Effective Email Marketing

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When you send an email to an opt-in list, the chances are you want results. And the message that you send to the list can have a significant effect on the results your achieve. This article explains how to get the best out of your email campaign.

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In her own words:

"12 years ago, at the 'tender' age of 21, I decided that I needed a career, not just a job, and the Internet beckoned.

Back in 1994, it was easy to work on the Internet and even easier to be an Internet Marketing Expert. Every other person I met was 'designing' websites, and professing to be the next big thing. And I wanted part of it!

The thing that struck me very quickly, however, was that although there seemed to be thousands of people out there designing websites, I was still meeting people every single day who were complaining about how their website had no visitors, brought them no business, was a waste of time, etc.
find out more about Nikki

Why Is No-one Buying From My Website?

When you send an email to an opt-in list, the chances are you want results. And the message that you send to the list can have a significant effect on the results your achieve.

I've been sending out email camapigns for clients for over 6 years, and in that time i've seen variations in clickthrough ranging from 3% to 84%!

Some of this is due to the product, or the professionalism of the website, but a great part of it is down to the message that is sent.

So how can you maximise the chances of getting a decent response from your first email campaign?

Follow these simple rules and your email camapaign should be successful right from the beginning.

1) Know What you Want
Before you sit down and write your email, think about what you want to achieve from it. More visitors to your website? More sales for a hard to sell product? More signups to your newsletter? Or something completely different? Whatever the aim, keep it in mind while writing your email.

2) Spell It Write!!
There's nothing worse than receiving a marketing email with poor spelling and grammar. If you can't spell and your email doesn't sound right, how can you expect people to buy from you? A marketing writer such as Angela Sherman of Content Creation can help you with this.

3) Not Too Long
Keep paragraphs short and punchy - you have very little time to grab people's attetion, and text on a screen is notoriously difficult to read once a paragraph hits more than 4 lines. Stick to simple words, short phrases and paragraphs consisting of just 1-3 short sentences.

4) DON'T SHOUT!
USING ALL CAPITALS IS DIFFICULT TO READ AND LOOKS AS IF YOU ARE SHOUTING. DON'T DO IT!

Occasional use of capital letters to emphasise a word is ok, but be aware that some spam filters delete email messages with words all in capitals.

5) Call To Action
The first two sentences of your email should identify a possible problem the recipient may have, tell them who you are, and what you want them to do.

So sentences such as: "Fed up with not appearing in search engine listings? NikkiPilkington.com offer guaranteed top listings in most major search engines. Click here for your free report" get the message across quickly and easily. Then you can use the rest of the email to expand on your products and services.

6) Conclude & PS
If you have a fairly long email, don't forget to repeat the call to action at the end, and in a PS to remind the reader once again what they should do.

7) Sense of Urgency
Create a sense of urgency by using phrases such as 'First 50 to apply' or 'Only valid until' - fear of missing out on something always generates a good click through - guaranteed.

So that's your 7 step guide to a great email marketing campaign - feel free to call me on 07758 515 853to discuss this article, or to find out details of email marketing lists I hold.

Nikki Pilkington is owner of Milton Keynes based Internet Marketing company NikkiPilkington.com, and writes articles, hints and tips to help people looking to promote their website for free. For more of her articles visit www.nikkipilkington.com and sign up to the newsletter.

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Interested in talking to Nikki? Then email info@nikkipilkington.com, pick up the phone and call 08712 842 057 or 0871 284 2057, or Skype us at nikkipilkington

Alternatively you could fill in our Request a Quote form and someone will get back to you as soon as possible!

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