Targeted ezine advertising – How to use ezines!

November 24, 2012 by Todd

Ezine advertising is one of the best ways to get traffic to an offer. But let’s rephrase that, targeted ezine advertising is the best way. Ezines are a great way to really reach a truly targeted audience. But, before you go out and blindly throw money at ezines you need to keep a few things in mind.

Where to start with targeted ezine advertising!

Obviously, the first thing you need to do is find ezines to advertise in, but before you even do that you need to take a look at why you want to place an ad in any ezine.

What is your bottom line you are placing the ad for? Are you trying to send people to a landing page? Are you trying to collect leads? Take a good hard look at what you really want to happen. In other words, what is the real reason, you are placing the ad.

I have seen people do it before, they place and ad in a ezine and direct people right to their home page. Now, this can be good if you are a multi-million dollar company and have the budget for brand building. But I am willing to bet you do not have that kind of cash to throw around. So, instead you need to direct visitors to a landing page with a call to action. Doing otherwise is just hit and run marketing. Remember, once you lose a prospect, they are gone forever. Do you have the money to spend on that?

Where to direct your ezine advertising!

So, you don’t want to throw your money down the drain at any point because that’s wasteful. So, instead what you want to do is direct visitors to a landing page for targeted ezine advertising. Now, there are a couple of different ways to do this but the best way by far is to send people to a landing page which collects email leads.

Sure, you can direct traffic from ezine advertising to a landing page with affiliate links and try to make sales but I would usually do this for testing purposes. But I will tell you this, there are people that do this type of advertising and they are successful. I just prefer to build a mailing list I can build a relationship with and there are many who agree with me.

One type of landing page you can throw visitors to is if you have a small business and want to get people interested in your services. This type of landing page will have a call to action at the bottom which a visitor will click and be lead to another relevant landing page. But again collecting email leads.

This all works well if you give away a free report or something of value to entice visitors to give your their email address. Keep in mind you want to be targeted and relevant through the whole process.

How to find ezines to advertise in!

So, now that you know where to send your ezine advertising, it’s time to learn about how and where to find ezines to advertise in. But, before I get into that I want you to realize not all ezines are created equal. Some are great to advertise in while others will just fall flat on their face.

So, with that in mind you need to ask some questions before you even think about spending money with an ezine. You need to know a few things and if they cannot tell you these then move on to the next ezine. These questions are:

How many active subscribers do they have. Key word here is active.
What is their email open rate?
How often do they mail.

Asking these questions is important. This gives you insight into how they treat their list. And if subscribers are responsive or not. If they treat their list good, with great content and give away free gifts all they time, their list will be responsive to whatever they offer in a mailing. In other words they trust them and will take a look at your offer when they mail it out. Trust is key here. You do not want to advertise in an ezine that pimps their list out to anyone and hits them with offers all day long. Now, there are those who will disagree with me but I have found this to work best.

Ok, now with all that in mind, lets look at where you can find some ezines to start advertising in. The first place I like to look is the Directory of Ezines by Charlie Page. Membership is not cheap at $197 dollars but it is well worth if if you can afford it. Charlie and his team really takes care of this directory and you will get great information about any ezine you find.

Another place to look is New-list.com. This is a free directory and you may not get as good information as you would with a paid directory but you can still find quality ezines to advertise in.

Another easy way is to go to Google and type in “your keyword+ezine”. This will bring up a good list of ezines for your to advertise in. Remember, if you do not know anything about the ezine make sure you email the owner to find out what you need. And it wouldn’t hurt to subscribe either to see how they treat their list.

Types of ezine advertising!

There are a few different kinds of ezine advertising you can buy. But, by far the best type is the solo ad. Sure, they do have other types of advertising which can work like classified ads, but by far the best is the solo ad.

How to advertise in ezines!

The on thing you want to do here is test small and scale big. Always test out your ad on a small scale before you even think about spending over $100.00. The reason is you have no idea how your ad is going to perform. So, always make sure you test your ad. This can be done on the Google display network for cheap. Then once you have a winner roll it out to what your budget can afford.

I had to mention this here. I have talked to so many people who say ezine advertising does not work and this is usually the case, where they blindly put up an ad in an ezine and get no interest. Do do that, always test, track and find the winner before you even start your advertising.

Summary!

So, in conclusion, you need to find targeted ezine advertising. Always think like the people you want to advertise to and put yourself in their shoes. Ask questions of the ezine advertiser and find the winning ad which will work for you, so you are not wasting your ad budget.

Ezine advertising does work and it works well, but you have to follow the steps above to make it work properly.

80/20 Rule For More Web Traffic

September 19, 2012 by Todd

Today’s post is going to be about getting more web traffic. And, how to use the 80/20 rule to be more efficient where you spend y0ur marketing efforts. I see it all the time, people start a blog or an internet business and start doing everything under the sun. This is just like a new computer user who loads up their new computer with every piece of software they can get their hands on and then wonders why they have a slow computer.

If you are not making any headway when trying to get more web traffic, then it’s time to take a step back and think simple for more web traffic. You see, when I first started marketing on the web back in 1994 I was trying everything I could get my hands on. I would start a project and then abandon it for the latest and greatest new thing. I never really got anywhere back in those days. What I should of been doing was picking the top three traffic strategies that could get me the most traffic.

Yes of course there are many ways to get traffic to your website, but only a hand full will bring you 80% of the results. So, your best bet is to find out which ones really bring in traffic for you and concentrate your efforts there. Sure, you can still outsource other traffic generation to outsourcing if you wish. Because every little bit does help.

But if you are having a hard time making anything off your blog or internet business then you better start look at your top traffic sources.

How to get more web traffic!

So where do you concentrate your efforts to get more web traffic? This all depends on your business model. Are you a blogger? Do you have a squeeze page? Or do you just own a small company website? Whatever it is, take a step back and start looking at what has potential to be your cash cow. Let’s say you are a blogger and you only have one main blog. And, you really are not making any money from your blog. So what do you do?

Well, start by taking a look at your marketing efforts for more web traffic. I know as a blogger you concentrate on SEO to get more web traffic. So, take a look at your search engine optimization and see if you are doing it correctly. Could you be building more backlinks or writing better articles? Whatever the case me be you know that seo is a big part of your strategy. But be careful here, do not put all your eggs in one basket. You could also be building a email list. Why, because the money is in the list. And when you have a good amount of people on your list you could also be sending them your recent posts for more traffic.

What I would be doing for more web traffic if I started a new blog today!

Here is a run down of all the things I would be doing for more web traffic:

Focus on SEO
Start an Email list
build a squeeze page for my email list
Start sending traffic to the squeeze page via, pay per click, ezine article marketing, banner ads, Facebook and twitter,.
By banner ads for specific landing pages

Do you see a common thread there? I am focusing on my main traffic strategies which I know will give me the most bang for my time and buck. And by the way those traffic generations strategies are:

SEO
Pay per click
My Email list
Ezine article marketing and ezine solo ads
Banner ads
Facebook and Twitter

Now, each on of these can be broken down further, but the point is after testing and tracking I know which traffic sources work best for me. So, I know where to spend my time marketing my new blog for more web traffic. Stop being sold on all these new traffic generation gimmicks and start focusing on real results.

How to find your best traffic generation!

If you are really not sure where to spend your time and effort to get more web traffic, then start at the beginning. If you have a blog start with SEO. And then slowly start adding other sources to see what happens.

Or, lets say you have a product you are selling from a sales page. Then start focusing on finding affiliates, Ezine marketing, Ezine solos ads and banner ads. Do not be afraid of paid traffic folks.

In the end gather up all your stats and see which produce more web traffic and the start focusing most of your efforts there. The really simple thing to do is pick three traffic strategies and then go for it.

Summary!

Knowing where to spend your time marketing is gold when it comes to getting more web traffic. Do not make the mistake of just blindly following the pack for the latest and greatest marketing strategy. You only have so much time in a day. Learn how to spend it wisely.

Can Your Website Survive Without Google Traffic?

September 17, 2012September 17, 2012 by Todd

The question now goes after all the Google updates like this. Is it possible to build a website business online and not rely 100% on Google for traffic? And the answer is a resounding YES! You may not think so but it’s true. Worrying only about SEO and Google is like cutting of your head before you live. Sure, traffic from them is great and it’s free. But Do Not put all your eggs in one basket.

This is the problem with SEO, it’s like the stock market. Traffic goes up and traffic goes down. Google makes hundreds of changes every year to it’s algorithm. What they are doing is trying to make their search results better for their users. And they have every right to do so. I know, it may not seem fair but it’s their engine.

How to survive without Google!

When building a website or blog, you kind of want to forget Google exists. Hard to swallow I know. But you better do it if you have a website for a business or you make good money online. So, how does your website or blog survive without Google Traffic? Below I’ll cover a few ways you can make your business succeed without Google. Keep in mind you will still want to perform SEO on your website or blog but, just learn not to rely on it fully.

Other places to get traffic!

Pay per click
Email solo ads
Email marketing
Link building
Guest posting
Banner ads

Above are just a few of the ways to get traffic from places other than Google. Gone are the days of just writing a blog post and then blasting it with links. You don’t want to think like that anymore. What you need to realize is you are building a business. And, if you have hundreds of affiliate sites, you may want to rework your strategy and start working on one website of blog and making it more of an authority.

Reworking your website or blog!

I’ve talked about this before and I will talk about it here again. Each and every page of your website or blog should be treated as a landing page. That is, realizing someone, someday is going to look at that page. When you are designing pages, make sure you look at them from another persons shoes.

Your website or blog should also be neatly categorized. You want to make it easy for your readers to navigate your site. You want to have landing pages also. This will allow you to take advantage of other forms of advertising such as pay per click, banner advertising and pay per view.

After you create your website, spend some time looking at it and see if it’s user friendly. Ask others to look at it and see if they can easily find what they want. This is a critical step. Many webmasters and bloggers think once they put up their site it’s finished. This is not the case. You should be always improving your design until you have something that requires people to take the action you want them to take.

Email marketing for site survival!

Email marketing is essential if you want your business website to survive online. Many webmasters skips this step thinking it too costly or too time consuming. The money is in the list. Or the money is in the relationship you have with the list.

You should be collecting names and email addresses from day one. A email list is an asset and if properly used it can make you thousands or even millions of dollars. Do not make the mistake of avoiding email marketing. If your site is ever kicked out of Google you can survive on email marketing alone if you have enough targeted prospects and customers on your list.

Make a squeeze page on your website of blog and start collecting names and emails. Your squeeze page should be designed to nothing but collect names and emails. But, to do this you need to give something of value away. Weather it’s a free report or entering in a drawing. It doesn’t matter, just make sure you give something very valuable away to collect names and emails.

Once you have a good amount of people on your list you can then email your latest blog posts to them for traffic. This is a great way to keep people interested in what you have to say.

Content distribution for traffic!

Making traffic happen from your content goes way beyond just your website and article marketing to article directories. Article directories like Ezinearticles.com used to be what everyone fussed about. Although you can still use them, other things like guest posting and sending your articles to ezine publishers will carry more weight these days.

You want to think relevance first and foremost. Would you rather your article be in a certain category in an article directory or published on a high traffic website that has everything to do with your niche? Hmmm, see where I am going with this?

Let’s say you added a squeeze page to your blog and you want people to see it. Well start writing some high quality articles and sending them to ezine publishers. Want you will want to do is start making a list of these publishers who you can send your articles to every month. This will defiantly help with your traffic numbers each and every month.

Summary!

In the end it’s all about traffic and conversions. But, never ever, ever rely on one source of traffic as your primary source. Do so and you can wind up out of business over night. Building a great business takes time and dedication. To many would be online entrepreneurs, think they have to branch out and be in a million different niches. When what you really should be doing is concentrating on one thing and then start scaling your business.

Think about all the big corporations of the world. Most of of them all rely on one product as their cash cow. Companies like Google and Microsoft. They all have one product which makes them great. After that the scale and start adding more products and services.

Start thinking of all they other ways you can create traffic other than Google and you will be surprised by what you can come up with and sleep that much sounder at night.

Why Your Blog Must Have A List

June 25, 2012May 31, 2012 by Todd

Email marketing is one of the oldest forms of communication on the internet. This is why many people do not think it’s that sexy.

Many people are duped by promises of social media marketing now more than ever.

But it’s email which always comes out on top for communication, sales and marketing.

If you have a blog you must have a list. If you don’t have one, then you better start one and here’s why.

List Marketing can be used for many things

One of the biggest reasons you should start with email marketing for your blog readers is traffic.

Just imagine, one day your blog is doing great in Google and you are getting tons of traffic. Then, the next day you wake up and your traffic has tanked to almost nothing.

Well, with a list provided you had a good amount of subscribers, you could drive traffic to your blog posts by sending out to your subscribers once it was finished.

An list can almost be like a backup traffic source if you have enough people. This is the number one reason you should start building it right now! No excuses please!

Other ways email marketing can be used!

Now, if you also have a good sized list you can use it to send traffic to a new website start up. This is another great way to leverage your list.

Just imagine, you have been blogging for a while and you built up a pretty good number of subscribers and you want to start a new website service.

Well, on the day your new website is finished you will need traffic. And, if your subscribers fits the bill, then just send an email out telling all your subscribers about your new website.

Affiliate email marketing!

Here’s where many gurus miss the boat with email marketing in my opinion. We’ll talk about that in a minute.

But, when you have a good sized list and you see a great affiliate marketing opportunity, You can send an email out to your list and bam, money in your pocket.

Now, this is provided the affiliate offer is a good one.

Guys, I see so many offers promoted day in and day out. I get about 200 emails a day and half are from gurus who are always promoting the next best thing.

Where I think many so called gurus miss the boat is they are willing to pimp put their list and just use email marketing for any old affiliate offer not matter how bad it is.

Me, I only promote something if I think it has worth and a lot of value i can provide my readers with.

I would keep marketing in the back of your mind, but if you build trust with your subscribers, when you do promote something they will be all over it because they trust you and your opinion.

Where to start with email marketing!

So, you may be a new blogger and have no idea where to start with email marketing. Well the easiest way is to start with a service like aweber.

I use them her on this blog and the prices only start at $19.00 a month. Of course it does go up as your list grows. So do not even bat an eye over it. If you want a blog that makes money then treat it like a business. And business’s do have expenses.

Do not make the mistake of using email marketing software on your own server. It something happens and someone screams SPAM, then you can lose everything over night. It’s no joke it does happen.

When I first got started marketing online I didn’t know any better. This was years ago. And, I posted a blurb in a news group.

Well, within hours my website was shut down. The moderator of the news group had complained I spammed the group. I lost everything within hours.

If I had a good email list and use it properly, I wouldn’t have even been worried about promoting to some news group.

So, don’t make this mistake, start with a professional provider like Aweber.

Email Marketing Summary!

Remember, email can save your business if your blog ever loses traffic. You can send traffic to your posts from your list. Plus you can use it to promote many offers and even start a new business.

It’s best to start acquiring subscribers right away as soon as you can. Don’t put it off any longer.

If you are looking to make money from blogging then treat it like a business.

I use Aweber for email marketing as I consider them to be the best in the business.

How one man makes it happen with his blog

June 25, 2012February 22, 2012 by Todd

Ok, so I was surfing around on the internet the other day looking at online marketing strategies and I wasn’t finding much.

So I decided to head over to a fellow site build it person Tomaz of http://www.freedomideas.com. It didn’t take me long to be off reading one of his great articles.

The thing I like about Tomaz is he is a Tennis pro turned internet marketer who has become quite good at his field.

So, I came across his article about Paul from http://marathon-training-tips.com. It was perfect for what I was looking for at the time about online marketing strategies.

In the article Paul reveals his secrets to making his blog a success with Tomaz and all about what he does.

Let me tell you, the article is a real treat when it comes to online marketing strategies. Paul really shares how he did it and doesn’t hold back at all.

The best thing I like how Paul shares about keeping things real on the internet. As you guy’s know from reading my blog, when it comes to online marketing strategies, keeping it real and making your readers trust you is top priority.

And just in case some of you are asking why? It’s because the internet is past what I like to call the fun stage. Old online marketing strategies wore off and people now want to see things that are real and things they can trust.

So, with any online marketing strategies you take on always make it real.

So, what were Paul’s online marketing strategies? Well, you can read the article if you wish, but I also want to share what I picked up from his success.

Now as you guy’s may or may not know. I use site build it. This is a great program which can teach you many online marketing strategies and really help you build a website that works.

It’s worked for me and I know it can work for you too.

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Key 1 for website success.

Paul built a keyword list, which was not to competitive and where the keywords had value. This is very important for online marketing strategies.

If you are ever going to get traffic from a search engine when starting a blog, you must choose low competition keywords but they also have to be able to monetize them.

Keywords are the biggest thing you need to spend time on for any online marketing strategies of a new blog or website.

Key 2 of success.

Paul made sure he wrote quality articles. He did not just pump out articles. No sir, no way. For his online marketing strategies success he would take as long as needed to write an article to add value for his visitors.

Key 3 of blog success.

Paul built relationships with people and other blog owners. One of the biggest online marketing strategies for success is building relationships. Paul did just this.

By doing so Paul was able to get backlinks to his website, awesome for online marketing strategies. Paul also looked for other blogs he could guest post on, a huge part of online marketing strategies.

By doing so he was able to get more traffic and again, valuable back links to his blog. Paul knows, after creating a website, you have to let people know about it in some way in order to get people to it.

And guest posting was one of his best online marekting strategies which worked wonders for him. Read Tomaz’s article and Paul shares how he looked for guest posting websites.

Key 4 of Online strategies success.

Paul made use of social media. Social media is alive and well. It is a very important part of online marketing strategies. However, many people do not use it correctly for their website or blog.

Paul knew, he could build relationships with people through social media. Building relationships this way is what marketing with social media is all about.

Never try to sell directly to social media. Instead leverage it’s power over to your website. Social media can be one of the best ways when used properly.

Key 5 of Online marketing strategies success.

Paul, works a full-time job. So he decided to outsource what marketing activities he could. This is very important for success. Sometimes we try and take on way too much but not Paul.

He knows his limitations. So he decided to outsource what he could not do. Any online business owner knows, outsourcing can be a goldmine for your business. It allows you to concentrate on other online marketing strategies that you are good at.

The big take away here is Paul did not give up. He used all online marketing strategies to his advantage as much as he could. Guy’s this is huge. Please remember this.

When you start to build a blog and you are not getting anywhere fast. Remember, things do take time and also remember do not give up. Learn all the online marketing strategies you can and outsource the rest.

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