17Nov
I absolutely hate it when email marketing services advertise for themselves in the footers of their paying customer’s messages. I mean, you’re paying them right? Why the heck should you have to advertise for them too? So, here’s a breakdown of email marketing services and their policy of intruding into your messages.
- Aweber – No footer ads, ever.
- MailChimp – Footer ads can be disabled easily in your account if you’re a paying customer.
- Vertical Response – You’ll have to contact support to get the ad removed.
- Constant Contact – Same, you’ll have to put in a support request… adding your logo costs extra.
- iContact – Pay 10% extra per month (minimum $4.95) to remove the ad. In their defense, iContact does have the least intrusive footer ad, plus they’re based right here in Raleigh, NC.
While I’m at it, I have to tell you why I hate Constant Contact. It’s the name. Sure, you want to be in constant contact with your list, but I’ll wager you’re readers would rather not hear from you constantly. Years ago, I actually unsubscribed from a local company’s newsletter because of that Constant Contact logo at the bottom. “Constant Contact? I don’t want that. My in-box if full enough already!”
Got a tip or something I missed? Share it in the comments below!
This post first appeared in my monthly small business newsletter.
Tags: email, email marketing, newsletter, small business
12Nov
So, you’ve heard me rant about Twitter. Some of you even went out and set up accounts, good work! So now what? What do you actually do with Twitter once you’re on there? Why does it matter?
Well, Twitter became even more important this month. Deals were announced with both Google and Microsoft to include Twitter posts — tweets — in search results. So, before long, when someone searches for your company they might also see what people are saying about you on Twitter. In my book, everything in search engine results matters big time, period. Twitter also matters because it gives you another outlet to stay connected with your clients, donors, peers, etc. as well as to attract new ones.
Tweeting seems really simple. Twitter seems really simple in general, at first. It is a simple concept: write little messages no longer than 140 characters. In theory each tweet should answer the question: What are you doing? Dead simple. But, actually doing this well gets complicated. You’ll need to balance the amount you want to communicate with the amount of room you have, and still write something readable. You’ll also need to stand out — catch people’s eyes. You’ll want to elicit a response from the reader as well, e.g. click your link, reply to you, or just empathize with you. Finally, you have to provide actual value in your tweets. A few examples should help. Keep reading »
Tags: newsletter, tutorial, twitter
Recent Comments