Ezine marketing is extremely effective, and really untapped, if you know where to look. This article assumes you already know something about ezines, and what ad placement terms are (e.g. top sponsor ad, solo ad, bottom sponsor ad, etc.)

In this article we will discuss the techniques that have helped individuals on my team collect literally thousands of leads per month.

One husband/wife team actually snagged 2000 targeted leads in one day! To get those kind of results, it takes research and patience.

First of all, get it in your head and realize that you have something <u>extremely valuable to share</u>. (If you don't have something valuable, find a different opportunity or product. You must believe in the company you work with/for). Figure out who you want to share it with. This will be your target market.

When you have something valuable to share, all you have to do is show people who are interested in your service where to find the information. That's all that marketing is: <u>finding your market</u>! You do not need to sell them anything. You have to write a good ad, but the whole point is that they sell themselves since you have shown them what they are already looking for.

Your target market may not always be whoever first comes to mind. For example, I am a leader with a direct sales/network marketing company, and I am very familiar with the type of person I want to work with. Most network marketers only market to other business opportunity seekers.

I do not advertise in the ezines that are cluttered with other business opportunity seekers that are only subscribing to see their own ads. Rather, I advertise in places like self-development ezines, because that type of person is looking for growth and change. That is the perfect attitude to be an entrepreneur. They are looking to improve their life, and I have the perfect vehicle. I can show them that road.

I also market to loan officers or people in real estate. These are people who are self-reliant, are used to working on commission, and they deal with other people on a daily basis. These are the type of leaders I want for my team.

If they are making money but have no time for their families and are ready for a change, they are looking for my message. I can show them a path to working from home and having more flexibility while increasing their income. How could that person not want to hear more from me?

Great resources for finding quality ezines is the www.DirectoryofEzines.com, www.Ezines-R-Us.com, and www.BestNewsMarketingGazette.com/ezineadvertising.html. Of course that is not the end - all - be - all of directories, but it is a good place to start. There is a paid membership for some, but it is worth it.

Test and track each ezine! (More about that in Part 3). If you have a smaller budget, or if you want to test a bunch of ezines, go with the top sponsor ad. Go ahead and send a content-appropriate top sponsor ad in 10 or 50 ezines and track the progress.

Which one brought you the most leads? You'll quickly find out if it's a responsive ezine, then you can drop in a solo sponsor ad. You got a good response from the top sponsor, so expect bigger results form the solo. However, do not even bother with the middle or bottom sponsor ads even if they are cheaper. Seriously, you get what you pay for.

Eventually, the higher priced solos will probably produce you better results, but that is not guaranteed. However, the fact that is costs more means that there is a demand. They produce results! Where there is smoke there is fire, so once you can afford the really expensive solos (some run even a couple thousand dollars) do it.

Coming in Part 2:
"What are the 7 essential questions you must ask before posting a single ad?"

In Part 1, I talked about finding your target market, and how it might not always be who you first think of. Then how to begin finding the right ezines to market in.

In Part 2 of this article, I will talk the 7 essential questions you must ask the ezine owner before posting a single ad. Why it is so important to get in touch with the owner of the ezine? Easy: to determine how effective your ad will be. It also puts you in control of your business relationship. You now have the power.

You can email, but a call is more powerful. Directories (such as DirectoryOfEzines.com) will often give you contact information for the owners. There are certain questions you want to ask that will help you determine if this ezine is worth your time.

Q: "How many mailings are sent out each week?" If they send out more than 2 per week I stay away. That means the list is getting hammered with ads. Subscribers will get annoyed and opt out. Generally (not always), ezines that get a lot of mailing have lower quality. The content is not good. It's extremely important that the content is good. Otherwise, the subscribers are probably just people that are just looking for their own ad.

Q: "How many new subscribers are you bringing in each month?" You want to work with group that is growing. If it's growing, that means it has quality content. When you find good list, it will keep growing, and new people will see your ad.

This is residual marketing. You can advertise to the same list and create branding with old subscribers, but you're also hitting new subscribers as well. In effect, this is someone else building your email marketing list for you.

Q: "Will you give me references? People you've worked with in past? Names and numbers?" Get testimonials at least. This depends on how selective you want to be.

Also when you advertise and like the results that the ezine owner produced for you, call the ezine owner and tell them you want to put up a testimonial. It builds your name and it gets your website more exposure.

Q: "Can you personalize ads?" You should be able to merge the first name of subscribers in subject line and throughout the email. This makes a more effective ad. Sure, there are potentially thousands of readers, but only one person is reading it at a time. That person wants to feel like I am talking to her. What's in it for her?

Q: "Is there HTML?" If you don't know how to do it, you can have editors do it. I use a lot of italics, bolding, and underlining (in case you haven't noticed). You want to be expressive, but not too flashy. This is not a huge point, but it is important. My ads really look like texts with formatting. It is important to create a website hyperlink so people can click on it.

Q: "Is there an archive section on website?" This is important so you can see actual content that is being provided. Rely on common sense. How does the layout look? If website looks like a carnival with flashing lights and banner ads everywhere, stay away. You want something that's clean, flows well, looks professional. Pay attention to see if the other ads look professional as well. If other people are getting results, so will you. If they won't give you access to archives, don't advertise with them. Also, it's a waste of my time to subscribe to the ezine and wait for next issue. By the time it arrives, I forgot why I wanted it...

Q: "Will you give me an endorsement? If you look at my website and see what we have to offer, will you give me an endorsement?" If this happens, your conversions will go through the roof. It is the same as if your friend or family recommends a great movie or restaurant. You'll just go there.

You won't always get an endorsement, and this is where you need to believe in the product/opportunity you are marketing. It's important to point out to them that you are looking for a long term relationship, possibly advertising for months to years. The owner of the ezine will see what a pro you are in marketing! The endorsement doesn't have to be anything over the top. Just something simple like, "I highly recommend you take a look at this site!" or "This is great, read look at this letter."

You have to treat your business seriously, like the million dollar business it could be.

Next edition:
"What is the single most important part of your solo ad?"

In Part 2, I talked about the 7 essential questions to ask before posting an ad in any ezine. In Part 3, I want to talk about maximizing how and where your ads are performing.

About ezine list size and pricing... The truth is, just because a list is large doesn't mean it should be expensive. Just because it's small doesn't mean it should be cheap. Find quality, find your target market, be selective and go for it.

1000-2000 subscribers does not mean it's a bad list. It could be just getting going with no waiting list, usually if it is new. Often those smaller lists can have really high quality response.

When beginning a new campaign, you only need to send out one mailing/ad with each ezine. Determine your cost per lead. If your cost per lead is low, continue with that ezine even if sales don't come in right away. Some people need time. You may have heard the saying that people need to see an ad 7 times before they do anything about it. Your long-term strategy is building your list and sales.

When you find one that works, place an ad 1 to 2 times per month. Test it out, but don't do it every week, or it might get displayed out. Your audience might get numb. If you're not getting good results in a good newsletter, look at your ad copy and the headline.

When you find an ad, go with that ad for a while. However, do change it up a little bit from time to time. If your list sees the exact same ad over and over again, again, they can get numb. If you change the body, change the subject line, it's like they never saw it before. Just be sure track your changes. When response dips, then change it.

Of course, you need to track all your ads. Either set up different capture pages or different URLs that redirect to your website, but have some way of tracking which ezine ad generates which lead. Some good resources include TrackThatAd.com, or AdMinder.com.

When doing a solo ad, the most important is going to be subject line. If it is not motivating enough to stop and open email, it's like flushing money away. Just like when I'm reading the newspaper, I scan headlines until something catches my eye, then I read the article. If no one is enticed to open your headline, your ad will never be read.

How do you write a good subject line? There are many techniques for this. The technique I prefer the most is the Power of Unfinished thought - leaving things incomplete. (Have you noticed?) Try writing your subject line as a question, or leave it so that someone has to open your email to finish the thought or question. This is extremely powerful. No matter what technique you go with in your subject line, write 100 of them and pick the best one. This may seem very tedious and pointless, but it is worth the time. Sometimes even changing just one word in your headline/subject line can increase response rate by 2 or 3 times.

You also do eventually have to become good at copywriting. This will not happen overnight, but you must invest in yourself to become good at it. There are many very expensive programs out there that do work (I recommend YaniksCopywritingSecrets.com).

However, you can study all the best sales letters and get a feel for the style, flow, and let it soak into you. Read ads from Mark Joyner, Joe Vitale, Yanik Silver,, and Cory Rudl. These guys are masters. If you subscribe to the newsletters these guys write, it's like having a personal library of some of the best copywriting examples out there!

When it comes to ezine advertising, you get out what you put in. If you spend the time to dig in, you will find a goldmine when you find the right ezines. It takes some work to find the good ones. Not a lot of people are taking advantage of it. Plus, there are new ezines with different interests popping up every day. You can find tons that work for you.

Once you learn how to do it, it becomes effortless. Compared to other marketing types, there is not a lot of technical stuff to know (unlike Google AdWords). The groundwork is laid in finding quality lists and people to collaborate with. This creates the residual marketing that will pay you over and over again.

End of Series