Copy-Cat-Copywriting

Before moving to Seattle, I lived in a small town in New Mexico. One of my most outgoing neighbors was someone I'll call Daphne.

Daphne had lots of friends, as well as acquaintances she assumed were friends.I was onen of the latter.

Periodically we would get messages like, "I'm going to be visiting Chicago next week. Does anyone know a good place to eat?" Or, "I'm looking for a good lawn service." Or we'd just get updates on Daphne's life.

My favorite was the time Daphne wrote, "I'm collecting flowerpots for a special project. Just drop them off at my house, on the porch."

I admired Daphne's confidence. But I didn't love getting these email updates. The problem was, I didn't know how to tell her, without sounding rude. I never responded, but the messages kept coming.

Daphne not only sent messages: she didn't bother to disguise the recipients. So we all knew who was On The List.

In my opinion, Daphne crossed the finish line when she set up space to sell some of her crafts. (Don't try to guess who she is. There were no crafts. Daphne is real but the details are disguised.) Now she's creating a commercial message - an advertisement - but claiming to be friendly and social.

Daphne honestly thought she was helping her friends stay connected with her. But in the 21st century, she was actually creating a newsletter -- the electronic equivalent of those Christmas letters some folks still send to their families and friends.

A holiday letter once a year is not a bad idea. But imagine including an insert saying, "Here's a list of everyone on my Christmas card list." Would you do that? I didn't think so.

Recently I received a few emails along the same lines as Daphne's. The sender honestly wanted to share some news.

So if you know any folks like Daphne, send them to this blog. When you send a message to people who don't know each other, *always* use the bcc, not the cc. You're violating their privacy and exposing them all to spammers.

If you plan to write more than once a quarter, set up an opt-in autoresponder series. Make it easy to opt out.

Or consider setting up a networking group. In Seattle, we have meetup.com and biznik.com, where members can post announcements of activities (with restrictions).

Your email provider or web host may have options to allow you to send to a list of names without announcing the names.

And if you're serious about starting an Internet business, forget about using ordinary email, right from the beginning. When I started my first ezine, I used to do just then: I would send out multiple emails to 10 or 20 respondents at a time, all using bcc.

Eventually my email provider sent me a friendly warning. Today I don't think I'd have lasted as long. And when I finally set up an opt-in list, via my shopping cart, everyone had to opt in. Needless to say, I lost a few of my subscribers and the list was pretty small back then.

If you don't have enough subscribers to justify an ezine, start with an ecourse. Or sign up for a blog and invite everyone to subscribe.

Keep your friends! Think bcc. Think autoresponder. And if you're starting a business, think about the hazards of doing business with friends.

Labels: autoresponders, e-mail, ezines