Ezine-Publishing

What Was the Name of Your Ezine Again?

2005-10-28T00:57:00.000-07:00

By Ron Hutton

Strategic planning for your ezine will keep your subscribers coming back for more week after week. You know that you need to start your newsletter and you've been putting it off so long that days have turned into weeks, and weeks into months. Don't let that go on any longer. It's not necessary.

Whether you're just now breaking onto the publisher scene or you've got a subscriber list and you want to revamp your ezine, answer the following questions before taking any additional action.

Q1: What topic do you intend to cover in your newsletter?

- Pick a topic that you're extremely interested in. You don't need to be an expert. Become an expert. If your interest level is high enough, you'll naturally be driven to research and study your topic. Pick a topic for your ezine that you'd love to write about for 29 subscribers or 290,000 subscribers.

- Will you be a generalist or a specialist? There's a place for both.

- RE: The Generalist... Newsletters that cover a broad range of topics and treat them "superficially" tend to attract subscribers who are new to that topic. Your challenge as a generalist will be holding on to your subscriber's attention. You'll need a "hook" each week. This might include short powerful tips and tricks or perhaps you can feature a favorite free resource with each ezine issue.

- RE: The Specialist... Your target audience is smaller, but the chances of developing a very loyal following is better than if you choose the generalist path. Specialists have to dig deep and if you like to write and train on the nitty gritty "how-to's", then the specialist path could be your calling.

Q2: Where will you find material for your ezine?

- Is it all inside your head just waiting for an escape route? Great. Let it flow.

- Can you take advantage of articles with reprint rights?

- Will you need to do a lot of research every time your write your newsletter? If yes, that's OK. Just be prepared to set aside the time required so that you can consistently deliver your newsletter to meet your subscribers' expectations. Which leads to the next question...

Q3: How often will you send out your ezine?

- What's the right frequency? It varies. Monthly. Weekly. Twice per week. Daily. It all depends on your subscribership, how much time you can devote to writing your newsletter and the amount of content you plan to include with each issue.

- You'll want people to remember your name, and this is tough to accomplish when you're publishing your ezine monthly. I think weekly is good and when special occassions arise send out two issues in the same week. Surprise your readers every once in a while. Mix it up.

Q4: What format will you use for your ezine?

- Permission-based email publications are still the mainstream. However, ISP filters continually make it more and more difficult to deliver email newsletters.

- Consider a blog. Consider setting up an RSS feed. Give your subscribers options on how they'd like to hear from you.

- Do you want to write lengthy in-depth articles or short punchy tips and tricks?

- Will you podcast (audio) or publish streaming video?

Q5: What name will you choose for your publication?

- Does your ezine name communicate anything about the kind of content that people can expect to receive in your newsletter?

- Catchy is good. Topical is good. Short is good. Descriptive is good.

Finally, an exercise you can do that might be helpful is to make a list of the newsletters that you consider to be outstanding. These are the ones that you open and read 100% of the time they land in your inbox. Write down the title, author / editor's name, subject matter.

Next, make a list of the newsletters you receive that you could unsubscribe from and you'd never miss them.

What are your general observations about these? I'll make an educated guess that the "loosers"...

1) Never offer any substantial or useful advice. 2) They don't specifically focus on any particular topic that you're interested in. 3) You receive messages from them 3 or 4 times per week and 95% of the time it's an ad that's been "cut n' pasted" from the latest flavor-of-the-week affiliate program / hot opportunity.

Don't let this describe your ezine.

Strategically plan your ezine so that when it comes time to monetize it, your readers will appreciate knowing about the products and services that you're promoting. Deliver value up front and you will be rewarded in time.

Ron Hutton is a 20 year sales and marketing veteran with a passion for coaching and training. Subscribe to "GoThrive Online", for Free Video Tutorials for Internet Marketing and big juicy marketing tips in small, easy-to-chew, bite size servings. Free Video Tutorial Archives Here: http://www.gothrive.com/free-video-tutorials.htm

Customer Newsletters: Are You Neglecting Yours?

2005-10-28T00:54:00.000-07:00

By Anna Hinds

Have I got News for You. . .

Just like your oldest jeans, your existing customers can be relied on to perform, but are they in need of a bit of love and attention? They’re your best source of business, so don’t let them down.

Tell me what you want

I recently surveyed some newsletter readers, asking them to rate its content. Staff profiles and company news barely scraped into the top 40. What was the number one demand from these cynical readers? Special offers and new products.

What about what the company wants? It’s usually two things: to improve the corporate image (strengthening loyalty), and to make more sales.

But it’s not impossible to combine all three goals.

Relationship Building

At its best a newsletter can be intimate, warm and friendly – like a phone call from an old friend. And with luck, this warm fuzzy feeling will send your customers straight to their wallets...

The award-winning smoothie company innocent sends out email newsletters that are just like a witty note from a good friend. The newsletter is a fabulous read, and brightens up rainy Monday mornings without pushing any products.

Think of it as a first date. What are your reader’s interests? What will you talk about and what sort of person will you be? Chatty or formal? Humorous or technical? Casual or sophisticated? Old or young – or young-at-heart?

Think about how your brand is already perceived and what sort of voice you should use to address your customers. If you’re not using a copywriter, is there somebody in-house who is the same age or level of expertise as your customers? Run it by them first.

Why not identify competitors who are already producing newsletters and sign up to see how they’re pitched?

Humour is one of the best ways to get your customers on side. Don’t take yourself too seriously – this isn’t an advert or a press release. Start with the relationship-building, and work up to the selling later.

Basic News Writing

Here’s a crash course in writing news.

• The pyramid technique is used by journalists every day. The story is set up like a pyramid, with the most important message in the first line, and the detail gradually being introduced as people read.

• The first line must be simple and attention-grabbing. The pyramid technique involves picking out the key benefit and opening with it. In other words, instead of this: Between April and July this year, Hodson’s Organics was reviewed by an independent panel of auditors, who reported that our apples were 50% cheaper than supermarkets and vegetables were over 60% cheaper.

...This first sentence should read: Hodson’s vegetables are 60% cheaper than supermarket organics, according to a recent audit.

The next sentence will provide detail about the secondary findings, and the following sentence will explain the time period and the auditors’ role. Readers lose interest more quickly than you might think – so don’t tease them!

• Pop in some quotes

If there’s a human-interest angle to your story, that’s what you should lead with. After all, this is supposed to be an interesting newsletter, not just a sales tool. Quotes and photos from key figures will brighten it up and give the story credibility – take a look at any newspaper to see this technique in use.

• Photos

You don’t have to hire a press photographer! Recently one company’s sales staff were heading off for world trips. They were instructed to take some pictures of anything exciting they saw or did. When they got back there were tonnes of great stories and pics for the newsletter!

• Relevant subheadings

Help people to pick out the bits they want to read. This is vital in a newsletter – especially when readers are trying to skip over the adverts!

Adding Value in an Instant

Try:

• Staff articles or cartoons
• Web links for further information (Lastminute.com use this trick)
• Expert articles (look at Crocus)
• Celebrity endorsements (see Figleaves)
• Competitions – even a small prize usually works (innocent smoothies
• Cut-out coupons

Tip-top Feature Ideas

Awards and reviews of the company or products
Gifts or recipes for special occasions (seasonal – if relevant)
Company fundraising (what did you do for Children in Need?!)
Staff news or profiles (but keep it short)
Product improvements
New products
Features on ‘the faces behind the products’ or where the products start life
Top sellers chart
Events (successes and future dates)
Promotions & Special Offers
Competitions
Invitation for feedback
Feedback and responses

Tips on production

Layout

• 5-6 articles per A4 page keeps the reader awake. Keep words, sentences and paragraphs short.

Email Newsletters

• The list of recipients belongs in the ‘BCC’, not the ‘CC’ field. This way nobody sees anybody else’s address.

• Think carefully about what to put in the subject line. It shouldn’t be too long and it shouldn’t be something vague like ‘December Update’. I delete anything with a remotely odd subject-header these days, to avoid emails about sex toys and African widows…

• Link to the newsletter on your web page (Because lots of email servers will send a huge attachment straight back)

• Provide a functional link for unsubscribing. (Just make the newsletter dazzling enough to convince them not to.)

Recipients

• Your own customer list is heaps better than buying in a list of names. Allow people to opt-out easily – and don’t send out the newsletter too often – you risk becoming a stalker-by-mail…

THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED IN 'CATALOGUES TODAY', 2004

Anna Hinds is a UK-based freelance copywriter, specialising in websites, catalogues and newsletters. Find out more at http://www.copyqueen.co.uk

Guide to Write Better Promotional Newsletters

2005-10-28T00:49:00.000-07:00

By Mihaela Lica

Definition

A newsletter is a periodically published document that informs, reminds, advices, advertises or communicates news and data on a specific topic. It can be either printed or have electronic format. Electronic newsletters are also known as Email Newsletters or eNewsletters and they are an excellent means for communicating with small to large audiences.

In short, a newsletter is an advertising instrument that provides companies with the possibility to improve their corporate identity and public perception, thus increasing sales.

How Does a Newsletter Work?

The promotional newsletters are free and should be used to motivate consumers to react to an offer made via direct mail or email.

A well-written newsletter builds trust and confidence on a company and a brand. Each article within it should answer the five basic questions – Who, What, When, Where, Why.

A promotional newsletter can increase your image with prospective and presented clients. By providing valuable info in a professional layout, the readers will recognize you as an expert in your field.

Why Should You Write A Newsletter?

- If written well, newsletters can be more far-reaching than an article or radio program.

- You are your own editor, being able to determinate the number and length of your articles, the content, what pictures you use, how many graphics.

- You can target your information and deliver quality content to the readers.

- Newsletters are thematic writings; therefore most of the information revolves around one central idea.

- Newsletters are great advertising means, and efficient reminders. As magazines, they are periodical, so you can contact your clients at regular intervals.

- The reader can keep them for future reference.

Rules to Write a Newsletter

Know Your Audience

This is probably the hardest part and also the reason why many companies hire professional PR agencies. Know your audience – this is the first and most important rule. That means knowing their interests, their comprehension of the area under discussion and their reading level.

Write for Your Audience

- Once you know what your public is interested in, don’t deviate from the subject.

- You can get your ideas from personal contacts, phone calls, competition newsletters, press releases (see how many times a press release was downloaded – many Internet outlets provide such information), newspapers, television reports.

- Write clear, concise and interesting news. Keep your readers up to date.

- Include in your newsletter testimonials from some of your clients. Underline their success and your role in it.

Create a Newsletter Strategy

- Research what the market needs and plan ahead what articles you are going to write. This way you have enough time to collect ideas by talking to your clients or from other sources.

- Make a connection with your reader.

- Use a personal approach – this is how you develop a trustworthy relationship with your clients. Clients need to feel that behind a business there is a person. Write your newsletter as though it was going to one individual directly from you.

- Be self-aware and don’t exaggerate when describing your business. Draw your reader into the article by using words that sell, and don’t mislead your readers. Avoid telling your company provides the best services. Try instead to underline what benefits the client can get when choosing your products.

- Self-critique shows you are aware of your borders. There are always borders nobody is perfect. If you made a mistake, admit it. Don’t lie to your clients.

- Humor can help you get to the heart of the reader. Yet, don’t exaggerate. Use it carefully. Many people have no time for clowning around. You wouldn’t like to lose the essence of your message. Sarcasm is very easy not to be taken figuratively when written on paper.

Create a Reader Friendly Layout

- Write titles and quotes that grab the reader’s attention. Use the first paragraph to intrigue and excite. You have less than three seconds to convince a reader that your newsletter is worth the time, so use your chance. If you have a meaningless lead, the clients won't take their time to assimilate the information

- Use correct grammar and spelling.

- Try to avoid jargon. People are not supposed to learn the specific terms of your business just to please you. You have to write for them and not for yourself or your staff.

- Use white space or graphics and photos to break up the page. Don’t exhaust your readers with too much text.

- Read the text out loud. Does it sound good? Do the sentences flow easy? Than your readers will feel the same about it.

- Have someone else to read it too. Try finding an impartial person. Accept criticism. Don't use the ones who tell you that it is great. They aren't helping you. Ask the person who finds the errors and makes suggestions.

- Publish the newsletter regularly – this is how the readers will come to expect it. Don’t lose your credibility by failing to deliver.

- Be aware of copyright restrictions. When you use quotes or texts written by others, give credit to these people. Do not spam.

Pay Attention when Publishing the Newsletters

- For printed newsletters choose quality paper and good resolution photography and graphics. If possible, do it on recycled paper – help saving our environment.

- Carefully develop your team and set their tasks. If you work with designers and writers, be sure there will be harmony between image and content. You cannot display a picture of a duck when you write about a swan.

- Stick with the schedule. If your readers are waiting for the information they will be disappointed when they don’t receive it when expected.

- Be consistent in the layout. Consistency is the key to building a reliable image.

- The biggest problem is not the lack of writing skills, but a lack of editorial judgment.

Can a Professional Do Better? Well, yes!

- Designers and PR consultants are familiar with the market trends and have professional knowledge.

- They have the know-how and the means to research customers’ preferences in a short time, bringing relevant information.

- They are familiar with the design guidelines for newsletter usability: subscription interface, newsletter content and presentation, subscription maintenance and unsubscribe options, differentiating the newsletter from junk mail.

- They can improve newsletter usability.

- They are able to promote relevant content.

- They know how to write catching headlines.

Prior to founding Pamil Visions, Mihaela Lica served as Public Relations and Media Consultant for my-tronic GmbH, a German Company. She began her career as a freelance radio reporter in Bucharest, Romania and spent several years as a television redactor in the Romanian Ministry of Defence. Her articles were published in local newspapers and magazines (“Armonia”, “Observatorul Militar”, “Viata Armatei”) and in international ones as well (“The Luminaries” – India). In 2002, Mihaela Lica represented Romania (the Romanian MoD) in the NATO Military Audio Visual Working Group. A Romanian native, Mihaela holds a degree in philosophy from the University of Bucharest, where she graduated with high honors The International Academy for the Study of History, Culture and Religion.

10+ Reasons to Offer Your Newsletter to PDF Format

2005-10-28T00:48:00.000-07:00

By John Davin

Offering your newsletter in PDF format can increase readership, the amount of time your newsletter stays on your client's desktop, visits to your web site and your income. PDF stands for Public Document Format, which allows all computer users to read your documents.

Many well-known authors and companies now offer their newsletters to PDF format. Here are some of their reasons for doing so.

1. Readers can easily save your newsletter to their desktop for future reference. A PDF newsletter saved on the desktop is not so easily forgotten and allows people to read your newsletter wherever they are, at any time. Even in the future. This means your readers may open the newsletter, run out of time to finish it, but still be able to make a mental note to come back and reread articles or complete the newsletter at a later date when the reader as more time. As with all of the reasons listed below, the real goal of a PDF based newsletter is to bring more sales for you, today and in the future.

2. Readers who enjoy your newsletter can easily pass it to their friends and associates. Best of all at no additional cost to you.

3. If you create the document correctly, you can reduce the chances of your e-mail being deleted by spam filter programs.

4. If you create the document correctly, you can reduce the chances of your e-mail address being tagged as a spammer by spam filter programs.

5. You can easily include images in your PDF newsletter. This is excellent for those who will read it offline.

6. You can add information from other programs to your newsletter, such as a spreadsheet. Now you can back up your statements with facts and pictures.

7. You can stop worrying if Mac users can read your newsletters and additional documents. They can!

8. You can easily put your newsletter on a CD, DVD or other media to distribute.

9. You can easily send your newsletter attached in an e-mail.

10. PDF documents reduce the possibility of having a virus attached to the document.

11. PDF based newsletters have a professional look when printed. They do not include headers, web site titles and other items that are included when you print a newsletter from a web site.

12. It is easy to archive and save all your PDF newsletters on your web site for future viewing by clients for additional sales long after you write your newsletters. Even if you do still offer your newsletter as an HTML or e-mail based document.

13. You can even password protect a PDF document if you only want it to go to those who have paid for it or those who have subscribed to your service.

The bottom line is that converting your documents to PDF allows you to get additional value out of your hard earned, all important advertising efforts and dollars.

At this point you may be wondering if it is a lot of work to convert a newsletter to PDF format and if you need to spend hundreds of dollars on expensive software. To assist you, I've written a white paper with inexpensive solutions to this business need. In the PDF white-paper, I outline sources of inexpensive PDF creator software and additional resources and tips for creating a professional, well read newsletter.

For your copy, just send e-mail to webmaster@freebusinessplans.info and enter "PDF Newsletter" in the subject line. You'll have a report in minutes!

REPRINT RIGHTS: You may reprint this article in your e-zine or newsletter if you include the bio above, include the entire article, and do not make changes to the article.

About the author:

John Davin is a home based author and business consultant. You can reach him at his web site, http://www.freebusinessplans.info for his books and online business seminars.

Why Are Ezine Editors So Politically Correct?

2005-10-28T00:46:00.000-07:00

By Lance Winslow

The other day I was listening to a couple of Ezine Editors discussing what kinds of articles they would put into their weekly email lists to send out. One said; “Hey this is pretty funny, check this one out!” The other said “Ha Ha Ha, that’s great, too funny!”

Then the first said; “Should I put this article in everyone will laugh.” But the answer is very telling as she told the other what everyone is telling us to say, think, and tell others. She said; “Oh, God no, if we put that in, then we will surely lose subscribers as someone might be offended, I mean you can’t say that.” They both agreed, but sent it to their close friends, but picked a more centrist type article to place in that space.

You see although articles in ezines can be controversial at times, it is best for them to stay PC or Politically Correct if they are trying to sell something by using their expert status to drive traffic. If the Ezine is for Democrats, well it is fine to attack the president, call him stupid or condemn the War in Iraq. If it is a Conservative only newsletter then they gloves come off when talking of Senator Hillary Clinton, you see?

The fact is that many ezines, which are a great way to transfer information quickly, as an alternative to the mass media, they are becoming almost as Politically Correct in refusing to say the truth in observations or talk about real issues, that is unless they are in the currently politically correct paradigm. If these Ezines are not PC then they will have more loyal viewers along a certain group, but never have the massive subscription base they truly need to sell things. Indeed it is a problem, but there is also a downside to the over PC tact, in that the subscriber becomes bored and disinterested. And the real downside, we as a society keep shoving crap under our carpet. That is why some Ezines have a small loyal following and why others will eventually have a smaller and non-loyal following in the future. Limiting opinion and thought makes us stop thinking. Think on this.

"Lance Winslow" - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs

Does Your Business Need a Newsletter?

2005-10-22T22:43:00.000-07:00

By Rachael Willis

If you are not yet using a newsletter as a part of your marketing efforts then you are missing out on potential and existing customers becoming valuable long-term buyers.

Newsletters provide an effective tool for collecting interested visitors' email addresses and converting them into buyers. They also are a great vehicle for keeping in touch with your most valued contact - previous customers. How?

NEWSLETTERS KEEP CUSTOMERS

When you have a customer buy from you, but no newsletter to follow up, than you are virtually handing him or her back to your competitors. Of course, if the service was good and the product memorable they may come back, but what if you have a new product that your existing customer may wish to buy and they do not know about it? What if they lose your website address? What if they just forget about you? A newsletter will prevent these things from happening.

HOW OFTEN?

That depends on various factors. Some businesses contact their subscribers as often as every day, others as infrequently as several times per year. What works for you depends a lot on what you are selling, what information you can give them, how often your subscribers will want to hear from you, etc.

A good rule of thumb for many businesses is once per week. Twice a month if you really feel that is the most you can do. More often and the customer may unsubscribe or routinely delete your messages. Less often and you're allowing your competition the chance to win over your potential customer.

WHAT DO I WRITE ABOUT?

Are you very informed on the product or service? Do you have a lot of contacts? Can you point out related products or services they might be interested in?

You do not need a long newsletter. A sale alert or announcement of a new service or product can do just as well for some businesses, while others find a tips format more suitable. Industry news or 'How to...' and 'Top 5...' topics are a good idea and always try to make a connection between the newsletter and your product or service. Subscribe to several competitors' newsletters (they will surely be subscribing to yours). Use a free email account to subscribe and see what they are providing their customers.

KEEP IT CONSISTENT

It's amazing the amount of newsletters that abound online. Because of this subscribers can forget which ones are legitimate and which are spam.

Keep your format consistent so your newsletter becomes visibly familiar. Also indicate that the subscriber requested the information and provide an unsubscribe link on EVERY issue. You must do this if you want to limit complaints or spam reports.

Your newsletter deserves time and attention - it is the voice of you and your business and will help you to build relationships with your customers (and potential customers) in a way that no other tool can.

Rachael Willis is the webmaster of http://www.infoproductscentral.com and the publisher of "The Genuine Truth" newsletter. "The Genuine Truth" newsletter is full of freebies,articles and reviews of the hottest products. If you are tired of spending money on bad products then you need "The Genuine Truth". Join us today and let me spend my money to test these products so you don't have to.

Setting Up A Newsletter

2005-10-22T22:42:00.000-07:00

By Paul Jesse

It is a proven fact that companies that offer newsletters have more follow up sales than those who do not. As a result, setting up a newsletter is an incredibly effective tool that any business interested in making sales or increasing business should utilize. There are several pointers that will help you begin setting up a newsletter for your company.

First, you will need a reason for a newsletter and a reason for potential subscribers to sign up. This can include offering a free sample, free e-book, specialized information and the like. Your newsletter can be about any number of things, it just needs to have a target market and provide the information the subscribers want and need.

When you have a newsletter and are offering subscribers something for signing up, then you will have their contact information and will be able to follow up with these individuals. It has been proven that more than 70% of sales are made after the third to fifth contact, so having contact information will prove very valuable for your company.

Once you have a reason to have a newsletter, you will need to begin formatting a professional newsletter to provide to your subscribers. Consequently, you will want to buy software that will help you format your newsletter so it can be easily read, distributed and look professional. There are many types of software on the market that can help you do this. However, look around for one that meets your needs. If you are not creating a very difficult newsletter, then there are plenty of programs that can create professional looking newsletters that do not cost a lot of money. The software program you buy should correlate with your newsletter design needs.While you are investing in this software.

You will also want a software program that will automate your newsletter and provide subscribe and unsubscribe automatically to subscribers. This will make your newsletter dispersal and cancellations easier on you and it puts the subscribers in control of whether or not they receive the newsletter. If you do not have a program to do this for you then you will end up spending uncountable hours adding and subtracting people to and from your newsletter. If you don’t keep up with it, people will start sending additional and uglier emails to get you to remove them from the list, which further clogs your email system. What’s worse, once someone subscribes if they are not added immediately they might forget about it. A software program that is automated is certainly worth its cost if you are going to offer a newsletter.

Finally, make sure you know your market and are marketing your newsletter to these individuals. If so, you will have more subscribers and ultimately more sales because of this. As long as you are aware and constantly trying to meet the needs of your target market through your newsletter and services, your business will continue to grow.

Paul Jesse is the owner of Shea Marketing, published author, retired government employee, private pilot, and lifetime student of Internet Marketing. He created http://www.sheamarketing.com to help those interested in working from home on the internet. http://www.sheamarketing.com

6 Reasons You Must Submit Articles To E-zines

2005-10-22T22:39:00.000-07:00

By Anik Singal

Writing articles to promote your website is, hands-down, one of the best ways to get targeted traffic to your website. The best part is that this strategy builds itself over long-term.

One article you write today will continue to get you business for years and years!

Now, most people know that they need to submit that article to directories (or if you did not, you know it now). However, too many marketers miss the biggest golden nugget of them all!

Ezine publishers!

Others who publish newsletters NEED your content and are looking for it. They are looking for good material for their readers. This means that your article could get featured in a huge newsletter! Imagine having a newsletter of 50,000 subscribers or even more feature your article…

Can you imagine the kind of traffic that would bring you!

Besides the traffic generation, here are 6 critical reasons you need to start submitting to Ezines immediately if you really want to build your internet business.

1. You'll brand your web site, business and yourself by submitting articles to E-zines. This is done through the resource box that is added at the end of your article - this resource box allows you to have a biography of yourself and a link back to your website.

2. You will become known as an expert on the topics you write about. This will give you and your business extra credibility which will help you compete against your competition. The more credibility you get, the more joint ventures and affiliates you can recruit to sell your products.

3. Your article might also be placed on the publisher's home page. If they publish each issue on their home page this will give you some extra exposure. This will also help other websites find your article to re-publish.

4. You might get extra exposure if the e-zine publisher archives their e-zine on their site. People might want to read the back issues before they make the decision to subscribe. This can be great if their website is search engine optimized and your article starts to come up for good keywords!

5. It is possible that other e-zine publishers will publish your articles in their free e-books. Once your article is known as a re-printable article, it can start ending up everywhere!

6. Are you thinking about launching a second facet to your business of consulting? Consulting is a great way to add extra income to your online ventures. When you have your articles being spread around the internet, your credibility is huge and getting great consulting clients is easy.

These are all the benefits just from submitting articles to publishers. If you can combine that strategy with submitting your articles to article directories as well, then your articles will go much further!

The benefit of submitting to directories is that the publishers come find YOU. You don't even have to beg them or “bother” them to publish your article.

Most publishers are actively looking for material for their newsletter, when they like what you write - most will contact you to let you know that they are about to publish your article.

This is the best time to reply to them and send them more of the previous articles you have written. It is not unlikely at all to have the same publisher feature you as an author multiple times a month!

So, if you have not started using articles yet - get to it! They are one of the best ways to build short-term AND long-term traffic to your websites.

This article is written by Anik Singal, Founder of MarketingSelfHelp.com.

Anik Singal has developed his own industry leading 7 day course to starting your own internet business – The course is 100% FREE, just visit the link below and sign-up!

http://www.MarketingSelfHelp.com

Your Newsletter Marketing Strategy: Five Things to Consider

2005-10-22T22:38:00.000-07:00

By Stephanie Diamond

Sending out a monthly newsletter takes a good deal of effort. You need to determine your goals and how to measure them, prepare your mailing lists, develop content, and make sure everything is delivered correctly. Can you confidently say that you are generating justifiable revenue from this effort —or are you sending out a newsletter because everyone else does?

With all the new technology available today, the term "newsletter" has morphed into a dozen different formats. You can certainly find one that fits your needs. One thing is clear—do not continue to send out a monthly newsletter unless you are getting a real return on your investment.

Some things to consider when evaluating your current newsletter:

1. Get an independent evaluation of your current newsletter strategy from a marketer you trust. Make sure to develop tangible success measurements. You need to know if what you are doing is actually worth continuing. Your communication with your customers needs to be personalized and targeted to sell. You are building a mailing list for a reason. Make sure that mailing list pays off.

2. Is a monthly format the right one? You may want something published regularly, or you may discover that a few targeted one-offs a year give you a greater return. Just like everything else you do for your business, you need to test and revise ideas, products and methods.

3. Take advantage of new technology. There are new ways to personalize your content and develop a dialogue with your customers that won't be cost prohibitive. Consider using audio to announce your newsletter on your website or add audio in the body content.

4. Make reading your newsletter pay-off for your customer every time. Always offer discount links or other value-add information that separates your content from all the "value-free" content on the web today. Think about what the reader will be interested in, not what your company wants to tell them. Think about what they want to BUY, not what you want to SELL.

5. Use your support area to launch new newsletters. Many e-commerce businesses miss an opportunity to communicate with their customers when they go to the support area. Customers want quick answers. They also like knowing that the company cares about what they want and need. A newsletter that focuses on FAQs and support would be a welcome change from all the ‘marketing’ newsletters they receive. This idea is a simple one that only the most successful companies use. Don’t overlook a way to stand out.

About Digital Media Works

Digital Media Works, Inc. is an Internet marketing and design firm that specializes in solutions for e-commerce companies. . A seasoned 25+ year management/marketing professional, founder Stephanie Diamond is experienced in building profits in a broad range of product and services businesses. She created a highly successful line of multimedia software products that sold millions of copies for America Online. Check out her website at (http://www.DigMediaWorks.com )

5 Ways to Make Money with Your E-zine

2005-10-22T22:37:00.000-07:00

By Brenda Hoffman

If you've been publishing an e-zine for at least 6 months but still aren't seeing real results from it, it's time for a tune up. Here are 5 ways to improve your e-zine:

(1.) Spend more time tooting your own horn. At least 25% of your e-zine space should be about nothing but YOU. In this space you should give promos for your services, products, books, workshops, etc. You should list testimonials from clients and customers who truly love you.

(2.) Make your subscribers an offer that they simply cannot pass up. This will kickstart them into purchasing your other products and services. This can be a very powerful tactic whenever it is used right. For instance: Put a time limit on your offer (ie a few days or by next week) for your client to take a percentage off of your product or service.

(3.) This is especially great for consultants and coaches... Your e-zine readers are already well aware that the way in which to get the BEST service from you would be to hire you one-on-one. However, there are lots of people out there who simply may not be able to afford this. So, why not offer them lower-priced options such as group coaching, teleclasses, online seminars, or a manual/e-book.

(4.) Do you often find your readers asking you about a topic which is indirectly related to what you have to offer? If so, then why not resell a resource that you heartily recommend and would put your reputation behind? Receiving commissions for your referals can make you some handsome extra cash for in your pocket. Of course, you don't ever want to recommend any service or product to your readers that you haven't spent enough time investigating so that you know that you'd be willing to back it up 100% or you'll ruin the trust that you've worked so hard to build up in your readership.

(5.) While this won't make you wealthy, you should still consider selling some ad space in your ezine so that you can get some extra cash. You could offer 1 sponsor ad at the top along with several "classified" ads at the bottom and still have plenty of room for boasting about your own product or service. Something like this would be easy to start since your own readers would be a great primary, target audience for buying such ads since they already know that they can trust you. Once they've seen their ad effectively presented within your e-zine, you'll have some power from the word of mouth. You can also list your e-zine in the numerous e-zine advertising directories that can be found all over the Internet. These services help match advertisers with appropriate publishers such as yourself. This does NOT mean that you can't be selective about the types of ads that you choose to accept though. Of course, your readers will know that these ads don't represent YOUR business, their quality will still indirectly influence your readers' perception of you.

Remember! If you're not getting any direct business from your e-zine right now, you're still benefiting from it. Your e-zine is helping to establish you as an expert in your field while giving you massive online exposure which only helps add to your credibility. It, along with blogs, will also force you to package your knowledge into concise articles on a regular basis, which you can then recycle for many other marketing uses that you're sure to find along the way.

Reverend Brenda Hoffman, is ordained by the Universal Life Church, and has been delivering holistic health and wellness advice for over 7 years since receiving a BA in psychology. As a home-based professional and mother of 1, she operates a holistic wellness network. She invites you over to http://www.yourhealthyfamilyhome.com/ to learn how to improve you and your family's health.

What Happens When You Submit Articles To Ezines?

2005-10-22T22:35:00.000-07:00

By Rachael Willis

What's an article anyway, and why would I want to submit one to an ezine? That was a two-fold question and will require two answers.

An ezine article is usually composed of approximately 500 words on a single subject that would be of interest to your target market. At the end of the article, you should include a "resource box." This box should provide such things as your name, the name of your company, your web site address, email address, and a small blurb about your product/service.

Writing an article is not hard work. All it requires is some research and note taking. Use any of multiple sources to find information about the topic that you choose to write about. Then write your article in your own words using the notes that you took during your research. It's not difficult and it's something that you learned to do early in school (grade school probably). Write in a conversational tone. Write like you are talking to your best friend.

Now, I'll answer the second question. The reasons to submit this article to an ezine are varied, but not difficult to understand. They all boost your bottom line.

1. The submission of the article will help identify your business (web site) in the Internet marketplace. This is normally called "branding."

2. Article submission provides publicity, virtually free.

3. Someone may like your writing style and hire you to write articles or ebooks for them.

4. The published article will drive traffic to your web site.

5. If the publisher of the ezine that you submit your article to maintains an archive, your article may be read many months later. Traffic may still be driven to your site this way.

6. People will come to know you as an expert on your subject.

7. You might get your article published in free ebooks that are distributed all over the web. This will drive more traffic to your web site.

8. This will help you become a trusted vendor of information.

9. If you allow anyone to publish your article or email it to a friend, you will gain further exposure for free.

10. Webmasters may read your article and display it on their web site. You get additional free exposure.

11. If you send out an ezine, you could offer to swap articles with other ezine publishers for free. This provides more publicity without expense.

So, there are quite a few benefits that you could receive from publishing small articles like this one. If that isn't enough reasons for publishing your own articles, I don't know what else you'd need. Don't forget to provide enough valuable information. The more knowledge you supply, the more valuable you become. Provide real value and you will always have people clamoring for more.

Deadly Effective Ezine Advertising for Internet Network Marketing

2005-10-22T22:32:00.000-07:00

By Daegan Smith

What are Ezines?

Ezines are online newsletter that people subscribe to because they have an interest in the subject matter described in the newsletter.

Personally, I love Ezine advertising. I've used this very strategy that you are about to learn right here and I've created some exceptional growth in my business. Just to give you an idea, one Ezine ad that I sent to a list of a little over 2,000 subscribers that cost me $31, generated 55 new leads and 12 new sign ups in the course of 24 hours. That's a 22% lead to sign up conversion ratio! I've had people in my downline that have had better results than this.

The best part is, the people that joined my business from this mailing were focused savvy Internet marketers. They joined my business and just ran with it. I estimate that those 12 sign-ups account for about 40 new down line members in the course of a month and 100s at this point.

Wouldn't you like to have the same happen in your business?

It gets me excited just sitting here writing about it!

So let's get on with it . . .

Which Ezines will we target?

We want to advertise in Ezines that target Home Business Entrepreneurs, Network Marketers, Biz Opp Seekers, Internet Marketers, Affiliate Marketers, and your companies primary niche. These are the people that are actively interested in making money online and in what you have to offer and will see the most value in what we're offering. There are free places as well as paid places to find highly targeted Ezines to send your ads to.

I personally only advertise in the Directory of Ezines because I find it to be the best and most up to date listing of quality Ezines. There is a membership cost but I personally think it's worth it.

QUICK TIP: If you decide to buy a membership I would advice going with the one year membership as opposed to the lifetime membership. Because by following the method that I am about to describe to you this time next year you will have developed so many strong relationships with great Ezines that you'll have your own rolodex of great places to advertise.

You can also use Ezine-Universe.com which is a free resource.

What type of ad do we want to place?

There are two ways to go about this, the fast way and the slow way.

To go about this the slow, way would mean we would first place a small classified ad in the Ezine that we plan to target. We would then track our response to see if a larger ad is warranted.

This method works well with direct marketing online because it decreases risk, but it will drastically increase the time frame until we see our most wanted response - sign ups.

Why?

We'll have to wait and track responses at each step.

The fast way:

I have been using a faster and a little bit more risky method. What I do is I call or email the list owner to ask about their lists to try to get a feel if it is a good match for my ad.

Here is what I want to find out:

How many mailings do they send out a week?

You don't want to send an ad to an Ezine that sends out more than 2 solo ads a week because most likely no one will read them.

How many new subscribers does the Ezine get in a month?

-You want an Ezine that gets a steady flow of new subscribers.

Have similar ads to mine for my same business run in the recent past?

=You don't want to advertise in an Ezine that has had similar ads run in the past month or so.

Does the Ezine owner have a list of references?

-I ask if the Ezine owner can provide a short list of references that I can contact to see what their response rates have been like in that particular Ezine.

Is there a newsletter archive that you can take a look at?

-Since you're going to be running the ad you want to see the layout of the Ezine so you know how your ad will look.What do you do next?

Find a few good Ezines and ask the List Owner some of the above questions to help you decide if their list is a good match for your offer.

After you've done your homework you'll want to go ahead and place your solo ad. Place about 3 or 4 at a time and be sure to track your click-thru rates.

Daegan Smith is the Author of "Internet MLM Success" - The Next Generation in Network Marketing! Learn the Secret to using the Internet to Exploding your Downline Growth the Simple, Fast, Rejection-Free Way!" For the exciting New Free Report click here ==> http://www.internetmlmsecrets.com

Ezine Marketing Is About More Than Sending An Email Message

2005-10-22T22:31:00.000-07:00

By Tim Bossie

The definition of insanity has been said to be, "doing the same things and expecting different results."

Yeah, I can see that. Especially when it comes to internet marketing. If really doesn't matter if you're and affiliate marketer, service provider, infopublisher... or whatever. It doesn't matter if you sell ice cubes, llama products, homemade candles, or an ebook of poems. You need to publish an ezine. Period.

I've been in great coversations with clients about the importance of an ezine and then I've been, like just recently, involved in arguments with clients who were dead set against me writing any type of ezine for them. "I don't need one because my market doesn't call for it." Excuse me.

Any market, no matter what it is call for, no... demands, an ezine.

Insane Internet Marketing

Day after day I receive emails from people that insist they get great traffic, but just aren't making any sales. They have great search engine rankings, have decent inbound links, and have several JV partners actively promoting their site.

But, they still don't have a lot of sales. "Do you have an ezine?", I ask. "Nope", is the most recurring answer.

Doing the same thing and expecting different results. With the new blog revolution that's in full swing, a lot of people don't see room for a regularly published ezine. That's unfortunate.

An ezine can do so much more for an online business than most people realize. And it's about so much more than just sending an email message.

Ezines Build Your Business Through Repeats

Ezine publishing is all about getting people to come back to your site without having to spend more on advertising. An ezine is a built in advertiser.

When people visit your site for the first time, or maybe even for the second time, they might not come back and eventually forget about you. But, with a regularly published ezine (weekly is best) you have the opportunity to keep in contact with your web visitors for as long as they will have you.

This brings not only repeat visitors, but also repeat sales. Sales through your own products present and future products and via affiliate links.

You can't get repeat exposure to the same person, without spending more, any other way.

Ezines Build Relationships That Turn Into Dollars

One of the biggest forms of turning any visitor into a buyer is through relationships. When I'm putting together a new advertising campaign for people I'm very intentional about the relationship factor. Everything is a relationship builder... and that goes triple for an ezine.

People will buy from people they know. Not necessarily like, but know.

Relationsips will also keep people subscribing to your ezine longer than those that don't know you. I find this true of the ezines I subscribe to. The ones that make an effort each week to make it personal instead of sterile I will stay subscribed to.

The Internet is a huge place, but when you start building relationships with people through your ezine, it gets smaller. And more profitable.

Ezines Promote Your Expertise.

One of the things that had a tremendous impact on my business was the fact that the information I published in my ezine presented my "expert" status to my subscribers. I started to receive more projects as a result.

Having a way to show people what you're about and what you know, without them actually buying anything, always results in a sale.

Expecting Different Results

Don't expect different results with your marketing unless you do things differently. That means don't underestimate the power of ezines. If you do have one, keep on it... build those relationships, show your expertise, and keep the repeat visits to your site. If you don't have one... start one.

Tim Bossie is the owner of Guaranteed-Ads.com and specializes in internet advertising. He has put together thousands of successful online advertising campaigns for clients all over the world. Check out the amazing Power Ad Package at http://www.guaranteed-ads.com/adpackage.html that people are calling the most innovative service idea on the Internet.

The Power of EBay Store Newsletters

2005-10-22T22:26:00.000-07:00

By Neil Harvey

eBay Stores come with a very powerful feature: store newsletters. When buyers add your store to their favourites, you can offer them the chance to join your mailing list. You can then send highly targeted emails to people who you know were at least interested enough in your products to add the store to their favourites.

How Do I Send Them?

First, you need to get some people to sign up for your newsletter – this will happen with time, as people buy from you and browse your store.

Once you’ve got a few subscribers, it’s worth sending out a newsletter. To send store newsletters, go to My eBay, click ‘Manage My Store’, and then click ‘Email Marketing’. Once you’ve done that, click the ‘Create Email’ button, and you’re away.

All you need to do now is write an email subject and a message, choose any items you want to include in the email, and specify who you want to receive it. The subject and message can be something relatively generic, like ‘here are my latest deals’ – it’s the targeting that’s important, and eBay’s is powerful. You can choose to only send an email to people who’ve bought from you in the past, or only to people who’ve opened your email before.

It is important to note, though, that you can only send one email per week to a mailing list.

The Ups and Downs.

The downside of store newsletters is this: they’re expensive. A basic, $15.95 per month store only comes with 100 emails, while $49.95 comes with 1000. Even the $499.95 anchor store only comes with 4000! Extra emails for all stores cost 1 cent each. That’s $1 per hundred extra emails. If your mailing list has a significant number of people on it, then that’ll get really expensive, really fast.

Surprisingly, though, it can often be worth it, despite the cost. It’s very rare to send out a newsletter to a mailing list of a hundred and not get at least one sale, and you’ll often get three or four, even to small lists.

Measure Your Success.

Each time you send an email, eBay produces a report telling you how well that email did. You can view these reports on the ‘Email Marketing’ page by clicking the subject line of an email you sent.

This report will show how many people received your email, how many opened it, the number of clicks it generated on your items and your store, and the number of bids and Buy it Now purchases that resulted from the email. Some of the numbers might be too low, though, as many people use email software that displays email in plain text format and so stops eBay from collecting statistics. Also, you will notice that you’ll have more success if you send out emails regularly, as people will start to expect them, and react in a more open way – don’t expect the Earth from your first email.

By now, you’re probably getting pretty good at selling on eBay – isn’t it nice to have all those satisfied customers? Not to mention the money… However well you’re doing, though, there’s always room for improvement.

Neil Harvey is the webmaster of http://www.justebooks.net/ offering ebooks and a free newsletter with hints and tips to help succeed online.

3 Ways To Save Money On Ezine Advertising

2005-10-22T22:25:00.000-07:00

By Deanna Mascle

Ezine Advertising is still one of the top ways to advertise online because it is cheap, easy, and targeted.

If you are one of the many internet marketers who understand just how effective ezine marketing can be then you will be happy to learn that I have three tips that will save you money on Ezine Advertising.

Join The Directory of Ezines

Yes, it may seem a bit pricey up front but I have been a member for years and never regretted the money I paid -- because I made it back in savings! Not only do you get a lot of great bonuses and freebies but you will also be able to find a list of free advertising available from the ezine owners listed in the directory. Plus on top of that many of the ezine owners listed in the directory offer a discount to directory members. So if you think about the amount of money you might save over time -- the Directory of Ezines is actually a very big bargain!

Visit The Ezine Ad Auction

You will need to register to use this auction site but there is no cost involved.

At any given time there are hundreds of auctions available -- some starting at just $10. You can shop by category to more easily find your target audience and will find a range of ezines and ad formats available.

Ezine publishers put up regular offers and discounts on unsold space -- and either way you save money off their posted rates.

I regularly use Ezine Ad Auction to buy and sell ads. It is a great resource and I have developed some great, long-lasting relationships as a result.

Ask The Ezine Publisher For A Deal

Many Ezine Publishers are willing to offer special deals for either or both new advertisers or long-term advertisers. I used to have a "Test Drive Offer" for my ezines and currently offer some great discounts and free ads through my Renaissance Woman Online Ad Club.

I occasionally have advertisers contact me about a discount and if I have open space I am often willing to make a deal or at least a counter offer.

If you are a hesitant about boldly asking for a discount then simply contact the publisher to see if there are any deals available. Believe me, if they ad inventory available they will make you a deal--and it might be better deal than you would have dreamed of asking!

Deanna Mascle will be glad to explain how Ezine Advertising Works or How To Advertise With Ezines (where the full text of this article is available). You can also learn more about saving money on your ezine advertising with the Renaissance Woman Online Ad Club.

6 Reasons You Must Submit Articles To E-zines

2005-10-03T04:00:00.000-07:00

By Anik Singal

Writing articles to promote your website is, hands-down, one of the best ways to get targeted traffic to your website. The best part is that this strategy builds itself over long-term.

One article you write today will continue to get you business for years and years!

Now, most people know that they need to submit that article to directories (or if you did not, you know it now). However, too many marketers miss the biggest golden nugget of them all!

Ezine publishers!

Can you imagine the kind of traffic that would bring you!

Besides the traffic generation, here are 6 critical reasons you need to start submitting to Ezines immediately if you really want to build your internet business.

5. It is possible that other e-zine publishers will publish your articles in their free e-books. Once your article is known as a re-printable article, it can start ending up everywhere!

The benefit of submitting to directories is that the publishers come find YOU. You don't even have to beg them or “bother” them to publish your article.

Most publishers are actively looking for material for their newsletter, when they like what you write - most will contact you to let you know that they are about to publish your article.

So, if you have not started using articles yet - get to it! They are one of the best ways to build short-term AND long-term traffic to your websites.

This article is written by Anik Singal, Founder of MarketingSelfHelp.com.

Anik Singal has developed his own industry leading 7 day course to starting your own internet business – The course is 100% FREE, just visit the link below and sign-up!

http://www.MarketingSelfHelp.com

Ezine Publishing: So How Often Do I Send This Thing Out?

2005-10-03T03:58:00.000-07:00

By Jeff Herring

So you have decided to publish an ezine and you are wondering how often to send it out.

Good for you. You are far ahead of most people who just think about having an ezine. I've yet to receive one "just thinking about it ezine."

I know of some folks that get intimidated by the notion of having to send out an ezine each and every week. That's just one option, and there are many more.

So let's look at some frequency options for sending out your ezine, and the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Daily

Advantages - Really none that I can think of. Even the possible advantage of having your name and info in front of people every day has a major downside...

Disadvantages - Your subscribers will get tired of hearing from you, not to mention all the work involved for you.

Weekly

Advantages - You have regular contact with your subscribers, and regular contact ups your "expert-ability" in the eyes of both your subscribers and others.

Disdvantages - Takes some work and the commitment to be consistent.

Twice a month

I can never get it straight if this is called bi-weekly or bi-monthly so I just call it twice a month.

Advantages - Regular contact with your readers. More of your newsletters are read. Although I have not tracked this, I have a hunch that people sometimes delete or never get to weekly newsletters. I know I sometimes do.

Disdvantages - If something big is going on in the week you do not send out your ezine, you miss chance for connection with your readers. This can easily be handled by sending out a special edition.

Monthly

Advantages - Regular contact and low maintenance.

Disadvantages - Unless you have some kind of other regular contact with your subscribers, you can begin to lose touch with.

I do not recommend anything less frequent than monthly, as people will forget about you and forget about signing up and unsubscribe when they get your ezine.

Visit SecretsofGreatRelationships.com for tips and tools for creating and growing a great relationship. You can also subscribe to our f*r*e*e 10 day e-program on how to enrich your relationship today, from relationship coach and expert Jeff Herring.

Free Articles - A Resource To Build Your Business

2005-10-03T03:57:00.000-07:00

By Susan Carroll

You probably know about article directories. Those are the sites that have thousands of free re-printable articles. But do you know how article directories and their free articles can help you with your business?

5 Ways Free Articles Can Help Build Your Business

Use the articles in your ezine to pass on information.
Two of the most common reasons I hear for not starting a list are "I can't write" or "I don't have anything to write about." Using other peoples articles can easily solve both problems.
Although it is highly recommended that you write your own articles, at least occasionally, many well established online publishers use other peoples articles within their ezines on a regular basis.

Use the articles on your website for credibility.
Articles from other people are a good way add credibility to your statements. You can use them either on you main page or as additional references.

Submit your own articles to get free advertising.
If someone decides to publish your article, they must include your information and that's free advertising.

Submit your own articles to help build your link popularity.
When you submit your article with your information, your link is now on the article directory site. And, if anyone publishers your article on their site, your link will be there too.

Submit your own articles to get name recognition.
As your articles get used, your name will become familiar with those seeing your articles and you will start being perceived as an "expert".

There are many article directories so they are easy to find. Just do a little searching to find free re-printable articles that are relevant to your niche.

If you write an article, be sure to submit it to some of the directories. It will take a few minutes but it's time well spent if it brings you some free, high-quality traffic.

To assist you in your search for good article directories, I've written a free 4 page report on "How to Evaluate Article Directories to Get Your Content Published." If your interested in either finding content or submitting articles, I list three of the best article directories for both finding and submitting articles at the end of the report. It's available at: http://www.friendswhocare.us/articlewriting

Susan Carroll is the founder of the FriendsWhoCare.us Newsletter and provides a helping hand to those starting an online business. Although designed to assist those just getting started, her community of friends include both newbies and experienced internet marketers.

Ezine Publishing: On the Subject of Subject Line Dos and Don'ts

2005-10-03T03:55:00.000-07:00

By Jeff Herring

The dos and don'ts of ezine subject lines are easy to use. The problem is they are also easy to forget, resulting in getting caught in spam filters, leaving money on the table, and other undesirable consequences.

Subject Line Don'ts

1. Don't use all capital letters in your subject line. Instant spam filter purgatory. I recommend that you don't capitalize even one word.

2. Don't use the word free, unless you doctor it up a bit. My favorite way to do free to get past the spam filters is in honor of my favorite TV show of all time. See if you can guess what it is from this example of f*r*e*e.

3. Don't use exclamation points! Another instant trip to spam filter purgatory.

4. Don't list the title of your feature article for that issue of your ezine. Why not? If someone reads the title and decides they already know that or just are not interested, you have lost them before they even open the email. Trust me on this, I've tested it and there was significantly more income per issue when I did not add the title of an article to the subject line.

Subject Line Do's

1. Do always keep in mind that your subject line in an ezine is just like a headline in a newspaper. It's your chance to hook the reader.

2. Douse mail merge to personalize the subject line with a person's first name. Just make sure you leave a space between the arrow sign and the next word so they do not bump up against each other, like at the beginning of this tip. Looks very amateurish when that happens accidently.

3. Do keep it short. Make sure your subject line does not get cut off when it shows up in reader's email. Again, another way to look like an amateur if you get this wrong.

4. Do include the month and year. Gets you by the spam filters almost every time, as they see the current month and date, and the spam filters think "Oh, OK, this is a newsletter, let's let it through."

Make sure you spell out the month as well.

Example: September 2005, ParentingYourTeenager.com

Four don'ts and four do's for subject line success!

You are invited to visit Buildling Your Ideal Practice for 100s of tips and tools for creating and marketing the practice of your dreams.

Making Money Online With Web Publishing

2005-10-03T03:53:00.000-07:00

By R.G. Srinivasan

Who doesn’t want to make money online? Internet is here to dominate our lives and spreading its tentacles very fast. Every month millions of pages are added to the web space and more and more people are getting online for almost everything – from shopping to e-learning. Would you believe there are even online beggars with payment gateways where you can donate through your credit card if you are feeling charitable. If you do not exploit the internet for marketing your services or products you may as well be living in prehistoric times.

While there are many ways to make money, web publishing is one of the most popular online businesses due to its suitability to internet as a least expensive online publication medium. E-publishing is tailor made for internet.

Content is the key to web publishing. If you specialize in anything at all, and I think everyone does specialize in something, you could start your web publishing business and be up and running in hours. Web publishing could include:

E-courses

You can start a multi part e-mail course which your subscribers can pay for if you are in a highly specialized area. These courses could be offered either as stand alone subscriber only lessons through your website or offered free to promote your other e-publishing products which I have described here. You can write these courses of 200 to 300 words each lesson.

Creating Special Reports

While special reports are generally offered free to promote your services, you can sell your special reports if you are in exclusive niches. The special reports can be marketed for as low as $1. You only write it once and they can be downloaded from your site for long periods if you keep updating them. Just imagine if they are downloaded by 100 persons every week you pull in $4800 dollars a year for a few hours of work.

Create CD’s

Your content can be transferred to CD’s and marketed through offline as well as online channels. Your website could be the your shop taking orders and you can ship your orders as many people are still comfortable buying a tangible physical good rather than e-product.

Start an e-zine

This is still a very popular online business with multiple ways to generate income. You may offer a free e-zine within your niche and promote all other content based products. However it may take some time to create a large subscriber base and establish yourself. The key again is good content. Once your ezine becomes popular you can bring out paid subscription based editions.

Write an e-book

This is similar to the special reports. E-books would have more pages with extensive coverage of the chosen subject. Just look at amazon.com to find out how popular e-Books are.

Web publishing is a huge area of online marketing with an immense potential in the future. I have already written about the future of web publishing in my article featured here. Half dozen e-books could be written on the subject. However it is best to get started and keep learning as you go along.

Srinivasan is a Management professional, Writer and Author. You can view his home-business resources blog at http://www.home-businessresources.blogspot.com for online marketing tips, resources, opportunities and online promotional strategies.

Create An Immortal Ezine: Evergreen Newsletters

2005-08-25T08:02:00.000-07:00

By Debbie Jenkins

This article is particularly for those people who want to communicate regularly with their readers and through this communication build up a strong relationship. If you've never considered using a newsletter or ezine to contact your prospects and suspects, then now is the time.

However, with almost every small business on the planet boasting that they have a newsletter, wouldn't it be great if there were some cheats and easy ways to use your newsletter to better effect?

If you've written newsletters for a while in the traditional "news" style, you'll know how frustrating it can be continually having to remind people what you do as you get new subscribers. In your first issue, full of enthusiasm, you might have told your readers that they can get a discount or sign up to another of your great services. However, by issue 10, you'd like to be strengthening that relationship.

The term "evergreen" when applied to articles means an article that can be read on any day in any year and still have strong meaning to the reader.

We want to make sure that everyone who signs up to our newsletter receives ALL the issues in the order that makes most sense to them and to us. So each issue is written in an "evergreen" fashion (ie nothing dates) and is set to be sent at intervals of 14 days.

A lot of articles that you read in magazines are topics that can be run again and again. These "evergreen" topics never go out of style - they never date. Here are some examples, bridal magazines use stories on planning your wedding, choosing a wedding dress, hairstyles and that all important honeymoon. Fitness magazines run articles on losing weight and exercising.

So, writing an "evergreen" newsletter means that you write all your content ahead of time and none of it can be time-sensitive.

Evergreen e-zines are brilliant and easy to do.

GOALS

1. To build a relationship with your readers, to inform them and provide them with useful content that they can use straight away.

2. To sell your products / services to them

3. To build a subscriber base (encourage evangelists)

4. To make the job easy for yourself ;-) (my favourite goal - remember we're Lean Marketers(tm))

Here's how to do it: Suppose you want to publish an article every two weeks - like Champions. That means you'd have to write 26 articles in a year. You write the articles and then add them to your autoresponder with day gaps of 14 - like day 1, day 14, day 28 etc. Each reader would get a message every two weeks and new readers would start at message 1.

RULES

1. Don't include time sensitive information. Unless you have a system that can manage multiple time sensitive offers (we might look at this in a later article) then ensure any information you include will last for ever.

2. The information must still be valuable - don't think you can get away with sending rubbish out.

3. You must include a proper opt in and out link in every message. Use an automated system for this, don't waste your own time trying to manage something so tiresome!

4. Check it's being read by asking for a response. Do you remember the pipeline we talked about in issue 3 (if you want to see a picture of a pipeline send a blank email to leanpipeline@aweber.com with "Send Me The Pipeline - I need to understand Evergreen Newsletters" in the subject line. We used this to check you were reading ;-)

5. Periodically check the system is working. Put your own email address in the automated system and read your own messages. This has a number of benefits - you get to see what your readers will see; you can make sure that the information isn't time sensitive (it can be a challenge at first!) and you get reminded of your own tips ;-)

6. Build the relationship. Take advantage of the opportunity to build a relationship, as you would in any other real world relationship, divulge a little more of yourself each time.

7. As people become more used to you and the relationship grows, expect them to start paying for your services / products. It might be a challenge to ask your prospects to part with their cash the first time your ezine pops into their email box, but over a period of time, say maybe 6 or 7 issues (by the way - this is your 7th newsletter from us) the relationship will have blossomed. This is when you can start to ask for the sale and expect results.

CLUES

1. Make an outline of the articles you're going to use for the next 6 months and ensure you have a progression of relationship building.

2. Don't leave writing the newsletter to the last minute! (like I sometimes do)

3. Use software that automates the process - remember Lean Marketers(tm) use technology where appropriate. We use aweber.com

4. Can't think what to write? Then you may use some of our articles - let me know if you want to use them and I'll send you my by-line.

Speak Soon,

'Dangerous' Debbie Jenkins
debs@debbiejenkins.com

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Work Less, Earn More As An Infoproduct Publisher

2005-08-25T07:35:00.000-07:00

By Jeff Smith

There's no doubt, publishing information products to sell online is a thriving, exciting and very rewarding business.

For many though, the product development and marketing curve simply seems too steep.

How do you find the time to publish products given the time crunch in most of our lives?

There Is Another Way

Many of us were brought up to value hard work.

Our parents, grandparents and school system hard coded our brains to believe that if we just work a little harder than the next guy - we'll get ahead.

I'm not about to tell you that hard work doesn't pay off, but it certainly won't pay off on its own.

Another saying - work smarter, not harder is more to the point.

You have to have a plan that works - I call this mastering the fundamentals.

Once you mastered the fundamentals, you need to suspend your disbelief for a period and target your plan ahead of your competition - ahead of what is already going on in the world around you.

If you are ready to learn both the fundamentals and master the steps outlined below turning your dreams of being a home-based information publishing entrepreneur into reality - then pick up a copy of:

http://www.infoproductcreator.com

How does all of this relate to those of us who make our living publishing and marketing information?

Here's how.

You need to master 2 very important things to "work smarter" at information product publishing.

First, you need to be smarter about niche demand - or what your market really wants (in terms of an end result) and WHY they want it (the emotional drivers for achieving the desired end result).

Take golfers - what are some of the really strong desires golfers have for learning?

- How to cure their hook or slice

- How to add 50-yards to their average driving length

- How to take 10 points off their game

Now - what are the motivations behind these desires?

Could it be:

- To impress and build more friendships

- To increase their financial outlook by impressing clients

- To feel younger (allowing middle age golfers to stay competitive)

Your job as an information publishers and marketer is to uncover the hidden secrets of your market - what they want and why they want it.

Second, you package your own system for getting what they want.

For the life of me, I don't understand why information product publishers spend months researching their market and then developing their product - only to deliver some bland, uninteresting, uncommitted and undifferentiated coverage of the topic.

Your information product is your chance to SHINE!

Deliver a slam dunk by putting together the ULTIMATE system for...

Master these two skills - and you'll be well on your way to reaching your online business goals.

You Really Can Become A High Earning, Financially Free Information Product Publisher And Marketer. Get Full Information And Roadmap At The Ultimate Resource Site For Information Product Entrepreneurs: http://www.highertrustmarketing.com

How to Choose a Good Newsletter Name

2005-06-24T05:04:00.000-07:00

By Ladan Lashkari Good newsletter names are usually 2-4 words. If shorter, they can't explain what your newsletter is about, and if longer, they will be hard to remember. When choosing a name for your newsletter, make sure its abbreviation is suitable. For example if it's "CNN", you should look for another name because it will confuse your readers. A good name also describes what your newsletter is about. For example "Affiliate Marketing Insider Tips" is a good name, but "Zapping Tides" is not. Some people use "the" at the beginning of titles or "newsletter" at the end - like "The Affiliate Marketing Insider Tips Newsletter." But both of these words are unnecessary and just make your title too long and more difficult to remember. Depending on your newsletter topic and audience, your name can be serious or playful. If you want to choose a playful title, putting an "O" at the end of it makes it funny. An example of such names could be "The Great Gordino" which comes from the publisher's name - Gordon Bryan. You can browse ezine directories to find many good newsletter names about different topics. You will get many creative ideas from other people's newsletter titles. They have spent a lot of time and effort finding a good name and you can save time by learning from them. Wish you success! Ladan Lashkari Ladan Lashkari is a respected Internet marketing expert, and the owner of http://www.FreeNewsletterIdeas.com/ where you'll find creative email marketing ideas and helpful resources to start your own highly profitable email marketing campaign.

Newsletters – Keeping Your Customers Informed

2005-06-22T21:41:00.000-07:00

By Justine Curtis Many businesses use email newsletters to introduce themselves to new customers and to maintain contact with existing and past clients. By sending useful and relevant information on a consistent, regular basis, you maintain constant contact without the risk of irritating and alienating your customers. Your email newsletter will also enhance your credibility and increase sales. The following article offers advice on how to produce your own newsletter. For more detailed information on how to establish credibility and build online relationships, download our guide “Building Online Relationships” here: http://www.enable-uk.co.uk/html/book_4.html Producing your newsletter doesn’t have to be a daunting task. The first thing you need to decide upon is the frequency of publication. This is could be based on how much time you can devote to writing each month or possibly the frequency of new offers or products you would like to extend to your potential customers. A frequency of bi-monthly to monthly has been shown to achieve the best results and will probably be a comfortable pace for both you and your readers. Next you will need to decide upon a format for your newsletter. You can use a graphical format that will allow accurate tracking of open rates, links visited, etc or a text only version that offers a higher level of deliverability. Both have their advantages and disadvantages and a more in-depth look at these can be found in our guide: “Building Online Relationships” which can found here: http://www.enable-uk.co.uk/html/book_4.html If you wish to proceed with a graphical design you will next need to produce a template design for your layout. Many email list management companies provide online templates for their customers and with many you can also upload your own template. Once this is set up you simply type or paste in your text information online, and an HTML newsletter is automatically created for you. Now it’s time for the content of your newsletter. Concentrate on topics that your readers will be interested in and offers or product announcements that are appropriate to them. For example, I once bought some printer ink from an online retailer that offered me the opportunity to sign up for their special offers newsletter. Every month, regular as clockwork, I receive the latest special offers via email. These offers not only include ink, but also other stationary items that may be appropriate. It always prompts me to check my ink supplies, along with my stocks of stationary and a whole range of other similar items before deleting it. If I didn't get that e-mail from them, I would have probably bought the next batch of ink cartridges from whoever came up in an online search. And as it saves me time and because keeping these things all in one place is easier for me, they also now get my orders for stationary items as well. Your newsletter could be product offerings and special offers mixed in with useful product reviews, or it may be a recap of what's going on in your industry or tips useful to your customers. If you aren't a writer there are often articles available for reprint in most industries. Most of these are available to use free of charge providing that you include a short bio and link back to the writer’s web site. Make sure the content you use has relevant value to your readers and is not just a topic that interests you. Once written, make sure you archive the newsletter on your web site for additional content and make the archives available for browsing. This will also improve your search engine rankings as the content will be highly relevant and targeted to your customers. Having an archive will also encourage new subscribers as they find you through your articles. Most web hosts have some mailing list capability, or you can compose and mail your newsletter in Outlook. If you intent to build a sizable list it is often best to use one of the many third-party mailing services, these also take care of the opting in/out process and make sure you adhere to all legal requirements. I would recommend Vertical Response whom we have used for several years to manage our lists. They can be found here: http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=EavljUFQjXk&offerid=52409.10000007&type=1&subid=0 Top Tips for successful email newsletter campaigns: Getting Subscribers: · Do not purchase, trade or borrow an email list Sending email to people who have not specifically requested to receive your mailings (opting in) is almost always regarded as spam. You will succeed only in alienating your potential customers. · Make signing up and un-subscribing easy and visible Add a sign-up form to your home page and if possible, somewhere on every page of your web site. You can also ask your customers whether they would like to sign up when you speak with them in person. You may want to ask subscribers only for their email address, first and last name, and one or two other questions such as their interests. This will allow you to target future mailings but not put off your prospects by being too invasive. In general, the less information you require, the more likely people are to sign up. · Use double opt-in registration There are two standard methods for online registration, single and double opt-in. Single opt in requires that you enter an email address into a web site and click on the sign up or subscribe button. With double opt in you will be sent an email to the address you have used when signing up and you will need to click a link on it in order to verify that you wish to receive the publication. Double opt-in is the preferred method because it requires confirmation and therefore establishes that it is the owner of the email address that has signed up. · Link to your privacy policy Place a link to your privacy policy near to your list subscribe form. Your policy should describe how you handle the information you collect and how people can contact you in case they have any concerns or questions. It is also a good idea to confirm that their information will not be sold, rented or passed on in any way to any third parties. Maintaining your subscriber list: · Send a welcome message to each new subscriber When you receive a subscription request, send a welcome message immediately. Include a description of what they will receive and how frequently, and how to unsubscribe. It is also a good idea to try to get them to return immediately to your web site. You can offer a timed discount or a link to previous free articles, anything you think that might get them to look again at your offering. · Keep accurate sign-up records Occasionally you or your Internet service provider (ISP) may receive a spam complaint from someone who forgot they subscribed to your list. Keep accurate records that include the date and web address from which they signed up. Using a third party mailing service should prevent this. · Ask your members to opt in again if you are using an older list If you have not sent a mailing for a while, ask subscribers to indicate that they want to continue to remain on your list by sending you an email, clicking a link or visiting a web page. Make it as simple as possible to reaffirm their interest to avoid losing potential customers. · Remind people that they subscribed Include a standard heading each time you send a message. A short note such as “Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter” will remind recipients that they requested your mailings and that the content of the newsletter will be of interest to them. Producing an effective newsletter: · Avoid spam terms in your subject line and message text If your message contains words frequently used by spammers, people will delete it and possibly file a spam complaint. ISPs often filter emails with suspicious subject lines; also note that it is illegal to use deceptive or misleading ones. Avoid obvious spam words like “free” and if in doubt, good mailing services offer a free spam check facility prior to your newsletter being sent out. They will actually scan the newsletter and alert you to any words that might set off the spam filters. Vertical Response offer this service, click here for a free trial: http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=EavljUFQjXk&offerid=52409.10000007&type=1&subid=0 · Include your physical address and phone number Put your phone number and postal address in your message. This allows readers to contact you to place an order or inquire about your services. In addition, legislation in some countries requires that physical addresses are included on commercial email messages. · Send your mailings regularly Keep in touch with your subscribers frequently so they don’t forget they signed up to receive your mailings. They will begin to anticipate your messages if you adhere to a regular schedule. · Reply promptly to each inquiry or spam complaint If you receive an inquiry or a spam complaint, respond to it as soon as possible. Always include the subscriber’s sign-up information with your response. Following these simple suggestions will help you retain your subscriber base, which is fundamental for a thriving permission-based electronic newsletter or marketing campaign. If you are considering using a third party mailing service, I would recommend that VerticalResponse's iBuilder is the email marketing solution you need to build your opt-in mailing lists, publish your online newsletters and manage your direct email advertising campaigns, right from your browser. Click the link for a free trail: http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=EavljUFQjXk&offerid=52409.10000007&type=1&subid=0 For a complete guide to marketing on the Internet, including: · The General Principles of Internet Marketing · Start at the Beginning · Writing Text that Sells · Building Online Relationships · Maximising Your Pay Per Click Campaign · Measuring Success Why not purchase the whole series of downloadable guides for the discounted price of £64.95. Click for more information: http://www.enable-uk.co.uk/html/promo_ebooks.html To catch up with previous issues of this newsletter, visit: http://www.enable-uk.co.uk/html/internet_marketing_newsletter_.html Coming up next month, “How to Build Your Subscriber List” If you have any questions about any of the topics raised or any other Internet Marketing issues, feel free to email me at Justine@enable-uk.co.uk. I do my best to answer all emails or to cover the issues in future editions of this newsletter. Justine Curtis Enable UK Internet Marketing Information and Resources Make your web site work smarter! Web: http://www.enable-uk.co.uk Email: info@enable-uk.co.uk Feel free to forward this newsletter provided that it is sent in its entirety. To use this newsletter in any other format, please email for permission to Justine@enable-uk.co.uk Internet Marketing Tips Newsletter is a monthly publication of Enable-UK Copyright © 2004 Enable-UK

Your First Newsletter: 5 Sure-Fire Ways to Annoy People

2005-06-19T23:53:00.000-07:00

By Linda P. Dessau I read a lot of newsletters. Some are great and some are not so great. I put together this article to highlight the five mistakes I see most often in people's first newsletter. 1. When you're composing your newsletter in your email browser, put everyone's email address in the "To" field so that when someone receives your mailing they can see everyone else's address. Why You Might Not Want To Do This: With the high prevalence of spam (unwanted email) these days, people are very sensitive about their email addresses getting "out there". Also, depending on the topic of your newsletter, your readers may not be comfortable being identified. What To Do Instead: Put your own email address in the "To" field and use the Bcc. (blind carbon copy) field for everyone else's addresses. A much cleaner look and you're not compromising anyone's privacy. 2. Don't give your reader a way to unsubscribe, or ignore them when they ask that you stop contacting them. Why You Might Not Want To Do This: With people using more and more time these days to delete unwanted email from their Inbox, their patience is really getting thin when they get email they didn't ask for. And not responding to an unsubscribe request, well, that's just bad customer service. Have you ever heard that people will tell more people about a bad customer service experience than they will a good one? Don't have them talking about you! What To Do Instead: You can use an email distribution service that will automatically place an unsubscribe link at the bottom of every mailing you send out, plus the system will immediately take the person off your list as soon as they request it. If you're managing your list yourself, then include specific unsubscribe instructions yourself (i.e. to be removed from this mailing list, please send an email to this address – insert your address - with the subject line "Unsubscribe"). And most importantly, promptly honor these requests! 3. When you meet someone new and chat with them about your business (or the weather), or if they contact you about something unrelated to your business, be sure and immediately add them to your mailing list (don't get explicit permission or let them know you've done it). Why You Might Not Want To Do This: People don't like it! Just as I mentioned above, people don't want email they're not expecting or haven't asked for. This is especially true if the email is labeled as something that will be sent more than once (like a newsletter). What To Do Instead: Send your new contact (and your old ones, while you're at it) a complimentary or sample copy of your newsletter and invite them to subscribe if they liked it. Assure them that they haven't been added to your list (you'd NEVER add anyone without their explicit permission). 4. Be sure not to check your links in your newsletter – that way people will be annoyed AND frustrated when they click and wind up at an error page. Why You Might Not Want To Do This: You include links in your newsletter because you either want to share valuable information with your readers that you have scoured the Internet for (so they wouldn't have to), or so that your readers can find out more about your products and services and purchase them and/or recommend them to others. When your links are incomplete, incorrect, or unclickable, it's frustrating to that person who wanted to find out more. It might even send them away forever. What To Do Instead: Use full URL addresses (including the "http://" at the beginning), check your links to make sure they're correct and still active (if it's not your own website), and avoid putting a "." period directly after a link (some web browsers can't distinguish between the end of the link and the "." character and so the link won't work). An email distribution service will give you lots more options for using links in your newsletter (HTML, etc.). 5. Dress up your promotion as a newsletter Why You Might Not Want To Do This: People will see through your attempts to hide your promotion, and then they'll resent that you tried to sneak it past them. People are getting weary of being sold to, especially when they've let their guard down because they thought they were going to read an innocent newsletter. What To Do Instead: You could simply call it a promotion (and let your readers know when they sign-up that they'll hear from you about products and services). Or you could add value to a promotion by writing or providing an informative article or collection of tips that will be useful to your target audience. Then include your promotional information as a bonus. It's not to say you can't promote yourself within your newsletter, it's just that people want to feel that you care enough about them to offer them something valuable before asking them to buy something! It's great that you're starting a newsletter. It's a fantastic way to maintain repeated contact with your customers, prospects and referral sources, increase your visibility and establish your credibility as an expert in your field. So why risk all that with any of the annoying habits I've listed here? Maybe you're not annoying ALL of your readers when you do these things. But do you really want to take that chance? (c) Copyright Linda Dessau, 2005. Linda Dessau is a writer and coach. Through her "Newsletter Assist" and "You Talk It, I'll Write It" writing services, she helps coaches and other solo professionals promote their business with email newsletters and create passive revenue streams with written information products. Find out more at: http://www.genuinecoaching.com/writing