April 6th, 2008
When you are a small online business owner you have to think about the promotion of your site sooner or later. To my mind, the most effective way to do it invented so far is the email campaign.
What are your options?
In fact, you have 3 choices of software types for the campaign:
- Desktop software
- Web server software
- ASP hosted service
The third option has one significant competitive edge over its opponents – you are not responsible for the delivery of e-letters. Subscribing to this type of service you get a certain number of email for a monthly fee.
Dr. Ralph Wilson, Wilson Internet Services, says:
“With desktop or web server software, basically you’re responsible to get them delivered… Whereas if you’re paying someone else for that service, it’s their job, and many of them take it very seriously.”
A desktop server has another advantage – its cost.
Follow the tips:
If you decide on a desktop or server solution here are a couple of tips that will help you get the mail delivered to the users:
1. Don’t be spam. How not to be spam? Here are some pieces of advice that will help you avoid spamming:
- Don’t use all caps.
- Don’t use HTML messages that are primarily graphics.
- Don’t try to trick filters by replacing letters with asterisks or breaking words up with punctuation marks. Filters are getting smarter, and you could end up on a black list.
- Don’t use sloppy HTML.
- Don’t use large or small fonts. Stick with H1, H2, or H3 heading tags
2. Use sender certification
There are companies like Habeas.com and BondedSender.com that certify your small business. Once you get your company certified you can be sure that you can get through spam filters right to the hearts of your potential clients.
Issues with a Hosted Server
If you decide to sign up to a hosted server here are a number of things you should keep in mind:
- What precautions do they take to prevent spammers from enrolling? A good host company will have measures in place, such as confirmed opt-in, to make sure that they’re not allowing spammers to join.
- Do they take any precautions to prevent spammers from signing with the service?
- Does the service offer any tracking system? Nowadays a number of hosted servers allow you to see how many email recipients have opened your letters and visited your site through the links provided by the letters
- Is their customer service good? In order to tell a good one from a bad one you can simply see if it takes a long time for them to respond to your inquiries.