Internet Marketing BasicsE-Zine Advertising
E-Zines (electronic magazines or newsletters) are a huge phenomenon on the Internet. There are literally hundreds of thousands of them being published daily online. Most of them are targeted towards a specific market niche (such as online auction sellers, political pundits, game players, etc.). Most of them accept advertising and the costs are usually extremely low considering the number of people who will potentially see your ad. That being said, be very leery of offers to “get your ad in 50 email newsletters for only $25.” Most of these, while generally legitimate, are utilizing seldom-read newsletters or e-zines that have a readership of only those who are marketing, not buying. If you have done proper market research, then you will know where your particular target niches will be hanging out: which websites they visit, what magazines they read, etc. Finding newsletters that target these people is not hard to do, if you know who you're targeting. Once you've found the publications you wish to publish in, you usually have a choice of three types of advertising in those newsletters: solo ads, top-line (sponsor) ads, and classified ads. Solo ads are sent to the newsletter readers by themselves (no newsletter is attached). The best of these will include an “exclusive article” for readers that is “sponsored by” your solo advertisement. Expect to pay $20 or more per 1,000 readers in a good publication. These are highly effective if used correctly. Top-line ads are ads that appear at the very top of a newsletter/publication and are usually referred to as the “sponsor” for that issue. These are very effective and are fairly cost-efficient at about half the price of a solo advertisement. Classified ads are ads that appear just about everywhere else in a newsletter. These ads are extremely low-cost, but are usually very ineffective. They can be used, however, as an addendum to the other two types of e-zine advertising as a way of building name recognition.
Email Marketing
Along with advertising in newsletters, email marketing is one of the most effective types of marketing online. It is, however, a touchy affair. An email advertisement to a targeted and strong list of people can generate responses of close to 1/3 (1 response for every 3 readers). It can also generate complaints and legal problems on the same scale if done incorrectly…
SPAM/UCE (Unsolicited Commercial Email) is something that everyone has heard of. Despite its bad name, SPAM is a very effective way to advertise: otherwise it would not be the “problem” it is today. Doing it correctly requires a lot of planning, thought, and money. Messing up just once can mean getting your business effectively “blackballed” by the Internet at large: resulting in a tarnished name, the inability to send email to most addresses, and even legal problems. Opt-In email advertising uses the power of SPAM, but utilizes only addresses of those who are genuinely interested in what you're sending. These lists are the hardest to build. Usually, the list is built through your already-marketed website and is used for longer-term marketing. While opt-in lists can be purchased, be careful of where you get them as these lists are not always legitimate and “double-checking” them is difficult. Newsletter marketing, mentioned above, is a form of opt-in marketing that utilizing the power of information to keep people interested. Newsletters can be published by you or used by you to advertise (or both).
section 1: Market Research
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