7 MISTAKES NEWBIE EZINE PUBLISHERS MAKE
7 MISTAKES NEWBIE EZINE PUBLISHERS MAKE
… And How You Can Avoid Them
by Dr.Mani Sivasubramanian - www.EzineMarketingCenter.com
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 subscriber’s interest - and retain it long enough to
sell them your product or service. Mistakes won’t be
tolerated. And you won’t often get a second chance to
impress.
In this highly competitive online business environment,
let’s 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
It’s 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 doesn’t 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 ezine’s 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 under-
estimated the effort each ezine edition would involve.
Now that his business was growing, he couldn’t 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 you’re
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 reader’s permission before
sending them your ezine. To make absolutely sure you don’t
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.
See how we implement this concept on our monthly email
newsletter, Ezine Launch Monthly at
http://www.EzineMarketingCenter.com/ezlmonthly/
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. John’s 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 don’t 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. If you learn and follow even a few of
the powerful strategies Paul Myers describes in his
fantastic guide, The Amazing List Machine at
http://www.EzineMarketingCenter.com/listmachine/, you will
see explosive growth of your ezine list.
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 “There’s 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. Here is a short list of the very best ones:
* Yanik Silver’s 33 Days to Online Profits -
http://www.EzineMarketingCenter.com/33days/ * Lee Benson’s
Ezine Tactics -
http://www.EzineMarketingCenter.com/ezineprofits/ * Jim
Daniel’s Make Your Living Online -
http://www.EzineMarketingCenter.com/jimdaniels * Corey
Rudl’s Insider Guide To Marketing Your Business On The
Internet http://www.EzineMarketingCenter.com/imc/
Lesson No.7 - The more you learn, the better your leverage.
Make no mistake ! Your ezine’s profitability will skyrocket.
Good luck. (c) 1996-2002 by Dr.Mani Sivasubramanian.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Dr.Mani has been marketing with ezines for over 5 years.
Join his FREE 7 day Ezine Marketing Email Course and
discover the #1 secret of ezine marketing:
http://www.EzineMarketingCenter.com/ecourse/ Also get his
free Ezine Launch Monthly newsletter from
http://www.EzineMarketingCenter.com/ezlm/ Or just send any
email to freezine@ezinemarketingcenter.com
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