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A brief summary of most of the ideas, but listen in for full details:

• Stay targeted in your list building.
• Keep your emails simple.
• Keep it personal.
• Don’t hide your pitches in articles and other bells and whistles.
• Train your readers to take action
• Do your research and be honest.
• Get to know your readers.
• Email your customers and treat them well.
• Subject & from lines are important.
• Thank you page is prime real estate.

I’ll be in touch again soon with more details on our AWESOME learning and taking action opportunity!

And a little later, in my sheer frustration at people who claim email marketing is dead or at least dying some slow death, I asked social media enthusiasts to look at the big picture.

In that post, I mentioned that email runs across all platforms (i.e. you don’t have to be on Twitter to get your messages…people have choice of pop3s, Gmail, Hotmail, etc.) and for the online business owner, it also provides:

• Private communication: It’s how your customers can ask questions and get support. And even if you use a ticket system, it’s still in conjunction with email. And yes, while some companies provide basic help to customers through Twitter and other platforms, detailed and private help comes directly through you.

• Privileged communication: Let’s face it, our customers should be treated in a privileged manner. They’ve shown they’re interested and that they are willing to spend money. You want to give them special offers, advanced access and other perks you don’t give to just anyone who becomes a Facebook fan. You can make a TON of cash, just by treating your customers better than everyone else.

• Direct communication of any length: No 140 character limits with email. Say what you want and how you want to say it…no extra clicks to the sale required. THAT is priceless.

• Continuous access: Not everyone checks email every day, but you can bet that IN GENERAL the consistency with the average individual checks it is more consistent than with social media accounts. Of course, there are exceptions for those who live and breathe social media, but we’re talking about the general public here. And yes of course, you need to understand your own market to know what is best for you and for them.

But if that’s not enough for you, here are a couple more reasons why email isn’t going anywhere:

- It’s how people often communicate when more depth and detail is needed. And for many, it’s the only or main way they communicate online.

- It’s how people are notified of their new messages in social media and other collaborative sites. You can bet social media sites are sending out a TON of automated notifications via email each and every day.

For some reason, people feel lower delivery rates (due to aggressive spam filters) has somehow put a nail into the coffin for email. While deliverability is an issue, you have the same issue when it comes to social media sites (not everyone will see your tweet, update, etc.) and many will never drop by or open their RSS feed to read your blog post.

The fact remains, despite some challenges, email is an important part of just about every net savvy person’s life…

Even Facebook is Getting in on the Email Game

You may have heard that Facebook is rumored to be launching its own web-based email application. For the blinded-by-the-light social media starlets this may just seem like further proof that social media is taking over.

But for the shrewd business person, it’s a clear indication that Mark Zuckerberg and the gang understand the power of email. They know this is how people communicate and it’s the missing key to getting all the Facebook addicts completely locked on to their site.

So it’s up to you if you want to believe the hype or not. I recommend building your mailing list, building your RSS subscribers and making tons of “friends” on the net. Then let’s see what brings the best and most consistent results and what really fuels all your marketing, generates new sales and repeat sales. If I’m wrong, I’ll take a little salt and pepper and perhaps a nice glass of Cab Shiraz with my shoe.

Some people will have noticed that I haven’t blogged here since December 2, 2009 and that post was simply an announcement about a new PLR bundle. Certainly nothing to write home about. And while some people may have wished I wrote more, overall, business has not suffered by my laziness. Traffic is steady, sales are up and I’ve enjoyed my couch potato time.

If you’re facing content writing burnout and are looking for a way out, I’ve got news for you. Actually, a few pieces of good news:

• A blog doesn’t die because you can’t post every day or at regular intervals. A blog thrives when you or your writers have something interesting to say.

• YOU don’t have to do all the writing. The more your business becomes about YOU, the more you’re on the hook for personally keeping your audience entertained and educated. Take this blog, for example. I haven’t blogged for almost 2 months, but there’s been plenty of great advice and perspective to be found. In fact, all my business ventures are a combined effort – relieving pressure on me and increasing profit potential by tapping into a variety of skills and assets.

• If you’re not doing the writing, there are plenty of options:
  • You can have guest bloggers or regular authors on your website.
  • You can accept one-time and sporadic submissions from writers.
  • You can hire a ghostwriter.
  • You can use private label content. PLR can be published as is or used for inspiration for more original content.
  • You can pose questions and allow your readers to generate the content in the form of contents.

• Despite the fact that a blog is a powerful way to connect with your audience, in most online businesses, it’s not going to be your biggest sales driver (but IS very useful for driving TRAFFIC). Even in 2010, the so-called age of social media, email is still the heart of all your marketing. It is your direct contact with your target market and customers. Here’s a few reasons why:
  • Email is still the most important method of online communication for a huge number of people.
  • While social media has replaced a lot of friend-to-friend communication (i.e. Sally can log into Facebook to say hi to Jane instead of sending her an email), this may result in people having less overwhelming email inboxes, meaning your email may just get more attention than it might have received previously.
  • People are busy and will forget about your business. An email can pull them back to you – over and over again.
  • A pitch is often expected through email. While you can also pitch through a blog, it is often more subtle. You can hit them much harder with an email.

If you’ve got limited time or you’re in that “just don’t feel like it” mood, choose your writing focus wisely. Do you really need a blog post or would a few more messages to your autoresponder do the trick? Then leverage the resources and skills of other to round out your blogging and content marketing.