Insider tips on getting free publicity
If you’re looking for ’em, Bill Stoller has ’em in his paid subscription newsletter Free Publicity. I just subscribed and have already put one of the tips into action. Hint: it has something to do with the 1 Minute Blogging Quiz I’m running. Details to come… If you…
read moreTake a 1 Minute Blogging Quiz
Take my 5-question blogging quiz and you can enter the book giveaway to win a FREE copy of metrics guru Jim Sterne’s Web Metrics: Proven Methods for Measuring Web Site Success. P.S. If you’re a WordBiz newsletter subscriber you don’t need…
Stats prove it: readers click on “Tips”
I received this email from Loren McDonald, VP Marketing of EmailLabs, (full disclosure: I use their service to deliver WordBiz Report). EmailLabs publishes its own e-newsletter, Intevation Report, a great resource for email marketing tips. “Just a quick note I thought you’d find of interest.…
read moreWanna take me to Seth Godin’s Purple Cow Seminar?
Seth Godin of Permission Marketing and, most recently, Free Prize Inside fame is giving another one of his Purple Cow seminars on Monday June 14, 2004 in Dobbs Ferry, NY. If you’ve been wanting to attend a provocative session with a truly creative marketing mind, this one-day event might…
read moreUpdated: 3 reasons to publish an e-newsletter AND a blog
I’ve just updated an article I wrote for WordBiz Report. I’m trying to explain more clearly what a blog is… in relation to a Web site and also in relation to an e-newsletter.
Read my revised 3 reasons to publish an e-newsletter AND a blog.
read moreRSS explained… sort of
Long-time blogger Dave Winer just launched a new blog titled Really Simple Syndication. He’s known for Scripting News, one of the earliest Weblogs. Winer plans to explain “Everything a non-tech user needs to know about RSS 2.0.” OK… but he betrays himself as the geek that he is. Do…
read moreThe Uncool Blogging Seminar
That’s the subtext of the WordBiz Blogging Seminar in Washington DC on June 30, 2004. Think blogs are a fad? That they have to be “cool”? Think again… Join me at a half-day seminar and I’ll convince you otherwise. A blog may…
Say less, sell more
That’s Bill Myers’ Tip of the Week. He writes, “… if a customer is going to make a purchase, they decide to do so early on in the sales presentation. After that, they are just looking for reasons not to buy.” And yet… tests show that looong Web page…
read moreLimit your links
In your HTML e-newsletter, that is. That’s the subject of a mini column I wrote for today’s issue of BtoB E-mail Marketer Insight. Sounds counter intuitive but it’s really not. By limiting the number of hypertext links, you narrow down your readers’ choices. Make ’em click where you want…
read moreHave You Googled Yourself Lately?
Google yourself… That’s today’s pithy two-word tip from personal branding guru William Arruda. As he puts it: “Being Googled reveals how visible you are on the Web, and visibility (at least among your target audience) is critical to successful personal branding. Your Google results also become useful data points…
read moreWhat to put in your e-newsletter footer
OK, sounds trivial. But there’s an art to including all the right info in order to comply with CAN-Spam AND to make your newsletter as reader-friendly as possible. Great Ezine-Tips article today by Christopher Knight on How to properly format your ezine footer.
read moreVote for best blog
MarketingSherpa is running a contest for best blog on the topics of marketing, advertising, PR or small business. Fun idea. Five sensible criteria: 1. personality; 2. usefulness; 3. writing style; 4. usability & design; 5. would you revisit? Vote here.
read moreWhy B2B sites need an Advocacy Kit
Web usability expert Jakob Nielsen offers a great suggestion in a recent issue of his AlertBox. B2B sites ARE different from consumer sites because they must support a longer, more complex buying process. He suggests: create an “Advocacy Kit” to help your information-seeking site visitor convince the Big Boss that…
read moreList of email vendors for small business
It’s a jungle out there if you’re in the market for an email vendor to deliver your e-newsletter or email promotions. Ralph F. Wilson of WilsonWeb fame has surveyed his readers and published a useful list of affordable vendors. Includes links to vendors sites as well as a…
read moreBob Bly’s #1 takeaway… your RFB
Sat in on Bob Bly’s excellent presentation on “Best-kept Copywriting Secrets” at yesterday’s Direct Marketing Association of Washington (DMAW) annual conference here in D.C. His key takeaway? Before developing a sales letter, direct mail piece, Web landing page, etc. – write out your product’s RFB… Reason for Being.…
read moreDo you have a corporate blogging policy?
Get blogging tips from Microsoft and Sun Microsystems.
Robert Scoble (works for Microsoft) writes The Scobleizer and has penned a 20-point Corporate Weblog Manifesto.
Tim Bray just published Sun Policy on Public Discourse for Sun Microsystems.
Thanks to Rick Bruner for these links.
read moreSo… what’s a bloggy bit?
That’s what I call it when a snippet of info or commentary (with a link back to the original site or source) is worth a few lines in a blog post… but not a full-length article. Read my interview with Rick Bruner, “5 Tips for a Useful Resource…
read moreAnd the Subject Line winner is…
EmailLabs tested 3 Subject Lines for the March issue of The Intevation Report (their company newsletter). A. Using Link Click-Through Tracking to Segment Your List B. 3 Tips to Improve Your Newsletter’s ROI C. Build Your List Through “Piggy-Back Marketing†And the winner was… Hint: there’s a numeral in…
read morePlus quick guidelines for designing text newsletters
Good article from MarketingSherpa on “Text-only Design Pitfalls.” Note: free access to this article ends in a few days.
read moreDesign guidelines for HTML newsletters
Design guru Roger C. Parker (author of the classic Looking Good in Print) is my guest expert this week at a 1-hour teleseminar: Secrets of Effective HTML Newsletters: Design + Readability = Profitability. Registration fee includes his mini report:…