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Issue #6 - September 16th, 2002
Internet Marketing Newsletter for Small Businesses

Brought to you by idesignbusiness.com
http://www.idesignbusiness.com

Issue #6
Monday, September 16th, 2002
In this Issue:

ARTICLES:
  • E-Zines: Effective and Affordable Online Advertising


    • FREE RESOURCES:
  • DMOZ - The Open Directory


    • Welcome to another issue of the Internet Marketing Newsletter for Small Businesses. As always, I encourage reader feedback. Let me know what you like, or don't like about this newsletter and what topics you would like to see in the future. Please direct all newsletter correspondence to newsletters@idesignbusiness.com

    Neal St. Clair
    idesignbusiness

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    ARTICLE

    E-Zines: Effective and Affordable Online Advertising

    Have you ever considered advertising online? I have, but have been discouraged by high costs and declining response rates for banner advertising. There is another option that provides small business owners much more targeted advertising at a reasonable cost. E-Zines, which are electronic newsletters delivered via email, provide Web users specific content that they have chosen to receive directly to their email inbox. In fact, you are reading an e-zine right now! It is important to remember that e-zines are completely opt-in meaning that the people who receive them have chosen to do so and are interested in their content. As an advertiser, this means your ad is being shown to a captive audience.

    There are thousands of e-zines published on the Web that cater to a very specific audiences and offer advertisers very inexpensive advertising rates. E-Zines are an effective advertising option for small businesses for two reasons: they are highly targeted and relatively cheap. I have seen advertising space in e-zines for as little as $40 for a six line advertisement.

    Consider the following steps before placing your first e-zine advertisement.

    1. Research
      2. - It is important to find the right e-zine that caters to your market. Things to consider when researching publications are the content of articles, type of advertisers, frequency of distribution, and the subscriber base. All of these things are easy to uncover by simply reading the e-zine and any outstanding questions can usually be answered by sending an email to the e-zine publisher.

    2. Subscribe
      3. - Once you have narrowed your search of e-zines down, be sure to subscribe to each one. This way you can verify your research and be sure this is the right medium for your advertisement.

    3. Carefully Craft Your Message
      4. - Like most print or online advertisements, e-zine ads cannot be expected to directly make sales. The most effective use of an e-zine ad is to generate leads. This is an important point and should be kept in mind when designing your ads. Most e-zine ads only comprise of 4-8 lines of text with a URL so your space is limited. Entice readers to visit your website in exchange for something they will value. This can be a coupon, a free quote, access to content, or anything that suits your business.

    4. Prepare Your Website for Leads
      5. - When embarking on any advertising campaign, online or otherwise, you must make sure your website is ready to handle the campaign. To make the most of your advertising dollars, you should be able to capture and track user information when they visit your website from an e-zine advertisement. You can do this by using online forms that store user information in a database.* This will help you build a targeted list of potential customers (leads) that you can then market to in the future.

      * idesignbusiness can help you add a database and forms to your website. For a very low cost, you can be capturing user information on your website too. For more information on how idesignbusiness can help, click here.

    5. Track your ads
      6. - Finally, it is important to track the ads that you place so you can evaluate their performance. This can be easily done by creating a unique page on your website that visitors can only get to by clicking through a link placed in your ad.

    If you are looking for a way to inexpensively advertise your website online then e-zine advertising may be for you. I have provided a few links below that will help you find an e-zine that is right for your business.

    http://www.list-resources.com
    http://www.ezinedepot.net


    FREE RESOURCES:

    Each issue of the Internet Marketing Newsletter for Small Businesses will include helpful free resources to promote your website.

  • DMOZ - The Open Directory


    • DMOZ (http://www.dmoz.com), or the open directory, is the largest human-edited directory on the web. Each website that is listed in the directory has been reviewed and approved by a human being before being added to the website. DMOZ powers the search results for many of the major search engines including AOL, Netscape, MSN, and many more. If you want your website to be found on the Internet, it is critical to be listed in DMOZ. Before you submit, here are a couple of things to consider:

  • Make sure your website is fully functional. You will not be listed if your website has any broken     links or errors.


  • Submit your website to the most applicable and specific category possible. Remember, every     submission will be reviewed by a real person and they will not accept your website if you submit     it to the wrong category.


  • To submit your website, visit http://www.dmoz.com.


    ABOUT idesignbusiness

    idesignbusiness provides Web marketing and technology solutions for small businesses. We utilize a combination of consulting and technology expertise to create customized and flexible solutions.

    Please visit http://www.idesignbusiness.com for more information.


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