The Handbook of Ezine Publishing

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Part 1: Preparing and Planning a Sales Strategy

Advertising Adds Value to Your E-Zine

Selling advertisements in your E-Zine can add value to your publication. The value occurs when you recognize and respect the three distinct relationships that need to exist in a mutually beneficial way for your advertising to be effective.

Benefits of Selling Advertising in Your E-Zine

1. Benefits for the Publisher

Offering advertising in your E-Zine creates another source of revenue for your business. By selling advertising you become more motivated to satisfy both your readers and advertisers with a quality publication. Reinvesting some of the new revenues from advertising sales back into your E-Zine can help you better serve your customers. Publishers might make improvements by hiring freelance writers or upgrading their software or distribution systems.

2. Benefits for Advertisers

The advertiser is able to get his message in front of a specific audience. The more you know about your subscribers
the better able you will be to find advertisers who fit your readers. Any demographic information you acquire from surveys of your readers makes it easier for you to convince advertisers who desire your market of the efficacy of advertising in your E-Zine. By surveying your subscribers, you can provide detailed demographic information to your advertisers without violating your privacy policy.

3. Benefits for Readers

Readers want and appreciate your ads. Yes, this statement is true when advertising is done properly . If you have done a good job of selling your advertisers on your niche market, your ads are focused toward your readers. You provide the link between your readers and the products or services that they want to buy. Ads also provide readers with additional information and other resources for them to get information, products or services. If done well, your advertisements can be a major benefit to your readers.

Traditional Conflicts in the Publishing World

The conflict between publishers and editors arises out of their different priorities. The editor is the readers' advocate. Her job is to make sure the content and writing style of the newsletter is consistent with the needs and desires of its readers. The publisher represents the financial end of the newsletter. She is the one who deals with advertisers and the bottom line.

If the publisher just sold major ad space to Company A and the editor is running a story that does not put Company A in a good light, the publisher may want to kill the article or modify the content to appease the advertiser. This scenario defines quite clearly the integrity dilemma of publishing-- print or pay the bills.

E-Zine publishers have an easier time than their print counterparts in dealing with the dilemma of advertising dollars versus editorial content. In print magazines, ads start around $15,000 per ad. Taken from this view, the temptation to modify content to avoid antagonizing your advertisers can be easily understood. Advertising rates in E-Zines are not anywhere near that rate (if you get $15,000+ per ad, please contact me!) but the integrity dilemma still exists. Developing a sales strategy will help you make good choices when faced with these decisions. Making the best choices for your readers and the right choices for your advertisers is just good business.

4 Steps to Develop an Advertising Sales Strategy

Setting up a strategy and program for selling advertisements in your E-Zine will make it run easier and more efficiently.

1. Establish Ad Rates

First, understand how ads are priced, study your competitors and then set your ad rates.

CPM - cost per thousand readers. How many readers do you have? If you have 1,000 subscribers and you charge $20 per ad, your CPM is $20. CPMs vary by market and reflect the value placed on the audience by both the publishers and the advertisers.

PFA - pulled from air. A very common and surprisingly successful method for determining ad rates. Ask 10 E-Zine publishers how they established their ad rates, and you will receive 10 unique responses. Here's a common answer. "Well Joe has a newsletter with the same topic and he gets $50 per ad, so that's what I charge."

Start your ad rate research by studying your competitors' advertising rates. A few E-Zine publishers have experienced such an overwhelming response from advertisers that they have been able to raise their rates considerably, due to the  high demand for their advertising space.

If you are well known or have a great reputation on-line, many advertisers will be attracted to advertising in your E-Zine because of the phenomenon known as "Renting a Reputation". This is what happens when the quality reputation you build with your E-Zine is transferred to the advertisers in your E-Zine. Protect your reputation and screen your ads.

2. Identify Your Advertisers

Start by identifying the types of products or services that would be of interest to your subscribers. Just as you have targeted your subscribers, you will also need to identify your prospective advertisers.

3. Establish Advertising Guidelines and Policies.

Determine how many ads you will allow an advertiser to have in each issue. Establish how many different types of ads you will sell. Will you offer top, middle and bottom positions in your E-Zine or run all of the ads continuously at the end. Will you sell ads of varying sizes? Will you offer discounts for multiple purchases (e.g., buy three and get the fourth one free)?

When you are reviewing which types of advertising you want to sell in your E-Zine, keep in mind the method you will use to track your incoming ad orders and revenues. You will need to set up an order tracking system for your advertising business. Whether the system you choose is a sophisticated software package or a clipboard and calendar, the most important requirement is that it works for you. (The third part in this series deals with setting up data management and tracking systems for ads and revenues.) 

4. Establish ordering and payment options.

Ordering Options: Treat your advertising services as you would any product you sell on your Web site and offer as many ordering options as possible. Include ordering and payment instructions for secure on-line order forms, phone, fax and snail mail orders.

Terms of payment: Due to the nature of E-Zine publishing, most publishers require pre-payment of all advertisements. This is a reasonable policy.

Methods of payment: You must accept credit cards, checks and money orders.

Selling advertising space can be a time consuming job. Provide quick access to advertising information by publishing it on your Web site and making it available from autoresponders. Automating your order process will reduce the amount of time you spend educating your advertisers and make it easier to process the ad orders.

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