5 Ways to MAKE M0RE M0NEY With Your E-zine
by Alexandria Brown
Send Feedback to Alexandria Brown
Have you been publishing an e-zine for at least six months but still aren't seeing real results (read: revenue) from it? Don't fret -- you may just need a tune up. Here are five ways to kick your e-zine income into gear this year: 1. TOOT YOUR OWN HORN MORE The adage goes, "If you don't blow your own horn, someone else will use it as a spittoon." If your focus is providing your readers with useful information that enriches their lives and businesses, bravo! That SHOULD be your focus. But now I want you to look out for yourself as well: Take at least 25 percent of your e-zine space and make it all about YOU. Give promos for your services, products, books, workshops, etc. List raving testimonials from clients and customers who LOVE you. Weave your business success stories into your articles and tips. Share something funny about your weekend that makes me feel closer to knowing you personally. (For more self-promotion tips, see my article "7 Ways to Self-Promote Within Your E-zine." (http://www.ezinequeen.com/7ways.htm) 2. MAKE ME AN OFFER I CAN'T REFUSE Let's suppose I'm one of your subscribers. Even if I realize you offer am^zing products and services, I may need a kick in the pants to make a move. To entice me, offer me a special, limited- time deal. Examples: three months' of consultation for the price of two, a 20% d1scount on your latest book or newest service, or one of your usual offers with a few exciting bonuses thrown in. Make the offer obsolete within a few days or by next week. By putting a time limit on it, I'll be more apt to act n0w instead of later. Don't overlook how powerful this tactic can be. Some of my most profitable weeks have resulted from running a limited time, special pr0motion of this type in my e-zine. 3. PACKAGE IT AT A L0WER PRICE POINT This is a super strategy for service professionals such as consultants and coaches. As your subscriber, I know the way to get the BEST service from you would be to hire you one-on-one, but perhaps I can't afford that right now. BUT consider that I may likely be interested in lower-priced options such as group coaching, teleclasses, online seminars, or a manual/e-book. This is exactly how I became an author. When I started my first e-zine, my main business was writing corporate communications. After I gained a few thousand subscribers, I realized that my readers were mostly small business owners and entrepreneurs. So I began creating products and services geared toward them. And now I profit more from those each month than I did from my corporate work. (And I'm having more fun, too!) 4. PROMOTE A PRODUCT/SERVICE THAT COMPLEMENTS YOURS Do your readers and clients often ask you about a certain topic that's related to -- but not exactly -- what you offer? Then resell a resource that you heartily recommend and would put your reputation behind. For example, while my specialty is e-zines, I get many questions about creating and selling e-books online. So I continually research credible resources on this topic to share with my readers. Many of the creators of these products offer a handsome commission on any sales I refer to them. (I do this myself by paying up to 35 percent commission on any referred sale. (http://www.ezinequeen.com/affiliate.htm) NEVER recommend any service or product to your readers that you haven't personally tried and wouldn't back 100 percent. Otherwise you'll blow the trust that you've worked so hard to build up in your readership. 5. SELL AD SPACE AS IT SUITS YOU E-zine ads won't make you r*ch, but they can make for some handy extra c^sh. (I call it my "margarita money.") Most e-zines offer one sponsor ad at the top and several "classified" ads at the bottom. Sponsor ads typically cost three to five times more than the classified ad, but you'll see the ranges vary greatly. Start by offering ad specials to your own readers. Then also list your e-zine in the many e-zine advertising directories on the Web. These services help match advertisers with appropriate publishers just like you. (Need help? My manual gives step-by- step instructions on how to accept and profit from ads in your e- zine.) Remember that you have every right to be selective about the type of ads you accept. While your readers know these ads don't represent YOUR business, their quality will indirectly influence their perception of you. REMEMBER THE SILENT BENEFITS OF YOUR E-ZINE Keep in mind that even if you aren't getting direct business from your e-zine at this time, it's still delivering many benefits that may be less obvious. Your e-zine is helping to establish you as an expert in your field. It's giving you massive online exposure. You're gaining further credibility with your current clients and customers. And it's forcing you to package your knowledge into concise articles on a regular basis, which you can recycle for many other marketing uses. (c) 2002-2003 Alexandria K. Brown Keywords: ezine, e-zine, email, e-mail, sales, marketing, online, Internet, newsletter, promote
About the Author
Alexandria Brown, Marina del Rey, CA
alexandria@ezinequeen.com
http://www.ezinequeen.com
Online marketing coach Alexandria K. Brown, "The E-zine Queen," is author of the award-winning tutorial package, 'Boost Business With Your Own E-zine.' To learn more about this step-by-step program, and to sign up for FREE how-to articles and FREE teleclasses, visit http://www.EzineQueen.com/
| DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware. |
More Newsletter Marketing Articles
More By Developer Shed
 developerWorks - FREE Tools!
|
Building a software-as-a-service solution requires addressing a few key technical challenges. In this webcast, we'll focus on the role of IBM Tivoli Directory Server and WebSphere Portlet Factory in creating a Software as a Service solution. We will demonstrate how to use Tivoli Directory Server to prevent the user population of one tenant from accessing the virtual portal and portlet components of another tenant. We will also use the dynamic profile capability of WebSphere Portlet Factory to create multiple highly customized applications from one code base.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
WebSphere Process Server delivers a unique integration framework that simplifies existing IT resources. Often, as IT assets grow to support business demand, so too does their complexity and manageability. In this webcast, we’ll discuss how WebSphere Process Server helps deliver an SOA infrastructure that provides a common model to orchestrate, mediate, connect, map, and execute the underlying IT functions. Discover how WebSphere Process Server simplifies integration of business processes by leveraging existing IT assets as reusable services without the complexities of traditional integration methodologies.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Download a free trial version of IBM Rational Developer for System z, software that can help you deliver core development capabilities; the power of Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE); and rapid application development support to diverse enterprise application development teams. With comprehensive development tools to help create, deploy and maintain traditional enterprise and composite applications, Rational Developer for System z enables developers with different technical backgrounds to easily participate in important technology projects.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Analysts, architects, and developers who have existing COBOL or PL/I skills and want to extend those skills to deploy new workloads on the mainframe can use the IBM Enterprise Modernization Sandbox for System z to find hands-on walkthroughs of common real world scenarios. The scenarios provide examples of how to rapidly design, create, assemble, test, and deploy high-quality Web, Web services, portal, and SOA applications for IBM CICS, IBM IMS, and IBM WebSphere Application Server.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Because access to government information continues to be an area of concern for many U.S. citizens with disabilities, the U.S. government enacted Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act in 2001 to ensure that government agencies create accessible Web content, enabling all citizens to access the information they need. A fully accessible Web site makes Web content accessible to all individuals, including those with disabilities, who may be accessing Web content via a variety of user agents. Common user agents include standard Web browsers, text-only browsers, assistive devices and mobile devices such as cell phones or personal digital assistants (PDAs).
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Join this webcast to discover the key requirements for successful change and release management. Learn how to extend your .NET environment to improve productivity and collaboration, and address core problems afflicting team development. In this webcast, we’ll review typical challenges faced by customers and how to resolve them with the IBM Rational Change and Release Management solution, including Rational ClearCase, Rational ClearQuest and Rational Build Forge. Replay is available for 9 months.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Informix Dynamic Server (IDS) Express Edition offers outstanding online transaction processing (OLTP) database performance, while helping to simplify and automate many of the tasks associated with deploying databases for small business applications. IDS 11 further extends the ease of management and applications integration with the Admin API and Scheduler, high availability with Continuous Log Restore for backup server recovery in case of a primary server failure, and column level encryption to protect personal and company private data.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Try the latest version of IBM Rational Manual Tester V7.0.1 by downloading a free trial from IBM developerWorks. This manual test authoring and execution tool promotes test step reuse to reduce the impact of software change on testers and business analysts and addresses the needs of teams performing at least a portion of their testing manually.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
The discipline of assembling and delivering software is maturing beyond standard developer-centric compile/test software builds. The end-to-end software development lifecycle is emerging as the new focus moves “Beyond the Build.” Join this on demand webcast to learn about methods for streamlining software delivery and key capabilities of the IBM Rational Build Forge framework for automating build and release management in environments of any size.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
With IBM Rational Systems Development Solution, you can deliver products faster with higher quality. Within this kit, Read the “Model Driven Systems Development” white paper to see how to improve product quality and communication. Then check out the rest of the e-Kit to learn more about important topics that can affect the success of any software project through customer examples, tutorials, informative Webcasts, and best practices for designing, building and managing systems. From start to finish, at every stage in your projects, Rational Systems Development Solution can help your company reach its full potential.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
All FREE IBM® developerWorks Tools!
|
