I participated in a teleclass not long ago about newsletters and the most common mistakes being made. I’d like to share an important tip with you.

Did you know that it is unnecessary to use punctuation (for example inserting * or ^) in words such as ‘free’ ?

We think we are avoiding our emails landing in someone’s junk folder, but reworking words like ‘free’ and ‘money’ could actually trigger spam filters rather than prevent them.

I was also surprised to learn that when these punctuated words appear in the subject line of your email your readers could perceive this as trickery and not open your email. It can also make your messages look unprofessional.

Be straightforward with your readers, avoid manipulating words in your emails and get better results from your newsletter and marketing messages!

Image courtesy of Michal Zacharzewski, SXC

Here’s a checklist that will help you put the pieces together that will become your unique newsletter.

On the technical side of things you’ll need to:

[ ] Decide what email delivery system you will use to send your newsletter and set up an account. The two I use most and recommend are either ConstantContact or a shopping cart such as Practice Pay Solutions. Do your research to determine what best suits your needs. ConstantContact is a good place to start if you prefer working with templates. If you know that you will be selling products from your website and creating e-products such as e-courses in the near future, then go with a shopping cart that has ecommerce capabilities you can activate when needed.

[ ] Get the electronic files of the headshot you would like to use and your company logo. You may have to ask your photographer and graphic designer to send these images to you.

[ ] Compile your lists. Start working on getting your lists of contacts organized (or send them to your assistant to do so). For importing purposes simply set up a spreadsheet in excel with 3 headings; First Name, Last Name and Email and sort your contacts accordingly ready to be uploaded into the email delivery system you have chosen.

Practical considerations:

[ ] The type of content to include. For example, Welcome Message, Article, Tip etc.

[ ] The name of your newsletter. An important consideration when choosing a name is to imply what benefits your readers will get from your newsletter. Google “newsletter titles” for ideas and inspiration.

[ ] Develop a publishing schedule. Decide on frequency (monthly is good to start), day of week and time of day.

The creative process is the fun part. First start by gathering samples of online newsletters that you like various aspects of. Here are some things to consider:

[ ] The overall look and feel.

[ ] Colour theme. Remember to carry your branding through to your newsletter design.

[ ] Layout.

Remember:

*Permission based marketing is essential. Whenever possible invite contacts to sign up to your newsletter. Within the welcome note advise your readers what they can expect from you each month, what’s in it for them as a subscriber and clearly indicate how they can easily unsubscribe from your mailing list. That option must always be available.

*Be consistent. Once you have your publishing schedule in place you must be committed to sending out your newsletter as planned. People will come to expect to hear from you on a regular basis and if there is a lapse in your mailings it may reflect poorly on your reliability in all aspects of your business.

Your website alone cannot help you develop the type of ongoing relationship with your contacts that your newsletter will. Newsletters have a personal feel to them because they arrive in your prospects’ inbox. This type of communication is one of the best ways to position yourself as an expert and sell your services and products. Over time, newsletter publishing can change the way you do business for the better!

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“Peace On Earth”

Peace on Earth, can it be

Years from now, perhaps we’ll see

See the day of glory

See the day, when men of good will

Live in peace, live in peace again

Peace on Earth, can it be

Every child must be made aware

Every child must be made to care

Care enough for his fellow man

To give all the love that he can

I pray my wish will come true

For my child and your child too

He’ll see the day of glory

See the day when men of good will

Live in peace, live in peace again

Peace on Earth, can it be

Can it be

******************************

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Have you been thinking about writing a newsletter but haven’t got around to it yet? Does it feel intimidating? Have you heard you should but not exactly sure why it’s worth the time and effort? If you answered ‘yes’ you are not alone.

Here are the top 7 reasons why you should write and distribute a newsletter and the benefits associated with doing so.

1. Stay in touch. Maintain ongoing client relationships by engaging your list of followers on an ongoing basis. ‘Touching’ your subscribers regularly keeps you top of mind and reminds them that you’re open for business. To grow your list, ensure you have a sign up box on your website to invite visitors to subscribe to your newsletter.

2. Show your expertise. You may think it’s all been said before and there is nothing new for you to write about. But when you write what you know it shows you have something important to share and you will have your own unique way of doing so that sets you apart. Demonstrate your expertise with informative articles and tips that address your clients’ needs.

3. The KLT (Know, Like and Trust) Factor. Your readers get to know you, like you and trust you by way of this type of regular communication. Providing them with great information shows that you care about them. And who will they call when they need the type of products or services that you offer? That’s right, you! Like any of us, they want to do business with the person they know, like and trust.

4. Help generate the ‘buzz’ about your business. Have you attended an industry event, conducted a workshop or been interviewed on the radio? Sharing where you’ve been and what you’ve been up to helps build your credibility. It shows that you are active and committed to your area of expertise and you are the skilled and knowledgeable ‘go to’ person when they need what you provide.

5. Build your library of content. The articles you write for your newsletters can be repurposed later and distributed to the article marketing directories, posted to your blog and compiled to create information products to give away or sell. 500 words is the standard requirement for article submissions so keep this in mind when writing.

6. New opportunities arise. A reader may approach you to speak on a topic that you’ve written about or be a guest on their blog. You may also be asked to partner with someone to develop a new program and more. All of which opens up opportunities to reach more people and build your list.

7. Make more sales. Your newsletter should be 80% informational, 20% sales-y. Once you have informed your readers, let them know what you have to offer that may help them. Launch new products and services through your newsletter and include ‘special offers’ exclusive to your subscribers only.

Creating and distributing an email newsletter is a marketing strategy that works and has many benefits. By building relationships and a level of trust your readers feel confident to do business with you. All of which can lead to more clients, more opportunities and more income!

Try it yourself and see how your business can change with a newsletter.

A picture is worth a thousand words. How many times have you heard that?! But it’s true.

Jing is a free tool you can use to share an image or ‘how to’ video with a client, colleague, friend or family member. Jing calls this ‘taking a capture’ and it’s the fastest way to show something on your screen to others show-and-tell style.

Using Jing, I made a short (2 minute) video for you here demonstrating another free tool. Resize Your Image gives you the ability to resize, crop and rotate your image or use to decrease the size of a large file for emailing purposes.

Want to give Jing a try? Download and install Jing and sign up for Screencast.com (a hosting service from TechSmith). You get 2 GB of storage and 2 GB of bandwidth/month for free. Your content is private and you choose who can see it.

How does Jing work? After installation Jing launches as a yellow sun image at the top of your computer screen. Hover over the sun image for options: Capture, History or More. Then select only the area of your screen that you want captured. From the menu choose to capture your image or record your video (there is a 5 minute time limit). Then save, copy or share your captured image or video. Simple to follow instructions in pdf format are available to download

You’ll find that Jing does nice recordings and works great for quick videos and demos for your smaller projects when you don’t need the ability to edit or enhance. Check out Jing’s free version here.

If you’re an active networker, you know the drill.

Business owners are getting tired of the traditional networking events and some savvy business owners have come up with a few twists to spice up the experience. These innovative new groups are generally more flexible, less formal and either have no meeting fees or are affordably priced (under $20).

Here are 3 networking events with a twist that I have attended. They are a little less intimidating for those who don’t enjoy being in the spotlight and who prefer one-on-one communication to get their message across. They also tend to be more fun!

1. Crazy Networking: The main idea is that you promote each other’s businesses letting other people do your marketing for you. Attendees are assembled into small groups and each person in the group has their opportunity to be the Star. The Star explains their business to the others and relays a specific request. The group in turn speaks to as many of the other attendees as possible to find people to fulfill the Star’s request in a specified amount of time. It’s a great concept but for this one to work you have to be an effective communicator and listener as the Star only has about 2 minutes to convey their information. At $20/meeting I found it a little pricey.

2. Kitchen Table Networking: It has that homey feel for those intimidated by speaking in front of large groups and in that it usually takes place in the home of the organizer of the group. And often, yes, around a kitchen table. In this very relaxed environment of about 6 or 8 business owners, each attendee gets 10 minutes to present their business to the others in any format they prefer with an additional 5 minutes of Q and A. This is much more effective than a 30 or 60 second elevator pitch. I have developed solid long term business relationships through the events I have attended. There is no fee to join.

3. Speed Networking: In this setting you get to have one-on-one time with each guest which is rare for a networking event. It works well with about 20 attendees. Each networking session is 2-3 minutes in which the pair share information about their business. Participants alternate their seating until everyone has interacted with each other. There isn’t a lot of time to convey your message but when attendees don’t adhere to the time limits, it interrupts the flow of the meeting and doesn’t look good on the business owner. It is speed networking after all. These meetings are free to attend.

Do any of these unique events appeal to you? I find the more non-traditional types of networking groups are a better fit for me and you might want to consider one too. Check your local Meetup groups, ask around amongst your fellow business owners or better yet organize your own.

The traditional type of networking events can still be effective but there are other options out there that you might find suit you better and give you good or even better results.

If you find the terms Keyword Research and Search Engine Optimization baffling, then check out the following resource that simplifies and systemizes the whole process.

First, go to IdeaMarketers.com IdeaMarketers is a highly recommended article directory where you can submit your articles and other content as a cost-effective marketing strategy for your business.

Part way down the page you will see two embedded videos. In the first video, Owner and President of IdeaMarketers, Marnie Pehrson demonstrates how to methodically do keyword research and track the results. Then Marnie further explains how to integrate keywords to optimize an article.

Here are step by step instructions of the keyword research portion of the video to keep for future reference. These point form notes will make sense once you have viewed the video:

1. Go to Google AdWords Keyword Tool

2. Click ‘Include Terms +’.

3. Under Match Types check ‘Exact’.

4. Type your keywords into the ‘Word or phrase’ box. For example type “Email list building”. Click ‘Search’.

5. Document the Keyword Phrases (what keywords best relate to the phrase you searched on) in the first column of a table you have created in Excel.

6. Add the number of global searches in the next column of your table under the heading ‘Searches’.

7. Next, Google search the exact keywords you have collected using “quotation marks” and type the number of results in the third column of your table under the heading ‘Competition’.

8. When you have collected all your information in your table, sort by ‘Searches’ descending and ‘Competition’ descending.

9. Compare results of ‘Searches’ vs. ‘Competition’.

10. Select keyword phrases to use that are high in ‘Searches’ and low in ‘Competition’ and highlight these as being optimal for use in your article.

Now when you create an article for submission to the directories or to post on your blog, use a catchy title and use a couple of the keyword phrases you have found to be optimal, but don’t overdo it. You want your article to make sense and read well. As a general rule your keyword can appear about 25 times maximum in a 500 word article (about 5%). And remember, for best results use the most searched for keywords with the least competition.

Continuous learning is essential for small business owners and it is easier than ever to learn something new, often without having to leave the comfort of your home office. Although some may think that learning is only for schoolchildren, it is actually a lifelong practice. Developing new skills builds confidence and increases our value to customers and clients.

If you think you don’t have time for learning, think again. All it takes is a commitment of an hour each day. If you examine your schedule you will likely find an hour a day that you have been spending doing non-essential things. An hour isn’t much but it does add up. If you’re dedicated to learning something and you are consistent, you will have invested 20 hours to your education within a month.

Here are 5 simple ways to productively spend an hour of your time to learn and absorb new knowledge:

1. Read a Book: There is an unlimited supply of highly rated books available to help you succeed in business. Visit your local library, book store or shop online for books on marketing, branding, networking and more. Did you know that the average person can read about 60 pages in 60 minutes? Take an hour each day to learn how to be more productive and successful or learn a new skill and apply this new expertise in your business.

2. Attend a Teleclass: Teleclasses are typically an hour in length, conducted via a telephone conference call. Many are no cost; you only pay the long distance charges if any. You will gain valuable information, get new ideas, and/or learn new skills. Attend live if you can as most are very interactive. There are often networking opportunities in a teleclass setting. I have gained new subscribers just by sharing my url and business description with other attendees. Did you miss the last teleclass you signed up for? Take the time now to listen to the recording and make a few notes.

3. Invest in an E-Course: Most e-courses are a number of weeks in length. Each lesson complete with homework arrives in your inbox once a week. Set aside an hour each day to review the current lesson and complete the homework. Learn some new skills that will help you to better support your clients or manage and grow your business.

4. Attend Local Events: These events are typically low cost and some are free of charge. Interact with other small business owners and align yourself with industry experts. You can even find quality affiliates and joint venture partners by attending conferences, trade shows and local meetups. Guest speakers entertain, educate and inspire their business event audiences through motivational presentations.

5. Learn through Trial and Error: Is learning by experience your personal learning style? This method is used widely in many fields but can be time-consuming and tedious. As long as you have resources to refer to for help, this problem solving style of learning is a valid option.

Remember, you don’t have to know it all. Specializing in one area and getting really good at it is preferable to being a ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’. It’s motivating to know that using the one hour a day plan, how good you will be in 6 months with over 100 hours invested in continuously improving yourself.

Join Kelly & Lynette at WP Live Support for their LIVE weekly sessions. Each week you’ll have access to these two experts who together have over ten years of WordPress experience. Kelly has helped me out extensively in the past with specific issues on my own WordPress site.

With live demos in a web conference room you’ll be able to see what’s happening on your screen in real time, hear the lecture, and ask all the questions you want. If you’re not absolutely clear about something, they’ll go over it until you are. You can even give them your log in info and they can demo the process right on your website.

Monthly Memberships are $5/month or choose Lifetime Access for $37. I have found this to be a very worthwhile investment, saving me the time and frustration of figuring everything out on my own.

If you think this might be for you, check it out here!