DON'T SELL OUT! So many ezines are basically just one
big "buy me" ad - content and care over presentation a
mere afterthought. You probably know the type I mean.
And, if you've any sense, you'll stick these "sales
brochures" right where they belong - in the recycle
bin.
BE A SELL-OUT! If you hope to make any money out of
your publication, or if you're looking to increase its
profitability, you'll need to follow the best B's in
selling:
1) BONDING. Who are your subscribers? Who is your ezine
aimed at? If your ezine's a teen-zine, you will need to
know the latest in words and expressions. If your
ezine is for newbies, you'll need to offer simple and
clear explanations. And, if you're aiming at the
business market, your ezine should have a pristine
presentation while the content will need to be both
professional and to the point. You have to know your
potential customer - before you try and sell.
2) BASICS. Keep your ezine simple. Stick to plain text.
Yes, you can create an ezine with a variety of fonts,
graphics, and formatting options, but why bother when
roughly 50% of all email users only have access to
plain text compatible email clients? And instead of
your nicely centred and bright red heading is an
unintelligible line of code - hardly what you'd
planned!
I use TextPad to write my ezine. It's a great little
piece of shareware software. You can download it here:
http://www.textpad.com/. You need to configure the
word-wrap between 55-65 characters per line to ensure
that all email clients can read your text perfectly -
just the way you intended!
By keeping your ezine neat and simple, you'll ensure
that your subscribers focus more on the content - and
on what you have to offer.
3) BENEFITS. When your subscribers read your ezine,
they are constantly thinking "What's in it for me?" I
know because I think exactly the same thing. You must
ensure that your ezine answers this question from start
to finish.
Don't be self-centred, be customer-centred. If you
constantly drone on about yourself, chances are that
you'll bore half of your subscribers and have the other
half clicking on the unsubscribe link. You need to
focus on exactly what your subscribers want.
Deliver benefits in your ezine, one after the other.
Your subscribers aren't interested, for example, in an
ezine that contains 1 article formatted to 55
characters per line - these are features. But they are
interested in an article that will show them exactly
how to gain 149 new subscribers per day, especially
when the formatted text makes it easy to read - these
are benefits.
Pack your ezine with benefits, and your subscribers
will stick around long enough to read your sales
message.
4) BULLETS. Bullets are a great way of breaking down
large chunks of text. Most of your readers will scan
through your ezine looking for points of interest.
Large "text-dumps" make your ezine an unpleasant and
tiresome read; bulleted lists get information across
quickly and effortlessly.
5) BUILD. In order to sell, you must build a foundation
to sell upon. Build a good relationship with your
subscribers. Invite them to ask you questions and to
give you feedback. Answer promptly and efficiently when
they contact you. Don't ignore their message. Many
Internet Marketers have lost their credibility simply
from failing to reply to my feedback - they've also
lost out on sales from me and on recommendations to my
own subscribers. It only takes a few moments of your
time to thank your subscribers - a few moments that can
literally be worth their weight in gold.
GIVE AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE. Your focus needs to be on
helping your subscribers rather than selling to your
subscribers. By concentrating purely on the needs and
wants of your subscribers, you have created an ezine
that can't fail to make sales. If you want to get, you
have to give. Check your ezine today - and make sure
that it hasn't passed its sell-by date.
About the Author
Marie Williams | marie@writead.com
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