Increasing Ezine Subscriptions
for Maximum Success
by Joe Tracy, Lead Visioneer for Joe Tracy Visioneering

Ezines are one of the most preferred and personal means of providing valuable information to your Website visitors. In addition, building a successful ezine is a great way to improve profits. Did you know that some ezines have more than 50,000 subscribers, earning more than $2,000 for just one text ad? Furthermore, some of these ezines have a waiting list of advertisers!

While 50,000 subscribers seems like an impossible task to those who have only 50 readers now, it isn't beyond your ability to drastically grow the number of subscribers to your ezine.

Below I have assembled 10 methods to help you drastically increase the number of people that subscribe to your ezine. The first two tips help build the reputation of your ezine to hold onto subscribers and interest new ones. The last eight tips go to the heart of getting new subscribers on a regular basis.

1) Have a consistent schedule. Put your ezine on a consistent schedule and never miss a publishing date. For example, can you realistically put out a highly effective quality content every Tuesday? If so, then make sure it is publicly known that your ezine comes out once a week, every Tuesday. Then consistently deliver your ezine to subscribers every Tuesday without fail. Consistency is important in building the reputation of your ezine.

2) Provide quality content. Make sure your ezine is strong in content. People want fresh material and ideas that aren't already available on your Website. Make sure your ezine provides exclusive material that makes it worth reading. If a person receives an ezine that is only ads and links, chances are they will quickly unsubscribe or add you to their "block sender" list.

3) Register your ezine. Did you know that there are dozens of ezine directories and search engines scattered throughout the Web? Try a few of these for starters:

- http://www.ezine-dir.com
- http://www.ezinehub.com
- http://www.ezinelinks.com/indexu/index.php
- http://www.ezinelocater.com
- http://zinos.com

4) Give away promotional prizes. People love prizes and the chance to win a great product, which is why Websites like www.iwin.com are so popular. Why not offer your ezine subscribers a chance to win a prize? One of the ezines I use to run was one for animators and animation fans. Subscribers who sign up for the ezine were entered into a monthly drawing to win an animation T-shirt and other prizes like animation books and animation products. The prizes became an additional added benefit for those who signed up and remained a member (because they had a chance of winning something every month).

5) Write articles for other ezines. Many ezines survive and thrive on articles written and contributed by others. Ezines get these articles for free because the author is allowed to promote his Website (or ezine) in the byline of the article. Start writing and submitting articles to other ezines (including competitors) and offer to let them use the article for free as long as your byline stays in tact. In your byline, post your credentials: “Joe Tracy is editor of the Online Dating Newsletter, a free relationship ezine that comes out weekly. Subscribe at www.onlinedatingnewsletter.com.” If the other ezine doesn’t accept article contributions, then consider taking out an ad in their ezine. After all, they already have subscribers you want.

6) Offer and advertise sneak peeks. For me, the most effective method for increasing ezine subscriptions has been giving subscribers a "sneak peek" of stories, features, and Web areas. Whenever we open up a new area of our Website, we announce it first to our newsletter subscribers so that they can check it out in advance of the rest of the public. Our newsletter comes out in the evening, so the morning of the newsletter we post our Website's front page, "Newsletter tonight - all subscribers will get a sneak peek of ______. Click here to sign up." We see a spike in our subscriptions every time we do this, particularly if the new topic area we are opening is of great interest to our visitor. Everyone wants a sneak peek.

7) Advertise throughout your site. Whether you have banner advertising on your site or not, a great promotion method for your ezine is to create banners and use them internally. Spread these banners throughout your site with a link to your subscription page. In addition, or alternatively, you can see a consistent spike in subscriptions (if your site gets decent traffic) simply by adding the Subscribe code to every page of your site so that a visitor can easily sign up for the newsletter from any one of your pages.

8) Archive your ezines. Make sure all your ezines are publicly archived so that new visitors can see the valuable information you provide. Many will sample your ezine before signing up. The better the content, the more subscriptions you'll receive. Archiving your ezine also allows search engines to find your articles and potentially bring additional traffic to you in the future.

9) Provide reasons to subscribe. On your sign-up page, list many reasons that a visitor should sign up for your ezine.

For example:

Online Dating Newsletter Subscribers receive:
- the latest online dating news.
- relationship advice.
- creative date ideas.
- online dating tips.

The longer your list of reasons, the more likely a visitor will sign up for your ezine. Never lie to your visitor, however. If you list something as available in your newsletter then deliver it on a consistent basis.

10) Obtain testimonials. Ask your ezine subscribers to fill out a survey (with a great prize to be given, in a drawing, to one of the people who fills out the survey). As part of the survey ask "What do you like best about _____ ezine?" At the end of the survey have a yes and no box the person can check that asks "may we have your permission to quote your responses for marketing purposes?" Use methods like this to build your testimonial base then start using the testimonials to give new prospects more reasons to sign up for your ezine.

The more people you can generate to your Website, the better these tips will work in skyrocketing your ezine subscriptions. That's why you should continue to learn strategic Web marketing techniques like those found in Web Marketing Magazine. As your ezine grows and you expand into advertising, you’ll be rewarded for finally profiting from your labor of love.

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