5 Ways to MAKE M0RE M0NEY With Your E-zine
By Alexandria K. Brown
Have you been publishing an e-zine for at least six months but still aren’t seeing real results (read: revenue) from it? Don’t fret — you may just need a tune up. Here are five ways to kick your e-zine income into gear this year:
1. TOOT YOUR OWN HORN MORE
The adage goes, “If you don’t blow your own horn, someone else will use it as a spittoon.” If your focus is providing your readers with useful information that enriches their lives and businesses, bravo! That SHOULD be your focus. But now I want you to look out for yourself as well: Take at least 25 percent of your e-zine space and make it all about YOU.
Give promos for your services, products, books, workshops, etc.
List raving testimonials from clients and customers who LOVE you.
Weave your business success stories into your articles and tips.
Share something funny about your weekend that makes me feel closer to knowing you personally. (For more self-promotion tips, see my article “7 Ways to Self-Promote Within Your E-zine.” (http://www.ezinequeen.com/7ways.htm)
2. MAKE ME AN OFFER I CAN’T REFUSE
Let’s suppose I’m one of your subscribers. Even if I realize you offer am^zing products and services, I may need a kick in the pants to make a move. To entice me, offer me a special, limited-time deal. Examples: three months’ of consultation for the price of two, a 20% d1scount on your latest book or newest service, or
one of your usual offers with a few exciting bonuses thrown in.
Make the offer obsolete within a few days or by next week. By putting a time limit on it, I’ll be more apt to act now instead of later.
Don’t overlook how powerful this tactic can be. Some of my most profitable weeks have resulted from running a limited time, special pr0motion of this type in my e-zine.
3. PACKAGE IT AT A L0WER PRICE POINT
This is a super strategy for service professionals such as consultants and coaches. As your subscriber, I know the way to get the BEST service from you would be to hire you one-on-one, but perhaps I can’t afford that right now. BUT consider that I
may likely be interested in lower-priced options such as group coaching, teleclasses, online seminars, or a manual/e-book.
This is exactly how I became an author. When I started my first e-zine, my main business was writing corporate communications.
After I gained a few thousand subscribers, I realized that my readers were mostly small business owners and entrepreneurs. So I began creating products and services geared toward them. And now I profit more from those each month than I did from my corporate work. (And I’m having more fun, too!)
4. PROMOTE A PRODUCT/SERVICE THAT COMPLEMENTS YOURS
Do your readers and clients often ask you about a certain topic that’s related to — but not exactly — what you offer? Then resell a resource that you heartily recommend and would put your reputation behind.
For example, while my specialty is e-zines, I get many questions about creating and selling e-books online. So I continually research credible resources on this topic to share with my readers. Many of the creators of these products offer a handsome
commission on any sales I refer to them. (I do this myself by paying up to 35 percent commission on any referred sale.
(http://www.ezinequeen.com/affiliate.htm)
NEVER recommend any service or product to your readers that you haven’t personally tried and wouldn’t back 100 percent. Otherwise you’ll blow the trust that you’ve worked so hard to build up in your readership.
5. SELL AD SPACE AS IT SUITS YOU
E-zine ads won’t make you r*ch, but they can make for some handy extra cash. (I call it my “margarita money.”) Most e-zines offer one sponsor ad at the top and several “classified” ads at the bottom. Sponsor ads typically cost three to five times more than the classified ad, but you’ll see the ranges vary greatly.
Start by offering ad specials to your own readers. Then also list your e-zine in the many e-zine advertising directories on the Web. These services help match advertisers with appropriate publishers just like you. (Need help? My manual gives step-by-step instructions on how to accept and profit from ads in your e-
zine.)
Remember that you have every right to be selective about the type of ads you accept. While your readers know these ads don’t represent YOUR business, their quality will indirectly influence their perception of you.
REMEMBER THE SILENT BENEFITS OF YOUR E-ZINE
Keep in mind that even if you aren’t getting direct business from your e-zine at this time, it’s still delivering many benefits that may be less obvious. Your e-zine is helping to establish you as an expert in your field. It’s giving you massive online
exposure. You’re gaining further credibility with your current clients and customers. And it’s forcing you to package your knowledge into concise articles on a regular basis, which you can recycle for many other marketing uses.
(c) 2002-2003 Alexandria K. Brown
Keywords: ezine, e-zine, email, e-mail, sales, marketing, online,
Internet, newsletter, promote
About the Author
Alexandria Brown, Marina del Rey, CA
alexandria@ezinequeen.com
http://www.ezinequeen.com
Online marketing coach Alexandria K. Brown, “The E-zine Queen,” is author of the award-winning tutorial package, ‘Boost Business With Your Own E-zine.’ To learn more about this step-by-step program, and to sign up for FREE how-to articles and FREE teleclasses, visit http://www.EzineQueen.com/
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Your FAQ Page - A Sales Tool? You Bet!
By Karen Thackston
The FAQ page… a standard addition to almost any site. It usually lists questions customers ask on a regular basis, and the answers to those questions. But what befuddles me is that hardly any sites I’ve visited use this page as a sales tool.
Did you think of that? If not, you’re losing out on the use of some valuable real estate! FAQ pages are generally well-trafficked areas of your site. With just a few adjustments, your FAQ page could become one of your leading sources for sales conversions.
Let me give you a before and after version of one site I visited. I’ve changed some of the information so as not to promote (or embarrass) the site owner.
BEFORE
What is the source of the minerals used in your supplements?
We use all-natural minerals from sources such as limestone and dolomite. Nothing artificial.
[back to top]
What is the source of Vitamin C?
Ascorbic acid, which was originally gained by isolation from fruits and plants, is produced today by an industrial process. The basis for the industrial ascorbic acid synthesis is D-Glucose (grape sugar or corn sugar), one of the most common organic compounds in nature.
[back to top]
Informative? Yes. Does it answer the question? Yes. Does it contribute to making the sale? Not really.
Now, let’s change these two answers just a bit, add a link or two, and see how much more powerful they can become.
AFTER
What is the source of the minerals used in your supplements?
We use all-natural minerals from sources such as limestone and dolomite. These 100% natural minerals are then carefully processed under low heat to remove impurities and preserve quality. Many minerals are processed under high heat, which literally kills the beneficial elements of the mineral. Because of our devotion to producing quality vitamins and minerals, we take additional precautions that other manufacturers skip. To ensure you receive the most potent supplements possible, choose XYZ Vitamins.
[shop for minerals]
[back to top]
What is the source of Vitamin C?
Ascorbic acid, which was originally gained by isolation from fruits and plants, is produced today by an industrial process. The basis for the industrial ascorbic acid synthesis is D-Glucose (grape sugar or corn sugar), one of the most common organic compounds in nature.
XYZ Vitamins uses only organically grown grapes and corn, and we extract our own D-Glucose to ensure the process remains 100% natural. No other manufacturer in the world has developed its own facility specifically to produce the highest quality of Vitamin C. We go the extra mile to ensure the vitamins and minerals you buy from XYZ Vitamins are the most beneficial for you and your family.
[shop for vitamins]
[back to top]
See the difference? The “before†versions JUST answer the questions. The “after†versions boost consumer confidence, promote unique qualities of the products, and offer easy-to-follow links to buy the products in question.
By using some imagination and salesmanship, you can turn your FAQ page into a highly productive tool that not only gives visitors the information they need, but also encourages more sales!
Discuss this article in the Small Business ideas forum.
Looking for a down-to-earth, easy to understand guide to all things search marketing? Check out the Small Business Guide to Search Engine Marketing. It’s the first search marketing e-book specifically written for folks that know almost nothing about search marketing. It even includes access to a private support forum where you can ask the author questions.
Karon Thackston is owner of Marketing Words, Inc. a full-service copywriting company specializing in search engine copywriting. She is also publisher of the long-standing free ezine, Business Essentials. Karon is author and publisher of the popular Step-by-Step Copywriting Course, an e-course designed to teach sound and highly-effective copywriting techniques - including search engine copywriting techniques. With over 20 years of copywriting experience, Karon has contributed to the search engine and sales success of companies large and small including Gortons Seafood, Third Sphere Hosting and more.
Maximize Results with Ad Trackers and AutoResponders
By Dan Snow
Autoresponders and Ad Trackers are powerful tools with proper use and management. Without proper use and management they are absolutely Worthless.
They can be the key to a very effective online sales strategy. As with any advertising, there are three keys to success. They are:
1) Test
2) Test
3) Test
Your job as an online marketer is going to be to continually test various subject lines, different copy (the body of your letters) and different offers to see what works best with your particular market.
Why do we test?
The simple fact is whether you are using free advertising, paid advertising, or a combination of the two, my bet is that you don’t really want to waste time OR money on things that just are not working.
If you are running one ad, it is pretty easy to see whether or not that ad is working.
But if you are serious about making a living online, then you are most likely running several ad campaigns at one time. So when the time comes to renew an ad or run it again, how do you know if it is worth running again?
You may be running twenty different ad campaigns including search engines, banner ads, ffa pages, classified ads, discussion forums, and so on. If your sales stats show you that you made three new sales, you really need to know which of those twenty ad campaigns is pulling their weight.
Personally, I run 14 to 20 letters in my Autoresponder. I can tell you EXACTLY which letters produce the best results.
I advertise in a few different ezines and I know EXACTLY which ones will give me reasonable results for different offers.
I know this because I test and I track my results using my AdTracker. You can do the same, if your online business offers an Ad Tracking program. If not, you can get one of the best online Ad Tracking systems along with unlimited Autoresponders at: http://adtrack.trafficwave.net/t.pl/13176/86359
You will need to get into the habit of creating an AdTrack URL for each different ad campaign you are running. It takes just a minute or two and it can really save you a lot of time and money.
Instructions for creating AdTrack URL’s can be found in our members areaunder “Training Articles”.
Here is how I use mine: I like to promote my report page. So I use: http://www.trafficwave.net/members/profitwave/report.html.
But the viewer opens:
http://adtrack.trafficwave.net/t.pl/13176/84812 which counts every open or click through.
I use my Banner Ad, my FFA Page, Guaranteed Visitors, my Signature Files, various classified ads, ezine ads, etc… and they all point people back to my report.html page.
The reason I direct people to my report page is because I want to have names and email addresses that I can follow up with on a regular basis.(over 2,100 leads and growing ain’t half bad!).
But how do I know which of these ad resources gives me the best results?
My FFA Page uses AdTracker #1
My Banner Ad uses AdTracker #2
My Classified ads each use their own AdTracker.
My Ezine Ads each use theier own AdTracker.
I even use a different AdTracker URL for each of my Autoresponder letters so that when someone does click through to my order page, I know exactly which letter got them to respond.
Make sense?
What about ads that don’t produce results?
Personally, I try a few revisions on the ad itself. It could be that this particular ad isn’t appealing to the market that is seeing it. By testing different subject lines, different copy, etc… I can do some testing to see if that same market might respond better to a different approach.
If my testing just doesn’t get it done after a while, I drop that resource from my list.
This way, I can focus on the ad resources that I KNOW are working. AND… I can continue to seek out other ad resources along the way.
As you go along, you will begin to see what works best for your offer in various advertising areas and you will begin to build your own list of sites that just “click” for you (no pun intended) and ad copy that really gets you results.
THAT is when you are able to consistently send out offers and reasonably expect a solid return. It’s not a perfect science but it sure helps you narrow your focus and THAT is what makes you successful in this business.
Why not take a moment and enroll for a 30 Day Trial at No Cost.
http://adtrack.trafficwave.net/t.pl/13176/86359
Then, log in to your back office and create a new AdTrack URL for all your Business URLs?
When you go to the AdTracker section and click “Create New URL”, a new form comes up on the right of your screen.
Enter the URL you want people to go to when they click the link in your ad. If you are promoting your Business properly (and you should be), that URL will be a Website that allows the viewer to order something or request additional information. Here is my example as shown above:
http://adtrack.trafficwave.net./t.pl/13176/84812
Assign a “Nickname” call it “Capture Page”. This tells you that this AdTracker is tracking the results from your Website ad.
Leave the “Advertising Cost” empty. If you were paying for an ad in an Ezine or a Directory, you could enter the cost of that ad here and this would help you calculate your true cost per response on the ad. Click “Create My AdTracker URL”.
The screen will change and you will see your new AdTrack URL created there. It should look something like this:
http://adtrack.trafficwave.net/t.pl/13176/86376
Copy that AdTrack URL and go to your Promotion Letter or message and insert the Ad Tracker URL. Enter this new AdTracker URL where ever you have your URL in your ad.
Now, when someone clicks that link, the system will add a count of “1″ to your Adtracker stats and send them to your real URL.
This way, you can log in to your back office and see at any time exactly how many people have responded to your Ad message.
See how that works? You can use this same process to create and use an AdTrack URL for each of your Promotional letters and any other online advertising campaigns you are going to be running.
Just another Support tool from Action Marketing News.
Yours in success,
Dan Snow, Editor - Publisher
Action Marketing News Ezine
( with credit given to Mr. Brian Rooney, TrafficWave.net )
Creative Newsletter Marketing Techniques
by Jan D Verhoeff
Newsletters are as personal as the individual writing them. No two should be alike, however, if your newsletter follows a simple format or guideline, the reader will always know where to find expected items in your newsletter.
Subject Line This should be a captivating Introduction to the interior of your newsletter. Topic and keyword guided, this line directs your customer to read the rest of the message.
Greeting This can be either a general greeting or a personalized form greeting where each reader is addressed by name. I personally prefer the general greeting when I receive a message. I feel that a form letter addressing me by my first name is redundantly underhanded. But, each person has his own opinion of this matter.
What’s in the message? This is a Bulleted List of what’s inside the newsletter. It should have a lead in title for each topic in the contents, including a reference to links outside the newsletter if they are part of your content.
Content The most important part of your newsletter is “The Newsâ€. Without news in your newsletter, what purpose does it serve? A newsletter is about informing our customer of information that will benefit them, offering them a proposal, giving them choices to revisit your website or purchase your products and services. Be sure you give more than you expect to get from your customers. Free information leads to a need to know, and you can satisfy their need.
Call to Action Every Newsletter should have a Call to Action. Your newsletter’s purpose is to market your website, business, products, or service. Be honest. Tell your reader what you want them to do.
Opt out policy Due to obnoxious spam that floods our email daily, we occasionally need a rest from the domination of news overload. Out of kindness, leave a means of opting out of your ezine, for those who need a respite. If they find value in your ezine, they won’t opt out, if they don’t find value - honestly, you don’t want them there anyway.
Building a credible ezine requires trust between you and your customer, establish this trust early by giving them valuable information in EVERY message.
|
Claim your FREE Bumper to Bumper Traffic Guide and Maximize Targeted Traffic to Your Website right now at http://advertizeyourbusiness.com © 2007 - Jan D. Verhoeff Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jan_D._Verhoeff |
Get the Most of Your Online Purchases
by Anne Marie, 2007
Here is a little trick for free and simple advertising for your website/business.
Think of all of the products you have purchased and programs you have signed up for in your online venture.
Some of them were good, others were not. For all the products that satisfied you, go to each one of the providing companies and submit a testimonial.
What is a testimonial?
According to Wikipedia, “In promotion and advertising, a testimonial or endorsement consists of a written or spoken statement, sometimes from a public figure, sometimes from a private citizen, extolling the virtue of some product.”
Just write a few sentences that are meaningful and that make the product or the service sound good (but only if it’s really good).
Then just email your testimonial to the companies that provided that service or product. Make sure you put the word “testimonial” in the subject line of your email and your name and website url at the bottom of the testimonial.
Here it’s an example of a testimonial I have recently received from one of my customers:
===========================================
“I just want to say that I appreciate how helpful you have been.
You are very responsive with a great eye for detail.
I would recommend you!”
My customer’s name
My customer’s website
===========================================
Some companies will not post your testimonial but many will do it if you write a meaningful and true one.
Pay attention! From a visitor’s view, testimonials are of three types and so it should be for the companies:
1) Testimonials signed John Doe from California and no link to a website.
You can see such fakes all over the internet, especially on money-making websites where they promise you’ll make a lot of money without doing anything. You know the type. No serious visitor will believe such a testimonial.
2) Testimonials containing an affiliate link.
That’s a step forward but not a big one. Put yourself in a visitor’s shoes … Who’s this guy who endorsed this program? Well …is just one of the hundreds of unidentified affiliates of a certain program…
3) Testimonials containing a link to YOUR website.
Well, now a visitor can see that a real person, a serious business owner endorsed that product or program.
That’s completely another story!
And by the way, you know that Google has revolutionized SEO (search engine optimization) by heavily weighting the importance of links. In short, if many sites link to your website, then your site will probably get a higher ranking.
That’s what the testimonial will provide: a one-way link to your website.
This is a very effective and FREE way of advertising.
========================================
Low Cost Advertising Campaigns In Multiple Ezines
Your FIVE STAR KEY to Successful Branding
ADSHOME Ezine Advertising Co-op
http://sgrant8905.hmmceo.hop.clickbank.net
========================================
Traffic Tactics that won’t Cost You a Cent
by Mary Jo Adams
Are you constantly banging your head in frustration on not receiving all the internet traffic you would like to get to your web site?
Are you tormented from information overload listening to all the latest free website traffic tactics and not being able to understand any of it?
Or are you just too broke and all you have to rely on is getting some free website traffic tactics?
Did you realize that thousands of website operators use a simple technique to generate targeted visitors to their websites without paying a dime in advertising? It’s true.
In fact, the technique works so well that many of them don’t want you to discover how they get those thousands of website visitors and make so many sales.
You can do the exact same thing for any websites or programs you want!
You can get valuable publicity — exposure you often couldn’t even pay for if you wanted to by using “Traffic Exchanges”.
The following represent only a few of the enormous benefits of prooting your business using traffic exchanges:
** Dominate The Traffic Exchanges **
** Builds Your Affiliate Base **
** Build a Huge “Opt-In” Email List **
** Pre-sell Website Visitors **
** Requires No Special Skills **
You can employ website traffic tactics without spending dime. However, knowing how is the real deal. Here’s the score.
These methods, if employed properly, will not only make your web site popular but will make you achieve your most desirable result -higher conversion rate.
So if you operate a website selling virtually any type of product or service (whether your own or as an affiliate), promoting with traffic exchanges should rank high on your list of traffic generation strategies.
No other method of generating targeted traffic to your website provides the quality, quantity and steadiness of traffic in such a simple, straightforward, and cost-
effective manner.
==============================
Mary Jo Adams - Publisher of: http://OnSwitchSolution.com
onswitchsolution@gmail.com
==============================
Copyright © 2006 Mary Jo Adams I grant permission to publish this article, as long as the bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way.
Seven Deadly E-zine Killers
by Tommy Yan
If you’re like most e-zine publishers, you subscribe to other e-zines. I subscribe to over two dozen. Call me an info nut if you’d like, but I like to stay informed. And I do read them.
But lately, I’ve been scanning and have even unsubscribed from a few publications. There’s a nasty trend from certain publishers to sell products without offering any valuable information in return. It seems the subscriber is no longer important.
In a typical list-building scenario, the publisher places ads or conducts a few joint ventures to build her database fast. Then she sells information about how she built it so fast hoping to continue building faster. Then she writes a book about how she did it so fast to her growing list.
Do you notice a diabolical pattern here? People buy into the sizzle and never get to bite into the steak. They’re led to believe the sizzle is the steak.
I’m left wondering if I’m not just a credit card number to them.
If you publish an e-zine, you don’t want to appear like a door-to-door salesman in a cheap suit. Where the housewife opens the door and he’s already started his song and dance. And all she can think about is how to get rid of him. You don’t want to be caught dead wearing a cheap suit.
Let’s look at seven deadly e-zine killers you absolutely must not have in your publication:
Killer #1: Itsy bitsy content.
This is the mother of all killers. You open an e-zine and you get a few remarks about some program, teleseminar, or discounted item. And then three links to a squeeze page or sales letter page.
There’s no priming the pump. They hit you right away with their pitch. They brag about their success and how you can duplicate their success by purchasing their product or program.
Excuse me, but there are a lot of smart subscribers out here who don’t want to be sold. Or taken.
They want to be swept off their feet. They want value, rich content, and to experience a magic carpet ride. They don’t want to be treated like a piece of meat.
You may be a master product pusher, but some day your clients are going to wise up and leave because they’re tired of you trying to sell them the world. Don’t sell just for the sake of making a buck. Marry your database with good content so they will remain with you through thick and thin.
Killer #2: Annoying ads.
I don’t read them. I don’t have the time. They’re distracting. I skip them. Most subscribers do the same because they know they will be solicited for money. So I have trained my brain to tune out those annoying ads.
There’s nothing worse than breaking the flow of your content with ads. If you want to publish them, organize them in a separate section. This way your message stays indelibly fresh in your reader’s mind.
Killer #3: Sounding like a smartass.
There are some marketers who have been successful at building huge lists. They continue to make joint ventures deals to grow more lists. Now they’re beginning to sound a little pompous and arrogant.
That’s unwise and unfortunate…
Because they may be geniuses at selling Girls Gone Wild DVDs to the Jerry Springer crowd, but talking down to their subscribers insults a more sophisticated crowd. It’s best not to belittle your audience.
Killer #4: Rampant reminders.
You sign up for a teleseminar and receive a confirmation. One day before your call you get a friendly e-mail reminder with the telephone number and access code. On the actual morning, you get another reminder. Two hours prior, you get another reminder.
Please!
We are not a bunch of forgetful little children. Quit clogging up our e-mail with your insecurities. All this does is increase the possibility of your server being blacklisted by our servers.
I understand sometimes that e-mails don’t get through, but if it doesn’t get through with reminder number one–it usually won’t get through any better with reminder number five.
Killer #5: Stagnant subject line.
If you want your e-zine opened and read, you must give your subscribers a good enough reason to click on it. Adding the name of your e-zine (Body Building Basics Issue #17) just won’t do the trick anymore. Unless you are content-rich and they’re addicted to each issue.
In today’s online climate, everyone I talk with is annoyed with spam. Their e-mail accounts are flooded with all sorts of nonsense. Their mouse finger is itching to delete all junk e-mail.
To avoid becoming a victim, create a compelling subject line. Something that intrigues your readers so much, they’d have to open it or else they’d lose sleep. Avoid boring your audience. There’s nothing worse than boring your subscribers.
Killer #6: Dead links.
Sounds simple enough. But even the most careful publishers get caught with their pants down. The answer to this is to test, test, and test prior to each broadcast.
Killer #7: Consistently inconsistent.
You get in a groove writing some great issues. Rich in content and full of useful information your subscribers are grateful for.
Then you get busy…
So you write some short tips and ideas instead of your usual composition. Some maybe not pertaining to your topic. You begin to sway.
Each issue weighs like an anchor around your neck. What seemed easy to do has become a burden. So you do a rush on the next publication.
Big mistake. Because people will begin losing interest. And take you for granted.
But what can you do?
It’s wise to stay two or three issues ahead. When you find some extra time, write two or three articles in advance and then plug in the extra sections later. That way, you’ll continue with rich content and not worry about people becoming bored.
Another idea is to announce a vacation for a certain number of issues. People understand the importance of rest. Let them know ahead of time.
Or you can ask an associate to fill in for a few issues. Edify that person to your database. You may also be asked to fill in for them someday. Which can benefit the both of you.
About the Author
Tommy Yan helps business owners and entrepreneurs make more money through direct response marketing. He publishes Tommy’s Tease weekly e-zine to inspire people to succeed in business and personal growth. Get your free subscription today at TommyYan.com
-
MMEzine
Subscribe to the MMEzine today and you will be able to submit your ad to our Classifieds page every week at no cost!
Your details will never be shared with a 3rd party.