Technology Toolkit

Creating and sending a promotional email letter that receives the maximum response rate is at the heart of any successful online business. But what is a ‘responsive email’? How do you compose it? There are a few principles a responsive email letter is based on. If you follow them, you’ll never be at disadvantage:

The Subject line. The subject line is a presentation of your message. I would even say that it is the subject line determines whether the recipient will open your message or not. If you send a commercial letter, your main purpose is to have the recipient open your message. So, the subject line must to intrigue and rouse the people’s curiosity. Put some ‘tease’ in your subject but do not reveal what your message is about completely. Teases should speak to the offer that the recipient is going to find inside the letter – but not too much – make them open it to find out for sure. A good tease may sound like: ‘Discover the new technique how to’, or ‘The amazing inside secrets’, or ‘Download the new improved version of’ etc.

The salutation. Yes, a personalized message beginning with ‘Dear John,’ is better. It looks more professional and makes a feel that you care about every prospect individually. A personalized message helps build credibility in relationship between you and your prospects. That’s why on your opt-in form you should ask your subscribers to provide their first name together with the email address.

The message body. We’ll examine two aspects here: content – what your message is about and presentation – in what manner you present the information.

Message content. This is where people often get confused. What to tell to the readers so they would want to buy from you? Tell them about the benefits of your product. Remember that people don’t care about you personally or your organization, they do want to know how they can benefit from your offer, how your offer can solve their problems or make their lives easier. That’s what they need.

A great idea that always works for your is a free bonus or special offer. You should give them something for free in addition to their purchase.

Typical offers may include:

‘Special Reports’ – you are simply promising them an instant access to some free content after their purchase.

‘Software Trials’ – if you are developing and promoting your own software programs, you could promise a free trial of the new version of your software, or an other software in the form of a download.

‘Discounts’ – you can offer discounts on particular goods when they become available, and the only way to gain access to these discounts is by purchasing your product.

‘Email mini-course’ – you can also offer people an email mini-course that will teach them something specific about their market, and will then allow you continue communicating with them in the future.

‘E-books’ – if you sell an e-book, you could offer it for free to your subscribers who purchase your product.

‘Tips and News’ – similar to the email mini-course. You are just promising to send them regular emails with useful content that helps make their lives easier.

Always end the body of the letter with clear instructions what action you want the reader to take. There must not be any ambiguity. The reader must exactly know what you want him to do now.

But don’t stop there. Add a ‘P.S.’ and ‘P.P.S.’ that persuade the reader to buy from you, repeat the offer and call-to-action.

Text presentation. You may have a lot to say about your product benefits and your offer. But the trick is to say it in a way that is easy to read, and clearly lays out the main aspects. People are busy and they don’t have much time to spend on one email. Keep in mind that people don’t read the message, they scan it. So, you have to structure your letter in a manner that all important information grabs the reader’s attention.

Don’t write in long sentences. Separate the text in paragraphs with 4-5 sentences in each paragraph. Use bullets to represent your offer benefits. Use underlining, bold and italics as ways to call attention to important elements but do it wisely.

The closing. It should always be done by the most senior person in your organization – preferably someone with a title. This is about credibility.

You should always remember that you can create several email messages and test one email approach versus another. Simply divide your list in two groups, and send the version A to one half, and the version B to the other. Then compare the results. What version is more responsive and what is not. You can then use the more successful version of you email letter for future communication with your prospects.

Take care of these aspects and your email marketing efforts will be rewarded!

If you’ve never written a listing before, facing the limitation of 55 characters for your title can be a little stifling. But it helps to remember that every advertiser faces the same challenge you do.

We’re all limited to the same number, single color, and the fact that it’s a text-only field. The only real options are for a bold or featured listing. These ads run at the top of any list and are therefore subjected to more eyeballs in the process. It’s a way of gaining something by paying to rank higher in order. It may be worth your consideration to test these two options and determine whether they helped improve your profits.

There is one free option that can help your headline stand out in any list, and it is simply this: the correct use of capitalization.

Some advertisers use almost all lowercase text. Others prefer all UPPERCASE. Neither in my view is the best option in any environment. Lowercase test seems rather uninteresting and ordinary, like it’s just one line from a full page of text. It tends to blend in, rather than stand out.

Uppercase text, on the other hand, can be likened to standing on a busy street corner and screaming at the top of your lungs. It’s not exactly the best way to attract people to your message.

There’s already too much noise we all have to deal with daily. Any more of the same quickly shuts down an otherwise interested mind. Uppercase text is also more difficult to read. And although the title field is only 55 characters, it still requires extra time to read and comprehend the meaning of those words.

But uppercase characters can be very effective when used sparingly. The best method I’ve found is to capitalize the first character of each word. If you were to study the most successful ads, sales letters and web pages, in virtually any area of interest, you’d find many successful headlines written this way with the first letter of each word set in uppercase format.

Begin each word with a capital so your title reads like a headline. Then, focus on one to three words you want to highlight and capitalize those as well. Just don’t overdo it.

The real secret to using your title to create tons of traffic to your listing is to understand how your target market of buyers searches for your specific item. By this I mean keywords. What specific words would the greatest number of prospects likely use when searching for said item? Answer this accurately and you’ll know the exact words to include in your title.

It’s great if you know the market well because all you have to do is uncover typical keywords you’d use in a search for a similar product. But if you’re new in a particular market, it’s wise to do some homework before creating and posting your ad.

Asian contact centers were once made fun of, then lamented for the poor business image they presented. Nowadays, they are accepted by businesses as a valuable addition to a company’s customer service tools, and by consumers as both a natural part of life in a globalized world, and a way to cut the impact on their own wallets.

The continuing rise of India and China as Asian economic giants is creating huge opportunities in several areas: for global businesses to set up low cost customer contact alternatives in the regions; for Asian businesses to do the same; and for businesses in Asia and elsewhere to market their goods to growing middle classes in both countries.

However, it will all need to be supported by good information technology infrastructure, network performance managers that can respond to changing needs, and excellent data security. We look at the technical challenges that come along with the Asian contact center opportunities.

As the middle class in countries like India and China grows exponentially, expectations of customer service by customers in these countries also grows. Where slow or substandard customer service may have once been the norm, Asian businesses now must embrace contact centers as a low cost option for increasing service standards.

These contact centers must be supported by good information technology infrastructure – customers that have to wait as long on the phone as the time it would take to physically go to a store will quickly take their business somewhere more efficient. This makes network performance management in these contact centers a key issue, and gives information technology consultants a prime place in the customer service cycle – odd as that seems.

Asian IT services that specialize in network performance management will be in hot demand.
Along with the need for good information technology infrastructure and network speed is the realization that all of the customer data that Asian contact centers will hold must be secured.

Computer network security will be a paramount concern, and network security experts will have their plates full ensuring that Asian contact centers are not only speedy, but have good data security.

It is estimated that the market for Asia-Pacific contact center applications will grow at an annual compound growth rate of 9.1 percent until 2013. The prime customers for this new market will be the banking, mobile service and insurance providers.

Growing middle classes in Asian economies will mean that in countries like India, there is a wealth of new customer opportunities in insurance sales. However, an enormous shift in technological capacity and information technology infrastructure must occur.

Current systems would give extremely poor network performance analysis results, yet provided that business managers stay ahead of new developments in both network performance management and computer network security, they can make huge profits.

If you are looking for a way to earn a little extra cash without having to use much of your time, then online paid surveys just might be the answer for you. All it needs for you to start earning money is to have a computer or access to one, and a reliable Internet connection.

You will then need to enroll yourself in one of the many online survey sites there are on the Internet. The more you sign up for, the better. Just remember to look for sites that will not ask you for a registration or a membership fee. You want to stay away from those. Any legitimate company will not let you pay anything to join them. Another is that you find ones that will pay you cash upfront for the services you have done. Those that offer you chances to win prizes in exchange for some of your earnings are also bogus sites.

Once you have signed up, you can expect to receive a survey within two weeks. Some are lucky and get to have some sent within the hour. Just try not to be disappointed if it takes a while for you to receive a job. This is also one of the reasons why it is best to sign up with several sites. Since that survey forms do not entail that long to get done, you should not be worried if you are sent several within a few days. The important thing is to keep the ball rolling so you will have consistent jobs to do.

What are online paid surveys and who pays you to have them done?

These electronic survey forms are part of research data that belong to many large companies and corporations that need to seek answers for developing markets and products. By answering the survey form honestly and with the best of your knowledge, you are helping these companies save a huge amount of cost. The data you will render them will allow them to analyze and determine their position in the market as well as potential business they could make by understanding fully the market, trend, and viability when launching or developing an existing or upcoming product.

Earnings you can get by filling up these survey forms can fetch you a minimum of $300 a month, working only an hour a day. You can earn more than this if you invest more effort and time to it. So, you see, it is a nice way to save up a little money for something special or to just pay off some of the bills. Since it does not take much time to do it, then just consider it a part-time occupation that simply helps.

Considering this opportunity, where else can you find an easy job like this that pays a decent amount of money? Online survey sites have been around a while and will continue to exist. Since the population is readily expanding, there will always be new products and businesses out there that will need the services of surveying for them.

Knowing what niche markets to get into online can be huge for you, so my goal with this article is to shed some light on three niches that you should really look into getting into fast.

1. Everyday Problems.

Let’s face it, we all face problems everyday in our lives. And often we don’t know where to turn or what to do next.

For example: If someone is facing foreclosure, do you think they would be interested in finding information on how to avoid it? You betcha.

I know of one guy who wrote an eBook about BAD BREATH and is selling the thing like crazy. It’s an eBook on BAD BREATH for goodness sake! And yet for folks who are struggling with the problem (and I am told it is a common problem — I guess I’ve just been lucky they gladly shell out the $20.00 to find a cure.

Everyday problems. They are a headache for US, but they are a product waiting to be created by YOU.

Think about things that people deal with every day that are annoying and cost money and time.

2. Hobbies and Crafts.

Hot selling items in any bookstore or online as e-books, are information products about hobbies or crafts. People love making things themselves and getting the self-gratification of a job well done. You could do some quick research on the Internet to see what some of the most common hobbies and crafts are and come up with some unique ideas.

Some might include woodworking, door wreaths, stained glass and any type of do-it yourself information. Things like improving your golf game, a guide to stamp collecting, antiques and so forth.

Recreation is a huge part of our lives. We all like to spend time enjoying a hobby. And, we spend a lot of money supporting those hobbies as a society (My wife is a major contributor )

Hobby related information products are most always a big hit and certainly warrant consideration when choosing a topic to write about.

3. Recipes.

Talk about a HUGE industry — recipes are IT! I didn’t realize how big they were until a guy I know started making $30,000 a month selling a recipe eBook! (That’s a nice chunk of change, don’t you think?)

I did a bit of research and found out that recipes are searched for MILLIONS of times each month.

Anything getting that much attention is money waiting to be made for an eBook author. I have plans myself to start tapping into that market. I feel like I’m throwing away money every month that I don’t have a recipe eBook on the market!

You probably are as well. Definitely something to look into. I have a website in this niche that is getting hundreds of visitors per day to it and that is for one specific kind of recipe! It is crazy how popular this niche really is.