Ezine- a Good Opportunity to Grow Your Online Business

A Home Business Article Contributed by Sharon Hill

Using Ezines As an Online Business Opportunity

For those of you who seek or have found your online business opportunity but have never subscribed to an ezine, the word is an abbreviated version of the words electronic magazine. It's a newsletter that is delivered to subscribers by e-mail.

Why Would an Ezine Make a Great Online Business Opportunity?

The key to a successful, cost-effective opportunity to market your online business is the targeting of the audience. Ezines do that naturally. Each ezine will have a topic. If you were to do a topic search on an ezine list - yahoogroups.com, for example - you'd be directed to ezines whose members are interested in that topic. If you are, for instance, a copywriter, you'd be far more successful marketing your business to a publishing ezine than one whose topic is "Travel adventures."

That seems obvious, but the point I'm making is that ezines are a natural for the type of targeting you must do in order to get your product message to the right folks without spending a bundle.

Be careful, however, of joining an ezine for the express purpose of touting your wares. This is spam and it's rude and someone will undoubtedly tell you that. Yes, you'll get recognition, but not the kind you'd like. You'd be far better off lurking for awhile, reading the messages back and forth, and the newsletter content, and then starting a conversation - but not a self-serving one.

Ease slowly into that - or you might stay off the subject of your online business but add a signature to your e-mails so that each message is an opportunity to define your company briefly, with a slogan, URL and contact info.

Take Advantage of These Ezine Online Business Opportunity Features

There are several ezine advertising options that offer a great opportunity to market your online business.

You can purchase solo ads, classified ads, or sponsorships. A solo ad might appear to be the most effective in that it is delivered alone - hence the name. It doesn't appear as part of the newsletter (ezine) itself, but is e-mailed separately by the ezine owner with the ezine logo or branding, with a message that the e-mail contains a solo ad.

I question it's effectiveness, though. I am on several ezines myself and the minute I see "solo ad" I delete that e-mail. Since I am daily inundated with e-mails any time I can immediately delete one I feel as though I've freed up some of my busy time. You might compare a solo ad to a television commercial. Yes, they are supposed to be highly effective, and perhaps are, but think of the folks that use this time to accomplish other things, not in front of the TV?

Now think about a movie or a TV show in which one of the characters uses an I-Mac, or sips from a Pepsi. Perhaps this subliminal "buy this product because Dennis Franz does" message is more effective. Perhaps not.

Classified ads appear within the ezine itself. Sponsorship ads, perhaps the best of the above two worlds, appear in the ezine, but are prominently displayed at the very start of the newsletter.

The best way to determine effectiveness of solo, classified or sponsorship ads is to try one of each and test the response. They're still a relatively inexpensive advertising venture.