And the Subject Line winner is…

EmailLabs tested 3 Subject Lines for the March issue of The Intevation Report (their company newsletter).

A. Using Link Click-Through Tracking to Segment Your List
B. 3 Tips to Improve Your Newsletter’s ROI
C. Build Your List Through “Piggy-Back Marketing”

And the winner was…

Hint: there’s a numeral in it. Their conclusion? It was simple, conveyed the benefit of opening the message and required no “translation” on the part of the recipient.

Plus quick guidelines for designing text newsletters

Good article from MarketingSherpa on “Text-only Design Pitfalls.” Note: free access to this article ends in a few days.

Design guidelines for HTML newsletters

htmlnewsletters-1.1.gif Design guru Roger C. Parker (author of the classic Looking Good in Print) is my guest expert this week at a 1-hour teleseminar: Secrets of Effective HTML Newsletters: Design + Readability = Profitability. Registration fee includes his mini report: The 6 Essentials of Newsletter Success. Plus a PDF handout with a screenshot and scorecard for each newsletter we critique.

This will be an extremely useful, hands-on session. If you’re involved in any aspect of publishing an e-newsletter to market your products or services - join us! Learn more & register here (still a few spots left if you want to get your own newsletter critiqued during this live event).

7 biz card tricks

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Follow this link to download a free copy of Debbie Jenkins’ e-book, Card Shark, on how to market with your business card. Clever viral idea to promote her coaching business… plus she gives you some useful tips into the bargain. My favorite trick is #1: identify how to get a MWR (Most Wanted Response). For example, the goal of your card might be to prompt a recipient to request more information by postal or email.

Business blog consulting

Got a nice mention in Rick Bruner’s new blog about business blogs.

Felled by the flu

Apologies for not posting more frequently during my recent trip to Burma, Thailand and the Philippines. Unfortunately, I got sick and was down for the count… I’m back but still a bit wobbly. More to come; stay tuned!

97% Wall Street English

… that’s what the ad in Bangkok’s skytrain promises. Study at the Wall Street Institute and you’ll have a 97% success rate in learning English. And while you’re at it, get an MBA degree by correspondence with a (never-heard-of-it) U.S. university. Business talks in Bangkok - as does the gleaming skytrain (elevated subway) that snakes over downtown Bangkok, bypassing the ever present traffic choking the streets below.

The modernness and sophistication of Bangkok is striking after spending a week in Myanmar (Burma). These side-by-side Asian neighbors couldn’t be more different. It’s hard to describe how cut off Burma is unless you visit. Yes, you sense the evil hand of the military dictatorship. But there’s also the lovely quiet of no Internet and no commercialism. Surely this is why tourism continues to grow.

Here are some photos of the Inle Lake region we visited in Myanmar.

Kid Rock ringtonesDire Straits ringtonesDef Leppard ringtonesAudioslave ringtones