Free Advertising Opportunities
By: Terri Seymour


Building an online business is not easy, especially
when you are on a very limited budget. As I come
in contact with more people, I realize that numerous
publishers and netpreneurs are overlooking some very
effective fr~e advertising opportunities.

Examples of these opportunities are:

1. Welcome letter for your subscribers - I subscribe to
tons of groups and ezines and am always disappointed
when I get the default welcome letter. Personalize it
by introducing yourself and letting the subscriber know
about your website/business. This is a crucial moment
in that you can start bonding/connecting with the reader
before they even get your ezine.

*Inform them of any specials you might have.
*Tell them your advertising rates and add a testimonial.
*Invite them to your site to utilize the fr~e resources.
*Let them know your email so they can contact you.
*Use some of the space for ad swapping with other
publishers and their welcome letters.
*Add an affiliate product or program review.


2. Goodbye letter for your subscribers - This is your
last chance to get this person back. Make it a good
one! ;-)

Thank them for being a subscriber and encourage them
to re-sub. I also have a little message in my goodbye
letter that encourages people to let me know why they
unsubbed.

Example:

Thank you for being a subscriber to My Own Ezine.
I am sorry to see you go. If you could take a minute
to let me know why you unsubbed, I would appreciate it.
Please drop a quick note to
mailto:ter02@newnorth.net subj: unsub Thank you.

By doing this you might be able to change their minds
and if not, you could find ways to improve your ezine
for the next subscriber. Remember, always send them
an appreciative thank you note as well.


3. Email Signature - This simple but powerful method
of promotion is unknown to some. By using an effective
email signature, every time your email goes out to
someone, you have fr~e advertising. Join several
discussion groups and message boards to utilize your
sigtag to the maximum.

Example of a email signature:


Merry Christmas to You and Yours,
Jane Doser

FREE Ecourses - Sign-up for one or all!
http://www.doser.com/ecourses.html
Build Your Business with Us!
mailto:subscribe@doser.com

You want to keep your signature fairly short - about
6 - 8 lines. Many discussion groups will have a limit
to the number of lines you can have in your sigtag.


4. P.S. - It has been found that a P.S. is very likely
to get read. Using a P.S. can be quite effective.
Make it short and to the point. A P.S. novel will more
than likely be ignored!

Example:

P.S. Need more subscribers? FR~E Report
mailto:www.subscribers@getresponse.com

Then you would have your main message on auto-
responder. Do not just send them a sales pitch. Add
some useful information and resources that will
actually help the reader. This will get you more
credibility, which is extremely important if you want
more customers.


5. Thank you page - An excellent way to get more
subscribers is to get together with a group of fellow
publishers and set up a group subscription page.
Every time someone subscribes to one of the group's
ezine, the thank you page will come up with a message
something like this:

Thank you for subscribing to MOE. Take this opportunity
to check out more quality ezines. Please check the ones
you wish to receive.

You would have each groups member's ezine listed with
a short description. This is a very powerful method of
gaining subscribers because the person is already in
a subscribing mood and will most likely check most or
all of the other ezines.


The above advertising opportunities are quite simple,
but simple can be most effective. I hope I have given
you some ideas you can use and benefit from.

Happy Holidays to you and yours!

###
Terri Seymour owns and operates MyOwnEzine.com
Learn to publish and promote your own ezine.
http://www.myownezine.com