A few months ago I started getting a bunch of junk Spam messages. All the messages had the same subject line. Thinking that the emails were hocking cheap Ritalin, I left them in my Spam filter and continued with my daily tasks. Besides, my ADHD was under control with my five Starbucks lattes-a-day personal remedy. Within seconds, I totally forgot about the Spam messages.
When I was doing my up my Christmas list a few weeks later, I got to my Dads name and thought, Dad is pushing eighty, I wonder if he might like some Viagra as a stocking stuffer I suddenly remembered all those Ritalin emails. Maybe the online drug shops had a whole variety of pharmaceuticals other than Ritalin, and I could get a great deal on my Dads Viagra.
I went back to my Spam filter and searched for all the messages with that same subject line. They werent hard to find, the subject was only one word
Whoops!
But there was no Viagra to be found. No Ritalin for that matter either. What a rip! Now what would I get my Dad for Christmas
To make matters even worse, I realized all those Spam emails with the Whoops! subject line werent Spam at all. They were a whack of messages from a whole bunch of email lists I actually subscribe to. It seems a Whoops! message is a legitimate message that really means,
I made a mistake, check within for details.
All my Whoops! email messages detailed URLs that had been mistyped, web addresses that had been moved, wrong dates, wrong product prices, incorrect phone numbers and a whole variety of other issues all covered under the subject line -- Whoops!
I even had one message that had Double Whoops! as a subject line since this was the second email message from the same company in a two-day time period that was riddled with errors.
I dont know if Whoops! is the greatest way to admit you made an error. How many people even have Whoops! in their active vocabulary I wonder what else might be a more effective email newsletter subject line when a mistake has been made
- Whoopsy daisy -- No, too, childish.
- My parents are cousins, I cant help it! -- No, too personal.
- Gall darn it, dagnamit, another error! -- No, your subscribers will think you need a few sessions of anger therapy.
- Sorry, I am too cheap to get an editor -- No, that is what your subscribers will think, but it probably isnt the greatest option for your subject line.
Maybe:
*Sincerest apologies, URL error in [insert newsletter name here]
*Sorry to have wasted your time, telephone number error
*We will try harder next time, pricing error in [insert newsletter name here]
I asked a few business associates what they thought of the Whoops! subject line. They all agreed it sounded like someone attempting to be down home and trying to appear like a bumbling friend instead of a business who is having some difficulty with the e-newsletter editing process.
I guess the lesson here is to just admit you made an error and not try to cover it up with a Gee wilickers, I think I just might be a moron type subject line.
None of this gets me my Dads Viagra, but it has lessened the load on my over-worked Spam software. I have set the software to rescue all Whoops! email marketing messages and put them in the Deleted box where they belong.
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Copyright Joan Pasay - 2005
Lets face some truths here.
Do you really think you are you going to be the one lucky Adsense web site owner that has beaten off 4,600,000 other competitor sites that is each chasing the top paying keyword that is currently mesothelioma
Heres another truth! Do you think that the high paying keywords are attracting lots of search interest On average, mesothelioma attracts a single click each day.
For you information, they are only high paying keywords, because the corporate lawyers out there know that fighting, successfully, for a client that has the mesothelioma disease, stand a chance of earning huge sums of compensation.
So, if you are still aiming to be that one lucky site that is going to win the SEO wars with over 4 million of your competitors, just to earn the $60 or $70 that is up for grabs from the single click per day that this keyword generates, youd better rethink your strategies
Yes, I must agree that I shouldnt turn down that opportunity of earning the $25,550 per year that is up for grabs for targeting the mesothelioma keyword.
But do you see what Im driving at
The truth is, that you are just relying on a single, chance click that is going to earn the you money and you have to get that one click day in, day out!
Email marketing through publishing an ezine or newsletter and sending it to your opt-in list is much more profitable than hoping to get the single click on that high paying keyword. And that is true, even if you have a small list. The nature of ezine publishing creates loyal readers and highly responsive buyers for your products and services.
Why is email marketing such a powerful marketing strategy
- you are building relationships with your prospects
- the majority of people check their email every day
- there is a significant saving in time and money
- millions of people subscribe to get information that they are interested in
- increases customer loyalty because of frequent contacts
- email builds your brand
If you have a responsive opt-in list then the potential for email marketing profits is enormous. Thousands of successful Internet marketers cant be wrong when they say, The money is in the list.
You need to build your responsive, opt-in list and send your prospects useful and informative information in your newsletter / ezine. You need to find out what your subscribers want and develop that product or service the offer it to your list. Then do it again and again.
Email Marketing is still THE best!
The author of Email Marketing Is Still the Best!, Kevin Birch, is the webmaster of among others. He has been successfully using email-marketing strategies for the last 3 years.
Sign up for his Net Business ezine at and receive a complimentary copy of his 550-page report Starting and Internet Business where several Internet Businesses models are revealed