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Microsoft Smart Quotes and Your Email Newsletter

Did you ever notice that sometimes your email newsletter comes across as having weird looking code in it after you publish?

For example, you know you typed the below sentence normally. And yet after you hit SEND, your email spit back this gibberish:

This month’s featured article discusses...

I've likely mentioned this before but I'll say it again for the new readers. That oogy code slips in there every time an apostrophe or set of quotation marks is translated from Microsoft Word to HTML.

HTML docs do not understand the Microsoft "Smart Quotes" feature - those curved quotes and apostrophes that look so much more precise than inch marks (") and footmarks (').

So, what you're ideally supposed to do is SHUT OFF the Smart Quotes feature in Word before you type any text that will be pasted into a web page later.

You do this under the TOOLS menu up top - where the autocorrections lists are. Microsoft Word will offer to auto-correct other things, like automatically capitalize, automatically continue numbered lists and so forth. You want to uncheck the box that says "automatically correct Smart Quotes" or whatever it says. While you're at it, just shut off all auto-correct functions. (I can't stand it when the program does things that I didn't ask it to do.)

I offer "writing support" for many clients, who then integrate my articles, snippets and partial drafts into their completed newsletters before sending out. As I edit their copy, I change the curved quotes and footmarks back to straight. This can be time consuming, and it can put hours on the clock as there is no way that I know of to make this a "global" change on existing text.

But of course I can't edit the parts of my copywriting clients' newsletters that they create themselves. So what ends up happening is that when their ezine is published, I eagerly open the email, and GAH! There are those danged weird code marks that I detest so greatly.

This is a really simple solution - just SHUT OFF the Smart Quotes feature in Word, like I said. I ALWAYS have mine turned off. But none of my clients do, it seems.

Another tip from the web-savvy mind behind Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing.

The Clamoring That is My Ezine Inbox

I keep my ezine subscriptions in a separate email box than I do my regular, work-related emails. I do this because I subscribe to a ton of them. Many ezines come from clients (they serve as a great reference when doing the copywriting and marketing). More come from marketers whom I admire and might want to "keep tabs on" for future collaboration, referring to my own clients, things like that. Still others cover topics that I enjoy reading about (cooking, jogging).

One thing I find amusing about this is the "clamoring" one experiences when one opens an email box that's reserved just for this purpose. My ezine inbox seems "loud" to me because a good percentage of the people who send me their newsletters use my first name in the subjectline.

Blunt honesty here? I find this use of my name as an email subjectline irritating. It comes across as desperate. There was a horror movie that used to be on Channel 11 all the time when I was a kid, sort of a B-movie. It was about some woman who lived in a house where these invisible creatures came up out of a portal in her basement. They'd mess with her, whisper her name "Sally... Sally..." all the time, and try to trip her with dental floss. I think the floss was how they got old Sally in the end.

Well, when I open my ezine inbox and "hear" all those crazed email marketers calling DINA... DINA... it kind of makes me feel like that lady Sally from the horror movie. And it certainly doesn't make me want to open such emails any faster.

How about you? What do you think about people whom you've never met "calling your name" with their marketing emails? Does it make you want to open their mail? Does it make you feel like they're your pal?

I publish my own copywriting and marketing email newsletter. But I think I only tried the name thing once, as an experiment. It's just not for me. Demanding that people give me their *primary email address* when signing up for my ezine is also not my style.

Just felt like mentioning that today, not really much else to report.

- Dina at Wordfeeder.com.
"Get your marketing copy on the fly!"

Email Forwards as Marketing

Ever notice how some people forward emails like it's their job? Something about those two magic letters, FW. You could be in the middle of being held at gunpoint and *ding* - a new email comes in. And it's "Hang on, Mr. Burglar... I just have to forward this email!" And the robber would be all "Wait let me see... ha ha, good one!"

That said, email forwarding is, believe it or not, a viable way to get your website out into circulation. But let me stress, it only works for *certain types* of businesses and forwards. For instance:

Entertainment. I once received as a forward called ChappelleTheory.com. If you "who is" their domain you'll discover a marketing company based out of Philadelphia. Kind of a cool and sneaky way to get exposure, huh?

Humor. If it's funny, it's forwardable. Like this goofy song, White Chicks and Gang Signs that unmistakably comes from VeryTasteful.com as we are informed at the start and end of their video.

Humanitarian causes. A site like LittleFishBigRiver.com could send out an email forward explaining their mission to reach 50,000,000 recorded acts of kindness by December 2007. Think people would pass it on? I do!

Generally, if you're willing to go out on a limb and make an ass of yourself on video, you have the best change of virally marketing your business via email forward. Second runner up strategy would be to create an edgy website and/or a compelling forward.

But of course, if "weird wacky fun" is not your shtick to begin with, then it simply won't work.   

Just another observation from Dina at Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing

One Shopping Cart, Are You Listening?

I've noticed that on the internet, people "listen" a lot more closely when you talk ABOUT them, rather than talk TO them. So, let's talk about 1ShoppingCart.com. Hee hee.

Every time their eager sales team sends me another email, whether it's about a new feature, an update on their affiliate program, an "important notice" that is being delivered by video, or whatever new thing the president's wife is selling...

the email comes from YET ANOTHER unfamiliar sounding email address.

Never just "1Shoppingcart Customer Support" or "1ShoppingCartAffiliates" or something easily identifiable that would "sort" in my inbox nicely. Truth be told, half the time I get any email related to the topic of shopping carts or payouts, I don't open it because "who knows who that really is." And yeah, I know I can go digging under the code to peep at the IP, but what, I'm sitting here like some spam guard dog, salivating at the possibility of another spoof email coming in? I don't think so.

So, here is my friendly advice to the good folks at 1shoppingcart.com. I know that you try hard to stay on top of your game. You seem like nice enough people. So please do me and your other loyal customers this one favor: coordinate your email campaigns so that I will be able to recognize you easily when you burst onto the scene on another harrowing day in Wordfeeder World.

The other thing that would really help me is if you can somehow get the onslaught of "form spammers" off my back. I'm getting tired of receiving notifications every time "rolex replica," "britney" and "bush" drop another mention of their stupid spam blog URLs by my ezine form. Man, wish I could crack THAT code.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Somehow I just know this is going to work better than sending an email to customer support.

:)

Dina at Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing (still a KickstartCart.com/1shoppingcart.com  customer)

*UPDATE TO THIS POST: March 3. Today I received a commission payout alert from... guess who...  KICKSTARTCART.COM! Yes, I was able to figure out exactly who had sent the email without digging in the code. THANK YOU! For those who may be confused, Kickstart is a 1shoppingcart.com brand. Even though I signed up for my ezine service at KickstartCart.com, they're one and the same - my service comes from 1shoppingcart.

Happy Web Content Awareness Day!

Well, it's here - the moment you've all been waiting for. I know you felt it... creeping down the stairs in your footie pajamas at 4 am... hoping to get a glimpse of the Man With the White Beard. Oh wait - wrong holiday.

For those just tuning in, my name is Dina Giolitto and I run Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing. Last year, I created a new holiday - Web Content Awareness Day - "dedicated to all those who create content for this great Web of ours!"

In 2007 we continue the WCAD tradition. This year's theme was "An Information Celebration Taking Place in Your Email Inbox."

I emailed a total of TEN articles containing information you NEED to know if you plan to grow a successful business online.

I also royally hooked my list up with trusted experts who can help them build and maintain a quality website that gets them targeted traffic and sales.

 

Topics we covered in the mailings:

Web Design
Copywriting
Article Marketing
Ezines
Podcasting
Public Relations

If you missed all the fun, have no fear. You can tune in to the FINAL ezine issue and free copywriting giveaway that I JUST sent out to my WCAD readers:

http://webcontentawarenessday.com/ezine-wcadgiveaway.htm

ALL of the articles are accessible via that link, and you really do not want to miss all that we reveal!

If you like what I sent out during WCAD, maybe you will find my copywriting and marketing ezine useful as well! Sign up - click the link.

Tell the Wordfeeder What You Want.

So, I have this yearly promo going on from January 9th through February 9th, called Web Content Awareness Day(s). What I do is give the floor (meaning, space in my copywriting ezine) to a group of trusted web marketing experts. I then share articles these professionals have written that contain tips and advice on how to get your website noticed and generate more sales.

So far, we are up to Mailing 4 out of 6 of Web Content Awareness Month. *To sign up, click the link and drop your email into the box at the bottom of the page.

Now, some folks who took my WCAD Survey (still open by the way!) expressed the desire to receive more copywriting tips - which only makes sense, this being a copywriting and marketing-geared website and all.

However, to be fair to all WCAD participants, over the celebration it's my goal to strive for a good balance of content. This is one of the few times I'm able to share NON-copywriting tips (meaning, all those other things you MUST do to get your business out there in front of the right eyes. And believe me, this is stuff that I didn't know about when I first arrived on the web - so it's been VERY helpful to me in my own business growth).

Now, in terms of what everyone is asking for - I'm delivering a Copywriting Grand Finale on Web Content Awareness Day proper, which takes place on February 9th.

The sixth mailing will contain a free copywriting giveaway - a special report, created by Dina at Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing, designed to teach you web copy techniques that bring real results.

Now, here's the problem: I can't make up my mind which copywriting report I should share with you. In my estimation, they're all terrific (if I do say so myself).

I cover three different key aspects of copywriting in my reports.

• The mechanics of web copywriting - word placement on the page, directionals, links, etc.
• Emotion, psychology and persuasive tactics
• Logistics, categories, and keyword placement (believe it or not this is FAR MORE CRITICAL to driving targeted traffic than you would ever imagine)

Each report I'm thinking of offering covers one of the above three aspects of writing copy.

So, here it is: if you want to have a say in the type of report I deliver on the big day, take a moment and cast your vote in our WCAD Copywriting Gift Poll!

Will you take a survey for the copywriting chick?

Do you know what's funny about surveys? They seem so clinical, and yet there are real humans behind them. The first time I had to create a marketing survey was for my Advertising Practicum class in college. The professor had worked out some kind of deal with a few local businesses where we, the students, would develop advertising campaigns for them. They got free ads and we got credits. Great fun! Our team was working with a local pizza kitchen that sold "unusual" pizza - I guess it was sort of California-style, very avante-garde for the early 1990s. We had to develop the whole target audience profile including demographs and psychographics, and then create a survey based on what we needed to know. Most people were really nice, and actually answered the questions! Me, I would have hung up the phone. No mercy for telemarketers and college students.

Back to my original point. I was wondering if my Web Content Awareness Day readers would mind taking a survey. Why? Because I need to know if my information mailings match the audience. Does it address your needs, not just in terms of copywriting and marketing tips, but other aspects of online business as well. Web design, public relations, podcasting, ezines... do I take for granted that the advice shared by myself and my online consultant friends is new and useful for you? Or is it just another form of frenzied communication that you can't be bothered to read?

I get the feeling that as people like myself "come of age" in the marketing world, informational mailings become obsolete for them. I mean really, I remember 3 years ago when all of this was still so new for me. I couldn't wait to receive free tips and advice from marketers in the know. Now though, it's a little different. Most of the marketers who used to leave me spellbound by their knowledge don't really have the same effect. So I would imagine that some people who are on MY list could have the same thing happen to them... outgrowing my emails. And if that's the case, what do you do?

Do you know what I *think* you should do? I think this ezine marketing stuff is cyclical. You show up in some new places, publish a few articles, and prospects come funnelling in. But then, while you manage to hold the attention of some people, others grow weary of hearing the same old advice. Believe it! I think that's why you have to keep on pushing yourself out there and continuing to sniff out new communities where you can attract new readers and connect with new faces. Really.

So, the Web Content Awareness Day survey. I would really appreciate it if you could take it for me, and answer the questions honestly. While you're there, have a look around at SurveyMonkey's convenient survey software. Just like me, you can create surveys as a way to gauge the wants and needs of your own audience.

About the WCAD ezine mailings: does this information help you? Or are you on the list because you know me from "way back when" and you feel guilty unsubscribing? I really think it depends on whatever stage of the marketing game you're in. Struggling newbie, old hand, or somewhere in between? As a subscriber to both my Web Content Awareness AND Word Food Copywriting and Marketing Ezine readers, I really want to know if I'm providing enough value to keep you happy. And if not, what can I do differently? And if there is nothing I can do, will you go gracefully and leave the list without fear or guilt? You know you can always come back, or switch to a different email address, or whatever.

I'm not interested in having *the most* subscribers in the world. I'm interested in having the most subscribers who actually find my copywriting and marketing mailings useful as they move forward with their business plans.

Thanks for reading. Now take the survey, would you? :)

Your friend,

Dina at Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing
Creator of Web Content Awareness Day - the Information Celebration Happening Right in Your Email Inbox!

Web Content Awareness Day Strikes Again.

So, last year I created Web Content Awareness Day - the first-ever holiday for online business owners, and anyone who uses the Web as a major vehicle of communication.

The catch phrase was:

Web Content Awareness Day: Dedicated to All Who Provide Content for This Great Web of Ours.

Even though I had no idea what the heck I was doing, I dove headfirst into Dreamweaver Web Design and even attempted to run an email list before I had signed up with an official list manager (BIG mistake!).

I went full tilt with this thing, managing article submissions from qualified experts from the comfort of my email inbox while simultaneously running an online discussion group on Ryze.com, sending out email alerts, a month-long article and PR campaign, with blog teasers leading up to the Grand Finale of Web Content Awareness Day on February 9.

(I wrote it all bunched up like that instead of neatly bulleted out, to emphasize what a complete whirling dervish I felt like while trying to manage this thing in three months).

I partnered with a talented designer by the name of Lisa C. Boyd who compiled info from marketers who I knew "from around the web" and offered my audience a free downloadable book of special offers and deals. Heidi Caswell of RememberGreetingCards.com even custom designed a WCAD printed card that I mailed to all my best contributors (if you click her link, scroll down to the testimonials and you'll see the card she made for me!). We even did a "Guess the Baby Marketer" Contest, for fun.

What I succeeded in doing, at least the way I see it, was:

• Supply a group of inquisitive, do-it-yourself individuals with a free education on ways to grow your business online
• Fire up a small army of marketers to ramp up their traffic generating efforts and grow their businesses
• Push my own name further out there and build my own credibility - I swear, despite the internal calamity that this even was for me, it really worked and I advise you to run your own nifty parties online - but DO IT RIGHT AND GET BACKUP HELP!
  
• Shed some new light on the proper and effective use of article marketing, blogging, ezines, web PR, design, SEO, and online networking as business builders
• Introduce a bunch of good and decent people who didn't know each other before
• Slut some names of famous marketers around the web a bit (and pay homage to the Web Greats)
• Solidify connections between online marketers who already had been acquainted but maybe had more to learn about each other
• Exemplify selected content providers who are either experts in the craft (of publishing web materials), or know how to use the web for good.

And these are the lessons that I learned for myself:

• It is completely impractical to think that ONE PERSON can actually do all this and also run "business as usual" back at their own copywriting and marketing website. For me, it was a good lesson on "getting my sh*t together and learning that delegation is critical
• In extremely frenzied times like this when you are drowning in a self-created hell, you learn which friends of yours are pure gold - the kind who would  simply drop everything and come to your aid at the hour of need.
• And possibly most importantly - you MUST get an autoresponder and list management system before attempting to send out an email campaign!

This year, Web Content Awareness Day will be a MUCH cozier and less maniacal affair. You will be able to partake in the festivities simply by signing up for our Limited Time Only promotional ezine (translation - once Feb. 9 is past, no more WCD emails until next year).

Dates: January 9th through February 9th.

Details: Visit this year's newly designed Web Content Awareness Day homepage at http://webcontentawarenessday.com, and drop your name in the subscriber box for your free, month-long, free marketing education.

Thanks. :)

Dina at Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing
Creator of Web Content Awareness Day

Snarketing

Recently I unsubscribed to a handful of email newsletters. (Maybe it's something in the air? I lost three subscribers to my own copywriting and marketing ezine in the same week!)

I was trying to figure out what was turning me off about these newsletters suddenly, and it just hit me. The copy was becoming too snarky for me.

Snark, I guess you could say, is attitude in your copy. Let me try and emulate snarky copy now...

Okay, let us take a wild guess here. You're fed up. You're tired of pulling all-nighters only to end up with sucky design and copy that bites the big one. You want web marketing that will actually sell something. Yes: we can do that for you.

I'm attempting to show that snarky copy tries a little TOO hard. Some snarkisms: starting with "Okay," (that's a very casual opener.)

The snarkasm: "...let us take a wild guess here"

The short, choppy sentences.

The repetitive sentence structure.

And the more obvious:

"Sucky design" ... "copy that bites the big one..." do those phrases sound professional to you? They don't to me! And yet, this is the manner in which many high-profile marketers are now speaking to their audiences.

Snarketing connotes sophomoric, I feel. Are we serious virtual consultants, or are we just a bunch of nerds hoping to sound cool, or middle aged adults trying really hard to shave about 20 years off our lives?

Snark sometimes comes back to bite you in the hiney. You could be snarking it up about a certain web copywriting or marketing strategy that you think you've solved the riddle to, and then suddenly Google rips the rug out from under us and we have to start from Square One all over again.

Yes, I too was once a snarky-pants in my web articles and web copy. Now however, I try to keep a more humble tone.

What are YOUR thoughts about snarky copy? Is it okay to get a little snarky in your blog, but keep your web copy snark-free? Yeah, I think so. But what do YOU think?

The copywriting and marketing chick would like to know.

Power Headlines: Are Your Readers Immune?

7 Tricks to Try When Readers Grow Weary of In-Your-Face Headlines

by Dina Giolitto, Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing

Sorry to say, ezine subscribers won't be dazzled forever by your headlines in their inbox. You may have a somewhat magical effect at first. But there comes a time when Slay Your Competition With Killer Copy doesn't mesmerize the way it once did.

So, what do you do when open rates are down and click throughs are few and far between?

1. Pull a disappearing act. There's nothing like a vacation to clear the mind, refresh the spirit and let absence have its effect on your readers' hearts. Of course, give folks a heads-up so they know you'll be away. Maybe even leave them with a hint of exciting plans to come, so when you return they'll be primed for action.

2. Scout out some new subscribers. Same old faces, same old web haunts. No wonder Breakthrough SEO Strategies now has the same effect as Tylenol PM. Search out a new place to post articles, join in the forum discussions or participate on a community blog. Do I have to tell you to include the link to your ezine at the bottom?

3. Show them the mirror. I hate to say it but... the way to your reader's attention is through his ego. Offer a fun contest or reader-geared feature that will put a few well-selected audience members into the limelight. Keep it niche-relevant, of course... and choose quality service providers who reflect your professionalism.

4. Change the graphics. A fresh coat of paint always brightens the place up nicely, doesn't it? Make a small investment in a professional designer who can beef up your ezine with colors and graphics that shake some life into your readers (playfully, of course)!

5. Switch up the format. If you normally publish one article per issue, why not add a few new features: joke of the month, industry news, client specials, or some other tasty tidbit for your readers to munch on.

6. Play around with different headlines. If you normally hit hard with Surefire Ways to Grab Attention With an Ezine, why not try for the tell it like it is approach? Blogs, Boot Camp, Ezine Goofs and Your Audience. Play around; change things up, keep it light and lively.

7. Kick up a month-long promotion. Ever consider themed ezine mailings? I myself have offered Article Marketing March and Sales Letter May to my readers, who have the opportunity to read, learn, ask questions and take advantage of specials all month on various copywriting sub-topics.

Whatever you do, remember: ezine response is cyclical, and interest ebbs and flows. There's a planet full of prospects out there waiting for you to share what you know. Never stay still for long, always keep your edge. Stay loyal to your ezine fans, and they'll respond in kind.

Copyright 2006 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.

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