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.

Announcing 4 Interesting Ways to Excel at Article Marketing

Do you feel like you've done more than enough with article marketing and still you cannot succeed? Perhaps there's something wrong with the techniques you have used. Or perhaps you're not simply looking at the right places.

When you're in article marketing, you shouldn't forget to submit them to various article directories. There are over thousands of people who come to visit them every day, looking for great information. Publishers, meanwhile, are hunting for any article that's worth publishing at their own websites.

Here are 4 interesting ways to excel at article marketing, particularly in article directories.

1. Choose the right category. Articles are separated in different categories, and it's your responsibility to identify the most appropriate one for your chosen topic or article. Make sure that this category will give you the kind of traffic that you definitely need for your website; otherwise, even if your article gets accepted, there will still be very low traffic conversion rate.

2. Follow the author guidelines. Each article directory has its own respective guidelines that you need to follow if you don't want your articles to be rejected or you getting banned. Before you submit your copies, ensure that you have read their terms and conditions and that you agree to everything that has been stated. Or else, you better look for other article directories.

3. Make use of keywords. Majority of these article directories allow authors to identify the keywords that best describe their articles. Just to guarantee that your copies will be searched not only in your chosen article directory but in search engines as well, come up with at most 8 appropriate keywords for your article.

4. Add a photo. A picture of you will make you more endearing to your readers. So take time to upload a photo in article directories. Also, don't forget to complete your profile and provide other contact details such as your e-mail address.

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 1574 articles in print and 11 published ebooks.

Search For Marketing Strategies In The Right Places

If you're looking for suggestions and tips on how to succeed in your business, don't look for it in traditional marketing books and philosophies that were taught in university. You won't find what you need, and it will only make things worse by getting you confused with so many ideals and beliefs that may not be applicable to small commercial color printing companies like yourself.

Conventional textbooks - those written for college and master's degree courses, are for big companies rather than small businesses. It seems that every marketing author who wrote these books really believe that only big corporations can start a business. It's like they don't think small businesses are relevant as far as the commercial industry is concerned.

I'm not being cynical or anything. All I'm saying is that not many textbooks in marketing were written for small business firms. Most of the time, principles and marketing theories were based on studies made from big corporations that a small business owner learning from these books is only wasting his or her time, money and energy.

So if you're looking at effective marketing strategies for your small business, you might want to try to look for it elsewhere. Standard education is just that, standard. If you want standard results then you might find the strategies in them books helpful.

But if you're looking at a much higher outcome (which I think you are if you're really an entrepreneur) you might want to try a carefully planned strategy that will help you grow your business fast.

According to conventional marketing knowledge, marketing has certain P's that you should focus on to be successful: product, price, placement, package, and promotion. If you direct your attention and marketing efforts towards these 5 P's then you're more likely to succeed in your chosen field.

For small businesses, what you might want to focus on is a plan for an attack. If you want to really increase your profits and get quick ROI's, there's only one way to do that - you need to be the aggressor. You need a plan of attack that will help you get smart on your marketing to achieve quick results.

What do you need for your plan of attack? For one thing, you have to identify your target market. You need to know and understand how your product can relate to their needs so you can provide the most appropriate offer to your target clients.

Second, you need to have an offering statement that provides an offer that they can't possibly resist. It attracts them to your offer, and more importantly, it pulls them in, hook, line and sinker.

So the next time you're looking at traditional textbooks for your marketing strategy, think again. If you really want to succeed and get significant growth in your business, try looking for it somewhere else. And if you find the right place, call us. We would like to hear about it.

Charen Smith writes articles about Internet Marketing. She has an extensive knowledge and experience when it comes to business strategies, techniques and business solutions.

For more information, you can visit this page on Commercial Color Printing

The Article Marketing Sercret - Article Madness

When you become an article marketer, there is one thing that you should be doing. That is writing articles! That's the big secret for every successful article marketer! You have keep writing articles!

Don't stop writing articles. Just do it. People tend to create rough drafts and brainstorms before they create an article. That is just a waste of time! As an article marketer, your greatest asset is time. So don't waste it. The more you waste it trying to figure out how to create the perfect article, the less amount of time you have to flood the market with your articles. This is how you dominate article marketing. You have to flood the market with your articles. When you do that, your traffic will skyrocket. It all starts with writing your article and not stopping.

You should make at least 30%2B articles a week in order to catch up with the expert article marketers. So don't waste your time making rough drafts. Just write an article. It doesn't matter if it's good or if it's bad. The only thing that matters is that you write. If it's a bad article, who cares! Just as long as your flooding the market it's okay! You want to be known! Whether it's bad or good.

Your articles need to unique and different. Do not copy and paste! Your readers will think of you as a spammer and he will never buy your product. You have to write your own original products if you want to succeed as an article marketer. The key to article marketing is flooding the market as fast and as much as possible.

Looking for some new internet marketing tactics? Don't worry, I have tons. Check out my website at http://www.marketingentity.com

Qassia For Links, Links and Links

There's a new web 2.0 site is town and it is clean, lean, and means to gather all the information it can.

So What?

Qassia pays YOU for that information. The more you earn, the better your websites will rank. Plus you get a backlink to your website every time you add - unlimited, quality backlinks are awaiting you.

The Qassia Way To Website Promotion

Once you sign up, you can add any number of your sites.

Then you crank the engine by ... giving them a piece of your mind. Like an article, only way shorter.

Intel is what Qassia is about. The more you add, the more credit you get. Last night I took an old blog article and turned it into 3 posts, earning about 300 dollars in less than a half hour.

One Problem

The money is in Qassia dollars. You can't spend it, but it helps your sites rank better.

But this is HUGE -- for each intel you add, you get a backlink! The search engines are going to eat it up.

What Qualifies To Get That Link?

Practically anything.

Posts are ranked anonymously by peers. But unless it is totally objectionable material, you will get your link for any post that is printed.

Now you can influence your "score," which influences ultimate directory listing.

To lower your score, talk about:

1. your website or product. This is an ad.

2. Poetry, short stories, jokes, or other creative writing.

To raise your score, give:

1. information about things you know more about than most other people.

2. previously unpublished material.

3. un-researched info, like your past and current experiences with the people, places, and companies around you.

4. mundane, factual, even boring information that sooner or later will prove useful to someone.

For Website Owners

Qassia will be your best buddy:

* get unlimited quality backlinks to your websites, with NO reciprocal links

* this will help your websites rank better at search engines

* eventually lots of direct traffic to your site, as Qassia becomes known for its huge content

* it is totally free.

Final Caveat

Qassia is in lockdown right now. That means that the only way you can get in is by invitation.

To get in, click Invitation to Qassia. Ron King is a web developer; visit his website on Authoring Articles.

Copyright 2008 Ron King. This article may be reprinted if the resource box is left intact and the links live.

5 Benefits of Google Analytics in a Search Engine Optimization Campaign

Google Analytics is a free tool that you can used to track information about the way visitors to your site interact with it. During a search engine optimization campaign, you will need to use Google Analytics to track the performance of your keywords in order to have a successful campaign. You will be able to know how much traffic each of the keyword brings to your website. Google Analytics will open up a world of information you probably never knew about visitors on your site.

Here are some benefits of using Google Analytics during an optimization campaign:

1. It is completely free of charge. Although it is a free tool, but it still offer just as much or even more functionalities when compared to other paying tools.

2. Able to find out how your visitors locate your website. Other than the core set of keywords that you are optimizing, you will also be able to find out what other keywords your visitors type in to find your website. During the initial optimization campaign, the number of keywords may be little. But as time goes by, you will start getting more keywords being listed on organic listings, due to your overall optimization effort.

3. Able to identify which pages and links your visitors click the most. You will be able to know which are the popular pages and links, and measure whether your optimization campaign is directing the traffic to the correct pages.

4. Visitor segmentation. With this, you will be able to know how many new visitors that your search engine optimization campaign brings to you. You can segment your analytic result by new/returning visitors, geography and referral sources.

5. Able to fine tune your website. With this analytic report, you will be able to fine tune your website, and do a new copywriting on any page that is not converting well. In the end, it will bring you more quality prospects, and thus gaining more customers in the near future.

With Google Analytics, other than collecting data about traffic from Google, you will also be able to collect data traffic from MSN and Yahoo! search results with respect to your site and use it to strengthen your stronghold on the search platform.

Every marketing campaign on the Internet needs to be tracked, in order to make it successful. After planning and implementation, tracking tools are necessary so as to calculate the ROI of a particular campaign.

Cheow Yu Yuan is the co-founder of HomeBizGears.com, an online marketing and branding agency.

Check out more about Online Marketing and Branding at http://www.homebizgears.com

Please feel free to republish this article on your website, or distribute it to your friends or clients, as long as you leave the resource box intact.

Article Marketing - Discover the Magic

Writing articles is, in my opinion, one of the greatest ways to advertise a product or website. There is not a better cost effective way to bring highly targeted traffic to your business

1.) Its Free

Here is a cost analysis of advertising mediums.

Television Infomercial: $75,000 to $1 Million Dollars.

Full page black and white newspaper advertisement

Nationwide Newspapers: $165,000 (Wall Street Journal, USA Today, etc) Metropolitan Newspapers: $100,000 (NY Times, Washington Post) Small Town Newspapers: At least $1000

Radio Advertising: $50 to $750 or more depending on which days and how many times your ad will run in a specified period.

Article Marketing: ZERO Dollars. Reach hundreds of thousands of possible readers each day all that is required is an investment of your time.

2.) You do not have to be a college English professor or have a degree in journalism to write high quality, informative articles.

3.) In a short time your articles can establish you as an expert in your field. Your name may become a valuable resource to webmasters and publishers who are looking for fresh new content.

4.) Article writing is an easy way to get quality backlinks to your website. There are 500+ article directories on the internet and the number is growing daily. There is no faster way to get your article and your website into the top 10 on the search engines.

5.) You do not have to worry about SPAM laws and filters. If you are running your own ezine I am sure you have heard some of the horror stories about publishers being dumped by their hosts because of SPAM complaints. Readers come to view your articles. You are not sending them email which may be blocked for any number of reasons.

6.) The longevity of your articles will bring you business far into the future. Your articles will remain on the article directories and may be used by a publisher years into the future allowing you to generate life-long traffic.

If article marketing is not an advertising strategy that you are using, have you asked yourself why it isnt?

Lee Ruleman is an article marketing professional specializing in assisting others in achieving their goals in the internet business marketplace. To get Lee's brand new product A Complete Internet Business in an Easy Open Can! please visit http://www.successfularticlemarketing.com