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You know building an email list is vital to your online
marketing success. But did you know you can destroy your
email marketing efforts and sabotage your list if you are
not careful.
Unfortunately, it is all to easy to have your email marketing
fail. Let's review my top 8 fatal email marketing mistakes
and what you can do to prevent your list's demise.
1) No Integration with Your Web Site
Mistake:
Your web site has no email list sign-up form. The content
of your emails is not posted to your site.
Just this week a customer asked me if he needed his own
web site to build his list. Absolutely, I told him.
Building a list without a web site puts a severe handicap
on your efforts. You need a web site to explain what you
offer and capture email leads.
Further your site should store the email content you create.
These posted messages work to your advantage as they'll pull
in search engine traffic and generate more list sign-ups.
Fix:
Create a web site. Place a sign-up form on every page of
the site. Post your emails to your site. Notify search
engines of your site's existence.
2. No Engagement Strategy
Mistake:
You do not welcome new subscribers to your list and send
them an automated follow up series of messages.
New list sign-ups are very valuable. In the first 30 days
these individuals will open the majority of your emails
and read what you have to say.
Fix:
Use an autoresponder to delivery information to new sign-ups.
SendFree can provide you with a free autoresponder and web
form to place on your site. Create a series of emails that
welcomes your new subscribers and provides them with useful
resources. In addition use the initial automated email
series to set expectations for subscribers. Explain when
and what you'll deliver.
Subscribers who know what they're getting and receive
good information will stay engaged. What's more they
will continue to read your emails even after the first
30 days have passed.
3. Too Much Promotion
Mistake:
You send out too many product and service centric messages
asking for subscribers to buy, buy, buy.
Constant sales messages turn readers off and they'll start
to tune out your messages or unsubscribe.
Fix:
Create educational messages that inform and benefit your
subscribers without requiring them to buy. Share good
resources and data and you'll find your readers will
appreciate it. They will pass along the information to
friends and colleagues who will likely join your list too.
4. No Consistency
Mistake:
Your emails are infrequent and inconsistent. Subscribers
never know when they're going to hear from you. Weeks may
pass without you contacting them and they practically forget
you. Then you're back and you blast them with too much email
all at once - becoming a pest.
Fix:
Set a schedule for when you will email your subscribers.
Commit to a schedule and notify your list when they'll
hear from you. Post it on your site to help you stick
with it!
5. Failure to Include Social Media
Social Media is a large part of Internet users' online
activity. You should take advantage of the power of
social media to promote your emal message and increase
your readership and subscriber base.
Just last week I highlighted a GetResponse study which
found that including Social Media sharing links increases
your email click through rate. Read the article:
Increase Email Click Throughs
Fix:
Include Social Media Share links in all your emails.
See last week's article on how to create the links
for your emails.
6. Lack of Good Content
Content is king, so make sure your emails are interesting.
Avoid sending emails that are -
* off-topic
* lack variety
* fail to get subscriber feedback
When you send the same type of announcement email week
after week, your subscribers will get bored. Do you
like to listen to someone who always does the talking?
Fix:
Mix up how you present your email content. Stay focused
on the subject matter subscriber's signed up for but
deliver ideas differently.
Try including in your emails:
* audio
* video
* images
* Q& A
* surveys
* reader comments
* cartoons
* charts
* book reviews
* etc.
Get your subscribers to comment and share. When your readers
get involved they'll read more and pass along your messages.
7. Poor Subject Lines
Be careful you don't become so involved in creating
interesting emails that you rush to write the email
subject line.
A blah subject vs. a great subject can make all the
difference in the results of your email campaign. Subject
lines that generates no interest will never get your
email opened and shared.
Fix:
Spend time writing the subject line. Some marketers suggest
you spend as much time on the subject as you do on the
body of your email message.
For 5 tips to writing a killer subject line be sure to read
the article from a past DEMC issue: Get Higher Open Rates
8. Ignore Email Analytics
Do you know if anyone is reading the emails you send?
Email marketing takes time and effort. If you aren't
tracking the results of your emails you won't know
if it's working. Analytics give you valuable insight
into which topics, subject lines, and types of email
messages are working -- or not working.
Fix:
Include tracking in your email messages and pay attention
to the results. Become aware of how your emails are
performing. Simply by following your open rates and
click through rates you will be able to improve your
emails performance.
--
Avoid these 8 email marketing mistakes and you're results
are sure to improve.
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