From newsletters to order confirmations, email is an increasingly important aspect of commerce. However, the e-business industry is still so inexperienced about email that even following these basic tips will put anyone ahead of most of the industry. Here are the rules and standards in writing effective emails.

Don’t recycle traditional direct mail copy. Even if it was successful.

Understand that the Internet is a completely new medium. The copy that pulled high response rates in the world of direct postal marketing doesn’t get read on the Net. Especially not as email.

Here are the rules to effective email copywriting:

The subject is the headline: Write a succinct subject ‘headline’ – 3 to 5 words. Your subject determines whether your email gets read – or not. Tricky headlines (not related to your message) don’t work. Internet users are smart and they know exactly what they want. They resent being tricked. It’s a tough way to start a relationship.

Make it personal: What exactly is spam? It’s any email message that the recipient deems uninteresting or irrelevant — regardless of who sent it.

People on the Internet want personal notes. Write for an audience of one. Use common conversation, and avoid formal speech. Think of email as a way to service clients, enhance relationships, or tease them into interacting with you.

Remember you don’t have to be making a sale every time you talk to them. Positioning yourself as an expert can keep you at the top of mind for future purchases or better yet, for referrals.

Do feel free to make your e-mail fun and irreverent, if this is appropriate for the customer and the moment.

Don’t be overly casual and risk being disrespectful to your audience with the wrong tone.

Give them an incentive to act: By containing a hook, the e-mail makes it easy for a customer to understand the point of the email. The customer is more likely to respond if the choice is clear: act or don’t act to get the specified benefit. Customers are less likely to act, understand, or otherwise have a good experience, if they have to spend time figuring out the point of the email.

Do refine the hook to express the idea or message clearly and simply.

Don’t rely on jargon or indirect wording to express the hook.

Include a call to action: Tell people what you want them to do. Don’t leave them wondering what to do next. Point them to your ‘most desired action’. Otherwise they may just surf around and forget what they’re trying to accomplish. Then they bail.

If you are providing information, be sure to let them know they can email or call you if they want further information. Leave the conversation open ended and easy to reply to.

Get to the point: Keep it short and simple. Don’t drone on and on for several paragraphs … or pages. People on the Internet want information quickly and clearly. Paragraphs should be no more than 4 – 6 lines. Keep total length under 300 words.

Just as the hook provides focus for the email, so should the rest of the email refer to the hook for focus. For example, an email telling customers that there is a sale on a particular product line on an e-commerce site should do just that — tell customers about the sale.

This same email should not be considered an opportunity to inform customers of every promotion, feature, or tidbit of corporate news. Customers tend to scan emails, and if several propositions are presented, even the hook will go unnoticed.

Do stick to a single subject in the email.

Don’t try to incorporate as many elements as possible.

Do use dashes or bullets to express lists of ideas or section headings.

Don’t require users to read long continuous blocks of text.State the most important things first: Customers will start reading an email from the beginning and read the introduction to see if it’s worth spending more of their time. Readers tend to pay less and less attention to what is written as they scan more quickly through the rest of the email.

To make sure customers read the most relevant information, put the most important information (the hook) at the top, followed by the most important supporting information. Each successive paragraph will receive less and less of the reader’s attention and should contain less and less important information. As soon as the hook is well enough supported, end the email.

Do provide the customer the most important information at the beginning of the email.

Don’t “save up” the key information for the middle or end of the email.

An email must have a good reason for being sent; otherwise it’s better to not send it. The hook of an email is the single thought or message conveyed by that email and should be stated in the first sentence or two.

Use your website: Drive people to your website. Don’t try to close the sale in the email. You want people to have (and ask) more questions. Questions require interaction, and interaction promotes relationships.

Build relationships: Few (if any) customers worth having are interested in a ‘one night stand’. Have a long-term relationship objective in mind. Listen to your customers. Treat them like you’d like to be treated (so long as you’re not a masochist…).

Follow through: Do what you say. Put your hands and feet where your mouth is. Deliver on your offer, because it’s an ever-increasingly small world.

Always offer an option to unsubscribe: Email should only be sent when customers have requested information or if there is something noteworthy to tell them. Even with this level of permission there will still be people who will want to unsubscribe from the email list or newsletter.

Always offer the option to unsubscribe. As an emerging convention, customers can now typically expect to see unsubscribe instruction as the last item at the bottom of the email, following the signature and P.S.

Spell Check: You are positioning yourself as an expert – do not be tempted to send out the email quick. Run spell check! Have someone else read it to see if your message is grammatically correct before you hit the send button!

Great, you have a website – but how do you get people to visit it? And, how do you get them to do what you want once they get there? The answer: you need to optimize your site.

Internet marketing optimization – more commonly called search engine optimization (or SEO) – is a set of techniques, tools and methodologies you can leverage to get your site noticed by the people who matter most to you or your business. Whether you are looking for would-be buyers of your product or service or just have something wonderful to share with the world from your website, SEO is the only way to get people there short of paying for advertising.

Here are 7 of the most important internet marketing optimization factors:

1. Start by clarifying the true goals of your website:

Many days, weeks or years ago, you or someone in your organization set out to build a website. Whether the site is new or was built long ago, you now face the a question that is of utmost urgency: why do we have this website and what do we want to do with it? You would be surprised to learn how many firms and individuals never sufficiently answer this question for themselves. You must define the goals of your website so that you can determine exactly what it is you want visitors to do once they arrive. If you don’t know what you site represents, how can you expect search engines to find it and classify it properly?

2.Identify the keywords for which you should optimize your site:

Think about it from a search engine’s perspective: its job is to connect the right content with the right searcher, serving up the content it finds in order of priority from best/most relevant to worst/least relevant. The way they do this is to first use “bots” (automated agents) to constantly scour most of the site on the Internet. So, when the bots get to your site, what will they see? How will they know how to classify your site? The only way is to make your site rich in the keywords most relative to what you do. So, short of “stuffing” your site (an SEO no-no) with keywords, pack your site with plenty of well-written, keyword-rich content that tells bots how to classify your site.

3. Fortify your site with the right meta tags:

Meta tags are, in essence, information about your site that only search engines see but that humans do not. There are many types of meta tags, but the ones you need to make sure you have properly covered in your internet marketing optimization efforts are: meta description, meta title, and meta keyword tags. Make sure that each of these is under the maximum character length and that each strategically includes your target keywords.

4. Submit your site to top search engines and directories:

One of the easiest ways to cut your teeth in search engine-optimizing your site is to submit it directly to top search engines and directories. Google, Yahoo! and the other major search engines have FREE services for submitting your URL/web address. (See my blog for details on how). The Open Directory Project and Yahoo! Directory also allow you to apply for consideration for inclusion in their directory services.

5. Add fresh content to your site regularly:

Search engines love fresh, quality content that is updated regularly. I suggest making a space on your site for recent articles, blog entries or news blurbs. Then, update that content frequently. Search engines will reward you with more frequent visits and better rankings. Also, having fresh content on your site also encourages Webmaster of other sites to link to your site (i.e., to form backlinks).

6. Get more backlinks to your site:

Speaking of backlinks: you can never have too many! Backlinks are merely links to your site from other sites. Backlinks are more valuable when: 1. you have lots of them; 2. the links themselves include keywords for which you are optimizing your site;. 3. the sites that are linking to your site are themselves well-regarded by search engines (e.g., have a high Google PageRank).

7. Have a compelling call to action:

Once you do all of this work to get people to your site via better search traffic, make sure you offer them something compelling to do once they get there. This is often referred to by marketers as a “call to action,” and your site needs one. So, make sure you make it clear to visitors what you most want them to do once they reach your site. Then, make that call-to-action so compelling that they will not be able to resist taking it.

Optimizing your website for maximum search is not difficult, but it does require careful consideration. Take these 7 factors into account and you will be doing better than 95% of the websites with whom you are competing for traffic.

A niche is a special area of demand for a product or service that is not being addressed by common providers. A niche market is composed of individuals or businesses that can be a group of potential customers. The niche market evolves when a demand for a product or service is not supplied by the usual contributors. The same market also develops when a new demand occurs because of societal, technological or environmental changes.

Niche marketing is simply finding a great product or service for highly profitable target consumers. Niche markets can be extremely lucrative, but you need to find qualified traffic. To do this, you have to write articles that would specifically attract buyers of your product or service. This way, you get to gather people who are really interested.

Now how can you write effective articles for a certain niche?

1. Define your niche market first to have an idea who will be your readers. Research on what type of information your market wants to read. You can do surveys or even interviews if possible.

2. Write informative articles that answer the needs of your niche market. You want your readers to browse through your website, clicking on one related article to another. If your articles do not tackle the subject they are interested in, you readers will leave and look for other sources.

3. Write concise articles (300-700 words) directed at topics that are immediately related to the specific niche.

For example, if your niche is about Sushi, you can write the following articles:
- What sort of rice is used in making Sushi
- What are the most common Sushi platters
- What kind of seafood is usually used for Sushi
- How to store your ingredients
- Where to buy seaweed wrap
- How to pick fresh fish
- Alternative fish products for people with allergies
- Which is better: Wasabe in paste or powder?

4. Come up with other related topics and articles that someone reading your article might search for next. If your website contains all this content, you may find readers staying interested in your website for a long time. They can even bring in more visitors to view your website.

5. Do a keyword research using keyword tools (e.g. Overture Suggestion Tool) to check how many people are searching each month on keywords related to the niche you’re writing about. Look for keywords that generate few searches in a month and use these keywords in your articles to create a high ranking on search engines.

6. Research on all related topics to constantly come up with new, updated, unique content that will appeal to your niche market and make them want to visit your web site time and again.

7. Include the link of your niche marketing website in your article.

Through these articles, you can market your niche and direct a big bulk of traffic to your niche marketing website. By keeping your articles new, original and well-written, you can leave a positive impression on your readers and gain even more visitors to your niche website. While you research and write more articles related to your niche, you become a valuable source of information in a less competitive market, giving you an opportunity to be very profitable and to become an expert in your niche.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/how-to-write-informative-articles-for-your-niche-market-559434.html

About the Author:
Copyright (c) Althea Marie Tan -   The Content Annex  is a content development company that offers comprehensive writing solutions for busy entrepreneurs. Visit   http://www.thecontentannex.com   for more information.

Noticeable Results is a media consulting company committed to offering the most cutting edge technology and maximum results to our clients. Vincent M Socci is a social, search, and viral marketing consultant with a background in web development who combines his design capabilities with a passion for social marketing to create maximum exposure for his clients social, search and viral marketing projects. Noticeable Results is located in New Canaan CT.

You have now probably decided to implement the use of video technology to not only draw customers to your website, but make your site more appealing and increase your sales. But that is not all that you can do to increase sales on your website.

You must now by now that people are very visual. This means that you want to show not only videos on your website but other photographs and visual products as well. This ranges from clip art, cartoons, photographs and even animation. There are certain software programs that will allow you to create an animated character that can “walk your client through” your website. You want to make sure that this character that is small, does not overpower the website, it pleasant and harmless looking and that the customer has the power to turn the little animated guy off. While this may appeal to some people, some might find it annoying.

Also, you have to remember that some people will be perusing your website while at work. They probably will not be supposed to be doing this, but they will be doing it anyway. Many people are getting fired for “internet abuse.” As a matter of fact, it is one of the leading causes of people losing their jobs in the United States. You will want to make sure that both your video and your animated character have a volume or mute control.

Clip art is always fun as are funny cartoons. You will have make certain, however, that the clip art that you use is public and free. There are millions of free clip art products both available over the internet as well as in software. These are all within the public domain and free to use. Why not use them?

In addition, there are hundreds of photographs and cartoons that lie within the public domain that you can add to your website. If you can find a cartoon that pertains to your business that is a free cartoon, why not use it in your website? You can even get a little creative and edit the cartoon to mention the name of your business.

Still another way to increase sales using visual elements on your website is by the use of coupons that can be printed by the customer and used. People love coupons and many websites are using this marketing method to not only attract new sales, but also to gauge how many people are visiting their website.

If you are not an expert at setting up a website, and few of us are, why not have a professional create a website for you? There are many companies and individuals who do this for businesses. If you have a small budget, you can hire a person who is attending technical college to learn how to set up a website. You will be surprised at the knowledge this young person will have and they will charge you much less than a professional company. You may even get more innovation; you never know. The kid that you hire to create your website might be the next brightest new talent.

Once you have created your website, get some opinions from friends and colleagues on the site itself. Remember that you will want to make the website easy to read, easy to understand, easy to navigate and above all, attractive and entertaining. This means using any visual means that you have at your disposal, including video, you will have a website that will appear professional and you will be using all modern means to attract customers, generate new leads and increase sales and profits.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/visual-advertising-web-video-is-one-way-but-there-are-other-visual-ways-to-attract-attention-to-your-business-560146.html

Noticeable Results is a media consulting company committed to offering the most cutting edge technology and maximum results to our clients. Vincent M Socci is a social, search, and viral marketing consultant with a background in web development who combines his design capabilities with a passion for social marketing to create maximum exposure for his clients social, search and viral marketing projects. Noticeable Results is located in New Canaan CT

Vincent M Socci is a social, search, and viral marketing consultant with a background in web development who combines his design capabilities with a passion for social marketing to create maximum exposure for his clients social, search and viral marketing projects.

Noticeable Results was formed by Vincent M. Socci in order to bring all his talents to the table and offer his clients the best possible service. Vincent continuely helps clients determine which topics, days, times, and keywords attract links in social media stories for semantic content optimization, and also researching the motivations, preferences and habits involved in online content sharing.

Vincent M Socci has written extensively about the nature of viral marketing, metrics and social networking on his own blog and for a variety of popular industry blogs.

Vincent M Socci resides in New Canaan CT.