There are lots of ezines
(newsletters) out there that
offer
free classified ads to new
subscribers (and many even offer
free ads on an ongoing basis).
This can be a nice little source
of free traffic and
exposure for your ebsite/ebook/ezine
but, if not handled
properly it can have its
downside.
The biggest problem is that, by
joining a whole plethora of
ezines your mail box risks
becoming very crowded very
quickly, and it's easy to become
overwhelmed with it all.
This is especially true if some
of those ezines send out
messages every single day -- as
many do.
To get around this, and to keep
your free ezine advertising
campaign under control, follow
these steps:
STEP 1
Create a separate e-mail
address for your ezine
subscriptions (e.g. my_ezines@.....).
STEP 2
In your email software
(e.g. Outlook Express)
create a folder (directory)
called 'free_ezine_ads'.
STEP 3
Using your e-mail
software set up a rule that
sends
all mails that arrive to your
e-mail address
'my_ezines@....' to the folder
called 'free_ezine_ads'.
STEP 4
Prepare the free ad you
want to place in the ezines
and keep a copy of it handy in a
text file. Different
ezines have different rules
about the size of ad they will
accept. Study each one carefully
and be sure to comply with
all their submission guidelines.
You may also want to consider
the mood and tone of each
ezine, and create different
versions of your ad for each
one.
STEP 5
Submit your ad to each
ezine editor. Be sure to
double-check that you've
complied fully with their
submission guidelines.
STEP 6
For those ezines which
give you a one-off ad, it's
time to re-assess their value to
you. If you don't find
the content useful or
interesting, you
should unsubscribe rather than
let it clog up your
'free_ezine_ads' folder.
Remember, though, if the ad in
that ezine drew a good
response from its readers, you
can always check out their
advertising rates and see if
it's worth paying a few
dollars to place your ad again
(or, if you're sneaky, you
could try re-subscribing at a
later date and doing it
again, making some changes to
disguise your wicked
deception:-)
STEP 7
For those ezines that
allow free ads on a regular
basis, make a list of all the
submission deadlines and
make it part of your regular
marketing routine to check
that list and see if you're due
to place an ad.
Finally, as you continue placing
regular ads with those
ezines, be sure to continue
measuring their effectiveness.
In many cases you'll appear in
the
middle of 20 other ads, so it
may not bring in much of a
response rate.
Likewise, the response rate from
each ezine is likely to
drop off over time -- especially
if you don't vary your
ads.
Decide for yourself whether it's
worth your time while
continuing and be sure to try
out different ads to see
which ones work best with that
readership.
And there you have it, a pretty
straightforward approach
to keeping on top of things when
it comes to free ezine
advertising.
