Posts Tagged ‘website design’
Using Humor To Make Your Message Go Viral
A study by Sharpe Partners, an interactive marketing agency, revealed that 89% of adult Internet users in America share content with others via e-mail. This is excellent news for those companies who use self-propelling “word-of-mouse” e-mail techniques to sell their products.
The study generated some interesting results regarding the type of content that is most often forwarded, as well. The most popular content is humorous material.
The second most popular category is news, followed by healthcare and medical information, religious and spiritual material, games, business and personal finance information and sports/hobbies… in that order. So it is easy to see that humor is the best content for your viral e-mail campaign.
Cartoons, jokes and funny video clips are among the things that can be added to an e-mail to insure that it will go viral. People will want to pass along something that makes them laugh.
They are a lot more likely to hit the forward button and send your email to their friends and relatives if it is an “advertainment” rather than an advertisement.
Not along ago, about 35 million people got an e-mail containing a picture taken in Disneyland. It took a minute to see it but there was Donald Duck lying prone in front of the famous Cinderella Castle. The title of the picture was “Bird Flu has hit Disneyland”. It was a viral e-mail advertising Disneyland and used the edgy strategy of making light of what’s serious… and it works.
I’d guess that most people who own a computer have seen that picture… and thus the advertisement for Disneyland. The bird flu epidemic is newsworthy and has the potential to attract an enormous amount of attention to any brand that might, for whatever reason, associate itself with it.
Remember that people are much more likely to share a joke or a funny picture than anything else so you would be well advised to include humor in your e-mail campaign.
Rian Schoeman
SilverFox Web Design
New Privacy Regulations For Internet Companies Envisaged – Yahoo Tech
Yahoo Tech has released a report about the efforts of a group of advertising associations to instill a set of rules and regulations to give the consumers the privacy they expect and let marketers keep the freedoms that government intervention would likely hinder.
The main idea behind these guidelines is the provision of transparency in tracking practices and easier opt-out for consumers. The guidelines are being presented by trade associations that represent 5,000 companies – this consortium includes the American Association of Advertising Agencies, Association of National Advertisers, Direct Marketing Association, the Interactive Advertising Bureau and the Better Business Bureau.
An impressive roster, which comprises some of the nation’s largest companies, including Google Inc., General Electric Co., Microsoft Corp., Coca-Cola Co. and Procter & Gamble Co.
The guidelines recommend that companies tell consumers exactly when they’re being tracked, work to educate consumers about web tracking, give them an easy opt out, ensure “reasonable” security for the data they collect, limit how much data they retain and for how long, and get consumer approval before making material changes that would erode privacy protections – particularly in areas such as children’s personal information, financial data and medical records, which all agree require extra levels of security.
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour weighed in on the proposal:
“Consumers deserve transparency regarding the collection and use of their data for behavioral advertising purposes. I am gratified that a group of influential associations – representing a significant component of the Internet community – has responded to so many of the privacy concerns raised by my colleagues and myself.”
Google Managing Policy Counsel Pablo Chavez talked about the topic on the Google Public Policy Blog:
“When we launched our own interest-based advertising product in March, we worked hard to include several innovative features to give users more control and information — including ads labeled ‘Ads by Google,’ a tool called the Ads Preferences Manager (which lets users view, add, and remove the categories that are used to show them interest-based ads), and the choice to opt out of interest-based ads altogether.”
“One of the key strengths of the principles is the fact that they apply to a broad range of companies participating in online advertising — advertisers, publishers, and ad networks. Of course, for any self-regulatory effort to be effective, there has to be some kind of enforcement process. Between now and early 2010 — when the principles are expected to be implemented — the Better Business Bureau and Direct Marketing Association, two of the groups involved, will work to set up that process to make sure it has real teeth.”
Rian Schoeman
SilverFox Web Design
Grab Attention With A Good Subject Line
The race for supremacy in internet based businesses has been really heating up and many sites have been put up to help others to get ahead for a small fee. But there are also ways in which you don’t have to pay so much to get yourself a good list of loyal followers. Having sufficient web traffic and visitors allows you to put up a foundation wherein you can build an opt-in list and make it grow from there. This is not only important if you have a internet based company such as a web design company, but is really important for any type of business.
An opt-in list allows you to provide newsletters to your subscribers with their consent. When people sign up, they know that they will be receiving updates and news from your site and the industry your represent via an e-mail. But that doesn’t mean that all of those who subscribe read them at all. Many lists have been built due to an attachment with free software or for a promotional discount and such. Some are not really interested in receiving e-mails from companies and just treat them as waste of cyberspace and delete or trash them without so mush as opening the e-mail and scanning them.
All of that can be changed. While forwarding an email message is relatively easy after producing your newsletter, getting people to open them is not as easy. You don’t want to waste all the time and effort used in making the newsletters, you want people to read them and have their interest piqued. You want the reader interested enough to go to your website and look around and more especially purchase and acquire your products or services.
One of the numerous ways you can tempt or persuade your subscriber is by providing a well thought out and well written subject line. The subject of an email is what is often referred to when a person or a recipient of an email decides whether he or she wants to open or read an e-mail. The subject could easily be regarded as one of the most important aspects of your promotional e-mail.
Your subject must be short and concise. It should provide a summary for the content of the e-mail so that the recipient will have basic knowledge of the content. This is really vital in grabbing the attention of your readers and subscribers. You want your subject to instantly grab the attention of your subscriber and get them to be intrigued to open up your mail. You have to bear in mind that not all subscribers open all the emails they subscribed for.
A good subject must always be tempting the curiosity of your recipient. It must literally force the recipient to open the mail. A certain emotion must be ignited and get them to open the mail. It is essential to use specific words to get the reaction you need. Keep in mind that the recipient or subscribers spends only a few seconds looking over each subject of the e-mails he receives. You must grab your reader’s attention right away. Our research has shown that a subject line that appeals to most people’s sense of curiosity is the most effective and gets the most emails read.
There are many forms you can use for your subject. You can provide a subject that says your e-mail contains content that teaches tips and methods on certain topics. An example of this is using keywords and keyword phrases such as, “How to” , “tips”, “Guides to”, Methods in and others like that.
You can also put your subject in a question form. These may include questions like, “Are you sick and tired of your job?” Or “Is your boss always on your case?Try to make your subject line relate to the topic of the email, so that the reader can easily identify if they have signed up for this topic. This type of subject line is very effective, because it plays on emotion. When they have read the question on your subject, their mind starts answering the question already.
You can also use a subject that forces your reader into action. Statements such as “Act now and get this once in a lifetime opportunity”, or “Double, triple and even quadruple what you are earning in one year”. This type of subject gives the reader some idea as to the benefits of using your products or services. Just be careful not too sound to much like an infomercial, because then your email will only be deleted as spam.
You may also use breaking news as your subject to intrigue your subscriber. For example, if you deal with car engine parts you can write in your subject, “Announcing the new engine that uses no gasoline, It runs on water”. This creates curiosity with the reader and will lead them to open the mail and read on.
A golden rule is to always put your reader’s name, first in the subject line of your email. This is important for two very specific reasons. Foremost is the fact that the firewall is less likely to block an email where the reader’s name appears in the subject line. After all, what are the chances that a firewall will block the name that belongs to the email address if it appears in the subject line?
The other reason is that people love seeing their own names. If someone sees his own name in the subject line, he will be either curious or confident, thinking that the email is from someone he knows or that it must be from a mailing list that he subscribed to.
Of course, you will need to make use of some mailing list software if you are going to include first names in all the subject lines, unless your list is very short. So, when you look for mailing list software, be sure to look for software or a service that has the feature of automatically including first names in the subject line of the email. You can also hire a competent web design firm to create a mailinglist for you or to install software such as PHPList.
If you keep the above information in mind, you are guaranteed to achieve much more success with your email campaigns.
Rian Schoeman
SilverFox Web Design
