Work Better, Not Harder

I firmly believe that you manage what you measure . Numbers provide context so we know when we’re doing good or not so good. Sometimes we’re not even sure what the numbers are telling us and that requires a little more research and reflection. And sometimes we don’t know what to do as a result of the numbers. Take website stats for example – does anyone really know what to do with those? Reaching milestones - now those are numbers to celebrate! This newsletter is our 50th issue. That’s 250 articles we've shared – almost 100,000 words of wisdom for small business owners from 150 different authors. We hope that you've found some useful and interesting things over the years. Why are we celebrating? Our newsletter has brought us lots of great things. More social media contacts More subscribers = potential clients and referrers Enhanced reputation Improved technical skills Better writing skills - practice makes perfect More pageviews - blog and website More ref

Your newsletter has to be both useful and interesting to be successful. If one of your goals is to be seen as an expert, consider that the usefulness of your content can have a big impact. What types of content are useful? Here are some suggestions. Hot-off-the-press information: Timeliness is important if you have access to information (or photos) in advance of your target market. How-to’s, quick tips, detailed instructions, diagrams: The goal here is to save your readers time and effort – to shortcut the learning curve. Examples, case studies, templates, worksheets, maps, directions: You can make use of document-sharing and photo-sharing applications to provide access. An example of this would be our own newsletter gallery on Flickr .   Links to useful resources and people: Share exceptional items that you have created or already vetted. Reviews, summaries and recommendations: You can do this for books, articles, white papers, videos, TV/radio shows, and more.

I've been a Flickr Pro member since long before I was on Facebook or Twitter. That's because I'm a gardener and it's great for photo-sharing with friends. Flickr also provides a good way for me to organize my photos and keep track of them. It doesn't matter how many times I change computers, my garden photos will always be online where I can find them. Daley Progress has also been using Flickr to display examples of our work - an easy interface for potential clients to browse. I was delighted to discover yesterday that Flickr introduced a new user interface that is so beautiful - and so long overdue. While Flickr was always great for organizing, browsing wasn't nearly the experience is it now. screen shot of a Flickr set While it may not be obvious (and perhaps should be more so), Flickr is also social. I'm connected with other gardeners in different places. I can tweet and like and favourite other's photos. I still think Flickr could be more

photo by Anirudh Koul In simple terms, there are two things which affect the deliverability of your newsletter. The first is the content itself - the words, links and graphics included. The second is your own reputation . These things below impact deliverability and have nothing to do with the content in your email: The blacklist/whitelist status of your email address, domain, DNS settings, IP address, etc. Blacklisting can happen when you have high unsubscribe, complaint, and bounce rates resulting from (among other things): buying mailing lists using misleading subject lines and generally being sneaky not providing an easy way to unsubscribe The reputation of your bulk email service provider (ESP) All of the issues above also apply to them. They must work hard to ensure continued deliverability of your emails. This is part of the service you get when you use a bulk ESP and why it’s important to choose a reputable one. (We prefer iContact !) Click to Tweet this

The first thing I said when he answered the phone was, "Josh, I really feel sorry for you today!" Josh is a pleasant fellow who answered the phone last Thursday when I called the Centre for Arts and Technology in Halifax. I was just a little upset. I was pretty sure that mine wasn't the first call of this sort that he had received, and it wouldn't be the last. It started when I received 17 identical promotional emails to 17 imaginary Daley Progress employees from the Centre for Arts and Technology back on April 17th. ( Click here to get the back story on our imaginary staff.) That's the footer of an email addressed to mikehopkins@daleyprogress.com. (There is no Mike Hopkins.) At the time I replied and asked for all email addresses ending in my domain name to be deleted from their mailing list. Of course, I also took the time to preach a little about the dangers of buying mailing lists. I was disappointed that a reputable organization had been duped .

“...at some point along the way, gathering and managing their subscribers' info became more important than their subscribers' experience.”   I made that statement a year ago in response to an article that Danielle wrote explaining her troubles when trying to unsubscribe from Air Canada’s newsletter . Don’t let this happen to you. While your newsletter is your marketing tool, your readers don’t care about that. They don’t care about your processes. They don’t care how much work goes into your newsletter. And they don’t care how successful it is. They only care about the value you’re providing... if you’re lucky enough to get their attention. "Build it and they will come."   Don’t hold your breath while waiting. photo by CarolBEE_blogger Put yourself in your potential subscriber’s shoes. How often do you sign up for newsletters? What triggers you to do that? How do you feel when you’re expected to do extra work? Do you give up? Getting new subscribers