I Want to Do an Ezine! Part 1

I Want to Do an Ezine! Part 1

by: Terri Seymour

I have been getting numerous emails lately from people who want to start publishing an ezine, but really don’t know where to start. So, I am going to write this series of articles from start to finish in the hopes of helping some of my associates get started with their own ezine! Please feel free to email me if you have questions about anything stated in these articles.

First of all, what is an ezine? An ezine is simply an electronic magazine or newsletter sent out periodically to a list of Opt In subscribers. Opt In means they have voluntarily signedup to receive your ezine and were not added to the list without their knowledge or permission.

This is one of the reasons an ezine is so valuable to your business. Your subscribers have given their consent to receive announcements, promotions, ads, recommendations, etc. from you!

BUT, let me stress this, you must treat your subscribers with respect, provide valuable and helpful content and be there for them when they want or need you. You do not want to USE them as a mailing list for every ad that comes down the pike.

Ok, to get started, one thing you should do is look over a few successful ezines to get a feel of how they are done. Each publisher will add his/her own style, personality, and soul to their ezine which in turn is what makes it unique and successful.

A few ezines I would recommend are:

Rim Digest at http://www.rimdigest.com

Simple Biz Ezine at http://www.simplebizpublications.com

Ideas By Post at http://www.ideasbypost.com

and also, My Own Ezine at http://www.myownezine.com 😉

These ezines are very well written and each publisher has a very distinct style and personality to go along with the useful content.

What you want to do with your ezine is establish a trust relationship with your readers. You want them to get to know you and learn that they can trust you and your recommendations. Be there for them if they have questions, if they need advice, or support, or if they just want to talk with someone who has more experience.

Your ezine is much, much more than an advertisement for your business. It is a bond between you and your readers. Treat it as such!

Ezine publishing can be a very rewarding, fun, challenging and if done right, profitable venture!

In next weekกs article, I will be dealing with layout, design and format and also naming your new ezine.

About The Author

Terri Seymour owns and operates MyOwnEzine.com

Learn to publish and promote your own ezine. mailto:[email protected]

For a complete list of my articles available for reprint please email: mailto:[email protected]

ATTN: Ezine Publishers, save hours of your valuable time! http://wetrack.it/eza/af.cgi?710

[email protected]

This article was posted on November 1, 2002

by Terri Seymour

Before Publishing a Newsletter, Ask These Question

Before Publishing a Newsletter, Ask These Questions

by: Nancy Jackson

In the current world of marketing — especially online marketing — there’s a lot of talk about the magic of newsletters. If you listen to the gurus, it sounds like every business should be sending a newsletter, whether printed or electronic, to its customers and prospects on a regular basis. But how can you be sure whether a newsletter is really a good investment or the right decision for your business? Start by asking yourself the following four questions.

1. Do I want to build longterm relationships with my customers? If the structure of your business is simply to serve customers one time and never see them again, an ongoing client newsletter would probably be a waste of time. But if your intent is to develop longterm relationships with the clients you serve, a newsletter can be a perfect vehicle for doing that. Because clients and prospects hear from you regularly through your newsletter, you earn their trust and credibility. They become more familiar with you and your services, and they’re usually impressed by your efforts to keep in contact with them. Soon they’ll feel like you’re more than a service provider; you’re a personal acquaintance — so they’ll call on you when they need your services.

2. Do I have information or expertise that could be valuable to my customers and prospects? Without information that is valuable to readers, a newsletter is useless. But if you’re an expert in your field (and hopefully you are), you probably have lots of information, ideas, resources or advice that could help your clients work better, work smarter, or save money. In fact, if you don’t know anything your clients don’t know, it’s doubtful that they will keep hiring you. The key is to figure out what knowledge or resources you have that could be valuable to your clients, and determine how to deliver that information to them in a way that will be helpful and enlightening — without sharing all your secrets. One way to figure out what kinds of information you could share in a newsletter is to make a list of questions clients frequently ask you. If you have informative answers to those questions, you have information that could be valuable.

3. Do I have the time or resources to produce a newsletter on an ongoing basis? A newsletter is only effective as a marketing tool if it is produced consistently — at least on a quarterly basis, and preferably on a monthly or bimonthly basis. If you aren’t willing to commit time or resources to making your newsletter an ongoing priority, it’s probably not worth an attempt. The amount of time needed to produce a newsletter can vary based on the method of delivery (electronic or mail), the length of the newsletter, the frequency of publication, and the amount of work you intend to do inhouse. Keep in mind that publishing a newsletter can include several steps, such as:

News gathering and trendwatching.

Research and interviews.

Writing and editing.

Layout and design.

Printing and/or distribution.

You may outsource some or all of these tasks to an outside provider (such as The WriteShop), or you may choose to produce the newsletter inhouse. The method you choose will determine the amount of time and/or money you’ll be investing in your newsletter — but keep in mind that wellproduced newsletters usually pay for themselves in longterm relationships that develop into increased sales.

4. Do I know what specific results I want to achieve with a newsletter? As with any marketing program, it’s important to set goals for your newsletter before investing any time or money into it. Think about what you would want to accomplish with a newsletter: Do you simply want to build a larger contact database? Do you want it to help generate more leads? Do you want it to increase sales? If you have specific goals in mind before you launch a newsletter, you’ll be better able to shape your newsletter to the needed results, and better able to measure your success.

Becoming the publisher of your own newsletter can be a significant undertaking. Before you take the plunge, be sure you know what you’re getting into — and what you want to get out of it.

Copyright 2004 Nancy Jackson

About The Author

Nancy Jackson of The WriteShop helps companies better market their products and services with powerful written communications including newsletters, articles, Web content, brochures and custom publications. Visit www.writeshoponline.com for more information or to subscribe to her monthly กMarketing Tipsก newsletter.

This article was posted on September 03, 2004

by Nancy Jackson

6 Ways To Get Valuable Feedback From Your Website

6 Ways To Get Valuable Feedback From Your Website Visitors And Customers

by: Tal Fighel

You can learn many things you didn’t know about your website by getting valuable feedback from your visitors and customers.

Some of your visitors may think itกs too hard to navigate through your web site. Some may think that you have too may links on it. Some may even want to see who is the person behind the website. Some visitors may even think that there are not enough payment options on your site.

What ever they think about it, knowing these types of important information can improve your products/services, website, and other valuable information that may help your website be more effective.

Below are six ways you can use to get valuable feedback from your website visitors and customers:

1. Stay in contact with your visitors on a regular basis who have actually left you their name and email address. You can do this by offering them the chance to subscribe to your ezine for free. Just make sure that they see where they can subscribe. After every sale, followup with the customer to see if they are satisfied with their purchase.

2. Use surveys and questionnaires regularly to improve your business. Offer visitors free stuff for filling up your surveys and questionnaires. Create a pop up window or a link that they can click on so that it is easier for them to fill out the form. Although some people won’t even bother to fill out the form, some will do. This will be very valuable for you and your website.

3. Go on any online forum and subscribe to it. When you go on, ask other webmasters to take a look at your site and leave any feedback about it. I have done this in the past and it has been very helpful.

4. Make it easy for your customers and visitors to contact you if they choose to. Make sure to offer them as many contact methods as possible. Allow them to contact you by email. Hyperlink your email address so customers won’t have to type it.

You can also offer them a toll free number so that they can call you and give you some feedback about your website, the products that they purchased, or just any comments that they may have.

5. Create an online forum for your visitors and customers. Let them chat with each other. Once in a while, ask them for their feedback. Many will reply back to you since you are the moderator and they know you by now.

You can regularly moderate this forum to see what your visitors and customers are saying about your business in general.

6. Offer your website visitors one of your online products or services from your web site at no cost to them. It could be web designing, an ebook, search engine submission, etc.

In return, ask them to fill out a short survey about your web site. Ask them if they find it is easy to navigate. Ask them what they think about the color. What they think about the price of the product or service etc.

You could use a couple or all of the ways listed above to get some valuable feedback from your visitors and customers. These aren’t the only ones. In fact, there are many more ways, but these are the most common ways to get feedback from your website visitors and customers. You can always come up with your own ideas. You just need to put your mind into it.

Copyright 2004 Tal Fighel

About The Author

Retired? Unemployed? LaidOff, or Insufficient Income? Tal Fighel, the editor and publisher of home business tips newsletter, can help you start your own Internet business from home. Build residual and leveraged income to create real wealth.

http://www.talfighel.com/sfi.htm

This article was posted on December 27, 2004

by Tal Fighel

How To Increase Your Sales From Your Newsletter

How To Increase Your Sales From Your Newsletter

by: Ron Pioneer

The first and most important thing you should know when thinking of your own newsletter is that YOU can do it. Yes, you can write your own newsletter. There is nothing much to it if you are ready to do it.

If you can write a letter or a note to someone, then you can write your own newsletter. Better still, if you can talk to someone convincingly then you can write your own newsletter. Knowing and believing in the truism of this statement is the first way to go about writing your own newsletter.

There is however a difference between writing a newsletter and making sales and profit from your newsletter. My intention in this article is to show you how you can increase sales from your newsletter. If done properly, your newsletter can turn out to be a big money spinner for you every time you publish an issue.

But you should be ready to put in some effort. Making money with your newsletter depends on the time and effort you put into making your newsletter a success.

You have to make sure you are providing valuable content in your newsletter. This means you have to take the time to research for valuable content that your subscribers would love you for.

When you provide such contents in every issue of your newsletters, your subscribers will be able to develop the love for your newsletter… and that is the beginning of moneymaking with your newsletter.

These days there are a lot of newsletters on the Internet that are full of garbage. Most of the publishers write just for the sake of writing.

Many others write just to promote affiliate programs. This is not only wrong but it is akin to กshooting yourself on the footก because it will spell more doom for you.

Your subscribers subscribed for your newsletter to receive valuable content. It is therefore your responsibility to provide them such valuable content.

Also, they subscribe to your newsletters they believe you are an authority in that particular field. The onus now falls on you to live up to their belief by sourcing, researching and putting together valuable content that they will greatly benefit from.

If you do this all the time, they will gladly buy any product that you recommend to them.

You see, people want to help those who have helped them in the past. So, by helping them with valuable content every time, they won’t mind helping you too by buying the products you are recommending for them.

Now, let me ask you. Will you prefer to buy something from a complete stranger or from someone who has been helping you in the past with valuable information? I bet you will buy from the latter. This is exactly how your subscribers too think.

Knowing this and taking advantage of it will result in increased sales for you as a newsletter publisher.

To be able to provide valuable content for your subscribers, you have to be enthusiastic about the topic of your newsletter. When you are writing about a topic that you love and are crazy about, it flows and anyone can see that. You give it your all such that anyone who reads the newsletter can feel that.

Have you ever heard the saying that, กlike attractsก? This means that things of similar attributes attract themselves.

If you are radiating enthusiasm, it will attract you to whoever reads your newsletter. But if you are writing your newsletter with disinterest, anyone who reads the newsletter will also be disinterested. And a disinterested subscriber will surely not buy anything from you or through you.

It is also very important for you to maintain a very steady contact with your subscribers. You should make it a constant habit to send out your newsletters at the exact time your subscribers would be expecting it.

It would be wrong of you to delay your newsletter and keep your subscribers waiting for it. Many of them would lose interest in the newsletter and even take you as being unserious. More so, you should occasionally send them personal messages to give them the impression that you care for them.

I use this technique during festive periods such as Christmas to send out goodwill messages to all my subscribers. This greatly creates a sense of care on your side and your subscribers will be quick to notice it.

This is true because the first battle you have to face in trying to sell anything to anyone is กgetting the person to feel comfortable with youก. As soon as you are able to get the person to feel comfortable with you, you will be able to sell to that person.

So, by creating such a feeling of care, you can get your subscribers to love you and feel comfortable with you.

There are even some newsletter publishers who ask all their subscribers to send their dates of birth to them. These newsletter publishers then send each of the subscribersก personal birthday cards and messages. Such newsletter publishers record increased sales from this gesture alone because it shows the subscribers that, กhey, this guy caresก.

One of such newsletter publishers even got an email from one of the subscribers he sent such birthday card and message to. She was so filled with joy and gratitude for that simple gesture because she did not receive any birthday message from any other person.

So, such tiny personal gestures from you as a newsletter publisher can help to increase your sales by building credibility and trust between you and your subscribers.

There are software programs that can even help you to automatically send out personal goodwill or birthday messages to thousands of your subscribers. This will greatly ease the stress of sending each subscriber an individual message anytime it is his or her birthday.

With these few techniques you can be guaranteed of an amazing increase in sales using your newsletters.

About The Author

Ron Pioneer

Learn more about opt in list building and newsletter publishing from my website:

http://www.affila.com/

[email protected]

This article was posted on December 26, 2003

by Ron Pioneer

Adwords Disabling Advert Optimisation

Adwords Disabling Advert Optimisation

by: Tom OกBrien

Disable the automatic advert optimisation feature (set in your campaign settings) to avoid giving away valuable IP to your competitors.

This can be seen here: http://www.pdqprospects.com/images/CampaignOptimisation.gif

Why would you want to do this?

Ok Letกs say you are diligently testing 2 adverts side by side within an adgroup (as you should always be btw).

With optimisation turned on, eventually 1 advert will be deemed the leader and shown more.

For arguments sake – we will take the keyword ‘marketing’. Your competitor has 2 split tested Google Adwords adverts which will show (in a round robin manner) whenever this keyword is searched for.

You can find out useful information regarding which of the adverts is performing better by searching for the keyword marketing, noting the ad results and refreshing the search results.

Because you get to know the best copy

Suppose you do this 4 times (by reloading your webpage) and 3 times advert 1 is shown, but advert 2 is shown once you now know which of these adverts is the best.

Knowing what adverts are working for your competitors allows you to start to understand the mindset of your potential prospects (whatกs working and whatกs not to encourage clickthroughs).

This of course is very valuable intelligence to have for you to construct your own adverts which means you can ultimately have higher click through rates and as a direct result pay less.

Because ads in Adwords are in the public domain, your marketing efforts can be gleaned by your competitors and vice versa if you use the automatic optimisation feature.

You have the choice to set and forget letting Adwords do itกs job but if you want total control and are in a market that is highly competitive, you may want to manage your campaigns in a more handson fashion.

There is a tradeoff for sure but itกs up to you as a business owner to make that decision based on your own risk management criteria.

In marketing there is only one genius your customer.

You can always hire someone to create great ads but you have no guarantees they will produce a winner straight off the bat.

Only putting the ad into the wild will you determine results.

Sidebar

You may peak in terms of achieving as high a CTR as you can for a particular advert and this could mean you get lazy and only show the winner all the time. To help keep your competitors guessing you should continually try new ads intermittently though.

Indeed therein lies some very valuable self help tips when it comes to keeping the competitors guessing:

Believe it or not you may want to put a กworseก advert up to reduce your CTR thus dropping you down the adwords advert list to help improve your ROI!

Recommendation

You are best using ad optimisation for most of your terms set it, forget it. Some may need to be broken out into their own campaigns to give you the granularity you require. It’s a question of finding out which keywords warrant the extra effort.

About The Author

Tom OกBrien is the Director of PDQProspects.com

Do you want more targeted business prospects?

PDQProspects can bring your business new prospects fast.

http://articlecity.pdqprospects.com

This article was posted on April 17

by Tom OกBrien