Managing Your Different Email Addresses
By · CommentsIf you are like me and have a few different domain names and hence different email addresses, managing them and sending from the correct one in your email program can be a bit daunting.
However it doesn’t have to be this way. In Microsoft Outlook it’s actually very easy to send from different email address. Make sure you have all your different email addresses already set up in your Microsoft Outlook.
Then when you want to send from a different address you just have to select the correct one.
Here’s how:
1. Create your email
2. Before you send the email, click on the “Accounts” button which is located next to the “Send” button
3. This is a drop down menu and you should see all your email accounts listed there.
4. Select the account you want to use
5. A grey bar outlining which account you are using should appear above the “To” field. NB. this only appears on email accounts which aren’t your default account. When using your default account nothing will appear.
Here is an screen shot:
It doesn’t matter what your newsletter says….
By · Commentsnow before you start, firstly yes I’m taking this out of context, however there are several more important reasons for sending a regular newsletter other than the content.
These are:
1. How often are you talking to your clients?
If your clients, customers and prospects aren’t hearing from you at least every 90 days, they are hearing from your competitors. I believe with the speed that information travels these days it’s more likely to be daily, or weekly. If you have a membership based business I would seriously consider at least once per week to your membership base and a fortnightly newsletter to potential new members. Regular contact is imperative to business success.
2. Not everyone will read your content every time
Your readers will generally fall into one of these categories:
- read only the subject & delete the email but they see your name
- open the email and scan it but they see your name
- read only the main article or your introduction but they see your name
- read the whole thing but they see your name
Do you get my point? They don’t need to read the whole newsletter to see you name. But each time they do something they are still seeing your name and your company name and that is the important part.
With our own Brilliant Web Design newsletter we get 1 -2% of our list take up offers but we get 10-20% response with requests for more information or quotes. This is now starting to happen more and more, after 12 months of regular newsletters.
I have heard stories of people who have been on lists for 5 years and never read the newsletter but one day opened one and booked into a $1500 seminar. Why? Because over 5 years of weekly emails they saw this person and their company over 260 times! That’s the power of a regular newsletter.
3. Regular & Repetition is the key
Create a schedule and stick to it. People have joined your list for a reason and are interested in your topic. I have subscribed to many, many newsletters – I think over 100. Do I read them all each week? NO WAY! But I scan some of the subject lines and read what I am interested in. It’s a great way to find information for your own newsletter. I read what is relevant and interesting to me and my clients at that time.
Before I had my own business I was in direct sales and my manager said to me once that “Persistence Beats Resistance”. So just keep going, and eventually it will work for you and your business.
4. Your Subject Line is King
Remember that I said I have subscribed to over 100 weekly newsletters. In order to get my attention they need a great subject line.
Some of the ones which have caught my eye are:
So Natalie, what’s YOUR greatest challenge?
10 Quick & Easy Marketing Tips
How to make money teaching how to make money
7 tips for attracting traffic with YouTube videos
YIKES! Are You Having a Summer Sales Siesta?
Keep a note of all the subject lines you have been attracted to and model them for your business. Magazines are also a great source for subject lines, they spend thousand of dollars researching what sells their magazines -model their approach.
Your subject line will determine if people open your email or not.
5. Never use an attachment or make people click on a link to read the main newsletter – BECAUSE THEY WON’T!
If your aim is to get people to read your newsletter then you need to make sure that the whole newsletter is contained within the email. Your readers shouldn’t have to open PDF’s or click on links to view the main newsletters. Many people now read their emails using the reading panel in Outlook, so they can scan the email in one glance. If you have a PDF or a link – if won’t even get scanned. Just don’t do it!
So, your action step is to start a regular newsletter. Need help? Call Natalie now on 0408 545 516 or email me.
Websites With Flash Intros
By · CommentsYesterday I was talking to one of my clients who is in the entertainment industry. The entertainment industry has the idea that their website need to be flashy and have a big impact as soon as someone lands on their page. I disagree and think that the rules of online marketing still apply and flash introductions are bad – not only for search engines but they just annoy people.
I told my client that I don’t like them but at the end of the days it’s their website and if they want a flash intro we can build it. Just after having this conversation I was on Twitter, clicked on a few links and found this image.
It’s part of an article on the 8 websites you need to stop building. Whilst I don’t agree with all areas they are discussing I do believe about the flash intros. The image really sums it up.
Have a flash intro is like having someone standing out the front of your retail door, harassing your clients before they come into the store. Making people do something before they are allowed to enter. This is exactly what a flash introduction does. If you were at the front of Borders and a sale person said you need to watch this video/intro/see our specials before you can come in – what would you do? If there was another book store next door, I would just go in there. This is what happens when people do a Google search – land on your website, are confronted with an introduction. They click back and find another website which doesn’t have this introduction.
People are searching Google to find solutions to their problems, so make sure your website solves their problems and don’t confront them with flash.
What do you think about this? Does your website have a flash introduction? Do flash introductions annoy you?
So what are Google Adwords?
And what are Keywords?
What do the ads look like?
The Very Best Part
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How to embedded your video into your Website
By · CommentsIf you are uploading your videos to YouTube and you want to embed them in your website. Follow the steps below. This instructions are if you have a standard html website. For clients with a WebEFEKTs Website from Brilliant Web Design please contact me for more information.
1. Go to www.youtube.com
2. Sign into your account
3. Go to “My Videos” by selecting your account name from the top right and then “My Videos”
4. Click on the title of the video you want to embed.
5. Under the video select the embed option
6. Select your settings and then copy the code.
7. Go to the page on your site you want to put the video on and select “edit this page”
8. Select the View Source Button
9. This opens up the html of your site – so be careful not to delete anything.
10. Paste the code in between the <body> </body> tags in the position you want it in
11. Click apply and ok
12. Save your page and view your video
Hit and Miss Advertising?
By · CommentsAdvertising for small to medium business is often a “hit and miss” scenario and many business owners can relate to the saying “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, the trouble is I don’t know which half”.
This brings us to testing and measuring. I can almost hear you yelling at me – “we don’t have time for that”, “we don’t know how to do it”, or “it’s too hard for us, we just don’t know where to start”.
Here is the easy way to test and measure, and once set up you’ll find that it takes almost no extra time for your or your staff. You will have your own way to answer the company phone when it rings. Good morning, Crunchy Catering, this is Joe speaking, how can I help you? Whenever you have new staff, you’ll teach them that this is the way you want the phone to be answered. Not too difficult. Just keep a note by the phone for any new staff and in no time they’ve got it “down pat”. Now all you have to do is add one more line somewhere in this conversation with the customer to find the information you require. It’s best to ask the question very early in the conversation. I would suggest after the customer first speaks to you. So the conversation would go like this:
Joe: Good morning, Crunchy Catering, this is Joe speaking, how can I help you?
Wendy: Hi Joe, It’s Wendy Smith speaking. Just wondering if you can help me. I’m having a party next month and you know I’m not that good with food. I just want someone to come in a do it all for me. Do you do that sort thing?
Joe: Sure we do Wendy. Just before I help you with your party, can I ask you how you heard about Crunchy Catering?
Wendy: Oh, sure. My friend Josie had a party last year and she told me about you guys. She said you were really helpful and had great food!
Joe: That’s great to hear Wendy. Thanks for that. Yes we’d be delighted to help you with your party …. etc.
Bingo …. you’ve got your answer. Of course Wendy could have said anything from “Oh, sure, I saw your ad in the Yellow Pages”, “Oh sure, I saw your ad in the Herald Sun yesterday”, “Oh sure, I drive past your shop on my way to work”, “Oh sure, I Googled catering and your website came up”.
Adding those few words (Can I ask you how you heard about Crunchy Catering?) into your conversation can literally make you thousands of dollars and at the same time save you dollars. It’s that simple.
Of course when a customer contacts you via email, or in person the strategy is the same. Ask the face to face customer as you would if it were a phone call. When you reply to the email, ask the customer the same question. You’ll be surprised how much the customer likes to tell you about themselves and how they found out about you!
So how do I implement this?
Easy!
- Change your incoming phone scripts to incorporate the new question.
- Advise all staff that all customers are to be asked the question at first contact.
- Train all staff on the new script. Roll playing is great for this.
- Prepare your book or sheet to record the answers.
- Without fail, record every answer to every phone call (or customer contact). If you forget to ask the customer, record this as well. If the question is not being asked for every call, organise more staff training.
- Make sure that no one is exempt from asking the question. This includes the boss, the bosses husband/wife, the son/daughter, the neighbour, and the family friend. Remember no one is to be exempt, and management has to lead by example.
- Keep it simple.
What do I do with the Information?
At the end of the day/week just add up the numbers in the columns. Let’s say that your responses were:
20 customer contacts - 14 contacted you by phone; 3 contacted by coming to your premises; 3 contacted you via email
These 20 customers found out about you - 1 referral; 5 from your newsletter; 3 from your blog; 3 from Yellow Pages; 4 from your website; 4 from Facebook
You’ll need to know from this list how many contacts turned into sales and what the sales value was. With a bit of modification this can be done on this sheet, or alternatively you many have an internal sales sheet or invoices where these numbers can be recorded.
Then overtime you need to look where your sales are coming from. If you find that, for instance, over a six month period you have received 5 sales from people who have contacted you from Yellow Pages and the sales value is $2,000 and that you have spent $8,000 on your Yellow Pages advertising for a 12 month period, you might have to be looking at where better to spend your advertising dollars. Alternatively if you have received 10 sales from your email newsletters with a value of $4,500 and the newsletters were at a cost of $750, then you can see this has been a good return on investment.
This is a very powerful marketing tool that many small businesses don’t use. I urge you to implement this tracking method as soon as you possibly can. You’ll most likely be very surprised at the results.
And I’ve made it even easier for you. I’ve prepared a tracking answer sheet that you can download. Just change the headings to suit your business and your ready to go. Click here to download.
I’d love to have your feedback on how it works for you and your business. Good luck.
In my next post I’m going to tell you about possibly the cheapest and most effective advertising method available today for your business. Stay tuned!
9 Essential Elements to a Successful Website
By · CommentsWebsites are becoming the new business cards, vital for first impressions and to give clients more information than you business card can. There are so many web designers around with pricing ranging from a few hundred to several thousands. You need to make an informed decision and know what you want and don’t want on your website. Ideally it should be build with by an online marketer instead of a web or graphic designer. Generally web and graphic designer will make your site look fantastic’s, however that doesn’t guarantee any success with your site. Below are 9 essential elements your website should include.
1. Clean and Simple Design, Layout & Navigation
A confused mind says NO. What does this mean for you? If your website is too busy, has things flashing at people, they are not sure where to click or find information, they will leave your website and find your competitors. As with your business card, simple is best. With lots of white space. Don’t over crowd your page. Keep the navigation in the obvious places – left panel or top. Include a return home button on each page.
2. Capture Form
People do business with people they know, like and trust. Online this can take some time to establish especially for service or higher price items. This is why an capture form is vital to your online success. Once you are able to capture visitors details you can send them a regular newsletter and build a rapport and trust with them and hence gain more sales. Your capture forms needs to be located above the fold (in the top part of the website which users can see without scrolling) and ideally give away a free report, audio or video as an incentive to sign up. People don’t like giving out their email address but they love receiving free information.
3. Content Management System
The world is changing quickly and you need to be able to edit your website quickly. The easiest and most affordable way is via a content management system. Using a web based system you can edit the text on your website when ever and where you like. Most systems are as simple as using Microsoft Word and require no programming skills. With a content management system there is no excuse for having out of date information on your website. You may pay extra for hosting however the extra per month in the long run will be cheaper than getting a web designer to make changes.
4. Contact Us Form
Unfortunately SPAM (unsolicited emails) are a fact of live in the technology age. SPAM spiders crawl the web for email addresses, so for this reason is very important to never, never, never have your email address on a website. This is why a “Contact Us Form” is vital on your website. It allows users to contact you via email and saves you the SPAM headaches. On your contact us page make sure you provide as much relevant information as possible. By relevant I mean, don’t put your home phone if you don’t use it for business and it could be answered by your 5 year child. If you only have a mobile for business then only include your mobile.
5. About Us Page
Often the most overlooked page, but one of the most important pages is the “About Us” Page. Many users use this page to find out more about the company ie Do I trust this company enough to hand over my email address, credit card or contact them. Include your experience, why you started your business, how you work, etc. Even online people still buy from people, so make your website personal about you and your company. Don’t make it a big corporate front. Use your “About Us” page to express this.
6. Testimonials & Case Studies
No one wants to be the first. Make sure you include testimonials or case studies of previous clients and their experience. This relives buyers fears and will increase your sale. When you are just starting out, ask a trusted friend or business associate to trial your product or service (for free) on the condition that they write you a testimonial. Ask every client to provide you with one. To make then as real as possible, include: name, location, website (if relevant), and photo.
7. Blog
A blog is an online journal generally written more casually than a normal web page. They can be used for informing clients of new products/services, industry changes, interesting information. The reason I like them so much is they are excellent for increasing your search engine rankings. Search engines love fresh content, and the quickest and easiest way if via a blog. Post regularly can really improve your rankings and also provide more interaction with your clients as they can make comments on what you are say.
8. Google Analytics
Google Analytics is one of the best things you can put on your website and it’s absolutely free. Google Analytics will allow you to track your results. Once you know where you are starting from you can work to improve your websites performance. Google Analytics can tell you a host of things including; number of visitors, number of pages visitors, how long on each page, how they found your website, number one referring websites. You can also set goals and it will track performance and produce a report for you. Many web developers provide you with basic statistics, however Google Analytics has everything you will need.
9. Sitemap
Sitemaps are primary navigation. A user can click on your sitemap and find a link to each page. If you have lots of pages some users will use them to find what they are looking for, however I like them for increasing search engine rankings. You can submit your sitemap to Google and it will increase your chances of being found on the search engines quicker and higher. A sample sitemap can be found at www.brilliantblog.com.au/sitemap
Want to use this article in your e-zine or website? You can as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Natalie Alaimo is a Small Business Marketing Consultant and Online Marketer. Natalie provides small business owners, women and entrepreneurs with straight forward marketing and branding services including one on one coaching and do-it- yourself marketing products. Natalie is a published author and runs several websites, including www.nataliealaimo.com. If you are looking to kick start your business, go online now to get your Free e-book at Brilliant Web Design
My First Telstra Blog
By · CommentsI’m blogging for Telstra and my first post went live. Check it out at: http://exchange.telstra.com.au/?p=2331
How to resize images
By · CommentsI am continually getting questions from clients about the easiest way to resize images. As a web designer I have a program called Adobe Photoshop, however I can understand that Adobe Photoshop is not required for most small business onwers. I recently found this handy online tool which allows you to do many of the basic features of Photoshop, including resizing images.
It’s called Pixlr and it’s an online photo editing service.
Most people will only need the Express version. Here is how you can resize your images using Pixlr Express.
1. Go to www.pixlr.com/express
2. Click on Open Image From Computer
3. Find the image from your Computer and click open
4. The image will open and on the left side is a banner with basic, adjustment & photo effects
5. Click on basic bar and it opens a drop down menu
6. Click on resize and yes it opens another drop down menu with some measurements in it.
7. If you want the image to stay in proportion, make sure the button below is ticked, then enter your new width. The height will automatically adjust.
8. Then click apply to make the changes
9. At the bottom of the left panel click done
10. Another box comes up and select save
11. You can either save it as the same name or give it a new name, if you save as the same name you will overwrite your original image.
Done, you have now resized your image.
Want to use this article in your e-zine or website? You can as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Natalie Alaimo is a Small Business Marketing Consultant and Online Marketer. Natalie provides small business owners, women and entrepreneurs with straight forward marketing and branding services including one on one coaching and do-it- yourself marketing products. Natalie is a published author and runs several websites, including www.nataliealaimo.com. If you are looking to kick start your business, go online now to get your Free e-book at Brilliant Web Design
Think Social Media is just a waste of time?
By · CommentsI was talking to a group this morning about the importance of being on Facebook and how to leverage it for business. One person’s comment when I said that people are spending an average of 7 hours on Facebook – is that’s it’s 400 millions users don’t have a life. I found this video which outlines some pretty impressive Return On Investment for Social Media. Would you spend the time for additional $3 million in sales? I know I sure would.
Here is the video for your enjoyment. Let me know what you think.
If you want to leverage the power of social media but you aren’t sure where to start, contact us now.
Want to use this article in your e-zine or website? You can as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Natalie Alaimo is a Small Business Marketing Consultant and Online Marketer. Natalie provides small business owners, women and entrepreneurs with straight forward marketing and branding services including one on one coaching and do-it- yourself marketing products. Natalie is a published author and runs several websites, including www.nataliealaimo.com. If you are looking to kick start your business, go online now to get your Free e-book at Brilliant Web Design
