| Greetings,
We're popping the champagne cork this month for all sorts of reasons. First, this issue marks the beginning of our second year publishing an e-zine. Learn more about the benefits in our first celebratory article.
Then we're celebrating the joys of a new computer with the Vista operating system and lots of other leading edge technology tools. You'll find more about this in the second article.
Another celebration is for a new member of the Shawenon Communications team. For years I've quested after an intern from Simon's Rock College of Bard, just down the road from here in Great Barrington. Jennifer Goodwillie, in her sophomore year, is contributing to this issue for the first time. She'll tell you about customizing your personal page in Yahoo! in this month's Web Tips.
And the last hurrah! A successful presentation of "Easy E-Zines: How E-Mail Marketing Can Boost Your Business" at the American Society for Training and Development ( ASTD) in Albany at the end of March.
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| Happy Birthday |
With this issue, Web Words begins a second year. In honor of this milestone, we've changed the numbering system from the printed newsletter style--volume and number--to consecutive. Lucky 13.
Bottom Line
When I started this publishing effort a year ago, it was, in part, a result of coaching from my dear friend Lin Schreiber. "Just commit to it for six months," she encouraged. I was lacking focus--a lifelong malady. Lin, good coach that she is, was hoping for a little excitement on my part at the beginning. Initially, there wasn't much, but over the months, I've grown to really enjoy writing Web Words.
The tragedy of periodic e-mail marketing is that the hard part comes first. I wish it weren't so. Any reasonable new venture should allow a gentle entry--like getting into the swimming pool at the shallow end. But this stuff just isn't like that, and there's little I can do about it.
I'm here to help, of course, and I can make your startup easier. But there are a lot of initial, one-time tasks we'll have to work through together. Pick a name, select a template, design a logo, select a style and determine regular content. But then you get into a groove, and it's actually fun. That's not just me talking; my clients have fun, too.
Over the past year, my subscription list has nearly doubled. Though my "opens" rate has dropped a little from the early months, my "unsubscribes" have been miniscule. I take that as a good sign. It means people get value out of Web Words even if they can't read it all each month.
I set goals in the first issue to entertain, demonstrate and inspire. And every month, a few Web Word's readers take the plunge and launch their own newsletters. Increasing numbers have signed up and are working through the pre-launch process.
Remember This
Once you sign on to Constant Contact, your monthly use is unlimited. Think about using e-mail marketing for all sorts of things from invites to events to new product announcements. And remember that you can send different messages to different lists ranging from interest groups to zip codes. The invitation to our April e-zine intro in Pittsfield was mailed only to people in that area.
We call it e-mail marketing, but many not-for-profit organizations have signed up, too. A small community organization can mail to members for a whole year for less than $150 by taking advantage of various discounts. That's less than they would spend on annual postage for monthly mailings to 35 members. And post office rates are going up again this summer.
I've created a body of work in the past year. You can too. When I talk to prospects, I frequently direct them to one or several Web Words articles in which I've discussed a specific subject of interest to them. That gets my prospect to read the publication, but it's also efficient--I don't need to repeat myself.
Best of all, each month I reach out and touch customers, clients, prospects, friends and family members like you. Hopefully, I've entertained, inspired and demonstrated the value of e-mail marketing.
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| Leading Edge |
Yippee! I've got a new computer. This is not an everyday occurrence. I believe that personal machines should last at least a decade; our Honda will be 15 years old in October. But my computer hard-disk, that seemed enormous when I bought it, was running out of space. In fact, my seven-year-old computer had already far exceeded its life expectancy by most people's standards. And Microsoft just introduced Vista--its first major new operating system in five years. It was time!
Latest Greatest
I have some rules about these things. When I get a new computer, I want the latest, greatest, largest--dare I say "leading edgest"--thing I can get. Not bleeding edge mind you; but right out there on the leading edge. I'll give you the bottom line. I love it, but my productivity has momentarily plummeted.
The last time I was this far out on the leading edge was in 1984. I bought my Apple Macintosh in the first 100 days Steve Job's creation was on the market. I loved its graphical interface and welcoming smile. But I had to move to a PC a few years later because I was consulting on computer systems that weren't available for the Mac.
So what did I get this time? Vista and Microsoft Office 2007, of course, with a 160 gigabyte hard drive and two gigs of memory. (I wish I could get that for my brain, too.) But the biggest change is two monitors. When local computer guru Bob O'Haver gave me the idea, I didn't see how it would be useful. Now I can't imagine how I lived without my dual screens. For example, a prospect's Web site open on one screen while I take notes on the other; comments on an article from a client on one screen, while I change the master copy.
Blue Benn
This is going to seem like a radical change of subject, but trust me. Recently, my husband and I dined at the famous Blue Benn diner in Bennington, VT. It looks like a traditional 1940s diner, but the menu spans five or six different cuisines from breakfast to Italian to Mexican. And it's all posted on the wall on 8 1/2 x 11 pieces of paper--in random order. The food's delicious, but finding what you want to eat is a major challenge.
So too in Office 2007 and Vista. It took me two days to figure out how to save a document and more time to locate the print controls. It turns out they (and a whole bunch of other important things) are behind a button on the upper left of the screen that I thought was just decorative. I haven't read much about my new world; I prefer to discover for myself, but I would agree with one commentator who said that it now takes two or three moves to do what you used to be able to do in one. Sort of like the menu at the Blue Benn diner.
But a restaurant is about eating the food, not ordering it. And a computer system is about getting work done, not finding out where things are. Each day I get more comfortable with my new system and more impressed with the technology. Productivity is sure to follow.
There's much more to tell, so watch for more notes from the leading edge in the May issue of Web Words.
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| Web Tips |
The World Wide Web provides limitless information, but processing and comprehending it all can be overwhelming. That's why search engines like Yahoo!, Google and MSN now provide personalized information filters to suit individual interests.
Yahoo!, for example, offers My Yahoo!. On this page you can filter the news you receive. You get the information you want by simply checking boxes including top stories, sports, business, politics and health news. Not really interested in the happenings of the nation's celebrities? Don't select Entertainment News.
The list goes on and so do the elements of personalization. With My Yahoo!, users can enter their zip code for their local weather, their birthday for their horoscope and even choose to view their favorite comics or see what's on TV that night. Useful links include the yellow pages, maps and calendars. If you have a Yahoo! e-mail account, then you can see if you've got mail and access your contact list with an address book.
In 20 minutes you can create an easily accessible personal Web site page where you can see exactly the information you want all on one page. This is just one more way that global information is cohesively coming to the screens of Internet users.
--Jennifer Goodwillie
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And Finally . . .
Shawenon Communications collaborates with small businesses, solopreneurs, professionals and not-for-profits to get their message across in the written word.
We specialize in electronic communications including e-zines and other forms of e-mail marketing and Web site content. We also ghostwrite articles and other business communications. As a business partner, we offer Constant Contact's e-mail marketing service.
Thanks for reading. If you liked this issue, please click on the Forward email button below to share this newsletter with others.
You're also welcome to reprint material in this newsletter as long as it is unaltered and credited to the author. If being reproduced electronically, the following link must also be included:
www.shawenon.com
Sincerely,
Susanna Opper
Shawenon Communications
413-528-6494
Copyright © 2007 Shawenon Communications.
All rights reserved. |
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| Do it Now! |
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Have you been thinking about signing up with Constant Contact? Right now is the perfect time to get started. Why? Because it's Spring. Or at least it's Spring somewhere, even if not in the Berkshires.
During the next few months before the full flush of summer, you could get your ideas together and launch your e-zine. If your business flourishes in the summer, you'll reap the rewards right away. If autumn is your busy season, you can use the summer to polish your campaign.
Don't delay--do it now.
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