How To Use Ezine Articles To Promote ListHero in 5 Easy Steps

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I bet you can’t tell me the best way to use ezine articles to promote your offer.

Go ahead. Give it your best shot. Out loud. Say it. Whatever comes to mind, just blurt it out.

I’m listening.

You see, most people don’t really understand how to BEST use ezine articles to promote a product or service, or their favorite affiliate program.

They know they are supposed to write an article, include some kind of clever offer in the text or in their resource box, and convince editors to publish their article.

But, there is a *very* clever way to use your article to promote like you’ve never seen before.

And I’m going to share it with you right now.

There are only five steps. And they are all super simple…

Step 01: Choose the product or service you want to promote.
This one is kind of a no-brainer. It’s going to be ListHero.

We’re not talking about your newsletter — we’re talking about an actual offer you want to present that you’ll earn profits from when readers of your article make a purchase.

Step 02: Determine your “useful, but incomplete” approach.
I love to use what Jimmy D. Brown has coined as the “useful, but incomplete” approach when using freebies of any kind. (Ezine articles, free eBooks, reports, eCourses, etc.)

What he means by that is simply this: You provide your reader with “useful” information  that it is “incomplete” in that they can better use the information by making a purchase.

That’s “useful, but incomplete.” And it works like a charm.

The idea is to use your content to build up to your desired response. You provide the reader with content, and then you make an offer that allows them to fully utilize the content, gain extra insight from the content or maximize the content in some additional way.

Step 03: Turn your approach into a tips list or tutorial.
Let’s use my example again. I decided that I would describe various uses of autoresponders and how the reader can actually profit from them. What kind of tips list or tutorial could I create?

“How to Generate More Subscribers, Sales and Profits With Automated Follow-Up Messages”

“7 Powerful And Profitable Ways To Use Autoresponders To Skyrocket Your Sales and Subscribers!

“Want to Increase Your Online Profits And Leads? Here are 7 Ways to Do It…”

That’s all you need to do. Determine your end result. Decide how to get there with your “useful, but incomplete” approach. And then develop a list, or even a step-by-step tutorial for your article that leads the reader along.

Step 04: Expand on each point to build your content.
Here’s more of the easy part. Just “fill-in-the-blanks” to complete your article.

Write 1-2 short paragraphs for each of your points. Make them good. Provide quality content. The offer you will soon make will see poor results if your information isn’t useful.

Remember, you are trying to presell the reader on the idea that they are going to need ListHero. If you don’t provide them with quality information that they WANT to begin using immediately, then why will they want to buy what you are promoting?

Step 05: Put on the finishing touches with the “five pillars.”
There are five things that you should always do to finish up your ezine article. Don’t skip any of them. They are all critical…

1. Polish. Re-read your article. Does it provide information that really is “useful” to the reader? And yet leaves them wanting even more?

2. Promote. Use your resource box to promote your offer. This is why we’ve written the article, right? Remember step one?

3. Proof. Don’t do this yourself. Have a trusted friend, relative or co-worker check your article for grammatical and typographical errors.

4. Publish. Zip your new article out to your favorite list of publishers. Submit it to the announcement lists and the ezine directories.

Here are a few websites you can submit your articles to to get you started:

http://GoArticles.com
http://Ezinearticles.com
http://www.ArticleCity.com
http://www.IdeaMarketers.com

5. Profit. If you’ve covered all the bases that I’ve mentioned, then profits are almost certain to start coming in when your ezine article is published.

Then start over again with another article. 

What Do You Need to Start Your Own E-zine

Starting an effective E-zine that generates consistent revenue isn’t as hard as it might appear on the surface. In fact, to get started, all you need is a very basic set of tools, including an autoresponder with a broadcast system, a website (although this is option), and a series of E-zine content.

For the autoresponder, you can use the services of a company like http://www.getresponse.net or http://www.aweber.com, which both have a reputation for getting emails through to subscribers – and both of which have broadcast services.

Additionally, both of these services will allow you to send out an automated series of messages to subscribers, will create opt-in forms for you, and will track subscriber statistics for you.

If you prefer to do most things yourself – and also need to save some money – you could take a somewhat less effective route and setup your own autoresponder by purchasing a script.

This option is problematic for a number of reasons, but if you’re up to the challenge, you may be able to get it to work for you reasonably well.

The next thing you will need to start your own E-zine is a website, which is optional, but is usually a good idea, anyway. Having a website will make the opt-in process more effective, as it will allow you to setup a form and then send traffic to it. Additionally, it will allow you to create copy next to your opt-in list.

The last thing you will need to start your own E-zine is a series of E-zine content.

Today, this is relatively easy to find. You can pull it from articles directories, you can purchase private label autoresponder courses, and you can even hire someone else to write all of the articles for your E-zine. Whichever route you do end up taking, just make sure that the content you provide is high-quality.

This is the key to increasing your subscription base – and subsequently making more money.

How to format your Ezine…

One of the most important decisions an Ezine owner will have to make is how to format and manage a given Ezine. The formatting alone can have a significant impact on how the success of the Ezine.

Currently, there are two ways in which to format an Ezine: HTML and text. There are both disadvantages and advantages to each of these different formats. The major advantage of using an HTML format is that you can then view email-opening statistics. This will help you determine how powerful certain headlines are – and will help you to determine how active your current list is; and if there is any way you can improve the activity.

The major problem with HTML for your E-zine’s format is that emails in HTML format are often much harder to get through email filters. In many cases, they are flagged as spam, which means that less emails will actually get through, which not only will affect your statistics, but will also decrease the amount of revenue you generate with a given mailing.

The major advantage of text format Ezines is the exact opposite of that of HTML format E-zines: you can tune them very carefully to make them have virtually no chance of being flagged as spam by email filters.

Of course, the major trade-off is that you cannot check the statistics on text-based emails, so you won’t know how many people are even opening them; however, you can get a rough idea based on how many people click through to your most wanted response page.

Alternatively, you can create two separate formats for your emails: text and HTML; and then let your subscribers decide which they would prefer to receive. Just use your HTML group as a testing group for different subject lines.

The Importance of Double Opt-in for Your Ezine…

One facet of Ezine marketing often overlooked is the importance of using double opt-ins for your Ezine, rather than single opt-ins. So what’s the difference between the two?…

“Single opt-ins” are subscribers who opt-in on a form on your website and immediately are enrolled in your Ezine’s normal mailing process.

While this makes it much easier for subscribers to begin receiving your E-zine, it is also considerably more prone to abuse.

For instance, you have a competitor who wants to put you out of business, all they have to do is scrape a list of email addresses from various places around the Internet – and then begin filling them into your opt-in form.

Since subscribers do not have to go through a confirmation process, they will immediately begin receiving your Ezine.

After 2-3 issues, there’s a good chance that many of them will report your Ezine as spam, since they have no interest in reading it and since they actually didn’t sign up for it in the first place.

Now, while this sounds frightening as an E-zine owner, this case is often considerably over-stated. This rarely happens. And, if someone is out to get you this bad, there’s a good chance they’ll find a different way to do it – to destroy your business or at least attempt to do so.

Now, the alternative isn’t great, either, but it is clearly the better option.

“Double opt-ins” are subscribers that are required to fill their details into an opt-in form and then confirm that they opted-in from their email address. If they don’t confirm it, then they won’t actually receive your Ezine, which means there’s a much smaller chance you will get reported for spam.

However, there is a downside to this alternative: if you don’t carefully explain to your customer that they will be receiving this confirmation page, they might think it is spam and delete it.

In fact, you may find that as many as 1/3 of your subscribers will not double opt-in.

In the end, however, this may be a gain, rather than a loss. If someone isn’t web-savvy enough to differentiate an opt-in email from spam, there’s a chance they might end up reporting your E-zine as spam sometime in the future, rather than simply opting out.

“Do You Have Content For Your E-zine or Newsletter?”

If you don’t have content for your E-zine or newsletter then what value are you offering to your subscribers?

Content is king. We have heard this term often enough, but the problem with people is that they try to take the easy way out. They don’t take this principle seriously enough that is why the Internet at times is full of unwanted junk and spam sites.

Too many people are obsessed with getting traffic, getting their sites optimized for Search Engine (SEO) and flashing their affiliate links all over the Internet through ‘spam’ comments and worthless self-promotion. This is only a short term solution and you can’t get long term results at all.

Did you know that good content gets ranked on search engines like Google because they now read the WHOLE web page and use it to generate matches? This is very important. As long as you write a lot more ORIGINAL content, you have a higher chance of getting ranked on the search engine.

Basically, you don’t have to worry too much about traffic if your content is good. Your target audiences are humans, people who read and understand your work, not search engine spiders. In the Web 2.0 generation now, HUMANS represent the web and they are the ones who teach the web how to think.

Similarly, if you have good content, other websites may link to your content and this will bring in even more visitors to your site. Links to your pages will also boost your PAGE RANK on Google and we all know how valuable a high page rank means to the webmaster in terms of search listing…

People hate reading an E-book without good content anyway therefore you must realize the importance of gathering content in advance.

The main reason for having good content remains, and it is an unchangeable fact – that it will make your website popular with your visitors and will give it a good chance of surviving and doing well.

When you get content in advance, you have many options. You can estimate the trends of the time and sort through what is considered obsolete information and what is considered flaming HOT in the market.

The next thing you can do is to divide your content into readable chunks. You don’t want to dump all your information into one e-mail. That is very, very bad because you will confuse the reader and they will most likely have little interest in waiting for the next installment.

It is very important for you to put yourself in the shoes of your subscriber because they probably don’t know the subject or the topic as well as you do (that is why they have subscribed to your E-zine in the first place).

Bear in mind, good content doesn’t always need to be in the form of writing, pictures, audio interviews and YouTube videos are all good sources of content and you can be sure that using a combination of these will guarantee good readership.

What Type of Content should you be giving?

When choosing what type of content you want to publish on your E-zine on, you must consider some important success factors that can determine the flow and goal of your E-zine.

First you must consider the format that you want to publish for your E-zine. Publishers today use any one or more of these 3 most commonly used E-zine formats:

•    Text E-zine
•    HTML E-zine
•    PDF E-zine

Each of these formats has its pros and cons and ultimately, it is up to you how you want to use them for your advantage.

If you decide to use text E-zine, make sure your E-zines are short and concise. Don’t try and put too many words in a text E-zine or newsletter because an e-mail should be short and sweet. Don’t try and be long winded and try and sell your subscribers something over the Internet – it is very ineffective.

The good thing about a text E-zine is that you don’t have to spend too much time compiling e-reports or edit HTML to get people to read what you are trying to tell them. Remember, always use text E-zine to pre-sell an idea or a product. Lead them to your webpage or your sales letter to do the job. All you need to do is worry about the text.

The bad thing about text is that you can’t put any pictures and unless your headline is a really powerful headline, it would be very hard to increase your open rate (the ratio between those who open the e-mail you sent to them and those who don’t)

HTML E-zine format requires a certain degree of HTML skills on your part, you can add more refined features to your E-zine issues, making them more appealing to your subscriber eyes.

This will definitely increase your readership value, something that text E-zines do not have because you can’t insert pictures into your e-mails (actually you can but pictures will cause e-mails to wind up in the spam folder if the file size is too large).

Even if you are not good at HTML, you can always use blogs. Blogs allow you to create the content without worrying about the form (in other words all the technical stuff). All you need to do is set your blog template and you can start blogging away.

What you can do is to use a combination of e-mails to lead your subscribers to your blogs or websites. You can decorate your E-zine format, change your fonts, include pictures, and more.

The last format I will discuss about is a format that is rarely used by others – it is the PDF E-zine. Publishing your E-zine in PDF format can consume a lot of time and effort on your part but it increases the perceived value of your E-zine by a lot!

Once you are done with all the formats, then you can decide what type of content you are going to put in regards to the format you have chosen.

If you found this blog post useful please feel free to bookmark it and subscribe.

How To Start an Ezine…

This may sound like a no-brainer but you need to have a very CLEAR intention why you need to setup an Ezine.

Many start an Internet business without knowing what or why they are heading into it (like holding a small candle walking around in a dark room). Therefore the most important tool you will need more than any machine or software – is the sheer desire to succeed at all costs.

The next thing you will definitely need is a business plan. Knowing the reason why isn’t enough. Your business plan will be your blueprint that you will use to build your business around it.

Remember, those who fail to plan, plan to fail. If you don’t have an idea what sort of market you are going to target, for example, a hot hungry market where people are willing to part with their money for your product and services, your E-zine would be pointless.

After you have your business plan cleared out, you need to have the basic computer tools that you will need to start off the right foot.

You will need a domain name, web hosting, a good autoresponder and list management software.

In addition to that, you need content.

So that means lots and lots of content to get started.

Why is relevant content important?

Because you need to spend hours of research when you start out on your first E-zine campaign.

You must have content that you can use to play around with, tweak your Ezine and cross reference with or else you don’t stand a chance against the competition outside.

Learn to separate your content into manageable chunks. Don’t try and dump all your content in one e-mail – it is quite stupid because people generally hate reading long e-mails and the purpose of the e-mail is to pre-sell, not SELL!

With a domain name and web hosting, you are ready to start your website. Decide the theme for your website that provides a synergy that works well with your business plan, then you need to get to work immediately.

Leverage The Power of E-zine Marketing!

How much does it cost to send an e-mail? Literally nothing! Compared to direct mailing, you are saving hundreds even thousands of dollars mailing free samples to people’s houses. But the greatest value you will every find in E-zine marketing is this:

The power of leverage!

Unlike e-mail marketing (although both are closely related), you need to sit down and assign each e-mail manually, (not to every single subscriber – that would be suicidal! But to use your autoresponder each time you want to send out a unique mail), an E-zine is something you plan way ahead of time.

Your sequential autoresponder sends out e-mails even when you are not sitting in front of the computer in a pre-set sequence. That is one of the main differences between e-mail marketing and E-zine marketing.

The power of leveraging is even stronger when it comes to E-zine publishing – you don’t have to send the e-mail manually when a new subscriber opts in to your mailing list.

E-zines can be constructed as an E-course

Another powerful feature of E-zines is the fact that you can structure your sequential autoresponder to look like a powerful E-course. That is one feature that has earned many Internet marketers thousands of dollars.

You can write your own E-course – for example: sales strategies for newbies E-course (5 part E-course daily) or how to arrange the perfect date (8 part E-course emailed to you every three days to give you time to try out your newly learnt techniques on your date assuming you have a few girlfriends or boyfriends!)

Used as a Pre-sell tool

Another powerful feature of E-courses is the fact that you can build a strong relationship with a new prospect and educate them about the product that you are trying to sell to them. The E-course can be used as a pre-sell and it is very effective to get the job done. People who are pre-sold do not need much convincing when you pitch your sales letter to them.

Customization

You can easily customize your E-course. Just do the editing to your e-mails. You don’t have to deal with any website or HTML at all if you want to amend the contents featured in your E-zine. You don’t need to be a technical genius in order to operate your own E-zine.

Short and to the point

Not everybody has the time all day to read long articles. An E-course a day or every three days is enough food for a busy person – especially other Internet marketers who are already making money online.

Other marketers would rather get the gist of what you are selling to them and make their purchases immediately if they feel that your product will help them save time or make more money.

You will discover many other advantages when you actually sit down and customize your own E-zine.

Before setting up your ListHero account I highly recommend you get your e-zine planned out first, miss this vital step and you miss out on the power of ListHero.

Take a look at the navigation on the right side of this page and scroll down until you come to the section called “recent posts”. There you’ll find all the information needed to get the very most out of your ListHero account. 

Your E-zine Publishing Success Mindset

What is the most important success mindset you will need?

Is it the motivation to get rich? Is it the goal to become the most famous person on the Internet? How about trying to corner the Internet marketing niche blocking everyone from sharing the pie with you?

Regardless of your goals (no matter how noble or how twisted it may be), there is one very important principle you must never forget…

If you read the book ‘how to win friends and influence people’ by Dale Carnagie, you will find that no one cares how much you know unless they know how much you care!

This is a principle that touches deep at the core of each and every human being. It doesn’t change when you go online!

Because the person on the other side of YOUR newsletter is a human being who reads your newsletter because he or she is thinking, “What’s in it for ME?” If your newsletter doesn’t cater to their needs they will unsubscribe from your newsletter as quickly as they switch channels from a lousy television show.

You have to put yourselves in the shoes of your subscribers – What’s in it for them?

The more you give, the more you will get back. Therefore, you must start by giving away free information that is actually HELPFUL for your subscribers. Try giving them a special report or information that will help them SAVE MONEY, SAVE TIME, MAKE MONEY or SAVE EFFORT.

Remember, it’s not about you, it’s about them. There are thousands of E-zines available on the Internet. As a matter of fact, there are people online who probably subscribe to 10-30 of these E-zines and are receiving 10 e-mails from all these people AT ONCE!

What makes your newsletter or ezine different from the rest? People will only open your e-mail once you have gained their trust and established your credibility.

Once more success mindset you must always adopt besides helping others is to rule your business based on creating value. It might sound the same like what I’ve mentioned above, but look at it this way:

A good business is a business that provides value for others to the point that they are willing to pay ANY amount for it.

Good value benefits MANY parties at once:

• The merchant – you make money and gain satisfaction of course
• The subscriber – you educate them and help them
• Your suppliers – these are probably your ghostwriters or graphic designers. The ones who do the grunt work and help you build your business. When your products create value, you create more opportunities for THEM and they grow together with you.
• Your subscribers’ customers – it helps your subscribers to help them
• Your COMPETITORS – yes you help them but in a way that benefits YOU because YOU become the benchmark that they will have to match up to and your raving fans will worship you for being No.1

The Beginners Guide To E-zine Publishing

The Tools You Need To Start an E-zine

This may sound like a no-brainer but you need to have a very CLEAR intention why you need to setup an E-zine. Many start an Internet business without knowing what or why they are heading into it (like holding a small candle walking around in a dark room). Therefore the most important tool you will need more than any machine or software – is the sheer desire to succeed at all costs.

The next thing you will definitely need is a business plan. Knowing the reason why isn’t enough. Your business plan will be your blueprint that you will use to build your business around it.

Remember, those who fail to plan, plan to fail. If you don’t have an idea what sort of market you are going to target, for example, a hot hungry market where people are willing to part with their money for your product and services, your E-zine would be pointless.

After you have your business plan cleared out, you need to have the basic computer tools that you will need to start off the right foot.

You will need a domain name, web hosting, a good autoresponder and list management software.

In addition to that, you need content. So that means lots and lots of content to get started. Why is relevant content important? Because you need to spend hours of research when you start out on your first E-zine campaign. You must have content that you can use to play around with, tweak your E-zine and cross reference with or else you don’t stand a chance against the competition outside.

Learn to separate your content into manageable chunks. Don’t try and dump all your content in one e-mail – it is quite stupid because people generally hate reading long e-mails and the purpose of the e-mail is to pre-sell, not SELL!

With a domain name and web hosting, you are ready to start your website. Decide the theme for your website that provides a synergy that works well with your business plan and you need to get to work immediately.

NOTE:
You will be surprised to find out that a website is actually an optional component. Although websites increases one’s credibility, there are tons of affiliate marketers out there who run E-zines without websites and are doing quite well actually!

Still, a website will get ranked on the search engines and will still provide you with an invaluable platform to get more and more subscribers.

List building made simple with a blog

Building a list with your blog couldn’t be simpler or easier (especially when you’re using ListHero to help you!)

Here’s all you need to do step-by-step…

1. Make sure you have a newsletter created, in this blog you’ll find out where to get content from and I also give you a newsletter template you can use.

Here are a few of those posts I’ve made that’ll help you with this…

Pick up a free newsletter or ezine template here

Here you’ll find out where to get your newsletter or ezine content from

2. Make sure you have an autoresponder that allows subscriptions via email, I recommend using GetResponse.

3. Make sure you have a blog installed on your website. This does assume you (a) have a subject to talk about (b) know how to purchase a domain name (c) know how to post to a blog (d) know how to add some code to your blog template.

If you don’t know anything about (a) through to (d) then I recommend starting out here:
http://BigSellingNiches.com …get the free niche marketing ebook and also picking up your copy of the Niche Checklist Workbook where you can find out what subject you should be focusing your blog (and your newsletter on).

To find out anything else you need to know I recommend joining this forum where you’ll be able to get lots of free advice and help in getting started:  http://www.warriorforum.com/forum/

Ok, let’s move on…

4.  What you need to do next is to create a free ListHero account which you can do here:
http://ListHero.com

Follow all of the 7 steps you’re given (this is critical) watch the videos you’ll find on each step (if you get stuck). Make sure you write a really great advertisement for your newsletter (this gets you more subscribers). Think of your ListHero advertisement as a classified ad that you might see in a newspaper. It needs to grab attention, generate interest, create a desire and make people want to take action.

5. Copy the ListHero code you’re given on step 4 to a text file and save it to your computers desktop.

6. Go here and create a ListHero popin window for free:
http://popinbuilder.icoder.com/

7. Add your ListHero code and adjust the settings so that your popin window appears as you want it to. Then take the code you’re given from the Popin builder website and add it to the most appropriate page template for your blog.

8. So now whenever someone visits your blog you’ll be building your list because they’ll see your popin window appear containing your ListHero squeeze box. Then over time as you build up more ad exposure credits your list building goes to autopilot as you newsletter or ezine ad is seen on countless other websites (thanks to ListHero).

Here’s a video that explains how ListHero can work for you…
http://listheroblog.com/index.php/who-is-listhero/

If you’re unsure as to how to do any of this technical work the best thing to do is to ether learn how to do it yourself or find someone to do  it for you.

The short cut is to pay someone to do this technical work for you, here’s where you can find an entire army of technical people standing by ready to help you with anything you need at a moments notice: http://elance.com

I hope this helps.

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