5 Qualities of an Ezine That Makes it a Perfect Match For Your
Ad
Ezine or email advertising is extremely powerful. Wouldn't it be
nice to know that the ezines you choose to advertise in will
give you a tremendous return on your investment?
The question we must ask ourselves is "What makes an ezine a
perfect match for my ad"?
In ezine advertising, especially with solo ads, there are two
purposes; (1) to have your ad read, and (2) to have the reader
respond to your site. How do you make sure that happens. Are you
really getting your money's worth by submitting your ad to just
any ezine? Can you really get the needed results when you
blindly buy ad space in a group of ezines?
What do you need to look for before you ever submit your ad?
Failure starts with 'betting' on your ad
One of the major rules about advertising, especially on the
Internet, is to know who you are advertising to. A "throw the
dice" attitude will immediately send you into a downward spiral.
Chance plays a huge part in gambling. I can't see where skill
actually plays a part. I mean, sure you need to know how to play
cards, and throw some dice, and play over some stragety on your
part. But, actual skill... I can't see it.
It's all up to luck, or chance.
Take playing blackjack for example. You can in no way manipulate
the deck of cards so that you get the cards you need. You are
betting on the chances your needed card comes up to reach 21 or
to beat the house, but you can't touch them, look at the deck,
or even deal. It's all up to chance.
Do you really want to 'bet' on your ad?
You need a strategy. There is skill to placing an ad with an
ezine. It takes time, commitment, and patience, but there is a
skill to it and it's absolutely vital to the overall success of
your website.
Only Advertise In Ezines That Are A Match With Your Target
Audience
This sounds obvious, but it's also a place where many marketers
completely miss the mark. And this is one of the major dangers
of submitting your ad to groups of ezines instead of individual.
Only an ezine that publishes content that is the same topic as
your product will ever produce profitable responses from the
readers. The people who read these ezines are interested in your
product. For example, let's say you have an ad for an ebook
about joint ventures. Where would you get the best results, an
ezine dealing with copywriting or one written about advertising?
You might get results with a copywriting ezine, but you'd get
much better returns with a ezine whose readers are mainly
interested in advertising techniques and products.
How do you find these ezines?
I wish I could say it's easy or that it could be done in a
matter of minutes, but unfortunately it takes time. It takes
patience and committed research.
When putting together advertising campaigns for clients I steer
well clear of advertising co-op's and hit the directories and
search engines.
Recently, I did a campaign for a website that is selling
personal defense products (stun-guns, mace, brass knuckles,
etc.). I went to google.com and searched for websites that dealt
with personal defense.
I visited each site. If they had a newsletter I subscribed to it
and emailed the owner to get information about advertising with
them.
Note: You should be emailing each and every ezine publisher you
want to do business with. This sets up a personal relationship,
opens the door to "special inside deals", and can help with
setting up joint ventures.
The point is to do your homework. Advertising in ezines does
work, and it tremendously powerful. But, you need to submit your
ad in the right ezines.
Are There Any Competing Ads In The Ezine?
Once you've subscribed to the ezine you want to advertise in,
it's a good thing to check out the advertising that's already
there.
It's very important to know if there are any ads for the same
type of product, or for affiliates the same product?
This way you know a few things;
Is the market saturated with this type of product?
What type of ads are your competitors using?
Are any of the other ads pulling traffic? (you would find this
out by asking the owner if the person buying the ad space has
been consistent with buying ads) There is a lot of information
you can get to make sound, profitable decisions with once you
see what's actually happening in the ezine.
Of course, if there are a lot of competing ads then you would
not choose to advertise in that ezine at this time. Shelf it
until a later date.
How Many Ads Are In Each Issue?
Along with getting information on the types of ads that are
included in the ezine, it's also very important to see for
yourself just how many ads are included with each issue of that
ezine.
Being in advertising, and putting together ezine advertising
campaigns for my clients, I have ezine publishers contacting me
inquiring if I have any clients that would place ads in their
ezine. If they have more than five ads in their ezine, I will
not recommend them.
I know that sounds harsh, but you just can't compromise on that.
Remember, I wrote the purpose of advertising in ezines is to get
your ad read? Well, that won't happen if there are already ten
other ads competing for each subscriber.
Now, let me clarify that these ads I'm talking about are outside
ads. Meaning ads that people have submitted and are not the
owner's.
How Many Solo Ads Are Sent Out Each Week?
No matter what type of ad, small classified or solo, the amount
of special mailings, announcements, extra issues, or solo ads
that are being sent out each week is something to worry about.
It's something I call "inbox saturation". If subscribers are
receiving more than two emails from an ezine publisher a week,
they will let them pile up in their inbox without looking at
them. Then later in time they just delete them to clean out
their inbox. You ad is not seen.
Ezine publishers have a responsibility to their subscribers to
keep them informed and be respectful of their time. Too many
emails means a lot of them don't get read.
Do The Articles Best Fit Your Product?
If you want to effectively advertise in ezines this is the most
important thing to look into.
The second purpose I mentioned at the beginning of this article
was to have the reader respond to your site. The best way to do
that is if the articles being written and published each week
will presell your product. This is why it's so important that
you pick the ezine that "fits" your product.
Let's go back to the joint venture example and you chose to
advertise in the copywriting ezine. The articles are about
copywriting techniques and have nothing to do with joint
ventures or their importance. Will that presell your product?
Not effectively.
But, if you chose an ezine that publishes articles about
advertising, marketing, and/or joint ventures, these articles
are actually preselling your product for you. Then once the
reader finishes the article, and are fired up about advertising,
they see your product... they visit your site.
Of all these principles of ezine advertising, this is the most
important. You will see much higher responses, and sales, if the
articles published tie in with your product.
Note: Another reason it's so important to email the owner and
establish a relationship is to find out which articles are being
published, and when. You can also request special placement
after the article.
Ezine advertising is your business. Don't be fooled by slick
advertising gimmicks claiming thousands of hits to your site
with no work. No other advertising strategy, besides Pay per
click search engines, can give you the exposure as ezine
advertising.
Use these principles in your advertising campaigns and I
guarantee that you'll see an instant increase in traffic and
sales.