Magazine Source

Pamela Geiss is the publisher of LotsaPerks Newsletter which offers tips and articles on the best ways to advertise online. Pamela publishes twice a week with an occasional Sunday tutorial that teaches her subscribers something they have asked to learn about. She also has a classifieds issue on Saturdays where subscribers can place a free ad.

To subscribe visit http://www.lotsaperks.com or mailto:subscribe@lotsaperks.com with your first name in the body of the email.

KH: How important has publishing an ezine been to your business?

PG: It has been the most important thing I have done online. It's the best way to develop relationships with people. The Internet is so impersonal and so many people have been scammed online that you really need to give them a chance to get to know you before they will think about trusting you enough to purchase anything from you.

KH: How long have you been running an ezine and how many subscribers do you have?

PG: I have been publishing the LotsaPerks Newsletter for over 3 years now and have over 10,000 subscribers.

KH: Do you submit your ezine to directories and/or announcement lists and if so how effective has this been in gaining new subscribers to your publication?

PG: The first thing I did was to go to www.google.com and put in ezine+directories and then I listed my ezine in every one of them. I recommend listing your ezine everywhere you can find. You can never get too much exposure!

If they had had Ezine Announcer when I first started, it would have saved me hours and hours of time, but it didn't exist then.

KH: Do you write and use your own articles to promote your ezine? How valuable has writing articles been in promoting your ezine?

PG: Writing articles is the best free advertising you can get! You not only get your business out there in front of many people, but you also get links to your business, as many ezine owners keep copies of their ezines on their sites, which helps you with link popularity in the search engines.

Plus, you allow people to get to know something about you and your business which allows you to develop a rapport with potential customers. In addition, I have met and established some great business contacts and met some fine people by writing articles.

I remember the first article I wrote, I thought, "If I know this, EVERYBODY must know it!" Well, I found out that not everybody knew it. There is always someone out there who knows less than you do, so never be afraid to write about things you know.

KH: What methods do you use to promote your products or services within your ezine?

PG: I have a Recommended section in my ezine where I put my links. I try to find good business opportunities for my subscribers. If they look really good, I'll sign up for them and try them out to see if the company is paying commissions on time. If the product turns out to be easy to sell, etc., and if I like it, I'll put it in my Recommended section. If I'm holding a sale, I will announce that close to the beginning of the ezine.

KH: How do you go about preparing your ezine for publication?

PG: Well, I host my ezine with Constant Contact, because it is very easy and fast to use and because it will send out my ezine in text to those who need it and HTML to those who can get that, so I don't have to worry about doing 2 versions. I have a basic format that I set up when I started using Constant Contact, so that saves me a lot of time also.

I usually start with what article I'm going to put in my ezine. When I write an article, I'll usually use it in my own ezine and then send it out to other ezines. If I haven't "been inspired" or had time to write, I have many writers who send me their articles, so I'll choose one of their articles to run first.

I try to put as much viable information in my ezine as I can and keep the ads to a minimum. That way, advertisers don't have a lot of competition and their ads get to show up well. Plus, I really don't want the ezine to become a classifieds section! My main purpose in publishing it is to inform, and I hope it does that.

KH: Any advice to future ezine publishers? Things to look out for or things to concentrate on when publishing an ezine?

PG: Always keep your subscribers in mind in everything you do, whether it's your ezine or your site. Never forget that your main reason for doing your ezine SHOULD be to help them not you. Make it your business to focus on helping others not the dollar.

Of course, we all are in this to hopefully make some money, but I think where people get into trouble with their businesses is when they let the dollar take precedence over their customers. In other words, greed will be your downfall if you let it become all important.

Things to look out for...first of all, don't ever recommend something unless you truly believe in it, because your business reputation is at stake. Next, don't overload your ezine with ads, whether paid or free. When I first started out, I told my subscribers to send in their ads and I'd publish them once a week, but now that my subscriber base has grown, I had to change it to the first 5 who send in their ads would get their ads published.

You can get overloaded with ads and then no one will want to read your ezine; so if you want to give free ads in exchange for subscribers to get you started, that's fine, but don't sign up with a lot of services or you'll be overrun with ads! They are a great way to begin getting subscribers; just don't let it get out of hand!

Article © 2002 by writer Ken Hill. Launching An Ezine? Need Subscribers? Amazing new automated software puts you on the fast track to ezine success! Includes over 900 resources. Results are 100% guaranteed! Learn more now at: http://www.scstats.com/r.cfm?i=4604

About the Author

Adams conceived Atlanta Talent Magazine in 2002 and incorporated in 2004.

Editor of EQ Magazine to Speak at Indie Music Week

Nashville, Tennessee - Indie Music Week has announced that Mitch Gallagher, Editor of EQ Magazine, will be participating as an Indie Music Week panelist. IMW, taking place in Nashville March 11-12, will feature three industry panels of Major and Independent A&R, promoters, label executives, producers, journalists, and entertainment attorneys, and will wrap up with a Music Industry Summit.

Mitch Gallagher, the Editor of EQ Magazine, began his music career almost 25 years ago with a background including degrees in music and graduate studies in electronic music composition and classical guitar. Author, journalist, teacher, touring and studio musician, recording engineer, project studio/multimedia production company owner, studio consultant, and award-winning composer; Mitch is considered one of the leading experts in music technology and recording. After serving as Senior Technical Editor of Keyboard magazine from 1998 to January 2000, Mitch assumed the Editor’s chair at EQ. A published books author as well, his books Make Music Now! (Backbeat Books) and Pro Tools Clinic: Demystifying LE For Mac and PC (Schirmer Trade Books) are available in fine bookstores everywhere.

“Mitch Gallagher has been helping unsigned and Indie artists for years through his work at EQ Magazine, his books, and his unrelenting desire to advance the creation of great music. We’re honored to have him as a panelist,” says Indie Music Week President Jonell Polansky.

Other confirmed panelists include Nashville Star and Sony Music’s Tracy Gershon, Danny Kee from Warner Bros. Records, Performing Songwriter magazine’s Abby White, Amy Stevens of Vivaton Records, Lyric Street Records’ Kirk Boyer, Larry Shell of Broken Bow Records, Bradley Collins of BMI, international music rights expert Marghie Evans, and the Nashville Association of Professional Recording Services (NAPRS). In addition to the industry panels, Indie Music Week will also feature two Artist Showcases to be held at Nashville’s famous Douglas Corner Café.

To attend Indie Music Week 2005, please visit IndieMusicWeek.org for registration information. The early registration fee for Indie Music Week is $99, with 50% fee discounts for music industry students and a 25% discount for industry professionals and members of industry professional organizations. Early registration ends March 4th, and registration fees will increase to $125 (with all discounts still applying.) To be an Indie Music Week sponsor, please visit IndieMusicWeek.org or call 615-292-1337.

1. Write articles that provide your readers with a list of tips.

Depending on the topics your ezine covers, your tips could be on customer service, autoresponders, or you could provide your subscribers with a list of tips that help them to increase their sales or market their businesses more successfully.

You could also provide your readers with a list of your top tips on a specific subject such as "Top 7 Ways To Promote Your Website" or "Top Ten Ways To Promote Your Ezine."

2. Write "how to" articles.

This type of article shows your reader step by step how to reach an objective such as how to write effective ad copy, get repeat traffic, or how to write effective metatags.

3. Publish interviews.

Contact experts on the topic your ezine covers and request interviews. Most people will agree as it provides them with promotion of their businesses at no cost. Publish your interviews in article format or use the popular Q&A formula.

4. Write articles that focus on a current hot topic, trend or that are "seasonal" in nature such as how to increase sales during the holidays.

5. Provide polls for your subscribers to partake in.

Publishing polls will help you to increase the number of people that read your ezine because your subscribers will be interested in seeing the results.

Your polls can also be used to help you decide on changes in your content, publishing schedule, or to decide on new things to add to your ezine.

6. Provide your subscribers with resources related to your ezine's topic such as places to promote their businesses, ezines, etc.,

You could add these in a recommended resources section. You could also provide a list of your favorite resources such as your top 5 books/ebooks on ezine publishing, marketing or web design with a brief description of each of your resources.

7. Publish an editor's note at the beginning of each issue.

Use your editor's note to increase your profit by announcing any new sales or discounts you have on your products or services.

Also use your editor's note to increase your credibility by providing tips on the topic your ezine covers and by telling your subscribers how you've helped your clients or customers.

8. Provide endorsements within your ezine for your products from respected experts in your field or list testimonials from your satisfied customers.

9. Add an "Ask The Editor" section.

Write out thorough, detailed answers to your subscribers' questions within this section.

This will increase your status as an expert in your field, which will lead to more sales of your products.

You can also use questions you get from your subscribers to get ideas for articles that your subscribers will enjoy and that will keep them reading your ezine.

10. At the end of each issue, tell your readers what your next issue is going to be about such as the title and description of your feature article or anything new that you have planned.

This will help you to increase your readership by getting your subscribers to look forward to your next issue.

Article by Ken Hill. Pick up Ken's new informative course on ezine publishing. Discover tips to successfully promoting your ezine including ways to increase your subscriptions by participating in successful joint ventures with other ezine publishers. Pick up your f-ree course today at: mailto:ezinecourse@netpromarketer.com

Artist: Cardinal Trait Title: You Already Know Genre: Roots Rock Label: Emanon Records Website: http://www.cardinaltrait.com

You have heard the term cardinal sin, well, in reference to music; we have a band called Cardinal Trait hailing from Oklahoma. This is a twist on a negative term to make it more positive and forceful upon first impression. Therefore, we are off to good start right out of the gate. The title of the album reveals a truth right from the beginning of the opening track “Something More.” Their roots rock melodic sound makes you feel all warm and tingly inside, like You Already Know them.

I really enjoyed this album; in fact, I appreciated it immensely because there was not one throwaway track. If you were wondering what this band sounds like, the best way to explain it would be they are a combination of REM, Hootie and the Blowfish and Dave Matthews with a smidgen of the Allman Bros. for good measure. Sounds like heady stuff indeed, however, I did hear all of those influences in their musical output. Each of those bands has a distinct sound and a magnificent reputation for recording quality music. So to say, that they are in good company and going in the right direction is hitting the nail right on the head.

This band has a melodic foundation with a marvelous pop sensibility; they are intelligent, crafty, and very talented at every position in the band. Get ready folks, the south is gonna do it again. They have all the cardinal traits of greatness and I hope you as the listener are curious enough to check them out, if you don’t you will be missing one of the best musical rides of 2004.

© Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck-http://www.muzikreviews.com November 30, 2004

Rating-9/10

Credits:

Aaron Vaughn-vocals, acoustic guitar Mark Sullivan-lead guitar, bass Josh Vaughn-drums, backing vocals Will Porter-backing vocals

01. Something More 02. All For You 03. Every Now And Then 04. Flashback 05. So Called Friend 06. Nowhere Land 07. Ardmore 08. White 09. Lately 10. Let Me Be

Want to have a few laughs during your summer holiday? Don't leave home without these reading "gems" from business columnist Lisa Nirell. A Little Summer Reading

One of the toughest things I have to do as an executive mentor is to convince my clients--most of whom are tough-as-nails, driven workaholics--that they're more effective when they routinely take some time off. Recharging your batteries isn't optional for growth; it's mandatory.

The good news is, the power of escape is at our fingertips. All you have to do is get in your car, fight off the Del Mar Fair traffic, jockey for the last parking spot at the Beach, and stake your claim on the sand.

Or, just close the office door for 30 minutes every day, and savor some classics. When the going gets tough, the tough get reading. With tongue only slightly in cheek, I'd like to recommend some personal favorites, slotted into "traditional categories." Remember: The point is to enjoy. This isn't homework. Laugh a little. 'Tis the season for light clothing, light food, and light reading.

Fiction and Poetry Birth of the Chaordic Age. Dee Hock (1999, Berrett-Koehler) The Founder of VISA International explains the magical birth of VISA’s creation, revealing how chaos and order merged to allow competing banks to peacefully create a $1.25 trillion organization for a time (who can forget the 1998 Department of Justice antitrust lawsuit against VISA and Mastercard?). Hock has a magical way of discussing the impact the “monkey mind” (aka “inner voice” or “doubting Thomas”) on the success of new projects.

Non Fiction The Princessa: Machiavelli for Women. Harriet Rubin (1999, Dell) Rubin offers practical examples of how women, ranging from George Eliot to Golda Meir, have gained power using ease and grace. She outlines a critical distinction between winning the battle versus “besting” your enemy, and demonstrates how a battle strategy defeated Hilary Clinton’s efforts to launch her Health Care Initiative (her own husband’s team was sent in to work against her!). Who needs fiction when you can learn age-old lessons from real-life political drama?

Mystery Cyber Rules. Thomas Siebel, et. al. (2000, Doubleday) Want to learn how to write a company brochure disguised as a hardcover visionary book? Add this flavor of the month from days gone by to your paperweight list! In this high-tech “whodunit,” protagonist Siebel carefully orchestrates twists, turns, and surprises that finally culminate in the revelation of The Secret Of Success. (If you hate spoilers, skip ahead to the next book.) The real twist in the plot appears when Siebel asks a Board member – Charles Schwab – to write the Foreword. Later, the big secret comes out: "Put the Customer First." While the real mystery might be how it took civilization 2000 years to figure this out, Cyber Rules remains a relatively good read. Auctioned copies start at $.09, so hurry and order your copy today.

Science Fiction The Road Ahead. Bill Gates (1995, Penguin) Wherein Mr. Gates describes his future dream home: “A house that tracks its occupants in order to meet their particular needs and combines two traditions: Unobtrusive service, and that an object we carry entitles us to be treated in a certain way.” (Does this mean I can program the bulletin board to refuse to give my husband the Mercedes keys when he's just going to the grocery store? Sign me up!) The title appears to have been a mix-up; I am convinced that it really meant to say, George Orwell goes to Redmond. Still an amusing read after all these years.

Children’s Books The One Minute Millionaire. Mark Victor Hansen and Robert G. Allen. (2002, Harmony) Here’s a novel idea for an industry that once prided itself in get rich quick schemes, high margin products and services: What if you gave away a percentage of your profits each year to mentor young people, or to support worthwhile non-profit endeavors? The storybook layout of this book keeps things entertaining and light, yet the messages are compelling. If you want to create new prosperity possibilities for yourself and your family, read on--especially the story about Millionaire Michelle.

What Should I Do With My Life? Po Bronson (2002, Random House) Two years have passed since we saw early signs of the dot-com collapse's impact on millions of careers. This turn of events inspired Bronson to listen to the life stories of more than 900 people who have challenged their own career choices. "What makes this a children's book," you ask? Many of Bronson's subjects dug deep into their childhoods to remind themselves of what fuels and inspires them.

Isn't that what summer is all about?

Lisa Nirell, President of Nirell & Associates, mentors high-tech entrepreneurs and executives to accelerate growth. Lisa also writes for ComputerWorld, San Diego Daily Transcript, and Software Strategies and has served on three Boards of Directors. For more information, visit www.nirell.com.

About the Author

Lisa Nirell, President of Nirell & Associates, advises high-tech entrepreneurs and executives who want to accelerate growth. With more than 20 years in software, consulting, and sales, Lisa has served on 3 Boards of Directors and has published in ComputerWorld and Software Strategies. For more information, visit www.nirell.com.

About the Author

This article may be freely distributed as long as there's an active link to http://www.rapidlingo.comSyd JohnsonEditor

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Syd Johnson is the Executive Editor of RapidLingo.com, Web Articles Guide. This article may be freely distributed as long as the author's bio is included with an active link to http://www.rapidlingo.com

About the Author

Written by the eme teamElectronicsme.net: Where electronics are made easy! The latest articles on televisions, laptops and digital cameras.andElectronicsme.com: Where electronics are made easy! The latest news, reviews and comparisons of electronics, photography, and computers.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Syd Johnson is the Executive Editor of RapidLingo.com, Web Articles Guide. This article may be freely distributed as long as the author's bio is included with an active link to http://www.rapidlingo.com

All the experts agree, if you want visitors to explore your website, you have to give them a reason; without one, they'll click away from your site. If you publish an email newsletter and own a website, here's an interesting way to promote viewing of your website's pages among your newsletter readers.

Sprinkle (actually, "hide") trivia tidbits throughout the pages on your website. They can be in body copy, image captions, advertiser copy ... anywhere. Then run a quiz in your newsletter, letting your readers know the that all of the answers are somewhere on your site. Offer a prize to the first person to email you with all the correct answers.

You may freely repost the sample quiz without any resource box. I would appreciate, however, some sort of a link to my website Bison Creek Author Services in your newsletter or on your site. If you need ad copy lines for a newsletter link --

"Author services, including sales copy writing, free article posting, manuscript readings, reviews and testimonials--for writers just like ourselves: long on vision, but way short on funds. Bison Creek Author Services http://bisoncreek.com"

Sample quiz begins below ============================================================

1. How many ways are there to make change for $1 (US)?

2. In most advertisements, what time is displayed on watches?

3. According to Al Capone's business card, what was his profession?

4. A cat has how many muscles in each ear?

5. Four English words end with "-dous": horrendous, tremendous, stupendous, and ____________?

6. What is the only English word that ends in the letters "-mt"?

7. What is the longest one-syllable word in the English language?

8. How many ridges are around the edge of a U.S. dime?

9. How many dimples are on a regulation golf ball?

10. What is the only U.S. state with a one-syllable name?

11. What is the only known sound that does not produce an echo?

Answers 1. 293 2. 10:10 3. used furniture dealer 4. 32 5. hazardous 6. dreamt 7. screeched 8. 118 9. 336 10. Maine 11. a duck's quack

Mike Morgan is a freelance writer, owner of Bison Creek Author Services , and moderator of Article Post-Short Pieces, for short articles and fillers,

About the Author

C. Bailey-Lloyd aka. LadyCamelot Public Relations' Director & Staff Writer www.HolisticJunction.com www.MediaPositiveRadio.com

Poker is becoming a popular choice of what people are playing now, in particular Texas Hold'Em. Playing for free is the best way to begin learning poker for a person who has no experience. The largest poker room on the Net has around 70,000 simultaneous players who play for real money and approximately 7 million registered users who enjoy playing for fun at the time of this writing. With all the offerings of "play for fun or for real", it would be a good idea to look at your intentions when choosing a place to play at should you be thinking of eventually playing for cash. You can always find places that give the option to play at no cost, but some places do not offer the option to play for real money.

Video poker is very common in Las Vegas casinos as well as with online casinos. The casinos on the Internet can be played for free, plus you can find others places to play at no cost on Yahoo! Google and MSN. But when you play certain ones like "Jacks or Better", it is a good idea to study what the payout scale is on the variety you are playing. The goal should be to find a free version that has the same odds as your favorite in Las Vegas, so you can use it to perfect your skills for winning. Keep in mind that just because you see a Jacks or Better sign on the machine in a land based casino or on your computer does not mean that the payouts are all the same. This especially holds true in land based casinos even if the signs in a group of machines are exactly the same. Payout percentages can vary from lows of 92.6% to over 100% for Jacks or Better. Now if you have a hard time locating a no cost version of your favorite, you can purchase software programs for under $40.00 that will not only let you play your favorites, but offer tutorials and counsel your play to help you get better at it.

Sometimes manufacturers of slot and video poker machines will offer versions of their video poker that can be played with no cost to the player. These are the same businesses that build the machines for Las Vegas casinos so you can really have a good time with what they periodically offer for "test play".

Okay, now let's talk more about Las Vegas. People spend millions having fun in the casinos there, but why should the fun stop when you leave? It is so easy to find poker software programs for Texas Hold'Em today. But with a little searching you can buy software which features Pai Gow Poker, Caribbean Stud Poker and Let It Ride. And if you like the slots there are also sites that sell CD's for the actual Blazing 7's, Double Diamond, Popeye, Blondie, Betty Boop slots and more. You do have to pay one time for it, but you will play for hours with no further cash outlay and be ready for the next trip. Have fun and good luck!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Tom Howze is a webmaster for 9 sites that relate to 2005 World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour events and updates along with resources for free online card games .

Article Size: 684 words (body). Pre-formatted to 60 character width.

You may republish this article, but must keep the resource box and copyright at the end.

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Getting Your Newsletter Read How Great Newsletters Adapt To Perfectly Match Their Readers

By Michael Green

============================================================

One exciting feature of newsletters - frequently overlooked by their editors - is the ability to shape the content to *perfectly* match the readership’s interests and passions.

In fact, newsletters can achieve a form of near perfect synergy with their readers and that’s something rarely experienced with other products or services.

How is this incredible close-fit possible? If you publish your own newsletter or EZine then please read on…

EDITORS MUST GET INSIDE THEIR READERS HEADS You see, a newsletter editor is in a unique position of power, but most fail to capitalize on their in-built advantage.

Editors tend to think of their publication as simply being there to impart knowledge and information to their readership on whatever subject they are headlined to cover. That’s fair enough. Informing readers is an important part of any newsletter!

But…in order to really satisfy your reader, you need to know what information the reader would like to see covered and published. And that means getting a ton of feedback all the time!

HERE’S YOUR MASSIVE INBUILT ADVANTAGE And here’s the incredible advantage that you have as a Newsletter or EZine Editor over just about every other product or service out there. Put simply:

"YOU CAN ASK YOUR READERS EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANT TO READ ABOUT…….THEN GIVE IT RIGHT BACK TO THEM!"

Publishing a newsletter shouldn’t be a 'one-way' street. You’ve got to discover what kind of material your readers want to read and the easiest way to do that is to simply ask them the question.

INVITE RESPONSE AND SEND OUT REGULAR SURVEYS There’s no mystery to gathering the feedback either. Every Newsletter should invite its readers to send in feedback.

If you’re writing an electronic newsletter (EZine) then invite your reader to click *reply* and send in comments. If your newsletter is in print then include a response mechanism such as a fax back, tear-off slip or at the very least a contact address for you as the editor.

TIP: You can dramatically increase feedback response by offering an incentive to complete your feedback survey. A free report on your subject matter works extremely well.

WHAT TO DO WITH THE INFORMATION YOU GATHER That’s easy. Collate the feedback and establish trends in the requests you receive. You might find, for example, that a batch of readers would like to see more "How-To’s" on your subject. Maybe others crave for readers letters and answers, whilst other readers might want to see more longer (or shorter) articles. You get the drift though. Find out what it is they’d like to see.

What next?

Give it to them. And give it to them in spades...

Start thinking about your readers’ feedback as if that’s their way of going out to vote! They’ve indicated a preference, a particular like or dislike about your newsletter. Now, just like any politician, your job is to reflect that right back to them and give them the information they crave.

SHAPE YOUR NEWSLETTER AROUND THE FEEDBACK Very few editors take the time to really understand what their readership would like to see covered. Fewer still actually do anything constructive with the results.

But if you take the time to do both of these things, you are guaranteed to experience a couple of *great* results:

(1). Your existing subscribers will become increasingly loyal, as they derive pleasure from the fact that your newsletter covers what they really want to know about.

(2). New subscribers will flock to your publication. Why? Well just think of your possible subscriber base as being like a huge lake of fish. They’re all swimming around looking for information (and newsletters) that perfectly cover their interests and presents the information in a format that they would like to receive.

Your newsletter is the bait. If you shape it perfectly around the desires and needs of your existing readership, the chances are your publication will also fit your potential subscribers. Follow the above advice and you will have adjusted your bait to perfectly attract an ever-growing newsletter subscriber base.

Good luck, Michael Green

© How To Corporation. All rights reserved.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The author Michael Green has developed a TOOLKIT for Newsletter Editors called "How To Write A Newsletter". Included is a How-To eBook Manual which describes hundreds of excellent ways to enhance your newsletter publication. The TOOLKIT also includes Copyright Free Articles, DTP Templates and much more. A must for all Newsletter Editors! Check out ===> http://www.howtowriteanewsletter.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michael Green spent 12 years building a multi-million dollar business, attributing much of his success to the regular newsletter he published promoting his company. He now devotes his time to educating individuals and organizations as to how to achieve their objectives through newsletter publications both printed and online. He shares his secrets in his new mini-series. Send a blank email to howtocorp@getresponse.com

How to Read Job Ads for Beginners and Newcomers:

Here is the translation what you can REALLY expect whenever you see one of these in a Classifieds Careers/Jobs section:

"exceptional positive attitude" -> translation: *Boss is an asshole and a dictator who blows off his top thirteen times a day!*

"willing to work long hours" -> translation: *Forget about your family, or any personal life at all!*

"stamina to work long hours" -> translation: *In other words you are expected to be a cross between a jackass, a camel and an ox!*

"you are a self-starter" -> translation: *We have no idea what we are doing, but we sincerely hope, you will!*

"can work independently" -> translation: *Don't expect any support from us!*

"provide assurance and consulting services to our clients" -> translation: *You are an extremely skillful liar!*

"exceptional organizational skills" -> translation: *We hope we finally get someone who can clean up that big mess we have here!*

"winning positive attitude" -> translation: *Never get bogged down no matter how stupid the management decisions are!*

"ability to work in fast-paced environment" -> translation: *Break? What break…?*

"you feel like an essential member of a corporate family" -> translation: *You are not going to tell our secrets to the tax office, right?*

"you are responsible and dependable" -> translation: *We expect you to keep your mouth shut no matter what you see, what we do/don't do!*

"willing to work hard" -> translation: *Slavery, the legal way.*

"extremely busy environment" -> translation: *We are understaffed!*

"friendly customer service" -> translation: *You are mentally challenged and smiling to it!*

"outstanding customer support service" -> translation: *You have an experience as a lion tamer or at least as a high school teacher!*

"ability to work in a challenging environment" -> translation: *You can always B.S. your way out!*

"positive outlook" -> translation: *What? You expect us to actually pay you for your work…?!*

Copyright © Dagmar Rakos

------------------------------------------------------Want more fun? Download FREE 3Q’s booklet Original Quips, Quacks and Questions http://www.makeyourhobbysell.com/mybooks/3qs-vol1.zip ------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------- Want more fun? Download FREE 3Q’s booklet Original Quips, Quacks and Questions http://www.makeyourhobbysell.com/mybooks/3qs-vol1.zip

Title: How to tell if someone opens your HTML newsletter: The ants come marching 1x1 - Hurrah! Copyright Eric Koshinsky, 2003

There is no real way to know exactly how many times your newsletters are read. There is a neat little 'trick' you can use with HTML based newsletters and email so that you can know at least how many times it has been viewed. Compare the number of views the number of copies sent out and you will have a reasonably good idea of how well read your newsletter is. With HTML newsletters and email messages it is possible to tell if the message has been opened.

It all sounds reasonably simple, and actually it really is quite easy. All you need to do is: 1) create a simple 1x1 clear .gif image. 2) Upload the image to your webserver so it is on the internet. 3) Insert the image at the head of your newsletter/email. 4) Mail out your newsletter/email to your mailing list.

Now, when a reader opens your newsletter, the invisible image is loaded, your server's webstats record the hit, and presto, you know how many times your newsletter has been opened.

In a bit more detail.

Create the 1x1.gif file. To do this, any basic image editor will do. Simply create a new .gif image that is 1 pixel X 1 pixel with a transparent background. Jasc software's Paintshop pro is a great and cheap image editor for PC's, and graphicConverter is a great one for Mac. Don't worry, if this seems to be too much of a bother, you can you can simply download the image at the newbie-guides.com download directory. Simply search for 'clear-image'. Save it in a place that is easy to remember. The 1x1 image is invisible when opened!

Upload the image to your webserver

Use whatever ftp (file transfer protocol) software you like and simply upload the file to your images directory. I normally make a special directory only for these images. This way my counter images are in a folder /images/counters/ to keep them seperate from the other images - it just helps keep things more managable.

Insert the image into your newsletter.

Please note that because many article publication newsletters do not allow HTML in the article text, I have placed the different elements on seperate lines. Simply make each HTML statement into a single line should you wish to use it.

This is quite straight forward. Just insert the HTML statement:

at the start of your newsletter, just after the tag.

Of course, if you are using some wysiwyg editor like FrontPage, be sure to insert the image from your webserver, and NOT from your local hard drive!!

Mail out your newsletter as usual.

It is important to keep in mind that you will need to give the my-1x1.gif file a different name every time you send out your newsletter. This way your webstats will track each newsletter seperately. For example if you send out your newsletter twice a month, you might name the counter images: JAN-counter-A.gif and JAN-counter-B.gif for each of the mailings. NOTE: Don't delete the first one, simply copy it and give it a new name for the next mailing. That way the original image will keep recording hits for you!

So, simply duplicate the file, and then rename the file on your server as well as the HTML code in your newsletter. This means you will end up with something like this (inside the 'images/counters' directory on your webserver): JAN-counter-A.gif JAN-counter-B.gif FEB-counter-A.gif FEB-counter-B.gif

In your newsletter the HTML code would be something like:

in your first January mailing and...

in your second January mailing..

If you are worried that all these images will consume all your webspace - DON'T. A typical 1x1.gif uses about 1k of diskspace. Not really something to be overly concerned about!!

Now what you will need to do is check your web server stats to see how many times your image has been 'hit'. Every time an image is loaded through your webserver, it is recorded as a hit. Look to see how many times it has been 'hit' and you know how many times your newsletter has been read!

Just how do you check your webstats? Well I've written another article that explains webstats in more detail, but basically, your webhost package will provide you with all that stats, and a program that will analyze them for you. Two of the most common stat's packages are awstats, and webalyzer. Any reputable webhost will have one (or both) of these installed as part of your hosting package. Simply log into your hosting administration account (which is also where you create email accounts etc.) and use the stat's package they have installed.

You will be looking to find your 1x1.gif (whatever you named it). Every stats package displays information a little differently, so you will have to look a little to find your information. Most commonly you will look for something like:

-Top URL, -Most Requested Files, -File hits

Once you find the information, you can check it against your mail out numbers and have a much better idea of how well you are reaching your subscribers and clients.

If you are an astute reader, and I'm sure you are, you'll already know that there are some problems with this technique. As with most things in life, it isn't perfect. The chief problem is one that simply can't be solved, by any technique! That problem is simply that just because your newsletter/email is opened doesn't mean that the reader actually reads your newsletter very carefully - or at all! But then again, there is NO WAY to ensure that someone reads your newsletter - although having a totally skookum newsletter that people want to read certainly helps!

A second problem is that some people, very foolishly, have their email program's 'auto-preview' window pane open all the time. This means that as soon as they click on a message (even if only to delete it), it is displayed at the bottom of their screen. This still records a 'hit' in your webstats, but may not have any real meaning. A 'false-positive' as they say.

The final dilemma is that this won't work with text only email messages and newsletters. The whole concept depends on the image being 'pulled' from your webserver when someone opens the newsletter. This simply doesn't happen with plain text newsletters. Sorry 'bout that!

There is no truly perfect way to know how many people are reading your newsletter as it is sent out. But using this very simple technique you can have a much better idea of how many are being at least opened (and hopefully read) as opposed to simply being deleted or filtered out as spam.

Making Music Now's Mini Course A Music Basics Guide for the Beginning Musician Hello! Welcome to the wonderful world of music. Have you always dreamed of being able to learn how to play the piano, keyboard, guitar or any other instrument? Well, your dream is just about to come true with this Free Music eCourse. This dream of yours is not something so far away that it cannot become a reality in a very short while. This is not rocket science but it does take a genuine commitment on your part to read all seven chapters of this Free Music eCourse in order to learn the music fundamentals that will apply to any instrument. Be sure to STICK WITH IT! Make it a point to pace yourself. The course has been written with the intention of going through it in order, with one chapter building on the next. Now that you have laid the groundwork for your plan, let us begin! Whatever instument you are studying or plan to study in the future, each one of those instruments has a history. Let's take a moment to learn a very brief history of keyboard instruments. Did you know that pianos in some form have been around for over 500 years? Some of the first instruments of this kind were called clavichords. They had a very light, metallic sound because the small hand-pounded 'hammers' were made of very light weight metal-like material. These hammers struck strings of varying lengths to create different tones or pitches. The next cousin to the clavichord was the harpsichord invented by Cristofori in Italy around 1450 A.D. This keyboard instrument had a mechanism in it called the plecktrum which 'plucked' the strings and produced a slightly stronger sound than its predecessor. Whether you are playing an acoustic instrument, which is the closest relative to the history just mentioned, or an electronic keyboard, you are now participating in a centuries old musical art form. SOME PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS Piano or Keyboard? Does it matter if you have a keyboard or a piano? Certainly not. The only real difference is that a full size piano has 88 keys (counting both the white and black keys). Keyboards come in several different sizes. Some have 60 keys, some even less. There are also 88 key electronic keyboards and digital pianos that produce very realistic acoustic sounds. Whatever size your instrument may be, remember that the ARRANGEMENT of the keys and the ORDER of the KEY NAMES is the same on both instruments. Rest assured that your basic knowledge of the fundamentals of music can be learned quite effectively either on a keyboard or a piano. The only missing ingredient is your own persistence and determination to persevere through the entirety of the material in this course with regular practice sessions. Do that and your success is assured! SELECTING THE BEST LEARNING PLACE IN YOUR HOME Please take a moment and give serious consideration at to WHERE you practice in your home. Make sure that you are not within earshot of the television. Even if you are used to 'watching TV with your ears' while you do other things, it will definitely be a roadblock to your learning to Play Piano Now! Also, make sure that you can sit down at your piano or keyboard comfortably. If you have a piano and a bench which came with it when you bought it, then you are in great shape. Seating at a keyboard can prove a little more difficult. Just make sure that you are not reaching too high up or stooping down too low for the keyboard. Finding a chair that is the right height is the key. The right height chair will allow your arms to be a an almost perfect right angle (45 degree) from your body to the keyboard. Don't worry too much about this. If you have the wrong height of chair your back will start screaming at you to change your position!!! Please make any adjustments to keep your back straight and your arms at a 45 degree angle and you enjoy hours of music in one seating. PRACTICE GUIDELINES Please practice as long and as often as you like. I am not going to recommend a particular practice schedule for anyone. You will find your own pace. Sometimes people ask me how long it will take to learn to Play Piano Now. I simply answer with the question of how much time are you willing to put into it on a daily basis. Since this is an introductory piano course for beginners, I think it would be very effective to work at 30 to 45 minute intervals on a daily basis. The longer you put in, the more quickly you will learn and progress. However, your mind needs a while to 'soak up' the information and will work best when you have some hours or a day or so in between practice sessions. The main thing is to make up a schedule and stick to it! The longest journey begins with the first step! As a convenience for you I have created a practice chart and placed it below. Please feel free to make copies of this practice chart and use it daily. As I am sure you have heard before, a habit of doing anything takes root much better when we write down the thing that we are doing on a daily basis. Take advantage of this practice chart by placing it beside your piano or keyboard and filling in your practice times on a regular basis. PRACTICE RECORD Week of _____________, 2003 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday ___min ___min ___min ___min ___min ___min ___min Week of _____________, 2003 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday ___min ___min ___min ___min ___min ___min ___min Week of _____________, 2003 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday ___min ___min ___min ___min ___min ___min ___min Week of _____________, 2003 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday ___min ___min ___min ___min ___min ___min ___min Week of _____________, 2003 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday ___min ___min ___min ___min ___min ___min ___min Week of _____________, 2003 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday ___min ___min ___min ___min ___min ___min ___min Week of _____________, 2003 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday ___min ___min ___min ___min ___min ___min ___min Week of _____________, 2003 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday ___min ___min ___min ___min ___min ___min ___min Week of _____________, 2003 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday ___min ___min ___min ___min ___min ___min ___min MUSICAL TERMS Let's begin our musical study with a review of the main musical terms you will need to be familiar with to proceed with your music education. BAR LINE - A vertical line which separates notes into groups DOUBLE BAR LINE - A set of two (2) vertical lines which stand for the end of a piece of music REPEAT SIGN - Double bar with two dots at the end of a section or piece of music which indicates that section is to be played twice. MEASURE - The distance between two bar lines. TREBLE CLEF - The S-shaped symbol which stands for notes played with the right hand. BASS CLEF - The reversed C-shaped symbol which stand for notes played with the left hand. STAFF - The five lines and four spaces of both the bass and treble clefs. QUARTER NOTE - Musical symbol with solid note head and stem which gets one count. QUARTER REST - Musical symbol resembling a sideways W which gets one count. HALF NOTE - Musical symbol with hollow note head and stem which gets two counts. HALF REST - Solid half block sitting on third line of the staff which gets two counts of silence. DOTTED HALF NOTE - Musical symbol with hollow note head, dot and stem which gets three counts. WHOLE NOTE - Musical symbol resembling a circle on the staff which gets four counts. WHOLE REST - Solid half block hanging from the second line on the staff which gets four counts of silence. CHORD - Two or more notes played together. BLOCKED CHORD - Two or more notes played at the same time BROKEN CHORD - Two or more notes from the same chord played in sequence INTERVAL - The distance between two notes on the musical staff EACH FINGER HAS A FINGER NUMBER! 5 4 3 2 1 1 2 3 4 5 LEFT HAND RIGHT HAND **THE THUMB OF EACH HAND IS FINGER #1 **THE INDEX FINGER OF EACH HAND IS FINGER #2 **THE MIDDLE FINGER OF EACH HAND IS FINGER #3 **THE PINKY FINGER OF EACH HAND IS FINGER #4 WHICH FINGER IS #4??????????? USE CURVED FINGERS AT THE KEYBOARD It is very important to use curved fingers while playing any keyboard instrument. This simply means to try and play on the finger tips instead of on the finger pads. Keep the fingers relaxed while slightly rounding them as if holding a soft ball in the palm of each hand. Hold the ball gently and keep your arms and hands as relaxed as possible while playing. CURVED FINGER EXERCISE Are you ready to play your first piano piece? Let's start with a right hand finger exercise. Place your right hand thumb on any white key in the middle of your piano or keyboard. Then simply place each finger numbers 2, 3, 4 and 5 (pinky finger) next to each other on the next white key. Each finger should have a key of its very own to strike. Never put more than one finger on a key. Now start with your thumb and plan the white keys in sequence. Say 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5- 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 as you play each of those fingers. Repeat this pattern three times. Now place your left hand thumb on any white key of your piano or keyboard and go through the same exercise. Be sure to say the fingers number as above. Say the finger numbers reinforces the fact that thumbs are one and pinky fingers are five. This will especially helpful to you later as you will be saying counts instead of finger numbers. LEARNING THE BLACK KEY GROUPS Take a look at your keyboard and notice the pattern of two black note groups and three black note groups repeating itself all up and down your keyboard instrument. This is the same way that these black note groups look on your piano or keyboard. Please take a moment at your own keyboard and find the two and three black note groups in the following sequence: 2 Black 3 Black 2 Black 3 Black 2 Black 3 Black 2 Black 3 Black (bottom of keyboard) (top of keyboard) When I refer to the 'bottom' of the piano please go down to the left- hand side of your instrument. Obviously, when I refer to the top of the piano please go all the way up to the right hand side of the piano. Using the diagram above, go to your keyboard and practice moving in both upward and downward directions. FIRST FINGER EXERCISES USING THE TWO AND THREE BLACK NOTE GROUPS Following are two finger exercises: The first exercise will introduce the two black note group. Please use finger numbers two and three (remember your right hand thumb is finger number 1, your right hand index finger is finger number 2, etc.). Repeat the finger number sequence below as you practice on your keyboard or just on a table top. Just say the finger number that you are using at that moment. Use your RIGHT HAND FIRST and play evenly. Then use your LEFT HAND and repeat the same pattern: 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 The second exercise will introduce the three black note group. Use finger numbers 2, 3 and 4 on this exercise. Again, be sure to whisper the finger number as you play and keep an even rhythm. Even though these are just finger exercises, it is still very important to practice evenly and clearly without rushing through. Use these two exercises daily to warm up your fingers and develop finger independence and strength. Use RIGHT then LEFT hands: 2 3 4 3 2 3 4 3 4 3 2 3 4 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 4 3 4 3 2 3 4 3 2 3 4 3 Be sure to pracitce doing these finger exercises daily for just a few minutes. It will really help your finger independence and facility in the weeks ahead. INTRODUCTION TO THE WHITE KEYS There are only seven (7) letter names used on the piano: A B C D E F G It is interesting to note here that no matter what instrument you play, whether it is piano, tuba or violin, ONLY the seven letter names above are used in the entire realm of music! There are two very easy ways to visualize and remember the names of the white keys on your piano and keyboard. Remember, the note names on an electronic keyboard are the same as on the acoustic piano. Since it is not possible to include a graphic in this format, simply remember that the 'CDE' note groups in always located directly underneath the two black note group. The letter name 'D' in the white key always located directly inbetween the two black key note groups. ANY TWO BLACK NOTE GROUP on the piano has the letter name 'D' as the white key located inbetween them. Go to your keyboard NOW and start to play all of the C-D-E groups from the lowest (bottom left) to the highest (top right) on your keyboard. Say C - D - E as you play each key. Now we will learn about the F - G - A - B note groups. Simply located any three black note group on your piano or keyboard and realize that the F-G-A-B white keys are located directly beneath them. Directly outside of the three black note groups are 'F' on the left hand side of the three black note group and 'B' on the right hand side of the three black note group. Just fill in the outer 'F' and 'B' with G and A and you are done! Go to your piano or keyboard NOW and find all of the F-G-A-G white keys underneath each three black note group. As above, play slowly and evenly saying the letter names as you play the F-G-A-B groups from the bottom of the piano or keyboard (low left hand end) to the top of your piano or keyboard (top right hand end). Congratulations! You now know ALL of the white key names on the piano! TREBLE CLEF NOTE NAMES Both the Treble and Bass clefs each have five lines and four spaces. Learning the actual note names of each line and space (the spaces between each line) is very simple. Please memorize the sentences below for the Treble Clef Line and Space Notes: Treble Clef Line Notes(starting from the bottom line and moving up) EGBDF Every Good Boy Does Fine (the first letter of each word helps you remember the order of the notes) Treble Clef Space Notes (starting from the first space and going up) FACE Just remember that the treble clef spaces spell the word 'FACE'. Bass Clef Line and Space Notes are as follows: Line Notes: GBDFA Great Big Dogs Fight Animala Space Notes: ACEG All Cars Eat Gas Now you know all the names of the white keys on your piano or keyboard. You also learned today the acutal letter names of each line and space on both the treble and bass clefs BASICS OF RHYTHM WHAT DOES A QUARTER NOTE LOOK LIKE? WHAT DOES A QUARTER REST LOOK LIKE? Both the Quarter Note and the Quarter Rest get one beat. The Quarter Note has a filled in note head and a stem. The Quarter Rest is a vertical musical symbol which resembles a 'W' turned on its side. The Quarter note symbol stands for a note that is played for the length of one beat. In other words, play any key on your instrument right now and simply hold it down while you say 'one'. It is what we would call a short note. The Quarter rest is a musical symbol which stands for one beat of silence. In other words, beats of silence in music are counted just like beats of sound. The only difference between these two musical symbols is that there is complete sound for one beat during a Quarter Note and complete silence for one beat during a Quarter rest in music. Start off your experience in rhythm by simply clapping the rhythm pattern of quarter notes and quarter rests in the following exercise. Make sure that when you say 'one' you ARE clapping both hands together on that beat and when you say 'rest' you are holding your hands apart on that beat. BE SURE TO SPEAK THE WORDS 'QUARTER NOTE' AND 'QUARTER REST' AS YOU CLAP OR MOVE YOUR HANDS APART ON EACH BEAT. 'QN' - stands for Quarter Note 'QR' - stands for Quarter Rest FIRST RHYTHM EXERCISE: QN-QN-QN-QN/QN-QR-QN-QR/QN-QN-QN-QN/QR-QN-QR-QN/ WHAT IS A MELODY? A melody is nothing more than a string of notes played one after the other to create a tune or melody. How many times have you asked someone how a tune goes? Please whistle that tune for me.........Well, that, my friend, is a melody. When you first sat down at a piano or keyboard and tried to pick out the correct sequence of keys to your favorite melody, you were actually playing short melodies or tunes. Go to your instrument now and use the information you have learned today about Quarter Notes and Quarter Rests and make up a new melody all your own! WHAT IS HARMONY? Harmony is simply defined as notes, chords or other arrangements of notes that accompany a melody to make a fully developed piece of music. If one person sings a vocal solo, that would be a melody. Two people singing together is called a duet. When the second person sings different notes than the first person, that would be creating harmony with the melody. So it is in any other musical ensemble. The melody is the part of the music that we remember the most and even sing to ourselves later. One of the most basic forms of harmony in piano music is the chord. A chord consists of two or more notes played together in either hand which can create harmony when played along with any given melody. You will notice that either hand can play the harmony, just as either hand can play the melody. In the Challenge Pieces Section of Play Piano Now (www.MakingMusicNow.com) is a piece entitled ‘Moonlight Melody'. The melody starts out in the right hand, then goes to the left hand in the middle section and, finally, ends up in the right hand again to end the piece. CHORDS A chord is defined as two or more notes from a scale played together at the same time. Chords may be played in either blocked chord form or broken chord form. A blocked chord simply means that two or more notes are played at the same time. A broken chord is created when that blocked chord is just played one note after the other in sequence. The first chord we will study is the C Major chord. The notes of the C Major chord are C, E and G. Try this C Major Chord Exercise by placing fingers 1, 3 and 5 of each hand down on your desk or table top right now(remember that the thumb is finger number 1, the middle finger is number 3 and proceed to the pinky finger which is finger number 5). Press down all three fingers (1,3 and 5) at the same time. You have just played the C Major BLOCKED chord. Use this same table top method right now and similarly press down each finger 1,3 and 5 in sequence (one after the other) to create a BROKEN chord. SPECIAL TIP** Remember, a chord with stems up means the right hand is playing and a chord with stems down means the left hand is playing the chord. Please practice this C Major Chord Exercise with Right Hand Only: 'QR' - stands for Quarter Rest or one beat of silence 'Ch' - stands for the C Major Chord. (Again, use your table top and press down 1,3,5 together for 'Ch'. Say 'Chord' each time you press down your fingers on the table top. Also, when you come to the 'Qr' symbol simply lift your hand off of the table top and say 'Rest') Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch/Ch-Qr-Ch-Qr/Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch/Ch-Qr-Ch-Qr ALL ABOUT INTERVALS An Interval is defined as the distance between two notes (Refer to Chapter 2 of this course: Musical Terms). The first interval to consider is the interval of a Second, notated as '2nd'. The second is also referred to as a 'step' in music reading because it is the distance you can travel on your keyboard or piano from one key to the very next key. It is important to learn to read music by INTERVAL rather than by FINGER NUMBER because the fingerings will not be available on all pieces of music that you encounter. Also, learning to read music by interval enables you to be a much more well rounded pianist because you can start on any given note and read your way through any piece of music. If you concentrated too much on just C Position or Middle C Position, you would soon become less able to read notes in other areas of the staff. Now look at the series of letter names below. This series of letters corresponds with your piano or keyboard. Keys C, D and E are in that sequence right next to each other on your keyboard. Moving from one note to the next either up or down in a sequential manner is moving by Seconds. This exercise is written is centered around the concept of the Second, or step. Place your right hand thumb (finger number 1) on a table top or on your keyboard in front of you. Your thumb will be resting on C, your second finger will be resting on D and your third finger will be resting on E. You will be playing interval or distances of a Second throughout this exercise. Be sure to practice this exercise two different ways: 1. Say the Letter Names as you play. 2. Say 'Step up' or 'Step Down' as it is written on the music. EXERCISE USING AN INTERVAL OF A 'SECOND' : C D E D / C D E D / E D C D / E D C D / C D E D / INTERVAL OF A THIRD The next interval we will learn is the interval or distance of a third or 3rd. This is also referred to as a Skip because we are actually skipping over one note to reach the next note on the piano when we play an interval of a third. Intervals of thirds can be read easily because they go from one line note to another line note. They can also be from one space note to another space note. In the following space note exercise ALL of the intervals of thirds are both either line notes or both space notes. Practice the following exercise using thirds the following three ways: 1. Place your right hand in the C Position (RH thumb on Middle C). You will be using note names C, D, E and F with finger numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4. 2. Say the Letter Name of each note as you play 3. Play again and say ‘Skip Up' or ‘Skip Down' as the music indicates. EXERCISE USING AN INTERVAL OF A 'THIRD': C E C E / C E C E / D F D F / D F D F / C E C E INTERVALS OF FOURTHS AND FIFTHS Larger intervals of fourths (4ths) and fifths (5ths) are also found a lot in music. We will explore these intervals and corresponding exercises later on. Keep in mind that intervals of fourths and fifths can be identified by the larger distance between these two note intervals. The interval of the fourth (4th) involves one line note and one space note with a larger distance between them than you found in the similar interval of the second (2nd). The interval of the fifth (5th) involves either two line notes or two space notes. Again, this interval of a fifth is similar to a third except there is a greater distance between the two notes than there was between the interval of a third. DYNAMIC MARKINGS The vehicle for expression in music comes through the context of dynamic markings. Since the Italians were the ones to first write marks of expression in their music as well as print the first music manuscripts on paper, all of the marks of expression or dynamics are from Italian words. Please look over the list of dynamic markings below and familiarize yourself with them. This is by no means an exhaustive list. Only those basic symbols are included here that pertain to the pieces within the Play Piano Now piano course. DYNAMIC MARKINGS START WITH SOFT AND GO TO LOUDEST: Piano - Italian word for soft. symbol used in music: p Pianissimo - Very soft; symbold used: pp Mezzo Forte - Medium Loud; symbol used: mf Forte - Loud; symbol used: f Fortissimo - Very Loud; symbol used: ff Crescendo - Gradually getting louder; symbol used: < Decrescendo - Gradually getting softer; symbol used: > You can also learn more about the Play Piano Now piano course at: http://www.MakingMusicNow.com All the best in your future musical endeavors, Jan Durrant, Publisher http://www.MakingMusicNow.com Teacher@MakingMusicNow.com

One of the Hottest Commodities on or off the Internet is "Information". In this age of technology people more than ever want to know and they want to learn. I imagine you yourself are reading this in hopes of clicking away with more than you started with. My job as a writer, publisher and editor is to see that you do.

Newsletters provide you with an outlet to a specific group of people, who subscribe and read your publication because they want to gain specific information. It could be Business, Humor or Travel, but nevertheless they are reading your words for a reason. Your job is to supply your readers with the information they are looking for. This my friend is sometimes a painstaking job, with little or no pay and long hours to boot!

This is not a venture to be entered into lightly. Newsletters are not overnight successes. It sometimes takes years to build a respectable subscriber base. Cash flow is almost non-existent at the beginning and for much of the time after that. Your newsletter is an investment in relationships, or better-called "networking". You must earn, gain and keep a certain amount of trust and loyalty from your readers.

Mistake: If you think that you own your newsletter, I here to tell you that you are wrong. Running a newsletter is much like being in a political office. You would not be there if you did not serve your constituents to their satisfaction. They will directly or indirectly dictate to you your requirements in serving them. If you fail so does your newsletter.

Hint: Live up to the responsibility you have taken on. When your readers bestow that trust in you, there is no better way to condemn your newsletter than to violate that trust.

Your job is not necessarily to be liked, but to keep your content up to the standards that your subscribers have come to expect from you. Keep your information content high and your advertising and "noise" levels low. The subject of your newsletter will of course dictate the personality of your newsletter.

As for your Personality in your Newsletter, every newsletter will take on a life of its own. You must control the personality that it portrays. Be careful what personality traits you give your newsletter and how much personality you give it. Remember that your primary goal is to supply information. Save the bulk of your thoughts for welcome messages and editorials. Be careful how you convey your personal thoughts in your newsletter. What could be meant as an editorial thought could be a disastrous mistake that costs you subscribers.

You will find that your readers will write to you with questions, comments, and often complaints. Don't forget now these are the same people that control the fate of your newsletter. Treat them as you would any life giving force. Your subscribers are (99%) intelligent, well-mannered people seeking the wisdom of your print. They will express their own ideas and desires. They will ask you for your input and thoughts. Often this may be impossible, but one of your top priorities should be to respond to your readers with honest, informative information with a touch of your thrown in. Keep in mind that for every 1 malcontented feedback message that you receive there are hundreds or thousands that are happy, but never write. Think about it. How many times do you write just to tell somebody they are doing a great job, as compared to how many times you have written to complain about a product or service? After your subscriber base becomes very large (that's assuming that it will), you will find that many of the questions will be similar. For this you can use a "replicated" or "canned" response. You can save these responses in a special text file as you create them, and call up the file when you need them.

In closing I would like to say that it's your job to get "their" newsletter out on schedule each and every time. Your subscribers will come to expect and yes, demand their newsletter on time and intact. Consider yourself a "Mailman". Neither rain nor shine, nor vacation or sickness shall deter you from your duty. If you are publishing a serious newsletter and are the sole person doing this insurmountable job, do yourself a favor and get a laptop if you haven't already. I myself have published from bed with a fever and all over the country, and you will too!

"Wild Bill" Montgomery http://www.MakingProfit.com We've Featured Over 110 Articles in only one issue of our newsletter. How many do you get in yours? Why Play With Puppies, When The Big Dog Rules! Get The Best In Marketing & Business Information! To Subscribe go to or Email to

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Stanley Majors is an experienced online poker journalist who writes articles on a range of poker topics. His numerous articles found on Texas Holdem Net ,provide useful and factual poker information and insight.

The Gingerbread Nightmare

Do you ever see those beautiful gingerbread houses during the holiday seasons that are so beautiful? They look so simple, and look like such a fun project to do with the kids making gifts for grandma and grandpa. I could just feel it….soft Christmas music in the background, the warm, spicy smell of gingerbread filling the air, the cozy warmth of the fire on a snowy day, and my children and I building these luscious goodies sure to bless our family and friends, and all inexpensively as well.

That was the fantasy. Where was my mind? How could I forget about the little thing we call REALITY? Ever notice how professionals make things look easy? That’s the very mark of a professional.

The first reality check was the store. Money was very tight and these looked like a great way to give a quality to gift to several loved ones. After we did the shopping for the candy and the ingredients for these gingerbread houses, the bill totaled nearly $75. I almost fainted. (We could have bought some great gifts with that, or even bought beautiful gingerbread houses).

As for Christmas music, the children insisted upon the Chipmunk’s Christmas carols. Have you ever listened to more than 1 chipmunk song at a time? Have you ever noticed what that does to a brain?

The fire was nice, but then we had the fights over whose turn it was to stoke the fire. Two boys can fight over anything, and anything involving work makes a worthy fight indeed.

We started with the dough, and that part turned out! It was SO delicious…..in fact we had to make more because after all of us eating dough, there wasn’t enough for the houses. So….back to making more dough.

This particular dough had to be chilled, then rolled, then you cut pieces of the house out from a paper mold with a knife. Ok, got that part. We put it in the oven for baking, and half of the pieces burnt terribly. The other half were perfect, but you can’t build a house with half the parts. So…..we had to make MORE dough. By now, we’re not having fun anymore. It’s getting late and mom is beginning to want to get this mess cleaned up now. We finished making new house pieces and it was like midnight, I had long put the children to bed and was cranky now at this point. The only thing to do now was to let everything cool (including tempers), and attempt the decorating tomorrow.

Whew….new day, it’s a wonder what a little sleep will do ya. Now we make the hard frosting that will act as glue to hold the pieces of the house together, time to build. Time for the fun to begin, boy are we ready!

We begin assembling the house, and half the roof piece breaks in two on one of the houses. On the second house, we find the pieces to not match correctly. On a third house, we overcome all these first two obstacles, and now have great difficulty getting props to hold the house together while the “glue” dries, and it’s repeatedly falling apart and causing the oldest child to have a temper tantrum in frustration (mom too). Somehow through this fiasco, we end up with 1 viable house. (The others became, hard dog biscuit type things for the family pet). Oh well, she needs her Christmas goodies too, right? We frosted the house and each child decorated half. The end result? A $75. UGLY gingerbread house that only a grandma (with apologizes from mom), would take and not be too insulted by. But, we did accomplish one of our goals….it was a memory. A memory we fondly call “The Gingerbread Nightmare”.

By Valerie Garner-Get a series of no cost traffic builders that work to get traffic to your website, plus a few ideas for earning income too. Many unique resources you'll love! Mailto: Moredetails@quicktell.com (resource box must be included in article for reprint permission)

Valerie Garner-an author who enjoys writing on a wide variety of topics, mostly pertaining to a home, sprinkled with humour.

About the Author

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Publishing an ezine is the ideal way to reach your target market. How far your reach extends depends on the type of experience you create for your readers.

By giving your subscribers a value-laden, benefit-rich experience you can create an ezine with a loyal and eager following of dedicated readers.

Here are three powerful things you can do to create the type of experience your readers demand:

1. Let Your Readers Get To Know The Real You

My favorite ezines have a personality. The personality of the writer behind the words is what captivates my attention.

Every writer has a unique style, and when it is allowed to flow freely it can be quite contagious. Let the real you come through in your words. Let your style flow from your heart. Just be yourself and talk directly to your subscriber.

An effective technique is to visualize yourself writing to just one person. This person should fit the profile of your target group. If you've properly identified the wants and desires of your audience, you'll find your writing style becomes more natural and flowing.

By using this model you discover the power behind the word "you". You can never use the word "you" too much. You know what I mean?

This approach works even if you are the editor of a corporate or institutional publication. Your own voice is more effective, and affective, than an anonymous, ghost-like corporate voice. You'll discover that the personal approach helps to bridge the gap between a reader and an otherwise impersonal entity.

2. Provide Solutions That Help People Reach Their Goals

Your readers subscribed to your ezine because you made a promise to deliver something of value. You must consistently deliver goal-oriented value to keep loyal readers.

You do this by giving people the tools and information they can use to make their own informed decisions. By creating an environment which seeks to inform, rather than sell, you establish a lasting rapport and an atmosphere of trust.

To put this into practice, deliver the value aspect of your ezine in the form of word pictures. Tell a story drawing on your personal experience and show how you were awakened to a solution. Paint a picture with words to describe the benefits or pitfalls you found by following a particular path.

Publishers who do this are regarded as trustworthy experts. Consequently, they create a following of subscribers who buy products and services based solely on a recommendation.

It is noteworthy, and should come as no surprise, that affiliate commissions are highest among those who use the products they recommend. They are in a position to comment first-hand on the benefits and solutions available in owning the product.

3. Let Your Readers Interact With Your Ezine.

You engage people more fully by allowing them to participate and interact with your ezine. Plus, this interaction lets you take the pulse of readers and find out what's important to them. You can then tailor your content and marketing efforts accordingly.

Here are some ideas to get your readers involved:

> Take a poll. Invite your readers to respond to a short survey question. Provide a set of two or three responses from which they can choose by clicking on the appropriate link.

> Reserve a section of your ezine for reader feedback and invite people to email you with their comments. Personally respond to all email and reprint those which you feel are most beneficial for your readers.

> Have a section of your ezine devoted to reader's questions. Respond in your ezine with thoughtful and insightful answers. This establishes you as an expert in your field, thereby enhancing the worth of your ezine as a source of credible information.

Put the above three principles to work for you and see if you notice a difference. Just keep in mind your reader's desire for goal-based solutions, and let your must-read ezine be a source of must-have value and must-get benefits. You can't lose!

Brett Krkosska provides 'how-to' advice on family and home-based work issues. Stop by his site for startup guidance, home business ideas and inspiration at: http://homebiztools.com For a Fresh and Original perspective on today's home business issues get Brett's ezine at: mailto:enews@homebiztools.com

Here are some maintenance log entries from a major airline – or so the email says, showing the problems reported by pilots (P) and solutions recorded by mechanics (S).

It’s probably true. You couldn’t make these things up.

P: Left inside main try almost needs replacement. S: Almost replaced left inside main try.

P: Test flight OK, except autoload very rough. S: Autoland not installed on this aircraft.

P: No. 2 propeller seeping prop fluid. S: No 2 propeller seepage normal. Nos. 1, 3 & 4 propellers lack normal seepage.

P: Something loose in cockpit. S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield. S: live bugs on backorder.

P: Autopilot in altitude hold mode produces a 200-fpm descent. S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear. S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud. S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick. S: That’s what they’re there for!

P: OFF inoperative. S: OFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windscreen. S: Suspect you’re right.

P: Number 3 engine missing. S: Engine found on right wing after brief search. [The pilot meant engine ‘misfiring’.]

P: Aircrafts handles funny. S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Radar hums. S: Reprogrammed radar with words.

P: Mouse in cockpit. S: Cat installed.

Communication is hard in the work world, and in our private lives. Someone said “Whatever you say, assume it’s been misunderstood,” and it’s probably a good idea.

In this case, we can see the misunderstandings, the humor and also the exasperation. Can you imagine the pilot assuming there was “autoload” on his or her airplane? There’s just no telling about other people’s assumptions. I’m reminded of the attorney I once worked for who flagged me down while sharpening a pencil in an electric pencil sharpener. “How do I get this out of here?” he asked me. Or the time our business went computer and my boss took his zip code for his salary and was furious. Sometimes communication takes a lot of tact!

We always tend to think things are easier somewhere else – that the communications we have between inside sales and outside sales are worse in our place, or the communication between lawyer and paralegal, or between partner and partner, or that surely pilots and mechanics can communicae—there’s “only” an airplane between the two of them.

As I say in my ebook, “Communication,” good communication takes a lot of work – expressing yourself clearly, listening up, and repeating back for clarification to make sure you’ve understood and been understood. It’s particularly hard in writing where there’s no feedback (as we see here), and no non-verbals to read.

It also requires excellent emotional intelligence skills – creativity, flexibility, intuition, and empathy.

67% of the qualities that contribute to success are emotional intelligence competencies. Work on your communication! It will pay off in both your private and your professional life.

(c)Susan Dunn, The EQ Coach, offers positive psychology coaching and Internet courses on emotional intelligence, optimism and strengths. Visit her on the web at www.susandunn.cc and mailto:sdunn@susandunn. cc for FREE inspirational ezine, FREE Strengths course.

10 First Rate Tips To Getting More Ezine Subscribers By Ken Hill

1. Submit your ezine to ezine directories.

Ezine directories attract people interested in subscribing to ezines that provide them with information about their interests such as marketing, affiliate programs, gardening, or staying healthy.

In addition, ezine directories will help you to find people to buy advertising in your publication as well as other publishers who would like to swap ads or do a joint venture with you.

2. Promote your ezine in your signature file. Include a couple lines of promotion for your ezine in addition to the other information in your sig file.

3. Add a subscription box for your ezine on every page of your site. This will ensure that whatever page your visitors enter your site from, they will be able learn about your ezine and subscribe to your publication.

4. Provide a bonus for subscribing to your ezine such as an ebook, report, tutorial, marketing course, or access to your subscriber's only membership site.

Mention your bonus when promoting your ezine on your site, in your signature file, and when submitting your publication to ezine directories.

5. Buy classified ads or sponsor ads for your publication in ezines that you are already subscribed to and enjoy reading.

Also search ezine directories for ezines that reach your target market and offer reasonable advertising rates.

6. Swap ads with other ezine publishers. Be specific when asking for your ad swap. Clearly define where you will place the other publisher's ad and ask the other publisher to place the same ad for you.

Also ask for confirmation of your ad and a copy of the issue your ad will run in, and provide the other publisher with a copy of her ad and a copy of the issue you run her ad in.

To get the most out of your swaps trying swapping ads for at least 3 issues in a row and track your swaps, so that you will be able to pinpoint which ads and ezines give you the best response.

7. Use your articles to promote your ezine. Add a resource box that advertises your ezine to articles that you've written and run in your ezine or write articles specifically for promoting your ezine.

Next submit your articles to other ezine publishers, to article directories, and to article announcement lists.

8. Use autoresponders to promote your ezine to your visitors. Make sample issues of your ezine available by autoresponder or use your autoresponders to create an archive of all your past issues.

9. Publish testimonials/endorsements for your ezine on your site. If you've received tons of these for your ezine, use an autoresponder to deliver them to your visitors.

10. Swap recommendations with other ezine publishers. You could swap recommendations where the other publisher puts her recommendation of your ezine in her own words while you do the same for her.

You could also publish a recommended ezines section if you wanted to swap recommendations with several other ezines interested in swapping recommendations with each other.

Article Copyright by writer, Ken Hill. Save Money With Affordable Email List Hosting! Fast, easy and cost effective email delivery to your lists. You'll increase your sales while reducing your investment! Get your First 30 Days F-REE! Learn more now at: http://www.scstats.com/r.cfm?i=5343

1. Write articles that provide your readers with a list of tips.

Depending on the topics your ezine covers, your tips could be on customer service, autoresponders, or you could provide your subscribers with a list of tips that help them to increase their sales or market their businesses more successfully.

You could also provide your readers with a list of your top tips on a specific subject such as "Top 7 Ways To Promote Your Website" or "Top Ten Ways To Promote Your Ezine."

2. Write "how to" articles.

This type of article shows your reader step by step how to reach an objective such as how to write effective ad copy, get repeat traffic, or how to write effective metatags.

3. Publish interviews.

Contact experts on the topic your ezine covers and request interviews. Most people will agree as it provides them with promotion of their businesses at no cost. Publish your interviews in article format or use the popular Q&A formula.

4. Write articles that focus on a current hot topic, trend or that are "seasonal" in nature such as how to increase sales during the holidays.

5. Provide polls for your subscribers to partake in.

Publishing polls will help you to increase the number of people that read your ezine because your subscribers will be interested in seeing the results.

Your polls can also be used to help you decide on changes in your content, publishing schedule, or to decide on new things to add to your ezine.

6. Provide your subscribers with resources related to your ezine's topic such as places to promote their businesses, ezines, etc.,

You could add these in a recommended resources section. You could also provide a list of your favorite resources such as your top 5 books/ebooks on ezine publishing, marketing or web design with a brief description of each of your resources.

7. Publish an editor's note at the beginning of each issue.

Use your editor's note to increase your profit by announcing any new sales or discounts you have on your products or services.

Also use your editor's note to increase your credibility by providing tips on the topic your ezine covers and by telling your subscribers how you've helped your clients or customers.

8. Provide endorsements within your ezine for your products from respected experts in your field or list testimonials from your satisfied customers.

9. Add an "Ask The Editor" section.

Write out thorough, detailed answers to your subscribers' questions within this section.

This will increase your status as an expert in your field, which will lead to more sales of your products.

You can also use questions you get from your subscribers to get ideas for articles that your subscribers will enjoy and that will keep them reading your ezine.

10. At the end of each issue, tell your readers what your next issue is going to be about such as the title and description of your feature article or anything new that you have planned.

This will help you to increase your readership by getting your subscribers to look forward to your next issue.

Article by Ken Hill. Pick up Ken's new informative course on ezine publishing. Discover tips to successfully promoting your ezine including ways to increase your subscriptions by participating in successful joint ventures with other ezine publishers. Pick up your f-ree course today at: mailto:ezinecourse@netpromarketer.com

I recently spend several frustrating hours laying out and mailing an email newsletter. If you publish a free ezine, you will know its very time consuming to get all the information formatted correctly before sending. My long lesson should help you!

1. Use master templates

Create a master template using a word processor like MS word. Opening a word document, change the font to courier new - The same font that standard text files use.

Create a line of 60 characters across the page. Use "select all" then move your right hand margin to the end of the line, to set the margin for the whole document.

This stops this effect:

--- Hi Welcome to My ezine and Hope...etc ---

Include any details that go in every ezine. -Title, date, lines for layout, contents list copyright etc

Save as a "text file with Line breaks" You can use this to format all your ezines.

Do the same for any articles you write, so your articles are formatted and ready to cut and paste into your ezine.

2. Us a word processor A lot of editors' recommend using a new program just for your ezine, simply follow these steps:

Using the master, open MS word or similar program and open your master file you have created. Now you can use the grammar checker, spelling etc of a powerful program without formatting problems. When you paste any information, recheck the margins.

Remember to check and save as July.txt or whatever for your newsletter and not over your master.

3. Another pair of eyes

Always get it checked "twice", wait until the next day to read it again before sending. I use my wife as a first check, before it goes any further.

4. Check Send You can see what it looks like in your mailbox by using and email bounce service. Send it to mailto:echo@connectingonline.com or mailto:format@mail-list.com. It will bounce back to you. This is helpful especially if you publish an html mailing list.

5. Shortcut on desktop

Place a shortcut to you directory where your master and upcoming ezines are in. That way every time you find a link, that would be helpful to your subscribers, copy and paste it straight in.

6. Build over time

If you ezine goes out fortnightly, the day after it goes out make some progress on the next one, even it means just check the layout, but get it started and finish it a couple days before publishing day. This gives you time to check it before sending.

7. Write your own articles

How can this save your time? By having your own articles, you can increase your creditability and never have to look for new fresh information.

Ezines build customer trust for ongoing sales. Anybody can write articles, you don't have to be a world class author.

8. Use a proof reader

This doesn't have to be a large expensive service, I use students who do a good fast job. I email the information to them, the next day I get it back ready to send. The best way is to send it as an attachment and keep an eye on your formatting when you get it back from them.

9. Treat it like a 100,000

That's right, 100,00 subscribers "and" $100,000. Keep to your publishing dates, treat your subscribers like gold and they will trust you and become long time repeat customers.

10. Use a mailing list provider.

I used a lot of services from software, like mailoop, list servers etc. So far bringing the service in house using a personalized script Mail Master Pro has been a good option, check it out at

http://www.cgitoolbox.com/cgi/mmp/

Personalizing you newsletter will make it "stand out" from the other 80,000+ ezines online.

Producing an email newsletter is an excellent way to build trust, promote your site and increase sales. Remember that it should be only one of you promotion methods and way of increasing sales. Have a great day.

Paul Easton Power Promotion Plus-Free Newsletter, Learn the secrets of Web Site Promotion and get Free Award Software to do it! http://100Promotiontips.com/ezine.htm for more information

When it comes to advertising, I've tried just about everything. I tried free classified ad sites, I tried FFA sites, I tried banner exchange programs.

The results? Not much.

I was tired of hearing that the Internet is the largest market in human history. Maybe so, but how could I reach those millions of people?

The answer, I discovered, is ezine advertising.

Ezines are sometimes called 'opt-in' lists because everyone who receives an ezine has chosen to do so.

And that's why ezine advertising gets results. People read ezines and they'll read your ad. And if you've matched the ezine to the product you're selling, you've reached your target audience.

There are currently around 90,000 ezines being published every month. So whatever you're selling, there's more than likely an ezine that will take your ad straight to the audience you want to reach.

Ezine advertising is not only effective, it's cheap as well. A 5 line ad in an ezine that goes to 3000 people will cost you between $5 and $20 per issue.

As a general rule, you'll always get back at least the cost of the ad, and usually much more. So there's very little risk.

But there are some tips for successful ezine advertising. Here they are:

1. The first and most important rule is: "Track your Ads!" Say you place an ad in 5 different ezines and get a hundred responses. If you don't track your ads, you won't know which ezines were pulling responses and which weren't.

But how do you track your ads?

The simplest method is to place a key or a code at the end of your email address:

yourname@yourdomain.com?subject=ezineA

Then, when you get a reply with 'ezineA' in the subject field, you'll know which ezine it came from.

For a URL, it's the same principle:

http://www.yourdomain.com?ezineA

However, if you're going to code your URLs, you'll need a good webstats program to track the coded URLs. These two programs are excellent and they're both free:

Here's another way to code your URLs: for every ezine ad, create a duplicate of your homepage and name the page after the ezine that your ad will appear in. So, if the ad is appearing in EzineA, this is the URL you'd place in that ad:

http://www.yourdomain.com/EzineA

2. Target your audience. It may seem obvious but some advertisers overlook this. If you're selling a web-marketing course, don't advertise in an ezine that deals with stock options; they probably won't be interested.

Use the 'subject categories' in any ezine directory to find ezines that relate to the product you're selling. You can find a list of 56 ezine directories in 'The Free Directory of Ezines' at:

3. Once you've chosen a number of ezines that target your audience, subscribe to them and examine the ads closely. If you see an ad that keeps repeating issue after issue, you can be pretty sure that it's getting results. You've found a good ezine to advertise in.

4. Check to see how many ads are in the ezine. You probably won't get much response from an ad in an ezine that has 15 or 20 ads per issue. Readers of those ezines have become hardened to the ads and have learnt to skip them.

5. Check to see if the ezine publisher has a policy of never running ads for two similar products in the same issue - your ad will be much more effective if it's the only one of it's kind in that particular issue.

6. Small ezines Vs. Big ezines: bigger is not always better. The big ezines with 1000's of subscribers tend to have more ads than the small ezines. Also, small ezines with only a few hundred subscribers often have a much more targeted audience than the big ezines.

7. Repeat your ads. Research shows that off the Web, an ad has to be seen about 21 times before someone acts on it; on the Internet it's about 9 times. If your budget allows, try and have your ad repeated at least three times in a particular ezine. Most ezines offer discount packages for bulk advertising.

8. Email address Vs. URL. The advantage of giving an email address is that it gives you the opportunity to send a powerful sales letter to the person who responded to your ad. It's also much easier to track your ads with an email address than a URL.

9. Offer something free in your ad copy. It'll often tip the balance between a response and no response.

10. Keep your ads short, even if you're not using the number of words you're allowed. Short ads are more likely to be read. Keep your sentences short too; they pack much more power. Use the word 'You'. Don't describe your product but tell the reader what your product can do for them.

Michael Southon is the publisher of 'The Free Directory of Ezines' http://www.netmastersolutions.com/ He is also the Editor of 'FreeZine Express', a twice-monthly newsletter that brings you details of new Ezines added to the TFDE as well as Articles and Tips on Ezine Advertising and Ezine Publishing. To subscribe, send a blank email to: mailto:FreeZineExpress-subscribe@topica.com

1. Promote your ezine on the top third of your site, and on every page of your site with a subscription box that advertises your ezine.

2. Tell your visitors the benefits of subscribing to your ezine -- what's in it for them for subscribing to your ezine.

3. Provide a bonus for subscribing to your ezine. Your bonus could be a f-ree ad, ebook, email course, software, or access to your members only site.

4. Make sample issues of your ezine available to your visitors by autoresponder.

Your sample issues will increase your subscriptions by giving your visitors a firsthand look at the valuable content to be found in your ezine, the topics you cover, your point of view, and your personality.

5. Provide an archive of all your past issues.

You could provide your visitors with a web based archive of all your past issues. This will not only help you to get more subscribers, but will also fill your site with keyword rich webpages which can help your site to rank higher in the search engines.

In addition, you can create your archive by making all of your past issues available by autoresponder if you don't have the time to keep up a web based archive.

6. Tell your visitors that if they subscribe to your ezine that they'll be entitled to subscriber only discounts.

This could be discounts on purchasing your products or discounts on advertising in your ezine.

7. Publish testimonials for your ezine on your site.

This will increase the number of people that subscribe to your ezine by showing them what your ezine has done for other people - how it has helped them, provided them with valuable information, showed them how to promote their businesses etc.

8. Let your visitors know that you will never sell or give away their information. Have a strong privacy policy in place.

9. Tell your visitors what your next issue is going to be about. For instance what the topic of the feature article is or anything new you have planned.

10. Have a sweepstakes or contest for f-ree advertising or products. Tell your visitors that if they subscribe to your ezine that they will be entered every month in your contest or sweepstakes.

Article Copyright by writer, Ken Hill. Save Money With Affordable Email List Hosting! Fast, easy and cost effective email delivery to your lists. You'll increase your sales while reducing your investment! Get your First 30 Days F-ree! Learn more now at: http://www.scstats.com/r.cfm?i=5343

One challenge the ezine publisher faces is the creation of good content. Every issue must contain something of interest, something useful to the reader. Here are ten tips which will help you choose the right article to feature in your ezine weekly.

1. ASK YOUR READERS.

Ask your readers what they love most and what they dislike. Give a bonus for answers you receive. You can decide to give a bonus to the first 50 to tell you what you want. This is an effective way to know what article to feature.

2. WRITE ARTICLES.

Write articles and use article announce groups to publicize your new articles. Make it clear in your article that it may be published freely. Those who publish the article will send you a courtesy reply.

Articles that get published by great numbers of people are good. Simply use them in your ezine. Remember to add a little more spice to them.

3. FOLLOW TREND.

Tastes and values change progressively with time. You should also follow trend. Constantly look out for what is new. While retaining the focus of your ezine, add dynamism by following trend.

Use articles that provide dynamism.

4. PARTICIPATE IN DISCUSSION FORUMS.

Discussion forums are helpful in helping you choose the right article for your ezine each week. Visit these forums and watch the questions asked. Watch also the answers posted. You will be able to determine what topics are hot.

Go out, search for articles on these topics or write on them and you will have great content.

5. TITLE, CONTENT AND AD HARMONY.

Articles that you publish must harmonize with your ezine content for each issue. So should the title. There should also be harmony with the ads you place.

If the focus of your article for the week is how to turn prospects into customers, an ad selling cleaning agents would not be effective.

Work on the harmony of your content. Choose articles that go along with every other thing.

5. PRACTICALITY.

Articles that tell "how" have an effect on readers. It puts them in a mood that will get you really started. I must say it aloud. The reason why you are giving content is to make sales.

“How to" articles make the reader want to click your ads once it harmonizes with the article.

6. DEMOGRAPHIC.

If your ezine has an effective feedback mechanism, you should know who your readers are.

Choose only articles that harmonious with your reader's interest.

7. DETAIL.

I don't know about you, but I like detail. Articles that give information would do just fine.

8. AUTHENTICITY.

Always determine the authenticity of articles you intend to publish. What I mean is try and think on it. Are the principles and logic stated in the article sound?

Articles which pass this test are good enough for your ezine.

9. THE 30SECONDS TEST.

If the article does not sustain your interest (attention) for the first 30seconds (or maximally 60seconds) forget it. Find another article.

You want to sustain your reader's interest so watch out!

10. LANGUAGE.

Look for articles that are written in plane easy to understand language. The last thing you want is to get your reader confused.

C. Oluwafisayo Akinlolu 2003

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Anyone may republish this article as long as the resource box is included. A courtesy copy of published material should also be sent to me. If published at a website, the website should be made known.

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Oluwafisayo is the publisher of Inbusiness4profit. A weekly newsletter which exposes tips and strategies for profits in business. Click http://server.com/webapps/mail-list-subscribe.cgi?id=65509 to subscribe.

He is also giving away The Secrets of Interent Millionaires Bundle, worth over $500. Click http://www.quickinfo247.com/7767817.204/sim to find out more.

HURRY WHILE OFFER LAST! ----------------------------------------

Oluwafisayo is the publisher of Inbusiness4profit. A weekly newsletter which exposes tips and strategies for profits in business. Click http://server.com/webapps/mail-list-subscribe.cgi?id=65509 to subscribe.

1. Provide your subscribers with special offers, discounts or sales that only they are privy to.

This could include subscriber only bonuses for purchasing your product, a two for one sale, or you could sell your product at a lower price for a limited time to boost your sales.

2. Include a publisher's note or welcome message before you get into your ezine's content.

This will help you to add your personality to your ezine as well as help you to build up your subscriber's trust in you and your business.

Your publisher's note is also a great place to be self promotional by telling your subscribers of any special offers or subscriber only discounts you have running.

3. Use bonuses to get more subscriptions to your publication such as ebooks you've written, ebooks you have the resell rights to, a marketing course, or anything else that your visitors would find to be valuable.

4. Promote your ezine on every page of your site with a subscription box that advertises your ezine.

Ask for your subscriber's first name on your subscription box so that you can personalize your ezine with your subscriber's name.

5. Swap ads with other ezine publishers. This will give you an effective way to increase your circulation by promoting your ezine in publications that target the same audience as your ezine does.

Swap ads for at least three issues in a row and track your ad swaps so that you will be able to tell which ezines and which ads get the best response.

6. Purchase classified ads and sponsor ads in other ezines.

As with your ad swaps track your ads so that you can identify which ezines are best to advertise in and which ads are the most effective in increasing your subscriptions.

7. Submit your publication to ezine directories and announcement lists.

This will get your publication noticed by people interested in subscribing to ezines like yours. In addition most announcement lists will allow you to submit your ezine on a weekly or monthly basis which will give you ongoing promotion of your ezine.

Some directories and announcement lists to help you get started are:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sitesandzines/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/List_Of_Lists/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AAnnounce/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/for_all_ezine_publishers/ http://ezine-marketing.com/home.shtml http://www.ezinelocater.com/ http://www.ezinesearch.com/search-it/ezine/ http://www.cumuli.com/ http://www.ezine-universe.com/ http://www.webscoutlists.com/ http://www.freezineweb.com/ http://ezinesplus.com/links/ http://www.bestezines.com/ http://www.netterweb.com/ http://ezine-marketing.com/home.shtml

8. Write your own articles that you publish in your ezine.

Writing articles will increase your credibility with your subscribers and lead to more sales of your products.

Try writing "how to articles" that show your readers step by step how to do something or provide your readers with a list of valuable tips.

After your articles place an advertisement that promotes your business, service or special offer.

9. Go through the articles you've run in your ezine and pick those that you feel best showcase your expertise.

Add a benefit rich resource box to your articles that entices your readers to subscribe to your publication and then submit your articles to article directories, article announcement lists, and to other ezine publishers.

Some announcement lists and directories you can submit your articles to are:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aabusiness http://groups.yahoo.com/group/article_announce/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ArticlePublisher/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Free-Reprint-Articles/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Free_eContent/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freezinecontent/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/netwrite-publish-announce/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/publisher_network/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/QC_Reprint_Articles/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ReprintArticles-Paradise/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/reprintedarticles/ http://www.webmomz.com/users/login.shtml http://www.netterweb.com/articles/articlesubmit.htm http://www.marketing-seek.com/articles/index.shtml http://www.goarticles.com/ http://connectionteam.com/ http://www.ebooksnbytes.com/articles/recent.shtml http://webmarketingspecialists.com/articlesubmit.html http://www.ezinearticles.com/ http://www.certificate.net/wwio/ideas.shtml http://www.allnetarticles.com/

10. Use testimonials for your products in your ezine to increase your subscriber's trust in your product and to increase your sales.

Also increase the number of visitors that subscribe to your ezine by including testimonials for your ezine on your site from your happy subscribers.

11. Use your signature file to promote your ezine.

Keep your sig file to 5-8 lines that stress the benefits of subscribing to your ezine and use your sig file in all your outgoing email. This will give you an easy no cost way to promote your ezine and rake in new subscribers.

12. Recommend the products of affiliate programs you've joined to your subscribers.

This will help you to increase your profit while helping you to meet your subscribers needs. Only endorse products you have used and would whole heartedly recommend to your subscriber base.

Article © by writer Ken Hill. Check out the #1 manual Ken recommends for anyone wanting to start their own profitable ezine -- learn how to write irresistible content, gain tons of subscribers while successfully promoting your business all the while. Find out more now at: http://www.scstats.com/r.cfm?i=4274

5 Keys To A Successful Ezine By Al Martinovic

There are 5 basic keys you need for your ezine to be successful and here they are though not necessarily in this order.

1- Hosting You need good reliable hosting for your website. You don't want to lose subscribers because your site is always down. Not only that... it's unprofessional.

Why should someone listen to what you have to say in your ezine when you can't even get the basics of having your website operational?

2- Autoresponders You want to automate everything. An autoresponder will send a confirmation email when someone subscribes. It will handle removal requests and if it has a broadcast feature you can even send out your ezine through it.

You may need multiple autoresponders as you will find that there will be many things you want automated such as when you are offering a free report, or confirmation of an ad someone placed in your ezine... the list can go on and on.

3 - Tracking You may want to track the ads you place when promoting your ezine to find out what ad(s) pull well for you and which don't. You don't want to be wasting your time on ads that don't work. When you find an ad that pulls well... go all out on it.

4 - Products As you start to grow your ezine and build a relationship with your subscribers you need to offer them products. After all... you are in this to make money.

You can create your own products around your list, get resale rights to an existing product to offer to your list or you can join an affiliate program.

Now, I admit... 1-4 can get pretty expensive especially if you are on a tight budget.

TIP #1: You can go here and get all of what I just mentioned in one package and it's super cheap.

http://www.2marketers.com/pbp

5 - Leads Every ezine no matter how big or small needs no or low cost ways of attracting more subscribers.

You can advertise your ezine by submitting to ezine directories, announcement lists, by writing articles, or doing joint ventures such as ad swaps just to name a few. The problem is... all of this can become time consuming.

TIP #2: There is a software that will automate your entire submission process to everything I just mentioned.

http://www.2marketers.com/ea

TIP #3: There is a site that will bring you new subscribers for only 5 minutes of work.

http://www.2marketers.com/pbl

There you have it. By no means is this a complete list but by getting the basics down and following the TIP's I just mentioned, you are well on your way to a profitable ezine.

Al Martinovic has helped numerous individuals succeed online. Send a blank email to get his powerful report "How To Make Money Online With Any Product Or Service Without Spending A Dime In Advertising" mailto:2marketers@getresponse.com

DoubleClick's recent survey indicated that over 88% of online consumers have made a purchase as a result of receiving permission-based email.

The most common forms of permission-based emails are ezines or email newsletters. Currently there are hundreds of thousands of ezines available on the internet.

Ezines are excellent tools for generating new and follow-up sales, driving more pageviews, building customer loyalty, and improving sales credibility and brand awareness.

Even though ezines are vital to the success of every online business, there are some marketers who unknowingly kill their ezines with not-so-wise marketing methods. I have highlighted some of the killer mistakes below.

Killer #1 .. Who needs permission? Just mail 'em!

A recent study of permission email recipients by IMT Strategies revealed the following:

48% were curious to read the permission email 13% were eager to read 30% were indifferent 7% open it somewhat annoyed 2% deleted it without reading

When it came to unsolicited email or spam:

77% deleted it without reading 16% said they were annoyed but opened it 3% were indifferent to it 4% were curious to read spam email 1% percent were eager to read it

In the above results, we can see that 9 in 10 recipients of permission email were fine with reading the messages, with a near half curious to read!

But for spam, 9 in 10 didn't even read the email or were seriously unhappy about opening it.

We can clearly see a remarkable difference in the response to permission-based emails and unsolicited emails. Always ask for permission!

Only add subscribers who have consciously chosen to receive your ezine. You'll reap the rewards of having a highly targeted and loyal audience that are interested in reading what you send them.

There have been many times when I received issues of ezines that I don't ever recalled subscribing to. These ezine owners had taken their own 'initiative' to add me their list. Such spamming antics only seriously piss me off!

Never try to buy a list of email addresses and then send them your ezine issue telling them to remove themselves if they don't wish to get further mailings. That's spamming.

Killer #2 .. Don't let 'em unsubscribe

Since it is so difficult to acquire new subscribers, let's prevent them from un-subscribing at all costs. Heck .. just don't provide them with an unsubscribe option in the newsletter. Then they won't unsubscribe!

Nothing pisses me off more than newsletters that I cannot unsubscribe from. There are no unsubscribe instruction nor any email address to send an unsubscribe request to.

Such practices are totally unethical and unprofessional. If your subscribers can't even trust you over something so minor, how would they feel secure doing business with you?

They may even complain you for spamming and tell people about your unethical conduct. Bad news spread very fast on the internet.

When your subscribers decide to leave your ezine, promptly unsubscribe them. Make sure you never email them again unless they decide to re-join your ezine.

Killer #3 .. Let's blast them with tons of mailings

Recently I had to unsubscribe from several ezines that were sending me a solo mailing every alternate day!

In the beginning I didn't mind those mailings. But after some 14 days of getting tons of advertisements, I bailed out. The DoubleClick survey revealed that the average online consumer receives 36 permission email messages weekly.

With that number of emails waiting to be read, excluding personal messages and spam, you wouldn't want to be guilty of clogging your subscriber's inbox.

Strike a good balance between your profit line and your subscribers' interest. The lifetime value of a subscriber can be worth thousands of dollars. Why kill the golden goose when it can lay golden eggs year after year?

Killer #4 .. Forget about content, I got no time for that

With an intensely fierce competition for ezine eyeballs, your subscribers may unsubscribe after a few issues if they don't enjoy your ezine.

You need to publish real content that appeal to their interest. One of the best ways to discover what your subscribers want to read is to check out the ezines of top players in your industry or related ezines with large subscriber bases.

If they are at the top, they must be doing some things right! It will be an eye opening experience to analyze the kind of content successful ezine publishers offer to their subscribers.

Never fill your ezine with advertisements that are disguised as editorials. Quality content is king!

Killer #5 .. The ezine that never came

Some ezine owners produce a few issues and skip the next few. Or they are perpetually late in mailing out new issues.

If you tell your subscribers that you publish your ezine weekly, make sure it arrives in their mailbox weekly. You lose your subscribers' loyalty and trust when you fail to deliver. How can they then trust you with their credit card numbers?

Publishing an ezine requires time and effort. Writing up the editorial, proofreading and amending the copy (many times), testing the final copy and maintaining the subscriber list can easily take a day or more.

If you can't afford to publish your ezine weekly, do it fortnightly. I don't recommend monthly because the time lapse in between issues are too wide. Try preparing future issues 2 weeks in advance. Have available backup editorial content that you can always fill your ezine with at the last minute.

There you've it .. 5 guaranteed ways to kill your ezine. Well, I hope you'll never need to use them :)

Michael Low is a professional PR Strategist. He provides top- notch PR services at highly affordable rates. Check out his full range of PR packages at http://www.prbuilder.com/pr.cgi?a006

Everyone and their brother seem to be getting into the ezine (Electronic Magazine, or newsletter) business. Competition for subscribers is getting fierce. Getting subscribers is not too hard. But KEEPING them is a challenge!

Here are five important steps to making your ezine subscribers anticipate, open, and read it every time, rather than looking for the delete button or the unsubscribe instructions.

1. Spell it out. Let your readers know exactly what they are going to find in each issue right up front. Include an easy to scan Table of Contents as near the top of the issue as possible. Try to limit any ads or information that precede your ezine Title and table of Contents to one (or less! LOL)

It's no secret that folks are busy. You MUST inform them of what is included in your issue, in a manner that is easy to scan. Of course, this makes the wording of your titles extremely important, if you're going to catch their attention and convince them to scroll down and read what you've spelled out for them.

2. Be consistent. Set a format, and stick to it for every issue. Decide on some basic categories for content, and don't make changes very often. Your subscribers will know what to expect in each issue, and be able to find the information they have been anticipating.

2. Keep it short. Don't overload each issue. Two or three segments per issue. (as above, repeating the same segments in each issue) Don't overwhelm your subscribers with more than they are able to digest, or browse through.

Consider offering one feature article, and one or two other segments, which will all depend on the theme of your ezine. You only have their attention for about 5 - 10 seconds after they open your email. You MUST catch their attention in that time, or they'll be gone. And you'll only get a couple of chances. Sometimes, even less. One or two issues of not catching their attention, and they're looking for the unsubscription instructions.

3. Pack it full. Just because you offer a short, quick, simple to read ezine, doesn't mean you can't fill it full of great information. There is your challenge! And the bottom line to establishing your publication as the one that's read and anticipated. What you choose to include in the short time that you have their attention, MUST be informational, useful, fresh, inspiring, and entertaining. Write your own articles, if at all possible. If you are not ready for that yet, work at finding content that is full of meat - content that gives the reader something to take with him, something you know he can use. There are a lot of article writers out there. Pick and choose carefully - insist on the best!

4. Avoid advertising overload. Yes, we all know, our ezine is our promotion connection to the internet world. But don't take advantage of your subscribers. Minimize the advertising as much as possible. One or two sponsor ads, and a handful of classified ads (no more than 10!) are about all any reader can handle. And beware of trying to pawn off advertising for all your informational content. It might work on some newbies, but you're not going to pull it over on the more experienced reader who is looking for real information. At least, not if it is all they are getting.

This is an important point, especially if you write your own articles. The most published and anticipated articles are those that contain NO personal promotional links whatsover, except in your bio or resource box that you include with the article.

Think about how its done on television, radio, and in all the hard copy magazines. The advertising is there, no doubt. And there is usually more than we appreciate, but we accept it and tolerate it, knowing it pays their bills. But in between the ads, we are more than likely reading that magazine, watching that program, or listening to that station because we are getting something we can use and/or enjoy.

Publishing an Ezine is an important part of marketing any internet site or Ebusiness. It's not an easy task, or something to take lightly. It takes loads of time, lots of research and/or writing, and genuine dedication to your subscribers! Just give them information that is useful, entertaining, inspiring, or of course, all three! They'll anticipate the arrival of your latest issue, and keep on coming back for more!

Mike and Gail of CMYMTC.com, masters in E-Book and Ezine creation along with Internet Marketing, Hosting and Website design, can teach you everything you need to know so you can produce and publish successful E-Books and Ezines. You can share in the profits of their successful products with their top affiliate programs. http://www.cmymtc.com/affprogs.htm

1. Swap ads with other ezine publishers.

Swapping ads creates a win-win situation for you and the other publisher as both of you will get highly targeted promotion of your publications without spending any money.

When asking for an ad swap, personalize your email with that publishers name, and state what your ezine is about, how many subscribers you have, and how often you publish your ezine.

Swap ads for at least 3 issues in a row to maximize the number of new subscriptions to your ezine as well as to see which ezines are best to swap ads with.

If your ezine still has a relatively small subscriber base, you can still trade ads with ezines with a much larger circulation, by offering free ads, ebooks, promotional tools, software, or anything else of value to even up the swap.

2. Pay for classified ads and sponsor ads in ezines.

People that are already actively reading an ezine that deals with the topic yours does, will be very likely to be interested in what your ezine has to offer, and want to subscribe to it.

When paying for advertising in another ezine, your ad is going to be key in generating new subscriptions to your publication.

Start your ad off with an attention getting headline and stress the benefits your future subscriber will receive by subscribing to your publication.

Provide free bonuses to increase the number of people that subscribe such as free ebooks or a free ad, and end your ad with a call to action that directs your reader to click on your subscription address and visit your website.

3. Give your future subscribers a taste of the valuable content to be found in your ezine by writing articles.

Writing articles will supply you with a powerful way to reach thousands and thousands of subscribers at no cost, and also help you brand yourself as a trusted resource in your field of expertise.

Because people that subscribe after reading your articles have already proven to be interested in what you have to say, writing articles will also increase the number of your subscribers that read every issue of your publication.

This will give you more opportunities to market your products to your subscribers and generate more sales.

After you've finished writing your article, post your article on your site, to article directories and announcement lists, and submit your articles to ezine publishers directly.

4. Submit your publication to ezine directories and announcement lists.

Just like when placing a classified ad to promote your ezine, when submitting your ezine to directories and announcement lists, stress the benefits that your reader will get by subscribing to your publication -- what makes your ezine unique, a must read -- and spice up your offer by giving away free bonuses for subscribing.

It's also a good idea to make up a list of keywords that people would use to find your ezine, as some directories will ask for this when you submit to them.

5. Promote your ezine in your signature file.

This is an often overlooked way to promote your ezine but can yield a very good return.

Your sig file should include your name, your ezine's name, the benefits of subscribing to your publication, any free bonuses you are offering, and a call to action that tells your reader how to subscribe to your ezine.

Keep your sig file to no more than 6 or 8 lines, and use your sig file in all your outgoing mail as well as when posting your advice to moderated discussion lists.

Article © 2003 by writer, Ken Hill. Integrate your entire e-commerce web site using an amazing all-in-one solution. Includes unlimited autoresponders, easy mailing list management, newbie friendly shopping cart, affiliate program software, and much more! Get your free 30 day trial now at: http://www.scstats.com/r.cfm?i=5029

True: Ezine advertising is one of the most effective form of advertising available online . . .

The most important thing for every advertiser is to find targeted market for his product. That's exactly what ezines has to offer. A targeted market. There are so many ezines out there covering so many different topics. It's easy to find highly targeted ones to advertise in. With ezine advertising you can reach thousands of targeted potential customers very inexpensively.

Lie: Ezine advertising ALWAYS works . . .

I know you've been told that all you have to do is purchase a solo ad in an ezine, ... and that's it! You'll be several thousands of dollars richer.

No! It doesn't work that way. These days ezine advertising has become so competitive that it's necessary to stand apart from the competition. You'll need to do a lot work to make your ezine advertising strategy works:

Rule # 1: Be Highly Target.

I know this seems to be a quite obvious rule, but some advertisers overlook this. You need to be very careful when choosing an ezines to advertise in. Make sure that you choose an ezines whose readers are your tightly targeted prospects.

Rule # 2: Subscribe to the Ezine Before You Purchase an Ad.

After you've chosen a number of ezines that target your audience, subscribe to them and check a few things before you buy an ad...

=> Quality of the Ezine. It's not the number of subscribers that matters, it's the number of people who actually READ the ezine.

=> How many ads are in the Ezine. Don't expect much response from an ad in an ezine that has 15 or 20 ads per issue. Be sure that your ad will be skiped with the rest.

=> Frequency of the Ezine. The ezine published too often (daily) or too infrequently (monthly) usualy will get deleted much more often than a weekly ezine. Why? Busy readers don't have time to read EVERY issue of a daily publication. Monthly ezines, on the other hand, are not published often enough for the subscribers to "remember" thay even subscribed.

Rule # 3: Track Your Ads.

It is highly important for you to know which ads and which ezines are pulling responses.

You track your ads by simply placing a code at the end of your URL or email adress:

e-books@freeautobot.com?subject=ad1 http://resell-ebooks.reallyrules.com?ad1

Rule # 4: Grab the Reader's Attention.

Let's face it. People hate ezine ads like any other ads. They most often are trying to avoid reading your ad. So, in order to get folks respond to your ad, you need to write killer headline that grab people's attention. How to write killer headline... it is a diferent topic. However, make sure your headline addresses reader's needs, desires and worries.

Rule # 5: Deliver on Promise.

Make a promise, and deliver on that promise, so that when people click on your ezine ad and end up at your website, they are not upset. Make sure you always take them directly to further information about your offer, clearly presented. Don't let them get lost in a bunch of other information.

Rule # 6: Don't Try To Sell in Ads.

Don't be fooled into thinking you can place an ezine ad and sales are going to pour in like a flood. There simply isn't enough space in 5-8 lines of a sponsor or a classified ad to write a convincing sales letter.

The purpose of your ezine ads is to generate leads, not sales. Your ezine ad should only attract prospects that You can follow-up on.

Rule # 7: Offer an Attractive Freebie.

Like I said, the purpose of your ezine ads is to generate leads, not sales. And the best way to attract leads is to offer them a valuable freebie they can't resist.

Bilal Babic www.resell-ebooks.reallyrules.com FREE DOWNLOAD: Actual Steps to Making YOUR Living Online! FREE for a limited time ONLY! (Retail Value: $39) http://free.hostdepartment.com/ebooksfree/

Are you looking to build a successful ezine?

If you're destined to fail at ezine publishing, take note of the following 7 points. How many of these mistakes are you making right now?

1. Don't collect names from your website(s)

Are you familiar with pop-ups? Some hate them, some love them, some feel that they are intrusive and annoying. Bottom line, they bring in subscribers. So why wouldn't you use them?

There are a number of resources for pop-up scripts online. Go to Google.com and type in "pop-up scripts". If you're a non-techie, here's a good affordable pop-up system that can be auto-configured for you in less than 8 minutes:

http://www.ezineannouncer.com/oia.html

AOL Click Here

2. Don't personally connect with your audience

There's nothing worse than a dull, boring, "plain jane" ezine. Readers want to know the *real* you. If you have any hobbies or interests, tell your readers. If you're a big Chicago Cubs fan, let your readers know. But use your head and keep it in context.

3. Don't publish *fresh* content

Keep your content fresh. Don't use the same old articles that have been kicking around online for 8 months. It's disappointing to your readers and they'll quickly lose interest (or worse, unsubscribe!).

4. Don't tell your readers what to do

If you don't tell your readers what to do, they'll do exactly that -- nothing!

Send your readers to a webpage. Recommend that they buy a product that you personally endorse. Suggest that they sign up for a free report. Ask them to pass along your ezine to their friends, associates, etc.

If you provide quality content and personally connect with your readers, they already trust you. When this happens, many of them will immediately act on your recommendations.

5. Don't personalize your email communications

If your e-mail software cannot personalize hundreds of outgoing emails automatically, get one that can. Nothing spells "mass-mailing" more than starting an email with, "Dear Internet Friend".

Alternatively, you can utilize a good autoresponder to do the trick.

Here's an autoresponder service that I've been very pleased with. Oddly enough, they're also the least expensive:

http://www.demandmail.com/cgi-bin/assoc/c.cgi/ezineann

AOL Click Here

6. Don't sell products to your readers

Are you planning to make money with your ezine? If not, you're going to lose motivation real fast. No one likes working for free -- unless you're doing volunteer work where there are greater rewards than making money.

The answer? Affiliate programs. The best part is, you can begin selling products right now at no cost to you. Did you notice the affiliate products mentioned within this article? ;-)

There are probably a dozen products that would be of benefit to your readers. Gardeners, car enthusiasts, computer programmers .. you can find all the products you need by visiting a few popular Affiliate program directories.

7. Don't promote your ezine

If your ezine marketing strategy is -- "go crazy" for 3 days and then kick back and relax, you're destined for failure. Ezine publishing requires constant nurturing to grow. You're not going to build an ezine with 15,000 subscribers by playing bingo three nights a week.

Here's a handy tool that helps automate the time consuming process of promoting your ezine:

http://www.ezineannouncer.com

So there you have it. 7 ways to avoid *failure* as an ezine publisher. Put these proven ideas into motion and you're sure to improve the success of your ezine.

Jason Potash, the creator of EzineAnnouncer software, makes it easy to put your ezine and article promotion on auto-pilot. Just click-and-submit to over 1600 sites! Click here for details: http://www.ezineannouncer.com

1. Use autoresponders to publish and promote your ezine.

Autoresponders with a broadcast feature are a low cost way to begin publishing your own mailing lists including your own text based, HTML or web based ezine that increases your sales.

Your autoresponders can also be used to successfully promote your ezine by delivering sample issues of your ezine to your visitors, or you could use your autoresponders to create an archive of all your past issues.

In addition your autoresponders can be used to effectively get more subscribers to your publication by delivering a bonus for subscribing to your publication such as an email course or multipart report.

2. Swap ads with other ezine publishers.

Swapping ads can be time consuming to set up but can prove to be well worth the effort as you will be able to get very targeted promotion of your ezine at no cost to you.

To get the best results from your ad swaps try to swap ads for at least 3 issues in a row as repetition will increase the number of subscribers you get.

Also track your ad swaps so that you will be able to tell exactly which ezines give you the best response and which ad copy gives you the best results.

3. Swap "thank you" page ads with other ezine publishers.

Use the page your subscribers are taken to after subscribing to your ezine to advertise other ezines in exchange for those ezines doing the same for you.

This can provide you with profitable ongoing promotion of your ezine for as long as the other ezines continue to be published.

When picking ezines to swap with, select ezines that offer related, complimentary content but not ezines that compete directly with you.

4. Swap welcome message ads with other ezine publishers.

This works much in the same way as swapping "thank you" page ads. The main difference is that not everyone that subscribes to your ezine will read your welcome email.

However, this type of swap is much easier to set up with other ezine publishers than a "thank you" page swap and will still provide you with good, long term promotion of your ezine.

5. Swap recommendations with other ezine publishers.

Swapping recommendations with another ezine publisher who has the trust and respect of her subscribers can be very effective in increasing your subscriptions.

Keeping this in mind, be careful when choosing ezines to recommend. Make sure they are ezines that you can honestly vouch for because recommending an ezine that isn't up to par can cost you the trust of your subscribers.

To create your recommendation swap, you could recommend the other publisher's ezine in your own words while she does the same for you.

In addition, you could create a recommended ezine section, if you have several other ezines you would like to swap recommendations with.

6. Write articles.

You could write "how to" articles that show your readers step by step how to do something, or you could write articles that provide your readers with a valuable list of tips.

You can also write articles that focus on a current hot topic, or you could conduct interviews and provide these to your subscribers as highly informative articles.

In addition, to helping you to increase your subscribers' trust in you, your articles can also help you to get more subscriptions to your publication.

Add a resource box to your articles that advertises your ezine and then submit your articles to other ezine publishers, article announcement lists, and to article directories.

Also post your articles on your site and let your visitors (as well as your subscribers within your ezine) know that they can reprint your articles in their ezines or on their websites.

7. Swap articles with other ezine publishers.

You could swap an article that you have available for reprint in other ezines while publishing an article that the other publisher has available for reprint in other ezines.

This can provide both of you with excellent promotion of your ezines, but runs the risk of lowering the value of your content if that publisher's article is published in lots of other ezines.

To get around this, you could create a swap where you write an article to run exclusively in another publisher's ezine while that publisher writes an article to be published exclusively in your ezine.

This will help you to successfully gain more subscribers while providing your subscribers with content that can't be found anywhere else.

In addition, you can create an article swap where both you and the other publisher exchange articles that will be first run in each other's publications and afterwards allowed to be reprinted in other ezines, on websites, etc.

Article Copyright by writer, Ken Hill. Save Money With Affordable Email List Hosting! Fast, easy and cost effective email delivery to your lists. You'll increase your sales while reducing your investment! Get your First 30 Days F-REE! Learn more now at: http://www.scstats.com/r.cfm?i=5343

Ezines: They're everywhere you look, and for very good reasons. They are an excellent online marketing tool. If you have a website and aren't publishing your own newsletter, I'm going to give you seven very good reasons why you should start.

1) Establishes Trust: When people visit your website, they have no idea who you are. As far as they're concerned you might be some evil person lying in wait, just trying to get your hands on their credit card number so you can run up the national debt. The media is partially to blame for this unfounded fear, but you need to be aware it exists and get those visitors to trust you in order to turn them into paying customers. Publishing an ezine helps to establish you as a reputable business dealer and over time, inspires trust.

2) Brings Visitors Back: Statistics show a customer needs to see your advertising message six or seven times before making a purchase. But how do you get a casual browser to come back? When someone signs up for your ezine, the mailing itself will serve as a reminder to to revisit again and again, eventually turning your subscribers into paying customers.

3) Establishes You as an Expert; Builds Brand Loyalty: Just because you're in business on the web, does that really mean you know what you're talking about? By publishing a newsletter and writing your own articles, subscribers will come to see you as an expert in your field. This and the familiarity they feel from reading your newsletter will reinforce brand loyalty to your site, turning many of your current subscribers into future customers.

4)Keeps Current & Potential Customers Up to Date on New Products & Services: We all add on to our current list of products and services on a regular basis. Pricing may change, we may add new sections of interest to our websites, etc. Your publications allow you to share this important information with current and potential customers keeping them up to date and possibly bringing them back for a new sale. Nothing is worse then having a client tell you he went to one of your competitors because he didn't know you offered that same service or product.

5) Builds Relationships: Let's face it -- Building a relationship takes time. Ezine publishing is one avenue towards doing so. I can't tell you how often I get an email from someone who feels she knows me after subscribing to my ezine for the past year or so. Relationship marketing is important on the Web and publishing your own newsletter will help you do just that. The truth is, we'd rather spend our money with someone we like than someone we don't know.

6) Allows You to Build an Opt-In Email Marketing List: Repeat after me: Spam is bad, opt-in is good. You can't buy a list of names and start blasting out your marketing message to people you don't know without getting yourself into a lot of trouble. But if those people have opted in to your ezine they have given you "permission" to send them email. They're an attentive audience who has already said they want to hear from you on a regular basis. You never want to abuse this right, but if you send out helpful information you'll be able to plug your company in between the lines without making anyone angry.

7) Keeps Your Website Fresh in Visitors' Minds: Have you ever gone to a website and really liked it, only to forget about it later? Sure, you may have bookmarked the site, but maybe you haven't gone through your bookmarks in a long time. I love when I get an ezine from one of my favorite sites, which serves as a trigger to "pop in" for a re-visit. This technique of "reminding" someone about your site is important; it really helps to keep a constant flow of traffic returning to your website.

Ezine publishing is one of the most effective marketing tools online today. Not only is it powerful it's probably one of the most cost-effective tools you can use in promoting your website. If you haven't tried it, it's never too late to start. Publishing your own newsletter can be one of the most rewarding tasks you perform....not just financially, but also personally. You'll get a warm and fuzzy feeling from all of the people you'll be helping.....and that, my friend, is a reward in itself.

Merle http://www.ezineadauction.com "Where the Best Deals in Ezine Advertising are Made" Subscribe to Ezine Ad Auction Authority and be kept up to date on new auctions as they're added and much more subscribe@ezineadauction.com For advertising information send mailto:advertise@ezineadauction.com

1. Use autoresponders to deliver sample issues of your ezine to your visitors.

Your sample issues will help you to increase the number of your visitors that subscribe to your ezine by showing them firsthand that your ezine offers valuable information.

2. Promote the products of affiliate programs you've joined to your subscribers by creating a recommended resources section, by endorsing their products, or by placing ads within your ezine for their products.

3. Create an "Ask The Editor" section where you answer questions that you get from your subscribers.

This will help you to increase your subscribers' trust in you which will lead to more sales of your products. It will also help you to strengthen the power of your recommendations to your subscriber base by demonstrating your expertise.

4. Listen to the feedback you get from your subscribers.

Your subscriber feedback can be invaluable in showing you what's working well for your ezine. Their feedback will not only tell you what to keep doing, but can also give you good ideas about new things to try.

The negative feedback you get from your subscribers can also help you in a positive way by showing you what needs to be changed or what things could be made better.

5. Write articles.

Your articles will give your ezine a personal touch, help you to showcase your expertise, and give you a profitable way to promote your business through your promotional or resource box at the end of your articles.

In addition, your articles can be used to successfully promote your ezine.

Add a resource box to your articles that shares with your readers the main benefits of subscribing to your ezine, and then get the word out about your articles by submitting them to article directories, article announcement lists, and to other ezine publishers.

6. Set up joint ventures with other ezine publishers.

You could swap classified ads or sponsor ads with ezines that reach your target market. You could also trade ezine recommendations with publishers that run ezines that you enjoy and who also subscribe to your ezine and enjoy your publication.

In addition, try swapping articles with other ezine publishers, where you agree to run another publisher's article in your ezine in exchange for that publisher doing the same for you.

7. Publish testimonials.

Post testimonials for your ezine on your site from your satisfied readers. Include your subscriber's name and website address to increase your testimonials credibility.

In addition, include testimonials in your ezine from people that have benefited from your products or services. This will help you to get more sales by increasing your subscriber's trust in you and your business.

Article © 2003 by writer, Ken Hill. Do You Publish an Ezine? Want more subscribers? Check out this powerful, automated ezine promotional tool -- over 1600+ places to promote your ezine including directories, announcement lists, and ezines that accept article submissions. Learn more now at: http://www.scstats.com/r.cfm?i=4604

1. Swap sponsor, feature, or solo ads with other ezine publishers.

Your swaps will create a win-win situation as both you and the other publisher will successfully get profitable promotion at no cost.

Swap your ads for at least three issues in a row or three solo ads for three solo ads to get the greatest results from these swaps.

2. Provide your visitors with a bonus for subscribing to your ezine such as access to your membership site, ebooks, a complimentary ad, or something else that your visitors would find to be valuable.

Increase the value your visitors place on your bonuses by telling them how much they would be worth if they were to pay for them or by making them available for only a limited amount of time.

3. Write articles.

Your articles will help you to establish yourself as an expert in your field and get more of your subscribers to visit your site.

Your articles can also be used as a valuable promotional tool that increases your circulation.

Add a resource box that promotes your ezine or a line to your resource box that promotes your ezine in addition to your business and then get the word out about your articles.

An excellent way to do this is to submit your articles to article directories, article announcement lists, and to other ezine publishers.

Also publish your articles on your site and let your visitors know that they can reprint your articles.

For a list of article directories, and announcement lists that you can submit your articles to visit: http://netpromarketer.com/articlepromote.html

4. Have a privacy policy in place for your ezine. Let your visitors know that you will never rent, sell or give away their information to a third party.

Also let your future subscribers know that your ezine will have in house advertising and third party advertisements if you use your ezine to promote your products, affiliate programs, or sell advertising space.

Include this information on your site and in the email your visitors must respond to in order to begin their subscription to ensure that everyone that subscribes to your ezine is aware of this.

5. Add testimonials or endorsements for your ezine to your site. This will increase your visitors' trust that your ezine will deliver quality information.

6. Submit your ezine to ezine directories.

Submitting your ezine to these directories will increase the number of people that subscribe to your ezine and also help you to find more people to advertise in your ezine or swap ads with.

7. Make sample issues available by autoresponder.

Pick a couple of issues that you feel best portray the type of quality content to be found in your publication, and make these issues available by autoresponder.

This will help you to get more of your visitors that are unsure about what your ezine has to offer to subscribe.

8. Promote your ezine in your signature file.

Your signature file will help you to get people that you come into contact with by email to subscribe to your ezine.

If you use email to answer questions or to network with people don't neglect your signature file as a very viable way to attract more new subscribers.

If you post your tips and advice in moderated discussion forums also use your sig file to promote your ezine.

If you give beneficial, useful advice, people will be interested in subscribing to your ezine and you'll increase your subscriptions.

Article by writer, Ken Hill. Learn tips and techniques to help you successfully start your own ezine. Visit http://www.netpromarketer.com for more articles and a great tutorial on ezine publishing.

Do you consider the first lines in your articles?? How to write them to attract the readers attention? I think they are easy to be implemented.. ----- Practicing Self Brainstorming----- *Take an online trip to collect some articles,or read the articles you may receive in your mailbox.Then try to evaluate the first lines on each. There`s a way to find out the most bright first lines that you admire because they mismerized you.At the same time you`ll find some silly first lines that have no luck to attracting your attention.

*Write each kind in a column.Don`t be worry about writing them all.Just take examples.

*Beside each column make another one for your commentaries,to write why each couple of these first lines attracted you and why the others did not.

(Result 1)There are so many reasons I believe you`re going to come up with.

*Then try to modify the silly first lines.You are going to depend for example on your language-treasury first,because it`s your first source. Only go to the second source: "Thesaurus Dictionary" when you`re getting tired enough.

(Result 2)You evaluate these silly first lines This way and come up with a collection of good expressions..You brainstorming yourself evaluating and collecting expressions. (Result 3)There will remain a strong impact inside you.

*Decide on a topic,a topic that you think yourself is good about.Perhaps there maybe some more topics that you can write about,but concentrate on those which lay on your area of expertise.

Believe it or not,everyone is an expert in something.Even you and me my friend. In that area of ower experiment and expertise,we can simply manage writing things we know.No expert has born with an expert spoon in his mouth!

(Result 4)Pardon,for getting too far,but consider this, as a dialectic..A dialectic that you can study and make too.

*Let your first step in self motivation quide you slowly,but deeply in realizing what works there? and prepair yourself to indulge in a warm dialogue between words, phrases and sentences..You have your topic in sight already..but not written yet.. Watch out how words have been generated inside you..Then write them down quickely.

*Erase those you think are dead..Keep on with those you think are alive..Stay alive.. Stay alive with the rhythm there inside your living words. (Result 5)Then the first lines of your topic are going to indulge inside it to make it even more alive.

*While you`re checking and writing,the words created in and come out, just relax on the fact that even the philologians/philologists,rhetoricians,rhymers, novelists and journalists did that.We/they need to check our/their works. You`ll feel like them that way,improving your abilities and trusting yourself. (Result 6)You`re becoming more confident.

Read these lines above again and agian..and try to imagine how they have been written that way??

I believe here on one thing,that words are belonging to each other..One couple of good words bring in another couple of good words..The sentences built of the words series that rushed out to visualize the topic. Check it and let one of your friends check it also.

Some people doing that,even having "a language mine" inside them,are doing it because they miss it in the rush of life today.Specially those we consider English as their second language.

Go and write again and again.Practice writing the same topic using different expressions.Try that only to manage controlling the language usage.Then you`ll come to your ezine rendezvous. ---------------------------- Modeling: ----------------------------- What I was telling you above is how to energize yourself perfectly. Activating the same process above,consider to use the "Modeling" technic for better results.I should quote "David Garfinkel " here:

Use modeling with headlines.

"The headline makes up 80 to 90 percent of the sales effectiveness of your Web page. Reinventing the wheel is chancy. Modeling your headline after another proven headline gives you a much greater chance of success.

For example, an old headline that has proven itself over and over is "The Secret of Making People Like You." Let´s model a new headline on the old one.

Suppose you knew how to get pay-per-click search engine traffic at lower prices and you had an ebook on that subject.

You could use this headline: "The Secret of Slashing Costs and Doubling Traffic with Pay-Per-Click Search Engines!" ----------Quotation End--------------- To get the secrets of this technic and other valuable online treasure,visit this site here: http://ebooksecrets.com/?hop=kmo90/ebksecrets --------------------------------- You know "Ken Evoy" the president of "Site Sell",and the ideas of "Make Your Site Sell" don`t you? If you have a visit to his sites while reading the followings, you`re going to evaluate what I am saying: I got the idea of site sell and everything sell to make a title for one of my web pages like this "Make Your ThoughtsSell". You`ll find this when you visit: http://khalid-osman.com ----Coming to Your Ezine Rendezvous---- Prepare as many articles as to give you a chance and a good time to fulfil the other work. Once you have your articles written and well checked, then you`re going to think of one thing.That`s where to publish them and how to involve in the whole publishing process?:

1-Get your own domain name and built your website. 2-Prepare your own ezine and schedule the articles to be published there. 3-Make a list of the similar ezines that concentrate on the same issues. 4-Contact some of these ezines to publish your articles there. 5-Swap articles with other publishers.(free exposure). 6-Submit some of your articles to these ezines using links to your website and domain name.(Free exposure).There`s some ezines you pay them to publish your articles. 7-Publish your ezine and submit it to the directories available. 8-Do some investment as concerning advertisement and exposure,buying the necessary software that allows you to submit directely both of your articles and ezines to the similar ezines and directories.

That`s it fore now and we are going to say more about these steps whenever we come across one of them.

To be continued later.

Prosperity follow your steps.

Sincerely Khalid Osman http://khalid-osman.com http://ezine-act.com ------------------- P.S. If you would like to make benefits of this workshop ezine-act offers,so please subscribe here P.P.S. If you like to publish your article online just send it to: k-m-osman@mail.dk

Khalid Osman is a political refugee, a teacher and a journalist with 30 years experience.He worked in Sudan,Iraq,Kuwait and Eritrea.He was a freelancer also writing in many newspapers and magazines published in London,Paris, Cyprus, Amman and Beyrouth.He wrought in many TVs and radio stations.He was an activist organizer as concerns: Environment,Press,Education,Unions, Human rights,Children and Women.He broadcasted recently from a local DK radio station.

Dear Publishers:

I am writing this letter to thank you for all the hard work and dedication you give to your ezine and to us, your subscribers.

I consider ezines a treasure trove of free, beneficial information. It is from the articles you offer me that I get most of my valuable "how to" information. You must be psychic because you seem to understand exactly what I need to know to cut through the confusion in this fascinating medium called "Internet Marketing."

Some of you don’t have many "how to" articles, but instead concentrate on trying to inspire me. You seem to work very hard to make sure I have the right Mental Marketing Mindset. I love your ezine just as much. Athletes must exercise their bodies, but the very best of them also work on having the right attitude to win. The articles you write and the ones you select have helped to form and shape my attitude so that I can become a winner in the marketing game. It’s no coincidence that I feel more like a winner in life as well.

I want to thank you for offering me the opportunity to place a free ad in your ezine every week. You don’t have to do this. I particularly like those of you who make me REALLY work on my headlines by only allowing a 2-line ad.

Some of you don’t offer free ads and that’s okay. Because the content in your newsletter is so good, I just enjoy reading and learning from what you have to offer.

Now...there are some of you who really took to heart the notion that if you publish an ezine you can make a fortune promoting all of your affiliate programs. And it seems that’s all you display in your ezine. You don’t offer me solid content; you don’t give me the tools I need to learn and grow as a Net marketer. Your ezine feels greedy to me. But I’m not worried about you because I no longer subscribe to your publication.

And...some of you publish an electronic billboard. It seems like your ezine consists of nothing but ads from subscribers. I don’t mind if you publish a regular issue with articles and then a separate one with just ads. I enjoy studying and analyzing the issue with ads. What I’m talking about is the fact that your ezine starts with YOUR affiliate programs. In the middle, an article I’ve already read in 15 other ezines weeks ago and 25-50 free subscriber ads. They are crowded together like cattle being herded to market. But I’m not worried about you because I no longer subscribe to your publication.

Most of the products I’ve bought, I bought from you, Dear Publisher. I will buy from you because we’ve been together for a while and I’ve come to trust you. For the most part, I know that what you are offering is something you believe will help me in my Net marketing efforts. And you’re usually right. I now know who is just trying to shove a product down my throat to make a buck. But I’m not worried about you because I no longer subscribe to your publication

It was during the tragic events following September 11; I came to realize that you, as publishers, and we, as subscribers, were a community. We pulled together. You suggested we give blood; you gave us information on how we could help. You showed us your hearts; you shared your tears with us.

As publishers of electronic newsletters, you give so much to us. You dedicate much, if not most of your time to give us something very valuable. And you give it to us for free. All you ask in return is that we read what you are offering and hopefully, learn from it. You come into our lives daily, weekly, monthly. Sometimes we subscribers take you for granted. We forget to say "thank you."

-THANK YOU-

Sincerely,

A Subscriber

"He who receives a benefit with gratitude repays the first installment on his debt." Marcus Annaeus Seneca

P.S. I have many more installments to make.

Jo McNamara lives in Orlando, FL with 8 cats and 1 husband. You may receive other articles written by Jo at: mailto:articles_jomc@sendfree.com "I wish I’d found the Internet Marketing Success Arsenal when I first started out...I would have saved myself countless, wasted hours and more money than I care to think about!" http://www.what-works-online.net

Once you get your ezine designed and formatted, you can start promoting. It is a good idea to start promoting before the actual publication date. This way you will have some subscribers to send your first issue to.

Some of the ways to promote your ezine are:

ad swaps sig line discussion lists message boards ezine directories article writing

There are many more ways that you will learn as you spend more time publishing your ezine.

#Ad Swaps

This is a method in which you run another publisher's ad in your ezine and they, in turn, run your ad in their ezine. This is a most effective method because you can get your ad placed in many quality ezines at no cost. To find other publishers who are interested in swapping you can join these lists:

mailto:Group_Advertising-subscribe@yahoogroups.com mailto:Ezine-Ad-Swaps-subscribe@topica.com mailto:AdSwapsforYou-subscribe@egroups.com

Or visit these sites:

http://www.freezineweb.com/ad-swaps1.html http://www.bizpromo.com/ezinetrades.htm http://www.adswap.net/

#Sig Line

Always include your ezine with subscribe address in your signature. This enables people to subscribe directly from your email. This is how you promote through discussion lists and message boards also.

#Ezine Directories

A good directory can bring you subscribers. Submit to as many as you can. These directories can also bring you advertisers to buy ad space in your ezine.

http://www.worldmegastore.com/newsletters.php http://www.fun-lists.com/ http://www.ezinelocater.com http://www.atozines.com http://www.bluechiptraffic.com/ezines/

#Article Writing

This is one of the best ways to build your subscriber base. Writing and submitting good articles builds trust. You establish yourself as an expert and people are interested in other information and knowledge you have. If your articles are effective, people will subscribe right from your resource box. This is the write-up that you add to the end of each of your articles explaining who you are and what your business is. Always include your subscribe address and your email address so people can easily contact you.

I have just touched briefly on each of these methods to give you an idea of some of the many ways you can promote your ezine. One of the things you want to remember when publishing an ezine: ALWAYS provide quality content and limit the number of ads in your ezine. Your subscribers are very important to your business, so never take them for granted. Give them what they are looking for or they can find it in one of the other hundreds of ezines available on the net.

If you have any questions concerning the information in this article, feel free to email me anytime.

Terri Seymour owns and operates MyOwnEzine.com MyOwnEzine.com is a website, ezine and service which provides the resources, tools, guidance and more to help you start, publish and promote your own ezine. You can contact Terri at mailto:ter02@newnorth.net Subscribe at mailto:subscribe@myownezine.com or visit http://www.myownezine.com for lots more info.

Starting and building an online business takes a lot of commitment. You must promote yourself and your reputation in order to build trust among your visitors. By doing this, you will also be building and improving your business.

One of the best ways of doing this is by publishing an ezine or newsletter. Obtaining subscribers for your ezine is a great way to stay in contact with these potential customers and to create the relationship needed to establish trust. I believe an ezine is very critical to your online success.

Some of the fundamentals of a good ezine are:

1. Clean, sharp design 2. Personality 3. Quality Content 4. Reliability 5. Professionalism

**Design

The first thing you want to do is decide on the design and format of your ezine. You can take a look at some other successful ezines to get an idea of what a good ezine consists of. Find lots of ezines here:

http://www.ezinelocater.com/ http://ezine-universe.com/ http://www.freezineweb.com/subject.html

Visit these sites for more information and a free template:

http://www.e-zinez.com/handbook/template.html http://www.websuccesscentral.com/ezinesuccess/part1.html

Keep your ezine simply designed so that it is easy to read. Do not overdo the squiggles, decorations and section dividers. Leave a sufficient amount of "white space" between sections and sub-sections. This will make your ezine easier to read and will also make it look more professional.

**Personality

There are hundreds of quality ezines available on the Internet. You must make yours unique. One of the best ways of doing this is to add your personality to the ezine. Let your readers know you are there for them. They will begin to trust you more if you let them know more about you and how you run your business. Talk to your readers and involve them in the publishing of your ezine. Let them tell you what they like and dislike. This process helps build the relationships that are so essential to your business success.

**Quality Content

I have seen a lot of ezines that had great potential, but were turned into a giant ad sheet. One of the most important things for a successful ezine is to have LOTS of quality content. Limit the number of ads you run in each issue. This leaves more room for resources and information.

Some of the things you should include in your ezine:

Informative articles Helpful links Useful tips and ideas Product reviews Original material Free resources

Some places to find quality content:

http://www.makingprofit.com/mp/ http://www.ideamarketers.com/syndicated/

Surf the web for quality resource links and products. http://www.excite.com ( search for whatever kind of content you are looking for)

Write your own articles or run an editorial in each issue. Have some content that is not found in any other ezine. This is a good place to add your personality.

Subscribe to a few discussion lists. These networking lists are a great source of information and resources. You can also join in the discussions and promote your business. mailto:digital-women-subscribe@yahoogroups.com mailto:entrepreneurs-network-exchange-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

I find these two groups invaluable for resources, networking and promotion.

Watch your email for new site announcements, new products, affiliate programs or great new ezines.

The supply of quality content on the Internet is endless. When you find a good bit of content, copy and paste it into your ezine template immediately. This will save time when you are finishing your current issue.

**Reliability

Always deliver your ezine on time (unless out of your control), in which case you send an apology with explanation. Making and keeping a schedule will confirm your readers trust in you. This will say a lot about your business in general.

**Professionalism

Make sure there are no careless mistakes in your ezine such as spelling or grammar. An ezine can be loaded with good content, but if it looks like a child put it together it doesn't say much for your business. Make it look professional while adding your own personal touch and you will be a hit.

Of course, we will all make mistakes sometimes, but avoid this as much as possible for a professional, quality ezine.

Terri Seymour owns and operates MyOwnEzine.com MyOwnEzine.com is a website, ezine and service which provides the resources, tools, guidance and more to help you start, publish and promote your own ezine. You can contact Terri at mailto:ter02@newnorth.net Subscribe at mailto:subscribe@myownezine.com or visit http://www.myownezine.com for lots more info.

A whole bunch of ezines you send to your subscribers are being trashed. Filtering software has been spreading like wildfire from ISP to ISP. The decisions these programs make are beyond your control. The question is, "Are you out of business?" 1049 words; 6.2K Autoresponder: mailto:spamfilters@sitetipsandtricks.com URL:

For other articles mailto:morearts@sitetipsandtricks.com To be removed from this list, please just ask.

Thanks for listening!

Bob _______________________________

SPAM FILTERS ARE CRIPPLING EZINES By Bob McElwain

The growing use of software to filter incoming email to an ISP has added an unanswerable question: How many subscribers receive your ezine? For several years now, I've ignored subscriber list totals. The data is fuzzy when you look at numbers held, numbers not delivered, and so forth. I track only the number of successful deliveries. However, this number is now much less meaningful.

Many (most?) ISPs have installed email filters to block spam and that other stuff I can't mention for fear of being blocked. If those filters bounced back to the mailing service, the addresses could be eliminated. Most are only trashed into the big black hole of cyberspace. So there's no telling how many don't get through.

Some are bounced back to me personally. Unfortunately, no email address is provided, so I can't remove it from my list. I get a particular hoot out of this, when they've blocked my newsletter, calling it spam. I wonder what they're calling the stuff they send to me.

Moral Irresponsibility In Action

Such software is a great example of irresponsibility in action. And the lack of ethics and morality of which we see far too much. The 'gods' (programmers?) have decreed we're at the mercy of computer algorithms which are primitive at best.

Analyzing the meaning of a statement in English with a computer is still in its infancy, even though many powerful minds have been working at it for many years. Current software assumes related problems have been resolved, which is absurd.

Here's What Has Happened To Me

Beginning in November in 2001, I began to notice a fall off in responses to "STAT News." Both to ads, and comments emailed to me. I didn't pay much attention at first, for things like this fluctuate.

But I did check seriously in December. Definitely down in both areas. During January and February, I was pretty much out of things due to some heavy surgery. I didn't really get back up to speed until March. By then, the downtrend in the response rate over November last year was very noticeable. Certainly in excess of 15% by any measure.

Blocking Software To The Rescue?

By March, it was also clear spam blocking software was the current rage. I believe this accounts for the drop in response I have seen. Here's why.

Email response to the newsletter dropped by the same percentage as ad response. I track ad response accurately with software. So the only place for error in making this statement is in misjudging email response. My answer to that was to check trash and count. The percentages were almost identical, although there's not enough data to be certain.

If only ad response had dropped off, I'd have decided I needed new ads. But when both dropped by the same percentage, I had to charge it off to the spam filters.

An Up Close And Personal Experience

My ISP installed a filtering package along about April of this year. I was "automatically" enrolled. This meant I got to visit the site and look at the blocked mail. Much more time consuming than doing so in my mailing program. Curious, however, I let it run for a time.

Surprise! Over a 9 day period, I found almost 30 messages from acquaintances, friends, peers, visitors, and subscribers blocked. Beyond notifying them that it happened, I was completely unable to say why. My hunch was, and remains, inadequate computing routines. Or inadequate programmers creating them.

When I'd had enough, I turned the filters off. Guess I should be thankful I had that option. Shoot, some folks that mean a lot to me, only write a couple times a year. And I sure don't want to miss these messages.

Another List

I maintain a mailing list of people to whom I send my articles each week. In one mailing, about half a dozen were sent back to me from AOL. Reason: Invalid DNS pointers. Gee. I wonder how visitors are reaching my site.

As mentioned, most of the mail filtered out is simply trashed. So there's no way to get a handle on this problem. I'd willingly delete email addresses, if they were returned to me. But if these packages wanted to play fair, they'd bounce to my mail list server. But being fair is not their objective.

Alternatives

Many have decided to send only a brief message that points to a URL for an HTML version of the ezine. This won't work for all subscribers. Many don't want to move from handling email to jump onto the Web. Page views will demonstrate wether or not this is so for you.

Another plan is to refer to an autoresponder for a copy of the current issue. I don't see how this helps, for the content mailed will have to get through the same filter your newsletter would have faced directly.

Further, both ideas fail when the filtering catches something in the headers it doesn't like. As with AOL claiming my DNS pointers were flawed. Or a blacklisted IP address. How to beat such happenings is totally beyond me.

A Possible Maybe

I know many don't like attachments, but here's a thought. Send a message which has no content. Just identify the newsletter in the subject field by name. (It has been suggested we use our full name in the From field, but I've been doing this routinely.)

Let the message contain only the URL to your HTML version. And include a .TXT version as an attachment. A click will load it to an editor on most systems. Again, though, if the "obscene" content is in the header, the message won't go through.

My Plan

I see no better alternative than to continue to grow my list and mail to it. I'll simply have to factor in a number for those arbitrarily trashed. If those into this kind of thing come up with a number, my hunch is that it will be about 25%.

When I adjust my email and ad response by 25%, the numbers agree with those in pervious years. Not fact, of course. But suggestive.

Whatever this number proves to be, I'll live with it. And seek to be content with the percentage delivered.

Bob McElwain, author of "Your Path To Success" and "Secrets To A Really Successful Website." For info, see

Dear Mr. D,

Recently I started a new weekly ezine, which I publish every Wednesday. I'm using a list management company that automatically handle the subscribe and unsubscribe requests.

Here's my question: Initially my circulation was growing nicely, but all of a sudden it has started to shrink. What's going on? How can I turn this thing around.

Sincerely,

Shrinking list

_____________________

Dear Shrinking List,

You will lose some subscribers through normal attrition. Some will just lose interest in the subject material of your publication. Some will change email address, but forget to notify you, etc. There's not much you can do about these types of lost subscribers. You just have to market your ezine enough to make up for these dropouts.

But, there are several other reasons why a subscriber chooses to unsubscribe from an ezine that you can prevent by taking a good objective look at your publication. Check out these subscriber killers.

1. More ads than content.

2. Boring content.

3. Poorly written content.

4. Content not targeted to your subscriber base.

5. Poorly formatted - visually hard to read.

You need to check your ezine for these subscriber turnoffs and correct any that apply. Above all keep marketing your publication. That should turn your situation around.

Best wishes,

Mr. D

Bill Daugherty. Do you have an advertising or marketing question you'd like to see published in this column? Send it to mailto:MrD@epm.zzn.com You can visit Mr. D's website at: http://www.freeadsgalore.com

Having a business on the internet is different than having a traditional marketing or sales business. When you operate a business from a store, one of the traditional ways of establishing relationships with your customers is the meet and greet method. You greet your customers in the store and talk to them a bit and this helps build trust and establish yourself with the customer. However, on the internet, this method must be done completely different.

If you have a website through which you sell products of any kind, you must find a way to build relationships with your potential customers. One of the most effective ways of doing this on the web is by publishing your own ezine or newsletter.

Through your ezine you can keep your customers informed of any new products or information on your site. By doing this you keep prospects coming back to your site. Of course, you want to have an interesting and effective website, but that is another article. :)

When you start your ezine there are some guidelines you should follow.

*Do not make your newsletter one big ad for your product or business. Keep your readers updated about your products, but also provide other information.

*Follow a clean, easy-to-read format for your ezine. Do not put so many squiggles and lines and other "decorations" that might make it hard for people to read your ezine.

*Provide useful, helpful content. Links, informative articles, and resources are a few of the things you should provide.

*Put your personality into your ezine. People will respond to you more if you make it more personal.

*Ask for and listen to your readers' comments on your ezine. You are publishing your newsletter for your readers, so you should try to do what they ask.

*Enjoy making contact with your readers and publishing an effective and informative ezine. Treat your readers with respect and courtesy and they will reciprocate.

If you are unsure of how to get started with your ezine, here are a few sites that can help you get going.

http://www.myezine.com/ http://www.e-zinez.com/ http://www.ezineworld.com/index.php3 http://ezine-tips.com/ http://www.web-source.net/web/Ezines/

Ezine publishing is very essential to your business success. With some time and effort, you can have a very successful ezine. Good luck to you in your publishing and business ventures!

Terri Seymour owns and operates MyOwnEzine.com MyOwnEzine.com is a website, ezine and service which provides the resources, tools, guidance and more to help you start, publish and promote your own ezine. You can contact Terri at mailto:ter02@newnorth.net Subscribe at mailto:subscribe@myownezine.com or visit http://www.myownezine.com for lots more info.

In this the last in a 3 part series on ezine publishing we turn to the nitty gritty of finding subscribers and selling your valuable ad space.

So now you have a terrific looking ezine and interesting content but where do you find subscribers? I was hoping you'd ask. In order to grow your subscriber base you'll need to promote your ezine every chance you get.

The first thing you need to do is include a sign up box on each and every page of your website and if you can, offer a free sample copy by autoresponder. To set up a free autoresponder check out http://www.GetResponse.com

Some publishers swear by pop up boxes to increase their subscriber sign ups. If you go this route I encourage you to opt for the kind that pop up upon exit not upon entering, less annoying. You'll find some software to help you with this here....http://www.codelifter.com/pop5index.html or look at http://www.DynamicDrive.com for some free scripts.

The next step is to get your ezine listed in as many online newsletter directories as possible. You'll have to do your homework by searching the engines for directories where you can add your listing for free.This is an important step as many people look to these directories when looking for newsletters to subscribe to. Some of them are:

http://www.Lifestylespub.com/mcp/ http://www.E-zinedirectory.com/ http://www.Webscoutlists.com/signup.epl http://www.Ezineadsource.com/ http://www.Zineconnection.com/ http://www.Ezine-Universe.com http://www.EzineLocater.com/ http://www.EzinesPlus.com/

Remember many of these online directories will allow you to post your ad rates as well. A double bonus which allows you to pick up new subscribers as well as advertisers.

Announcement lists are also good for promoting your ezine. Search at http://groups.yahoo.com for lists that exist for the sole purpose of announcing new lists. You'll also want to participate in online discussion boards with a good signature line that mentions your ezine. You'll find some great boards to post to at http://www.DiscussMarketing.com

Other great ways to grow your subscriber base include swapping ads with other publishers and writing articles to submit to other publishers for possible publication in their ezines. Again, a strong signature line is imperative. Try some of these sites for swaps.

http://www.BizPromo.com/EzineTrades.htm http://www.Ezine-Swap.com

Free Software to keep track of your swaps http://www.nowsell.com/pages/ad-tracker.html

Other Ezine Publishers you can swap ads with http://www.alacarim.com/adex/

Free Directory of Ezines and other helpful resources for today's ezine publisher http://www.FreeZineWeb.com/

The Handbook of Ezine Publishing http://www.e-zinez.com/

EP Digest offers many helpful resources http://www.EpDigest.com

After writing your own articles syndicate them http://www.linkcounter.com/go.php?linkid=184827

Then submit your articles to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/article_announce

If you don't mind paying for opt in subscribers you can pay a small fee for them at....World Wide Lists http://www.linkcounter.com/go.php?linkid=184828 or try Marty Foley's List Builder Service at http://www.linkcounter.com/go.php?linkid=184830 I've used both of the above services extensively and they're truly remarkable for growing your list quickly. These are opt in list builders, not Spam techniques. Make sure you know the difference.

If you're interested in a great free e-book that will teach you how to grow your list download "Ezine List Builder" http://www.netwoozy.com/freeebooks/ it's in PDF format.

or try this one...not free but worth the money:

"WebSite and Ezine Promotion Made Easy" http://www.linkcounter.com/go.php?linkid=184831

Once you reach a minimum of 1,000 subscribers you'll be able to start selling text ads. Do not include too many ads in your newsletter or you'll lose a lot of subscribers before you even get started. You need to make sure you're including useful content and not just a billboard of ads, or your subscribers will be reaching for that unsubscribe button in a hurry.It's really a balancing act, good content with a few ads mixed in.

If you can it's a smart move to start collecting demographics from the very beginning. This will give you an idea as to the types of people that subscribe to your ezine and will be helpful to ad buyers who will want to know what "target market" your ezine hits. If you set up a short form asking the basics like "sex", "age", and "occupation" and ask new subscribers to fill it in upon subscribing you'll be amazed at how easy it is to actually collect this type of information.

A few sites that will help you to sell your available space:

http://www.Ezines-Ads.com http://www.Opt-Influence.com (must have 5,000 subscribers) http://www.linkcounter.com/go.php?linkid=189476

Publishing an ezine is the most important tool you can have when it comes to promoting your website. An opt in list of people who want to hear from you on a regular basis is priceless and the actual process of writing your own ezine and connecting with people is an inspiring experience in itself. It's a genuine way of building a sense of community around your site and opening the lines of communication between yourself and potential clients.

Don't let this marketing tool pass you by....by following the steps in this three part series you'll be well on your way to publishing an ezine that will pay you back in more ways than you can imagine- and that's an online marketing tool fact.

So what are you waiting for? Get busy!

Merle http://www.EzineAdAuction.com "Where some of the BEST Deals in Ezine Advertising are Made" Buy & Sell Ezine Ads in a live auction setting! Publishers sell off your excess inventory and Buyers pick up some Fantastic bargains. Go now.

The Basics

There are two different forms of HTML ezines. HTML = HyperText Mark-up Language - basically it's the language of the World Wide Web. It's there, even if you don't know it's there. The end result of this "code" is a web page you view through your email program.

There are three types of ezines (at this time). Text ezines, those of you who remember typewriters, look like they've been typed. A simple HTML ezine contains color, bold, italics, and bullets and is created right in your email program. More complex HTML ezines contain graphics and are created as web pages. When you receive an ezine that contains color or pictures, that's an "HTML" based ezine.

It's very easy to make an HTML ezine if you know how to code HTML or have a web design program, or have a web design program (or webmaster). If you're designing an HTML ezine for your business, then branding is important. So use your webpage as your template. This way your newsletter and your website look consistent.

If you use an email list hosting service for your ezine, make sure you pick one that "strips" HTML emails. Then individuals can choose to receive "text only" emails from you even though you've sent out an HTML version. The service actually "strips" the HTML codes and graphic codes from your email. Many services offer this stripping feature. However, in order to use it, you have to go to their site and register your email address. Then as part of the registration process, they ask you to choose between text only and HTML.

There are services that will read information from subscribers and automatically set them up for HTML or text only emails based on what ISP (Internet Service Provider) or DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) service they use. For a list of service suggestions (I haven't used all the programs mentioned) go to tap here

The secret about HTML ezines is that all graphics are linked from your website to your ezine and are not attached to your email. The problems with HTML ezines are...

~~ in order for your readers to see the pictures you've placed in your message, they must be on the Internet. ~~ they are not accessible and/or readable to some disabled individuals. ~~ people who have older email programs or computers can't read them. ~~ many libraries use computers that cannot handle graphics. ~~ they take up quite a bit of bandwidth (space) on someone's email server and they take longer to download than text messages. ~~ they take much longer to edit and publish. ~~ some people purposely set their email to not accept HTML mail. ~~ some people have their email set on text only - and don't know it! ~~ for AOL users, if the size of the file is more than 20K, it will be sent out as an attachment. ~~ many people won't open attachments

For businesses, the plusses of using HTML ezines are:

~~ many business owners, who use the internet, and maybe your ideal client have HTML email capacity. ~~ even AOL 6.0 included the use of HTML mail for their users. ~~ readers are more apt to read your ezine because they look "inviting" and "fun" ~~ readers are more apt to tap on the links, too.

Steps To Create Your HTML Ezine #1

1. Create a web page as you usually would and insert your newsletter.

2. Go into the source of your webpage (the HTML code) and make sure that all the links are authentic links. These are complete links and look like this but without the "." in the code:

instead of?

3. Upload your newsletter webpage to your website.

4. Next, open your email program and make sure that the format is set to "HTML" (not as text).

5. Open an email. Put the cursor in the message and tap down a few lines.

6. Go back to the top of the message again and type in a message for individuals who have requested your newsletter, but perhaps cannot read HTML newsletters. The message I use (without the "." in the code) is...

If you cannot see the colors or picture on this email, you can read this newsletter here: http://www.coachmaria.com/ez01282002.html

7. Then go back to your newsletter page on your website. ~~ "Select all" on the page or tap on the control (CTRL) then (A) buttons on your keyboard. ~~ "Select copy" on the page or tap on the control (CTRL) then (C) buttons on your keyboard

8. Go back to your email, a few lines after step #6 where you will "paste" - (CTRL) then (V) your webpage into your email program.

9. Then send yourself a copy to see how it looks. If pictures are missing... it's because the links are not complete links (Step 2)

Steps To Create Your HTML Ezine #2

If your email program allows you to create your own stationary, like Outlook does, tap on help and use your index to learn how to "create stationary". You'll learn to create a stationary template for your ezine. Then each time you want to create your ezine, you pull up this special stationary.

A Few Free Template Resources 4 U

Web Site Kits and Templates from Canada http://www.dvshop.ca/webtemps.html >From Jim's World http://freesitetemplates.com/faq2/ >From the UK http://www.newsletterpromote.com/emailtemp/free.htm

Maria Marsala, Business & Life Coach-Consultant. Maria works with successful individuals as they take their success to an even higher level. Subscribe to "Helping You and Your Business Grow" our free weekly online newsletter or download our free business ebook at http://www.CoachMaria.com/ebook/download.html

It's the time of the year when I take a break to reflect upon the year that's been - and wonder about the year ahead. In 2001, ezine publishing took a quantum leap, evolving from being predominantly an amateur's hobby into the most powerful marketing tool for business online.

For an ezine publisher it has been an exciting and eventful year. A growing number of budding e-publishers have hopped aboard the ezine bandwagon. Just last quarter, the sales figures for my ezine creating and publishing tutorial - EZINE LAUNCH - have shot up by over 380%

So what does the future hold in store for the ezine industry? I gaze into my crystal ball and I see....

1. ... EZINES BECOME MORE COLORFUL, GLITZY, INTERACTIVE .... and HUGE

HTML email newsletters have come of age. Increasingly more ezines are going this route. Subscribers too prefer them to drab, lack-lustre text-only ezines. In the coming year we'll see more ezines being published in HTML. But for a different reason.

HTML ezines allow advanced tracking of results from advertising and allow newer and more elaborate forms of marketing. That - more than user preference - will convince publishers to create their ezines in rich text format. Large file sizes will however continue to remain a concern.

2. ... DOUBLE OPT-IN AND PRIVACY ISSUES TAKING PRIORITY

The growing concern about privacy and the more aggressive activism against unsolicited bulk commercial emailers will guarantee that all responsible online marketers, especially ezine publishers, will take steps to avoid accusations of spamming. Double opt-in subscription processes will become the norm - read my article on it here Privacy policies will become more stringent and will be implemented more seriously.

3. ... MORE EZINES MOVING TO PAYING-SUBSCRIBER MODELS

... but they're continuing to offer free versions too !

It's no longer easy to publish a quality ezine at low cost. Expect to see most content-rich ezines move to a paying-subscriber model. To retain existing subscribers and attract new ones, ezine editors will continue to offer free versions. But they will be 'lite' forms with a little content packaged with a lot of advertising.

4. ... EZINE PUBLISHING SERVICES BECOMING FEE-BASED

The larger free ezine services have merged into behemoths. Soon they'll start charging for their offerings. Topica has made the first foray into this arena. Soon others will follow. They will be worth the price for busy ezine publishers.

5. ... 'FULL-PACKAGE' EZINE CREATION SERVICES EMERGING

It is a ripple that could become a wave. These are services offering to undertake the entire ezine creation process including generating subscribers, creating content, distributing the newsletter - even finding advertisers and tracking results. A few will debut in 2002. I'm not certain if they'll survive.

6. ... EZINE ADVERTISING EXPLODING

Where all other forms of online advertising are losing impact, results from ezine marketing are exploding. If done correctly, an ezine marketing campaign can become the most effective - and least expensive - tool for any business. I'm so convinced of this fact that I've even launched a new course called EZINE MARKETING TIPS that delivers a daily tip on intelligent ezine marketing to subscribers by email. More info at

7. ... NEWER FORMS OF EZINE ADVERTISING EVOLVING

From being vehicles for classified ads and sponsorship messages, ezines will morph into more sophisticated marketing media. Advertorials, product placement ads (like those in Apple's ezine that get me drooling, and then ordering the cool new accessories for my Mac that I hadn't ever thought about buying), and with the move to Rich Text format, the web-style multimedia ads will all take ezine advertising to a new plane. Whether or not it will be more productive, we'll have to wait and see.

8. ... MANY EZINES USING THIRD-PARTY CONTENT

Some already do. More will in 2002. Creating an ezine from scratch is hard work. Content creation and aggregation services will find a niche to set up and grow. The move to a paid-subscription model will help finance this process.

9. ... HIGHER QUALITY ACROSS ALL EZINES

Overall ezines will be more professionally created, contain useful content and be more valuable to readers. Only serious epublishers will devote the time and money required to send out ezines - and they're willing to learn to do it right. Courses like my ebook, EZINE LAUNCH, and wonderful discussion lists on ezine publishing have done their bit to help.

And that's where my crystal ball mists up and gets too cloudy to peer further. But there are two more things that I would like to see happen in 2002. One is as an ezine publisher, the other as a subscriber.

-- EZINE AD NETWORKS GROW AND EXPAND

Selling ad space on ezines is a bugbear for many ezine publishers. Ad networks exist for websites; they represent web advertising space across multiple sites and sell them to large advertisers. It is time someone helps do this for ezines, especially the smaller ones that are not attractive to advertisers on their own. Ezine Ad Networks are needed badly - NOW !

-- CREATE YOUR OWN EZINE SERVICES

As a subscriber, I've often wished there was an ezine that would cover all my interest areas and include recent, relevant and essential content about each. Why don't large content portals allow readers to create their own ezine - choose the type of content, frequency, interest areas and more? The portal would then deliver the custom-made ezine on the user's preferred schedule. I'd be willing to pay a fee for this service.

Ok, ok, I'm dreaming.

Dr.Mani Sivasubramanian is author of the bestselling ezine creating course, EZINE LAUNCH In just 14 days you can create a 'killer' ezine guaranteed to explode your profits. Get more surefire ezine creating secrets for FREE from Mani's EZINE LAUNCH MONTHLY newsletter at or email Also get a bonus 7-day e-biz primer

Email is, without question, the most popular and powerful marketing tool available to entrepreneurs today. Website are great, but without an effective email, your marketing efforts will be anemic.

So how do you take advantage of email marketing? The best method is to begin your own opt-in periodic ezine--or an electronic magazine. There are over ten thousand ezines on the internet addressing hundreds of subjects.

What is the real power behind ezine marketing? It is RELATIONSHIPS. Those who have learned the art of editing an ezine are developing relationships with readers that will (in many cases) be transformed into customers and business partnerships.

There are several skills that must be learned to become a effective ezine editor. Here they are:

FIND A FOCUS

In his best-selling marketing manual "Make Your Site Sell," Ken Evoy points out that any effective marketing strategy must remember that "if you try to sell to everybody you'll end up selling to nobody." That's why he points out haw important it is "target your audience" (learn more about Ken's book at http://allaboutsuccess.sitesell.com/).

This strategy is also important for newsletter editing and promotion. Think about it. The next time you pass the magazine rack in your local grocery store look at each publication. Each has a theme that is specifically focused toward a particular segment of society. Your ezine should also be focused in that manner.

What should your focus be? That depends on you! What are your interests? What are your areas of expertise? With what segment of the internet community do you hold a particular affinity? I've seen ezines that address e-commerce, web site development, comic book collecting, cat lovers (ugh),etc.

What's your niche? If you don't find it you'll only develop a nice safe-list--you won't be the editor of an ezine! Do you know the difference between the two? It's relationships. An ezine helps you develop meaningful personal and professional relationships.

Got your focus. Great! Now you need to...

DEVELOP A FORMAT

Many editors overlook this aspects of their ezine development. Without a effective format, however, your ezine appears disorganized and frustrating to read.

Here are some things to consider as you develop your format.

1) When you open the ezine email, does the first page grab the readers attention and make them want to keep reading? Items such as a "quote of the week," a personal greeting, or a attractive table of contents will help keep subscribers reading.

2) Is you format geared toward advertisements or content? You've read those ezines that look like the the classified ad section of your local newspaper, haven't you? Neither have I! They are annoying! Focus on content, not ads. Both your advertisers and subscribers will appreicate it. Your subscribers will appreciate your focus on content. Your advertisers will appreciate the fact that their ad will probably be read.

3) Don't forget to provide clear and easy to follow subscription and unsubscription instructions.

Now that you've got your focus and format, what's next? Oh yes, you need to...

GET SUBSCRIBERS

How do you get subscribers? You ask them to subscribe!

Sure, that's common sense. But how many times have you found yourself subscribed to a list you've never heard about? I have made it a policy to NEVER manually add names to my list. To get on my list people must do one of two things: 1) send an email request, or 2) complete a subscription form on my website at http://allaboutsuccess.com or http://ezinesuccess.com

How do you get folks to do that? Here are five powerful methods for building your subscription base...

1) Write articles and submit them to other ezines. In the author's tag include instructions for subscribing to your ezine.

2) Exchange ads with other ezine editors. Ezine editors tend to be some of the nicest people on the internet ;-) Most will go out of their way to help a comrade succeed.

3) Give away FREE stuff to those who subscribe. Special articles, software programs, discounts, and ebooks are all popular gifts to give your subscribers.

4) Join in strategic partnerships with companies that market services specifically geared toward increasing my ezine subscription base. Examples include the following...

...The Directory Of Ezines http://www.lifestylespub.com/cgi-bin/ezines.cgi?10282

...The Ezine Advertisers Network http://www.guerrillamlm.com/members/7969BN.html

5) Announce your ezine in the databases on these websites...

http://www.liszt.com/ http://www.escribe.com/internet/-aannounce/ http://www.neosoft.com/internet/paml/ http://www.promotefree.com http://www.reference.com/ http://www.virtualpromote.com http://www.newsletteraccess.com/ http://catalog.com/vivian/interest-group-search.html http://www.goodstuff.prodigy.com/Lists/main.htm http://bizx.com/newsletter.html

In addition, make sure you have your ezine listed in the powerful new ezine search engine, available on my site at: http://www.ezinesuccess.com/temp/

Now you've got a focus, a format, and subscribers. What's next? You need...

A DELIVERY SYSTEM

While your list is small you can probably get by using your current email program. But you always run the risk of raising the ire of your ISP. That's why I have chosen to use the services of a listserver. Several companies on the internet offer such services for free--but most are unreliable.

The benefit of a listserver. You compose your email, paste it to a online form, hit "send," and your done. The listserver does all the mailing for you.

What do you want your listserver to do? Here are the basics!

It must send to at least 10,000 people. It must allow unlimited mailings. It must have automatic subscribe and remove functions. It must refuse multiple subscriptions of the same email address. It must reject non valid email addresses in your list. It must generate subscription URL code for your webpage. It must be VERY SECURE--only accessed with appropriate passwords. It must operate from a safe administration area--not via email.

That's right, use your List Server as often as you like, every hour, every day, once a week, as often as you like! Several companies offer such services. Contact me at mailto: webmaster@ezinesuccess.com for a referral to one of these providers.

Having your own ezine is one of the most powerful and popular ways to build relationship online that will serve your business ventures. I encourage you to get started today.

Dr. Bill Nieporte is editor of "The Success in Life Newsletter." Published twice a week, you will find numerous articles aimed at helping entrepreneurs and small business leader to enjoy greater success in all apsects of their lives.

Mailing lists in the form of discussion groups have been in existence since the 1960's and were used as a way to share information. They were called (and are still called) "Usenet", "Newsgroups", "News" or sometimes "NetNews". In the mid 80's Eric Thomas developed "ListServ's" for use with IBM computers. They usually offer the most features to their subscribers. Majordomo was developed in 1992 by Brent Chapman and continues to be used by many Ezine publishers.

Know that you have many choices of hosting services and the number companies offering services is growing. Use the information in this article as a guide. Don't be afraid to try the BCC or free elist hosting services to get a feel for what is involved in owning an ezine. Personally, I've learned so much by going this route. Then as your ezine and ezine knowledge grows, change over to a paid service.

__Use the BCC (blind carbon copy) area of your current email program. Never used this feature? If this feature were part of your email program, the directions would be in the "help" feature of the program. By using this feature people won't see who your subscribers are and therefore won't be able to spam your readers. You will know that someone has sent you a message, using BCC, when the "to" reads "unlisted recipients.

__Purchase a software program and maintain the list yourself. ~~Infacta http://www.infacta.com/gm.asp ~~List of software companies http://list-business.com/list-software/

__Use Majordomo. This is not the easiest alternative. Many times subscriptions are rejected because the subscriber is using an email program with "HTML" text in the message. For more information on this service visit: www.conveyanced.com/MajorCool/ www.google.com/search?q=majordomo

__Download free Common Gateway Interface (CGI) Scripts and use to produce your ezine. These programs usually contain limited capabilities, which is just perfect for many ezine publishers. To find these scripts, go to your favorite search engine, and do a search for free CGI scripts, such as www.bignosebird.com and www.CGI-Resources.com

__Many advertising and marketing companies provide "in-house" ezine services to their clients.

__Use one of the free services to keep your elist members confidential. "Free" meaning there is an ad either at the top or bottom of each note you send out.

~~www.topica.com Topica - With the exception of moderated lists, each list contains an ad. Automatically adds unsubscribe directins to each email. Very basic service. You cannot add new members; instead you must "invite" them. There is a cost involved in adding many members at one time. So before you move your elist to this service check with their customer support.

~~yahoogroups.com Yahoo Groups - When you use this service, you will have, for your readers, the largest number of community building tools for members. These include a chat room, place to upload important files, automatic distribution of files you request, a calendar to send out reminders, and more. Allows you to automatically "subscribe" members who have requested you to subscribe them to your list. Each message usually contains at least one large ad.

~~www.bravenet.com Bravenet - Limit 500 subscribers per elist although you can set up additional elists on this service. Double opt-in for subscribers only. Easy system allows you to email yourself a copy of your subscriber list.

~~www.smartgroups.com Smart Groups - This is a newer service, very basic, no annoying ads on top. Your elist will contains a calendar that you can use for reminders of classes etc. The only way to delete your elist from this service is to contact smartgroups customer service.

~~www.coollist.com Cool List - Newer elist program. Ad is on the bottom. Very basic service.

__Paid Services - - Prices start at approx. $20 per month for smaller ezines and end up in the thousands of dollars for larger lists. Some have subscriber limits at that price, some offer free trials. Each company offers different services. ~~Topica http://www.topica.com/tep/ ~~Yahoo http://e.gotmarketing.com/collateral/yahoo/smallbusiness/campaigner.html ~~Constant Contact www.constantcontact.com ~~List Channel www.listchannel.com ~~Web Valence www.WebValence.com ~~List Universe www.List-Universe.com ~~Spark-List www.Spark-List.com ~~List Serve www.listserve.com/ ~~Microsoft's B Central www.bcentral.com/services/lb/pricing.asp ~~Cartville is one of companies that also offers ezine mailing lists along with many of it's shopping cart packages. www.cartville.com ~~Comparison chart of ezine hosting companies by Gammadyne http://www.gammadyne.com/gm-comparison.htm ~~elist Directory of companies http://www.list-business.com/

NOTE: As a precaution against dot.com companies that end up out of business, make sure the company you choose allows YOU to download the email addresses of subscribers. Then download your list at least monthly.

© Copyright 2002 All Rights Reserved. Maria Marsala, Business & Life Coach-Consultant. Maria works with successful individuals as they take their success to an even higher level. Subscribe to "Helping You and Your Business Grow" our free weekly online newsletter or download our free business ebook at http://www.CoachMaria.com/ebook/download.html

All right, I confess. I'm an ezine junkie. I love 'em. All shapes, all sizes; I subscribe to hundreds. You might say I'm an addict. Anyway, as I scan the subject line of my precious beauties when they hit my inbox, there are only certain ones I'm chomping at the bit to read. Why is that? Why does one ezine have me salivating and another reaching for my delete key? Good question, I was hoping you'd ask.

The newsletters I can't wait to read are the ones with "personality." Yes, that's right -- PERSONALITY. I just love an ezine that makes me laugh, or cry, or think about things I haven't thought about for awhile. Thought provoking. Enlightening, heart warming.

I do have my favorites and usually those are the ones where I feel as if I know the publisher on a personal level, which says a lot, since I've never met any of them in the real off-line world. So how do they do that? And more importantly, how can you create this warm, fuzzy feeling in your own ezine?

Publishers who have perfected this technique have developed a "unique writing style." A good writing style allows one's personality to shine through in his words and conveys a sense of humanity. So what's your writing style? You can convey many feelings and attitudes through your writing. You can come across as funny or serious, cocky or very business like.

Developing your own special writing style takes time and practice. Ezine writers should always try to write the same way they think and speak. Try to write as if you were speaking to one person and she is standing in the room right in front of you. Don't use big words; most people are not impressed by fancy language and you'll lose those who can't read past a 9th grade level. Talk to your readers as you would a close friend. The genuine part of your personality will shine through as you write. Always use short sentences and paragraphs.

To develop a good writing style you should read as much as possible and practice writing. Really study pieces as you read them and ask yourself what about it appeals to you, or doesn't appeal to you. You can learn a lot by studying writings of others that appeal to you.

Another way to really connect with your readers is to share stories and details about your personal life. Yes, being personal is tough and a lot of people feel funny about it or fear rejection by doing so. But to really connect with your subscribers you need to share and let them see that you really are human and have problems, wants and needs. Some of the best ezines I read share personal anecdotes on a regular basis and I look forward to these tidbits on a regular basis. There are some ezines I subscribe to where I actually know the names of the writer's dog or spouse. Even though I've never met them, they are real to me.

Next time you sit down to write your newsletter, try to let your personality show through. By perfecting your style, you will attract readers who look forward to each and every issue - and loyal subscribers for life.

Remember, keep it simple, be yourself.....and most importantly "Don't Bore Me! Give Your Ezine Personality!"

Merle http://www.EzineAdAuction.com "Where some of the BEST Deals in Ezine Advertising are Made" Buy & Sell Ezine Ads in a live auction setting! Publishers sell off your excess inventory and Buyers pick up some Fantastic bargains. Go now.

Ok, so you bought a new computer, learned the basics, got yourself a website and are ready for the bucks to come rolling in. You did some advertising with the free classifieds, listed your url in some directories and thought you were all set. After you manually submitted to the major search engines, you were sure the bucks were going to come pouring in. You waited and waited but only about 50 people visited your site and nobody bought anything. You see others around you becoming successful, but your business is going nowhere!

Let me tell you that you can make a lot of money with an online business, but I think that one of the major things you need to do for success is publish an ezine. With an ezine you can keep in touch with your potential customers and you can keep your site and products alive in their minds. But, to publish a successful ezine you must provide good content, not just a giant ad for your business. Have interesting, useful and entertaining information included in your ezine. After you have enough subscribers you can start accepting paid advertising and add to your profits.

By publishing an ezine you can also earn your subscribers' trust by building relationships and showing them that you know what you are doing and talking about. They believe what you say and have confidence in you and your business.

Starting an ezine is not as hard as you would think, although it is a lot of work.

Step 1-- Decide on your content and format. What kind of things do you want to include in your ezine. There are the standard disclaimers, contact information and subscribe- unsubscribe info. Then you want to have a good article or two, a section for ad swaps, resources, interesting facts, tidbits, question and answer column, classifieds, reader feedback, reader submissions, a little humor and fun, the list is endless for good items to put in your ezine.

To help you get started: http://www.e-zinez.com http://www.ezineuniversity.com http://www.homebiztools.com/enews.htm

To find good content for your ezine: http://www.ideamarketers.com/ http://www.makingprofit.com/ http://www.ezinearticles.com/ http://www.the-best-list-site-in-the-world.com/

Step 2-- Organize your first draft. Decide on your template design, organize your content and put your first ezine together. Move things around, make changes here and there until you are satisfied with it. Send it to a few friends to get their opinion. When you are satisfied with your ezine and want to get started, it is now time to start promoting.

Step 3-- Promotion. There are many ways to promote your ezine including ad swaps, free ads, message boards, discussion lists, announcement lists, email sigtag, paid ads, article writing, ezine directories, and more.

Ad Swaps: http://www.yoursalesoffice.com/Ezine_Joint_Ventures.html http://www.homebasedprofit.com/east/swaplists.shtml

Free Ads: http://theslacks.com/webmaster/engines/classifiedfee.html http://www.free-ezine-advertising.com/

Message Boards: http://www.forumone.com http://www.delphi.com

Discussion Lists: mailto:pubsonly-subscribe@topica.com mailto:Newbies911-subscribe@topica.com

Announcement Lists: mailto:AAnnounce-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:000-ALLAnnounce-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:1st_Announce_Here-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:linksnlists-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:Advertise-Your-List-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:Aannounce-subscribe@topica.com mailto:ALLAnnounce-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:getmoresubs-subscribe@egroups.com

Ezine Directories: http://www.ezineseek.com http://www.ezinesearch.com http://www.ezineworld.com http://www.cumuli.com/ezine/ http://www.ezine-news.com http://www.bestezines.com

Step 4-- After you have gotten a subscriber base started it is now time to start distributing your ezine. You can do this manually, use a paid or free listserver, or purchase software to manage your list. I have my ezine at egroups and as of yet haven't had any problems. Before you send your ezine out to your list, always send it to yourself so you can check the format and spelling and so on. Always save your back issue, so when you start on your next one you can just remove the content to be replaced and keep the rest. This will save a lot of time.

Free Listservers: http://www.egroups.com http://www.globelists.com http://www.milomail.com http://www.listbot.com http://www.coollist.com

Paid Listservers: http://www.internetmatrix.com/titan/default2.htm http://www.talklist.com/

Listserver Software: http://www.add2it.com/mailman-pro.shtml?JTD http://www.softseek.com/Internet/E_Mail/List_Management/R eview_26324_index.html

Step 5-- Keep promoting, providing good content, building relationships with you readers, and putting out a good ezine and your business will grow and you will profit!! This does not happen overnight. You must be determined to succeed and have passion for your work. You will be succeeding just as the others around you were and you will no longer suffer from Ezine Envy!!

Terri Seymour owns and operates MyOwnEzine.com MyOwnEzine.com is a website, ezine and service which provides the resources, tools, guidance and more to help you start, publish and promote your own ezine. You can contact Terri at mailto:ter02@newnorth.net Subscribe at mailto:subscribe@myownezine.com or visit http://www.myownezine.com for lots more info.

If you have a website or e-business, you should definitely consider publishing an ezine. Once you have made the decision to publish an ezine and decided on the content, you now must learn how to promote your newsletter. There are many easy and free ways to promote your new ezine.

Here are some of my favorites:

Ezine Directories

There are hundreds of ezine directories on the web in which you can list your ezine for FREE. You might be asked to run their ad in your ezine or on your site in return for the free service. This is a good idea anyway, because the more people that read the directory, the more people that see YOUR listing. Here are a few to get you going.

http://www.absoluteauthority.com/ezines/ http://www.bestezines.com/ http://www.cumuli.com/ezines/verify/default.ldml http://www.escribe.com/ http://www.ezineadsource.com/ http://www.ezinesearch.com/search-it/ezine/ http://www.ezine-universe.com/ http://www.e-zinez.com/ http://www.list-universe.com/

Announcement Lists

Announcement lists are a great way to get the word out about your ezine. Subscribe to the lists and be sure to follow the guidelines for posting on each list. Once you get established on the lists, you should drop your postings to about once a month or every other week. This will prevent "overloading" people with your ad. Get started with these lists.

WritersZines-subscribe@onelist.com ezinestoday-subscribe@onelist.com 00-list-announce-subscribe@onelist.com lists_for_all-subscribe@egroups.com Advertise-Your-List-subscribe@egroups.com MyListAnnounce-subscribe@egroups.com linksnlists-subscribe@egroups.com

Ad Swaps

Once you get your ezine started, you will want to get your ad in other quality publications. A good and economical way of doing this is by ad swapping. You agree to place another publisher's ad in your ezine and he/she places your ad in their ezine. This is a very effective way of gaining subscribers. Subscribe to these lists for finding publishers who want to swap ads.

EzineAdExchange-subscribe@topica.com adswappers-subscribe@globelists.com Ezine-Ad-Swaps-subscribe@topica.com

Sigtags

Every time you send out your email you can be sending out an announcement about your ezine. Put a small but informative signature at the bottom of your email.

Example:

Terri Seymour Web Success Ezine Subscribe Now for Free Gift mailto:web-success-subscribe@egroups.com

You can also put borders around your sigtag to bring more attention to it.

Terri Seymour owns and operates MyOwnEzine.com MyOwnEzine.com is a website, ezine and service which provides the resources, tools, guidance and more to help you start, publish and promote your own ezine. You can contact Terri at mailto:ter02@newnorth.net Subscribe at mailto:subscribe@myownezine.com or visit http://www.myownezine.com for lots more info.

Have you ever wondered why Ezine Articles have become one of the most effective marketing techniques on the Web?

The reason is quite simple.

People very rarely go online looking for something to buy. They go online looking for information - free information.

They want to be educated, entertained and informed. And the best way to do that is to write free Articles for Newsletters.

At the bottom of your Article is your 4- or 5-line Resource Box. That's what turns your Article into one of the most powerful marketing techniques on the Web.

Here are eight tips to help you write your Articles and get them published.

(1) Never allow yourself to think that you've run out of ideas. Instead, have the opposite thought: that there are more ideas than you could possibly write about. I heard someone saying recently (with regard to Ezine Articles) that everything that could possibly be written about has already been written about. Nonsense! The Internet is evolving so fast that even if you wrote a new Article every day, you still couldn't keep up.

(2) The Golden Rule of Five. Keep your Article titles short - no more than five words. Ezine Editors love short titles (they fit into the subject field of an email).

(3) Keep your paragraphs short - no more than 3 sentences. It's much harder to read a computer screen than a printed page - so make it easy for your readers.

(4) Make sure your Article flows properly. The easiest way to do this is to write down the opening and closing sentences of each of your paragraphs, then read what you have. If it makes sense and moves along nicely, you have an Article that is well organized and flows properly.

(5) Include a word count at the top of your Article. This makes it easy for an Ezine Editor to make a quick decision on whether to use your Article. It also shows you've been thorough in preparing your Article for publication.

(6) Check all the links in your Article before submitting it. Then include a note that says: 'All the links in this Article were checked and verified on (date)'. Again, this saves time for the Ezine Editor and demonstrates that you've been thorough.

(7) Offer a Free Report in your Resource Box. When someone reads your Article in an Ezine, they probably won't be connected to the Internet. So the challenge is this: to offer something so interesting and exciting that they'll fire up their modem and visit your website. The best way to do that is to offer a Free Report.

(8) Put all your Articles on autoresponders and then create another autoresponder that lists all your Articles, with an autoresponder address for each Article (e.g.: all-articles@yourdomain.com). When you submit your Article to a List or to an Article Archive, always include a note that says: "For a complete list of Articles by this author please send a blank email to: all-articles@yourdomain.com"

Remember - Ezine Articles are probably the fastest way there is of building your presence on the Web and getting your message in front of a targeted audience. Happy writing!

Michael Southon shows webmasters how to Tap into the Power of Ezines. Discover the #1 secret of web marketing. Download his free report now: http://www.ezine-writer.com/free-report.html

1. FORMATTING

Text ezines versus HTML format is a highly debatable subject. At this time, most ezine publishers stick with text, and I strongly recommend you follow suit. Many people are still using email clients that cannot read HTML messages - others prefer the speed, ease and security of receiving their ezines in text format. It is safer to use the format that is compatible with the largest number of users.

But there are other readers who appreciate the design quality and visual appeal of an HTML newsletter. So what can you do to please both sides? You can always publish a text version and include a link to an HTML version online. This is what I do and it seems to make the majority of my subscribers happy. It does call for twice the amount of work since you'll have to make two versions of your ezine, but in my opinion it's well worth the extra effort.

So what is a text ezine? Basically, it's just an email with some special formatting applied to make sure it's readable by everyone, no matter what email client they may be using. You'll want to stick to a fixed width font like courier or Monaco, and you'll need a plain text editor like Notepad or Textpad. One drawback with Notepad is it has no built-in spell checker, so I'd advise you to download Textpad or something similar. Many free text editors can be found at http://www.Download.com.

You'll need to set up a template for your ezine so its look will be consistent, issue after issue. This should include your ezine name, date, and issue number at the very top, followed by a table of contents. If you're not sure on how it should look, you can obtain some free ezine templates by sending mailto:template1@e-zinez.com .

At the very end of your newsletter template you'll want to include a paragraph on how to subscribe and unsubscribe, copyright information, and advertising information. It's vital that you include unsubscribe information in each and every issue. Do not hold people "hostage" by making it next to impossible to get off your list, it won't be appreciated and is not only considered unprofessional, but it could get you into real trouble with Spamcop.

When typing in your text you need to keep your line length at 65 characters per line and hit a hard return at the end of each and every line. This is imperative. If you allow the words to wrap automatically, the ezine your readers receive may have lines chopped off mid sentence and will look terrible. By using the hard return you'll be ensuring that your newsletter will be readable and attractive in the majority of email clients. Never type your ezine in all caps as this is equivalent to screaming.

2. CONTENT

I highly recommend you write at least one original article a month for your newsletter; more if you can. It's OK to include work by others on an occasional basis or for filler, but your ezine will carry more weight if you take the time to write your own material.

When you do need outside content, here are some excellent sources:

http://www.EzineArticles.com http://www.IdeaMarketers.com

You may also download this free e-book "400 Articles You Can Use in Your Ezine" at http://www.web-source.net/web/Free_Ebooks/Writing_Publishing/ You'll also find two other very handy ebooks for publishers at the above site you may want to download as well.

Another idea for getting original articles to reprint in your ezine is to go to Egroups and subscribe to article announcement lists like this one: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/article_announce

These will supply you with a steady stream of new articles you can publish.

Don't forget to visit this site which is a fantastic resource for online publishers: http://www.worldwidelearn.com/ezine-publishing.htm

As you can see, there are many online sources that exist solely for the purpose of helping ezine publishers succeed. With the massive amount of information available to you, there's really no reason you haven't started your own ezine. So come on, what are you waiting for? Your Net fame awaits!

Well, that wraps up formatting and where to get great free content. In Part 3 of this article we'll move on to growing your subscriber base and selling ad space in your publication.

Merle http://www.EzineAdAuction.com "Where some of the BEST Deals in Ezine Advertising are Made" Buy & Sell Ezine Ads in a live auction setting! Publishers sell off your excess inventory and Buyers pick up some Fantastic bargains. Go now.

THE WHAT RING? EzineRing - not a WebRing, but very similar. An EzineRing is basically an alliance or community of e-publishers, preferably all in the same field, who work to promote each other's ezines.

GROW YOUR LIST. For e-publishers, an EzineRing can provide a new and ever-growing source of targeted subscribers, ensuring the future success and profitability of your venture.

WORKING SAMPLE. Each ezine displays a text box with links to the "next" and "previous" ezine samples in the ring, as well as a "full list" containing short ads for each ring member. This allows your subscribers to sample and subscribe to ezines in the ring.

WOULD PEOPLE BOTHER? Ezine publishing is fast becoming the fashionable, not to mention smart, thing to do. There is now so much choice that your subscribers want to know which ezines are worth subscribing to. EzineRings can alleviate this problem entirely. No single ezine can hope to cover everything on a particular topic; an EzineRing, however, can claim to do just this - giving your subscribers exactly what they want.

THE "A" LIST. Creating an EzineRing is not that hard. You need to draw up a list of e-publishers that you wish to be associated with. Choose publications that complement your ezine - look for good presentation, and content that adds to your own. Subscriber numbers are not so important. Any targeted (on your niche subject) and well-written ezine will be an asset within your ring.

POST YOUR INVITATIONS. Send your list an invitation to join your EzineRing. Here's a sample letter complete with instructions:

Hi Jayde.com,

I'm setting up a free EzineRing for [your ezine name] and have selected [their ezine name] to join. The idea is very similar to webrings that allow surfers to move from site to site in the ring. An EzineRing allows a targeted audience to request a free sample and also to subscribe to your ezine. A great way to increase your subscriber base!

You only need to send me a short text ad [you may want to specify a length] promoting your ezine. This ad must contain an autoresponder link to a free ezine sample. The deadline for this is March 1, 2000.

I will then send you a small text box that must be placed in every issue of your ezine. It will contain autoresponder links to a full list of participating ezines, and the previous and next ezine samples in the ring.

I hope to hear from you shortly. This is a great promotional opportunity for your ezine - so don't miss out.

Best wishes,

[Your Name] [Your Signature File]

LINKS IN THE RING. Once you've received all your ads, you'll need access to a free autoresponder - an email message that is sent out automatically and *immediately* upon request. Two free autoresponder services:

http://www.smartbotpro.net or

http://www.GetResponse.com

The easiest thing to do is to place all your ads on one autoresponder and rotate them once a month (or on a regular basis) so that everyone's ad gets maximum exposure - it's only fair. This autoresponder is your full list.

BOXING CLEVER! The next step is to construct text boxes for all the members of your ring. These boxes all need to contain unique "previous" and "next" links:

* Using index cards or separate sheets of paper, list all your members (including yourself) in alphabetical order and number from 1 to whatever.

* Write down each member's sample ezine link underneath their name. This was requested in your invitation.

* On each sheet, write the words "previous" and "next" on separate lines. These relate to previous and next ezine samples.

* Number 1 in your ring will need the sample ezine link from the final member of your ring. Write this link next to "previous." Then write the sample ezine link from number 2 in your ring beside "next" for number 1.

* This sounds a little tricky, but it's not. Simply work your way through your sheets of paper remembering that "previous" requires the sample ezine link from the previous member numbered in the ring, and "next" requires the sample ezine link from the next member numbered in the ring.

* Each sheet should now contain the unique links needed for all your members.

* Construct a text box for your ring. Example:

======================================================= YOUR EZINE-RING NAME GOES HERE Sample the Best [your field] Ezines - FREE!

Prev: sample10@listserver.com

Next: sample2@listserver.com

Full List: eringlist@listserver.com =======================================================

FINAL COUNTDOWN. The last step is to send the text box to all your members. "Full list" requires the autoresponder link that you set up earlier. The only parts that change for each member are the "previous" and "next" links that are now conveniently written underneath each member's name.

ADDED VALUE. By setting up an EzineRing, instead of simply participating in one, you've got a lot to gain. Sure, you'll have to organize and monitor the whole thing, but you can also identify yourself as the ring owner in both the text box and full list - these can be used to direct traffic back to your website. You can also, for example, reserve the odd ad space in your full list, to promote some of your affiliate links. You are limited only by the depths of your imagination ....

Marie Williams | marie@writead.com DISCOVER how you can publish your own successful ezine. We provide everything you need to build a newsletter: FREE ezine templates, FREE training, FREE tips, and ezine makeovers. PLUS, all NEW subscribers receive 5 FREE gifts. Get Absolute Ezines -- get all the ANSWERS! *** Subscribe TODAY: mailto:absolute@writead.com ***

If you are like most ezine publishers you want more ideas that work. But hold on a minute what about all the key strategies that you have overlooked?

1 Teamwork:

Hook up with a fellow publisher who does not compete directly with you. I do this to find out what really works. Share ideas and results. Brainstorm even by email and you will discover new ways to promote your newsletter that you will not have spotted before.

You could save yourself weeks or months of wasted effort if you know which strategy people are responding to today. And not what used to work last year when that guru wrote his expensive ebook with all the answers that were true back then.

For example, last week I learned from a fellow ezine writer that his new ecourse was taking off like a rocket. So, I have cancelled my plans to write another ebook and instead I am working on developing an ecourse. And when it comes to promoting my new ecourse I already know an expert I can check in with instead of spending weeks to learn what works best.

2 Help other ezine publishers to get what they want:

Spend time solving the problems that other ezine publishers face. For example, read their back issues and point out ways they can offer an even better product. If you can help them to get more subscribers you will be rewarded with your articles getting priority treatment and appearing in their upcoming issues.

Do these other publishers offer a free report to new subscribers? Ask if they would like one suitable for their audience and then produce one that focuses on your area of expertise. They get more subscribers by offering a truly useful report and you benefit by getting your byline in front of even more people.

Give first and you will be amazed at how receptive people are to working with you for mutual gain. You will immediately stand out from the crowd in a world where so many people always wants something without any consideration for the needs of the other person.

3 Use information as a bonus:

Write an ebook or ecourse with genuinely useful information and offer it to other ezine publishers. Let them use it as a special bonus to keep their existing subscribers coming back for more. They will also benefit from referrals when their readers pass on the newsletter to friends so that they too can read your ebook or ecourse.

Too many ezines are short on great articles they can use. There are plenty of articles available out there but very few high quality ones that you will use in your own ezine.

The same applies when ezine authors want to offer incentives to encourage their readers to buy their own information products. If you give publishers a high quality ebook or ecourse that they can bundle with their information product you will get your message out to a lot of people and very quickly.

These tactics could help you to build your ezine in ways you never considered before now. Test them for yourself and enjoy new success with your ezine.

Peter Murphy is a writer and ezine publisher. He has a number of information products that you are welcome to use to promote your ezine. For details send mailto:3infoproducts@sendfree.com

An ezine is an essential part of an online business.

But it is not enough just to offer a free subscription to your high quality ezine.

You need to offer something more. You need to make the decision to subscribe to your ezine really easy. Basically, you have to give away something else for free when someone subscribes to your ezine. You need to offer a bonus.

The 2 best bonuses to give subscribers when joining up to your regular ezine are a free ebook or a free email course.

1. Free Ebook

Give your subscribers a free ebook. If it is only 10 pages long then call it a free ebooklet or free special report. If it is more than 10 pages then call it a free ebook.

Also, make it really easy to get the free ebook. When subscribers subscribe to your ezine make sure an autoresponder goes back to them immediately with instructions on where to obtain the free ebook.

It is often the case that the free ebook enticed them into subscribing so make sure they can get their free ebook quickly and easily.

2. Free Email Course

Set up a free email course and offer it as a bonus for subscribing. Once again, make it available by autoresponder. Set it up so that the email course starts as soon as someone has subscribed.

Again, make it really easy. When they subscribe to the ezine, tell them they will start receiving the bonus email course immediately.

Unfortunately it is not enough to give away a free ezine just by itself. You have to give away a bonus as well and you have to make the bonus enticing.

With a free ebook or email course you can set it up automatically with an autoresponder so that once it is up and running there is no more work to do.

Using a bonus to get subscribers will certainly increase the number of subscribers you get. And that really is the objective for the ezine publisher – to get more subscribers!

David McKenzie is offering a Free Email Course “5 Tips to Being Successful with Affiliate Programs” ==> http://www.1sthomebasedbusiness.com Click now for your FREE course!

So you've decided to create an ezine! Congratulations. This is an excellent decision which will increase the odds that people will return to your website often (depending upon your publication schedule). Another very real (and often overlooked) benefit to running your own ezine is you get targeted traffic. People come to your web site because they are interested in what you've got to say, not because they randomly found your link on a search engine.

Before you put out your first issue you are faced with some decisions. Some of those are listed below, with pros and cons. Do you use HTML or text? - Text has the advantage that it is supported by any email client. Also, text is fully self-contained, meaning people can easily read your message whether or not they are connected to the internet. This can be an advantage is ensuring your ezine actually gets read.

HTML can be made to look better as you have much more control over formatting. You can also include graphics, sound and even multimedia. Note, however, that all of these elements must actually be stored elsewhere, which requires bandwidth and also means your message is more difficult to read offline. On the other hand, you can embed a banner or other graphic which can be used to determine how many people are actually reading your newsletter.

You can combine the best of both worlds by using stationary files, although this restricts your readership to people who have clients which can view them. Stationary files can come with their graphics self-contained, which allows offline reading, and they have all of the formatting capabilities of HTML.

Do you include outside advertising? - A major question, and it depends upon the purpose for your ezine. Some ezines are pure lists of ads - I believe these last about two seconds in your average inbox before being deleted. Why? Who needs a list of advertisements? We all get so much spam already that more ads just don't make sense to most people.

A better strategy is to provide some content, with lots of links back to your web site. You can then include advertisements interspersed with the articles, which increases the chances that they will be seen. If you get enough subscribers you can even sell advertising space if you do it this way.

Personally, I don't mind a few ads in an ezine. This is the same model that magazines in the real world use - advertising pays for the content. However, I like to see a ratio of 4 to 1 at least, content to advertising. You give me too many ads without adding value, and I will tend to delete the ezine or to unsubscribe entirely.

Do you include full articles, partial articles with links to your website or just links? - There are pros and cons to each method. Including full articles tends to make for very large newsletters. In addition, I've found that I am less likely to make it to the bottom of the ezine if there is a large amount of text. This is especially true if I run into an article which I do not find useful - in that case I am very likely to just delete the message without reading any more.

Partial articles is an excellent way to get people to read your ezine. By doing this, you allow them to see that there is, indeed, more to the message than just one article. Thus, they are less likely to stop reading if they find something which is not of interest. Of all the methods, I dislike lists of links the most. I find this confusing and I am entirely likely to just delete the ezine unread.

I think the best of all worlds is to combine all three methods in each ezine. I like to include partial articles with links right at the top of the ezine, where they are likely to be seen. Following those links, I generally include a couple of articles in full, generally reprints from my website. At the end, I include a number of useful links to articles and features which my readers may find of interest. If anyone makes it this far, they are, in my opinion, much more likely to click on a link than anyone else.

Do you include a table of contents? - If you've got a very long ezine, then it is probably a good idea to start with a table of contents. This makes a lot of sense if the ezine is in HTML format, as you can include hyperlinks to each article.

How wide should each line be? - Keep the line width at 60 to 65 characters.

How long should your ezine be? - The thing you need to consider here is that many people pick up their email over dialup connections. This means the same rules you use for web pages also applies to ezines. Keep your size down to under 100kb certainly, and under 30kb ideally. Remember, you are not trying to duplicate your web site in your ezine - you are trying to get people to come back to your web site.

It's also important to remember that the amount of email that people can store on their email server is limited, often to just a megabyte or so. If your ezine is too large you can take up space that they need for other email.

On the other hand, since you've taken the time to write to your audience don't cheat them with a three line ezine either. My feeling is if you cannot send at least a few pages of text, then don't bother. Do you include original content only? - My vote is to include mostly, if not all, original content in an ezine in most instances. Why? Well, when I sign up for an ezine, I am interested in the knowledge and opinions of the ezine publisher (usually a single person or a small group). Unless the third-party articles are very well focused, I am very likely to delete or unsubscribe if there is not enough original content. This also holds true of websites - I will probably not visit a web site a second time if the only thing it contains is regurgitated content.

This does not mean you should not include articles by other authors. It just means you need to be careful that what you do publish is of interest to your readers and has not appeared on every other site and ezine on the web.

Do you post an archive of newsletters on your web site? - Yes. Why? Because you've gone through some work to create your ezine and you can get more use out of it still by putting it on your web site. First, by including an archive you add credibility, especially as the archive grows. It shows that your newsletter is indeed published on a regular basis. Second, you can post the newsletter as a web page (convert it to HTML if it is a text ezine), add some keywords and you've added yet another page for search engines to find. This is a great way to pick up visitors.

How do you allow people to opt-out? - Include a link on your page, generally at the bottom. If someone clicks the link they are opted out. For your own sake, don't make it complicated for people to leave your mailing list - if you do, you will get reported as a spammer. You can also allow people to send a return email with "REMOVE" or "UNSUBSCRIBE". Personally, I prefer a link. However, it is a good idea to allow both methods to work as some people will simply reply with REMOVE no matter who you explain it to them.

This is such an important point that I will make it again. You MUST ensure that it is easy for someone to opt-out of your ezine. A single click or a reply to an email, that's all it should take. Do not require them to do any more. Otherwise, you are taking the chance that you will be reported as a spammer.

What is the mechanism for signing up? - I like a double opt-in system. What this means is someone subscribes on my web site via a web page. They enter their email address and click submit. Now an email is sent to their email address, which they must respond to in order to be added to the list. This makes absolutely sure that a person not only wants to subscribe, but that the email address is indeed his email address. This is about as safe as you can get.

Another method (which I use for my daily tips ezine) is to use an autoresponder. If you wanted to receive my newsletter you would send an email to my autoresponder address. This also ensures that the ezine is sent only to someone who wants it, since you must send it from the desired email address. For more information on autoresponders see http://www.themestream.com/articles/332918.html

Any other advice? Don't wait. The sooner you start promoting and sending out your ezine, the sooner you will get return visitors.

Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets. This website includes over 1,000 free articles to improve your internet profits, enjoyment and knowledge. Web Site Address: http://www.internet-tips.net Weekly newsletter: http://www.internet-tips.net/joinlist.htm Daily Tips: internet-tips@GetResponse.com

Formatting Your Ezine by windsong

One of the common problems faced by ezine editors is being able to format their ezine so that it does not get screwed up when sent out.

So what causes the formatting information to be changed when your ezine is received by your subscribers?

There are many different email programs and they all interpret the email text they receive slightly differently. Some email programs automatically word-wrap lines at a set number of characters, others do not. Some will use a different character font and font size from the original text.

The biggest problem an ezine editor faces is trying to compensate for different font types. A font type determines how much space a character occupies and how close it is to a neighbouring character.

Always use monospaced fonts, or fixed fonts. Otherwise, your text may tend to grow when emailed. In other words the line gets longer. This effect is caused because these characters, known as variable fonts, can occupy a different amount of space making fixed alignment of text very difficult. Fixed fonts all have the same amount of space.

The next thing to avoid is using tabs to align lines of text. This will cause you alignment problems. The best way around this is to always manually insert the number of spaces you require and the incidents of major formatting problems will be reduced.

When it comes to line lengths never use lines longer than 65 characters. Email programs will wrap lines at different lengths but the majority are probably set to wrap at 65. To control where your lines wrap, always use a hard break. This forces the email program displaying your text to wrap a line at that point unless the user has set it to a shorter length. I prefer to use a line length of 60 characters.

When creating your ezine, always use a text editor such as notepad. Do not use Word to compose your ezine. You will have more problems than you want to deal with. It will lose all formatting when you paste it into the email composition window.

So to summarize... follow these simple rules:

1. Always use a fixed or monospaced font.

2. Do not use the tab key to align lines of text.

3. Always insert a hard break at the end of each line.

4. Keep your line lengths to a maximum of 65 characters.

5. Always use a simple text editor.

If you follow these rules the majority of your subscribers will receive your ezine formatted as you intended it.

----------------------------------------- Copyright © 2002, windsong http://marketing-resources.com/ Subscribe to windsong's free ezine, "All About E-Zines" and you will learn about writing, publishing, building a subscriber base, and so much more. Send blank email: mailto:AllAboutE-Zines-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Windsong is a recognized author, publisher and editor with followers from many countries worldwide.

One of the questions I am most often asked is how to format ezines. I always use TextPad for these, to format articles and a multitude of other email offerings. This software *fixes* hard line breaks so that everything comes out looking neat. It's a tool I would be lost without.

(You can get a free download of the evaluation version here: http://www.textpad.com/ This is fully working.)

I found it a little confusing to configure at first and had to ask for instructions, so here they are for you in case you haven't found the *secret* yet ...

1. From the top menubar pick Configure, then Preferences

2. A box will have poped up. In there, choose Document Classes (Click the little + to the left of that category to expand it.)

3. Next click on the word "Text" within the list of choices in that section.

4. The right hand part of the box should now have changed. You should see a place at the bottom right there where it says "Word break at column number"

5. Click to put a tick in the box to the left of that statement.

6. Type 60, 65 or however many characters per line you wish in the little box to the right of the statement. 65 is probably "industry standard". I like 60.

7. Click OK

You should now be set up correctly.

In use, there are a couple of other things you need to be aware of:

1. To make the formatting work in each individual document, you need to depress (to the IN position) the little button that is along the second to top row of the menubars. It looks like a "squiggle" or an S backwards.

If, for instance, you have pasted in some text that was previously formatted at more than your set number of characters, it will then instantly show up the "funny" breaks, which you can manually correct, or it will automatically format the new text you type.

2. Also, and this may seem obvious, but you MUST save the document in TextPad first to *fix* in the breaks, before you copy and paste the text to either your email program or your online message posting box for your ezine distribution.

Saving adds necessary, but invisible to you, code for the hard line breaks. If you do not save your work first, it will look right to you in TextPad, but will not be right when it is sent by email.

Happy Formatting!

Ezine Assistant is a program you can use as an alternative, if you really cant get along with TextPad. That also has facilities for setting the line breaks. You can grab a copy from: http://tucats.virtualave.net/eza2_0.exe

There is also an online formatting facility: FormatIt: http://www.jbmckee.com/formatit/index.html

For a great online tutorial on formatting, which also has screenshots on how to use TextPad: http://www.marketing-seek.com/hop/format.shtml

Pamela Heywood publishes TuCats Mewsletter (online business) mailto:tucats@sendfree.com and Ezine Advertising Classifieds Zine mailto:eacz@sendfree.com (free ads). She is one of the successful publishers featured in "50 E-zine Publishers Interviewed" http://www.tucats-design.com/interviews

What would an influx of a several thousand new ezine subscribers do to your profit margin over the next two months? If you've got a worthwhile product and a site that sells, you could easily quadruple your profits!

So how do you build your subscriber base? I want to suggest four *Joint Venture* strategies that really work. A joint venture is an arrangement where two or more people trade on their resources for the mutual benefit of all. Here's how such marketing strategies might work for ezine publishers.

1. JOINT VENTURE YOUR KNOWLEDGE

One of the most poorly kept secrets Internet marketing is that if you write content for your ezine and submit it to other editors, many of them will accept it for publication. Fresh and valuable information is a hot commodity for among ezine editors.

In return you (the author) will benefit from having a free resource box of about seven lines to advertise your ezine and/or other product.

It this strategy productive? Most definitely! Over the last four weeks I have distributed two fresh articles to other ezine editors. At last count these two articles have earned me nearly 500,000 FREE ezine impressions. One ezine contained over 150,000 subscribers. Within six hours after this issue hit the Internet my subscriber count had increased by over 400.

2. JOINT VENTURE YOUR ENTIRE EZINE

Here's a very novel idea that works wonders. Create a "Joint Venture Publishing Partnership" with a fellow ezine. Find an ezine that targets an audience your products are geared to attract. Then propose the deal. Suggest to the editor that your cross publish your ezine to other's lists.

Most shrewd ezine editors will jump at this chance. It will provide them with a brand new audience for their work (and you too). Don't worry--both of you will be especially motivated to make this issue you best ever--in order to attract more subscribers to your respective list.

3. JOINT VENTURE YOUR SUBSCRIPTION PAGE

On one of my sites I have joined eight other popular ezine publishers in a neat joint venture that has literally doubled my weekly new subscriptions. Whenever a person subscribes to any of these ezines on their respective domain, they are immediately transported to a co-opt page that lists all the other ezines in this fraternal relationship.

4. JOINT VENTURE YOUR SUBSCRIBER CONTESTS

Contests are very popular means of attracting traffic to your site. Recently, however, several ezine editors developed a very creative way to use contests to increase their respective subscriber base.

Combined these editors (who publish what I believe are the very best marketing ezine on the Internet) could provide over 100,000 powerful ad impressions for one lucky winner. Their strategy was to create a single page where subscribers to register for the prize by subscribing to each list.

Next they invited webmasters and other ezine editors to advertise their exclusive subscriber site. Those who advertised would automatically be considered for a special weekly contest drawing. This system is one of the best joint venture arrangements I have ever seen. You can check it out at http://www.ezinehits.com/Nieport.htm

Dr. Bill Nieporte is editor of "The Success In Life Newsletter" and webmaster of http://ezinesuccess.com SPECIAL NOTICE: Free To Our Readers - We want to let you know about an "internet marketing guru" who has earned an extra $2,000,000 with his unusual no-risk "Instant Cash Flow" system... Go to: http://www.ezinesuccess.com/innercircle/index.html

Add Swapping for free with other new letters and ezines. Add swapping is a great way to be seen on the net. I hope you will have a better understanding of the need and the importance of good advertising by the end of this article. It's helped us to get noticed.

If you're already making money hand over fist then you know alot of the many secrets of e business. There are those who haven't a clue though when it comes to successful ezine. I know I was once one of the many.

After several failed attempts to gain support I made the switch to free advertising. That's right free! Why free? Well keep reading to learn about this well kept secret.

There are several sites who would love nothing more than to place a simple 3 line entry in a well placed ezine. We here at Cameo Clothes News provide that to all new ezines. In return we have our add placed in theirs as well. This is much like the old banner exchanges, you show mine and I'll show yours. Difference is IT'S ALL FOR FREE.

With the Opt In email you have your target gathered already, they've come to you directly. These are people who have signed up for, and have already been part of an ongoing ezine, the other nice part about it, it's absolutelutly painless to you. Remember nothing ventured nothing gained. By sharing space you have all there is to gain, exposure.

By now your wondering how you find these great lists right? Well, we stumbled across a site long ago that had several exe files available that explained much of what I'm telling your now, and best of all, it was you guessed it FREE information. Care to learn more you can.

I would love to charge money for this information but just like others out there. I believe this should be readily available just for the asking. That's why I have no problem with telling you these great tips. http://cameoclothes.com/ezine.htm is the answer to your ezine questions. We have all the files available for downloading right now.

Ok you're still confused about why free and not for money right? Remember when you first started out and you signed up for every conceivable new letter that you thought would help you get to where you are today? Well, these same new starters are in that very same spot now. By not only helping them you've helped your own self by getting your add in front of your competition faster and more often with less time spent.

I can't stress it enough, It's just that simple. So work on a standard 3 line add keep it simple and start sending it out to everyone on the list now. You can get updates as well and offer your space every month. Who knows by next month you'll have more traffic than you'll know what to do with. ------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's another tip not many people consider to gather new subscribers. Using web forms are a great way to meet your visitors and guests who come into your site. Alot of the older sites already know this technique. As much as we hate spam mail we are subject to it by simply listing with that site.

You can do virtually the same thing with your form by using an auto responder. If your site doesn't have that much traffic coming in then you simply can use the email address gained from your forms an send out a "Canned" letter about your ezine through your ezine host. To simplify this use your email template feature and then copy and paste to your hosts invitation area. You'll want to use your subscribe address in the TO: block also. If you wish to add it in the body of the letter itself then be sure proceed it with mailto: this will then make your address a hypertext link for your readers to use.

Be sure to also include a REMOVE address as well generally remove@website.com works well if you have an alias option from your web host. If not you can open a free mail account to handle this mail and then delete the names as they come in if need be.

Keep a separate list of the addresses in your email program of all your contacts and periodically compare it to the subscribers. Resend these people an invitation in a few days explaining why your ezine is the best for them to join.

Good Luck with your subscriptions and happy ezining

Bob Hansen is the editor and webmaster for the following sites and has been doing it now for well over 6 yrs. His knowledge and expert advice has helped many new web designers bring in more traffic than they thought possible. Cameo Clothes News - http://cameoclothes.listbot.com Renaissance Costumes & Wedding attire http://cameoclothes.co

Free ezine advertising has been with us for some time now. As the ezine explosion continues, publishers are scrambling to keep pace in the battle for new subscribers.

Freebies have become the order of the day.

Free Ebooks

Free Software

Free Training Courses

Free Advertising

This has created an extremely favorable environment for subscribers. They can pick and choose from the freebies of their choice.

Many have hopped on the Free Ezine Advertising Bandwagon. But as the Free ads became more common place, Free Ezine advertising began to lose it's pulling power.

Sure you could draw a lot of leads if you posted enough to ezines, but the process is time consuming and still doesn't come close to the pulling power of paid advertising.

You had the choice of either spending time or money. If you were short on cash you had to spend the time.

Now that's all changed. Imagine getting Free Paid advertising.

I know what you're thinking, "John that's a contradiction."

Guess What?

It's not!

There's a new system that will help the average marketer earn Free sponsor and solo advertising.

The scramble for new subscribers has created an opportunity for you to cash in.

If you have a list of contacts or an extremely active downline you can take advantage of Free Paid Advertising!

How does it work?

Publishers looking for new subscribers are paying readers in advertising credits for referring new subscribers.

It's a win - win situation.

The publisher gets a wider circulation and you earn Free sponsor and solo advertising.

You can put your advertising into high gear, absolutely Free.

If you'd like to see how this system works visit: http://www.listpartners.com/cgi-local/addpartner?360

It truly is Free Ezine Advertising on Steroids!

Wishing You Success

John Colanzi publishes the "Street Smart Marketing". To subscribe mailto:ezmailer-subscribe@listbot.com If you'd like to see how John uses this strategy to make money in network marketing visit: http://johncolanzi.com/cash.html

You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated.

From Ezine to Expert

By Francine Silverman

When my first guidebook, Catskills Alive, was published in 2000, I became interested in book promotion. I read everything I could get my hands on but found there was very little written on how to market books. Most of the articles were on business marketing – products and services. So last March I decided to start a free on-line newsletter, suspecting that I’d found a niche. My hunch proved right. The ezine has grown from 10 subscribers to well over 1050 in nine months and the number continues to grow every day.

Told that I could not expect advertisers until I reached 1000, I haven’t made much money so far. Even though the list has exceeded the magic number, the only advertisers have been subscribers and it’s been sporadic. But I am hoping that as the subscription list grows, so will the advertisers.

Profits aside, the newsletter was the best idea I have ever had. My subscribers look forward to the bi-weekly ezine and my ego is constantly stroked with rave reviews. Moreover, subscribers view me as an expert on everything. One asked if I knew any publishers for his baseball book. Another thought that because I live in New York City I have an “in” in the publishing industry. Yet they do more for me than I do for them. Whenever I’ve written to them asking for help – in finding more subscribers or building my website – my mailbox has been flooded with offers of assistance.

A key to my newsletter’s success is that it’s interactive. I e-mail a Q&A to new subscribers and use the best responses as fodder for the text. In this way, subscribers really write the newsletter and look forward to seeing their names and website addresses in print. I also answer every e-mail and use the newsletter to accommodate subscribers who wish to promote their seminars or are seeking answers. I also honor those whose books have won awards.

If you have a business and want it to grow, a newsletter is the answer. First and foremost, you must have a user-friendly website, which you can advertise in every issue. (Remember, it’s YOUR newsletter). As Tom Person wrote in “Starting a Newsletter,” http://www.laughingbear.com/128_newsletter.html, “nothing has come close to my website for drawing attention to my letter.”

You’ll first need to find a theme – preferably one that is not overused. (I read that there are more than 10,000 different newsletters in this country today). To find a niche, draw up a list of questions and hand them out to customers. Ask them what products they would like you to carry, or services you should add. Put yourself in their shoes. Then use the best responses in your ezine.

If writing is not your forte, the Internet is filled with websites offering articles for free – as long as you print them as written, with attribution. Here are a few sites to get you started:

http://www.work911.com/articles.htm is geared to managers and focuses on business communication.

http://www.bizweb2000.com/articles.htm focuses on Internet marketing and web business promotion. If you’re a local business, scroll down to the article entitled “Has Website Promotion Gone Local” for tips on getting your site noticed.

http://www.workz.com bills itself as “the premier small business portal” and is another good site for articles on promoting a web business.

http://www.bizoffice.com is the Small & Home Based Business Library covering business subjects from A to Z. Click “Biz Office Library” on the right.

http://www.marketingbestpractices.com/articles.htm is for small businesses. The article “Internet Marketing for Local Small Businesses” by David Frey contains some really great ideas on promotion.

Be sure to familiarize yourself with the different methods of registering subscribers and e-mailing the newsletter. It’s a good idea to use a third party mailing list service to do this for you. I use http://www.mailermailer.com, which is free until you reach 500 subscribers – then charges $29.95/month. There are several free mailing list hosts, but like anything free, there are restrictions. Christopher Cheng’s article, “Starting Your Own Newsletter or Ezine” at http://www.thesitewizard.com/archive/newsletter.shtml has links to his reviews of various free mailing list services.

As publisher of a newsletter, you will become a guru of your industry. Customers will endow you with expertise and seek out your advice. However, keeping a newsletter fresh takes time and effort. If your business is important to you, you have probably given it your all. A newsletter requires the same kind of devotion.

Francine Silverman is editor/publisher of Book Promotion Newsletter, a free ezine for authors of all genres. http://www.bookpromotionnewsletter.com.Her two guidebooks are Catskills Alive (second edition) and Long Island Alive, both published in 2003 by Hunter Publishing. www.nystatetravel.com.

DON'T SELL OUT! So many ezines are basically just one big "buy me" ad - content and care over presentation a mere afterthought. You probably know the type I mean. And, if you've any sense, you'll stick these "sales brochures" right where they belong - in the recycle bin.

BE A SELL-OUT! If you hope to make any money out of your publication, or if you're looking to increase its profitability, you'll need to follow the best B's in selling:

1) BONDING. Who are your subscribers? Who is your ezine aimed at? If your ezine's a teen-zine, you will need to know the latest *in* words and expressions. If your ezine is for newbies, you'll need to offer simple and clear explanations. And, if you're aiming at the business market, your ezine should have a pristine presentation while the content will need to be both professional and to the point. You have to *know* your potential customer - before you try and sell.

2) BASICS. Keep your ezine simple. Stick to plain text. Yes, you can create an ezine with a variety of fonts, graphics, and formatting options, but why bother when roughly 50% of all email users only have access to plain text compatible email clients? And instead of your nicely centred and bright red heading is an unintelligible line of code - hardly what you'd planned!

I use TextPad to write my ezine. It's a great little piece of shareware software. You can download it here: http://www.textpad.com/ . You need to configure the word-wrap between 55-65 characters per line to ensure that all email clients can read your text perfectly - just the way you intended!

By keeping your ezine neat and simple, you'll ensure that your subscribers focus more on the content - and on what you have to offer.

3) BENEFITS. When your subscribers read your ezine, they are constantly thinking "What's in it for me?" I know because I think exactly the same thing. You must ensure that your ezine answers this question from start to finish.

Don't be self-centred, be customer-centred. If you constantly drone on about yourself, chances are that you'll bore half of your subscribers and have the other half clicking on the unsubscribe link. You need to focus on exactly what your subscribers want.

Deliver benefits in your ezine, one after the other. Your subscribers aren't interested, for example, in an ezine that contains 1 article formatted to 55 characters per line - these are features. But they are interested in an article that will show them exactly how to gain 149 new subscribers per day, especially when the formatted text makes it easy to read - these are benefits.

Pack your ezine with benefits, and your subscribers will stick around long enough to read your sales message.

4) BULLETS. Bullets are a great way of breaking down large chunks of text. Most of your readers will scan through your ezine looking for points of interest. Large "text-dumps" make your ezine an unpleasant and tiresome read; bulleted lists get information across quickly and effortlessly.

5) BUILD. In order to sell, you must build a foundation to sell upon. Build a good relationship with your subscribers. Invite them to ask you questions and to give you feedback. Answer promptly and efficiently when they contact you. Don't ignore their message. Many Internet Marketers have lost their credibility simply from failing to reply to my feedback - they've also lost out on sales from me and on recommendations to my own subscribers. It only takes a few moments of your time to thank your subscribers - a few moments that can literally be worth their weight in gold.

GIVE AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE. Your focus needs to be on helping your subscribers rather than selling to your subscribers. By concentrating purely on the needs and wants of your subscribers, you have created an ezine that can't fail to make sales. If you want to get, you have to give. Check your ezine today - and make sure that it hasn't passed its sell-by date.

Marie Williams | marie@writead.com DISCOVER how you can publish your own successful ezine. We provide everything you need to build a newsletter: FREE ezine templates, FREE training, FREE tips, and ezine makeovers. PLUS, all NEW subscribers receive 5 FREE gifts. Get Absolute Ezines -- get all the ANSWERS! *** Subscribe TODAY: mailto:absolute@writead.com ***

It's getting harder and harder to build a decent subscription base for your ezine.

In the old days, two or three years ago, word of mouth and other free methods were enough to build your list. But now there is so much competition that people are already suffering from ezine overload.

One way - and the best way if you can write well and quickly - is to submit articles to ezines and websites. But writing well is not something all of us can do.

But one other sure-fire way to get new readers is pay for them. Call it advertising if you like.

We all know that advertising works. The big companies are the ones that spend most on advertising and marketing. The bigger the promotional budget the bigger the sales. When I was in England the other week I read that Walkers Crisps became the countries biggest selling potato chip last year by spending around $500 million dollars on advertising. Do you think they'd have reached that coveted number one spot without spending big on advertising? Of course they wouldn't.

It stands to reason that if you advertise your ezine heavily you're going to get a lot more subscribers than if your ezine remains a little known secret.

( though whether you retain the new subscribers you "buy" depends on the quality of your publication )

Here's what to do:

1. Decide how much you can afford to spend on promotional activities...on marketing/advertising. Set aside a budget for buying advertising - whether it's a percentage of the income you make from your web site, or just money you can afford to set aside by quitting smoking or something. You also need to work out how much a new subscriber is worth. Here's a clip from Ken Evoy's brilliant Sales From The Edge ezine, which you can subscribe to http://salesnow.sitesell.com

_________________

"Before forking out any money, always think of what you can get in return first (sorry, I'm a mercenary guy here). So ask yourself... if you pay GoTo.com $x per click-through, how much profit can you get in return?

Confused? A little math will clear things up in a jiffy...

Suppose you are selling a digital product (i.e., zero incremental per-unit cost of production) at $50, and you have a 1% conversion ratio, i.e., you make one sale for every 100 visitors. So one visitor is worth $0.50 ($50/100), and that is the maximum amount you should bid at GoTo.com for each keyword. We will call this your BID CAP."

_________________

Of course, if you're not selling a product, just giving away an ezine, you need to look at it a little differently. A simple way is to add up your monthly advertising income + affiliate program sales income and divide it by the number of subscribers. If you make $500 a month from 2000 subscribers then each subscriber is worth 25 cents. ( though if they stay subscribers they will be worth a whole lot more over time ).

2. Buy spots on Goto and similar pay-per-clickthro search engines. I've listed a few on the Goto pages I put up at http://www.ozemedia.com/goto.htm You'll also find links to some great Goto keyword tools

3. Buy advertising in other ezines. You can find a lot of info on this at Ruth Townsend's Directory of Ezines at http://www.lifestylespub.com

4. Running an affiliate program where you pay people to send subscribers to you. Two ezines that do this are Bizbot and Web Promote. I'm not sure how well this works though. I signed up for their affiliate programs maybe a year ago, but I've never received a check from either of them so I guess I haven't sent many people their way.

5. Directly paying for subscribers. A number of web sites have sprung up which act as newsletter subscription points. The details of your ezine are entered into their databases and a subscription form to your ezine is placed on their web site. You then pay them for each subscriber they send your way.

Most of them charge between 8 and 15 cents for every new subscriber they get you. And it can work out to be expensive. With Newsletters For Free you have to agree to pay for 3000 at $300 a month, if they can produce that many subscribers for you.

One thing to think about before you start using these services, is that when people find your ezine through one of these sites the unsubscribe rates may well be higher than usual. This is because people often just check a number of subscribe boxes, then later realize they've got too much mail, and go back and tick the unsubscribe boxes.

The best way to avoid people leaving your newsletter is to put out a quality publication.

List World

List World will get you subscribers for $0.15 each. You can elect to receive them as individual emails or they can be added via email commands directly to your list server. http://www.listworld.net/

Newsletters For Free

Newsletters for Free charge you 10cents a subscriber. It's a good professional site with plenty of traffic. The downside is that you have to agree to pay for at least 3000 a month if they can send you that many. You can elect to have new subscribers sent to you daily, weekly, or monthly, and you should elect to get them daily. If someone signs up and doesn't get a welcome letter from you for weeks then they might think you're spamming them. http://www.newslettersforfree.com/

Best Newsletters

This site used to charge you $15 a month for 100 subscribers. If they didn't get you 100 new people you didn't pay, but now they've changed to charging a fee of 8 cents a subscriber. http://www.bestnewsletters.com/

Cumili

This one works differently by billing you a yearly fee of $100, but you can reduce this to just $30 if you run two newsletter adverts for them, plus link to them in your "thanks for subscribing"letter. http://Cumuli.com/

You can find a lot of excellent information on building your ezine list, on how to set ad rates, on how to judge the value of a subscriber - and a lot more - at http://www.ezine-tips.com

Phil Wiley All the Secrets Marketing and Free Publicity Newsletter http://www.ozemedia.com

You have a website which offers a free ezine. Your visitors are interested in the products and services that you offer. So why doesn't everyone sign up to receive your free information?

So far, internet professionals have been able to narrow the reasons to fear of the unknown, extra work, no time, lack of trust, and 'pain-in-the-butt' factor. What does each of these mean and what can you do to ensure that you are getting as many sign ups as possible?

Fear of the unknown. When a visitor fills out a form and clicks on the submit button he/she has no idea where they will end up. Some forms redirect them to another website, some to a thank you page that leaves the visitor hopelessly lost and others to an ERROR page. So why do some visitors hesitate to fill out forms? Fear of the unknown.

Extra work. As a website marketer, I would like to know each of my customer's first name, last name, email address, telephone number, fax number, postal address, likes and dislikes and lots of other information. This way I can market to them more effectively. If I were to ask potential subscribers to my newsletter for all of the information that I would like, do you think they would take the time to fill out a 50 part sign up form? Not likely. It involves too much extra work.

No time. No one has time to waste these days. We don't have time to sleep, don't have enough time for the kids, don't have time for the spouse and certainly don't have time to fill out a form to receive a newsletter that we don't have time to read in the first place.

So our challenge as internet marketers is to persuade our potential subscribers that this is 'must have' information that is easy to get, and doesn't take a lot of time to read.

Lack of trust. The internet is a faceless, almost anonymous way of doing business. You have to build a trust level with your visitor in the shortest time possible. If your website has minimal information about you, your location, or your company and doesn't look 100% professional, it is hard to build up a trust level with your visitor. They are not sure what you will do with the information that they give you. You have to overcome their lack of trust.

Pain in the butt factor. And after all that, there's still the pain in the butt factor. It is just more convenient for a visitor to sit on their butt and surf, not having to fill out a form, think, or use their head for anything else except relaxing. If they have to put some work into it, well it's just a pain in the butt.

So how do we, as internet business owners, overcome all of these objections and turn our surfer into a subscriber? Here it is. The list of sure fire ways to get a respectable number of your visitors to sign up for your newsletter.

1.Ensure your potential subscriber that they will be returned to the page they are on, or at least be able to easily find their way back. Tell them right there in your sign up area. Give them a message such as "You will be returned to this page after signing up for this newsletter"

2. Make your sign up form quick and easy. In this first phase of capturing information, limit the fields to first name, last name and email address. You will have plenty of time to ask your subscribers for more detailed information as you build up a trust level with them.

3. Give your readers high quality information. Make sure that they feel you respect their time and are there to help them. Keep your newsletter short and easy to digest at one sitting.

4. To overcome the surfer's lack of trust, ensure them that you will not give out, sell, or trade their information with third parties. Make sure you tell them this right in the area where they are signing up for your newsletter. This helps build their trust level and makes them feel comfortable in giving you their information.

5. And then there are some things that none of us can overcome. If you have done your best to ensure your potential subscriber that your intentions are true, you haven't asked for too much information and you've supplied them with the information we've just covered, that's all you can do. Not everyone will sign up, but you've given it your best shot, the rest is up to your visitor.

6. And this may be the clincher. Bribe them to fill out the form! Give them a FREE ebook, a FREE report, FREE access, or whatever you have that can sweeten the deal. This is very basic, but it is common internet practice and it works.

By implementing these six steps in your newsletter marketing you will increase your number of subscribers which will in turn increase your ability to sell more ads and thereby increase your profits.

May you profit in all of your endeavours.

Terry Telford is the author of the popular ebook, Website Ladder, and the founder of bpc publishing, where you can pick up your FREE and almost FREE website marketing tools. Visit http://www.bpcpublishing.com today!

Up until this point, we discussed the two methods of using ezine advertising, playing the numbers, and targeting. Then, we focused on targeting by discussing how to select ezines based on content and audience, and how to analyze those selected for the best advertising value.

Now, finally, we come down to the actual cost of purchased advertising. How much is affordable and what is too much?

As I said in part three of this series, it just depends. I don't mean to give a misleading answer with that statement, nor do I mean to skirt around the subject. It's just that price is a subjective item that revolves around the product or opportunity you are promoting and the ezine you are promoting in.

So, while I cannot give you a simple rule to follow, I can give you a way to analyze the cost. However, there are still a BUNCH of other factors that I'll bring up afterward.

First, let's use the term 'ad hits' to describe the number of people that view your ad in an ezine and then answer it by either going to the site you want them to or emailing to you or your auto responder.

Now, look at the following formula:

(# subscribers) x (% response) = Expected Ad Hits

Example:

1000 subscribers x 3% = 30

>From there, naturally, it depends on how many sales you get from the ad hits you receive and how much money you make per sale. Getting 1 sale out of 30 hits is a 3.33% sales ratio.

Now, if you can do at least that, consider how much you make per sale as opposed to how much the ad cost you. If you make $10 per sale and the ad to 1000 subscribers only cost you $5, then there's your profit of $5.

So essentially the equation you need to use is this one:

Income for the ad =

(# subs) x (% response from ezine) x (sales % from site) x ($ made per sale)

If that number is of greater value than the cost of the ad, then it's good. Of course, all of this is assuming you have an ad tracking system in place so you can see the results of your advertising in different ezines. If you don't, then either you advertise in only one ezine at a time so you can track your results, or you make groups based on ezines that are similar and you track your results as you go through different groups. This may be done by counting hits at your site, or merely by seeing what results in sales.

Obviously, ad tracking can give you more data to work with as far as seeing which ezines are getting you results. However, that can be another expense you must figure into the cost of your advertising.

So, that's it as far as figuring out whether or not advertising is worth the cost a particular ezine is asking, right?

Not hardly. Here's the deal.

In all my reading, I've seen most writers say you can expect .5% to 3% response from an ezine, and occasionally get up to 5% or higher even depending on certain factors. I have no problem with those numbers.

What we have talked about before now becomes vitally important. If you've done your job right and selected the best ezines based on appropriate content and audience, and analyzed them to determine the best ones to advertise in, then you should have no problem getting the 3% response rate. Plus, repeat advertising in the same ezine can get you a higher overall response rate as the ad keeps drawing hits from different people each time it's seen. Naturally, then, you have to compare the cost of the repeated ad to the number of additional hits it creates. However, often ezines have package deals that reduce the cost per issue if you buy an ad for multiple issues.

>From here, you also have other questions to answer.

Is targeting ezines worth my time or should I just play the numbers and buy bulk ads?

Is my ad going to be effective and pull the responses I am seeking?

Is my sales site going to get the sales I expect after I get visitors there?

Does what I make from sales over the cost of my ads also cover the other expenses of my business so that I make a profit overall?

This series focused solely on how to use ezine advertising. However, as you can see there are other factors to be considered. My goal with this series was not to provide you with all the answers on how to do everything. I can't do that anyway. I do hope, however, that I've enlightened you to the choices you do have and started you to thinking about what is going to work best for you.

It's not always simple, but there are things you can do to improve you chances at success. I hope you've learned some of those things with these articles.

Joe Bingham, Editor of the NetPlay Newsletters Subscribe to 1 of 3 Quality NetPlay Ezines, See which one fits you at: http://www.netplaynewsletters.com Need To Publish Your Own Ezine? I'll Write It For You and Show You How to Make It Successful! http://www.netplaynewsletters.com/publisher.html

Just for the sake of avoiding an argument, let's just say that ezine advertising is the best form of advertising on the Internet.

Now, let's move on to learning how to more properly make use of the advertising available in ezines.

Essentially, and this holds true for all Internet marketing, you have two options to choose from.

OPTION #1 -- Playing The Numbers

The Internet in general is a numbers game. So long as what you are advertising is worth anything at all, there are going to be people interested in it. One option you have is simply to get an effective ad out to as many people as possible.

This option, while it's less time consuming, is also less targeted and requires more subscriber views per response than using targeted ezine advertising.

The best approach for this method is to take advantage of many of the bulk ad buying programs being offered.

Subscriber/Ad Programs are low cost methods of getting your ad exposed to dozens of ezines and hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Some of the best of these include:

2 Bucks An Ad http://hop.clickbank.net/hop.cgi?phage/paaads

2 Dollar Ads http://hop.clickbank.net/?phage/dollarday

$10 for 20 Ads http://hop.clickbank.net/?phage/CashGalore

Other programs exist that do not require you to subscribe to the ezines your ad will be placed in, but still cover multiple ezines and many thousands of subscribers. Examples include:

Ad Mistress $30 Column Ad available from any ezine participating in the program. See http://www.webventurist.com for instance.

Ad Mark Ad Sheet also available in multiple ezines and claims to be sent to over 2.5 million readers. Try this one: http://www.shopmystate.com/logon/12-09-01/index-2.html

The point of these programs being that your ad is immediately presented to many thousands of subscribers at once.

The drawback to these programs is that you have little control over which ezines your ads will be seen in, nor the timing of when your ad runs. This could lead to your ad being featured in ezines of an entirely different subject matter, and also makes ads that pertain to timed events or schedules difficult to deal with.

Again, the whole point to this approach is simply pushing for the largest numbers possible in hopes of achieving results.

OPTION #2 -- Targeting Your Advertising

While this approach takes more work, the idea is that since the advertising is targeted it will achieve more response per subscriber view and therefore be more cost effective.

The work involved in this approach lies in selecting the best ezines to run your ad in. This involves searching out appropriate ezines, researching ad rates and subscriber bases for those ezines, and talking with the editors or advertising agents for the ezines in question.

Selecting ezines for advertising will be the focus of the next article in this series due out next week at this time. Then we will cover the subject in more detail and relate how best to get the job done.

Joe Bingham, Editor of the NetPlay Newsletters Subscribe to 1 of 3 Quality NetPlay Ezines, See which one fits you at: http://www.netplaynewsletters.com Need To Publish Your Own Ezine? I'll Write It For You and Show You How to Make It Successful! http://www.netplaynewsletters.com/publisher.html

ANALYZING EZINES

After having selected ezines to advertise your program in based on how the content of the ezines relate to what you wish to advertise, there is still another process to choosing the best ezines for your marketing dollars.

Analyzing the ezines is a rather subjective process, however. There are no hard and fast rules to follow that give you a clear indication of whether or not an ezine is worth the cost. However, there is an information gathering process that can help you to make better decisions.

AD FORMATTING

One important aspect is how ads are handled in the ezine itself. Where are the ads located in the ezine? Are they made visible by being placed directly between or at the start of the articles, or are they pushed all to the end of the ezine or published separately in an ad sheet?

How many ads are run in each issue? Are the headlines of the ads offset to attract attention, are the ads separated in some way from each other, or does the entire ad section look like one big chunk of text?

Naturally, anything the ezine publisher does to give visibility to the ads is a plus for you as an advertiser.

SUBSCRIBERS: Who Are They and Where Did They Come From?

Don't be afraid to contact the editor, publisher, or advertising agent of an ezine and ask them some questions. Find out not only how many subscribers they have, but get their opinion of what type of markets their subscribers are interested in, AND how they get their subscribers.

Some marketing practices, such as automatically subscribing people that post to an FFA or ad site, may pull a lot of subscribers for an ezine, but result in very little readers. Ads for subs programs also have mixed results. Some stick around and read the ezine, but many don't. The best subscribers are those that are completely volunteer opt in readers.

However, many ezines use multiple means of gaining subscribers and while some use not so great methods, they may also clean their lists of non-responsive subscribers regularly. That's why it is best to ask and make a judgment based on the answer you receive. This may take some practice and trial and error, but at least if you have the information you are giving yourself something to learn from. So, ask where, how, and what type of subscribers the ezine has. Ask how effectively they retain subscribers as well. That is a good indication of many subscribers are reading the ezine and viewing it as worthwhile.

FREE vs. PAID ADVERTISING

There are many ezines that do offer free ads to their subscribers. Some of these are worthwhile others are not. It really comes down to reader involvement. If people are still reading the ezine and not just subscribed to put their ad in every week, it may be worth your time. If the ezine has passed all of you're other criteria up to this point, it has to be worth a shot. At least this costs you nothing but your time.

Paid advertising at this point where you have studied, selected, and analyzed many ezines and come up with a short list is definitely going to be worth the cost.

Let's just review what you have gone through in selecting the ezines to advertise in.

1. Targeted Content that matches the product, service, or opportunity you are advertising. 2. Acceptable Potential Market based on the content of the ezine and what the ezine's editor says about his or her subscriber's interests. 3. Acceptable Ad Formatting and Placement in the Ezine. 4. Acceptable Subscriber Base as described by the way the ezine gets it's subscribers and keeps them.

Now comes the kicker, ad cost. What's a good price, and what isn't?

Well, it just depends. That's not what you wanted to hear, I know. You'd rather I provided a simple rule to go by that made all of your decisions for you. Sorry, but I don't believe that is possible. It is a big subject, however, so we'd best save it for the final installment in this series.

Joe Bingham, Editor of the NetPlay Newsletters Subscribe to 1 of 3 Quality NetPlay Ezines, See which one fits you at: http://www.netplaynewsletters.com Need To Publish Your Own Ezine? I'll Write It For You and Show You How to Make It Successful! http://www.netplaynewsletters.com/publisher.html

SELECTING TARGETED EZINES

In part one of this series, we discussed the two options available for advertising in ezines. The first of those involved buying ads in bulk with the goal of getting exposure to as many subscribers as possible without regard to targeting the advertising.

The second option, which will be discussed here, involves a little more work, but should bring back better results per subscriber view. This option requires targeting your advertising in ezines that are more specifically related to the product or business you are promoting.

The first step in targeting ezine advertising involves selecting the right ezines.

Ezine directories are excellent places to start. A good ezine directory will allow you to look through ezines by entering key words into a search. By entering words that relate to your product or opportunity, you then will be led to ezines that cover similar subjects. Since not all ezines are listed in ezine directories, however, it's a good idea to conduct a web site search as well and then look into the ezines associated with web sites that are related to your product or business.

>From there, look closer into the ezines your search uncovers by looking at a sample issue, if the ezine directory provides one, or by visiting the web site of the ezine, or simply by subscribing.

Definitely subscribe to those ezines you think will be best suited for your ad. Get to know the kind of content the ezines usually run. The fastest way to accomplish this is by searching through archived issues if the ezine in question provides this. If not, subscribe and read a few issues to learn more about the usual topics the ezine covers.

After you get to know some good ezines, see if they have a recommended reading section that will lead you to other good ezines. Many ezines put a recommended reading or equivalent section right in the ezine. However, be sure and judge them for yourself. Don't just follow the recommendations blindly.

At this point, you will be able to make a short list of ezines to further examine. That's right, you still have some more examining to do before you will be ready to purchase advertising.

One thing to realize, however, is that subscriber count is not necessarily that important. Sure, it's great to find a large ezine that fits your ad perfectly and doesn't cost too much to advertise in, but quite often small ezines will represent just as good of a value.

The next article in this series will go further into analyzing an ezines subscriber base, the type of ezine it is, and the actual cost of buying an ad.

Joe Bingham, Editor of the NetPlay Newsletters Subscribe to 1 of 3 Quality NetPlay Ezines, See which one fits you at: http://www.netplaynewsletters.com Need To Publish Your Own Ezine? I'll Write It For You and Show You How to Make It Successful! http://www.netplaynewsletters.com/publisher.html

Title: How to tell if someone opens your HTML newsletter: The ants come marching 1x1 - Hurrah! Copyright Eric Koshinsky, 2003

There is no real way to know exactly how many times your newsletters are read. There is a neat little 'trick' you can use with HTML based newsletters and email so that you can know at least how many times it has been viewed. Compare the number of views the number of copies sent out and you will have a reasonably good idea of how well read your newsletter is. With HTML newsletters and email messages it is possible to tell if the message has been opened.

It all sounds reasonably simple, and actually it really is quite easy. All you need to do is: 1) create a simple 1x1 clear .gif image. 2) Upload the image to your webserver so it is on the internet. 3) Insert the image at the head of your newsletter/email. 4) Mail out your newsletter/email to your mailing list.

Now, when a reader opens your newsletter, the invisible image is loaded, your server's webstats record the hit, and presto, you know how many times your newsletter has been opened.

In a bit more detail.

Create the 1x1.gif file. To do this, any basic image editor will do. Simply create a new .gif image that is 1 pixel X 1 pixel with a transparent background. Jasc software's Paintshop pro is a great and cheap image editor for PC's, and graphicConverter is a great one for Mac. Don't worry, if this seems to be too much of a bother, you can you can simply download the image at the newbie-guides.com download directory. Simply search for 'clear-image'. Save it in a place that is easy to remember. The 1x1 image is invisible when opened!

Upload the image to your webserver

Use whatever ftp (file transfer protocol) software you like and simply upload the file to your images directory. I normally make a special directory only for these images. This way my counter images are in a folder /images/counters/ to keep them seperate from the other images - it just helps keep things more managable.

Insert the image into your newsletter.

Please note that because many article publication newsletters do not allow HTML in the article text, I have placed the different elements on seperate lines. Simply make each HTML statement into a single line should you wish to use it.

This is quite straight forward. Just insert the HTML statement:

at the start of your newsletter, just after the tag.

Of course, if you are using some wysiwyg editor like FrontPage, be sure to insert the image from your webserver, and NOT from your local hard drive!!

Mail out your newsletter as usual.

It is important to keep in mind that you will need to give the my-1x1.gif file a different name every time you send out your newsletter. This way your webstats will track each newsletter seperately. For example if you send out your newsletter twice a month, you might name the counter images: JAN-counter-A.gif and JAN-counter-B.gif for each of the mailings. NOTE: Don't delete the first one, simply copy it and give it a new name for the next mailing. That way the original image will keep recording hits for you!

So, simply duplicate the file, and then rename the file on your server as well as the HTML code in your newsletter. This means you will end up with something like this (inside the 'images/counters' directory on your webserver): JAN-counter-A.gif JAN-counter-B.gif FEB-counter-A.gif FEB-counter-B.gif

In your newsletter the HTML code would be something like:

in your first January mailing and...

in your second January mailing..

If you are worried that all these images will consume all your webspace - DON'T. A typical 1x1.gif uses about 1k of diskspace. Not really something to be overly concerned about!!

Now what you will need to do is check your web server stats to see how many times your image has been 'hit'. Every time an image is loaded through your webserver, it is recorded as a hit. Look to see how many times it has been 'hit' and you know how many times your newsletter has been read!

Just how do you check your webstats? Well I've written another article that explains webstats in more detail, but basically, your webhost package will provide you with all that stats, and a program that will analyze them for you. Two of the most common stat's packages are awstats, and webalyzer. Any reputable webhost will have one (or both) of these installed as part of your hosting package. Simply log into your hosting administration account (which is also where you create email accounts etc.) and use the stat's package they have installed.

You will be looking to find your 1x1.gif (whatever you named it). Every stats package displays information a little differently, so you will have to look a little to find your information. Most commonly you will look for something like:

-Top URL, -Most Requested Files, -File hits

Once you find the information, you can check it against your mail out numbers and have a much better idea of how well you are reaching your subscribers and clients.

If you are an astute reader, and I'm sure you are, you'll already know that there are some problems with this technique. As with most things in life, it isn't perfect. The chief problem is one that simply can't be solved, by any technique! That problem is simply that just because your newsletter/email is opened doesn't mean that the reader actually reads your newsletter very carefully - or at all! But then again, there is NO WAY to ensure that someone reads your newsletter - although having a totally skookum newsletter that people want to read certainly helps!

A second problem is that some people, very foolishly, have their email program's 'auto-preview' window pane open all the time. This means that as soon as they click on a message (even if only to delete it), it is displayed at the bottom of their screen. This still records a 'hit' in your webstats, but may not have any real meaning. A 'false-positive' as they say.

The final dilemma is that this won't work with text only email messages and newsletters. The whole concept depends on the image being 'pulled' from your webserver when someone opens the newsletter. This simply doesn't happen with plain text newsletters. Sorry 'bout that!

There is no truly perfect way to know how many people are reading your newsletter as it is sent out. But using this very simple technique you can have a much better idea of how many are being at least opened (and hopefully read) as opposed to simply being deleted or filtered out as spam.

OK, so we have all heard the clamors from people who have made money from placing ads in ezines. The process is simple enough. You have a product or service (or an affiliate program of which you are a member) and you also have a small classified ad promoting the benefits of said product or service. You pay to advertise in ezines that have a circulation comprised of the audience you wish to target.

This sounds easy enough but these days ezine advertising has become so competitive that a smart marketer needs to rethink his/her ezine advertising strategy. This is necessary in order to stand apart from the competition, reach an audience of targeted customers and continue to reap the overwhelming benefits resulting from this highly effective medium.

One of the biggest problems with traditional ezine advertising is the fact that your ad gets sandwiched in between 5-15 other ads of similar content. This naturally dramatically decreases the effectiveness of your ad.

Not to mention the fact that with so many affiliate programs in existence, competition between affiliates has escalated to new heights leading to many affiliates of the same program saturating a once responsive market through their ezine advertising campaigns.

This has lead to decreased revenues for the affiliates and public apathy for the product/service. The situation has gotten so competitive that not only once but on several occasions I have witnessed ezines publish the exact same ad for an affiliate program (with different affiliate I.D.'s) all in the very same issue. How can this possibly benefit those advertisers?

However, this is not the fault of the ezine publisher either. The main purpose of an ezine (for many but not all publishers) is to sell advertising. When someone approaches a publisher with advertising dollars, you cannot fault him/her for taking the money and running the ad. That publisher is simply making an honest buck.

But there are some ingenious methods you can employ to get your ad in front of a responsive target market by utilizing ezine advertising. For starters, if you run an affiliate program provide your affiliates with several different, tested classified ads which they can use to place in different ezines.

Remember, your affiliates are your salespeople - you want them to make as much money as possible so that you too make as much money as possible. Therefore, it is in your best interest to help them as much as you can.

If you are an affiliate, try your hand at writing some killer classified ads of your own so as to stand out from the competition. If you are not a great writer, I highly recommend picking up Robert Boduch's Great Headlines Instantly and putting the ideas within to use immediately.

Next, I strongly recommend that you shell out a little more money for a sponsor ad or a solo mailing in a newsletter that offers these services. A sponsor ad is the ad at the very top or very bottom of an ezine. Since they are closer to the top or bottom they stand apart from the other ads and so they illicit a much greater, more favorable response from subscribers.

A solo mailing is a 3-7 paragraph ad which an ezine sends to its list separate from its regular newsletter mailing. The size of these ads vary from one newsletter to another but they have proven, by far, to be the most effective, most profitable ezine ad in which an advertiser could ever invest his/her money.

These two advertising methods are the most powerful tools in an ezine advertisers arsenal. There is only one problem, how do you find out which ezines offer these advertising opportunities? Well, first you will need to find a comprehensive list of ezines and then spend some time combing through the thousands of zines to find those that meet your demographic requirements.

When that is done you are ready to further narrow the list by sifting through to find the ones that accept ads (free and paid). Finally, you need to find those that specifically offer solo and sponsorship ad opportunities and do some price shopping. Naturally, you need quite a bit of free time to complete this process. But do not despair, you do have an intelligent alternative if time is an issue for you.

The Ultimate Media Magnet has compiled all of the newsletters that offer sponsor ads and solo mailings into one efficient directory. All the ezines are sorted by category so as to make it even easier for you to immediately pull out those targeted to your market.

The Ultimate Media Magnet is by far the best solution for any marketer selling any product or service. You will instantly find targeted ezines that offer the most effective methods of reaching a hungry, paying audience.

The Ultimate Media Magnet is only one tool available to members of The Ultimate Marketers Resource (http://success.goldbar.net).

Ezine advertising has been and will continue to be one of the most cost effective and profit generating tools at the internet marketers disposal. But, like everything else on the internet, for advertising methods to remain effective they must evolve.

Think of it this way, many marketing gurus and internet millionaires of today made their fortune from unsolicited email (SPAM). However, currently this method is considered unethical and these very same marketers now utilize opt-in email, ezine marketing and autoresponders instead.

To succeed using ezine advertising, you must change with the times and use the methods that work today!

Marc Goldman - Since 1999, The Ultimate Marketers Resource has been the only system enabling you to manage EVERY aspect of your business from Autoresponder services, Mailing List services and management, Lead Generation, and Ad Tracking, to Viral Marketing and much, much more remotely from anywhere in the world, anytime, from any computer for a low monthly fee. Click here to learn more before your competitors do: http://success.goldbar.net

Ezine publishing is an essential element of your online business. Ezines allow you to keep in touch with your prospective customers and to build a relationship of trust and respect with your readers. Building this relationship is very important to your business and your reputation. One way to accomplish this relationship is by producing a quality ezine with quality content.

By quality content I mean resources, information and other helpful items. Do not make your ezine one big sales letter or ad for your products. You, of course, want to promote your products in your ezine, but don't overdo.

When I first started on the Internet, I was looking for links and ezines that would provide resources to help me promote and build my online business. I also needed to learn step by step what Internet marketing was about. Good ezines can be a goldmine for this kind of information. I have seen some ezines that were nothing but a list of ads and I have also seen some ezines that contained a treasure chest of useful information. You definitely want your ezine to fall into that second category. There are many ways of doing just that.

*Informative Articles: Make sure you include an article or two that provide some practical and useful information and maybe some resource links to back up that information. A good article should be like a mini tutorial. You should actually learn something from it. There are many places on the web where you can get good articles.

Websites: http://www.connectionteam.com/art.html http://www.ideamarketers.com http://www.the-best-list-site-in-the-world.com/lotsart.html http://www.marketing-seek.com/

Email Article Lists: mailto:article_announce-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:PublishInYours-subscribe@onelist.com mailto:Free-Content-subscribe@onelist.com mailto:articles_archives-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:Article_Depot-subscribe@topica.com

*Original Material: Along with other quality articles, you should write some of your own material. If you feel you can't write whole articles, write tips, or updates on what is happening on the Net. Write an editorial on subjects that apply to your ezine content. You want to add some of you onto your ezine. This will help strengthen the relationship between reader and publisher.

*Helpful Resource Links: Inform your readers of sites that would help them in promoting their business, web design, marketing or other avenues of building their business. You can get these links by searching the web, hearing about them from friends or associates, or reading about them in other ezines. Visit these sites to see if they are the kind of site you want to recommend. Write up a short review to go along with the link. Let your readers know how this site can help them.

*Quality Products: If you sell or know of some good products that have helped you or someone you know with their business, inform your readers. Tell them why the product would help them with their business and provide a link for them to find out more.

*Freebies: Everybody loves Freebies!! Tell your readers about Freebies of all kinds. They do not have to pertain to business. Things like Free Ebooks, Free Services, Free Contests, Free Tutorials.....the list goes on and on. Here are some places to find freebies:

http://www.4freestuff.com/ http://www.totallyfreestuff.com/ http://www.freewarefiles.com/ http://www.thefreesite.com/ http://free-n-cool.com/ http://www.free-ebooks.net/ http://www.web-promotion-site.com/

This is just a sample. There are thousands of sites that offer something for free. Do a search in your favorite search engine and see all the great links you can find.

*Interaction: You could have a Reader's Comments section so your readers can give their opinions, share their ideas and stories, ask questions, and make suggestions. This also helps strengthen the reader-publisher relationship.

For more help on ezine publishing:

http://www.e-zinez.com http://www.ezineuniversity.com

Above all else, remember that your ezine is for your readers and you want to help them by providing a quality ezine with quality content. This is what will build the reader-publisher relationship and give your business a solid foundation on which to grow and prosper!

Terri Seymour owns and operates MyOwnEzine.com MyOwnEzine.com is a website, ezine and service which provides the resources, tools, guidance and more to help you start, publish and promote your own ezine. You can contact Terri at mailto:ter02@newnorth.net Subscribe at mailto:subscribe@myownezine.com or visit http://www.myownezine.com for lots more info.

David Geer is the publisher of "Success 4U Marketing Ezine" - a weekly ezine, providing tried and proven eBiz tactics, practices, insider secrets, and expertise. It's free ... sign-up today by visiting: http://www.ezinelistbuilder.com/ezine.htm

KH: How important has publishing an ezine been to your business?

DG: Any decent money that I've earned online has come from either my ezine, or from someone else's ezine.

For example, a few months ago, I exchanged solo ads with a publisher from Ireland. On the day my ad ran, I sold 41 ebooks, at $67.90 a pop. And, over the next few days, I sold about 10 more.

The above can only happen, though, if your ad runs in an ezine in which it's editor/publisher has earned the trust of the subscribers. That's the key to making money with ezine marketing.

KH: How long have you been running an ezine and how many subscribers do you have?

DG: I started Success 4U Marketing in the first part of 1999. Now, I have 20,000+ great subscribers. I usually get between 50 and 100 new opt-in subscribers per day depending on how well my promotional efforts work.

If, for instance, one of my articles gets published in an ezine that targets my market, this can easily generate 100 or more new subscribers.

Believe it or not, getting subscribers is the easy part. The hard part is keeping them. So, it's most important that you treat them like gold because that's their potential for your ezine.

KH: Do you submit your ezine to directories and/or announcement lists and if so how effective has this been in gaining new subscribers to your publication?

DG: Yes. It's fast and easy. That's because I use software that automates the process.

KH: Do you write and use your own articles to promote your ezine? How valuable has writing articles been in promoting your ezine?

DG: Yes, and it's powerful. If you can write well for your target market, you already own one of the best subscriber generators. Discover how to use it and you'll never want for a huge opt-in list.

The secret here is to find your niche and focus, focus, focus on it. Discover all that you can about your niche, educate yourself about it, and become an expert. I think it was Einstein who said something like:

If you study something for just 15 minutes a day, before long, you'll become an expert about that subject.

So, it's not that hard, but it does take dedication.

KH: What methods do you use to promote your products or services within your ezine?

DG: Before I answer this question, I'd like to make a short comment:

Until you build a trusting relationship with your subscribers, they won't respond well to your promotional efforts. And, in order for your subscribers to trust you, they must know that you have their best interests at heart.

For example, if you're going to recommend an eBook to those folks, you should have first read that eBook. How else would your recommendation be honest?

Bottom line: Never personally recommend anything to your list just to make a buck or two.

Now, back to the question. The two promotional methods that work best for me are:

* Solo mailings to my subscribers, which I only send three or four times a year. That's because, if you bombard your list with solos, it can lead to a depressing number of unsubscribes.

* Writing product/service reviews. Again, make sure your review comes from personal experience, not a rehashed ad from someone else. Otherwise, your review will fall on deaf ears.

KH: How do you go about preparing your ezine for publication?

DG: Usually, I work on my ezine everyday. Sometimes, it's just a few minutes here and a few there. For example, if I discover a powerful quote, it gets added to the *Empowering Thoughts* section of my ezine or, if I hear about either a free report or a free ebook, they might get added to the *Enjoy the Benefits* section.

Bottom line here: by getting your ezine ready ahead of time, your *send day* can be stress free.

KH: Any advice to future ezine publishers? Things to look out for or things to concentrate on when publishing an ezine?

DG: Great question ... just hope my response does it some justice; however, that would probably take a long article - maybe even a booklet. Anyway, to keep it short, I'll just offer the following short list of suggestions and information:

* Ask yourself, " Why do you want to publish an ezine?" If it's just to make money, or because some guru recommends it, or because everyone else is doing it, or because you want the status of ezine publisher, and so on, you won't succeed for long. That's because your readers don't care about what you want — they only care about what you can do for them.

* Before you start your ezine, educate yourself. Learn the basics, such as how to format one, which list server you might want to use, the best day to mail your ezine, and so on.

* Also, I'd suggest subscribing to some great ezines that cover the area that yours will cover. Those ezines will give you some great ideas for your ezine. Don't, however, become a copycat. In other words, you want to add your personal touch, not serve up a rehash of what's already there.

* Yet another wise move for you: Before you decide on your publishing schedule ... daily, weekly, monthly ... or whatever, put together three to five ezines ... ones ready to mail. This will give you a good idea about how often to publish.

* Last, keep in mind that your ezine will be read by living, breathing, feeling human beings ... those folks want to connect with other living, breathing, feeling, human beings.

Article © 2002 by writer Ken Hill. Launching An Ezine? Need Subscribers? Amazing new automated software puts you on the fast track to ezine success! Includes over 900 resources. Results are 100% guaranteed! Learn more now at: http://www.scstats.com/r.cfm?i=4604

Evie Browne-Paterson is publisher of EvieB's New-Z, an ezine aimed at people with a business who want to promote it for free or at little cost. Subscribers are provided with Free marketing software, marketing ebooks, marketing articles, techie tips, contests, where to get bargains, original promotion concepts and more. $590 worth of free advertising as a subscription bonus and two free ads to 32k+ each week!

To subscribe, visit http://evieb.com/new-z.html

KH: How important has publishing an ezine been to your business?

EBP: It is the basis of my business so it is very important.

KH: How long have you been running an ezine and how many subscribers do you have?

EBP: Just over a year, October 2001, and I now have over 32,500 subscribers.

KH: Do you submit your ezine to directories and/or announcement lists and if so how effective has this been in gaining new subscribers to your publication?

EBP: Yes definitely and I resubmit every other month. I use Ezine Announcer software to do this. It automates the process and makes it much quicker.

KH: Do you write and use your own articles to promote your ezine? How valuable has writing articles been in promoting your ezine?

EBP: Yes. Not as often as I'd like to but I should have more time now that I've just left my full time job. Writing was the whole reason I started an ezine in the first place. I've always wanted to write because I enjoy it tremendously and it is very rewarding. Promotion wise for the ezine, articles are a great tool.

KH: What methods do you use to promote your products or services within your ezine?

EBP: I use a passive method to promote my services. I don't like to force things down people's throats because if they want to advertise with me, they will. I'm more focused on helping my subscribers get something of value from my ezine. I always use EzineAdAuction to sell advertising so it's more consistent for me to use that method instead of pushing advertising to my subscribers. Mind you, if I have a special going, I just include it in the Editor's Blurb to let my subscribers know.

KH: How do you go about preparing your ezine for publication?

EBP: I do a lot of research in the days leading up to publication and send myself links, information, etc., that I will use in the ezine via email. I keep it in my inbox and then include the information in my ezine when I'm actually getting the ezine ready.

When I'm preparing the ezine, I use the previous issue so I can continue along the lines of the last edition and I update it to the current issue.

As I publish online, I need to copy and paste everything into notepad first and then I make sure all the links open in a new window, and lastly, I run the spell checker over it before uploading. Then I test the tracking link to make sure it works before I send out an email with the tracking link included.

KH: Any advice to future ezine publishers? Things to look out for or things to concentrate on when publishing an ezine?

EBP: Yes. Make sure you have a good web host that won't shut you down at the first spam complaint. I've had several complaints and I only ever send email to personal friends or my subscriber list. Quite often it's a virus sending the spam and not me. I've never sent spam in my life. It's just not worth risking everything you've worked hard for to lose over a single complaint!

Another thing: Don't complain to your subscribers! They don't want to hear it! If you use your ezine as a place to complain, then rewrite it, and rewrite it again until it's out of your system - then click send when you've rewritten it completely to sound more positive! :~)

Ask other publishers for resources and help. They'd be happy to help you out.

Try to keep organized so you don't spend too many hours getting your ezine ready. Make up a mental plan of what you want to include in advance, or write it down. Try not to publish late if you can help it, but these things do happen sometimes. :~)

Article © 2002 by writer Ken Hill. Launching An Ezine? Need Subscribers? Amazing new automated software puts you on the fast track to ezine success! Includes over 900 resources. Results are 100% guaranteed! Learn more now at: http://www.scstats.com/r.cfm?i=4604

James McEwen is publisher of Biz Marketing Corner. Subscribe to our ezine and get a FREE membership to our Website Marketing and Promotion Center - the tools you need to successfully build and market your business.

To subscribe visit http://www.bizmarketingcorner.com or mailto:bizmarketingcorner@virtual-responders.com

KH: How important has publishing an ezine been to your business?

JM: To me, publishing an ezine is very important because it helps me establish a relationship with my subscribers. It is a great way to follow-up and to let them know what resources and valuable information I have found which will help them become more successful.

KH: How long have you been running an ezine and how many subscribers do you have?

JM: I started my ezine 3 years ago, Dec. 1999, and I have about 10,885 subscribers.

KH: Do you submit your ezine to directories and/or announcement lists and if so how effective has this been in gaining new subscribers to your publication?

JM: Yes, I have submitted my ezine to many directories, but I have more success using ezine co-ops and ad-swaps with other publishers. The co-ops I use are:

1. My Wizard Ads - http://www.MyWizardAds.com 2. E-Business Weekly - http://e-business-weekly.com 3. Essentialteam Ezine Ad Network - http://www.essentialteam.com/ 4. Pamela Heywood's ad co-op at http://www.roibot.com/w.cgi?IM8301_coop.

KH: Do you write and use your own articles to promote your ezine? How valuable has writing articles been in promoting your ezine?

JM: I've only written 4 articles to promote my ezine, but I have learned that it is very effective. My New Year's Resolution is to write more articles more often! (lol)

KH: What methods do you use to promote your products or services within your ezine?

JM: I used to copy and paste the ads from the affiliate programs or the reprint rights but I have learned it is better to write your own ad and recommendation for the product or service that you use.

KH: How do you go about preparing your ezine for publication?

JM: I prepare my ezine a week in advance. I do a lot of proofreading with the help of my daughter, Miausha. I search the net for information that would be of value to my subscribers. When I finish the final copy of my ezine, I always send a test email to my email address to make sure everything is formatted correctly.

KH: Any advice to future ezine publishers? Things to look out for or things to concentrate on when publishing an ezine?

JM: My advice to future ezine publishers is to always be prepared a week in advance so you are ready for whatever comes up.

Use TextPad at http://www.textpad.com to help you publish your ezine and use Mailwasher at http://www.mailwasher.net to screen your emails for viruses and/or bounced email and junk mail. Use a recently new software that will help format your ezine properly at http://www.reseller-rights.net/eeaf/

Always proofread your ezine and do a test email to yourself.

Article © 2003 by writer Ken Hill. **Promote Your Online Business** by publishing your own e-mail newsletter. Our fun new e-book will show you how! Write irresistible content, gain TONS of subscribers, and watch your sales go UP, UP, UP. Complete money back guarantee. Learn more NOW at: http://www.scstats.com/r.cfm?i=4274

Jan Tallent-Dandridge is publisher of Rim Digest, a marketing and small business ezine with informative articles, helpful tips, fun info and lots of freebies that goes out three days a week: on Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Interested potential subscribers can see it here: http://www.rimdigest.com or write to subscribe at mailto:jtd@rimdigest.com?subject=subscribeKenH

KH: How important has publishing an ezine been to your business?

JTD: For this particular business, it was 100% necessary as my real *JOB* IS my ezine. My main income stream is from ad sales so it is imperative to keep the ezine going. My secondary business, digital products, relies on mentions in my newsletter as well as other forms of promotions.

KH: How long have you been running an ezine and how many subscribers do you have?

JTD: It will be three years on Feb. 10 of 2003 and I have over 31,000 subscribers. There are weeks I will pass 32,000 and then lose up to 500 with bounces and closed accounts, etc.

KH: Do you submit your ezine to directories and/or announcement lists and if so how effective has this been in gaining new subscribers to your publication?

JTD: Rim Digest is listed with most of the main directories and I am sure this helps a lot with gaining subscribers. I also use software to remind the directories and update my listings whenever major changes are made, such as when I added the extra day to my publishing schedule when a nice number of my subs asked me to.

KH: Do you write and use your own articles to promote your ezine? How valuable has writing articles been in promoting your ezine?

JTD: I do not write nearly as many as I should; I have about 25 articles published. I always try them out on my publishing friends for feedback before I even use them in my own ezine. I do know that this is the best and quickest FREE form of promotion there is!

KH: What methods do you use to promote your products or services within your ezine?

JTD: I use testimonials for products I sell for others or do some recommendations as a trade for the same in another's ezine. I only promote things I know are worthwhile and almost always use or own myself.

For my OWN products that I have resell rights for or are mine exclusively, I almost always offer a discount or a *bribe* to my subscribers plus I have *reader only specials* quite often.

KH: How do you go about preparing your ezine for publication?

JTD: I use edit pad and clipmate, my 2 best friends for editing. I take the previous issue and replace the things that need to be replaced such as new ads, the date, new articles, etc., and use the old issue as a template for the new one.

I collect articles and file them in a folder FOR that issue and the same with the ads and new offers I am going to make. When I get ready to do an issue I open the old issue in edit pad, open the folder for that date in my mail center and work away.

KH: Any advice to future ezine publishers? Things to look out for or things to concentrate on when publishing an ezine?

JTD: Yes! Do NOT try to beat all records for the largest list in the quickest amount of time. Build a slow and loyal readership and concentrate on good content. There are thousands of other ezines out there and you want to make yours stand out from the rest. Be YOURSELF! Let some of your personality shine through and do not follow every so-called *expert*.

Article © 2002 by writer Ken Hill. Launching An Ezine? Need Subscribers? Amazing new automated software puts you on the fast track to ezine success! Includes over 900 resources. Results are 100% guaranteed! Learn more now at: http://www.scstats.com/r.cfm?i=4604

Jan Wallen is publisher of Serious Income, an ezine for the online entrepreneur. It includes articles, tips, and tools to help her readers achieve greater success in their online businesses.

You can subscribe by visiting http://www.seriousincome.com

KH: How important has publishing an ezine been to your business?

JW: It has been very important in helping me establish relationships with people on the Internet. It adds that personal touch.

KH: How long have you been running an ezine and how many subscribers do you have?

JW: About 2 years, and I currently have 3500 subscribers. I had to take a lengthy hiatus due to some personal issues, but the main subscriber base stayed with me when I began publication again. I am now in the rebuilding phase.

KH: Do you submit your ezine to directories and/or announcement lists and if so how effective has this been in gaining new subscribers to your publication?

JW: I do submit to directories. This has worked quite well for me. I have not had very good response from announcement lists.

KH: Do you write and use your own articles to promote your ezine? How valuable has writing articles been in promoting your ezine?

JW: I do a combination of my own articles and fresh material by other well known and well respected internet business people. Writing my own articles and submitting them to other publications is a tremendous way to add new subscribers and create awareness of Serious Income.

KH: What methods do you use to promote your products or services within your ezine?

JW: I occasionally use personal endorsement for a handful of selected products or services. I mostly use classified ads at the end of the information. I always try to have some free tools available in each issue that I think will be valuable to the subscriber.

KH: How do you go about preparing your ezine for publication?

JW: I am constantly on the look out for strong, relevant material. I keep an ongoing file for future issues, and as I see items I wish to include, I place them into the appropriate file. Then when it is time to send it out, most of the work is already done. This is particularly helpful if something comes up unexpectedly.

I use an automated system for sending out the ezine and try to stay about 3 issues ahead in placing them into the software. That way, I can just hit the send button at the appropriate time and the work has all been done ahead of time. That saves me a lot of problems.

KH: Any advice to future ezine publishers? Things to look out for or things to concentrate on when publishing an ezine?

JW: I feel that it is very important to have a niche - to offer something that is not currently being offered elsewhere. It is vital to have an identity that is unique. If you consistently focus on offering value to your readers, your subscribers will be extremely loyal.

Article © 2002 by writer Ken Hill. **Promote Your Online Business** by publishing your own e-mail newsletter. Our fun new e-book will show you how! Write irresistible content, gain TONS of subscribers, and watch your sales go UP, UP, UP. Complete money back guarantee. Learn more NOW at: http://www.scstats.com/r.cfm?i=4274