The ezPalm Blog

Without a doubt, the world is a better place because of chili contests. On a Sunday afternoon going over to the local chili contest is like going to one of the best places ever. Chili is a favorite and it is know for it’s spice, or kick.

Chili is made with beans, tomatoes, meat is optional, and lots of spices. There are many different varieties and that is where the contests come in. If you have ever been complimented on your chili, then you might want to consider entering a contest, you might end up winning. If it is that good, you might have a food distributor contact you in hopes that you reveal your secret recipe. You should always document what you do when you make the chili. If you end up with the perfect batch of chili and just kind of threw the ingredients in, then you will not be able to duplicate it, unless you have a really good memory. If you do document everything, keep it in a safe spot. You can even hand it down to your kids and it could bring great tasting chili to your family for generations to come. Chili contests should be part of every family and you should either go to them, enter in them, or both. If you make great chili then everyone will want to eat. Make sure to let the people know how good it is before you serve it to them, and you could even make sure they take the Acceletrim product to help cut back on their cravings, because they will more than likely want more.

The pound is fetching less than the euro at Travelex airport counters, you would believe that there would be a few real deals to be had in ski resorts this ski season as skiers stick at home to fight the crunch. Early numbers barely released show that skiing towns are 87 % booked during the Xmas and New year period. 10 percent higher than the equivalent period of time last year.

You’ll probably have better luck in the new year that at the moment has a 34 percent reserve level. The only signs of a downturn is during the key February holiday month which has 62 % reservations, 3 % lower than last ski season. Reservation centres in the domains of Chamonix, Les Contamines-Montjoie, Serre Chevalier and Val Thorens have observed increased inquiries during Dec advanced by the heavy early on winter snows. Flaine has stronger inquiries in comparison to a year ago, whilst Auron had a fantastic New Year and Christmas as did Alps Chamonix.

However there is substantial interest in larger catered chalets, 5 to 10 spaces, as skiers group-up to save money. Early evidence highlights that do it yourself snowboarding trips are holding up, evidence perhaps that earnest skiers will not lose their trip to the mountains. Bookings from package holidays are down.

When you apply for and receive a credit card, you will want to take the time to create a detailed budget for your family’s finances. Without a budget, and without carefully planning the credit card expenses, you could fall into the credit trap that many individuals have found themselves in. Swimming in a sea of debt that they have no way of getting out of. Having a credit card is a wonderful way to ensure that you have access to funds in the event of an emergency, or for use when traveling to eliminate the need for carrying cash on your person. As long as you keep the card for the purposes outlined in your personal budget, you will have no difficulty maintaining your credit card balance, making payments on time and using the credit card to it’s fullest financial capacity. If you start using the credit card as if it was your personal debit card, you will likely find yourself in financial trouble.

Personal Budgeting Tips & Tricks

First, and most importantly, never spend more money than you can actually afford. This is easier said than done of course, especially when you include credit cards in the equation. It’s very easy to buy now, with the intent of paying later, only to find out when later comes you still don’t have the money! Using credit cards wisely however, can save you finance charges and enable you to make purchases and build your credit by making monthly payments in full and on time.

If you already have a credit card (or two) with balances, you should consider shopping around for credit cards that are offering promotional rates. Many companies will periodically offer a 0% balance transfer rate for all new customers who apply for and obtain their credit cards. Transferring what you owe from one card to another can help you save on interest and help you pay down your debt faster. This is a smart way to use credit cards!

Understand your credit card limit. Just because your credit card has a limit of $5,000 does not mean that you should spend that all at once! Ideally, a credit card should be used with the intent of the individual paying the balance in full at the end of each month. This will avoid finance fees, interest charges and allow you to make purchases on your credit card that are the same as paying with cash. As soon as you allow a balance to carry over from one month to the next, you are going to start seeing your account balance increase, instead of decreasing with your payments, thanks to high interest rates and finance charges on purchases.

When determining how much money you have available for purchases, you should first make a list of all of your outgoing expenses each month. Be sure to plan for incidentals and things that don’t occur regularly- such as oil changes and car tune-ups. Also, consider your personal savings a monthly expense. (Just because you don’t pay them monthly doesn’t mean you shouldn’t plan for them monthly!) Then, determine your monthly income. Subtract your expenses from your income to see what you have left over, and this should be your flexible spending amount in your budget. Even if you have access to a credit card, you should never spend more on a purchase than this “flexible” money. This will keep you from getting into serious financial trouble.

When you take the time to create a budget and follow it you are a responsible credit card user who will likely not end up swallowed by the dreaded debt monster!

This article has been provided courtesy of Creditor Web. Creditor Web offers great credit card articles available for reprint and other tools to help you search and compare credit cards.

Cholesterol is not equivalent to death or disease. On the contrary, cholesterol is a life-giving substance, a waxy steroid responsible for all the membranes that encase human cells. That’s something to wax poetic about, especially because it also manufactures the body’s vitamins and hormones including estrogen, testosterone and adrenaline.

But hypercholesterolemia or high cholesterol is a nefarious thing. It indicates excessive levels of bad cholesterol or low-density lipoproteins (LDL), whose plaques can constrict the arteries and result in angina, stroke or cardiac arrest.

Quite apart from anyone, those prone to high cholesterol are keen eaters of food rich in saturated fat like dairy goods with butterfat, processed meat, deep fried food, coconut oil, vegetable oil and junk foods. Susceptibility to high cholesterol tends to increase too with heavier weight and lesser physical activity.

Just as clear-cut are the demographics for high cholesterol-prone people. Old people in general are vulnerable, especially men.

Other people attribute their high cholesterol more to heredity than diet. They have inherited familial hypercholesterolemia, wherein the liver does not expel cholesterol and lets it accumulate in the arteries. Albeit relatively rare, this condition puts sufferers at risk of heart disease at a younger age.

Often, people do not know they have high cholesterol because there are no symptoms. The US National Cholesterol Education Program suggests a simple blood test every five years or so to check blood cholesterol levels. Ideally, no adult must have a total cholesterol level above 200 mg/dL, or an LDL level above 100 mg/dL.

Once diagnosed with high cholesterol, the nutritionist may prescribe sweeping changes in the diet, one that ditches saturated and trans fats for monounsaturated fats, fruits, nuts and vegetables. Similarly, it also means exercising for 30 minutes a day. If medication is essential, doctors prescribe statins, fibrates, bile acid sequestrants, and prescription niacin.

Check out the Linked In profile for Avista Capital.

Avista Capital Partners Enhances Energy Practice With Appointment of Gerhard Kurz.

Read up more about Avista Capital at the Live Healthy Now website.

Credit card consolidation has been catching on as a popular and smart way for consumers to reduce their debt levels. The way that credit card consolidation works is like this: you obtain a new credit card with a nice size credit line and then transfer many of your outstanding loan balances over to the new card. Instead of paying 17.9%, 21.6%, or even 24% or more on credit card balances, a new low interest rate credit card can allow you to reduce your monthly payments and pay down your debt faster. Please keep reading for examples on how you can take charge of your debt.

Out with the old, in with the new

Much of the debt owed by consumers is through credit cards. If you have 1, 2, 3, or more cards, you probably are paying high interest rates on several of your outstanding balances. Your JC Penney, Macys, even your regular Visa or MasterCard can be charging you interest rates in excess of 20%! You can get out from underneath these burdens by selecting a new card with a low APR and transferring your balances over. In effect, you have created a credit card consolidation with your new card. Just don’t use your old cards again as you might find yourself with more debt than you can possibly manage!

Lower monthly payments, low APR

By transferring your high balances, you can save several hundred dollars per year in interest payments. With some cards, you can even get an introductory APR of 0% for the first twelve months. After that your variable rate is likely to be lower than what you paid for your store cards, bringing home big savings for you. In addition, you will have more money to pay off your existing balances faster. In effect, a credit card consolidation can help you get out of debt quicker. Less debt, better credit rating

By paying off your debt faster, your credit rating will improve. An improved credit rating can have a positive effect on future borrowing, especially if you are considering purchasing a new car or a home. All of this good stuff happens because you made the smart decision to go the credit card consolidation route to attack your debt.

Is everyone eligible for a credit card consolidation card?

Unfortunately, that answer is no. If you have very bad credit you likely will not be eligible. Still, unlike a debt consolidation loan done through your bank’s lending department, there are no application fees to apply for a credit card. So, go ahead and apply and you just may find yourself selected to carry a little piece of plastic that can go a long way toward helping you to achieve credit card consolidation.

Copyright 2006 Ed Vegliante. Free reprints of this article are allowed provided the resource box remains intact with a live link back to http://www.credit-card-surplus.com.

Click here to consolidate your high interest balances with a Balance Transfer Credit Card.

Ed Vegliante runs the website http://www.Credit-Card-Surplus.com, a well organized credit card directory enabling the consumer to compare and apply for a variety of credit card offers. View more Credit Card Articles.

If you are deeply in debt, many credit counseling agencies can assume responsibility for repaying your debts and negotiating better rates and reduced fees with your creditors. Reputable agencies only offer these debt management plans as a “weapon of last resort” if your debt is becoming unmanageable.

Although debt management plans can help you get out of debt in a set period of time, they rarely help you repair your credit.

For starters, credit counselors aren’t in business to improve your credit. The best credit counselors will help educate you to manage your money, pay off your debts and develop a realistic working budget that you can live off of. If you opt for a debt management plan your credit score will often remain the same, high or low, and your credit rating could actually be reduced.

With a debt management plan, you agree to pay a credit counseling agency a lump sum of money every month for a set period of time, often 4 years or longer. The agency takes over payment to your creditors, allocating a percentage of your monthly payment to each of your creditors. Your credit score will go down if the agency doesn’t make your minimum required payment with each creditor or is late making a payment. You are still considered fully responsible for making your required payments each month, even if you’re working with a credit counseling agency.

Reputable credit counseling agencies will be willing to provide you with up-to-date statements of all payments made to each of your creditors. Verify this information with each of your monthly statements you receive from your creditors to ensure your debt is being paid in a timely manner. If the agency you are working with claims that certain creditors have agreed to reduce your interest rate, waive late fees or reduce other charges, you will want to verify this information as well.

Before each of your creditors approves any debt management plan that may be created on your behalf you will need to continue paying your minimum monthly payment on your own. Any creditors that don’t agree to the plan will have to be paid by you, separate from your monthly credit counseling agency payment.

If you successfully complete a credit counseling debt management plan your finances will likely improve but you may be surprised to find out that your credit score has not went up significantly, if at all. Only time can improve your credit rating in many cases. Any missed payments or late payments, loans in default or other negative financial information often stays on credit reports for 7 years.

Debt management plans may make a good start on the sometimes long and winding road towards credit repair, even though they usually play only a very minor role in improving your overall credit rating.

© cashbuzz.com

John Campbell is the writer and editor of CashBuzz, A financial portal for the rest of us. Check out cashbuzz.com for the latest articles on money management and tips and tricks that can help improve your finances. This article may be reprinted on your Web site if the copyright, author information and active link are included.

Electronic Distribution

How Electronic Distribution Works

The Problems of Distributing Prepaid Services with Hard (Scratch) Cards

Introduction

One of the most significant developments in the prepaid telecom industry in the last few years has been the emergence of electronic distribution technologies, such as Prepaid Wireless Direct point-of-sale activaton (POSA) will completely reconstruct the way in which prepaid services are sold.

How Electronic Distribution Works

Prepaid Wireless Direct electronic distribution systems enable any prepaid sevice to electronically transmit their services to virtually any retail location. Prepaid Wireless Direct provides an integrated POSA solution comprised of flexible and compact point-of-sale terminal equipment, proprietary software, transactional communications, protocols, and professional services to assist retailers with implementation.

Once in the retail environment, consumers simply select a product from point-of sale signage or displays and make the approprate payment to the clerk who then inserts a wallet-sized thermal card into the POSA terminal. After pushing a few key corresponding to the desired product, terminal prints a prepaid PIN along with usage instruction on the card. Prepaid Wireless Direct also supports PIN-less delivery whereby the terminal makes a real-time connection service provider. A credit is instantly issued to the customer’s account. Within moments of purchase, customers can use services.

The types of retail environments that are beginning to switch to electronic delivery include wireless shops, supermarkets, conveience stores, check cashers, food marts, university shops, electronics stores, hotels and many more.

The Problems of Distributing Prepaid Services with Hard (Scratch) Cards

Prepaid Wireless Direct has developed electronic distribution services to address the many problems of distributing prepaid mobile and other prepaid services through hard cards. Hard cards are also known as scratch cards because the customer scratches a panel on the back of the card to reveal a PIN or other secret code.

The current and traditional distribution methodology of most prepaid services involves the prepaid services involves the provider printing scratch cards, warehousing them and fulfilling orders to distributors. The distributors purchase large quantities for providers, warehouse them and fulfill retail orders. And retailers purchase the cards from distributors, manage the inventory and sell the cards to consumers.

Each participant in the distribution chain encounters problems with scratch cards.

Retailer Problems. Under today’s traditional hard card distribution format, most retailers struggle on several fronts to offer prepaid products

Retailer have a difficult time carrying the inventory costs of prepaid services. The recent growth and popularity of prepaid wireless intensifies the problem. With prepiad mobile, airtime denominations are much more expensive the phone cards that most retailers are familiar with. It’s common for one prepaid wireless provider to offer 5 or more different airtime denominations that range in price form $20 to $150 each. To make things worse, prepaid wireless airtime is carrier specific, meaning that Verizon prepaid wireless customers cannot top up (recharge or replenish) their accounts with AT&T, Cingular or any other providers’s airtime, and vice versa. This makes it critical for retailers to carry airtime for all of the popular national and regional prepaid wireless carriers or operators in their area, something that retailers didn’t have to worry about with phone cards. Today there is an average of six major carriers or operators offering prepaid wireless in each of the top 20 U.S. markets. Trying to inventory product for all six could mean that prepaid wireless alone could account for as much as 25 percent of a conveience stores total in-store inventory costs. Many retailers simple cannot afford the cash outlay required to successfully sell prepaid wireless services.

Retailer trying to minimize inventory costs often create out-of-stock problems. In general, stock outages cost the average retailer 6% of its sales, resulting in loss of billions of dollars every year and high customer dissatisfaction.

To make thing worse, today’s airtime hard cards, also know as vouchers, scratch cards, replenishment cards, recharge cards, and hanging cards, increase the likelihood of fraud. The biggest problem seems to be at the point of sale where easily concealed, high-value airtime cards can be the target of both retail customers and employees alike. To prevent comsumer theft, retailers often put cards under lock and key but still suffer losses due to employee pilferage. In the conveience store industry, it is believed that as much as 80 percent of the store’s shrinkage is attributable to employees. Retail employess often feel underpaid and rationalize theft as a way to make up for what they’re owed. As prepaid wireless airtime cards often range in denominations from $10 to $150, employees can easily conceal thousands of dollars of product in their pockets or purses. Cards are also attractive because they can be easily converted to cash on the street by offering them for sale at a discount of their face value. Because they’re close cash equivalents, prepaid wireless cards have become tantamount to an underground currency in some places including Europe. Because of the proliferation of theft reduction is the number one investment priority among convenience store executives.

Additionally, each of the supply chain participants lacks efficient inventory controls and reporting while battling fraud. Because of the difficulties they face, and retailers that sell traditional hard cards are in dire need of cost-effective distribution solutions.

Electronic Distribution Solutions

Prepaid Wireless Direct products and services solve the distrbution problems of retailers that sell prepaid wireless (mobile) and other prepaid services.

Retailer. Retailers are increasingly demanding electronic delivery for the significant benefits they derive.

By delivering prepaid products electronically, on demand, with point-of-sale activation(POSA) techniques, Prepaid Wireless Direct essentially allows any retailer to sell prepaid wireless or other prepaid service without carrying any inventory. This eliminates prepaid inventory costs that acted as enormous cash barriers, prohibiting many retailers from selling prepaid wireless or other prepaid services. What once tied up thousands of dollars in inventory, now requires no up front cash from retailers. Now virtually any retailer not only can afford to participate in selling prepaid services, but also can expand their product portfolios to include phone cards, wireless, dail tone, credit cards, internet and more. In addition, they can also afford to represent all of the popular prepaid wireless service providers in their areas.

Also, because products are automatically replenished at POSA terminals electronically in PIN or real-time formats, retailer never run out of inventory. With Prepaid Wireless Direct POSA solution, retailers avoid the heavy costs of out of stocks and resultant customer dissatisfaction.

Once installed in a retail location, the POSA terminal virtually eliminates theft by retail customers and employess. Because only inactive products are on display, retail customers can no longer steal valuable airtime. And because all retail employees are assigned unique passwords required to accesss the POSA terminal, the system creates an audit trail that details all sales activity by date, time, shift and employee. This audit trail provides a monitoring system that virtually eliminates employee theft. With the POSA system, retailer no longer need to count and reconcile scratch card inventory amounts at the beginning of every shift.

POSA also reduces shelf space requirements and simplifies a retailers job by consolidating all prepaid products into one convenient POSA platform. POSA delivers operating flexibility to the retail marketplace that traditional point of sale products fail to provide.

Retailers also have 24/7 online access to reports that show real-time sales activity by each of their locations. Retailers can also print real-time sales report directly for their POSA terminals. Reports can drill down to sales activity at individual retail outlets by product, clerk, day, and time. Reports come standard but may be customized to match the retailers unique information needs. Retailers use sales activity reports can also highlight sudden changes in sales at a particular location. Subsequent investigation often reveals a simple solution to boosting sales such as replacement of signage that has been taken down by a window washer. Timely awareness of problems and simple remedies often make a significant difference to the amount of sales at retail.

Prepaid Wireless Direct is proud to be leading the way in the electronic distribution of prepaid services through retail environment. By delivering unique, industry-first features and benefits, while supporting a growing list of platforms, methods, suppliers, and products. Prepaid Wireless Direct is poised to lead the electronic distribution movement into the future. In addition to its current suite of products. Prepaid Wireless Direct intends to introduce many more electronic product delivery solutions as it continues to leverage the leading technologies to create cutting-edge, customized products for emerging customer segments.

Bill Payment Service & Prepaid For Leading Merchant Retailers: www.prepaidwireless.2ya.com 1-877-947-3577

The amount and depth of information available on the internet concerning real estate investing is growing every single day. It seems like there are now more real estate “gurus” than regular people - and the number of blogs, forums and websites devoted to real estate investing are more numerous than the sands of the sea.

And predictably, not all of the information available is worthwhile or even legitimate. So with that in mind, we offer some thoughts about some available real estate investing resources. Important note - the resources below are not being judged by us, but we’re merely pointing them out to you.

(A short note - I have discovered at least one particlarly excellent real estate investing blog that appears to be legitimately free. Check it out when you get a moment.)

* Bryan Ellis is an expert in marketing and real estate who focuses his website on helping real estate investors to understand how current events affect the real estate market. Ellis has a blog at http://realestate.BryanEllis.com that has become a mainstay among serious investors.

* Gerald Romine has an interesting software package for real estate investors that helps them calculate profit and loss and does a lot of paperwork for them automatically. His software sports a high price but has nice features.

To a greater or lesser degree, all three of these people are well known in the real estate investing business. But fame alone doesn’t mean a person or their products/services are worthwhile For your own benefit, we encourage you to conduct a more thorough investigation.

Every morning I get a great workout. Of course, it is only my index finger that is receiving the benefits of that workout - deleting spam and unwanted emails from my inbox. Just like you, each morning I am deluged with dozens of unsolicited emails.

Of course, in my opinion, I think that society makes more out of spam than it needs to. It takes all of a minute or so to delete those unwanted spam emails. Before the Internet, we all received “spam” in our mailboxes at home. But Congress doesn’t seem as concerned about that. To me, it’s easier to press delete a few times than it is to clutter my garbage cans and our landfills with junk mail. But that’s another article for another day.

In reality, many people today find unsolicited emails extremely irksome. And because of that, your legitimate email marketing is going to be scrutinized and given only a second or two before it is trashed or opened. This article is designed to help you create an email, whether a newsletter, promotion, or just a marketing message, that has a better chance of being read, than being dead.

We’ve been bombarded with so much Spam, that most of it is easy to spot with just a glance at the subject. “Impress your wife” = Spam. “Mortgage rates at all time low” = Spam. “Viagra by the truckload” = Spam. Those are the easy ones.

But your email communications aren’t spam. If the email marketing or newsletter is done right, it contains targeted, quality content that is useful to the recipients. The problem is, they won’t know that your email is not spam until they open it up and read it. And as ridiculous as it may seem, when it comes to email communications, you are usually guilty before proven innocent. In order for your prospects to read your valuable content, you have one or two seconds to scream, “Wait!!! Don’t delete me! I have something great to say! I’m not Sp…..”

DELETE.

Email spam is defined as any email that is not requested. In this literal sense of the definition, 99% of all emails are spam. Think about it. How many times do you call your boss just to give her a head’s up that you will be sending an email. Spammers have taken one of the best means of marketing ever created and turned it into a tool which many are afraid to touch. And likewise the spam-fearers have over-reacted. The result is an email that must past several tests before it dodges the delete key, gets opened and read. The following tests will help more of your emails get the response they deserve.

1. Avoid Spam-Alert Words

You know the big ones, like, er, um, “big ones”. And “free”, “offer”, “special”, “limited time”. You see any of these words in the subject, and your spam sensor is alerted and your finger is poised to delete.

Those are the obvious ones. To combat this, I’ve read a few articles that suggest using synonyms and close alternatives to these words. Will this work? Yes and no. Yes, you may be able to circumvent the “Spam-blockers” that your recipients may have. But, even if it those words escape the spam-blockers, human eyes are even tougher. They’ll see the words “No cost” as the same as “free” and immediately throw up a red flag. Delete.

Don’t try to beat the system with similar words. You need your customer to trust that your email communication has nothing to do with spam. To do that, your subject should be void of any words that are similar to spam words.

2. Avoid Using the Recipient’s Name in the Subject

Four years ago, the latest trend in email marketing was to use your recipient’s name in the subject line. Such as, “Don’t be the last one to get one of these, Warren.” Four years ago, Warren may have gotten excited about seeing his name in print, and he may have assumed that the email must be important if they knew his name.

Not the case today. If he saw his name in the subject line today, Warren would see it as common trickery that many Spammers partake in. He quickly presses Delete before going to floss (Warren has always taken great care of his teeth)
If you did want to use their name, and the customer did opt-in to your newsletter, then use their name sparingly in the body of the email. But using it their name in the subject throws up another red flag.

3. No punctuation, Excessive capitalization, Symbols, etc.

Again, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is, and will be deleted. Certainly you are excited about your promotion or articles, and that should shine through in the body copy of the email. The better the offer is, the more important it is to make sure you do not go overboard in the subject. Remember that among the least effective email campaigns are the ones that state that the recipient is already a winner. Delete.

4. First Things First.

I constantly see email newsletters that mention an article or promotion in the subject. Yet after scanning the entire newsletter, I either find the article hanging out near the bottom, or I can’t find it at all.

The subject isn’t just an attention-getter, it needs to flow seamlessly into the newsletter. If your subject mentions a new way to lose weight, that article needs to be front and center when the recipient opens the newsletter. If it’s not there, most recipients won’t hunt for it. Rather they’ll consider it a ploy to get them to open the newsletter - Delete.

Think about how Old Navy conducts their “Item of the Week” promotion. They advertise a clothing item at a reduced price. So when you walk into the store, the promoted clothing item is the first thing you see - you can’t miss it. Make sure that your first priority promotion or article is the first thing your recipient sees.

5. Targeted Subject

Let your recipients know immediately that the newsletter was meant for their eyes. Not by using their name, but by featuring their industry or interest in the subject line.

As an example, I get several email newsletters and articles each day, most of which are related to marketing, design or business. If I see a newsletter with the word marketing in the subject, I’m either reading it right then, or saving it to read later. On the other side of the coin, if I get a marketing-type newsletter that mentions nothing about marketing, I may or may not open it.

Remember, you’ve got only a couple of seconds to make your case and get your recipient to open the newsletter. Make sure that your newsletter centers around their interests and you’ve won half the battle. Of course, if you don’t know what your prospects’ industries or interests are, you might be doomed from the start.

6. Who is it From

After the subject, the next thing your recipient will usually look at to determine if they will open it is who sent the email. The worst choice is to use an email address that is gibberish or doesn’t go directly to a human.

The best results will be if your email is sent from a person at your company, i.e. jim@abccomputers.com. This way it looks less like a form email and it also makes your email communications more personal.

7. Email content

The final tip that gives your email the best odds at being read has to do with the content itself. Always give your recipients an option of HTML or text and make sure that you send it to them in the format that they request. This may have less to do with the speed of their computer and more to do with their own preference.

Also include an opt-out option in the email and put them both at the top and bottom of the email. The recipient needs to know that they are reading this under their own volition and they can stop receiving the email communications if they wish.

With these tips, you’ll give your email the best chance at being read.

Steve Reynolds has been helping small businesses develop a marketing front that generates leads, build brand recognition and creates business opportunities. My experience in design, copywriting, and marketing strategies is a combination that works well for small businesses and start-up companies.

There is a higher probability of your email being read, if it is short than if it is long and unwinding. Most internet users have so many emails in their inbox that many long emails are deleted without even being read.
Your free weekly emails should be short, to the point, informative and juicy for any customer/subscriber to read. Most of the internet users have a number of messages and emails form various sources in their inbox that they may not have enough time or inclination to go through each one of them, especially the long and more involving ones. Even if the long emails are interesting, they will be kept aside for later reading, and this later may turn to never! If the email is short, to the point and catchy, it is read and dealt with immediately. For your email to get attention keep the following five points in mind:

Have Killer headlines which may be of interest to the audience that you are addressing. For Example save 20% on your taxes, or save heavily on your prescriptions.

Give them benefits of what you are selling or trying to convey to them- what is in it for them is what interests the customers.

Do not let the content go beyond five paragraphs. For that is the normal length that customers are ready to spend time on.

Keep the message short and get to the point quickly. Else the reader will loose interest and move on to the next message

Have simple layout for the email so that it is supported by the computers of most of your mail recipients.

If while writing your email messages , you keep the above points in mind, the exercise of sending periodic emails to your customers and other recipients will be more beneficial.

This article was written by Craig Dawber of smarket-associates.com
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