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Power up for more subscribers!
Subject Line: TWM's Release - #14: Power up for more subscribers!
CONTENTS IN THIS ISSUE:
1. Editor's Remarks
2. How to Start Your Own Ezine - Part VI
a) How do I Increase My Subscriber Base?
b) How do I increase circulation of my ezine? by Mike Banks Valentine
c) 20 Ways To Convert Visitors Into Subscribers! by Larry Dotson
3. What's New at The Write Market
4. Get Your Ad in TWM's Release!
5. Administrative Information
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EDITOR'S REMARKS
Check out our sponsor above! If you're looking for
software to manage your ezine,
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gives you a trial run - free!
If you have questions or answers related to SE
positioning or any marketing or promotion advice,
don't forget to visit our discussion board:
http://www.thewritemarket.com/discus/
If this is your first issue of TWM's Release - go to
http://www.thewritemarket.com/ezine.shtml
to read previous articles in our ezine tutorial.
This month we are going to give you several ways to
increase your subscribers!
We're dedicating the next six issues of TWM Release
to the 6 most popular search engines. Comments on this topic
or articles to:
articles@thewritemarket.com
Write on,
Renee Kennedy
rkennedy@thewritemarket.com
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HOW DO I INCREASE MY SUBSCRIBER BASE?
by Renee Kennedy
We've been publishing The Write Market Release for over a year.
We've always managed to increase our subscriber base. Some
months not as quickly as others. In this article I will tell you what
has worked for TWM's Release.
#1. CONTENT really really really IS KING. Your ezine will flourish -
as long as you continue to put out quality/original content in an
organized format. No matter what else you do to your ezine - this is #1
to help you keep your subscribers. If your content isn't worthwhile
people will unsubscribe so fast your head will spin.
#2. Publish on time. If you say you will publish twice a week - then
by gosh golly gee - publish twice a week. (Some months it is
difficult to get out this ezine due to the fact that sometimes we're
busier than others. Furthermore, TWM Release is only
published monthly - I can't imagine trying to publish weekly.
The morale of this story is "choose your publication
schedule very carefully.")
#3. Find a niche. Find a topic that not many other people have
killed, yet. Or, if a lot of people are publishing in your niche,
get some kind of advantage. For instance, we decided to publish
in a tutorial format - not many other ezines do this. This has
helped us increase our subscribers.
#4. If you have a good niche, you are committed to quality content
and publishing on time, you're ready for promotion.
a. First, you should have a website and use it to the best advantage.
Here are some ways to use your website.
- place a "subscribe form" on every page of your website, preferably
at the top of every page. Or you might try a small popup window that
doesn't come back after people have seen it once. (Our popups have
increased our subscription rate by about 150%.)
- if your website offers interesting information on your topic, then
chances are people will subscribe to your newsletter to stay informed
about that topic - so use your website to provide quality content. I think
this is the main reason why people subscribe to our newsletter. I can
see exactly when they subscribe and it is usually after they see how
rich in content our website is. Or after they've seen one of our tutorials.
Our short, but well written popups also help people decide to subscribe.
- archive all past issues of your newsletter so that people can see what
they're getting into when they subscribe.
- place testimonials on your website about your newsletter.
- In one of the articles that follow, Larry Dotson gives you 20 more
ways to convince website visitors to subscribe to your newsletter.
b. Post on discussion lists and discussion forums. You don't have to
"announce" your ezine. Simply follow a discussion with an intelligent
post and use a signature file that tells people how they can subscribe
to your newsletter. This works extremely well. I recommend finding
about 3 discussion forums that relate to your niche and post on
one of them once a week. You will see immediate results. I find that
email discussion lists work the best - especially ones with a big
following, like i-sales or i-search digest.
c. Find ezine directories and post your ezine to them. In the next
article, Mike Banks Valentine will tell you more about how to do this.
d. Write articles and submit them to other big ezines in your niche.
Or do ad swaps with other ezines that are similar in subscribers
and content. This has worked very well in the past for TWM release.
e. Start a joint venture. Find a couple other newsletters that compliment
your own and start a "Network". We started MCNN - "Marketing Course
Newsletter Network." There are three newsletters in this network. That
means three times the publicity for our newsletter. I've seen some
networks with up to 6 newsletters. Last year, we teamed up with several
internet marketing gurus and created MCNN's Ultimate Marketing Guide.
There were about 37 articles - by 37 different people - that's 37 people
promoting our Guide. (Granted, this type of thing only works for a couple
months - the first push of the Ultimate Marketing Guide was, of course,
the best push.)
http://www.thewritemarket.com/mcnn/
to see it in action.
Well, that's about it. The main thing I can say is that you have to keep
plugging away at it. You have to keep up on ezine publication
practices, as well. Try out different things to see what works and
what doesn't. Here are a few excellent resources for staying up to
date on ezine publishing:
mailto:join-ezine-tips@sparklist.com a daily publication (bless his heart!)
called Ezine Tips. His website: http://www.ezine-tips.com/
http://www.ezineuniversity.com/ great information on ezine publishing.
http://webreference.com/new/tips.html tips on increasing subscribers.
http://www.gethighforums.com/bin/Ultimate.cgi great discussions on
community building and how to build a newsletter or discussion list -
as well as many other helpful topics.
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HOW DO I INCREASE THE CIRCULATION OF MY EZINE?
by Mike Banks Valentine
Publishing your own ezine has become an excepted web marketing
standard for increasing traffic and visibility. I am often asked
how to increase the 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 28 ezine
directories with links that take you directly to the submission
pages. This is only the beginning of a vast number of directories
in which you can list your ezine to help increase exposure and
circulation. There is also a page with other valuable resources
for ezine publishers like a page outlining available list distri-
bution software http://website101.com/listsoft.html and another
covering list hosts at http://website101.com/listhost.html .
2) Engage in discussion lists and attempt to post to large lists.
This is an invaluable tool to boost your subscriptions if you post
helpful and intelligent responses to discussed topics. It doesn't
matter what you do, if people like your posts, they will go to your
site (of course you *always* use a signature line on your posts)
and they'll sign up for your newsletter, just to get more of your
input.
3) What ever you do, don't let the small circulation of your list
make you think it isn't worth the effort. Always do your best, you
never know who is a subscriber and you will always get subscribers
forwarding particularly good articles to friends. I've often 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 would recommend above all, it would be
the attempt to get press in large publications somehow. The usual
method is through sending press releases. The trick is sending a
press release that will be paid attention to. If the topic of your
ezine ever makes it's way into the news, quickly draft a great press
release tying your ezine to the story and write an article in your
ezine about it! Website101 was profiled in Entrepreneur Magazine
because they picked up our news release on our Small Business
Internet Tutorial. Here are a few 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 newsworthy
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 will increase
your visibility by up to 44% and bring you new subscribers from the
search engines!
The main thing to remember is that it takes a long time and intense
tenacity to gain that traffic and increase the circulation of the
ezine. Once it reaches a critical mass of about 1000 subscribers, you
can start attracting advertisers and more traffic and your list will
grow steadily without so much effort 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 been away from the list for weeks at a time and the numbers keep
growing steadily due to those techniques 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 course.
Of course, I'm already listed in the ezine directories, I just need to keep
the subscriber numbers updated regularly.
Don't give up, but do have patience. It's worth it . . . eventually.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Mike Banks Valentine operates WebSite101 and offers a Small Business
Internet Tutorial by autoresponder mailto:website101@smartbotpro.net
Join the WebSite101 "Reading List" Small Business Internet Tutorial
An entertaining Weekly Ezine emphasizing small business online
Subscribe by e- mailto:WebSite101-subscribe@listbot.com
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20 WAYS TO CONVERT VISITORS INTO SUBSCRIBERS!
by Larry Dotson
1. You could offer your visitors a discount on all
the products you sell if they subscribe to your free
e-zine.
2. You could offer your visitors a free ebook if
they subscribe to your free e-zine.
3. You could offer your visitors a free subscription
to your private web site if they subscribe to your
free e-zine.
4. You could offer your visitors a free advertisement
in your free e-zine if they subscribe.
5. You could offer your visitors a free tangible gift
if they subscribe to your free e-zine.
6. You could offer a free automatic entry into your
contest or sweepstakes if they subscribe to your
free e-zine.
7. You could tell your visitors that you offer original
content in your free e-zine.
8. You could tell your visitors to read a sample
issue of your free e-zine on your web site.
9. You could offer your visitor's free software if
they subscribe to your free e-zine.
10. You could offer your visitors a free sign up to
your affiliate program if they subscribe to your free
e-zine.
11. You could offer your visitors a free web service,
like free e-mail, if they subscribe to your free e-zine.
12. You could publish some of your current e-zine
subscriber's testimonials on your web site.
13. You could publish any positive reviews you have
received about your free e-zine on your web site.
14. You could tell your visitors what's going to be
published in your next e-zine issue.
15. You could tell your visitors that they have the
right to republish your e-zines content on their own
web site if they subscribe to your free e-zine
16. You could publish a list of well-known famous,
or respected people that have subscribed to your
free e-zine.
17. You could tell your visitors what a subscription
to your free e-zine is worth in dollars.
18. You could tell your visitors all the major benefits
of subscribing to your e-zine.
19. You could tell your visitors how many people
have already subscribed to your e-zine.
20. You could tell your visitors that a subscription
to your free e-zine is only available for a limited time.
----
40,000 FREE eBooks And Web Books when you
visit: http://www.ldpublishing.com As a bonus, Bob
Osgoodby publishes the free weekly "Your Business"
Newsletter - visit his web site to subscribe and place
a FREE Ad! http://adv-marketing.com/business
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WHAT'S NEW AT THE WRITE MARKET
Don't forget - The Write Market Wrapper:
http://www.thewritemarket.com/discus/
Come and give advice or ask for advice - it's a discussion
board and we highly encourage using signature files to
promote your website or your newsletter!
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GET YOUR AD IN THIS EZINE
Get an ad into TWM Release:
We do ad swaps with other ezines
or you may purchase
an ad - $5 per issue - up to 10 lines -
Contact:
webmaster@thewritemarket.com
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