Email Filters: "A saving grace"!

Okay Folks,  Chris is going to faint when she sees I have written in here.  I think she has long given up on me.  But... today I was doing some mailings and I had to set up some new email filters and I thought what a great topic to write about.

I only discovered filters about 4 months ago and man oh man have they ever changed how I do things. I used to have tons of different email addresses and had to constantly go back and forth between my contact email and my "mailings" email.  Now I pert near have them all go to 1 address.

I am able to do this without having a cluttered "Inbox" to boot!  I do this with the use of filters.  I will explain how to do this in detail using Gmail.

Step 1

On your Gmail menu on the left. Down towards the bottom you will see where it says "Create new Label".  Click on this and at the top of the pop up box it says " Please enter a new label name:".  Write MAILERS  there. Then click create.

Now you can have all you mailers go to this Label or you can do the next step.

Step 2 (optional)

Click on "Create new Label" again. .At the top of the pop up box it says " Please enter a new label name:".  Write there the  "name of specific mailer you want" ie ( EMailHog). Then mark the little box below it that says "Nest label under:"  In the drop down list select  "MAILERS"  and click create.


Step 3 (optional) 

Repeat step 2 for as many separate mailers you want to add..  FYI  when I first started I just did step 1  and adding the separately mailers gradually.


Now for the fun part.  

Step 4

Copy the url of one of the mailers you want to go to the separate folder ie (bounce@email-hog.com )  Be sure it is the email address that is at the top of the emails sent.

Step 5

Click the little spoke image in upper right corner of gmail page ,  then select mail settings.

Step 6

Now folks click the tab called Filters and scroll to the bottom of the filters page and click on create            
new filter.

Step 7

On the next page paste in the email address of the mailer  then click next step.

Step 8 

Now on this page check  : Skip the Inbox (Archive it) and then select the box Apply the label and in the drop down list select MAILERS or the individual mailer if you have it there.

Step 9

Be sure to also check the box "never send to spam.  Now click Create filter ( be sure to mark the little box next to it that says "Also apply filter to XX many "conversations below.

Now you have created your First filter.  From now on any emails going to that address will automatically go to that folder and not clutter your inbox.  When you want to read your mailers just click on that label and WHOLA there they all are.

As I said I started off just putting all my mailers under one label to start with then gradually  separated them into about 6 different ones.  However you choose to do it is up to you.

I hope you found this somewhat helpful. :)

Cheers,
lisa

Surf Skeleton Promo

We're having a good time with Surf Skeleton today. Stop by and surf a bit, some nice prizes. If you are not a member of Surf Skeleton, you can join at the following link:

Surf Skeleton

Happy Thanksgiving!

SMART Graphic Designer!

 Hi all-

My partner Lisa has been using a new tool in her web splashes and designs. She is thrilled with it! (She's still not thrilled with me for roping her into doing some splashes for a well known admin, but she'll get over it). If you are doing any sort of serious online promoting, you probably do your own splashes or know someone that does. This is a great item and can save you a bunch of money.  Here's the blurp she wrote up on it:

GREAT, GREAT GREAT  graphics design tool that you just have to see.  I generally use PhotoShop  for making my splashes etc.  But,  now I have found something much simpler and user friendly.
NOTHING TO DOWNLOAD, all web based.

You have to see it to believe it.  Check out the demo video and I am sure you will be as excited as I am! If you are one of those marketers that constantly uses graphics such as buttons, headers and headlines, you might be spending a fortune in hiring graphic designers or monthly fees at a splash maker site.

It's no secret that professional-looking and high quality graphics can enhance your sales, since "the first impression always counts the most". You only have one chance to impress your visitors, and if you fail in this, you will lose them forever .

BUT...What if I told you that you can start creating colorful graphics for your business with a few clicks of your mouse and without hiring expensive graphic artists?Even better, you can do it without downloading any type of software at all? I'd like to introduce you to an incredible tool which will save you A LOT of headaches (and money, too!).

Its name is "SMART Graphic Designer".If I were you, I'd snag a copy fast as Suzanna is planning to run this offer for only 7 days, and it's a dime-sale offer with an imminent price increase. You probably think this tool will cost an arm and a leg,  WRONG!

For a very limited time, you can get access to this incredibly slick graphic tool for a really LOW price:  Just $37 (one-time payment)

The normal price is $47, so you’re saving $10 here.  But if I were you, I would act quickly as this time-sensitive offer will be valid until 30 November, and after that, price is going to increase. Remember, this incredible offer won’t last for too long, so my suggestion is that you should grab it NOW while you can! Check out the video before you say No:)

Take a look at SMART Graphic Designer.

I suggest giving it a try. If anyone else has discovered some great money-saving tools, drop us a line.

Chris

Sunday!

Well, it's Sunday, which means tomorrow is Monday. Blech...

 Does anyone remember the first traffic exchange they joined? I think mine was ILoveHits. Been around for a long time, gets good traffic and run well by Jon Olson. That's a good one to start with, get your feet wet on how they work. They don't do promotions with other traffic exchanges, no need to. They get plenty of traffic and new members without all that. So if you're a newbie reading this , give that one a whirl for starters. You'll see plenty of ads for other traffic exchanges floating by as you surf. You can usually tell if they are a quality sites or not.

I join a ton of traffic exchanges. Do I surf all of them or buy credits at all of them? Heck no! I usually surf or buy credits the first day I join and see how fast they go. I also pay close attention to their member page and the members who are the top surfers. You want to stay away from sites where several members surf 6-8,000 pages a day. That's nuts and a waste of my credits. And yes, there are those who do that. I also see how often the admin writes his/her members. If I never hear from them, I usually don't go back to the site. On the other hand, there are some smarly admins out there who do nothing but advertise other programs via their membership data base. That turns me off pretty quick. An occasional email promoting other sites is fine, but not all the time.

Did mention that Lisa is mad at me? I sorta talked her splash page making skills up to a program admin and he was interested. She wasn't real happy with me. But she IS a good splash page maker. I need to get her a banner to put on the blog for anyone who is interested in hiring her for a quick splash. Lot's of folks out there need quick splashes and banners for a variety of things, I think she could do well. Just gave her a little push....

Now I need to send her flowers or something. ): P.S. She did two for his review and they were cute.

Chris

Why a blog?

I'm sitting here wondering why we decided to do a blog. Was it because everyone else has one? It's THE thing to do? Or maybe, just maybe, every once in a while, we have something to say...Anyway, we have one and the topic, more or less, is traffic.

I remember early on in my days online, I had no idea how everything worked. Joined lots of stupid stuff and had no idea how to go about growing my business. Not that they were really good businesses in the first place..but I digress. The point is, whether a business is good for the long term or not, you have to promote to get anywhere. This I did not know. Or at least had no clue how to go about it. I was finally pointed in the right direction by a long time marketer.

I started joining a few traffic exchanges, safe lists etc..I found that I was enjoying the interactions on the various traffic exchanges and was also seeing some results. Now, nothing is as good as a personal message, but utilizing traffic exchanges and mingling with other members can lead you to that place. Not that all traffic programs are created equal, they're not. But that's a topic for another day.

What we hope to do here, is point you in some good directions in order to get traffic, good traffic, to your sites. Or maybe you are promoting traffic exchanges. Whatever floats your boat, let's set out to find the best places to get eyes on your sites. You'll see a few banners on our site. Mostly we plan to up put solid traffic tools and new, fresh sites. Not that there is anything wrong with the older sites, we'll talk about some of them, but fresh new sites get a good amount of attention from all the right people. You want to be where the action is so join some! Traffic exchanges don't have to cost you to get traffic, just a bit of your time. Do it..for yourself and your business. Take care and have a good week!

Chris