========================================== Business Marketing Bulletin ========================================== April 29, 2008, Issue #99 Terri Seymour, Publisher http://www.seymourproducts.com mailto:terri@seymourproducts.com © 2008 All Rights Reserved Worldwide ========================================== In This Issue ========================================== 1. Top Sponsor Ads 2. Privacy Policy 3. What's New? 4. Freebies & Biz Helpers 5. eCommerce Marketing Tip 6. Feature Ad 7. Feedback 8. Article: 5 Ways to Skyrocket Your Ezine Open Rate 9. Feature Ad 10. This 'n That - Little Bit of Everything! 11. Subscription Management & Contact Info ========================================== Top Sponsor Ads ========================================== A GLOBAL HOME BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY Thinking about starting a home business? Not sure where to begin? Start your home business on a rock solid base! Consider teaming up with us. Since 1985 we've helped tens of thousand men and women worldwide build successful home businesses. And we can help you too. Click here for home business success stories, and for information on getting started FREE. Your enrollment now includes over $400 in FREE bonuses. Complete details at: http://www.moreinfo247.com/8778971/free *************************** Free Download - eBay Workshop Collection The workshop titles included in the ebook are... *From Hobby to Home Business *How to Compete in a Crowded Market *Understanding the Basics to Importing Physical Products to Sell.........and much more! You can download it for free here: http://www.worldwidebrands.com/wwb/kh_freeebookWorkshops.asp?kbid=1028 ********** ATTENTION ********** You are receiving this newsletter because you subscribed to it. As a subscriber you have acknowledged that there will be both in-house and third party advertising as part of our content. This allows BMB to remain free. If you would like to be removed from this list, please see instructions at the end of this newsletter. Seymour Products values your privacy. http://www.seymourproducts.com/privacy.shtml Seymour Products is hosted by ICDSoft Hosting. No set-up fees, 1000 MB of space, $72 per year, plus numerous features! Incredible support system...minutes, not hours! You have a bigger plan option as well. http://www.icdsoft.com/?aff=terriseymour ========================================== What’s New? ========================================== Hello everyone and welcome new subscribers, Another week has gone by and I hope everyone is one step closer to their goals - business and personal. Setting your goals is not an easy task. You might think you just say, "Well my goal is to get rich." But it doesn't really work that way. There are more efficient ways of setting AND reaching your goals. First step: Always write down your goals. Just doing this simple step will greatly increase your chances in actually reaching them. Next step: Don't just write down one big goal - I want to get rich. Break down your goals into steps or smaller goals so as you achieve each step, you gain confidence, strength and increase your chances of finishing the climb to your final goals. Have a plan on how you will reach your goals. Just don't start blindly and then wonder why you are not getting anywhere. Write your plans down as well and don't get discouraged if you have to change them along the way. You might find a better way to reach your goals. Picture yourself reaching your goals. Never tell yourself you can't do it. Do not let little setbacks stop you from reaching your goals. Use the setbacks to learn more, get stronger and more determined. This will help you reach your final and biggest goal! Good luck to all of you on reaching your goals and making your life dreams come true! ;-) In the News N.J. Justices Call e-Privacy Surfers' Right http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1208838925176980.xml&coll=1 New Ebooks this Week: Resell Ebooks Just $1.00 Each! Web 2.0 Resource Bible (int marketing) Arts & Crafts in the Middle Ages (crafts/hobbies) An Antarctic Mystery (classics) 5 One Time Offer Templates (web design) Fun & Frolic (children) Ten Thousand Miles with a Dog Sled -Travel in Alaska (travel) The Life of Kit Carson (education/homeschool) The Spirit of Christmas (holiday/seasonal) The Italian Cookbook (ecookbooks) http://www.seymourproducts.com/ebooks-resell "I do apologize for there being only nine new ebooks this week. There was a last minute problem with one of them and it had to be removed from the store." **Weekly Subscriber Special** Let's try another fun one like last week! Participate in this week's trivia challenge and get five free ebooks with your order of five or more. All you have to do is order five or more ebooks, try your luck in the trivia challenge and you get five FREE ebooks! ;-) This special is valid from April 29 thru May 2. NOTE: New eBooks listed above are not eligible for Weekly Subscriber Specials. Join the Seymour Products Trivia Challenge! Find the hidden trivia question and be the third person to send in the correct answer for a free feature ad in next week's issue of the Business Marketing Bulletin. Send your answer to mailto:terri@seymourproducts.com?subject=answer Congratulations to Melanie McClendon for winning last week's trivia challenge. Thank you Melanie! Last week’s Q: What city in Wisconsin is the "Ginseng Capital of the World" Last Week’s A: Wausau - I live 30 minutes away and didn't even know this. ;-) Join in the fun and try to win a free feature ad. Good luck all! If you know anyone who could benefit from this ezine, please feel free to forward them a copy in its entirety. Thank you. If you would like to advertise in the BMB, please visit: http://www.seymourproducts.com/newsletter/advertise.shtml for more information. Advertising prices are as low as $5.00. I am also looking for ad swaps from other ezine publishers. BMB goes out to 1042 subscribers. ========================================== Freebies & Biz Helpers ========================================== An Introduction to Social Bookmarking and Tagging http://www.marketposition.com/blog/archives/2006/08/an_introduction.html ****** Direct Marketing Tips & Ideas http://www.givetogetmarketing.com/ ******* Webmaster Resource Directory - find resources for HTML, PHP, java, graphic design, aniamation, clipart, email, and much more! http://www.sitepronews.com/wresources.html ******* Free Download: Natural Word from Software Theories Allows you to command Microsoft Word using your own words. http://www.softwaretheories.com/NaturalWord/ ****** Write Better Ads - Do It Free! http://www.WriteBetterAds.com ========================================== eCommerce Marketing Tip ========================================== Write up some informative free reports and put them on autoresponder. Include sales, specials and other pertinent information about your business/products that might grab people's attention. These reports onoy need to be a few pages but make sure they contain some useful info and resources, not just your business info. Include information on how to sign up for your mailing list in the report as well. Write up several of these reports and have a library for people to look through. People love free information so offering free reports is a great way to get people to come back for more. Be sure to have a couple of follow-ups to each report. And ALWAYS have your unsbuscribe info on each autoresponder report or message so people cannot accuse you of spam. Be sure to put a link to the report in your email sigtag. This can draw in a lot of leads for you! ========================================== Feature Ad ========================================== Are YOUR Ads Making Money? Competition's High but My Prices are Down-To-Earth! Quality, Affordable & Friendly Ad-Writing Services! http://www.freewebs.com/suz1of6/ ========================================== Feedback ========================================== Please send in your comments, suggestions, questions, etc to mailto:terri@seymourproducts.com?subject=feedback We appreciate all feedback, good or bad! Yes I received your e-mail as well as the books and I thank you. I have downloaded looked and tested them all, and thank you they are great. * Shawn I just wanted to say your newsletter is awsome and I look forward to getting them every week! * Dawn Seymour Products is a wonderful company focused on helping clients and the community. The team has been so gracious in helping me and I cannot thank them enough. I highly recommend! * Diane ========================================== Feature Article ========================================== Ezine Marketing: 5 Ways to Skyrocket Your Ezine Open Rate by Donna Gunter Do you know the open rate for your email newsletter? The open rate is the percentage of people who actually open and read your newsletter. Most better email distribution programs can give you fairly detailed statistics about your open rate, including the percentage that opened the broadcast, the links that they clicked on (called click- throughs), the specific subscribers who opened the ezine, and in some cases, info about which issues were forwarded to others. A good open rate is considered to be 30-40%, which means that between 30 and 40% of your list is actually reading your broadcast. That number mean seem disappointing, as you want everyone on your list to read your ezine. Unfortunately, a 100% open rate will probably never happen for most of us, as most people are simply too busy to pay close attention to the bulk of email that they receive. If you’re using your ezine as your “stay in touch” device for your email list as the way your prospects get to like, know and trust you so that you’ll be the top of mind person they contact when they are ready to fix the problem that ails them, then you want to ensure that as many of them as possible open your ezine when it arrives. It’s a crowded world out there in the world of email newsletters and can be difficult to make yours stand out above the rest. Here are 5 strategies you can use to increase the open rate of your ezine: 1. Publish regularly. Your list needs to be accustomed to hearing from you, so publishing on a regular schedule is important. Many studies have been done to determine the “best” day to send an email broadcast, and as soon as a bunch of email marketers follow those guidelines, then the days change again according to another study. In my opinion, it doesn’t really matter what day you choose to publish — just do it the same time every time. The more frequently you publish (preferably weekly), the more quickly your list will get to know you. 2. Personalize your ezine headline and body. What happens when you see your name in an email? You look at it, don’t you? That’s why it’s so important to use the customization features in your email broadcast program to insert your recipient’s first name in the subject line and in the body of the email. Many readers aren’t savvy to the world of Internet marketing strategies, so they think that you’ve crafted an email solely for them. And, of course, to personalize the broadcast, you need to request both a name and an email address when someone signs up for your list. 3. Create a compelling subject line. A great subject line (or headline) is just like a book cover — it will make people curious/compelled to open the email, or not. The subject lines that get the highest open rate are consistent, or are formatted in the same way each week. Secondly, they give a glimpse of what’s inside the email. Lastly, they aren’t too long — no more than 50-60 characters, which is the average subject line length that most email programs will display. I used to publish a month/year of broadcast and an issue number of my email newsletters and quickly discovered that I was wasting my subject line space. Now, I’d suggest your format to be: [Ezine name]: first name, subject line here. 4. Identify yourself to your readers. When you send an email broadcast, be sure to identify yourself in the “From” line so that the reader knows exactly who is sending the email. If you think your reader identifies more with your company name, then send it using your company name rather than your name in the From line. However, the majority of clients of small service businesses identify more with the company owner’s name, so I recommend that you use your name in the From line of your email broadcast. 5. Highly useful content. Typically most ezine recipients will give you 1 or 2 chances to make an impression on them. If they’re not “wowed” by your content, then they do one of two things — unsubscribe from your list, or let your broadcast languish in their email inbox until they get around to reading it, which may never happen. Every time you send out an issue, you’re making a first impression, as you’ve got new readers who join your list every single week. You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression, so ensure every issue is your best issue. Your primary article needs to answer a key question asked or issue encountered by the majority of your readers. Despite the advent of blogs and other social networking platforms, I still believe the email newsletter is a great way to stay in contact with your prospects. By using the strategies outlined above, you’ll have more readers opening your broadcasts than every before. About the Author Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. To claim your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at http://www.OnlineBizU.com. Ask Donna an Internet Marketing question at http://www.AskDonnaGunter.com. ************** If you would be interested in any of my articles for reprint or reference you can see the complete list at http://www.seymourproducts.com/articles/index.shtml Feel free to use any of the articles you feel are appropriate for your business. ========================================== Feature Ad ========================================== Don't forget Mother's Day is coming! At Bee Gift Emporium, we work like BEES for all your gift NEEDS from home décor to gift baskets! Use code BGE15 when checking out to save 15% off your total purchase. http://www.BeeGiftEmporium.com ========================================== This ‘n That - A Little Bit of Everything! ========================================== "Alopecia World is the first and only social networking site for women, men, and teens with alopecia (hair loss), and it is transforming this stigma into a distinction!" http://www.alopeciaworld.com/ I had the blues because I had no shoes until upon the street, I met a man who had no feet. *Ancient Persian Saying Want to try camping or are you an old hand. Either way this site can help: http://www.camping.com/ This week's riddle: What Am I? I reach for the sky, but clutch to the ground; sometimes I leave, but I am always around. What am I? Answer at the end of the ezine. ========================================== Subscription Management ========================================== In Arkansas it is illegal to buy or sell what color light bulb? mailto:terri@seymourproducts.com?subject=answer Subscriptions to this weekly ezine are free. To receive this newsletter: Send a blank email to: mailto:subscribe@seymourproducts.com To not receive this newsletter: Send blank email to: mailto:unsubscribe@seymourproducts.com ========================================== Contact Info ========================================== Terri & Terry Seymour Publishers, Business Marketing Bulletin Owners, Seymour Products http://www.seymourproducts.com mailto:terri@seymourproducts.com ========================================== Legal Disclaimer The Business Marketing Bulletin does not make any warranties, express or implied, regarding the use of the links that we provide in our advertising. We don't guarantee the accuracy, completion, usefulness or legality of any advertisements, resources, information, products, services, income processes or programs. We disclaim any responsibility and/or all liability arising out of, or relating to, any item listed in this ezine, and/or websites. ========================================== Answer to Riddle: I am a tree!