Email Marketing: Why You Should & How You Can Build a List

If you're serious about online marketing, chances are you already have a list of subscribers that you can email whenever you feel like. If not, here is why you should and how you can build a list for your business, so you can easily stay in touch with your existing and potential customers.

Did you know that people now spend more time reading their emails than watching TV? Emails have always been a very effective way to get in touch with existing customers and prospects, to let them know about new products or special offers for example...

Social networking platforms like Facebook have NOT made emails obsolete. They are just another way to get in touch with your audience. A Facebook page is a great way to build a relationship with your customers but will not replace good old emails. Email marketing is still a winner: it's fun, inexpensive and effective.

There are plenty of different things you can do if you have the right tools at hand. You can for example send out newsletters, information about your new products, special offers and discounts, or one-off promotions... This is completely up to you!

If you own a site you should add an optin form to your homepage so visitors can opt into your list. The idea here is to offer them something in exchange of their email address: a discount on their next purchase for example... or even a free product. Always remember to state the value of what you're offering.

If you don't have a site, you should add a guest book in your store or office so people can leave a comment... and their email address. You could for example write: "Would you like to receive special offers and discounts from us? Leave your email address below!"

If you're struggling to get your customers to opt into your list, feel free to directly get in touch with them, by email or by phone (or even when you see them) and ask them if they'd like to receive emails from you. Make sure you explain them why they should say 'yes' as some of them might be reluctant to do so.

Remember though... There are laws governing email marketing. No matter how tempting it may be, never add people to your list who did not give you permission. Not only is it unprofessional and impolite but its also illegal.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact our sales team at sales@ismartsoftware.com (or call us on 617 3367 0611). We offer several email marketing solutions like iSmart Bulletin for every day email marketing and iSmart Announce for newsletters.

What Is The Key To Successful Online Marketing?

Let's get straight to the point. The key to successful online marketing is to know your audience. If you know your audience, you know how your site should look like, what it should contain, how to best promote it, how to drive more traffic to it...

First, it is essential that you keep in mind that the site you have or are about to build should be designed and developed with your potential and existing customers in mind. Too many people build the site of their dream. It looks the way they want, contains the content they want... but is this what their customers want? Maybe not.

Who is most likely to buy what you are selling? Male or Female? Their age? Their income? Those are the sort of questions you should ask yourself, and of course ask your audience. Research is the first step to successful online marketing. You probably have an idea of who your audience is, but if you need to do more research, make sure you do it before you move forward.

You can ask questions to your existing customers when you meet them or have them on the phone... or you can create a poll that you place on your site. Just make sure you don't ask too many questions, or questions that your customers might not want to respond to. For example only ask about their income if you feel they would be comfortable with this question.

Once you know a little more about your audience, it is time to gather your information, analyze your data and patterns and start coming up with conclusions. You can then use those conclusions when building your site, or to make modifications to your existing site. Those findings don't necessarily need to be overly complicated... They can actually be pretty simple.

For example if you know that your audience is mostly composed of seniors, you should make your site very easy to navigate and use large fonts. On the other hand, if your audience is mostly composed of teenagers and young adults, you should focus your promotional efforts on sites like Facebook and Twitter, which are widely used by individuals in those age categories.

Those two examples are easy to guess... but you get the idea. Doing research will open up your mind on the way your site should look like and on what it should contain. This will also help you figure out what to do to promote it and drive more traffic to it. If you need help or have questions, feel free to contact our sales team at sales@ismartsoftware.com

Article Submission & Link Building (Part 2/2)

In the first part of this series on article submission and link building, we covered the basics of article marketing and mentioned a few of the article directories you can submit your articles to, like Ezine Articles, Go Articles, Article Dashboard...

If submitting articles to article directories not enough to get your pages to rank better in the search engines, you should look into other article platforms, like article networks.

Article networks are networks of sites and blogs that accept other people's content. This is a win-win situation because the owners of those sites or blogs get free content, and you get to submit your articles (with your links) to them.

With article networks you do not submit your articles to sites and blogs one by one but only once, and the system does the submission work for you. It will submit your articles over time so the submissions look natural to the search engines.

Article Networks

Free Traffic System -If you're completely new to article networks, you should give Free Traffic System a try as it's free to join. As a free member you will be able to submit your articles to a number of related blogs, helping you build quality links to your pages.

Backlinks Kingdom - With this network you can submit your articles to 15 sites every day, free. If you upgrade you will be able to submit more articles to more sites every day, up to 100 sites. This is also a great network to start with if you're new to this.

My Article Network - If you start to understand how article networks work, you may want to look into paid networks, like My Article Network. This one is a well-established network and counts hundreds of sites and blogs where you can submit your articles to.

Article Ranks - This is another well-established article network that can help you build quality links to your pages. This network is a little more restrictive than others but links are generally of better quality, from sites or blogs with a PageRank of 2 or more.

Unique Article Wizard - This network is a little different from others as it does not submit articles to people's sites and blogs but to directories. This network is a tiny bit more complicated to use than others but provides good to very good results.

There are several other article networks worth mentioning but these few ones are the ones you should start with. If you want to try more, feel free to leave a comment below and we will provide you with a few more solutions.

Most of these article networks will require you to spin your content, which means that you will have to provide several versions of your articles. Several of them provide you with spinning tools so you can easily spin your content, using their database of synonyms.

We hope you enjoyed reading this series on article submission and link building! Remember to add your links to every article you submit... This is the main reason why you're submitting articles! If you missed the first part, please click this link to read it now:

Article Submission & Link Building (Part 1/2)

Article Submission & Link Building (Part 1/2)

Submitting articles about your products all over the Web is a great way to spread the word about your business and most importantly build backlinks to your pages. Not only will your articles drive direct traffic to your pages, they will also influence the search engines in the rankings of your pages.

Whenever you submit an article, make sure you add backlinks to your pages, using the keywords you want to rank for as anchor text. When the search engines find the article, they will see the links to your pages, and will take them into account the next time they update their rankings.

What's an anchor text?

An anchor text is the text you hyperlink. In other words, it is the word that is used to cover the destination URL. In this an example: "I like donuts." the anchor text is "donuts". When submitting articles to the Web, you should use your keywords as anchor text, as this directly influence the search engines in the rankings of your pages.

Where to Submit Articles?

There are hundreds of article directories and networks you can submit your articles to.

Article Directories

Ezine Articles - Ezine Articles is by far the most popular article directory on the Web. With Ezine Articles the articles you submit are reviewed by human editors before they are published, which ensures both quality and consistency. In Ezine Articles you cannot add hyperlinks directly to your article content but you can add some to your bio box.

Go Articles - Another great place to submit your articles to is Go Articles. Go Articles is another very popular article directory where you can submit articles about pretty much everything. In Go Articles you can add hyperlinks directly to your article content, which is even better than adding them to your bio box.

Article Dashboard - Article Dashboard is labeled as the Web's premier article directory. Whether or not this is true, it is a place where you should submit your articles to. In Article Dashboard you cannot add hyperlinks to the article content but you can add some to your bio box, exactly like with Ezine Articles.

Article Alley - Article Alley is one of the busiest and most popular article directories at the moment. Article Alley does not allow you to add hyperlinks to your article content, but you can add some to your bio box. Make sure you don't forget about it when submitting your articles, even though you can edit articles that have already been published.

Article City - Article City is another very interesting place to visit and submit your articles to. Article City lets you create a nice author box where you can add a description about yourself or your business, an image and of course a hyperlink. Make sure you make the most out of this section as this is what really matters if you're after backlinks.

These directories are general article directories where you can submit articles about pretty much everything. You may also search for article directories directly related to your business, or articles directories for Australian or British users only. This should help you get even more quality links to your pages.

Author Guidelines

Wherever you decide to submit your articles, make sure you read the author guidelines before submitting them. For example you are generally not allowed to submit someone else's content, and you cannot submit the same article to the same directory more than once. Make sure you follow those guidelines closely.

Stay tuned for more tips and resources!

Update: Please click this link to read the second part:

Article Submission & Link Building (Part 2/2)

Copywriting Tips For Site Owners

Writing good content can be time consuming but is essential if you want your website to be successful. Good content will not only make your visitors take action, it will also show the search engines that you take your website seriously... so they value it more and rank it better.

First, list down all your products and/or services, as well as their features and benefits, and determine which ones are worth highlighting in your content. Which products and/or services are good enough to attract the attention of most of your customers?

Make sure the content you write is customer-focused. You must write it in words your (potential) customers will understand. Don't go into too many technical details, unless of course you think your average customer would be interested in such details. Simply ask yourself the following question: Is that something potential customers would be interested in?

Avoid information overload at all cost. Information is good but too much information can turn off a lot of people. If you don't know how much information you should add to your website, simply ask a few customers you know. Just make sure they give you an unbiased opinion... so you know how much is too much.

In some cases, you'd rather focus on benefits than features. This depends on the nature of your product or service but quite often people don't care much about features. All they want to know about is how the product can benefit them. The safest thing to do would be to write about both.

Before your content goes live, make sure you proofread it, read out loud to yourself and to colleagues or friends and edit it accordingly. Sometimes you will find that the content you wrote doesn't sound great when you actually read it. Make the necessary modifications before publishing it.

Finally, if you don't think you can write good content yourself, don't hesitate to ask a professional copywriter. There is no shame in asking for help. Not everyone is good at writing good content. However make sure the copywriter has a good understanding of your products and/or services.

These are just a few copywriting tips that you should put into use if you want to make the most out of your website. Always remember that it takes all the right words to make more sales and take your business to the next level.

If you need help with your website content, feel free to contact our sales team at sales@ismartsoftware.com - We can help you write good content and make the most out of your website.

On-Page SEO - How to Optimize Your Pages For Google

As a site owner, you want your pages to rank well in Google. After you have chosen keywords you want to rank for, you must optimize the pages of your site. This is called Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and is broken down into two aspects: On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO. This article covers the basics of On-Page SEO, which involves the on-site optimization of your pages, as opposed to Off-Page Optimization which is mostly about link building.

On-Page SEO

Page Title - First, make sure your page title contains the keyword(s) you want the page to rank for. If you want your homepage to rank for 'Brisbane Plumber' then make sure it contains the keyword 'Brisbane Plumber' (preferably at the beginning of the title). Every page of your site should have a unique title, and every title should be eye-catching because it will appear in Google's results.

Headings - Headings should also contain the keyword(s) you want the page to rank for. Use the H1, H2 and H3 tags in the following format:

Your heading (with your keyword) goes here

. H1 for the most important heading, and H3 for the least important. Unless the page is relatively long, there shouldn't be more than three headings on a page.

Content - If you really want a page to rank well in Google, make sure it contains a decent amount of text content. Don't hesitate to add in a few paragraphs on the topic of the keyword you want the page to rank for. Google loves content, but be careful... it must be unique content. Also make sure your keyword is actually mentioned in the text content a few times.

It is also recommended to bold, italic and underline the keyword at least once: bold it once, italic it once and underline it once, but do NOT bold, italic and underline the same keyword. This won't help! Do not overdo it either, especially if you don't have much text content on the page.

Meta Tags - When setting the page, you have to enter a description (description tag) and some keywords (keywords tag). The description is important because it will show on Google's results (below the page title). As for the keywords tag, make sure you add in a few keywords (including of course the keywords you want to rank for) even though this aspect doesn't help much anymore.

Images - Don't forget to add a few images. Ideally the image should use the keyword as a name: brisbane-plumber.jpg for example, and most importantly as an ALT attribute: alt="Brisbane Plumber". With iSmart Create you can add an ALT attribute easily by going to the image options so you don't have to go through the HTML code.

Links - Make sure you link to other pages of your site from the page content. This will help you drive traffic to other pages of your site, and will also transfer some 'link juice' to your other pages so Google gives them some more value. You could for example add a link to your homepage (using the keyword 'Brisbane Plumber') on an internal page of yours.

These are the basics on On-Page Optimization but if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below or contact our friendly staff at sales@ismartsoftware.com

Our products and services
Web design Brisbane Room Booking Software Training Course Booking Software

Planning a web design strategy for your small Brisbane business

Sue Wickenden explains how all small businesses can get an online presence.

It's something that all internet marketing experts agree on; organisations without an online presence are missing a great opportunity to attract new business, members and/or clients. There is no exception for small businesses that want to extend their sales. Successful businesses need a comprehensive website and need to use online marketing tools to communicate with their employees, members and fans; from sporadic information emails to regular extensive e-communications. While larger organisations can spend an excessive amount of money on online communication this does not rule small-to-medium organisations out of the game as technologies to manage website and online marketing campaigns are now available at a reasonable cost.
With a little searching, organisations can access a wide choice of web content management systems and internet marketing tools that can meet the requirements for the 'one man band' or business with hundreds of employees.
When planning the production of a website or e-newsletter the process can be a smooth or bumpy ride depending on how much homework organisations do at the start. Undertaking an online strategy is like any other project, it requires a sound knowledge of the process, a realistic understanding of the outcome, and a champion within your organisation to nurture and manage it. By following this simple six-step process I believe organisations can take control and hopefully enjoy a simple, trouble free path to a great end result.


Step 1 - The Champion

Finding a 'champion' within an organisation to manage the project is the first critical step to ensuring a successful outcome. Usually this person will be found within the marketing department but smaller organisations without this resource will choose a team member who has a passion for design and gets a buzz from using the internet. Remember, attitude is just as important as ability. Choose a person who wants to do this, rather than one who has to.

Step 2 - The Brief

The champion will be responsible for putting together the brief for a web developer and liaising internally to ensure that all business criteria are met with the full support from their team. A good brief will consist of a set of questions and answers.
Who do we want to visit our website? What information will they be looking for? What is in it for the visitor? What do we want them to be able to do on the website? What is the call to action? How will we measure if the project is a success? How do we get visitors to keep coming back?
It is helpful to supply the web developer with a list of information about competitors, what we like and dislike about their online communications, what websites grab our attention and why, domain name ideas and a sitemap.
A sitemap is like a family tree, at the top will be the first page of your website (homepage) and nested directly underneath will be the pages that link directly off the homepage. This is usually 'about us', 'products', 'services', 'contact us' and other information that will make the visit to the site a worthwhile experience for the visitor.

Step 3 - The Content

Putting together an online project is the same as putting together a magazine or book, you need to source the best content possible to ensure that you engage, or preferably excite your readers. If you have the resources within your company to produce good photographs and snappy text, then the Champions' job will just be a matter of collating the information for the web developer. Reading is the primary activity undertaken on the internet, people read words and they need to be relevant and persuasive. If you don't have the in-house resources we strongly recommend you find a business writer or journalist and photographer or photo library account. Online, as within a printed newsletter, a bad photo will always be a bad photo and won't show your organisations professionalism in the best light.

Step 4 - The Hunt

When looking for a web development firm, it is a good idea to interview two or three to see which one fits best with your vision. There are several important aspects to consider before making the final choice. Where will the website be hosted? What kind of design are you looking for? Do you want to be able to manage the website and to modify its content? What level of support will you need? The website development industry is flourishing within Australia; there are thousands of web solution providers throughout the country. Web developers will publish a portfolio of their work on their own website, this feature will give you an insight into their capabilities. Develop a clear strategy to make sure your web provider understands your requirements and has the capacity to fulfil them to your satisfaction.

Step 5 - The Deadline

When will the website be launched or the e-newsletter sent? Is this realistic? The champion will seek a time line and confirmation from the web developer, put the dates into a diary and check up - tick off as each milestone is reached. The major dates will be; delivery and sign off for designs, implementation of those designs into internet language by a technician, supply of content and photos, followed by insertion, testing of the website or e-newsletter, then launch.

Step 6 - Launch

All the work has been done and the champion has reviewed the website or e-communication, and implemented feedback from the team, everything is ready for the launch.
Your website is not like a baseball stadium, once you build it they will not necessarily come. You need to get your website out there by utilising search engine marketing and traditional cues. Some organisations will have an official launch at a trade show, or send out an e-communication with a special offer to drive customers to their new site. Updating your content and marketing your website regularly is an essential ingredient to ensuring success.

The easiest way to keep your photos and text updated is to use a content management system which allows anyone with basic computing knowledge to manage the content of a website. The simplicity of the tools should be a primary requirement for organisations as regularly updating the content of a website, is for many experts, one of the most efficient ways to retain visitors. It is very important for the web champion to understand what visitors search for on the website. If you meet your visitors' expectations at their first visit, there is a very good chance they come back on a regular basis. This information can be obtained from website statistics. Out-of-date content does not interest anybody; internet users look for fresh and interesting information. Post your news, press releases, promotions and/or any kind of content that could make a visit on the website unique. Meet your visitors' expectations and make your online presence a successful experience for both your organisation and the visitor.

Sue Wickenden is a director of iSmart Software
Our products and services:
Course booking software Rooming booking software Web design Brisbane