Ezines are one of the most preferred and personal means of providing
valuable information to your Website visitors. Did you know that some ezines
have more than 50,000 subscribers, earning more than $2,000 for just one
text ad? Furthermore, some of these ezines have a waiting list of
advertisers!
While 50,000 subscribers seems like an impossible task to those who have
only 50 readers now, it isn't beyond your ability to drastically grow the
number of subscribers to your ezine.
Below I have assembled 10 methods to help you drastically increase the
number of people that subscribe to your ezine:
1) Have a consistent schedule. Put your ezine on a consistent schedule and
never miss a publishing date. For example, can you realistically put out a
high content and strong quality ezine every Tuesday evening? If so, then
make sure it is publicly known that your ezine comes out once a week, every
Tuesday evening. Then consistently deliver. Consistency is important in
building the reputation of your ezine.
2) Provide quality content. Make sure your ezine is strong in content.
People want fresh material and ideas that aren't already available on your
Website. Make sure your ezine provides exclusive material that makes it
worth reading. If a person receives an ezine that is only ads and links,
chances are they will quickly unsubscribe or add you to their "block sender"
list.
3) Register your ezine. Did you know that there are dozens of ezine
directories and search engines scattered throughout the Web? Try a few of
these for starters:
- http://www.ezinehub.com/
- http://www.ezinestoday.com/
- http://www.ezinecenter.com
- http://www.e-zinedirectory.com
- http://www.ezinelinks.com/index.shtml
- http://www.ezinesplus.com/
- http://www.ezinestoday.com/
- http://www.infojump.com/
4) Give away promotional prizes. People love prizes and the chance to win a
great product, which is why Websites like www.iwin.com are so popular. Why
not offer your ezine subscribers a chance to win a prize. One of the ezines
I help run is the Animation Artist Newsletter (www.animationartist.com),
which deals with animation news. Subscribers who sign up for the ezine are
entered into a monthly drawing to win an Animation Artist T-shirt and other
prizes like animation books and animation products. The prizes become an
additional added benefit for those who sign up and remain a member. Be sure
to announce the winners in your ezine.
5) Put your newsletter on different lists. Is your ezine hosted by an online
service like Listbot (www.listbot.com), Onelist (www.onelist.com), or Topica
(www.topica.com)? Why is your ezine only on one of these services? The
Animation Artist Newsletter I help run is on all three lists. We only
promote the Topica list from our Website, but since all three have their own
marketing services (i.e. list searches), we have been able to gain hundreds
of additional subscribers using this method. All we have to do is post each
ezine to each list then enjoy the benefit of free promotion from all three.
6) Offer and advertise sneak peeks. For me, the most effective method for
increasing ezine subscriptions has been giving subscribers a "sneak peek" of
stories, features, and Web areas. Whenever we open up an animation movie
site (i.e. Disney's Dinosaur movie at www.dinosaurmovie.com), we announce it
first to our newsletter subscribers so that they can check it out in advance
of the rest of the public. Our newsletter comes out in the evening, so the
morning of the newsletter we post our Website's front page, "Newsletter
tonight - all subscribers will get a sneak peek of ______. Click here to
sign up." We see a spike in our subscriptions every time we do this.
7) Use internal banner ads. Whether you have banner advertising on your site
or not, a great promotion method for your ezine is to create banners and use
them internally. Spread these banners throughout your site with a link to
your subscription page.
8) Archive your ezines. Make sure all your ezines are publicly archived so
that new visitors can see the valuable information you provide. Many will
sample your ezine before signing up. The better the content, the more
subscriptions you'll receive. Also, if you are using Onelist, Listbot, or
Topica, be sure to use the public archive option so that everyone using
those services can also view past issues. If you archive issues on your site
be sure to add meta tags to those pages and submit them to search engines.
Make sure each archived page has a way for new subscribers to sign up.
9) Provide reasons to subscribe. On your sign-up page, list many reasons
that a visitor should sign up for your ezine. For example:
Animation Artist ezine subscribers get:
- exclusive animation news.
- sneak peeks at new Web areas.
- fresh information about upcoming animated movies.
- a chance of winning monthly prizes.
The longer your list of reasons, the more likely a visitor will sign up for
your ezine. Never lie to your visitor, however. If you list something as
available in your newsletter then deliver it on a consistent basis.
10) Obtain testimonials. Ask your ezine subscribers to fill out a survey
(with a great prize to be given, in a drawing, to one of the people who
fills out the survey). As part of the survey ask "What do you like best
about _____ ezine?" At the end of the survey have a yes and no box the
person can check that asks "may we have your permission to quote your
responses for marketing purposes?" Use methods like this to build your
testimonial base then start using the testimonials to give new prospects
more reasons to sign up for your ezine.
The more people you can generate to your Website, the better these tips will
work in skyrocketing your ezine subscriptions. That's why you should learn
strategic Web marketing techniques like those found in Web Marketing
Applied. Most importantly, be consistent in your promotion and when the time
is right, start making money by charging for ad space!
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Joe Tracy (mailto:joetracy@earthlink.net) is the author of Web Marketing Applied
(http://www.advanstarbooks.com/webmarketing) and editor of Webmaster
Techniques Magazine (http://www.webmastertechniques.com). Joe is also an
Internet marketing specialist working full time as the Director of Internet
Marketing for American Computer Experience (http://www.computercamp.com), the
leading provider of computer camps for kids. His book, Web Marketing
Applied, was released in February 2000. It is a focused and in-depth
marketing book for Webmasters and Web marketers.