E-zine Marketing Training
E-zine marketing is a strategy for getting tons of traffic using free and paid E-zine advertising, E-zine articles and joint ventures.
E-zine Marketing with “solo ads” (exclusive database email broadcasts) has been directly responsible for generating thousands of fresh, exclusive, targeted leads to my site.
E-mail marketing on rocket fuel!
E-zine marketing is used to promote your products, services, website and Online business using the targeted subscriber lists of E-zine publishers.
There are three methods of E-zine marketing:
1. E-zine Advertising
2. E-zine Articles
3. Joint Ventures with Publishers
1. What is an E-zine?
An E-zine is an “electronic magazine” which is sent to people who subscribe to it via e-mail.
Commonly, publishers use e-mail to deliver their newsletter, but there are many publishers that build their e-zine in the form of a blog or website. In this case, publishers inform their subscribers via an e-mail that the E-zine has been posted.
E-zines are delivered to targeted groups of subscribers and these subscribers have expressed an interest in specific topics.
2. E-zine Advertising
There are many E-zines on different topics, but the strategy is to find E-zines which have a topic related to your products, services, website and Online business. Search for E-zines that are written to attract the target market you are focussing on (e.g., existing Online marketers, MLM, affluent travelers, golfers, etc…). You can choose one of these four ezine adverting types: classified ads, sponsor ads, solo ads and banner ads.
Classified Ad
A Classified ad is an inexpensive form of E-zine advertising and many E-zines offer free ads for their subscribers.
A Classified ad is usually three or five lines of text with 60-65 characters, including a headline, the ad body and a link to your URL or an e-mail. It’s the same style as newspaper and Online classified ads.
A Classified ad is published in the middle or end of the publication and it’s very cheap to buy. People without a large budget or who are testing a new advertising source can use classified ads to promote their site and see if it responds well.
To succeed with classified ads you should:
· Choose the E-zines most closely related to your target market.
· Select E-zines with high numbers of subscribers.
· Master short ad copy techniques.
Sponsor Ad
Sponsor ads usually appear at the top of the E-zine and are seen by readers upon opening the E-zine. Response rates are higher in good quality E-zines that actually provide good quality content. They cost more than classified ads but are more effective than classified ads.
Solo Ad
These are my favorites!! They ROCK!!
A Solo ad is an e-mail sent by the E-zine publisher to their entire mailing list offering only your ad. Solo ads are published separately from the E-zine schedule. YOUR e-mail ad will be the ONLY thing the entire database receives in that mailing.
Your Solo ad is your sales letter to target your market and it should be written to touch/agitate and provide a compelling reason for the reader to click your link. Pull at some emotional hot buttons… the desires of the E-zine’s readers and encourage them to take action.
Banner Ad
Some E-zines allow you to put your banner in the middle or on the top of the e-mail of the publishers.
E-zine advertising success depends on…
RESEARCH - Good research and selecting QUALITY E-zines that have targeted readers that match your niche market.
COPY WRITING - Your ad should be to the point… not “salesy” or tacky and it should agitate a frustration your niche market may be experiencing and then, offer a compelling solution or at least a compelling reason for them to click on your link to get their solution…
Think of your E-zine ads as sales letters in a smaller space where you should be pre-selling your products, services and Online business.
E-zine Articles
E-zine Article Marketing consists of writing articles and submitting them to different E-zines.
E-zine publishers need articles and valuable content related to their Online business arena to educate and to resolve their subscriber’s needs and problems.
E-zine articles are a very influential marketing technique to get free advertising for your business.
They will help you to get targeted traffic to your website and build your credibility as an expert in your niche market.
Writing articles of 500-1000 words and submitting them to E-zines related to your target market can help you to attract high quality, targeted leads to your site quickly and consistently.
3. Joint Ventures with E-zine Publishers
E-zine marketing can take another form which is to use joint ventures with E-zine publishers where they send your offer to their mailing list. It’s the same form as a solo ad but the difference is in the arrangement because here you will not pay E-zine publishers for the solo ad but the publisher sends your message and you share the revenue based on a split you negotiate. Some Joint Ventures are 50/50, some are 80/20. The percentage depends on the list size of the publisher and the price point of your product.
How to Choose an E-zine to Advertise in?
Choose quality E-zines to advertise your business or promote your affiliate program or invite people who read related newsletters to your website. Take your time here and think it through… don’t hop on junky E-zines!
1. Related Target Audience:
Select E-zines that are published to your target audience.
Popular listing directories, forums, and discussion boards can help you find E-zines that are similar to your website topic. Select a number of E-zines and subscribe to them to receive a few issues of the newsletter and to get access to their back issues to check out if there are some good ads running in it consistently.
Targeting your audience should help you to send your ad to the right audience and improve your ad success. Your advertising efforts will not be effective if you advertise in E-zines that are completely unrelated to your website topic. There have been many publishers who advertise in all kinds of E-zines only to have their time, effort and money absolutely wasted.
2. Budget:
Determine a budget for your E-zine advertising. I do not invest in anything other than solo ads and sometimes top sponsor ads to test in new E-zines. I don’t like purchasing the classifieds or other really low-priced stuff because the responses are just not good enough.
3. Opt-in E-zines:
E-zines gain popularity if they are credible. The most important aspect of credibility is the process of subscriptions. There are two types which are opt-in and opt-out and it’s very important to select opt-in E-zines to advertise in.
An opt-out strategy would suggest that the E-zine is published on an unsolicited basis. Readers are subscribed without their knowledge. This can very well result in a spam claim later.
If you advertise in such an E-zine, you would become a part of the spam as well. Your website could be terminated, and it is likely that you could even see yourself in the middle of a legal battle. Avoid opt-out E-zines at all costs.
4. Number of E-zine Ads:
You should avoid E-zines that have a TON of ads. This would reduce the impact of your ad vastly. Always look for E-zines that only have a few ads. Besides, ensure that other advertisers are professional and have a credible image.
5. Quality Content:
Content is probably the most important ingredient of E-zine marketing. You should look for E-zines that have great content. Unique, high quality content will only attract more people, generating a higher response rate for your ad. In fact, it may be a better idea to advertise in a quality E-zine that has only a couple thousand subscribers versus an E-zine that has common content with more than 20,000 subscribers.
The key is to look out for similar qualities in other E-zines that you want in yours. Check out if the E-zine has a website, if the host and domain name is free or paid, is the mail list provider free?
How good is the layout and formatting of the E-zine? And so on.
How to Write an E-mail Ad or Solo Ad…
Concentrate on the subject line: write a headline that compels everyone to open your e-mail message. This is your first objective. What doesn’t get opened doesn’t get read and will have no chance to create a sale.
Your subject must create curiosity to get people to open your e-mail. Avoid trickery… don’t write a subject that has nothing to do with your offer. If someone feels tricked into opening your e-mail, they will delete it right away. Besides, why would they trust anything you say from that moment on?
Avoid deception and your sales letters will be read. Use subjects that are vague and pose a question at the same time.
Something like this:
1. Did you know?
2. Did I explain this to you?
3. Have you seen this?
Let your subject have the same ingredient to get everyone to at least open your e-mail message. These subjects work because they are asking a question to the recipient. After all, who can resist not knowing what you are talking about?
People are curious by nature, so they can’t help themselves but to open your e-mail when you ask a question that’s vague.
You don’t want your subject line to say “50% off on my widgets” or ”Ground floor opportunity” etc. If you tip people off to what you have before you can explain it, only a select few will ever open these e-mails with these type of subject lines.
Keep in mind, the subject line doesn’t sell your product; its sole purpose is to get the recipient to open their e-mail. In other words, your goal is not to have a person prejudge what your e-mail is about. Your goal is to get them to open your sales letter so you can create a lead.
When you are writing ad copy (subject line, body message) you are really selling every step of the way. You have to sell each person to open their email, and then you must sell them to read your e-mail message, call a toll free number or go to your website.
Most of you will write copy to get prospects to visit your website. So, the next step is to create your copy enticing enough to get people to take action immediately.
You can keep your ad short, powerfully compelling and filled with the need to fulfill one’s curiosity, while calling for action.
Tip: write your copy as if you were talking with a customer face-to-face.
Avoid talking at them, but rather talk with them. Avoid using complex words or concepts.
Here are guidelines that can help you advertise your program using E-zine advertising:
1. Create Tracking for the ads…
2. Select 5 or more related E-zines that publish classified ads, sponsorship ads or solo ads.
3. Write 5 or more ads for your business.
4. Contact publishers of every E-zine you have selected.
5. Use click-tracking programs and use a separate tracker for each different ad and for each E-zine that you send an ad to. First, try sending your ads to E-zines which offer free advertising to see which ad pulls the best. Then try a different headline with a different ad and see how it does. When you feel you have found a good combination go on to paid E-zine ads such as top sponsor and solo ads. Keep tracking!
E-zine Pitfalls:
There are a few pitfalls to watch out for when you choose E-zines to advertise in.
There are a few cheap tactics that E-zine publishers follow to get a higher subscriber base. However, you would be much better off avoiding E-zines with questionable tactics such as these:
1. Many publishers collect E-mail address of various readers from sources such as FFA (free-for-all) lists. These may not be termed as spam or opt-out but they are certainly not 100% opt-in. Chances are that many of the readers who are listed in such lists would not want to be subscribed to the E-zine. Avoid all E-zines that seek subscribers using such strategies.
2. Avoid E-zines that have a cluster of ads. Some publishers try to incorporate as many ads as possible with the sole aim of earning more money. Avoid such E-zines. These are unproductive FLEA MARKETS…
These guidelines should help you in selecting great E-zines for your advertising campaign.
E-zine Listing Sites:
http://headlines.nerdworld.com
E-zine Advertising Resources:
Writing Resources:
Popularity: 4% [?]
