525,600 minutes

As the song from the musical Rent famously asks, “How do you measure a year?” For us here at VerticalResponse, we’re measuring the last 12 months in 109 blogs, 70,256 words, and 7,053 social shares… That’s what we published this year (save for this very post you’re reading now).

Now, we know you don’t have time to read them all, so we crunched the numbers and pulled our top 25 most popular blog posts of 2016. Read them again, discover something new, or just browse the list. We hope you enjoy, and we’ll see you in 2017!

General email marketing

• 15 must-haves for a solid email marketing program — How savvy is your email marketing? Incorporate these key initiatives to build a rock-solid email marketing program.
• 25 proven steps to achieve email marketing magic — Want to uncover the secret formula to email marketing? Here’s everything (in 25 steps!) you need to know to unlock the rewards of an effective email marketing program.
• Autoresponders 101 — Learn how you can leverage the power of automation and triggers to increase engagement and connect with your customers.
• Fire up summer sales with email reactivation — No matter the season, rejuvenate your marketing with an email reactivation campaign.
• Introducing Pro+: What full-service email marketing can do for your business — Imagine being able to simply click a button and have your email marketing taken care of for you. Get expert email marketing for a fraction of the cost with our do-it-for-me offering.
• Measuring the performance of your newsletter — Is your company’s newsletter actually winning hearts or simply passing time in the inbox? Use these five metrics to measure the success of your next campaign.

Email design

• A picture Is worth a thousand words. But what about emojis? — Emoji use is on the rise — up 777% YOY — so how can you capitalize on this trend to enliven your subject lines and engage customers?
• Email design: Let’s get typographical — Times New Roman, Helvetica, Courier, Open Sans… You’ve seen these typefaces many times, but do you know what they mean? Learn how typography can affect your brand.
• Email design: Our favorite newsletters — A great newsletter is hard to achieve, but once you’ve created it, it can be the bread and butter of your email program. We took tips for designing a great newsletter from some of our favorites.
• Play nice in the inbox: 7 tips for a well-designed newsletter — Make sure your newsletter gets opens and clicks. With these tips, you’ll increase readability and customer engagement in no time at all.

 Subject lines and list building

• The 2016 complete guide to list segmentation — Ready to increase opens and clicks by sending targeted email campaigns? Learn how to get started with complete guide to list segmentation.
• An email feast: 40 Thanksgiving subject lines your customers will gobble up — Whether you’re ramping up for the retail weekend or just saying “thank you,” Thanksgiving emails are a great opportunity to connect with customers and celebrate the season.
• From subject lines to email lists, it’s time to spring clean your email marketing efforts — It’s never too early (or too late) to jump into the spring season with some fresh email marketing. Check out these digital marketing spring cleaning tips.
• From zero to success: Building an email list from scratch — Building an email list takes time, creativity, and patience, but it’s a critical step to ensuring your email marketing is effective. Learn how to go from zero to hero.
• Increase your open rates with sizzlin’ summer subject lines — Use these summer subject line ideas to get your emails the attention they deserve.
• “Open this email right now!” What makes a good subject line? — No email will reach every prospective reader you send to. But it’s possible to elevate your open rates with subject lines that are short, personable, attention-getting, and meaningful to the reader.

Nonprofit & event marketing

• The do’s and don’ts of email campaigns for nonprofits | Part 1 of 4 — Whether you’re an established nonprofit organization or just starting up, you need a strong email strategy to engage with your supporters.
• The do’s and don’ts of email campaigns for nonprofits | Part 2 of 4 — Three emails your should send to new donors before asking for money.
• Event marketing 101: Tips for newbies — Event marketing can be an effective, affordable way to build your brand’s identity and make real-time contact with current and potential customers.

More marketing tips

• Engage your employees — A happy employee is a productive employee. Keep your team in the loop about company activities, updated policies, and products and services with a great internal newsletter.
• Google Analytics 101: What every small business owner should know about the powerful website analysis tool — New to Google Analytics? Check out the basics of this robust yet easy-to-use website analytics tool.
• Nominate your favorite small town to receive a Main Street revival worth $500,000 — Check out the buzz on Small Business Revolution on Main Street.
• Skip marketing 101 and read this instead — We’ve got the top eight strategies to help you create a solid base for your small business marketing efforts.
• Take your website to the next level: Messaging — Determine the purpose of your website. Then follow these rules of messaging to take your website to the next level.
• Wabash, Indiana, or Silverton, Oregon? Cast your vote and send $500,000 to the lucky town — 10,000 small towns were nominated to receive $500,000 in Deluxe marketing services and professional guidance. Meet the two finalists.

The New Year starts in just a couple of days, and we’ve got a fresh lineup of great content prepped to help you grow your business in 2017.

Until then, a very big thank you to our customers, newsletter subscribers, and blog visitors. From all of us at VerticalResponse we wish you a Happy New Year and all the best for 2017!

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