Category — Freebie Friday

Today’s Freebie Friday is a little different. Usually, I direct you to a useful report, or download.

Today, I’ve got real, hold in your hands books. You see, I have too many books (I can’t believe I just said that). They’re piled up everywhere, there’s not enough room for me.

So, I’m giving some of them away.

Leave a comment (or email me) telling me which one you want. I’ll contact you Wednesday to tell you if you’ve won.

Links are to Amazon for full descriptions.

They are (drumroll):

1) Duct Tape Marketing by John Jantsch

2) Accidental Branding by David Vinjamuri

3) The Plan-as-You-Go Business Plan by Tim Berry (foreword by Guy Kawasaki)

4) And Now a Few Words from Me by Bob Garfield

5) Trout on Strategy by Jack Trout

One per person.  Please mention the name of the book you want in  your comment.  I’ll contact you (if you win) to get your mailing address.

A few months ago, Seth Godin got 70 big thinkers together to share their thought, secrets, and ideas about what’s important. They include Seth himself, Dan Pink, David Meerman Scott, and Gary Vaynerchuk.

It’s called What Matters Now and it’s full of ideas that will inspire you, change the way you look at the world, and get you going for the new year.

Get your free what-matters-now-ebook.

Or, if you’d prefer a real, hold-in-your-hands, curl up on the couch, printed book version, you can buy it here. All proceeds go to Room to Read.

Read it and send it to your friends. Share how it inspired you in the comments.

More Freebie Friday goodies and downloads

The headline is the first thing readers see. It can make (or break) the rest of your ad, email, or post. But sometimes, you get stuck. Your brain is blank. You’ve tried 7 different ways to write great headlines, and still nothing.

Today’s Freebie Friday is a list of 102 Great Headlines, from Chris Garrett. Just download, pick one, and fill in the blanks. How easy is that?

Get the list here. No signup or email required.

For those new to this blog, Freebie Friday is a once-a-month feature. On the last Friday of each month, I’ll point you to a free report, template, or e-book that will help you improve your marketing. To get older Freebie Friday giveaways, click here.

Continuing with the email marketing theme this week, today’s Freebie Friday has 10 tested email templates. A good layout can get more attention and speed your message past the spam filters. Creating your own can be a pain (especially if you’re not an HTML whiz).

Don’t forget to send a plain text version too (since some images get stuck in spam filters).

Click here for your free email templates.

I know what you’re thinking. The spam folder?!

Let’s take today.

1. Not all spam is really spam

I looked in my spam folder and found a message from Technorati. Definitely not spam.  I think the images were the problem.  Check your outgoing messages (email newsletters) with spam checker or another tool to minimize the chance they’ll get stuck. And, send a plain text version (this also works better for Blackberry users).

2. Be relevant

Don’t send something your recipients don’t want or care about. I have no interest in magic weight loss berries, lists of dentists, or virility potions.

3. Ask first

Nobody wants unanticipated messages clogging up their email boxes. Only send messages to people who have asked for them.  If you like, add a message reminding people that they’re getting the newsletter because they signed up for it, and include the date (your email provider software can do this automatically) .

4. Don’t try to “buy” lists

They’re probably garbage, scraped off Web sites, stolen, or obtained illegally. You can rent lists (to use once), but they’re expensive. It’s better to build your own list.

5. Send emails people want to open (not trash)

Offer information that helps your readers get something they want, such as more time or more money. Skip the crowing about hitting your sales numbers. Share tips on how to choose Web site colors, save money on video production costs, or speed up storyboarding.

6. Don’t hijack other people’s lists

I keep getting emails from people pretending to belong to an online forum I joined several years ago. The forum is now inactive, but I still get the fake emails. The right way to take advantage of an established newsletter audience is to write an article for it. Join active forums and contribute to the discussion.

7. Have a great headline (subject line)

Spammers get you to open their emails by writing headlines that get your attention, and make big promises.  You can do this too (without being spammy).  Write a subject line that arouses curiosity, suggests you can make it easier to do something difficult, or offers inside information. (More on this tomorrow).

Photo: uberculture