Edition #119
Last night I had dinner in Washington DC with Tom Kulzer, the CEO of Aweber.
In case you didn’t know, Aweber is the company I use to manage my email lists (such as Eric’s Tips).
We talked about some of Aweber’s new features, several of which I was not even aware of. One of the cool things that I didn’t previously know about is their “geo-targeting” feature.
It allows you to segment your list by geographic location. It’s not perfect, but it gives a good estimate of most locations.
So if you received an email about this edition, please let me know: is the location in the subject line of the email close to where you live? If you’ve got a minute, I’d appreciate if you could post your location in the comments of my blog. I also think it will be neat just to see where everyone is from.
Aweber also has a mapping function. I’ve posted a map below which shows where all of my subscribers are located around the world:
According to Alexa.com, only about 50% of all visitors to the Eric’s Tips blog are from the US, and the map from Aweber seems to coincide with that number.
It’s a little mind-boggling for me to think about all of you reading this all over the world, and very humbling at the same time.
We also talked a lot about email strategies and statistics. Tom is fanatical about that type of stuff, and he gave me a lot of great information. He actually posts a lot of great tips on the Aweber company blog, which is a goldmine of information for their customers.
Since a lot of you have been asking me for “more tips” lately, I’ll share a couple of them with you here.
Best time of day:
Morning is by far and away the best time for emailing your list. Most emails are opened in the 9AM-10AM range. While I don’t always stick to it, I often send my emails just a little earlier than that, to make sure they arrive shortly prior to this hot zone.
Best day of the week:
While it seems that it might be getting a little overly-used in the internet marketing community, Tuesday is often the best day to send an email to your list.
Avoiding spam filters:
While you should avoid spammy keywords in your emails (to stay out of spam filters), you should NOT use special characters and weird spellings in an attempt to get around the spam filters. Doing so will only make you look more like a spammer (I need to go fix that on some of my older autoresponder messages).
I hope you found those helpful, and Aweber has many more helpful materials and tips for their customers. If you’re not already building a list, you NEED to be. And if you don’t already have a company that you’re using, I highly recommend Aweber.
Remember to post your location in the comments so we can see where everyone lives 🙂
Have a great day!
Your email didn’t have an entry for my location, in Milton Keynes UK
Eric
You were correct. I am fromthe Adelaide area in South Australia
Hi Eric,
I’m actually in Sydney, Australia, but there was no mention of my location in your email!
All the best,
Tony
Hiya, from Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K.
I’m in South Africa bro. Keep up the good tips.
Hello Eric,
Well, I think it depends on how you look at it. If you are in the United States, then yes, I’m in the Lod area (Lod is right outside of Tel Aviv). If you are in Israel then I’m about 45 minutes from Lod (which, considering that it’s only an 8 hour drive from one side to the country to the other is not so close). So, it’s pretty good at pinpointing a radius within an hours driving distance, but it didn’t quite pick-up the city that I’m located in (which is Ramat Beit Shemesh) or the city that I provides me with internet access(Haifa) or the city which hosts my website (Utah). Still, excluding Utah – it’s not bad. 🙂
All the best,
Moshe
P.S. Thanks for the e-mail tips.
Hi Eric,
I m from Ibaraki Prefecture, Joso City, which is about 1 hour from Yokohama by train.
hi eric
Yes i am from South Africa and i am approx 1000 kms from Parow.
Parow is a suburb in Cape Town I am in johannesburg
as for my website well still trying to get some help with setting one up that will receieve
traffic tried almost all software i could find but have had no luck so far
thanks
Mujide
Ye that is good my subject headline was Haarlem which is
the next biggest town (very close) from me as I’m in Zandvoort near
Amsterdam ….so that’s pretty cool. nice feature.
c/ya
Hi, I live in London
I am from Canada,but Dalmeny is close.It is a small town just a few miles northwest of Saskatoon,Saskatchewan where I live.
Hi Eric,
Got it right. And as a subscriber it was quite intriguing. For a moment I thought you were going to be in Delhi soon -)
And thanks for the tips.
Anurag
Hi!
Yes, I’m from Sweden and I love your newsletter! 😉
Best wishes
Mandra
Spot on! Cape Town South Africa.
Brisbane, which AWeber nominated, is the capital of Queensland, the second largest state in Australia. But I am – I have just looked it up – 1780kms north at Port Douglas, a small coastal resort town. You should hold one of your seminars here!
Hmmm … well, you’re batting around .500 for me, since I’m currently double-subscribed (plan to change that.)
The address I’ve used for this post is a Gmail address, that I access via POP through Outlook … that email claimed that my location was “Satellite Provider” (go figure.)
The other address (drop me a note off-line if you’re tracking that closely) placed me accurately in Israel, making me your second commenter from Israel I think. I’m in Efrat, a town just south of Jerusalem in an area called Gush Etzion.
Regards.
Hi,
I am Mohd. Anwar Rizwi My Present location is Abu Dhabi, UAE. I am from India.
http://www.1steptowardsuccess.com
http://www.anwar1.marizwi.com
http://www.marizwi.com/dollar6business/
Where in the world is “Bob The Christian Country IdeaDoc” ?
A grrrrreat question! I’m in Bristol, Tennessee , USA. The NW Corner of Tennessee , bordering Virginia.
Rocky Mount?I’ll google it to see where it is.
To really find Bob “The Christian Country IdeaDoc”, go to http:// http://www.superchristiancountry.com
Thanks,
Bob
Oh, one more thing … neither email mentioned my location in the subject line, but it was mentioned in the middle of the body copy.
Hello Eric,
there wasn’t a place named inyour email to me, but I live in New Zealand at a suburb of Tauranga (our City area) called Papamoa Beach.
It’s still Summer here so still plenty of swimming weather around for us. Our part of the country is very mild and although we do get some frosts, they are not nearly as cold here as in other parts of the country.
Thank you for the opportunity of being able to share with others of your readers where we live.
The Internet really makes the World quite a small and fascinating place, don’t you think?
Bless you and keep up with those great newsletters.
Danella
Hi Eric,
You are right. I’m from Singapore.
cheers
Chris
Hi Eric,
Spot on! I am in Biringham, U.K. ….. the “Jewel in the Crown of England”, in spite of the fact that I was born and lived the first 30 years of my life in London
Hi Eric,
I am represented by one of the two yellow dots in Perth, Western Australia.
I am on your list under 3 different emails (Don’t know why just am!) Two of them had no place at all and the third one got a UK town (Brighton) but thats the other side of the Country from me (Burnham). On this basis I would depend on using to tight a parameter of geo mailings.
Phill
Great information can be obtained from IP addresses. If you do not go through software that hides your address that is!
Widnes is veeerry close. A couple of miles.
Runcorn actually. Not very far at all compared to distances in the U.S.
Jim
Greetings from the “heart” of Europe!
Hi Eric,
Elitsa here from Bulgaria -the most picturesque place
in Eastern Europe! 🙂
Well, that’s not only my opinion, I know a lot of people
coming here to visit our beautiful mountains and resorts.
I encourage you to visit my country if you plan to take a trip to
Europe some day.
take care,
Elitsa Asenova
Hi Eric,
It said Canada and it was right. Unfortunately it didn’t specify Pointe Claire, a suburb of Montreal. I was hoping it would at least zero in on Montreal but maybe being just outside it threw it off.
It’s a fantastic feature and, apart from being useful information, is way cool to look at!
Hey Eric, keep up the good work, the really good work. I mean it.
Regards,
Joe Faia
Its great to know how many read your newsletter aside from myself.I find them really informativeand helpful .Since living here 80 km from Rome.In Civitavecchia on the seaside port .I dont feel cut off from the world readign your newsletters..—
Hi Eric,
Your tag line had me in Maidenhead – about 50 miles to the west of central London. But I live near Tunbridge Wells – about 50 miles south-east of central London.
Close, but no cigar! Interesting feature, however.
Thanks for the tips!
Best regards,
Ian
Yes, I do live in New Zealand – the beautiful capital city of Wellington
That’s a cool tool you have there! It got my location correct, at Sacramento. I’d assume it got my state correct as well, it just wasn’t provided, but I live in Sacramento, California.
-Chris
I do live near the Mont Belvieu, TX area. I stay 20 minutes away in a small town named Anahuac. Thanks for all the great information, by-the-way.
Sincerely,
Shaunette
Hola
I’m from Pamplona, Spain.
Saludos cordiales.
Eric you have pin-point Malaysia but I’m not in Kuala Lumpur. I’m in Kudat, Sabah (West Malaysia)
Hi Eric
I live in Tasmania Australia and I love reading your newsletters.
Kind Regards
Craig
Hi Eric.. cool Idea – I am from Reigate (nr. Gatwick airport) and about 23 miles south of London. email said the are you in the “Abinger area” there is an Abinger in dorking aprox 15 min drive assuming you were refering to Abinger (UK). I see so many UK names in the states it gets confusing.. Your tips are the best and one of the few I really look forward to getting due to quality info and not just spamming links for the latest products. So many “guru’s” seem to do this these days.
Keep up the good work..
Hi Eric
I am located in Gisborne New Zealand
The first city in the world to see the sun on any new day…(a tourist promo lol)
cheers
Nigel
Hi Eric
I am from Brisbane Australia – my suburb is Nathan
which is about a 15 minute drive from the suburb
(Coorparoo) in your subject line.
I’ve used aweber for a long time and highly
recommended them amd Tom Kulzer for
his excellent customer service
Ken Little
http://www.successbelongstoyou.com
Hello Eric,
I live about 50 metres away from Jarrow England so I am impressed.
Although I am currently onboard a ship at Singapore.
My emails are being forwarded to my Blackberry.
Keep sending your tips.
Hello Eric,
You are correct the country I live in in New Zealand, although I do not live in Auckland our largest city. I live in Hawke’s Bay which is in the North Island same as Auckland but further south, on the east coast of New Zealand. My closest Ocean is the Pacific Ocean, I live in a locality with a population of about 150,000. I do visit Auckland from time to time. The total population of New Zealand is just past 4 million. So the mapping function is useful because New Zealand though diverse in quite homogeneous in trade respects I would have thought.
I work as a historian, and librarian. I am also an affliate for Skype and Franklin Covey on my baby blog. I am working to set up a better website.
Regards and thanks for adding value with your marketing tips.
Helena
Perth Western Australia …..the world’s most isolated city 🙂
mine was not there….
christchurch new zealand…
Hey Eric,
Wish I were there! 🙂
Still in Tulsa – that’s in Oklahoma – and still part of the USA!
Kathe
The location in the subject line is close (about 12 miles away).Actually I live in Pine Mountain Club, CA, but the US Postal Service computer lists my Zip code (93222) as being in Frazier Park, because that is the location of the nearest real Post Office.
Hi Eric,
I am in Sydney Australia, and yes you were close – Merrylands is approx half hour away.
Cheers
No Eric i live in Woomera. That is outback South Australia.
listed as Wesley Chapel, Fl., which is by Tampa. I am in Winter Park, on the east side of Orlando. However, I believe that RoadRunner, my ISP, is based in that area and serves all of Central Florida. Tampa RoadRunner would be a different ISP.
Most geolocations I have seen list either Tampa or Wesley Chapel.
Hi Eric,
Subject line of my email read Ipswich, which is about 250 miles away from where I live in Torbay, Devon, UK. At least it got the country right! 🙂
Dave
Yeah I am from South Africa. The location is wrong, I live in Port Elizabeth. But I guess it’s right because my internet’s servers is in Midrand. Thanks for all the tips
http://bible-the-real-world-swicki.eurekster.com
Hi Eric,
I’m from Melbourne, Australia. There was no location in the subject, but the body of your email said “Australia”.
best regards,
Tim