How Often Should I Email My List?: Tips to Make the Right Decision for YOUR Business

By Alice Seba, Teacher at Email Marketing Reform School

Have you ever worried if you’re emailing your list too often? Have you had nightmares about losing subscribers, getting angry hate email and other horrible things?

You’re most certainly not alone. There is always a great debate on how much one should email their list. Some will boldly state appropriate intervals, but I haven’t a clue how anyone figures they can put out a blanket frequency rate for all lists, across all markets.

The fact of the matter is – there is no one size fits all for every email list, but here are some guidelines…

Stay in the Mind of Your Prospects & Customers

Your goal in email marketing is to keep your business in the minds of your prospects and customers. You also want to your readers to consider you the go-to source for information you share and the products you sell. If you email to infrequently, that could become problematic as they’ll just forget about you.

But what about the other side of the coin? Can you email too much?

Maybe, but what works best for your market and your list is up to you to test. You can look at open rates, response rates, etc. to help you determine what is best for you.

Personally, I email my Internet marketing list 2-3 times per week. It’s quite likely that some people don’t like it, but I’ve found this works very well in the grand scheme of things and I’m here to please the majority of my active subscribers. If you’re on my list, you know that I tend to write short emails. And amongst the product promotions I do, there is plenty of free stuff, information, etc.

In other markets I’ve dabbled with, I’ve also found a similar formula works. Stay in contact a couple times per week, keeping it short and sweet.

But does that mean you need to start emailing more often if you’re not already?

No, of course not. If you’re on a weekly schedule and it suits you fine, don’t sweat it, but you might start doing some testing.

For example, if you’re sending a weekly email that includes information on a few different subjects, try breaking it up into multiple emails. Remember, when you give your readers too many topics to focus on at one time, you diminish your chances of them paying attention to all those subject. Instead, send them one subject per email at a time and see how that improves your response rates.

Above all, think value

In the end, it’s not really the frequency that’s important…it’s the value you provide your subscribers. If you deliver tremendous value, your readers will look forward to and act on your emails.

Recommended for Further Study:

For more help with your email marketing and building a list that is dying to take your product recommendations, check out Alice Seba's Email Marketing Reform School. This isn’t some simple ebook or audio course – it’s a one-on-one 4-week coaching program is customized to the needs of your unique business. It’s a must for every online business owner serious about email marketing.



Dedicated to supporting you as a Mom and Business Professional

Writing Helps for eBook Authors

Do you want to write an eBook? If you do, great! If you haven't thought about it, you should. Information marketing is smart business! Maybe you have a great topic in mind but find yourself stumped half way through the project.

That's where this guide comes in. You will be provided with more than 70 great tips to make your eBook more useful and valuable.







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What RSS Can Do For Your Business

Article by Lynette Chandler

Did you know there are lots of ways RSS can be used for your business? Here are some example uses that you may not know about. Quick note: Some can be easily abused so… use them wisely, if you use it.

Twitter: Automatically create a new tweet when you have new posts. There are many ways to do this, a popular and free tool to use is Twitterfeed.

Facebook: Create updates when you make new posts. There are applications you can use to do this. I’ve found Facebook apps to be very flaky but one that seems to work is My Blogs.

Widgets: Make a widget of your latest blog content so others can display it on their blogs or on their desktop. You can do this easily at Google Gadgets or Spring Widgets.

Deliver files to your audience: If have a podcast, you’re already doing this but you can deliver other files too from PDF’s to video.

Create affiliate branded RSS feeds: Let affiliates display your blog content and let them be rewarded for it. I’ve created a custom feed for my affiliates, which contains the affiliate’s ID.

Find deals for your business: Who doesn’t like to save money? Save on your next business purchase. There are lots of ways you can track sales and deals from stores like Amazon. For Internet Marketing related purchases, you can save a feed like the one from Deal.com to your RSS reader.

Track packages: Track your own packages with SimpleTracking.com or let your customers know if you sell a physical product.

Track latest questions on Yahoo Answers: Answering questions on Yahoo Answers can be very effective to promote your business. Subscribe to the RSS feed of the category you’re interested in so you’ll be notified when a new question you can answer comes in.

Track your own or other blogs’ comments: Sometimes email notifications quit working. But the RSS always does. If you are using a WordPress blog, your comment feed is usually: http://yourblog.com/?feed=comments-rss2 or http://yourblog.com/comments/feed/

Competitor watch: Find out what competitors or other marketers are doing on social networks, blogs, video and more using FriendFeed.

Track what’s going on in your industry: Do a search on Yahoo or MSN for a keyword or phrase you’d like to watch. Using Firefox or IE 7, an RSS feed icon will appear. Click to subscribe.

Advertise: While I personally have not done any RSS advertising, I have displayed ads in RSS feeds. The click through ratios for that one site performed better compared to web site click through. You can advertise on RSS feeds through Text-Link-Ads, Pheedo and FeedBurner.

Notify clients of service status: This works well for businesses who offer a service like web hosting, online shopping carts. Publish a system status feed and let customers know they can be alerted of status changes immediately.

What if you don’t even understand RSS that well? Can you take advantage of these suggestions? Absolutely. But if you prefer to better understand RSS, you can find a free report at TechBasedMarketing.com that explains RSS in simple every day English.

More Blogging Help:

If you're looking to pull more profit out of your business blog, check out the IM Blogging Bootcamp. This 4-week intensive program designed to get you actively and effectively blogging to reach more of your prospects and convert more of them into lifelong customers.




Dedicated to supporting you as a Mom and Business Professional

How to Get Blog Traffic

How to Get Blog Traffic - 11 Steps to Growing Readership

Article by Alice Seba

Many of us work so hard on our blogs and frankly, it kind of sucks if we don’t get the traffic we want. And it’s a catch-22…you can’t get the traffic without the work, but it’s tough to justify all the work if you don’t get the traffic. Well, here are 11 suggestions to get the traffic you want to your blog.

1. Be Remarkable - This one is number one for a reason. If you do this, most of the rest of this list will come into place and will have lasting effect on the growth of your readership.

Be remarkable by:

* Being informative: Teach your readers what they want and convey the info in a way your audience appreciates.
* Entertain - Insert humor, amaze your readers…do what’s appropriate to get their attention.
* Connect with Your Audience - Understand and speak to their pain, worries and even their dreams and desires.
* Be Controversial - Share an opinion…not everyone has to agree with you to find you interesting.

I have been accused of having an “if you build it, they will come” attitude with this suggestion and I guess to some extent, it is true. That doesn’t mean you can’t be proactive in your traffic building as well, but the more remarkable your blog is…the better the long and short term effects of your efforts.

2. RSS Feed: You’d think it’d be a given, but I see plenty of blogs without an RSS feed. If you’re not familiar with the term, an RSS feed allows your readers to be notified when you make new blog posts. Unless your audience is totally tech-savvy and is all over the RSS thing, I recommend setting up a feed that allows your reader to sign up for updates into their feed reader or email if they prefer. An easy way to set up this type of feed is to use a free service like FeedBurner.com.

3. Ping!: Make sure your blog is set up to ping the various web blogs. Many blog platforms allow you to set this up in your settings. This helps a variety of information/search sites know that you’ve updated your blog.

4. Make Comments: Make useful comments on busy blogs related to your blog’s subject. Usually, you can link back to your site when you make a comment on another blog. BE RESPECTFUL!: Only use the space provided for your link…don’t write ads or fancy signatures AND make sure your comment is relevant and useful to other readers.

5. Do Trackbacks: Many blogs allow you to make commentary about their posts on your own blog. When you link to their particular blog post, a link to your own blog post appears in the comments area on their blog. For trackbacks between WordPress blogs, all you need to do is link to a blog post and it’s automatically set up. BE RESPECTFUL: If you’re going to trackback, have something useful to say. Just summarizing and linking to someone’s post does NOT add to the discussion.

6. Keep Your Email List Up-to-Date: You probably already know that your mailing list is a valuable asset. Use this asset to the fullest by sending them to your blog to read the posts you think they will find helpful, enjoy, etc.

7. Distribute Content: A great way to get people read more of your content is by getting content out there to more people. You can distribute articles, post videos, guest post on other blogs…just get some good stuff out there and lead people back to read your blog.

8. Affiliates Link to Your Blog: If your affiliate program allows your affiliates to link to any page on your site, encourage them to link to and write about your various blog posts. The system I use at Quicksales.com (a private-label 1ShoppingCart) allows my affiliates to quickly and easily link to any blog post they want.

Affiliate referrals are cookied when someone follows a link and if that referral eventually buys, they get the commission. Of course, the conversions on blog links aren’t going to be as good as linking directly to a sales page, but it gives your affiliates the opportunity to bring value to their own readers (by linking to your AWESOME content) and potential benefit financially.

9. Social Networks: You can use various social networks (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace) to drive traffic to a blog. People you connect with socially are likely to be interested in what you have to say on your blog. Make sure you follow proper etiquette and use your common sense. Also, don’t overdo it and get lost in your social networks all day…you’ve got WORK and other important things to do. Plus, if you are remarkable, those who use social networks will be doing the work for you and talking about you.

10. Social Bookmarking: Social bookmarking includes sites like Digg, del.icio.us and Stumble Upon, where you can share links to a variety of content. Some people self-bookmark, but realize this could put your account in jeopardy, so read all the rules first. Others choose to work with others in helping each other bookmark. Being remarkable also encourages people to spread the word on your behalf.

11. SEO (Search Engine Optimization): I put this one last, where I know a lot of people tend to put it first. If your goal is repeat visitors who become faithful fans, put SEO on the backburner and SEO your other content pages where you are looking for first-time or drive-by visitors.

The problem with trying to optimize all your blog pages is that it takes away from you being remarkable. A remarkable blog is written with interesting subject lines (rather than boring keyword phrases) and isn’t always on topics that people use a search engine to find. Of course, you can combine the two (SEO and being remarkable) in some ways, but don’t let SEO take anything away from the interest and word-of-mouth your blog creates.

More Blogging Help:

If you're looking to pull more profit out of your business blog, check out the IM Blogging Bootcamp. This 4-week intensive program designed to get you actively and effectively blogging to reach more of your prospects and convert more of them into lifelong customers.



Dedicated to supporting you as a Mom and Business Professional

More Exposure for Your Business without the Expense

Many businesses spend plenty of money on expensive advertising campaigns.

Why pay for an ad in a magazine or newspaper when you can get them to
feature your business for free?

That's what an effective press release campaign can do for you. All you
do is send in your newsworthy story in proper press release format and
you might find your business in the newspaper, in a magazine, on the
radio or even on TV.

Let's face it, a story about you is going to be noticed much more than an ad hidden away in the back of a newspaper. If you'd like to learn how to write attention-getting press releases that the media will love, pick up your copy of Mom's Talk Biz Guide to Press Releases.



Dedicated to supporting you as a Mom and Business Professional

CONTEST! Sponsored by MUIB & WAHM Articles

Moms United in Business Referral Contest
Deadline: March 31, 2009 11:59pm EST
Number of Winners: 10

Let's face it. Times are tough for us all. Both myself and MUIBer Denise Willms continue to receive emails from struggling work at home moms desperate for help, guidance and support. While we can't help everyone, we both decided we could do something to make a difference.

Currently we have lifted the annual MUIB membership fee, and are offering FREE memberships. We would love your help in spreading the word. Keep in mind this is for a limited time only.

How you can help:
If you are not already a member of the MUIB family, join us!

Refer your friends, collegues and any woman you know that could benefit from the MUIB mission of offering personal and professional support. Publish a post on your blog, spread the word via all your social networking sites (twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc.), grab a MUIB button located in the sidebar of the MUIB blog.

Upon signing up, new members inform us of who referred them, giving you credit for the referral.

The top 10 referrers will recieve 2 awesome prizes!
**minimum of 10 referred members to qualify

1) MUIB Gold Membership Package
Benefits:
Lifetime membership to the MUIB site ($25.00)
MUIB Lifetime Sponsor Ad ($30.00 value)
125x125 button Ad on public MUIB homepage for 1 year ($240.00 value)
MUIB Newsletter Ad, 12 issues/1 year ($120.00 value)
MUIB Lifetime Business Directory Ad ($15.00 value)
Package value: over $430.00

2) 1 year membership to WAHM-Articles.com
Value: $50 a year
Benefits:
Members are granted access to the private area of our forum, where they can find all kinds of internet and article marketing help, plus receive the following discounts:
50% off hourly rate for Article Marketing Services from WAHM-Articles.com (regularly $60 an hour)
50% off hourly rate for Publicity Services from WAHM-Announce.com (regularly $60 an hour)


Helping you sow the seeds of success,
~Jenn Rogers, Owner
Moms United in Business, LLC




Dedicated to supporting you as a Mom and Business Professional

Interested in Launching a Research Home Based Business?

There are many services that translate well into home businesses. One
of the main reasons that many moms want to work from home is
flexibility. A research business provides the ultimate in flexibility,
and allows you to do a large portion of the required work at home.

The Internet is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That means that any
research that you can do online can be done whenever you wish. You can
work after the kids are in bed, before they get up in the mornings, or
even during the day. Research can always be put on hold while you’re
cooking meals, giving baths, or playing a game of hide and seek. It
will be there when you get back to it, ready for you to pick up where
you left off.

You will likely be working with deadlines, but the ability to work at
the time of day that is best for you is a huge asset when you’re a mom.
As long as you take your deadline into account, you can easily work
your research around the rest of your life.

Another good thing about research is the fact that you rarely have to
leave the house to do it. Most of the time, client contact can be done
by email. A great deal of information is available for free online if
you know where to look. For those things that you can’t find freely,
you might decide to invest into subscriptions to some paid online
reference sources. Or you can make a trip to your local library to find
more free information.

Getting research jobs often requires little or no formal training.

While there are some scholarly publishers who desire a researcher with
a specific college degree, many clients are content with a demonstrated
ability to produce good results. Obtaining testimonials from satisfied
customers can go a long way toward convincing potential customers that
you are the person for the job. The Internet provides more than just
research opportunities. It also gives you numerous ways to gain new
customers. Setting up a website detailing the type of work you do gives
potential customers an easy way to learn about your services.

Advertising on websites of interest to writers and pay per click search
engine advertising are two ways to target your site to the right
market. You could also join business networking communities to make
valuable connections.

A research business is great for work at home moms because they can do
most of the work and promotion from home. It also provides a great deal
of flexibility. If you are good at digging up reliable information,
research could be a profitable and enjoyable home business for you.

Want to learn more about starting your own home-based Internet Research
business? Click here to instantly access your step-by-step guide.



Dedicated to supporting you as a Mom and Business Professional

"A Blog is Not for Selling” - WHAT?

Article by Alice Seba

Blogs (used for business) are supposed to be relationship builders, so they say. Of course, purist bloggers will say they shouldn’t be used for business, but if you read this blog, you’ve gotten past all that and we can discuss blogging for business candidly, right?

But many people who give advice on blogging for business say that you shouldn’t sell on your blog. The blog is just for building those relationships. Well, I love to make new friends and cement relationships with existing ones as much as the next guy/gal…but ummm…I also blog to build my business.

If You Don’t Tell Them What You Have to Offer, How Will They Know?

See, I don’t really understand how one could think that just writing interesting blog posts without ever making any offer to your readers is going to do you much good. Sure, you can do some promos/ads in the side bar of your blog, but realistically…most of your readers ignore the side of your blog. They are interested in what you have to SAY. And if you don’t SAY what you have to offer…how will they know?

Making offers in the context of your posts makes the most sense. Tell them while they are listening and engaged in what you have to say. Of course, I’m not saying that every blog post needs to be a full-on pitch (but go ahead, make some pitch posts sprinkled in with the great content), but include some kinds of business-building call-to-action in a large percentage of your entries.

If you have an ecourse or newsletter that focuses on the topic at hand, mention it.

If you have a product that helps people with a problem you’re writing about, tell your readers about it.

If you know another company that sells a great product solution, link to it with an affiliate link.

Your blog readers are not mind readers, plus they read your blog because they like you and/or your company. They WANT to know what you’re up to, what you have to offer, etc. NEVER assume that your readers already know what products you have and that they’ll take the time to investigate what would suit them best. You need to guide them and tell them.

This is something Lynette Chandler and I really try to drive home in our Internet Marketing Blogging Bootcamp.

Some Outside Perspective on How My Blog Sells

Interestingly enough, a number of people have caught on to my money-making scheme with my blog…he he he.

Andy Beard says about myself and Lynn Terry “they probably have more paying customers than many A-list bloggers have subscribers.” Read the full quote in context at andybeard.eu.

John Reese wrote about an audit his team did for BlogRush members and he mentioned that a lot of make-money blogs were disapproved because “most of the blogs in that category were heavy with ads and promotional material compared with the ratio of tips, techniques, and true unique ‘helpful’ content.” And then he proceeded to list this blog as one of the blogs that actually got it right. Read the full quote in context at income.com/blog.

Brent Hodgson wrote about “over-the-shoulder-selling” which “is a type of inclusive sales pitch which just engages people - not as sales prospects, but as people,” and listed me as one of the people who “use this tactic (either subconsciously, or very deliberately).” Read the full quote in context at brenthodgson.com.

Yes, It Applies to YOU!

And please don’t tell me this is only suitable for this type of “Internet marketing” blog because it’s simply not true. If you have products to sell and you have people who enjoy your related content - you can incorporate selling into your blog.

So tell me, do you incorporate selling in your blog? Subtle or direct…it doesn’t make you a snake oil or used car salesman. It makes you someone who can relate to and make great recommendations to your readers.

More Blogging Help:

If you're looking to pull more profit out of your business blog, check out the IM Blogging Bootcamp. This 4-week intensive program designed to get you actively and effectively blogging to reach more of your prospects and convert more of them into lifelong customers.



Dedicated to supporting you as a Mom and Business Professional

Why Copywriting Saves You Time & Puts You Ahead of Most of Your Competition

A lot of home businesses owners focus on face-to-face selling, which
can be very effective, but extremely time consuming. For the same time
you spend giving someone a 20 minute spiel about your products, you
could spend that time writing up some highly-effective promotional
materials that can be used over and over again to sell your product to
countless people. Instead of selling to one person at a time, you can
sell to plenty with the same amount of work.

That's what copywriting can do for you. If you're not familiar with the
term copywriting, it refers to the words you use to create your various
sales messages and promotional tools. Copywriting can be used on
everything from your business cards to flyers to brochures to websites.
The problem is, many home business owners don't understand the power
copywriting can have in generating more sales for their businesses.
They throw together a business card or website and then wonder why
nobody follows up with them. Effective copywriting urges your potential
customers to take action on your sales messages. If you use
well-crafted copy in your business, you're likely going to be ahead of
much of your competition.

Here Are Some Starter Copywriting Tips:

1. Understand your target market - The more deeply you understand who
you are writing to, the more effective your copy will be.

2. Understand your product - Understand what is unique about your
product and why it would appeal to your target market.

3. Focus on benefits - The features of your product are important, but
it's the benefits that will sell your products. For example, you may
sell an aromatherapy candle in a particular scent and that scent is
known to reduce stress. The scent is the feature and the benefit is
stress-reduction. People want to know the scent, but they really want
to know what they're going to get out of using the candle.

4. Use simple language - Avoid using big words or long, complicated
sentences and paragraphs. Respect the fact that the average person's
reading level is likely lower than yours and make it easy for them to
get your message.

5. Focus on your reader - When we write about our business or products,
we tend to focus on ourselves. Instead of using a lot of "we"
statements, turn it around and speak to your audience. For example:
Instead of saying, "We value customer service," say, "Your customer
satisfaction is guaranteed."

6. Prove your claims - Back up claims with real and detailed
testimonials, research facts, etc. The more believable your copy is,
the more likely you are to clinch the sale.

For more copywriting tips and practical exercises to help you make more
sales without so much work, grab your Mom's Talk Biz Guide to
Copywriting and get started right away. http://www.momstalkbiz.com/copywriting-ebook.html



Dedicated to supporting you as a Mom and Business Professional

MUIBer Featured in NY Daily News!

MUIBer, Donna Bliss of My Miracle Baby.com featured in NY Daily News!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it, here!

Congrats, Donna!




Dedicated to supporting you as a Mom and Business Professional

Awesome Twitter Resources

Be sure to follow muib on twitter!

What Is Twitter?

Twitter in Plain English, Video

50 Ideas for Using Twitter for Business

Twitter Toolbox

More Awesome Twitter Tools

Even More Twitter Tools

Dedicated to supporting you as a Mom and Business Professional

Profitable Mommy Blogging

Are you a professional Mom Blogger?

Interested in learning more about blogging and making a profit from your blogging efforts?

Join the ranks of Professional Mom Bloggers at Profitable Mommy Blogging.

There is a lot of great information, tips, and resources offered. It's worth checking out!



Dedicated to supporting you as a Mom and Business Professional

Adopting The Frugal Living Lifestyle

Having trouble making ends meet? Have more month left than money? Many people struggle with this issue. One of the best ways to save money and truly stretch your dollars all the way to the end of the month is to live a more frugal lifestyle.

Yes, frugality is key. Being frugal with one’s life does not mean that you will live a life, doing without and hoarded away. Frugal living is actually very freeing. Frugal living frees up your finances to work harder and smarter for you so that you in turn do not have to work so hard to actually bring in an income.

In a time where 40% of Americans live beyond their means, meaning they spend more monthly than they make, finding ways to save and learning to be more frugal sounds like a winning idea.
There are a few key concepts that one must adopt in order to begin living a more frugal lifestyle.

Smarter money management. A person must begin to not only spend less money, but also manage the money they have in a smarter way. This can take some time and discipline but will truly pay off in the end.
Spending less. A person must also learn how to spend less than they make. This can be a difficult process for some who have spent more than their paycheck for a long time, however if they adopt some frugal living ideas they can be doing this in no time.

Saving. With the money that they save through not spending as much, they can begin to put away money into savings; another key to frugal living that will help a person to get ahead.
Continuing the process. Continuing to spend more and save less is key.

Adopting some key concepts to frugal living can truly change the way you live your life, and the way that your money works for you. Become different from the norm and begin a smarter, more frugal lifestyle today.

About the Author:
Cara Mirabella is a WAHM with one toddler from New Jersey. She owns and manages TheHouseholdHelper.com - a site dedicated to saving your time, money and sanity when managing your household.



Dedicated to supporting you as a Mom and Business Professional

Start Your Own Affiliate Program

Affiliate marketing is a hot topic these days. With the economy in such a slump everyone is looking for ways to earn a few extra bucks. Affiliate programs are providing that need to many people.

Or maybe you are on the other end of that spectrum and have products or services you would like to promote and sell and would love to offer an affiliate program where your affiliates can do the 'leg work' for you.

Check out the Mom's Talk Biz Guide, Start Your Own Affiliate Program and learn not only how to start an affiliate program but the types of tools and options are available, the different promotional resources you can use, how to choose a commission rate and how to pay your affiliates, just to name a few!

Even if you decide not to purchase the guide you can still grab, no strings attached, a free learning guide about setting up an affiliate program. Check out Start Your Own Affiliate Program for more details and to grab your free learning guide.




Dedicated to supporting you as a Mom and Business Professional