How to Run an Effective Ezine Ad Campaign

Youve faithfully submitted your free ad to dozens of ezines. Youve heard that ezines are one of the best ways to get the word out about your business ...

... So why arent you seeing any RESULTS?

There is no doubt that ezine advertising is one of the most effective and cheapest way to advertise online. But HOW you advertise plays an important part in what kind of response you get ...

__CHOOSE YOUR EZINES CAREFULLY__

You want to choose an ezine that caters to your target audience. For example, if youre selling pet accessories, find an ezine for pet lovers.

Be creative. Try to think up another audience (other than the most obvious one) that could use your product. That way youll have access to a niche market that may not have heard about it yet, but are eager to find out more. The most obvious market is usually also the most saturated market.

Before you purchase an ad, view an issue or two of the ezine. Youll be better able to judge whether or not its what youre looking for.

__USE SPONSOR ADS OR SOLO MAILINGS__

Sponsor ads are those ads placed by themselves at the top of the newsletter for best exposure. Readers *have* to see your ad before they even get to the rest of the ezine.

Solo mailings are special mailings sent by the publisher to their subscribers - in these mailings, your message is the ONLY message in the mailing. Theres nothing else to distract the readers from your offer.

For those of you short on time, use a directory to find ezines offering sponsor or solo mailings. The one I use can be found at http://www.buildyourhomebiz.com/ommm.html

__THE FEWER ADS, THE BETTER__

This is especially true if youre running a regular ad. A regular ad placed by itself in between articles can still work very well. Readers will naturally read your ad as they browse through the newsletter.

__NO COMPETING ADS__

Ask the ezine publisher if he or she will publish a competing ad in the same issue. If youre selling ABCs Fabulous Product, you dont want another ad also selling ABCs Fabulous Product in that issue. You want as little competition as possible.

__WRITE, RE-WRITE, AND RE-WRITE AGAIN__

Polish your ad. Make it persuasive, a call to action. Make the reader WANT to click your URL to see what you have to offer.

Your first ad isnt necessarily your best. Come up with several variations of your ad so that you can look them over later when youre not so "close" to it.

Be sure to also check for spelling mistakes and obvious grammatical errors. You might also want to hold off on too many !!!! ... people often associate a bunch of exclamation marks with scams.

__TRACK YOUR ADVERTISING__

You want to focus your efforts on what actually WORKS. But in order to find out what works, you need a way to track the effectiveness of your advertising.

There are a number of ways to do this, but one excellent tool is the Ultimate Link Tracker, available at http://www.cgitoolbox.com/cgi/uat/index.html .

TIP: You can get the Ultimate Link Tracker FREE if you are an affiliate for the 5 Pillar Club. 5P affiliates are provided with a wonderful opportunity, incredible support, and powerful tools such as the Link Tracker. Read more at http://www.buildyourhomebiz.com/myss.html .

__TRY DIFFERENT EZINE/AD COMBINATIONS__

Not every ad will "pull", and not every ezine will work for you. Perhaps your ad needs a little re-writing ... or maybe the ezines audience is not quite "targeted" enough for your product. There are countless reasons why a particular ezine ad wont get the response you want.

__CHECK YOUR URL!__

I know, I know, this sounds obvious ... but you wouldnt believe the number of times Ive received ads where the URL listed doesnt work! Take a couple of seconds and check your URL. Copy and paste it directly from your ad into your browser, so that you can be absolutely sure it works.

Good luck with your ezine ad campaign!

(c) Copyright 2001, BuildYourHomeBiz.com, Angela Wu

About the Author

Angela is the editor of Online Business Basics, an exclusive newsletter for eBusiness beginners. OBB features ongoing tutorials on how to build a profitable Internet business on a shoestring budget. You dont need a million-dollar budget to be successful! Find out how you too can join the thousands quietly earning a living online: http://www.onlinebusinessbasics.com/article.html

angela@onlinebusinessbasics.com
http://www.onlinebusinessbasics.com