The Recognized Expert

Should I Use An On-Line Email Marketing Service?

Using an email marketing service may not be right for you. There are certain disadvantages of using one of these services and you need to consider them before entrusting your contact list with an on-line email marketing service. None of these things may be an issue for you, but if they are, there are alternatives you may want to look into.

Long Term Costs

One of the initial benefits to using an on-line email marketing company is the low cost of entry, but that can change quickly based on the size of your list. Once your contacts reaches 10,000 names, the fees can start to get a little pricy.

Most email marketing services will charge you in the range of $150 per month or $1,800 per year to maintain a list of that size and the fees go up from there.

The other thing to consider is the length of time you plan on having your list. If you’re investing $1,800 a year with an on-line service, you could use that money to purchase your own email-marketing software.
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Is Today The Day?

The day is going to come, and it may be here already, when you discover that you need help with your email marketing campaign. Sending emails one at a time from your desktop computer just isn’t working for you any longer.

You have a few dozen or maybe a few hundred customers in your contact list, but you know you can grow that list quickly with some help. Using one of the on-line email marketing services seems to be a good solution. You know that most of the professional Internet marketers use an on-line permission based email marketing service, and maybe you should too.

Some of the more well-know companies that provide this service include: Aweber, Constant Contact, iContact, GetResponse, InfusionSoft and 1 Shopping Cart. There are literally hundreds of companies that offer this service, each with they’re own set of features and pricing, which can make selecting the best service provider a challenging task.

In this article we’re going to evaluate the benefits of hiring an on-line permission based email-marketing company to help you build and maintain your list.
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If you’re like me, you’re looking under every rock to find the best direct marketing software for your business. And when I say best, I mean:

Feature Rich
Great Service
Great Reviews
Great Price
Scalable
Easy To Use
Best Value

I’ve done the work and here’s what I’ve discovered. You can go in one of two ways. You can invest in software and host it on your dedicated server, or you can use an on-line email marketing company.

These articles will help you decide if Direct Marketing Software is the right choice for you.
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Cheap Email Marketing

Before you hire an email marketing service or purchase professional email marketing software, let’s discuss why you shouldn’t run your email marketing campaign from your computer. In reality, you can’t.

It seems like a simple solution doesn’t it. You’ve been successfully sending emails to your family and friends for years, so why can’t you use the same system to send emails to your customers?  Here’s why.

One, Two And/Or Three?

If you’re like most people, your email account is set up in one of three ways.

1. You’re using one of the free email services like Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo Mail.
2. You’re using an email address from your ISP or Internet Service Provider like SBC, Comcast or RoadRunner.
3. You’re using an email address from a share hosing service where your website is located like Hostmonster, HostGator or iWebHosting.

All of these services provide basic email service allowing you to send and receive a limited number of emails per day. None of these services are set up to send bulk emails, and all of them have policies in place to insure that their customers don’t use their service for that reason. Let’s look at the problems of trying to do so.
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Why Owning Email Marketing Software Is A Bad Idea

In my previous article I discussed the advantages of owning your own email marketing software. I encourage you to read that article first and then come back and read part 2 on the disadvantages. Read “Email Marketing Software: What are the Advantages.”

Before you purchase email marketing software, it is really important that you understand the disadvantages of doing so. If these are issues you can easily overcome, owning the software may be the best solution for you.

High Initial Cost

If you purchase high-end email marketing software, you can expect to pay at least $500 for a quality program and it will most likely have to be installed on a dedicated or a virtual dedicated server. If you already have a dedicated server, this won’t be an issue. If you don’t, you can expect to pay no less than $60/month for this service.

You will also be responsible for the cost of software upgrades. Some upgrades are voluntary while others are mandatory. You don’t want to be responsible for running software on your server that’s a security risk to your business. Not investing in software upgrades can cause a much bigger problem than just loosing your email list.

Bandwidth is another expense that you’ll have to pay for every time you send an email. If you’re sending graphically rich emails to a large list on a frequent basis, this could become an issue. If not, bandwidth is not going to be a problem.
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Why Owning Email Marketing Software Is A Good Idea

If you’re serious about using email to market your service, you have two choices. You can invest in email marketing software and host it on your server, or you can rent the services of an email marketing company. And like everything else in life, there are pros and cons to each.

In this article, we’re going to evaluate the advantages of purchasing professional email marketing software. And then in my next article, I will discuss the disadvantages of doing so. So, let’s get started.

Long Term Cost Savings

If you plan on building a big list and maintaining it for more than a year, owning your own email marketing software could prove to be a very good financial investment. Email marketing programs costs between $100 and $1,000 dollars and you can acquire a feature rich program for as little as $500 with no recurring monthly fees. And depending on the size of your list and the number of emails you send, you can save between $15 and $150 per month or more, sometimes a lot more.
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I hope by now you’re persuaded that permission based email marketing is a tool that you absolutely want to add to your marketing mix. When done correctly, it will become your goose that lays the golden egg and you’ll be able to generate business at the push of a button. If you do it incorrectly however, you’ll very likely end up killing the goose and be thrown in spammers prison. You don’t want to go there.

So, how does permission based email marketing work and how can you make it work for you? The reality is, you can use email marketing to accomplish lots of different things.

You can use it to:

1. Sell a product or service
2. Generate leads
3. Brand yourself as the expert in your field
4. Build celebrity status for yourself
5. Inform, educate and inspire the people on your list
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Email marketing is not for everyone, but chances are, it is right for you. Today, the only reason you would not want to include email in your marketing plan is if your target market does not have access to a computer, and even that’s beginning to change with easy access to the new mobile phones.

Just a few years ago I would have suggested that you avoid email marketing if your clientele was composed of children or senior citizens. Not today. Almost everyone has access to email. And if they don’t have a computer of their own, they certainly have a friend or family member who accepts emails on their behalf.

If you’re not using email marketing as a major component of your marketing mix, now is the time to start, and here are nine reasons why.
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