Whatever changes Comcast
installed, it made it
impossible to send out the SSQQ Newsletter using the
bulk email program I had been using for years.
To say I was angry about this development is a
serious understatement. Considering I have a
home and a business account with Comcast that costs
me close to $300 a month, it didn't seem
unreasonable to expect this company to allow me to
send out my Newsletter the same way I had for ten
years using Roadrunner, the Comcast predecessor.
Quite frankly, I was so angry I couldn't even begin
to write a Newsletter for January. I
understand that I could still publish the Newsletter
on the SSQQ website and it would be nearly as
effective, but for some reason my creative instincts
refused to cooperate until I could SEND OUT the
Newsletter again.
After stewing and fretting for a week or so, finally
I decided to inquire about a professional email
service. I asked my friend Lester Buck
for his advice. Lester has helped me many
times in the past. Back in 1983 Lester
helped me set up my first mailing list using a
computer. Previously we sent out the
newsletter by hand-printing the address on flyers
that I sent out through bulk mail, but Lester's
solution was to maintain the address list on the
computer and print out labels. Big
improvement!
If Lester's name is familiar to SSQQ readers, he is
the man who lit the spark to bring Lindy Hop to
Houston, Texas. (Read
Story). Lester has also taught
Argentine Tango here at SSQQ on several occasions.
For that matter, Lester has quietly maintained the
email list for the Houston Tango group for many
years.
In fact, it was Lester's affiliation with Argentine
Tango that prompted me to contact him in December
2007. One morning as I sat at my desk feeling
sorry for myself, an email from the Houston Tango
Association popped into my Inbox. As I stared
at the email, I wondered how Lester was able to
continue to send out his email list. So I
asked him for advice.
THE AWEBER EMAIL SERVICE
Lester suggested the best way around my problem was
to engage the services of a professional email
service known as Aweber. I checked into
it and found the cost was ridiculously low (less
than 20 bucks a month). But first I would have
to migrate my mail list over to Aweber and pass
their "Anti-Spam" test. Aweber would send out
an exploratory email to everyone on the SSQQ email
list and ask each person if they wished to continue
to receive the SSQQ Newsletter via email.
In order for their service to work, Aweber must
establish an ironclad reputation as a business
ruthlessly opposed to sending out spam. I
swore to them that the SSQQ Newsletter was not Spam
and that my list was created strictly from students
who have taken classes. That wasn't good
enough for them. They have learned - probably
the hard way - not to take people's word for it. They preferred to run a test
and let the members of my email list decide. During the week in
January that Aweber contacted the SSQQ database,
they kept statistics on complaints about my
Newsletter.
-----Original
Message-----
From: AWeber Report
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 4:48 AM
To: dance@ssqq.com
Subject: AWeber Account "ssqqdancestudio"
Complaint Report
Included below are complaint and filtering
statistics for various ISPs which we track.
AOL, Hotmail, Earthlink, Outblaze, Road Runner
and Excite members have the ability to push a
button identifying messages as "spam" that they
wish to no longer receive. The table titled,
"Complaints", gives a summary of the number of
people that have identified messages from your
lists as unwanted. If the number of complaints
generated from your lists gets too high, ISPs
may block your messages.
7 Day Total of Complaints for ssqqnewsletter: 47
In plain English, this meant
that out of 15,000 potentials Newsletter recipients,
47 people said they were unhappy about being on the
list. Apparently that number was small enough
for Aweber to accept SSQQ as a customer.
RECRUITMENT
Now that SSQQ will use Aweber
to send out our Newsletter, there will be two
significant changes.
For starters, SSQQ can no longer add people to the
Newsletter list. You have to do it yourself.
Aweber figures that if they allow the customer (i.e.
SSQQ) to add people to the list, we might sneak in
some illegitimate email addresses. Don't
let the fox guard the henhouse. Instead,
Aweber insists that the customer decide. So if
you the reader want to be on the SSQQ Email List,
you have to sign up yourself . In addition, at
the bottom of every email Aweber sends to you from
SSQQ, there will be an automatic 'unsubscribe'
button you can use to remove yourself from the List.
This means SSQQ cannot add you and you can leave
whenever you want. This is difference
between Drafting an Army versus having a Volunteer
Army.
In other words, I have to recruit you to be on the
SSQQ Email List. Hmm. Does this mean I
have to start being nice?
INSTANT MESSAGE
The second change is far more
profound. I now have the ability to contact
every person on the SSQQ Email List in one click.
People might assume I had that ability all along,
but nothing could be further from the truth.
Back in the early days of Roadrunner, it would take
approximately eight to ten hours to send out all the
emails. I would come home from the studio,
start sending out at 11 pm and wake up the next
morning just as the bulk email program was finishing
up. Believe it or not, I used to complain that
it took so long. Little did I know that it
would get much worse.
The headaches started in 2003. Roadrunner
installed a limit of 1,000 emails a day. If I
went over that limit, the whole thing failed.
Do the math.... 15 days! I was able to improve
things a little by sending 1,000 from my home, 1,000
from the studio, let my friend Gary Richardson send
1,000 from his business and another 1,000 from his
home. Now the process was spread out over four
to five days. This was a real pain in the you
know what, but I learned to live with it.
Besides the inconvenience, this 1,000 email limit
had another serious consequence - I was unable to
send out a quick message.
There were times when it really would have helped to
be able to send out a message fast. Take the
First Street Towing Massacre
for example. One year ago in January 2007, we
had several cars towed away on First Street by the
Bellaire Police Department. In addition, many
other cars were ticketed. Unbeknownst to our
students, Bellaire had redesigned the parking rules
along First Street and didn't bother warning anyone.
Students would get out of their cars in the dark and
have not the slightest clue the rules had changed.
Even in the light, those signs don't make much
sense. Worse, a prize section on First Street
where we had been parking for twenty years was now
illegal. It was a perfect Trap!
Even worse, there was a predator on the loose.
There was a jerk who lived on First
Street. This guy for whatever personal reason
thought it was funny to call the Bellaire Police and
report the violations. I have no idea what his
grudge was about, but his actions were very hurtful.
Thanks to his nightly calls, the police couldn't
overlook the problem and let it sort itself out.
Instead the police were
obligated to respond and began to write tickets.
One cop even decided to start towing.
There
were several very ugly incidents. I still have
nightmares about this fiasco because the City of
Bellaire was so unreasonable.
It took our Hall Monitors about four months of
checking First Street every night and warning our
students to solve the problem. They deserve a
lot of credit. But even
today there are still cars that park illegally
because the Trap spot is so inviting and the signs are
so hard to understand.
From now on, I believe the Aweber Service should be
able to allow me to contact the SSQQ Email List in
one click of the mouse. Hopefully there won't
be any more emergencies like the Towing Headache,
but at least from now on I will be ready.
SOCIAL EVENTS
CHANDELIER BALLROOM - MARCH
1
Here is an email I received
from Robert Kaechler recently. Robert has
been organizing bi-monthly Ballroom Dance trips to
Chandelier Ballroom for the past year.
-----Original
Message-----
From: Robert Kaechler
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 8:02 PM
To: 'Rick Archer'
Subject: Chandelier night
I wanted to make sure you do not have
anything planned at the studio on March 1st.
Something in the newsletter is nice but as long
as I don't step on a Saturday event at SSQQ.
Hope you have success with the newsletter. I
have a website that I rarely update and it is a
little intimidating to me. I really like the
SSQQ website but I can get lost in it due to the
abundance of information.
My point in listing this email
is to show that our new "Instant Message" SSQQ
Newsletter can be used to promote events outside
SSQQ (as long as they don't conflict with major studio
events). Here is another example:
From:
Patricia Carnes
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 9:47 AM
To: dance@ssqq.com
Subject: Press Release for Talent Competition
Rick, The attached file contains a press release
for the Houston Grand Opera Guild talent
competition.
More details and a registration form can be
found on the Guild's website at
http://www.hgoguild.org/SocialSpring.htm
HOUSTON GRAND
OPERA GUILD LAUNCHES "SPOTLIGHTER" TALENT
COMPETITION
All Entries Welcome!
(Houston, TX-Jan. 14, 2008) - The Houston Grand
Opera Guild is hosting a series of open talent
competitions beginning Jan. 24 at Ovations and
culminating in one winner being named
"Entertainer of the Year" at the volunteer
organization's spring fund-raiser, Puttin' on
the Glitz, Mar. 8, at the Majestic Metro
Theater.
Although exceptional talent is certainly
welcome, this competition, like some reality
shows, is based on audience and on-line voting.
There will be no professional judging involved.
The winner will be the person who inspires the
most votes. Registration for the competition is
$15.00 at the HGO Guild's Web site, www
hgoguild.org. Voting will be online at the same
site, as well as during the competitive events.
Great for those who crave the spotlight, whether
comic or opera diva or anything in between, this
competition allows all types of talent a moment
in the spotlight. Houstonians can be part of the
show or decide who will be "Entertainer of the
Year." No matter what the talent, the winner
will be determined by votes.
Imagine how effective it would
be to tie into the SSQQ Newsletter Email List to
promote events.
This might mean sending out
two or three emails a month, but it serves to create
a community. Did you know last month a group of
people went to Brenham, TX, for a New Year's Eve
dinner and western dancing at a honky tonk?
When I heard about it, I immediately grinned.
Sounded like fun! I bet you didn't know because only a few people were
in on the secret.
Back in the "Old Days", students used to organize
camping trips, canoe trips, hill country honky tonk
trips, margarita tours, you name it. We used
to go to Eddie's Ballroom in Manville and Gruene
Hall in New Braunfels. All it took was
an organizer like Robert Kaechler to make it happen.
But as the studio got so big, it also became less
personal. But it can still happen. As an
example, Robert's trips to Chandelier are so popular
we get 50 people. With better promotion, I bet
we can hit 100.
Starting in February 2008, feel free to send me notices
of events. I don't care whether they are
dance-related or not. Once I approve them, I
will put them in the Email Newsletter.
Let's turn this new email service into a way to
organize things.
