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Tag: tips

August 19, 2019

7 Tips to Make Your Email Marketing Efforts Worth It

Email Marketing has great potential both in ROI…and in annoying your customers into hitting that spam button and never looking back – let’s make sure you’re getting the former, not the latter.

If you are serious about Email Marketing, then the first thing you need is an email list, or, someone who actually wants your emails.

I repeat – do not buy names, emails, lists – because those people clearly do not want to be reached by you. Buying email addresses will only get you ignored at best and blocked at worst – so, don’t do it.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s jump into our top 7 tips for doing email marketing right!

Your Subject Line Should Be Your Top Priority

Your subject line is like the title to your book, and it needs to be good if you want your average reader to pick it up and flip through it. Oftentimes email marketers ignore the subject line or make it something nondescript that doesn’t intrigue or entice the reader to open it – this is your first mistake, but it’s a big one.

Preview Text Matters (A Lot)

Right after your title, there’s preview text, and again, this is important. This preview text on your email tells what the email will be about, and you should craft it with these tips in mind:

  • Don’t let your preview text get cut off right when you’re getting to the point
  • Don’t make your email preview text bland and boring – no one will click
  • Never let your preview text sound spammy as it might not even make it to their inbox

 NEVER YELL AT YOUR READERS!!

Speaking of sounding spammy, nothing is worse than multiple exclamation marks, all caps, or other clearly spammy-marketing techniques. Avoid these telltale signs of bad email marketing and instead, opt for truly attractive subject lines and preview text to interest your readers.

Write for Real People

Now that we’ve gotten past the text you can see without opening the email – let’s dive into how you should craft the actual content of your mail.

Make sure it’s conversational, educational, or gives value to the reader, much like when you write content, blogs, or articles online. It’s the same audience (people online) so you should hold to all the same principles.

Remember that you don’t want to ask them to give something (time, money) unless you are giving them something as well. And in email marketing, you are giving value and information in exchange for their time and their contact information – don’t make them regret giving it to you!

Psychology Has a Place in Email Marketing

Did you know there is actually a lot of psychology in email marketing (and marketing in general)? If not, prepare for a crash course:

  • Time-limited discounts actually work very well, because as a culture we never want to miss out on something good. This means that (within reason) use scarcity and urgency in your email to encourage clicks or your specific CTA
  • Humans are very curious creatures, this means we will most likely give you a click if it means we can finish the story, blog, or are intrigued into wanting to know more. Consider not posting your entire blog in your email, or beckoning your readers to finish the story or article on your website
  • Colors can have a large impact on your reader’s feeling about your deal, product, even business, check out more on color psychology here, and remember to make your CTAs pop by making them a different, vibrant color
  • We look where others are looking, this means using faces or pictures of people who are looking towards your CTA or products can be helpful in increasing your click through rates
  • Personalization is a huge influencing factor that merges both psychology and email marketing…in fact, it’s such a great tip, it should get its own category…

Personalization Goes a Long Way

Have you ever read an email and just know, deep down in your gut, that it was sent out to 1,000+ other people too? How’d you feel about that?

Sure, if it was a huge store like Walmart sending out an email about back-to-school specials, I don’t need it to be personalized, because I know they aren’t sending it just to me. But if you’re sending out an email to see if someone wants to do business with you, or partner with you, it better be personalized.

Mention their company name, their area, their own name, or at least make sure the email caters to their specific and unique needs.

Choose a Goal & Stick to it

Too many CTAs can be messy at best and confusing at worse, make your email clean and clear by only including a single goal.

Want them to visit your website? Have a button or two, anchor text, and pictures that link back to your site. You don’t have to have only one CTA button or one form of CTA in your email, but you should avoid housing multiple CTAs for different goals in the same email.

Do You Need Help with Your Email Marketing? JSL Marketing & Web Design is Happy to Assist!

We love email marketing and we love the ROI we’ve seen first-hand, but if you’re still struggling to make your email marketing strategy work for you, then let us help you create the perfect strategy for your online goals!

Contact us at 817.435.1350 or fill out a form here!

October 18, 2018

SEO 101 – A Beginner’s Guide to SEO Tips & Tricks

JSL Marketing & Web Design has been in the business (or the Biz, as we like to call it) for quite some time. And though we aren’t all-knowing, we are most-knowing after so many hours, classes, certifications, tutorials, books, blogs, emails, and, well, you get the picture.

Because of our research and experienced-based knowledge, we wanted to share the very best in tips and tricks for the foundation your SEO will need with our SEO 101 Beginner’s Guide.

If you enjoyed our JSL Toolbox post from last week, where we divulged our favorite programs and online tools, but found it possibly a little over your head, then our SEO 101 Beginner’s Guide will be the perfect stepping stone for you on your trek to Google’s front page.

So, come along and enjoy the ride – your SEO journey begins here!

Five SEO Tips & Tricks for SEO Beginners

  1. Be a part of the right conversation: SEO has many components, so when someone talks about SEO, make sure you are clear about which component they are talking about, or if they are talking about the whole conglomerate.

Do they mean Social Media presence? Content on their webpage? Keywords they are trying to rank for? Updating business listings or best blog practices?

Maybe they are talking about the latest Google Update and how it will affect their webpages’ ranking? Maybe they are actually talking about their website design, template or user-friendliness?

Regardless of which aspect of SEO they are talking about, make sure you clearly define the conversation.

SEO is often used to umbrella a wide array of subjects or topics concerning the success of a website. And all of the subjects might very well affect your search engine rankings and therefore, all of which do pertain in some way to Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, but if you don’t know the parameters of the conversation, you can be left more confused than when you began.

  1. Research, but with a grain of salt: If you have a question about any of the above sub-topics of SEO, it can never hurt to research it. However, researching can help or hurt if you don’t know where to go.

The internet has all the knowledge in the world it seems, but then how do you know what to trust, what to do, or whose advice to follow?

Easy. Ask the internet.

No, really. If you don’t know who to believe on the internet, especially when it concerns SEO, let SEO literally answer your question.

Search your question in Google, see what pops up on the first page, then open them – ALL.

Read through them ALL. Take notes on them ALL. Compare. Contrast. Repeat.

The first page of Google is the first page for a reason. It is not infallible, but it is helpful.

So, ask yourself – what comes up multiple times? What sites have authority in their domain? What tips are backed with evidence, studies, and statistics? What sites are talking about ranking well whilst ranking well themselves?

SEO is not a mystery science (for the most part) and though it is true that the tricks to SEO are always changing as algorithms and updates *shakes fist at Google* change, SEO can be learned with time and research.

Just like any other skill, SEO can be taught and learned, if only you give it the time and effort it requires.

  1. Use programs that are tried and true: Similarly to above, if you are just starting out in your SEO journey and need programs, tools and guides to help you analyze your data, rankings, or where your SEO needs are, then use the best ranked programs there are.

Want to do some keyword research? Use SEMrush or Screaming Frog.

Want to do a site health audit? Use Yoast, SEMrush or My Web Audit.

Want to clearly show projects? Use Basecamp or Hubstaff.

Want to see your analytics? Use Google Analytics.

Want to learn more about your whole operation? Use Moz.

A few clicks, maybe a plugin or two, and you can have information at your fingertips in any area you want.

The best part?

All of the above are user-friendly and have videos, tutorials, explanations, and instructions in abundance!

  1. Know the cost of SEO, the different options, and the perks and pitfalls of each: You can work with a company, a freelancer, do it yourself, or hire a full-time, in-house employee for digital marketing and SEO, but which is the best for cost, quality, and businesses?

This entirely depends on your business, your needs, and your budget.

If this seems like a daunting answer, then just remember number 2 and 3 above – just about everything can be found online!

However, if you don’t like searching around for the answers and putting hours of research into it, maybe SEO isn’t for you – or maybe you can find someone to give you all the answers.

Maybe someone like JSL Marketing & Web Design.

And maybe that answer is right here.

We just so happened to have created an informative and fun infographic about this very topic. You can thank us later.

  1. Know the worth of your time: Whether you are reading this post because you want to get into the field of SEO, do it yourself for your business, or simply because you have a deep thirst for learning, you need to acknowledge that SEO training and implementation takes time.

Lots of time.

If you are looking to dive into the field, know that there is a learning curve and maybe some growing pains along the way.

If you are looking to do it yourself, know that there will be lots of hours of research and testing involved before you see results. SEO is not an overnight fix.

If neither of the above applies though, or if these tips sound more like terror than terrific, then maybe you need an SEO expert, or team of experts, who can make your SEO shine for you.

Do You Still Have a Question or Two? We’re Here to Help.

SEO is always changing, and though that makes the field incredibly interesting, it also makes it difficult to master – especially if you want to be an expert in all the sub-categories of it at once.

If you would like to learn more, give us a call – we love all things SEO and would be happy to help you get to where you want to be!

Even if you would like to absolutely NOT learn more, let us do it all for you.

Either way, give us a call and get a personalized site audit or a free 30-minute consultation for us to show you where you excel and where you could use a little work. Then you can decide if you want to tackle it on your own or hire out.

We’re here for you – whatever choice you make.