SendBlaster Email Marketing Blog

Did you know...

Over 70% check their personal email at work - and nearly one-third said they did so more than three times a day.

AOL/Beta Research Corporation

When You Don’t Have to Worry About Clickthroughs

Published on January 17, 2012 in Best Practices and Internet marketing. 0 Comments Tags: content, email marketing, promotion.

Folyo is a job service for freelance designers. Sacha Greif, the service’s founder and a designer with more work than he can handle, assesses designers, reviews submissions from companies and tries to bring the two together.
Unlike other freelance jobs sites though, Greif doesn’t post the offers on his website. Freelancers can’t bid or compete to win the projects publicly. Instead, Greif charges companies a $100 fee once their offers have been accepted, waits until the end of the week then sends the list of jobs to his subscriber list by email.

For Greif, the benefits are clear. Because he checks both the jobs and the designers both sides know that they’re receiving quality. Employers know that the freelancers they’re hiring have been hand-selected for their creativity and professionalism. Freelancers can feel confident that the offers have solid budgets and come from companies that know what they’re doing. Handling everything by email ensures that both the offers and the designers remain private.

The service has only been running a few months but it’s already generating more than $600 a month for a freelance designer who was only looking for a way to share his excess workload. And his list consists of little more than 300 subscribers.

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Live Support: A Simple Way to Increase Website Conversions

Published on January 12, 2012 in Internet marketing. 1 Comment Tags: conversion rates, live chat, live support.

These days customers want it all, and they want it quickly, especially when they’re shopping online. With so many options, a customer can be gone with a click of the mouse. That’s why it’s important to stay competitive by meeting the needs of customers quickly. One way to do that is by offering live support or live chat. With live chat, you can actively engage customers and address their questions and concerns while they’re sitting at their computer. No phone required. Online businesses that use live support gain an edge in the marketplace. Here’s why.

What is Live Support?

To use live support, you place a support button in a prominent place on your website. When visitors click on the button, they can chat directly with a customer service rep online in real time. With live chat, customers get the answers they want without having to pick up the phone. You can customize the look of the support button to make it consistent with the theme of your website.

What Are the Advantages of Using Live Chat?

The most important reason to use live chat is that it increases website conversion rates. According to an article published in Internet Retailer magazine, online businesses that use live chat have a conversion rate that’s three times higher than email. That should be music to the ears of any retailer who wants to sell more products. Among the top 100 internet retailers, almost a third are using live chat, more than were using it last year.

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Email Marketing Tips for Fitness Clubs and Health Centers

Published on January 9, 2012 in General and Tips & tricks. 0 Comments Tags: email marketing, fitness clubs, health centers.

The fitness and health club business is a competitive one. Local advertising has its place, but these days more people are turning to the internet to get health and fitness information. That’s where email marketing comes in. Email is one of the most effective ways to form a relationship with health conscious people who may be interested in your services. If you’re not using email marketing for fitness and health, you’re missing out on an invaluable opportunity to “connect” with potential clients.

Why is email marketing so effective for health clubs and fitness centers? Once you develop a list, you can send readers useful health and nutrition information on a regular basis. This helps to brand your business and remind readers of what your facilities have to offer. Over time, you will gain customers using this technique, and you’ll be doing it without a hard sell. What kind of fitness information can you offer through email?

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7 Effective Ways to Protect Your Online Privacy

Published on January 5, 2012 in Best Practices, General and Tips & tricks. 3 Comments Tags: online privacy.

There’s nothing more convenient than doing personal and business transactions online but that convenience carries risks. Every day unsuspecting internet users have their personal information recorded and their online activities tracked without their knowledge. Fortunately, there are simple steps you can take to keep your personal information private and protect yourself against unscrupulous companies who want your private information. Here are seven simple ways to protect your online privacy when you’re surfing the internet.

Make Sure Your Computer is Protected
To protect your online privacy, make sure your computer is well armed. Install a reliable anti-virus software, and make sure your computer is also protected by a firewall and software that blocks malware and spyware. You can buy these products from companies that offer them as a bundle. Anti-virus software protects your computer against viruses and Trojans, while a firewall filters out and blocks suspicious traffic to your computer. For maximum security, you need both.

Update Your Operating System
When operating systems like Microsoft Windows issue an update, it usually has changes that address a particular security issue. If you don’t do regular updates, you won’t be protected. Make it a habit to check for updates and download them immediately for maximal online privacy protection.

Choose Your Password Carefully
When you choose a password, select one that’s a combination of numbers and letters, both upper and lower case, and don’t reveal it to anyone. Avoid using personal information in your password such as your birthdate or the name of a pet. Use a different password for every online account you have. If you have problems remembering so many passwords, use a reputable passwords site to store them securely. Once you’ve chosen your password, don’t save it on your web browser, and don’t forget to change your passwords frequently.

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Things That Happen Every 60 Seconds On The Internet [Infographic]

Published on January 2, 2012 in Infoghaph. 0 Comments Tags: infographic.

Did you know that, every 60 seconds, there are over 695,000 status updates on Facebook, 19,000 PayPal payments, over 12,000 new Craigslist ads and 98,000+ tweets?

Check out some interesting facts about websites that we use every day.

Infographics offered by Shanghai Web Designers

In 2012 It’s Not Just Your Subscriber Demographics That Matter, It’s Their Location

Published on December 30, 2011 in Best Practices. 0 Comments Tags: email marketing, mobile email.

Email marketing has always made a number of assumptions about subscribers. We assume that readers are interested in what we’re offering if we can just get the message right. We assume that emails are more effective and a lot cheaper than the kind of junk mail that clogs up physical mailboxes and weighs down postal deliverers. And we assume that when we contact subscribers they’re sitting in front of their computers, either at home or at the office, ready to give our copy their full and undivided attention.

Most of those assumptions remain unchallenged. Email marketing is still effective, provided the copy is right. It remains much easier, cheaper and less intrusive than delivering leaflets to thousands of homes.

But it’s no longer being read primarily at the desk.

According to a new study, email opens on mobile devices rose by 34 percent between April 2011 and September 2011 in comparison to the previous six months. At the same time, the number of opens that took place on webmail and desktop fell by 11 percent and 9.5 percent respectively. More and more people are checking their mail more frequently, on the move, on smaller screens and in smaller bites of time.

That creates a new challenge for email marketers. We don’t just have to think about what kind of subject line will grab attention but how that subject line will appear on different devices and how the message will look on preview panes. Sometimes, the differences can have a real effect.

Wild Photography Holidays, for example, a travel firm, sent an email at the end of 2011 to promote a number of its tours. In webmail, even without displaying images, the email just about passed muster.

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Are You Sure Your Passwords Are Safe Enough?

Published on December 22, 2011 in Internet marketing and Tips & tricks. 0 Comments Tags: email accounts, passwords, safety.

What’s so special about “dragon” and “football?” Both of these words made the 2011 list of worst passwords of the year. People like to relate their password to something about themselves such as their favorite animal, sport or mythical character to make it easier to remember. That’s not a good thing when it comes to protecting yourself against hackers who want to steal your money and your identity.

Hackers are savvy at “guessing” passwords. One way they do it is to keep trying common passwords until they find one that works. Would you believe some people even use the “password” as their password? Let’s just say that most hackers are on to that one. The best way to keep hackers out of your private accounts is to put a little thought into choosing the passwords you use online. Here are some tips for becoming more password savvy.

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