Google: The search party is not over

fortune cover google search party is over[This is a guest post by Zachary Zawarski, a Google Apps Consultant, in response to Fortune Magazine’s article Google: The search party is over.]

The author, Michael Copeland, makes several valid points in his article, which was primarily written to explain why Google’s stock has significantly trailed the Nasdaq and Apple.  Although Google’s stock has been an underperformer, I strongly believe that the market has gotten this one wrong and that Google’s stock has its best days ahead of it.  The topic of Google’s business model is something that is near and dear to my heart since I am both a Google shareholder and I started a business on the premise that Google Apps was going to be an extraordinary success.

Continue reading “Google: The search party is not over”

e-Mail Marketing: Template vs Plain Text

e-mail marketing template vs text[This is a guest post from Zachary Zawarski of Zadling, a Google Apps Consultant]

Two email newsletters that I signed up for were Mike Michalowicz and Brian Tracy’s newsletters. Most of you probably know Brian Tracy, a self-help author who mostly helps salespeople. Mike Michalowicz, who might be slightly less known than Brian Tracy, but still immensely popular as you may have seen him on MSNBC or CNBC, is the man behind The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur. Being an entrepreneur myself, I set out to gain some resources that would help me increase my own sales, so I subscribed to each of their newsletters.Like I discussed in my last guest blog, email marketing is all about constantly providing your subscribers with value and not constantly bombarding them with your sales message because they’ll quickly unsubscribe if all they’re seeing is sales copy rehashed week after week.

Both Mike and Brian have very different email styles. Brian Tracy has a template design. The email is formatted nicely with various images and colors and with a footer full of resources such as links to his website and links to his Facebook and Twitter pages.  Mike, on the other hand, uses no images or color at all — just plain text.

So who do you think has a better and more effective email marketing campaign?

e-Mail Marketing the Right Way: Provide Value

email marketing[This is a guest contribution by Zachary Zawarski of Zadling]

I don’t subcribe to many e-mail newsletters, but if I do choose to opt into your e-mail list, you better make sure that you’re doing one thing: providing me with value.

We all know that e-mail marketing is a great way to produce sales for your website, but many business owners make the mistake of using mailing lists purely to push their products and services. That is the wrong way to conduct e-mail marketing.

Continue reading “e-Mail Marketing the Right Way: Provide Value”