MIBW
Archives : April 26, 2002
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Starting a Business on the Internet isn't impossible if you have
the right help...
April 26, 2002 Vol.6, Issue 7
Editor: Donesia Muhammad
Owner, KDM Publishing
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IN THIS WEEKS' ISSUE:
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Top Sponsor Ad
Publishers' Notes
News You Can Use: Virus Alert..Again
Reader Questions: None this Week
Feature Article #1: Avoid The 10 Fatal Mistakes That Will Destroy
Your E-Mail Marketing Efforts
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Feature Article #2: Personal Discipline And The Home-Based
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Break Time: Laughter is Good Medicine
Contact Information/Subscription Info
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EDITORS' NOTES
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Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of My IBiz Weekly.
I have two articles for you today that should help you not only
learn to balance yourself between your business life and personal
life but also how to avoid common email marketing mistakes to
help make your advertising results soar.
I have noticed that a lot of you including myself have spent all
week changing your yahoo addresses to addresses that have POP
access. If you need to change your address with this ezine, at
the bottom, the unsubscribe link, when you click on that link, it
will take you to a page where you can update your address.
I remember when Microsoft's List bot service stopped their free
services and now this. I guess Hotmail is next with their
changes. Nothing surprises me anymore.
Next week, I will have another special interview with you to help
you realize that you are not alone in this world of internet
marketing.
Top and Middle Sponsor Ads are available for My IBiz Weekly.
Reserve your ad to be seen by over 3500 subscribers today
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Until then, have a good weekend, and enjoy yourself and try not
to stress yourself out...
If you have any Questions, Comments, send them to
mailto:donesia@myibizhelper.com
NOTE: All articles submitted to me and all ezines to be added to
Ezine Ad Helper will be added, but I am in the process of a major
redesign and transformation of both sites, so be on the look out
for that. That is the reason for the delay in adding the articles
and ezines.
_________________________________________________________________
NEWS YOU CAN USE:
_________________________________________________________________
It's Virus time again. If you don't have any anti-virus program
installed on your computer, I urge you to get at least the free
anti-virus software which are very good and effective against
most viruses. You can get one from AVG http://grisoft.com .
Here is the information about the latest virus going around, the
Klex virus and how to remove it if you are infected.
This virus arrives in your inbox with a variety of subject
headings:
- A new website
- So cool a flash, enjoy it
- A WinXP patch
- Congratulations
- Worm Klex.E Immunity
This message comes along with an attachment including the
virus/worm. Once the attachment is opened, and your antivirus
software is not up-to-date to handle it, it will proceed to
distribute itself to addresses that it can locate within your
email address book. For this reason, you need to be careful even
with messages from known/familiar sources - particular if they
have one of the subject headings above (and these are only a
sample of the type of headings).
Symantec Antivirus has a tool to remove this virus, with clear
instructions on how to use tool to check if your machine has been
infected, and to remove the virus if found. For additional
information or to download the tool, go
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/FixKlez.com
For more information about this virus/worm, you can also visit:
http://antivirus.about.com/library/weekly/aa041702a.htm
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/04/19/new.klez.idg/index.ht
ml
_________________________________________________________________
READER QUESTIONS
_________________________________________________________________
(None this week)
If you have any questions about anything computer or marketing
related, just send me your questions and I will post them for our
readers to answer
Just send me your answers to mailto:donesia@myibizhelper.com
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AVOID THE 10 FATAL MISTAKES THAT WILL DESTROY YOUR E-MAIL
MARKETING EFFORTS
By Kevin P. Richardson
_________________________________________________________________
Pony Express ran day and night, summer and winter. Riders
carried mail and news over a dangerous 2000-mile route between
St. Joseph, Missouri, and San Francisco, California.
They were loyal, serious about their work, and determined to
improve communication across the United States. The Pony Express
riders' heroic delivery of mail and news captured the hearts and
the imagination of people all over the world.
Wow. Talk about taking communication seriously.
I wonder how many of us are THAT committed to crafting marketing
messages delivered with the same sense of enthusiasm and urgency?
Are you making the grade?
There is only a handful email newsletters that I really wait for
each week. Those publishers put considerable thought and effort
into creating something that I find valuable and worth my time.
There are many reasons why the rest of the newsletters arriving
in my inbox just don't hold the same attraction. Most fall
flat for several reasons. If your newsletter isn't read --
you've failed -- you're deleted.
Now I'm going to share with you the ten major -- and even fatal -
- e-mail marketing mistakes that could sidetrack or destroy all
of your hard work in short order.
Recognizing these pitfalls can help you make the most out of your
email marketing and make sure your e-newsletter makes the cut.
Beware of these 10 Fatal Mistakes
1. You're trying to do it all yourself.
Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto. Chances are, publishing e- mail
newsletters isn't exactly in your job description. Get
help. You might only need a few hours of coaching to get you
started.
However, if you are considering an e-mailing to thousands of
people, then consider using an e-mail marketing firm.
According to Kim MacPherson, president of Inbox Interactive and
author of "Permission-Based E-Mail Marketing That Works!", most
organizations shouldn't attempt to go it alone ... at least not
for the first few months.
"The worst 'brand killer' that will turn people off right away is
the homespun looking e-mail, and unless you have experience
creating professionally designed e-mails, they're going to look
homespun," she says.
But realistically, smaller organizations usually can't afford to
hire a full-service firm. If you have a limited marketing budget,
then think about using a third-party service to help with mailing
list management and email distribution.
"If you absolutely must start in-house due to budgetary
constraints," says Kim, "check out do-it-yourself deployment
software solutions that are Web-based such as 'gotmarketing.com'
and 'roving.com' because they also offer templates for novice
newsletter designers."
2. You're not using helper technology.
When your mailing list is small, sure you can send out a few
dozen or a hundred emails using your good old email program.
(Just remember not to paste all the addresses in the "To:" field!
Use the "BBC:" field or set up a mailing group to protect
recipients' privacy.)
Once your list grows beyond a hundred names or so -- and if
you're not using an email marketing firm or using one of
the Web-based software solutions such as roving.com -- then you
really have to start using software to automate list management,
as well as e-mail creation and distribution.
This type of software makes it easy to start and manage your
online newsletter. Features you should look for are automatic
list management, subscription and removal, automated mailing, e-
mail personalization, list segmentation, and HTML and text email
support.
Search the Web or the Downloads.com site
http://download.cnet.com/
for various bulk emailing packages such
as Group Mail Free, Gammadyne Mailer, Mailloop, and others.
3. You're overachieving -- or underachieving.
So you're really fired up about your new email newsletter and you
put out two issues in the first month. They're packed to the
rafters with valuable information for your readers. And then --
nothing. You've set too high a goal for yourself to achieve,
coming right out of the gates.
Has this ever happened to you?
Or on the flip side, you get so tied up in making your "product"
perfect that six months pass and you're still waiting to get it
out the digital door. Again, not good.
In both of these cases, your stride is off. Like a marathon
runner, you need to pace yourself. And remember that even top
athletes require practice and professional coaching. Just
starting out, you can't always do it on your own. (See number 1.)
Don't hesitate to seek assistance if you need it.
For one-person operations and small organizations considering an
e-mail marketing program, Kim says she suggests starting slowly.
"Outsource at least in the beginning if you can, building an
email database gradually," she says. "Think about what types of
information you'd like to have about each subscriber so you can
market to him or her individually at some point. Test different
formats and offers frequently."
4. Your messages are unfocused.
"I just have so much to say I can't fit it all in," you
tell me. Well, if your e-mail is trying to accomplish too much,
you'll accomplish nothing. You must be laser-focused in your
email communication.
If you're writing to tell us about some terrific news, do
it and then stop. You want to tell me about or sell me on a new
service you're offering? Do it. But don't bury that
message under a heap of other fluff.
Resist the temptation to cover a half-dozen items and water- down
the impact of your message. Decide in advance what you want to
accomplish with each email message: build the relationship, tell
the latest news, sell a product, ask for my help, offer thanks,
or whatever. One objective. One email message.
5. You're always talking about you. Not me.
Let's face the truth. Every time we open an e-mail, we try to
discover "what's in it for me?" If you haven't made this
clear in the first few lines of your email -- and you're only
babbling on about YOU -- then I'll probably hit delete within
three seconds after opening your message.
"You have to create and send something that has true value and is
relevant to your audience," says Kim. "Don't make it 'all about
me' -- spin it in such a way that it shows the benefits to your
audience so that they will look forward to their emails from
you."
As a reminder, tack this sign over your desk:
"W I I F M ?"
(What's In It For Me?)
6. Your email packaging and layout is poor.
If your email newsletter or email messages aren't easy to read,
they won't be. You'll need to have a consistent layout from issue
to issue. In text emails, use white space as a design element to
separate text blocks.
A table of contents helps to organize and outline the issue if
you have several items of information to present. Changing your
format from issue to issue can be confusing for the readership.
Let me explain what I mean.
Imagine if your local newspaper ran the comics on the
entertainment section one day, with the wedding announcements
another day, and in the business section the next -- how would
you know where to get your fix of "Dick Tracy" or "Mister Boffo"?
And remember that not everyone appreciates receiving HTML-
formatted email. So if you're not going to give people a choice
of receiving text vs. HTML format, then stick with text.
Subscribe to a handful of newsletters and see what you like and
dislike about their formatting. Adapt the best ideas to create
your own e-mail layout. Look outside your industry for other
examples.
7. You're not asking for a response.
Gee, it's great to send an email out-of-the-blue to a long- time
friend and catch up on old times. But in business, when you send
an email to a current customer, patient, or prospect, your aim
should be to start or continue a dialogue that strengthens your
business relationship.
Get them to respond; encourage them to do something. Present them
with an "offer." Refer them to your Web site to a special page
on a topic that would really interest the recipient.
The form of "offer" doesn't always have to mean selling
something. Ideas for an offer in a medical practice newsletter
might include:
* Have them call and schedule an appointment for a mammogram.
* Send an email to an autoresponder to receive a special report
you've written on estrogen replacement therapy or the chickenpox
vaccine.
Just move them to "do" something and you'll be strengthening your
relationship. Don't expect them to guess what they should do
next. They'll do nothing.
8. You've made an email faux pas -- or two.
Oh, please tell me you didn't buy one of those CD-ROMs with
20 million e-mail addresses for $49. Don't even think about it.
Opt-in email lists are the only way to go. If you want to send
email to your current patients or customers then ask for their
permission and their email address.
You can do this quite easily on your Web site through a simple
CGI script (common gateway interface) running on your Web server.
Don't forget you can also have patients sign up when they're in
your office by filling out a pre-printed index card with their
name and email address. Enter these into your database and keep
the cards in a safe place.
Another faux pas is not providing a way for recipients to
unsubscribe to your mailings. Just because they're your patients
doesn't mean they have to receive your digital words of
wisdom forever. Each email message should spell out the ways
that someone can unsubscribe.
9. You're ignoring monitoring, feedback, and testing
The only way you'll know if your email marketing is effective and
profitable in some way for your medical practice is by measuring
the results. Look at the size of your subscriber list. Is it
expanding or contracting?
How many readers have clicked on a hyperlink in your email to
visit a special "landing page" on your Web site? This is called
"measuring click-throughs." It will really show you how
effective your email "offer" was and if you answered the
question: "what's in it for me?".
When patients visit you in the office, listen carefully to their
comments about your emails. Ask them what they liked and
didn't like -- and what they'd like to receive in the
future.
Test frequently. Try new e-mail formats, subject lines, offers,
and content to see what works best, and how you can continually
improve your product.
Remember that your email is but one of dozens if not hundreds
that your patients will receive each week. Make sure it's the
best that it can possibly be.
10. Your subscriber list isn't growing.
Alarms should be going off in your head if you aren't increasing
your subscriber base each week. First, you need to find out why
people are unsubscribing, if that's a major problem. Send them
an email and ask them.
Then start working on building your mailing list. "Collect
addresses everywhere -- on site, within your ads and on your web
sites. Offer something of value if you can," says Kim.
Put signs up in your office. Include a mention of the newsletter
in your newspaper advertisements. Send post cards to your
patients to announce your email newsletter.
Encourage them to sign up and to tell family and friends about
your great product, too. Who knows when someone will be
influenced to become a patient because of your email marketing.
Email is a powerful tool for doctor-patient communication. And
it's here to stay. If you're not using email marketing to build
your medical practice, what are you waiting for?
(c) Copyright 2002, MedRocket, Inc.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Kevin Richardson is a healthcare marketing consultant, executive
coach, and writer who provides fresh perspectives and expertise
about online healthcare marketing. Sign up for his FREE
"MedRocket Ezine" newsletter and discover how to profitably
attract and serve healthcare consumers online. Subscribe at:
http://www.medrocket.com
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PERSONAL DISCIPLINE AND THE HOME-BASED
BUSINESS OWNER
© 2002 Elena Fawkner
_________________________________________________________________
Allow me to let you in on a little secret you're probably
already wise to anyway. As often as not, the inspiration for
article topics comes from struggles with my own personal
demons. Writing about them is my way of giving myself a
good talking to (a.k.a. kick in the rear end). And so it
is with this one - the personal discipline demon.
It wasn't always like this. There was a time when I
could and would happily sit at my computer for hours at a
stretch. Doing this, doing that. Reading email, reading e-
books, doing research for articles, writing the next issue of
AHBBO. It used to be fun, something to do in my off-time.
A break from the grind, if you will. But now that it's my
official job two or three days a week it's not so much fun
as it is work.
So, what's changed? Quite simply, my online business
has gone from something I always *wanted* to do to
something I *have* to do. And that, alas, is my demon.
As soon as I *have* to do something, I start playing the
same mind-games that I played back in school when I
wouldn't start an assignment until the absolute last
minute. I told myself it was because I worked well on
deadlines. What it really was, of course, was procrastination.
With a capital P.
Does any of this sound familiar? If not, perhaps you're just
one very focused, very self-disciplined individual. Good for
you. Now go away.
Or maybe you just haven't been doing this for long enough
yet. You can stay. Think it won't happen to you? Maybe
not. But if you're reading this at work when you really
should be doing something else, like what they pay you for,
you may just want to entertain the teensiest possibility that
it might.
So, for those of us mere mortals with actual lives and who
start businesses out of our homes for quality of life reasons,
you'd better get a handle on this demon and quick about
it too. Because if you don't, it will slowly but surely bring
about the end of life as you know it and you'll be back to
the 9 to 5 grind at your J.O.B. before you can even *think*
about turning on The Young and the Restless. (Just for
background noise, of course.)
OK, so, enough about what can happen and why and on to
what you can do to make sure you get to keep the best of
all possible worlds. Here are six tips for getting the job
done:
1. SET A SCHEDULE
If you approach your business with the attitude that you
can do whatever you want, whenever you want, guess what
happens? You do whatever you want, whenever you want.
And the stuff that needs to be done but which you don't
particularly feel like doing doesn't get done. Ever.
Lesson #1 - there's no such thing as being able to do what
you want whenever you want all the time. It's a fact
of life that sometimes we have to do that which we would
prefer not to do. The best you can hope for with your own
business is to choose the time for doing.
So, instead of seeing your days as a big, blank canvas,
ready for you to paint as and when you feel like it, decide
which hours of the day you are going to allocate to working
in your business. And stick to it. Of course, the huge
advantage you have in running your own business over
working at your J.O.B. is that you get to choose what those
hours shall be. Want to start at 6 am and finish at 2 pm?
No problem. Want to start at noon and finish at 8? Go for
it. But do it.
And when it comes to scheduling, don't fall into the trap
of thinking that just because you live where you work you
have to work seven days a week. Be sure to schedule some
entirely work-free days. That's MY big lesson from the past
few months. I was making the mistake of working at my
J.O.B. for three days and then working the four days I was
home in my business. Got to the point where I was sick
to death of it. All of it. So I started taking weekends off.
Much, much better. I'm actually starting to enjoy working
again.
2. DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE, NOT WHAT YOU'D RATHER
BE DOING
It's all very well to set a work schedule and stick to it, it's
quite another to spend that time doing what has to be done
rather than what you'd rather be doing. Sure, we'd ALL
prefer to read and respond to email than write the next
chapter of our e-book. Reading and responding to email is
easy. Writing is hard! But reading and responding to email
won't grow your business. Creating new product lines will.
3. ALLOCATE ACTIVITIES ACCORDING TO CONCENTRATION
LEVEL REQUIRED
Following on from the previous point, if you're spending the
first three hours of your peak concentration time reading and
responding to email rather than writing the next chapter of
your book, you're doing the right things at the wrong time.
Yes, you do need to read and respond to your email but it's
not an intellectually demanding task. Do it when your brain
is winding down, not when it's at its sharpest. Do the hard
work when your brain is at its best.
4. KEEP DISTRACTIONS TO A MINIMUM
Doing the right things at the right time is all for nought if
you're going to be interrupted every ten minutes. Turn OFF
the email program that chimes every time you get new mail.
Most likely it's NOT a new order and, even if it is, it will
still
be there at the time of your next allocated email check.
Similarly, let the answering machine answer your private
phone. Get a second line installed to be used exclusively
for your business. And let the machine get THAT when you're
not working. Maintaining separate worlds as much as possible
is the best way to avoid burnout.
5. BE FLEXIBLE BUT ACCOUNTABLE
The best-laid plans of mice and men and all that mean that
you need to be flexible in response to an unanticipated
change in your schedule. If something comes up that needs
your attention when you had intended to be working, by all
means attend to it. Just make up the time later on. It's
swings and roundabouts. It all comes out in the wash.
6. CARROTS WORK BETTER THAN STICKS
Finally, my favorite tactic. Reward yourself for getting the
job done. Nothing motivates me more to finish a set project
that the knowledge that when I do, I have full permission to
curl up on the couch with a good book for a couple of hours.
Give yourself an incentive to get whatever it is done. Then
you can truly enjoy the best of both worlds. You can relax
and enjoy whatever your reward is, free of the guilt that
comes with knowing very well you should be doing something
else, and with the certain knowledge that you've taken care
of business first.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elena Fawkner is editor of A Home-Based Business Online ...
practical business ideas, opportunities and solutions for the
work-from-home entrepreneur.
http://www.ahbbo.com
Also, visit Elena's newest site, Web Work From Home
http://www.web-work-from-home.com
** Reprinting of this article is welcome! **
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TIME TO LAUGH...
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A couple was going out for the evening. They'd
gotten ready - all dolled up, cat put out, etc.
The taxi arrived, and as the couple walked out of
their home, the cat shoots back into the house.
Not wanting their often rowdy cat to have free
run of the house while they were out, the husband
went back upstairs to chase the cat out.
The wife, not wanting it known that the house
would be empty, explained to the taxi driver: "He's
just going upstairs to say goodbye to my mother."
A few minutes later, the husband got into the
cab, and said, "Sorry I took so long. The stupid old
thing was hiding under the bed and I had to poke her
with a coat hanger to get her to come out!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Reprinted with Permission from YUK IT UP! DAILY CHUCKLE
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