People can say the stupidest things in print. Mostly uneducated people. People who don’t have real world experience in the topic they are writing about.
Take this morning as an example. I was doing a little web research when I came across an article about avoiding sending email during holiday seasons.
The writer suggested not sending emails during holiday seasons because people aren’t at home. I mean, sure, it sounds logical but there are a few major floors in his logic.
Firstly, I have one list of 19,000+ people. Does this mean I should not email this list during the holidays because a percentage of them might not have internet access?
If I used this criteria (that the email recipient might not be at home) then perhaps I shouldn’t send email at all.
After all, the people on my list might be at the shops or — heaven forbid — picking up their kids from soccer practice.
How absurd.
Look at the facts: No matter how good your email software is at segmenting lists, you can not tell who has internet access during holiday season and who does not.
But you can send email and gauge how many people open those emails. Surely this is the most accurate way of deciding whether it’s a good idea to send email during the holidays.
Even more ridiculous, the writer suggests four specific times of the year when you should avoid sending email.
These times are — (and this made me laugh) — January, July, August and December.
Yowee! Those are words to live by, aren’t they?
I can tell you right now, I email my list EVERY WEEK OF THE YEAR. Sometimes I email my list as many as three times a week. And there is NO fall off in open rates in January, July, August and December.
In fact, if I didn’t send emails this past July and August I would have missed out on adding over 150 new paying members to a membership site I help run - and “avoided” making over $17,000 in recurring income.
The sad thing is, this particular writer is a regular contributor to a major (and trusted) online provider of “How To” content.
It just goes to show you should be careful about who you listen to.
And you should test everything yourself before blindly following the blind.
[Ed. Note: For more simple web writing secrets, visit web writing expert Michael Low's simple web writing blog at http://simple-web-writing.com
