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Increasing
Ezine Subscriptions
by Joe Tracy
Ezines are one of the most preferred and personal means
of providing valuable information to your Website visitors.
Did you know that some ezines have more than 50,000 subscribers,
earning more than $2,000 for just one text ad? Furthermore,
some of these ezines have a waiting list of advertisers!
While 50,000 subscribers seems like an impossible task to
those who have only 50 readers now, it isn't beyond your
ability to drastically grow the number of subscribers to
your ezine.
Below I have assembled 10 methods to help you drastically
increase the number of people that subscribe to your ezine:
1) Have a consistent schedule. Put your ezine on
a consistent schedule and never miss a publishing date. For
example, can you realistically put out a high content and
strong quality ezine every Tuesday evening? If so, then make
sure it is publicly known that your ezine comes out once
a week, every Tuesday evening. Then consistently deliver.
Consistency is important in building the reputation of your
ezine.
2) Provide quality content. Make sure your ezine
is strong in content. People want fresh material and ideas
that aren't already available on your Website. Make sure
your ezine provides exclusive material that makes it worth
reading. If a person receives an ezine that is only ads and
links, chances are they will quickly unsubscribe or add you
to their "block sender" list.
3) Register your ezine. Did you know that there are
dozens of ezine directories and search engines scattered
throughout the Web? Try a few of these for starters:
- http://www.ezinelinks.com/indexu/index.php
- http://gort.ucsd.edu/newjour/submit.html
- http://ejournal.coalliance.org/
- http://www.ezine-list.com/
4) Give away promotional prizes. People love prizes
and the chance to win a great product, which is why Websites
like www.iwon.com are so popular. Why not offer your ezine
subscribers a chance to win a prize? I used to run an ezine
where I'd hold a monthly drawing of newsletter subscribers
and the winners would receive a free t-shirt or a prize aimed
at the subject of the newsletter. The prizes become an additional
added benefit for those who sign up and remain a member.
Be sure to announce the winners in your ezine.
5) Offer and advertise sneak peeks. For me, the most
effective method for increasing ezine subscriptions has been
giving subscribers a "sneak peek" of stories, features, and
Web areas. If you have a popular Website, and you offer a
free advanced look at some of your content pages then you'll
have people signing up just to get the information sooner.
On one of my Websites, I used to post on the front page "New
Newsletter Tonight - all subscribers will get a sneak peek
of _____. Click here to
sign up." I always saw a spike in subscriptions every
time I did this.
6) Use internal banner ads. Whether you have banner
advertising on your site or not, a great promotion method
for your ezine is to create banners and use them internally.
Spread these banners throughout your site with a link to
your subscription page.
7) Archive your ezines. Make sure all your ezines
are publicly archived so that new visitors can see the valuable
information you provide. Many will sample your ezine before
signing up. The better the content, the more subscriptions
you'll receive. Also, if you are using a third party ezine
hosting service, like Topica, be sure to use the public archive
option so that
everyone using those services can also view past issues.
If you archive issues on your site be sure to add meta tags
to those pages and submit them to search engines. Make sure
each archived page has a way for new subscribers to sign
up.
8) Provide reasons to subscribe. On your sign-up
page, list many reasons that a visitor should sign up for
your ezine. For example:
Online
Dating Newsletter Subscribers receive:
- the latest online dating news.
- dating jokes and cartoons.
- free relationship advice.
- free creative date ideas.
- online dating tips.
- sneak peeks at new content.
The longer your list of reasons, the more likely a visitor
will sign up for your ezine. Never lie to your visitor, however.
If you list something as available in your newsletter then
deliver it on a consistent basis.
9) Obtain testimonials. Ask your ezine subscribers
to fill out a survey (with a great prize to be given, in
a drawing, to one of the people who fills out the survey).
As part of the survey ask "What do you like best about _____
ezine?" At the end of the survey have a yes and no box the
person can check that asks "may we have your permission to
quote your responses for marketing purposes?" Use methods
like this to build your testimonial base then start using
the testimonials to give new prospects more reasons to sign
up for your ezine.
The more people you can generate to your Website, the better
these tips will work in skyrocketing your ezine subscriptions.
That's why you should learn strategic Web marketing techniques
like those found in "55
Vital Web Marketing Strategies for Marketing Your Website." Most
importantly, be consistent in your promotion and when the
time is right,
start making money by charging for ad space!
--
Joe Tracy is editor of Webmaster
Techniques Magazine and author of Web
Marketing Applied.
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