WordPress automates most of the marketing functions needed to promote your business. It also offers a fast, easy way to publish content with no technical skills.
WordPress is a recent software development that is revolutionizing the way websites are created. Old-style “static” and “brochureware” websites are now considered “whip and buggy” artifacts from the early days of the Internet.
Websites created with WordPress offer huge advantages in web marketing. Since WordPress automates most marketing functions, it frees you up to devote your time to creating valuable content for your prospects. And, WordPress enables you to quickly and easily publish that that valuable content with no technical skills.
Automated Marketing
WordPress Automated Marketing Functions promote your content and business throughout all areas of the Internet using Read more
Good advice for any action you ask people to take online is “Don’t Make Me Think!”
Here how to add YOUR message and encourage people to share your content on their social media site.
When you click on one of the Share buttons below, you will see how a message is Pre-Populated. (This one is about an E-mail Webinar I presented.)
Below the button bar I show the code for each site. The button on the right enables sharing on other sites.
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Code for Pre-Populated Message – Sharing onSocial Media sites:
LinkedIn
http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=http://www.enewsletters.org/Email_Marketing_FREE_Webinar.htm&title=Integrate%20Email%20+%20Social%20Media%20+%20Blog%20Marketing&source=eNewsletter.org
Twitter
http://twitter.com/home?status=Free Webinar Email Marketing Integrated with Soxcial Media and Blog Marketing- http://www.enewsletters.org/Email_Marketing_FREE_Webinar.htm
Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.enewsletters.org/Email_Marketing_FREE_Webinar.htm&t=Integrate%20Email,%20+%20Social%20Media%20+%20and%20Blog%20Marketing
21 Tips to Boost E-mail “Opens” and Response by 35% to 85% – PLUS: Benchmark Open Rates
I’m often asked “Is our Open Rate high, low, average, or what?” And “How can we increase our Open Rates?”
The average Open Rate for Association Email is BELOW 25% (see chart below). That means that 75% of your members are NOT EVEN SEEING your email messages!
Here are 21 E-mail Best Practices that will Boost Your Response and Revenue.
7 Ways to Get More E-mail Delivered
- Use smaller, ‘White Listed’ e-mail transmission vendors. Continually test vendors to select the ones offering the best delivery.
- Use only dedicated IP addresses.
- Avoid attachments. Instead, host the attachment and make it available with a link.
- Run your HTML, plain text version AND Mobile Device version through a SPAM Checker.
- Monitor Hard Bounces, attempt to resend for 24 hours, then in an additional transmission. Then, eliminate hard bounces from subsequent sends. Snail-mail and fax requests for updated e-mail addresses.
- Add “White List Request” note on all correspondence, asking that your “From” e-mail address be White-listed by the individual.
- Protect your White List status and comply with CAN/SPAM Act. Offer and honor “unsubscribe” requests.
4 Ways to Get More E-mail Opened Read more
Martin Thomas of Purlem (847-445-4188 – Personal URL Marketing) offers this example of using a Personal URL (PURL) as a Response Device to increase response. The video below offers a free test and more information on how these work. PURL e-mail and snail mail are definitely worth testing to increase your ROI and engage more members. Read more
Are you wondering how important it is to offer Valuable, Relevant Content to your members? The type of content that will engage more members … content that is REMARK-able?
In this video, Ashley DeVecht, Associate Editor at Imagination Publishing describes how they boosted member participation and solved a marketing challenge by creating Valuable Content. Read more
Google just launched Google Buzz as a way to compete with Social Media sites.
I watched this video last night (Feb. 10th) and it had been viewed 474 times. When I saw it this morning, it had been viewed 324, 570 times! The power of Google! Read more
Many key marketing functions can be automated with WordPress Plugins, Settings and Services. You’ll boost traffic, increase conversions and revenue with automation doing some of the heavy marketing lifting for you. The BIG BONUS is that you can be freed-up to create valuable, remarkable content for your readers when these functions are automated.
Automate these Marketing Functions…
Two plugins and one setting will automate these 3 key functions to help you optimize SERP placement (that’s placement on the Search Engine Results Page):
- On-page Search Engine Optimization
- Create XML sitemaps for search engine submission
- Update XML sitemaps for search engine submission
- Search Submission for new content
- Search Submission for updated content
The first function above is accomplished with the All in One SEO Pack – it’s an Out-of-the-box SEO for your WordPress blog. Just Google “WordPress All in One SEO Pack” to locate the download page, and follow the installation instructions.
Functions number 2 and 3, above, are accomplished using the Google XML Sitemaps plugin. It will generate a special XML sitemap which will help search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing and Ask.com to better index your blog.
Functions number 4 and 5, above, are the result from setting on your WordPress Admin >> Settings >> Writing (www.YourSite.com/wp-admin/options-writing.php)
When you publish a new post, WordPress automatically notifies the following site update services. For more about this, see Update Services on the Codex. You get the names of the update services, and add them to the box at the bottom of the WordPress Admin >> Settings >> Writing page.
Automate Your E-Newsletter – See this Example
This is one of the coolest ways to proactively reach out to your readers and potential new subscribers. This service, from AWEBER.com, allows you to automate the following 6 functions. (Similar services are available form MailChimp.com and Google’s FeedBurner.com.)
- Create an email subscription sign-up form for your site
- Automatically send and opt-in confirmation request
- Create E-newsletter content your new posts
- Automatically send the E-newsletter on your predetermined schedule
- Track E-newsletter open rate and click tracking
- Automatically provides a complete E-newsletter to send to your email lists outside of your AWEBER.com subscribers.
For functions 1 and 2, I use a “Subscribe Form” from the www.aweber.com service. This gives me a form I put on my site to invite people to subscribe.
But Wait! There’s More – RSS Feed to Email (functions 3, 4 and 5, above) …
Most people are still more familiar with email than RSS feeds. Now you can send your blog posts out via HTML email. AWEBER.com has a function that automatically converts the RSS FEED of your recent blog posts to an HTML email, and sends it to all your subscribers!
OK, but what if you have an email list of members who have not yet subscribed to your blog? How can they get this terrific email of your recent posts? EASY – just copy the HTML source from the automatic E-newsletter generated by AWEBER.com to create your own stand-alone HTML E-newsletter. Then, use this HTML file to send via your regular email transmission source. That takes care of function 6, above.
Hope this helps. Please leave comments, suggestions, etc. below and let us know YOUR IDEAS.
Thanks!
Jerry Kaup
Editor
Three great tools for online member communications, Social Media, Email and your Blog articles, all fit under this definition of Social Media “Online technolgy that allows easy, fast sharing of information and individual interaction (both one-to-one and one-to-many).”
But most associations are NOT benefiting from the full advantages these methods offer.
And with a decline in the average e-mail open rate to below 25% for most association, it’s critical to realize that probably more than 75% of your members are not even seeing your E-Newsletters and email promotions.
And with more competition on the Internet from other sources of information for your members, it’s growing even more important is to find cost-effective ways to ensure your messages are delivered to more of your members and new member prospects.
Working alone, social media, email and your blog are effective ways to deliver your message to members. But by integrating these three tools, you can a) reach more members, and b) contact more new member prospects for recruitment purposes.
Leverage the Impact of Your Member Communications
Here are three tips to help you integrate Social Media, Email and your Blog for more effective member communication:
1. Make Multiple Contacts
Sending your multiple messages to your audience – using methods that avoid “duplication” – is an effective approach that better communicates your benefits and engages more members.
When you create a valuable blog post, how do members know about it? You can notify them using
- Use an “auto-generated” E-Newsletter that displays the summary of each post, with links back to your web site for the complete article (see below for details on E-Newsletter auto-generation how-to)
- Resend you E-Newsletter to non-openers from the initial transmission. You can identify those members who did not read the initial E-Newsletter, and resend to non-openers. This will increase your readership by at least 25%.
- By sending a notice to your LinkedIn contacts, lists and groups via the “Network Update” feature on LinkedIn
- By enabling Twitter Sharing of your selected LinkedIn updates, a Tweet will go out to your Twitter followers. Include a tiny URL of the original post so followers can click to read it.
2. Include SHARE Links
Encourage members to share your benefit news and information with their colleagues by including SHARE buttons and links in your blog posts and E-Newsletters. This is great way to increase the circulation of your messages to great new member prospects. Share links and tracking of this extra distribution can be found at no cost at sites like http://www.addthis.com/ and http://sharethis.com/
NOTE: You don’t have to rely solely on your members to click the SHARE buttons. You can click the SHARE button on your posts and share with your contacts, lists and groups.
3. Automate the Process
Anything you can do to automate the marketing communications process leaves you more time for your most important task – that of creating valuable content your members can use.
How to Automate Your E-Newsletter
This is one of the coolest ways to proactively reach out to your readers and potential new subscribers. This service, from AWEBER.com, allows you to automate the following 6 functions. (Similar services are available form MailChimp.com and Google’s FeedBurner.com.)
- Create an email subscription sign-up form for your site
- Automatically send and opt-in confirmation request
- Create E-newsletter content your new posts
- Automatically send the E-newsletter on your predetermined schedule
- Track E-newsletter open rate and click tracking
- Automatically provides a complete E-newsletter to send to your email lists outside of your AWEBER.com subscribers.
For functions 1 and 2, I use a “Subscribe Form” from the www.aweber.com service. This gives me a form I put on my site to invite people to subscribe.
But Wait! There’s More – RSS Feed to Email (functions 3, 4 and 5, above) …
Most people are still more familiar with email than RSS feeds. Now you can send your blog posts out via HTML email. AWEBER.com has a function that automatically converts the RSS FEED of your recent blog posts to an HTML email, and sends it to all your subscribers!
OK, but what if you have an email list of members who have not yet subscribed to your blog? How can they get this terrific email of your recent posts? EASY – just copy the HTML source from the automatic E-newsletter generated by AWEBER.com to create your own stand-alone HTML E-newsletter. Then, use this HTML file to send via your regular email transmission source. That takes care of function 6, above.
Hope this helps. Please leave comments, suggestions, etc. below and let us know YOUR IDEAS.
Thanks!
Jerry Kaup
Editor
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