Ezines
Selecting and marketing to ezines relating
to the subject area of your site is an excellent way of
receiving highly targeted traffic, and is probably my number
one way of driving thousands of visitors to my
sites. Writing articles and submitting them to article
directories can get your articles picked up my ezine
editors, but you should also submit your articles directly
to these editors, particularly those that have a
large number of subscribers.
There are no guarantees that your
articles will be included, however, so if you want
guaranteed inclusion in specific ezines, maybe those with high
readership, you can also pay for advertising. Although
more costly, but still very cheap in most cases, it can
bring equally good results, particular top-sponsor and solo-ads
which I have always found to be the most effective.
You should start off my compiling a list of
possible ezines that relate to your niche market. There are
plenty of ezine directories and search tools out there to help
you with this task. When you have done this, target those
popular ones with high readership. See whether they accept free
article submissions firstly, and look for any free advertising
opportunities if possible. Some ezines will allow you to run a
trial ad to test it's results, before you commit yourself to
running paid ad campaigns with them. If they don't appear
to offer this option, it doesn't hurt to ask the
editors if you can have a free trial run.
The very best resource for finding relevant
ezines is without doubt the Directory of Ezines. I use this all the
time to find high readership, related ezines to submit
my articles to, and to find good value advertising
opportunities.
If you are writing an ad to be included in
an ezine, as with any form of advertising, your ad needs to be
compelling, even if it's just a free ad. Create a headline
that will set you apart from the other ads on the page. Be sure
to include the major benefits and features of your product in
your ad.
You should use some kind of ad tracking
software to track the effectiveness of this and any other forms
of advertising. See the ad tracking section for more
details. This will allow you to try out different headlines and
descriptions, in future ezine ads to find the most effective
ad.
To conclude, if you can you should target
high readership ezines or newsletters, and write and submit
articles directly to the editors for inclusion in their ezines.
You can also use free ad options, if available, for another
free and highly effective method of promoting your site.
However, don't discount paid ads, particularly in the most
popular ezines. You'll be surprised at how cheap this form of
advertising is, and the effectiveness of these campaigns.
Finally, be sure to check out the Directory of Ezines. For a one-off fee you
will have immediate access to hundreds of related ezines,
and therefore the potential to attract thousands of targeted
visitors to your site.
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