While you are incorporating all of your Black Internet Marketing Tips and making lots of money, make sure you improve the aesthetics of your Google Mail inbox. Yesterday, Google unveiled themes to help you with your INBOX FENG SUI!

To get there go to your Themes Tab Underneath the Settings option. 

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The importance of your email list is extremely important.  Building a list, nurturing it, and yes… making money from it should be a high priority of yours.

So you’ve worked extremely hard to get traffic to your site.  A mix of Natural organic traffic and paid traffic campaigns has elevated those unique visitors.  What should you include in your marketing plan?  Yep, you guessed it… email marketing.

Email marketing is basically setting up a list of emails of site visitors that have visited your site.  You know they have an interest in your topic… or at least you are sure they have a PROBABLE interest in your site niche topic.  So the next best thing is to acquire that email address to stay in touch with willing email recipients. 

This type of marketing allows:

1. Multiple “touches”.  You may not sell your product or service to them on the first site visit.  Now, you can “Touch” them again with a series of marketing mails.
2. ROI.  Yes, in a way, if you paid to get site visitors to your site, then acquiring an email from them allows you to possibly sell an item to them in the future… allowing you to possibly recover the cost of getting them to your site!
3. Cross Promotion.  You may be able to sell another product or service to your site visitor/email recipient. 

There are multiple other reasons why building a good list is extremely important.  I use Aweber.com to:

• build my lists
• pre-load strategic autoresponder messages to the list recipients
• handle double opt-in features to comply with SPAM Act
• Segment my list according to open, sign ups, conversions, and more
• handle post-purchase communication to my client base.
• handle sign-up form creation, so that I can easily embed the forms in my pages.

Lastly, Aweber also has a great forum and blog, that gives tips and tutorials on how to increase the number of people on your list, and ways to strategically market to that list. 

Check out Aweber.com and read through some of the features of their services.  Check out the blogs and forums and learn.  Then sign up and use the service to start building your lists.  You will find that nurturing those lists are the key to staying in touch with your web site visitors and eventually, providing valuable products and services to them while increasing your bottom line revenue. 

Click here to visit aweber! … or even BETTER yet…

Try the free trial below!

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Starting in May and June of 2008, I started to notice Statistics for my keywords increasing for terms such as “Jason Lary”, “Lithonia concert”, “Lithonia Concert Series”, and several other variations.

To anyone outside of the Atlanta, GA metro area, these keywords may not mean much. But for Atlanta, this means a Jazz series that has brought the Likes of Jonathan Butler, KEM, Alex Bugnon, (SPELLING??? ) and more! I had advertised and promoted the Lithonia Concert Series for the promoter, Jason Lary over the past few years on our other site… www.BlackAtlanta.com

As you can see in the following Google screen shot taken 6/14/08, we have the great positioning for his name and the concert series keywords:

(Also, his website for LithoniaConcerts.com looks like it is down. I have attempted, in goodwill and steward to contact him, but can’t reach him to offer assistance)

His site being down, makes my site get a number of hits. THIS IS WHY it is important to always be on your stats.

It happens to be that the new rude Mayor of Lithonia, GA got in the way of Jason getting his business license to have the concert series. For us on BlackAtlanta.com, it offered an opportunity to inform our general public of this and any further miracles of him being able to pull off the concert.

So what did we do in reaction to our Search engine position and the traffic coming to the site.

1. Found the OLD page on the old website of ours (archived) that was generating the traffic
2. Inserted an Aweber.com form asking our site visitors if they wanted to get more information as we get it.

What happens next? Well, I program Aweber to send a series of Autoresponders to our Jazz Concert Lovers…. Never know, we may be able to liaise with them on other Jazz Concerts.

Turns out… Our Autoresponse email gets some response. (Email addresses below are mine only)

The benefit here is that I am able to provide a service to those users who are coming to my site out of desperation of not being to find this concert icon, while building my potential list. As you can see above, this person is such a fan of the series that she is offering a PETITION.

STAY ON TOP of your analytics, and RESPOND! It could mean the difference of making a dime… Or a dollar!

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The concept of the follow up autoresponder revolutionized Internet Marketing. Now, “Auto Message Setup” promises to bring the field an even greater degree of efficiency.

This recent innovation lets experienced marketers painlessly transfer marketing know-how to their entire downlines. A marketer can now provide each of his downline representatives with a follow up autoresponse system that is already packaged with the marketer’s pre-written messages.

The result? Just a few minutes of work on the part of an experienced marketer, and each of his reps is set up with the same tried and true marketing messages.

Case Study: Marketer Matt and the New Breed

For example, take a look at the case of a fictional network marketer named Matt M:

For years, Matt has been successfully marketing All Natural Pharmaceuticals using a follow up autoresponder. In fact, much of his success can be attributed to the set of seven messages e-mailed to all of his potential customers. Matt has carefully crafted those messages over the years, and they’re really great.

Recently, Matt has been trying to pass what he’s learned along to his downline representatives. He explains his marketing principles over the phone, and he knows that several of his reps pass his follow up messages around amongst themselves.

However, Matt finds that his pearls of wisdom rarely survive this ‘telling and retelling’ intact. He knows his reps aren’t getting anywhere near what they could out of his knowledge. He wishes there were a way to harness today’s technology, and put it to use for the greater good of his downline…

Enter Auto Message Setup

Using an Auto Message Setup system, Matt’s downline reps can order their own follow up autoresponse accounts that are already packaged with Matt’s pre-written messages. They can reap the fruits of Matt’s experience with ease.

Each rep will customize Matt’s messages for himself by logging in to his new follow up autoresponder account, and entering his own contact information.

Here is Matt’s original autoresponse message:

Hi LEAD NAME,

Thanks for stopping by the All Natural Pharmaceuticals web site today! We hope you come back soon!

Best Regards, Matt M.
matt@all-natural-pharma.com 918 Awl St.
Natural, PA 22314

Notice that the message greeting uses a variable, (LEAD NAME). The variable ensures that each of Matt’s leads will receive a message personalized with his or her own name. Notice, also, that Matt’s name and address are at the end of the message.

Case Study: Downline Dan and the New Breed

Dan is one of Matt’s downline representatives. He’s ordered his own follow up autoresponder through Matt. Since Matt is using Auto Message Setup, Dan’s account came pre-packaged with Matt’s marketing messages. Dan personalized those messages to himself by answering a few questions in his Online Control Panel. Now Dan is sending his own personalized version of Matt’s messages to his customers! All of the basic content is Matt’s, but Dan’s contact information is on the letters. Here is the autoresponse that Dan sends to his potential customers:

Hi, LEAD NAME

Thanks for stopping by the All Natural Pharmaceuticals web site today! We hope you come back soon!

Best Regards, Dan D.
dan@pharma-ceuticals.com 5 Farm Way
Sootuh, TN 88457

Notice that the contact name and address at the end of the e-mail are Dan’s, but that the greeting at the beginning of the message still includes the name of Dan’s lead.

Mission Accomplished

With Matt’s experience in hand, Dan is now marketing more successfully than ever before. And he isn’t the only one – Matt’s entire downline is now using his marketing messages! Matt’s commissions are growing exponentially.

Matt and Dan’s situation is not unique. Any network marketer with an established downline can take advantage of the opportunities available in an auto message setup system. There’s no better way to put more auto in your autoresponder.

Beka Ruse fights spam as the Business Development Manager at AWeber Communications. Ad tracking, live stats, and a strict anti-spam policy. Automated E-Mail Follow Up From AWeber.

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So someone emailed me yesterday asking for the best, and most inexpensive way to send out their newsletter list.  BUT, here were the requirements.

• Must allow her to upload her list of 4,000 people
• Must allow her to send HTML and regular text email to her clients and past customers
• Must allow her to create multiple lists
• Must allow her to do all of this inexpensively.

Now, there are multiple options out there.  One that I love is Aweber.  Now, Aweber,  may not be the solution for her immediately.  While she can do all of the above for under $20 a month, all of her list is going to have to OPT IN which means that they will have to Click on a link in an email and prove to AWEBER that they WANT to receive her email newsletters. 

That is not a bad thing… in fact, it is great to minimize the complaints that the Spam Act requires.  However, if these were indeed her clients and customers and she can prove they wanted her newsletter or signed up with it in another opportunity, then the best way for her to do this is with PHPList.

Why?

PHPList is FREE… and can be run on servers for under $10 per month.  Here is their summary from the PHPlist vendor website…

“phplist is an open-source newsletter manager. phplist is free to download, install and use, and is easy to integrate with any website. phplist is downloaded more than 10 000 times per month and is listed in the top open source projects for vitality score on Freshmeat. phplist is sponsored by tincan. 
 phplist’s 30+ feature set includes:

double opt-in subscription mechanism
scheduling
RSS
list segmentation
click-tracking
attachments
bounce management  ”

Now… with this she is going to be able to Upload her emails and send them out in HTML format, AND she is going to be able to know what URL’s in the email were clicked on and get her message out. 

Now, to do this for UNDER $10 a month.

1.  Get a Hostgator.com account.  Click here and select the plan for $9.95 a month. Get the BABY shared hosting account or email me for me to walk you through it.  Put in the coupon code “jury” to ONLY pay one penny for the first month.

2.  get your account and go to Fantastico. Install it in about 5 MOUSE CLICKS and upload your emails. 

3.  Start sending out emails shortly afterwards! 

Now, the con with this way is that most web hosting servers will have a Throttle, meaning that you can only send like 1 email per six seconds. 

Other than that, you have a MACHINE that is sending out newsletters and helping you to stay in touch with your clients.  I am available to discuss the pros and cons of different email deliverability clients.  Please feel free to email me at brandon@blackinternetmarketing.com where we can set up an appointment for advanced consulting as necessary. 

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The concept of the follow up autoresponder revolutionized Internet Marketing. Now, “Auto Message Setup” promises to bring the field an even greater degree of efficiency.

This recent innovation lets experienced marketers painlessly transfer marketing know-how to their entire downlines. A marketer can now provide each of his downline representatives with a follow up autoresponse system that is already packaged with the marketer’s pre-written messages.

The result? Just a few minutes of work on the part of an experienced marketer, and each of his reps is set up with the same tried and true marketing messages.

Case Study: Marketer Matt and the New Breed

For example, take a look at the case of a fictional network marketer named Matt M:

For years, Matt has been successfully marketing All Natural Pharmaceuticals using a follow up autoresponder. In fact, much of his success can be attributed to the set of seven messages e-mailed to all of his potential customers. Matt has carefully crafted those messages over the years, and they’re really great.

Recently, Matt has been trying to pass what he’s learned along to his downline representatives. He explains his marketing principles over the phone, and he knows that several of his reps pass his follow up messages around amongst themselves.

However, Matt finds that his pearls of wisdom rarely survive this ‘telling and retelling’ intact. He knows his reps aren’t getting anywhere near what they could out of his knowledge. He wishes there were a way to harness today’s technology, and put it to use for the greater good of his downline…

Enter Auto Message Setup

Using an Auto Message Setup system, Matt’s downline reps can order their own follow up autoresponse accounts that are already packaged with Matt’s pre-written messages. They can reap the fruits of Matt’s experience with ease.

Each rep will customize Matt’s messages for himself by logging in to his new follow up autoresponder account, and entering his own contact information.

Here is Matt’s original autoresponse message:

Hi LEAD NAME,Thanks for stopping by the All Natural Pharmaceuticals web site today! We hope you come back soon!

Best Regards, Matt M.
matt@all-natural-pharma.com 918 Awl St.
Natural, PA 22314

Notice that the message greeting uses a variable, (LEAD NAME). The variable ensures that each of Matt’s leads will receive a message personalized with his or her own name. Notice, also, that Matt’s name and address are at the end of the message.

Case Study: Downline Dan and the New Breed

Dan is one of Matt’s downline representatives. He’s ordered his own follow up autoresponder through Matt. Since Matt is using Auto Message Setup, Dan’s account came pre-packaged with Matt’s marketing messages. Dan personalized those messages to himself by answering a few questions in his Online Control Panel. Now Dan is sending his own personalized version of Matt’s messages to his customers! All of the basic content is Matt’s, but Dan’s contact information is on the letters. Here is the autoresponse that Dan sends to his potential customers:

Hi, LEAD NAMEThanks for stopping by the All Natural Pharmaceuticals web site today! We hope you come back soon!

Best Regards, Dan D.
dan@pharma-ceuticals.com 5 Farm Way
Sootuh, TN 88457

Notice that the contact name and address at the end of the e-mail are Dan’s, but that the greeting at the beginning of the message still includes the name of Dan’s lead.

Mission Accomplished

With Matt’s experience in hand, Dan is now marketing more successfully than ever before. And he isn’t the only one – Matt’s entire downline is now using his marketing messages! Matt’s commissions are growing exponentially.

Matt and Dan’s situation is not unique. Any network marketer with an established downline can take advantage of the opportunities available in an auto message setup system. There’s no better way to put more auto in your autoresponder.

Beka Ruse fights spam as the Business Development Manager at AWeber Communications. Ad tracking, live stats, and a strict anti-spam policy. Automated E-Mail Follow Up From AWeber.

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But, after you’ve delivered that first bit of information to your prospect, do you send him any further information?

If you are like most Internet marketers, you don’t.

When you don’t follow that initial message with additional information later on, you let a valuable prospect slip from your grasp! This is a potential customer who may have been very interested in your products, but who lost your contact information, or was too busy to make a purchase when your first message reached him. Often, a prospect will purposely put off making a purchase, to see if you find him important enough to follow up with later. When he doesn’t receive a follow up message from you, he will take his business elsewhere.

Are you losing profits due to inconsistent and ineffective follow up?

Following up with leads is more than just a process – it’s an art. In order to be effective, you need to design a follow up system, and stick to it, EVERY DAY! If you don’t follow up with your prospects consistently, INDIVIDUALLY, and in a timely fashion, then you might as well forget the whole follow up process.

Consistent follow up gets results!

When I first started marketing and following up with prospects, I used a follow up method that I now call the “List Technique.” I had a large database containing the names and e-mail addresses of people who had specifically requested information about my products and services. These prospects had already received my first letter by the time they requested more information, so I used the company’s latest news as a follow up piece. I would write follow up newsletters every now and then, and send them, in one mass mailing, to everyone who had previously requested information from me. While this probably did help me win a few additional orders, it wasn’t a very good follow up method. Why isn’t the “List Technique” very effective?

• The List Technique isn’t consistent. Proponents of the List Technique tend to only send out follow up messages when their companies have “big news”.
• List Technique messages don’t give the potential customer any additional information about the product or service in question. He can’t make a more informed buying decision after receiving a newsletter! If someone is wondering whether your company sells the best knick-knacks, what does he care that you’ve just moved your headquarters?
• List Technique messages convey a “big list” mentality to your potential customers. When I used to write follow up messages using the List Technique, I was writing news bulletins to everyone I knew! I should have been sending a personal message to each individual who wanted to know more about my products.

What follow up method really works?

Following up with each lead individually, multiple times, but at set intervals, and with pre-written messages, will dramatically increase sales! Others who use this same technique confirm that they have all at least doubled the sales of various products! In order to set this system up, though, you need to do some planning.

First, you’ll need to develop your follow up messages. If you’ve been marketing on the Internet for any length of time, then you should already have a first informative letter. Your second letter marks the beginning of the follow up process, and should go into more detail than the first letter. Fill this letter with details that you didn’t have the space to add to the first letter. Stress the BENEFITS of your products or services!

Your next 2-3 follow up messages should be rather short. Include lists of the benefits and potential uses of your products and services. Write each letter so that your prospects can skim the contents, and still see the full force of your message.

The next couple of follow up messages should create a sense of urgency in your prospect’s mind. Make a special offer, giving him a reason to order NOW instead of waiting any longer. After reading these follow up messages, your prospect should want to order immediately!

Phrase each of your final 1 or 2 follow up messages in the form of a question. Ask your prospect why he hasn’t yet placed an order? Try to get him to actually respond. Ask if the price is to high, the product isn’t the right color or doesn’t have the right features, or if he is looking for something else entirely. (By this time, it’s unlikely that this person will order from you. However, his feedback can help you modify your follow up letters or products, so that other prospects will order from you.)

The timing of your follow up letters is just as important as their content. You don’t want one prospect to receive a follow up the day after he gets your initial informative letter, while another prospect waits weeks for a follow up!

Always send an initial, informative letter as soon as it is requested, and send the first follow up 24 hours afterwards. You want your hot prospects to have information quickly, so that they can make informed buying decisions!

Send the next 2-3 follow up messages between 1 and 3 days apart. Your prospect is still hot, and is probably still shopping around! Tell him about the benefits of your products and services, as opposed to your competitors’. You will make the sale!

Send the final follow up messages later on. You certainly don’t want to annoy your prospect! Make sure that these last letters are at least 4 days apart.

Following up effectively seems complicated, but it doesn’t have to be! So many potential customers are lost because of poor follow up – don’t you want to be one of the few to get it right?

Tom Kulzer, CEO and Founder of Newtown, PA based AWeber Communications, Inc. an opt-in email service provider. With 7 years managing opt-in follow up and newsletters for small businesses, email deliverability is an integral part of day to day operations. Learn more: http://www.AWeber.com and http://www.DeliveryMonitor.com

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Think of banner ads as the spice in your affiliate diet. Sprinkle them around, but for a heartier helping of sales, you’ll need something more solid! Learn to give your visitors longer, more descriptive pre-sales text. Revamp your affiliate advertising using these simple steps:

• Pull the Reader in
• Introduce the Product
• Explain the Product’s Significance
• Tell the Reader to Make a Purchase

Pull the Reader in

To convince your audience that your text is worth reading, make your first sentence or two very interesting. Make a bold statement, say something seemingly ridiculous, or appeal to your prospect’s emotional side. Then, tie this grabber in with the rest of your copy.

Introduce the Product

What is the product you’re advertising? What does it do? Directly after your grabber, give a compact explanation of your product. Keep this explanation short, while still being very clear. This should still be a very short section of your text.

Explain the Product’s Significance

What will it do for me?

By writing your own copy, you can directly target your unique audience. Make the most of this opportunity! Clearly explain how your readers will benefit from this product.

No one knows your audience like you do. Suggest a variety of product uses just for them, and give examples. This is the time for details – make this section long and rich.

Tell the Reader to Make a Purchase

You’ve come so far – you’ve laid out exactly what the product is and how it will help your unique audience. Now, seal the deal – tell your readers to purchase the product! Include your affiliate link in this section.

This step may sound strange, but it’s necessary. Often, people hear about a product and are genuinely interested, but fail to actually make a purchase. A clear call to a simple action cuts down on buyer ambivalence. Don’t be pushy – just change your verb tenses to the imperative. Instead of:

“If you think that you fit this profile, you might want to think about buying this product.”

Say: “Click here to order an account today.”

Drive Sales – Use Long Copy
If you don’t feel ready to write long copy yourself, ask your affiliate program manager for help! Many companies release well-written articles by respected authors that you can reprint free of charge.

The novelty of the Web is wearing off. People online now are busy. Surfers won’t make a purchase unless you make a great case for what they’ll get out of it. And you’re not going to do that with just a banner ad.

Beka Ruse fights spam as the Business Development Manager at AWeber Communications. Ad tracking, live stats, and a strict anti-spam policy. Automated E-Mail Follow Up From AWeber.

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In 1936, long before the rise of the personal computer, Hormel Foods created SPAM. In 2002, the company will produce it’s six billionth can of the processed food product. But that mark was passed long ago in the world of Internet spam.

• Who Cooked This!? (How did it all start?)
• Why Does Bad Spam Happen to Good People?
• Stop The Flood to Your Inbox
• Stay Off Spammed Lists in the Future
• Think You’re Not a Spammer? Be Sure.
• The Final Blow

The modern meaning of the word “spam” has nothing to do with spiced ham. In the early 1990′s, a skit by British comedy group Monty Python led to the word’s common usage. “The SPAM Skit” follows a couple struggling to order dinner from a menu consisting entirely of Hormel’s canned ham.

Repetition is key to the skit’s hilarity. The actors cram the word “SPAM” into the 2.5 minute skit more than 104 times! This flood prompted Usenet readers to call unwanted newsgroup postings “spam.” The name stuck.

Spammers soon focused on e-mail, and the terminology moved with them. Today, the word has come out of technical obscurity. Now, “spam” is the common term for “Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail”, or “UCE.”

Chances are, you’ve been spammed before. Somehow, your e-mail address has found it’s way into the hands of a spammer, and your inbox is suffering the consequences. How does this happen? There are several possibilities.

Backstabbing Businesses
Businesses often keep lists of their customers’ e-mail addresses. This is a completely legitimate practice and, usually, nothing bad comes of it. Sometimes though, the temptation to make a quick buck is too great, and these lists are sold or rented to outside advertisers. The result? A lot of unsolicited e-mail, and a serious breach of trust.

Random Address Generation
Computer programs called random address generators simply “guess” e-mail addresses. Over 100 million hotmail addresses exist – howhard could it be to guess some of them? Unfortunately for many unsuspecting netizens – not too hard. Many spammers also guess at
“standard” addresses, like “support@yourdomain.com”,
“info@yourdomain.com”, and “billing@yourdomain.com.”

Web Spiders
Today’s most insidious list-gathering tools are web spiders. All of the major search engines spider the web, saving information about each page. Spammers use tools that also spider the web, but save any e-mail address they come across. Your personal web page lists your e-mail address? Prepare for an onslaught!

Chat Room Harvesting
ISP’s offer vastly popular chat rooms where users are known only by their screen names. Of course, spammers know that your screen name is the first part of your e-mail address. Why waste time guessing e-mail addresses when a few hours of lurking in a chat room can net a list of actively-used addresses?

The Poor Man’s Bad Marketing Idea
It didn’t work for the phone companies, and it won’t work for e-mail marketers. But, some spammers still keep their own friends-and-family-style e-mail lists. Compiled from the addresses of other known spammers, and people or businesses that the owner has come across in the past, these lists are still illegitimate. Why? Only you can give someone permission to send you e-mail. A friend-of-a-friend’s permission won’t cut it.

Stop The Flood to Your Inbox

Already drowning in spam? Try using your e-mail client’s filters – many provide a way to block specific e-mail addresses. Each time you’re spammed, block the sender’s address. Spammers skip from address to address, and you may be on many lists, but this method will at least slow the flow.

Also, use more than one e-mail address, and keep one “clean.” Many netizens find that this technique turns the spam flood into a trickle. Use one address for only spam-safe activities like e-mailing your friends, or signing on with trustworthy businesses. Never use your clean address on the web! Get a free address to use on the web and in chat rooms.

If nothing else helps, consider changing screen names, or opening an entirely new e-mail account. When you do, you’ll start with a clean, spam-free slate. This time, protect your e-mail address!

Stay Off Spammed Lists in the Future

Want to surf the web without getting sucked into the spam-flood? Prevention is your best policy. Don’t use an easy-to-guess e-mail address. Keep your address clean by not using it for spam-centric activities. Don’t post it on any web pages, and don’t use it in chat rooms or newsgroups.

Before giving your clean e-mail address to a business, check the company out. Are sections of its user agreement dedicated to anti-spam rules? Does a privacy policy explain exactly what will be done with your address? The most considerate companies also post an anti-spam policy written in plain English, so you can be absolutely sure of what you’re getting into.

Think You’re Not a Spammer? Be Sure.

Many a first-time marketer has inadvertently spammed his audience. The first several hundred complaints and some nasty phone messages usually stop him in his tracks. But by then, the spammer may be faced with cleanup bills from his ISP, and a bad reputation that it’s not easy to overcome.

The best way to avoid this situation is to have a clear understanding of what spam is: If anyone who receives your mass e-mails did not specifically ask to hear from you, then you are spamming them.

Stick with your gut. Don’t buy a million addresses for $10, no matter how much the seller swears by them! If something sounds fishy, just say no. You’ll save yourself a lot in the end.

The Final Blow

The online world is turning the tide on spam. In the end, people will stop sending spam because it stops working. Do your part: never buy from a spammer. When your business seeks out technology companies with which to work, only choose those with a staunch anti-spam stance.

Spam has a long history in both the food and e-mail sectors. This year, Hormel Foods opened a real-world museum dedicated to SPAM. While the museum does feature the Monty Python SPAM Skit, there’s no word yet on an unsolicited commercial e-mail exhibit. But, if all upstanding netizens work together, Hormel’s ham in a can will far outlive the Internet plague that is UCE.

Beka Ruse fights spam as the Business Development Manager at AWeber Communications. Ad tracking, live stats, and a strict anti-spam policy: Automated E-Mail Follow Up From AWeber. http://www.aweber.com/?283525

References:
Hormel Foods, Virtual Press Kit, www.hormelfoods.com
Microsoft Corporation, MSN Hotmail Fun Facts, www.microsoft.com

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The future of customer service is here. Technology has made seeking out support faster and easier than ever. But, has your digital age company sacrificed true service in the name of automation?

Today, finding customer support is as simple as writing an e-mail or picking up the phone. But, even though you’re not face-to-face with your customers, you still leave a lasting impression. Do you come across as caring and competent, or menacing and mechanical?

Offering stand-out service on the Internet isn’t as hard as it is rare. Take these simple steps towards old-style service in the digital age:

Give Each Customer a Personal Response
Be Clear, But Sincere
Offer Live Customer Support
Make Sure Your Support Reps Have All the Answers

Give Each Customer a Personal Response

When a customer sits down to e-mail your company, it’s because he needs help. He chooses e-mail because it’s quick, but his request still warrants a satisfying and personal response!

Companies eager to save time and money often take automation too far in their customer support. Each customer has a unique question, and deserves a unique answer. Even if you save time by copying and pasting stock replies, change the opening and closing to make the message sound less robotic.

Be Clear, But Sincere

When responding to customers’ e-mail, be sincere and to the point. Before sending a message, try turning the tables. Ask yourself, “Would this answer satisfy me if I were the customer?”

Take that extra moment to give your customer the help he deserves. It might mean the difference between a satisfied customer and a credit card chargeback!

Offer Live Customer Support

E-mail has become an acceptable form of communication. But, live customer support is still necessary. The plethora of information available online can be overwhelming to customers, especially those new to the Internet!

Single your company out from the crowd by providing customers with a real person to talk to. Live phone support is an invaluable way to foster trust. When your customer has reached the end of his Internet rope, and just needs help, your toll free number is the answer he’s looking for.

Make Sure Your Support Reps Have All The Answers

The presence of phone support will do no good if your staff doesn’t know your product! Customer support reps should be warm and friendly, and willing to help with any aspect of your product.

What a good feeling it is to talk to someone who feels confident in his product. It’s even better if he’s knowledgeable enough to solve your problem without transferring you all around the company!

Provide Stand-Out Service;  Gain Lifelong Customers

Too many e-businesses skimp on customer service, hiding behind web sites and message boards. Customer support is an integral part of every company, even those operating solely online. Be one of the few to offer stellar service, and gain customers for life!

Customer Service is becoming a lost art, but Sean Cohen wants to make sure that never happens at AWeber Communications! Find out what service is meant to be.

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