Whenever you distribute emails to your subscribers, a fraction of them will get delivered, some recipients will cancel their subscription, some will open your email message and read it, and few will even take the next step and click on a link within it or take other action.

If you use an email delivery service like Aweber or Get Response or Imnica to handle your mailing list, then you will be able to access this data at the click of a link. Your report will include information such as the number of emails sent, bounces, opt-outs, opens and clicks.

Open rates are expressed in terms of a percentage of the total number of emails that were delivered to recipients. If you sent out 500 emails, and 5 of them bounced, then 495 got delivered. Of these, if 155 were opened, then your email open rate is 155/495 or 31.3%

But what exactly do we mean by “opening” email?

What Do You Mean By Email Open Rates?

Email open rates are measured by tracking systems implemented by the email service you use to distribute your messages. Typically what happens is that the service will automatically insert a small transparent GIF (an invisible “tracking image”) into your email message.

Now, when the service sends out your email and it arrives in your subscriber’s inbox, your reader will view it using an email client such as Outlook Express or Eudora or a Web-based email program. When the email message is opened, the tracking image is also displayed – even though it isn’t visible to the recipient.

The email client program sends a request to the email service for the image. This is monitored by the service, which now knows that the recipient has received the email and opened it. It records this “hit” as an “open”.

Every single message distributed by the email service will get its own unique tracking image, which allows the service to provide very granular reporting on which email addresses received and opened your message.

But does open rate mean your email got read?

How Emails Can Be Opened – But Remain Unread!

As we’ve seen just now, the moment your recipient’s email client triggers a request for the tracking pixel (image), the data is logged in your account as an “open”. But this does not mean your email was read, or even viewed by a person!

All that you can say from this information is that your email made its way into your subscriber’s inbox, and was acted upon by the email client in a way that triggered a pixel request.

It could simply mean that your subscriber has their ’email preview’ preferences turned on. This is means whenever the SUBJECT line of your message is highlighted, the message shows up as a preview in a separate pane or tab – where it may or may not be viewed. Your subscriber may just be manually scrolling down a list of emails, and hitting DELETE after glancing at the headline!

Yet your email service will record this as an “open”.

And then, paradoxically enough, we have the reverse!

Your Emails May Be Read – But Not Show As Opened

Bizarre as it sounds, this happens because your email service can only track a message as opened if it receives a request for the tracking pixel.

Because the code for the tracking pixel image is in HTML code, this will only apply to emails sent and received in HTML format. If your email is viewed on a client program set to only display text versions, such as the default setting is on many mobile devices, the subscriber’s machine may not request the image at all – even though the recipient reads your email, and maybe even takes action based on it.

Many email programs are set to not display tracking images by default. This means the email message you sent is shown on the recipient’s screen – but your tracking pixel is not loaded, which means your email service will not count it as an “open”.

How Email Open Rates Are Calculated

…Click to Continue →

You need to be actively acquiring your customers’ mobile numbers. Don’t just sit on those numbers either, you need to be marketing to them right now.

Why? Well, because email is dying. Albeit slowly.

Email is, of course, a worthwhile marketing tactic, but the fact is that young people (18-24) just don’t use email. They perceive email as ‘too slow’ and they aren’t used to the non-instant format of the internal email system. A report on the BBC shows just how profound this change in behaviour is. The CEO of Atos is actively working on banning internal company email.

Mobile numbers are highly coveted by businesses precisely because they are so protected by customers.

We treat our mobiles better than most pets. We sleep next to them and we carry them everywhere. And that is exactly why we are protective of our numbers. They are precious to us; enshrined in law that mobile operators must allow us to take our numbers with us if we change network.

According to the Guardian, smartphones now account for more than 50% of phone sales in Europe. Yet, even though smartphone web browsers show your existing landing pages, there’s still reason to have a direct relationship with your customer’s phone via SMS. It’s the only ‘app’ that is accessible to virtually all mobile handsets in the world.

Build Your Mobile List

Gathering mobile information on the back of an active email list is a great way to begin adding numbers to your database. Send out a mobile opt-in message to your email asking your customers to add their mobile number to their profiles to receive updates, discounts or news via SMS. Add a mobile number to your sign up form to get new prospects sharing their mobile information with you.

Hotels are already doing this by sending confirmation messages via opted-in SMS messages. They even include sat nav coordinates to plug right into a smartphone.

Remember, once you have permission to send offers or information to a mobile, you have a deeper relationship with your customer. So do as the hotels are doing, and don’t over-send these messages. Keep it at the transaction or reminder level, then only send offers occasionally.

Another way to build your list is to offer specific services via mobile and SMS that make sense to a mobile customer. Personal services such as reminders for appointments or services that support a cross-device experience. One example I often use to explain this is that of a dieting site with an ebook of weight-loss tips. On the sign up form to download the ebook, a valuable service-oriented offer could be to “add your mobile number and receive daily encouragement by SMS.”

Purchasing Mobile Numbers

This should really only be considered by experienced mobile marketers, but it is possible to buy batches of numbers from others who run co-registration via CPA offers and segment the list by interest. Be careful who you deal with however, or you can get stung by the anti-spam laws.

Mobile is very very personal, so getting a mobile number is definitely harder than getting an email address. But it’s worth it and as people become more comfortable with SMS messages from businesses – relevant messages – they will be more willing to share their personal information.

Offers and calls-to-action

SMS marketing offers an easy way to share a brief message to pique interest and then drive mobile users to a mobile-optimised web page.

Even if you are specifically targeting smartphones, optimisation is still a concern. Smartphone web browsers are capable of displaying webpages, but the experience is broken and the user will need to zoom and pinch their way around your site. Which is annoying more than difficult. Optimising the site design ensures the most appropriate messages are presented to the mobile user first.

Alternatively, providing a phone number in your SMS text messages is an easy way to get a response.  All most users have to do is press the ‘dial’ button from the SMS to get access to the response number you send.

Sending Bulk SMS Texts

Mobile marketing has taken a note from the email marketing providers and offer many desktop tools to compose, send, respond to and analyse mobile campaigns. You’re not going to have to tap little phone keypads.

These tools help you to manage thousands of SMS messages, build and segment your lists, create auto-responses, interpret reply message like YES confirmations and STOP messages for unsubscribes.

The best providers in the market integrate your mobile number database right into your web sign up forms through an SMS API. They will also ensure directly connection to any of the global mobile networks, often at the same competitive rates.

Even someone with no experience at all in creating offers, campaigns and marketing can easily make the leap to mobile marketing. It is fast becoming one of the most valuable outbound marketing activities available to marketers.художник на икониИкони на светциХудожникОткъде да купя иконаидея за подаръкsondajiсондажи

Every webmaster and online business owner understands the benefits of search engine optimization. One of the most effective and least expensive marketing tactics that can deliver a high volume of targeted traffic is to get your website ranked in the top 3 slots on search engines like Google and Bing.

Few, however, realize that there are also dangers and risks hidden in SEO. Most are trivial or short-lived. Others can be more serious. And very few have the potential to cripple your entire search strategy.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the art and craft of making your website more likely and suitable for ranking high on search engine results pages (SERPs) through a combination of on-page and off-page factors. It is logical, therefore, that good SEO doesn’t happen by magic or through accident. It involves an investment of time and/or money into getting things right.

And in that statement lies the seed of the biggest danger in SEO.

Your website ranks on search engines for specific terms or phrases called keywords. For instance, if your website is about dog training, then it will probably rank on search results for terms like “dog training”, “dog obedience”, “potty training puppies” and so on. The phrases for which your site ranks will depend upon how frequently and in what context they are found on your web page (on-page SEO) as well as their presence in the anchor text of incoming links to your page, and the relevance or authority of the page hosting those links (off-page SEO).

So what could be dangerous about that? After all, isn’t SEO all about optimizing these things so that your site ranks high? …Click to Continue →

Ask any seasoned SEO, and they will tell you of the sleepless nights they’ve had trying to outwit Google’s ever-changing search algorithms. Finding the right keywords and optimizing a website is an uphill battle, especially with the advent of social media, which requires the constant production of fresh content and perpetual engagement on all social media fronts.

Throw the need to reach multilingual audiences in the mix, and you’ll see why reaching the top Google search spot seems like a distant dream. That may be the case with the heavily saturated English web but not necessarily so if you look at the foreign language internet. With less content and less competition for keywords, reaching the top of the search engine rankings is well within the reach of savvy e-marketers daring to look beyond borders.

As the prevalent majority of netizens prefer browsing in their native tongue (Common Sense Advisory’s “Can’t Read, Won’t Buy” report), digital marketers should embrace a multilingual approach if they wish to spread their message across cultures. But how do you get traffic to your website from abroad?

The good news is that multilingual e-marketing is not rocket science, and it doesn’t take much to tap into the tremendous opportunities that emerging markets present.

Here’s how to achieve this…

Localize your keyword research

If you’re not new to SEO, you’ve probably honed your optimization skills while brainstorming keywords for websites in English. So the natural first step would be to simply translate your keywords into the respective target language. Unfortunately, literal keyword rendition rarely works: just like languages and social conventions, search habits vary across cultures and there are numerous search quirks to be considered.  Even countries sharing the same language will need localized keywords that will match local intricacies of expression.

To nip any cultural faux pas in the bud and be culturally and linguistically appropriate, you should seek the help of in-country native-speaking marketers: they will be aware of local search particularities and be naturally switched on about linguistic subtleties that are so important for identifying the right keywords.

Beware of the temptation to use online dictionaries or automated translation software when researching keywords. One mistranslation or wrongly identified keyword, and your website will be impossible to find.

Put terms to the test

So, you’ve now identified potential keywords in different languages with the help of professional translators or native-speaking marketers, but still need to fine-tune them before applying them to your web content.

The best keyword analysis tool is Google AdWords; just type in your suggested term to see how many people have searched for it and how likely it is that it will drive traffic to your website. While Google hogs the search engine market in Europe and the US, however, you should not forget other local search engines that are more prominent in certain countries, such as  Yandex in Russia and Baidu in China. All it takes is some meticulous research to identify the search engines of choice in your target markets.

Fine-tune keywords

Once you have identified, selected and analyzed the foreign language keywords, it’s time to see them in action. Incorporate them into your web content in an inconspicuous way and see how they perform.

To measure the performance of keywords and see which ones drive the most traffic to your website, you can use tools such as Google Analytics. If some keywords don’t yield conversions, you can leave them out altogether. Similarly, you might want to play around with others which you think might perform better.

Don’t be afraid to tweak words and phrases if necessary: after all, it’s the positioning of your website that is at stake. Monitor the performance of your multilingual keyword campaign, constantly refine your keywords and you’ll soon find your website at the top of search engine rankings.

Author Box

Christian Arno is the founder and Managing Director Lingo24, global provider of translation, website localization and multilingual marketing services. Launched in 2001, Lingo24 now has 160 employees and clients in more than sixty countries. In the past twelve months, they have translated over sixty million words for businesses in every industry sector. Follow Christian (@l24ca) and Lingo24 (@Lingo24) on Twitter.иконииконописikoniсвети георги

This is actually an email interview with Matt Poc. Mat is a loyal reader of my blog (big thanks!)

In this post, I will answer 5 time management questions which will make your online marketing venture more profitable.

How do you stay focused?

To stay focused, you need to create a quiet workspace with no interruption.

If you work at home, clear your work time with your spouse and kids. Tell them do not disturb your when you are working. Tell them you are working, you are doing your own business. Your family needs to know that when you are behind closed doors, it’s all business.

And if you just can’t find the space, then you might consider working on your online business after everyone goes to bed. Yes, you’ll lose some sleep some nights, but you can set it up so that you only have late work nights once or twice a week.

How do you stay disciplined?

When you are at work, stay away from email, Skype, Facebook or forums until your task is done.

Simply putting a deadline on every worthwhile action, and force yourself to follow the discipline to adhere to the deadlines.

The best way to inspire yourself to work is to set rewards for good work or finished projects.

So once all your items on your list are crossed off, reward yourself a small but tangible reward. Play games on the Facebook; chat with your friends; take a walk and eat your favorite food. But limit that time to 15-20 minutes at most

How do you plan your time?

Personally, I have a “loose” structure for time management -In other words, I am not the robot type because it does not work for me. I don’t work that much, I take hell a lot of time for entertainment with my friends and family.
But some people DO need to have everything planned out in order to get things done. Depending on what type you are, you can plan your time accordingly.

When it comes to time management, what mistakes do you think people make?

The biggest time management mistake for most people is that they are wasting too much time on non-profitable activities.

If you spend 3 hours every day simply reading discussion boards, checking emails or your affiliate earnings, that is an action. However, it’s just not the right action. It isn’t going to be profitable action.

Here are some common non-profitable activities people are doing:
•  Perfecting site layouts
•  Chatting on Facebook / Twitter / forums etc.
•  Reading  tons of blog posts
•  Buying lots of money-making courses
•  Checking emails
•  Checking affiliate earnings every 15 minutes

Sometimes, those most profitable actions are those with low importance, like writing email broadcasts, writing content for your authority sites, and creating content for your products.

However, they are the activities that will bring you the most subscribers, most money and best results.

What do you think is the most important element in time management?

The MOST important thing when it comes to time management is to do your MOST profitable things as early as possible to make SURE they are done in the day. For example, if mailing your list makes you $500/day, make sure you send that email broadcast out no matter what. THEN do the other things you need to do.

There are a few things that make most of your profit and MANY things that make little or no profit like replying emails, writing articles. Just do the profitable things early every day without miss. When you start seeing more profits coming in, you’ll be more motivated.?????ikoniИкониПодаръциikoniикониикониПравославни икониикони на светци