1. Go to constantcontact.com (use Internet Explorer or Netscape browser rather than Google Chrome as Constant Contact doesn’t work within Google Chrome).

2. Login with your username and password.

3. This will bring you to a main dashboard. On the right hand side of the screen, there’s an area for contacts. Click Add/Import.

4. Select the list(s) to which you want to add the new contact, and click the “Next” button.

5. Select “Type my email addresses and contact details into Constant Contact” and click the “Next” button. (Or, if you just want to enter in email addresses without additional contact info, you could select “Type or copy my email addresses into Constant Contact.)  This will bring you to a screen that allows you to enter in multiple addresses at once. You can enter multiple fields–email address, first name, last name, and two selectable fields. I suggest selecting “Email Type” as one of the drop downs (and by default you could sign them up for HTML email), and perhaps the other useful field name you could select is “Company Name.” Or you could just leave all these blank, except for the email address field.

6. When you are done entering in addresses, click the “Submit Data” button. The next screen will tell you if you were successful in adding the address–something along the lines of “1 contact was successfully added.”

Lakenetwork

Lakenetwork has a number of clients who use Constant Contact for their enewsletter campaigns. Often, the templates provided by Constant Contact don’t exactly fit our customers’ needs. We are pleased to offer custom newsletter development and management. We can create newsletters that match the style of your website if desired.

Related reading

Constant Contact support blog

Constant Contact Learning Center

Want to increase readership of your e-mails? Using the same tactics as you would use for direct mail will help increase readership of your e-mail copy, according to an article by Pat Friesen in Target Marketing magazine’s July ’08 issue.

Here are some basic rules to live, or write, by:

• Use Hot Spots – Put important benefits in copy hot spots such as subject and “from” lines, headlines, sidebars, bulleted copy and in a P.S. (30 percent of readers read the P.S. first!)
• Write (and Design) for the Scanner – Rarely will anyone read every word you write. Think about your own habits. Do you?
• Briefer is Better – Use short sentences (one and a half lines) and short paragraphs (six lines or less).
• You, You, You, NOT Me, Me, Me – Use the word “you” twice as often as “I” or “we” to increase reader involvement and create rapport.
• Be Specific – Use exact numbers and numerals (469) instead of spelling out numbers like four hundred and sixty-nine.
• FREE! – In today’s world of “if it’s free it’s for me,” the most powerful word is “free,” not “complimentary.”
• Call to Action – Tell e-mail recipients what you want them to do and how you want them to do it. Repeat the directive in each e-mail and on each Web page.
• No Pulitzer – The job of direct response copywriter is to generate a response – either immediate or delayed – not to win awards.

Direct mail and e-mail are eternally linked. What’s good for one is most likely good for the other, with the same basic practices working for both on- and offline copy.

Lake County Portal:

Lakecountyoh.net, designed and developed by Lakenetwork, is a directory for businesses and people who want information about Lake County, Ohio.

Lake County provides a wealth of prime development property, business and economic resources, skilled laborers, abundant energy, a diverse housing market, excellent education opportunities, attractive landscapes and countless recreation choices, including all that Lake Erie has to offer.

Return Path, an e-mail performance management company, tracked e-mail delivery rates since 2004 and found that as much as 22 percent of subscriber-based e-mail was not sent by Internet service providers. Why?

Anti-spam filters intercept them before they are sent. If you’re not reading this e-marketing minute right now, that could be why. Up to 99 percent of printed mail gets delivered. E-mail marketing alone has been shown to be not as effective as e-mail combined with print.

Mix that with an effective Web site, one that can change as often as your ideas do with little or no extra cost, and you’ve got it made. On your site, you can introduce new services, talk about your people, your mission, you name it.

Your Web site is the most cost-effective promotion tool you have. But make sure you don’t neglect other forms of marketing. A good mix of direct mail, advertising and public relations will support each other in helping you reach your target markets.

And on everything you print and e-mail business cards, letterhead, envelopes, your signature at the end of each e-mail be sure to direct recipients to your Web site, or even better, to a specific URL on your site.