Just for the sake of avoiding an argument, let’s just say that ezine advertising is the best form of advertising on the Internet.
Now, let’s move on to learning how to more properly make use of the advertising available in ezines.
Essentially, and this holds true for all Internet marketing, you have two options to choose from.
OPTION #1 — Playing The Numbers
The Internet in general is a numbers game. So long as what you are advertising is worth anything at all, there are going to be people interested in it. One option you have is simply to get an effective ad out to as many people as possible.
This option, while it’s less time consuming, is also less targeted and requires more subscriber views per response than using targeted ezine advertising.
The best approach for this method is to take advantage of many of the bulk ad buying programs being offered.
Subscriber/Ad Programs are low cost methods of getting your ad exposed to dozens of ezines and hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Some of the best of these include:
2 Bucks An Ad
http://hop.clickbank.net/hop.cgi?phage/paaads
2 Dollar Ads
http://hop.clickbank.net/?phage/dollarday
$10 for 20 Ads
http://hop.clickbank.net/?phage/CashGalore
Other programs exist that do not require you to subscribe to the ezines your ad will be placed in, but still cover multiple ezines and many thousands of subscribers. The Ad Mistress program is the most popular example.
The point of these programs being that your ad is immediately presented to many thousands of subscribers at once.
The drawback to these programs is that you have little control over which ezines your ads will be seen in, nor the timing of when your ad runs. This could lead to your ad being featured in ezines of an entirely different subject matter, and also makes ads that pertain to timed events or schedules difficult to deal with.
Again, the whole point to this approach is simply pushing for the largest numbers possible in hopes of achieving results.
OPTION #2 — Targeting Your Advertising
While this approach takes more work, the idea is that since the advertising is targeted it will achieve more response per subscriber view and therefore be more cost effective.
The work involved in this approach lies in selecting the best ezines to run your ad in. This involves searching out appropriate ezines, researching ad rates and subscriber bases for those ezines, and talking with the editors or advertising agents for the ezines in question.
Selecting ezines for advertising will be the focus of the next article in this series. Then we will cover the subject in more detail and relate how best to get the job done.
SELECTING TARGETED EZINES
In part one of this series, we discussed the two options available for advertising in ezines. The first of those involved buying ads in bulk with the goal of getting exposure to as many subscribers as possible without regard to targeting the advertising.
The second option, which will be discussed here, involves a little more work, but should bring back better results per subscriber view. This option requires targeting your advertising in ezines that are more specifically related to the product or business you are promoting.
The first step in targeting ezine advertising involves selecting the right ezines.
Ezine directories are excellent places to start. A good ezine directory will allow you to look through ezines by entering key words into a search. By entering words that relate to your product or opportunity, you will then be led to ezines that cover similar subjects. Since not all ezines are listed in ezine directories, however, it’s a good idea to conduct a web site search as well and then look into the ezines associated with web sites that are related to your product or business.
From there, look closer into the ezines your search uncovers by looking at a sample issue, if the ezine directory provides one, or by visiting the web site of the ezine, or simply by subscribing.
Definitely subscribe to those ezines you think will be best suited for your ad. Get to know the kind of content the ezines usually run. The fastest way to accomplish this is by searching through archived issues if the ezine in question provides this. If not, subscribe and read a few issues to learn more about the usual topics the ezine covers.
After you get to know some good ezines, see if they have a recommended reading section that will lead you to other good ezines. Many ezines put a recommended reading or equivalent section right in the ezine. However, be sure and judge them for yourself. Don’t just follow the recommendations blindly.
At this point, you will be able to make a short list of ezines to further examine. That’s right, you still have some more examining to do before you will be ready to purchase advertising.
One thing to realize, however, is that subscriber count is not necessarily that important. Sure, it’s great to find a large ezine that fits your ad perfectly and doesn’t cost too much to advertise in, but quite often small ezines will represent just as good of a value.
The next article in this series will go further into analyzing an ezines subscriber base, the type of ezine it is, and the actual cost of buying an ad.
ANALYZING EZINES
After having selected ezines to advertise your program in based on how the content of the ezines relate to what you wish to advertise, there is still another process to choosing the best ezines for your marketing dollars.
Analyzing the ezines is a rather subjective process, however. There are no hard and fast rules to follow that give you a clear indication of whether or not an ezine is worth the cost. However, there is an information gathering process that can help you to make better decisions.
AD FORMATTING
One important aspect is how ads are handled in the ezine itself. Where are the ads located in the ezine? Are they made visible by being placed directly between or at the start of the articles, or are they pushed all to the end of the ezine or published separately in an ad sheet?
How many ads are run in each issue? Are the headlines of the ads offset to attract attention, are the ads separated in some way from each other, or does the entire ad section look like one big chunk of text?
Naturally, anything the ezine publisher does to give visibility to the ads is a plus for you as an advertiser.
SUBSCRIBERS: Who Are They and Where Did They Come From?
Don’t be afraid to contact the editor, publisher, or advertising agent of an ezine and ask them some questions. Find out not only how many subscribers they have, but get their opinion of what type of markets their subscribers are interested in, AND how they get their subscribers.
Some marketing practices, such as automatically subscribing people that post to an FFA or ad site, may pull a lot of subscribers for an ezine, but result in very little readers. Ads for subs programs also have mixed results. Some stick around and read the ezine, but many don’t. The best subscribers are those that are completely volunteer opt in readers.
However, many ezines use multiple means of gaining subscribers and while some use not so great methods, they may also clean their lists of non-responsive subscribers regularly. That’s why it is best to ask and make a judgment based on the answer you receive. This may take some practice and trial and error, but at least if you have the information you are giving yourself something to learn from. So, ask where, how, and what type of subscribers the ezine has. Ask how effectively they retain subscribers as well. That is a good indication of many subscribers are reading the ezine and viewing it as worthwhile.
FREE vs. PAID ADVERTISING
There are many ezines that do offer free ads to their subscribers. Some of these are worthwhile others are not. It really comes down to reader involvement. If people are still reading the ezine and not just subscribed to put their ad in every week, it may be worth your time. If the ezine has passed all of you’re other criteria up to this point, it has to be worth a shot. At least this costs you nothing but your time.
Paid advertising at this point where you have studied, selected, and analyzed many ezines and come up with a short list is definitely going to be worth the cost.
Let’s just review what you have gone through in selecting the ezines to advertise in.
1. Targeted Content that matches the product, service, or opportunity you are advertising.
2. Acceptable Potential Market based on the content of the ezine and what the ezine’s editor says about his or her subscriber’s interests.
3. Acceptable Ad Formatting and Placement in the Ezine.
4. Acceptable Subscriber Base as described by the way the ezine gets it’s subscribers and keeps them.
Now comes the kicker, ad cost. What’s a good price, and what isn’t?
Well, it just depends. That’s not what you wanted to hear, I know. You’d rather I provided a simple rule to go by that made all of your decisions for you. Sorry, but I don’t believe that is possible. It is a big subject, however, so we’d best save it for the final installment in this series.
Up until this point, we discussed the two methods of using ezine advertising, playing the numbers, and targeting. Then, we focused on targeting by discussing how to select ezines based on content and audience, and how to analyze those selected for the best advertising value.
Now, finally, we come down to the actual cost of purchased advertising. How much is affordable and what is too much?
As I said in part three of this series, it just depends. I don’t mean to give a misleading answer with that statement, nor do I mean to skirt around the subject. It’s just that price is a subjective item that revolves around the product or opportunity you are promoting and the ezine you are promoting in.
So, while I cannot give you a simple rule to follow, I can give you a way to analyze the cost. However, there are still a BUNCH of other factors that I’ll bring up afterward.
First, let’s use the term ‘ad hits’ to describe the number of people that view your ad in an ezine and then answer it by either going to the site you want them to or emailing to you or your auto responder.
Now, look at the following formula:
(# subscribers) x (% response) = Expected Ad Hits
Example:
1000 subscribers x 3% = 30
From there, naturally, it depends on how many sales you get from the ad hits you receive and how much money you make per sale. Getting 1 sale out of 30 hits is a 3.33% sales ratio.
Now, if you can do at least that, consider how much you make per sale as opposed to how much the ad cost you. If you make $10 per sale and the ad to 1000 subscribers only cost you $5, then there’s your profit of $5.
So essentially the equation you need to use is this one:
Income for the ad =
(# subs) x (% response from ezine) x (sales % from site) x ($ made per sale)
If that number is of greater value than the cost of the ad, then it’s good. Of course, all of this is assuming you have an ad tracking system in place so you can see the results of your advertising in different ezines. If you don’t, then either you advertise in only one ezine at a time so you can track your results, or you make groups based on ezines that are similar and you track your results as you go through different groups. This may be done by counting hits at your site, or merely by seeing what results in sales.
Obviously, ad tracking can give you more data to work with as far as seeing which ezines are getting you results. However, that can be another expense you must figure into the cost of your advertising.
So, that’s it as far as figuring out whether or not advertising is worth the cost a particular ezine is asking, right?
Not hardly. Here’s the deal.
In all my reading, I’ve seen most writers say you can expect .5% to 3% response from an ezine, and occasionally get up to 5% or higher even depending on certain factors. I have no problem with those numbers.
What we have talked about before now becomes vitally important. If you’ve done your job right and selected the best ezines based on appropriate content and audience, and analyzed them to determine the best ones to advertise in, then you should have no problem getting the 3% response rate. Plus, repeat advertising in the same ezine can get you a higher overall response rate as the ad keeps drawing hits from different people each time it’s seen.
Naturally, then, you have to compare the cost of the repeated ad to the number of additional hits it creates. However, often ezines have package deals that reduce the cost per issue if you buy an ad for multiple issues.
From here, you also have other questions to answer.
Is targeting ezines worth my time or should I just play the numbers and buy bulk ads?
Is my ad going to be effective and pull the responses I am seeking?
Is my sales site going to get the sales I expect after I get visitors there?
Does what I make from sales over the cost of my ads also cover the other expenses of my business so that I make a profit overall?
This series focused solely on how to use ezine advertising. However, as you can see there are other factors to be considered. My goal with this series was not to provide you with all the answers on how to do everything. I can’t do that anyway. I do hope, however, that I’ve enlightened you to the choices you do have and started you to thinking about what is going to work best for you.
It’s not always simple, but there are things you can do to improve you chances at success. I hope you’ve learned some of those things with these articles.
Written by Joe Bingham of the NetPlay Marketer
Joe has written many articles, both informational and humorous,
with the intent of helping others gain a better understanding of
Internet marketing concepts. His ‘tell it like it is’ approach has
many offering the NetPlay Marketer as one of their most favorite
ezines. See for yourself at: http://www.netplaynewsletters.com/
