Welcome to the latest issue of Write for You News & Notes with some words of wisdom on writing, business, and life. If you'd like to share any books or favorite links with our readers, send us an email. And remember -- on paper or on-line, when you need words that work for you, I can write for you! Nancy Passow
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How Not to Annoy People with E-mail
| Time once again for one of my e-mail rants. Obviously I like e-mail newsletters (and hopefully you do too, as you're reading mine). But certain things annoy me -- and can cause me to hit the dreaded "unsubscribe" button.
1. Putting me on your subscription list without asking. Just because I gave you my business card does not mean I want to receive your newsletter.
2. Not having an easy way to unsubscribe. This is not only annoying but goes against the anti-spam law -- you must provide an easy way for people to unsubscribe.
3. Not providing a way to change my e-mail address. I have two business e-mail addresses -- my primary one and a secondary one that I use for newsletter subscriptions, etc. If someone does sign me up for their newsletter (see #1 above) and I decide to keep receiving it, I want to be able to change to my secondary e-mail address. Sometimes, though, the only option is to unsubscribe, nothing for updating profile. So guess what? I unsubscribe.
4. Sending more than one e-mail per week. Sorry, I don't care how well you write or what beautiful thoughts you have, sometimes even a weekly e-mail is too much. But some arrive several times during the week. If I'm nice, I just hit the delete button. If I'm in a grumpy mood, it might be the unsubscribe button.
5. Deceptive subject lines. There is nothing worse than hitting the open button because the subject line says "this is really important (or urgent)" and finding out it's just the weekly or monthly newsletter.
Remember, the reason we send out newsletters is to engage our readers and build relationships. Make sure that's what you're doing and not killing the relationships.
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Spring? Yes, Spring!
|  It's spring. Alas, this is not a photo of my daffodils -- these are daffodils in Washington, DC, near the National Zoo (I was there last week with my daughter). Only the tips of my daffodils are showing. But they are coming up, along with my crocus. And after all of the rain, it looks like my forsythia is about to bloom.
There is nothing more optimistic than planting bulbs. You put them in the ground in the fall, cover them up, and then hope. Probably the most uncertain time I ever planted bulbs was on September 11, 2001. With my phone by my side (waiting to hear from family and friends), I sat outside planting crocus, daring the world to continue so that I would see my flowers the following spring. That is the beauty of spring -- a time when everything starts fresh.
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E-mail Marketing, LinkedIn, & Your Business
|  E-mail marketing is a great way to stay in touch with your clients and colleagues. I can help you get started -- whether it's set-up, writing the content, or managing the entire process. I'll even remember to pay the monthly bill for you. I can set up your contact lists, help you choose a template (and customize it with your logo and website colors), and develop your e-mail schedule. To learn more, click here. Why use Constant Contact? They take care of the details--managing your contact list, making sure you meet anti-spam regulations, tracking users--these are just a few of the reasons. Changes are coming to Constant Contact which will make it even more fun and exciting to use. Give me a call or send me an e-mail so we can talk about how e-mail marketing can help your business! LinkedIn is still making changes. Need help figuring out where things went? Trying to hide some of your endorsements? Wishing your profile was more descriptive of who you really are? Let me help you! Even with all of the changes, LinkedIn is still a great way to be found on the web and to network. |
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phone: 201-541-9702 (o)
phone: 201-362-3404 (m)
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| Book of the Month . .
Being Happy
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As you know, one of my mantras is "perfection s overrated". And in my November, 2013 newsletter, I wrote about Shawn Achor's book The Happiness Advantage. So you can imagine how happy I was when I found this small but powerful book by Tal Ben-Shahar, Mr. Achor's mentor at Harvard. Subtitled You Don't Have to Be Perfect to Lead a Richer, Happier Life, the book explores the difference between a Perfectionist and an "Optimalist". Mr. Ben-Shahar describes optimalists, or positive perfectionists, as those who "accept, and make the best of, everything that life has to offer". On the other hand, negative perfectionists "reject everything that deviates from their flawless, faultless ideal vision, and as a result they suffer whenever they don't meet their own unrealistic standards." Mr. Ben-Shahar wrote the book to be used as a workbook, with exercises at the end of each chapter "to help with the process of action and reflection." Part one covers accepting failure, accepting emotions, accepting success, and accepting reality -- all things a perfectionist has trouble with. Parts two and three look at specific applications and ways to move to being an optimalist. The book is very much based on Mr. Ben-Shahar's own struggles. In the book's introduction, he explains, "Of all the topics that I write about or teach, the subject of perfectionism is closest to my heart and mind because I have had to face my own destructive perfectionist tendencies."
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| Quote of the Month |
"Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous." ~ Albert Einstein
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