5 Qualities of an Ezine That Makes it a Perfect Match For Your Ad

Ezine or email advertising is extremely powerful. Wouldn't it be nice to know that the ezines you choose to advertise in will give you a tremendous return on your investment?

The question we must ask ourselves is "What makes an ezine a perfect match for my ad"?

In ezine advertising, especially with solo ads, there are two purposes; (1) to have your ad read, and (2) to have the reader respond to your site. How do you make sure that happens. Are you really getting your money's worth by submitting your ad to just any ezine? Can you really get the needed results when you blindly buy ad space in a group of ezines?

What do you need to look for before you ever submit your ad?

Failure starts with 'betting' on your ad

One of the major rules about advertising, especially on the Internet, is to know who you are advertising to. A "throw the dice" attitude will immediately send you into a downward spiral.
Chance plays a huge part in gambling. I can't see where skill actually plays a part. I mean, sure you need to know how to play cards, and throw some dice, and play over some stragety on your part. But, actual skill... I can't see it.

It's all up to luck, or chance.

Take playing blackjack for example. You can in no way manipulate the deck of cards so that you get the cards you need. You are betting on the chances your needed card comes up to reach 21 or to beat the house, but you can't touch them, look at the deck, or even deal. It's all up to chance.

Do you really want to 'bet' on your ad?

You need a strategy. There is skill to placing an ad with an ezine. It takes time, commitment, and patience, but there is a skill to it and it's absolutely vital to the overall success of your website.

Only Advertise In Ezines That Are A Match With Your Target Audience

This sounds obvious, but it's also a place where many marketers completely miss the mark. And this is one of the major dangers of submitting your ad to groups of ezines instead of individual.

Only an ezine that publishes content that is the same topic as your product will ever produce profitable responses from the readers. The people who read these ezines are interested in your product. For example, let's say you have an ad for an ebook about joint ventures. Where would you get the best results, an ezine dealing with copywriting or one written about advertising?

You might get results with a copywriting ezine, but you'd get much better returns with a ezine whose readers are mainly interested in advertising techniques and products.

How do you find these ezines?

I wish I could say it's easy or that it could be done in a matter of minutes, but unfortunately it takes time. It takes patience and committed research.

When putting together advertising campaigns for clients I steer well clear of advertising co-op's and hit the directories and search engines.

Recently, I did a campaign for a website that is selling personal defense products (stun-guns, mace, brass knuckles, etc.). I went to google.com and searched for websites that dealt with personal defense.

I visited each site. If they had a newsletter I subscribed to it and emailed the owner to get information about advertising with them.

Note: You should be emailing each and every ezine publisher you want to do business with. This sets up a personal relationship, opens the door to "special inside deals", and can help with setting up joint ventures.

The point is to do your homework. Advertising in ezines does work, and it tremendously powerful. But, you need to submit your ad in the right ezines.

Are There Any Competing Ads In The Ezine?

Once you've subscribed to the ezine you want to advertise in, it's a good thing to check out the advertising that's already there.

It's very important to know if there are any ads for the same type of product, or for affiliates the same product?

This way you know a few things;

Is the market saturated with this type of product?

What type of ads are your competitors using?

Are any of the other ads pulling traffic? (you would find this out by asking the owner if the person buying the ad space has been consistent with buying ads)
There is a lot of information you can get to make sound, profitable decisions with once you see what's actually happening in the ezine.

Of course, if there are a lot of competing ads then you would not choose to advertise in that ezine at this time. Shelf it until a later date.

How Many Ads Are In Each Issue?

Along with getting information on the types of ads that are included in the ezine, it's also very important to see for yourself just how many ads are included with each issue of that ezine.

Being in advertising, and putting together ezine advertising campaigns for my clients, I have ezine publishers contacting me inquiring if I have any clients that would place ads in their ezine. If they have more than five ads in their ezine, I will not recommend them.

I know that sounds harsh, but you just can't compromise on that. Remember, I wrote the purpose of advertising in ezines is to get your ad read? Well, that won't happen if there are already ten other ads competing for each subscriber.

Now, let me clarify that these ads I'm talking about are outside ads. Meaning ads that people have submitted and are not the owner's.

How Many Solo Ads Are Sent Out Each Week?

No matter what type of ad, small classified or solo, the amount of special mailings, announcements, extra issues, or solo ads that are being sent out each week is something to worry about.

It's something I call "inbox saturation". If subscribers are receiving more than two emails from an ezine publisher a week, they will let them pile up in their inbox without looking at them. Then later in time they just delete them to clean out their inbox. You ad is not seen.

Ezine publishers have a responsibility to their subscribers to keep them informed and be respectful of their time. Too many emails means a lot of them don't get read.

Do The Articles Best Fit Your Product?

If you want to effectively advertise in ezines this is the most important thing to look into.

The second purpose I mentioned at the beginning of this article was to have the reader respond to your site. The best way to do that is if the articles being written and published each week will presell your product. This is why it's so important that you pick the ezine that "fits" your product.

Let's go back to the joint venture example and you chose to advertise in the copywriting ezine. The articles are about copywriting techniques and have nothing to do with joint ventures or their importance. Will that presell your product?

Not effectively.

But, if you chose an ezine that publishes articles about advertising, marketing, and/or joint ventures, these articles are actually preselling your product for you. Then once the reader finishes the article, and are fired up about advertising, they see your product... they visit your site.

Of all these principles of ezine advertising, this is the most important. You will see much higher responses, and sales, if the articles published tie in with your product.

Note: Another reason it's so important to email the owner and establish a relationship is to find out which articles are being published, and when. You can also request special placement after the article.

Ezine advertising is your business. Don't be fooled by slick advertising gimmicks claiming thousands of hits to your site with no work. No other advertising strategy, besides Pay per click search engines, can give you the exposure as ezine advertising.

Use these principles in your advertising campaigns and I guarantee that you'll see an instant increase in traffic and sales.