I day-dream daily about what my future digital Moleskine notebook will look and feel like.  I kind of envision it as a Kindle, but with input/sync ability, less bulky, and a bigger screen.  But it’s just a dream… for now.

A friend and author, William Aicher, recently wrote about how he doesn’t like reading books anymore - the paper versions of them at least.  From a reader’s perspective I can see how this might be true.  He mentions font-adjusting and the waste of one-and-done books that essentially turn into shelf-decor once you’re done reading.  The Kindle, for readers, has changed people’s lives by leaps-and-bounds.

When will writers, sketchers, and thinkers have the same ability?

I’m not going to argue that there are products that exist already.  A couple popular ones are:
- LiveScribe SmartPen (use only with their paper)
- SolidTek DigiMemo (clipboard-like device that uses normal paper)

The problem, in my eyes, with these devices is that none of them gives a user the notebook-like ability we’re looking for.   I don’t carry legal-sized notebooks, and I don’t want to buy special paper. Here’s what I want to replace:

- Moleskine planner
- Moleskine journal
- Moleskine notebook/sketchbook/project book
- Screen with a look and feel of paper
- Sell pen-inserts instead of whole pens.  That way I can  use my own pen modified for a digital screen.

This needs to be about the same size as a large Moleskine (8″x5″), have selectable backgrounds for each page (blank, ruled, squared), separate internal notebooks/sections/tabs, separate planner, and most of all - super easy syncing with whatever I want.

Of course, the digital notebooks and planner need to completely and efficiently recognize my handwriting for syncing to my web calendar, Evernote, To Do list, etc.

Mike Rohde posted a little digital Moleskine concept that got me thinking about this (credit to him for the image used in this post).  The only thing I’m against from his post is the over-use of ports on the digital Moleskine.  I’d prefer to see this product be 100% wireless/Bluetooth - as close to the look and feel of a Moleskine as possible.

Honestly, I’m not sure why this item doesn’t exist.  I can see it being an easy sell at up to $300-400.  The fact is, the hardware is out there for this piece - but it’s the software for handwriting and syncing that hasn’t caught up yet.

But it will.  And when it does, I’ll be in line at Best Buy (or, more likely, virtually in line on Amazon).

I have to admit here that my use of digital products such as Evernote and Remember The Milk has made me use my Moleskines less and less.  The ONLY reason for this is that they’re accessible anywhere, searchable, and very easy to manage.  To accomplish the same feats in a paper-book would drive me nuts having to keep it updated and organized.

So now I primarily use Moleskines for ideas and planning, to do lists for the immediate future (today at work, for example), and some journaling.

The goal here is efficiency.  My belief is that this digital Moleskine would be able to replace many physical and digital products I currently use to record, list, or plan my days.

Until my ultimate device is available, I’ll be enjoying the feel of Moleskine pages between my fingers, paging through them to find what it was I was writing about last week, and stacking them on my shelves at home when I’m done with them.

What do you think?  Is this even something you’re interested in or am I in a fantasy land, hopeless and dreamy?

Blogging, emails, general correspondence we can do pretty well.

We’re not idiots, right?

There comes a time when people, like us, need to start to write persuasive copy. Copy that sells an idea, product, or service and forces people into taking action. This process can not only be daunting, but it can prevent us from actually taking the action at all… and we lose out - never knowing what could’ve been.

That’s why I’m writing this for you.

You probably either found yourself reading this for one of two reasons: either you’ve got some copy to write and you want to find a way to do it quickly and easier than it’s been for you before, or you’re someone like me who just likes to learn more efficient ways to do things.

Either way, I know you’ll find this interesting.

I recently stumbled onto a product by Robert Plank called “Fast Food Copywriting.” Robert isn’t a writer - he’s a programmer and product developer. But paying someone thousands of dollars for copy every time he needed it just wasn’t working.

What if you just have a report you want to get a quick sales page up for? There’s no reason you can’t write this yourself. You shouldn’t have to wait for a copywriter to quote you, and then get to your project, and then actually write your project.

Don’t you know whatever it is your selling better than anyone else anyway? Whether that product is an ebook, software, or YOURSELF (your most important product). You owe it to yourself to gain basic sales copywriting skills that you can use on a regular basis.

On page 5 of “Fast Food Copywriting,” Robert talks about his personal formula for copywriting. It’s 7 basic steps to get your page written quickly. You can always come back and tweak things, but using this basic formula you can get the structure of a new sales page up quickly and easily. For me, it was worth the price of the entire book.

Robert also goes through split testing, conquering writer’s block, writing killer headlines, and much more. For some people like me who buy and read almost everything that comes out, much of it might be review - but the price ($27 as of this review) is still very worth it to me as a great copywriting reference.

Most people just starting out in web writing will find this book to be an extremely valuable resource you will want to print out and refer to often as your internet business grows.

You can learn more about “Fast Food Copywriting” right here.

Now go write some quick copy!

Look, everyone wants to get more traffic to their blog, but the fact is, not everyone is going to get it.  If you’ve stumbled on to this post, you’re probably sold on the fact that you will be one of the people who drives their blog traffic off the charts.  You’re looking for that one thing that will spark an endless stream of web visitors who will not only devour your latest post, but eagerly await each new post you read.

I sincerely hope you find the one thing you’re looking for.  But for now, I’m going to ask you to get real.

I’ve come across many people online who are looking to increase their blog traffic who have just started their blogs - some just days earlier.  This is quite possibly the biggest mistake someone can make when they start a blog.

I’ll ask them things like, “What is your blog about?”  I’m surprised at how often the theme of the blog is generic because the author wants to be able to write about anything.  One of the first things you want to do is narrow down a topic to something relatively specific.  It doesn’t need to be about something so narrow as “cat food” - although it could - but “cats” would ne narrow enough.

So your topic is selected and (I hope) you’ve gotten yourself familiar with installing WordPress.  You’ve picked a basic theme for now (because you don’t want to waste time over-customizing, right?  The point here is to get more blog traffic) and you’ve made sure that your blog pings some services to notify them your blog exists. (If some of this went over your head, ask some questions in the comments and we’ll help you out)

At this point, you can also install Google Analytics and Feedburner if you haven’t already.  But let me warn you right now… after your installation of these tools, it should be the last time you look at them for 2 months.

Yes, I’m serious.  If building web traffic to your blog is your main goal, there is one thing and one thing only that will do that.

Content.

For the next 2 months, you will do nothing but get yourself in the habit of creating quality, original content as often as you’re comfortable with.  Because content is the #1 traffic driver for blogs, it makes sense you want to spend your time not only creating a habit of writing regularly, but also increase the quality of that content.

“But what about getting people to read my blog?”  Although a blog isn’t necessarily a “build it and they will come” business - a quality blog is.

Whatever you do, don’t get yourself caught-up in the beginning by going out and link trading, spamming other blogs’ comments, over-submitting to Digg and other book marking services, and other methods that some renegade traffic generation services teach you.

DO NOT use automatic posting and expect anything but a ban on your domain from Google.

The ONLY thing you can do for the initial term of your blog to gaurentee yourself long-term, quality traffic is to create great content.

Great content - content that truly appeals to others, has an effect that lasts much longer than after you hit the ‘publish’ button.  Think about it…

You create a informative post about a glow-in-the-dark cat collar - right after it’s submitted one person notices it at Technorati from an automatic ping.  They see it and think it’s great and share it with 3 friends via email - one of them really loves it and submits it to Digg where 200 other people see it.  10 of those people add it to their favorite sites in Stumbleupon which then creates over 1000 more visitors.  In 6 months, you’ve long forgotten about that post you wrote, but many other people blogged about your post, linked back to you, and now you’re ranked #5 in Google for “glow-in-the-dark cat collars.”  You’re getting 50-250 visitors per month, automatically, just by creating one quality article.

THIS is how good blogs are built.  You can look into some self-promoting techniques in a few months after you have 10-20 solid “pillar” posts and are being consistent with your articles.

As a review:

1.) Pick a narrow topic that you love and know you can write about every day.
2.) Set the blog up - basics only!  WordPress, Analytics, Feedburner
3.) DO NOT check your stats for at least 2 months.
4.) Do nothing but create quality content.

Get real with yourself and follow these steps faithfully for 3 months or more and I promise you’ll see your blog getting more traffic than you thought possible with little to no promotion at all.  It’ll take some self-discipline for a lot of you to not check stats and worry about things like that - but trust me - get over this and it might be the best thing you’ll ever do for yourself.

The great thing about this is that there ends up being a compounding effect for your blog traffic over time.  The more popular it gets, the more people share it, the more people find it and share it and so on…

I highly recommend getting a free copy of Blog Profits Blueprint by Yaro Starak if you haven’t already read it.  It’s one of the best materials on starting a blog I’ve ever read - and like I said - it’s free.

Good luck to you and your new blog!

2008 was a year of doubt for America.  People are losing jobs, losing money, and losing hope in the future.  This situation puts all of us in an important position to act… to act with positivity and encouragement - with quickness and precision.  2009 marks a time of unprecedented opportunity for anyone willing to step up and take the reigns.  Will you be one of those people?

I’d like to start with a personal story of when I found out who I was.  I’ve always been very reflective and analytical of why people do things, why I do things, where do I belong, etc.  Since I was 14 - starting with “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill, I’ve been reading books and listening to audios that delve into the questions many people never ask themselves.  What separates one person from another in terms of success?  Why can finding a passion come so easily for one, but it’s a life-long struggle for another?  So many questions that may never have definitive answers - but I can tell you this much - after 16 years of personal study on the subject, some very specific things come to the surface every single time.  It’s these things that you’ll hopefully find for  yourself after reading this.

I was 20 years old when I moved to Los Angeles from Madison, Wisconsin.  It was a warm September morning when I packed the car with enough room to fit myself in the driver’s seat, and I set out on the 20+ hour journey.  Music was my passion; creating and producing electronic sounds that made people move… where better to follow my passion than to California?

Skipping forward, after 4 years and some success, I became disenchanted with my life’s passion up to that point.  The rigor of production on other people’s schedules and whims was not what I considered to be fun.  I spent a lot of time thinking at that point… “If it wasn’t the music I loved, what was it?”  It took me months of daily meditation and consideration, but I worked out all of the little details about what I did and wrote down my feelings towards each piece.  The two main things I truly loved about my process, was the creation process - and the reaction from people happily consuming that creation.

It was almost that simple!  I remember vividly the night all of this realization rushed into my head.  I sat outside next to a gas fire pit and a beautiful kidney-shaped pool in a million-dollar Los Angeles home, just looking at the notes I had jotted over the last months… and crying.  It was the single most emotional experience of my life - for a couple of reasons.  One, the flood of negative emotion regarding my sadness over realizing that music wasn’t my true passion (or maybe growing out of that passion), and two, the flood of positivity that came from the success of figuring out what really made me happy.  I still had one big problem though… if I knew that creation and making people smile were the two things I needed out of life to be happy - what in the world was I going to do?

The next process for me, with all of the emotional stuff aside, was a time of logical planning and consideration that moved me in the right direction.  I was able to set aside any preconceived ideas of what I wanted, and envisioned myself simply feeling creative and making people smile.  Some interesting things started occurring.

First, I started dabbling more in web design and programming - something I used to do out of necessity - and self-taught myself everything I needed to know to physically build a website.  Second, I began looking (and finding) the creative aspect in almost anything I did… from having a relationship, to driving, to watching a movie… almost all of it became an enjoyable process for me.  The things I was doing and creating were absolutely making people around me smile.

After moving back to Madison, I was able to spend much more time with family - that, I didn’t know before, was a big part missing from my life.  I found a job at a music company that happened to do all it’s business on the web… starting in sales and marketing and then, because of my new passion for web design, was able to move into a web development role.

I found a tool (that I now love sharing with everyone) that allows me to be creative by making and mailing greeting cards online — and the reaction I get back from people is nothing short of amazing.

I started Good Plum as a creative outlet for the knowledge and passion I have about personal development, productivity, and attracting success into your life.  I’m able to share this creativity with people across the world and love receiving emails and comments from people appreciating it.

Another 4 years have gone by since I found out who I really was, but back then I wouldn’t have been able to tell you I want to write (I don’t even like writing that much) or I’ll start a web site, or be a web programmer… All I knew is what I wanted to feel, envisioned myself having that feeling every day, and let the universe show me the way.

Now, do I think I’m going to write Good Plum forever?  No.  But I do know that this site is going to lead to bigger and better things - both for me, and everyone involved - you included!  I’ve found an outlet that allows me to create articles, products, and more that can affect the lives of people around the world.  What could possibly be better than that?

AN OUTLINE TO FIND OUT WHO YOU ARE

1.) Stop suffering.  Many people are in your shoes trying to find what they want out of life… and it’s a good thing!  The people who never think of this are the ones who should be worried.  If you don’t truly believe you’ll find your way through this - you may never do it.  You need to believe in yourself first.
a.) Read books like Life on Purpose: Six Passages to an Inspired Life

2.) Outline your life as you know it today.  Write down every little thing you do during an average week, month, and year.  When you have that list, go through and make notes on how each of those things makes you feel.  Go with your gut reaction - it’s almost always right.  Don’t worry if the answer surprises you and don’t fret if you don’t have an immediate reaction… just move on.

3.) Study your list daily.  Look for patterns that might evolve from your notes about things that make you feel great.  Is it when you helped someone?  When you cooked?  When you read a great book?  Went shopping?  All of these things are important for the next step.

4.) Break down  your list into the top 10 positive things and the top 10 negative things.  Take the list of 10 negatives, look at it hard so you remember and know 100% what you don’t like in your life, and then get rid of the list.  From now on, you’re not going to think about what you don’t like, only what you absolutely LOVE.

5.) Take your top 10 list, and whiddle that down to 5, and then 3.  These 3 things are the most important things to you in your life - write them on an index card and look at them daily.  Imagine yourself feeling these emotions when you look at them.  Close your eyes and think about how it feels to do and feel the things on your list.

6.)  Keep experiencing your top 3.  It’s that important.  Live them, breathe them, know them and how they make you feel every second of the day.

7.) Open yourself to the opportunities that present themselves to you.  Don’t pigeon-toe yourself into trying to figure out exactly what you need to do… just say yes and jump on the opportunities that present themselves to you.  If you’re doing number 6 everyday, this will start happening sooner than you think.

One day, you’ll wake up to discover that you’re doing things that you love.  You don’t dread work, because your work is what you love.  You simply don’t waste your time doing things you hate - because they’re not who you are.

You’ve found out who you are!  Even if sometimes it feels like you don’t know exactly what to do, you have a secure feeling knowing that whatever you need will present itself to you as long as you’re practicing the one law they don’t teach in schools - the law of attraction.  You reap what you sew.  You’re envisioning yourself feeling and doing the things you love daily and this will affect everything that comes into your life from this day forward.  Congratulations!

Do you have a story about finding out who you are?  Are you looking for yourself?  Let us know!

So I wondered how many blogs are out there, happily being blogged upon with absolutely no marketing behind them at all.  It’s not like you need an entire marketing department to write press releases, buy TV ads and map our a year’s worth of strategies - but many people, even with personal blogs, have a huge business asset they can tap into with just a small amount of the right type of marketing.

As a marketer and web developer by profession, I’d like to share with you just a few marketing strategies for your blog you can start implementing TODAY.

Blog Marketing Strategy #1 - XML Sitemap

For those using a hosted WordPress installation for their blog (highly recommended), you need to have XML Sitemap Generator installed.  This plugin for WordPress automatically creates a sitemap file that Google, Yahoo and other search engines can read.

What this means to you?  You’ll be sure that whenever a new post is created, the search engines have immediate access to the new content.  After all, most people coming to your site in the beginning will be coming from Google or Yahoo.

Blog Marketing Strategy #2 - Social Commenting

Chances are that, no matter what your blog is about, there are other people who write about similar or related things.  You need to know who these people are!  Readers are unlikely to read just one blog on a topic they’re interested in, so if they see you actively involved in commenting on other sites, they’re likely to click through and see what you’re all about.

I’m going to mention Twitter in this strategy.  Twitter is a networking tool, marketing tool, communication tool, and much more.  It really should have it’s own post (and will soon), but for now you should know this:  there are people from all walks of life on Twitter spewing 140 characters at a time about things they do and enjoy.  You can search for topics on Twitter and start following those who you share common interests with, reach out to them and connect.  Soon they’ll be learning about you, your blog, and voila, another reader who could start spreading the news about you!

Blog Marketing Strategy #3 - Outside Content Creation

One of the most powerful strategies of blog marketing, in my opinion, is article writing.  Not articles you’re writing for your blog, but articles that you might post to your blog, but instead post to article sites like Ezine Articles.  These article directories allow people looking for content to use your article on their site, but to do so, they have to include your bio and links everywhere they post your content.

Imagine hundreds or thousands of people using an article you write and then posting that to their own site.  This not only creates hundreds of one-way links back to your blog (great for search engine results), but it also allows thousands of people who might not have found you else where to read something you’ve written, like it, and go to your blog for even more.

Some other types of content creation you can use as a marketing strategy include posting pages to sites like Squidoo.

Blog Marketing Strategy #4 - Reach Out

Find people you can help.  Search through the blogs you found in step #2, search for keyword topics you’re interested on Twitter, join relevant groups on Facebook - and find people who are trying to accomplish something you can help with.  The bond you can create with someone by helping them while not expecting anything in return, can be one of the greatest marketing strategies for any business - including your blog.

It may seem frustrating at first, thinking your trying to find readers one at a time, but the fact is that is exactly how your site is built.  It takes one person to find your site who then posts it to Digg or Stumbleupon - and all of a sudden a flood of traffic is coming in seemingly all at once.

Blog Marketing Strategy #5 - The ‘You’ Brand

Make sure that people associate your blog with You.  If people want news, they’ll go to a news website - people get addicted to blogs because they love the people behind them.

Who are you?  Do you have an easy-to-find “about” page on your blog?  Do you have a separate domain like yourname.com with a bio and links to your sites?

Remember that everything you do online today can always come back to you - so make the You people find one that you’d be proud of.  Make sure your comments are relevant,  stay out of controversial conversations (unless of course that’s what You are known for!), and always be true to yourself.

People follow other people they like.  Do you like You?

:)

There are dozens of other parts to a full blog marketing strategy.  We haven’t even touched on search engine optimization (SEO), keyword marketing, link exchanges, quality content… the list goes on.  However, this should give you a start if you’re considering marketing your blog to make it more popular.

How about our readers that have had some success with marketing strategies for their blog?  Which strategies work for you?  And for those who are just starting into the blog world, feel free to leave a question for me!

You can find his post here, but I’d like to take a moment to break it down how I see it:

ESTABLISHING YOURSELF

If you’re starting from scratch in the social media space, the best thing you can do is create a space to explain who you are.  People do this in different ways, but essentially when you’re “meeting” someone online - you may not even be aware you’re meeting someone.  They find you linked from somewhere and now have a basic need to know who you are.  If this need is not filled, they will move on - if it IS filled, they can then make a decision to engage you or not.

The key here is to be able to show someone who you are quickly, and then give them more options to get to know you further - a blog for instance.  In my case, I have a summary page at ElliottKosmicki.com which leads to this blog, my personal blog (which isn’t kept up as often), and many other social networks I’m on.  This gives someone who is interested in learning more about me the opportunity to do just that.

If the person who has now met me has a basic platform developed where I can reciprocate and meet them as well - we have a chance to become “friends.”  I quote that because we’ve only just met, online, which is just the beginning.

Without having a good, basic source of information about yourself - and linking to that from everywhere - you’re automatically in the hole when trying to create connections online.  It’s like going to a face-to-face networking event and never opening your mouth to introduce yourself!

CONNECTING THE NETWORK

So we’ve met a few people, have an idea of what they do, but do we really know what their goals are?  Is that even important to you?  If you’re looking to create deep connections with people, what their goals are should be the most important thing in the world.  Here’s where the law of attraction comes in… if you’re making a connection to get something out of it, you’ll attract the exact same people — looking to take but not give.

Make a point to spend time each week reaching out to various contacts you’ve made and simply ask them what their goals for the new year are.  In Chris’s article, he talks about creating a shared Google Document to keep track of these goals.  This document can be shared around the network, and slowly but surely it grows into a full-on repository of ways you can spend your day helping people.  Simply keep an eye on what people need to accomplish, and where you see ways you can help - reach out to them and let them know you’d like to lend a hand.

PLUGGING IN

If you’ve gone about this the right way, for the right reasons, you’ll have build a small, but extremely powerful network of motivated people who have you’re back.  You’ve brought them together, you’ve helped them achieve their goals, and in return - they’ve done the same for you.  Now, whenever you meet someone else, you’re instinct will drive you toward knowing what they want from life and looking at not how you can benefit, but how you can help.  Chances are, you now know someone off the top of your head who you’ll be able to refer them to - and probably who they can help as well.

Once this small network is built, maintain it and you’ll have the most powerful resource you could ever need in life - a personal network.

What experiences do you have in networking online?  How have you overcome the challenges of being monitor-to-monitor instead of face-to-face?

I’d like to cover 5 methods I’m using successfully to stop wasting so much valuable time dealing with emails.  There’s bound to be at least one that will help you become more productive.

1.) Unsubscribing from Newsletters and Lists
This could be a topic all it’s own - on top of that, I could go off on a rant about how I seem to always get an email stating how I’ve successfully been unsubscribed, when I swear I just clicked a box saying stop sending me emails.  Ugh.

Most of us who are interested in a wide variety of topics across the web typically end up on dozens of email lists at some point.  Some of these are from newsletters we initially wanted information from, some of them are from purchases we’ve made, or social networking sites we joined — but in my case, almost 90% of what comes in from these email lists is total junk to me.

My tip:  Take a week or two to simply open up all these emails as soon as you see them, click unsubscribe, and be done with it.  Most emails are simple to unsubscribe from, and if they’re not, they’re probably illegal emails.  I think you’ll be surprised at how much your inbox clears up from just this one step.

2.) Using Filters and Folders
I’m a hardcore GMail user, and have dozens of filters setup to make things easy and organized.  Sure, it takes a few minutes to set one up - but the long-term time saving from doing this can be priceless.  Filters and labels in GMail is similar to setting up folders and rules in programs like Outlook - I have filters setup for receipts (from sites with certain subject lines I buy from frequently, like Amazon) - so I never have to sort these emails when they come in.  If I ever want to review them, I just click on that label.

Another powerful way to use filters is to use auto-replies.  GMail, for instance, has a “Canned Response” feature (make sure it’s enabled under Settings->Labs) where you can compose emails to automatically send to people based on certain criteria.  This would be helpful if you’re responding to the same types of emails all day long.  You could create canned responses based on keywords that would appear in the emails, and let the users know if this didn’t answer their question, that you’ll get back to them soon.  You still need to go through these emails, but you’ll know if they’ve been responded to - and if the response should’ve satisfied the person, then you can simply archive it instead of having to respond.

3.) Scheduled Email Checks
This one has always sounded easier than it’s been in practice.  I’d love to have 30 minutes a day I just do email and be done with it, but there are many people, including myself, who simply can’t get by with not checking email on a regular basis.

I’ve come to realize that my best case scenario is spending about 5 minutes per hour or so.  Setting this up can be difficult for someone who lives in their inbox, but by using some of the other methods in this article, you should be able to get to the point where it’s comfortable.  Of course, you could always setup a rule or filter to notify you of important emails.  I do this by setting up a filter based on several criteria that forwards email directly to my cell phone.

If you can pull off checking email only once per day - by all means, do it!

4.) Use Only One Email System
Again, for some people this won’t be possible, but if you have several email addresses (I have 10 or so that I need to receive at along with 3 or 4 primary ones), you should have them all coming into a single program.  GMail is perfect for this, or you can use many other programs like Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, or Mozilla Thunderbird.

I prefer a web-based mail application because I can access it wherever I am, as well as on my phone.  I’m not downloading mail every time I open my desktop or laptop or work computer - it’s all right there, online, and ready to go.

You can setup POP3 accounts, forward your other mail accounts to your new primary email account, and setup different email addresses you can reply from in case you have private email addresses as well as business email addresses.  I have one GMail account with 3 personal accounts and 12 business email accounts forwarding to it.  I’ve setup all of these email addresses as possible replying addresses so I can send email using any of the email addresses.

5.)  Skip Email Alltogether.
Twitter started a craze.  People are communicating quicker than ever by using text messaging, Twitter, and instant messaging systems to communicate faster than ever.  I’m not going to touch on IM services here, because I don’t think they’re a healthy alternative to email - they’re actually even MORE distracting, however there is one tool that I have noticed considerably cut down on the number of emails I receive.

Yammer.
Yammer is a Twitter-like tool that’s made for businesses and groups.  I use Yammer to communicate directly to the marketing department I work with.  These messages are posted to a private board that only other marketing department members can read.  We can reply and chat about the topics in a way that’s just not as convienient with email.  In fact, it actually makes us much more productive because now the entire team is automatically privy to all the important subjects being discussed.

Think of it like a big, limitless notebook that everyone can look at simuataneously all day long.  It’s an amazing tool for businesses and small groups to communicate more effectiently.  Using a tool like this for groups who regularly need to communicate can cut down on dozens or hundereds of emails.  Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Are there any other tools or advice you have to save time on email?  I’d love to hear about your experiences!

On the right hand side of every page (under “Be a Good Plum”), you’ll see a new box that asks you to login or join using Facebook.  Just click the button - and as long as you already have a Facebook account - simply log in so you can connect with other Good Plum readers!  I think it’ll be a great way to more easily bring like-minded individuals together.

Another benefit of using the Facebook Connect platform is that all of the comments you write on Good Plum will use your Facebook information - so there’s no need to fill out your name and email every time you write a comment!  Just login with Facebook, and you’re all set.

There are still some bugs we’re working out while we start this, but for the most part everything works.  Just shoot us a comment on this post and let us know if you find anything funky.  Depending on your operating system and/or browser, funny things can happen that can’t always be tested for!

Enjoy the new ways to connect on Good Plum, and make sure you become a fan of our Facebook application right over here.

Till next time!

The money is in your list!  So, it’s fair to say that choosing an autoresponder to use for your home business, website, etc. is probably one of the most important choices you can make.  I’ll give you one man’s opinion on the 2 most popular services, as well as a couple others I’ve used along the way.

Aweber vs. GetResponse

We’ll start and end with the big boys.  Now, there are other autoresponders out there, and I’ll mention a few at the end, but most of the people looking to start with an autoresponder, or find the right email management system to move into, are going to end up trying to choose between these two companies: Aweber and GetResponse.

Several years ago, when I started a (fairly strong) email newsletter geared towards hip-hop music, I signed up with Aweber.  They seemed to be the leader at that time, the price was decent (I think it was still $20/mo back then too), and it did what I needed it to do - easily.  I had about 5,000 subscribers on that list and it didn’t cost me anything to send out as many emails as I felt was necessary.

Then along came a problem.  A few months ago, Aweber changed it’s subscriber policy.  Here’s how the old and new policies compare:

Old: $19.95/mo for 10,000 subscribers plus $9.95/mo per additional 10,000 subscribers.  NIce, right?  Well the new one is: $19.95/mo for 500 subscribers, $29.95 for up to 2500 subscribers, $49.95 for up to 5000 subscribers, and then it goes up from there.

My old list would’ve been costing me $49 per month to maintain - not that there’s anything wrong with that at all - but the difference in those two pricing structures is amazing.  For someone with a 10,000 person list, the old price would’ve been $20 and the new price is $69.  That’s quite the jump.

That brings us to GetResponse.  I had tried their trial program years back when comparing to Aweber, and there was a reason I didn’t choose them: their system seemed overly complicated even for someone like me who knew what they were doing.  I can say without doubt, they’ve remedied this.  Although their service is loaded with options, they’re relatively easy to figure out even if you’re new - and if you are new, they have some nice help videos to get you started.

Here’s the other thing with GetResponse — their autoresponder pricing structure is still comparable to the good ‘ole days: $17.95 per month for up to 10,000 subscribers plus $4.95 per month for each additional 10,000 subscribers.

But maybe I’m comparing apples to oranges?  Maybe GetResponse’s service just isn’t as good as Aweber’s?  I’ve heard compelling arguments regarding Aweber’s delivery rates - they’re supposedly over 99%, which is amazing.  I’ve also heard that GetResponse’s are around 98% - no too shabby either.  Feature-wise, both services offer almost everything you need to run multiple autoresponders from one account; easy templates, form creation, contact management, and much more.

A plus for Aweber is they have a really well-done system (email parsing) for integrating into different shopping carts.  For instance, you can usually set in shopping cart software the email addresses to notify of a sale… well, Aweber will give you an email address to forward sales to and it can parse out the user’s email address and name and add them to your list (for many services).

On the other side, GetResponse actually has a public API which allows developers to create integration with the GetResponse system very tightly.  I don’t know if this is new or what, as I’ve had a hard time finding anyone who has integrated with GetResponse yet, but this could be a huge thing for someone who wants to custom integrate their autoresponder with their shopping cart, membership system, blog member system, forum, and anything else you can think of that involves a name and email address.

In the end, I emailed Aweber and asked if I could move back to their old plan (I had previously left Aweber for ListMailPro, see below).  They declined, so I switched to GetResponse and I think I’ll be with them for the long-haul.

The GetResponse vs. Aweber Result

Based mainly on price per subscriber, I’ve chose to go with GetResponse.  All the other tools I need are there, and I really like the fact they have the developer API available to use when necessary.  I know that some readers may be die-hard Aweber fans, but it’s probably also true that those same readers have been grandfathered-in to the old pricing structure.  If those same people were about to sign up new, it would be a tough pill to swallow thinking about your list growing up into the thousands and then ten thousands.

Other Autoresponders I’ve Used:

iContact - This is a good autoresponder if you’re looking for the basics.  It’s clean and very easy to use, but didn’t have much of anything as far as integration into other software.
ListMailPro - This is a php script, and a very, very good one.  It’s loaded with features - almost any feature you could want. I used ListPro for about 4 years with no problems, but what I’ve determined is this:  I’d rather spend money every month on a company who manages white-listing, delivery, and email law for me — I don’t have the time or desire to do that.

As a side note, the music company I work for manages a 500,000+ email list using a $100,000+ server along with thousands in monthly maintenance and bandwidth costs.  I’ll stick with GetResponse for now. ;)

What autoresponder do you use?  Which have you tried? Which one are you leaning towards?