RESOURCE CENTER
BUILDING
BLOCK #4
4. Now
it's time to investigate doing your own newsletter
The best way to market on the Internet and to build your
subscribers base (the glue that holds your business
together)
a. Where
do you start?
b. What kind of content?
c. What style do I use?
d. How do you get advertisers?
e. Is swapping ads good?
f. Where do you get ideas?
g. Where do you get subscribers?
h. Do I charge for advertising?
i. What service do I use to build my list?
a. Where
do you start:
Whatever
your interest is - this is where you start. Enter
into the search engine what your interest is -
example - marketing - cooking - growing grass burrs,
etc. whatever your interest this is where you start.
Once
you do that you will have a whole bunch of places to
start looking. Keep open some kind of note pad, word
pad, or anything that you can just cut and past to
and then file as research.
I use
notepad - I just keep it open all the time and as I
cross the net and find something that I would like to
include in my newsletter, I just copy and paste to
the note pad and then when I compose the newsletter,
I just copy and past to the newsletter.
Always
remember if you are using something from a newsletter
that has been published, always request permission
and always give credit where credit is due.
b. What
kind of content:
Make
it interesting - you know from all the newsletters
you have read what is interesting and what is not.
You
want to promote your products, but you want to do it
in an interesting way - don't just list a bunch of
products and ads - get something that is unique - for
example - in my newsletter I have the 'Hope is Alive'
section. I have recevied many testimonies as to how
this section has helped individuals in their daily
lives.
Add
some humor - enter into the search engines - humor,
jokes, funnies and you will have scores of places to
look. Another good place to look is at: http://www.funnymail.com - hundreds of jokes there
and interesting articles, some a little off color,
although funny, resist the temptation.
Once
you decide on your content - try to stay to this line
all the time. People get use to your content.
There
are sites all over the web which offers articles to
use if you have not developed your own yet. Just
enter into the search engine 'articles' and it will
pull up many sites. I do not list them here, because
there are fresh new ones all the time.
However,
one good one will be: http://www.ezinearticles.com/
c. What
style do you use?
This
will be very important - some of the newsletters you
read are so jumbled up with different styles, fonts,
lines, etc until they are a mess.
You
want a clean looking newsletter - take a look at my
newsletter (sorry to use 'my' so much - but these are
tried and tested and I have had many compliments on
the clean cut look of my newsletter) Go to: http://starterkithaven.com/newsltr1.htm or the one I keep as a link
base at: http://starterkithaven.com/newsltr.htm
Notice
the subject sections - always list them at the
beginning of the newsletter so your viewers can look
at a glance and see what is in your newsletter.
Notice
it is outlined ...
==>
Sponsorship
==> Featured Article
==> A Smile a Day
and on
and on - whatever you name your subject - list it at
the beginning of the newsletter.
Try
and stick with that each week, as I said before -
they get use to your style and don't like changes -
you can add to or take away but keep the same format.
I had a particular newsletter that I always looked
forward to receiving, but they have changed the name
and the format so many times, I have lost interest in
it.
An
easier way is to run your text file through the free
email formatting utility at: http://www.jbmckee.com/formatit/index.html You can just cut and paste
any document into this program, tell it what line
length you are looking for, and it spits out properly
formatted emails. As far as line length, many ezine
publishers and guru's teach formatting your email to
no more than 65 characters per line. I use 60
characters in mine.
Look
at my archives section from my first newsletter to
the last. You will see a big change - I actually like
the first part better because I have the graphics,
but so many people cannot view these graphics so I
had to go to the more simple look.
Go to Archives - Don't worry - you won't
lose your place, you will come right back here.
Until
you get your newsletter established - you can use any
of the information found in the newsletters that you
want to use. Don't worry, the viewers will not
remember those first issues - stick to the first ones
for content as the later ones may be remember. There
is a lot of information in that year's publications.
d. How do
you get advertisers?
This
will come in due time as the viewers get use to
seeing your name they will build trust. This is just
a time thing and there is no short cuts. Some say
viewers have to see your name at least 9 times before
you even register with them.
Just
start advertising and listing in every place you can
find a place to list. Surf the web for like sites and
swap ads with different newsletters - just write a
note and ask would you like to swap ads. Most all the
time they will be happy to. This is free advertising.
You
will find on my links page many, many places that
will swap ads. Go to: Links,
Links and more Links.
Don't
be overwhelmed by all the links - just take your time
and work through it.
After
you have swapped a few ads - you will start receiving
advertising, but don't get discouraged - this will
come slow. But the swapping of ads will get your name
our there and as your subscriber base grows, so will
your advertisers.
e. Is
swapping ads good?
Yes,
this is the best way to get started. Just be careful
where you place your ads. Remember - you are known by
the company you keep. Don't swap with adult related
or sex related or any kind of offensive newsletters.
It may take 9 times to recognize your name from
normal advertising, but only one time to associate
your name with something offensive.
Just
like the little kid that picks up the one bad word
out of a hundred. The same is so with your name among
the wrong kind of newsletters.
Again,
my links pages are full of qualified swap newsletters
at:
Links, Links and More Links.
Here
are some good ones also:
The Swap Shop
Swap, trade or barter with other newsletters owners
for free classified ads.
http://swap.at/TheSwapShop.com
Ezine Ad Swap
They have a 2 tier program that's quite unique
http://www.listpartners.com/cgi-local/subscribe?825
AdSwappers
Another fast rising ad swap club
http://www.adswappers.20m.com/
You will need to get listed with some
E-zine and Newsletter sites.http://www.adswappers.20m.com/links.html
There are about 15-20 excellent resources here.
Just enter your subject in the search
engine and you will be taken to many, many e-zines.
For example: marketing - or home business - or
whatever your interest.
Here is a list of e-zines to try
swaping with:
Book of Zines
Directory of
Electronic Journals, Newsletters and Academic
Discussion Lists
Do It Yourself
Dominis Ezines
Echelon's Newsletter
Exchange
e-Journal
E-zine AdSource
Ezine Center
E-zineDirectory.com
Ezine Movement
EzineLinks
EzinesPlus.com
EzineWorld.com
Ezines Today
Ezines Ultimate
Magazine Database
eZINESearch
EzineSeek
E-ZineZ
Foxcities Ezine
Directory
Get Published
HandiLinks
InfoJump; The
Ultimate Magazine Database
Inkpot Zine Scene
John Labovitz's Ezine
List
Kashflowz Free Ezines
List City
List Quest
Low Bandwidth
L-Soft International
Mailing List WWW
Gateway
Marketing-Seek.com
E-zine Database
MarketingWise.com
New Jour
New
List
Newsletter Access
Newsletter Access
Directory
ONEList
Publicly Available
Mailing Lists
Questfinder Search
Engine
Site City
The Etext Archives
The
Ezine Web Ring
The InfoBot.net Ezine
Directory!
The Internet Mailing
List Network
Liszt; The Mailing
List Directory
The List of Lists by
Vivian
The ListTool
The Netter
The Newsletter
Library
The Source for
Newsletters and Ezines
The Zine Rack
TopEzineAds.com
Tile Net
Webcom.com
Web Loft Publishing
WebScout Lists
Web-Star
Zine-O-Mart
Zine World
'ZineConnection
Remember - links come and go
and there is no way I can keep on top of what are
active and what goes away overnight.
f.
Where do you get ideas?
Don't
try to reinvent the wheel. Search through other
newsletters to get good ideas. When you see a format
or an item or a product that is used over and over
again - go with it - not the same article or product,
but idea.
A lot
of the ideas will be of your own invention as you get
more and more experienced. Go with it and see how it
works.
There
are many articles available - try some of these:
http://certificate.net/wwio/wglines.shtml http://www.EzineArticles.com
http://www.ideamarketers.com/
http://www.infobot.net/
http://www.isyndicate.com/providers/self_syndication/index.html
http://www.mediapeak.com/
http://www.newslettersonline.com
http://www.writebusiness.com
http://www.list-content.com
http://www.egroups.com/group/The-Article-Depot
http://www.egroups.com/group/articles_archives
g. Where
do you get subscribers?
Anywhere
you can dig them up? Seriously, this is the backbone
of your business. One that you will need to spend a
lot of time developing.
The
secret to getting them back to your site more and
more - offer something of value for free - tools for
their websites or free downloads, articles, CGI
scripts (covered elsewhere) anything that will be a
working tool they can use in their own newsletter and
subscriber search.
You
will find many tools, downloads, all kinds of free
items through this Resource Center.
Posting
to all the e-zine lists, egroups, topica lists, mega
lists, classifieds, FFA pages, directories. Just
enter each of these words into the search engine and
start listing. You will also find them on my Lists
pages.
h. Do I
charge for advertising?
This
is the ultimate goal. However, there is no shortcut
to getting there.
If you
have only 25 subscribers, no one is going to pay you
to advertise in your newsletter.
On the
other hand, just because a newsletter has 20,000
subscribers, that does not mean they are the best.
Some small newsletters have a much better targeted
market. My newsletter was more active when I was
smaller - I used some list services and my list
became watered down - I had to clean it and wiped out
thousands and thousands - but it is again more
active. I prefer a small list myself. You build a
community.
Once
you build your newsletter to over 500 you will be in
a position to charge for advertising.
Ad
Swaps are your best bet until you have built your
subscriber list. Most everyone will swap ads with
you. Also most will remember those days of getting
started. I have only had one newsletter turn me down
and they had over 30,000 subscribers. Obviously they
have forgotten those beginning days.
What
you charge for advertising will depend on your
subscriber base. You will get a feel for this as you
see what other newsletters charge. Anywhere from
$5.00 to $15.00 to $25.00 is about the going rate.
Quality of your newsletter is better than how many
subscribers you have.
When
you complete your newsleetter you will need to
announce it.
Check list below.
Some of these link might be outdated but they are
worth a
try.
The most important one is this one.
http://topezineads.com/cgi-bin/affiliate/b.cgi/270
List follows.
http://site-city.com/members/e-zine-master
http://www.top-business-ezines.com
http://www.newsletter-library.com/ven.htm
http://www.arl.org/scomm/edir/template.html
http://www.edoc.com/jrl-bin/wilma
http://gort.ucsd.edu/newjour/submit.html
http://www.yotta.com/magazine/addfree.htm
http://www.dominis.com/Zines/publishers
http://www.etext.org/services.shtml
http://www.disobey.com/low/addere.shtml
http://inkpot.com/submit
http://www.catalog.com/vivian
http://www.oblivion.net/zineworld/add.html
http://www.coalliance.org
http://www.lifestylespub.com
http://www.neosoft.com/internet/paml
http://www.zinerack.com/search/enterurl.html
http://www.netspace.org/cgi-bin/lwgate
http://www.e-zinez.com
http://www.best-ezines.com
http://www.meer.net/~johnl/e-zine-list
http://tile.net/lists
http://www.liszt.com
http://www.owt.com/dircon/mediajum.htm
http://homeincome.com/search-it/ezine
http://netterweb.com/lp/ed_ezinedirectory.htm
http://www.ait.ac.th/clair/ez.html
http://www.ezinefactory.co.za
http://empowerline.com/ezine_directory.html
http://www.foxcities.com/ims/ezine.htm
http://www.ezineseek.com
http://www.onlinepromoter.com/home.htm
http://www.coopmark.com/ezines/goto.htm
http://www.ariadesigns.com/ezines.html
http://www.netsupermall.com
http://www.infobot.net/content.html
http://ezinewebring.hypermart.net
http://choosenetworking.com
http://www.zinezone.com
i.
WHAT SERVICE DO I USE TO SET UP MY LIST.
Do some research before you settle on
a service to use to build your list - moving lists
are a real mess and you always lose subscribers.
What is a list server? - You need to
have a way to gain subscribers - your own e-mail will
be fine until you start growing - but I would start
off with one. After you open your account with a list
server - you put that link on your newsletter for
people to subscribe to - it is set up with
autoresponders and when someone subscribes, a welcome
letter is automatically sent. It must contain a link
to have one click to unsubscribe.
Most autoresponders will have spaces
for follow-up letters and you can set the dates to
follow-up and the messages. For example - I use
Parabots - everyplace I can post a link to subscribe
to my newsletter this is what I do.
Just show "subscribe to the e4u
Newsletter" mailto:e4u_Newsletter@parabots.com
They click on this - it subscribes
them to the e4u Newsletter and sends a welcome letter
- there is an unsubscribe at the bottom of the
welcome letter.
With the new laws - be sure you list
your name, a physical address, phone number and
e-mail address.
Here are a few good list servers -
some free some paid.
http://add2it.com/ref/home/emailcash.shtml
http://www.aweber.com
http://www.getresponse.com
http://www.autoresponseplus.com
http://ProfitAutomation.com
www.EZezine.com
http://parabots.com
- this is the one I use.
All of these will have all the
functions you will need - don't go to the group lists
- you will end up having to move and it is not an
easy thing to do.
Let's
move on to Building Block #5 - Let's do some
marketing.
GO
HERE FOR BUILDING BLOCK #5
Question:
- ask Sharon
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