e-Newsletter Subscriber How To – Build and Nurture

Once you’ve decided that an e-newsletter is an avenue you want to pursue, you’ll find that to start building your subscriber list you just have to start by asking customers for their emails.

Consider having your pest control techs ask for emails at service appointments so that as you get the new appointment reminder software you are thinking of using they’ll be ready. In the meantime, use these new emails as the seed starters for your budding subscriber list.

Consider having your office staff save all copies of your website contact form for entry into an Excel spreadsheet which you will load once a month of prospects or website contacts into your e-newsletter subscriber management account.

Don’t forget to put a subscriber form on your website and blog.

Building Your Subscriber List is Not Hard
Building Your Subscriber List is Not Hard

It is easy to start to build your list and you’ll find that you can grow one fairly quickly. One note to the wise, it is very important before you start these endeavors that you update your website’s privacy policy to state that if someone contacts you via email that you will aid their name to your e-newsletter list and that they can easily unsubscribe.

How do you nurture your subscriber list once you have one? Cater your content to your audience. Watch your bounce rate, link clicks, and analytics of what seems to be popular with your readers. Ask for future topics and solicit advice from existing clients about what they like or don’t like about your e-newsletter.

Many clients think that they should do a weekly newsletter, but readers will typically prefer only a monthly frequency. Too many e-newsletters will rack up a bill with your subscription service and start the bleed off of subscribers as they start to block you as a spammer. It is better to send less frequently than more frequently. The only exception may be if you are an e-commerce store and are sending out deals and coupon codes. Then weekly or bi-weekly may be best for you.

For more information on how you can use e-newsletters here’s a great article that shares some additional insights for review.

Are You Missing the Boat By Not Having an E-Newsletter

Are You Missing the Boat? Yes!
Are You Missing the Boat? Yes!

Are you missing the boat? You sure are! I cannot begin to tell you how many times I have heard, “I love your newsletter, it has value to me, and now that I need X, I thought to call you first.”

If you are not creating great content that is shareable in an e-newsletter format, not only are you missing potential sales, but you may be missing ways to create loyalty with your current client base. When you create loyalty with your current base, you protect your business from “poaching”, build advocates for your own services, enhance referral actions, and protect your business from price shopping.

Doing an e-newsletter is easy, especially if you are blogging at least twice a week. We recommend to our blogging clients that they use the best blog post (or two) as the content for their monthly e-newsletter. I’ve found that typically the person who reads your blog is not the person who subscribes to your e-newsletter. If you feel that using blog posts may be too redundant for your audience, enlarge the blog post or add additional content value to it for the e-newsletter version.

With so many options for prefab e-newsletter templates you don’t need to have a custom one built necessarily, but some of our clients like one that reinforces their own brand.

Once your subscriber list size is about 100 or so you are ready to start working on creating and publishing your e-newsletter. Check back on Thursday for more tips on doing your e-newsletter and how to get subscribers.

 

SpamDrain Killed My Smartphone Spam Problem

Save time with SpamDrain.
Save time with SpamDrain.

I live by my smartphone. If you are like me it is your pipeline to your office; untethering you from your desk so you can work literally anywhere. The issue I had with my phone was a growing email spam issue.

On a small screen, it seemed like my home email account on my smartphone only had spam. My office account is already so cluttered with email I was wasting time wading through tons of bogus message. I knew that there just had to be a spam app for smartphones like there is for desktops!

Actually, there are not many apps like SpamDrain to filter smartphone emails, there are really only a few. But, I have found one called SpamDrain that is really working for me. First, I am not paid by the company for the review, I have bought the product, like it, and wanted to share it with you.

Find SpamDrain at the Google Apps store or visit them online at SpamDrain.net (note the net). I did the 14 day free trial and was amazed at the control and filtering. My phone now had real messages that I could find! This is really a great time saving app. It has some nice features like being able to add multiple emails – watch it though you’ll pay $14.99 for each account they filter for a year if you decide to buy the app after the trial.

You can review, via your phone app or online via your desktop, what has been filtered to help train the application, but really I did not have to do hardly any of that. The filters worked pretty good as they were initially.

If you are getting bogged down with spam emails on your smartphone SpamDrain is the app for you. Check it out!

Companion Link Solved the Google Calendar Sync Problem

Companion Link to Link Your Calendar to All Devices.
Companion Link to Link Your Calendar to All Devices.

I have been a long time user of Google Calendar Sync, using it to keep my Outlook calendar the same on my smartphone, main work computer, my laptop, and my home computer. I have looked at alternative products over the years but was not ready to make a jump. That is until Google said August 1 they would simply be turning off Google Calendar Sync.

Mid July, I tested the product I had looked at the most and have ended up buying it. That product is Companion Link. It is important to know that I am just a user, I am not paid or receive ANY compensation for my review or comments from the company. I just wanted to share my thoughts as to why I like their product. I chose to not use Google Apps for business as I really did not want Google in my MX record for my email. They own too much of me and I simply did not want them to have access to my mail too.

I found Companion Link easy to use but one word to the wise, make a full backup of your contacts and calendar before you start the software. I did not and ended up having to clean up some duplicate entries. I would also recommend that you utilize the wipe Google function before starting the sync as doing that would have stopped me from having duplicates.

It is always hairy trusting a new product with your calendar and contacts. I’ve had issues before when I first set up Google Calendar Sync, so it is hard to try a new product and trust that it won’t clobber your calendar and contacts. (Backup, backup, backup is key to peace of mind.)

What I really liked about Companion Link is that it allowed me to sync my Google Family calendar to one computer, my work calendar to another, and both to my smartphone. I am in control!

If you are looking to solve a similar problem, you may want to possibly consider this application, I like it and recommend it to you.