It All Adds Up!

By Marie Johnstone
Posted Monday, August 16, 2004

GET NOTICED. Without a doubt, opt-in email lists have become the best way to advertise your services online. It's long been known that banner ads are largely ineffective. So how else can you deliver your message to a targeted mass audience - without being accused of spam?

REACH OUT. Practically any topic imaginable is covered in the e-publishing world. So, whatever you've got to offer, they'll be plenty of lists with an audience that you need to reach.

LOOSE CHANGE. Ezine ads won't break the bank. With a going-rate of around $.01 per subscriber, they're a very cost-effective form of advertising. By way of comparison, banner ads typically cost around five times more. So you can easily reach a large and highly targeted audience on a very small ad budget.

ONE THING AT A TIME. You *can* write ads for your products and services, but it's very hard to sell directly from a small ad. It's far better to draw attention to your website or your own email newsletter that do the selling for you. An ezine ad works best as a simple traffic puller.

MAKE HEADLINE NEWS! Your headline must command attention. This alone provides a reason for the rest of your ad to be read. Ensure that you point out your strongest benefit because everyone wants to know "what's in it for me?" And, if you don't tell, then don't expect any hard 'n' fast results.

BUILD YOUR BODY. A good headline will only go so far so the rest of your ad needs to be just as strong. Keep the text short and use power words known to deliver results: you, your, how, new, who, money, now, and why. Finish up by inviting readers to visit your website and/or subscribe to your ezine.

SEARCH HOUND. One major drawback is the time it takes to find the right ezines to advertise in. Using an ezine directory can simplify the process somewhat. You can find plenty of these at ListResources.com
(http://list-resources.com/)

DOWN 'N' DIRTY. A downside of using any directory is that ezines can be listed regardless of quality - and this makes your search that much harder. BestEzines.com (http://www.bestezines.com) is an ezine award site that
lists only the cream of newsletters. This has a neat directory structure with all the award winning ezines.

ONCE OVER. Always check an ezine over before placing an ad. Take a look at the back issues to see how many ads are published. You'll get a higher response the less ads there are. Bigger is not always better. Ezines with fewer subscribers often publish to a more finely tuned audience. It's the quality that really counts.

HAGGLE HARD. It's always possible to negotiate prices. Most ezines have unsold ad space in every single issue. Here's the deal:

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Offer your product or service free to the editor in exchange for free or discounted ad space.

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Offer to buy a last minute unsold ad slot at half the normal price.

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Services and products recommended by the editor normally work better than any other type of ad. In this case, you'll need to contact the editor to work
out a mutually beneficial deal.

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Ask to get one ad space free if you purchase two other ad slots in consecutive issues. Research shows that an online ad needs to be seen about 9 times for maximum effectiveness so repeat advertising works to
your advantage.

ADD LIKE A PRO! If start adding up just how cheap ezine ads really are, you'll start to realize that you can have a decent ad campaign at a very affordable price. And with all this new ammo in action, you can't help but get results.

About the Author
Discover How YOU can Easily Write and Sell Info- Products Online! One Ordinary Checkout Girl Reveals her 100% Free, No-Hype Secrets to Earning a Decent Second Income! Visit now: (http://www.mariejohnstone.com)
Join free ezine: mailto:writetosell@getresponse.com