Email Marketing for Small Businesses How To Control Flow Within Your Web Designs - Speckyboy Design M Think of your favorite song. In all likelihood the sound rises and falls throughout, the pace quickens and slows, and the rhythm and melody lead you to hear chords and notes that are about to be played. Music has a flow that guides you from one moment to the next. This flow can impart different emotions and have you feeling different things at different parts of the song. In fact, without that flow, there is no music. Visual design has a flow as well. You also want to do what you can to keep people inside your design and not let their eyes fall of the page or screen. What is Design Flow? Design flow (also referred to as movement or direction) is the way the eye moves or is led through a composition. Typically in a design you’ll create what’s known as an entry point. Done well your audience will flow from point to point with a momentary rest to absorb your key information. How to Control Flow in Design Our design elements offer visual cues about the direction the eye should follow. 34 Twenty
Mobilize Mail Opinion » Blog Archive » Flash and Email – Can it Work? Every couple of weeks I wait with baited breath for the next installment of Tim Ferriss’s exciting life. Tim Ferris is a man who states that he only works 4 hours a week to earn more in a month than some people earn in a year. I have read his book and love it so it was an easy leap to get me to sign up to receive updates to his blog via email. Sometimes Tim provides a little movie dealing with something interesting which automatically appears within my email client. To view the movie within my email client all I have to do is play it. I thoroughly enjoy watching the movies and told many of my friends to sign up to his email alerts. What I forgot to mention was that unless you are using Apple Mail as your email client you are not in fact going to see the movies nor in Tim’s case will you ever know they were ever present! You see Apple Mail as of this posting seems to be the only email client that plays flash movies. Apple Mail Go Tim! Entourage Yahoo! Gmail Nope – nothing here. Outlook
YouTube: Flash Still Beats HTML5 The battle between HTML5 and Adobe Flash for dominance over video on the Web is likely to end poorly for one of the two, and lately it's been looking worse and worse for Flash. Steve Jobs wrote an open letter to the Web stating why Flash would remain banned from iPhones and iPads, and just yesterday, Apple got an "unexpected ally" in its anti-Flash crusade - the adult entertainment industry. But today, just to keep from making things too cut and dry, Google-owned video site YouTube has come out with a list of its own reasons why Flash is here to stay - for now - and HTML5 simply isn't qualified to handle the job at hand. Overall, YouTube software engineer John Harding's argument comes down to one simple statement: "We need to do more than just point the browser at a video file like the image tag does - there's a lot more to it than just retrieving and displaying a video." He goes on to list several points where Flash still beats the up-and-coming HTML5 <video> tag.
The Retail Email Blog: AM Inbox: Time is running out... The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning: NFLshop, 4/22 — 2010 Draft Sale: 3 Special Offers – Make Your Selection NowUnique discount codes are usually served up at the time that an email is opened. SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject linesNorthern Tool, 4/22 — Find Alternative Energy Solutions + Save 10% On NPowerBuy.com, 4/22 — Shop Green and Save: Citizen Eco-Drive Ladies Watch $154.99, 4Pk Green AA Batteries $5.99, GreenDrive 1TB $79.99 AR, Energy-Saving Surge Protector $29.49,..Sears, 4/22 — Earth Day Savings: 3 Days To Save 30% On Energy StarSam’s Club, 4/22 — Earth Day savings at Sam’s ClubThe Company Store, 4/22 — Celebrate the Planet: 15% Off Green Earth + Free DeliveryDisney Store, 4/22 — Celebrate Earth Day the Disney Way!
A Mild Case Of Borderitis The image on the right is a snapshot of a portion of Gandi’s website, a domain registrar I use. The website uses boxes and borders to structure content, and it works fairly well. The problem is, there are areas of the site where all the boxes and borders converge, forming areas of border overkill. At the bottom there you can see about 5 borders packed together in a row. Here’s what the bottom area looks like in full width: There’s quite a few things going on here. I think this can be simplified without losing any information. We can also get rid of the box around “Helpful Hints” and simple separate it with one full height border from the content on the right. Much cleaner. Our borderitis problem is resolved with just a couple of tweaks.
Advanced email marketing I’m pretty sure that my email inbox is going to drive me to the funny farm. It’s the only thing that I can never quite seem to get on top of. The other day, I received an email with the subject line, “Stress Management for Women.” Maybe they know something about me that I don’t, but I’m NOT a woman and I’m definitely NOT STRESSED!!! The point is, companies are turning to email marketing frequently because it’s cheap and it’s effective. The problem for small business owners is that we have to try and get our legitimate email to our prospects and customers amidst all the irrelevant junk that’s out there. An Analogy The first key is to realize that traditional email marketing won’t cut it if you’re serious about marketing online. A good sales rep, on the other hand, will listen carefully and adapt the message to each person’s individual needs. Email Marketing 2.0 Email Marketing 2.0 is based on the techniques used by good sales reps. How to Make the Shift
Zwei-Klassen-Netz - Warum sich der Telekom-Chef freut - Digital Anzeige Am Ende läuft es darauf hinaus, dass das Internet so ist, wie es nun einmal geworden ist, dass es aber neue Geschäftsfelder gibt, die viel zu schade wären, um sie diesem egalitär-anarchischen Umfeld auszusetzen. De facto, so macht es bei Wired.com Eliot Van Buskirk klar, wird die Etablierung von zwei "getrennten und ungleichen Netzen" angekündigt. Neben dem vertrauten Web, nun als "öffentliches Internet" bezeichnet, entstünde ein höherpreisiger Kanal für Premiuminhalte. Der Konsum von Filmen und Musik, der Datenaustausch in Wissenschaft, Erziehung und Handel, all das würde nach diesen Vorstellungen primär über die Kanäle des neuen Internets laufen. Das wäre durchaus kongruent mit dem Trend zu einem geschlossenen System leicht konsumierbarer, aber vom Hersteller der Hardware genehmigungspflichtiger Programme, wie sie Apple mit seinen Apps unter das Volk bringt. Für viele, die sich wirklich mit einem offenen Internet identifizieren, kommt Googles Deal nun einem Verrat gleich.
How to optimize your email for mobile devices If your email subscriptions are anything like mine (as a fellow interactive marketer, I assume they might be), it seems like every other article that hits my inbox lately contains another new stat or case study regarding mobile. Whether we're talking about the mobile web, mobile apps, mobile email, or mobile sites, the "M-word" is everywhere. As more research regarding both the sales and usage of mobile devices -- specifically smartphones -- becomes available, many marketers are asking, "How should I be optimizing my email for mobile devices?" There are several strategies available that range from "ignore it" all the way to the creation of elaborate solutions to deliver device-specific content to mobile users. Get connected. Know your audienceThis is no doubt advice you've heard it before: Relevancy is the new king in interactive marketing (although content still counts too). How do you know if you have a mobile audience? The final wordStill not sure where to start?
Publications Email Insider Jimmy Wales On Wikipedia, Brands, Why He Loves Coke, But Doesn't Talk About It Question: Wikipedia plays a significant role in generating awareness and providing information for many brands -- particularly media and entertainment brands -- and yet, at this point in time, there is very little brands can do ... Internet Ad Revenue Hits $42.8 Billion In 2013, Surpasses Broadcast TV For the first time, marketers spent more to advertise on the Internet than they did for broadcast television in 2013. Investments in U.S. interactive advertising reached $42.8 billion in Internet advertising last year -- up 17% ... Breaking Dead: AMC Stars Ask Ad Execs To Pass The Bread Ad executives and media buyers are used to being wined and dined -- and even mingling with the talent (ie, stars of popular TV shows) during network upfront sales presentations. Vodafone Selects MEC For $1 Billion Media Planning & Buying Acct. Wearables To Surpass 19 Million Units In 2014 MDC's Assembly Wins Timberland Media Duties
home | Shoutlet Blog - Litmus With an increased focus on mobile audience, many email marketers are scrambling to find a strategy that works for them. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of confusion about what mobile email design strategies actually exist. Don’t worry, though—we’re here to help clarify things. With over eight years experience as a web developer and a love for working with small teams, Kevin is the perfect addition to Litmus! Alongside Eddie, Jordan, Luca, and Drew, he’ll be working on the product team as a senior developer. Mobile Gmail apps for both Android and iOS download images automatically and serve them via Google’s caching service. April Fools’ Day gives email marketers (and marketers in general!) If one topic dominated email marketing conversations in 2013, it was definitely Gmail tabs. Launching the Litmus Community—a hub for any and all conversations about email design, marketing, and code—was an exciting announcement for our team. Email marketers can no longer ignore mobile.