Ozdachs | Dangerous Common Sense

About Ozdachs

San Francisco Internet Marketer and web designer gets you on the Internet in a cost-effective, responsible way.

The 4 Steps to Create an E-Newsletter

Everytime I send out an e-newsletter for my business, I hear from a dormant customer or inactive lead asking me about my services. Usually the email or call is from someone who doesn’t care at all about the subject in my newsletter. Just seeing “Ozdachs” in their inbox, reminded them that I exist and can help them with a web design or marketing problem.

Many of my clients send their own e-newsletters, and all of them but one say that they have the same reaction from their subscribers. E-newsletters get them remembered, result in calls and emails, and earn them business.

On the other hand, my clients who don’t have newsletters yet say that sending out a regular communication to their clients sounds too complicated. They don’t know how to start a newsletter and are too busy working in their business to spend the time to figure it out.

Here’s what I tell them: creating a newsletter to send to your customers is essential and doable.

You need:

Email addresses of your clients and of prospects who have asked you to keep in touch. Your list should include friends, people you know from professional networks, and anyone else who wants to hear from you about your work.
An newsletter email service. Normal email accounts limit you to some number — 10, 25, 100 — people at one time. But, a mailing service will:
- let you send to any number of addresses
- provide you with professional-looking templates to improve your message’s impact
- track bounced messsages, people who read the messsage, and clicks on the links in your e-newsletter
- help you prevent your messages from being blocked as spam
For most of my clients’ e-newsletters I use Constant Contact. In my opinion their templates are the most straight-forward to use, and their service has been excellent.
Something to say. Something interesting. Your message doesn’t have to sell anything, but rather should inform your readers and remind them that you are available to help them. You probably have a few Frequently Asked Questions you can address in the first few editions of your e-newsletter. Maybe you have a new product, a new service, a special to offer, too. Each newsletter needs a call to action, and these can vary from “call us for more information” to “buy now”!
Time to write the copy, layout the newsletter, and send it. This is the most difficult step for my clients! Newsletter services let you create online, but all the products take time to learn and manipulate. And, although you need to write only a few paragraphs, what you send should be grammatical! Your first newsletter can easily take 8 hours to produce, but as you get used to the tools and the process, a normal newsletter can be done in less than four.

Professionals — like Ozdachs! — can help with steps 3 and 4. We can help develop your message, write it, format it, and send it. Generally the cost is less than a traditional Yellow Pages ad and less than the cost of what our clients are simulatenously spending for Yelp and Google ads.

But, whether you do it all yourself or get production assistance, sending out an e-newsletter is no mystery. You can do it in just 4 steps.

By Ozdachs|2013-11-23T15:09:35-08:00November 23rd, 2013|Newsletters|0 Comments

Get 25% off Anti-Virus or Security Suite Software

I received email today announcing a 25% sale for two-year licenses of the security software that I use on all my machines. I don’t see a time limit on the sale, but I thought I’d pass it along today. The email says the lower rate is in celebration of the release of a new version of their products… whatever! I like the product and a sale price is something to celebrate.

Check out ESET NOD32 anti-virus and SMART SECURITY programs.

I have used ESET’s software for several years. I like it because it doesn’t slow down my computer when it scans for problems. You may notice some slowness on older or less beefy computers when it’s running a scan, but in my experience ESET is much less of a computer hog than Norton, McAfee, or the other better-known programs. ESET also rates well in tests by independent labs for actually doing its job and stopping attacks on your system.

I use SMART SECURITY which includes the NOD32 antivirus programs and adds a firewall and other features like an anti-theft module that locates your stolen laptop and locks down the files on it via the web.

Yes, although ESET updates its list of known viruses several times a day, I have been bad in updating the program itself. I was a couple releases behind and have been missing out on some of the newer features that are now included with NOD32 or SMART SECURITY. I didn’t know about the anti-theft feature, so I paid for that separately by buying LoJack for laptops. Stupid! And, I didn’t know that the anti-virus program will also scan my Facebook and Twitter feeds to make sure I (or someone else) hasn’t posted a malicious link in my feeds. You know, a link to a phony status line that takes you to a spammy site that tries to get you to download something evil to your PC. The current versions of NOD32 and SMART SECURITY run through your social media streams and makes sure that there’s nothing dangerous on your steam.

I also like the summary they give of the information I share with the public on the two social media sites.

ESET Social Media Dashboard

Finally, unlike security software programs I have seen on other people’s computers, ESET’s suite doesn’t give me a stream of alarmist warnings about what what I should be doing. So, I chose to run the check on my Facebook account, I didn’t get a warning message that my Facebook feed was unprotected. This is a big deal, in my opinion. I have watched friends ignore important warnings from Norton et al. When I asked why they didn’t react to the message, I have been told that the program is always sending them messsages that aren’t important so they don’t read anything it pops up. A security program that cries “Wolf!” is a bad watchdog.

Enough of mixing metaphores. If you’re tired of Norton, McAfee, or whomever slowing down your system or annoying you with endless off-target warnings, check out the lighter touch of ESET. Scroll down the page to see a comparison list of features to see if you want NOD32 or SMART SECURITY.

By Ozdachs|2013-10-23T13:20:12-07:00October 23rd, 2013|Facebook-social-media, Product Recommendations, Twitter|0 Comments

PostRocket to Shut Down

Another company that has tried to help automate posting to Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms announced today that it’s quitting.

Postrocket is shutting down on August 15th. This leaves HootSuite, Buffer, Sprout Social, Social Bro, and others in the field. So, it’s not exactly like social media players won’t have any options.

But, I had picked a favorite tool, learned it, and used it. And, now it’s gone!

I found PostRocket affordable — something like $15/month for my purposes — and straight forward. I had tried HootSuite on a free trial and found it very, very, very flexible. That translates to “A lot of work to learn and set up.”

But, I guess I am going back. HootSuite is $10/month and other options for my size of business are several times more.

BTW, a good comparison of tools I found was this May, 2013 WordStream posting.

Finally, here’s the announcement from PostRocket <sniff>… notice how responsible they are to return any part of the monthly $10 that will be unused:

Hi Galen,

This is really disappointing to say, but I must inform you that PostRocket will be shutting down its products and services next Thursday, August 15th. Right off the bat, I’d like to ensure you that you will be refunded any remaining credits by filling this form out.

When we first started PostRocket, we wanted to not only help marketers like you succeed in Facebook marketing, but do so with an exceptional product and service to back it. We were never able to reach the high bar we set for ourselves. Our product had many issues and even through the down-time and bugs, you stuck with us and even became paying customers. We thank you for that.

We should and could have done much better in bringing you a reliable product that expanded as quickly as the landscape of Facebook marketing changed. You will be refunded any of your remaining prorated credits as of today 8/6/13 and will be able to continue using PostRocket to migrate your data or find another provider until 11:59PM PST 8/14/13, at which point all data will be erased and removed.

If you’re looking for an alternative service to migrate to after PostRocket, I *strongly* recommend using Facebook’s all new native Insights product. I would have never recommended using native with FB marketing, but their new product blows any other service out the water. They are rolling out this Insights product and you should expect to receive it in the next few weeks, if you don’t already have it.

Here’s the full link to the refund form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1g19Qb2P1DOb-_-X7Dl9fAy9570YGPsV252gkM3vs7A0/viewform

Again, thank you so much for being a PostRocket customer. We really do appreciate you believing in us. We wish we could have done better for you.

On behalf of the PostRocket team,

Tim

By Ozdachs|2013-08-06T15:38:54-07:00August 6th, 2013|Marketing, Social Media|0 Comments

I Don’t Do Online Stores… Except for This One

There are two main reasons I politely decline/refuse to help people set up online stores:

I don’t want to be involved in a mission-critical website whose failure would mean I would have to interrupt a vacation or day off or good night’s sleep.
The future online store isn’t likely to be a success.

In a previous job, I was responsible for maintaining police, fire, and ambulance dispatching systems. I stayed mostly sober through New Year’s Eve on Y2K with pagers and cellphones strapped to my belt, and have years of experience in being responsible. I have been on-call 24 x 7 enough in my life. So, a potential store owner would have to accept that my help is in set up, but not in daily operation. And, most people who have asked me to create a store for them have admitted that they wanted full support.

But, even when someone understands my limitations, I quickly back away. Typically, the store owner has the expectation that a crowd is going to beat their virtual door down and buy lots of stuff from them. They have this expectation though there is no reason for someone to visit their site.

Their goods and services are commodities available from 4700 other places.
They have no special expertise in what they are selling.
Their competition is entrenched, large, and able to offer better pricing.
They have little or no supplementary information to help entice people to buy or understand their product.

Additionally, most of the would-be online store owners can only spend a few hours here and a few hours next week on their store. They want someone else (me) to set up their shipping logistics, their price lists, their… well… everything that a store owner/manager has to do.

I want to provide good value to my clients. And, frankly, I think that most of the people who have asked me to help with stores are going to spend money and have little to show for their effort. So, I decline to take on a future unhappy client.

However, this spring I was asked to help with a store by Andrew Scoular, an owner who has unique products, understands business, and also understands that what a store owner has to do cannot be delegated to a webmaster. Helping Andrew set up Sensitive Skin Clinic has educated me on skin care and on e-commerce features.

In the next series of posts I’ll share what I’ve learned to help you decide if running an online store is a business activity you’re ready for.

Check out what Andrew is offering and how. Then come back here over the next few days to learn what Andrew and I discovered together. And, please leave your comments if you have questions or specific topics you want covered.

By Ozdachs|2013-06-24T15:42:54-07:00June 24th, 2013|E-Commerce, Web Design|0 Comments

Would You Read Your Own Post?

Surfing Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vines, and other sites has become an exercise in speed reading. My little finger is getting callouses from all of its hits to the “Page Down” key.

Whether it is newsletters I have subscribed to or a Facebook wall, I am giving everything less and less time to grab my attention. I do appreciate a well-reasoned argument on stopping nuclear proliferation. Really. But, I don’t often click on a link that a friend has posted as “important” in a good-for-you way.

I admit it. I am looking for instant gratification for my intellect, wit, and aestetic sense. I make split-second decions on whether to skip or linger. And, if I have to think about whether I want to read your post, it’s too late.

If I, a 59-year-old sophisticate, am giving you a second to make me want to read your stuff, see your deal, or learn about your company, how much time do you think a 20- or 30-something prospect gives you?

Fortunately, the basics of marketing are unchanged whether the medium is a high gloss magazine or an app that shows a photo that self-destructs in 15 seconds. People are attracted to pretty women, puppies, and cute babies. “Women” includes “men”. “Puppies” includes “kittens”. And, “children” includes “toddlers”, “children”, and sometimes even “young adults”.

Right now Facebook and other top-tier sites promote users’ photos and videos more than text links. That’s because their metrics show that users click on those type of stories more often.

So, make sure that you remember to include lots of pictures of women/puppies/babies… or similar gut-grabbing ones… in your online activity. I am happy to help businesses develop attention-getting photos and campaigns — just give me a shout for professional marketing help. Of course, you may have all the ideas and photos you need on your smart phone with its pictures from the last family vacation.

By Ozdachs|2013-05-30T15:11:16-07:00May 30th, 2013|Facebook-social-media, Social Media|0 Comments

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