An e-mail invitation to your Web site

You may or may not realize this, but every e-mail you send is a potential invitation to your Web site. Why? Because your e-mail address should contain your domain name (e.g. info@hiroadcommunications.com). And just as curiosity killed the cat, a simple e-mail can make the recipient curious enough about your firm to check out your site.

Far too many small businesses miss out on this opportunity by using the e-mail address of the ISP. This is a huge, HUGE mistake! Not only do you miss out on traffic to your Web site, but you leave the impression that you’re a little guy. And “little guys” being able to pass themselves off as “big guys” is one of the true advantages of the Internet.

Putting a value on "free"

Sure, it's the most powerful word in advertising, but the effectiveness of the word "free" really depends on what you're getting. If you've ever been to a yard sale and seen a big pile of stuff for free, you know exactly what I mean.

That's why companies offering "complimentary" visits and "free" consultations do themselves and their product a huge disservice by not reminding customers and clients the value of "free." If a new customer doesn't know an hour of your time costs $100 or a product costs $25, are they going to be more responsive or less responsive if they want to make a purchase or retain your services--especially if you just gave it away for nothing?

That's not to say a free consultation or sample is not a great way to introduce potential customers. Just remember that when you say "free" add some text saying, "ordinarily a $___ value," or something to that effect. This way you're still giving something away to lure business, but you're not devaluing your livelihood either.

Power dump

For you people with your mind in the trash, this is not what it sounds like. Well, in a way it is. While using Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express, you can permanently delete an e-mail by holding down the shift key and pressing “Delete”—bypassing the “Deleted Items” or “trash” altogether.

Most people are a little hesitant to empty their “Deleted Items” folder, even though they know 90 percent of what’s in there will never be needed. The other side of that is you don’t want to have thousands of items in that folder either. By “power deleting” items you know you’ll never need, like spam, the number of number of items in your “Deleted Items” folder grows at a much slower pace.

Sure, emptying your “Deleted Items” every two or three weeks compared to every week may not sound like much. But if it reduces your paranoia about permanently removing deleted items, it’s well worth it.

Your e-newsletter: news or nuisance?

A question anybody who puts out a newsletter should ask. Most folks in business receive enough e-mail without adding more to the in box unless it’s something that offers value. To make sure your newsletter doesn’t fall into the “Nuisance” category, you need to follow a few simple guidelines.

Make sure the focus of your articles is on things that actually affect your readers. Better yet, offer a solution to a problem they might encounter. For example, the article on Spell Check in this newsletter. While it may not be on the top 10 list of problems you might run into, it’s a nice-to-know feature that will help.

Do not oversell or even try to sell your services with your newsletter. The idea of the newsletter is to inform. By offering helpful advice and information, you are subtly selling your products or services by demonstrating your knowledge and expertise.

Keep it brief. As stated earlier, people have a limited time and attention span for most e-mail newsletters. Do not overwhelm them with 2000-word articles. Try to keep it under 500, even better if it’s between 100 and 300 words.

The death sentence to any e-mail newsletter is scrolling. So make sure to post longer articles you do offer on your Web site or blog with a link from the e-newsletter.

Always give readers the choice of opting out. You never want to be associated with spam. Unless you give readers the choice of receiving your newsletter, you will be.

Finally, don’t be offended if not everybody reads the articles in your newsletter. Ideally, that would be the case, but it’s not critical to the success of your newsletter. Just by publishing your newsletter, you’re putting your product or service to the front of the brain of your readers, even if that puts you in the “Deleted” folder.

Re-check your Spell Check

Have you ever used the same letter for more than one purpose? Of course! It’s silly not to use a good letter for a number of different purposes--as long as its tailored appropriately to the audience and you remember to proofread and spell check. Yet the spell check in your word processing program is exactly where this strategy can run afoul.

Spell check in Word doesn’t like to re-check words and rules it’s already checked. So when you re-use letters, it will only check what you’ve changed. So while you should always proofread whatever you send out, a fresh spell check is also a very good idea.

The spell check for both Microsoft Word and WordPerfect includes an "Options" button, which contains a "Re-check document" option. By clicking on "Re-check document," Spell Check treats your document as a new piece, which in your case is true.

So while you should always proof any piece before it goes out, a fresh spell check from scratch is just a good rule of thumb. You’d be surprised how many mistakes a fresh spell check, even after proofreading, can red flag.

What’s a picture really worth?

“A picture is worth a 1,000 words.” If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it 1,000 times. For those of us who write for a living, pictures don’t replace the words we write but give the words we do write a chance to sink in. How?

Pictures, images, even some of the very words we write used as pull-quotes improve readability. Instead of looking at a page entirely of text, the reader can pause a second to take in the picture or image. This lends favorably to the reader actually retaining something about what the written piece is about.

With people skimming through e-mails, newsletters, and articles at breakneck speed, adding images to a piece may not tell the entire story—but it will get the reader to slow down and maybe stay a short while, rather than clicking.

An Ugly Betty of a headline

Another trick copywriters use to write a punchy headline is to invoke some element of pop culture. The latest fad, a popular sitcom, even the number one hit on America’s top 40; all these make for handy attention-getters for your headline.

Case in point, a recent client’s client, an asphalt maintenance company, was holding an Ugliest Driveway contest. Not exactly a topic that lends to a mass audience. So, we came up with a headline that catered to a larger demographic:

“If Ugly Betty can win a Golden Globe, your “ugly driveway” can win you a luxury night out!”

That’s a bit more enticing than "Ugliest Driveway Contest, winner receives a luxury night out!” And since topics like driveway generally appeal to a more masculine audience, we made the headline more mainstream by including a show that’s very popular with women.

That’s not to say you want every headline to have some pop culture reference. Pick your spots. Just make sure it’s something that is fairly well known. A pop culture reference that’s not terribly well known or appropriate for a particular audience can really fall flat on its face.

A secret to protecting yourself against identity theft.

Proofreading. Sure, this may not do you much good against people stealing your mail or going through your trash. But it will absolutely serve you well to become an amateur proofreader to protect yourself against a form of identity theft know as phishing.

We’ve all received those e-mails supposedly from our bank or lending institution “warning” us of a breach of their system and asking you to log on and update your information. Now, if you just browse through these e-mails without thinking twice about the spelling or grammar mistakes you see, you just might click on the link and update. But if you read these missives carefully with your proofreader’s hat on, those typos and grammatical errors should raise a giant red flag.

Why? Lending institutions go through meticulous review processes before sending out anything to customers. Not that every single piece that goes out is flawless. It’s just extremely, extremely unlikely that there would be major typos or mistakes—e.g. saying “your” instead of “you’re”, etc.

So, when you see mistakes like that, you might want to phone the bank and ask them about the correspondence. Or click on the link and see if the name of the bank is actually in the url. Chances are it won’t be. Delete that e-mail immediately.

As a copywriter, you do tend to casually “proof” everything you read out of habit. While it may annoy some, it’s a habit that can serve you well in the business world. Yes, it can help you protect yourself from identity theft scams as in the example. It’s also a good lesson for your own e-mail correspondence.

All too often, people don’t take the time to give their e-mails a quick proof before hitting “send.” Consequently, punctuation, spelling, capitalization and other basic rules of grammar go out the window. Does this raise any major red flags cause you to lose any points? Depends on the person. The real question is, why risk it? Especially when it’s usually just reading something twice.

"How to" write headlines

No matter how much people might claim otherwise, we like to be told what to do. More accurately, how to do something. Particularly if it’s something we want or something we may want. That’s why headlines that contain “How to” seem to work better.

For example, what reads better to you:

How to improve your golf game

or

Improve your golf game

Both advertise the exact same thing. Yet “how to” implies somebody’s going to show you or teach you, while “improve” comes across like a command. It’s a subtle difference, but a difference nonetheless. And if you’re stuck for a headline, “How to [fill in the benefit offered]” works every time.

E-mail on the fritz? Mail2web.com can bail you out.

How many times have you gone to check your e-mail and something not worked? Either you’re not receiving one thing or unable to send something else. No matter how bug-free we think our e-mail setup might be, something always comes up. Thank goodness for Mail2web.com.

This free service allows you to enter your e-mail address and password and get your e-mails. It’s been a lifesaver of mine recently when a client’s e-mail server had some issues. What’s really nice is you can receive attachments no problem and set up the reply e-mail so the recipient can’t tell the difference.

Sure, most ISPs provide a site where you can pick up your e-mails. I’ve used those too and it’s usually worked out as well. Yet if you want a reliable backup plan to receive your e-mail, Mail2web.com is it.

Do “thank you” notes work?

Yes and no. As a means of expressing gratitude for (fill in the blank), absolutely. You simply can never say thank you enough. Yet do “thank you” notes gain you any favor or advantage. Possibly.

The problem with most “thank you” notes is they say little more than that. A “thank you” note is an opportunity to get the last word in a conversation, to enhance the impression the recipient has of you or your company. A form letter just doesn’t get that done.

Handwriting a “thank you” note can do the trick. It shows you put a little more effort into the note than a cut-and-paste. But if you want to top off a “thank you” note with a grander gesture, some sort of free offering can make the impression you’re looking for. If you’re in business, sharing some of your wisdom and tricks of the trade is not a bad road to go.

Now, we’re not talking about giving away secret family recipes. But if your company offers white papers, special reports, even recent copies of your newsletter, send a link or include a copy with your note. Ask for their opinion on the piece. Anything you can do to enhance the lasting memory of you and your company is worth including in a “thank you” note. You may only get one chance to make a first impression, but you have just as many chances to create a lasting one. A “thank you” note done right can wedge your foot in the door just enough to kick it open.

READ THIS…please

Getting people to at least open your e-mails has become like leading the proverbial horse to water. You can send the e-mail to the horse. The horse might even be really thirsty and expecting your trough of refreshments, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll drink, er open up the e-mail.

By now, most e-mail readers ignore “Read Request” notifications. Ditto marking an e-mail “High Priority.” So, what’s left?

Like leaving a detailed voice mail message, you can do the same with the subject line of your e-mail. Be as specific as possible with your subject line so the recipient knows why you’re writing. A colleague of mine has even taken to writing “ALERT” and other short descriptive phrases in caps at the beginning of the subject line to get people to read important e-mails. It may sound a bit hokey, and read that way, too, but it can work. And if the bottom line is to get them to read the e-mail, does it really matter? Not a lick.