Email marketing is not just all about unsolicited emails with advertisements making outrageous claims. Unfortunately the abundance of spam which inundates Internet users each day has caused many to formulate a negative opinion about email marketing but savvy Internet marketers who understand how to market successful enjoy an advantage over the competition by turning to e-newsletters to reach more potential customers. This article will discuss e-newsletters and how they can be used effectively as part of an email marketing campaign.

An e-newsletter is very similar to newsletters which are printed and distributed via mail or other avenues. The most significant distance is the method of distribution. While traditional newsletters are typically mailed to the recipients or distributed in person, e-newsletters are distributed exclusively online. These e-newsletters may be either emailed in the body of an email message or may be included as a link in an email which directs the recipient to the website for the e-newsletter. In either case the recipient can read the e-newsletter while online and print it out or save it to their hard drive for future use.

The contents of an e-newsletter may vary somewhat drastically depending on the business the e-newsletter is promoting, the purpose of the e-newsletter and even the personal preferences of the business owner and the employees producing the e-newsletter. However, the general format for an e-newsletter is to include useful information in the form of full length feature articles or shorter pieces offering useful tips. The e-newsletter should also contain at least some subtle advertising for the products and services offered by the producer of the e-newsletter. These pieces of advertising should not be blatant and should allow readers of the e-newsletter to formulate their own opinions regarding the products or services.

The content of an e-newsletter should make up the bulk of the document. This may include full length feature articles which provide information for the readers. It may also include shorter pieces which may offer tips, review products or offer advice to the reader. The key to providing high quality content in these e-newsletters is to have them written by a capable writer who is knowledgeable about the subject matter. The writer may have an understanding of the subject matter or may simply be able to research the subject and learn enough to write accurate and informative articles on the topic. In either case the distributor of the e-newsletter should carefully review the content for both quality and accuracy before publishing the e-newsletter.

Distributors of e-newsletters should also consider including graphical elements into their e-newsletters. This may include product pictures or any other relevant graphics which provide meaning to the text of the e-newsletter. A graphic designer can assist you with this endeavor by helping you to create graphics, crop them appropriately and place them in a prime location on the layout of the e-newsletter.

Finally, distributors of e-newsletters should carefully consider their audience before using email for marketing purposes. The primary consideration should be whether or not the target audience is likely to be receptive to marketing in the form of emails or an e-newsletter. If they are likely to respond to this type of marketing it is worthwhile to pursue an email marketing campaign. However, care should be taken to ensure the emails sent to the target audience are designed specifically to appeal to these potential customers. This type of specialization should include the type of language used in the copy, the layout of the email or e-newsletter and the graphics used in the email or e-newsletter. Additionally, the copy should be filed with information which will be useful to the recipients. Another factor to consider is to whom to send the emails. Sending these emails to a large group of recipients who have not requested information from you and have no interest in your products and services is a waste of time. It is a better idea to ask customers and potential customers if they are interested in receiving more information and having them join an email distribution list if they wish to receive more information. Sending your emails to this distribution list ensures the majority of recipients will have an interest in your products or services and are not likely to automatically delete your emails as spam.

Summary:

Why does no one mention Art when talking about Self Improvement? Why do we seek inner understanding from 'gurus' and not artists? Maybe it's time for change.

Keywords:

art and self improvement, art and self development, inspiration from art, aid in self development, self development inspiration, power of art, art

Article Body:

There's no doubt about it: Self Improvement is big business. No matter where we look we seem to see men attired in business suits and fancy haircuts. Sporting dinky little ear-piece microphones, they speak to us as though we were attending the annual general meeting of their multi-national self-development business which, I suppose, isn’t that far from the truth. They speak to us in sound-bites; “I’m gunna show you how…”, “you just need to follow my plan: no thought required; just follow the plan”. Success and winning, they preach to the audience, are a sure thing.

But is self development a sure thing? If, like me, you believe self development is a life journey that is never completed, you know that the only sure thing is that the search for self development is far from being a sure thing. The journey will entail more failures than successes, more loss than gain and more self-doubt than we think we can endure. The only way to improve one’s self is to challenge the habits and assumptions we have gathered along the way. To go out on a limb with no guarantee of finding what we want takes courage. No ‘success plan’ would contemplate such a course of action!

So, if we can’t get succor from the self improvement ‘gurus’, who can we turn to?

The answer, I believe, is to look to the people who have always explored every single aspect of the human condition. They did not always find the answer, but they all had courage. They are of course, the world’s artists.

How can a painting help us toward our goal of self improvement you might ask? Well, some paintings help to bring serenity and a feeling of inner peace; I feel this whenever I look at an Impressionist painting, especially paintings by Berthe Morisot. She was never recognized as a great artist during her lifetime; she was relegated to the category of "feminine" artists because of her usual subject matter — women, children, and domestic scenes. Her paintings are intensely intimate. She is an example of someone who never gave up on pursuing what she thought was worth while despite being largely ignored.

Jackson Pollock instills different but equally powerful feelings. I used to believe all modern artists “just throw a bit of paint on a canvas and call it art”. My preconceptions were swept away when I was lucky enough to attend an exhibition devoted to his work. His paintings were beautiful and challenged the way I look at a painting. The search for your inner self is all about challenging your currently held notions.

Music is probably the easiest of the arts for us to accept as an aid toward our search for self development. How often does a certain piece of music make us feel happy, relaxed, romantic, hopeful, fulfilled? You name it, music hits all the buttons. My favourite music is anything by Beethoven. His music makes me feel all of the aforementioned. He was a man who accepted nothing less than perfection. He sort redemption through his music. Ultimately, he didn’t find it and he spent much of his life feeling alone. But his courage of conviction made his life, and countless others, a better thing. His last words were "Applaud, my friends, the comedy is over.”

Perhaps our greatest inspiration comes from writers. They have helped me, and millions of others, to find the inner self. Life would be a much poorer experience without our great writers. I won’t name all the writers that have inspired me; there are too many. But if there was one thing I would urge you to do, it is to read. If you’re not sure who to read then go to a library and ask! Tell the librarian what it is that you want to experience, feel or learn when you read a book. They’ll help you; don’t let shyness defeat you. If you can’t get to a library then join a reading club on the internet. The one thing I have found is that people, who love to read, love to help others to read books.

So, forget about buying into those testosterone, succeed-at-all-costs seminars, ebooks and DVDs. Go and look at a painting; or lie on the sofa and listen to music, maybe dance wildly to it, cry with it, make love in time to it; or curl up and read a book that will take you where you never thought possible.

You may not get to where you wished, but Art will accompany you every single step of the way.

Summary:

Winner of countless awards for excellence in television programming, Curb Your Enthusiasm focuses on the real life experiences of Larry David, post-Seinfeld and living a life of fame and fortune in sunny Los Angeles. Much like Seinfeld, the series doesn't revolve entirely around a plot, choosing instead to follow the daily routine of a noted Hollywood insider. But just like his alter-ego George Constanza, Larry David often watches in vein as seemingly irrelevant actions on hi...

Keywords:

curb your enthusiasm season 4 dvd review

Article Body:

Winner of countless awards for excellence in television programming, Curb Your Enthusiasm focuses on the real life experiences of Larry David, post-Seinfeld and living a life of fame and fortune in sunny Los Angeles. Much like Seinfeld, the series doesn't revolve entirely around a plot, choosing instead to follow the daily routine of a noted Hollywood insider. But just like his alter-ego George Constanza, Larry David often watches in vein as seemingly irrelevant actions on his part snowball into a string of embarrassing situations and misunderstandings. Larry is joined on the show by his wife Cheryl (Cheryl Hines) and manager Jeff Greene (Jeff Garlin) as well as a number of famous celebrities who indulge in recurring guest appearances. Smearing the lines between reality and fiction, the series is a perfect follow up to groundbreaking show Seinfeld...

The Curb Your Enthusiasm (Season 4) DVD features a number of hilarious episodes including the season premiere "Mel's Offer" in which Larry goes to a karaoke bar where Mel Brooks is hanging out. When Larry sings, Mel is so thoroughly impressed that he asks Larry to star in his next Broadway musical production… Other notable episodes from Season 4 include "Ben's Birthday Party" in which Larry gets into a fight with Ben Stiller when he refuses to sing 'Happy Birthday' to him, and "Opening Night" in which Larry and the show travel to New York City for his opening night as the star of The Producers…

Below is a list of episodes included on the Curb Your Enthusiasm (Season 4) DVD:

Episode 31 (Mel's Offer) Air Date: 01-04-2004

Episode 32 (Ben's Birthday Party) Air Date: 01-11-2004

Episode 33 (The Blind Date) Air Date: 01-18-2004

Episode 34 (The Weatherman) Air Date: 01-25-2004

Episode 35 (The Five Wood) Air Date: 02-01-2004

Episode 36 (The Car Pool Lane) Air Date: 02-08-2004

Episode 37 (The Surrogate) Air Date: 02-22-2004

Episode 38 (Wandering Bear) Air Date: 02-29-2004

Episode 39 (The Survivor) Air Date: 03-07-2004

Episode 40 (Opening Night) Air Date: 03-14-2004

Summary:

No matter how one looks at it, success and respect come in the form of other people, perhaps even complete strangers. Rare is it in today's world that success will happen in total isolation. No surprise that some of the most successful and respected individuals know a thing or two about how to deal with others. The ability to communicate and influence others' way of thinking, and to actually transform their opinions, is an invaluable life skill.

Keywords:

public relations, influence, people, lead, success, respect

Article Body:

No matter how one looks at it, success and respect come in the form of other people, perhaps even complete strangers. Rare is it in today's world that success will happen in total isolation. No surprise that some of the most successful and respected individuals know a thing or two about how to deal with others. The ability to communicate and influence others' way of thinking, and to actually transform their opinions, is an invaluable life skill.

The obstacle of attaining this life skill is one that everyone faces. Anger, selfishness, and pride all work against our better judgment. The idea is to become proactive, to work toward a resolution rather than toward your own base desires; which will come under fire the more it conflicts with other desires; and so on, until it comes full circle. Disagreements add more fuel to the fire, until neither party is able to influence the other. To be proactive means to step back from the situation, and to examine it from a different angle. Chances are you want your way simply because, well, it's your way. Consider the fact that the other person thinks the same. So be proactive and negotiate yourself out of a one-way street that'll lead to zero resolutions; because while you may get the other person to agree, have you really influenced their opinion?

Look at it this way: "right" is "wrong."

How can that be? The way to peoples' hearts, the way to influence their opinions, is not to impose your will onto theirs'. They first need to see the light before they alter their mode of thought. Approach your opinion as though it were a scientific method, without the pride of being right. It is that very possessive nature that creates disapproval in people. And unless you're in a scientific or highly technical environment, approach the discussion as if it had multiple resolutions. Step outside of yourself and join the team.

The idea is to influence others, rather than simply imposing your will. Become impersonal if you have to; all the better to swim through a sea of ideas and opinions, without the risk of being offended. Assess the problem, and not who said it. A proactive person is more concerned with a resolution than with retribution. The point remains to be said that other variables are at stake, and that "your" viewpoint is not the only path. This does not mean that you cannot disagree. Disagreements are inevitable; but there is a sharp contrast between a personal disagreement and a holistic disagreement. Chances are that a holistic disagreement is a lot more convincing, and more respectable, than a personal one. Because when holistic matters become too personally charged, it becomes detached from a holistic resolution.

The ability to communicate with others is not as vague as it sounds. The abilities to influence and to disagree are the two principle components of a born leader. Because being "right" is only as good as getting the person to agree.

A monogram cake topper is a truly unique and increasingly popular way to adorn a cake. Of course the first thought is to use the topper for a wedding cake, but there are many more possibilities.

Baby showers are a really great way to use a monogram cake topper. Of course knowing the baby's name beforehand is a must! Some online retailers of the cake toppers offer a design as more of a 3-D type look. Imagine a cookie cutter, but without the ends meeting. This type of monogram cake topper can be used as a decoration well after the baby is born and would be a beautiful keepsake in any nursery.

A monogram cake topper could also be used for an anniversary cake. The cake toppers are available with numbers instead of letters, so if it is so desired to have a year denotation instead of the couples initials. If a decision between the two styles cannot be made, one design on the cake and one on the table as an adornment would be very elegant.

The monogram cake topper is not limited to just letters as mentioned above. There are many other designs available besides initials. A Quinceanera is a special time in a Latina girl's life and many of the aspects of her party border wedding-ish features, including a large wedding cake. A single letter for the birthday girl's first name is very elegant, as is the number 15 for her birthday. Many retailers offer designs other than numbers and letters. Flowers, sparkly tiaras, and Swarovski crystal embellished designs are also very popular for Quinceanera's.

Most manufacturers of a monogram cake topper offer a wide variety of styles and fonts. One online site visited offered over 1700 font choices and dozens of colors. The toppers are also available in a variety of sizes ranging from 2 inches to 8 inces. For the larger pieces an extra fee will be added to the monogram cake topper. The prices for a monogram cake topper vary from the $25.00 single letter design to an elaborate $300.00 crystal laden masterpiece. It is not recommended to wait until the last minute as with most wedding items because the monogram cake toppers take up to 7 weeks to deliver. Most sites do offer a rush order, for an additional fee.

After the event if the cake topper is not able to stand on its own in a display, it could be taken to a stationary retailer who will copy the design into custom stationary. This is something which also could be done before the wedding for the wedding invitations.

The monogram cake topper is something unique and that no one will have exactly the same of. The possibilities of design are truly endless and the imagination can go completely wild! It is something which will last a lifetime and will be talked about for years to come. It is one of the best reminders of your special day everyday for years to come.