Your ezine builds customer confidence and trust when you give free tips, articles, and resources. Clients and customers buy only when they trust you. Expand your email subscriber list seven ways for eventual big sales.
1. Network offline.
Visit professional like-minded networking groups. These groups usually meet once a month, have speakers, and networking time for you to mix with other professionals. You will get valuable information at these meetings for low cost-yearly memberships run that around $25-$75 which includes free or low-cost meeting attendance. Each meeting is around two hours including networking time and talk. Usually at each meeting you hear a speaker and get a 30-second time to introduce yourself.
2. Speak to groups about your expertise.
You can guest speak for a large association or group, or you can give your own seminars and workshops, where people come to hear your expertise. During each meeting, pass as clipboard that asks your audience for their email addresses. At the top include a reason to "buy". Make a fre*e offer such as your ezine. Include your Web URL in plain sight as well as your email. You want these people to visit your Web site, to see what you can do for them, see your expertise, then perhaps to buy products.
You can give a teleclass too in the comfort of your office or home. When you introduce yourself offer a benefit of your free ezine along with a free bonus special report.
3. Promote your ezine on your Web site.
Visit various sites and take from them what will make your web pages zing.
Don't use the pabulum approach such as "Subscribe to my free ezine." Is this enough to make you buy? Give a reason for your visitor to buy.
Use the passion approach. For my new Web site, I submitted this blurb to my Webmaster: Finish, publish, and sell your book-fast! Receive free articles, tips and resources in the FRE*E monthly ezine "The Book Coach Says?."
Nearby in a box, I put up a strong testimonial from someone highly respected in the business. Dan Poynter, self-publishing guru said, "Chock full of tips, how-to's, and resources, definitely worth your time."
You can also offer by autoresponder a free report when people subscribe. People want free information. When you give it to them, they will come back for more, and eventually buy.
Placement is important. For the best response and more subscribers, place your subscribe box before your visitor has to scroll down. Remember the old adage; "Make it easy for your customer to buy."
4. Promote your ezine through your signature box at the end of every email.
Create a promotional signature in four to seven lines, and add it to the end of each email you send out. Here, you would list your book title, benefits of your service, your FRE*E ezine title with a way to subscribe. Include your email, Web site address, and local phone number for people out of the U.S.
5. Promote your ezine through submitting free articles to opt-in ezines.
Once you subscribe to these ezines, you can submit one or two articles from 400-800 words every week. In each ezine, thousands of other subscribers will read and think about your article.
Each time you submit an articles to ten or so opt-in ezines (all with one click) you will receive 10-25 new ezine subscribers each day. A strong signature file brings you many new visitors a day. These turn into sales eventually, once trust is established.
6. Offer your subscribers a free gift subscription to send to their friends.
You can use another autoresponder to send the gift, plus whom it's from, and a little blurb about what they will be receiving. Always include a way for subscribers to unsubscribe.
7. Send out press releases via email about your ezine. Press releases by email are different from print ones. They must be short! They must be newsworthy! Don't pitch your book; offer some skills and how-to's. Skills Unlimited Publishing sends out over 150 different print releases a year, along with other effective Online promotion.
Media editors will respond to your compelling headline such as "7 Ways to Sell More Books Than you Ever Dreamed of" that brought first a feature in a major newspaper in San Diego. The results? Over 90 people came to a local seminar by the same name. Four new book coaching clients signed up. Twenty came to ongoing weekly seminars, and twenty more to a teleclass. Book sales amounted to over $400.
Send a list of tips and how-to's to editors. These may prompt a call to do a feature story on you.
Build your business and sell more products through an ezine. When subscribers experience your messages and information in six or more ezines, they will be more likely to buy from you.
Judy Cullins, 20-year book and Internet Marketing Coach, Author of 10 eBooks including "Write your eBook Fast," and "How to Market your Business on the Internet," she offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, The Book Coach Says...and Business Tip of the Month at http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml and over 140 free articles. Email her at mailto:Judy@bookcoaching.com