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Ezine Advertising: 10 Steps to Writing Powerful Ezine Ads to Grow Your List

03 2008 Monday

By admin in Featured

Classified ads have been around as long as I can remember. Whether you’re reading a newspaper or perusing the back of a magazine, you see classified ads. Before the advent of online marketing, placing classified ads in print publications was the method many people used to sell their products or services.

What has worked for years in traditional marketing is also quite effective in online marketing. Advertising in email newsletters with ads is one of the greatest adverting bargains available today. Moreover, it can be a very effective strategy to help you grow your mailing list and drive traffic to your website.

There are thousands of ezine publishers eagerly standing by to take your money for a classified ad in their publication. And, writing an ezine ad isn’t quite as easy as it looks. How do you know the ad will be effective, and how do you create an ad that will result in a desired action?

Here are 10 steps to help you write a profitable classified ad for an ezine:

Create Headings That Sell

03 2008 Tuesday

By Zoe Price in Featured

I’m sure you’ve experienced this before. You hear from a friend about a great product and you hurry over to the sales letter to read all the details. Only when you get there, something isn’t quite right. You can’t explain it, but your excitement quickly fizzles.

It only took a split second for that sales letter to make a first impression and in this example, it wasn’t a good one. No matter how much your friend talked about this product, there’s just no way you want to slap down your credit card to buy. Then, a few seconds later, you’re gone.

Obviously that product owner just lost a sale but more importantly, you were a hot prospect because you came from your friend’s recommendation. So what happened? It really boils down to two words… “Professional Image”. The more time we spend online the more these two words become increasingly important.

You see, when you are selling products online, you have to think of your sales letter very much like a storefront. If there is nothing that grabs the reader and pulls them in… they’re gone. Likewise, if something turns them off, such as poorly designed graphics, then they’re gone even faster.

You have just a few seconds to make that first impression which is where many marketers drop the ball. They work so hard on developing the product and writing the sales letter that they forget those last few crucial details that make all the difference.

That’s why designing high quality header graphics is essential. It’s all part of branding. It paints a picture of who you are and helps build trust and credibility. However, creating header graphics by yourself can be challenging… especially if you don’t have any graphical knowledge.

Normally you have to outsource it to a professional designer. Depending on how many you want, that can get costly. The worst part is, if you want to make any changes afterwards, you’ve got to pay again. That’s why I would recommend using one of the available software applications (one that is reasonably priced) that will create professional header graphics for you.

These software packages are created for the “average person” which means you don’t need to have any graphical knowledge. To create your customized headers, you simply follow the instructions, press a button and save your image.

It’s really that easy with the most simple packages. This kind of software can mean the difference between spending all of your time trying to design your graphics the hard way or spending hundreds of dollars for a single header graphic to be created by a professional …versus… Having everything created for you so you just point, click and save. Seems like a no brainer doesn’t it?

It will be. You’ll will be very pleased with the quality of the header graphics as the majority of software packages are very professional looking. Remember, first impressions are important so make sure yours count by having an unlimited number of high quality graphic headers created for you and your business, all from one software package. There are a few on the market but shop around and check the quality of each one to ensure you get the product you are after.

To create headers that sell, check out the header software at http://header.generatorsoftware.com/x.php?af=426480

7 Really Good Bits ‘o Advice for Creating Consistent & Powerful Content

03 2008 Friday

By Lani and Allen Voivod in Featured

For business owners, lifestyle entrepreneurs, and otherwise savvy professionals, creating content to help get their message, mission, and vision OUT THERE can be daunting sometimes - especially if you don’t fancy yourself a “writer” or some other media-producing maestro.

And sometimes, we make things more complicated than they have to be. Heck, as “The Content Lovers,” we can obsess over this stuff like there’s no tomorrow. It gets in the way of taking action, and moving forward with our business and vision.

With that in mind, we offer you these seven really good bits ‘o advice for easily creating powerful and consistent content, regardless of whether you deliver it with text, audio, photos, or video. (Knowing, of course, we personally use this advice ourselves.)

1. Mine what you already have.

It’s excavation, not creation. Take content you’ve already developed - like the answers you’ve given to clients in emails, phone calls, and in person - and use those to develop content. If one person’s asking, others may be, too. Then, you not only look like an expert, but you never have to answer the question again!

2. Give ‘em bite-size chunks.

We all do it - overwhelm people with the knowledge we can share about our business or field. But at a certain point, people’s attention just turns off. Don’t try to shove 50 tons of diamonds into a 5-pound sack. Offer seekers of your content bite-sized chunks of knowledge, and the option to go deeper.

3. Leverage other people’s content to support your own ideas.

Ever hear marketers throw out headlines like, “What Steve Martin can teach you about your own marketing and branding”? They use the content generated around well-known events, ideas, people, and pop culture references as analogies to buttress their own messages. And you can do the same.

4. Use other people’s content outright.

With appropriate permission, of course, and preferably with an opinion to share. As the person who’s screening the entire realm of knowledge in your field, picking and choosing a select few to share with your audience makes you look like the expert who holds forth on the usefulness (or lack thereof) of the information out there. Be the filter. Be the trusted resource.

5. It’s about content over time.

Relationships don’t happen overnight, in love or in business. By making a list for yourself of the ideas, magnets, and solutions of your business, you can authentically share new and helpful information over the long haul.

6. Good enough is good enough.

In economics, there’s this thing called the Law of Diminishing Returns. In layman’s terms, it says that at a certain point, the effort you put into improving something will cost you more than what you get out of that effort. It’s the same with producing content. You can spend weeks, months, and years jiggering and editing and trying to get everything “just right.” Or, you can send your content out on a catapult, where it can reach your Ideal Audience, so you can get to work on your next endeavor.

7. Be conscious (and conscientious!) about what you put out into the world.

People have a way of finding content months and years down the line. This can be a very good thing…or a very, very bad one. If you’re less than impeccable with your word, it’ll come back to bite you in the proverbial posterior. As Bogie said in Casablanca, “Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of your life.” This is the Law of Attraction in action - what you focus on and put “out there” to the universe is what comes back to you. Act with honesty and integrity, and everything’ll be a-okay.

Good luck, fellow content creator! No matter how you choose to get your content out there - newsletters, webinars, comic strips, whatever - these seven tips will help guide you through the process of making those all-important connections with your Ideal Audience.

Remember, people aren’t sitting around trying to figure out ways to give you money. But they DO want to: learn, be entertained, find specific information, get more time, freedom, money, and pleasure, and especially AVOID PAIN AND MISERY. Help them do any or all of the above with your content, and they’ll reward you for it.

Lani & Allen Voivod, aka ‘The Content Lovers,’ help lifestyle entrepreneurs and million-dollar businesses ‘A-Ha Themselves!’ in fun and profitable ways. For immediate access to insider knowledge on more than 12 of the easiest, most effective, and most affordable ways to market your products and services for long-term success and profitability, check out “The ‘A-Ha Yourself!’ Action Guide” at http://www.epiphaniesinc.com/actionguide.php.

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