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Since September 1, 2009, I have posted to this blog each and every single day except one – a day when I thought clicked “Publish” but didn’t. I have however posted a blog post to my other blog Search Marketing Communications each and every day now since September 1, 2008 – 730 days in a row. Within the last year and between the two blogs combined I have created over 729 blog posts in the last 365 days. The posts weren’t all necessarily pretty or comprehensive but for the most part they each were on topic. The concept of blogging each and every day for a year looks easy on paper but its not and it wasn’t. During this same time period I also surpassed 10,000 Tweets. The process of posting daily and tweeting even more regularly has yielded a level of focus and awareness that had previously eluded me.

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Email is back. Despite repeated proclamations of its extinction, rumors of the death of email marketing have been greatly exaggerated — especially since email and social media are a powerful combination. You might not reach the average college freshman , but for slightly older types (you know, the ones with the money), email is still the way to go in many lucrative mainstream niches. You must first, of course, get your emails read. And it all starts with the subject line. Email subject lines are a form of headline . They perform the same function as a headline by attracting attention and getting your email content a chance to be read. So, headline fundamentals still apply. But the context is different, with the email space having its own funky little quirks that need to be accounted for. Here’s the good news — email also implies a special relationship with the reader; a relationship that will get more of your messages read, even with subject lines that wouldn’t work in other headline contexts. Let’s take a look back at headline fundamentals, the specifics that apply to subject lines, and the “secret sauce” that makes email your top conversion channel. 1. The Fundamentals: When you’re writing your next email subject line, run it through this checklist, based on the Four “U” Approach to headline writing : Useful : Is the promised message valuable to the reader? Ultra-specific : Does the reader know what’s being promised? Unique : Is the promised message compelling and remarkable? Urgent : Does the reader feel the need to read now? When you’re trying to get someone to take valuable time and invest it in your message, a subject line that properly incorporates all four of these elements can’t miss. And yet, execution in the email context can be tricky, so let’s drill down into subject-line specifics for greater clarity. 2. The Specifics: Beyond headline fundamentals, these are the things to specifically focus on with email subject lines: Identify yourself : Over time, the most compelling thing about an email message should be that it’s from you . Even before then, your recipient needs to know at a glance that you’re a trusted source. Either make it crystal clear by smart use of your “From” field, or start every subject line with the same identifier. For example, with our own Internet Marketing for Smart People newsletter , every subject line begins with [Smart People]. Useful and specific first : Of the four “U” fundamentals, focus on useful and ultra-specific, even if you have to ignore unique and urgent. There are plenty of others who work at unique and urgent with every subject line — we call them spammers. Don’t cross the line into subject lines that are perceived as garbage. But do throw in a bit of a tease. Urgent when it’s useful : When every email from you is urgent, none is. Use urgency when it’s actually useful, such as when there’s a real deadline or compelling reason to act now. If you’re running your email marketing based on value and great offers, people don’t want to miss out and need to know how much time they have. Rely on spam checking software : We all know that certain words trigger spam filters, but there’s a lot of confusion out there about which words are the problem. Is it okay to use the word “free” in a subject line? Actually, yes. All reputable email services provide spam checking software as part of the service or as an add-on. Craft your messages with compelling language, let the software do its job, and adjust when you have to. Shorter is better : Subject line real estate is valuable, so the more compact your subject line, the better. Don’t forget useful and ultra-specific, but try to compress the fundamentals into the most powerful promise possible. 3. The Secret Sauce: Getting someone to trust you with their email address is not easy. Twelve years ago when I started in email publishing, people would sign up for anything remotely interesting. No longer. But if you do gain that initial trust, and more importantly, confirm and grow it , you can write pretty lame subject lines and people will still read your emails. Just as with that ditzy friend from high school who nonetheless always has something interesting to say, trust and substance matter most. Don’t get me wrong, writing great subject lines combined with the more intimate relationship email represents is much more effective. And you have to get your initial messages read to establish the relationship in the first place. Regardless, your open rates will improve based on the quality of your subject line. But there’s something special in this jaded digital age about being invited into someone’s email inbox. You just have to over-deliver on the value to ensure you’re a treasured guest who gets invited back. The inbox can be a stressful place. How do you make it brighter? About the Author : Brian Clark is founder of Copyblogger and co-founder of the writer-friendly Scribe SEO software . Get more from Brian on Twitter . P.S. Have you checked out Internet Marketing for Smart People , the Copyblogger email newsletter? It features a free 20-step course that builds your business, so click here and subscribe today .

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The Three Key Elements of Irresistible Email Subject Lines

There’s a new book out called Success Secrets of the Social Media Marketing Superstars . Yes, that title sets off my hyperbole radar a bit too (not to mention my alliteration alert), but it’s a solid collection of smart social media advice based on real-world case studies, best practices, and proven techniques. I wrote Chapter Two of the book – The Psychology of Social Media . It’s about applying tried and trued influence factors in the social media space to build a business or make whatever case you’re trying to make. Here’s what else you’ll learn: How to Create a Mega-Following With Social Media – Gary Vaynerchuk Personality : How To Stand Out In Virtual Crowd – Andy Wibbels

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Social Media Marketing Insight from 21 Smart People (And Me, Too)

Feature Product Review:Article Marketing has proven its metal for the bigwigs of the web world. In fact, even the top Internet marketers utilized this marketing method to rank their pages on the top of the search engine results pages, and thus, grow their online business through it. Marketing in today’s world boils down to promoting

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Usually on Copyblogger we talk about how to grow your business , get more customers, increase your conversion rate, build thousands of daily readers, and all the rest of it. But you also need to know about the factors that will kill off your business. Sometimes it’s a question of attitude, like when you’re sick of it, when it’s only a hobby and you don’t want to take it too seriously, or when you’re equally scared of success and failure. And then there are just downright mistakes, which, fortunately, can be corrected. If you want your business to thrive, watch out for these warning signs. Get them straightened out and you’ll get your business on the road to robust good health. #1: A sucky attitude Your attitude about your own business will affect everyone else’s attitude about it. Every web visitor, every person you speak to, every twitter and FaceBook contact. They’ll know, without you telling them, exactly how you regard your business. What are some of the warning signs that your attitude may suck? When you don’t post for weeks on end. When you haven’t put out a new product or service for the last six months. When you say your business would be great if it wasn’t for those $#%^& customers. When you whinge about how hard business is and how all those successful A-listers must have had friends in the right places. When you’re expecting to be an overnight success and you’re surprised that you aren’t both rich and famous after six months. #2: Marketing to a demographic, not a niche The best and simplest definition of a niche that I’ve seen is “a group of people with a common problem who congregate together.” What isn’t a niche? Freelancers are not a niche. Work at Home Parents (mums, dads, or both) are not a niche. Small business owners are not a niche. Copywriters are not a niche. Women over 40 are not a niche, neither are men after retirement. Those are all demographics — and they’re all groups that I’ve seen people try to market to. It’s only a niche when they share a problem. So what’s the problem in your niche, and how are you going to solve it? Where does your niche group together so you can market to them specifically? It’s a marketing paradox that the more you narrow your niche, the more successful your marketing will be. Have a look at who you’re aiming at now and ask yourself if it’s a demographic or a real niche. How can you narrow your message down to their core problem — the one that you solve brilliantly and uniquely? #3: Looking like a cheapskate It’s so easy to set up an online business these days — just whack up a WordPress.com or Blogger site and off you go. Need graphics? Pick up some clip art. Logo and website header? $50 should take care of that if you outsource to the lowest bidder. Business cards? You can get freebies from Vistaprint, why pay money for a designer and printing? Newsletter list? Send that from your desktop with Outlook. The only problem here is that your business looks cheap. And the overall impression visitors and potential clients get is that you’re (a) broke, (b) cheap and (c) unprofessional. There are some things you can do free or low-cost and no one will notice. Your website is not one of them. Don’t get me wrong here, you don’t have to go to the other extreme and mortgage your house to pay for the website. You do have to make sure that your site has a clean, professional look, that it’s easy to navigate, and that your web presence makes you look worth the prices you charge. #4: Not capturing visitor details Someone comes to your site, looks around, reads some posts, and then leaves. Sure, they liked it and intend to come back and read some more — but they never do. They forget, lose the url, get busy. And you’ve lost them forever. I’m amazed at the number of small businesses that don’t have a way to capture visitor details — their names and email addresses. They’re losing customers and making life harder for themselves. It takes time and effort to attract people to your site, so why let them leave without a way to keep in touch? Set up an email newsletter list (NOT from your desktop, see #3 above) and offer a valuable free report or ebook in exchange for their details. MailChimp is free up to 500 subscribers if money is tight at the start, and you can build from there. Once you’ve lost a visitor they’re gone forever — along with every person they may have referred you to. Do you really want to let them get away that easily? #5: Failing to plan long term Or don’t plan at all. Business plans are for big businesses, and for when you need to go to the bank for capital, right? Wrong! When you don’t plan you’ll drift. You’ll chase the latest marketing guru and technique, flit from this to that and wonder why nothing seems to work for you. What are you aiming for? What do you expect out of your business? How will you know when you’ve reached it? You don’t need a 100 page plan full of legalese and possible budgets and financial projections that no-one but your Accountant understands. But at the very least you do need to know what your aims (goals) for your business are, who you’re marketing to, and what makes you different from everyone else out there. No plan = No business. #6: All learning, no action Are you a ‘gunna’? You’re ‘gunna’ do this and ‘gunna’ do that? Just as soon as you’ve studied this marketing e-course, read those 136 ebooks, listened to the 84 teleseminars and watched the 78 hours of business videos that you’ve downloaded onto your computer? How many information products have you bought that you’ve never read, listened to or watched? How many of them have you actually worked through step by step? We all do this, or rather, don’t do this. Me? I’m waiting for retirement before I work through my resources folder — it’s the only way I’ll ever have the time. Ebooks, courses, videos and all the other teaching methods are great, as long as you utilize what you’ve learned . Information junkies abound. People who take action on what they’ve learned are rare. You’ll learn more in your first twelve months of actually running your business and putting yourself out there than you will from any number of books, courses and videos. Information is great, but nothing beats taking action. About the Author: Mel Brennan is the antipodean force behind both SuperWAHM and the Two Hour Business Plan . You can also catch her on Twitter . P.S. Looking for the advice we talked about at the beginning: how to grow your business, get more customers, increase your conversion rate, gain several thousand daily readers, and all of that good stuff? You’ll find it on the free Copyblogger newsletter, Internet Marketing for Smart People . Come join us today !

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6 Online Marketing Mistakes that Will Kill Your Business