Spam! No one likes spam. No one wants more spam in their inbox. No one wants to be know as a “spammer”, especially to their Internet Service Provider (ISP).

So, what is spam?

According to the Bureau of Consumer Protection, spam is:

“If the message contains only commercial content, its primary purpose is commercial and it must comply with the requirements of CAM-SPAM.”

Your email must comply with the following in order to be viewed as compliant.

“1. Don’t use false or misleading header information.
Your email address, the reply address and your domain and business name must be accurate.

2. Don’t use deceptive subject lines.
The subject line must accurately reflect the content of the message.

3. Identify the message as an ad.
The law gives you a lot of leeway in how to do this, but you must disclose clearly and conspicuously that your message is an advertisement.

4. Tell recipients where you’re located.
Your message must include your valid physical postal address. This can be your current street address, a post office box you’ve registered with the U.S. Postal Service, or a private mailbox you’ve registered with a commercial mail receiving agency established under Postal Service regulations.

5. Tell recipients how to opt out of receiving future email from you.
Your message must include a clear and conspicuous explanation of how the recipient can opt out of getting email from you in the future. Craft the notice in a way that’s easy for an ordinary person to recognize, read, and understand. Creative use of type size, color, and location can improve clarity. Give a return email address or another easy Internet-based way to allow people to communicate their choice to you. You may create a menu to allow a recipient to opt out of certain types of messages, but you must include the option to stop all commercial messages from you. Make sure your spam filter doesn’t block these opt-out requests.

6. Honor opt-out requests promptly.
Any opt-out mechanism you offer must be able to process opt-out requests for at least 30 days after you send your message. You must honor a recipient’s opt-out request within 10 business days. You can’t charge a fee, require the recipient to give you any personally identifying information beyond an email address, or make the recipient take any step other than sending a reply email or visiting a single page on an Internet website as a condition for honoring an opt-out request. Once people have told you they don’t want to receive more messages from you, you can’t sell or transfer their email addresses, even in the form of a mailing list. The only exception is that you may transfer the addresses to a company you’ve hired to help you comply with the CAN-SPAM Act.

7. Monitor what others are doing on your behalf.
The law makes clear that even if you hire another company to handle your email marketing, you can’t contract away your legal responsibility to comply with the law. Both the company whose product is promoted in the message and the company that actually sends the message may be held legally responsible.”

So how do you violate the CanSpam Act?

Let’s say I attend a networking event that allows me to place my business cards on a common “networking table.” You come along and pick up my card, go back to your office, and add me to your email database. Since we didn’t meet, you don’t have any reasonable expectation that I would be interested in receiving your emails.

Most small business owners start out by putting email addresses into their Outlook, or desktop email program. If that’s how you are handling your email contacts, you MUST include your address and a visible method of opting out of your emails. It can be as simple as telling your recipient that they may unsubscribe at any time by replying with unsubscribe in the subject line. The trouble with this is that many small business owners don’t want to hurt your feelings by asking to be taken off your list. An easier way for them to deal with this is to hit the “Report Spam” button. If you get too many complaints your ISP could severely reduce your ability to send email.

The other problem is something like this. This actually happened to me. I met someone at a networking event. They put me on their email list. They actually had an opt-out method I used to unsubscribe. However, the person who put me into the email database wasn’t the person who received my unsubscribe. I was continually put back into the database, as my card was continually picked up at networking events. You must honor the request of those who wish to unsubscribe to your email list.

Lastly, if you are using Outlook or something like it to handle your email list, don’t CC everyone on your list. Send the email to yourself and BCC the recipients. If all those copied on the email can see all the other addresses your chances of seeing a “Report Spam” action taken on your email increase dramatically.

The long and short of it is, you need a service that is recognized as an industry standard in email delivery, like Constant Contact or Get Response. These services are compliant with the CanSpam act  and can handle a growing email list.

I used to belong to a women’s networking group that had a list of approximately 800 women. The list had to be broken down into lists of no more than 50 and each list sent separately. After the sixth go ’round with the lists of 50, the ISP shut down our ability to send out any further emails. It took a lot of time and patience to get them to give back email access.

These services run around $15 to $18 a month to start. They allow you to collect email addresses through a form on your website or social media site. Of course you’ll want to offer an incentive for people to opt-in, but that’s another blog post…

I was asked this week to review an affiliate program where you sell access to a “Lead Generation” software that uses search results to “harvest and extract content” from targeted websites. The software then takes that information and puts it into a “comma separated value” document you can open in Excel and manipulate. For an additional charge you can use their robocall phone system, which I assume makes those calls we all love to receive from no one we know.

So what’s the problem with this? It depends on your values as to whether you would want to use a tool like this.

When I program websites, I go to great lengths to make sure the email address of my client is not put on the site that makes it easy for software like I’ve just described to “harvest” (and that’s a word you don’t want to use with your Constant Contact or GetResponse representative) email addresses. Usually, if you want your email on the site, I’d program it this way: debra (at) syndicatingyourcontent (dot) com. This method delivers the email to you, but makes it impossible for the software to recognize this as an email address.

These programs look for the specific code and/or the email format. When they find the code they take it and that’s how you get so much spam. Spam is the reason why we try not to put email addresses, in a recognizable form, on your websites. Instead we use contact forms.

These programs also extract the content from your website. Your content can be used on fake websites that are built for the specific purpose of creating inbound links to the spammers sites and to feed off your keyword rich content. This is called “scraping”, and trust me, it’s not fun when someone scrapes your site and steals your content so they can make money.

Unfortunately I had to deliver the news to my friend that lead generation software used in this manner is not something I would advise anyone to invest in. Using software like this could hurt your business more than support your business. After all, if enough of us hit the “Report Spam” button on your email, your internet service provider (ISP) could stop you from sending email. Is that what you want?

In the next blog post I’ll share with you how you can make sure I don’t hit the “Report Spam” button on your email.

Previous Post in an ongoing series on list building and email marketing: Constant Contact As Your Email Service

A popular way for companies to communicate directly with consumers today is to use email. One of the most popular email services is Constant Contact.

Email serves a variety of functions including sales promotions and being a means of education about products and services. Messages also can include branding with logos and / or tag lines, and they can offer direct response tools like reply links, emails, telephone and fax numbers.

Basic email message writing comes across much better with skill that can be learned. Main focus should be placed on the tone of speech and grammatical language in the body of the message.

Points which should be remembered for writing the email

• The subject line should be exciting, making the reader want to open the mail and read the further text.
• Keep the subject line brief.
• Make sure to include details about the sender to comply with spamming laws. Check Spamcop or other “anti-spam” sites in your favorite search engine for more info.
• Develop the body of the email; i.e. the message, with a good introduction followed by well-described paragraphs. Avoid hype and misleading readers.
• Use your email spelling and grammar check tools. And don’t “shout” or use all capital letters.

Practice and read emails that come your way. Learn to write messages that you’d like to receive and improve your communications.

Do you have some tips to share? Please feel free to comment.

This is part two of an ongoing series on email services. In the first post about email services I talked about two of the major players, Constant Contact and Get Response. In this post I’ll focus on Constant Contact and it’s features.

Let’s review some terminology first. There are three ways to create an email database.

1. Opt Out
   We gather business cards, bring them back to the office and enter them into our Microsoft Outlook, or maybe Mozilla’s Thunderbird, Gmail or Yahoo. We create lists and put the emails in those so we can email conveniently. I shared a story in the first post about how quickly a business can outgrow that method of list building.
2. Opt In
   We bring the business cards back to the office and open an email service, like Constant Contact, and “add a contact” to our email database.  You can also have a form on your website that your visitor can fill out to subscribe to your list. This is actually the true definition of opt in.
3. Double Opt In
   This is the “best practice” in growing an email list, or database. Once your visitor enters their name and email address into your form, they are sent an email with a confirmation link that they have to click to confirm their subscription.

Constant Contact has some of the easiest to use templates I’ve seen. They make it very easy for you to create an html ezine (a pretty ezine) without having to know any html. Constant Contact also gives you 50 mgs of space for documents and images.

You can create as many lists as you want, including opt-in forms with more than 20 custom fields so you can secure a lot of information on the form. There are autoresponders, but it’s not like GetResponse which is an autoresponder service. You get 20 autoresponders but can only use 10 at a time.

It’s easy to insert your Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin icons, that link to your social profiles. You can also insert a PayPal button, or Amazon button.

Of course, you have reports that tell you how many of your emails were opened and how many links were clicked on in your ezine. Best of all, you get to include a coupon at the end of your ezine.

For an additional charge, you can create surveys, polls and manage events. Check out Constant Contact. They have a 60 day free trial period.

Next post in the series: Marketing With Email

Let me know how you list build from your site.

First of an ongoing series on list building.

Do you capture the name and email address of your website visitor? No?

Do you bring business cards back to the office and add the name and email address into your Outlook, Thunderbird, or other email service address book? Yes?

That’s usually how a small business owner starts building an email database. However, at some point in time it will no longer be feasible to manage your email addresses through your email program. Now it’s time to graduate to an email service. You’ll want to send out emails on a regular schedule, sharing information with your subscribers and you’ll need a service to manage it as your list grows.

I belonged to a business organization several years ago which had an email list of 800 local business owners. When it came to emailing the list about the upcoming meeting, the executive director had to email them out in batches of 50 before her internet service provider (ISP) shut her email down. She’d call the ISP, get her email back up and running and continue her batches of 50. Obviously, that’s not an efficient use of time.

Additionally, your domain email address will have to fight the spam filters and many not be recognized as an authentic email provider the way professional email services are. So your chance of getting through the spam filters is less likely than Constant Contact’s (FREE 60 day account) or GetResponse’s (FREE account) chances.

Next post: Types of Email Services, A Rundown of Constant Contact versus GetResponse

If you have a tip or story about email services, feel free to share by commenting.

Create Digital Products Webinar

How many times have you answered the same questions regarding the services you offer. What if you could turn those questions around, educating your potential client before they ask “those” questions?

One of the advantages of creating an informational product for your business is being seen as the expert in your industry, or field. A product can educate your potential clients on what you have to offer. So what is an informational product? It’s a digital downloaded document. That’s it.

If you’re ready to turn your website from a free-loader to a fee-loader, then this webinar is for you. On Wednesday, April 28, 2010 from 4pm to 6pm Pacific Time (7pm to 9pm Eastern Time) I’ll be holding an online, hands on, webinar on creating informational products.

In this powerful information-packed seminar you will learn:

• What information products are
• Why you need information products
• How you can create information products
• How to market and profit from information products

Here are some of the ways your business will benefit from information products:

• Create an ongoing passive income stream
• Expand your brand and credibility as an expert
• Enjoy benefits of being an author
• Have back of the room sales for seminars and talks
• Create products others can sell for commission with affiliate programs
• Build a product funnel; there are no limits

Click Here To Register

Syndicate Your Content With Digital Products

Syndicating Your Content
Show Notes:  March 15, 2010

Syndicate Your Content Through Digital Downloads [ 14:31 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (28)

This episode offers tips for leveraging your message through digital products. You could start with an eBook, moving on to audio and video.

Think about how frequently you answer the same questions about your business. Why not start there? You can use Word, creating a document based on your most frequently asked questions (FAQ) and publish it as a pdf.

Now you can use the pdf as an enticement for your website visitor to leave their name and email address, opting into your email database (building your list) and letting you start to establish a relationship with your readers.

Create Digital Products

How many times have you answered the same questions regarding the services you offer. What if you could turn those questions around, educating your potential client before they ask “those” questions.

One of the advantages of creating an informational product for your business is the opportunity to be perceived as the expert in your industry, or field, as well as educating your potential clients on what you have to offer. So what is an informational product. It’s a digital downloaded document. That’s it.

If you’re ready to turn your website from a free-loader to a fee-loader, then this seminar is for you. On Wednesday, February 24, 2010 from 10am to 12pm Pacific Time (1pm to 3pm Eastern Time) I’ll be holding an online, hands on, webinar on creating informational products.

In this powerful information-packed seminar you will learn:

• What information products are
• Why you need information products
• How you can create information products
• How to market and profit from information products

Here are some of the ways your business will benefit from information products:

• Create an ongoing passive income stream
• Expand your brand and credibility as an expert
• Enjoy benefits of being an author
• Have back of the room sales for seminars and talks
• Create products others can sell for commission with affiliate programs
• Build a product funnel; there are no limits

Click Here To Register

Email marketing can be profitable for any business, no matter what kind of product or service you offer. It is significantly cheaper than other advertising methods and, if done right, helps build loyalty and trust with customers. As a result, you generate more sales and more profits!

The foundation for successful email marketing is a targeted, permission-based email list. Marketers call contact lists their “goldmine” because it can generate much of their sales revenue. If you’ve built up a list of opt-in subscribers that are qualified and interested in what you have to offer, then you’ve completed the first step and are on your way. Now it’s time to “mine” for gold!

Below you’ll find several list-building and retention ideas that will help you get the best results from all your email marketing activities:

1. Provide useful, relevant content. Your visitors will not give you their email addresses just because they can subscribe to your newsletter free of charge. You have to provide unique and valuable information that will be of interest or use to them.
2. Add a subscription form to every page on your website. Make sure it stands out so it is easy to find. If it doesn’t look cluttered, you may want to include more than one on some pages. For instance, if your opt-in form always appears in the top-left corner of your site, you may want to add one at the end of your most popular articles.
3. Add subscription forms to your social media pages. Make sure that you don’t waste this valuable source of revenue opportunities. Integrate your sign-up forms with Facebook and more!
4. Make it easy for readers to sign up. The more information you request, the fewer people will opt-in. In most cases, a name and an email address should suffice. If it’s not necessary, don’t include it here. You can always survey them once they’re customers! We do recommend that you provide a link to your Privacy Policy however.
5. Publish a Privacy Policy. Let your readers know that they can be confident you will not share their information with others. The easiest way to do this is to set up a Privacy Policy web page and provide the link to it below your opt-in form. (Note: If you don’t have one, put the words “privacy policy generator” into a search engine and you should be able to find a suitable form to use.)

How are you building your list? Feel free to share your tips by commenting.

Leveraging your business online requires several components. For the next two blog posts, I’ll be talking about the benefits of establishing an ezine for your business, and why you’ll want to publish an ezine. In subsequent blog posts, I’ll be talking about ways to build your email list.

So, why should you consider publishing an ezine?

1. Establish yourself as a trusted expert. People search online for information and will look to you, as a subject matter expert, to provide it to them. Every week (or whatever schedule works) provides an opportunity to build on this, while reinforcing your brand.
2. Build a relationship with the people on your list. It’s common knowledge that people like to buy from people they like. By using ezines to connect with readers in their homes, you can develop a relationship of familiarity and trust. Be sure to share a little about yourself or your company in every issue, whether it is an anecdote, event, or employee spotlight.
3. Keep in touch with prospects and clients. Consideration should be given to eventually developing two ezines: one for prospects and one for clients, as each require different information. This is a great way to notify your readers of weekly specials or upcoming product launches, offer new articles or customer stories, and provide links (or urls) to updated FAQs, blogs and splash pages.
4. Drive traffic to your website or blog. As noted in #3, remember to call attention to new blog posts or other changes to your website with links directly to those pages. Remind readers of your online newsletter archives. Promote special sales (maybe with discount coupon codes only for subscribers) with a link to the sales page. Use links to turn your ezines and newsletters into “silent salespersons”– driving traffic to your website and building your lists around the clock.
5. Build content on your website. Make a habit to adding your ezines and newsletters to your website in an archive area. This serves a several important purposes:

• Visitors can read an issue or two to determine if your ezine will be of interest to them, which could help to increase sign-ups and potential sales.
• If you optimize your article placements, you will not only make your website “meatier”, but you’ll also bring new traffic from the search engines.

Are you publishing an ezine for your business? If so, please feel free to join the conversation and share your tips by commenting!