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Are you ready to maximize your e-mail marketing efforts and drive some serious traffic to your Web site? Well you better increase your bandwidth, because here’s how to get the job done:

1. Create exciting, need-to-know, engaging e-mails that always include a call to action. A call to action in this form is typically links back to your site. But don’t simply send people to your home page. Have them land on a page that provides more information on a product or service mentioned in the e-mail or gives them an incentive to do business with you.
2. Make sure your e-mails are all about them – not you, not your business and certainly not some gimmick. We all want to know what’s in it for us…Make sure those receiving your e-mail know what you and your business have to offer THEM.
3. Use compelling, emotion-driven headlines. Get people excited or just curious about your mailings. This will cause them to open your e-mails without simply deleting them first. Just remember not to be too commercial, misleading or hokey.
4. Design visually appealing e-mail pieces. Opt for HTML e-mails that include a few images. Text e-mails are outdated in the marketing sense and have much lower click rates. Don’t include too many graphics, as this will overshadow your message and create headaches for the reader. Make sure there are spaces between paragraphs, that indents line up and so on.
5. Keep your messages brief – you’re going for simple and concise, not long-winded and hard to understand.
6. Check for grammar and spelling mistakes or have a co-worker, friend or colleague do a scan. You’ll never be taken seriously if your e-mails are peppered with errors.
7. Personalize as much as possible. Go the extra mile and add a person’s name, send to one recipient at a time and include something specific about receiving the e-mail – such as a birthday, job promotion, a contribution on your Web site, etc.
8. ALWAYS include a way for people to opt-out. It is against the law not to provide a way to unsubscribe or get off your lists.
9. If you know your customers or clients well, use your personal e-mail address to send out marketing messages and newsletters. Don’t use a cold, impersonal marketing@xxx.com or similar address.

Remember that spam is a serious offense under the CAN-SPAM Act which provides strict requirements about what you can and cannot do when it comes to e-mail marketing and communications. First and foremost, do not send e-mails to people without their permission. The simplest way not to get caught in this trap is avoiding junk lists which consist of e-mail addresses harvested from various Web sites. These lists are often sold as CDs for $99. These practices are highly illegal and can greatly damage a business’ reputation. Stay clear of these scam artists! Legitimate e-mail lists are those with true opt-in records – not lists of names obtained through list swapping and illegal compiling. Buy only from a reputable company such as Dun & Bradstreet, InfoUSA, Direct Media and 21st Century Marketing, among others. For more information, visit the Federal Trade Commission online.

Tags: 21st Century Marketing, Dun & Bradstreet, e-mail, e-mail marketing, e-mail newsletters, FTC, InfoUSA, tips for e-mail