Archive for December, 2008

I just published an article on my email marketing blog about scams and “special offers” some unscrupulous Internet domain registrars are using to trick unsuspecting business owners in transferring their precious business assets – their registered domain names – to a new registrar.

Please read to my full article called Beware of Domain Registration Scams and “Special” Offers from Unscrupulous Registrars.

If you have any questions about registering domain names, give me a call: Boris 905-844-4247

I just added a cool feature on our blog: now you can follow comments via RSS. Previously, you were only able to get new articles and other blog posts, but not the comments members make on an individual post.

If you don’t use RSS, you can still get updates on individual blog posts by email. To do this simply check the box where it says “Send me new comments via e-mail.”

See attached image.

BTW, in order to see the comments you must either a) click on a blog post title or b) “comments” link right next to the post author’s name, just below the blog post title.

Join the conversation, or just listen in – the tools are there, for you.

If there’s a snowstorm on Friday, should we cancel the meeting? Please comment.

Looks like we should be OK – let’s party!

Are you prepared for this holiday season in terms of sending holiday greeting cards?

Years ago I signed up with this on line service called Send Out Cards. Are you familiar with them? You can create your own cards or use one from a library of 15,000 stock card designs. The best feature I like is that I can create one “campaign card” and then send it to dozens or hundreds of people with a click of a mouse.

Each card is then personalized with the person’s name, and the message itself can be in you handwriting – yep, they digitize your handwriting into a font which you can then use. You can have as many as 4 different signatures.

If you have a list of clients, you can create your own design by uploading an image, then send an actual greeting card, in an envelope to each recipient. SOC prints the cards on demand, stuffs the envelopes, puts a stamp on and mails them for you – you never have to leave your PC to send cards.

This also is a business opportunity, you could get a distributor package and you can then sign up other people – this can be a part-time business and a source of additional, recurring income, as you get paid royalties.

I use this to easily send cards to both family and friends, as well as clients.

You can even add gift cards (Tim Hortons, Starbucks, etc.) and real gifts such as books, cookies, candy, etc.

The cost of sending one stock postcard is $0.31! plus regular postage! Stock greeting cards are $0.62 and if you create your own custom greeting card the cost is $0.93 — that’s cheaper that Dollar Store prices!

If you’re interested, please call me, I can create an account for you over the phone. If you’d like to learn more, please visit GrowBizWithPostcards.com

If you do decide to sign up, the one-time fee is $99 – but I will help you by filling up your “postage account” with enough postage to send 50 cards! Plus, I’ll help with setting things up!
Call Boris to discuss: 905-844-4247

Our 60-second info-mercials are a quick reminder that we use to jog each member’s memory about us and our products or services every other week.

Here’s another way we can help each other recommend us more confidently: offer “social proof” about you in the form of client testimonials. A properly worded and formatted testimonial is a great way you can say: “Here’s what others think about me and my business.”

A good testimonial must have the person’s real name as a minimum, because those “B.M. from Oakville” really don’t cut it anymore in today’s cynical world. If it’s from a client, ask them if you can also include their business name as well – this will also work for them as a small advertisement.

How to collect testimonials:

1. handwritten/typed letters or cards
2. voice mail or recorded audio testimonials
3. emails of praise you receive – ask the sender for their permission to use as a testimonial
4. some online networking sites have a “Recommend” feature, such as these on Linkedin, if you’re a member, ask your contacts and clients to endorse you.
5. regardless of the original form of the testimonial, you can post in to your blog site, or web site

Once you have testimonials organized on your web site or blog, give us the link to them so we can include it when communicating with someone who we think might be a good referral for you. For example, to recommend Boris, the Email Marketing guy, you can send an email with a link to all of Boris’ testimonials or just the one , like this recent one.

If you have any ideas, please enter them as comments to this article!

Consider the members of our networking group as your extended sales team: We are here to promote you and your business, find leads for you, and ultimately, refer our clients, customers, friends, associates and neighbours to you.

I’d like to propose that we – and it should be an option, not a requirement – offer some sort of incentive to our members if they buy something from us themselves. This incentive can be in a form of:

• straight discount: e.g. 10% on all orders
• added value: free added service or product which normally sells separately
• a free Chapters gift card as a thank-you

For my part, I am happy to offer the following to all our members:

• a straight 10% discount on all email marketing services.
• if you sign up with one of my preferred Email Service Providers, such as ConstantContact, or MadMimi I will throw in a free ESP account set up – a value of US$199
• and finally, you will be paying in Canadian dollars, while all my other clients pay in US currency, which currently translates to a 20% discount!

Please comment and add your own thoughts, and ways that you have decided to “award” our members, if any.