While there are many effective ways to promote your e-zine and gain subscribers, the one I’ve had the MOST success with is to write and submit articles for use in OTHER people’s e-zines.
“But wait a minute,” you say. “Aren’t I supposed to be creating great articles for MY e-zine?”
Yes, you are! AND after your article appears in your OWN e-zine, you should then submit it to others. This past fall, I quickly learned that this is by far the BEST, FASTEST, FREE way to promote an e-zine for three reasons:
1) Instead of just advertising your e-zine, you’re giving others a hearty taste of it! And by sharing these useful articles, you emphasize your expertise in your particular subject area.
2) You have the right to plug yourself, your biz, and your e-zine at the end of every article! And anyone using your article must keep this information intact. (More on that in a minute.)
3) You can quickly gain exposure to THOUSANDS of untapped prospects at a time. For example, last summer, a popular Internet marketing e-zine featured my article “Avoid These 5 Web Site Blunders.” I was overjoyed to learn the publication had more than *10,000* subscribers! Since this was a great article, and all of these readers saw my ad for my e-zine right after it, I gained hundreds of new subscribers by the end of that week.
HERE’S HOW TO GET STARTED
1. PICK A WINNER
Browse through your archives and pick an insightful article that really showcases your expertise. Make sure it’s one that you featured in your e-zine several issues ago. Why? It’s a courtesy to make YOUR subscribers feel as if they’re receiving unique information from you, BEFORE you offer it to the rest of the world.
2. POLISH IT ‘TIL IT SHINES
Since you probably haven’t looked at this article in awhile, do another proofread and clean it up if necessary. Publishers will not be interested in your article if it contains typos, misspelled words, grammatical errors, or inactive Web links – these goofs would compromise the integrity of their publications.
3. ADD A COPYRIGHT NOTICE
At the end of the article, insert a copyright notice, dated when you first published the article. Example: (c) 2001 Alexandria K. Brown
4. WRITE A JAZZY “RESOURCE BOX”
In exchange for your letting other publishers reprint your article, it’s customary to require that they include the contact information you provide. This is usually called the ‘resource box’ and it should come RIGHT after your copyright notice.
Here’s where you can ham it up! Take about five lines and promote your E-ZINE!
Don’t waste time promoting your *business* in the resource box. Why? You’ll gain MORE potential clients by first getting them to subscribe to your e-zine. THEN you’ve got them! You will then be in front of them REGULARLY, and that’s when they’ll understand what a genius you are and why they should hire you.
Don’t forget to mention if your e-zine is FREE!
5. SUBMIT YOUR ARTICLE TO ONLINE CONTENT DIRECTORIES
There are dozens of ‘free content’ Web sites and announcement lists where you can submit your articles for other publishers to use. Some even let you include a picture, which I love because I’m a ham at heart. ; )
Here are three to get you started:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aabusiness
6. SUBMIT YOUR ARTICLE DIRECTLY TO APPROPRIATE PUBLISHERS
For best results, take the bull by the horns and contact publishers directly. But not just any publishers – ones with e-zines that would be perfect for the articles you write and the type of readership you want to attract.
I STRONGLY recommend that you become a member of the Directory of E-zines. This list is by far one of the most credible and reliable ones on the Web. It costs less than $40 to join for the year, but it’s well worth it – your membership lets you search through hundreds of other e-zines. You can search by all types of factors: topic, readership, subscriber numbers, etc. Learn more here:
http://www.1automationwiz.com/app/aftrack.asp?AFID=44985
When you have your personal list of publishers ready, craft a friendly note to send along with your article. Here’s an example of what I use:
“Dear Editor:
I see from your e-zine that you occasionally accept articles from outside authors. Would you like to use my article titled [article name here] in a future issue?
You’re welcome to use the article for FREE, provided it remains intact and unaltered, and you retain my entire resource box at the end of the article. If you’d like to publish it, just send me a copy of the issue it appears in.
If you have any questions, feel free to write me back at [e-mail address here] And if you do not accept articles, I apologize – just let me know and I’ll remove you from my editor list.
Best, [name and contact info here]”
Simple, yes? Then just paste your article right underneath your message. Do NOT send it as an attachment – it likely won’t get read.
TIP: Your article will get picked up by MORE publishers if you format it to around 60 characters per line with hard returns after each line. Many publishers don’t want to do ANY formatting work to guest articles, so the more “ready to go” yours is, the better! : )
(c) 2000-2003 Alexandria K. Brown. All rights reserved.
Alexandria K. Brown, “The E-zine Queen,” is author of the award-winning manual, “Boost Business With Your Own E-zine” and the publisher of the e-zine, “Publish for Profits.” To learn more about her book and FREE tips, teleclasses, and resources, visit http://www.EzineQueen.com.
