Effective List Building Techniques For Publishers & Authors

mail3-100-100Method #2 – Paid eZine Advertising

Let’s discuss List Building Method #2 – Paid eZine Advertising. This method, if properly implemented can be an effective way to help generate traffic to your website.

Building a comprehensive email list is not only a beneficial technique for webmasters & online business owners but also for publishers and authors seeking to convert subscribers, readers, fans and potential customers into buying customers.

There is perhaps no better way to establish a massive database of potential clients than through an email list that contains the names and email addresses of many who have passed through your website, blog or membership site.

However, the problem remains that people must first visit your website/blog before they are able to sign up to your email list, and even the most novice of us know that driving an abundant amount of unique traffic to our website can be a daunting task!

Luckily enough, there are many ways of getting the traffic that we all desire. Some of these ways are free but may take a bit longer to amass hordes of people while other methods require you to pay a fee up front but seem to work a bit faster.

Whichever you decide is totally up to how much you feel you can make in your business as a publisher or author and how much you are willing to spend in an attempt to gain as much traffic – and as big of a mailing list, as you possibly can.

Paid Advertising Explained

Of the paid for methods of building your own email list and bringing gobs of traffic to your website, possibly the most successful is through paid eZine advertising techniques. The eZine is a relatively obscure topic for most people, and chances are that unless you are really into marketing and advertising you have never heard the name “eZine” mentioned before now.

Essentially an eZine is basically an electronic magazine that is published by a particular website. Different than a mailing list, an eZine is usually tightly linked to a particular topic or subject, so that everyone who has access to a particular eZine is interested in that one topic.

There are unique eZines for just about anything out there from how to build a successful website to how to find the best shoes to where are some of the best destinations for people who like to travel by boat. The possibilities for different types of eZines are endless, so the first step in any paid eZine advertising plan should be to find and research the different types of eZines that will fit into your site’s niche.

Sourcing Out For The Best Paid eZine Advertising

Once you find a particular eZine that you feel is the right media for your advertisements, you should contact the owner of the eZine and see if he is open to the idea of you sticking your advertisements in the eZine itself.

If the eZine owner is open to the idea of paid advertising, then you are good to go and you should start creating some advertisements immediately.

On the other hand, if for some reason the owner of the eZine is not interested in sticking your advertisements in (for any price) then you should simply move on to another eZine that is also well suited to your business.

My favorite all-time eZine resource is Directory of eZines. Use them, you will not be disappointed! http://www.DirectoryofeZines.com

Creating Your Own Advertisments

Now comes the tricky part for any potential paid eZine advertiser looking to enhance the membership of their budding email list – creating the advertisements themselves. The ads you make will have to be more than simple content if you want to unleash the full power of a paid eZine advertisement.

Remember that hundreds, thousands or sometimes millions of people will be viewing the eZine with your advertisement in it, and if you want a decent majority of those people to actually click your link, visit your website and subsequently sign up for your email list, then you will have to be especially clever with your advertisements. Even more so if you find that there are multiple advertisers competing with you in the same eZine issue.

Many people at this point will probably think that their best shot for successful paid eZine advertisements will be to advertise exactly what their website does, and why someone should pay any attention to it. Unfortunately, while this may be decent for some people, it is a practice that has proven to be unsuccessful for those looking to build an email list.

After all, if a person knows exactly what they are getting from your web service, then why would they want to visit your advertisement if they weren’t interested in your services?

That is all well and good if you are selling only one particular product, but you want to craft an email list.

So instead you need an ad that will piqué their interest in what you offer – something that will make them want to visit your website, sign up for your email list and come back for more again and again. This is the only way that you will find yourself able to maximize the payout from a paid eZine advertisement if you are trying to create your own email list.

The Maximum Opt-In Conversion Rate Solution

The solution to maximizing email list subscriptions through the use of a paid eZine advertisement is to give the people what they want – something for free or your services in a risk-free offer.

Whatever it is that you offer them for free is totally up to you, and in all honesty it does not really matter so long as you give only a rough idea of what your potential customers are getting for free in the advertisement.

You can give away anything from a free article to free research to a free one week subscription to whatever services you are trying to peddle. Just make sure that you let everyone reading the advertisement that if they visit your website they will be entitled to something cool totally free of charge.

Now, just make sure that the eZine advertisement you have created points directly to your email list sign-up page, tell your visitors that they have to enroll in your eMail list to receive the free gift and you are all set.

Oh, and be sure that at some point you do actually follow through with giving the people who sign up for your mailing list or you may have a few angry people in the following days. And there you have it, the start of your brand new eMail list as only paid eZine advertising can provide!

Eric is a 3-time #1 international bestselling author, book publishing shepherd & book launch strategist. His experience in digital and print publishing began in the late 90's and he's helped literally thousands of struggling content creators (whether they are business professionals, entrepreneurs, consultants or coaches), navigate the often-confusing publishing process and shorten the time it takes to become a published author. More specifically, Eric helps experts from all industries who want to make an impact, by transforming their message into a bestselling book.

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