By Woody Sherman
If you have been watching the
business headlines, you know what is getting the attention of millionaire
investors all over the world. The giant Wall Street offerings have all been
about "Internet communities." Everybody wants one.
Nothing is more valuable in business right now than leading your own Internet
community. Sites like Yahoo and Excite are worth Billions because they have
a strong community of people who visit them regularly.
YOU can easily build your own community on the Internet. How? With Internet
marketing's most powerful secret weapon--a low-cost, easy-to-produce email
newsletter. Ezines are dirt cheap to put out, super easy to put together,
and OH SO EFFECTIVE in building you a strong following of eager customers
and prospects. You can even sell advertising in your newsletter to create
an almost pure profit stream. I know one entrepreneur who started his own
newsletter from his computer at work. He now pulls in over $10,000 per month
just in newsletter ad revenue!
1. Start by choosing a specialized, profitable audience to go after. Write
down a few words that describe the kind of person you want on your list of
subscribers. Look first at people who are interested in your industry, hobby,
or special interest. Also make sure these are the kind of folks who use the
Internet and like getting email.
2. Gather helpful articles and tips to put in your newsletter. Search the
Net for articles and web sites that offer your kind of info. Ask the authors
for permission to use their articles. Most are happy to help if you promise
to include their contact information or brief ad at the end of the article.
Try writing your own articles. As veteran free lance writer, Gary Christensen
says, "A good how-to article is just a page of instructions." Jot down a
few ideas and craft them into your own page of instructions. Subscribers
like short articles with short sentences.
You can send your newsletter out using a free copy of Eudora Lite
(eudora.com), your favorite mailer, a
low-cost list management service like
ListBot.com, or a full-featured list
service like OakNetPub.com.
3. Build your subscriber list by announcing your ezine on directory sites.
Some leading directories that can send you hundreds of new subscribers are
at e-zinez.com,
ezinesearch.com,
liszt.com,
infobot.net,
ezine-news.com, and
<www.meer.net/~johnl/e-zine-list/submit.html>.
Also put a place on your web site where visitors can subscribe to your
newsletter. Be careful not to use lists of addresses you get from third parties.
This can lead to a lot of problems if someone complains they didn't subscribe
to your newsletter but received it anyway.
4. Offer subscribers information on your products, services, and business
opportunities. Readers like a newsletter that is packed with useful information.
However, they don't mind one bit if you include several short ads for your
own offers.
5. Sell classified ads. $20 to $30 per ad is probably average. You can charge
up to $50 per classified ad once your subscriber list reaches over 10,000
(and you may be surprised at how fast your list will grow when you promote
it heavily).
Most media owners pay millions to build a community of good prospects and
customers. With the awesome power of the Internet, YOU can build your own
newsletter community for practically nothing. Get started today.
[ Woody Sherman is editor and publisher of OPPORTUNITY UPDATE, the
three-times-weekly e-zine for both budding and experienced Internet Marketers...
featuring the famous "5 For 10" Classifieds. For a sample,
<mailto:DeptR5@ShermanMedia.com>.
You'll also find a number of resources for the netrepreneur at Woody's website:
<http://ShermanMedia.com>. ] |