Gaining Ezine Subscribers
by Mike Banks Valentine
Publishing your own ezine has become an accepted web marketing
standard for increasing traffic and visibility. I'm often
asked
how to increase circulation of newly launched ezines and
have
put together a short list of techniques to help the fledgling
publisher grow her list.
1) Visit http://www.website101.com/ezine.html
a list of ezine
directories with links that take you directly to the submission
pages. This is only a beginning of a vast number of directories
in which you can list your ezine to help increase exposure
and
subscribers. There is also a page with other valuable resources
for ezine publishers like a one outlining available list
distri-
bution software http://website101.com/listsoft.html
and another
covering list hosts at http://newslettersender.com
.
2) Engage in discussion lists and attempt to post to large
lists.
This is an invaluable tool to boost your subscribers if
you post
helpful and intelligent responses to discussed topics. No
matter what you do, if people like your post, they'll go
to your
site (of course you *always* use a signature line on your
posts)
and they'll sign up for your newsletter, to get more of
your
input.
3) Whatever you do, don't let the small circulation of a
list
make you think it isn't worth the effort. Do your best!
You
never know who's a subscriber, you will always get subscribers
forwarding particularly good articles to friends. I've been
startled at the high level corporate types that show up
on my
distribution list, even though it is targeted at the small
business owner.
4) If there were one thing I'd recommend above all, it would
be the attempt to get press in large publications. The
usual method is through sending press releases. The trick
is
sending a press release that'll be paid attention to. If
the
topic of your ezine ever makes it into the news, qucikly
draft a great press release tying your ezine to the story
and
write about it in your ezine! Website101
was profiled
in Entrepreneur Magazine because they picked up our
release
on our Small Business Internet Tutorial.
Here are a few press release services to get you started.
http://www.newsbureau.com
http://www.ereleases.com
http://www.prweb.com
http://www.worldwide-newsrelease.com/
they each have tutorials about how to write creative and
news-
worthy releases that get picked up and used.
5) Post your articles to your web site following publication
and submit these pages to the search engines! This method
increases your visibility by up to 44% and brings you new
ezine subscribers from the search engines!
6) Encourage your subscribers to pass each issue to their
Friends and colleagues and be certain every issue carries
easy subscription instructions. Make sure that when subscribers
share they send the entire newsletter, rather than cutting
out
their favorite piece by simply asking them not to cut and
paste.
The main thing to remember is that it takes a long time
and
intense tenacity to gain traffic and increase ezine subscribers.
Once it reaches a critical mass of about
1000 subscribers, you'll start attracting advertisers and
more
traffic and your list will grow steadily without so much
work
on your part.
I'm assuming, of course, that the techniques used to get
you
to the 1k mark are still being used. I've established a
free
tutorial sent via autoresponder and use that and my list
subscription email in my signatures.
I've promoted the list very little for weeks at a time but
numbers keep growing steadily due to the techniques above
and
the contest I offer on my front page. Most of my subscriptions
come from the short course autoresponder.
It varies based on articles run in other ezines and whether
any of the "big boys" pick up articles, but the
autoresponder
just keeps churning out new subscribers due to the popularity
of the short course.
I'm already listed in the ezine directories, I just need
to keep
the the subscriber numbers updated regularly.
Don't give up, but do have patience. It's worth it ... eventually.
-------------------------------------------------------- WebSite101
"Reading List" Weekly Netrepreneur Tip Sheet Weekly Ezine
emphasizing small business on the Internet http://website101.com/arch/
e-tutorial online at: http://website101.com/shortcourse.html
By week's end you're ready expand your business to the web!
--------------------------------------------------------
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Growing Your List
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© 2001 Elena Fawkner
So, you're ready to launch your own newsletter. You've heard that
a newsletter (or ezine) is a great way to stay in touch with site
visitors and to develop an opt-in list of your own to promote your
products and services.
OK, so far so good. And you have your first issue ready to go.
"Go where?" , I hear you ask. Good question. Who are you going
to send it to?
Which leads us to the topic of this article. Subscriber generation.
We're going to look at how to get the message out that your
newsletter exists and how interested readers can ask to receive it
(how subscribers can subscribe).
Fortunately, there are many ways and places to publicize your
newsletter.
1. ANNOUNCEMENT LISTS
Announcement lists are, in theory at least, email lists that people
subscribe to who want to know about new lists (whether they be
discussion lists or newsletters). Why "in theory"? Quite simply
because a lot of people wanting to generate new subscribers to
THEIR lists subscribe because you have to be a subscriber
yourself in order to announce your list. Nonetheless, you will
still generate a steady trickle of new subscribers from these lists.
You will find these lists will bring in quite a lot of subscribers initially
but gradually the rate of new subscribers from these sources will fall
away so you can't rely on them alone. Most of these lists allow
repeat postings, usually once per week but check the rules for each
list.
Here's the list of announcement lists AHBBO is regularly
submitted to. Before being able to submit your newsletter to
these lists you'll need to subscribe first. Just go to Yahoo
(http://www.groups.yahoo.com) or Topica (http://www.topica.com)
to sign up for the lists you want to be able to submit to. (Onelist
and Egroups are now under Yahoo):
1_List_Advertise@onelist.com
a1promo@egroups.com
Aannounce@egroups.com
Announce@topica.com
ezine_announce@egroupscom
freelistresources@topica.com
GetMoreSubs@egroups.com
GetMoreSubs@topica.com
ListAdvertise@egroups.com
List_Builder@topica.com
Lits_Of_Lists@egroups.com
Listpromote@egroups.com
List-Your-Lists@egroups.com
List-Your-Lists@topica.com
Mailman@topica.com
Promote_Your_List@topica.com
WritersZines@egroups.com
ZineDirectory@egroups.com
eAnnounce@egroups.com
compu-list@ egroups.com
List_announcements@egroups.com
PromoteList@topica.com
Announce_Lists@egroups.com
Announce-A-List@egroups.com
2. DIRECTORIES
The next place to list your newsletter is in the myriad of
directories devoted to exactly that. These will bring in fewer
subscribers initially but will be important to the longer-term
growth of your subscriber database as they represent a source
for a slow but steady subscriber influx.
First, make sure your newsletter is listed with New-List
(http://scout18.cs.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/lwgate/NEW-LIST/).
This is the famous Internet Scout Project and will commonly
generate a major flood of new subscribers. An initial haul of over
200 is not uncommon for some lists. You may only announce
your list once to this list but your announcement is archived on
the New-List site and you are permitted to announce changes to
your newsletter. Purely "business opportunity" list announcements
are likely to be rejected but the moderator seems to have a
somewhat inconsistent approach to what constitutes a bizopp list
so give it a try anyway.
Next, go to JimWorld's Top 1000 Submission Sites Directory
(http://www.the1000.com) and submit your newsletter to as many
of the places listed there that apply to the subject matter of your
newsletter. Although the site refers to site announcements, most
are also good places to list your newsletter as well. Obviously it
will take you quite a time to get your site listed at all these places
but it will pay off over time in the form of a steady stream of
subscribers in the longer term.
Then, for good measure, make sure you are listed in the following
directories (where applicable). Some of these may already be
included in the Top 1000 Submission Sites Directory but are
mentioned here again for the sake of completeness. Not all of the
sites listed below are "directories" as such. Some are just
outstanding resources that will assist you with subscriber
generation.
http://alabanza.com/kabacoff/Inter-Links/listserv.html
http://new-list.com/
http://tile.net/lists/addlist.html
http://www.escribe.com/internet/-aannounce/
http://www.escribe.com/internet/lbd/
http://www.escribe.com/internet/listbuilder/
http://www.goodstuff.prodigy.com/Lists/main.htm
http://www.liszt.com/
http://www.paml.net
http://www.newsletteraccess.com/
http://www.promotefree.com
http://www.virtualpromote.com
http://www.wcsu.ctstateu.edu/library/rr_electronic_discussion_groups.html
http://www.webcom.com/impulse/list.html
3. ACCEPTING FREE ADS
An often-overlooked method for initial subscriber generation is
offering a free ads for new subscribers. You will not start accepting
paid advertising until such time as your subscriber numbers support
it (certainly not fewer than 1,000 subscribers). There is no reason
though why your subscribers should not get used to seeing ads in
your newsletter and by offering free ads for new subscribers (for a
limited time), you will find you can generate quite a few subscribers
this way.
My initial batch of subscribers came from those wanting to place
a free ad in AHBBO. I listed my newsletter with Ruth Townsend's
Directory of Ezines (http://www.lifestylespub.com/) and immediately
started receiving free ad requests. By including a free ad reference
in your announcements (see Announcement Lists), you may find this
helps you generate more initial subscribers.
It is NOT recommended that you make any reference to free ads
in the submissions you make to Directories (see Directories)
because these are a more permanent listing of your newsletter and
you don't want people asking for free ads in six months' time after
you have stopped accepting them.
4. OTHER FORMS OF FREE PUBLICITY
In addition to making use of Announcement lists and Directories,
there are a few other forms of free publicity that will help you
generate subscribers both initially and over the longer term.
=> Article submissions
By writing articles and submitting them regularly with a resource
box that refers to your newsletter, you will generate subscribers
when other publishers run your article in their newsletter.
Each article you submit must contain a resource box that tells the
reader who you are, what your newsletter is about and how to
subscribe.
On a number of occasions publishers of newsletters with extremely
high subscriber numbers (over 250,000 in one case) have run my
articles. It is not uncommon to receive over 200 subscribe requests
immediately following an article appearing in one of these
high volume newsletters. So, the point is, writing and submitting
articles for use by other publishers is an excellent way of generating
new subscribers.
There are plenty of places to submit your articles. To find them,
just pretend you're a publisher looking for content for your newsletter.
Use search terms such as "free content" etc. and you'll turn them
up.
=> Signature files
Another way to generate a steady trickle of new subscribers is
to include a blurb about your newsletter and how to subscribe
in your signature file and include it at the end of every email you
send to anyone about anything. These can be particularly useful
if you regularly contribute to discussion lists or newsgroup
discussions provided the lists and newsgroups have some general
relevance to the subject matter of your newsletter.
=> Ad swaps
Swapping newsletter ads with other newsletter publishers is a
good way of generating new subscribers provided your target
audiences are complementary. You can generate ad swaps by
including a notice in your newsletter that you welcome them
or by actively seeking out other publishers who accept ad swaps.
There are a number ad swap lists around specifically for this
purpose.
=> Publicizing Your Newsletter
Once you have an established newsletter with several hundred
subscribers you should publicize your newsletter in as many
places as you can, whenever you get the opportunity.
One way is to try and get your newsletter reviewed. A good place
to get reviewed is at http://www.list-universe.com. There are many
others too so look around. Many of the directories you list your
ezine with have a rating system and if you can get yourself rated
highly you will usually merit a higher ranking in the directory. So,
invite your subscribers to rate your ezine. Another good way to
publicize your newsletter is to submit your original articles to some
of the many websites that collect articles available for reprint by
other publishers. It seems that there is no shortage of publishers
who prefer not to create any original content for their newsletters
so, if you do create original content, there's a ready-made market
for it! By ensuring that your resource box contains a blurb and
subscribe info for your ezine, every time another publisher runs
your articles, they are also running an ad for your newsletter. Do
this consistently and you will become known in your field of
expertise and this in turn will attract subscribers (not to mention
advertisers and website visitors).
=> Ad Swaps
Closely related to the idea of submitting articles so publishers
effectively run ads for your newsletter whenever they run your
articles, is the more direct approach of actually swapping ads for
your newsletter with other ezine publishers. Thanks to ad-
swapping, you need never leave an advertising space empty again.
If your ezine advertising isn't fully booked for a particular week, fill
it up with an ad swap with another publisher.
You can either approach particular publishers directly or you can
join an adswap list.
=> Joint Ventures/Co-Ops
Joint ventures or co-ops with other publishers are perhaps THE
best way to generate new subscribers over the longer term. The
trick is to team up with another publisher who publishes an ezine
to a target audience complementary to your own.
Under this type of joint venture arrangement, you provide a
mechanism for subscribers to your ezine to subscribe to your joint
venture partner's ezine at the same time. And your joint venture
partner does the same for you.
This is not the only way to run a joint venture though. For example,
you may choose instead to recommend your joint venture partner's
ezine in your welcome message to new subscribers. Or to have a
link to your joint venture partner's sign-up page at your website.
Whatever works for you is fine.
Co-ops can extend beyond a simple reciprocal subscribe arrangement
too. Contests are a great way to generate new subscribers. In
principle, it works like this. Several ezine publishers get together and
put together a package of prizes. One may offer a free copy of an
e-book, another may offer free advertising in their ezine, another may
offer a free web design consultation.
Each participating publisher lets their subscribers know about the
contest in their welcome message as well as publicizing it in their
ezines. Interested subscribers can then go off and register for the
contest at one of the publisher's websites. It is a condition of entering
the contest that the subscriber signs up for the other publishers'
newsletters, the other publishers thereby gaining an additional
subscriber.
Every month (or whatever frequency is specified in the contest rules),
each of the publishers draws one winner. Each subscriber has x
number of chances to win each month with x representing the
number of publishers participating in the contest.
=> Remind Your Subscribers to Recommend You
Once you generate sufficient subscribers, you will find that a lot of
new subscribers sign up as a result of a word of mouth
recommendation from one of your existing subscribers. Although
this kind of traffic will be kind of slow to start with (it's a numbers game,
after all), beyond a certain point, say 2-3,000 subscribers, you will find
that this becomes an increasingly frequent way for new subscribers to
find you. So be sure to remind your existing subscribers to recommend
you to their friends, family and associates!
=> Pay Per Subscriber Services
There are several excellent pay-per-subscriber services available
now. Expect to pay between 10 and 20 cents per subscriber
depending on whether it's single or double opt-in. A good service
is WorldWideLists (http://www.worldwidelists.com).
By implementing these strategies, you will have laid the foundation
for a constant and steady flow of subscribers to your newsletter.
Once you get to that point, all you have to do is concentrate on
keeping them. And that simply means producing a quality
newsletter, week in and week out.
------
Elena Fawkner is editor of A Home-Based Business Online ...
practical home business ideas for the work-from-home
entrepreneur.
http://www.ahbbo.com/mmp/sub.cgi?AHBBO=!FLM
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