Email Communications – Gaining a Subscriber List
May 29th, 2009 // 11:27 am @ Fox
A few weeks ago I posted a blog titled SPAM – Australian business and the law. I have had phone calls since then asking questions on how to obtain a mailing list.
If you wish to email a newsletter, specials and promotions, or other marketing material to a list then the best list to have is your own customers. Start collecting subscribers as soon as possible even if you are not ready to start emailing until some time in the future. By the time you are ready to send, you should have a list where the subscribers have consented to receiving your email.
For online subscriptions you will need to add an area to your website where the user can sign up:
- A text box where the subscriber enters their email address
- A checkbox with some wording such as ‘Please send me newsletters and special offers’. The checkbox must not be pre-ticked. The action of the ticking of a checkbox must be a manual process that the subscriber performs.
- A Submit button which saves the subscriber to a database maintained either by you or a third party.
Best practice dictates that an automated email is sent to the subscriber asking them to click on a link to confirm that they wish to receive the communications. There are times when a person signs up a friend so the request to confirm is a safeguard to ensure that the recipient does wish to receive the communication. It is also recommended to offer a link to your Privacy Policy so the subscriber can read your process and practices regarding protecting their private information. Of course you must let the subscriber know how they can unsubscribe from the mailing list at any time.
It is a good idea to place this subscription area on your website where it is easily seen such as the homepage, or a side column common to each page. Also add the subscribe option to any membership forms on your website. This is a good opportunity to gain a subscriber as they are already filling out a form and interested in your product or service.
You can gain subscribers offline as well. If you have a printed membership form or an offline newsletter, you can add the subscription complete with un-ticked checkbox to the form. There are a number of ways you can gain subscribers, but just be careful that you are clear about what they are subscribing to.
What if you are a new business, without a mailing list and want to email a target audience to let them know about your product or service?
You can buy a legitimate mailing list from a broker using a Pay Per Lead model. These companies will gain consent from a targeted consumer segment for your specific website to send information to them. Often the subscription is on a survey site.
There is no need to preach that you should never buy a mailing list from any other source.
Category : Email Communication & blog
Guaranteeing Search Engine Rankings
May 7th, 2009 // 6:15 pm @ Fox
I have been asked a few times lately if I guarantee first page ranking in search engines as a few competitors do.
The answer is ‘No’ and allow me to explain why this is so.
In a perfect world if a client implements every single idea I have and gives me an unlimited budget to spend, and Google never change their ranking algorithm, and if the client’s competitors do not spend much on SEO, then the chances are good that they will rank highly on the first page, maybe even #1. However, this is not a perfect world. There are always compromises with SEO, there is always a limited budget, Google continually enhance and tweak the ranking algorithm, and your competitors may be spending more than you.
Compromises with SEO include:
- A content management system that may not allow unique meta descriptions or page titles, or renaming images, or have friendly URL structures
- The client may not be comfortable using some of the suggestions for the strategy such as the use of social media, blogs or articles etc.
- Some marketing departments are very pedantic about content and will not change copy to include keywords
- I have experienced a few clients that are protective and argumentative about any shortcomings their site may have, and do not wish to make changes
Each Google update re-jigs the rankings and often includes an algorithm tweaking that shuffles competitors around including your site.
No one has control over Google or can influence the algorithm.
In this ever-changing landscape, how can anyone guarantee a particular ranking position?
Another important thing to keep in mind is that being on the first page of a search engine results page is only part of the race. Actually achieving a click-through and a subsequent conversion is another matter and a higher priority.
It would be a good idea to read the fine print on the contract regarding a guarantee. Is it within a particular time-frame? Is it subject to any conditions? Is it for one keyword only or all keywords? Who gets to choose the keywords for the guarantee, you or the provider? It is easy to rank on the first page or even for the #1 position for an obscure term such as ‘purple striped socks with braces’.
Let’s see what the experts think about guaranteeing search engine rankings.
Rand from SEOmoz is a guru in the industry. View his blog- ‘Why Reputable SEO Firms Don’t Promise Guaranteed Search Engine Rankings’ to get an idea of his views.
What do Google think of SEO providers guaranteeing search engine rankings. You can read their view here: ‘Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings …’
I will finish this post with a quote from Rand from SEOmoz that I strongly agree with:
What search engine optimization companies can & should guarantee is that they’ll provide the best advice possible to help your site earn more traffic.