual New Rules for Online Marketing for 2016.

The most important things to work on are positioning yourself as an expert, increasing your visibility, and building credibility both personally and professionally. I have a variety of methods that continue to work for me, as well as some new ones that you will find extremely helpful.

You must author a book that lets people know who you are, what you stand for, and how you have come to be the business person you are at this point in your life. If you are already blogging for your business, as I continue to highly recommend, then use your blog as the basis of your book. I did this with my very first book – Huge Profits with a Tiny List – back in 2010 and still teach that “blogging” your book is an excellent strategy.

This allows you to organize your thoughts into an outline, to find your voice while you are writing, and to share your very best tips and strategies with your readers. You also have the opportunity to build a list when people opt in to your blog to hear more from you. Use your full name as the domain for your blog because you are the brand first and foremost. Over the years you may change or alter your business goals but your name will remain the same.

Adding a podcast will further boost your visibility and credibility as people begin to find you on iTunes through your keywords. It is my experience that my two podcasts, along with my twelve books brought me the most new business during the past year and a half. People who would otherwise not have found me were able to find me both on iTunes and on Amazon and connect with me through my blogs and other sites. This is huge for business owners and entrepreneurs.

Once you have your blog and podcast set up and working to promote you and your expertise, start speaking locally to let people get up close and personal to hear what you have to say and to ask you more questions. I started doing this at my local Rotary Club back in 2006, and soon I was speaking at other venues and on the radio. Over time that expanded to my being asked to speak at marketing events across the country and throughout the world. Teleseminars are also a form of public speaking and I continue to host these regularly to keep my name and voice at the front of people’s minds.

Now here are some suggestions to keep you moving forward all year long. First, refuse to allow yourself to get bogged down with technology, writing, or anything else. I’ve had help with the technical side of my business from day one, and have saved myself lots of time and grief by having these professionals on my team.

Be objective about your strengths and get help from others to improve in the areas that do not feel natural or intuitive to you. I did this with my writing and have no regrets at all. If I had not made some effort every single day during my first few years in business I would not be a multiple bestselling author right now.

I am reminded of a quote from someone I highly respect as a small business owner. “Treat your business like a business and it will pay you like a business; treat it like a hobby and it will cost you like a hobby.” This has never been as true as it is today.

As you can see, this is all about positioning yourself as an expert, continuing to create massive visibility, and building credibility for yourself and your business. The new year of 2016 can be all that you want and expect it to be, but only if you take the time and make the effort to let people know who you are and what you stand for as a human being. Please let me know if you have further questions on anything I have discussed here in regards to the New Rules for Online Marketing in 2016.

I have also introduced a new feature during these calls. I will always have the latest course or program at my Surprise! link. Check it out and see what I am recommending this week.

Are you already a part my list community and receiving my daily email updates? If not, please give me your first name and primary email address in the form on the right-hand side of this site. If you are brand new to my podcasts, you will be interested to know that this specific training call, as well as all of the calls in my podcast series is intended to teach you and other new online entrepreneurs how to take your business to the next level quickly and effectively, and as a way for me to share my exact methods, techniques, Case Studies, secrets, and advice on creating a profitable and lucrative online business using the ‘multiple income streams’ approach. People on six continents have now discovered that starting an Internet business is the very fastest way to achieve both time and financial freedom, as well as to great success in all areas of your life, and you need help to get there quickly. That’s why I started this online marketing tips podcast for my community.

You will see that each podcast session is first recorded live as a teleseminar, and then repurposed into a podcast to extend my reach to the world. Please join my list (opt in on the right) to be included on these calls, and be sure to introduce yourself and share your site for optimal exposure for years to come! Also, check out my Podcast Show Notes site to see how you can subscribe at no cost to both of my podcasts, and please leave me a review on one or both of them if you are so inclined.

Want to get started earning income online right away? You may now pick up my popular training on winning affiliate contests and other online marketing tips for only seven dollars at Affiliate Contest Secrets. This training regularly sells for $27. Use the discount code CONTEST to bring the price down to $7. This training has been completely updated for 2015 with the latest information, strategies, and Case Studies for you to use in your own business.

Please be sure to leave your comments below so that I may get to know you better and to serve you as you continue your journey as an online entrepreneur. Getting started with an online business will change your life forever and my reward is your massive success!

Subscribe To My Online Marketing Tips Podcast Today!

Tamara Monosoff is someone you’ll want to know. She and I recently met at a live event in southern California and I knew that I had to interview her for my podcast series so that you could get to know more about her and how she is helping online entrepreneurs and authors.

She has worked in Washington D.C. in the Clinton Administration where she served as Chief of Staff for the Office of Vocational and Adult Education at the U.S. Department of Education, Education Director for the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships, and Senior Communications Associate for the President’s Initiative on Race at the White House. Tamara has also authored six bestselling books, including Your Million Dollar Dream: Regain Control & Be Your Own Boss and The Mom Inventors Handbook: How to Turn Your Great Idea into the Next Big Thing; Secrets of Millionaire Moms: Learn How They Turned Great Ideas into Booming Businesses – and How You Can Too!

When I asked her how she has been able to achieve so many goals she jokingly attributes some of it to getting no sleep. Her volunteering brought her closer to the people, dreams, and goals that she aspired to and brought her even more opportunities over time, eventually taking her to the White House.

We discussed her journey to entrepreneurship after she left Washington, D.C. and had her first daughter. It came about as she investigated solutions to problems experienced by mothers everywhere. Women all over the country contacted her to find out how she could help them to get their own ideas into the mainstream by bringing their products to market. This led to her working closely with authors who were not seeing the results they wanted with their books.

Over the past ten years she has tested everything she has learned about creating information products, authorship, and income generation in ways that others have not yet explored or discovered. This includes creating a powerful author platform to get your name and ideas out to the world, and Tamara has used these strategies to get to #1 on Amazon and to get the attention of the media. She also teaches authors how to make money beyond your books for years to come. These are innovative techniques and methods you will want to learn right away. Wait until you hear what she’s doing with QR Codes!

Towards the end of this interview she shares the exact verbiage to use with the media to get them more interested in having you as a guest for whatever they are currently working on – it’s simplistic and powerful.

Download Tamara Monosoff’s Author to Income Checklist to get started right away on the journey to successful entrepreneurship.

Subscribe To All Interviews In My Podcast Series

Your Best Year Ever – 2016 – Is Coming Up Soon

Today I’d like to share how you can make 2016 your “Best Year Ever” and to discuss the goal setting and achieving techniques and strategies that have enabled me to change my life dramatically over these past ten years. Much of this is based on Michael Hyatt’s excellent training, of which I have been a part for some time now. I consider this information to be crucial to success and am thrilled to be able to share at least some of it with you today.

Chances are, you’re already thinking about 2016. Most people do around this time of year. It’s an excellent time to hit the “refresh” button and get a clean start by wiping the slate clean and moving on to the new year. But where do you start? Do you start by writing down a few goals? There are actually a few steps to take before that.

It does sound enticing; simply turn the page on your calendar and you have arrived at your new destination. But there’s much more involved than that and I want to help you make the mental shift you need to reach the level of success you want and deserve. Now you can finally get clear on how setting goals can truly transform your life, even if you’ve tried in the past and failed.

Did you know that twenty-five percent of the people who make resolutions at the new year abandon them within one week, and that sixty percent give up within six months? And that most of us make the exact same resolutions year after year, such as getting out of debt, losing weight, starting a new business, spending more time with our families, or taking a special vacation trip? Here are some questions to ask yourself so that you can get off of the resolution hamster wheel and on to a more “designed” life.

• How do you wish to be remembered when you are gone? This is your legacy, yet you may not have given it much thought, written it down, or shared it out loud with anyone else in your life.
• What’s most important to you? As you go through each day, what tasks and activities are ones you hold sacred?
• What single brave decision do you need to make today?

First, let’s discuss priorities. The truth is that none of us can do everything and have it all. We are forced into choices every day. Choose wisely and your life and business will be more fulfilled and satisfying. I’ll use myself as an example here. My top priorities include having the time and financial freedom to live the way I please. I enjoy volunteering, traveling, and working with entrepreneurs around the world, and choosing my priorities wisely has enabled me to do everything I want to do and achieve my goals with grace and ease.

Now let’s look more closely at the three question, starting with how you wish to be remembered. My legacy includes my body of work, which is my writing and speaking. For many years after I have departed the physical world, people will be able to access this work to help them move closer to their own goals and dreams. What will your legacy include?

When you think about what is most important to you, remember that we choose every single activity we engage in each and every day. It is of the utmost importance to me to spend both quality and quantity time with the people whom I hold closest to my heart. Next comes my writing, which makes me feel alive, and my speaking and working with entrepreneurs who need guidance as they build and grow their businesses.

As far as a brave decision that we must make today, think of something that is a challenge for you and just make it happen so that this will indeed be your best year ever. I do that regularly with my writing, my speaking, and my work with entrepreneurs.

As you can see, this is all about setting goals that will move you from where you are today to closer to where you would like to be in the near future. Ask yourself the three questions I have shared with you here, write down the details, and then start taking immediate action to make things happen in the way that will best serve you. The new year of 2016 can be all that you want and expect it to be, but only with the right attitude and thought processes to help make sure everything falls into place.

Watch Michael Hyatt’s “Best Year Ever” video and let me know what you think.

Geoff Hoff passed away recently, and the world will never be quite the same. Geoff and I had been friends since meeting at an event in Austin, Texas during 2009. Actually, we had met online almost a year earlier, but it wasn’t until we were face to face that we were truly connected.

Within a year I had been instrumental in launching him to the world as a speaker, copywriter, and person to know if you were in the world of online marketing. He was a talented writer and storyteller and I like to think that I assisted him in sharing his gifts with a much wider audience than he had previously. It was my pleasure to be a mentor to him, but over time we experienced something of a role reversal as he began to play a more significant role in most of the work I was doing online.

With Geoff I was willing to step out of my box as an introvert and do some things I had not dared to do previously. This included singing a duet of “Sweet Caroline” with him in front of an audience of more than a thousand people at Armand Morin’s Big Seminar in 2010, writing a full length book with him in only seven days in 2011, and hosting my own live events starting in 2012 after only doing this previously with Dr. Jeanette Cates. Geoff gave me the courage to put aside my fears and become my own person in so many aspects of my life.

Over the years we began to intertwine our businesses, and we both benefited from the collaboration. We wrote two books together, as well as compiling several books on a number of topics. This led to the creation of our publishing company, Hunter’s Moon, through which we proudly published the work of a number of authors, primarily in the non-fiction, business genre.

We both continued to write on our own, and Geoff went on to write a sequel to the satirical novel he had written with partner Steve Mancini. These works were based on a comedy web series called Poor Paul, which is currently being made into a feature film. He and Steve, nominated in 2009 for a Webby for this writing, are even listed on the show’s Wikipedia page, something I used to tease him about regularly.

But we were much more than business partners. Geoff and I had become close friends, confidants, mastermind partners, and so much more. It’s difficult for me to imagine what life will be like now that he is no longer at the other end of the phone line. He was the kindest, most giving person I ever met, putting his own life on hold to help others in need. And he never said no when asked a favor by someone he knew. This past summer I emailed him from Europe to ask if he could pick me up at the airport the following day. He answered quickly that this would not be a problem, and took me to his apartment where I was able to shower, go online to do some things for my business, and make some phone calls before having him drive me to meet a colleague with whom I had agreed to connect with later that evening at a hotel near LAX. Without hesitation, and without asking me any personal questions about what I was doing and with whom, I waved goodbye and made the appointment I so needed to keep.

At the time of his passing Geoff and I had more than a dozen projects in the works. These included two new courses, another full length book, and a membership site.  He had a number of his own projects going as well, including a full length science fiction novel that I expected to be the best work of his career.

Geoff Hoff was much more than a writer. He was also a fine artist, a sculptor, an actor, and a director.  That one person could accomplish so much is such a short lifetime will continue to amaze me. I can only hope to be as productive as he was if I live another twenty years.

This year has been a difficult one for me personally, having lost several other close friends and family members within a very short period of time. What has been different with this is that Geoff’s passing has been so public. Even though some of the others I have lost have been people who were in my life much longer than Geoff was, in each case I’ve been allowed to mourn in private. For the first three days after his passing I did grieve in private, along with his family, close friends, and those in my online Incubator and Platinum Mastermind groups. After his brother posted about his death on his Facebook wall and mentioned me by name, I awoke on the forth day to hundreds of email messages, text messages, phone calls, and social media comments. This was new territory for me, and something that has definitely taken me out of my comfort zone. I finally know something of what it must be like for celebrities and others living in the public eye, and I do not envy their position.

When I broke the news to our editor the question finally came up as to what was to become of a book Geoff had revised for release right after the first of the year. The most beautiful way to end something that you had wanted so badly to last forever is with a new beginning. The updated version of Poppycock will be released on March 20, 2016. That is the first day of spring and seems like the perfect time to launch it into the world.

Online Marketing Incubator Tips

In this latest podcast I discuss the importance of using a Study Guide as a part of your podcast. I had been doing this a couple of years ago and will now include one for each training call. Here are some of the topics I covered during this podcast…

• Thinking of yourself as a Content Publisher
• Spending time reading each day for business growth
• The “10,000 Hours” Concept for entrepreneurs
• Productivity and Time Management
• Accountability – to your Mentor and to yourself

Download the November, 2015 Study Guide at the top of this page by clicking on this link…

My latest book is about the strategy that continues to work well for me and for many of my more active students. It is titled Book. Blog. Broadcast: The Trifecta of Entrepreneurial Success. Check out my published book titles here.

During this podcast I also discuss the new course I am teaching with Ron Tester, entitled How to Market for Small Business. This course begins on December 1. If you would like to build a lucrative business by helping small businesses and professionals to make their phone ring, or if you own a small business and need more clients, then this course is definitely for you.

These open calls are your opportunity to connect with me and ask me your most burning questions when it comes to online marketing and entrepreneurship. Be sure to read my regular emails so that you may take advantage of this live mentoring as you build your online business.

I have also introduced a new feature during these calls. I will always have the latest course or program at my Surprise! link. Check it out and see what I am recommending this week.

Are you already a part my list community and receiving my daily email updates? If not, please give me your first name and primary email address in the form on the right-hand side of this site. If you are brand new to my podcasts, you will be interested to know that this specific training call, as well as all of the calls in my podcast series is intended to teach you and other new online entrepreneurs how to take your business to the next level quickly and effectively, and as a way for me to share my exact methods, techniques, Case Studies, secrets, and advice on creating a profitable and lucrative online business using the ‘multiple income streams’ approach. People on six continents have now discovered that starting an Internet business is the very fastest way to achieve both time and financial freedom, as well as to great success in all areas of your life, and you need help to get there quickly. That’s why I started this online marketing tips podcast for my community.

You will see that each podcast session is first recorded live as a teleseminar, and then repurposed into a podcast to extend my reach to the world. Please join my list (opt in on the right) to be included on these calls, and be sure to introduce yourself and share your site for optimal exposure for years to come! Also, check out my Podcast Show Notes site to see how you can subscribe at no cost to both of my podcasts, and please leave me a review on one or both of them if you are so inclined.

Want to get started earning income online right away? You may now pick up my popular training on winning affiliate contests and other online marketing tips for only seven dollars at Affiliate Contest Secrets. This training regularly sells for $27. Use the discount code CONTEST to bring the price down to $7. This training has been completely updated for 2015 with the latest information, strategies, and Case Studies for you to use in your own business.

Please be sure to leave your comments below so that I may get to know you better and to serve you as you continue your journey as an online entrepreneur. Getting started with an online business will change your life forever and my reward is your massive success!

Subscribe To My Online Marketing Tips Podcast Today!

Networking Tips to Grow Your Business

Recently I was asked about the effectiveness of networking to grow your business. I’ll share some ideas on how this will work for you, both online and offline.

First, take a close look at what is referred to as your “circle of influence”. These are the people you are connected with, whether on the internet or in person, who know exactly what type of business you are involved in and how you serve others with your knowledge and experience. Hopefully you have done a good job of cultivating these contacts since you started your business, but if you’re making a list and still attempting to write down more than a dozen names or so this is an area you can definitely improve upon.

Many years ago when I was working in real estate I was amazed at the people who received referrals regularly from their circle of influence. Even if they had not seen each other in years, these people were quite loyal in doing business with someone who had stayed in touch over the years. At the time I did not understand this strategy, but over time I saw that this was an excellent way to grow and sustain a successful and lucrative business.

Make a plan for what you can do every day to add more people to the list of those who will see you as an expert in your field and a trusted adviser to them and to their connections. This can be done in a variety of ways, and here are some ideas:

• Attend a local networking meeting in your city regularly
• Join a service organization and get involved in projects
• Make sure your social media profiles mention your business
• Choose a charity that resonates with you and volunteer
• Reach out to people in your neighborhood to let them know what you do
• Attend or start your own Meetup group to share your expertise

Everything I have mentioned here is free of cost, but you may want to set up a budget for your networking efforts. Thirty second spots on local radio can be very worthwhile, as well as having a table or booth at local events where you can give out cards and collect names. These might include pet fairs, holiday boutiques, and other weekend events where large groups of people are likely to attend and be open to learning more about you and what you have to offer.

Subscribe to and read your local newspapers and magazines to find out what is coming up in your area. Even if it sounds like only a remote possibility of being able to connect with people who could become your prospects and clients, be open to doing it anyway. One of my clients set up a table at a pet adoption event and picked up more than a dozen clients this way.

Even though meeting people in person and looking them in the eye is preferable, remember that you can connect with exponentially more people through online venues. Some ideas for this include blogging, hosting and being a guest on podcasts and local radio shows, and writing articles, short reports, and books on your areas of knowledge and expertise. These will all give you almost instant celebrity status and increase both your credibility and visibility.

Use sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to let the world know what you think about important topics related to your business. Over time this will make a huge difference in how you are perceived by others in your field, as well as by new prospects and current clients.

As you can see, this is all about putting yourself out there and getting out of your comfort zone. Have the willingness to challenge yourself to increase your circle of influence steadily over time for best results. Leadership skills can definitely be learned, and networking with people on a regular basis, both online and in person will help you to grow your business exponentially for years to come. What are some networking tips that have been effective for your business?