Signature files E-zines and Newsletters

Publishing your E-zine/Newsletter Ezine/Newsletter Advertising

 

Signature files:-  Sigfiles are simply electronic business cards that attach automatically to the end of your e-mail messages.     A signature file allows you to advertise your business every time you send an e-mail message.                                  Sigfiles are a powerful and very effective tool to help build your business. And, as an added bonus - sigfiles are FREE. (Most email programs have the ability to attach your sigfile and business card)   The use of sigfiles is a highly recommended marketing tactic that expands your advertising and is well accepted by all net users, but keep your sigfile content short (6 lines max recommended ) with an offer that will invite your reader to respond. A "free" offer works well and is always a powerful response-getter.    Always include your name, full web site URL ( include the http:// and make sure the link actually works), short description of your offer and benefits to the reader. Remember, "what's in it for me?" is what the reader is generally asking. Your sigfile should contain all the basic information and contact details from your business.

 

E-zines or Newsletters :-  What are E-zines/Newsletters? E-zine is an abbreviation for electronic magazine or simply another word for "e-mail newsletter" or "online publication". Newsletters are periodical publications directly related to specific subjects or topics. There are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of newsletters being circulated across the Internet daily. Their original and specific purpose was to be an informative publication solely related to a single topic or subject. However, over time, many newsletters have developed simply into advertising forums with little relevant content or newsworthy articles included. Not all I might add!   The value of a mass-circulation publication, with an opt-in and targeted audience of readers was soon identified as a potential, highly successful advertising medium, particularly by the Internet marketing segment of users. Advertising income has developed into the mainstay of many newsletter publishers income source. No wonder you see a plethora of ads in many newsletters! However, for the Internet marketer/entrepreneur they have become an additional useful and productive resource to reach a large, targeted audience.   Ezines are generally free and contain articles on many subjects and  are emailed to subscribers on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. There are tens of thousands of Ezines covering every topic imaginable and they accept advertising related to the Ezine topic or subject.   Ezines are sometimes called "opt-in" lists because people who subscribe to an ezine have chosen to do so. That's why ezine ads get results. People read ezines and they'll read your ad. If you've matched the ezine to the product your selling, you've reached your target audience.   Ads in Ezines are generally classifieds and the standard ad size is 3 lines, however, some Ezines accept ads of between 4 and 6 lines.   E-zine ads are generally charged at $10 per thousand  though charges can vary quite extensively, and the overall cost is relative to the number of subscribers to the Ezine and in some cases based on the size of the ad also, however, some Ezines offer totally free advertising also.     When using E-zine advertising the number of subscribers may not always be the key factor to consider, you need to target Ezines that will be directly relevant to your product or service  (e.g. business Ezines.) Also, large ezines generally have more ads in them, whilst smaller ezines often have a much more "targeted" audience than large ezines.   Check to see if the ezine publisher has a policy of not running two similar products in the same issue - your ad will be much more effective if it's the only one of it's kind in that particular issue. Repeat your ads,  research shows that ads need to be seen up to 9 times on the Internet before someone acts on them. Email versus URL? - the advantage of using your email address is that it gives you the opportunity to send a powerful sales letter to the ad respondent. This is where an autoresponder can really be effective - your autoresponder can send numerous follow-up messages to reinforce your offer  (and also capture the respondents email address.)  Subscribe to an Ezine before you advertise so that you can get a general idea of the type of ads being placed in them and where the ads are situated, then write your ad so it is appropriate to the particular publication. If you see an ad that is repeated issue after issue, you may be pretty sure that it's getting results. You have probably found a good ezine to advertise in.  Check to see how many ads are in the ezine. You probably won't get much response from an ad in an ezine if there are 15 or 20 ads per issue. Readers of these ezines  skip the ads because they are only interested in items that are important to them. Your ad is lost in the "clutter." ( I personally scan ads quickly and look for "free" or "no cost" in the headers.) Ezine ads don't have subject lines like the ads on fee sites. Instead, you use several capitalized words at the beginning of the ad to get the reader's attention. These words should "grab" your prospect's imagination. Readers skim down the column of ads and only read the beginning words that stand out from the others.  Keep your Ezine ads short, even if it means not using all the characters allowed. Short ads are more likely to be read. Keep your sentences short also; they pack much more power. Use the word "you." Don't detail your product but focus on telling the reader what your product can do for them. Track your Ads, say you placed an ad in five different ezines and received a hundred responses. If you don't track your ads you won't know which ezines were pulling responses and which did not. To track your ads the simplest method is to place a key or code at the end of your email address. e.g.  your name@yourdomain.com?subject =ezineA,-  likewise for your URL - http://www.yourdomain.com?ezineA.  Note: if you are going to code your URLs, you will need a good webstats program to track the coded URLs.  (see software-adtracking) Maintain a subscription-based mailing list. By adhering to your subscription list, you protect your reputation and credibility by not spamming,  and you also gather customer data that can be used for research, prospecting, or other business purposes.    Publishing your own Ezine or Newsletter:   if you want to set up your own ezine be cautious as to the amount of advertising material you include, many ezines have developed simply into advertising bill-boards with little or poor content. People subscribe to ezines for a reason - they  are generally looking for information not sales brochures. If you hope to make  money from your publication, or if you plan to utilize it as a draw to your site, the following is suggested:   1.)  Bonding. Who are your subscribers? What segment of the market place are you targeting? If your ezine is for "newbies" then you will need to offer simple, clear explanations, if your aiming at the business market, your ezine should be presented as a professional publication with relevant, informative content and be to the point.   2.)  Basics. Keep your ezine simple. Stick to plain text. Yes, you can create an ezine with a variety of fonts, graphics, and formatting options, but why bother when about 50% of all email users only have access to plain text compatible email clients? And instead of your nicely centered and bright red heading is an unintelligible line of code - hardly what you planned to present!   3.)  Benefits. When your subscribers read your ezine they'll be thinking "what's in it for me?" You must ensure that your ezine answers this question from start to finish. Focus on exactly what your subscribers want. Pack your ezine with benefits for your subscribers - "how to" articles, for example will grab your subscribers interest and keep them interested long enough to read your sales message.   4.)  Bullets. using bullets is  a good method  to break down large "chunks" of text. Most of your readers will scan through your Ezine looking for pertinent points of interest. Large blocks of text make reading tedious and tiresome; bulleted lists get your information across quickly and effortlessly.   5.)  Build.  In order to sell, you must build a foundation to sell upon. Build a good relationship with your subscribers. Invite them to ask you questions and to give you feedback. Answer promptly and efficiently when they contact you. Don't ignore their message. Many Internet Marketers have lost their credibility simply from failing to reply to a subscribers feedback. What do you lose? Apart from your credibility - sales and possible recommendations to others. A few moments of your time to thank your subscribers  can be worth their weight in gold. Relationships within your business structure: don't neglect to cross-advertise between your different business ventures, if you decide to publish your own ezine, include links between your web page/s and ezine. E-Newsletter advertising is generally paid advertising, so if you have limited funds for advertising, an option to consider may be to publish your own newsletter. You need to firstly establish whether or not you have the capacity and resources necessary to publish your own newsletter and which subject or topic of interest you will decide upon. If you have a sound knowledge of, or an easily accessible research source for a specific topic, then that is your second step to publishing your newsletter.    Next:   Time:    Consider the time necessary to write a weekly article for example, will the publication interfere with your other commitments? (You could invite or entice guest writers to submit articles for a trade-off  e.g. give them a free ad?)   The Cost:    Will there be a significant cost attached to the project? Will the benefit of having your own advertising forum offset the operational costs involved? (you would obviously promote your own product/s in your own newsletter)   Subscribers:   Will you be able to build a large enough subscriber base to attract potential paid advertisers?   Publishing:    How will you publish your newsletter? A bulk mailing program, mailing list, list server and so on will be necessary.   Promotion:   You will also need to promote your newsletter to get it off the ground, just as with any other Internet product or service.   Quality:   Your newsletter must be topical, informative, professionally written and newsworthy to survive. Many newsletters fold within a very short time through lack of interest, lack of subscribers or funds, so you should conduct a detailed analysis of your intended project before you commit yourself. Remember - it's your time and your money!   N.B. You might want to go a step further and contact your local community newspaper and ask if they will publish your weekly article. Just submit the content (not the ads) and add your email address, URL and contact details - snail-mail address and phone or fax number. Use a creative topic/headline such as: "Did you know about the boom in Internet Marketing?" or "Internet Marketing is the fastest growing industry in the world today!" Inevitably your primary objective is to advertise your business so select topics or themes that are relative to your business and subtly introduce promotion for your own product wherever possible.