Many types of Internet advertising don't work as well as they once did. People have gotten used to banners and don't click on them. Some ezines have failed to keep their readers' interest and ads sometimes get less response. Search engines are overflowing with submissions. Getting your site listed high is almost impossible. More and more businesses and organizations are now turning to email marketing to keep profits rolling in. While an increasing number of people say they rarely surf the Net, the vast majority of North Americans check their email every day. Email marketing is the most effective and efficient way to influence purchases and keep customers informed and happy. It is also extremely inexpensive. Where you might have mailed out one printed customer update every month, you can now email one every week for a fraction of the cost. Increasingly, companies need to embrace email marketing in a big way in order to stay competitive. Those who formerly used a service to send out their newsletters, sales info, and consumer updates are now doing all the emailing themselves. New technology that is powerful yet easy to use allows anyone to handle email jobs that previously required expensive professional help. Many companies are bringing their email campaigns in house in order to have more control, grow their email efforts, and decrease costs. Here are four features you will want to use in your email marketing efforts:

1. Include HTML in your email messages. Most email programs are now equipped to read HTML. Your logo, banner, bullets, and color elements can make your message jump off the screen. You can even include forms that allow customers to order instantly from your message. You take advantage of impulse purchases that can lead to big increases in sales.

2. Use a campaign manager feature to schedule when your email messages will be sent out. You can prepare an entire months' worth of messages and tell the manager which weeks, days, or hours to release them to your list.

3. Take advantage of a POP import feature. It automatically takes the email addresses from messages you receive and puts them on your mailing list. This insures no one who requests information from you is left out of your next update. This also helps you grow your list as fast as possible. You can even use a feature that automatically unsubscribes those who ask to be removed from your list. Many companies say this saves them hours of work each week.

4. Make sure the software you use to send your messages includes a walk-through wizard. You get step-by-step instructions on how to do any task you wish to achieve. Instead of waiting for the tech guy to show up, you can speed through the job on your own. I hope this helps in your future marketing decisions.

About the author: David Bell is Manager, Online Marketing, at http://www.wspromotion.com/ , a leading Search Engine Optimization services firm and Advertising Agency.