Back in 2005, I predicted that ezines would die a slow death. Podcasting was new to the scene and I liked how easy it was to subscribe to and receive podcasts.
With ezines, you have to deal with spam blockers, mailbox filters and other horrid stuff that renders your ezine useless. I mean, only about 20% of your list actually see your email anyways, right?
Well, fast forward to 2008 and I’ve changed my tune. Like podcasts, ezines are just another tool in the marketing toolbox. I mean, I’ve committed to sending out a weekly ezine each Thursday, I’ve hired someone to create my ezine content and I’m now going to send my ezine out in HTML format (if you’re on my list, you’ll see the snazzy design on March 27th). That tells me that I truly believe in the power of ezines.
That’s why I’m attending the Ezine Queen’s Ezine Marketing Marketing Secrets 2 part FREE teleclass (pictured top left). The first one is tonight, March 25th at 8pm EST. The second one is March 26th at 8pm EST.
I’ve been on the Ezine Queen’s ezine list since 2004. It’s one of the few ezines that I anticipate each week. I’ve subscribed and unsubscribed to many ezines, but the Ezine Queen’s Straight Shooter, is one I can’t miss.
I like the fact that she’s built a million dollar business based on one tool in the communicator’s toolbox. She didn’t focus on everything, such as newsletters, press releases, blogs, etc. Instead, she focused all her energy on teaching people how to create and profit from ezines.
I highly recommend that you attend her teleclass. To sign up, just click here and follow the instructions on the page. Even if you can’t make the live sessions, sign up anyways since only those on the list will get access to the recordings.
Update: Great call and I’m glad the Ezine Queen didn’t just cheerlead about ezines. She described some of the challenges ezine marketers are facing and gave some tips on how to overcome this. On a related note, this came through in my feed reader today – consumers have different meanings for the word “spam”. It’s a fascinating read.
I agree with Steve, plain text is best. No need for flashy photos, text, grahpics and what not–in the end, it’s all just a distraction from the message. Just give me the information I’m looking for. That to me is worth more than a “pretty” e-zine.
My spam filter prevents me from getting any e-mail that doesn’t have a plain-text version, and I like it that way.
I’ve unsubscribed from every e-mail newsletter that’s converted over to HTML or some other non-plain-text.
Whenever I want a review for a new pcurodt I use your 1st method and pass a few copies out to people who’s opinion I value. The upside of this is that I’m able to take constructive criticism and make the pcurodt better.Sending out sample testimonials to be slightly edited or just plain rubber stamped is kind of a slippery slope that I wouldn’t recommend to anyone. Whenever most people write something, their voice shines through, especially after you’ve done it a while. This is a wonderful thing that can back-fire on you if the people that you’re selling a pcurodt to notice that many of the reviews and testimonials seem to be written by the same person.