Effective Ezine Advertising Part 2

By Terri Seymour
Posted Thursday, August 26, 2004

Continuing on from last week's article, today I will discuss writing and tracking ads. Effective ezine advertising can provide your business with a substantial boost!

* Writing the Ads

Once you make the decision and choose an ezine or two to advertise in, you must write an effective ad. If your ad does not get a response, it is not always the ezine's fault. It could be in your ad copy. The main points to remember when writing an ad are:

1. Keep it brief.
2. Grab their attention in the headline.
3. Emphasize the benefits to the purchaser.

Example:

Headline: Do you want to lose weight?

Better Headline: Lose 3 Pounds a Week!

When you simply ask if they want to lose weight, the benefit is not clearly defined. But when you say lose 3 pounds a week, that is quite clear and more apt to grab the reader's attention.

After you get their attention, get them curious enough to want to click on the email or url provided. If possible, give out a fr^ee report or tutorial with an autoresponder to capture their email address. This is invaluable for doing follow-ups. Most sales are in the follow-ups!

For example: Lose 3 Pounds a Week! Fr^ee report explains the basic and easy to follow method for getting rid of those unwanted pounds. mailto:no_more_fat@getresponse.com

(This ad is merely an example, please do not respond.)

Remember, don't try to sell in the ad - capture the email addresses for follow-ups.

You also want to get in the practice of tracking your ads for a more targeted and effective advertising campaign.

A couple of easy ways to track your ads are:

Email: If you are advertising a report or ezine by email, simply add a code to the end of the email address to indicate where the ad came from.

For example: I am advertising MOE in an ezine called Tricks & Tips for Marketers. To code this in the ad, I could simply add a corresponding code to my subscribe address such as this:

My Own Ezine - Dedicated to helping you start your own ezine & build your online business. Savvy strategies, sure fire tips and ideas, fresh articles, promotion and more in every weekly issue of MOE. Send any email to: mailto:subscribe@myownezine.com?subject=TTfM or visit us at: (http://www.myownezine.com) today for more info!

As you can see I have added the code TTfM for Tips & Tricks for Marketers to the subscribe address. This will tell you everytime someone subscribes through this ad.

Url: If you want to advertise a certain url it is just about the same method.

My Own Ezine - Dedicated to helping you start your own ezine and build your online business. Savvy strategies, sure fire tips and ideas, fresh articles, free promotion and more in every weekly issue of MOE. Send any email to: mailto:subscribe@myownezine.com or visit us at: (http://www.myownezine.com/?TTfM) today for more info!

By adding this code to the url, you can check your site stats to see how many of your page visitors originated from this ad.

The FTC is cracking down on Internet advertising so make sure you follow all rules and requirements. If you are not aware of these rules, make sure you read them here: (http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/ruleroad.htm)

I hope these tips help you to compile a more cost effective advertising portfolio for your online business. Best of luck to you all!

About the Author
Terri Seymour owns and operates MyOwnEzine.com Learn to publish and promote your own ezine. mailto:subscribe@myownezine.com Complete list of her articles for reprint please email: mailto:myownezine-index@getresponse.com Earn 50% with the MOE Affiliate Program (http://www.myownezine.com/moesalespage.shtml)