Niche Info Online Business

There are four methods you can use for sending out emails: directly from your email account, from email software, from an email marketing service, from an autoresponder or from miscellaneous services. This section will explain each of these options in detail.

1) Emailing from Your Email Account
Emailing from your email account may seem obvious, but if you are limited on funds and you are emailing just a few people it is the best alternative. Most email service providers allow the basics for sending out emails, which includes the ability to send to a multitude of people and the ability to add attachments. Many email service providers will even hyperlink URLs, meaning that when the reader receives the email, the URLS will be clickable. Some also will allow you to add pictures within the body of the email. However, this is pretty much the extent of the ability provided by most standard email service providers. Also, keep in mind that if you bulk email too often you could be flagged by the email service provider for spam. This is why if you’re using this alternative, it’s best to email no more than one hundred people.

2) Emailing from Email Software
You can also send emails from email software, such as Outlook Express. With email software, you can create and send HTML emails, something you cannot do when sending emails directly from your email account. You can also send to several people without being suspected of being a spammer. Some email software even have autoresponder capabilities. Autoresponders send automated email messages. The autoresponders available through email software are somewhat limited, so you may want to use an autoresponder service for more advanced autoresponder features.

3) Emailing from an Email Marketing Service
Emailing software programs allow you to create extremely elaborate HTML emails. These include survey emails, where you can get more of an idea the demographics of your subscribers. Additionally, you can email as many people as you like without getting in trouble. In fact, email marketing services expect you to email thousands of people. Other features common to most email marketing services include ability to track the response of your email campaign and email list management. Some may even have autoresponder capabilities. An example of a very popular email marketing service is Constant Contact. The price for this service is determined by the number of emails you send out.

4) Autoresponders
Once you get your list established, trying to reply to each of them immediately could be virtually impossible. Email software can only do so much, while email marketing services cost money. Each of these may have autoresponders, which will do the emailing for you, but if the autoresponders are limited in what they can do, you may want to consider using exclusive autoresponder services. These can be free or paid. Free ones usually send out an advertisement with each email, but paid ones don’t. In fact, paid autoresponder services offer some of the same types of services present with email marketing services including ability to create HTML emails and the ability to better manage your email list. Get Response is an example of a very popular autoresponder service.

The best way to use an autoresponder is to send follow-up emails to your subscribers. Many email marketers do their follow-ups through a series of newsletters. You will want to try to send follow-up messages three to seven times, with each time equally stressing the importance of the product or service you’re promoting. This is because most people need to be advertised more than once before they are finally convinced to buy a product or service. This also helps to establish a sense of trust between you and the subscriber.

5) Miscellaneous Services
There are some marketing services that allow you to send out emails that can’t be categorized as email software, an email marketing service or an autoresponder, (though many of them may have features common to these emailing options). One example can be found through certain types of groups, with Yahoo Groups being an example. These allow you to send emails to members both via the message board and to their personal email accounts. Usually, these will only allow text-based emails.

Another miscellaneous service is Adsomatic. This service, costing only $97, allows you to market a free online classifieds site. How does Adosmatic work? Basically, when someone visits your classified site, (which is designed no differently than any other type of free online classifieds site), they have to give their email address in order to post their advertisement. This is where the magic of Adsomatic comes in. The email given is stored in a database on Adsomatic’s servers. What effect does this have on you?

This stored email is an extra lead on your subscriber list, which is accessible through your Adsomatic account. You will not be allowed to see the actual email address, but you do get to see how many emails are on your list. You also can send emails out to them. Unfortunately, the emails are text-based but they do make URLs clickable. Adsomatic also offers the option for the user to unsubscribe to the emailing list, something that if acted upon Adsomatic takes care of.

The best way to use Adsomatic is to promote your classified sites on other free classified sites. Advertise that you are offering free advertising, and you should start receiving subscribers instantly. The type of offers that you should think about promoting if you decide to use Adsomatic should be those relating to business opportunities, free things or marketing. Adsomatic offers more advertising space by allowing you to post three banners on your classified site. Two of the banners are button banners and the other one is the standard 468 x 60 banner. These banners can be graphical or text-only. As an added bonus, Adsomatic offers information regarding how many people have clicked on the banners. Unfortunately, at the present time no tracking information is offered for their emailing campaign, but the upcoming chapter will explain other methods of tracking their success.

Figure 6: Adsomatic Email Screen