Massmailsoftware Blog

At some point, I’m sure you’ve heard of Google Pagerank (or PR). What you may not understand is why it matters to your website. Google is, of course, the leading search engine on the internet. As a result, once your website or blog is indexed, it will more than likely become the largest source of “natural” traffic. At least, if you play the game correctly. Pagerank is Google’s “grade” of your website, ranging from zero to ten. The higher the number, the better your PR. Google’s algorithms compute this score using a variety of measures, but general consensus is that […]

Obviously, there was no such thing as “online marketing” in the 17th century (probably due to incredibly low bandwidth), but you can still learn something from marketing methods in that time period…specifically the town crier. When someone takes their business online, and especially if they have an online-only business, the impulse is to promote it online. That’s an effective idea, but there’s something you may be forgetting about your customers. They’re not “traffic”, “hits” or “vistors”…they’re people. Your goal isn’t to get more “traffic” to your website, it’s to get more people to your website. And that’s who you need […]

Everyone wants marketing for nothing and their traffic for free. (My apologies to Dire Straits.) And there are a lot of ways to get it done. But sometimes you want more for various reasons: You’re launching a new product. You’re offering a new service. You need your overall traffic numbers up. After months of using free traffic-building methods, you still have that “lonely” feeling every time you check your stats. If so, it may be time to take a trip into “Business ClichèLand”…”To make money, you have to spend money.” And there are a lot of ways to do just […]

When someone has a problem, need or desire, their first stop on the internet is usually Google.  For example, if a business owner is looking for a way to process credit cards for payment online (and they have no knowledge of this area), a trip to Google and a search for “credit card processing” will return a link to Authorize.net as the first non-sponsored response. Why? There are quite a few reasons, all of which are covered under the umbrella term of SEO, or Search Engine Optimiztion, and SEO is something an online business cannot afford to ignore. SEO basics […]

Most people have an image of “sales” as the process of convincing someone to conduct trade with you, whether you’re selling a product or providing a service…and that’s the wrong way to look at it. Effective sales is the process of solving problems. In 1938, the Dr. Roy Plunkett discoverd Teflon while working for Du Pont. Full-scale production of Teflon took another ten years to get going, and even then it was only for industrial applications. Then, in the early 1950’s, a Frenchman named Marc Gregoire (who was using Teflon to prevent his fishing lines from sticking) heard his wife […]

On Wednesday, I talked about the question “Why use email marketing?” The simple answer was “Because it works.” However, that leaves the question “Why does it work?” unanswered. There are a variety of factors that contribute to the overall success of email marketing, with one of the biggest being the fact that an email marketing campaign using an opt-in list is reaching a very targeted audience. If someone signs up for your email newsletter, decides to opt-in to your list in order to take advantage of a free offer or bonus or just to simply sign up as a user […]

In answer to the question “Should a blog be part of your marketing plan?” the answer is yes. There are millions of blogs on the internet today; most are of the personal variety, with the blogger writing about what they did that day or their favorite television show. But blogs are increasingly becoming a part of the online marketing world as well. With a blog, your business can achieve several things: Connect with your customers, both current and potential. Reach new customers that might not otherwise hear of you. Open a new line of communication with your customers. Help you […]

Inevitably, when the subject of email marketing comes up while deciding the marketing strategy for a business, the word “spam” is spoken, followed by “Why would we use email to market ourselves?” Because it works, that’s why. Your ROI (Return On Investment) with email marketing can easily be higher than any other form of marketing you do, provided you do it well. But don’t take my word for it…Datran Media conducted a survey of over 2,000 marketers in December 2007. Their results? Overall, 82 percent of the marketers surveyed by Datran Media indicated that they plan to increase their use […]

Constructing an effective email newsletter may seem to be an art, but there’s a good bit of science involved as well. Each article in your newsletter should answer the “Six W’s” known to all journalism students…Who, What, Where, When, Why and hoW…about their subject. However, there is one other question you need to answer is “Why should I care?” That is the big one. The first six won’t matter if you don’t show your subscribers why the subject is important to them. Don’t assume they will figure it out…make it clear. You may be offering an anecdote or tip that […]

When you have an opt-in newsletter for your website or blog, your focus is getting your subscriber number as high as you can. Obviously, the more people that receive your newsletter, the more effective it will be in helping your image and your business. However, there is one person that should be subscribing to your newsletter…the most important one. You. Why is it important to subscribe to your newsletter? Because that’s the only way you can get the “end-user” experience. This can be very valuable if you take the time to read your newsletter with a critical eye, and ask […]