Rudi Vanhaecke

ou’ve heard it before – if you want to succeed online you must have a list of your own. Every guru says it. Ever wonder why? Because it’s true! http://charliepage.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif There is no doubt that the single most valuable asset I own online – more valuable even than owning the Directory of Ezines – are my mailing lists. With them I can build, or rebuild, a business. Without them I’m back at square one. How about you? Do you have a list yet? If not, here are four simple ideas you can use today to start building a list of your own even if you don’t have any money to spend, a website of your own or any traffic! These are all methods I have used, and I still use each of them today. These tactics work for me and have for years. I hope they will work for you too. Idea 1 – Your Email Signature Line Go to your “sent email” folder right now and look at the email you sent today. I’m willing to guess that your email does not include an offer for someone to join your mailing list. But it should! Think about this – If you send only 20 emails a day (including replies) then you are sending over seven thousand emails a year! What if only 1 in 7 people saw your link and joined your list? That’s over 1000 subscribers to your list … free! Idea 2 – Forums Ever visit a forum and ask a question? Many have but they don’t leverage the experience in their favor. Just about every forum out there offers a signature line feature, yet we see thousands of posts with no signature. Don’t make this mistake! If you post on the Warrior Forum or Michael Green’s How To Forum or any other, make sure to include a link where people can join your list. Again, free and very effective. Put time on your side with this one! Idea 3 – Twitter Ah, Twitter – friend or foe? Great marketing tool or time waster? Great marketing tool! Here’s how you can use Twitter today to begin building your list with no money. Start following people you know of and replying to their Tweets. Make sure your reply makes sense and won’t waste people’s time. Fan Tweets – replying to a Tweet with something like “loved your book about ___” are 100% okay and often much appreciated. Once you have been following for a while you will get followers too, and become a recognizable name in your circles. When that happens, send a short Tweet about your new mailing list and where people can join it. Sure, it takes some time and there is software to “automate” this process. But no software in the world can automate the personal touch, and that’s what is needed to build lists. Idea 4 – Your Blog If you don’t have a website you might be thinking “sounds good Charlie but where do I send them to sign up?” Fair question. The answer is your blog. If you don’t have a blog there is simply no reason to wait any longer. Go to Blogger.com and get one now. It’s free, they have templates you can use that look professional. If you can type, you can blog. And you should. Once you get a blog just put a form on it for your list and you are good to go! So there you have it, four ways to begin building a real list of your own with no money and no traffic! Your email signature line Forums Twitter Your own blog Begin using these methods today and you will put time on your side. Sooner than you think, you will have a mailing list of your own. And having a powerful mailing list is a beautiful thing indeed!

The bottom line in selling is simple. People buy what they want. Always have. Always will. The key for business people like you and me is to quickly tell our prospective customers why they should want what we have. In other words .... benefits! Understanding the difference between a feature and a benefit is vital, and easy. A feature is what your product does. A benefit is what is does for me! Now let's look at how to tell your prospects about the benefits they will get from your product. It is vital for all business people to understand that buying decisions are made based on emotion and then supported with logic. For our site to sell well, we need to very quickly present our visitors with the reasons why they should buy from us. These reasons are the benefits our customers will enjoy by owning our product or service. While most of us can quickly tell any prospective customer what our product does we often forget to take the extra step of telling them how our product will make their lives better. Remember that most Internet shoppers want to either save money or make money. Those are the top two motivations of people who buy online. In that light, be sure your site tells your visitor exactly how you will help them do these two things. Does your product save time? Time is money. Here are four simple steps to help you translate your product or service's features (what it does) into benefits (what it does for me). After you make your list, be sure to review your selling literature, be it a web page, email or brochure, and make sure that you are selling benefits. After all, everybody wants to know what's in it for them. List the key features of your product ... the things that make it worth having. Describe what each one does; how it works. Determine how that feature gives the customer an advantage. Write it down next to the feature. Think through how that advantage makes or saves them time or money. Be able to state every feature in terms of money. Write it down next to the advantage. Write out benefit statements for each feature. Memorize your list. Write it down and carry it for quick reference. You have now created a feature, advantage, and benefit list. By committing these statements to memory and using them often, you will now be speaking the prospect's language, the language of saving or making money. That's the sound they love to hear.

One of the things that excites people about the Internet is the huge audience that exists online. The Net truly is a marvel, allowing anyone with a dialup connection to compete with Fortune 100 companies. One of the best ways to reach those large numbers, while staying true to your objectives of targeting a niche market, is ezine advertising. Since advertising in these giants can be expensive we want to take care that we do it right. In that light, here are six steps to take that will help you maximize the return on investment you make when advertising in a large ezine. NOTE: Not all are expensive. One ezine I found has 215,000 subscribers and you can buy an ad for $35. Another has 200,000 and sells ads for $20. Not bad. That said, here's the six step formula I use to maximize my return on investments. 1. Ask for the top spot. When you advertise in a big ezine, you're going to be in a crowd. People will get tired of reading and you can get lost if your ad doesn't pop. Obviously, the top ad in the section gets read the most. While there are no guarantees, ask the publisher to give you to top spot in the section. Ask nice. If they don't sell that spot for more money (few do) you have a good chance of getting it. 2. Use a catchy headline. I know, I know ... you've heard this a million times. But what I mean is not just the words, but the characters you use. I start a lot of my ads with a few asterisks. You could use dollar signs, question marks, etc. The goal here is to catch the eye of the person scanning by showing them something different. Which catches your eye? Ezine advertising works! Find the perfect ezines in minutes!! Save time. Make money. Easy to use. Free ads too! Start selling today! *** Ezine advertising works! Find the perfect ezines in minutes!! Save time. Make money. Easy to use. Free ads too! Start selling today! ??? Ezine advertising works! Find the perfect ezines in minutes!! Save time. Make money. Easy to use. Free ads too! Start selling today! -------------------------------------------------- You can also use bold text creatively to achieve a similar effect. EZINE ADVERTISING WORKS! Find the perfect ezines in minutes!! Save time. Make money. Easy to use. Free ads too! Start selling today! Ezine advertising works! Find the perfect ezines in minutes!! Save time. Make money. Easy to use. Free ads too! Start selling today! -------------------------------------------------- Combine the two effects and you have something that works .. at least for me. Ezine advertising works! Find the perfect ezines in minutes!! Save time. Make money. Easy to use. Free ads too! Start selling today! *** EZINE ADVERTISING WORKS! Find the perfect ezines in minutes!! Save time. Make money. Easy to use. Free ads too! Start selling today! -------------------------------------------------- 3. Use a well written ad. This is easier said than done. Remember that the job of the ad is to sell the click, not the product. Selling the product is the job of your website or email follow up. The headline sells the ad, the ad sells the click, the site sells the product. 4. Be easy to do business with. Read their rules about formatting and line length before you send the ad. Pay them at the time of the ad. Don't expect them to check your ad copy for typos or that your link works. Do all of this work before you contact them. The easier you are to work with, the more welcome you will be the next time. 5. Use an autoresponder for your response device. This one is risky, but it works. The usual classified ad sends the reader to a website. That's okay since the hope is to make the sale now. But what if you did it this way? Instead of using a URL in your ad, use an autoresponder address. Say something in your ad about sending them a private link or that the offer is just too hot to give the link out to the public. People like humor. When they respond to your autoresponder, set it up so that they immediately get the first message with the link. Then start sending them follow up messages every week or so until you make the sale! This is how many of the top marketers today do things, and it works. NOTE: If you have a one-shot sales letter on your site, and no follow up system yet, do not use this technique. The fact is, you will lose clicks this way. You just have to decide if having someone in your follow up system is more profitable than having those extra clicks. As always, testing is the key. 6. Do not use the company ad. That may sound weird from a guy who runs an affiliate program (the DOE affiliate program pays up to 50%) but it's true. When you run the same ad that everyone else runs, you are at risk for people saying "I've seen that, no thanks". Of course, the argument can be made that all of these identical ads reinforce each other, but I don't believe it to be true. Use these techniques when you run ezine ads (whether in large or small ezines) and you'll see your click through rate rise, along with your profits. Remember to track every ad and always test your ad copy before rolling out to the mega-ezines. http://trck.me/243742/banner.jpg

Internet marketers seem to want everything to be big. The biggest list. The most traffic. The highest number of "hits". Now realize that I'm from Texas and we admire big. In fact, we're famous for it. But is bigger always better? That depends. When it comes to ezine advertising, it works both ways. It's perfectly logical to go for the big numbers when you are placing ezine ads. After all, advertising is a numbers game, right? More readers equal more clicks equal more sales. That's the conventional wisdom all right.

Since the Directory of Ezines began in 1998 we've seen thousands of ezines come and go. Some that we thought would succeed beyond anyone's wildest dreams lasted only a few months. Some that started modestly are still going today with membership numbers that are staggering. I've been asked more times than I can count "What makes a successful ezine?" While I don't pretend to have all the answers, if you were my brother or sister this is what I would tell you... --Give something of value.-- Your reader is giving you the most precious commodity known to mankind... time. Reward them by giving them something of value. Don't just give them a sales pitch, give them information. Meaningful information. Useful information. Real information. As a publisher of ezines myself, I use this as my standard... "Can my reader USE this information to make his or her life better today?" If the answer is no, it doesn't go in my newsletter. --Help them achieve their goals.-- As a publisher my goal is to know as many readers as possible. With list sizes running into the hundreds of thousands, that sounds silly doesn't it? But it's not silly. Your readers subscribe to your newsletter because they have a need. They believe you can fill that need. Don't disappoint. Get to KNOW your readers and what they need. The more you help them achieve their goals the faster you will achieve yours. Make your ezine a place they can advertise and get results. Give them recommendations to products and services they need. Of course you'll make money. But money will be the by- product, not the main goal. When that happens, your recommendations will be credible... and get acted on. --Be easy to read-- By all means, be easy to read. Don't make them struggle to read your ezine. If you use HTML don't drown out your message with the graphics. Spinning bunnies are nice, but powerful words change peoples' lives. Format your message so that anyone, with any email program, can read it. Keep your sentences short and sweet. Get to the point and let your reader get on with his or her day. While it's true that the Internet will produce the new 'gadget of the week' that will promise you the moon and only cost $47, the fact is that those who focus on these three basic principles are the ones who have succeeded. My bet is that they will be the ones who continue to succeed as well. http://trck.me/239945/banner.jpg

What is the one thing that you see in almost every ezine you read? Classified ads. The reason you see so many classified ads in ezines, on web sites and other places is simple. They work. Classified advertising is one of the most cost effective forms of advertising on the Net today. Like most things that seem very simple on the surface, a great deal of work goes in to writing a powerful classified ad. If you want to add power to your classified ads, carefully consider the following four step process. Writing a great ad is hard. This is not "sit down for 5 minutes and punch it out" work. When a professional writer creates a classified ad for a client, it's not unusual for the writer to produce 15 or even 20 variations in order to get the best possible ad. So grab the beverage of your choice, loosen up those typing fingers and let's create a money making classified. The three parts of a great classified ad are ... The Headline The Body The Call to Action Each one has only ONE purpose. The purpose of the headline is to sell the ad. The purpose of the ad is to set up the call to action. The purpose of the call to action is to sell the click. If you keep this in mind as you write, you will see how easy it becomes to cause readers to take the action you want. The Headline Your headline must grab attention! The headline's job is to sell the ad. Some people use sensational headlines with no relationship to their offer to grab attention. That approach may work in the short term, but damages your integrity in the long run. Honesty is always the best policy. The last thing you want is disappointment when someone arrives at your website. Keep these ideas in mind when you write your headline. Begin each sentence with an action word. Create curiosity. Ask a question. HOT TIP: If the publication you are placing your ad in doesn't allow headlines, use the first few words as the headline or indent the ad so it stands out. When writing headlines, always remember that people care about exactly one thing; what's in it for me? The Body The body of the ad must tell your reader what's in it for them. What benefit will they get by making that click? People don't want to 'learn more' out of idle curiosity. They want to learn more in order to get to the benefits you promised them, so don't be shy about what your offer will do for them. The first step to writing the body is to list all the features of your product or service then, next to them, list the benefits of those features. You must write at least one benefit for each feature, or don't use that feature. People buy what your product or service will do for them, not only what it will do. The Call to Action The call to action is the action you want the reader to take. While it is often as simple as "click here" it's wise to pay careful attention to this step. What to say here depends on if you are sending them to a web site, an autoresponder or some other way to get more information. If it's a website, be sure to include urgency. You must lure them away from what they are doing now in order to visit your site. If you are using an autoresponder, tell the reader what to expect. Will they get one email, a five part series, or something else? The more they know, the more likely they will be to click through. What's Next? One last step and you're ready to begin making money. Don't forget to read your ad! Classifieds aren't supposed to read like a novel. Check that spelling too! Once you have your dollar grabbing, profit pulling classified written, don't forget the #1 rule in advertising. TEST YOUR AD Test, test and test again to know what works. Testing allows you to spend small money now to make big money later. By following these steps you will begin to create classifieds that work. Once you have an ad that works, use it everywhere you can afford to and you will rake in the profits! http://trck.me/238749/banner.jpg

There are many voices today shouting that they have THE answer when it comes to ezine marketing. The truth is that there is no ONE answer. It takes work, common sense, an offer that appeals to the public and the right tools to be really successful. Let's forget the latest $47 piece of software for a moment and focus together on the things that REALLY WORK. ***Target Your Market*** First of all, find the ezines that are related to your product, service or biz opp. If you are selling fishing lures, you wouldn't want to advertise in a food magazine. Even if they have a large subscriber base and the price is cheap, don't waste your time or money. ***Past Issues*** Before spending your hard earned money, visit the website and check out past ezine issues. No archives?... contact the publisher and request an issue. Here's what you are looking for: Is the format pleasing to the eye? Is there plenty of white space? Are the lines wrapping properly? If the ezine is not easy to read, chances of your ad being read are slim to none. If the text is all running together with no blank lines to break it up, it can be tiring on the eyes. We all read a lot during the course of the day! Readers WON'T struggle to find your ad. It must reach out and grab THEM. Other things to look for... How many ads are in the ezines? Are they all grouped in one place? If there are too many ads all being displayed in the same area, chances are your ad will not be seen. The reader will just scroll on by! Keep looking! Is there a top sponsor ad? Are ads spread throughout the publication? The top sponsor spot, or "prime real estate", will cost more, but the chances of your ad being seen is better than in the classified section with all of the other ads. Even a middle sponsor spot is an ideal location... your ad stands out and as the reader is going through the publication ... Bang!... There's your ad where it's least expected! ***Universal Appeal*** If you have a product or service that is universal in appeal, try general audience or humor/entertainment type ezines. Why? Because... Subscribers do have a personal life and may just find your ad of interest! Plus, people love to laugh. For instance, if you are marketing a cat or dog food, just remember that the subscribers of many of the ezines have a Fluffy or Fido and would be interested in your product. Your ad in an "off beat" ezine would catch their eye and Fluffy or Fido may get some new, healthy, natural food! ***Bigger... Not Always Better*** You'll need to consider the number of subscribers to the ezine. BIGGER IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER! Ezines with a smaller subscriber base are more likely to be related to your product or service. When this is true, your response rate will prove to be better than the results from a larger circulation that may not be targeted to your market. ***Twenty Bucks vs. A Hundred Bucks*** Don't spend 100s of dollars on an ad (one that you think is the greatest ad ever written) without first TESTING the response to your ad. There are several good ad trackers on the market today that are inexpensive and worth their weight in gold. When a reader sees your ad, the first thing they see is your headline. It best be good... otherwise they won't read the rest of your ad and certainly won't visit your website. You don't need an audience of 25,000 + for 100 Bucks a pop to see whether readers will click on your ad. You can simply place your ad in an ezine that has an interest in your product or service with 3,000 or 8,000 subscribers for $20 or $25 and know if your ad is effective. If your response rate is low, chances are your headline did not catch their eye. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SPEND $100 TO FIND THIS OUT! ***The National Inquirer*** Stumped for some catchy words or a phrase for your headline? Next time you are standing in line at the grocery checkout, grab a copy of the National Inquirer! Yup... that's right! And how do you think they make their money?... With catchy words and phrases! How many times have you caught yourself looking at the front cover and saying, "yeah, right!". Well... Those "words" caught your eye, didn't they? Start making a list of those words and phrases and then take a look at your product or service and see how you can adapt them to your ad. ***Don't Be Long-Winded*** Just because you can get 10-12 lines, 65 characters per line for your ad, don't do it! Shorter is better. People on the Internet are in a hurry... in a hurry to read more, more, and more! And the last thing they want is a long windy ad that can be stated in 3-5 lines including the headline and URL! Success is easy when you stick to the basics. Make sure you master these key ingredients before you try to get too fancy. Remember, be CREATIVE in your ad writing and keep it short 'n sweet! http://trck.me/204891/banner.jpg

We've all been told a million times that if we are not tracking our ads we are missing the boat. Well, that's true and not true. Did you know that tracking links can actually HURT your sales? Here's why. 1. People don't like to be 'tracked'. 2. Spam filters penalize you. 3. People do not like to click affiliate links. I can't for the life of me figure out #3, but I know it's true. I've seen very nice people backspace over the affiliate code part of a link when they surf. I just don't know why they would do that. They won't pay any more by ordering from an affiliate link, and the affiliate did the job by informing them about the site (and so deserves the commission) ... but still people WILL avoid your affiliate link if you let them. So we know that people don't respond well to obvious tracking links, yet we want to track our ads so we can determine the return on investment. How can we do that? Here are three ways to use a tracking link so that no one knows you are using them, and so no one can steal your affiliate commission. 1. Use An Ad Tracker Installed On Your Domain The advantage here is obvious. You will be able to track clicks, sales, and actions (like joining your mailing list) and still use your domain name. In addition, most trackers will show you how many sales you have made per tracking link, which allows you to calculate that all-important return on investment. IMPORTANT NOTE FOR EMAIL MARKETERS: It has become very important that the links in your email come from your own domain if possible. This has become one of the ways that filters identify an email as spam, so be careful here. The beauty here is that you can make these links say anything, so they never need to look like a tracker! HOT TIP: If you use this technique, experiment with giving your tracking links interesting names, like www.yourdomain.com/LimitedTimeOffer.php Using this little trick generally increases response. The two ad trackers I like are ProAnalyzer and DynaTracker. www.proanalyzer.com www.dynatracker.com 2. Use A Tracking Link That Makes No Sense We do this on occasion just to test. Our shopping cart creates really ugly links. The upside is that no one can tell where the link goes, so they can't guess the destination and bypass your affiliate link. Here's one of our ugly shopping cart links. These get clicked far less than regular links, but can create curiosity and DO protect an affiliate link. http://www.1automationwiz.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=93232 3. My Favorite - Create A Redirect Link This requires that you have a web hosting account, which you really should have anyway. ------------------------------------------------------- DON'T MISS THE HIDDEN POWER OF THIS IDEA! ------------------------------------------------------- I recommend that everyone use a redirect link of some sort at all times. The reason is that there is a hidden power in using a redirect link, which I'll reveal to you right now. Let's say that on your site you are promoting an autoresponder. We'll call it autoresponder A. If you do what most people do, your link will look like this. www.autoresponderA.com/?12345 That's a typical affiliate link, right? But WHAT IF that company goes out of business, or lowers your commission, or offers poor customer service? To begin recommending a new company, you would have to find and replace every link - and that's very hard to do. BUT ... if you used a redirect, you could simply replace the link once and be done forever! By using a redirect, you could provide visitors with a link that looks like the following. www.yoursite.com/autoresponders.php The beauty here is that you can make your autoresponder link go ANYWHERE you want it to by modifying ONE file! Here's how to do it. 1. You take the code below and replace the URL with the URL you want to promote. <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;URL=http://www.1automationwiz.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=134428"> 2. Then, you save the file by a name you like with the html extension. Let's say you choose bubba.php 3. Now you upload it to your web server. 4. Now you tell people to go to the link you created, and they will be redirected to the link you want to protect. Here's an example. When you click on this link http://www.realworldtactics.com/bubba.php you actually go to this page http://www.realworldtactics.com/supercharge.php I use a program called NoteTab to do this, but Note Pad will work just fine. There are also programs to cloak links for you. The one I like and use is Jim Edwards Affiliate Link Cloaker. www.affiliatelinkcloaker.com No matter how you handle it, be sure to protect your affiliate commissions and begin building YOUR brand by cloaking every link you use. That way, you will get every penny you deserve in affiliate commissions. And that's a beautiful thing indeed! Join tyhe #1 list http://dash.trck.me/img/728x90.jpg

An article swap is something like an ad swap, only more powerful. The idea of exchanging, or swapping, ads has been around for years. An ad swap is simply when two (or more) publishers exchange ads in each other's publications. There are many good reasons to do this; including publishers getting more ads in their respective ezines while their advertisers reach a larger audience. A classic win-win. In some cases publishers swap ads when ad sales are low so their publications look fuller, which can also lead to increased ad sales. In much the same way publishers can save time and enhance the value of their publication by swapping articles in addition to, or instead of, ads. Swapping articles can be a huge win-win for publishers and readers too when done well. The benefits of running a successful article swap are many. The publisher' s writing workload is decreased. Their readers get to hear a fresh voice. Successful article swaps can lead to joint ventures, running solo ads in each other's ezines and more. If you use your resource box wisely, and readers like your style, you should gain subscribers every time your article is run. In addition, a successful article swap means readers you might not reach otherwise will see your information. Here are the steps to create a successful article swap, along with some ideas to go deeper and create lasting value for both yourself and the publishers you swap with. 1) Chose your publishers well. While this should be obvious, don't send your articles on duck hunting to publishers of Internet marketing ezines. As with all marketing, the more targeted your approach is the better your results will be. Use ezine directories or other search tools to find publishers based on the category that best fits your article topic. POWER TIP: Once you've chosen a publisher, take time to read a couple of issues of their publication. If you can send them an article that reinforces a point they have made to their readers you might just make a friend. If you can't, mention what you admired about their publication in your opening email. This shows the publisher respect and elevates you out of the group that just email their request using a form letter. 2) Be careful in the opening letter. Let the publisher know your goal is to swap articles, not just have your article published. Publishers often receive so many article-publishing requests that they filter them for later review. Don't let your request fall into the 'to be read later' pile. Make sure your subject line is clear and to the point. Publishers hate being tricked by a subject that doesn't relate to the actual email message. POWER TIP: Include the word count and format of your article in your opening letter. (Example: 856 words formatted to 65 characters with hard returns at the end of each line.) This will save publishers time and show them you know your business. To really impress them, run your article through a spam filter reporting service and let the publisher know your article is clean and won't hinder the delivery of their publication. 3) Use an autoresponder for the article itself. Don't send the article in your article swap request. Set up the article in an autoresponder instead so that publishers can get the article if they want it. This way you will know who is interested by watching the requests to the autoresponder. Your message will be shorter (some people filter mail based on length of message) and you will appear more professional too. 4) Offer to combine an ad swap with an article swap. Don't make the article swap contingent on swapping ads or it will seem like blackmail. Do offer to extend the arrangement to include ads, if appropriate for you, in order to save yourself and the other publisher' s time. Getting both ads and articles in one email means less administrative work for all publishers involved. And that's a good thing. 5) Send publishers a courtesy copy. While it's important to be clear in your communications about when their article will run in your publication, it shows style to send them a courtesy copy. If they offer to subscribe to your ezine, that's great. If not, be sure to send them a copy when their article is published. For added power, forward a copy of any feedback sent to you after the article runs. These little things are how relationships are formed. One last tip; after you do a few successful article swaps with a publisher offer them a multi-part series. These series are perfect for when publishers want to go on vacation. All publishers live under time pressure. If your series can fill their article needs for three weeks while they are gone and save them time too you'll have a winner. Article swaps are a powerful way to get your information seen by a broader audience, develop new relationships with publishers and more. Best of all, very few people are doing them now so doing this now will make you a trendsetter! While anyone can spew out a few hundred emails with an offer for an article swap, the more personal and targeted your requests are the more success you will have, plus you will make lasting friendships in the process. When that happens you will be in a league of your own. http://trck.me/234307/banner.jpg

What do you think of when you hear the word "test"? Do you remember that empty feeling in the pit of your stomach as you prepared for the SAT? Do you think of the grin on your least favorite teacher's face as she handed you back a paper full of red marks? Well here's the good news. Now you get to GIVE the test! Testing your ads before rolling out an ad campaign is probably the most important, yet most overlooked part of successful advertising. If you have ever saved up your money, written an ad you thought sounded good, then bought the ads only to have little or nothing happen, I have very good news for you. Today you will learn a cheap and easy way to test your ads that will practically ensure you never waste money on a bad ad again. Read carefully. More importantly, APPLY the ideas to your advertising. When you do, you will make more sales with less effort, and that's a beautiful thing! Today I'm going to share with you the #1 answer that experts give when asked about successful advertising. Cheap, and easy to do, TESTING your ad copy BEFORE you spend big bucks is by far the most important, yet most overlooked, step in the process of successful advertising. To test your ads successfully involves four essential elements. 1. WHAT TO TEST A great ad contains an attention grabbing headline, compelling body copy and a dynamic call to action. You will need to test each aspect of your ad. You can test each at the same time by using a unique URL or email address for the response. Here's what to do: Write out a series of ads for your product or service. If you need help writing, use our free report as a guideline. Make each one the best it can be. Choose your top three favorites and run those ads for one week. At the end of the week, tally the results and see which ad won. Now you have an ad that is proven to work to some extent. At this point you will begin refining the ad by changing ONE element at a time (the headline for example) and testing again. 2. WHERE TO TEST Successful testing means you may place three ads in the beginning, then three variations of the ad that pulled best. Since you don't want to go broke in the process, and want fast results, place your ad where the most people will see it. At this point you want to turn to classified ads to test your ads. Using these sources offers two big advantages. First, many are free! Second, they have huge numbers of people seeing your ad. While you won't make much money in the long run advertising in these places (that's what ezines are for!!) you will have run a free, successful test. 3. WHEN TO TEST Many people believe that Saturday is the best day to place classified ads since people who work during the week are free to surf on the weekend. While that may be true for some products, it is not true for all. The key is to run each ad for a full seven days. This way you can test not only your ad copy and where you placed the ad, but see when the ad pulled the best. Keep careful track of how many responses happen on which day. When your test is done you'll want to choose those ezines who publish on your best selling day. 4. HOW TO TRACK TEST RESULTS All of this testing is meaningless unless you track results. The good news is that tracking is easy if you keep it simple. Here's an insider tip. Add a ? and number to your URL and you can track ads for free by using your server logs. For example, if I change my URL from http://www.directoryofezines.com to http://www.directoryofezines.com/?123 you will go to the same page, but my server logs will show how many hits went to the ?123 site separately from the main page. To track your ads simply start a spreadsheet (or use a piece of paper) and create an ad chart. On top of the chart, give each ad a number, list the location and duration of the ad and allow room for daily results. Remember, it's best to use a separate email address or URL for each ad. At the end of each day tally the results of each ad. When the week is done, tally the numbers and list how many total responses you had for each ad. Which ad wins will become very clear, very quickly. A typical chart looks like this. Date Source Ad # M T W T F Total 3/28 Yahoo 003 1 12 13 19 11 56 Now you can go on to figure costs per click. To do this simply divide the amount you spent by the number of clicks. For example, let's say you advertise in an ezine that charges $45 for an ad. If you get 1000 clicks from that ad, your cost per click is $45 divided by 1000 = 4.5 cents per click. Whether the cost per click is good or bad depends on your product, how well your sales material works and your profit margins. Testing ads this way is the #1 tool of successful advertisers from Madison Avenue to the one person business operating from home. Learn to test your ads effectively and you will sell more while spending less. Now that's a beautiful thing! http://trck.me/233830/banner.jpg

Of all the ways that people have invented to sell things over the Internet, writing free articles to run in ezines is perhaps the most effective. One great thing about this method of marketing is that you can do it with NO money. So if you are just starting your Internet marketing career, put away the Visa and warm up that keyboard! Article marketing may be the perfect way to market. It's free to do. It educates prospects. It gets your message in front of thousands of interested prospects you would NEVER reach otherwise. It's viral. Best of all ... it works! So what is "article marketing" and how can it impact your world? Glad you asked. What we call "article marketing" is simply writing informative articles and having those articles run in ezines. If that sounds hard, it's not. Let's run the numbers for a moment. There are over 300,000 ezines out there. Estimates say that over 90% of them use free articles in their ezines. That means there is a HUGE market for your articles, no matter what you want to write about. We like to say it this way. From cat food to Katmandu, there's an ezine out there for everyone. You included. =====> The Big Picture The first step is to understand the goal of article marketing. The goal is to write an informative article and have it run in as many TARGETED ezines as possible. When people read the article they see your resource box at the end of the article, click to your website and buy your stuff. They learn something, you make money. Simple. Notice the emphasis on targeted? Please, please, whatever you do, do not waste an editors time with articles that they don't need. One of the greatest things about the Directory of Ezines is that you can use it to find the perfect ezines for your articles ... fast. Use the DOE, but never spam editors with articles they can't use. <Getting off soapbox now> =====> How to Write the Article You want to write an informative article about something you know. Once you chose your subject, here's the magic formula for writing the article. Five easy steps. 1. Be yourself. Don't try to write like anyone else. Let your personality shine through. 2. Tell a story. People love to hear an interesting story. 3. Limit yourself to 600 words. This is an ideal length for most ezines. Format your article to 65 characters per line with a hard return at the end of each line. 4. Have a clear opening, make three or five points it the middle, and have a brief conclusion. 5. THIS IS THE BIG ONE. Give the reader a few steps he or she can take to make your idea work for them. Tell them what to do first, second, third to accomplish the task you are writing about. If the reader can take ACTION based on what you wrote (just like you can now apply this formula to your writing) you will have delivered valuable information to them. Do that and, hopefully, they will keep reading your stuff! =====> How to Find the Right Ezines The absolute, 100% effective, surefire way to do this is to use the Directory of Ezines. Sorry, couldn't resist. Look for ezines that have these three things. First, the ezine content matches your article content. Second, the ezine accepts articles. Third, the reader is someone who would be a good customer for you. Once you nail down those basics you have found the perfect market for your articles. =====> How to Approach the Editor The BEST way to approach an editor is this. 1. Subscribe to the ezine. 2. Read a few issues. 3. Write a personal note commenting on what you enjoyed about the issues you read. 4. Offer your article as one that might fit in. 5. Ask to be informed if your article is run. 6. Thank them for their time. 7. Be available if they have questions. If an editor chooses your article, the odds are they will run your articles in the future as well. Stay in touch and you can develop close relationships with literally hundreds of editors. Remember that each editor represents thousands of readers that you may never reach any other way. Also remember that the editor is a busy person. Keep your email brief. =====> How to Maximize Your Return on Time Invested Include a "resource box" at the end of the article. A resource box is where you sell the reader on going to your website, subscribing to your ezine, or taking any other action you want them to take. Marketing with ezine articles is truly a win-win-win proposition. The publisher wins because he or she gets great free articles. The reader wins because your article is informative and tells them how to accomplish an important task as easy as 1,2,3. You win because hundreds of thousands of readers see your selling message at the end of your article. http://www.directoryofezines.com/affiliates/banners/468x60.gif

As a person who is deeply involved in the ezine advertising business, I often hear people asking "Does ezine advertising still work?" My answer to these questions is this ... Darn right they work. In fact, they work now better than ever before. Allow me to share with you, by way of this ezine, why I believe ezines still work to make sales, build credibility, establish relationships, and more. Reason One - Ezines are delivered TO the reader via EMAIL. Let me ask you this: why do 99% of the people who are online today get online in the first place? The answer still is, to send and receive email with friends and loved ones. Ten years from now when we all have pen sized devices that cost nothing, or Dick Tracy wristwatches, perhaps email will take a back seat. For now email IS the Internet. Ezines work because people REQUEST them. That's what opt-in is all about. People chose to subscribe to newsletters that discuss topics that interest them. Since they requested the information they happily read it. They WANT this information. No one is pushing it at them. Also, it really doesn't matter what the bad people do. They can send all the cheesy ads and bugs they want and we'll find a way to filter it out. Sure, the occasional message will slip through. And, sadly, people will still buy their garbage, which will only encourage them to send more. But they are irrelevant and email will still reign supreme; and that's a sure thing. How do I know this? You're reading this right now, aren't you? And I didn't do one thing special to get this message to you. That's because the system works! As long as the following things (and more) are true, email will be the main purpose of the Internet. * Parents with children at college want to stay in touch without incurring high cell phone bills. * People want to communicate with others across the globe on their own schedule. * One person can publish an electronic newsletter and deliver it to a thousand or a million people free. * Postage rates continue to increase and direct mail costs too much. People don't need to know a browser from a banana, yet they can get their favorite newsletter by email. My Aunt in Mississippi doesn't know Yahoo from Howdy Doody but she gets ezines, clicks the links and buys stuff. Email arrives on her schedule, and she likes that. Here's THE question. Are enough people hearing YOUR message? Are enough people buying YOUR products? You can bet your last dollar on this .... they ARE buying from someone. In fact, I'll prove to you they are buying. Take a look at the results of an ad I ran two weeks ago. This solo ad went one time to an ezine with about 18,000 subscribers. Raw Clicks: 1218 Unique Clicks: 957 Sales Generated : 69 Gross Profit Per Sale: $29.97 Total Gross Profit: $2067.93 Some believe that ezines are dying out and new ideas like forums and blogs (a web log that acts as a sort of digital diary) will replace newsletters delivered by email. While these things may gain some popularity, (blogs are now the 'flavor of the month' and you'll be hearing much more about them soon) they fail to overcome the ONE element that makes email stand alone as the ultimate communication medium of our time. That factor? The reader does NOT have to take action to receive your message. Blogs, forums, chats and more are fine (I run forums and use them myself) but they will never overcome the fact that people have to go to them. Ezines come to the reader with no effort on the reader's part. As long as that ONE factor remains true, email marketing, including ezines, will be an extremely effective way to market and communicate. Reason Two - Ezines are topic specific. Few other mediums offer the specific nature of ezines. People who want to know about basset hounds don't want to know about cats or even dogs in general. They want to know about their dogs, bassets. This means you can target your market with ezines more accurately than any other medium, including search engines. Ezine subscribers want information about the topic of the ezine or they wouldn't subscribe in the first place. Sure, those annoying spam filters make it a bit harder to deliver your message. But the fact remains that people who want our information will take steps to ensure they get it. If you publish helpful, relevant information the reader will read. People are quite adept at getting what they want, and that includes helpful free information. Reason Three - Ezines are helpful. The ezines that do the best job for everyone involved (the reader and the publisher) are the ones that do the least 'hard' selling. We must go back to the basic premise of an ezine. Here it is. As a publisher, I agree to give you timely, helpful information for no cost. As a reader, you agree to buy my products when you have a need for such products. While it remains unspoken, this is the basic covenant between publisher and subscriber. And it works very, very well. Ask anyone who has an active ezine what their #1 asset is and they will answer "my subscriber list" almost every time. Forget the hype about building a 'huge opt-in list' so you can promote any time you want. Producing an ezine is about relationships. The relationship the publisher establishes with the reader can only pay off for the publisher in more sales IF they publisher establishes themselves as a credible person. Do that and you will quickly discover that ezines still work very well indeed. Now, here are two quick ways to make YOUR ezine wildly popular. Do these things and you simply will not fail... One - Serve the reader. When the publisher puts their focus on serving the reader by selecting or writing the most helpful articles possible, the publisher builds trust. Trust is like money in the bank because, if you are the type of publisher who servers readers, your endorsements of products and services will carry weight. This heart toward service cannot be faked. If you really serve your readers and take the time to ensure you deliver relevant content, they will reward you with increased sales every time. Two- Establish a dialogue. Ezines are about relationships. Don't discourage readers from writing to you but rather encourage it. Ask them how they liked the article. Ask how you can serve them. Ask what they would like to read about. The more of this you do, the more you please readers. And happy readers refer other readers as well as buy products and services. While it is 100% true that ezines are profit generators second to none, how you make those profits will determine how long you stay in business. If you beat your list to a pulp with offer after offer that sound too good to be true, you can expect to stay up nights worrying about where to find the next thousand subscribers. Your subscriber turnover will be high and your peace of mind will be low. If you establish an ezine to have a voice, to serve your readers, to make honest recommendations and to begin a relationship that only email can offer, your satisfaction, profits, and peace of mind will be very high. Do ezines still work? Of course they do. Nothing works better to position you as an expert in your field, build credibility and trust, and, of course, make sales. Do they work? You're reading this one, aren't you? http://dash.trck.me/img/250x250.jpg

The term "CPM" Is widely used in business. Thus, it has many meanings. In one context CPM stands for critical path managment. In other settings it means other things. In the context of buying ezine advertising CPM stands for "cost per thousand". CPM is the cost the publisher charges per thousand subscribers for ads in his or her ezine. So if publisher Susan offers solo ads that cost $6 CPM and she has 40,000 subscribers then the cost for the solo ad would be $240. CPM costs can vary depending on the type of ad offered. Generally speaking, ezines offer the following types of ads: Solo ads Sponsor ads Classified ads Banner ads As you can imagine, each of these ad types have different costs. You would not expect to pay the same price for a solo ad as you would for a banner ad. So when you see publishers that base their price on CPM you can know that the publisher is basing the price on the cost per thousand subscribers on their list. If you need further help with costs or understanding ad types you can find more about them in the Ezine Advertising section of the Learning Center. Hope this helps. Free ezine Online Business Success Resources

Q. If safelists don't work, why do they exist? A. They exist because the person who runs the safelist gets to send a lot of ads. They can mail the entire list anytime they want. But more importantly, they get to reply to every registration with an ad. And since they usually require you to confirm your registration before you can send email, they know that your address is valid. WARNING: Some safelist owners will sell your confirmed email address to others. http://trck.me/204901/banner.jpg

Q. What are safelists and do they work? A. Safelists are a type of email marketing to a closed group of people. Here's how it works most of the time. Everyone who joins the safelists agrees to receive mail from other safelist members. Members of the safelist can send a certain number of emails to the list - usually one email per day. The email can be for anything ... it can be a pure ad, an article, almost anything. Email is sent via the safelist website. In other words, members do not download a mailing list but rather they send email after logging in to the safelist site. Some members can send more email than others. This is usually based on paying a fee or recruiting others or length of time as a member. Safelists do not work well. They expose you to tons of email solicitations and do not generally yield much in the way of results. Any results you do get from safelists are usually someone seeking something free. Sales results are very low. The reason that safelists don't work is that almost everyone who uses them registers with a free email account (such as Yahoo or Hotmail or Gmail) and then never checks that account. So, they get to send email but never really have to read any. There are some exceptions, but they are very few indeed. I would never recommend you paying to be on a safelist. Instead, focus that time and energy on more proven marketing methods. Never confuse effort with results. Safelists can take hours a day of effort but provide very little return on that time investment. http://trck.me/214155/banner.jpg