Best Day/Time to Send e-Newsletters?

Given all the variables it's difficult to pinpoint a perfect day/time to send e-newsletters. However, a little observation and research might help you draw your own conclusions.

Mondays & Tuesdays
These days are usually spent addressing priority items, and it's likely your email is not critically important. Statistics show that Mondays are also slow days for website traffic - an indication that people are simply busy with other tasks, making up for lost time over the weekend, or not surfing the web or writing/checking email on these days compared to the rest of the week.

Wednesdays & Thursdays
Statistically, website traffic is high on Wednesdays, indicating people have more time on a Wednesday, having settled into the work week and recovered from the weekend. The traffic spike evident on Wednesdays could also be an indication that consumers research and plan on Wednesdays more than any other day of the week.

Thursdays are popular days for email marketers. Keep an eye on the e-newsletters you receive, over half are likely to arrive on Thursday. The logic here is that consumers are starting to think about the weekend and are in a responsive mood; the perfect time for advertisers to deliver their pitch.

Friday/Saturday/Sunday
These can be good days to send e-newsletters, as it's likely your audience has more downtime on these days than any others in the week. Email traffic is traditionally low on weekends - an indication that competition will be light. However, you should also consider that most people don't work on weekends, and aren't in front of a computer 9-5 like they are during the work week. Also consider that many people take Fridays off, and there are long-weekends or holidays to factor in, and if your e-newsletter is promoting a weekend event chances are your recipient has already made plans.

My advice: Experiment. Try sending your e-newsletters on different days of the week and track the results. Monitor the frequency of emails sent by your competitors and from others whom you feel are good email marketers. Consider the date of your event (or the day/time of your sale), and calculate how many days in advance you feel your audience needs to make a decision, plan and then respond.

The Importance of "Free" Business Models for .com's

If you build it, they will not come, especially if they have to pay for it.

The success of many online businesses is largely attributed to adopting "free" as a business model. First and foremost, building a community of users, followers and subscribers. Free is always an attractive offer - there's no objection to price - all of a sudden signing up doesn't sound like a bad idea.

Convincing yourself that "free" as a business model works, then sticking to the plan, can be tough. It doesn't seem like a common-sense approach at first, but if you try the exact opposite chances are you'll find yourself frustrated by an evident lack of interest from surfers, lack of steady traffic and consistency, and ultimately a lack of sales.

Internet start-ups are rarely an overnight success, they are considerable time investments. If you don't invest the time or fail to have an online marketing plan -- you'd better plan to fail.

After your website is built, spend your time finding new friends online, give them something to share with their friends, offer free advice, contests, giveaways, free resources and free networking opportunities. Make this a daily habit and then watch your community start to grow.

After you've attracted a loyal community of users, built credibility and established a solid reputation, all the potential revenue streams will reveal themselves and you'll be ready to take your website to the next step. These revenue streams will likely present themselves as subscription or advertising opportunities.

More on Free: Why $0.00 is the Future of Business
More on Free: The Free Business Model: A Strategy for Attention, Traffic and Profits

Support: Email Issues

A few clients were affected by email delays and/or downtime starting around 5pm on April 9th. No email was lost and mail was flowing again on Saturday morning, April 10th. Click the link below to read more, or leave a comment if you have any questions.

More Information: View full details

SEO: Content Content Content

Have your sights set on top spot in Google? Our first recommendation to clients on the topic of SEO is to write solid content for their websites. Produce golden articles, biographies, case studies, testimonials, blogs, press releases, white papers and more.

Google wants to deliver useful, thorough, and authentic content to its users. Keep the content fresh by updating it frequently, keep it current and well worth the read.

Producing good content from day one may turn out to be the biggest advantage you can give yourself in the SEO race.

Should You be Tweeting on Twitter?

Twitter, like other social media tools, is simply an outlet for you to communicate with others. It's a platform you can use to spark discussion between you and your customers and keep everyone informed with what's going on in and around your company.

Yes, company websites are platforms too. However, the problem with how they communicate with your audience is that they're often too official. Tools like Twitter specialize in communicating what you are doing or thinking in the real world.

Twitter can be used as a 2nd avenue for consumers to explore your company - reading beyond your website home page where the typical show & tell is expectedly written by your marketing department. Tweets are unscripted, conversational and authentic. It's a treat for customers to read what CEO's and management are doing or thinking, and it's a treat to be in-the-know and receiving information straight from the source.

Not quite feeling it? Check out Flight Centre's Twitter Page, with over 5,000 followers, or one of Walmart's Twitter Pages with over 10,000 followers, or the Edmonton Oilers Twitter Page with over 12,000 followers. See what these companies are sharing and how their audience is responding. You'll likely see a benefit, even if only a small one, to using Twitter yourself.

Don't have much to say? I bet you do. Followers can listen in on your thoughts for expanding your business, plans to hire new staff, new/upcoming products & services you'll be offering, industry events you are attending, products you've tested, contacts you've made, awards & accolades you've received, projects you've finished, partnerships you've made, associations you've joined, promotions you're having, and more.

Many social media tools do relatively the same thing - they give you a new platform to communicate with others. If you're thinking of setting up a Twitter page, do yourself a favor first and do your research. Go where your customers are. If your customers are using Twitter, you should be there. If your competitors are using Twitter, you should be there.

Twitter is not for everyone, and certainly does more for some industries (like news and entertainment) than others. If your research proves that your customers are NOT using Twitter, they're likely somewhere else... maybe Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, or one of the many other social networking scenes out there.

Alert - Domain Registry of Canada Scam

Four of our clients in as many days have reported that they received a domain name renewal notice in the mail from Domain Registry of Canada. This is one of the oldest scams of it's kind, but unfortunately people still fall for it. If you receive the notice, tear it up. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.

Reference 1: http://www.twistimage.com
Reference 2: http://www.ripoffreport.com
Reference 3: http://www.barrywheeler.ca