PDA

View Full Version : best email marketing



greenoak
03-08-2011, 01:44 PM
this is for all you internet marketers....I got this today and its probably the best ad/commercial/offer ive ever gotten from an internet services person.......and i get lots every month.....
this one was different.. it was all about ME!!!!
AND IT WAS AT A VERY CLEAR AND USEFUL LEVEL THAT I COULD UNDERSTAND RIGHT AWAY....and also it was about my main interest...LOCAL....it gave me lots of actual facts about our store, not just generalities....
THOUGHT YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED....i do get a lot of online offers and MOST i do open but DONT usually READ past a big glance... AND THIS ONE WAS REALLY INTERESTING....NO I DIdNT SIGN UP ...i have no idea how hard this was to send out or anything about that...but i was impressed...i never heard of the company...i got to this page with one click....

http:// www. localvisibility.org/search.aspx?q=5742235702&i=9d5ade6729034f058c5f2ac4a6e3ea5d


ann

vangogh
03-08-2011, 03:47 PM
I wouldn't trust that report Ann. The information inside isn't that hard to collect and it was done with automated tools. I know it looks impressive, but it really isn't. There are hundreds if not thousands of similar reports you can find.

This is just the start of a sales pitch to sell you seo services that you'll probably want to ignore. I don't specifically know this company, but as a general rule seo companies that approach you are the ones you want to stay away from. Any seo company that is good at what it does doesn't need to send you a pitch. They know how to get you to find them when you're interested in their services. After all that is what they do.

greenoak
03-08-2011, 05:12 PM
well it w as way above most of the spam i get in my mail box.. that info wouldnt be easy for ME to find...easy for you of course...but not one has ever shown me that much in a cold call email before....... i thought it was pretty good marketing...and might be interesting to some of the marketers on here.....it got the potential customer, me, to look anyway....and thats a real hurdle, imho....
im no judge but what was bad info on there?
the info about the other stores it listed, i know them, was trustworthy .....
and it showed me some places i could put our store in also...and i was interested in the keyword info too..it sounded about right....
im not looking for seo help...and like i said i know nothing about them...and have little interest in hiring help from an online person anyway...just thought it was a good job on the marketing side...

vangogh
03-08-2011, 08:40 PM
Ann it's not that the information in the report is bad. It's that they're likely trying to sell you seo services at a rate much higher than what they're going to give you. The information they provided is simple to find. I realize people who aren't SEOs may not know where to find it, but any good SEO could give the same information for little to no cost.

These people are probably going to contact you again wanting to sell more reports or services. My experience tells me that what they try to sell you isn't going to be worth the price they want to charge. I'm only trying to help and point out that while what they send looks nice on the surface it's likely nothing more than spam.

After a quick search of their company name I found this review (http://seoaware.com/2010/07/14/email-online-visibility-offering-report/) and I see another page suggesting the emails they send are phishing attacks and not to open them.

greenoak
03-08-2011, 09:00 PM
like i said im not signing up..i just wouldnt go for an online business even with good reviews.....but that review would scare me off if i were.....thanks vg...
still it was impressive marketing ...to me... i think we should try to be like that and reallly focus on our potential customers actual interests in their language and wow using their data....and focussing on local was pretty nice and unusual too...

vangogh
03-08-2011, 10:58 PM
I knew you weren't signing up, but I figured I'd say something just in case someone else was thinking of it.

It is good marketing. They send you what appears to be an impressive report and it gains your trust. I'm sure plenty of people do respond to them. You'll see more and more people focusing on local search. People in the SEO community have been expecting it to be the next big thing in SEO for years, but it's only now catching on with most people. Mobile is the other next big thing, which is already here of course.

By the way you might be interested in reading this article on Local Search Ranking Factors (http://www.davidmihm.com/local-search-ranking-factors.shtml). David Mihm the person behind the site was probably the first person to really dig deep into local seo. He's been updating these ranking factors for several years now. Some of the article might be a little seo techie, but I think most of it doesn't require a lot of specific seo knowledge. It's a long read so be prepared to spend some time reading and absorbing.

greenoak
03-09-2011, 08:30 AM
i hear you....and as a local search user, ...its about time the experts started paying attention to us..we might be a good market...not a huge corporate one maybe......i would love to know the best local directories...or have another web person available at the store once in a while......
.most advice is definitley aimed at national....which is so natural becasue the web is worldwide....but all the advisors have a locality too.... a locality that might really need them...
my marketing email above actually gave me some good directory leads and just neat info i hadnt realized before...another good thing they accomplished is they got thru our spam filter....i guess they showed me info that anyone else could have but nobody did....
vg...im reading thru your link , wow , what a great intro to all this....THANKS.. ...its got so much info....and lots of words i dont know..... like what is a category on a place page? im going to h ave my web person spend some time on there today....she works today...
looks like being on google and facebook is good....

Spider
03-09-2011, 09:11 AM
I visited the site of LocalVisibilty.org and thought they appeared quite genuine (as well as one could see from a glance at a webpage, that is - which isn't very conclusive, I agree.) I noticed that it was a new service and still under development, and what I read was logically offered.

I think the doubts cast are indicative of the weakness of unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE) rather than a guide to whether the business is a scam or not. Still, the fact they are prepared to use spam doesn't speak well of them, no matter how effective the marketing may appear to be..

vangogh
03-09-2011, 11:57 AM
Frederick I agree the site appears genuine at first glance. I'm also not saying it's definitely spam. I don't know the site enough to make any absolute claims about it. However the reports they show are similar if not exact to hundreds of others I see all the time. If you've never seen one before I admit it looks impressive, but in reality the report is nothing special. I've also seen the marketing tactic before. Send something that looks useful on the surface, but doesn't really contain anything meaningful or in depth and then charge a fee for more shallow information that likely isn't worth the price.

Ann that articles is very informative and a lot to digest. If I'm not mistaken you can choose a category when setting up your Google Places page. I think you select from a pre-defined list from Google, though perhaps they let you add a custom category. It's been awhile since I looked at the settings of my Places page, but I'm pretty sure somewhere in the settings you can select a category for your business.

greenoak
03-09-2011, 12:48 PM
maybe it was spam like my zappos ads are spam...... i think of spam as the ****** ads ...not something this well targeted...i thought it was a very good fit for me, more than most web and especially internet marketing related emails i get...actually their presentation made me think they were way ahead of the pack...i wouldnt be suprised it they became a pretty popular company....

anyway...thanks again vg....we have used your link all morning and my web person is getting a lot out of it..we changed some things on our places page and shes explaining a lotof it to me.... ..and she says we have done a lot of the right things already...i like their lay out...lots of different views on the same subject....there is a whole lot of shop talk on there tho!!!
i think we are in the 7 pack on some main searches ...if my guess that that means the top 7 on google is correct......
oops io got bleeped....it started with a v....

vangogh
03-09-2011, 01:54 PM
Ann one thing that may be in the article that you should definitely do is work to get links from local authority sites. For example join a Chamber of commerce or two in your area. Most will let you add a link in your profile. If there are Rochester specific business directories try to get in them so you can have a link back to your site. Some of these links might cost you some money (membership in the Chamber for example), but the links can be worth more than what they ultimately cost.

The inks may not be necessary for you. If I'm not mistaken there aren't a lot of other antique stores in your area so you may not need the links to compete in the search results where your Places page shows up. Just something to consider if you need or want better search results locally.

One thing to keep in mind with spam is you can't necessarily judge it by the package. Many con artists will show up in a fine Italian suit. They'll say all the right things and charm you for days or weeks before stealing all your money. The nice dress, talk, and targeting is all part of the con. A nicely packaged and targeted report can also be part of the spam. In recent years spammers and others up to no good have become more sophisticated in how their emails are designed.

Business Attorney
03-09-2011, 03:21 PM
Ann, I got what was probably the same email that you did. To me the tell-tale sign that it was auto-generated spam was the fact that they referred to our firm as "Staub Anderson Green Llc: Anderson Eric D" which is how we somehow got listed on our phone bill when my partner Eric set up our account.

They obviously take a phone company database, run it through some searches and auto-generate a report as well as an email. Its analysis is different, but the concept of aggregating information from a number of other sites what websites like compete.com, cubestat.com and many others do.

By the way, someone blogged about this company and their email last July (http://www.small-business-forum.net/internet-marketing/4673-best-email-marketing.html).

jpohl
03-09-2011, 05:07 PM
Vangogh, Thanks for that local search research share....awesome stuff. That'll take a while to digest. For the most part if I am doing SEO work, I charge for it. I mean, if I was going to do a decent job of helping an Antique store rank for keywords, I would want to make sure that I was looking at the right keywords. Antiques is probably a keyword but what kind of antiques do you specialize in and where are your customers. There needs to be a dialogue to do a proper job. I'm not saying automated tools can't go through your site and get a good feel to start but I almost always have people ranking for things that probably don't help and things that could be easily ranked for is no where in sight.

Kind of like the internet marketer trick of telling you they can get to page 1 within 24 hours on google for a search phrase. Anyone can if you make the search phrase obscure enough. You won't get any traffic but if someone did use the phrase, you'd be at the top of the list :)

vangogh
03-10-2011, 11:20 AM
Glad to point you to the link Jeff. David updates that article every year I think(?) I think a lot of it boils down to including your location where you can. Think of your location as another keyword or phrase you pair with the other phrases you're trying to rank.

Capitalist
03-10-2011, 11:53 AM
Interesting report, but I'm far more interested in the local search ranking factors :)

Most of that info is available right inside my main desktop tool.

vangogh
03-11-2011, 01:17 AM
To me local search is all about sending search engines signals that you're relevant or important or an authority in your location. Mostly do the same thing you would do to rank your page and site as always, but add in the local component. You want a search engine to consider you relevant for a certain location then use your address wherever possible. Add it on most pages of your site. Try to have it mentioned on pages that link to you. Include your city and state in your page titles.

When getting links think about the kind of links that would send a local signal. Chambers of Commerce in your area. Websites for businesses in your area. Local business directories, local government, local schools. You get the idea.

Makes sure to claim the local pages search engines set up like Google Places and do what you can to get your customers to leave reviews for you. Do the same for other local sites like Yelp.

I don't think it has to be that complicated. Think of ways you can send search engines signals about where your business is located.

greenoak
03-11-2011, 09:25 AM
how would you figure out the best local directories , if any? or is it the more the better when it comes to directories? googling indiana directory didnt turn up much...how about yellowbook?
i cant support the chamber...they lobby against about everything i care about....

vangogh
03-11-2011, 12:49 PM
You should be able to find them searching. Try things like

"your city" +"directory"
"your city" +"add url"
"your city" +"submit url"

You can also add keywords like

"your city" +"submit url" +"your keyword phrase"

You might also try mixing in words like "community," "profile," "join," "forum" and other words that might indicate some kind of social community around your location. As you find some sites try to pay attention to the words they share in common that indicate the site is one where you can add a ink back to your site or where a community exists that you can join and start mixing those words into your searches.

When I searched Indiana directories I see over 43,000,000 results. Not all of them will be directories you can submit to, but many are. You often have to check several pages worth of results to find the few you want. Also don't submit to directories that require you link back to them. Also know that most directories aren't going to provide great benefit. Odds are a handful of good ones are all you really need, though some of those might require payment for inclusion

It's not the most exciting work to do. I find it easier for me to do the above an hour here and another hour there. I'll usually copy the url of any page I find and paste it into a spreadsheet or simple text file. Then at another time I'll grab the list of link and spend an hour here and an hour there submitting a site or joining the communities. When submitting to directories it helps to have all the information you usually submit set up in a file so you can copy and paste quickly. You usually need to include a description of some sort, which is good to write in advance. Look around at the other sites already listed in a directory and see how they've written their information and always pay attention to the rules of the directory.

With communities you should join them and be active instead of just joining to drop a link somewhere.

Up to you about the Chamber of Commerce, but they typically make for good links.

greenoak
03-11-2011, 08:55 PM
thanks vg....good leads for us next week...my computer person works 3 days...
back to the start of this thread.;;.
as i read thru the comments about the company on that blog.. .i didnt see any feedback from actual customers of the company....obviously the other internet marketers dont like them..that kind of seemed a little jealous ..since anyone could have come up with such a neat interactive initial email but no one else did....anyway i would like to hear some users views...
if they really lied and said they were working for a city and werent then thats a differnent story.
.also. isnt most of our incoming stuff computer generated? not sure how that defines spam...we use the computer to find leads too.

Duston McGroarty
03-13-2011, 08:52 PM
Hey Ann - where is the report at? I went to the link but it redirected me to their homepage.
I'd be interested in seeing what they're saying.

Thanks

greenoak
03-13-2011, 09:47 PM
it was in vgs post....the 4th post in this thread.....called review...

vangogh
03-14-2011, 11:20 AM
Dustin I removed the original link since I'm close to 100% sure the site is spam. Notice how on the home page they ask for a phone number as opposed to your domain. They claim they need the phone number to offer a report since it's a unique identifier. Funny last time I checked the domain itself was unique too. So they need a unique phone number to find a domain that is already unique. Wouldn't it make sense to ask for the domain itself?

Unless of course their goal is to collect your phone number so they can cal or sell it to whoever will pay.

If you want to see their reports just type (111) 111-1111 or something equally unrealistic as a phone number. You'll see a generic report.

greenoak
03-14-2011, 10:33 PM
i think hes looking for the link to the site; seo aware that vg postED A LINK TO.....where vg said 'i found this review' .in the 4th post in this thread....thats where i read the reviews of the site that dustin was asking about..
i wondered where my live link went.... it was super focussed on me and my store.... ..

vangogh
03-15-2011, 02:40 AM
I wasn't sure. I thought he meant the original report. You might be right though. The link to the review should still be there. I changed your link so people could copy and paste it and see the report. Because I'm pretty sure the site in question is spam I didn't want to give them the benefit of an active link. The copy and paste was working at first. I tried it to make sure. It doesn't seem to be anymore though. If you still have it and want to send it to me in a PM I'll set it so people can copy and paste it again. I don't mind people visiting it if they want to see, but I didn't want to leave the link active to reward the other site and also because link out to bad sites can potentially have negative consequences for the forum where search engines are concerned.

Business Attorney
03-15-2011, 09:46 AM
By the way, I just got a second identical spam email from the same company (localvisibility.org), so I reported it to the FTC by forwarding a copy to spam@uce.gov. I would recommend that anyone else getting a spam email from localvisibility.org do the same. Hopefully, the FTC will take some action against this spammer and help clear at least one piece of spam from our mailbox.

vangogh
03-15-2011, 11:31 AM
Not surprising. Good that you reported it to. Do you just forward the email to the address or do you need to add any explanatory information?

CloptonCapital
03-21-2011, 06:09 PM
spam as in its unsolicited: yes
spam as in its a scam: is another question

Personally I thought this thread was going to be about using email marketing to stay in touch with clients

vangogh
03-22-2011, 12:21 AM
Personally I thought this thread was going to be about using email marketing to stay in touch with clients

It kind of was at the start. Not staying connected with new clients so much as using email marketing to find new clients. It just turned out this particular attempt at email marketing is a scam.