Generating Traffic with Ezines (Ads)

Classified Ads: the cheapest ads you can buy. Classified ads are limited to two or three lines and placed at the end of the ezine. Unless you place a classified ad in an ezine with 30,000 subscribers or more, your chances of getting a response are very small.

Sponsor Ads: these are more expensive than classified ads, but will give you much better response. Sponsor ads can be placed at the top, middle or bottom of an ezine issue. You can include more text in a sponsor ad so it's a good way to test your copy before going all out on a solo ad.

Solo Ads: these are the king of all ezine ads because your offer is sent exclusively to everyone on the mailing list and gets the full attention of the subscribers. No articles or other content is included. Solo ads can be expensive, but they can increase your response by as much a 100% over sponsor ads. You can usually expect a 10% response rate from a good solo ad. In other words, if you purchase a solo ad for $100 in an ezine with 10,000 subscribers, you should expect about 1,000 highly targeted visitors.

Note: Solo ads can be purchased for as little as $10. You will usually get a better response from a $10 solo ad sent to 500 subscribers than you will from a $10 classified ad sent to 5,000.

Here's your step-by-step guide to successful ezine advertising

Step One: Subscribe to 3 or More Ezines
Subscribe to ezines that offer top sponsor and solo ads within your budget. Subscribing to ezines before you place your ads will allow you to determine the quality of the list and potential profitability of your campaign before you spend any money. You can also make sure your ad goes out.

You can find a wide variety of ezines in these directories:
http://www.topezineads.com
http://www.directoryofezines.com

Step Two: Contact the Advertisers
The surest way to maximize your results from any ezine is to ask people who have already advertised. Take a few minutes to contact one or more people who have placed ads similar to the one you want to place. Tell them you're new to ezine advertising and are afraid of losing money. Most people will be glad to help you out. And if they had a bad experience, they'll definitely let you know.

In addition, if you see the same ad running multiple times, that's a good indication that it was profitable. Smart marketers will run the same ad at least three times if the first one was successful.

Step Three: Contact the Ezine Publisher
Contact the publisher to find out if anyone has else has purchased an ad within the last month for the same product you want to promote. This is critical because you don't want to advertise the same product to people who may have already purchased.

Here are some additional questions to ask (if they are not stated on the website):

• Can I personalize the subject line?
• Can I personalize the message?
• If yes, what are the personalization codes?
• How often do you publish?
• When is your next opening?
• What is the maximum word count?

Step Four: Set Up an Ad Tracker
You will want to create a tracking campaign for each ezine that you advertise in. The system will create a link for you to use and it will track your visitors and commissions just like your regular affiliate link.

Never pay for adverting unless you can track the response. You need to know how many visitors and sales you get for each ad you place so you can determine whether or not you want to run another ad in a particular ezine.

This information is critical for determining how well each ad campaign does and how well you're converting visitors into sales. Sometimes you just need to tweak your ad copy and run the ad again for better results.

If you get good results the first time, run your ad again in a week or two. Not everyone will buy the first time around. And many who were "on the fence" the first time they saw your ad, may purchase the second time around.

Step Five: Write Your Ad
Most affiliate programs provide pre-written ads for you to use. While that is convenient, you'll get much better results if you don't repurpose them word for word. Make them unique and follow some of these suggestions:

• Add a personal endorsement. With all the hype online, people are more likely to read and click on something that you personally recommend.
• Use a testimonial from the sale letter for the product you are promoting. That's an easy way to get content for a good solo ad.
• Use other people's ads. One of the bests ways to come up with ideas for good ads is to read ezines. Look for ads that catch your eye. Modify them to fit the product you're promoting and add your own personal touch.

Step Six: Place Your Order
This is the easy part. You simply fill out a form with your ad copy and credit card information. After you process the order you will receive a confirmation telling you when the ad will run. And since you are already subscribed to the ezine, you can verify it yourself. Don't rely on them to send you a "courtesy copy."

Step Seven: Put Half Your Profits Back Into Advertising
Once you start generating sales from your ezine ads (this is why you need to track them accurately), take half of your profit and use that to purchase more ezine space. This ensures profitable growth and proper allocation of your marketing spend.

Ezine marketing and advertising is the same as any other online marketing vehicle. The key is to start small, test, evaluate the results, and channel your marketing to those ezines that produce a positive return. Once you're up and running, continue to tweak your ad to see if you can increase response rates.


Michael Fleischner is an Internet marketing expert and the president of MarketingScoop.com. He has more than 12 years of marketing experience and has appeared on The TODAY Show, Bloomberg Radio, and other major media. Visit MarketingScoop.com for a free SEO report.