Email marketing mistake: case study.

This morning I received an email from Lulu.com. Never heard of it? Well, don't feel bad. I think you are in the high majority of people.

So, their Subject line says "Rediscover Lulu.com" Not a bad headline. Pretty good in fact. I opened the email since I had little reason not to open it except for time limitations (and that is an important issue).

Here is what they say at the top of the email body:

You've been here before.
Come see us again. Lulu has added new
tools to empower creators of all kinds to
make their visions real and reach the world.

Well, hmmm. My main thought was "Who is this Lulu.com?"

That opening paragraph is like hieroglyphics to me. I am a guy in a hurry. I don't want to read much except hard hitting headlines.

Perhaps a better headline might be: Lulu.com can help you connect with new customers quickly!

The body of their email tells me I should visit their website because they made changes to their email opt-in preferences.

So, I still have not clicked over to Lulu.com. What's in it for me?

I don't know and I'm not curious enough to find out.

What do you think of my "zero tolerance" approach to saving my time?

Greg Cryns
Website design and SEO promotion that will help you grow your business
.
.

A couple of so-so ways to get backlinks to your website

Face it. You need links coming into your website. (backlinks)

Here are a couple of methods you can use to get them:

1. forum commenting - find a good forum in your niche. Go there daily and make a comment to someone's post. Be helpful. If you don't know an answer, don't fake it. With a signature file in place (check to see if it is allowed, is there a waiting period?) you will get a backlink to your website and probably you will also get quite a few clickthroughs as well over time.

2. blog commenting - find a few good blogs to make good comments on. Like forum commenting, you will reap the benefits if you post solid, informative comments.

Extra: I see a lot of marketing bloggers telling us to put up "quality content" or words to that effect. Is that like nailing jelly to a tree? I think I know how to do that, but maybe not. :-)

Extra: paid links - here is what Google says about them: "Buying or selling links that pass PageRank is in violation of Google's webmaster guidelines and can negatively impact a site's ranking in search results.

Not all paid links violate our guidelines. Buying and selling links is a normal part of the economy of the web when done for advertising purposes, and not for manipulation of search results. Links purchased for advertising should be designated as such."

Greg Cryns
Work At Home Profiles ($3.77 per month membership site with full page ad)
All About San Luis Obispo
.
.

Example of the importance of keyword research

I own a small local website at All About San Luis Obispo. There is an attraction in SLO (what we call that town out here) that is famous worldwide. It is called The Madonna Inn.

For some reason that I can only attribute to my own laziness, I never wrote an article about that incredible hotel. I've had the site up for two years.

So, I wrote a short article next week. As soon as Google picked up the article (really quick if Google likes your blog, hint, hint) I started getting 3-5 additional visitors a day through the search engines. (Hey, Google, I am sure you are awaqre, but some of those searches were from Bing.com).

It made me think, Dang it! If I had the article up on the site two years ago I wouldn't have missed those 2,000 additional visits. My bad, our gain if you act on your keyword shortcomings.

Not that difficult. You can use the Google Keyword Tool or another good keyword tool. The best I've found is Micro Niche Finder. (I AM an affiliate owner who paid full price for this great product)

\
Greg Cryns

AllAboutPasoRobles.com
AllAbout Atascadero.com
AllAboutSanLuisObispo.com.
.

I'm #1 in the search engines but still little traffic!

This happens to most of us.

Why? Because we think we have the right keywords to attract targeted visitors but we made the wrong choices. Redo your keyword research. Do some competitive intelligence at Spyfu.com. Test, test and make changes.

Also, your title and description tags might not be very alluring. Think about selling from the get-go. Think about how you search and what you respond to.

Let's face it. Garnering a lot of good generic search engine traffic is like herding pigs. Really hard to do.

Greg Cryns
Website design and small business promotion
Work At Home Profiles (just $3.77 per month membership)

How to stop Pay Pal recurring payments

This gets changed around by Pay Pal now and then.

The latest info I have about how to stop your Pay Pal recurring payments:

Profile -> Financial Information -> Recurring Payments -> Active Payments

The active payments should show up immediately. You can also search "inactive payments" but I am not sure what that means since I have none.

Greg Cryns

Work At Home Profiles - get your free full page ad when you join as a member

Website Design and SEO Promotion
.
.

Example of guerrilla job hunting

I need to tell this story. It flies in the face what is considered social correctness and it is a good example of Guerrilla Marketing for job hunters. If you are looking for a job, I don't have to tell you that the recession is still raging and getting worse every day. Should you rethink the old ways?

My son's friend is a 26 year old guy who wants a job in Hollywood. He flew into LA this week dead set on getting a job in his field that has something to do with film. He and my son visited with us last week. I heard his story. He gave himself a month and a half to find a great job. I recommended that he put aside the idea of sending his resume to hundreds of places.

I recommeded that he take a few resumes and make a list of companies he wants to work for and simply walk into the offices of the big shots to introduce himself. My wife was aghast at my recommendation. My son was startled. My younger son who was at the table said that my idea was ridicuous.

Six days later. My son's friend took my advice. He was quickly booted out of the first call.

The second call was more interesting. He did meet the bigwig who said "You know, you are are very rude to walk in on me like this! You have balls, son!" Before he left that office my son's friend had a new job.

Greg Cryns
Website Design and Small Business promotion

.
.

Is website speed a factor in Google ranking?

I came across a video where Matt Cutts talks about website speed as a factor in your website ranking.

Essentially, this IS something to be aware of for 2010. Remember, Google always thinks about the searcher's experience first and foremost. If a search shows a site that is slow loading, how does that make for a good experience for the searcher? Obviously not.

So, Matt Cutts says to check on your website speed and be ready for changes in algorithms in 2010. Go to http://code.google.com/speed/ for a lot of help for this issue.

Also, Firefox has a nice plugin to help you test your website for speed:
http://code.google.com/speed/page-speed/

Here is the video interview with Matt Cutts:

http://videos.webpronews.com/2009/11/13/matt-cutts-interview/

Greg Cryns

Website Design and SEO Promotion

Work At Home Profiles
,
,

Matt Cutts on Duplicate Content

Check out this nice blog post on duplicate content.

Matt says, "typically a whitehat site doesn’t neet to worry about 1-3 versions of an article on their own site."

But Matt cautions about having your articles syndicated in many places on the Internet since Google finds it harder to know if you wrote the article. If you do syndicate the article, be sure to include a link to the original article on your website. This helps Google determine which article to index. Now I see that this was posted on Feb 1, 2008 which causes the concern that maybe it is out of date.

Note what Matt says about buying links and paid links. In a few words, you can do it but Google may pounce on you for it in the future. Just be aware that paid links are not considered good practice by Google.

Here is a nice video of Matt being interviewed on duplicate content:



Greg Cryns
Expert Wordpress website design and SEO
.

Duplicate content explained by a Google engineer

Greg Grothaus is a software engineer at Google. I think I will listen to Greg closer than I would to marketing and SEO people on the web.

Very few people understand what "duplicate content" means. I include myself in that crowd. But I will learn more now. No more futtsing around. (Is futtsing a word? If not officially, it is now) Watch this video from Greg Grothaus carefully. Note the difference of intent. If the intent is to spam, to manipulate Google, you will be spanked by a decrease in your ranking as opposed to being overlooked for a search.

What I take away from this is just to do my best to offer Google's customers, the people who search, a nice experience when they get to my page. Like this one.

Enjoy!



Greg Cryns
Website Design and Promotion at The Mighty Mo.com

Gmail: how to delete or change folder names

This is one of those tips that seems rudimentary, but is it? I had to go to the help section to find out.

If you have Gmail, how do you change the name on a folder, or delete the folder? I have lots of folders on the left side of Gmail.

Well here is the awwsome answer: Settings -> Labels

That's it. Just select the label. You can change the file name or delete it. The "Settings" tab is up on the top right side, next to your email address. The "Labels" tag is near the top in the center of the Settings page.

Greg Cryns
Work At Home Profiles - get your profile whole page ad today!
PLR Articles

.
.

Phrases to use in apologies

An good apology can go a long way to keeping that customer. Here are some phrases you can use to mollify the customer or prospect:

absolutely no excuse for
angry with myself
appreciate your calling our attention to
avoid this in the future
express my regret
how can I apologize for
I don't know how it happened that
I'm sorry you were dissatisfied with
make right with you
presumed where I shouldn't have presumed
prevent a recurrence
sincerely regret
the least I can do is
undeer the mistaken impression that
until you are completely satisfied
you were entirely right about

Greg Cryns

GregCryns.com
WorkAtHomeProfiles
WallArtReview

Copywrite: some words support or irritate your customers

Some words that make your customer feel comfortable:

attention, biggest, complete, confidence, detailed, discount, eager, easier, excited, exceptional, expertise, features, folks, free, impressive, innovative, invite, key, latest, nominal, options, pledge, promised, prompt, quaslity, ready, upgrade.

Some phrases you may want to use with your customers:

as you requested
competitive edge
complete satisfaction
cost savings
crystal-clear specifications
customer-support program
deeper level of service
even more useful
exceptional warranty
experience tells me
just came in
look forward to
may I direct your attention
most popular
no unwelcome surprises
pass those savings on to you
right away
risk free
willingness to help
your thoughts on

Words it would be better to avoid with customers: bargain, cannot, cheap, ccut rate, delay, sacrifice

Phrases to avoid:

be a fool to pass up
cut to the bone
don't ask
I don't know
minimum purchase
no choice
once in a lifetime
think it over

Greg Cryns
Wall Art Products
Wood Fireplace Accessories

What would Google do?

I see a lot of people promoting bookmarking sites and article directories as a way to get one-way links to their website.

Well, I have no problem with that as it is not entirely spammy, if you know what I mean.

But when I look for ways to make Google more friendly toward my website, then I try to give Google what it asks for in its guidelines. Google is pretty much saying this: give our customers, the people who search the web, what they are looking for. You can almost hear the "or else" in the words.

If you ran Google, what would you do if you knew that people were trying to bend the rules by getting linkbacks they did not earn? Do ya think you might discount those links?

Think about it.

What is a Nurse Practitioner?

Sewing Machine Report

Set and Forget? Bah, Humbug!

I am tired of reading and hearing about "Set and forget" systems of making money on the web.

I mean, it's just a silly concept.

Yesterday my nephew's website went down for about 8 hours when the hosting server made changes on their hardware.

My nephew depends on Google Adwords to generate visitors to his natural health website in addition to SEO to get natural web traffic. His Adwords bill is quite a bit of money daily. If he did not monitor his website regularly (daily) all his Adwords expense would have gone down the drain.

There are many reasons why the idea of easy money on the web are just flat out wrong. That attitude can also break your bank.

Greg Cryns

Work At home Profiles
Wahm Search Engine