Profiting From Opt-In Email: The Ideal Permission Marketing Tool

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Profiting From Opt-In Email: The Ideal Permission Marketing Tool
By Marty Foley ©2004 All Rights Reserved

This article goes beyond just the basics of how to start profiting from your own email publication, commonly called an ezine. It also shows how to increase the profits of an existing one. permission marketing, increased profits If you publish an opt-in email publication only as a labor of love or for humanitarian reasons, and not to generate revenue, this article isn't for you. But if you're interested in making money with an opt-in email publication, please read on. Although it's not always an easy task to keep up with a regular publishing schedule, many online entrepreneurs find that publishing their own ezines of interest to their target markets to be effective income generators. permission marketing, increased profits A proven way to sell - online or offline - is to implement a two-step marketing strategy. The goal of the first step is to capture the interest of qualified prospects, the goal of the second is to follow up that interest and close the sale. An ezine and a web site can work together as a powerful synergistic marketing team to accomplish this. permission marketing, increased profits The two-step can be done by using teaser copy in the ezine to pique prospect interest, and in turn invite qualified prospects to visit a web site, where they can get more complete sales information on the offer and make a purchase.
Consider some ways that you might generate revenue through your own ezine: permission marketing, increased profits 1) By promoting your own products and services. Control over at least one of your own proprietary products or services is usually the most advantageous position to be in as an online entrepreneur. An investigation of the most successful entrepreneurs reveals this to almost invariably be the case. permission marketing, increased profits
== Resource Tip ==
For access to several proven ezine promotion resources, see:
http://profitinfo.com/guide/ezine-pr.htm
2) By promoting the products and services of other prime sources. Of course, there's no reason you can't expand and diversify your existing line of offers by reselling quality products and services of other prime sources. To do this, you can use reputable drop ship suppliers, join proven online reseller programs (often called affiliate or associate programs) or arrange joint ventures with prime sources of other products and services. permission marketing, increased profits Your own ezine can be an excellent vehicle for test marketing the goods of other suppliers. Sales results will help you determine if they are worth retaining as part of your product line. 3) By selling advertising to others who want to reach your target market. permission marketing, increased profits Although some profit handsomely from the sale of advertising in their ezines, there are some potential negatives of ezine ad sales that I'll now reveal to you. Keep in mind that although advertising space in your ezine may be "free" in the sense that ads can ride along in it without additional delivery expense to you (except for possible charges for additional use of bandwidth), there are other potential costs involved. Consider: permission marketing, increased profits * It takes time to process ad orders, schedule them in, confirm when they run, and correspond with customers about other related issues. Since your time is precious and limited, you should take its value into consideration when determining whether to sell ezine advertising, or how to price your ad space. permission marketing, increased profits * There's another cost involved in selling ezine that many ezine publishers have never thought of: Ads from other advertisers in your ezine can divert your readers' attention from your own offers. Although the effect of running paid ads versus not doing so may be hard to accurately measure, competition for the attention of ezine readers does occur, even if the products and services offered by your advertisers don't directly compete with your own. Why? Because ezine readers can only focus on one or a few things at a time. permission marketing, increased profits The key is to decide whether the increased revenue from accepting ads from outside sources in your ezine is worth the trade off of reduced attention to your own offers. Note: There are exceptions to this rule, of course. If the main purpose of your ezine is to sell paid ads and not to promote your own offers, this may not even be an issue. permission marketing, increased profits In principle, this issue of competition for the attention of readers' attention also applies toward publishing articles from other authors (which indirectly promote the author's interests through a resource box), or anything else. No, I'm not suggesting that you should never run ads, outside articles, or links to helpful outside resources for the benefit of your ezine readers; that's not the point. You'll retain reader interest better if you publish valuable information of keen interest to your to target market. And since you may be pressed for time, outsourcing some of your content may be a smart idea. permission marketing, increased profits But just as some e-commerce web sites often make the sales killing error of sending visitors away through links to other sites without a very good reason for doing so, then so too, it would be wise to consider whether any item you publish in your ezine will have the effect of helping or hurting immediate and long-term sales. If it hurts, is it worth it? permission marketing, increased profits In other words, if you want to increase the response to your ezine offers, cut down on publishing irrelevant stuff that doesn't promote the true purpose of your ezine (earning a profit).
Another Tip for Increasing Ezine Profits Yet another way to increase ezine profits is to avoid shying away from using it as a selling tool. You see, sometimes ezine publishers are a bit timid about selling to their lists. They are sometimes concerned (as I've also been in the past) that being "too commercial" will repel most of their readers and cause them to cancel in droves. permission marketing, increased profits But using your ezine as a selling tool mostly repels the die-hard freebie seekers and tire kickers who only want access to the free information that you provide. It's less likely to repel qualified prospects who are truly interested in (sooner or later) doing business with you. permission marketing, increased profits Even if some people do unsubscribe from your ezine because your "commercialism" affected their sensitivities, which do you think is more valuable: Having a large ezine subscriber list with a large percentage of freebie seekers on it, or a smaller list that consists of a larger percentage of qualified prospects for your offers? permission marketing, increased profits If the purpose of your ezine is to sell advertising, you might consider the larger list more valuable. But if it is to promote your products and services, you'd probably favor the smaller, more qualified list. Personally, I'd take the smaller list any day. Sure, offer good, solid info of value to your ezine readers, but don't be afraid to also use it as a selling tool. The trick is to try to strike a balance between providing enough valuable information that retains the attention of your qualified prospects, and yet is still "commercial" enough to generate profit to compensate you fairly for your efforts. After all, isn't that the main reason you publish it? permission marketing, increased profits More Helpful Resources...

MARTY FOLEY can help you rapidly grow your opt-in email subscriber list with the Opt-In List Builder, described at:

http://ProfitInfo.com/catalog/list-builder.htmCheck out other proven resources and strategies he offers for building your low-risk, high-profit Internet biz, at:

http://ProfitInfo.comand the proven, winning affiliate programs he reveals, at:

http://AffiliateProfitInfo.com/programs/best.htm