I need to vent, rant and rave for just a moment.
So many times I hear people comment on how marketing is very expensive and how hard it is to get your name out there. Well, I’m on a quest to prove to people that it doesn’t have to be that way. I’m not even going to mention my book.
You see, I started my “Featured Business Owner” section in January – 6 issues ago. I started this section for a multitude of reasons. My thought process was that I would have an easy section to fill, and I would be able to offer free publicity to my subscribers. I have a growing subscriber list of over 300 small business owners, and I archive all of my newsletters on my website, so it’s an additional one way link back to your site.
I’ve had to track down people for every single issue, even though it clearly states in the bottom that you can be a featured business owner. It’s not the automated feature I thought it would be. I found myself again this week with all of my content and a big hole where a business owner should be. I went looking.
While I realize that 300 subscribers is small compared to the tens of thousands that people like Ali Brown and Robert Middleton have, that’s still 300 eyeballs that you can get in front of and get a one way link back to your site for free. FREE!
This goes beyond my self pity though. I was talking to another eZine publisher with a list of over 600. She offers free advertising to subscribers, but she rarely has anyone submit an ad.
I guess what I’m having trouble understanding is why you would pass up an opportunity for free advertising. Are you not ready to get your site out there? Do you think there is a waiting list a mile long? All I need from my featured business owners is a link, a logo, and a 150 word bio. The picture is optional, and you know what? The logo is too!
I’d really like to report on April 4th that my featured business owner section is full through July 31st.
All you need to do is send your information to info@valleyva.net, and we’ll get you set up. We’ll let you know when your business will be featured, and we’ll take care of the rest.
Can you help me help you?
Until next time…
Heather Jacobson doesn't pay for marketing or advertising if she doesn't have to. To learn how she does it and get 10 inexpensive marketing tactics visit http://www.10freetips.com
Why Ezine Advertising Still Works
By: Deanna Mascle
Lately I've been hearing a lot of rumblings around the internet marketing community that say ezine advertising is dead and gone.
I have to tell you that ezine advertising is alive and well -- and still one of the most effective and powerful forms of internet marketing available.
There are several reasons this is true but I'll simply concentrate on three main points.
Today's ezines and newsletters are permission-based which means subscribers want to receive these messages in their emailbox. Responsible publishers are proactive about giving subscribers total control over their subscription and working closely with their mailing service to ensure as close to 100 percent deliverability as possible. Ezines deliver because they have to do so or shut down.
The experts in internet marketing and search engine optimization offer wide ranging and diverse opinions about what the best marketing technique may be, but they all agree on one point -- content is king on the internet. Content is attractive to search engines and visitors alike. It is content that makes a site sticky and successful. And content is one area where ezines and newsletters reign supreme. In today's permission-driven environment they need to deliver quality information or they'll quickly be out of business. Imagine your ad placed in a prominent position beside high-quality information that your target audience wants. That is what ezine advertising can deliver.
If content is king then links are the lifeblood of the internet. Without links surfers could not navigate around the internet and without links search engines will not locate web sites and pages. One often overlooked aspect of ezines and newsletters is the powerful text link benefits offered by ezine advertising. While most people are attracted by the immediate return of their message appearing before X number of subscribers, they do not realize that their ezine ad could work for them weeks, months and years after it was read via email. Almost all ezines and newsletters are archived on the web and because of the content they provide often those archives are crawled regularly and ranked high by search engines -- and provide you with valuable back links to help increase your search engine standing.
You can dismiss ezine advertising as dead and gone and concentrate on other forms of internet marketing. Yes, you can dismiss ezine advertising, and you can miss out on immediate results from a targeted audience and you can miss out on valuable back links working for you long into the future.
Article by:
Deanna Mascle shares her Ezine Advertising tips in the free ebook "How To Write A Powerful Ezine Ad". Publishers who want to reprint this article and/or give away the ebook away should visit How To Advertise With Ezines to learn how to benefit.
More Ads that Should Have Been Proofread
- We do not tear your clothing with machinery. We do it carefully by hand.
- For Rent: 6-room hated apartment.
- Auto Repair Service. Free pick-up and delivery. Try us once, you'll never go anywhere again.
If you know of someone who would find this information useful,
please forward it on!
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Conversations with Experts
The Blog Squad, Patsi Krakoff and Denise Wakeman, are now offering Conversations with Experts. The calls are every Wednesday at 8:30pm EST and last for about an hour. They've got a great line up including, Joan Steward, the Publicity Hound, and Ali Brown, the eZine Queen. These calls are free for those who attend. You can learn more about it and sign up at www.ConversationsWithExperts.com. I've attended several in the past and these are great learning opportunities for your business.
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Connie McVicker, Owner of Signature Worx, LLC, provides business support services to small businesses, entrepreneurs, and associations. With over 14 years of experience, her services include desktop publishing, event planning, promotional product advertising and website design, but she also offers administrative and bookkeeping services for the full-service support package.
Connie says “I’ve always been one of those people who want to know more. My first real job was working as a receptionist for a consulting firm. I had absolutely no computer skills and had never worked in a professional environment. I was promoted three times to higher level positions within five years and doubled my salary. I held positions that normally required college degrees and I was the youngest person in the company”. Connie adds, “I take pride in my work, my professionalism and my work ethics, and I stand behind my work 100%. I have and will never turn in sloppy work because it is a reflection on me and my integrity”.
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Q. I’m frustrated. I feel like I work and work and work on my marketing and I’m no further ahead today than I was a month ago. How do you get the motivation to keep plugging away?
A. First, off…don’t give up! I recently wrote something an article about how your business is no different than your garden but it applies to your marketing efforts as well. Here goes:
We had a beautiful, abnormally warm March day in Southwest Virginia a week ago. The kids and I decided that we would plant some fruit, vegetables, and flowers. We decided on porch plants because I do not have a green thumb and we wanted to start with something small and idiot proof. I have yet to keep a plant alive, even the ones that people swore I couldn’t kill.
It’s not that I don’t like plants; I do. I think they are beautiful. I love to eat fresh fruit and vegetables. But for whatever reason, this whole watering thing baffles me, and I completely forget to water them.
We repotted Matthew’s third grade project, his oversized cabbage that will grow to be more than 40 pounds. We also planted strawberries, tomatoes, grape tomatoes, and sunflowers. But here is where I struggle. When I woke up the next morning, there sat 7 pots that just had dirt in them – no buds, no blooms, and no sign of life.
As a society, we have come to expect things instantaneously. We have microwaves to cook meals faster, online banking to expedite money transfers, and email to eliminate the time it takes for a letter to make it through the Postal Service. As a whole, we want things now.
Our marketing efforts are no different. We send out a direct mail piece and we want something from it immediately. We submit an article and expect the traffic soon thereafter. We submit our press release and expect some kind of coverage within a day or so. We hang out our open sign and become disappointed when we don’t have some sort of bite right away.
Here is what we fail to realize, and I’m just as guilty as the next guy. With our marketing, we must plant our seeds, nurture them, and provide them what they need to flourish before we will see the results – the fruits of our labor.
The next time you feel discouraged because you have put so much time and energy into your marketing efforts and have nothing to show for it, stop and smell the roses. Then realize that they weren’t planted yesterday.
If you have a marketing
question send it to
info@valleyva.net and we'll answer it in future
publications!
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Do you have a marketing
article that you'd like to share? Are you struggling with
aspects of your marketing plan and just want some advice?
To submit your article,
email me and make sure you include a bio with a link
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