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Content:
Introduction.
Ezine advertising is an inexpensive way to reach thousands in your target market!
Ezine advertising is the hottest website marketing technique online today! That's because it works. For one low price, your ad can reach thousands of people in your target market....quickly and easily. They're also easy to track so you know which ads people are responding to which helps you to fine-tune your advertising campaign. Ezines are electronic newsletters, sent to an "opt-in" list of people (which means they have asked to receive it by subscribing). Similar to a magazine that shows up in your mailbox, this one shows up in your inbox. It's push marketing at its finest. Those who subscribe like to see ads that relate to what they are interested in and have also come to expect it. Ads are published quickly without the lag in lead time required by many other media. For further explanation of why ezine advertising works, click on the articles below.
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10 Tips for Successful Ezine Advertising.
by Michael Southon
If you're like most people starting out on the Internet,you've been along this well-worn path:
You try free classified ad sites and get bombarded with spam by people trying to sell you
stuff.
You try banner exchange programs and get a handful of click-throughs.
You finally get into the top twenty results in the Search Engines, and then a week later your site has dropped back to number 150.
The Internet may the largest market in human history, but how on earth do you reach those millions of people?
Well, the answer is ezine advertising.
Its the surest way on the Web of reaching your target audience.
Ezines (short for 'electronic magazines') are email newsletters that are sent out regularly to subscribers, like the one you're reading. They're sometimes called 'opt-in' lists because everyone who receives an ezine has chosen to do so.
And that's why ezine advertising gets results. People read ezines and they'll read your ad. And if you've matched the ezine to the product you're selling, you've reached your target audience.
Have a look at the ads in your favorite ezine - why are they there? Because they get results.
There are currently around 90,000 ezines being published every month. So whatever you're selling, there's more than likely an ezine that will take your ad straight to the audience you want to reach.
Ezine advertising is not only effective, its cheap as well. A 5-line ad in an ezine that goes to 3000 people will cost you between $5 and $20 per issue.
As a general rule, you'll always get back at least the cost of the ad, and usually much more. So there's very little risk.
But there are some tips for successful ezine advertising. Here they are:
1. The first and most important rule in ezine advertising is: "Track your Ads!". You might place your ad in 5 different ezines and get a
hundred responses, but if you don't track your ads, you won't know which ezines were pulling responses and which weren't.
To advertise effectively in ezines, you must learn from experience - its a process of trial and error. Eventually, you'll end up with a
handful of ezines that you know are bringing you a high response rate. After that, just keep placing your ads in those ezines and you'll have a guaranteed stream of customers.
But how do you track your ads?
The simplest method is to place a key or a code at the end of your email address. If your ad was in this ezine (for example), this is the email address you'd place with the ad:
yourname@yourdomain.com?subject=freezine
Then, when you get a reply with 'freezine' in the subject field, you'll know which ezine it came from.
For a URL, it's the same principle:
http://www.yourdomain.com?freezine
However, if you're going to code your URLs, you'll need a sophisticated webstats program to track the coded URLs. Here are a couple of free ones:
http://www.hitbox.com
http://www.openwebscope.com
Here's another way to code your URLs : for every ezine ad, create a duplicate of your homepage and name the page after the ezine that your ad will appear in. So, if the ad is appearing in Ezine A, this is the URL you'd place in that ad:
http://www.yourdomain.com/EzineA
Again, you'll need to use a good web stats program to track the hits to your coded URLs.
2. The second rule is to target your audience. It may seem obvious but some advertisers overlook this. If you're selling a web-marketing course, don't advertise in an ezine that deals with stock options; they probably won't be interested.
Use the 'subject categories' in any ezine directory to find ezines that relate to the product you're selling. You can find a list of 60 ezine directories in 'The Free Directory of Ezines' at:
http://www.netmastersolutions.com/tools.html
3. Once you've chosen a number of ezines that target your audience, subscribe to them and examine the ads closely. If you see an ad that keeps repeating issue after issue, you can be pretty sure that its getting results. You've found a good ezine to advertise in.
4. Check to see how many ads are in the ezine. You don't want your ad lost in an ezine farm at the bottom of the newsletter. You probably won't get much response from an ad in an ezine that has 15 or 20 ads per issue. Readers of those ezines have become hardened to the ads and have learnt to skip them.
5. Check to see if the ezine publisher has a policy of never running ads for two similar products in the same issue - your ad will be much more effective if its the only one of its kind in that particular issue.
6. Small ezines vs. Big ezines: bigger is not always better. The big ezines with 1000's of subscribers tend to have more ads than the small ezines. Also, small ezines with only a few hundred subscribers often have a much more targeted audience than the big ezines.
7. Repeat your ads. Research shows that off the Web, an ad has to be seen about 21 times before someone acts on it; on the Internet its about 9 times. If your budget allows, try and have your ad repeated at least three times in a particular ezine. Most ezines offer discount packages for bulk advertising.
8. Email address vs. URL. Opinions are divided on this; some people prefer to give an email address, others prefer to give a URL. The
advantage of giving an email address is that it gives you the opportunity to send a powerful sales letter to the person who responded to your ad. Its also much easier to track your ads with an email address than a URL.
9. Offer something free in your ad copy. It'll often tip the balance between a response and no response.
10. Keep your ads short, even if you're not using the number of words you're allowed. Short ads are more likely to be read. Keep your sentences short too; they pack much more power. Use the word 'You'. Don't describe your product but tell the reader what your product can do for them.
About the Author: Michael Southon is the publisher of 'The Free
Directory of Ezines'
http://www.freezineweb.com
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Ezine Advertising - What A Deal!
By Darcy
An amazingly untapped and relatively unknown resource, ezines and electronic newsletters are springing up at a phenomenal rate. They typically carry surprisingly large numbers of subscribers that are very interested in that ezine's particular topic, which has made the publishers realize that they suddenly have a valuable resource that they can sell: advertising space.
Ezine ads are ridiculously cheap, and they're a great way to reach a large number of targeted subscribers, since you can choose publications that focus on your potential customers. Compare typical prices of $.01 per subscriber to the rates of $.05 or more typically paid for banner ad view.
It's been our experience that most ezine ads draw in response rates of about 5-11%. Compare that to typical 1-2% response rates from banner ads, and ezines quickly become much more cost effective.
But It can get even better, as long as you remember one simple word. Negotiation! Remember that there is almost no incremental cost to the advertiser when including an ad in their ezine, and most of them have unsold ad slots in every issue. That gives you the leverage to contact the publisher and offer a deal. Here are some suggestions:
- Ask for a deep discount on your first purchase so you can determine your response rate before buying space in future issues.
- Invite the publisher to join your affiliate program. She can then promote your site in her ezine any way she sees fit, and makes money from the program instead of from ad sales.
- Make a standing offer to buy unsold ad slots at 75% off.
- If you offer a product or service that might be of interest to the publisher, offer a swap or a deep discount on your own prices in exchange for free ad space.
But before you can offer any of these deals, you have to find the publishers. I can think of no better place than the ezine advertising directory maintained by Lifestyles Publishing (http://www.babblebot.com/ap/doe.html). They offer a huge online database of ezines that accept paid ads. You can easily search the database based on a number of criteria and see at a glance if that publication is of interest to you before contacting the publisher.
Don't miss out on one of the most cost-effective ways to promote any website!
About the Author:
Darcy has been an Internet Marketing consultant for over 4 years and operates a web site offering search engine promotion, optimization and ranking services. You can visit his site at: http://www.babblebot.com or
info@babblebot.com
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Internet Smarts: 7 Undeniable Reasons That You Should be Advertising in Ezines.
by Dean Garrison
The day of huge circulation print magazines is starting to decline. Within the next several years you will see more and more print magazines go by the way side and more and more ezines spring up. Why? Ezines are usually free to readers
(unlike their printed counterparts) and usually much more cost effective for advertisers... which is the focus of this month's "INTERNET SMARTS" column. Here are 7 undeniable reasons that you should focus more of your ad budget
toward ezines:
1) EZINES PROVIDE A MUCH MORE COST EFFECTIVE ALTERNATIVE TO TRADITIONAL ADVERTISING.
When buying advertising space in magazines, tabloids or newspapers your cost will almost always be higher than the cost of advertising in an ezine. Why? It all boils down to production costs. Let's just take a traditional magazine as an
example. They must pay for mailing costs, printing costs, design, payroll and various other expenditures. Most ezines are able to deliver their messages to you at low cost with very few major expenses. This means a much lower cost to the
advertiser. In contrast to a print magazine you will normally find you can reach just as many people with your advertisement for about 1/10th the cost. Advantage: Ezines!
2) THERE IS MUCH LESS LEAD TIME.
When you place an ad with your favorite ezine you can expect to see it in circulation within a couple of weeks, sometimes even faster than that. With traditional forms of print advertising you will normally have to wait up to 90 or even 120 days to see your advertising in print. Advantage: Ezines!
3) EZINES ARE MORE TARGETTED BECAUSE THEY CAN
AFFORD TO BE.
The average ezine is much more targetted than a traditional magazine. Why? Because they can afford to be. Ezines can survive in niche markets where traditional magazines can not. A national magazine can not make enough to cover overhead unless their circulation is huge. For this reason they must keep topics more general in nature. A print magazine may focus on "small business" while an ezine can effectively survive catering to a smaller niche within that segment. For instance, an ezine might just concentrate on "ways to promote your small
business on the internet." By concentrating on smaller niches the ezine is giving its advertisers a tremendous opportunity to target their message to people who want to receive it. Advantage: Ezines!
4) EZINES WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH A WORLDWIDE
FORUM FOR YOUR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES.
In this global economy ezines are one of the very few ways to truly reach people all over the world. I live in the USA. I actually publish my own print magazine, "Revolution," so I can tell you without a doubt that my hands are tied as a print
publisher trying to reach the masses world wide, there is just no way for me to do it and remain cost effective. I must mail all of my issues by bulk mail (USA Only). But, on the other hand, my ezine reaches all over the world because it doesn't cost me anything more to do that! So if your products or services are available globally you really need to be advertising in ezines. Even in my own USA based ezine, 30% of my subscribers are from outside the USA. This gives you a true international reach without huge costs. Advantage: Ezines!
5) YOU WILL GET RESULTS WITH EZINES BECAUSE THE
AVERAGE PERSON WANTS THE INFORMATION NOW!!!
In the age of instant gratification your prospect wants their information right now. With traditional marketing they would call a voice mail number or mail a coupon and wait days or weeks for their information. With a good ezine advertisement
that information is just a click away. They can click on your URL, email address or autoresponder and get their information within moments. (Note: Even if you include your internet info in a print ad you will lose effectiveness. Why? Because people can't click on your magazine ad--right now!) That's what people want. They want it now! Advantage: Ezines!
6) THERE IS ALMOST ALWAYS LESS COMPETITION
WHICH LEADS TO MORE RESULTS.
I recently did an informal comparison between two good publications. The first was a print magazine going to 25,000 people. The second was an ezine going to 25,000 people. The print magazine had 212 ads and the ezine had 12. Where would you rather advertise? The print magazine has to get 17 times as many overall responses for their advertisers just to keep them happy. Would you rather compete with 211 other advertisers or 11 other advertisers? And, again, let's not
forget that the ezine ad cost was about 1/10th the cost of the ads in the print magazine. Advantage: Ezines!
7) IT IS EASIER FOR SMALL COMPANIES TO COMPETE
IN THE EZINES.
Ezines offer a "level playing field" for advertisers. In a print magazine you will see full color glossy ads that were produced for tens of thousands of dollars, and your little 20 word classified ad can not compete with that! But in the ezines every
advertiser works within the same set of rules, so the odds of your success are much greater. The best ad writers make the most money in the ezines, regardless of ad production costs. Advantage: Ezines!
The seven things I have talked about today give you undeniable proof that ezine advertising is worth pursuing. In all fairness I should mention that print magazines definitely have their place too, but that is a topic for another column. If you are looking for a cheap, cost effective alternative to print advertising... What are you waiting for? Advertise in your favorite ezine today. Your results might very well surprise you.
About the Author: Dean Garrison is the webmaster of "Revolution Online" at: http://www.revolutionteam.com.
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Top 7 Rules Broken by Newsletter Advertisers.
"Wild Bill"
I write a lot of articles about copywriting and marketing on the Internet. I have always believed you're best at what you love to do, if you spend your time doing what you love. Here are what many may believe are obvious rules, but these are the 7 rules I have most often seen broken. Since I'm far.. very, very far from perfect, many of these rules I have repeatedly broken myself as well.
Knowing the rules does not necessarily mean following the rules. Read,
Recite, Retain and Recycle. 4 words a previous professor used 1000 times. He constantly stressed the point, and I quote, "Just because you've read it in the book young blood, doesn't prove you've learned a thing.
1. Know your Audience.
The first rule of advertising is to know your Audience or better put, "Target Audience". Know where and how to find them. I know this seems to be a simple and quite obvious rule, but never a day goes by that I don't see it broken. I read and scan approximately 10-20 newsletters each day, and each day I see those ads, thinking to myself, "what are they doing here"?
OK, maybe you will find someone reading a B2B newsletter that is interested in Antique Crystal, but don't you think your efforts and advertising budget would be better served finding a newsletter on Antiques? You may even gain exposure to a businessperson who likes old crystal, but more than likely they don't have that on their mind at the time. Now, I may be a little on the dramatic side, but you get the point. Know where your advertising will best suit the readers and their present state of mind.
2. How do I really know they have that many subscribers?
Well friend, I may be cutting my own throat here just a little (as I use an email publishing program of my own design), but the one sure way to know, is to advertise with newsletters who use a neutral service such as eGroups http://www.egroups.com or Topica http://www.topica.com. There are many services free and paid. Some editors also use a bonded service that tracks and guarantees an honest count of a subscriber base. Being what I consider a small fish yet, I do not yet worry that much about the advertising quite that much. I don't yet use a service of any kind. At the present I'm more interested in gaining a loyal readership, than selling advertising. That's not to say I don't sell advertising, I just don't push it that hard....yet. But what it comes down to is that if the newsletter doesn't use an independent service that keeps and displays the subscriber count, then you have to rely on trust. Trust, my friend, can sometimes be a hard thing to come by these days.
3. Avoid Nuisance Publications.
This could be anything from an opt-in ad list, to solo-ads, to a monthly service mailing. Although many of these have large, sometimes very large subscriber bases, they get a great deal of no-show readers. These are publications that quite often get deleted by a large portion of the people
receiving them. I get them all the time. How many other opt in advertisers do you think really read those endless emails of advertising garbage.
Solo ads do get read, but think about it, how many do you read? I may read 1 out of 50. As soon as I see a Solo Ad or any of those other names they're given I delete on contact! What about you? You do get premium space and exposure, if enough people read them, but after talking to other webmasters, I found that a great deal of them usually delete them without ever being read. So consider what you have to pay for that premium space, and that probably only 10% of the people see it.
Suppose you sign up for a free service and one of the stipulations is that you agree to receive their "occasional" mailings. You know; those are the ones you receive every month, week or even daily that you tolerate only because you enjoy the privilege of their service. If you are deleting these, how many other subscribers do you feel may be doing the same?
This is not to say that you won't get a response, but too many of these mailings demand higher rates for their advertising space. You must decide just how much exposure you will really get and whether the price is worth the service.
4. Bad Contact Information Sucks.
Another obvious but often abused rule. This is as common sense, as common sense can get. Make it easy to respond. I don't know about you, but it really irks me to read and respond to an ad, only to find that there is no such web address or I've emailed an unknown address. Oh well, their loss. I've encountered everything from the misspelling their email or web address to having none at all. I've even seen one Einstein who published his social security number in place of a fax number. Hey, I guess (most of) it happens to the best of us, but it still sucks!
5. How Are Your Headlines, Sunshine?
The main purpose of the headline is to gain attention! People scan newsletter advertising the same was they flip through the pages of a newspaper. They most often are trying to avoid reading your advertising. The key to the headline is to catch their eye before they get by you, to make them stop and read what you have to say. How do you stop those quick, averting eyes? Well, everyone has his or her own ideas about this.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOLLOWS FOR MEN AND WOMEN OVER 50
This headline promises important news, and if I were over 50, I would have to stop and look. I recently wrote an ad for a friend, with a headline similar to this. The first thing she asked me, was "what about my other clients"? She asked me this even though she knew her product served a certain demographic niche. She herself told me that 75% of her business served men and women over 50. Sounds like great odds to me. After doing some brief research of her business and a few questions, I concluded that her target audience are men and women over 50. I advised her to target this age group. If you get others outside of this demographic category, great! But let's stay focused on where the majority of the business comes from. The rest is icing on the cake!
6. Headlines Won't Help, if they're not seen.
Before buying that ad space, know where that ad will be placed. Unlike the traditional newspaper, digital newsletters vary quite a bit in pricing and placement quality. I would much rather buy a $20.00 ad at the top of a good newsletter, than spend $10.00 for two at the bottom of one of the same quality. Ask your editor or webmaster if they can tell you where they will place your paid ad.
Get accustomed to only advertising in newsletters you know or have at least viewed. Do you read the advertising? How many ads will accompany yours? Would you easily find your ad here? Watch and count the amount of ads that surface in newsletters you are considering. You don't want your ad lost in a maze of headlines, probably never to be heard from again. If your prospect's advertising quantities fluctuate, again, ask the editor. Many will be courteous enough to offer approximations.
7. Follow Basic Copywriting Rules.
If you're like me, you write your own copy and advertising. There was a time...long, long ago, I had a formal education in business and marketing,
so I know (or have hidden away in the cob webs I call a mind) all the old rules and have met many new ones along the way in these last 4 years of being on the Internet. Here are some quick rules on copywriting as it pertains to print and newsletter advertising.
- Appeal to the reader's emotions and instincts.
- Must convince even the most hardened skeptics.
- Overcome any objections the buyer may have.
- Use power words that literally force people to act.
- Capture and keep the reader's interest.
- Appeal to the reader's ego and self-interest.
- Show the facts and proof of your claims.
- Help the reader justify the purchase.
- Write copy that coincides with current attitudes in your target group.
- Motivate you reader to buy NOW.
- Use "special" benefits to make your product more attractive.
- Make your reader believe in you.
- Ad copy must relate and communicate like average people.
- Know what your target market really wants.
- Be able to easily lead into your back-end offers.
- Emulate other successful (but not over used) ad copy structures.
- Make your product so attractive that your reader has no choice but to buy.
- Write, re-write and re-write and re-write and re-write........
This article is not meant to cover all the many trials of finding the right newsletters to advertise in, but to help point you in the right direction!
Thanks for reading!
Adios my friend
"Wild Bill"
About the Author: If you would like to read more of my articles or the articles of over 830 other renowned authors, visit our archive of more than 3000 business and marketing articles at <http://www.MakingProfit.com>
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Four Ways to Profit from America's Most Affordable Advertising Tool.
by Jerome Chapman
Every experienced business owner can tell you about advertising that didn't work. They put up a lot of cash, placed their ads or commercials, and nobody seemed to notice.
When ads don't work it is usually because they aren't being seen by the right people or because ad prices are so high you can't afford to place enough to do any good.
Ezines or email newsletters solve both problems. Most ezines are tightly targeted to a specific group of readers. Ezine ads are also one of the most inexpensive forms of advertising available.
1. Be Tightly Target. Be careful to choose ezines that reach people who are likely to be good customers. Your ad for a business opportunity will do better in an ezine about starting Internet businesses than it will in a newsletter about athletics.
2. Have Patience. You probably won't get big response with your first ad. Repeat your ad over and over to get into the heads of the ezine's readers. Customers must first notice your ad, then think about it before they will make a purchase. This takes time, sometimes six weeks or more.
3. Be Customer Centered. Give your ad a two or three word headline in ALL CAPS. It should point out a problem the reader has or a benefit readers would like to get.
4. Include a Website. Although websites aren't essential to doing business on the Internet, most readers want to be able to click to a site for more information. Make sure the opening page of your website prominently displays information that backs up your ezine ad.
Customers hate it when they find an interesting ad, but the website tries to sell them something else. Usually it is just an oversight on the part of the business, but lots of customers feel like they've been duped.
Emailis the Internet's most popular feature. As more and more people worldwide get online to buy and do business, ezine ads will become an increasingly important part of your success.
About the Author: Jerome Chapman is an expert on marketing with ezines and on the
Internet. See his collection of powerful tips and Internet
promotion tools at http://www.TopEzineAds.com/ Reach him at
jerome@topezineads.com
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What Makes A Great Online Ad?
by Bob Osgoodby
Trying to sell your product or service online differs from all other forms of advertising, and very few people seem to realize that this is completely different from all other traditional forms of advertising. Print media allows the use of attention
getting graphics. Radio allows music or jingles and of course TV provides both visual as well as auditory stimuli.
Now a Web Page can also do this, but you have to get people there to see and/or hear your message. Spending a lot of money for a
Web Page that no-one sees is like putting a "Bill Board" on a major highway and putting your Ad on the back of it. Sure you may
get an occasional person who walks behind it, but you are not accomplishing your purpose.
The bottom line on any advertising campaign is to design your ad so that it gets attention. Classified Ads in the Newspaper are a good place to start in designing your online ad. In order to do this, you will have to examine the classifieds for a few days. Which ones run day after day and are really commercial in nature. They all have something in common, and after awhile you can get to spot them.
OK - with that behind us, we have to get our message across with words - and only words. All "great" ads have three things which make them work. The first is an "attention getter", the second is the "tease" and the third is the "call for action".
A great ad will first get someone's attention. If it doesn't do this, you are wasting your time and advertising dollars. An "attention getter" is basically the title of your ad - you must use powerful words here - FREE GIFT, EARN WHILE YOU SLEEP, I WAS REALLY STUPID etc. are just a few examples. Don't forget that FREE is one of the most powerful of these words. Titles that promise BIG EARNINGS or $$$$ EARN THOUSANDS $$$$ have become passe, and should probably be avoided.
Next we have the "Tease" - your purpose here is not to sell them something immediately. If we were selling a used refrigerator, we might say something about it to get them to call. Our purpose here is to get them to contact us for further information. You give them enough information to pique their curiosity. Don't try to sell them here - you simply don't have enough space to present your offer properly - in fact you could turn off a prospect if done improperly.
Third, we have the "Call to Action" - this is what you want them to do. Online, we only have a few options, but they are very powerful. E-mail to you is one and a visit to your Web Site is another. If you have an 800 number, that should be included. But forget giving them a number to call that will cost them long distance charges - they simply won't do it. Forget about writing you for information - capitalize on their impulse.
Now how do I know I have a "great" ad? That's easy - you get responses. Does that mean sales - no. It means responses. The sales part is a whole different animal.
To wrap us this part of the discussion, we must remember that it takes at least 5 to 7 exposures, on the average in traditional
advertising, to get a customer to "walk through your door". Advertising online is the same. You cannot expect your ads to
generate leads if they are only done once or twice, or by using a shotgun approach. Consistency here is the key - keep your offer in front of your prospects on a regular basis.
Don't be afraid to experiment with your ad copy. Keep a notebook which has copies of your ads with one per page. When you get a response, make a note there and include their E-mail address. Rotate your ads on a fairly regular basis to ensure they are all getting a fair chance. After awhile, you will see which ads are generating the most responses. Discard those that are not and concentrate on improving those that are.
About the Author: Bob publishes the free weekly "Your Business" Newsletter
Visit his Web Site at http://adv-marketing.com/business to
subscribe. As a bonus, get 40,000 FREE E-Books from
Larry Dotson, when you visit http://www.ldpublishing.com
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A Little Secret To Increase Your Returns When Ezine Advertising!
by Duncan Carver
I would like to share a little secret with you that will help to maximize your return when advertising in ezines. While ezine advertising is one of the most effective and affordable ways to advertise online, if you're not using this technique, then you're not maximizing your returns.
That little secret is, drum roll please... to capture readers email addresses directly from the ad itself. Why would you want to do this? It's simple really and I'll get right to the point.
If you place your website address in the ezine ad, then a prospect that responds to your ad will logically have to click through to your web site for more information.
Advantages = You gain a web site visitor, POSSIBLY a new lead or an ezine subscriber, and if you're really good, a sale :-)
Disadvantages = While a visitor may click through to your site, there are any number of reasons that might stop them performing the action you would like them to take. Your server might be down (unlikely but possible). You might loose the visitor straight away if they click on a banner or text link that points to another site. A simple aspect of your overall presentation might immediately repel them for reasons unknown. If the link you include in your ad doesn't take them directly to further information about your offer, then you run the risk of them losing interest in surfing your site, in order to find it in a bunch of other information. After all, Internet surfers are a hurried breed of cybernaughts. The list goes on...
BUT if you place your email address, or rather the address to an autoresponder in the ad, then not only can you deliver the information to the prospect immediately, but you've already captured their email address for additional follow up.
Advantages = You're guaranteed to get the email addresses of all interested readers, who otherwise might have visited your site and then failed to perform the desired task. You can take your time to properly introduce yourself and develop greater trust in your new lead. You can automatically introduce them to your web site, your ezine, your product or service etc in a continuos series of pre-determined emails. You've got an easy and affordable way to track your ad response rates, just check how many people requested your autoresponder. Your new lead has already received their first email from you and will be more receptive to any follow up emails you send. After all, the benefits of regularly mailing to you email list can be summed up in three simple words...
... profit, profit, profit!
UNLESS you bombard them with a continuos series of ads that is, and not valuable relationship building material. The list goes on...
Disadvantages = Your autoresponders server may be down (unlikely but possible). If you don't have a good series of follow up messages prepared, then you may loose that desired response. Really there aren't all that many disadvantages to this technique and the results of a recent series of tests I conducted show this.
I selected two ezines with very similar subscription bases (the difference was negligible in terms of testing) and of the same target market. The desired response that I wanted to achieve was to get prospects to subscribe to our daily ezine. In one ad I included an email address to an autoresponder and in the other a link to the web site. It turned out that 275 people requested the information through the autoresponder and in turn I converted 230 of those into ezine subscribers. That's a whooping 83.63% conversion ratio. The number of people who responded to the second ad was 265 and of those, 142 people subscribed to our ezine. That's a 53.58% conversion ratio.
The results showed that the autoresponder technique was producing far better results, and in a series of continued tests, it always came out on top.
Try this method the next time you place an ezine ad and you'll see the results. You can pick up a free autoresponder at http://www.getresponse.com if you don't already have one.
If you'd like a list of 50 ezines that will place you ad for FREE then send a blank email to freezineads@getresponse.com and you'll receive it in seconds ;-)
I'll also leave you with an additional tip before I depart. If you want to maximize your return to its fullest potential using the autoresponder technique, then deliver QUALITY information and / or incentives in EVERY follow up message that you create. By proving your new prospects with quality information or resources, you'll be developing further trust with every message you send, and your prospects will be more inclined to perform the desired tasks.
About the Author: Duncan Carver is the CEO of Internet Marketing Innovation Ltd. A
Company dedicated to providing innovative and affordable marketing
solutions. Visit his web site http://www.onlinemarketingtoday.com
for hundreds of free articles written by some of the most
professional online marketers of our time.
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How To Write Classified Ads That Sell.
by Bill Daugherty
One powerful little classified ad can make you a fortune! It will sell your product or service for months, even years, to come in any advertising venue you choose. On the other hand, a weak ad won't produce enough income to justify the time it takes you to write and submit it.
So stop wasting your time writing useless weak ads. You can write powerful ad copy every time if you will follow three simple rules.
Rule #1
The headline of your ad must catch the
reader's attention instantly. Remember,
your ad is competing with a lot of other
ads and information for every reader's
attention.
Rule #2
The body of your ad must not only hold
the reader's attention, it should get the
reader excited about your product or
service. You want your visitors eager
and ready buy your product or service
before they reach your site.
Rule #3
The ad must target potential customers for
your product or service. What's called a
blind ad may draw a lot of visitors to your
site, but few will buy, and we are looking
for buyers, not "tire kickers." Right?
To illustrate just how strong an ad can be when these three rules are followed, I am going to show you two ads written for the same product. Let's say I have just gotten the resell rights to a new Ebook about how to write great classified ads.
This first ad will demonstrate a weak ad for this product and doesn't follow the three rules for writing powerful ads.
Learn To Write Better Classified Ads!
Great new Ebook "How To Write Ads That Sell," by John Doe. John is one of the leading authorities on online advertising today and he can help you write like a pro!Goto:(myURL)
This ad does satisfy the third rule of targeting potential customers for our product, but it fails miserable in all other aspects. That headline isn't going to grab anybody's attention. And the body of the ad is not only boring, it is trying to sell the steak instead of selling the sizzle. People are not interested in your product or service per se, they are only interested in what the product or service will do for them. How will they benefit from using your product or service That's the key to writing powerful ads. You must sell the sizzle, not the steak.
Now let's look at an ad for that same Ebook that does follow our three rules.
Powerful Ads That Will Make You Rich!
You are only minutes away from creating powerful cash generating ads that will make your hit counter explode and your sales skyrocket - I Guarantee It !Goto:(myURL)
That's much better. This ad follows all three of our rules. It has an attention grabbing headline. The body of the ad talks not about the product, but the end result of using the product. And our entire ad targets potential customers for our product. See the difference?
It's just as easy to write a powerful ad as it is to write a weak one when you know these three simple little rules.
I wish you all the best in your classified advertising campaigns.
About the Author: Bill Daugherty is the editor and publisher of the
marketing and free advertising ezine "E-Power
Marketing." Visit his free ad site at:
http://www.adsgalore.bizland.com
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Useful Resources.
If you carefully readed material above, then you are ready to go out there and find your ezines. Here we have some links to help you to get started:
http://www.freezineweb.com Searchable, browsable (through its Site Map) directory of over 1000 electronic magazines. Directory information includes subject, latest publication date, contact and subscription information, publisher information and ad rates for each ezine listing.
http://www.list-city.com Featuring two directories related to the ezine industry: The Book of Ezines, containing hundreds of listings of ezines and their advertising rates, contact information, and The Advertising Exchange Directory, a source for ezine publishers seeking to swap ads with other publishers.
http://ezinesplus.com Links to family friendly ezines and newsletters, categorized by topic with description and subscription link. Ezine topics include crafts, home and garden, pets, literary, internet, family, travel and recreation.
http://www.marketing-seek.comdirectory/index.shtml Links to e-zine web sites, categorized by topic, with descriptions and user ratings.
http://Ezine-Universe.com Searchable and categorized directory of email newsletters and ezines on all topics.
http://www.ezine-dir.com Offering the best electronic magazines all sorted into 42 convenient categories.
http://www.ezineadauction.com Ezine Ad Auction brings ezine publishers with ad space to sell and ad buyers who want to advertise in ezines together in an auction setting.
http://www.liszt.com A free service that allows you to find, manage and participate in email lists and discussion groups.
Good Luck!
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