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>. ] |
