-•- HomeOfficeDigest.com Newsletter - Issue 141 -•-
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THE HOME OFFICE DIGEST NEWSLETTER
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Here is your issue of the HomeOfficeDigest.com newsletter. 
This e-mail is never sent unsolicited.
Our e-zine is mailed twice a week to a 100% opt-in database.
There are currently over 43,000 opt-in subscribers. 
You can visit our website at: http://www.homeofficedigest.com
To be removed, please see the bottom of this e-mail.
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BE YOUR OWN BOSS
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I've recently heard from a number of business owners who have been
suffering from downtime due to spam! If you run an affiliate type
program that isn't housed on your servers then you had better plan
a way to ensure that spam won't get the best of your business! We
all work far too hard, and far too many hours to let the stupidity
and greed of some moron who's spamming take our business down! Many
hosts have been cracking down on spam recently, more-so than they
used to, so if you haven't already I strongly suggest that you
put together a clear plan that you can execute in the event that
your business gets hit by spammers! Think it can't happen to you?
Think again! There are a number of people who are out of a job
looking for quick cash every day and the lure of spam is too much
for some of them to resist! If you don't have a plan of action
now, you WILL regret it later!


FEATURED ARTICLE
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Entice Your Reader With These 5 Headlines 
By Alexandria Brown 

In the world of marketing communications, your first impression 
- your headline - can lead to either marketing success ... or 
failure. 

It's important to realize that headlines work best when they 
appeal to your reader's interests (not yours). And not only 
can they *grab attention*, they can also make your message 
easy to read, convey your main selling points, and lead your 
customer to a sale. 

Over the years copywriting pros have used several headline 
formulas that always work well. Here are my fab five: 

1. The question. "Are You Worried About Your Financial Future?" 

A question headline automatically gets your readers involved 
in your message, because they answer it in their minds. Many 
people will read further into your letter, ad, or Web site 
copy just to find out what answer or solution you provide. 
Again, make sure the question focuses on the reader's interest, 
not yours. A *bad* example would be: "Do You Know What New 
Product We've Created This Year?" (No one cares but you! ; )) 

2. The How-to. "How to Get Thinner Thighs in 30 Days." 

How-to headlines work very well, because people love information 
that shows them how to do something. (Thousands of book titles 
begin with "How to....") Think of the benefits your product/service 
offers and then try creating some "how to" headlines. 

3. The Testimonial. "Rob Smith's Consulting Is Pure Magic - 
Our Sales Have Increased by 30%!" 

Why not let your clients do the selling for you? Their 
commendations can go a long way in convincing others to 
use your services. Tip: To appear credible, always include 
your clients' full names and the cities they live in. 

4. The Command. "Boost Your Business Today!" 

Turn your most important benefit into a commanding headline, 
such as "Make More Time for Your Family," "Look Younger 
Instantly!" and "Get 7 New Clients This Month." (By the way, 
throwing a number into your headline is another good tactic. 
And readers seem to like odd numbers as opposed to even.) 

5. The News. "Introducing Our New 'Rest-Assured' Tax Service!" 

This usually works best if you truly have something big to 
announce, such as new products or big changes in your company. 
Don't try to make news out of something that's not. 

Once your readers know you have something they're interested in, 
they'll take the time to read your entire article, brochure, 
letter, ad, e-zine, or Web page. So put some TLC into creating 
headlines that entice! 

(c) 2000 Alexandria Brown 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR 
Copywriter and consultant Alexandria Brown's FREE biweekly e-zine, 
"AKB MarCom Tips," gives how-to tips on writing compelling copy for 
Web sites, brochures, and e-zines. Learn easy ways to "write to sell" 
and attract new customers today! Subscribe now at 
http://www.akbwriting.com or via mailto:AKBMarCom-On@lists.webvalence.com 


DOWNLOAD OF INTEREST
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The download of interest this week was designed to help those of
you who run your own newsletter or ezine. The process of removing
undeliverable email addresses from your list can be very time
consuming. Generally you get the bounce message, copy the email
address from that message, and then remove that email address 
from your list. Although doing it one time doesn't take all that
long, when you run a list of 10,000+ and have hundreds of bounce
messages come in after each mailing it can take hours. If you'd 
like an easier way to remove the bounced email addresses I suggest
you download PCImail from http://www.prosoftapps.com . This little
program opens a folder in Outlook, strips out the email addresses,
and creates a list. After you've got the bounce list, you can 
easily use your list manager program to remove the bounces! This
program isn't free, but trust me, it's worth the price!


WHAT ARE THEY THINKING
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I wrote a somewhat popular optin-email collection and mailing list
management script. One of the hosting companies we have a lot of
clients with asked us to add a double-optin feature for this 
program so we did. Double-optin is a process by which people 
subscribe to the list, then receive an email with a link that
the subscriber has to click to confirm their addition to the list.

I've recently had a number of clients who use the double-optin
feature contact me about this new feature. It seems that many
subscribers are replying to the confirmation email as a means of 
confirming their addition to the list even though the confirmation
email they get clearly says they have to click the link to confirm.
My question is, when did it become so difficult to read directions?
Since school age I've been told to carefully read the directions
before taking action, so why in the world is it so difficult for 
some people to simply follow the simple directions outlined in the 
confirmation email and simply click the link? What in the world 
are these people thinking? 


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