Publishing An Informative Newsletter

Filed in archive Consultancy on January 7, 2010

The number one online marketing tool is an ezine, an electronic magazine, or newsletter. An ezine:

Puts your name in front of your target audience on a regular basis (monthly, weekly, or daily)

Establishes you as an expert in your field

Allows your prospects and customers to choose to receive your special offers and advertising, along with valuable free information

Provides a profitstream through advertising sales and joint ventures

If you make your ezine a valuable resource that your readers look forward to receiving each week, you'll encourage them to remain loyal subscribers. Then, when those loyal subscribers need to purchase what you sell, they'll buy from YOU!

Why?

Because you will have become someone they know and trust! Your ezine is the first step you'll take in creating a relationship with your target audience. That's why publishing an ezine should be the first step you take in online marketing. So, how do you begin?

Defining Your Target Market
Start by determining the type of person you want to reach with your ezine. Who is your target audience? Who are your ideal customers? What are their interests? Where do they hang out online? How much money do they make? How much money do they spend on the type of products and services you're selling?

Take some time to think about your target audience. Once you know who you want to reach, how to reach them becomes much easier. After you know the who in your ezine publishing plan, consider the what.

What to Include
What should you include in your ezine? Since, ultimately, your goal in publishing an ezine is to get your subscriber to read your publication, you'll want to include useful information and special offers that your readers won't find anywhere else. For example:

Original or fresh articles on your chosen topic
Quick tips and hints
Reviews (products, books, software, websites, other ezines, etc.)
Free trials
Links to websites and products of interest
News about your industry
Interviews
Subscriber only specials on your products and services

The list is practically endless. Once you know your target audience, and you know what they like, you can come up with countless ideas for what to offer them.

Where to Find Content
Does publishing your own ezine mean you have to write an original article every week, or every day? NO! While original content is attractive in your ezine, fresh content can serve as well to entice subscribers to read your publication. However, be selective in what you publish. Free content is abundant on the Internet. Choosing valuable content requires putting some thought into the process.

There are hundreds of places online to find free content. Some of the most popular, with some of the freshest, and most well-written articles are:

http://www.ezinearticles.com
http://www.goarticles.com
http://www.articlecity.com
http://www.isnare.com

Another great place to find free content is in ezines that are similar to your own. Many ezine publishers will gladly share their content with you for a byline and a resource box. When you read an article that you like in another ezine, visit the author's website to see if he offers his articles for free reprint. Many writers post their articles online to allow easy access for those who wish to reprint them. Or simply email the author and ask for permission to use the article you liked.

Marketing with Your Ezine
Since your goal in publishing an ezine is to increase your sales and your profits, you'll want to be sure to include special offers in every issue to encourage your subscribers to buy your products and services. Don't let those who are not making a profit online tell you otherwise! If you want to make money, you must sell your products and services. If you want to sell your products and services, you must tell people about them. And the best way to tell people about your products and services is in your ezine!

If you refuse to include advertising in your ezine, it loses its value as a marketing tool, and becomes simply another avenue for expressing your opinions and displaying your knowledge. That's not your purpose in publishing an ezine!

However, with the goal of using your ezine to make a profit, to market to your customers and prospects, comes the realization that you must include special offers, ads, bonuses, etc. to entice your readers to buy.

Selling Ezine Advertising Space
Another avenue for profit in your ezine is advertising sales.
There are three kinds of ezine ads:

Classified ads
Sponsorship ads
Exclusive/Solo ads

Classified Ads
Classified ads are small, typically five to six line, ads. They are often placed at the bottom of an ezine.

The number of classified ads per issue is a personal preference, and many ezine publishers omit them entirely. Classified ads are the least effective of all ezine ads, so they sell for the least amount, although the rate can vary greatly. Your ezine should include a minimal number of classified ads, with a maximum of 10. More than that turns your ezine into an ad sheet, detracts from its professionalism and destroys its effectiveness.

While classified ads are not as profitable to your ezine as sponsorship or solo ads, they are wonderful vehicles with which to build your ezine subscriber base. Do this by swapping ads with other ezine publishers and reaching additional members of your target audience.

Sponsorship Ads
Most ezines contain one, or at most two, sponsor position ads. A sponsorship ad is usually placed at the top of your ezine, or at the top and bottom, if you sell two. Sponsorship ads are often longer than classified ads, usually 8-10 lines.

Since they are placed at the top of your ezine, a sponsorship ad is read more often than a classified ad, which may be simply skimmed or even skipped entirely. Sponsorship ads typically sell for more, and with good reason-they are much more effective than classifieds ads.

Solo/Exclusive Ads
Solo or exclusive ads are the most profitable ads to sell. They are also the most effective. A solo ad is a one-time mailing that includes only the ad itself, with an endorsement from you, the ezine publisher. Solo ads are often combined with join ventures where a special discount for the advertised product is offered only to your subscribers.

Tracking Your Ezine Advertising Sales
In order to make the most profit from ezine advertising, and to reliably place the ads you've sold, you need to diligently track your advertising sales. A simple log will help you effectively track your ad sales (and swaps) and ensure that all ads are placed at the agreed upon time in the proper slots.