Pogo with Vertugo on Indiegogo

Ian Britt tell us how the desire to create the perfect pogo stick has gone from hobby to a career.

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What’s Your Marketing Superpower? [Quiz + Giveaway]

Want to win a book package from some of the biggest names in digital marketing? Of course you do.

You’re in luck – we’re giving away 3 exclusive book collections, featuring ASCEND Digital Marketing Summit speakers. (Not familiar? Check out the lineup here.)

To find out which package is right for you, take this short quiz – then enter to win a curated collection based on your results.

For the official rules, click here.

And be sure to join us tomorrow, July 1 at 2pm EST for a special #AWeberHour Twitter Chat featuring Noah Kagan of SumoMe, Ardath Albee of Marketing Interactions, Inc. and Oli Gardner of Unbounce. We’re talking Conversion Optimization with the experts – you won’t want to miss this!

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8 Things Your Website Needs to Increase Traffic and Sales

If you’ve been scratching your head trying to understand why your website isn’t getting much traffic, keeping visitors’ attention or converting visits to actual sales, we’ve got some tips to help solve this issue.

Here are the eight most common “missing links” in website design, development and promotion, including tools to help you bridge the gaps and finally see some returns from your online presence.

1. A mobile version

The problem: More people now access the Internet on mobile devices than personal computers, which means you’ll want your customers’ mobile visits to your website to be seamless. Also, Google just expanded its use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal, which gives you another reason to make sure your mobile version is up to par.

The solution: To see if your website has a mobile-friendly design, Google offers a free “Mobile-Friendly Test” app. Just type your website in here and the test will analyze your URL. If you’re already using WordPress to power your site, you can also use its pre-built “responsive-design” themes to ensure your website will be reconfigured and resized on any mobile device.

Another option is to develop a dedicated mobile site. DudaMobile creates a mobile version of your website in minutes for free and VerticalResponse fans get discounts on upgrades.

2. A fast load time

The problem: Your website is so slow to load that many potential customers leave before they even get to look around.

The solution: There are lots of free sites that let you test your site’s speed. Webpagetest.org lets you test from multiple locations around the world using real browsers at real consumer connection speeds. If you discover an issue, Google Page Speed Insights can offer you an analysis of what to fix, tell you why it needs to be fixed, and guide you along as you do it.

3. A scheduling tool

The problem: Customers can’t make or change appointments after hours.

The solution: Add a scheduling button from Appointlet, an application that works with Google Calendar, to allow customers to book appointments and pay for services on your website at any time.

4. An email sign-up form

The problem: New visitors are coming to your site, but you’re not collecting their email addresses to engage them with promotions, announcements, or newsletters.

The solution: If you’re a VerticalResponse customer, you can easily embed a sign-up form on your website to collect email addresses and additional details from your customers. Remember that it’s a free service, and there are many professionally designed templates to choose from.

If you’d rather collect email info when a visitor is about to leave your site, Bounce Exchange might be a good option. The site helps you design a pop-up that appears when a visitor hovers over the “back” button, indicating they’re preparing to leave the page.

5. Cookies and website tracking tags

The problem: You have no record of your customers’ visits.

The solution: Adding cookies and tagging is the next best thing to getting inside your customers’ heads. You’ll have a better idea of what pages your customers visited, what they put in their shopping carts before they abandoned them and which ads might be most effective in persuading them to buy. Free tools like Google Tag Manager allow even the less-than-tech-savvy small business owner to add or update website tags.

6. A search box

The problem: Customers get frustrated that they have to scroll through pages of products or information to find what they are looking for.

The solution: Add a search box. DuckDuckGo lets you create and place a search box on your site for free.

7. Social media icons on your website

The problem: You’re having a hard time building your social media following.

The solution: Making time to attract social friends can be tricky, which is why you want to make it easy for customers to follow you. Turn to NiftyButtons.com. This site helps you add social media buttons and icons to your website for free.

With easy-to-spot social icons on your website, you’ll see an increase in followers, likes, retweets, Pinterest shares and views on your YouTube channel.

8. A phone number and physical address

The problem: First-time visitors are leery of making a purchase because they don’t know if you’re legit.

The solution: Unless you run your business out of your home, post a physical address on the “Contact Us” page or right on the homepage with the phone number. Most people feel more comfortable if there’s a phone number they can call with questions or concerns, even if the hours are limited. Companies like Grasshopper offer 800 numbers for as little as $12/month and $.06/minute.

For more website tips, sign up for our weekly VR Buzz newsletter.

Wendy Burt-Thomas is a full-time freelance writer with four books and thousands of published articles to her credit. Contact Wendy at WendyBurt@aol.com.

© 2015, VerticalResponse Blog. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

The post 8 Things Your Website Needs to Increase Traffic and Sales appeared first on VerticalResponse Blog.

Millennials: The Shopping Cart Masters

Millennials may abandon their online shopping carts, but reminder emails should take the right tone - this demographic is far more likely to revisit those carts, even on another device.

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3 Tips To Help You Get Your July 4th Email Opened

Barbecues. Beach trips. Stand-still traffic. Fireworks.

As the U.S. prepares to celebrate another year of independence, there’s another holiday trend Americans can expect to look forward to: July 4th-themed emails.

Whether you plan to host a huge sale, offer exclusive discounts or simply take an Independence Day spin on your typical content, getting your emails to stand out in the inbox can be a doozy – especially when there are hundreds of other businesses tying the holiday to their emails too.

So what can you do?

Fortunately, it is possible to increase the chances of getting your emails opened. Here are three tips to keep in mind.

Mention “July 4th” or “Fourth of July”

Referencing specific dates in your subject lines creates a sense of urgency with your subscribers, and ultimately encourages more subscribers to open your emails.

Based on stats provided by our AWesome data team, we found that, of the top 100 pairs of words in our data, the majority of them related to time, such as weeks and months. So be sure to mention “July 4th” to encourage your subscribers to open your message.

If you’re having a week-long sale, be sure to mention that too. This not only tells subscribers for how long a promotion is running, it’ll entice them to act faster and take advantage of it as well, such as “This Week Only: Hot July 4th Sales!”

Explain Your Offer

It’s tempting to get creative with your subject lines. Witty always wins, right?

Unfortunately, not always.

According to our data team, the top 100 words that generated the highest open rates specifically related to the content in the email. This means that sometimes the “boring” subject line is the one that’s going to get you the better open rate.

So instead of subject lines like “Sales That Even Uncle Sam Would Want,” try getting more specific with something like “50% off Patriotic Tanks & Tees for July 4th!”

Send Your Email Before or After July 4th

Our data team also says that open rates on July 4th over the last few years have been below average – meaning your subscribers are more likely to open up an email from you on most other days of the year.

Keeping in mind that your subscribers are probably out barbecuing or catching some summer rays, consider sending your holiday email before or after the holiday when they’re more likely to open it. Plus, it’ll also give you an edge over the competition.

Considering a post-holiday message? You might want to try a subject line like, “We’re Still Celebrating July 4th: Buy One, Get One Cupcakes!”

Getting Started With Your July 4th Email

Sending holiday-themed emails keeps your brand relevant, but be sure to keep these tips in mind for success.

Are you sending any July 4th emails to your subscribers? Tell us about it in the comments below!

The post 3 Tips To Help You Get Your July 4th Email Opened appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.

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A Look at Features Past, Present and Yet to Come

You may find this an odd time for reflection. We admit, tisn’t the regular season. It’s only July! Though most people reserve this type of musing for year-end, we like to take stock regularly and listen to the needs of our customers to inform product development all year round. Don’t worry, there are no chilling visits from ghosts in this post, and we’ve spared you a Charles Dickens novella. Just don’t wait until the end of the year to assess your email marketing. Do it now and make sure you’re taking advantage of all our recently added features and enhancements.

Check out the top three features from the past year, two from our most recent release, and a brief rundown of what you can expect in the months ahead.

Past

1.  Email Signup Forms (June 2014)

A signup form is an essential part of building your email list. When someone visits your website, blog, or social media site, you want to make it easy for them to sign up and receive on-going communication from you. By submitting their email address, they give you permission to stay in touch. This level of interest means a high-quality lead and usually more opens and clicks for your emails.

VerticalResponse offers email signup forms that you can customize and post wherever you like. You can embed the form on your site or use as a hosted web form. Each time someone fills it out, their email address will be automatically added to your list. It’s a must-do for collecting addresses to grow your list.

Explore our Signup Forms including templates, thank you pages, and responsive designs.

2.  Welcome Emails (October 2014)

A welcome email is an automatic message sent to a new subscriber when they sign up for your email list. It’s a great way to greet them and reinforce the value of being part of your list. The welcome email can also be used to set the expectation for the type and frequency of emails you will send them. Use it to encourage a next step. It’s a great way to prompt your new subscriber to check out a particular part of your site, offer them content, or incentivize them to make a purchase while their interest level is high.

VerticalResponse allows you to choose from a variety of templates and customize or design your own welcome email. Indicate which subscriber list should receive the autoresponder and then activate the campaign. You can view and monitor all statistics including open and clicks in reporting.

Check out tips and examples on creating a welcome email.

3.  Logo Footer Removal (April 2015)

If you want subscribers to see only your branding and not ours, you can now remove the VerticalResponse logo from the footer of your emails. This action is easy to take and available for paid accounts.

You can follow the simple instructions on how to remove the VerticalResponse logo here.

Present

Be sure to check out VerticalResponse’s most recent release in its entirety. A couple highlights include:

1.  Follow-Up Emails

You can schedule a follow-up email to be sent automatically to the people who did not open the original email. Follow-up emails are considered best practice among professional email marketers and is shown to lift open rates by an average of 30%. VerticalResponse has now automated this process so you can enjoy the benefit with just a couple clicks.

Find out more about Follow-Up Emails and how you can incorporate them into your next campaign.

2.  Editor Enhancements

Your drag and drop email editor is sporting some new enhancements. It’s now easier than ever to create professional emails for your business. Choose from an updated list of templates, design your email with more choices, and create the perfect call-to-action with our button builder.

Learn about these enhancements and more here.

Yet To Come

With no rest for the weary, our developers are already working on the next features that will further improve your email marketing efforts.

Salesforce Integration

Email marketing and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) are two tools that when paired together are much more powerful than when used separately. This major update to our integration will provide users with responsive email templates, two-way syncing of Contacts, and automatically keep data in sync across your Campaigns and Reports.

Watch this sneak peek to see details of this updated integration.

Timed Series

Timed emails are perfect for leading subscribers through an onboarding process, or taking them through a campaign series such as a drip campaign. This marketing automation feature is coming soon.

List Segmentation

VerticalResponse is adding another level of list management. Enjoy the ability to segment, sort and search within your email lists. This feature will improve your capacity to target specific subscribers.

 

Conclusion

Rejuvenate your email marketing spirit with these great features to get better results. We wish you the best all throughout the year!

If you’re thinking about upgrading your account, now is the time. Paid accounts have access to premium features such as unlimited sends, logo removal, and Follow-Up Emails. As of 6/30/15, our introductory pricing will expire. For a couple more days, you can take advantage of 20% off the regular price, plus a savings of 15% with an annual subscription. All you have to do is log in, pick the plan and choose your renewal period. With just a couple days left, you can still upgrade and save. 

 

© 2015, VerticalResponse Blog. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

The post A Look at Features Past, Present and Yet to Come appeared first on VerticalResponse Blog.

Grow Your Business, eCommerce With The Benchmark Email Shopify Integration

So whether it’s for a new small business owner or an established company, Shopify fulfills all needs to run your business smoothly. Combine that with the power of email marketing-- using the Benchmark Email Shopify Integration--and your business will become unstoppable!Related Articles

1. Benchmark Email Shopify Integration
2. Using the Benchmark Email Shopify Integration
3. Putting the "Great" in Integrations: WordPress Plugin

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Top 10 Tips From YouTube Hosts

We decided to ask some of our other favorite YouTube hosts for their best tips and advice, as well as some things people might not know about doing what they do.Related Articles

1. Nick Uhas: Beginnings, Big Brother and Beyond
2. In the Virtual Assistant Loop with Nick Loper
3. Nick Turner: Becoming a Comedian Is No Joke

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How to Optimize Your Marketing for Higher Conversions [Twitter Chat]

We’ve got a fantastic lineup of speakers at our upcoming ASCEND Digital Marketing Summit in October.

To introduce you to these incredible speakers, we’ve organized three special #AWeberHour Twitter chats.

Our first chat will be Wednesday, July 1, from 2-3 p.m. ET. We’ll be chatting with three conversion optimization experts who will be sharing ways you can get higher conversions by optimizing your marketing efforts.

The top chat contributor will receive some AWeber goodies, so be sure to participate!

Our Guest Panelists

Oli Gardner, @OliGardner

Oli is co-founder of Unbounce. He’s seen more landing pages than anyone on the planet and coined the term “conversion centered design,” authoring the marketing theory behind its seven principles. At Unbounce, he lives in front of a 20-foot whiteboard, mashing up usability, interaction design and landing page optimization to create better conversion experiences. His disdain for marketers that send campaign traffic to their homepage is legendary.

Ardath Albee, @Ardath421

Ardath is a B2B Marketing Strategist and CEO of Marketing Interactions, Inc. She helps companies with complex sales use persona-driven digital content strategies to turn prospects into buyers and convince customers stay. She’s the author of Digital Relevance: Developing Marketing Content and Strategies that Drive Results and has been voted one of the 50 Most Influential People in Sales and Lead Management for the past four years and a 2014 Woman to Watch in B2B Marketing by FierceCMO.

Noah Kagan, @NoahKagan

Noah is the Chief Sumo and SumoMe, which provides free tools to help grow your website traffic. He was #30 at Facebook, #4 at Mint, and is a top-rated taco connoisseur.

How to Participate

1. Create a Twitter account.
2. Follow @AWeber and our guest experts.
3. Follow the hashtag #AWeberHour using our tweetchat room or your favorite Twitter application (e.g., Twitter.com, Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, etc.), and be sure to include the hashtag in your tweet.

Sign Up for an Email Reminder

Mark your calendar and be sure to get in on the action on July 1 at 2 p.m. EDT. Tweet you there!

Sign up to receive a reminder below.

The post How to Optimize Your Marketing for Higher Conversions [Twitter Chat] appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.

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New Automatic Follow-Up Emails + More New Features

Our most recent release is all about top customer-requested features and enhancements. This is why we know you’re going to love it. Here is an overview of what we added to your VerticalResponse account.

Follow-Up Emails

We often recommend sending follow-up emails to your nonresponders (the people who don’t open your email). We added a feature last year that allows you to create a list of nonresponders from a sent email campaign. This segmentation makes it easy for you to send them a secondary email. Now we’ve automated the process for you. 

When you launch or schedule your email, you’ll have the option to schedule a follow-up email. The content of the email doesn’t change. All you need to do is change the subject line and indicate how many days after the first email the follow-up will go out. 

Follow-up emails are intended to get the attention of those who may have missed your email the first time. They have a significant impact on your open rate. By using follow-up emails, you can expect to see an increase of 20% to 30%, or more.

Email Editor Updates

We keep adding more tools to make email creation super easy. These are the latest options we added to the drag and drop email editor:

• Image group – Add two images side-by-side to showcase your products or services.
• Divider – Add a line between Content Blocks. You can select the color and thickness of the line. You can even add space above or below it if you need to.
• Follow Us – Select from updated button shapes and colors for your social networks.
• Background colors for Content Blocks – To help bring attention to a Content Block, or to add more interest to your email, you can add a background color to the content blocks. You can also change the background color by clicking a color in the spectrum bar, or by adding a color code.
• Content Block Border -Add a border to your content blocks. Select a solid, dashed, or dotted line, and then choose a color to help set it apart. This design gives you the ability to create a section that looks like a coupon or an offer in your email.
• Background – Select a color for the background of the email. Use a color we suggest or click the box to find a color of your choice. You can also enter a color code. Instead of a color, there are now background images from which to choose. Click the sample to see a preview of it in your email. Change it by simply clicking on a different image.

Add Message to a Test
If you need someone to edit or look at your email before you send it to your list, we offer a test email option. You can now add a message at the top for those who receive the test email. Let them know you need them to proofread, test links or that you’ve made changes and need approval. Whatever you need to tell your test email recipients you can now relay that message from the test email screen.

Restore Deleted Emails
Last but not least, we’ve added an email trash bin to your account. Have you deleted an email, only to find you needed it after all? Don’t worry; now it’s easy to retrieve. At the bottom of the Messages window, you’ll see a Trash icon. This is where your deleted emails go. Now when you click the Trash icon, you’ll see your deleted emails and can restore the ones you need with a click.

Whew, that’s a lot of new features! They’re available now, so go check them out. These options are only available for the new VerticalResponse app. Follow-Up Email is a premium feature and available for paid accounts.  If you have a free subscription and want to use the Follow-Up email feature, upgrade your account.

Want to stay in the loop on all things VerticalResponse? Sign up for our weekly VR Buzz email.

© 2015, VerticalResponse Blog. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

The post New Automatic Follow-Up Emails + More New Features appeared first on VerticalResponse Blog.

Copywriting Your Email Marketing Pop-ups

Copywriting your email marketing pop-up means you need to be able to pin down the number one call to action and reason for conversion in about 1 line.Related Articles

1. The Marketing Strategy that Makes People Hungry for More
2. Copywriting Tips: How to Write a Great Email Subject Line
3. Email Marketing Content: Trawling the Customer Service Files

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Connecting Firmly to the Cloud

The Salesforce Marketing Cloud Connections event has moved to New York City but may have left some of its magic behind in Indianapolis.

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Run AWesome Events with Eventbrite + AWeber

Eventbrite is an online hub for hosting, promoting and managing events – essentially a one-stop-shop for selling tickets and passes to performances, fundraisers, special events and more.

And when you connect Eventbrite with your AWeber account, you can send out event announcements, ticket information and updates straight to your attendees. Staying in touch before, during and after an event has never been easier!

Watch this video to get a first look:

Pricing

If you’re not charging for tickets, Eventbrite is free to use! From there, ticket fees are applied based on the selling price. Read more about how pricing works here.

What’s Next

Our App Showcase got a fresh new look. Come take a tour and discover the newest tools to optimize your email marketing.

Is there an app you want to see featured next? Leave your wishlist in the comments. And in the meantime, let us know how they’ve been working for you! Send us a tweet, email, carrier pigeon…. (you get the idea.)

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4 Twitter Tools that Help You With Customer Service

Twitter has fundamentally changed the way that customer service interactions take place. For years, consumer concerns often went unheard or were swept under the rug to protect a company’s overall image.

The increased role of social media within product marketing has however, now given buyers in the marketplace much more power to leverage over businesses, promoting consumers from being backseat drivers to co-pilots of their reputation.

Simply said, even one negative tweet could potentially damage a company’s public persona and could require major damage control.

As a business owner, you might find yourself in a negative customer-tweet situation at some point. Although daunting, with the correct monitoring tools, you can stop the criticism and respond to your customers in a timely manner. In addition to responding to your audience, these tools can also help increase brand loyalty and improve your company’s image.

Here are four interactive tools you can use for customer service purposes on Twitter:

Twazzup

Twazzup is perfect for small business owners who don’t want to break the bank paying for Twitter monitoring. This tool is free and only requires that you log into your Twitter account to sign up.

On the platform’s website, you can type in your company’s name, the names of your products, or other relevant keywords to search for mentions on Twitter. Twazzup shows which top influencers on Twitter made the mentions, which users tweet about your company most frequently, and the latest tweets from everyone who mentioned you.

The screenshot below illustrates a search for “Diamond Candles,” a North Carolina-based small candle business.

Twinitor

Twinitor is a free platform that allows you to search keywords relevant to your business and reply to, retweet, or favorite customer tweets based on what you have found. The site also lists trending topics so you can determine which keywords and hashtags to incorporate into your tweets with customers.

The example below shows what happens when the words ‘Coca Cola’ are typed into the app’s search bar:

Trackur

If you’re searching for a slightly more comprehensive option, consider Trackur, a paid platform that lets you view brand mentions both on Twitter and across the web. It offers an in-depth analysis of brand sentiment on Twitter and sends you email alerts when your company is discussed.

Trackur also features automated sentiment and influencer scoring, so you can read what influencers are saying about your business and whether it’s categorized as positive, negative, or neutral. 

Trackur charges $97 a month per user, although you can get started on a 10-day trial for free. 

TweetDeck

TweetDeck by Twitter offers a more efficient way to use the social media site and interact with customers. When you log into the free platform using your business’ handle, you see your own tweets, the activity of the accounts you follow as well as your direct messages and notifications.

Wondering how it works?

Let’s say a customer left you a review via Twitter.  Using Twitterdeck, you can then email or direct message that tweet to your co-workers and/or employees, and you schedule a direct reply to that customer. Most decks look similar to this example: 

Have you heard of or used any of these tools to help with your Twitter interactions? 

Looking for more information on improving your social media strategy? Sign up for The VR Buzz, our weekly newsletter which offers you advice on all things in small biz marketing. 

Kylie Jane Wakefield is a freelance writer and content creator in Los Angeles. She’s written for NewsCred, CMO.com, Forbes, Tablet Magazine, and The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles.

© 2015, VerticalResponse Blog. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

The post 4 Twitter Tools that Help You With Customer Service appeared first on VerticalResponse Blog.