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Human relationships are based on many things- but trust and communication are certainly high on the list for most people. When it comes to professional relationships, you want to make sure that your ideas are heard clearly and received well. The best way to ensure that this will indeed be the case is to have an established relationship in which both parties are mutually appreciative and trusting of the others. Your web-based permission email marketing solutions can go a long way in building that trust.

First, by using a system that requires your customers to opt-in twice, you are establishing the fact that you understand their boundaries and respect their wishes. Each email marketing newsletter they receive from you will be something they have signed up for, rather than an unsolicited communication that could otherwise come across as spam. This will be further demonstrated to them by the fact that they will have the option to contact you or unsubscribe at any time. Providing the unsubscribe feature also helps you- if for any reason one of your recipients no longer wishes to receive your emails, it will be quick and easy for them to leave the list, which means they probably won't start reporting you as spam, which is what often happens when no unsubscribe link is provided.

When you're looking at your html email marketing templates, content is surely one of your biggest considerations. Consider including an occasional survey for your recipients to fill out. Not only will they feel as if their opinion is being valued, but you'll receive valuable feedback. To follow up on this and thus demonstrate that you've heard and taken into consideration the time spent to give you feedback you should follow up with a sampling of customer comments in your next newsletter that includes how you plan to use this information in the future.

Now that you're the proud author of your email marketing newsletter, it will also fall upon somebody to be the editor of that newsletter. While it's usually best for there to be a second party doing the editing, sometimes that just isn't an option- and just look how many mistakes get past multiple sets of editors in the publishing and journalism world! Editing needs to be a part of your email marketing solutions. After all, how appealing will your company be if your lovely html email marketing templates are full of typos and grammatical errors? The answer: not very. People react poorly to grammatical and spelling mistakes, and either assume laziness, incompetence or a lack of discipline or caring. Other times they don't notice, of course, so it isn't as if it is a life or death situation. It might be a click-through or not situation, though, so make sure that somebody is giving your newsletters a read-through before they are sent.

Here's an example of a very small mistake that might go unnoticed:
Now, the rain won't effect your ability to get out there and have fun!
The problem: word choice. Affect and effect are commonly confused, but there is a time and place for each!

Here's an example of a mistake that will make the grammatically inclined twitch and shake a red pen in your direction:
Its that time of year again! That's right, time to get you're snow chains out and make sure your snow shovel is in good working order.
The problem: Its and it's, your and you're. Learn the rules and never break them! Misuse of these is a common pet peeve, by the way.

Here's an example that is moving towards losing you business:
Using EagleStyle sports gear will help make your team sore!
The problem: You were tricked by a homonym! Soar and sore sound the same, but have two very different meanings!

Creating and sending email marketing newsletters has become the single most affordable and efficient method of advertising in the last few years. However, the most common conundrum for most marketing managers and business owners is how to predict what will motivate subscribers to become regular customers with this sales approach. Is it flashy images, or simple straightforward offers with a clear call to action? Or do people respond to a more subtle and informational approach?

Business owners are no different than the millions of other people with a computer and Internet access who receive a variety of email marketing newsletters weekly. If you are one of those business owners then you have received both the good and bad, and every example of quality, content and functionality in between.

From B2B offers to personal requests for sales and information that lands in your inbox, the variety of plain text and flashy html email marketing templates is almost limitless. These not only offer you a wide range of products and services you may or may not want, they also can be a great resource for your email marketing solutions. Not so much that you want to copy their format or content, but to determine what motivates you to click for more info, purchase, or makes you want to unsubscribe.

After you make your list of likes and dislikes, go through those lists and then put yourself in your subscriber’s shoes. Who are the majority of people who make up your subscriber base? Are they primarily homemakers, part of your business industry, or do you cater to a wider demographic? Then ask yourself if you were part of any one of these groups, what would each member of this group be most interested in and what presentation approach would possibly motivate a purchase?

Now make shorter preference lists organized by user categories. Once this is done you now have outlines for your future email marketing best practices based on your demographics and target groups.

If you are responsible for the creation and distribution of your company’s email marketing newsletters, setting aside some time to take a comprehensive look at the variety of email marketing promotions coming into your inbox will be time well-spent.

No one has to remind us that this past year has been one of the toughest for the U.S. economy in decades. However there is a new and hopeful reality emerging as more consumers are turning to local sources for everything from food to quality hand-made goods. And this new way of thinking and buying has poised community-based businesses like organic food markets and cottage industries to grow exponentially in the next few years.

To meet this new demand, forward-thinking entrepreneurs are blazing an old trail to food security and confidence in the quality and safety of their products for their customers. But to continue the interest in locally grown and produced merchandise these quality products and services still need to be promoted so that customers think of them first- instead of turning to big box stores for their needs. One way that these small businesses are reaching out to their community is through environmentally friendly email marketing newsletters.

Many of these community based businesses are turning to email marketing companies that provide web-based permission email marketing solutions. They are affordable, easy to use, and even easier for their customers to share these with friends and family- which is essential to growing trust and return sales.

Small business owners have a lot of jobs to do- from ordering, stocking, and promoting their stores. And html email marketing templates makes creating and sending professional presentations complete with colorful layouts, images, video, audio, links, and coupons an easy choice. Couple this with the affordability of sending email marketing newsletters and it’s one of the smartest decisions and one of the easiest tasks for the small business owner.

In marketing studies conducted during October and early November, researchers found that an average of 40% of those polled planned to decrease their print advertising by 32% and increase their online and digital presence by 50%- and for good reason. These savvy business and marketing managers have found that email marketing newsletters brought them more leads and provided them real-time ROI.

Much of the success achieved was also in response to the demands of consumers who prefer to receive messages from those they do business with through their email accounts. From utilities to home improvement stores to their preferred non-profit or charity organization, email marketing newsletters are finally replacing the waste and annoyance of finding mounds of unwanted paper in their home or business mailboxes.

Large corporations from cell phone services to public utility companies are now using html email marketing templates to deliver monthly statements, special upgrade offers, and tips for saving energy. And now many small companies are finding out that these digital alternatives are working better than cost-restrictive printed promotions.

For non-profit and public service organizations, email marketing solutions have proven very successful in keeping their supporters abreast of current issues and funding requests. And for these types of clients, email marketing services offer discounts or in some cases free email marketing as a pubic service and/or a tax break for them.

The real upside for these organizations and businesses is when they use email marketing companies who provide comprehensive reporting that tallies open rates and click-throughs. New subscribers also tell them when certain content or offers generated the interest necessary for their newsletters to be shared and motivated those recipients to subscribe. This type of solid lead generation and comprehensive tracking information is what has made the email marketing newsletter a smart alternative to print media.

In email marketing, there's always room for improvement. An adjustment here, a tweak there - it's the minor calibrations that can make all the difference in your open and click-through rates. Simply by changing your subject line, you could increase your open rates by 5 - 10%. Or, by changing the day of the week you send your email marketing newsletters, you could increase your sales by as much as 70%!

Next time you decide to use the split testing method, commonly called A/B testing, take some different variables into consideration. Here are a few ways you can test to ensure email marketing success:

Landing Pages
Don't over-promise and under-deliver. In other words, if you think your landing page has nothing to do with your email newsletter, you've got another thing coming. The perfect email is, quite frankly, a waste if your landing page can't seal the deal. Test all the same things you would in your email marketing newsletters on your landing pages. Placement and content are important elements here.

Placement Options
So you've got a bangin' call-to-action. Great, now you need to put it where it will be seen. A good rule of thumb is: the higher on the email the better, and then, sprinkled throughout. Also, try different placement options for your navigation. What works best - left, right, or top center? Play around with positioning in different html email marketing templates. Subtle differences can have a drastic effect on campaign success.

Visuals
Testing visuals could be a waste of time unless you're comparing two dramatically different email marketing templates. Just testing images or background colors won't yield much of a difference. If you've been using the same template for a while, try tossing another one into the mix to see how it compares to the status quo. (And, by the way, there shouldn't BE many status quos when it comes to email marketing solutions! As long as you're working with first-rate email marketing software that has more features than a Deluxe Swiss Army knife, change should be your only constant.)

Content
Experiment not only with different keywords and calls-to-action, but different tones and personalities as well. Do your subscribers prefer straight-forward tech talk or a little quirkiness and humor? Also, play around with length - do shorter articles do the trick or do your readers want more?

Scheduling
No matter how epic your email marketing newsletter, if it hits inboxes on the wrong day of the week, it could spell disaster for your results. In your A/B lab, test different days AND times until you find that "happy place".

In a day and age when people are relying more and more on the Internet for everything from entertainment to bill-paying to web-based email marketing software, we are becoming desensitized to the online media and the advertising that goes on there. While most people have developed the habit of closing pop-up ads and ignore sidebar ads out of hand, the majority of people are still opening up email marketing newsletters from companies that they recognize.

The absolute best thing that you can do in creating html email marketing templates is to create a design that has a personal touch. The more your readers feel that they are being approached by another human, the more likely they are to respond. The automatic spam response is to scan through an email without stopping to read it. You can slow people down by offering them something human- a personal note, a story, tips on a subject you're qualified to give advice about, a first person news update, etc. While it might not seem like it, this is actually a strong aspect of email marketing solutions to the economic issues of this time. People aren't looking to support big companies right now, they are hoping to bolster their local communities and support other people in making a living.

The best email marketing services know that they are more than the Internet outreach program for a company, they are responsible for maintaining the relationship between company and client. Remember that the first three emails are usually the most important in establishing a solid relationship with your recipients. Permission-based marketing plans are absolutely necessary because you should only be sending emails to people who actually desire to receive them. Also remember that no matter how much you want your recipients to stay on your list, you do need to make it easy for them to opt out at any time. By monitoring your email delivery and click-through rates, you'll have a pretty good idea of who is reading and who isn't. Tailor your approach to the people who are the most interactive with you, and remember- quality over quantity is usually a better route to take. If you can reach out and connect with a small number of clients who will remain with you, you've done better than if you're blindly sending email marketing newsletters to a large number of people with only a minimal response rate.

Many companies and individuals work out a schedule by which they send out their email marketing newsletters. This ensures that regular contact is made between sender and recipient, but it also enables everyone to adapt to the schedule. For the sender, this means that you'll know when your newsletters are going out and what kind of timing you have for announcing special events or sales. When the recipients of these newsletters learn to anticipate newsletters, they are more likely to respond desirably- by opening and reading the newsletters and responding to timely information within them. If long periods of time go by without getting an email, many people tend to forget that they signed up for them in the first place, which can lead to their clicking the "spam" button when at long last you get around to sending out an email only to discover that they've forgotten who you are and why they wanted to hear from you!

When it comes to using your web-based email marketing software, don't feel as if you are limited to only sending emails on a strict schedule, however. You should absolutely take advantage of seasonal or holiday opportunities to reach out to your audience. If you have an informational newsletter, you might consider having special newsletters for occasions where your recipients would appreciate topical information relating to a season- such as notices about migrating birds for a birdwatching or nature lover's newsletter, or worldwide charity organizations that do specific holiday projects for a charitable giving newsletter. If your newsletters focuses on featured products and services, keep in mind that consumers are used to being target marketed to several times during the year. Seasonal marketing can work in your favor, as customers will all but expect to see holiday savings and discounts that come from seasonal merchandise. Whether you're moving out inventory to make room for new, or temporarily expanding your offerings, you'll find that customers are more responsive when they feel like they are getting a special deal by being on your list.

From the end of the sender, you can increase your seasonal appeal by using html email marketing templates designed to create a festive appeal. Many of the best email marketing services will allow you to create custom templates that can be easily customized to create a unique look and feel. When working with your web-based email marketing software (and it is assumed that this is part of your web-based email marketing program, as permission is of the utmost importance to your company's marketing integrity), allow your creativity to guide you. Customers will appreciate the touch of a real person behind their newsletters!

Creating a newsletter, whether it is once a week or once a month can be made easier if you take some time to plan your content before you begin. Most html email marketing templates are very easy to use but preparation can make your job even easier.

The first question you need to ask yourself is what your call to action will be. Is it going to be encouraging your customer to take advantage of the deep discounts on your products or do you want them to participate in a customer service or product satisfaction survey? Whatever you are requesting from your customers, make the call to action clear, concise, and easy to do.

The next task on your list should be to gather all the copy you want to add to your email marketing newsletter and make sure that you have at least one other person proofread it and offer suggestions. Those suggestions could be making your message clearer or simply eliminating misspelled words, awkward and/or non-existent punctuation. It is best to offer short, clear sentences and avoid or clarify words or terms that are exclusive to your specific industry.

Once you have your articles or product information you should think about the images that will enhance your message. Most email marketing services that offer their clients html email marketing templates allow at least one image to be added to article areas. Images draw your subscriber’s attention- the old line that a picture is worth a thousand words is still applicable and should be part of your email marketing best practices.

Beyond simple static images, you may want to add a slide show with voice-over and background music. There are a few email marketing services that offer these applications with easy to create productions and best yet they are web-based email marketing software, which eliminates the hassle of downloading applications and keeping up with software upgrades.

Last, but by no means the least important of your preparations is to make sure that all the links you want your subscribers to click are live and take them to the exact location on your website you intended for your call to action. Send previews to a few of your co-workers to test links and give you their feedback on the overall presentation of your newsletter. The comments and suggestions you receive will help make each and every one of your email marketing newsletters the best that they can be.

The email marketing axiom "content is king" may seem cliche, even in the relatively youthful world of online marketing, but no matter how trite, it simply cannot be emphasized enough. Quality content is what keeps the email marketing globe spinning on its axis with unstoppable momentum. Particularly in a time when Google is regularly tweaking its algorithm to yield more advanced, refined results in the name of optimum search relevance, email marketing content is not just King, it's Dictator.

With all of that being said, not only is it of critical importance to have regularly updated, relevant, compelling content on your website, but it's also necessary to apply those same standards to your email marketing newsletter.

As 2010 rolls around, it's a great time to spruce up your marketing mix by implementing a few content-oriented goals. Here are two to get you started:

1. Attract and engage your target market through the use of quality content in html email marketing templates. What, exactly, is meant by quality? you might ask. Quality content is original, timely, appealing to your audience, and rich with keywords that will render organic visibility online.

2. Take full advantage of all email marketing services supplied by your web-based email marketing software in order to increase your search engine rankings and online visibility. This means making use of dynamic templates, multimedia, professionally written content, links, surveys, web publishing and syndication, email list segmentation, and statistics reporting features.

Just as Google is constantly improving its algorithm, you can constantly be improving your email marketing newsletters with great content that will not only keep subscribers coming back again and again, but will also pull in new subscribers, drive traffic to your website, and ultimately, convert readers into patrons of your business.

There's no more cost-effective way to market your products and services like harnessing the suite of tools available on the Internet's best email marketing services. But no matter how large your subscriber list, how often you send email marketing newsletters, or in what capacity you're utilizing the tools made available to you by your email marketing program, if you're not infusing your newsletters with superior content, you're never going to reap the full range of benefits provided by web-based email marketing solutions.

Use the new year as an opportunity to go back and review your content. Create a checklist of criteria for what qualifies an excellent email marketing newsletter and see if what you've been putting in your subscriber's inboxes passes the test. Even if your content is usually fresh, relevant and compelling in your eyes, there's always room for improvement. Need another set of eyes to help you make some judgment calls? Contact your email marketing company and get some expert advice for tackling 2010.