Just trying to do my little part in helping you realize that you are unique. That you have a right to seek your dreams. That your life can change. Trying to help you with the demands of living your life and building your business. Hopefully some of my words will encourage and help you to accomplish that which you truly desire. Life and Business in the context of ONE. Comments welcomed.
Your content has to bring your reader to a state of total focus on what you are saying. Otherwise, they will just glance or read the first words and move on. You don't want this to happen. You want your reader to get so caught-up in what you are saying that they will not even think about clicking to somewhere else. It doesn't matter if you are writing an article, an ad, blog post, email, short, small, long, etc. The content you create must draw your reader in and be good enough to keep them reading. Remember, content must be genuine. In other words be honest with what you are writing. Readers are not stupid and dumb. Eventually they will see right through you. Scott Aughtmon developed this guide to help all of us with our content endeavors. Thanks Scott.
Most of us that have been in business for a period of time understand the importance of email marketing and how to use it properly. You have probably heard the saying, "The money is in the list." Well, actually the saying should be 'The money is in the right list.' But have you ever taken the time to learn what you should do and not do with your email marketing list? Hopefully you have. Whether you have or not here is a great infographic provided by Vertical Response and Skadeedle that shows the Do's and Don'ts of email marketing. Pay close attention; some of you need reminding. I noticed that there is one very important item left out of the infographic Do's. It is incleded within the Don't area. An item that is required by law if you are sending a business email. That item is an unsubscribe link. This is a must. No one wants to be accused of spamming and this is one sure way to get black- balled. Another thing I might mention: if you are going to send out business emails be sure that each person has agreed to receive business emails from you.
I got such a kick from reading this email from Paul Myers of http://www.talkbiz.com that I asked if I could use it here on my blog. Paul has been in internet marketing and writing about internet marketing for some 15 years so one might say he has been around the block more than once. For more straight talk about the internet visit the link and sign up. You won't be disapointed. I can't remember when I first learned of Paul and his work ethic but I can tell you it has been many moons ago. Hope you get as big a kick out of reading this as I did. Oh! and by the way, for those of you that this fits, shame on you!!!
"There has always been a strong undercurrent of conflict among people who want to use the net to sell stuff. Basically, it comes down to the spammers versus everyone else. In the old days, that was an easy line to draw. Spam was a term used mostly to refer to unsolicited bulk email and off topic commercial Usenet posts. Many of the people engaged in this sort of behavior back then were simply naive. The medium was new enough that they didn't understand the long-term impact their actions would have. These days, we're dealing with a whole different kind of snake. .... Harking back to the Auld Daze, we're now seeing a resurgence of the whackamole spammer. The sleazeball who scrapes or buys or steals a list of email addresses and pounds them with stuff they never asked for, and just moves to another host when they get shut down. This problem went away for a while. The easy availability of anonymous proxies, ultra-cheap hosting, careless email service providers, and pre-paid debit cards made the reincarnation possible. The rise of new affiliate networks that cater to the "Internet marketing" crowd made it inevitable. Add to it the Chinese and Russian networks that sell credit card and Paypal account data in bulk, and the online banks that make creating fraudulent accounts a matter of a few minutes and a few mouse clicks, and it's become big business. The point? If they have to use any of those mechanisms to get access to send their email, there is no way they can expect anyone to believe they think they're doing something legit. They're thieving spambags, and they know it. If you're not one of these people, you're one of their victims. If you are one of these people and you feel insulted by what I just said... Too bad. .... Then there are the people who feed the beast. If you've ever run a blog or a forum and had to deal with spammers, you know the destructive influence they have. Or if you've ever tried to find something in a search engine and been swamped by results that have almost no relevance, but are there because the sites' owners paid some "search engine optimizer" to rank them for some unrelated (or spammy) term. This is where it gets sticky. Have you ever paid some SEO firm to blast your links? If so, you're part of the problem. Funny story... I got sick of seeing the spam from one source on a forum I participate in. Garbage posts, with the obvious goal of getting the link love from their signature files. So, in addition to banning the creeps, I started calling the companies linked in the signatures and asking why they were spamming the forum. Ooops. One guy told me he didn't care, as long as it moved him up in Google's rankings. Last I knew, he'd been gutted by a Panda. The rest were appalled at the notion that their links were coming as a result of some kid in Pakistan spamming business discussion forums. That was nothing like what they had been promised by the "Professional SEO Firms" they'd hired to move them up the SERPS. The owner of one of those "professional SEO firms" threatened to sue me. When I asked what he intended to base his suit on, he said "Slander!" My reply: "I didn't even know you existed when I called the guy. I asked HIM why HE was spamming the forum. How is HIS response slander on my part?" [crickets] You may not be able to stop the human robots these folks use for their "work," but costing them a few clients is an excellent way to get them to leave your site alone. You don't have to sit back and let these slime run rough-shod over your work. Take back your sites. .... And watch your back. One of the big fads to hit the "Magic Button" circuit lately is actually an old concept: Solo ads. The idea is simple. You pay someone to send an ad to their subscribers, usually to build your own list. Paid advertising. Wow. What a concept. As long as it's properly disclosed, there's nothing wrong with that, right? Here's the thing: These ads are normally sold on a "per click" basis. The seller usually gets anywhere from 20 cents to a dollar a click, depending on the niche and the list. (It can vary wildly, but those are not unusual prices.) So, some geniuses decide they're going to cash in. They offer clicks in large volumes at cut-rate prices, and sell tons of orders. They claim to have massive lists of targeted subscribers who've asked to receive their emails. To make it sound legit, they claim they'll only accept a limited number of orders each week, as they don't want to burn out their "valuable subscribers" with too many offers. Sorry, folks, but these guys will take every order they can get, for as long as someone is willing to play the sucker. Problem: The clicks aren't really clicks, and they're not from emails sent to real people who actually subscribed to the lists the sellers claim. They're exposures on traffic exchanges or PPV networks. If it costs them a penny a click, it's a lot. You end up paying gourmet prices for dog food traffic. And it's not even good dog food. "Would you like flies with that?" .... There are tons of ways these pukes abuse marketing systems. And all of them make life harder on legitimate businesses. They spam YouTube with "spun" videos, uploading hundreds of copies of the same video, with slight changes. Or they download your videos and add their own tweaks, to steal the rankings and traffic that you created real value to earn. So, YouTube has to tighten up their policies, and they delete thousands of accounts. Sometimes nailing legitimate creators in the process. I have friends who got seriously screwed by Google's Panda and Penguin updates. Including a guy who was making a ton of money from AdSense, and had been touted by Google themselves as a great example of the right way to create an authority site. Does that mean Google was wrong? No. They're doing what they can to stop the SEO spammers, and this isn't an exact science. There's no way to operate on any scale much bigger than "small group" and not have some false positives. That's the gift the spammers give to you. Stricter sets of rules, which end up clumping you in with the thieves and the sleaze. And there are so many people in these systems that it's impossible to keep them running without tightening things up so much that some innocent people get caught in the nets. The scary thing is, the real spammers adjust, and they're back in the game in no time. But legitimate businesses don't know how to adapt to these things, so they get hurt bad. And there is no-one to blame but the spambags. .... Here's a fairly recent example, with a prediction. Facebook recently started offering a service that allows you to upload a list of email addresses of subscribers, and ask them if they want to also follow you on their site. Brilliant idea, really. Used properly, it's a great way to make things more convenient for you and your subscribers. It lets folks choose which channel is most useful for them. I love the concept. Seriously. Here's the rub... People are using this to invite folks who aren't really subscribers at all. I've gotten dozens of these over the past couple of weeks, and not one of them has been from anyone I've even heard of in the past. The emails look like this: Subject: Sum Beech is on Facebook Message: Hi Paul, Since you're already subscribed to their email updates off of Facebook, Sum Beech has suggested you like their Page to stay connected. If you like Sum Beech follow the link below: Sorry, goys and birls, but this Sum Beech needs to get Gibbs-smacked. This is a brilliant, simple, useful option that is going to be ruined in no time by dipwads who are more interested in gaming the system than in actually doing something productive with their lives. This sort of abuse should be punishable by 20 years of following grizzly bears around with a pooper-scooper and an air horn. All the while, they'd be wondering if what they were cleaning up was the remnant of the last guy to serve the same sentence. This would, happily or otherwise, give rise to the next viral country dance craze... "Toot. Scoop. Boogie!" .... There are some technical options that could be useful. The one I would personally like most to see would be a proxy blocklist, which would let blog and forum operators keep out the majority of the spambags. But that's just another part of the arms race. The main point I'd like to make is simpler... If you're doing this stuff, don't kid yourself, or try to kid the rest of us. You're a leech, and you deserve to be burned off the net like any other blood-sucking parasite. If you're not doing this stuff, don't make excuses for the folks who are. This isn't a "competitive edge." It's abuse. These practices are inherently destructive, and should not be tolerated. The most fundamental basis for any civil society is respect for the person and property of others. Stand up for yourself. Take back your sites! Paul -----===(*)===----- Tell your friends about us. Send them to... http://www.talkbiz.com/
Writing articles, ads, blog post or whatever takes some knowledge of the use of good grammar or at least it should. Today I received a newsletter from Ezine Articles and I just had to share it with you. The name of the article is "The Twelve Days of Poor Grammar" and was posted by Ezine Articles Managing Editor, Penny.
The Twelve Days of Poor Grammar
On the first day of submission, my article came back to me with one spelling error, oh gee!
On the second day of submission, my article came back to me with two misused words, and one spelling error, oh gee!
On the third day of submission, my article came back to me with three texting texts, two misused words, and one spelling error, oh gee!
On the fourth day of submission, my article came back to me with four poorly possessive apostrophes, three texting texts, two misused words, and one spelling error, oh gee!
On the fifth day of submission, my article came back to me with five run-on sentences, four poorly possessive apostrophes, three texting texts, two misused words, and one spelling error, oh gee!
On the sixth day of submission, my article came back to me with six confusing contractions, five run-on sentences, four poorly possessive apostrophes, three texting texts, two misused words, and one spelling error, oh gee!
On the seventh day of submission, my article came back to me with seven comma splices, six confusing contractions, five run-on sentences, four poorly possessive apostrophes, three texting texts, two misused words, and one spelling error, oh gee!
On the eighth day of submission, my article came back to me with eight double negatives, seven comma splices, six confusing contractions, five run-on sentences, four poorly possessive apostrophes, three texting texts, two misused words, and another spelling error, oh gee!
On the ninth day of submission, my article came back to me with nine malfunctioned conjunctions, eight double negatives, seven comma splices, six confusing contractions, five run-on sentences, four poorly possessive apostrophes, three texting texts, two misused words, and one spelling error, oh gee!
On the tenth day of submission, my article came back to me with ten incomplete sentences, nine malfunctioned conjunctions, eight double negatives, seven comma splices, six confusing contractions, five run-on sentences, four poorly possessive apostrophes, three texting texts, two misused words, and one spelling error, oh gee!
On the eleventh day of submission, my article came back to me with eleven split infinitives, ten incomplete sentences, nine malfunctioned conjunctions, eight double negatives, seven comma splices, six confusing contractions, five run-on sentences, four poorly possessive apostrophes, three texting texts, two misused words, and one spelling error, oh gee!
On the twelfth day of submission, my article came back to me with twelve dangling modifiers, eleven split infinitives, ten incomplete sentences, nine malfunctioned conjunctions, eight double negatives, seven comma splices, six confusing contractions, five run-on sentences, four poorly possessive apostrophes, three texting texts, two misused words, and one spelling error, oh gee!
You can find many more sites for helping you with your grammar. Just do a search for the word grammar.
Please remember that 'you are' is your're and not 'your'. These words have entirely different meanings. This is a common mistake that I see so many writers making.
Hope you enjoyed this article. Let me know if you did or didn't by leaving a comment below. Thanks
Elaine
PS This post doesn't imply that I don't need help with my own grammar.
I do believe that about every store, restaurant and company now has a gift card that you can purchase. You see them in grocery stores, drug stores and about every where else you go. If you own a company you can even print your own gift cards. Have you ever purchased a gift card? Have you ever been given a gift card? Are you being ripped off? I have purchased gift cards to give as Christmas presents for several years. I have also received gift cards. They are an easy gift and most of the time you can't go wrong by giving someone a gift card, especially if you know that the person frequents that particular establishment or you don't know what to get for that person. But did you know that companies love it when you do purchase a gift card? Well, of course they do. They make money from your purchase in more ways than you may think. Here are some interesting stats about just how much money those companies are making: 1. Average amount of unused gift cards by household: $300 2. Value of unredeemed gift cards per year: hang on to your seat for this one, $ 6 billion 3. Average amount left unspent on gift cards: $2.30 (That is each gift card sold folks not just one.) What if you get a gift card and for whatever reason you don't want or can't use it? Guess what, you can go online and sell it. No you won't get the face value but at least you won't waste all of it. There is even a National Gift Card Exchange Day. It is set as December 26. (I had to laugh at this tidbit of information.) You can go to http://www.giftcardexchangeday.com and check it out.
For those gift cards that you get you might consider donating them to a charity. I am sure they would be delighted to get them. Some things to check before purchasing a gift card: 1. Is there a usage fee? 2. Is there an expiration date? 3. Does the value drop each month? 4. Is there a fee for not using? You may be surprised at what all the gift card company can do to get your money. Be sure to read any information available before your purchase. And, be sure to read the fine print on the back side of the card. If you have had a bad experience with gift cards you can voice your complaint by sharing your information: https://stori.es/share/your-prepaid-card-story On this same site you can also sign a petition to stop the unjust actions of some of the companies selling these cards. All-in-all, in my opinion, gift cards are still an excellent gift to give. Elaine
![Email Marketing Etiquette Dos & Don’ts [Infographic] - An Infographic from Skadeedle](http://skadeedle.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/emailetiquette_infographicjpeg-e1362419447973.jpg)
