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!
Hi Eric,
I am from Singapore 🙂
p/s: Thanks for the great tips you’re sharing with us!
Hi Eric,
Aweber was spot on – I’m in Adelaide, Australia
Jackie
Hi
The state is correct, but not the town. Not Glenelg, but Hawker, which is about 450km north. Glenelg is a seaside suburb of Adelaide.
Cheers
Kay
Hi Eric,
It was pretty close within 15 miles of my actual location in Odder, Denmark.
– Jan
Eric,
I live in Phuket Thailand but I originate from the UK.
Bruce
Hi Eric,
!st email had no place stated 2nd one did and you were right, I am in Jacksonville FL.
I have my website but there is nothing on it yet. I am just trying to get started. I hope to have something on it in the next day or two.
Thanks for the time you take to send us all of your tips. I have one question, how does anyone keep up with their email? Mine has gone crazy, and it isn’t even customers yet.
Thanks for everything and have a great time.
Theresa
I am from Bradford, England, so not too far from London! Great feature from Aweber.
Cheers Eric
Hello Eric
Yes I do live in Spain on the Mediterranean sunshine coast of the Costa del Sol approx 500 kms from Madrid
The biggest town with it’s Moorish architecture is Malaga approx 35kms west along the coast from me
Still struggling to get a suitable website of interest up and running, and sorting out all hype from good stuff
All the best
Bob
Morning Eric
Well your email had a blank for my location! It’s Cheshire in the UK.
Take care
Paul
Hi Eric,
Your email said I was in Grand Blanc, MI. I’ve got an
office there and it looks like Aweber supplied you
with my IP address for my computer.
I really enjoy your newsletters. Keep up the good work.
Tom
Yep, got my location right, down to the next suburb!
Melbourne, Australia.
Pretty impressive.
Hi Eric,
Right on the button…I am from sunny Cape Coral, FL.
Thanks for a great newsletter!
Ray
Hi! was suprised you it actually worked.. Alvin here from Singapore =)
I live in Skedsmokorset, Norway…just 20 minutes north of Oslo, Norway.
Cheers,
Scott
(A Californian stuck in Norway…)
I live on Jeju Island that is south of the Korean peninsula. On the map you can see the island, but there are no colored dots on it. I am an American teaching English, not Korean. But you should put a yellow dot on the island.
Hello Eric,
The email has it correct, living in Pocatello, Idaho, USA
Enjoy the newsletter, thanks,
Ken
Hi Eric,
Yes, when I signed up to your newsletter, I was living in Baltimore. Now I am in Barcelona (Spain)!
Thanks for all your advice,
Jose
G’day Eric,
My wife and I have joined your list of subscribers. We live west of Sydney, Australia in the town of Mount Riverview. We really appreciate your advice and information in the world of IM. We are both newbies and looking forward to posting our first business venture in the near future.
Warm regards,
Helen and Steve Renn
***Aweber seems to think you are from: Switzerland*** ….
Good location !!!..
There are a lot of others free locators ..not only Aweber…but my web site have a US audience /clients…W.W.W. !!!
Howdy Eric,
Yes Awber is close Flatwoods is 5 miles from me.
To Your Success;
Charles
Hi Eric, I am a newsletter subscriber and undeserving receipient of Gods amazing grace in Charlotte, NC. It is not your internet knwoledgs but your testimony that has kept me reading your information. Thanks for your boldness and your light in a dark world. Gary
Hi Eric,
Yeah, I agree, it really is amazing stuff, isn’t it! Mine didn’t work, but my little dot is called The Southern Highlands which is situated about an hour out of Sydney in “the Land Down Under”.
I also use and recommend Aweber.
All the best ,
Joe
Hi Eric,
Yoir email did not have a location on mine –
UK
Eric,
Yes I am from Willemstad at the island of Curacao in the Netherland Antilles(AN) and I wondered how it is traced, but when I go In O.E. to my file-menu and click on properties I find your I.P.address and I suppose that there are charts or tables worldwide of these I.P.-addresses, which point to a geographic location of that I.P.address when it is stable.
Hans E. Mebus
Actually, I’m in the area of Winston-Salem, N.C., not Columbus as the subject stated. I’m not even sure how far away Columbus is from here as I’m new to the W-S area. 🙂 But that’s cool that Aweber can pinpoint most places where your subscribers are from!
You have a great newsletter!
Interesting….
I live near Modiin which is in Israel but about 2 hours drive from Haifa.
Pretty cool function in Aweber, though. I’ll have to use it!
I received 2 emails. The first one had the capital city for my country (Lisboa – Portugal). Well, I live 1 hour from it.
The second email had no city name.
Bye 🙂
Nuno
Hi Eric,
You are right. I am in Manama, Bahrain. I read your Eric’s Tip regularly. Most of the time there is good stuff. Keep up the good work.
Regards,
M Jamil
Hi!
No, I’m not located in Germany, I’m in Greece.
Love the newsletter!
Dead on. Scott, Louisiana U.S.A.
Hey Eric:
Really enjoy your newsletter. There was no location in my subject line. I am from Dwight, Illinois; about 65 miles sw of Chicago. Keep up the great work.
Hi Eric
I do live in Australia (as your email suggested), and also live in the same state (NSW) as the town you mentioned, but my location is 40km north of the suggested town. So, overall, the geo-targeting is pretty good.
As part of a recent objective to buckle down and focus on actually getting some business going, I’ve unsubscribed from 95% of the mailing lists of the many gurus I was subscribed to (which has made me far more productive). Your subscription is one of the few that I’ve decided not to leave behind.
You actually provide good content, rather than just spam people with promotion after promotion. The gurus all say to do this (provide valuable content), but hardly any of them do it. I guess it’s a case of “do as I say not as I do”.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks,
Ron.
Hi Eric,
You were almost correct, I am from Sweden and live just a few miles south of Enskede.
And by the way, Your newsletter is great!
All the best,
Ola
You got it Eric. You had me in Ryde (Sydney Australia) im actually 5 minutes from Ryde. I have AWeber and am going to play with it now.
It was quite weird seeing my suberb in my inbox like that especially coming from on overseas list
Thanks
Glenn
Hi,
you were right. I live in Denmark 🙂
regards
Briand
I’m in Catonsville, Maryland US right outside of Baltimore home of the “World’s Famous Lexington Market”.
Willie
Hi,
I’m from Helsinki, Finland.
Markku
Well I have a lot of respect for aweber mails but it failed in my case. I am actually from Coonoor, India but it tells I am from Dallas, United States
I live in Lutz, which is essentially becoming a suburb of Tampa on the north so the pinpointing mechanism was close in this case. Thanks for all the great tips.
Eric,
Aweber was dead on to the city that I live in.
Interesting Post: maybe it’s time to do another thorough review of Aweber.
Have a good day sir!
Jimmy
Cool Map feature. I like it. Can’t wait to grow my list and see where subscribers are from.
Kingston, NY – right on target
Hi,
I’m just outside London – there was no location on my email either.
Keep up the great work!
Yes your website is full of info
Hi
Just letting you know that Jenny and I live on the Central Coast of New South Wales , Australia in a place called The Entrance ( approx 1 hour north of Sydney )
Hi Eric,
Your email surprised me when I saw my town in the subject line. I thought you were coming to town.
Actually, I’m in Washington Township, New Jersey (USA) which don’t have it’s own zip code but the town Blackwood NJ that was in the subject line is one of the towns that delivers mail to our town.
So yes, it worked very well. Aweber has a winner.
Best Regards,
Mike Price
Hello Eric,
The program got it right that Franklin is the town in which my ISP is located. For everyone’s information, that is how you are targeted, not by your actual street address. The specified location in the email should be the same as the business/billing address of your ISP.
As a result, in my case, even though the physical office of my ISP is in the city limits of Middletown due to annexation, the Post Office says they are in Franklin. Interesting world, isn’t it?
Have a great day,
Jonathan
Hi E.,
I am from Croatia.Thank you for your great news letter.
K
Hi Eric,
I’m from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, not Petaling Jaya.
Cheers,
Fenton
Hi
I live in Derby 50 miles from Rugby… Near ’nuff looking on your map!
Steve