Getting Subscribers For Your Newsletter Is As Simp

Getting Subscribers For Your Newsletter Is As Simple As This…

by: Emma okafor

Having a newsletter is one thing but how many subscribers do you have? Or are you ok with the number of subscribers you have? If you are not satisfied with the answer, then this article is for you. This article will show you how a simple approach did it did it for me, so now is your turn.

A good way of achieving this is through writing an article for submission in newsletters and ezines. Lets say your article got been published in an ezine with 100,000 subscribers and you make 1% success (1% readers click your tagline) and subscribe from your newsletter). It means you have 1000 subscribers. What if you make a 10% success that means 10,000 subscribers. For just only an article that didn’t cost you a dime!

Another way to build up a potential subscriber mailing list is with a drawing at a convection or trade show. You can have cards printed up for people to fill their names and address. All attendees would be interested in the subject matter of your newsletter. You can place ads in trade magazines that cater to the topic you are pursing. Include the full details of your newsletter, or use a leader to get inquiries and sent out details later. Build a direct mail piece that describes the benefits and features of your newsletter and pushes for subscription. You can offer a special free booklet to new subscribers or a discount. You may include a sample newsletter in the direct mail piece to show how worthwhile the publication is.

Pricing is always a tricky aspect of selling information. How much you price your newsletter and still keep your subscribers matters. You need to research the market to find out who will buy subscription and how much they are willing to pay. But there are sound methods of testing the market so you can be sure to come out ahead and establish yourself in the field. Frequency of your publication is also important. Although you may be able to prepare and publish a weekly newsletter, your subscribers may not be able to keep up with reading it and prefer a monthly subscription.

In addition to how often you may publish your newsletter, there are a lot of factors to consider. The main factor is how fast you can produce a newsletter? Secondly how long will it take you to research and write material for your newsletter?

Don’t forget that a good mailist should be used over and over. If you know you have a list of prime targets for you newsletter, don’t stop with one mailing. Follow through with subsequent offer at certain intervals to catch those who couldn’t decide the first time.

Follow the guidelines and you will find your newsletter will be readily accepted and flourish. Pal you can reap these PROFITS. You can MAKE IT WORK!

About The Author

Emma okafor, an online market researcher and writer. His blueprint success in online marketing is available in his site http://bizacumen.8k.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on December 02, 2002

by Emma okafor

10 Reasons To Sell A Fee Based Subscription Ezine

10 Reasons To Sell A Fee Based Subscription Ezine

by: Larry Dotson

1. You will create residual income. For example, if you charge a monthly subscription fee, you will get recurring income every month.
2. You won’t have to spend all your time marketing to gain new subscribers. Just get and keep enough subscribers to reach your monthly income goal.
3. You can figure how many subscribers itกll take to meet your income goal. Note on your ad that youกll only accept a limited number of subscribers.
4. You won’t have any shipping or materials costs like offline subscription publications. Youกll just have your internet access and web site expenses.
5. You can sell back end or upsell products inside a fee based subscription ezine. It could be your own products or affiliate programs youกve joined.
6. You can start an affiliate program that will give people residual commission. People will want to join because itกs residual instead of one time sales.
7. You could publish a free ezine and allow people to upgrade to your fee based ezine. If they like your free one, theyกll likely subscribe to your paid ezine.
8. Your ad copy automatically builds itself into an order pulling machine. Each issue you archive gives you new benefits to add to your sales letter.
9. You could transform your fee based content into another product to sell. It could be an ebook, video, audio book, report, book, etc.
10. You could become known as an expert on the topic of your fee based ezine. You may get hired by other businesses to do speaking engagements.

About The Author

Over 40,000 Free eBooks & Web Books when you visit: http://www.ldpublishing.com As a bonus, Bob Osgoodby publishes the free weekly "Your Business" Newsletter visit his web site to subscribe and place a FREE Ad! http://advmarketing.com/business

This article was posted on January 16, 2002

by Larry Dotson

Online Advertising Sinks into the Abyss!

Online Advertising Sinks into the Abyss!

by: Lee Traupel

Back in the ancient days of 1994 when Mark Andreesen and his band of hardy programmers were inventing a groundbreaking product/application/way of life called a browser, a dedicated group of entrepreneurs started publishing Netsurfer Digest a modern day กHitchhikers Guide to the Galaxyก for the web. I subscribed to this wonderful newsletter and reference guide back in those heady days of yesteryear and have been a loyal subscriber and advocate since then. Sadly on this past Sunday I received notice that Netsurfer was moving to a paid subscription only model and would no longer be able to continue publishing their three primary newsletters by utilizing inserted ads as their sole source of revenue.

Netsurfer became the proverbial canary in the coalmine that succumbed to the hazardous winds blowing across the online advertising market. They simply couldn’t build a sustainable business model via ad inserts, even by delivering a million impressions a month to an upscale, well educated, target rich demographic group. This denouement has broad implications to many who are dependent on advertising supported business models. If this wonderful award winning publication with excellent graphics, topical information delivered in snappy กletกs get to the pointก journalism can’t make it then itกs time to batten down the hatches the rough ride is still underway for online advertising.

Whatกs worse in my opinion is the founders of Netsurfer Communications said they were throwing in the towel and moving to a paid subscription model because they didn’t want to be a part of the intrusive (my words paraphrasing a bit) online ad technology that has become so กannoying.ก You have to give them significant karma points for this brave stance, especially when you contrast it to the กgreed is greatก news thatกs been hitting us all via the Enron debacle thank God for real entrepreneurs who are putting their ethics ahead of their revenue stream, there may be some hope in the business community after all.

So, what does this mean to the broader community? It means itกs getting increasingly difficult to make a buck/euro selling advertising without selling your soul to the devil by deploying increasing invasive (does anyone really like pop ups?) technology that may irritate the hell out of your customers. Ad rates are plummeting, even the once mighty Yahoo is struggling to make revenue and their sales reps even return calls now, which is definitely au contraire to their Iกm too busy to talk with customers .com glory days.

You couldn’t read a Fast Company or a Business 2.0 the last two years without reading some slick article by another reporter breathlessly telling us how the Wall Street Journal (Dow Jones) was pioneering the concept of building a viable online content subscription revenue model. This is hogwash, if we all had the type of branded content, excellent editors and the sterling reputation of one of the top five newspapers published in the world then this model would work for thousands of unique content publishers. But, most do not even have the subscriber base and branded content of a Netsurfer Digest stay tuned to see if this model works for the Netsurfer folks (I hope so); but don’t hold your breath, I don’t think they will be ordering their $1,500. Herman Miller chairs right and left like the folks at Webvan and Quokka Sports VC bucks don’t come around like they used to, but thatกs another article.

I don’t have any silver bullets for those who are headed down the track of trying to sell advertising supported newsletters and/or shift to a subscription model. The obvious advice is this may work, but you better have other revenue sources that leverage your demographics. And, if you don’t have mutually reinforcing revenue streams, then take a hard look at your business and modify accordingly. The greatest shift in online advertising is via optin email marketing we all want to receive information that is timely, informative and presented in a compelling manner. So, find a business model that lets you narrowcast products and services to a community of people who want to receive content (contact) from your company good luck to all and by the way, signup for Netsurferกs paid subscription newsletter I did, we all have to vote with our visa cards once in a while to keep the karmic balance on an even plane.

About The Author

Lee Traupel has 20 plus years of business development and marketing experience he is the founder of Intelective Communications, Inc., http://www.intelective.com, a resultsdriven marketing services company providing proprietary services to clients encompassing startups to public companies. [email protected]

[email protected]

This article was posted on July 25, 2002

by Lee Traupel

How To Turn Any Product You Sell In To Residual In

How To Turn Any Product You Sell In To Residual Income

by: Larry Dotson

The concept of this is for you to offer a subscription type product as an upsell or backend product. For example, if you’re selling an ebook for $37 offer a subscription to a related ezine for $9.95 a month. Instead of an ezine, it could be monthly updated information for the ebook.

Itกs not just for ebooks, you can make it work for any product or service you sell. Some subscriptions that might work for your product could be:

email/telephone consulting

a private or members only web site

print newsletters/magazines

product updates

subscription warrantees

product insurance

ezine/webzines

the ideas are endless…..

The subscription product should be related to the product or service you’re selling. You could charge a weekly, monthly, or yearly subscription for the upsell product. You could sell your main product and upsell product as a total subscription package deal. You wouldn’t charge the onetime price for your main product; you would just charge the basic subscription price of the upsell product.

The major benefits are that you don’t have to keep creating new upsell and back end products. Once you get enough subscribers you won’t have to sell anymore, you just keep generating income from your current subscribers. You would only have to sell again if you lost a lot of subscribers.

About The Author

Over 40,000 Free eBooks & Web Books when you visit: http://www.ldpublishing.com As a bonus, Bob Osgoodby publishes the free weekly "Your Business" Newsletter visit his web site to subscribe and place a FREE Ad! http://advmarketing.com/business

This article was posted on January 20, 2002

by Larry Dotson

How to Start A Money Making Newsletter

How to Start A Money Making Newsletter

by: Patrick Baghestani

Writing and publishing a successful newsletter is perhaps the most competitive of all the different areas of mail order and direct marketing.

Five years ago, there were 1500 different newsletters in this country. Today there are well over 10,000, with new ones being started every day. Itกs also interesting to note that for every new one thatกs started, some disappear just as quickly as they are started lack of operating capital and marketing knowhow being the principal causes of failure.

To be successful with a newsletter, you have to specialize. Your best bet will be with new information on a subject not already covered by an established newsletter.

Regardless of the frustrations involved in launching your own newsletter, never forget this truth: There are people from all walks of life, in all parts of this country, many of them with no writing ability whatsoever, who are making incredible profits with simple two, four, and sixpage newsletters!

Your first step should be to subscribe to as many different newsletters and mail order publications as you can afford. Analyze and study how the others are doing it. Attend as many workshops and seminars on your subject as possible. Learn from the pros. Learn how the successful newsletter publishers are doing it, and why they are making money. Adapt their success methods to your own newsletter, but determine to recognize where they are weak, and to make yours better in every way.

Plan your newsletter before launching it. Know the basic premise for its being, your editorial position, the layout, art work, type styles, subscription price, distribution methods, and every other detail necessary to make it look, sound and feel like the end result you have envisioned.

Lay out your startup needs; detail the length of time itกs going to take to become established, and what will be involved in becoming established. Set a date as a mile stone of accomplishment for each phase of your development: A date for breaking even, a date for attaining a certain paid subscription figure, and a monetary goal for each of your first five years in business. And all this must be done before publishing your first issue.

Market research is simply determining who the people are who will be interested in buying and reading your newsletter, and the kind of information these people want to see in your newsletter as a reason for continuing to buy it. You have to determine what it is they want from your newsletter.

Your market research must give you unbiased answers about your newsletterกs capabilities of fulfilling your prospective buyerกs need for information; how much heกs willing to pay for it, and an overall profile of his status in life. The questions of why he needs your information, and how heกll use it should be answered. Make sure you have the answers to these questions, publish your newsletter as a vehicle of fulfillment to these needs, and you’re on your way!

You’re going to be in trouble unless your newsletter has a real point of difference that can be easily perceived by your prospective buyer. The design and graphics of your newsletter, plus what you say and how you say it, will help in giving your newsletter this vital difference.

Be sure your newsletter works with the personality you’re trying to build for it. Make sure it reflects the wants of your subscribers. Include your advertising promise within the heading, on the title page, and in the same words your advertising uses. And above all else, don’t skim on design or graphics!

The name of your newsletter should also help to set it apart from similar news letters, and spell out its advertising promise. A good name reinforces your advertising. Choose a name that defines the direction and scope of your newsletter.

Opportunity Knocking, Money Making Magic, Extra Income Tip Sheet, and Mail Order UpDate are primate examples of this type of philosophy as opposed to the Johnson Report, The Association Newsletter, or Clubhouse Confidential.

Try to make your newsletterกs name memorable one that flows automatically. Don’t pick a name thatกs so vague it could apply to almost anything. The name should identify your newsletter and its subject quickly and positively.

Pricing your newsletter should be consistent with the image you’re trying to build. If you’re starting a กMetooก newsletter, never price it above the competition. In most instances, the consumer associates higher prices with quality, so if you give your readers better quality information in an expensive looking package, don’t hesitate to ask for a premium price. However, if your information is gathered from most of the other newsletters on the subject, you will do well to keep your prices in line with theirs.

One of the best selling points of a newsletter is in the degree of audience involvement for instance, how much it talks about, and uses the names of its readers.

People like to see things written about themselves. They resort to all kinds of things to get their names in print, and they pay big money to read whatกs been written about them. You should understand this facet of human nature, and decide if and how you want to capitalize upon it then plan your newsletter accordingly.

Almost as important as names in your newsletter are pictures. The readers will generally accept a newsletter faster if the publisherกs picture is presented or included as a part of the newsletter. Whether you use pictures of the people, events, locations or products you write about is a policy decision; but the use of pictures will set your publication apart from the others and give it an individual image, which is precisely what you want.

The decision as to whether to carry paid advertising, and if so, how much, is another policy decision that should be made while your newsletter is still in the planning stages. Some purists feel that advertising corrupts the image of the newsletter and may influence editorial policy. Most people accept advertising as a part of everyday life, and don’t care one way or the other.

Many newsletter publishers, faced with rising production costs and viewing advertising as a means of offsetting those costs, welcome paid advertising. Generally the advertisers see the newsletter as a vehicle to a captive audience, and well worth the cost.

The only problem with accepting advertising in your newsletter would appear to be that as your circulation grows, so will your number of advertisers, until youกll have to increase the size of your newsletter to accommodate the advertisers. At this point, the basic premise or philosophy of the newsletter often changes from news and practical information to one of an advertiserกs showcase.

Promoting your newsletter, finding prospective buyers and converting these prospects into loyal subscribers, will be the most difficult task of your entire undertaking. It takes detailed planning, persistence and patience.

Youกll need a sales letter. Check the sales letter you receive in the mail; analyze how these are written and pattern yours along the same lines. Youกll find all of them all those worthy of being called sales letters following the same formula: Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action on the part of the reader AIDA.

Jump right in at the beginning and tell the reader how heกs going to benefit from your newsletter, and then keep emphasizing right on through your กPSก, the many and different benefits heกll gain from subscribing to your newsletter. Elaborate on your listing of benefits with examples of what you have, or you intend to include, in your newsletter.

Follow these examples with endorsements or testimonials from reviewers and satisfied subscribers. Make the recipient of your sales letter feel that you’re offering him the answer to all his problems on the subject of your newsletter.

You have to make your prospect feel that ‘this is the insiderกs secretก to the success he wants. Present it to him as his own personal key to success, and then tell him how far behind his contemporaries he is going to be if he doesn’t act upon your offer immediately.

Always include a กPSก in your sales letter. This should quickly restate to the reader that he can start enjoying the benefits of your newsletter by acting immediately, and very subtly suggesting that he may not get another chance to get the kind of กsuccess helpก you’re offering him with this sales letter.

Don’t worry about the length of your sales letter most are four pages or more; however, it must flow logically and smoothly. Use short sentences, short paragraphs, indented paragraphs, and lost of subheads for the people who will be กscanning throughก your sales letter.

In addition to the sales letter, your promotion package should include a return reply order card or coupon. This can be either a selfaddressed business reply post card, or a separate coupon, in which case youกll have to include a selfaddressed return reply envelope. In every mailing piece you send out, always include one or the other: either a selfaddressed business reply postcard or a selfaddressed return reply envelope for the recipient to use to send your order form and his remittance back to you.

Your best response will come from a business reply postcard on which you allow your prospect to charge the subscription to his credit card, request that you bill him, or send his payment with the subscription start order.

Next, youกll need a Subscription Order Acknowledgment card or letter. This is simply a short note thanking your new subscriber for his order, and promising to keep him uptodate with everything relating to the subject of your newsletter.

An acknowledgment letter, in an envelope, will cost more postage to mail than a simple postcard; however, when you send the letter you have to opportunity to enclose additional material. A circular listing other items available through you will produce additional orders.

Thus far, youกve prepared the layout and copy for your newsletter. Go ahead and have a hundred copies printed, undated. Youกve written a sales letter and prepared a return reply subscription order card or coupon; go ahead and have a hundred of these printed, also undated, of course. Youกll need letterhead mailing envelopes, and don’t forget the return reply envelopes if you choose to use the coupons instead of the business reply postcard. Go ahead and have a thousand mailing envelopes printed. You also need subscription order acknowledgment cards or notes; have a hundred of these printed, and of course, don’t forget the imprinted reply envelopes if you’re going along with the idea of using a note instead of a postcard. This w ill be a basic supply for ‘testingก your materials so far.

Now you’re ready for the big move the Advertising Campaign.

Start by placing a small classified ad in one of your local newspapers. You should place your ad in a weekend or Sunday paper that will reach as many people as possible, and of course, do everything you can to keep your costs as low as possible. How ever, do not skimp on your advertising budget. To be successful to make as much money as possible with your idea youกll need to reach as many people as you can afford, and as often as you can.

Over the years, we have launched several hundred advertising campaigns. We always ran new ads for a minimum of three issues and kept close tabs on the returns. So long as the returns kept coming in, we continued running that ad in that publication, while adding a new publication to test for results. To our way of thinking, this is the best way to go, regardless of the product, to successfully multiply your customer list.

Move slowly, start with a local, farreaching and widely read paper, and with the prof its or returns from that ad, go to the regional magazines, or one of the smaller national magazines, and continue plowing your returns into more advertising in different publications. By taking your time, and building your acceptance in this manner, you won’t lose too much if one of your ads should prove to be a dud. Stay with the advertising. Do not abandon it in favor of direct mail. We would not recommend direct mail until you are well established and your national classified advertising pro gram is bringing in a healthy profit for you.

Do not become overly ambitious and go out on a limb with expensive fullpage advertising until you’re very well established. When you do buy full page advertising, start with the smaller publications, and build from those results. Have patience; keep close tabs on your costs per subscriber, and build from the profits of your advertising. Always test the advertising medium you want to use with a classified ad, and if it pulls well for you, go on to a larger display type ad.

Classified advertising is the least expensive way to go, so long as you use the กinquiry method.ก You can easily and quickly build your subscriber list with this type of advertisement.

We would not recommend any attempts to sell subscriptions, or any product from classified ads, or even from small display ads. There just isn’t enough space to describe the product adequately, and seeing the cost of your item, many possible subscribers will not bother to inquire for the full story.

When you do expand your efforts into direct mail, go straight to a national list broker. You can find their names and addresses in the yellow pages section of your local telephone directory. Show the list broker your product and your mailing piece, and explain what type people you want to reach, and allow them to help you.

Once youกve decided on a list to use, go slowly. Start with a sampling of 5,000 names. If the returns are favorable, go for 10,000 names, and then 15,000 and so on through the entire list.

Never rent the entire list based upon the returns from your first couple of samplings. The variables are just too many, and too complicated, and too conducive to your losing your shirt when you กroll out an entire listก based upon returns from a controlled sampling.

There are a number of other methods for finding new subscribers, which weกll explore for you here, detailing the good and the bad as we have researched them.

One method is that of contracting with what is known as a กcashfieldก agency. These are soliciting agencies who hire people to sell doortodoor and via the phone, almost always using a high pressure sales approach. The publisher usually makes only about 5% from each subscription sold by one of these agencies. That speaks for itself.

Then, there are several major catalog sales companies that sell subscriptions to school libraries, government agencies and large corporations. These people usually buy through these catalog sales companies rather than direct from the publisher. The publisher makes about 10% on each subscription sold for him by one of these agencies.

Coop Mailings are generally piggyback mailings of your subscription offer along with numerous other business offers in the same envelope. Smaller mail order entrepreneurs do this under the name of Big Mail Offers. Coming into vogue now are the Postcard Mailers. You submit your offer on a business reply postcard; the packager then prints and mails your postcard in a package with 40 or 50 similar postcards via third class mail to a mailing list that could number 100,000 or more. You pay a premium price for this type of mailing usually $1000 to $1500 per mailing, but the returns are very good and you keep all the incoming money.

Another form of coop mailing is where you supply a charge card company or department store with your subscription offer as a กstatement mailing suffer.ก Your offer goes out with the monthly statements; new subscriptions are returned to the mailer and billed to the customerกs charge card. The publisher usually makes about 50% on each subscription. This is one of the most lucrative, but expensive methods of bringing in new customers.

Direct mail agencies such as Publishers Clearing House can be a very lucrative source of new subscriptions, in that they mail out more than 60 million pieces of mail each year, all of which are built around an opportunity for the recipient to win a gigantic cash sweepstakes. The only problem with this type of subscription agency is the very low percentage of the total subscription price the publisher receives from these subscriptions, plus the fact that the publishers are required to charge a lower subscription rate than they normally charge.

There are also several agencies that offer Introductory, Sample Copy and Trial Subscription offers, such as Select Information Exchange and Publisher Exchange. With this kind of agency, details about your publication are listed along with similar publications, in full page ads inviting the readers to send $10 or $20 for trial subscription to those of his choice. The publishers received no money from these inquiries only a list of names of people interested in receiving trial s ubscriptions. How the publisher follows up and is able to convert these into full term, and paying subscribers is entirely dependent upon his own efforts.

Most major newspapers will carry small, lightweight brochures or oversized reply cards as inserts in their Sunday papers. The publisher supplies the total number of inserts, pays the newspaper $20 per thousand for the number of newspapers he wants his order form carried in, and then retains all the money generated. But the high costs of printing the inserts, plus the $20 per thousand for distribution, make this an extremely costly method of obtaining new subscribers.

Schools, civic groups and other fund raising organizations work in about the same manner as the cashfield agencies. They supply the solicitor and the publisher gets 25% or less for each new subscription sold.

Attempting to sell subscriptions via radio or TV is very expensive and works better in generating sales at the newsstands than new subscriptions. PI (Per Inquiry) sales is a very popular way of getting radio or TV exposure and advertising for your newsletter or other publication, but again, the number of sales brought in by the broad cast media is very small when compared with the number of times the กinvitation commercialก has to be กairedก to elicit a response.

A new idea beginning to surface on the cable TV scene is กProducts Showsก. This is the kind of show where the originator of the product or his representative appears on TV and gives a complete sales presentation lasting from five minutes to 15 minutes. Overall, these programs generally run between midnight and 2 AM, with the whole program a series of sales presentations for different products. They operate on the basis of the product owner paying a fee to appear and show his product, and also from an arrangement where the product owner pays a certain percentage from each sale generated from this exposure.

Newsletter publishers often run exchange publicity endorsement with noncompeting publishers. Generally, these endorsements invite the reader of newsletter กAก to send for a sample copy of newsletter กBก for a look at what somebody else is going that might be of especial help, etc. This can be a very good source of new subscriptions, and certainly the least expensive.

Running ads in the Mail Order Ad Sheets is not very productive, either in terms of inquiries or sales. About the best thing that can be said of most of these ad sheets (and there seems to be a million of them with new ones cropping up faster than you can count them) is that your ad in several of them will let other people in on what you’re doing. You will be able to keep track of a lot of the people trying to make a place for themselves in the mail order field.

Last, but not least, is the enlistment of your own subscribers to send you names of people they think might be interested in receiving a sample copy of your publication. Some publishers ask their readers to pass along these names out of loyalty, while others offer a monetary incentive or a special bonus for names of people sent in who be come subscribers.

About The Author

Want to learn how to start and grow your very own Home Business? If so, visit our internet home based business resource center at http://www.internetbasedhomebusinessideas.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 06, 2004

by Patrick Baghestani

Remote Collaboration Is Now A Service On The Inter

Remote Collaboration Is Now A Service On The Internet

by: Paola Musa

Easydesk is a new way to cooperate: a userfreindly instrument for the creation of a ขvirtual officeข, designed for professional use, equipped with all the features and and the services needed to assure high performances and above all the maximum security in using it.

It is targeted to: professionals, Small and Medium Companies, Organization, Work Groups to increase the efficiency of the office, improve the collaboration among collegues and with suppliers and clients located anywhere in the World. easydesk grants a daily backup of the data, rapidly cuts some costs of the telephone bill, introduces economically Teleworking, elearning and CRM.

It does not require to buy software, to create and mantein a personal server or to manage the service.

Easydesk presents a wide range of builtin functions and news ones are been developped for the future:

Communication: Email, chat, multipart vocal conference, white board (allows making online presentations and lessons), forum. High service assures a safe communication).

Filing: sharing of data located on the easydesk server and on the work stations, possibility to keep the data encrypted and to manage the access rights to them for the users of the office, opportunity to make automatic backup of the data located on the work station of the user.

Easydesk is offered as a service on the internet that one pays for what is needed and for the time it is necessary. The payment is made indeed through a subscription to use a basic office, and any additional function or service installed must be bought with points that can be top up, as for the mobile prepaid cards. The subscription includes the possibility to host up five users per office, up to 50 MB of remote memory and all the functions available at the moment excluded the vocal conference; the subscription can be expanded anytime through the abovementioned topup system. The annual subscription of the basic costs 180 Euro.

Reference

Easydesk Italia Srl

Piazza Vescovio 7

00199 Roma

Telephone +39 06 97611286/7

Fax +39 06 97611288

Email [email protected]

Website: www.easydesk.it

About The Author

Paola Musa, Press Office Responsible of easydesk Italia Srl

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 26, 2004

by Paola Musa

Why This Is The Perfect Time To Start Charging For

Why This Is The Perfect Time To Start Charging For Website Subscriptions

by: Peter A. Schaible

If you’re a writer, researcher, subject matter expert, enthusiastic hobbyist, or an authority on almost any topic, there has never been a better time to start your own subscription website or online newsletter.

And if you’re already publishing a hobby website, now is the ideal time to convert at least a portion of the content to feepaid access.

Smart website owners are now realizing just how valuable their hardearned knowledge is to others. Much of the information that used to be available for free to anyone and everyone on the World Wide Web is moving behind closed doors, accessible only to paying subscribers.

Savvy writers and publishers are not giving it away anymore. They’re setting up profitdriven, membersonly websites and building online communities of subscribers who value their knowledge. Perhaps surprisingly, resistance to paying for content is gradually melting away.

The end of free

This trend away from websites offering free information and toward a subscription, or payforaccess business model, has several causes.

First, only a few websites operated by big companies can afford to provide valuable content without being compensated. Some of them can do it for the public relations value, but they are the exception.

The rest of us can’t be so generous. And trying to recapture our expenses by selling advertising on our websites has failed to pay the bills. Online advertising and clickthrough rates are on the decline.

Second, many people are now more than willing to pay to learn what you already know, as thousands of online publishers of subscription websites have already proven.

Why subscribers are ready to pay

The Internet has enabled people with similar interests to find each other and form online communities. Whether your interest is in politics, gardening, or model railroading, the Internet enables you to connect to others who share your enthusiasms and values.

But in the current political and social climate, there is heightened anxiety and concern about privacy. If you previously contributed to public online discussion forums, you may now be feeling vulnerable. You never know who is lurking and reading your comments, or gathering information about you. One frequent concern: what spammers are harvesting your email address?

However, in the seclusion of a subscribersonly website, you feel more protected. You can share ideas with an affinity group of likeminded people with less fear of ridicule or repercussions. The publisher moderates the forum and promises to honor your privacy.

These concerns are not diminishing over time, they are intensifying as people perceive the world and cyberspace as an increasingly dangerous place. The result has been a proliferation of private, membersonly, subscription websites and online newsletters covering literally hundreds of diverse and specialized topics.

Finding the right subscription business model

Coming up with the right topic for a successful subscription website is usually the biggest stumbling block for those wanting to get into this business. Choosing your site topic is a serious issue, as the topic you select pretty much dictates your chances of success with a subscription website.

Research by the Subscription Website Publishers Association (http://www.SWEPA.com) shows at least five successful models for subscription website topic selection. These include existing print newsletter topics; trade and professional associations; career advancement, personality based or insider tips; and downloadable product libraries. For details go to http://www.swepa.com/public/136.cfm.

As the Internet changes, it is creating moneymaking opportunities for people who like to write, teach and otherwise share their expertise. Your years of study, handson experience, and tried and true wisdom could be worth a hefty income when turned into an online community.

Online communities bring together people who are interested in a common topic. They create value by providing insidersก secrets that the group is eager to learn about. And best of all, the members are willing to pay money to join.

Why having a subscription website on the Internet is so great

As the publisher of a subscription website, you have an almost unfair advantage over other print publications that don’t operate on the Internet. Consider the benefits:

Low cost of entry a computer, minimal software and Internet access are all you need.

No or low rent work from home.

Low overhead production and distribution costs are close to zero.

No employees do it all yourself.

Operate from anywhere in the world.

Access a worldwide audience.

Reach a well educated, affluent market.

Offer a visually rich website, with text, images, audio or video.

Sell and deliver digital information products instantly.

Build loyal communities through discussion groups, online events.

The next phase in the subscription website evolution

Information is increasing in value. Over the next several years, the trend to information provided on the Internet by paid subscription will continue.

A twotier model for the dissemination of quality content is emerging. Successful online publishers provide samples of their wares for free, either on the public portion of their website, or through a free, optin email newsletter.

But to get down to the most valuable data the premium content of secrets and the insiderกs tips and techniques subscribers are learning that they have to pay. Information seekers are getting accustomed to the change, just as they have learned to pay for premium content on cable and satellite television.

The most successful online publishers will be those who can strike the perfect balance between free and fee. The time to get started with your own subscription website is now.

About The Author

Peter A. Schaible is executive director of the Subscription Website Publishers Association (http://www.SWEPA.com).

SWEPA exists to support online publishing by providing education, training and industry recognition. Our goal is to help members build successful, profitable subscription websites.

Copyright 2003 Subscription Website Publishers Association. Permission to reprint is granted provided the references and hypertext links to SWEPA are included.

[email protected]

This article was posted on January 22, 2003

by Peter A. Schaible

How to Fight Back BEFORE You’re Falsely Accused of

How to Fight Back BEFORE You’re Falsely Accused of Spam

by: Malacka Persa

A friend of mine received a chilling email message from his ISP the other day. Someone had reported him as sending SPAM and the ISP warned that an additional SPAM complaint would result in losing his hosting service period. No ifs, ands or buts!

The ISP just took the word of the person filing the complaint as gospel, even though my friend had the email subscription notification where this person, or someone posing as them, had subscribed.

My friend sent me a copy of the subscription notification. And sure enough, there it was as plain as day… it contained the date, time and the subscription IP address of the person making the Spam allegation. Unfortunately, all this evidence fell on deaf ISP ears.

This little incident firms my conviction that a federal CAN SPAM law might not be a bad idea after all. Without it, persons alleging Spam, like the one above, may be able to sue under State law. And thatกs where the nightmare begins…

Oh sure, the person will most likely end up losing the case but hereกs the typical situation. The กinjured partyก files a lawsuit and the ISP immediately shuts off service to the publisher. And guess what, the publisher is immediately out of business even though she/he is sitting there with evidence that the allegation is totally groundless. Talk about scary! And if you think this scenario can’t happen to you think again.

The erroneous reporting of Spam has become widespread and has gotten even easier. Don’t like a company or their products? Just accuse them of spam. Do it a couple of times in one week and, guess what, they’re off line period.

AOL and Yahoo owners can simply click a button and report anything they feel like as Spam with no consequence whatsoever if the allegation is totally baseless. The ‘this is Spam buttonก has replaced the delete key as ‘theก answer for some folks. And Iกll bet youกd have a hard time tracking down whomever made the initial AOL or Yahoo Spam complaint as well.

Time to Get Tough

There are several proactive steps you can take to protect yourself against baseless Spam allegations. Admittedly, there is nothing you can do to stop someone bound and determined to damage your reputation and business if they have a mind to do so. You can, however, certainly minimize the risk of this happening to you. But you do have to be proactive.

I recommend that you add a legal notice to your subscription Thank You page and also to every ezine newsletter issue that you send out. Something along the lines of the following…

‘the subscriber agrees, by accepting this email newsletter subscription, to indemnify the publisher against false accusations of spam to include, but not limited to, payment of all damages, loss of web hosting fees and services, all damages for loss of business and goodwill, and any and all fees or fines that may be imposed against the publisher by any federal, state, local authority or civilian business entity as a result of the false spam accusation.ก

Add the paragraph above, or something similar, just above your ezine unsubscribe link.

The reason I think this is a powerful solution is because it establishes a contract between the publisher and the subscriber. And contract law is pretty much the same in all jurisdictions when it comes to breach of contract.

Please note that what I have provided you is for guidance and informational purposes only and should not be construed as practicing law. Do check with your local attorney to make sure that this statement will suffice in your jurisdiction. But I think you get the idea.

Is this concept new? Hardly, jl Scott of the iCOP organization thought of this over two years ago. Will it scare some of your subscribers off? You bet it will. But guess what…

The people it scares off are exactly the people you DON’t want on your list anyway. They most likely have the itchy moronic fingers or the กIกve had a bad day letกs accuse someone of Spam and get them shut downก folks that you don’t want to have anything do to with anyway.

Listen, perhaps itกs just me, but I wouldn’t be fazed in the least if I saw such a caveat on an ezine I really wanted to sign up for. Would you? I only want people on my list who are responsible and willing to accept the consequences of their actions. People who, if they mistakenly accuse me of Spam and got my business erroneously shut down, would face up to their responsibility and pay for the damage they caused. I don’t want a Spam Nazi on my list who is too lazy to hit the delete key. No thanks!

Rough? Yes, but thatกs the reality of doing business on the Internet today.

Other Options Available

Paul Hancox of UpYourMarketing.com has just released a brilliant report that outlines several other steps any prudent publisher online should take to protect themselves and their online business. Itกs called ‘the ePublishers Survival Kit How to Minimize Spam Complaints and Defend Yourself Against False Spam Accusations.ก You can download a free copy of the report by clicking this link

http://www.writersnest.com/spampro.zip

The report is in pdf format so MAC and WIN users alike can access the information. Combine these recommendations with those in Paulกs report and youกll pretty much be covered.

Final thoughts. I don’t have to remind you of how hard you worked to build your online business. Protect yourself and minimize the risk of having it suddenly shut down by following the recommendations here and in Paulกs free report.

While you can’t stop malicious Spam complaints 100%, taking proactive steps now can go a long way to making sure your business remains safe and viable. Believe me, thatกll make you sleep much better at night! Click here to get Paulกs free report now

http://www.writersnest.com/spampro.zip

About The Author

Malacka Copyright 2003

http://www.writersnest.com

Stuff that Really Works to Make You Money Online!

http://www.hotmatches.com

http://www.dogtrainingathome.com

Feel free to distribute this article so long as it remains unedited and the resource box is included.

This article was posted on December 12, 2003

by Malacka Persa

The Number One Tried and Tested Method For Explodi

The Number One Tried and Tested Method For Exploding Your Ezine Subscriptions

by: Tracey Meagher

We all know how cagey and stubborn prospects can be and we know that only a tiny percentage will buy our products the first time they see them. We all know that the only way to convince savvy prospects to buy is by building trust with them and that the single most effective way of building trust is by getting our visitors to subscribe to our newsletters.

So, if signing up prospects to our newsletter is so vital to making sales why do most of us keep our subscription invitations tucked away in the margins of our websites where they can very easily be overlooked or ignored. And if signing up prospects is so vital to our sales why do we place our invitations to sign in those annoying popups that prospects want to close before theyกve even read the fantastic deal we’re trying to offer them!

If you’re serious about exploding your newsletter subscriptions and Iกm mean increasing them by up to 400%, read on. The method Iกm about to tell you is so simple and easy to implement youกll be amazed that you hadn’t thought of it yourself before.

To achieve the kind of subscriptions that Internet business people dream of, youกll need to take two simple steps. First, you need to increase the amount of real estate on your site dedicated to capturing visitors and no, I don’t mean creating bigger, inyourface subscription boxes. The second thing you need to do is entice visitors to sign up by harnessing the power of audio. I can already hear the gasps but with so many easy to use tools available right now, adding audio to your site is nothing to get uptight about!

Iกll explain what I mean! Tucking your subscription box away in the corner of you sites forces your single most effective sales tools to compete for your visitorกs attention with all the other information you have on your site, links, banners, ads and content! Unfortunately, the competition can prove stiff and you don’t always succeed in grabbing the attention you require. Visitors get ready to click away from your site without having even noticed the invitation to subscribe. When this happens, you might implement your backup plan, the exit popup. In a last bid effort you try to entice users to subscribe before they leave by throwing a popup at them. Did you know that 80% of Internet users find popupกs annoying and that last thing you want is a visitor leaving your site experiencing a negative emotion!

What you need to do is dedicate your landing page to subscription signups. It may sound a little crazy but if you place a subscription invitation on your homepage and combine this with a compelling audio message describing to your visitors all the great stuff they will receive when they sign up to your newsletter, youกll find people warming to you quicker than you ever thought possible.

Recently, I came across an example of this technique done to perfection on Paul Colganกs website. Paul is the Affiliate Marketing Guy. When landing on the homepage of Paulกs website, you are greeted with a personal audio message from Pual explaining the two types of newsletters he offers and the benefits of signing up to each. His message is not at all pushy. Itกs informative and very compelling. Using an audio message on the homepage personalises Paulกs site in a way that can’t be with any other technique. Without the audio, Paulกs invitation on the homepage to sign up to his newsletters would seem empty and many would click away before entering the site. With the audio Paul has transformed his landing page into a subscription magnet.

Go on … give it a try for yourself!

About The Author

Tracey Meagher is the founder of QuickandEasy Audio, a website that reviews all the latest resources and tools available for adding audio to your website. Visit www.quickandeasyaudio.com to receive free audio resources that will help you add audio to your website in less than 60 minutes!

This article may be reproduced in its entirety only if unaltered and the resource box is included.

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 26

by Tracey Meagher

Remote Collaboration Is Now a Service On The Inter

Remote Collaboration Is Now a Service On The Internet

by: Paola Musa

Easydesk is a new way to cooperate: a userfreindly instrument for the creation of a ขvirtual officeข, designed for professional use, equipped with all the features and and the services needed to assure high performances and above all the maximum security in using it.

It is targeted to: professionals, Small and Medium Companies, Organization, Work Groups to increase the efficiency of the office, improve the collaboration among collegues and with suppliers and clients located anywhere in the World. easydesk grants a daily backup of the data, rapidly cuts some costs of the telephone bill, introduces economically Teleworking, elearning and CRM.

It does not require to buy software, to create and mantein a personal server or to manage the service.

Easydesk presents a wide range of builtin functions and news ones are been developped for the future:

Communication: Email, chat, multipart vocal conference, white board (allows making online presentations and lessons), forum. High service assures a safe communication).

Filing: sharing of data located on the easydesk server and on the work stations, possibility to keep the data encrypted and to manage the access rights to them for the users of the office, opportunity to make automatic backup of the data located on the work station of the user.

Easydesk is offered as a service on the internet that one pays for what is needed and for the time it is necessary. The payment is made indeed through a subscription to use a basic office, and any additional function or service installed must be bought with points that can be top up, as for the mobile prepaid cards. The subscription includes the possibility to host up five users per office, up to 50 MB of remote memory and all the functions available at the moment excluded the vocal conference; the subscription can be expanded anytime through the abovementioned topup system. The annual subscription of the basic costs 180 Euro.

Reference

Easydesk Italia Srl

Piazza Vescovio 7

00199 Roma

Telephone +39 06 97611286/7

Fax +39 06 97611288

Email [email protected]

Website: www.easydesk.it

About The Author

Paola Musa is Press Office responsible of easydesk Italia

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 20, 2004

by Paola Musa

How Could Your Hobby Be The Key To Financial Succe

How Could Your Hobby Be The Key To Financial Success?

by: Lauren Van Veen

Virtually everyone has the knowledge they need to make a fortune. Everyone has an interest, hobby or has knowledge about a particular subject. It could be anything, and I really mean anything! From gardening to model planes, childcare, from dog training to sports, everyone has knowledge that someone else wants. The problem is that most people have no idea how much their knowledge is worth because information online is worth much more today.

The internet has become a force to be reckoned with. This monster of mass consumerism is ever increasing and does not seem to be slowing down. U.S. consumers spent $748 million on online content (information) during the first half of 2003, representing a 23 per cent increase over the same period in 2002. With the rate that the internet is growing, just imagine what the figures look like today.

Last year, Jupiter Research forecast that paidcontent web revenues will grow fourfold by 2006, from $1.4 billion to $5.8 billion. The crazy thing is – many people are only just waking up to this reality. Gone are the days when all websites offer their data free of charge, now the hottest information is reserved for those who pay!

So if you have a hobby or interest you are the perfect candidate and I have two words for you – subscription website.

So what exactly is a subscription website? Well, it is a site that charges members a fee to enter the site and view the specialist content. And what do they all have in common? They are bringing in a steady, recurring cash flow for their owners, month after month, from a few hundred to tens of thousands of dollars with an endless array of topics. Having a successful paid membership site is one of the best ways to make money online. A thriving subscription site can give you the steady income of a chief executive …. but without the work or stress levels!

For example if you had just 200 people paying you just $20 a month, you would have a steady cash flow of $4000 / month, month after month, rain or shine. Many people achieve this in the first month or two that their site is up and running. However, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Many people have member only websites that produce 5 10 times that amount of money! Choose the right topic and this could happen in your first 23 months. Letกs be honest; a steady cash flow is the key to financial security which is why the website is so superior to any other form of online product; it can mean a regular monthly income and best of all, no 9 to 5!

A subscription website is a combination of doing what you enjoy and sharing that knowledge with those who will truly appreciate it. The best subscription websites are run by those who have a passion for the subject matter they are supplying. This is the most critical decision youกll have to make. Choose the right topic and youกll have people rushing to give you money to enter your site, you will have no problem updating the site with new information, and in turn the site will remain fresh and exciting.

Find a topic that you are passionate about, and the odds are that enough other people are also passionate about the topic to make it a successful membership site. Since you are going to be spending time and effort building and maintaining your membership site, doesn’t it make sense to choose a topic that you enjoy? But why would people want to pay for information when you can find pretty much anything at all on the net without any cost at all? It’s simple, the search for the info you require can be long and tedious. People are really paying for convenience, they want up to date information and they want it now. They also want the information to be comprehensive and original, they want to know that they can come to the site and that a particular topic will be covered thoroughly, they will genuinely learn more about the topic they have an interest in. So why haven’t more sites jumped onto the paidcontent bandwagon? A big reason has been the popular misconception that consumers won’t pay for content on the web. And where did this erroneous concept originate? From badly conducted research studies done by marketers and the media in recent years. Practically all of these surveys asked people who currently receive information and services on the web for free if they would pay for these services. Naturally, they gave the same response that anyone with any sense would give, which is: ขI don’t want to pay for something that I currently get for free.ข What a surprise!

The market is ripe and ready for those who catch on to this momentous idea.

Exceptionally high perceived value is the ultimate key. The paid online content offered must be so useful that users will be thrilled to gain access to it, will say ขWow!ข when they do, and will experience instant value for money the very first time that they use it.

The best part is still to come! A subscription website can be run from home and once set up it pretty much runs itself. Software is available to run almost every element of your site automatically and membership software programs can reduce your workload by 75% – that can only be good news!

This funnel shows how the reader goes from browsing free content to being a paid subscriber. When a prospect enters a website’s funnel of free content, they discover that to reach the most valuable content, they must cross the barrier to becoming a paid member.

The process works so well because the customer has already become involved in the process of narrowing down the information that he wants, selecting something thatกs progressively closer to his desired information until, just before it’s in his grasp, he discovers that —of course— he has to become a paid member.

Topic ideas for a Subscription Website:

Newsletter Topics. If you already publish a successful newsletter, you are most likely a perfect candidate for a Membership Website. Placing your newsletter content, archives, and resources online in a กsubscribers onlyก website usually enhances the perceived value of your print newsletter to both current and potential subscribers.

Career Advancement. Perhaps the most frequent topic for successful subscription websites is career development. This includes sites that provide advice, tips, howtoกs, resource libraries, etc., about specific business skills or professions such as management, marketing, business startup, financial services opening up a huge range of business opportunities. Successful career advancement sites usually focus on a very specific niche topics related to earning a living or bettering oneกs career or business skills.

Personality based insider tips. A number of successful subscription websites are built around a wellknown or respected person who provides subscribers with personal insights, tips, advice, information and opinions. In most cases, the person behind these sites has built a firm reputation and developed a following of people wanting access to the information this expert provides.

Downloadable Product Library. One of the more interesting subscription website models is based entirely on providing subscribers with a large library of downloadable products, usually computer programs, scripts, PDF files, audios, videos, tutorials or other materials that can be delivered digitally.

Hobbies / Leisure Activities or Collectors Sites. Concentrating on a particular and specific hobby or interest can be an excellent way to tap into a niche market. For example if your area of expertise is Carp Fishing this would be an excellent idea for a membership site, because it is a targeted market subject that will attract people with that specific interest, whereas the subject of fishing would be a massive area of expertise to cover in detail.

These are just a few ideas, truthfully, the possibilities are endless…

For more information go to: www.wisemanphoenix.com.

About The Author

Lauren Van Veen

I am a internet marketing student who is just starting to set up my own business here is one f the articles i have written.

[email protected]

This article was posted on September 11, 2005

by Lauren Van Veen

How To Achieve Success With Your Own Money Makin

How To Achieve Success With Your Own Money Making Newsletter

by: Kevin Purfield

Writing and publishing a successful newsletter is perhaps the most competitive of all the different areas of mail order and direct marketing.

Several years ago, there were 1500 different newsletters in this country. Today there are well over 10,000, with new ones being started every day. Itกs also interesting to note that for every new one thatกs started, some disappear just as quickly as they are started lack of operating capital and marketing knowhow being the principal causes of failure.

To be successful with a newsletter, you have to specialize. Your best bet will be with new information on a subject not already covered by an established newsletter.

Regardless of the frustrations involved in launching your own newsletter, never forget this truth: There are people from all walks of life, in all parts of this country, many of them with no writing ability whatsoever, who are making incredible profits with simple two, four, and sixpage newsletters!

Your first step should be to subscribe to as many different newsletters and mail order publications as you can afford. Analyze and study how the others are doing it. Attend as many workshops and seminars on your subject as possible. Learn from the pros. Learn how the successful newsletter publishers are doing it, and why they are making money. Adapt their success methods to your own newsletter, but determine to recognize where they are weak, and to make yours better in every way.

Plan your newsletter before launching it. Know the basic premise for its being, your editorial position, the layout, art work, type styles, subscription price, distribution methods, and every other detail necessary to make it look, sound and feel like the end result you have envisioned.

Lay out your startup needs; detail the length of time itกs going to take to become established, and what will be involved in becoming established. Set a date as a mile stone of accomplishment for each phase of your development: A date for breaking even, a date for attaining a certain paid subscription figure, and a monetary goal for each of your first five years in business. And all this must be done before publishing your first issue.

Most newsletter publishers do all the work themselves, and are impatient to get that first issue into print. As a result, they neglect to devote the proper amount of time to market research and distribution. Don’t start your newsletter with out first having accomplished this task!

Market research is simply determining who the people are who will be interested in buying and reading your newsletter, and the kind of information these people want to see in your newsletter as a reason for continuing to buy it. You have to determine what it is they want from your newsletter.

Your market research must give you unbiased answers about your newsletterกs capabilities of fulfilling your prospective buyerกs need for information; how much heกs willing to pay for it, and an overall profile of his status in life. The questions of why he needs your information, and how heกll use it should be answered. Make sure you have the answers to these questions, publish your newsletter as a vehicle of fulfillment to these needs, and you’re on your way!

You’re going to be in trouble unless your newsletter has a real point of difference that can be easily perceived by your prospective buyer. The design and graphics of your newsletter, plus what you say and how you say it, will help in giving your newsletter this vital difference.

Be sure your newsletter works with the personality you’re trying to build for it. Make sure it reflects the wants of your subscribers. Include your advertising promise within the heading, on the title page, and in the same words your advertising uses. And above all else, don’t skim on design or graphics!

The name of your newsletter should also help to set it apart from similar news letters, and spell out its advertising promise. A good name reinforces your advertising. Choose a name that defines the direction and scope of your newsletter.

Opportunity Knocking, Money Making Magic, Extra Income Tip Sheet, and Mail Order UpDate are primate examples of this type of philosophy as opposed to the Johnson Report, The Association Newsletter, or Clubhouse Confidential.

Try to make your newsletterกs name memorable one that flows automatically. Don’t pick a name thatกs so vague it could apply to almost anything. The name should identify your newsletter and its subject quickly and positively.

Pricing your newsletter should be consistent with the image you’re trying to build. If you’re starting a กMetooก newsletter, never price it above the competition. In most instances, the consumer associates higher prices with quality, so if you give your readers better quality information in an expensive looking package, don’t hesitate to ask for a premium price. However, if your information is gathered from most of the other newsletters on the subject, you will do well to keep your prices in line with theirs.

One of the best selling points of a newsletter is in the degree of audience involvement for instance, how much it talks about, and uses the names of its readers.

People like to see things written about themselves. They resort to all kinds of things to get their names in print, and they pay big money to read whatกs been written about them. You should understand this facet of human nature, and decide if and how you want to capitalize upon it then plan your newsletter accordingly.

Almost as important as names in your newsletter are pictures. The readers will generally accept a newsletter faster if the publisherกs picture is presented or included as a part of the newsletter. Whether you use pictures of the people, events, locations or products you write about is a policy decision; but the use of pictures will set your publication apart from the others and give it an individual image, which is precisely what you want.

The decision as to whether to carry paid advertising, and if so, how much, is another policy decision that should be made while your newsletter is still in the planning stages. Some purists feel that advertising corrupts the image of the newsletter and may influence editorial policy. Most people accept advertising as a part of everyday life, and don’t care one way or the other.

Many newsletter publishers, faced with rising production costs and viewing advertising as a means of offsetting those costs, welcome paid advertising. Generally the advertisers see the newsletter as a vehicle to a captive audience, and well worth the cost.

The only problem with accepting advertising in your newsletter would appear to be that as your circulation grows, so will your number of advertisers, until youกll have to increase the size of your newsletter to accommodate the advertisers. At this point, the basic premise or philosophy of the newsletter often changes from news and practical information to one of an advertiserกs showcase.

Promoting your newsletter, finding prospective buyers and converting these prospects into loyal subscribers, will be the most difficult task of your entire undertaking. It takes detailed planning, persistence and patience.

Youกll need a sales letter. Check the sales letter you receive in the mail; analyze how these are written and pattern yours along the same lines. Youกll find all of them all those worthy of being called sales letters following the same formula: Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action on the part of the reader AIDA.

Jump right in at the beginning and tell the reader how heกs going to benefit from your newsletter, and then keep emphasizing right on through your กPSก, the many and different benefits heกll gain from subscribing to your newsletter. Elaborate on your listing of benefits with examples of what you have, or you intend to include, in your newsletter.

Follow these examples with endorsements or testimonials from reviewers and satisfied subscribers. Make the recipient of your sales letter feel that you’re offering him the answer to all his problems on the subject of your newsletter.

You have to make your prospect feel that ‘this is the insiderกs secretก to the success he wants. Present it to him as his own personal key to success, and then tell him how far behind his contemporaries he is going to be if he doesn’t act upon your offer immediately.

Always include a กPSก in your sales letter. This should quickly restate to the reader that he can start enjoying the benefits of your newsletter by acting immediately, and very subtly suggesting that he may not get another chance to get the kind of กsuccess helpก you’re offering him with this sales letter.

In addition to the sales letter, your promotion package should include a return reply order card or coupon. This can be either a selfaddressed business reply post card, or a separate coupon, in which case youกll have to include a selfaddressed return reply envelope. In every mailing piece you send out, always include one or the other: either a selfaddressed business reply postcard or a selfaddressed return reply envelope for the recipient to use to send your order form and his remittance back to you.

Your best response will come from a business reply postcard on which you allow your prospect to charge the subscription to his credit card, request that you bill him, or send his payment with the subscription start order.

For make up of this subscription order card or coupon, simply start saving all the order cards and coupons you receive during the next month or so. Choose the one you like best, modify according to your needs, and have it typeset, pasted up and border fit.

Next, youกll need a Subscription Order Acknowledgment card or letter. This is simply a short note thanking your new subscriber for his order, and promising to keep him uptodate with everything relating to the subject of your newsletter.

An acknowledgment letter, in an envelope, will cost more postage to mail than a simple postcard; however, when you send the letter you have the opportunity to enclose additional material. A circular listing other items available through you will produce additional orders.

Thus far, youกve prepared the layout and copy for your newsletter. Go ahead and have a hundred copies printed, undated. Youกve written a sales letter and prepared a return reply subscription order card or coupon; go ahead and have a hundred of these printed, also undated, of course. Youกll need letterhead mailing envelopes, and don’t forget the return reply envelopes if you choose to use the coupons instead of the business reply postcard. Go ahead and have a thousand mailing envelopes printed. You also need subscription order acknowledgment cards or notes; have a hundred of these printed, and of course, don’t forget the imprinted reply envelopes if you’re going along with the idea of using a note instead of a postcard. This will be a basic supply for ‘testingก your materials so far.

Now you’re ready for the big move the Advertising Campaign

Start by placing a small classified ad in one of your local newspapers. You should place your ad in a weekend or Sunday paper that will reach as many people as possible, and of course, do everything you can to keep your costs as low as possible. How ever, do not skimp on your advertising budget. To be successful to make as much money as possible with your idea youกll need to reach as many people as you can afford, and as often as you can.

Over the years, we have launched several hundred advertising campaigns. We always ran new ads for a minimum of three issues and kept close tabs on the returns. So long as the returns kept coming in, we continued running that ad in that publication, while adding a new publication to test for results. To our way of thinking, this is the best way to go, regardless of the product, to successfully multiply your customer list. Move slowly, start with a local, farreaching and widely read paper, and with the proof its or returns from that ad, go to the regional magazines, or one of the smaller national magazines, and continue plowing your returns into more advertising in different publications. By taking your time, and building your acceptance in this manner, you won’t lose too much if one of your ads should prove to be a dud. Stay with the advertising. Do not abandon it in favor of direct mail. We would not recommend direct mail until you are well established and your national classified advertising program is bringing in a healthy profit for you.

Do not become overly ambitious and go out on a limb with expensive fullpage advertising until you’re very well established. When you do buy full page advertising, start with the smaller publications, and build from those results. Have patience; keep close tabs on your costs per subscriber, and build from the profits of your advertising. Always test the advertising medium you want to use with a classified ad, and if it pulls well for you, go on to a larger display type ad.

Classified advertising is the least expensive way to go, so long as you use the กinquiry method.ก You can easily and quickly build your subscriber list with this type of advertisement.

We would not recommend any attempts to sell subscriptions, or any product from classified ads, or even from small display ads. There just isn’t enough space to describe the product adequately, and seeing the cost of your item, many possible subscribers will not bother to inquire for the full story.

When you do expand your efforts into direct mail, go straight to a national list broker. You can find their names and addresses in the yellow pages section of your local telephone directory. Show the list broker your product and your mailing piece, and explain what type people you want to reach, and allow them to help you.

Once youกve decided on a list to use, go slowly. Start with a sampling of 5,000 names. If the returns are favorable, go for 10,000 names, and then 15,000 and so on through the entire list.

Never rent the entire list based upon the returns from your first couple of samplings. The variables are just too many, and too complicated, and too conducive to your losing your shirt when you กroll out an entire listก based upon returns from a controlled sampling.

There are a number of other methods for finding new subscribers, which weกll explore for you here, detailing the good and the bad as we have researched them.

One method is that of contracting with what is known as a กcashfieldก agency. These are soliciting agencies who hire people to sell doortodoor and via the phone, almost always using a high pressure sales approach. The publisher usually makes only about 5% from each subscription sold by one of these agencies. That speaks for itself.

Then, there are several major catalog sales companies that sell subscriptions to school libraries, government agencies and large corporations. These people usually buy through these catalog sales companies rather than direct from the publisher. The publisher makes about 10% on each subscription sold for him by one of these agencies.

Coop Mailings are generally piggyback mailings of your subscription offer along with numerous other business offers in the same envelope. Smaller mail order entrepreneurs do this under the name of Big Mail Offers. Coming into vogue now are the Postcard Mailers. You submit your offer on a business reply postcard; the packager then prints and mails your postcard in a package with 40 or 50 similar postcards via third class mail to a mailing list that could number 100,000 or more. You pay a premium price for this type of mailing usually $1000 to $1500 per mailing, but the returns are very good and you keep all the incoming money.

Another form of coop mailing is where you supply a charge card company or department store with your subscription offer as a กstatement mailing stuffer.ก Your offer goes out with the monthly statements; new subscriptions are returned to the mailer and billed to the customerกs charge card. The publisher usually makes about 50% on each subscription. This is one of the most lucrative, but expensive methods of bringing in new customers.

Direct mail agencies such as Publishers Clearing House can be a very lucrative source of new subscriptions, in that they mail out more than 60 million pieces of mail each year, all of which are built around an opportunity for the recipient to win a gigantic cash sweepstakes. The only problem with this type of subscription agency is the very low percentage of the total subscription price the publisher receives from these subscriptions, plus the fact that the publishers are required to charge a lower subscription rate than they normally charge.

There are also several agencies that offer Introductory, Sample Copy and Trial Subscription offers, such as Select Information Exchange and Publisher Exchange. With this kind of agency, details about your publication are listed along with similar publications, in full page ads inviting the readers to send $10 or $20 for trial subscription to those of his choice. The publishers received no money from these inquiries only a list of names of people interested in receiving trial subscriptions. How the publisher follows up and is able to convert these into full term, and paying subscribers is entirely dependent upon his own efforts.

Most major newspapers will carry small, lightweight brochures or oversized reply cards as inserts in their Sunday papers. The publisher supplies the total number of inserts, pays the newspaper $20 per thousand for the number of newspapers he wants his order form carried in, and then retains all the money generated. But the high costs of printing the inserts, plus the $20 per thousand for distribution, make this an extremely costly method of obtaining new subscribers.

Schools, civic groups and other fund raising organizations work in about the same manner as the cashfield agencies. They supply the solicitor and the publisher gets 25% or less for each new subscription sold.

Attempting to sell subscriptions via radio or TV is very expensive and works better in generating sales at the newsstands than new subscriptions. PI (Per Inquiry) sales is a very popular way of getting radio or TV exposure and advertising for your newsletter or other publication, but again, the number of sales brought in by the broad cast media is very small when compared with the number of times the กinvitation commercialก has to be กairedก to elicit a response.

A new idea beginning to surface on the cable TV scene is กProducts Showsก. This is the kind of show where the originator of the product or his representative appears on TV and gives a complete sales presentation lasting from five minutes to 15 minutes. Overall, these programs generally run between midnight and 2 AM, with the whole program a series of sales presentations for different products. They operate on the basis of the product owner paying a fee to appear and show his product, and also from an arrangement where the product owner pays a certain percentage from each sale generated from this exposure.

Newsletter publishers often run exchange publicity endorsement with noncompeting publishers. Generally, these endorsements invite the reader of newsletter กAก to send for a sample copy of newsletter กBก for a look at what somebody else is going that might be of especial help, etc. This can be a very good source of new subscriptions, and certainly the least expensive.

Running ads in the Mail Order Ad Sheets is not very productive, either in terms of inquiries or sales. About the best thing that can be said of most of these ad sheets (and there seems to be a million of them with new ones cropping up faster than you can count them) is that your ad in several of them will let other people in on what you’re doing. You will be able to keep track of a lot of the people trying to make a place for themselves in the mail order field.

Last, but not least, is the enlistment of your own subscribers to send you names of people they think might be interested in receiving a sample copy of your publication. Some publishers ask their readers to pass along these names out of loyalty, while others offer a monetary incentive or a special bonus for names of people sent in who be come subscribers.

By studying and understanding the information in this report, you should encounter fewer serious problems in launching your own successful specialized newsletter that will be the source of ongoing monetary rewards for you. However, there is an important point to remember about doing business by mail particularly within the confines of selling information by mail that is, Mail Order is ONLY another way of doing business. You have to learn all there is to know about this way of doing business, and then keep on learning, changing, observing and adapting to stay on top.

The best way of learning about and keeping up with this field of endeavor is by buying and reading books by the people who have succeeded in making money via the mails; by subscribing to several of the better periodic journals and aids to people in mail order, and by joining some of the mail order trade associations for a free exchange of ideas, advice and help.

Copyright © Kevin Purfield

About The Author

Kevin Purfield owns the Wealth System Online Resource Directory where you can find everything you need to start,run and grow a home based internet business at: http://www.wealthsystemonline.com/pluginprofits.htm

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 28, 2004

by Kevin Purfield