Emarketing news

How to Use a Rating Scale in an Online Survey

2009-06-23T11:08:00.013-07:00

After you've spent some time finding out what specific information you might want from a customer when you present them with an online survey, you need to decide what type of answers will best suit your needs. If you're trying...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

How to Get Visitors In the Door & Phones Ringing - A Great Call-to-Action

2009-06-23T11:08:00.011-07:00

If you build will they come? Not automatically. If your phone isn't ringing or people aren't coming to your store or site, then maybe you need to have a closer look at your call-to-action. What is a call-to-action you might...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

Compendium Blogware slides on Slideshare

2009-06-23T11:08:00.009-07:00

I just wanted to share this link to our archive of Compendium Blogware slides.

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[Source: Chris Baggott's Email Marketing Best Practices]

May '09 Inc.com Column - The Power of the Apology

2009-06-23T11:08:00.007-07:00

The newest article I've written in my new Inc.com column called Girl Power: Female CEO is "The Power of the Apology." Read how women spend their day apologizing!

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

New Report: Email Spending to Hit $2B by 2014

2009-06-23T11:08:00.005-07:00

I was recently reading Direct Magazine and my good friend and editor Ken Magill published an article about the state of email marketing spend. David Daniels an analyst from Forrester Research talked about their newly published email marketing spend report...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

When Is the Best Time to Tweet?

2009-06-23T11:08:00.003-07:00

The recent "State of the Twittersphere" report had some interesting data to report this month. The report provided data points for the distribution of Tweets-per-Hour and Tweets-per-Day. They found that business hours during the business week in the US are the most popular. Their graph shows Tweet volumes spike between 9am -10am, 3pm-5pm, and 11pm-12pm. The most activity occurs at 11pm. The data

Why Direct Mail Still Works - 5 Reasons to Use It Today

2009-06-23T11:08:00.001-07:00

Some people think that since the evolution of email marketing, there is no place for direct mail anymore. There's no doubt that email is a fantastic and inexpensive way to reach your current customers, but there are certainly times when...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

10 Ways to Get More Clicks in Your Email Campaigns

2009-06-23T11:07:00.005-07:00

We all want our recipients to open our email campaigns, right? But it's what happens after the open we're truly concerned about. We want our recipients to read our articles and take action whether it's buying a product, service or...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

Writing Email Marketing Copy That Sells

2009-06-23T11:07:00.003-07:00

Writing your email marketing campaigns can make anyone want to pull their hair out, especially if you're trying to sell a product/service, or ask for a donation, either as part of your newsletter or the sole purpose of your email....

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

Great Example of Time Sensitive Email

2009-06-23T11:07:00.001-07:00

Neiman Marcus sends out a daily email, and close to holidays it's even more often than that. It may be pushing the limits for number of emails sent, but they do have some great ideas that perhaps your business can...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

Pick Up the Phone & Get a Customer for Life

2009-06-23T11:06:00.001-07:00

I just read a recent tweet about VerticalResponse and it inspired me to write about it. It read: "Just love it when a company quickly answers the phone, I can understand them and they answer my question - Way to...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

The Wrong Way to Handle Unsubscribes

2009-04-07T07:59:00.007-07:00

I got an email the other day from what appeared to be a non-profit organization requesting donations for their cause. Normally this would be fine, however I never signed up to receive their information, I've never heard of them and...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

Great Ideas for Direct Mail - Video from Pitney Bowes

2009-04-07T07:59:00.005-07:00

I was on Twitter (@janinevr) and saw my friend John Jatsch from Duct Tape Marketing (@ducttape) tweeting about this Pitney Bowes Video on increasing the value of any direct mail or postcards you might be sending. Snail mail, is it...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

TwitterSplit.com - Send External Links to Your Site

2009-04-07T07:59:00.003-07:00

Twittersplit is a cool tool I found on BirdsAll Social Media. Twittersplit allows you to send external links to your own URL. Yes, send external links to your own domain. Twittersplit requires that you install their script to do this. Basically it auto-frames every link you post to Twitter. Here is their example, http://budurl.com/flyingman.

This can be a really good tool for branding purposes. Since you are sending the user to your domain, but I caution that framing someone 's content on your site may not be the right thing to do.

What is a Radio Button and When Should You Use One?

2009-04-07T07:59:00.001-07:00

Sending a survey to your customers can be a great way to learn more. But the way you ask a question can really be telling. What can be even more critical is the way you present your answers. Let�s talk...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

Deliverability and Your Email Campaigns - What You Need to Know

2009-03-24T13:13:00.005-07:00

As legitimate email marketing senders, we all get frustrated when we get unsolicited email clogging up our inboxes. It's not only infuriating it's time consuming as well. On top of this, phishing and spoofing are even more infuriating to us...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

VerticalResponse Goes to the Zoo

2009-03-24T13:13:00.003-07:00

VerticalResponse partnered with HandsOn Bay Area (HOBA) last weekend to improve our community through animal conservancy efforts. Activities included planting and refurbishing various gardens and exhibits at the SF Zoo. In the wee hours on a Saturday morning you could...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

SuperTweet - When 140 Characters is Not Enough

2009-03-24T13:13:00.001-07:00

Have you heard of the SuperTweet? A SuperTweet post is a post that is larger than the 140 character limit provided by Twitter. A SuperTweet post can be as big as 250 characters in length. Edward Lewis (@pageoneresults) first discovered it and wrote about it, Twitter 250 Character SuperTweet. Edward mentions that you can post a SuperTweet directly from Twitter as well a Twhirl. You can see my SuperTweet.

Corporate blogging software - Where do you turn when everyone is inboxed-out?

2009-03-19T10:04:00.003-07:00

Corporate blogging software - Where do you turn when everyone is inboxed-out? Posted using ShareThis

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[Source: Chris Baggott's Email Marketing Best Practices]

Make a Referral Week - 200 Referrals Made on Our Way to 1000!

2009-03-19T10:04:00.001-07:00

We've just passed 200 referrals and need your help to get to our goal of 1000 for the "Make a Referral Week - Small Business Stimulus Package." We've already referred a few businesses on the list so match up a...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

B2B Marketers - Build Your List Using White Papers

2009-03-19T10:03:00.013-07:00

If you are marketing to a business, you're always looking for creative ways to build your prospect list. You need to constantly keep feeding the funnel with prospects so you can convert them to your best customers. If you are...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

Using Scarcity to Get More Business

2009-03-19T10:03:00.011-07:00

You see them all the time, offers in stores and online that have limits attached to them. Whether there's a limit of one per customer or three, it does catch your eye, admit it! Using scarcity to motivate people to...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

Obama's Small Biz Stimulus Package

2009-03-19T10:03:00.009-07:00

This week our President talked about getting some much needed cash in the hands of struggling small businesses as soon as the end of this month. After all, a majority of all employers in the US are small businesses so...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

FREE & Low Cost Tools We Found (And Use) To Help Your Business

2009-03-19T10:03:00.007-07:00

I'm taking a break from writing about email marketing to tell you about some very cool online tools you might try to put to work for your business. We know that you like online tools that are easy to use...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

Twitter Censoring Posts?

2009-03-19T10:03:00.005-07:00

Eric Lander (@ericlander) noted that one of his Twitter posts that contained some explicit words within it had suddenly disappeared from his Twitter stream. It looks like Twitter has some kind of curse word filter. The orginial post can be found here. While still an active status page, it is not being displayed in his current Twitter stream.

Chris Baggott's Guide to Blogging - In tough times, you better be easy to find

2009-03-19T10:03:00.003-07:00

Chris Baggott's Guide to Blogging - In tough times, you better be easy to find Posted using ShareThis

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[Source: Chris Baggott's Email Marketing Best Practices]

Chris Baggott's Guide to Blogging - Blog Action Day 2008 End Poverty

2009-03-19T10:03:00.001-07:00

Chris Baggott's Guide to Blogging - Blog Action Day 2008 End Poverty Posted using ShareThis

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[Source: Chris Baggott's Email Marketing Best Practices]

Chris Baggott's Guide to Blogging - Blog Action Day 2008 End Poverty

2009-03-16T09:45:00.005-07:00

Chris Baggott's Guide to Blogging - Blog Action Day 2008 End Poverty Posted using ShareThis

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[Source: Chris Baggott's Email Marketing Best Practices]

Want to Hear From Your Customers? Create An Advisory Board!

2009-03-16T09:45:00.003-07:00

If you�ve got a customer pool you can talk to, first of all, do one thing, consider yourself lucky. Sometimes we only think about how we communicate TO them, instead of asking them for their opinions. We�ve talked a bit...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

B2B Marketers - Build Your List Using White Papers

2009-03-16T09:45:00.001-07:00

Want to Hear From Your Customers? Create An Advisory Board!

2009-03-04T09:35:00.005-08:00

If you�ve got a customer pool you can talk to, first of all do one thing, consider yourself lucky. Sometimes we only think about how we communicate TO them, instead of asking them for their opinions. We�ve talked a bit...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

Twitoria - Find Inactive Twitter Friends

2009-03-04T09:35:00.003-08:00

Twitoria is a nice Twitter app that allows you to discover which of your friends have not been active on Twitter for a given period of time. Twitoria allows you to see all inactive friends for the past week, past two weeks, past two months, past six months, or for the past year. A nice tool for cleaning up your Following list.

Skittles Replaces Website with Social Media

2009-03-04T09:35:00.001-08:00

In a bold move to spark some word of mouth, Skittles has changed it's entire website and turned it into a social media extravaganza. Yesterday the Skittles home page was their Twitter stream, and today the home page is now...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

As Newspapers Shut Down, Small Businesses Need Email

2009-03-01T11:27:00.001-08:00

I was just having a conversation about the newspaper industry with Cindy our Marketing Analyst. These are terrible times for the Rocky Mountain News, the San Francisco Chronicle may close its doors, and newspapers all around are suffering from the...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

Small Business Twitter Case Studies

2009-02-25T07:51:00.001-08:00

When discussing social media for small business clients we tend to bring up Twitter in the conversation. The first question we get from small businesses is, "What's Twitter?". The second question is "How can I generate business from it?". Well there has been several small business case studies released lately on Twitter. Here are just a few highlights on how SMBs are leveraging Twitter.

@52teas - Offers a different blend of tea each week. In addition, they post alerts to store specials. They stated that they were typically shipping one to two packages every two to three weeks and now they are shipping 40 to 50 packages. They attribute there success to Twitter. Read more

@namecheap - They set up a Twitter account in December and started to run a trivia contest every hour. The first three @ replies won a credit for one-year domain registration. Their follower count jumped from 200 to 4000 in one month. Traffic increased by 10% to their site in December. They also saw a 20% increase in domain registrations. Read more

@coffeegroundz - Self proclaims that they were the first to have a to-go order placed through Twitter. The Operations Manager credits Twitter with doubling their clientele. Read more

@orlandoichiban - This Orlando-based Japanese restaurant is now taking to-go orders via Twitter. They are also using Twitter to promote their specials and events.

Unresponsive Email Recipients? Re-activate Them!

2009-02-22T09:10:00.001-08:00

I bet you have people on your email marketing list that have never opened your campaign or clicked on a link or at least haven't in a long time, yet they haven't bounced nor unsubscribed. Don't feel bad we all...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

Spammers Exploit Twitter?

2009-02-18T08:42:00.003-08:00

There was some recent discussion brought up by Jason Calacanis (@jasoncalacanis) about a sudden spike in some very high profile accounts. Jason determined that this spike occurred on Feb 11. Evan Williams, co-founder of Twitter, refuted the claim by stating that this influx was related to the new "Suggested Users" feature when new accounts are created.

It was pointed out that the spike occurred almost one month after the initial release of the "Suggested Users" feature and shows several graphs from Twitterific on how quickly it happened to several high profile accounts. Some state that there is a spammer creating fake accounts and adding these fake accounts to a circle of users, including the spammer's own account. Again this is just speculation. You can read the entire story with the long list of comments about the report at The Newest Way To Game Twitter - Fake Followers.

Another incident was also reported today from @Minervity. He woke up this morning to find that his account was suspended due to suspicious activity. After an uprising from the Twitterverse his account was restored. Twitter support replied:

"Your account has been restored. It would appear that you have a number of spammers following you and using your material for their own accounts and, as a result, you were caught up in a spam cloud (through no fault of your own) and suspended..."

@Minervity believes that the "spam cloud" is some kind of filter being used to check to see if something was retweeted over and over again.

The post, Twitter Suspended - The Full Story, does not make it clear if these spam accounts were pulling back in his tweets and posted them as their own. If so, it looks like if you get enough of these spam followers you can inadvertently be caught in a spam cloud.

This should be a wake up call for those using the auto-follow feature. Spammers love those accounts. There already has been reports of programs being able to determine which Twitter accounts have this auto-follow feature set up. So you may be prone to get caught up in a spam cloud.

Stimulus Package for Small Businesses - Make Your Pledge Now

2009-02-18T08:42:00.001-08:00

A few months ago VerticalResponse partnered with Duct Tape Marketing to provide comprehensive marketing resources for small businesses. Now we're behind another great resource from our friends over at Duct Tape, their own stimulus package for small businesses. Make a...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

TweeterGetter - Ponzi Scheme for Twitter

2009-02-15T10:46:00.001-08:00

TweeterGetter recently blasted onto the Twitter scene this month promoting that you can get 15,000 followers in 30 days. Basically you have to follow five Twits (including @garymccaffrey, the man who created the app) and then you hope those five get five more people to follow you and five more people follow them and so on and so on. Very similar to how a ponzi scheme or pyramid scheme would work. Those in early reap the benefits, in this case 15K followers in 30 days! Well the only one benefiting is @garymccaffrey.

At one point today 60 people had joined the "scheme" in a ten minute period. This came out to over 8000 people joining in a 24 hour period. One of my friends tried it out today and submitted his information at 8:00 am EST and by 8:00 pm EST he has a whopping 5 new followers from it. Lets cross our fingers for 15K! The moral of the story is that it is NOT all about the number of followers you have, but the number of real people that you can truly network with and share ideas.

Tweba - Auction Your Stuff Off on Twitter

2009-02-12T08:17:00.003-08:00

Tweba (pronounced Twe-bay?) allows users of Twitter to buy and sell items. They provide the ability to post classifieds as well as start auctions. You have 240 characters to describe the item you are selling and you can upload one picture per listing. Tweba will managed listing the item, payment processing as well as track the feedback. To get the details on using Tweba they have a handy "How It All Works" page. I really like the concept!

Email Marketing Guide

2009-02-12T08:17:00.001-08:00

VerticalResponse launched our first email marketing guide. It's got a step-by-step process about how to use all of the features of VerticalResponse, as well as marketing tips for keeping your click rate high and your unsubscribe rate low.

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

Two Easy Steps To Smarter Email Marketing

2009-02-08T11:33:00.001-08:00

Are you tired of talk of the tough economy? As our new leadership says, it�s going to get tougher before it gets better. So now is actually the time to �think outside the box� or at least think beyond what...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

New Features - Reporting

2009-02-06T03:20:00.001-08:00

Here at VerticalResponse we work pretty hard to constantly make enhancements to our product. We took a look at your feature requests and decided that our reporting section was in need of some TLC. Here are some of the new...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

How Not To Write a Subject Line

2009-02-02T07:43:00.001-08:00

I was recently on an "email marketing resources" site and found some horrifying information that was being given on how to write a great subject line. We all know that one of THE most important parts of an email campaign...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

StartupNation and VerticalResponse Let You Pick Top Mom-Run Businesses

2009-01-29T13:48:00.001-08:00

We've partnered with a great company, StartupNation to launch the first annual "Leading Moms in Business" ranking, which highlights one of the fastest growing segments of entrepreneurship, Moms! According to the Center for Women�s Business Research, there are 10.6 million...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

5 Tips To Optimize Your Twitter Bio

2009-01-28T10:10:00.001-08:00

I really think that people overlook the importance of their Twitter bio. There is real opportunity to leverage the information within your bio to gain additional followers. I have provided my top five tips to optimize your Twitter bio.

1. Provide a descriptive one line bio. What I like to do is to look at some of my followers and see who they are following. When in the followers list you can hover over the user name and a pop up will come up with that particular user's bio. If your bio is not filled out or is not very descriptive, you maybe missing out on potential followers. You have 160 characters, use them all.

2. Add a profile picture. If your Twitter account is not being used for corporate branding, add a picture of yourself. One Twit recently stated that when he asked his followers why they followed him, they came back and said it was because of his smiling profile picture. People want to connect with people and not avatars. The worst thing you can do is to not add a profile picture.

3. Use your real name. This is really important on two fronts. One is for reputation management, especially if your name IS your brand. Also if you are representing a brand, having a name behind the brand will allow people to connect with the company on a more personal level.

4. Fill out your location. Just do not put "Amongst the strawberry fields". There are plenty of opportunities to connect with other local Twits for possible offline networking.

5. Place the URL to your current blog, personal site or business. If you do not currently have any one of those, then link to one of your other social network profiles (i.e. LinkedIn). This will allow people to find out more about you, your business, or your interests.

Twestival - Tweetup For A Good Cause

2009-01-27T07:24:00.001-08:00

Twestival is an organized event that will be held in over 100 cities around the world on February 12, 2009 to help raise money and awareness for charity:water. charity:water is an organization that is trying to provide clean drinking water to schools in developing nations. Twestival was conceived in September to bring together local Twitter communities, enjoy entertainment, and have a few drinks while raising money for this cause. They are still looking for additional host cities so visit their site to learn more about this worth while event.

Get Your Valentine's Day Email Ready!

2009-01-25T09:44:00.001-08:00

I posted this exactly a year ago but thought it was worth posting again (no, I'm not being lazy!). We just got through some major holidays but now it's time to start over. Your first mission? You need to send...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

Business to Business Marketing � 5 Ideas for Cultivating Leads

2009-01-22T08:02:00.003-08:00

If you�re selling to businesses it can be quite a challenge not only getting leads in the door, but what you do with those leads once they�re in. After all, many businesses have a longer lead time to getting a...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

Twitter Stats by Hitwise

2009-01-22T08:02:00.001-08:00

Hitwise released a new report, Twitter Catches Up To Digg. The report states that Twitter has surpassed Digg in market share of visits for the first time. Here are some other interesting stats on Twitter:

Age of visitors to Twitter (2009)

Age 18-24 7.39%
Age 25-34 44.64%
Age 35-44 14.04%
Age 45-54 13.90%
Age 55+ 20.03%

Top 5 website referrals

Google - 9.23%
Facebook - 8.82%
MySpace - 7.56%
Gmail - 6.24%
Yahoo Mail - 6.05%

The report notes that there is a significant amount of traffic coming from Twitter Apps that are not measured in this report. You can read my previous post about the impact of Twitter Apps on your Analytics.

CurseBird - Real Time Swearing on Twitter

2009-01-21T07:27:00.001-08:00

Want to know which curse word is the most used on Twitter in the last seven days? Well CurseBird has your answer. CurseBird provides the top ten curse words being used on Twitter. You can also see the Twitter stream of the latest curse words people are using in their Tweets. I scored "Lame of 100" where I had zero swears. You can see my cursebird score .

How to Use LinkedIn for Your Business

2009-01-19T04:36:00.003-08:00

Occasionally I like to write about things other than email marketing ... shocker! This time I thought it would be great to talk about LinkedIn, and how small businesses can harness the power of this valuable business networking tool.A lot...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

New URL Expand Feature in Twitter

2009-01-19T04:36:00.001-08:00

Just noticed that it has been awhile since I last posted. Been really busy launching our new corporate site. Anyways, today I was doing some research for one of my clients by using search.twitter.com. I just notice that there is a new "expand" link next to all of the URLs within the search results. When you hit "expand" it allows you to see the full destination URL (up to a certain number of characters). Not sure when this feature will reach the Twitter account pages.

TwitterHat - Alternative Twitter Advertising

2009-01-16T07:03:00.001-08:00

Have you been trying to figure out how to advertise on Twitter or make a few bucks off of Twitter ads? Well TwitterHat provides an alternative advertising avenue for the Twitter user. In short, TwitterHat is a short URL service. The twist is that they overlay the landing page with an advertising banner across it. You can see an example here.

TwitterHat allows bloggers to join their advertising network for a flat monthly fee. They will provide impressions and click data in their monthly service. There are no fees posted, but I imagine that there is a low entry cost. Probably worth testing out.

For the Twitter user, you can earn reward points for sending people to one of your Twittered links. As a Twitter users you will not become rich overnight. It takes 1000 visits to get a $10 gift card.

2 Great Restaurant Marketing Ideas

2009-01-10T13:15:00.003-08:00

Idea #1: This list building idea comes from Jessica Greene-Pierson, a Marketing Programs Manager here at VerticalResponse. She went out to dinner with her husband at a local Indian restaurant and in the bill holder there was a survey. Nothing...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

TwitterHat - Alternative Twitter Advertising

2009-01-10T13:15:00.001-08:00

How To Value a Twitter Account

2009-01-09T04:15:00.001-08:00

Are you considering selling your Twitter account? Well I have not seen one on eBay just yet. But an interesting question was posed by @BrentCsutoras, an Internet Marketing consultant. He asked, "If you could... What would you pay for a Top 100 Twitter account with over 14,000 followers?".

This posed an interesting dilemma. There has not been any precedence set on this that I am aware of. I know a while back someone sold the rights to advertise on their Twitter background on eBay.

How should one determine the value of a Twitter account? Using Twitterholic as your gauge as to whether or not the account is deemed "authoritative" could be a good start. But I see flaws in Twitterholic, no offense to @gavin and @alexrudoff. Take the number one spot for example, @barackobama. Now Barack has over 165K followers and he is following 170K, but has not posted a Tweet in over 60 days. Should we still consider Barack an active influential user of Twitter?

Should we just go by the shear number of Followers? Probably not. I think that the ratio of Followers to Following should be a benchmark. You would even have to weigh the Followers as well. Somewhat similar to authoritative back links. Some Followers have more credibility then others.

Should the number of ReTweets a person receives be a factor as well. Retweetrank and Most ReTweeted could be incorporated into the mix.

Finally, is there really a market for reselling your Twitter account? What are your thoughts?

Retweetrank - See How Many Times You Have Been Retweeted

2009-01-07T01:42:00.003-08:00

Retweetrank allows you to find who is producing the most interesting content that is being retweeted on Twitter. Retweetrank provides a list of the top 50 Twitter accounts that are being retweeted. This site also allows you to search on your own Twitter user name to see who is retweeting your content. Retweetrank rankings are based on the number of retweets (including RT of RT), but there is no given time frame provide.

Your 2009 Marketing Checklist

2009-01-07T01:42:00.001-08:00

New year resolutions lists are running rampant, so we decided to call this one the 2009 Marketing Checklist. You can tack this one up next to the list where you vow to "lose 5lbs.", "volunteer more" and "get a dog"...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

Twitter Phishing Scam Alert

2009-01-05T04:36:00.001-08:00

There is a current phishing scam going on targeting Twitter users. Be aware of direct messages or direct message email notifications with links to the redirected URL. Read more on the official Twitter blog about it and what happens if you have been duped and are now locked out of your Twitter account.

Israeli Consulate Uses Twitter as Virtual Press Conference

2009-01-01T10:26:00.001-08:00

The Israeli Consulate in New York has started to leverage Twitter as a virtual press conference. They have been answering questions posed by Twitter users about the ongoing conflict. The Israeli Consulate wanted to bring their point of view to the younger demographic on Twitter that may not read the main stream media. The Israeli Consulate first launched their Twitter account, @israelconsulate, on Monday. So far they have over 2700 followers. This is just another great example of using Twitter for public relations.

Geek's Guide Yourself or Business with Twitter

2008-12-30T03:42:00.003-08:00

Geekpeneur has an e-book, A Geek's Guide to promoting Yourself and Your Online Business in 140 Characters or Less with Twitter. This 48 page e-book on Twitter is a good resource for businesses or individuals to get caught up on using Twitter.

Microsoft Needs Email Marketing Help...Someone Rescue Them!

2008-12-30T03:42:00.001-08:00

Jason Stewart, who writes the blog over at Demandbase (business leads and measurement for B2B companies), shared this lovely example of how not to create an email. It was so good I had to share with you. Jason, take it...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

State of the Twittershpere by HubSpot

2008-12-26T12:30:00.001-08:00

Hubspot released their Q4 report, "State of the Twittersphere". Hubspot first released this report in Q1 of 2008 so any comparative analysis will have to wait until Q1 2009. Some interesting data to note:

4-5 million users
70% of Twitter users joined in 2008
20% of Twitter users joined in the past 60 days
5-10K new accounts are created everyday
30% of Twitter users are relatively new or unengaged - do not post more then once a week and follow few people
Traffic has grown by 600% over the last 12 months

The report also looked at what days were the most active to Tweet. They found that there is about 50% more activity on the weekday versus the weekend. People tend to tweet most often on Wednesday and Thursday. So it may be best to release a product or promote a blog during these two days.

Twanslate - Translate

2008-12-23T03:14:00.003-08:00

The Twanslate service provides translation services through direct messages on Twitter. The service can translate the direct message into 21 different languages. All you need to is to follow @twanslate and then send your direct message with the appropriate language code. Twanslate will respond with the tanslated text through a Twitter DM. Could be a handy tool to have when vacationing abroad.

Are You Scared to Click the "Launch" Button for Your Email Campaigns?

2008-12-23T03:14:00.001-08:00

Do you ever get that nervous feeling when you click to launch your email marketing campaign? You do it, but then you might quickly cancel it because you need to take just one more look at your content. It's ok,...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

PollDaddy - Twitter Polls

2008-12-22T03:39:00.001-08:00

Came across this nice little service to send out polls in your Twitter stream. The service, Twitter Polls, is offered by PollDaddy. It is pretty straight forward to use. They provide you 110 characters to ask your question and allow you to have up to 20 answers. The service is offered in 30 plus languages. You can see my test poll at http://poll.fm/psjp.

Tip: Each poll gets an unique landing page that pulls in your Twitter bio. The Twitter profile link and the bio link are both DoFollow links.

Read More...

[Source: Twitter Tools, Reviews, & News - eINFO]

PollDaddy - Twitter Polls

2008-12-18T02:02:00.001-08:00

Tweeple - Twitter Group on LinkedIn

2008-12-17T01:30:00.001-08:00

There is a pretty active group of Tweeple (aka people on Twitter) on LinkedIn. The group boast over 3000 members and provides some insightful information and discussions about Twitter. If you are on LinkedIn and are a fan of Twitter, you should consider joining this group.

RESPECT - Find Out What it Means to Me

2008-12-16T02:40:00.001-08:00

Well, it's the end of the year and you're not only sending a ton of email but you're getting it too, right? Retailers are going nuts trying to get as much as they can out of the short season. I'm...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

Tweetwasters - Find How Much Time You Waste on Twitter

2008-12-13T11:35:00.001-08:00

Want to find out how much time you spend on Twitter? Tweetwasters will just do that for you. Tweetwasters estimates that on average a user spends about 30 seconds on creating a Tweet. Multiply that by the number of Tweets you have produced and they provide you with the approximate number of days of your life you have spent on Twitter. The site provides a Hall of Fame of the Top 50 wasters on Twitter. Since this is a new service the Top 50 is changing often as more people come aware of the site. If you really want to promote how much time you waste on Twitter, just use the handy Wordpress plugin. You can see an example of the plugin in action on Sugarrae's blog.

Tip: The site provides an individual link to each profile that they calculate. While they nofollow the website link from your Twitter profile, they dofollow the Twitter profile link. So another easy way to build back links to your Twitter profile.

TrackThis - Track Packages Via Twitter

2008-12-12T01:55:00.001-08:00

Need to track you Christmas package? Well the TrackThis program can help. TrackThis allows you to track packages from FedEx, UPS, USPS, and DHL right from your Twitter account. Just follow @trackthis and they will automatically follow you back. Then just send a direct message with the tracking number at the beginning of the message, followed by your nickname for the package. Every time there is a change in the location of the package TrackThis will send you a direct message. Another cool Twitter program!

TwellowHood - Find People in Your Hood

2008-12-11T04:41:00.003-08:00

If your familiar with Twellow (a Twitter user directory) then you must check out their new addition, TwellowHood. TwellowHood allows one to search by state and by city to find neighboring Twits. It is pretty simple to find other interesting people within just two clicks. I searched Orlando and found over 1100 people from Orlando on Twitter. They rank the users by the number of followers and I come in at #78. This may be a great tool to use if you want to start a TweetUp in your area.

Diary of Mad Email Marketing Woman

2008-12-11T04:41:00.001-08:00

You know the feeling, that great feeling you get after you send your email marketing campaign out? POOF! Stuff happens instantly. Whether it starts your phone ringing, or it gets people to your site, it's a great feeling. Let me...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

Webinar: Twitter for Business

2008-12-10T00:53:00.001-08:00

Duct Tape Marketing will be providing a FREE webinar, Twitter for Business. The webinar will feature guest host, Chris Brogan, a community and social media expert. The webinar start at 12noon CST on December 11. Register here.

Quick Holiday Idea From a Local Salon

2008-12-09T03:11:00.003-08:00

I ran across this nice idea from a local salon that any services business could really use. On my way out the door, I was given two business cards that had offers printed on them with a Happy Holidays message....

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

5 Things To Focus On For This Short Holiday Season

2008-12-09T03:11:00.001-08:00

Since Thanksgiving came a week later than last year, it's got both businesses and consumers flustered. Not only is there a week of less sellin' there's a week of less buyin'! For those of you who aren't retailers this might...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

How Much $ Did Your Email Campaign Make You Today?

2008-12-06T06:38:00.003-08:00

When you send out an email marketing campaign, you probably get a spike in sales, so you think it worked right? Right! BUT, wouldn't it be great to track the sale directly from those who clicked on your links in...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

Brand Yourself on Twitter

2008-12-06T06:38:00.001-08:00

When setting up your personal or corporate Twitter profile, there are several things you should keep in mind.

If the Twitter account is to extend your personal brand always use the combination of your first and last name when setting up the account (note you only have 15 characters for the Username and 20 for the Name fields). If it will not fit you may even consider adding your profession (i.e GaryK_Lawyer). This may even help gain additional followers that maybe looking for people in a certain profession. If your name does not fit within the allowed number of characters you may want to include your full name at the beginning of your One Line Bio.

I have found that the character limitations prohibit some companies from using their branded name within the Username field. This can be a challenge, but there always seems to be a way to provide a meaningful Username that conveys the corporate name. I would also recommend adding "The official account of COMPANY NAME." to the beginning of the One Line Bio. This can help separate your real company account from a "fake" one. Jeremiah Owyang, of Forrester Research, even goes as far as to recommend cross linking your Twitter account from your corporate website to bring additional credibility to the Twitter account.

Well what happens if your company name is already taken? There has been some companies that have successfully gained control by contacting Twitter support and pleading their case. Darren Rowse, of Problogger, suggests following the account name and then @reply to them to see if they are willing to transfer the account over.

The Real Shaq is now on Twitter

2008-11-30T10:09:00.001-08:00

As a Orlando Magic fan it was always exciting to see Shaq play. Now Shaq has taken it from the court to Twitter. Looks like he just started his @THE_REAL_SHAQ account on Nov 18th. He is pretty outspoken on it already. You can read about the guy trying to call Shaq out that it could not possible be "the Shaq" on Twitter. The guy ended up getting a personal phone call from Shaq.

Is Your Data All Over The Place? Take Control!

2008-11-30T10:08:00.001-08:00

With the economy in the dumpster, it's more important than ever to take control of all of your lists. It could be the thing that gets your business through any tough times. Plus, you might miss out on sending email...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

Email Marketing Idea for Print Publishers

2008-11-25T22:15:00.001-08:00

If you live in a print world where you're sending out a publication like a magazine, a printed newsletter or even a newspaper, email marketing can be a great complement to your current print activities. The San Francisco Business Times...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

Governor's Conference on Small Business & Entrepreneurship in California

2008-11-23T22:01:00.009-08:00

I'm in LA at the Governor's Conference on Small Businesses & Entrepreneurship. They're launching Global Entrepreneurship Week in conjunction with the Kauffman Foundation. It will be the third week in November. There are over 350 people attending, all amazing businesses...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

Retailers: Great Internet Retailer Survey

2008-11-23T22:01:00.007-08:00

Internet Retailer published their Holiday Sales Survey recently. It's a pretty comprehensive survey that might give retailers out there some ideas for the holiday season. It was surprising to me that most of the retailers they surveyed had sales revenue...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

The Real Shaq is now on Twitter

2008-11-23T22:01:00.005-08:00

Day 2 - Governor's Conference on Small Business & Entrepreneurship

2008-11-23T22:01:00.003-08:00

Yesterday morning I was lucky enough to participate on a panel with David Fischer, VP of Online Sales, Google, moderated by a fantastic young speaker Arel Moodie. Arel is also a great motivational speaker on the college circuit, getting college...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

How Using Twitter Can Grow Your List

2008-11-23T22:01:00.001-08:00

If you didn't know, VerticalResponse is on Twitter! Follow us, we're VR4SmallBiz. We're having a blast with it, watching more people follow us every day. Why should you start to "tweet"? 1. You want to be where your customers are...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

TwitPic - Post Photos to Twitter

2008-11-17T22:42:00.003-08:00

The photo sharing site, TwitPic, allows Twitter users to upload and share there photos directly on Twitter. Now the site will not post an image into Twitter, but an URL to the hosted image on TwitPic (unless you get their Twitpic Greasemonkey script). You can either upload the photos on the site, post them from any cell phone or use one of the many Twitter clients such as Twirl or Twitterrific.

Tip: You do get an individual profile page with an unique URL. While they nofollow the URL in your Twitter profile, they do provide a dofollow back to your Twitter profile.

New Features: List Management

2008-11-17T22:42:00.001-08:00

A quick note if you're a VerticalResponse customer. Recently we released a range of exciting new list features for customers who have gone through our list consolidation process (it's free btw) . If you're wondering what you need to do,...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

eMarketer Article: Pinching Pennies Online this Holiday Season

2008-11-14T22:46:00.003-08:00

eMarketer just came out with this interesting article. It stated that consumers have devised a variety of strategies to save money beyond just buying fewer and cheaper holiday gifts.To save money on gas, shoppers will shift some of their store...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

How Using Twitter Can Grow Your List

2008-11-14T22:46:00.001-08:00

If you didn't know, VerticalResponse is on Twitter! Follow us, we're VR4SmallBiz. We're having a blast with it, watching more people follow us every day. Why should you start to "tweet"? 1. Your want to be where your customers are...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

Reporting: How Are You Using It, Or Are You?

2008-11-14T22:45:00.007-08:00

If you are currently using any reputable email service provider like VerticalResponse, you definitely have access to basic reports about how your email marketing campaigns are doing. The real question is, what are you doing with that information? I've put...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

New Features: List Management

2008-11-14T22:45:00.005-08:00

A quick note if you're a VerticalRespone customer. Recently we released a range of exciting new list features for customers who have gone through our list consolidation process (it's free btw) . If you're wondering what you need to do,...

Read More...

[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

Can Your Business Be Socially Responsible?

2008-11-14T22:45:00.003-08:00

I'm sitting at a pretty large tradeshow called Dreamforce, about 9,000 attendees. I'm listening to the head of Google.org, Larry Brilliant, talk about the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) programs of Google and Salesforce, where each donates 1% of profits, 1%...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

How To Increase Your Number of Followers on Twitter

2008-11-14T22:45:00.001-08:00

Guy Kawasaki's post, "Looking for Mr. Goodtweet: How to Pick Up Followers on Twitter", provides some great insight on how you can effectively increase your followers. Here is a recap of some of his tips.

Find the big players on Twitter and follow them.
Send a message to these big players. Perception is sometimes reality. In that it may look like you know these big players. People see that and will start to follow you.
Provide a professional looking avatar, but one that stands out. Upload a larger version (around 500x500 px) for best effect.
Follow everyone that follows you. (Not a fan of this school of thought)
Link to interesting stories, just don't keep writing about your cat.
Repeat your tweets. (I would say at a maximum twice...otherwise looks desperate and spammy if any more)
Ask people to follow you

I encourage you to read the entire post as well as the 100+ comments for some additional insight to increase your followers. Good luck!

Unlimited Emailing from VerticalResponse

2008-10-28T22:41:00.001-07:00

Today we're pretty excited to announce some new features from VerticalResponse; you'll have access to unlimited emailing for a low fixed monthly fee. No, we're not kidding. It's tough in this economy and we want to give you the email...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

We Made a Mistake...

2008-10-26T23:08:00.013-07:00

Yesterday's newsletter talked about the use of lingo and images we recommend for the holidays so as not to offend anyone. Then right under the article we included a small image of postcards with an ornament on one of them....

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

Chris Baggott's Guide to Blogging - Blog Action Day 2008 End Poverty

2008-10-26T23:08:00.011-07:00

Chris Baggott's Guide to Blogging - Blog Action Day 2008 End PovertyPosted using ShareThis

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[Source: Chris Baggott's Email Marketing Best Practices]

Writing Holiday Copy That Sells

2008-10-26T23:08:00.009-07:00

It's going to be tough to get noticed in the sea of emails that your customers are going to be getting this holiday season. Couple that with a plunging economy and you've got yourself a bit of an uphill battle....

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]

6 Ways to Cut Costs for Your Small Business Now

2008-10-26T23:08:00.007-07:00

Since we've seen the stock market plunge in the past few weeks, there has never been a better time to take a closer look at how we can shave to save. So I put together a list of some things...

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[Source: VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business]