Marketing Your Ezine

GET-'EM JOINT VENTURE PROGRAM

As the editor of two popular health ezines, I have experimented with many ideas to grow subscriptions. Here's one of the best plans, one that works very well for me - and will work for you too. The GET-'EM Joint Venture does just that - gets them to sign up for your ezine!

The beauty of this plan is that it doesn't matter what the topic of your ezine or list is. GET-EM can be suitably modified to work for any kind of list.

There are some criteria though to ensure that GET-EM really does "get them".

What you'll need is:

• discipline and commitment
• seven hours of your time
• patience and persistence

I'm now going to tell you what to do in each of the SEVEN hours you've set aside to implement the GET-EM program.

GET-EM : THE FIRST HOUR

The first step in any program of this kind is to identify other lists and ezines like your own - that either provide information similar to yours, or cater to an audience who'll enjoy being on your list too. For instance, my ezines are about Heart Disease. I presume that anyone who has an interest in health and fitness, or who actually has heart disease, will want to subscribe to my ezines.

So how do I find these lists and ezines ?

A couple of years back, this process was extremely difficult. No longer. Ezine directories and networks are cropping up everywhere. There are some excellent and exhaustive ones like

The John Labovitz's E-Zine List
http://www.meer.net/~johnl/e-zine-list/submit.html

The E-ZineZ Search Engine: The search engine exclusively for sites publishing E-Zines
http://www.e-zinez.com

The List
http://www.liszt.com/

There are many others as well. But what is more relevant to GET-EM is to find ezines that accept advertising, more specifically EXCHANGE (or SWAP) advertisements. One of the best resources that I've come across is The Publishers Exchange Center: http://www.peakprofit.com.

GET-EM : THE SECOND HOUR

So you've found lists similar to your own. By this I mean that you have decided these are the lists whose readers/ subscribers will like your list or ezine as well.

Now SUBSCRIBE to these lists/ezines yourself. To start with, subscribe to 15 or 20 of them.

In most cases, the subscription process is complete in a day or two. Some lists even offer a sample of their content - if they do, ask for it.

When you have received sample content from these lists, skim through it. Get a feel for the topics being discussed, the comments list members have about the list or ezine, the kind of advertisers and sponsors of the list, the quality of the publication (layout, originality of articles, spelling and grammar), the tone (blatantly commercial versus professional) and how it is hosted (on a free service, paid-for professional host or off a personal email program). And find out the name and contact email address of the list owner or moderator.

This will help in tailoring your Joint Venture offer to each specific publication, and ensure a higher positive response from list owners.

Tip: If you do this on a Friday, the content will be ready for you to review on Monday !  

GET-EM : THE THIRD HOUR

So you've identified target lists and browsed through their content. You are now ready to contact them.

This is the most important step - your first note should not be too strident or threatening. Remember, some of these lists may be in direct competition with your's. Many may have been around for years, may have much larger subscriber bases than yours. All these facts will condition the way these list owners will view your first approach - PROCEED CAUTIOUSLY.

How should you word that all-important first message ?

Rule 1: INTRODUCE YOURSELF
Say hello. And then introduce yourself. Your name. What do you do.

Rule 2: TELL THEM WHY
Say why you are writing this letter. Be brief. Be direct. Get to the point. And tell them WHY reading this letter through will benefit THEM ! Not you, THEM. Stress the benefits to the LIST OWNER from your venture, and you'll have him (or her) hooked right from the start.

Here's a sample from what I wrote:

"Hello.
My name is Dr.Mani Sivasubramanian, and I publish two ezines on Heart Health and Disease.

I would like to suggest a joint venture with your own health related publication which could help increase subscriber base to both of our ezines."

Rule 3: DESCRIBE YOUR LIST / EZINE

Write a brief note about your list or ezine. Avoid hype. Don't inflate the numbers of your subscribers. Don't lie about anything ! Tell them where they can view a sample of your content - archives of previous postings, an autoresponder where they can get a sample of your ezine. Unless they ask you to - DO NOT SEND THEM A COPY OF YOUR EZINE; DO NOT ADD THEM TO YOUR LIST.

Tell them

• how big your list is
• how fast your list is growing
• what plans you have to expand it further
• whether or not advertising is accepted
• mention if it is an opt-in list
• tell them if your new subscribers automatically get a welcome message (the importance of this will become apparent in the next part of this tutorial)

Next Section: >>> GET-'EM with joint ventures - Fourth hour