Mike Hillyer's Personal Webspace

Recent Blog Posts

  • Management Lessons From Phineas & Ferb

    One of the best things about having small kids is they can be used as a cover for watching cartoons, and one of our favorites is Phineas & Ferb. For those unfamiliar with the show, here’s a sample: This is a great show because it’s one of those shows that can entertain both adults and…

  • The Management Wisdom of Ed Catmull

    I greatly admire Pixar and its people, and one of the people I admire greatly is Ed Catmull, the Pixar founder. His personal contributions to computer science and computer graphics are phenomenal, but he’s also an excellent leader and businessman. The following video from an Economist conference provides a good example of his wisdom: And…

  • 14 Email Security Do’s & Don’ts

    Note: This article originally appeared at http://www.messagesystems.com/wordpress/?p=84 Introduction Anyone who follows the email marketing industry news is no doubt aware of the increasing number of well-publicized data breaches that have been occurring at the various major ESPs. In addition to the major ESPs, there are no doubt a number of less-publicized or even non-publicized data…

  • Message Queuing & Segregation: Lessons from the Airline Industry

    Note: This also appears at http://www.messagesystems.com/wordpress/?p=38. Many email marketers are unaware of the importance of message queuing to the successful delivery of their email. As a component of their messaging infrastructure, queuing is something that marketers typically defer to their IT department to manage. Yet, the reality is that queuing and the segregation of message streams…

  • Technical Considerations For IP Warmup

    Introduction In response to the recent news regarding Goodmail closing its doors, Tom Sather at Return Path published a blog entry regarding IP warmup and the difference it can make for inbox placement. Tom sums up the need for IP warmup well: If you had talked to any email marketer 10 years ago and asked…

  • Be Aware: Phishing Attack Targeting ESPs and Large Email Senders

    This just in from Return Path: Over the course of the past five weeks, spam campaigns have been aimed at the staff members of over 100 ESPs and gambling sites. These targets have received emails typically with content that mentions the staffer by name, and purports to be from a couple, presumably friends or co-workers.…

  • How To Send One Billion Email Marketing Messages Per Month

    One *Billion* Emails In email marketing there are senders of all shapes and sizes, from small businesses using self-serve ESPs to the largest web properties self-sending to massive user bases. While only a few senders will reach or exceed volumes of one billion messages per month, the tools and practices needed to achieve such a volume…

  • Developing Your Sales Story – Paul Kenny

    Here’s a great session I came across today from a Joel on Software posting: This gets to the heart of what companies need to do: focus more on the customer; their situation, their needs, their challenges. Even I’ve been guilty of spending too little time on them and too much time on me: what I…

  • Congratulations, You Can Mail-Merge!

    I had this exact thought the other day and need to share this great article by Morgan Stewart. Quick quote: I’ve received over 500 emails so far this year in which the subject line included my first name. “Morgan, Book Now & Save on Top Travel Deals” “Morgan – Congratulations! Your Nomination to Cambridge Who’s…

  • The Joy of Being the Leader

    Just need to put this here to make it easier to find in the future.