The Stuff E-mail Query Letters are Made of

Your mother always told you how first impressions were extremely important. That's why whenever you go to meet an editor, you dress impeccably, walk confidently and talk as if you just got out of training with Oprah Winfrey.

But as you sit down to write that email query, you forget everything your mother told you and send editors a query that couldn't have lacked any more even if you wanted it to. The subject line reads “Query” or something in close proximity with the language spammers use—“Become Debt Free Today”. You write your email address and Web address, but leave out other information such as your address and phone number. And of course, since it's an email query, you don't include clips. After all, the editor explicitly mentioned no attachments, right?

After sending out a dozen queries of this sort, you sit in front of your computer, reading rejections and crib about the state of the publishing world.

But you know what, there's a better way. You don't have to be rejected all the time. You can write queries that can melt the toughest of editors and have them begging you to write for them.

For starters, get the subject line right. You're a writer—so be creative. Instead of writing query or submission or even the name of the magazine, how about using the title of your article? And I don't have to tell you that the title you choose should be informative, witty and creative. It doesn't always have to be funny, but it has to be interesting. Here's the format I usually follow for my subject lines:

Query: Creative Article Title

Try to avoid titles that read like spam. “Lose Weight Easily” can be rephrased as “10 Ways to Keep Fit”. Similarly, “Discover Singles in Your Area” is a line spammers love to use, so you could use something more attention-grabbing and less spam-seeming such as “The Top 10 Places to Find your Soul Mate.” Notice the difference?

Write your email query as if you were writing a normal query. Induce in it, the same passion, the same commitment and the same confidence that you would like to project in a query sent by snail mail. Forget the mantra that editors will delete long queries. Not a chance. If you've sparked the interest of an editor, do you think she's going to stop reading simply because it's too long? Nope.

Like in a mailed query, take the time and space you need to get the editor's attention. But refrain from rambling. Generally, your query (email or otherwise) should fit into two pages or less. More than that, and you're giving away too much. One page queries are even better. They're succinct, to-the-point, and if you've done your job well, you'll have the editor asking for more. Always include your address and phone number should the editor feel like calling and giving you the assignment.

Remember how editors are busy people? That's why, instead of sending them hyperlinks of all the articles you've ever written, send in three or four relevant clips of your best work. And yes, attachments are strictly prohibited. Instead, include your article as text in your email. But what about the pretty pictures and the beautiful fonts, you wail. Well, that's why, above the article, include the link to the article. If the editor has the time or the inclination, she can go online and view it in its full glory. If not, you're sending the material in the email so she doesn't have to wander around cyberspace looking for your great creations.

Email queries aren't much different from snail mail ones. If your query is professional, presented in an original style and makes the editor sit on the edge of her seat, you've got a winner. And always remember what mom preached—first impressions do count.

Turn Your Old Articles Into Profitable E-mail Courses

If you've written numerous articles, you can use them to further promote yourself and your business, e-zine or web site.



You can re-use your old articles by transforming them into another form of promotional tool.



And one way to re-use them is by turning them into e-mail courses. By doing so, you'll be able to offer a new product that will help you establish your credibility as a business owner, e-zine publisher or web site owner.



Even though you'll make use of old articles, you won't be offering a re-hash.



Why? Because once you transform your old articles and gather them together to form an e-mail course, you add a more focused learning dimension to them. For this, you're able to create a new and effective marketing tool.



So how do you do it? In a nutshell:



1. Gather all your articles and find a common theme among them. If you've written a number of articles aimed for beginning online business owners, these articles can make up one e-mail course. Your e-mail course can be a short one (2-4 articles) or a long one (5 or more).



2. When you've identified a common theme, arrange your articles in a way that provides some sort of logic or flow to them.



3. Assign one article as one e-mail module or follow up. If you're using 4 articles, your e-mail course would consist of 4 modules or follow ups.



4. Take a good look at each article. Does it look like you can weave the activities within 'lessons' or will it require you to separate the 'lessons' from the 'assignments' -- information first (your re-written article) and then hands-on activities or tests after?



5. Do your articles use the 'you' voice? If not, re-write as if you're telling your friend a story. Do your articles sound formal? Even though you're 'teaching' something, strive to keep it lighthearted. Be engaging and friendly, but never be too flippant or condescending.



6. Include additional resources at the end of each module or follow up. These resources could be online references and researches, and even more intensive lessons.



7. Proofread.



8. Insert your promotional texts in the beginning, middle or end of each module or follow up. However, don't overdo this. People who will request your e-mail course are going to see through you once they find out that your promotional texts far outweigh the lessons and valuable instructions in your e-mail course. Put value over the content of your e-mail course first and your workshop takers will trust you and believe in your expertise.



9. Put your e-mail course on autoresponder and set the time each module or follow up will be sent. You can use free or fee-based autoresponders.



Before you announce your e-mail course, test and re-test it thoroughly. When you're certain everything is fine, go ahead and announce it.

e-Mail Advertising

Sending out emails these days is fast becoming a joke. To achieve an order is getting harder and harder because of the large quantity of email needed to sent out, to secure an order,

My research has indicated that with a click thru rate of just 1% of all emails sent out, at a conversion rate of 2% - on average - one order should be achieved every 5,000 emails sent out. Keeping in mind that Spam filters block, at least 39% of emails being sent out. This means, if you can purchase 5,000 emails at $0.001 each, which equals $5 per 5,000 – and is very good value for money, providing you are selling a product or service for about $20. However, the click thru rate can fluctuate, depending on how good you are at writing headlines, to promote your product or service.

The reason why it's necessary to send out so many emails, to secure an order, is because most people avoid quoting their prime email address, when submitting their website to directories or classifieds because usually once a website has been submitted to a directory of classifieds, the website owner receives hundreds of emails in return, within a short time, which is a little annoying. If people could be persuaded to use their prime email address when submitting their websites, the 1% click thru rate would increase dramatically because many more emails would be read, instead of being classed as junk mail and discarded, unread.

Recently I discovered two new programs that offered me the opportunity to submit my website and only receive one email in return, from each. The name of the programs are Search-o-Rama.com and OnSeek.com - When I submitted my website via my prime email address free, to their comprehensive directory, I only received just one email in return, from both programs. Search-o-Rama.com and OnSeek.com - also invited me to purchase 5,000 emails at a low purchase price of $5, which is $0.001 per email and send out my adverts via their own system.

Tips to Build Your Email Address Database

Gaining your customers' email addresses will:

• Provide an additional channel for reaching your customers
• Increase the ROI of your marketing investments
• Significantly reduce your customer acquisition and marketing costs
• Allow you to easily measure the impact of your marketing campaigns
• Increase your customer participation and retention rates

With ongoing postal and telemarketing pressures impacting marketing budgets for many organizations this year, email marketing could become the "silver lining " for many marketers. But how do you create a successful email marketing campaign if you do not have a substantial email database? That question may be one of the largest Internet related challenges facing companies this year.

Research shows that the majority of organizations have email addresses for less than 10% of their postal files. So how do you level the playing field and start to add quality permission - based email addresses to your database?

Here are some tips that you can use to cost effectively build your email address database and increase your customer participation and retention rates:

START TO ASK FOR IT!

Every communication or touch point with a customer should start or end with a request for an email address. By utilizing the four points below, you should be able to add email addresses for 5% to 10% of your postal file over the course of one year.

1. Direct Mail Collection

Think about how much time and money you spent for copy and design on your last new direct mail piece. Most companies have started to ask their customers for their email address information within these mailings. This is a great step forward. However, companies need to look at one major improvement if they want to increase their email address collection rates.

To date, most requests for email address information have been pushed, shoved or jammed into whatever white space remains. It should be no surprise that the success rate has been less than stellar.

To improve on these efforts, you need to provide your members with a reason to release their email addresses to you. E-newsletters, purchase confirmations, petitions, and special discounts and offers are but a few of the benefits that will encourage your members to come on board.

2. Web Page Collection

Many companies have an email address collection function in place via the web. To improve your sign-up rates, add text below the email request box that informs your visitors of the special email benefits that they will receive (i.e. e-newsletters, purchase confirmations, delivery updates, etc.) upon registering. You can also utilize a pop-up link to inform users of these special benefits.

Finally, your email address request function should be available on your home page. Don't make your users go and look for it. Every click away from your home page reduces the chances of your users taking an action and providing you with their email address information.

3. Existing Email Database Collection

Don't forget to ask the members of your existing customer base for email addresses of their friends, family and associates. Viral marketing is a powerful tool to use and is extremely cost effective! You could ask them either to provide you with additional addresses or simply to pass on your newsletter, email specific offers, or other information to others they feel have similar interests.

4. Telemarketing Collection

Don't assume that your telemarketing agents are asking for email addresses from potential customers. Ensure that your agents have an updated script, which outlines the previously described benefits to potential customers of providing their email addresses.

The suggestions above are a great start! Yet they really should be viewed as a secondary plan for building your email database. To exponentially and expeditiously grow your email database, please read on!

EMAIL APPENDING

Utilizing an email appending service enables you to add email addresses for up to 25% of your postal file, all within 3-4 weeks.

Email Appending - is the process of adding an individual's email address to that individual's postal record in side your existing database. This is accomplished by matching the postal database against a third party, permission based database of postal and email address information.

Best Practices - Email Appending is not a prospecting tool. The DMA (Direct Marketing Association) and its interactive arm AIM (Association of Interactive Marketing) have guidelines in place that dictate that email appending only be used to append email addresses to your existing opt-in postal record house file.

The Process - Your opt-in postal file is securely transferred to an email appending provider, who will do an initial gross email address match of your file against its opt-in database of postal and email address records. Your appending provider will then send these matches a permission-based message prepared by you. All bounces and opt-out requests will be removed from the list. At that point a valid permission-based email address file of your customers will be delivered back to you.

Cost - Less than the price of a postal stamp!

IN SUMMARY

The first step of any successful email marketing effort is to build a permission-based email address list of your customers. The simplest, quickest and most cost-effective way to do this is through email appending, which will enable you to add email addresses for up to 25% of your postal file. Secondary efforts of email address collection via focused direct mail, web, viral and telemarketing practices are also important and will enable you to add email addresses for an additional 5% to 10% of your base on an annual basis.

Best of luck in building your email address database. As many companies have already learned, the ROI and cost savings to be achieved will far exceed your expectations.