The Mill House Media blog archive
Allan Scott has chosen to keep these posts online as many still have value – and they also include a record of his 40-year freelance career – a host of experiences that he cherishes and is happy to share with anyone who might learn something from them. He regrets (almost) nothing – and he’s had a ball…
Headlines: 26 top tips to get your emails opened
Good headlines get your email opened. Poor ones may get it consigned to the Trash. Here are 26 tips to make every one of your headlines a winner.
What’s so great about a ‘done for you newsletter’?
If you’re in business, or simply in the business of communicating, then you need an email newsletter. More importantly, you need a good email newsletter.
Proofreaders – can we fix it?
When a piece of writing works well, a good writer feels it. Equally, when it’s gone wrong, editors or proofreaders can spot the problem and explain it, but not necessarily so that the uninitiated could understand.
So who needs a team?
Why a team? Because a newsletter isn’t just about content. You also need good design, expert coding, skilful data management and the ability to hit a deadline first time, every time.
Checking newsletters – what does that actually mean?
Checking newsletters is something we do all the time here at Mill House Media - and you may well have wondered what we do and why we do it. It’s certainly something you should wonder about. Even a small mistake can make the difference between a newsletter that...
Lists? My secretary can buy those for me…
Buying email lists? Tempting, isn’t it? So much easier to get something off the shelf instead of doing all that donkey work yourself. Value for money, surely? Well… not really. Because the real value of an email distribution list is directly proportional to the work that went into creating it. And that’s before we even consider some of the legal issues…
Design – is yours responsive?
One of the biggest challenges for anyone producing an email newsletter (apart from finding the right content) is ensuring that most recipients can see it with the layout its designer intended. That requires a responsive design…
The computer can’t do it (so don’t be discontented with your content…)
It’s tempting to think that technology can ‘do it all for you’. It would be nice if it could – but when we’re talking content, quality doesn’t come at the push of a button.
Design a newsletter? Moi?
Email distribution services usually provide you with a template, which you then fill with the images and text you want to use. If you have an eye for design yourself, then the results can be very good. But if that’s not where your talents lie you could finish up with something rather less than wonderful. Here’s how to avoid the trap…
Back to school? Why we still need strategic email
Amid ongoing concerns about skill shortages among our young people, it seems some business studies courses are downplaying strategic email marketing, Which is a pity…
Email marketing – vital to your business
Two recent reports demonstrate the continuing vital importance of email as a part of your digital marketing plan. One shows that when it comes to acquiring customers – and winning sales – email marketing outperforms social media by a factor of 40. And the second shows that return on investment can be as high as 3000%.
Little boxes… (and missing images)
Every day I get a fistful of emails which – at first sight – have nothing in them. What they DO have is images – and often images that include a lot of text. But I can’t see them. More to the point, nor can a lot of other people!