Friend or Follow - Management of Twitter Followers

Friend or Follow is a great tool to find like minded individuals who are currently following you but you are not following them. In the Twitter Universe there is a school of thought that anyone that follows you, you should follow them. I shy away from that mantra because my Twitter stream would easily be clogged up of unimportant information and spam. That is why I use Friend or Follow. This tool separates "People Who Don't Follow Me Back", "People I Don't Follow Back" , and "Mutual Follows". I take a look at those "People I Don't Follow Back" and scan there latest Tweets to see if they are producing insightful information relevant to me before I follow them back. Do you use this tool or a similiar tool to find Followers you are not following?

Twitterank - Twitter Profile Rank

Came across Twitterank today. It is "Google PageRank" for your Twitter Profile. It has a secret algorithm that uses many signals, not including your follower count. Looks to be some sort of index, because I have seen some scores above 100. My current Twitterank is 97.99

READ: Just an update on this tool. It came out that this site was thought to be a phishing scam for your Twitter login information. You can read more about it here and here. This just brings more attention on how these Twitter apps/programs can be used maliciously. One tip I read was to change your password temporarily when using such services and then afterwards change it back to your original password.

Twirl - Twitter Desktop Software

One of the frustrating things about Twitter is that you have to constantly refresh the screen to see any new tweets. This is unrealistic. I found a popular desktop application called Twirl that can help you keep up with current tweets. The program is pretty simple to use and to install.

Some of the things I like about Twirl are:

• Easy to use
• Can post you tweets to Pownce
• Sound notification for direct replies
• Can manage multiple instances. So if you have more then one Twitter account you can track them all.

Some of the things I do not like about Twirl are:

• Can't get rid of direct messages or replies. I find that they keep appearing on startup even when I deleted them.
• Can't click on a link within the pop-up notification box

Twitter Tools, Reviews, & News

I now repurposed my blog to take a look at the popular micro bloggin platform Twitter. I will be posting Twitter tools, reviews about these tools, as well as any interest news about Twitter.

Webinar: Designing Effective HTMl Emails

EmailLabs, Stefan Pollard, will be hosting a free webinar, "Designing Effective HTML Emails" on November 27th at 1 p.m. EST and November 28th at 10 a.m. EST. The webinar will cover:

• HTML design and coding for optimal inbox delivery
• Reducing Spam Signatures
• Combining Text and Images to improve readability
• Stylesheets and Tables
• Layout Tips for Preview Panes

Webinar: The State of Email Deliverability

Goodmail Systems and JupiterKagan's David Daniels are hosting a webinar, "The State of Email Delievrability". The webinar will be held on November 29th at 2 p.m. EST. The webinar will cover new research on:

• Average delivery rates
• Which delivery improvement techniques are commonly used today
• How does blocked links and images affect email results
• Paying for assured delivery of email
• Case study on how two leading Internet marketers improved email revenue and business results using Goodmail's CertifedEmail

ReturnPath receives Patent on ECOA Service

Looks like ReturnPath has received a patent for their Email Change of Address (ECOA) service. So if you are looking for those lost customers you may want to consider ECOA. At my previous job we tested ECOA on a list of non-delivered email and received about a 10% match rate. S

Straight from the markteting machine:

Thought that you would be interested in the news about Return Path's receipt of a patent for its Email Change of Address (ECOA) service. Launched in 2000, Return Path's ECOA service provides a fully permission-based way for businesses to find customers' new e-mail addresses and allows consumers to search for friends' and families' new e-mail addresses for free.

To date, it has been used by more than 400 companies and more than 31 million consumers have registered with the service. On average, 15,000 people register daily with Return Path's ECOA service. The patent awarded to Return Path from The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, number 7,080,122, applies to both the system and process for updating electronic messaging accounts.

Refer A Friend ( RAF ) Study

Chad White, RetailEmailReports, has released a new study that takes a look at the effectiveness of Refer A Friend viral marketing among some large online retailers. The study has some interesting information to ponder.

It looks like Chad publishes a new report every month since he started his blog (August 2006). This one blog that you will want to add to your blogroll.

5 Missed Opportunities Email Marketers Make

Chris Marriott, Acxiom Digital, released a new articled, "Bad Email is Bad Business". In the article Chris points out five mistakes that he often sess from email marketers.

1. No welcome message.
2. Not using the data gained from the questions asked about the recipient's preferences.
3. Treating everyone on your list the same.
4. Letting everyone in your organization mail to the customer.
5. Sending plain text transaction emails without any cross promotion or up-sells.

Here are some tips and best practices on some of the mistakes that Chris points out.
How To Maximizing Email Welcome Message
Six Tips For Your Welcome Message Email
Preference Prove Profitable for Email Marketers
What is a Transactional Message?
Key Guidelines for Integrating Promotional Content into Transactional Email

Technorati tags: Welcome Message, email best practices, email, email marketing, einfo

Sender Reputation Biggest Factor In Email Deliverability

ReturnPath released a new research brief that found Sender Reputation drives email blocking and filtering. Here is a break down on the causes of email deliverability that ReturnPath found.

• 77% - Sending IP's Repuation
• 17% - Email Content
• 6% - Domains in the email content

The take away here is that the biggest factor regarding deliverability is how ISPs look at the IP address that is sending the email. They are taking into consideration such factors as email volume, whether the server is authenticated, list quality, complaint rates, spam trap hits and listings on public blacklists and whitelists.