User Base
The non-US and non-English Web segments have been boosted by a growing trend towards PC penetration and cheaper Internet access in the last couple of years. The US share of the global population online, once above ninety percent, is now under a quarter, while the number of Internet users who do not speak English at all continues to grow.
The Asia-Pacific region remains a key contributor to the increase in the number of non-English speakers on the Web, but the Russian Internet, aka Runet, demonstrates the accelerated pace of development as well.
The Russian language on the Web was represented by 2.7 percent in March 2003, said Global Reach http://www.global-reach.biz/globstats/index.php3, a consultancy that tracks non-English online populations. The share is quite minor, compared to English with its 35.2 percent. However, the growth rate of Runet is far more exciting; the Russian Internet audience has tripled over the last two years, registering a 40 percent increase annually. The February 2003 Report by SpyLOG http://gs.spylog.ru/interesting.phtmlid=51%20 indicates that the total users who surf the Russian portion of the Internet have reached about 15 million, 60 percent of whom live in Russia and seven percent in Ukraine. Moscow and St.-Petersburg account for 53 percent of the total Internet users in Russia. Similarly, the Ukrainian Internet surveys reveal that the vast majority 70 percent of Ukrainian users live in Kiev, Odessa, Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkov and Donetsk, according to freenet.kiev.ua and mct.kiev.ua as quoted in Kyiv Post Business March 20, 2003.
The Ukrainian user base grows as fast as its Russian counterpart. The total Internet users in Ukraine reached 2.5 million by year-end 2002, a 150 percent increase in a year, said the head of the Ukrainian State Committee for Communications and Information Technologies http://mignews.com.ua/events/ukraine/73927.html. Independent marketers confirm the recent trends on the Ukrainian Internet, or Uanet for short. For example, eRus.ru http://www.e-rus.ru/news/2003/03/251511_3939.shtml quoted GfK-USM, a marketing company, as stating that the regular Internet users in Ukraine accounted for 6.4 percent of the total population 3.1 million of 48.4 million in February 2003, and the number of the users who purchased products or services through the Internet was doubled when compared to February 2002.
Internet Access and Prices
Dial-up connection is the most common way of accessing the Internet in both Russia and Ukraine. The Ukrainian dial-up users, for example, pay $0.1 to $2.0 an hour for Internet access, depending on an ISP, time of day and availability of callback services. The monthly charge for unmetered access in Kiev currently ranges from about $4 midnight to 9.00 a.m. with no callback support to about $40 24-hour access via callback service. The callback service in Kiev will save you about $0.4/hour, an additional fee charged by Ukrtelecom for connection to the local telephone line.
The broadband access is rather expensive, ranging from $40/month IDSN, 64 K/s, 1 GB monthly data transfer to $300/month dedicated line, 64-128 K/s, unlimited transfer with a set-up fee of $200 to 300, plus some hidden charges that are quite common for the local providers. Thus, only corporate clients can enjoy the privilege of broadband subscription.
What Users are Searching for
Like Internet users worldwide, the majority of Russian and Ukrainian surfers search the Web for information. A Yandex poll http://www.yandex.ru/polling/9.html shows that about 24 percent searchers use the Web for easy reference and over 15 percent use it as a research tool. A further 12 percent of those polled said the Internet was a news source for them while only 14 percent preferred online entertainment services. An increase in personal consumption in Russia and Ukraine has made a positive impact on the regional Internet. Russians and Ukrainian are increasingly relying on the Internet in order to evaluate products or services before they make their final decision to buy, whether online or offline. Currently, about 1200 online shops are listed in Magazin.ru, the largest Russian e-commerce catalogue, while CNews.ru http://www.cnews.ru/reviews/online/ reported last year that the total number of operational online shops in Runet was 500 at the beginning of 2002. The most e-shops are online outlets of bricks-and-mortar businesses, but some "pure" online stores have opened their virtual doors as well. Most notable are bookstores such as Ozon, Biblio Globus and Books in Russia, and Bookshop, AzBooKa and Bambook in Ukraine. Despite a certain lack of high-quality online offerings in Runet and Uanet, surprisingly few Western sites offer the products and services that need no customs clearance. For example, web hosting fees in Ukraine are about two to eight times higher than those somewhere in the United States, but the service providers abroad seem to be in no hurry to enter the local market. This is also true for e-books, especially on programming and computing.
Spam and Spamdexing
Despite spam is still flourishing on the Russian Web, unsolicited email messages in Runet are far less aggressive than the email marketing campaigns in the US, when a news subscriber may receive bundles of advert mailings that are vaguely associated with his/her initial subscription.
The more pressing issue for both users and search engines is spamdexing, i.e. unfair tricks aimed at attaining high rankings in search engines. Searching Runet for a particular key phrase can give you dozens of mirrors and doorways. Some successful SE optimizers in Russia and Ukraine openly advertise that their promotion techniques are solely based on building doorways or cloaking, which currently seems unwise on the global Internet.
The top Russian search engines fight against spam in much as the most popular search engines do worldwide. For example, Yandex and Rambler penalize websites for using unfair tricks and encourage Runet users to report search engine spam. Many professional programmers and webmasters also voice their concerns about spamdexing. Articles by A. Shkondin at ClubPro.spb.ru http://clubpro.spb.ru/ provide some classic examples of how spammers play games with the Russian search engines and Internet surfers.

About The Author

Vyacheslav Melnik is the founder and owner of AzureL10n http://azurel10n.com/, a website specializing in web localization, copywriting and search engine optimization for Runet and Uanet, the Russian and Ukrainian portions of the Internet.
vm@azurel10n.com

In 1999 I asked my friends and colleagues if they blogged. The responses I received ranged from odd looks to questions about the blogging practice. The end results of my findings was

Which email format is more effective to use, Text or HTML
A good question, many experts have been debating over for awhile now, is which email format is more effective. It all depends on who you ask, many people prefer the text format over the HTML format. There are also many people who would rather use HTML over the text format. You can pretty much draw a line right down the middle between the text users and the HTML users, its that close.
The truth of the matter is that the most effective format to use for your email really depends on the offer youre presenting.
Both text and HTML email formats have their advantages and disadvantages. In this article I am going to go over the advantages and disadvantages of text and HTML email formats. Lets jump right in and start with the format text.
Text
Obviously the real advantage to using a text format is that you have a white background with black font making it very easy to read. The text format loads fast, no matter what size the email is.
If the email loads fast and is easy to read how can text formats have a disadvantage
Easy!
The real disadvantage of using text format is when you are using email as a source of marketing. To effectively use email marketing you need to use some sort of tracking software. Without tracking you will never know if the subject line and/or email offer needs work.
The point I am trying to make is that people are very cautious about clicking on tracking and affiliate links. As soon as they see a lengthy url, they get the impression that you are trying to sell them something and immediately delete the email. With a text formatted email you cannot hide long tracking urls from the recipient. With an HTML format you wont run into this problem, which brings us to...
HTML
The biggest advantage of using HTML is that you can hide your tracking urls from the viewer. Instead of having a long url in your email offer, you can use a simple "click here". Not only can you hide your tracking url, but you can also mask it from appearing in the browser window.
Moreover, HTML has a lot of disadvantages. For instance, some people cant view HTML email, while others can view it with a limited amount of space. HTML email files can be sizable and take up a lot of space. Most people who use HTML formatted email use a lot of images and other graphics to make their email have a professional appearence. But they dont stop and think about the size of the email that they are sending, and whether or not their recipients may have limited space.
Sending large email files is a sure way to get your recipients upset. You dont want to strike out before you have the chance to swing!
You can see that both email formats have their advantages, as well as their disadvantages. As for which format is the right one for you, it all depends on your offer.
If you are sending an email offer that doesnt require any lengthy tracking urls or has no affiliate urls, then text should be your format of choice.
Moreover, if you do have tracking or affiliate urls in your email offer, then HTML is the way to go. When using an HTML format be conservative, not everyone has broadband, youll find that a lot of people are still using 28.8k modems for their Internet connection.
When sending out an HTML email offer it should have a solid white background with black text, and absolutely no images or graphics. This way the email offer appears to be text and loads fast, when its actually HTML. Your viewer wont be able to see your long tracking or affiliate url which will increase your click through ratio and that means more sales.
Most autoresponders and email softwares have the ability to send email in both formats, but not all of them. There are still some that dont.
Rich Hamilton, Jr is the CEO/President of www.ElitesMarketing.com a.k.a. Elites Marketing, Inc and the Author of: "Inside Internet Marketing" http://www.InsideNetMarketing.com

About The Author

Rich Hamilton, Jr is the CEO/President of www.ElitesMarketing.com a.k.a. Elites Marketing, Inc and the Author of: "Inside Internet Marketing" www.InsideNetMarketing.com.

Poor Eddie the e-marketer has been plagued by errors in judgment all his life. From always picking the longest line at the toll booth to buying lots of dot com stocks right before the bubble burst, he constantly struggles with making the right choices. >From disagreeing that a car really needs oil changes every three thousand miles to insisting that the eight-track is going to make a comeback, Eddie bumbles through life perplexed. One area that particularly suffers is his e-marketing efforts.
You see, Eddie recently got himself a new website for his business. Unfortunately, hes been trying in vain to turn it into a vehicle for getting leads and making sales. Hes confused. Hes dazed. He thrashes about lost in a maze. Although he at least understands the importance of e-marketing for driving traffic to his site, hes like a hamster running on a wheel, wasting energy and getting nowhere. Lets take a look at a few of the more typical e-marketing errors Eddie regularly makes.
Treat the Web as a different medium
The other day his business partner, Betty, showed Eddie a recent half-page ad they ran in one of their industrys magazines. Eddie, excited at how pretty the pictures were, wanted it up on their website pronto. Did he alter it in any way before they posted it to the site Did he add a specific call to action hyperlink in it Did he optimize the large print graphics so they would download fast in peoples browsers Nope. He just took the ad, as is, and posted it. Eddie has never been able to grasp the idea that traditional marketing and e-marketing, while related, are not the same thing. What works in print doesnt always work online. Why Different mediums require different approaches. Look for Eddies static magazine ad in his first TV commercial, just the motionless ad on the screen for thirty seconds. Riveting.
The Web is interactive. Site visitors can click buttons, fill out forms, or post immediate comments in forums or blogs. When Eddie was having his site built, he really just wanted to have a way to talk about his business. He wanted to tell the world how great his company was and the exciting history of its formation. This is called brochure-ware. Its just taking a company brochure, posting it online and adding a few links. To say that Eddie is underutilizing the Web is like saying the ocean is mildly wet. The Web is extremely powerful and businesses have a choice of taking advantage of its power, or just scratching the surface with simple brochure-ware. Its similar to buying a tank, climbing in and lifting the hatch only to shoot spit balls at the enemy. If you have that kind of power, use it.
Ask your customers what they want
Since Eddie doesnt really grasp the interactive nature of the Web he guesses what his potential customers want and need. One day in a meeting Eddie was scratching his head, staring up at the ceiling and saying, Gee, if there was only a way to figure out what our customers want, a way we could get in their heads, and a way to reach enough of them to get a really clear picture, hmm . . . Thankfully, a timid but sharp junior associate raised her hand and suggested that they just ask their customers their opinions and needs directly, and do it online where they could ask a whole bunch of them.
Eddie jumped at the idea. Finally he was going make the right choice, albeit aided by a junior associate, but the right e-marketing choice nonetheless. They created an html form with forty of the most important questions he could think of and posted a link on their homepage called Customer Survey.
Offer incentives
Only three people ever filled the survey out, and that was it. Eddie was dumfounded. What went wrong He was hoping for hundreds. The problem was that Web users are not patient and generally dont like to fill out forms, especially long ones. Even more importantly, they dont like to do something for nothing.
If you were jostling your way through a crowded store in a big rush and a bored teenage clerk asked you to fill out a survey of forty questions but wasnt offering anything in return, how likely would it be that youd do it A more effective approach for Eddie would have been to narrow down his list of questions to four instead of forty, and offer a coupon for 10% off any online purchase in return for filling it out. If you want to create leads using your website, offer something for free and require your visitors to give you a bit of information first. Theyll be much more likely to respond if they get something they perceive as valuable in return. Give the people what they want, an incentive.
Regularly study your website statistics
Another area that Eddie seems to miss the e-marketing boat is in analysis. He doesnt have time for looking at all those pesky Web statistics. He cant be bothered with analyzing the number of visitors who come to his site, or how they got there, or where they go once theyre there. Hes rendered blind to his e-marketing campaigns successes and failures. Its like always ignoring your checking account balance and then despairingly wondering where all your money went each week. Whats worse, because he ignores the numbers, he has no useful information to help plan his next campaign. Numbers help in life.
A jumbo jet is off course 90% of time. It reaches its destination successfully by constantly checking the data on its exact position and continuously making the appropriate adjustments until it lands on target.
Likewise, an e-marketing objective can be best reached by analyzing the data and making the necessary modifications. For example, if your target is a thousand visitors a week, then look at your website statistics and learn where the majority of your visitors are coming from. Discover what type of site, link or search engine is doing a lot of the referring. Then adjust your time and budget accordingly.
Its been rumored around the office that Eddie sometimes locks himself in his office and counts his new websites hit counter, prancing around in jubilation each time the counter goes up by one. Yet he hates to hunker down and look at all the numbers, all the visitors, all the referrals, and then conduct a meaningful analysis to help understand the past and better plan for the future.
Since Eddie hates looking at his site statistics, he has no idea how well his last email marketing campaign went. He sent out five thousand emails to a rented list and then asked his sales people if they got any more phone calls that day. Itd be like a television network executive asking his employees if they happened to see their neighbors TV sets on the night before to determine if the new show did well. Hey Eddie, I have an idea, check your Web stats for page views and youll know exactly how successful your email was!
Poor Eddie the erroneous e-marketer, is he condemned to sub-par performances in life and business If he tries to learn from his mistakes, if he starts to treat the Web differently than print or any other medium, hell start to see results. If he uses more of the Webs power and potential, tapping into its interactivity and offering easy ways for his site visitors to communicate with him, and if he offers incentives to motivate his visitors to take action, then maybe, just maybe, he may not be doomed after all.
Unfortunately, after choosing the longest line at the toll booth again, his cars engine seized from idling and poor oil maintenance. So to pass the time waiting for the tow truck, he popped in an eight-track cassette, flipped open his cell phone and purchased some more Enron stocks.

About The Author

Jason OConnor is President of Oak Web Works and runs http://www.getredsoxtickets.com - one of the cheapest places on the Net to get premium and sold out tickets to sporting events, concerts and shows.

http://www.oakwebworks.com

http://www.getredsoxtickets.com

If youre just getting started in Internet Marketing, you may be awed by the amount of "Internet Gurus" out there, all making millions of dollars or so they claim and for some reason seem more than willing, for a fee, to teach you their biggest, most intimate secrets.
I believe in one thing - If it sounds too good to be true, it most probably is!
While I have no doubt on the specialized skills and techniques used by these gurus, it can get way too frustrating simply getting into all their hype, and find almost no value at the end of the day. Hype - thats one thing I agree these gurus are really good at. For some of them, unfortunately, hype is the only thing theyre good at.
So the question, for those who are trying to master Internet Marketing, might be:

Can I learn anything from these gurus without paying money
Who is real and who is not
Whose methods should I follow

Can You Learn Something for Free
Most gurus have opt-in newsletters on specialized subjects like website marketing, Pay-Per-Click, search engine optimization or whatever specialized skill they have "mastered". Almost all of them ask you to subscribe to their newsltetter in return for some kind of "breakthrough" report, and promise to deliver "valuable information" weekly or monthly to your email address. Sound great.
Heres what happens 2 weeks later - You realize that the "breakthrough report" is the same old regurgitated information which you can find almost anywhere. You might also relize that the "valuable information" never comes in full, without any hidden agenda. The "valuable information" is actually a soft-selling sometimes even blatant advertisements ad for the gurus products, or even worse, some other Internet marketers products.
Im not trying to shoot down any marketer here, but the irony is in their teaching. Almost all internet gurus would advice you to offer valuable, free information that benefits other people. Profits, as they say, is secondary to actually helping people and making a difference in their lives. What a load of BS. How come they dont practise what they preach Of is that how the Internet Marketing Game is played
Fortunately, not all gurus are the same. There are still some jewels to be found, and they offer some great information in their newsletters, such as:

Vishal Rao: http://www.home-based-business-opportunities.com talks about home based businesses.
Mike Cheney: http://www.magnet4web.com talks about building an effective and efficient business web site.
Jill Whalen: http://www.highrankings.com talks about Search Engine Optimization.

Of course there are more out there, but it is not necessary to subscribe to every Internet Marketing newsletter just to hope for nuggets of gold that may never come. Instead, give the guru a "trial" month, and if you dont find anything of value from them, just unsubscribe. It will only be a loss to them, not you.
Whos Real and Whos Not
To answer this question, you really have to "get around" the Internet a lot. Go to forums where you will definately find topics on info-products offered by these gurus, and see what others are saying about them. Forget about all those blaring testimonials that the gurus compile on their site. Forums are where the real testimonials are. You may also want to consider this site:
GuruDaq : http://www.gurudaq.com
Taking on a Nasdaq-like approach, this site lists all gurus according to ratings and stock price. Although I would advice to take it more as an entertainment that actual recommendations, perhaps this site will allow you to get a glimpse of "whos who" in Internet Marketing.
Whose methods should I follow
Honestly, nobodys. At least not word-for-word of what is thought in their newsletters or ebooks. The important thing to realize is that you need to develop your own technique to be really successful. The gurus dont teach you everything, anyway. They almost always feed you the crop but keep the cream for themselves. In other words, no one really tells you the "hot money-making secrets", especially those gurus that have sold their soul a long time ago.
Its really up to you to learn some tips and tricks of the trade from them, but set out on your own course. In order to be successful in anything, you need to do your own thing. Be original in you approach, whether its writing sales letters, doing email marketing, pay-per-click or search engine optimization.
Dont look to someone who has sold their soul to lead you to the path of success. Thats wishful thinking.
Copyright 2005 Gobala Krishnan

About The Author

Gobala Krishnan is an internet marketer and home business owner. Visit his site at http://www.sfidreamteam.com to start your own Internet based home business today, and get a free kickstart package, one-on-one coaching and a clear, proven system to earn a six figure income.

What are the characteristics of the Best Mlm Leads This is a good question to ask before you spend any money buying leads to build your MLM business. Before we get to that lets take a look at why you would want to buy MLM leads in the first place.
Over the years the multi-level marketing business has gotten a black eye because of the over hyped promises of money and freedom. Very few people have ever achieved a high level of success in any MLM business. And even fewer have ever been able to maintain the level of achievements over a period of time.
That does not make MLM companies bad. Nor does it make the opportunities they afford the average person as a way to make extra money or even as a way to drastically change your lifetsyle. It can be done and using MLM leads is a great way to do it.
There are 2 big benefits to buying MLM leads.
1. It gets you away from approaching your friends and relatives. If you have been in more than one MLM business over the years you may have already approached them and used up your credibility when you were unsuccessful.
2. This is a duplicatible way to build your business that you can pass on to your downline. Any successful network marketing business will tell you that one of the main components of success is duplication. Anyone can buy leads and work them over the phone or thur the internet with the use of an autoresponder.
If you are unsure of how to work a lead over the phone I would suggest getting the book "Recruit Your Way To Millions" by Fred Stegge. After reading this book you will be able to explain what you do and what you offer to a new prospect in 30 seconds or less. http://www.team-schuman.com/recruit-your-way
If you are unsure of what an autoresponder is or how to use one read this article I wrote "How To Effectively Use An Autoresponder." This is an absolutely essential business tool if you are going to succeed online with your MLM business.

http://team-schuman.com/articles/article15.html

Now that you understand some of the benefits of buying MLM leads and how to market to them lets take a look at what are the characteristics of the Best MLM Leads.
1. How many times are the leads sold Many MLM lead companies sell their leads over and over. You will be contacting a prospect that has already been marketed to. Personally I like eads that are exclusive to me.
2. How old are the leads Would you rather contact a prospect that has expressed an interest in the past 48 hours or in the past 48 days. Being able to strike while the iron is hot so to speak is a great benefit of a fresh lead.
3. How many leads do you get for your money Obviously the more leads you can get for the best price the more leads you can buy at a time. This is especially important when you are first starting or when you are helping your downline get started.
4. What is the quality of the lead Nothing compares to a lead that contains both a phone number and email address along with a few qualifying answers to questions like "How much can you invest to get started" or "How soon do you want to get started" or When is the best time to contact you" If a prospect is answering these type of questions you are getting a much better quality lead than if you just have a name and email address.
5. What is the response rate This will improve as your skill level at working your leads improves, but the fresher higher quality leads will give you a better response rate even when your skill level is low.
6. Do your leads come with any extras such as an autoresponder, training on how to work leads, pre-written email marketing letters, phone scripts, your own website, flash presentations, etc.
These are the top qualities of the Best MLM Leads. Be careful when choosing a place to get your leads. Not all MLM Lead companies are created equal. It is going to be the single most important decision you make when trying to grow your MLM Business. Make the wrong choice and you will waste your time and money as well as the time and money of your downline. Make the right choice and you can be building your business successfully for years to come.
Copyright 2004 Jeff Schuman

About The Author

Jeff Schuman has made over $35 Million Dollars in sales in his 20 year sales and marketing career. His Best Mlm Leads website contains the best mlm leads companies available today. His Team-Schuman.com website contains the best make money, and make money online websites anyone can use to get started making money from the comfort of their own home.

http://www.team-schuman.com/bestmlmleads

http://www.team-schuman.com

What is link popularity
The quantity of links in different websites pointing to your sites is called link popularity of your website. The more popular is your site the more links you get from other websites and vice versa.
Why is it so important
Links from high traffic websites furnish you with constant stream of visitors. Other website marketing efforts i.e. email marketing, might give good influx of visitors while the campaign lasts but the quantity diminishes once the campaign is over. Links are a different story! Once a link is installed, it might start bringing a steady flow of visitors all the time, depending on the website where the link was placed.
Link popularity is also crucial to search engine ranking of your website. Search engines, especially Google, claim that link popularity is one of the key factors that they consider in their search algorithm while indexing a website. What would be the rank of a website in a search result depend on its link popularity in a very big way.
So, how can you conduct an effective link popularity development campaign and build traffic for your website
Content is the king
Prior to start a link popularity campaign, you should seriously question yourself, what would be the reason for the other sites to post a link pointing to your website Most high traffic sites are quite picky about putting links, and won

If a new webcam technology from Microsoft get the go-ahead, then instant messaging could get a whole lot more interesting.
Currently under development at the Microsoft research labs in Cambridge, England, the new webcam, i2i consists of two lenses, which carefully follows an individuals movement. Using an exclusively developed algorithm to cleverly blend what each lens is seeing, resulting in the creation of an accurate stereo "cylopean" image.
All very technical, but for the 18.5 million people source Microsoft who regularly use webcams while they are using instant messengers, i2i means that it will appear as if users are looking into each others eyes.
Antonio Criminisi, lead researcher of Microsofts Machine Learning and Perception Group, said.
"We were able to come up with an algorithm that was able to take two images and capture a corresponding map in 3D. Using this powerful technology, we can now synthetically create an image as if the person is looking straight into your eyes."
According to Dr Criminisi, the biggest challenge for the backroom boys at Microsoft was in calculating how the visual brain works. In particular, how it sees and sorts out colors, shapes and distances.
"Essentially, what we have done is replace human eyes with cameras and the human brain with a computer."
The real magic behind this technology is the newly developed stereo algorithm, which makes it possible to accurately reconstruct a 3D, geometric image in real time and on a standard computer. Fundamentally, this is the same technology which was used to recreate the stunning 3D images of the Martian surface, which were beamed back by the NASA rover.
With the ability to generate realistic looking background images in order that users can pretend they are somewhere other than where they really are! Commenting, Dr Criminisi said.
"This is important for privacy, as I may not want you to see how untidy my bedroom is."
A feature likely to capture the teens market is that of Smart Icons. Instead of typing in the usual pictorial emotion e.g. : i2i can superimpose free floating, 3D ones which can then be instructed to float freely around a persons head or anywhere else for that matter.
While Dr Criminisi admits there are still issues to iron out before the project is passed on to Microsoft Development, he is pleased with what has been achieved in under two years. Dr Criminisis team is already experimenting with code which enables users to create their own wrap-around avatar, 3D face and then have it move as if it were their own.

About The Author
Robert Palmer is CEO of deskNET Communications www.desknet.co.uk providers of the first, viable alternative to opt-in email marketing and newsletter publishing.
Copyright © 2004 deskNET Communications - UK
info@desknet.co.uk

Email marketing is undergoing rapid changes. Now, more than ever, both the creative and demographic selection and targeting of a message must be highly relevant and qualified.
Microtargeting has become a valued strategy. At VIBEdirect, we have seen the industry withstand incredible changes based on bandwidth, creative, message perception and the fickle marketing factors that affect both open and click through rates with todays campaigns.
Consumers received an average of 3 marketing related emails per month in 1999. This number is expected to jump to over 130 marketing related emails per month by 2005 due to the success rate of email marketing and the number of companies sending optin email. The problem is that this trend has caused email open rates to drop.
In the past, our success had been built on wholesaling opt-in email campaigns to brokers and agencies. But as business conditions changed, we evolved by providing our clients with a microtargeted approach for cost effective results and a positive return on investment. As a result, we have maintained a sustained, strong period of growth.
Our opt-in lists offer marketers a "politically correct" way to reach their target audience on the net. While using bulk e-mail lists is cheaper, the practice in itself is extremely controversial. You must be very careful when considering using bulk e-mail to market your wares on the Internet. This can lead to some unexpected and unwanted results. For example, some of your recipients may decide to "flame" you by clogging up your e-mail system with angry responses to your marketing message. Other recipients will complain to your Internet Service Provider, who may decide to discontinue your account.
We have more than 2,000 opt-in lists with more than 40 million unique names to choose from. All of our email addresses are ALL opt-in from a variety of quality web sites, banner ads, e-surveys & e-zine lists.
The Power of Microtargeting
Email microtargeting is really a distinct form of "niche" marketing, differentiating consumers by segmenting them into identifiable, targeted groups. Its the depth of relationships that counts, not the quantity. Studies show that closer relationships increase the likelihood that email advertising will make an impact.
For the higher quality more targeted and uniform audience, advertisers have traditionally paid a higher cost per impression, although the overall cost for advertisers is lower with email campaigns since the number of impressions is lower. In addition, the ability to modify and adapt the creative to confront rapidly changing marketing conditions makes this medium especially attractive and cost effective.
Our microtargeting approach has been very powerful. This strategy focuses on increasing market share--that is, on selling a product to as much of the market as possible. Once a product succeeds on a microtargeting level, we can eventually modify it to appeal to a larger group. When properly and effectively executed, microtargeting leads back to the masses.
Instead of trying to reach the greatest number of people, microtargeting focuses on earning more of an individual customers business. This strategy doesnt target groups of customers, it targets units of one.
The foundation of our microtargeting approach lies in the idea that 80% of a companys business comes from 20% of its customers. The most active frequent fliers account for the bulk of the airline profit. So, rather than aiming to reach all possible fliers, airlines realize they can more efficiently market themselves by trying to win over the top level, and by encouraging those frequent fliers to fly as frequently with them as possible.
Our microtargeting email practices help businesses provide better, more personal services. It is an equally effective strategy for both business acquisition and retention.

About The Author

David Moceri is President and CEO of VIBE Direct Media, a full service online marketing agency. A complete description of VIBE Direct Media services can be viewed at www.vibedirect.com.

"Free Autoresponders!" It sounds to good to be true. But is this the right option for You and Your Home Business
There are three sources of free Autoresponders that might be considered when you work at home :
[1] Autoresponders offered by your web host
[2] Services like Sendfree and FreeAutoBot
[3] The light versions of Professional Autoresponder Services
[Ad. 1] If your Autoresponder needs are simple, such as merely sending a single message reassuring your customers that youll get back to them, you can probably use the free Autoresponders that usually come as part of your web hosting package. The procedure to set up these Autoresponders vary from web host to web host, but it is usually trivial, involving a visit to your web hosts control panel to activate it. I use these free to distribute back issues of Newsletters and to send my articles on demand. These Autoresponders do nothing more than respond, they do not capture email addresses and have no personalization features.
There is an even more important consideration. If you decide to change your web host, or should your host go out of business, you will lose your entire system! All of the Autoresponder links that youve worked so hard to set up on other websites, in newsletters, on classified ads sites, etc. will no longer work. Youll lose all the profits and traffic they were directing towards your website! Free Autoresponders can be very expensive in lost income and traffic.
If you need an Autoresponder to send more than one message, or if you need to schedule messages to be sent at certain intervals over a period of time, you will either need to program your mail system on your domain, or use one of the free or commercial Autoresponder systems around some of which are listed below.
[Ad. 2] The free Autoresponder services listed below are third party services. In general, the services are provided free in exchange for advertising - that is, many of them place advertisements in your Autoresponders usually at the beginning. Visit the sites listed below to find out more details.
FreeAutoBot : http://www.freeautobot.com
SendFree : http://www.sendfree.com
I am sure you know by now that nothing is really "free" on the Internet, or anywhere else for that matter. However, if you are willing to have other companies advertise on your message with their logos and banners, then there is almost a limitless number of companies to choose from.
I suggest you not use any of them, unless your site is simply a hobby site or a site to keep in touch with friends and relatives. If you are in business, you want your customers focused on your message, not other links that can distract them and lead them right off your message. You also have no way of controlling what advertising messages will appear. Maybe even one from a competitor!
The second reason why you dont want to use these "free" Autoresponders is because your potential clients will instantly see that you are using a free service. This looks unprofessional and cheap. You could quickly lose the credibility you had carefully built up to that point.
[Ad. 3] The third source of free Autoresponders is using the light versions of the Commercial Autoresponder Services like Getresponse. You can check-out the following link: http://www.my-autoresponder-secrets.com/getresponse.html or Royal Responder http://www.my-autoresponder-secrets.com/royal-responder.html Again, these services are provided free in exchange for advertising at the beginning of your Autoresponder messages. In my opinion, if you want to be serious with your business dont use these free light Autoresponders. However it is great to use these free light Autoresponders to learn the features of these services. It is no problem to use these free services during your system startup and upgrade later when everything is in place.
The conclusion is that you must be careful with free Autoresponder Services. When you are serious with your home business, dont destroy your image as professional by using an Autoresponder that will add the statement "this is a free Autoresponder service" to all your messages.

About The Author

Albert Hoogendoorn is the publisher of Autoresponder Ezine, a free bi-weekly email newsletter about Autoresponders and email marketing. Signup and get four valuable bonusses. http://www.my-autoresponder-secrets.com