We’ll be meeting at the ReMax office, 720 Guelph Line, Burlington.

Have you invited anyone to join us lately?

Boris Mahovac R.G.D.

iBizAcademy - Online Marketing For Small Business

Sign up for my next Contacts2Clients Business Seminar

Let's connect:

We’ll be meeting at the ReMax office, 720 Guelph Line, Burlington.

Have you invited anyone to join us lately?

Boris Mahovac R.G.D.

iBizAcademy - Online Marketing For Small Business

Sign up for my next Contacts2Clients Business Seminar

Let's connect:

We’ll be meeting at the ReMax office, 720 Guelph Line, Burlington.

Have you invited anyone to join us lately?

Boris Mahovac R.G.D.

iBizAcademy - Online Marketing For Small Business

Sign up for my next Contacts2Clients Business Seminar

Let's connect:

We’ll be meeting at the ReMax office, 720 Guelph Line, Burlington.

Have you invited anyone to join us lately?

One thing you need to add to your site (blog, preferably) are simple ways visitors can “share and bookmark” your pages to places such as Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter, also Digg, Stumbleupon and others. This is easy if your site is a blog, there are a number of ways to add this functionality by adding a plugin to your WordPress-powered blog. Other blogging platforms also have similar solutions you can readily use.

If you have questions about blogging and social networking, you can start by reading this low-cost introduction. I’ve arranged a special $10 OFF for you as my networking buddies! For only $7 you will find easy-to-read information about basics of business blogging and online marketing.

Boris Mahovac R.G.D.

iBizAcademy - Online Marketing For Small Business

Sign up for my next Contacts2Clients Business Seminar

Let's connect:

We’ll be meeting at the ReMax office, 720 Guelph Line, Burlington.

Have you invited anyone to join us lately?

This year’s event is poised to be the largest ever, with 500+ confirmed guests — business owners, solopreneurs, sales professionals and entrepreneurs, just like you. The main purpose of this event is to facilitate connections between business owners.

Several sponsors have contributed to making this the networking event of the summer, and among them will be your webmaster, Boris Mahovac, representing Better Business Networking, a new type of networking idea.

As a member of this networking group you can attend for free! I have a limited number of tickets to hand out, call me at 905-844-4247 (first-come first-served). Tickets are available online for $22 or $40 at the door.

If you’re interested in helping me out you can join me at my table to share your experience with being a member of this group. I have a few T-shirts and baseball caps to give to those who help me out.

When: Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Time: 5pm - 9 pm
Where: All Canadian Self Storage, 1 Laird Dr, Toronto

View Larger Map

We have seen the major Canadian stock market, the S&P/TSX, wipe out losses experienced in the beginning of the year and move strongly into positive territory, up to 9.6% year-to-date1. A major stock index in the U.S., the S&P 500, has also made up ground from the beginning of the year with only a slight year-to-date loss of -1.1%(1). While as of April 30th, the MSCI World Index has shown a 3-month return of 7.6%(1). Equity markets have traditionally been leading indicators of where the economy is headed so these potentially are signs of a recovery on the way.

Further, an economic recovery can be anticipated with signs that the global credit market is stabilizing and improving. The LIBOR, which is the interest rate offered to the world’s most preferred borrowers (strongest banks), is now down almost 5% in May 2009 on the 3-month rate from its peak in October 2008(2). My belief is that this is significant progress as it strongly encourages banks around the world to lend more money to credit worthy companies that have been struggling since the credit freeze began (hope you’re still awake after that bit of news). More borrowing is not what consumers need but is vital for companies to survive and grow, supporting commerce and keeping people employed.

There will continue to be bad news as we move along in the recession but keep in mind that this is often fallout from earlier problems that started the recession. The ripple effect is normal and usually signals the stage we are at in the economic cycle.

Whether you pay attention to economic news and indicators or ignore them, remain focused on your financial goals and stick to your plan. Economic downturns tend to be brief while short-term equity market fluctuations provide great opportunities for our professional fund managers to grow our investment portfolios.

1 - Globeadvisor.com (May 14, 2009)
2 - Dow Jones Newswire (May 14, 2009)

I suggest you check it out today.

How fast you can expect to see results from email campaigns will depend largely on the type of business you’re running. For example, if you are a life coach, it may take you months to establish a connection with your contacts, until they get to know, like and trust you enough to hire you. However, if you sell real goods, such as vitamins and supplements, your email promotions may produce results immediately.

Unfortunately, many budding entrepreneurs mistakenly think that sending email is free, and that they can simply use their own email program to send email promotions. Wrong! This type of email list management can quickly get you in trouble: with your local ISP, possibly with the law, and, most importantly, with your contacts!

If you’re thinking of marketing your business or professional practice by email, the first step you need to take is choose the most appropriate Email Service Provider (ESP), or List Management System, as they are sometimes referred to.

Just like it is with anything these days, choosing an ESP can be a bad case of “too-much-choice-itis”. Because they all offer a free trial period or a money-back guarantee, you may think you’re not going to lose money if you make a bad choice. However, if you’re working on launching your business on line, you’ll want to make your first choice the right choice. Your money may be refunded, but your wasted time can’t be replaced.

Here’s an overview of three major players in this area: AWeber, Constant Contact and Kick Start Cart. I have hands-on experience with all three of them, so this, in a nutshell, is my personal list of their best features.

AWeber

• I like their robust list-management features; absolutely the highest CAN-SPAM compliance, and very high deliverability rates.
• Of course, major feature is unlimited auto-responders, with unlimited follow ups and broadcasts.
• In December 2005 HTML templates were introduced, however, even after the Fall 2006 upgrades to the graphical HTML editor, creating an HTML email is still not as user-friendly as Constant Contact’s mail wizard. However, for those who’d like to use their own HTML code, AWeber offers much greater flexibility and ease of use.
• In 2009 they added RSS publishing and Twitter connectivity.

Recommended for: those who either do not sell on line, or have an e-commerce or shopping cart system already in place. AWeber connects nicely with most e-commerce solutions currently available, such as PayPal, ClickBank and 1ShoppingCart, among others.

Constant Contact

• In early 2007 they have completely revamped the email creation wizard, that puts anyone with average computer skills in the captain’s seat of creating a great-looking HTML email, without knowing a bit of HTML. Using the wizard also automatically updates the text-only version of the email.
• Some entrepreneurs will appreciate the ability to import their existing lists without being required to re-confirm every single subscriber (like AWeber does). Subscribers can be re-confirmed “softly,” over time.
• Their tracking features are probably the most detailed and useful out there, although, in my humble opinion, they border on being a Big Brother tool. More on this in an upcoming feature article.
• In early 2009 they added an auto-responder feature.

Recommended for: e-marketers who have large lists of existing contacts, or for those who’d like to create their own snazzy HTML emails without hiring an HTML coder or designer.

Kick Start Cart (a.k.a. 1ShoppingCart, Auto Web Business)

• What I like best about this system is that it’s a completely modular on line business system, that provides list management, autoresponders and ezines, a shopping cart with credit card processing, on line delivery of your digital products (such as PDF e-books, courses or music in MP3 format, etc.) and an affiliate program.
• They are also more friendly towards purchased leads, through various co-registration services, such as Glen Hopkins’s ListBuilder.
• The system supports split-testing and ad tracking, and so many other great features. It’s really no wonder that most big-name internet marketers use it.

Recommended for: new and established e-marketers who want a completely integrated turn-key system which includes a variety of tools and features all under one roof.

Conclusion

With monthly fees for these services ranging from $15 to $29, and a wide variety of features and capabilities, one of these service providers should fit both your budget and your requirements. Defining your requirements before you go shopping for an Email Service Provider will save you time and aggravation in the long run.

Copyright © 2007 by Boris Mahovac

Email Marketing Consultant Boris Mahovac, “Your Ezine Coach,” publishes the ‘Contacts 2 Clients’ biweekly email newsletter. Sign up today and receive a free bonus Special Report.