The Top Seven Mistakes Newbie ezine publishers make... and how you can avoid them
| Category: E-zines: Promotion | Date: 2003-06-05 |
Today the incredible effectiveness of ezine marketing in promoting online business is an open secret. It has also become extremely easy to publish an ezine. And so any self-respecting e-businessperson has one.
With literally thousands of email newsletters clamouring for readers attention, it takes something extra-special to get your subscribers interest - and retain it long enough to sell them your product or service. Mistakes wont be tolerated. And you wont often get a second chance to impress.
In this highly competitive online business environment, lets take a look at some common mistakes newbie ezine publishers make - and see how you can avoid falling into the same traps.
>>> Mistake 1 - Not planning or setting goals
Its a mad rush right from the start. After reading so much about how important an ezine was in promoting her new Internet business - and discovering that publishing one is a piece of cake - Jane went right out and did it. But after a month or two, she is drifting aimlessly.
The reason - she doesnt have any way to assess the success of her e-publishing efforts. Is 20 new subscribers a week good? Or bad? With 15 sales last month from her 1250 ezine readers, is her conversion rate average? Below? Or above? More importantly, where does she go from here?
Solution - Stop and plan before surging ahead. Decide what your aim in publishing an ezine is. If your primary goal is to sell to your readers, the numbers that are important are your sales conversion rates, profitability and responsiveness of your ezines audience. If you want to extend your brand awareness, subscriber growth is the parameter to watch.
Lesson No.1 - Set goals and targets first.
>>> Mistake 2 - Not selecting the right publishing frequency
In a fit of optimism John decided he would publish a weekly newsletter. It was fun and frolic for the first few issues. But then John found he was falling behind. He had underestimated the effort each ezine edition would involve.
Now that his business was growing, he couldnt devote as much time to his ezine. Soon he was forced to delay his weekly edition by a day or two. Or more.
Solution - Make a reasonable estimate of the time and effort you will put into your ezine. Try creating a few issues to get a feel for the process. Then choose a relaxing schedule. If you think you can publish a weekly ezine, go for a monthly or fortnightly one at first. If you think youre ready for daily editions, begin with a weekly.
Lesson No.2 - Make reasonable estimates - and begin with a convenient schedule.
>>> Mistake 3 - Not insisting on double opt-in subscription methods
Jane wanted more subscribers. And she wanted them quickly. Surfing the Net, she found a service that offered to sell her 1000 ezine subscribers for just 30 cents each - guaranteed. Jane leaped at the deal before looking into the details.
And got bitten. The email addresses that she was sold had been harvested from websites and newsgroups - without the knowledge of the owners. Furious at being spammed, many sent her nasty email complaints. And one even reported to her ISP, which threatened to shut down her email account! Jane had a lot of explaining and apologizing to do.
Solution - Always get your readers permission before sending them your ezine. To make absolutely sure you dont get blamed, ask them TWICE. This process, called double opt-in is standard practice with ethical ezine publishers. When potential new subscribers sign-up for your ezine, they are sent a confirmation message. Only when they reply to this message - thereby accepting your offer - will their subscription commence. It is also good practice to keep a copy of this reply on record, in case of future problems.
Lesson No.3 - Insist on a double-opt in subscribing process. Keep all requests on file.
>>> Mistake 4 - Publishing in HTML-only format
John liked flashy, colorful email. With his always-on Internet connection and latest email programs, HTML-email looked great. So he published his ezine in HTML format.
The problem was that many of his readers lived outside the U.S. They had slow dial-up connections and old email clients. Johns ezine took them ages to download - and they could only see meaningless HTML code in their email viewer. Not surprisingly, they asked to be removed from his ezine list. Hundreds of potential customers were lost.
Solution - Know your audience, their capacity and requirements. If most of your readers dont need - or want - HTML ezines, publish a text-only version for them. And give them the option of selecting one.
Lesson No.4 - Publish in both text and HTML formats. Give customers a choice.
>>> Mistake 5 - Not planning for explosive growth
A great ezine can grow very rapidly. Readers will recommend your ezine to friends. In an amazingly short time, you could have thousands of readers. By not planning for such growth, you will miss out on many opportunities.
Solution - Imagine a scenario where your ezine has 5000 readers. How will you market your business to them? Now imagine this number growing to 50,000 subscribers. What would you do differently? What tactics and strategies, offers and discounts, co-marketing and joint venture deals will you put together?
Lesson No.5 - Set the substrate in place - so you can move fast when the time comes.
>>> Mistake 6 - Not automating everything
When your ezine has a few hundred subscribers, handling administrative duties manually is easy. But once this number grows to thousands, you could get bogged down with these tasks. This leaves you with less time to do what matters - marketing and growing your business, launching new products.
Solution - Automate everything - right from the start. From the very first subscriber-contact (sign-up request) until the last (unsubscribe request), all administrative tasks can be set on auto-pilot using software and technology. Auto-responders, database mining, mail-merging and powerful software programs can leave you, the ezine publisher, free to concentrate on important issues.
Lesson No.6 - Take advantage of technology. Make things easier on yourself with automation.
>>> Mistake 7 - Not optimizing ezine profitability
It is the rare ezine publisher who can look back a year after launching his/her ezine and say "Theres nothing I would have done differently". And more often than not, the regrets are about not making the most profit out of their efforts.
Ezine publishing throws up numerous revenue streams. Advertising, sponsorships, direct and indirect sales, paid-subscriptions and joint venture partnerships are just a few of the ways ezine owners can make money. But in many cases, owners are unaware of the power of their ezine as a marketing and profiting tool.
Solution - Invest time and effort in learning about ezine promotion and profiting from the various online resources and books, like Newsletter Coach and Ezine Tactics.
Lesson - The more you learn, the better your leverage.
Make no mistake ! Your ezines profitability will skyrocket.
Good luck.
Dr.Mani Sivasubramanian
About the Author
Dr.Mani Sivasubramanian has developed an entire course about creating an ezine available at EzineLaunch.com In less than 2 weeks you can create a killer ezine guaranteed to sell your product or service. Subscribe to his free ezine: *Ezine Launch Monthly* Send a blank email to: free-ezine@ezinemarketingcenter.com *Plus get his 7 day mini-course on effective ezine marketing* EzineMarketingCourse@fetchreply.com
mani@ezinemarketingcenter.com
http://www.EzineLaunch.com
With literally thousands of email newsletters clamouring for readers attention, it takes something extra-special to get your subscribers interest - and retain it long enough to sell them your product or service. Mistakes wont be tolerated. And you wont often get a second chance to impress.
In this highly competitive online business environment, lets take a look at some common mistakes newbie ezine publishers make - and see how you can avoid falling into the same traps.
>>> Mistake 1 - Not planning or setting goals
Its a mad rush right from the start. After reading so much about how important an ezine was in promoting her new Internet business - and discovering that publishing one is a piece of cake - Jane went right out and did it. But after a month or two, she is drifting aimlessly.
The reason - she doesnt have any way to assess the success of her e-publishing efforts. Is 20 new subscribers a week good? Or bad? With 15 sales last month from her 1250 ezine readers, is her conversion rate average? Below? Or above? More importantly, where does she go from here?
Solution - Stop and plan before surging ahead. Decide what your aim in publishing an ezine is. If your primary goal is to sell to your readers, the numbers that are important are your sales conversion rates, profitability and responsiveness of your ezines audience. If you want to extend your brand awareness, subscriber growth is the parameter to watch.
Lesson No.1 - Set goals and targets first.
>>> Mistake 2 - Not selecting the right publishing frequency
In a fit of optimism John decided he would publish a weekly newsletter. It was fun and frolic for the first few issues. But then John found he was falling behind. He had underestimated the effort each ezine edition would involve.
Now that his business was growing, he couldnt devote as much time to his ezine. Soon he was forced to delay his weekly edition by a day or two. Or more.
Solution - Make a reasonable estimate of the time and effort you will put into your ezine. Try creating a few issues to get a feel for the process. Then choose a relaxing schedule. If you think you can publish a weekly ezine, go for a monthly or fortnightly one at first. If you think youre ready for daily editions, begin with a weekly.
Lesson No.2 - Make reasonable estimates - and begin with a convenient schedule.
>>> Mistake 3 - Not insisting on double opt-in subscription methods
Jane wanted more subscribers. And she wanted them quickly. Surfing the Net, she found a service that offered to sell her 1000 ezine subscribers for just 30 cents each - guaranteed. Jane leaped at the deal before looking into the details.
And got bitten. The email addresses that she was sold had been harvested from websites and newsgroups - without the knowledge of the owners. Furious at being spammed, many sent her nasty email complaints. And one even reported to her ISP, which threatened to shut down her email account! Jane had a lot of explaining and apologizing to do.
Solution - Always get your readers permission before sending them your ezine. To make absolutely sure you dont get blamed, ask them TWICE. This process, called double opt-in is standard practice with ethical ezine publishers. When potential new subscribers sign-up for your ezine, they are sent a confirmation message. Only when they reply to this message - thereby accepting your offer - will their subscription commence. It is also good practice to keep a copy of this reply on record, in case of future problems.
Lesson No.3 - Insist on a double-opt in subscribing process. Keep all requests on file.
>>> Mistake 4 - Publishing in HTML-only format
John liked flashy, colorful email. With his always-on Internet connection and latest email programs, HTML-email looked great. So he published his ezine in HTML format.
The problem was that many of his readers lived outside the U.S. They had slow dial-up connections and old email clients. Johns ezine took them ages to download - and they could only see meaningless HTML code in their email viewer. Not surprisingly, they asked to be removed from his ezine list. Hundreds of potential customers were lost.
Solution - Know your audience, their capacity and requirements. If most of your readers dont need - or want - HTML ezines, publish a text-only version for them. And give them the option of selecting one.
Lesson No.4 - Publish in both text and HTML formats. Give customers a choice.
>>> Mistake 5 - Not planning for explosive growth
A great ezine can grow very rapidly. Readers will recommend your ezine to friends. In an amazingly short time, you could have thousands of readers. By not planning for such growth, you will miss out on many opportunities.
Solution - Imagine a scenario where your ezine has 5000 readers. How will you market your business to them? Now imagine this number growing to 50,000 subscribers. What would you do differently? What tactics and strategies, offers and discounts, co-marketing and joint venture deals will you put together?
Lesson No.5 - Set the substrate in place - so you can move fast when the time comes.
>>> Mistake 6 - Not automating everything
When your ezine has a few hundred subscribers, handling administrative duties manually is easy. But once this number grows to thousands, you could get bogged down with these tasks. This leaves you with less time to do what matters - marketing and growing your business, launching new products.
Solution - Automate everything - right from the start. From the very first subscriber-contact (sign-up request) until the last (unsubscribe request), all administrative tasks can be set on auto-pilot using software and technology. Auto-responders, database mining, mail-merging and powerful software programs can leave you, the ezine publisher, free to concentrate on important issues.
Lesson No.6 - Take advantage of technology. Make things easier on yourself with automation.
>>> Mistake 7 - Not optimizing ezine profitability
It is the rare ezine publisher who can look back a year after launching his/her ezine and say "Theres nothing I would have done differently". And more often than not, the regrets are about not making the most profit out of their efforts.
Ezine publishing throws up numerous revenue streams. Advertising, sponsorships, direct and indirect sales, paid-subscriptions and joint venture partnerships are just a few of the ways ezine owners can make money. But in many cases, owners are unaware of the power of their ezine as a marketing and profiting tool.
Solution - Invest time and effort in learning about ezine promotion and profiting from the various online resources and books, like Newsletter Coach and Ezine Tactics.
Lesson - The more you learn, the better your leverage.
Make no mistake ! Your ezines profitability will skyrocket.
Good luck.
Dr.Mani Sivasubramanian
About the Author
Dr.Mani Sivasubramanian has developed an entire course about creating an ezine available at EzineLaunch.com In less than 2 weeks you can create a killer ezine guaranteed to sell your product or service. Subscribe to his free ezine: *Ezine Launch Monthly* Send a blank email to: free-ezine@ezinemarketingcenter.com *Plus get his 7 day mini-course on effective ezine marketing* EzineMarketingCourse@fetchreply.com
mani@ezinemarketingcenter.com
http://www.EzineLaunch.com
Copyright © 2005-2006 Powered by Custom PHP Programming