Spam is one of those internet nuisances no one should have to put up with!
But in many cases, the furious and avid anti-spam campaigner, while attempting to rid the internet of this nuisance, causes some very real and equally serious side effects. In fact, we should not have to put up with that either!
Under the current climate of aggression towards the sending of SPAM emails, is it any wonder that hysteria is beginning to set in?
Don't get me wrong, I am not condoning spam. I hate it with a passion. I am always very careful to ensure that the people on my mailing lists have chosen to be there. Verification is of the utmost importance when building my lists. As are clear instructions to unsubscribe should anyone wish to be removed.
Adopting a double optin policy should be of primary importance to every online marketer and webmaster.
But is this enough?
The answer, it seems, is a resounding NO!
In my own experience, people often forget that they have opted in. This can cause problems that really only reason can solve.
But most of the time, I have to say, reason does not even get a look in. Take the case of a good and trusted friend of mine.
He almost lost his entire downline (which he had worked VERY hard to build) after he had paid for an ezine ad.
One subscriber (who had clearly forgotten he had subscribed to this particular ezine) got very hot under the collar and alerted some self-righteous vigilante anti-spam "service" (and the company with whom my friend had built his downline) and they were indeed ready to have him kicked off the internet! It was only because he was prepared to jump through hoops to clear his name that the matter was resolved, but it was a close call.
And only recently I had a sharp email from someone accusing me of spamming. I had sent a message to the safelist I had paid to join and he was obviously on the list or he would not have received the message.
In his email to me he said that he had never joined the list, and that my message was "Spam, pure and simple," and that he had filed a report with the FTC.
My first reaction was to fire off a reply in my own defence, which he never had the courtesy to answer, and in fact I have not heard from him again. So perhaps it has all blown over.
But why do people get so hysterical about a few emails arriving uninvited into their inboxes when they scarsely bat an eyelid at the daily influx of junk mail coming through their letter boxes?
There may be occasions, of course, when you feel something simply has to be done. That's okay, but why not try the reasoned and measured approach BEFORE you blast your complaint off to SpamCop. For example:
* if you've received a message via a safelist, ezine etc, for goodness sake check to make 100% certain that you are NOT a subscriber to this list and if you cannot confirm this yourself, take it up with the OWNER of the list
* if the message has come directly from an individual, reply to them and ask them how they came about your email address. This is to ascertain whether they are bona-fide or not. If the reply to them bounces, then you can be almost certain they are spamming you and you can take the matter further
* I myself receive thousands of unsolicited emails every month. Most of the time I just grit my teeth, click the delete button and commit the offenders to the trash can. In my view that seems to be the best solution for the time being. At least until someone somewhere can come up with a more "grown-up" approach to dealing with the whole sorry business.
http://www.articlegeek.com/internet/email_articles/spam_email_hysteria.htm
Monday, September 17, 2007
What You Must Know About Spam
What Is Spam?
When referring to emails, according to the NCES (National Centre for Education Statistic), "Spam refers to electronic junk mail or junk newsgroup postings. Some people define Spam even more generally as any unsolicited e-mail. In addition to being a nuisance, Spam also eats up a lot of network bandwidth. Because the Internet is a public network, little can be done to prevent Spam, just as it is impossible to prevent junk mail. However, the use of software filters in e-mail programs can be used to remove most Spam sent through e-mail."
Some search engines use the term to describe websites that try to attain a high listing rank by submitting identical or mirror pages. In this article I am going to give you a few tips about email Spam.
If we give a too general definition to the word, we might end up taking for Spam perfectly legitimate emails. Not "any" unsolicited mail is Spam. Spam means unsolicited bulk email.
If a message is unsolicited that doesn't make it Spam. The same goes for bulk. A message is Spam only if it is both unsolicited and bulk. When you receive an unsolicited job enquiry, you do receive an uncalled-for email. But is that Spam? No. What about a newsletter? That is bulk, but no Spam if you are a subscriber.
Why Do You Get Spam?
Have you posted your email address online in forums, chat rooms, on your website? Than why do you marvel? Spammers gather the addresses from the Internet; so no wonder your own found its way onto a spammer's list. Besides, spammers use different other means to get what they want: viruses, Trojans, buying from other spammers.
Spam Scams
How many times have you received an "update your account" email from paypal, a bank or ebay? How many times have you received a "warning message"? Maybe it didn't look suspicious to you as it came from an institution you work with, but was it really that way? This kind of emails is referred to as "phishing scam". There is not much you can do when this happens. Just don't click on any links in that email, don't give away any confidential information such as social security number, bank account or credit card number. There are some free tools that can protect you against known phishing websites. For example download the free EarthLink toolbar and report the scam to the Anti-Phishing Working Group.
What about the emails from different Nigerian (or other nationalities) citizens offering you a percentage of a vast sum of money? Yes, you've got that right: scam. You'll only loose your money on this one. Better don't be curious. They will ask you to pay a fee in advance - a so called transfer tax, and guess what: some complications will appear, you have to pay more and more and end up with nothing. And don't believe the "you won money" lottery sweepstakes either. You'll only spend. The same goes for the Nigerian purchase scam: they want to buy something from you, pay by check and they wish the goods to be sent in Lagos, Nigeria.
A Major Don't
Don't reply to spammers... ever! Don't send any "remove me" message. By doing so you confirm your address is active, you show you read bulk messages, you prove your ISP doesn't use Spam filters. You are the perfect candidate. You will never be removed. On the contrary...
Spam Fighters
If Spam really bothers you and you want to fight against it, than you have plenty of possibilities. If you are an American, join Cauce at: www.cauce.org. If not... check out Cauce's international partners (example: EuroCAUCE for Italy, Spain, Germany, Holland, France, Norway).
Associations such as to the Anti-Phishing Working Group, the American Federal Trade Commission (FTC) or other volunteers' organizations are there to help protecting you against scam or other illegal emails (children pornography for example). Detailed information about Spam, Spammers and ways to fight against them you can find here: www.spamhaus.org
http://www.articlegeek.com/internet/email_articles/spam_what_to_know.htm
When referring to emails, according to the NCES (National Centre for Education Statistic), "Spam refers to electronic junk mail or junk newsgroup postings. Some people define Spam even more generally as any unsolicited e-mail. In addition to being a nuisance, Spam also eats up a lot of network bandwidth. Because the Internet is a public network, little can be done to prevent Spam, just as it is impossible to prevent junk mail. However, the use of software filters in e-mail programs can be used to remove most Spam sent through e-mail."
Some search engines use the term to describe websites that try to attain a high listing rank by submitting identical or mirror pages. In this article I am going to give you a few tips about email Spam.
If we give a too general definition to the word, we might end up taking for Spam perfectly legitimate emails. Not "any" unsolicited mail is Spam. Spam means unsolicited bulk email.
If a message is unsolicited that doesn't make it Spam. The same goes for bulk. A message is Spam only if it is both unsolicited and bulk. When you receive an unsolicited job enquiry, you do receive an uncalled-for email. But is that Spam? No. What about a newsletter? That is bulk, but no Spam if you are a subscriber.
Why Do You Get Spam?
Have you posted your email address online in forums, chat rooms, on your website? Than why do you marvel? Spammers gather the addresses from the Internet; so no wonder your own found its way onto a spammer's list. Besides, spammers use different other means to get what they want: viruses, Trojans, buying from other spammers.
Spam Scams
How many times have you received an "update your account" email from paypal, a bank or ebay? How many times have you received a "warning message"? Maybe it didn't look suspicious to you as it came from an institution you work with, but was it really that way? This kind of emails is referred to as "phishing scam". There is not much you can do when this happens. Just don't click on any links in that email, don't give away any confidential information such as social security number, bank account or credit card number. There are some free tools that can protect you against known phishing websites. For example download the free EarthLink toolbar and report the scam to the Anti-Phishing Working Group.
What about the emails from different Nigerian (or other nationalities) citizens offering you a percentage of a vast sum of money? Yes, you've got that right: scam. You'll only loose your money on this one. Better don't be curious. They will ask you to pay a fee in advance - a so called transfer tax, and guess what: some complications will appear, you have to pay more and more and end up with nothing. And don't believe the "you won money" lottery sweepstakes either. You'll only spend. The same goes for the Nigerian purchase scam: they want to buy something from you, pay by check and they wish the goods to be sent in Lagos, Nigeria.
A Major Don't
Don't reply to spammers... ever! Don't send any "remove me" message. By doing so you confirm your address is active, you show you read bulk messages, you prove your ISP doesn't use Spam filters. You are the perfect candidate. You will never be removed. On the contrary...
Spam Fighters
If Spam really bothers you and you want to fight against it, than you have plenty of possibilities. If you are an American, join Cauce at: www.cauce.org. If not... check out Cauce's international partners (example: EuroCAUCE for Italy, Spain, Germany, Holland, France, Norway).
Associations such as to the Anti-Phishing Working Group, the American Federal Trade Commission (FTC) or other volunteers' organizations are there to help protecting you against scam or other illegal emails (children pornography for example). Detailed information about Spam, Spammers and ways to fight against them you can find here: www.spamhaus.org
http://www.articlegeek.com/internet/email_articles/spam_what_to_know.htm
Publishing E-zines via RSS
It's clear that RSS and e-mail in fact need to be used together, as opposed to either one replacing the other.
While RSS might not be used by as many people as e-mail, you can be sure that those that do use it and subscribe to your feeds will get your content without fail. In addition, many already prefer to receive information via RSS instead of e-mail, making RSS an absolute must as a supplement to e-mail delivery.
Let's now take a detailed look at exactly how RSS and e-mail can work together.
1. ANNOUNCING YOUR E-ZINE VIA RSS
What's the use of an excellent e-mail e-zine if it's blocked by spam filters or lost in the recipient's mailbox? No matter how high quality content you prepare, if it's not received it can't be read and then acted upon to drive sales your way.
Namely, you need to stop thinking of your e-zine in terms of e-mail delivery, but rather consider it as a vehicle to present relevant and related content in a specific context of an individual e-zine issue, which can then be delivered to your recipients in multiple ways.
Just consider newspapers, which are delivered in print format, on the Web, via e-mail and RSS as well, all this to assure optimum delivery according to end-user preferences.
While most e-zine publishers will never consider presenting their e-zine in print format and delivering it via traditional delivery services, you need to explore all available means of online delivery. After e-mail, RSS is the first that comes to mind.
Using RSS to announce your e-zine via RSS is the simplest and least expensive way to get started with RSS and it will help you make sure that your valuable content in fact does get delivered, at least to the audience using RSS.
A) THE PROCESS: E-MAIL E-ZINES
What is the process behind traditional e-zine publishing?
* The publisher provides an e-mail e-zine subscription box, in which visitors enter their e-mail addresses, thus giving consent to the publisher to receive his communications and at the same time building his subscriber database.
* The e-mail address is saved in the publisher's subscriber database.
* The publisher prepares an e-zine issue, usually creating an HTML document with either full-text e-zine issue articles and news or summaries of articles with links to full-text articles on his website.
* The HTML document is packaged as an e-mail message by the publishers' e-mail publishing solution and then sent to his subscriber database using e-mail as the delivery channel.
* E-mail messages "travel through the internet" and are either stopped on the way by various spam filters and other "barricades" and are then either deleted automatically or delivered to the subscribers' e-mail accounts.
* Subscribers download these e-mail messages when they log-on to their e-mail account and can then manipulate them, either deleting them, moving them to another folder or reading them.
How can we now transfer this process to publishing your e-zine via RSS as well?
B) THE PROCESS: RSS CONTENT DELIVERY
We first need to understand how RSS content delivery works.
* The publisher creates an RSS feed, basically just a simple XML file structured in a specific way, and provides a link to that XML file on his website and through other sites, search engines and directories. The file needs to first be created and then uploaded to the server, before a link to it can be provided. Fortunately, there are many tools available that will do this for you easily.
* The visitor to the website subscribes to this RSS feed, by easily importing the link to the RSS feed in to his RSS Reader/Aggregator, instead of giving the publisher his e-mail address. In terms of subscriptions, the process is reversed. Instead of the visitor giving his e-mail address to the publisher, the publisher rather provides the visitor with a single URL, which then the visitor "puts" in his aggregator.
* The publisher now prepares a new story or article to include in the RSS feed. Usually, he first publishes this new story on his website and then simply prepares a summary and puts it in to the RSS feed/file. In this case, the summary in the feed simply notifies the reader of new full-text content being made available and pulls him to click-through to the full-text article on the website. Alternatively, the publisher could also provide full-text content of the story in the feed.
* As soon as the publisher updates the RSS feed with the new story, the subscriber can retrieve it and read its content. The feed content is immediately available to the subscriber, without having to face any spam filters on the way.
All of this might sound complicated, but it really is not. Let's now take a look at the process from the e-zine publishing point of view.
C) THE PROCESS: RSS E-ZINE DELIVERY
* The publisher creates an RSS feed intended to specifically notify subscribers of new e-zine issues and promotes it on the website. The feed should be promoted directly below the e-mail subscription box, serving simply as an alternative to e-mail delivery. Visitors have the choice of subscribing either via e-mail or RSS.
* The publisher now takes the HTML document he already prepared for the e-mail version of the e-zine, and puts it online like any other webpage. What you basically need to do is practically take the same presentation and format that you already prepared for the e-mail e-zine and place it online for anyone to see.
* The publisher then creates a new story or content item in the RSS feed, which is basically just a short summary of the e-zine and links it to the webpage he prepared earlier.
* Once subscribers retrieve the feed, they see a new content item with the e-zine title and its description. After clicking on the title they are taken to the web version of the same e-zine that was also delivered via e-mail.
D) THE TECHNOLOGY
As you can see this is a simple process and it only takes about 5 minutes more to do than just doing an e-mail version, and it will ensure that your content is now accessible to all those that prefer RSS to e-mail, it will generate additional exposure for your content by being included in RSS search engines and directories and it will generate more search engine visibility for you.
The best part is that the technology to publish an RSS feed in such a way is widely available and there are quite a few tools to choose from.
If simple e-zine delivery via RSS is your starting goal, a desktop solution should work very nicely. Just try out www.feedforall.com, which is the market leader in this category, or the less advanced but free www.usablelabs.com/productFeedSpring.html.
Keep in mind that only using RSS for e-zine announcements is the simplest way to go and that there is much much more you can do with RSS.
In the next article of the series we'll take a look at how you can measure the readership of your RSS e-zine version and then take on other ways RSS and e-mail can work together.
http://www.articlegeek.com/internet/email_articles/publishing_ezines_rss.htm
While RSS might not be used by as many people as e-mail, you can be sure that those that do use it and subscribe to your feeds will get your content without fail. In addition, many already prefer to receive information via RSS instead of e-mail, making RSS an absolute must as a supplement to e-mail delivery.
Let's now take a detailed look at exactly how RSS and e-mail can work together.
1. ANNOUNCING YOUR E-ZINE VIA RSS
What's the use of an excellent e-mail e-zine if it's blocked by spam filters or lost in the recipient's mailbox? No matter how high quality content you prepare, if it's not received it can't be read and then acted upon to drive sales your way.
Namely, you need to stop thinking of your e-zine in terms of e-mail delivery, but rather consider it as a vehicle to present relevant and related content in a specific context of an individual e-zine issue, which can then be delivered to your recipients in multiple ways.
Just consider newspapers, which are delivered in print format, on the Web, via e-mail and RSS as well, all this to assure optimum delivery according to end-user preferences.
While most e-zine publishers will never consider presenting their e-zine in print format and delivering it via traditional delivery services, you need to explore all available means of online delivery. After e-mail, RSS is the first that comes to mind.
Using RSS to announce your e-zine via RSS is the simplest and least expensive way to get started with RSS and it will help you make sure that your valuable content in fact does get delivered, at least to the audience using RSS.
A) THE PROCESS: E-MAIL E-ZINES
What is the process behind traditional e-zine publishing?
* The publisher provides an e-mail e-zine subscription box, in which visitors enter their e-mail addresses, thus giving consent to the publisher to receive his communications and at the same time building his subscriber database.
* The e-mail address is saved in the publisher's subscriber database.
* The publisher prepares an e-zine issue, usually creating an HTML document with either full-text e-zine issue articles and news or summaries of articles with links to full-text articles on his website.
* The HTML document is packaged as an e-mail message by the publishers' e-mail publishing solution and then sent to his subscriber database using e-mail as the delivery channel.
* E-mail messages "travel through the internet" and are either stopped on the way by various spam filters and other "barricades" and are then either deleted automatically or delivered to the subscribers' e-mail accounts.
* Subscribers download these e-mail messages when they log-on to their e-mail account and can then manipulate them, either deleting them, moving them to another folder or reading them.
How can we now transfer this process to publishing your e-zine via RSS as well?
B) THE PROCESS: RSS CONTENT DELIVERY
We first need to understand how RSS content delivery works.
* The publisher creates an RSS feed, basically just a simple XML file structured in a specific way, and provides a link to that XML file on his website and through other sites, search engines and directories. The file needs to first be created and then uploaded to the server, before a link to it can be provided. Fortunately, there are many tools available that will do this for you easily.
* The visitor to the website subscribes to this RSS feed, by easily importing the link to the RSS feed in to his RSS Reader/Aggregator, instead of giving the publisher his e-mail address. In terms of subscriptions, the process is reversed. Instead of the visitor giving his e-mail address to the publisher, the publisher rather provides the visitor with a single URL, which then the visitor "puts" in his aggregator.
* The publisher now prepares a new story or article to include in the RSS feed. Usually, he first publishes this new story on his website and then simply prepares a summary and puts it in to the RSS feed/file. In this case, the summary in the feed simply notifies the reader of new full-text content being made available and pulls him to click-through to the full-text article on the website. Alternatively, the publisher could also provide full-text content of the story in the feed.
* As soon as the publisher updates the RSS feed with the new story, the subscriber can retrieve it and read its content. The feed content is immediately available to the subscriber, without having to face any spam filters on the way.
All of this might sound complicated, but it really is not. Let's now take a look at the process from the e-zine publishing point of view.
C) THE PROCESS: RSS E-ZINE DELIVERY
* The publisher creates an RSS feed intended to specifically notify subscribers of new e-zine issues and promotes it on the website. The feed should be promoted directly below the e-mail subscription box, serving simply as an alternative to e-mail delivery. Visitors have the choice of subscribing either via e-mail or RSS.
* The publisher now takes the HTML document he already prepared for the e-mail version of the e-zine, and puts it online like any other webpage. What you basically need to do is practically take the same presentation and format that you already prepared for the e-mail e-zine and place it online for anyone to see.
* The publisher then creates a new story or content item in the RSS feed, which is basically just a short summary of the e-zine and links it to the webpage he prepared earlier.
* Once subscribers retrieve the feed, they see a new content item with the e-zine title and its description. After clicking on the title they are taken to the web version of the same e-zine that was also delivered via e-mail.
D) THE TECHNOLOGY
As you can see this is a simple process and it only takes about 5 minutes more to do than just doing an e-mail version, and it will ensure that your content is now accessible to all those that prefer RSS to e-mail, it will generate additional exposure for your content by being included in RSS search engines and directories and it will generate more search engine visibility for you.
The best part is that the technology to publish an RSS feed in such a way is widely available and there are quite a few tools to choose from.
If simple e-zine delivery via RSS is your starting goal, a desktop solution should work very nicely. Just try out www.feedforall.com, which is the market leader in this category, or the less advanced but free www.usablelabs.com/productFeedSpring.html.
Keep in mind that only using RSS for e-zine announcements is the simplest way to go and that there is much much more you can do with RSS.
In the next article of the series we'll take a look at how you can measure the readership of your RSS e-zine version and then take on other ways RSS and e-mail can work together.
http://www.articlegeek.com/internet/email_articles/publishing_ezines_rss.htm
Opt-In Email and eZine Advertising Still More Effective Than RSS, Blogs, and PPC!
When you factor in all the costs related to promoting via an Opt-In Email or Ezine campaign you are still getting the best return on your advertising dollar investment than using RSS, Blogs or PPC. The measurable results are significantly faster than RSS and Blogs and less expensive than using Pay Per Click marketing. Without a doubt, Email and Newsletter advertising campaigns are still two of the best tools available to promote your product or service.
Email Marketing Campaigns
There are a great many people that are still reluctant to use what is one of the best marketing tools available today. Many marketers associate email marketing with spam and have concerns about being shut down by their ISP or hosting company. The fact is, done right and by following specific guidelines you have little to fear. Follow the guidelines outlined below and you will probably kick yourself for not using this tool a lot sooner.
1) CAN-SPAM COMPLIANT: Just about everyone receives hundreds of spam-related emails per week and that is the main reason a lot of legitimate businesses balk at using email marketing. But if you are a legitimate business you only need to do a few things to make your email marketing efforts legal.
(a) Subject Line: It should not be misleading in any way. It should relate to the body of the message and it is a very good practice that the first paragraph relate to the subject line.
(b) Specific Opt-Out Instructions: You must include a way for the reader to opt-out by supplying a link that works.
(c) Physical Address: If you work out of an office this is the address that should appear after your signature. If you work out of the home your home address should appear after the signature.
(d) From Address: Messages should be from the same "from address"
2) USE OPT-IN EMAIL ADDRESSES ONLY: This is very important. Use only Opt-In email addresses for your marketing efforts. There are many legitimate email suppliers so you have a lot of options. And even using 100% Opt-In Email Addresses does not guarantee that you won't have a few people complaining. But if you purchase addresses that include the full name, IP and date stamp you have proof of the opt-in just in case it is needed.
Additional Tips For a Successful Email Marketing Campaign
1) USE EMAIL MARKETING SOFTWARE: We like Broadc@st HTML Bulk Email Software
(www.myaffiliateprogram.com/u/mailwork/b.asp?id=1979) and GroupMail 5 (www.infacta.com/asp/common/groupmail.asp). Some of the suppliers listed below provide free email marketing software.
2) USE SPAM FILTER SOFTWARE: Don't let this software intimidate you. The software is easy to setup and use. It is a good idea to use spam filter software to filter out words or phrases that tend to get flagged by ISP spam filters. Some of the suppliers listed below provide free spam filtering software.
3) USE AUTORESPONDERS: Using an autoresponder will save you a lot of time and work. You can preload messages and assign specific criteria to when they should be sent. Some of the suppliers listed below provide free autoresponder software.
4) TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY ONLY: For best results send your email campaign from Tuesday to Thursday. These are the days that will obtain the most attention to your message. Monday is usually bad because people are planning their work-week and getting tasks out of the way quickly. Fridays are bad because most people are already planning their weekends.
5) COME TO THE POINT IMMEDIATELY: Don't write a book. Try to be as brief as possible and outline your key points in the first paragraph. If you word it right the reader will read on.
Here is a short list of companies that supply 100% Opt-In Email Addresses.
Email Leads For Less
www.email-leads-for-less.com/Hot_100_Opt-In_Email_Leads.htm
EmailResults.com
www.emailresults.com/default.asp
Exact Sales Leads
www.exactsalesleads.com/
Expedite Media Group's Email Marketing Services
www.expedite-email-marketing.com/index.htm
GetResponse Power Leads
www.getresponse.com/leads_offer.html
Lifeline Leads
www.lifelineleads.com/default.php
OptInDataSite.Com
www.optindatasite.com/
PermissionDIRECT
www.permissiondirect.com/index.asp
Prospects Influential
www.prospectsinfluential.com/
Red Clay Media
www.redclaymedia.com/
Salesleads.tv
www.salesleads.tv/index.html
SimplerLeads.com
www.simplerleads.com/
TheListGuy.com
www.thelistguy.com/index.html
Tip Top Leads
www.tiptopleads.com
VentureDirect List Services Group
www.venturedirect.com/html/lsg-about.htm
Please take note that the information contained in this article was up to date at the time of writing and is subject to change at any time. Additionally, it is not the authors intent to recommend or guarantee products or services of the companies listed. We believe that they are all legitimate and provide good products and services but readers are always encouraged to do 'due diligence' prior to making a purchase.
http://www.articlegeek.com/internet/email_articles/email_advertising_effective_rss.htm
Email Marketing Campaigns
There are a great many people that are still reluctant to use what is one of the best marketing tools available today. Many marketers associate email marketing with spam and have concerns about being shut down by their ISP or hosting company. The fact is, done right and by following specific guidelines you have little to fear. Follow the guidelines outlined below and you will probably kick yourself for not using this tool a lot sooner.
1) CAN-SPAM COMPLIANT: Just about everyone receives hundreds of spam-related emails per week and that is the main reason a lot of legitimate businesses balk at using email marketing. But if you are a legitimate business you only need to do a few things to make your email marketing efforts legal.
(a) Subject Line: It should not be misleading in any way. It should relate to the body of the message and it is a very good practice that the first paragraph relate to the subject line.
(b) Specific Opt-Out Instructions: You must include a way for the reader to opt-out by supplying a link that works.
(c) Physical Address: If you work out of an office this is the address that should appear after your signature. If you work out of the home your home address should appear after the signature.
(d) From Address: Messages should be from the same "from address"
2) USE OPT-IN EMAIL ADDRESSES ONLY: This is very important. Use only Opt-In email addresses for your marketing efforts. There are many legitimate email suppliers so you have a lot of options. And even using 100% Opt-In Email Addresses does not guarantee that you won't have a few people complaining. But if you purchase addresses that include the full name, IP and date stamp you have proof of the opt-in just in case it is needed.
Additional Tips For a Successful Email Marketing Campaign
1) USE EMAIL MARKETING SOFTWARE: We like Broadc@st HTML Bulk Email Software
(www.myaffiliateprogram.com/u/mailwork/b.asp?id=1979) and GroupMail 5 (www.infacta.com/asp/common/groupmail.asp). Some of the suppliers listed below provide free email marketing software.
2) USE SPAM FILTER SOFTWARE: Don't let this software intimidate you. The software is easy to setup and use. It is a good idea to use spam filter software to filter out words or phrases that tend to get flagged by ISP spam filters. Some of the suppliers listed below provide free spam filtering software.
3) USE AUTORESPONDERS: Using an autoresponder will save you a lot of time and work. You can preload messages and assign specific criteria to when they should be sent. Some of the suppliers listed below provide free autoresponder software.
4) TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY ONLY: For best results send your email campaign from Tuesday to Thursday. These are the days that will obtain the most attention to your message. Monday is usually bad because people are planning their work-week and getting tasks out of the way quickly. Fridays are bad because most people are already planning their weekends.
5) COME TO THE POINT IMMEDIATELY: Don't write a book. Try to be as brief as possible and outline your key points in the first paragraph. If you word it right the reader will read on.
Here is a short list of companies that supply 100% Opt-In Email Addresses.
Email Leads For Less
www.email-leads-for-less.com/Hot_100_Opt-In_Email_Leads.htm
EmailResults.com
www.emailresults.com/default.asp
Exact Sales Leads
www.exactsalesleads.com/
Expedite Media Group's Email Marketing Services
www.expedite-email-marketing.com/index.htm
GetResponse Power Leads
www.getresponse.com/leads_offer.html
Lifeline Leads
www.lifelineleads.com/default.php
OptInDataSite.Com
www.optindatasite.com/
PermissionDIRECT
www.permissiondirect.com/index.asp
Prospects Influential
www.prospectsinfluential.com/
Red Clay Media
www.redclaymedia.com/
Salesleads.tv
www.salesleads.tv/index.html
SimplerLeads.com
www.simplerleads.com/
TheListGuy.com
www.thelistguy.com/index.html
Tip Top Leads
www.tiptopleads.com
VentureDirect List Services Group
www.venturedirect.com/html/lsg-about.htm
Please take note that the information contained in this article was up to date at the time of writing and is subject to change at any time. Additionally, it is not the authors intent to recommend or guarantee products or services of the companies listed. We believe that they are all legitimate and provide good products and services but readers are always encouraged to do 'due diligence' prior to making a purchase.
http://www.articlegeek.com/internet/email_articles/email_advertising_effective_rss.htm
Using Blind Carbon Copy (BCC) For Email Privacy
Need for Privacy
People have become hypersensitive about their privacy during the last few years. They now expect that their details will be used only for the purposes for which they have been provided and not shared by original trustees. This is especially true of email addresses because of the huge volume of unsolicited commercial email (spam) circulating the web.
In Australia and elsewhere, there are statutes requiring privacy when collecting and using personal information. (In Australia the Privacy Act (Commonwealth) was recently amended to include private sector use of personal information eg, medical records retained by private practices).
In an increasingly litigious society, there are not only sound business reasons, but legal reasons why you should ensure the strictest standards of privacy are applied to personal information of which you are custodian. Despite this, numbers of people using email unwittingly reveal the email addresses of other people to whom they are sending email.
This article tells you how to maintain client confidentiality when sending email to multiple addressees by using Blind Carbon Copy or BCC.
Blind Carbon Copy
The term Blind Carbon Copy is a hangover from the dim, dark ages before word processors when we used typewriters (some of you have probably never seen a typewriter). To produce multiple copies of a document, one had to place a sheet of carbon paper between sheets of plain paper so that the type key impact on the top sheet would be copied to the second sheet (and any subsequent sheets).
It was a somewhat messy, but proficient process. When one wanted to send an original letter to one person and copies to several other people without showing each recipient who the other recipients were, a BCC annotation was made on the original. Each copy displayed only the name and address of the individual recipient, but the BCC notation on the original showed to whom the copies had been mailed. A BCC looked like this: Bcc: Mr Tom Jones, 14 Weaving Court, East Melbourne VIC 3000
Some email programs allow you to enter email addresses into the BCC field and send them. When you do that each recipient receives your message, but the names of other recipients are not displayed.
That is why they are called 'blind' - they are not seen.
By using the BCC feature you preserve the identities of those who are on your mailing list and ensure that anyone receiving your email cannot email your list or harvest their email addresses and sell them.
Your Email Program
When you obtain an email program, make sure it has a 'Blind Carbon Copy (BCC)' feature. Programs such as Outlook Express and Outlook 200? have BCC capability. Although I have never used it, I'd be surprised if Eudora and other common email programs didn't have it too.
If when you click to send a new email your email client displays only the To ... and Cc ... boxes it may be that the Bcc feature IS available, but is simply not displayed. Try the View menu or Help menu to see if you can find a Bcc option.
If your email program has a BCC option that you can select as a permanently visible option, select it. If it doesn't, you may need to think about getting a new program.
How to Use BCC
When you send email messages to multiple addressees and you do not want each addressee to know who else has received a copy, use the Blind Carbon Copy field.
Simply enter all the addresses in the BCC field separated by a semi-colon, comma, or whatever your program uses. When you click the send button, your email will go to each individual with only his or her name in the To field. None of the recipients knows to who else the email has been sent.
Outlook 200? will allow you to send BCC addressed email without an address in the To field. Other email clients require at least one address in the To field before they allow multiple recipient addresses in the BCC field. Test the program you use to see if it needs to have an addressee in the To field. If so, address it to yourself. (Surprisingly, email programs usually allow us to email ourselves ... that's why I receive so many emails from Jennifer Lopez (just joking).
If you need to make an entry in the To field, place your own email address in that field and everyone else's address in the BCC field.
Disadvantages
What you need to know about BCC is that some spam filters automatically delete email addressed in the BCC field so it never reaches its destination. This means that while sending BCC is okay for privacy, your email might not always reach the intended recipients.
A problem I had with Outlook Express 2002 was that if I sent my email using BCC I couldn't print a hard copy of the sent message with the addresses on it. I had to write address details on my file copies for record keeping purposes.
If sending BCC email is likely to be impractical for you, then you need to consider upgrading your email client from the standard run-of-the-mill version to a professional version. That's what I did.
Email Management Programs
If, like me, you distribute large quantities of email regularly to newsletter subscribers, clients, club members, colleagues or anyone else, you will be better off getting a program designed for high volume mailings.
I use and sell a heavy duty bulk email program that lets me do simply, many tasks not easy to achieve with standard email clients like Outlook 2002. For example, the program I use will allow me to:
* Automatically record subscriptions to my newsletter
* Personalise each email with a recipient's name or any other information I choose to include eg, place of residence
* Send as HTML or plain text with or without attachments
* Do a partial send to my distribution list eg, if I wanted to email everyone in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, clients 64-73 of 3,000 or all persons whose title is Ms I can do it
By having a separate program for bulk emailing, I overcome the problems involved with privacy and reduce the likelihood that my messages will be eliminated by overzealous spam engines.
If you rely on email to carry out business activities (and who doesn't?), it may be time to consider how well your email strategy meets the needs of your business in today's security conscious society. More information and a free download that will help you save time can be found at our site.
http://www.articlegeek.com/internet/email_articles/email_privacy_bcc.htm
People have become hypersensitive about their privacy during the last few years. They now expect that their details will be used only for the purposes for which they have been provided and not shared by original trustees. This is especially true of email addresses because of the huge volume of unsolicited commercial email (spam) circulating the web.
In Australia and elsewhere, there are statutes requiring privacy when collecting and using personal information. (In Australia the Privacy Act (Commonwealth) was recently amended to include private sector use of personal information eg, medical records retained by private practices).
In an increasingly litigious society, there are not only sound business reasons, but legal reasons why you should ensure the strictest standards of privacy are applied to personal information of which you are custodian. Despite this, numbers of people using email unwittingly reveal the email addresses of other people to whom they are sending email.
This article tells you how to maintain client confidentiality when sending email to multiple addressees by using Blind Carbon Copy or BCC.
Blind Carbon Copy
The term Blind Carbon Copy is a hangover from the dim, dark ages before word processors when we used typewriters (some of you have probably never seen a typewriter). To produce multiple copies of a document, one had to place a sheet of carbon paper between sheets of plain paper so that the type key impact on the top sheet would be copied to the second sheet (and any subsequent sheets).
It was a somewhat messy, but proficient process. When one wanted to send an original letter to one person and copies to several other people without showing each recipient who the other recipients were, a BCC annotation was made on the original. Each copy displayed only the name and address of the individual recipient, but the BCC notation on the original showed to whom the copies had been mailed. A BCC looked like this: Bcc: Mr Tom Jones, 14 Weaving Court, East Melbourne VIC 3000
Some email programs allow you to enter email addresses into the BCC field and send them. When you do that each recipient receives your message, but the names of other recipients are not displayed.
That is why they are called 'blind' - they are not seen.
By using the BCC feature you preserve the identities of those who are on your mailing list and ensure that anyone receiving your email cannot email your list or harvest their email addresses and sell them.
Your Email Program
When you obtain an email program, make sure it has a 'Blind Carbon Copy (BCC)' feature. Programs such as Outlook Express and Outlook 200? have BCC capability. Although I have never used it, I'd be surprised if Eudora and other common email programs didn't have it too.
If when you click to send a new email your email client displays only the To ... and Cc ... boxes it may be that the Bcc feature IS available, but is simply not displayed. Try the View menu or Help menu to see if you can find a Bcc option.
If your email program has a BCC option that you can select as a permanently visible option, select it. If it doesn't, you may need to think about getting a new program.
How to Use BCC
When you send email messages to multiple addressees and you do not want each addressee to know who else has received a copy, use the Blind Carbon Copy field.
Simply enter all the addresses in the BCC field separated by a semi-colon, comma, or whatever your program uses. When you click the send button, your email will go to each individual with only his or her name in the To field. None of the recipients knows to who else the email has been sent.
Outlook 200? will allow you to send BCC addressed email without an address in the To field. Other email clients require at least one address in the To field before they allow multiple recipient addresses in the BCC field. Test the program you use to see if it needs to have an addressee in the To field. If so, address it to yourself. (Surprisingly, email programs usually allow us to email ourselves ... that's why I receive so many emails from Jennifer Lopez (just joking).
If you need to make an entry in the To field, place your own email address in that field and everyone else's address in the BCC field.
Disadvantages
What you need to know about BCC is that some spam filters automatically delete email addressed in the BCC field so it never reaches its destination. This means that while sending BCC is okay for privacy, your email might not always reach the intended recipients.
A problem I had with Outlook Express 2002 was that if I sent my email using BCC I couldn't print a hard copy of the sent message with the addresses on it. I had to write address details on my file copies for record keeping purposes.
If sending BCC email is likely to be impractical for you, then you need to consider upgrading your email client from the standard run-of-the-mill version to a professional version. That's what I did.
Email Management Programs
If, like me, you distribute large quantities of email regularly to newsletter subscribers, clients, club members, colleagues or anyone else, you will be better off getting a program designed for high volume mailings.
I use and sell a heavy duty bulk email program that lets me do simply, many tasks not easy to achieve with standard email clients like Outlook 2002. For example, the program I use will allow me to:
* Automatically record subscriptions to my newsletter
* Personalise each email with a recipient's name or any other information I choose to include eg, place of residence
* Send as HTML or plain text with or without attachments
* Do a partial send to my distribution list eg, if I wanted to email everyone in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, clients 64-73 of 3,000 or all persons whose title is Ms I can do it
By having a separate program for bulk emailing, I overcome the problems involved with privacy and reduce the likelihood that my messages will be eliminated by overzealous spam engines.
If you rely on email to carry out business activities (and who doesn't?), it may be time to consider how well your email strategy meets the needs of your business in today's security conscious society. More information and a free download that will help you save time can be found at our site.
http://www.articlegeek.com/internet/email_articles/email_privacy_bcc.htm
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