Your Business Ezine Marketing Strategy - How to Make Sure that Ezine Ads Serve Your Readers

"I loved your article about selling via newsletters. Like you I don't tend to do that as I really started my newsletter as a bit of fun for me. However so many of the top coaches bang on about using newsletters as the first part of the marketing funnel and maybe this is why my readership hasn't grown that much. To be honest, I think it can be quite challenging to ensure your ezine or even website doesn't become dominated by either your adverts or worse still things like google ads or the like as I personally find it a huge turn off, but maybe I am in the minority! Anyway I also wanted to tell you how much I look forward to receiving your ezine." Ann Brosnan, DreamCatcher-LifeCoaching.co.uk

Ann is not the only one who started a newsletter as a "bit of fun." That's how I started, and there are some pretty good reasons for doing it that way. When you start as a "bit of fun," you have a better chance of finding your voice, of being natural and authentic.

As you develop skill, your newsletter or ezine mirrors your professional self. It reminds you that you have a professional identity as well as a private one. It reinforces your sense of competence and commitment.

Finally, when you write, you capture stories, concepts, and insights that you can use in other contexts. The more you write, the more comfortable you are likely become with speaking about what you do and for whom you do it.

Eventually, this kind of "one-way" communication stagnates. Either you put more energy in than you receive back, or you treat it as a sometime thing, investing little and getting little in return.

As long as you have a passive audience, there really isn't any other place for a newsletter to go. The root of the word audience is the Latin audire, "to hear." In contrast, the root of the word community comes from the Old French comuner, "to share." It makes a difference, eh?

So how do you turn a passive audience, however kindly disposed, into an intentional community? You build a culture that is both a growing medium for the goals of individual members and an expression of the values of the group. This culture is the context in which you must evaluate your advertising and marketing strategy, whether it is using Google AdWords, promoting affiliate products and services, or selling your own work.

To build this kind of culture, you have to make decisions that most accidental entrepreneurs avoid like the plague. First and foremost, you have to declare whom you serve. Sure, there are lots of people you can serve. But where is that which is obvious to you headline news to others? Where can even your mistakes add value?

With that question, you land smack in the middle of the marketing swamp, grappling with concepts like unique selling propositions, demographics, and calls to action.

In other words, you are caught between a rock (your own authenticity) and a hard place (the crass, self-interested success formulas of business.) At least that's how it feels.

But what happens if you climb up on that rock? What if, instead of pitting them against each other, you used your authentic values and gifts as the foundation for your business and then adapted relevant business strategies and structures to build it?

On top of the rock, you become visible. That's great for getting known, and it is terrifying if you are addicted to approval. After all, some people won't like you, and when you are visible, they may let you know it. This alone is enough to drive some folks off the rock and back into permanent paralysis.

From the top of the rock, you can differentiate method from message. When you examine business ezine marketing strategies from the top of the rock, you can apply them in an authentic way. When you aren't focused on resisting or judging them because they convey messages that don't work for you, you can see the these success formulas as methods for cultivating the culture of an intentional community.

When you stand on the rock, you can afford to make mistakes. An ecological community is forgiving because even your mistakes generate value, provided you have the creativity and humility to use them as compost instead of trash.

(God knows this has been true for me. It's been more than a decade since I had enough fingers and toes to keep track of my public mistakes, let alone my private ones. And since my life and business are the research labs for my work, nothing is wasted.)

Does that mean you can take advantage of your community's good will? Of course not.

(Well, actually, you can, but not for long. And why would you want to? Get-rich-quick marketers sell hope to a never-ending stream of seekers, extracting their money and spitting them out. No amount of money is likely to make that kind of relationship appealing to you.)

But I digress. Let's get back to Ann's letter and find out how using business success formulas to build an intentional community based in authenticity might resolve her dilemma.

Ann references what "top coaches" say. It makes sense to listen to people at the top of your industry - but, and it's a BIG BUT, you have to know what to listen for.

Successful people and brands succeed because they have distinctive personas and serve distinct communities. The success formula here is to cultivate a distinctive persona and to define your audience.

If you model your business on what your successful peers say and to whom they say it, one of two things will happen: you'll feel phony or you'll hang back, telling yourself that your business needs to be different.

That's like the owner of a vegan restaurant deciding not to give diners menus because it's not a steak house. If, instead of getting distracted by the other person's brand, you look for the success formula, you can adapt that formula to your personal style and message. Instead of agonizing over the ways you are not like "successful people," celebrate the ways in which you are different.

Remember the rock and the hard place? Get on top of the rock of your authenticity and survey the success formulas the leaders in your industry use to cultivate business. Imagine using similar methods to propagate your own message, and tweak the methods so that they are consistent with who you are and what you offer.

To extend the example of the vegan restaurant, you might print menus on recycled paper or on lightweight boards that can be erased and re-used.

Ann also refers to the received wisdom of "using newsletters as the first part of the marketing funnel." Here, Ann is paying attention to the right thing (the success formula), but I'm guessing that the framing metaphor, the marketing funnel, doesn't work for her. That can make it hard for Ann to follow the formula.

Funnels are devices used to transfer things from a container with a wide opening to a container with a narrower opening with the least amount of fuss and muss. It's a mechanical, impersonal process.

Building a marketing funnel involves attracting a wide audience with something free or ultra-low-cost, then directing that audience through a sequence of interactions. At each stage, the customer makes a purchase, and each purchase is larger than the previous one.

That's not evil, but it doesn't sound very warm and friendly. If your work is "high-touch," involving a fair degree of vulnerability on one or both sides, the funnel image is even offensive.

Again, there's a big "but." If you are going to deliver outstanding results to your customers, you need to provide them with a path to and a way to navigate among your products and services.

For your customers to enjoy and benefit from a high-touch experience, they almost certainly need to take a series of actions over time, and some of these actions will involve paying for goods or services.

Your customers need your guidance to make the best buying decisions and your support to get the most value from what they purchase.

Whether you are a coach, dentist, or graphic designer, the success formula is to invite your customers into your intentional community and give them a map. Then, remind them that they are members of the community, and give them a way to engage.

If you have newsletter or ezine as part of your success formula, you get to decide whether it is part of a funnel or an invitation to join like-minded people with similar values and needs.

Ann continues, "it can be quite challenging to ensure your ezine ... doesn't become dominated by ... google ads or the like as I personally find it a huge turn off...!" I'm virtually certain that Ann is not in the minority in this community of readers. And like Ann, you may be laboring under the burden of a collapsed distinction. (That's coach-speak. Do you love it?)

Some years back, I was coaching a physical trainer. One day she came to the session complaining that she hated showing up for appointments in her crummy old sweats, but adamant in her refusal to do the "tights and thong" thing.

On the one hand, I could certainly appreciate her refusal to work in tights and a thong. On the other, there is a pretty big gap between old sweats and a thong. I asked her if it would it be possible to build a professional wardrobe somewhere else along that continuum.

Similarly, there is a significant gap between newsletters that are dominated by advertisements and those that are distinguished by the relevance of their content.

You don't have to choose between alienating your community with hype or starving your business by giving everything away. Somewhere between those extremes, your newsletter or ezine will find a natural balance, one that serves your community and brings energy into your business.

"I also wanted to tell you how much I look forward to receiving your ezine." That part made my day, but that's not why I'm quoting it. Ann looks forward to receiving my ezine, an ezine that, in the past 6-8 months, has come out of the closet when it comes to selling. So why is that not offensive to Ann?

Perhaps for the same reason that you are still reading this article, assuming you are. ;-) Ann looks forward to my ezine because it gives her something of value.

I'm happy to have Ann as a reader, because if she benefits from what I give away, the odds are quite good that she, or someone she knows and cares for, will benefit from something I sell.

This success formula is not a rigid quid pro quo. Ann does not need to buy anything or refer anyone to remain a valued member of this community. However, it is unlikely that she is going to spend her precious time reading these articles week after week unless there's some benefit to her or people she cares about.

By the same token, I no longer hesitate to invite readers to enroll in a paid program or buy a product either in my ezine or in a separate email. Why would I spend months or years putting my experience and wisdom into a product and then keep it a secret from the very people who are most likely to need it?

I know that a successful business ezine marketing and selling strategy is a lot to take in, let alone implement. Take your time. Think about what you have read. Look for the parallels in your own life, not only in how you relate to your customers, but also in the relationships you have with business you patronize. From the top of the rock, you are certain to see a new future.

Molly Gordon, MCC, is an internationally recognized business coach helping small business owners, independent professionals and artists to do business in a way that feeds their souls as well as their bank accounts. Visit her site to learn how to write a compelling artist statement in six easy steps. While on the site, don't forget to join 12,000 readers of Molly's Authentic Promotion ezine, and receive a free 31-page guide on effective self promotion.

Are You Making This Mistake With Your Article Marketing?

Let me ask you a very important question concerning the traffic to your website. Do you get enough traffic to your website. Traffic is the lifeblood of your internet business and without this you are unlikely to succeed.

Unfortunately most people on the internet do not have a proven traffic strategy to generate leads and ultimately customers. You may be doing a bit of ppc adverts or email marketing. Alternatively you may be writing a few articles a week.

To succeed online you need lots of visitors. Incredibly most people do not have a comprehensive traffic strategy that will drive enough traffic to their website to succeed online.

This is the strategy that I use and it works like crazy. However, this is not a quick fix and requires work. So sorry to disappoint you if you were looking for a quick fix.

I write many articles focusing on topics of my niche market. I submit these articles to the major article directories and generate traffic to my website. However, what is really important is to get your actual numbers right. You need to write at least two hundred and fifty articles to start seeing measurable results. Many of you will write ten articles and be disappointed with the results and give up on article marketing.

Make sure that you drive all your traffic to a squeeze page so that you can capture the name and email address of your prospects. Also ensure that you have a good email follow up system that will convert prospects into paying customers.

If you do all the numbers right with driving traffic to your website it will consequently result in increased subscribers and sales.

Are you really interested in driving massive traffic to your website?

Here's the answer:

Secrets Of Article Marketing - Download your free ebook now.

Mark Abrahams is a full time internet marketer who has helped others to earn a living online.

Article Writing And Marketing - Do You Make These Bum Marketing Method Mistakes?

I really think that article writing and marketing is one of the best form of advertising on the Internet. The web is made from content like we were created from dust. Hundreds of people all over the web tried the bum marketing method.

The wide success of article marketing has a viral effect. Every beginners who try to make money online heard about the bum marketing method.

What is the bum marketing method?

Bum marketing is just another name for article promotion. Travis Sago invented this name to brand himself and I must say that it works very well for him. All over the web, people are trying this method to earn money on the Internet and many of them are successful.

However, the large majority of bum marketers fail miserably to earn more than $100 a month.

What are they doing wrong?

Bum marketing mistake #1:

Typically, a bum marketer will submit his content to hundreds of directories with links pointing directly to their affiliate programs.

What they don't understand is that many of the best directories are moderated and don't accept affiliate links.

Bum marketing mistake #2:

This lead us to the second blunder made by beginners. Most of them just submit one or two articles a week and expect to get great results.

To get the most of your promotion, you should at lease submit every single day, that's seven articles a week.

Bum marketing mistake #3:

Poor quality content. Most of the time, they don't take the time to learn how to write a compelling article and a bio box that make the reader click to visit their site.

They don't have conversion, and for this reason, they think that the method doesn't work.

Bum marketing mistake #3:

Wrong keyword research. No need to say that if you don't know how to carry out a keyword research, it will be very hard for people to read your articles and visit your website.

This method of advertising works, but you need to invest in your education first. Do your homework, and you should see pretty good results in the long run.

Franck Silvestre makes thousands of dollars a year from affiliate and article marketing. Wonder what the secret to his success is? Discover how he does it at: http://www.mynetmarketingland.com/article-marketing/

Article Marketing - Why You Must Persevere With Article Marketing

One of the biggest complaints I get from people who have just started article marketing is that it is not working fast enough for them. You see, article marketing takes time. You cannot just write 10 or 20 articles and get response over night. What I have found is that an article produces over time month in and month out.

This is pretty important to recognize. You see, with article marketing, you are doing one or two things (or both): you are either writing a lot of articles and submitting them to a few high-traffic article directories, to generate immediate direct traffic, or you are writing a few articles and submitting them to a long list of article directories, building backlinks for high search engine rankings.

But in either case, your results will occur over time, over the course of months and years, not days and weeks. Sure, you may notice that your web site goes from a low pagerank to something higher, and often in a short period of time, but in most keyword markets you need multiple inbound links before you see huge levels of traffic to your web site, and that just doesnt happen overnight.

So you have to persevere.

You have to write a lot of articles, and submit them diligently, even before you begin to see results. I had about 200 articles online before I could claim quantifiable results but now, I am glad that I continued to submit articles, as I make a fulltime income doing just that.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide

Download it free here: Secrets of Article Promotion

Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 1200 articles in print and 9 published ebooks.

Article Marketing Strategies Revealed

Article Marketing has emerged very fast as one of the best methods to design a successful business online, especially when your resources are limited.

Take care to maintain the quality of your write-ups. If you need to successfully come up with a sound article, you must write only good quality articles that readers will be eager to check out all through.

One of the major features of your article should be the title. Think carefully about a title that will grab the attention of your readers immediately. Your title is the marketing tool for your article. More often than not, your article will be indexed together with a bunch of other articles. Generally people skim through the titles only of the articles and decide by that which one to read up. If your article begins with an interesting title then more and more readers will get hooked to it. If your title is boring and uneventful, few people will stop by read your write-up.

A good introduction to your article shows the quality of the rest of the article. Inform the reader what is in your article for them and how they will benefit from reading it.

When the introduction is over, come to a new paragraph and then start the main body of your article. Divide it into separate paragraphs from every point you want to talk about. Having paragraphed points makes it comfortable to the eyes and mind to grasp the meaning of them and makes for an attractive presentation. The main gist of this paragraph should contain between three and ten points that you wish to cover. It is not necessary to cover all the points that you are aware of on the subject.

End the article with as good a conclusion as the introduction. Review the points you discussed in the foregoing paragraphs and the benefits they will receive if they follow your suggestions.

When the article is all done and ready, scan it through a spelling and grammar checker so that before submitting your article you are sure that your article is perfect which will save you the time to laboriously go through each and every word for manual confirmation.

Not much is needed to get started with article writing and probably by now you already possess the fundamental tools that are needed. This can result in a profitable online business when approached in the correct fashion. Many easy steps are out there to open the avenues for striking business opportunities through excellent articles.

You can begin by offering your articles for sale. Several blogs, websites, and news sites regularly need new articles for content. You can consider writing articles on subjects you are competent in and sell them to blog owners and web masters. However, it is obvious that the articles you write should confirm to certain quality standards if you wish to sell them at the price your article deserves. If you are the owner of your own website or blog you can show your articles there also. There is no alternative to latest and fresh content and hence new material will always keep your website or blog relevant.

If you have some knowledge about Search Engine Optimization or SEO then it will be an added advantage for you because the more traffic your website or blog attracts through your articles the better for you. You should learn the fundamentals of search engine optimization in terms of keywords and keyword density.

Truly speaking, it is very much possible to succeed in online writing and marketing articles. Your effective online business is only a stone's throw away. Start writing quality articles now and you are on your way to a successful internet business.

For more information on article marketing and other internet marketing strategies visit http://TheInternetBusinessAuthority.com

Website Traffic - Why Article Marketing Blows Away Pay-Per-Click Marketing

It's always great to compare traffic generation strategies because you can tell which strategy is giving you results and which isn't. Or maybe both strategies may be giving you results but you want to know which is more effective in generating qualified prospects.

Two of the most popular traffic generation methods online today are article marketing and pay-per-click marketing. This article won't talk about what both methods are (there are already tons of articles on that) but will compare the two to see which strategy you should invest your efforts in.

Personally, for me, article marketing blows pay-per-click marketing out of the water. Pay-per-click marketing consists of Google's Adwords and Yahoo's Search Marketing, so that's no small statement I'm making. Well, there's a reason why I say article marketing is more effective.

Let's say that you spend $10 a day on Adwords. That's $300 a month. Now take that $300 and spend it on 100 articles written by a freelancer. Those 100 articles will bring you traffic for a long time, whereas your Adwords traffic was a temporary thing. And prospects generated from articles are way more responsive!

You'll often people willing to spend crazy amounts for cost per click on Adwords, but you won't find that many 'insane' competitors in article marketing. Although the competition has grown massively in recent years, it is still nothing compared to pay-per-click marketing.

And that's why I say article marketing trumps over Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing, or any other pay-per-click network. If you don't want to write, outsource your articles. You'll see some terrific results from this marketing strategy if you do it right.

Fabian Tan is the author of the free 51-Page Report:

"Murder Your Job: How To Build Cash Sucking Autopilot Businesses In 30 Days Or Less!"

Head over to http://www.MurderYourJob.com to get your free copy now before it's gone!

Exclusive Article Marketing Secrets - Learn How To Create A Killer Bio That Gets Results

Article marketing is a very lucrative way that you can earn a living online without spending any money advertising. However, it is time intensive to write the articles. If you have not yet succeeded with other methods of advertising then try this and you will have a much better chance of making it online.

In this article I would like to go over some techniques that will help you to get the most out of the bio that you create. This is one of the most overlooked aspects of article marketing that many marketers fail to maximize their results in the bio.

The very first step is to create a squeeze page and include the link for your squeeze page in the bio. The primary goal of the traffic you get to your web site is to capture email addresses so that you can market over and over again to your targeted prospects.

It is very important that you include your 30 second elevator pitch in your bio. This is the sales pitch that you need to give or your unique selling proposition. Your reader of your article will make up their mind in a few seconds whether they will visit your web site. So it is very important to make a good impression.

Also it is very important not to put your link too far away from the start of the paragraph. People read from left to right. So if you bury your link then there will be less chance that they will actually click on it.

Finally, if you offer a free ebook for download more people will take you up on your offer as this is seen as more valuable than a free report.

Are you really interested in driving massive traffic to your website?

Here's the answer:

Secrets Of Article Marketing - Download your free ebook now.

Mark Abrahams is a full time internet marketer who has helped others to earn a living online.

Writing Marketing Articles Isn't a Job for Marketers

Internet marketing is big businessand growing daily.

According to internetworldstats.com, 69% of United States residents now have Internet access, with 17% being the worldwide average. Thats over a billion Internet users, and a reasonable estimate would be that close to half use the Internet for shopping.

It gets better. More Internet users are also acquiring broadband connections, which makes online shopping easier. Compounding those figures, online shoppers are spending more per purchase as companies improve their online offerings.

Men, generally considered unenthusiastic shoppers, have taken to Internet shopping; women like it for research and comparison purposes. And kids? Those too young to drive have found a way to get stuff from the right stores.

These trends should only continueperhaps at steeper rates than ever.

If youre an Internet marketer, you have a lot on your plate. You need to learn technical and creative as well as marketing skills. Many Internet marketers are technologically proficient, and often their technical skills carry over (adequately enough) into computer-aided design. Unfortunately, many Internet marketers mistakenly think that once they have an Internet presence, the work is done.

But a job that may be underestimated in importance is good, solid writing of the old-fashioned variety. Thats a bad thing, because it is words that send traffic to those websites. Whether it be pay-per-click ads, press releases, or concise, informative, interesting, syndicated articles, skillfully crafted words drive the entire sales process.

Thats where a professional article writer can make the difference between success and failure for an Internet marketer.

For best results, look for a writer with a love of writing, a broad portfolio, a top-notch command of the English language, extensive research experience, attention to detail, and basic understanding of Internet marketing. Insist upon guaranteed original-content articles using the keywords you provide and the keyword density you specify.

A boring, confusing, or heavily recycled private label article wont help you sell your products, because people wont finish reading and click the link to your site. They wont pass it along to other readers or post it on their own sites.

E-mail me today to get started driving traffic to your site with quality original articles.

Lisa J. Lehr is a freelance writer and Platinum Quality Author. Please visit http://www.lisawritesarticles.com or contact her at lisa.justrightcopy@gmail.com