Do Ezine Ads Still Work?

[Rudi Vanhaecke]

 

 

As a person who is deeply involved in the ezine advertising business, I often hear people asking "Does ezine advertising still work?"

 

 

 

My answer to these questions is this ...

 

 

 

Darn right they work.

 

 

 

In fact, they work now better than ever before.

 

 

 

Allow me to share with you, by way of this ezine, why I believe ezines still work to make sales, build credibility, establish relationships, and more.

 

 

 

Reason One - Ezines are delivered TO the reader via EMAIL. Let me ask you this: why do 99% of the people who are online today get online in the first place? The answer still is, to send and receive email with friends and loved ones.

 

 

 

Ten years from now when we all have pen sized devices that cost nothing, or Dick Tracy wristwatches, perhaps email will take a back seat. For now email IS the Internet.

 

 

 

Ezines work because people REQUEST them. That's what opt-in is all about. People chose to subscribe to newsletters that discuss topics that interest them. Since they requested the information they happily read it. They WANT this information. No one is pushing it at them.

 

 

 

Also, it really doesn't matter what the bad people do. They can send all the cheesy ads and bugs they want and we'll find a way to filter it out.

 

 

 

Sure, the occasional message will slip through. And, sadly, people will still buy their garbage, which will only encourage them to send more. But they are irrelevant and email will still reign supreme; and that's a sure thing.

 

 

 

How do I know this? You're reading this right now, aren't you? And I didn't do one thing special to get this message to you. That's because the system works!

 

 

 

As long as the following things (and more) are true, email will be the main purpose of the Internet.

 

 

 

* Parents with children at college want to stay in touch without incurring high cell phone bills. * People want to communicate with others across the globe on their own schedule. * One person can publish an electronic newsletter and deliver it to a thousand or a million people free. * Postage rates continue to increase and direct mail costs too much.

 

 

 

People don't need to know a browser from a banana, yet they can get their favorite newsletter by email. My Aunt in Mississippi doesn't know Yahoo from Howdy Doody but she gets ezines, clicks the links and buys stuff. Email arrives on her schedule, and she likes that.

 

 

 

Here's THE question. Are enough people hearing YOUR message? Are enough people buying YOUR products? You can bet your last dollar on this .... they ARE buying from someone.

 

 

 

In fact, I'll prove to you they are buying. Take a look at the results of an ad I ran two weeks ago. This solo ad went one time to an ezine with about 18,000 subscribers.

 

 

 

Raw Clicks: 1218 Unique Clicks: 957 Sales Generated : 69 Gross Profit Per Sale: $29.97 Total Gross Profit: $2067.93

 

 

 

Some believe that ezines are dying out and new ideas like forums and blogs (a web log that acts as a sort of digital diary) will replace newsletters delivered by email.

 

 

 

While these things may gain some popularity, (blogs are now the 'flavor of the month' and you'll be hearing much more about them soon) they fail to overcome the ONE element that makes email stand alone as the ultimate communication medium of our time. That factor? The reader does NOT have to take action to receive your message.

 

 

 

Blogs, forums, chats and more are fine (I run forums and use them myself) but they will never overcome the fact that people have to go to them. Ezines come to the reader with no effort on the reader's part.

 

 

As long as that ONE factor remains true, email marketing, including ezines, will be an extremely effective way to market and communicate.

 

 

 

Reason Two - Ezines are topic specific. Few other mediums offer the specific nature of ezines. People who want to know about basset hounds don't want to know about cats or even dogs in general. They want to know about their dogs, bassets. This means you can target your market with ezines more accurately than any other medium, including search engines.

 

 

 

Ezine subscribers want information about the topic of the ezine or they wouldn't subscribe in the first place. Sure, those annoying spam filters make it a bit harder to deliver your message. But the fact remains that people who want our information will take steps to ensure they get it. If you publish helpful, relevant information the reader will read. People are quite adept at getting what they want, and that includes helpful free information.

 

 

 

Reason Three - Ezines are helpful. The ezines that do the best job for everyone involved (the reader and the publisher) are the ones that do the least 'hard' selling. We must go back to the basic premise of an ezine. Here it is. As a publisher, I agree to give you timely, helpful information for no cost. As a reader, you agree to buy my products when you have a need for such products. While it remains unspoken, this is the basic covenant between publisher and subscriber. And it works very, very well. Ask anyone who has an active ezine what their #1 asset is and they will answer "my subscriber list" almost every time.

 

 

 

Forget the hype about building a 'huge opt-in list' so you can promote any time you want. Producing an ezine is about relationships. The relationship the publisher establishes with the reader can only pay off for the publisher in more sales IF they publisher establishes themselves as a credible person. Do that and you will quickly discover that ezines still work very well indeed.

 

 

 

Now, here are two quick ways to make YOUR ezine wildly popular. Do these things and you simply will not fail...

 

 

 

One - Serve the reader. When the publisher puts their focus on serving the reader by selecting or writing the most helpful articles possible, the publisher builds trust. Trust is like money in the bank because, if you are the type of publisher who servers readers, your endorsements of products and services will carry weight. This heart toward service cannot be faked. If you really serve your readers and take the time to ensure you deliver relevant content, they will reward you with increased sales every time.

 

 

 

Two- Establish a dialogue. Ezines are about relationships. Don't discourage readers from writing to you but rather encourage it. Ask them how they liked the article. Ask how you can serve them. Ask what they would like to read about. The more of this you do, the more you please readers. And happy readers refer other readers as well as buy products and services.

 

 

 

While it is 100% true that ezines are profit generators second to none, how you make those profits will determine how long you stay in business. If you beat your list to a pulp with offer after offer that sound too good to be true, you can expect to stay up nights worrying about where to find the next thousand subscribers. Your subscriber turnover will be high and your peace of mind will be low.

 

 

 

If you establish an ezine to have a voice, to serve your readers, to make honest recommendations and to begin a relationship that only email can offer, your satisfaction, profits, and peace of mind will be very high.

 

 

 

Do ezines still work? Of course they do. Nothing works better to position you as an expert in your field, build credibility and trust, and, of course, make sales.

 

 

 

Do they work? You're reading this one, aren't you?

 

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[Abdul wahab]

You enough describe it ,,,,,,,,

[rpsmith]

My question would be: Where do I go to advertise in an ezine without losing my shirt in the process. Depending on the ezine, that can get pretty expensive.

[Guest Aradya]

Interesting, went under interlock in reading! Thanks for sharing about Ezine Advertisements

[weblord]

ezines and newsletters if you can make them your own. create one for your domain or website and advertise to them using a mailing list manager. i like phplist to send my newsletter.