Starting your own e-zine is a great way to build credibility and increase revenue. Visitors, prospects and contacts will admire your ability to reach audiences with your message on a regular basis. Advertisers will also admire your ability to reach an audience - and may be willing to pay you to reach your audience with their promotional messages.

Many online businesses are trying to capitalize on the credibility and revenue that an e-zine adds. It seems that every site you visit asks you to "Sign up for our Newsletter", or "Join our E-zine List for Weekly Updates".

Though they are all jumping into the e-zine game headfirst - all don't succeed. So, What's the trick? What makes some e-zines succeed and some e-zines fail?

There are two main factors in the success - or failure - of an e-zine: Content and Subscribers.

Content
Content is the base of your e-zine. Your content needs to be well-written, expansive and worth writing about. If you write well - write. If you write "good" - hire someone to write for you! Even the best topics, issues and angles can get lost in a mess of misspelled words, incomplete thoughts and run-on sentences. Be sure that your content is clear, concise, grammatically correct and accurately spelled.

Pick a topic that is expansive enough to continually write about. Pick an industry - not a product; an issue - not a current event; a hobby - not a project. Plan a schedule for regular mailings - daily, weekly, monthly - and review your topic to be sure that you'll have no problem coming up with new content to meet the schedule.

Remember, though a topic may be interesting to you - it may not be worthy of an entire e-zine. Choose a topic that is worth writing about for you and worth reading to your potential subscribers. For example: If your company manufactures construction paper, an e-zine about the paper may not be interesting enough to read. However, a well-written article on the many uses for construction paper in an e-zine about crafts is more interesting and worth reading.

Subscribers
Subscribers are very important as well - if not more important. If you have the most well-written articles, eye-catching ads and appealing layout but nobody to read it, you're e-zine is a flop!

The more subscribers you have, the better. You've probably seen sites that boast subscriber levels in the thousands - but you probably haven't run across any sites that boast "14 subscribers!". People are impressed with big numbers. Hearing that thousands of people read your messages makes you and your message sound important, interesting and useful. Thousands of subscribers will also help you get top dollar from advertisers who want to reach your readers.

So, where do you find these valuable subscribers?

You can place a guestbook on your site to sign up visitors - but that means signing up only a fraction of your unique daily visitors. You can place ads in other e-zines, list your e-zine in a directory of electronic newsletters, post classified ads about your e-zine and so on.

OR...

You could use your Affiliates to build your subscriber base. You already rely on your Affiliates to draw traffic to your site - why not ask them to help you find subscribers?

If you have an Affiliate Program your Affiliates are already sending you visitors - nameless, faceless visitors. Visitors that remain unidentified until they purchase something or contact you.

Imagine how your Affiliates will react if you told them that you could place a name, an email address and more on the visitor. What would they say if you told them that instead of possibly selling to a visitor when they visit your site - that you'll actively follow up with Bob at bob@domain.com and Ellen at ellen@domain.com on their behalf? Do you think that they'd like knowing that you are sending personalized messages to each prospect they send you - complete with their unique Affiliate link?

Of course they will love it! All they have to do is send you the contact name and email address. You do all of the work following up with the prospect and selling them your product - and the Affiliate makes a commission.

You'll love it too! Instead of being a nameless and unreachable, your visitors will become real prospects with names, email addresses and instant subscribers to your e-zine.

You're probably thinking, "This sounds great in theory, but I'm sure it's a lot harder than it sounds". Well, it's really not - as long as you have the right tools for the job! The tools are My Affiliate Program, the Affiliate Tracking and Management Solution and Opt-In Pro Email Marketing Software. The two programs have been combined to form a system that will help you start an e-zine, continually build your subscriber base, identify your visitors and follow up with prospects.

In addition to giving your Affiliates banners, text links, articles and advertisements - this system allows you to give your Affiliates specially encoded guestbooks. The guestbooks can include fields like email address, name, address, phone number and any other information you'd like. They will also contain a hidden field that holds the Affiliate's ID number.

The Affiliates place the guestbooks on their site advertising your e-zine, free report or other email offer. When a visitor signs up for the offer - their email address and other information will be added to your Opt-In Pro email list. The referring Affiliate's ID number will also be added to the list.

Using Opt-In Pro's email follow up campaigns, you can automatically thank the visitor for subscribing to your list. You can also follow up with them by sending regularly scheduled mailings "x" days after they sign up. Sending your e-zine is as easy as typing it up and pressing "send" - even to thousands of subscribers!

Every message you send can be personalized to include the subscriber's name. Each link in your message can be automatically configured with the referring Affiliate's ID Number - ensuring that they'll get credit for the referral each time the visitor returns to your site and purchases your products. In no time - you'll build a substantial subscriber base, without searching far and wide!

As you can see, combining your winning content with the power of Affiliate Marketing and Email Marketing is a sure-fire way to make your e-zine succeed.

For more information about My Affiliate Program and Opt-In Pro, please Click Here!

Categorization/Promotion
What are Affiliates? They're one big mass of people that have the same kind of site, same kind of visitors, the same needs and deserve the same commission - right?

Well, of course not. But - if you think about it, that's how most Affiliate Programs treat their Affiliates. They give all Affiliates the same commissions, the same linking methods, the same incentives, same, same, same! They fail to recognize that Affiliates have a variety of needs, diverse reasons for joining, visitors from all walks of life, different marketing styles and varying degrees of interest in making a sale.

The hardest part of administrating an Affiliate Program is deciding what your Affiliates need to help them make the sale. But, by carefully categorizing your Affiliates, you can easily determine what their needs are and how to accurately meet them.
 

Here is a six step plan designed to help you accurately categorize your Affiliate Members:

STEP ONE: Pick at least three types of Affiliates.

Take a look at your Affiliates and try to determine one outstanding characteristic that can easily be compared across the board and choose at least three types of the characteristic. Here are some examples:

• Level of Sales: You may find that your Affiliates are so completely different or so alike that its hard to find something to classify them by. Try classifying them by the level of sales they've reached with you. You'll most likely find that you have a few forerunners that lead the pack with a number of sales, quite a few Affiliates that have sporadically made a sale or two and some that have yet to make a sale. Right there you have three types: High Sales, Med Sales, Low/No Sales. Just determine the levels at which each type begins and ends.

• Products: If you sell a wide variety of products for specific interests/needs you may be able to classify your Affiliates by product. A pet shop owner can easily pick several types: Dog, Cat, Bird, Reptile and Fish. A financial site could classify types like Personal Finance, Small Business Finance, Corporate Finance.

• Industry: If you market commodities like office supplies, health and beauty products, housewares and so on, you may find that your Affiliates come from a wide variety of industries. You can most likely classify your Affiliates according to their industry. For example, if you sell Health and Beauty products, you may find the Affiliates in the following industries: Home-based, Vitamin outlets, Fitness, Self-Help, Fashion, Women's Organizations and so on.

• Profile: If you sell a product that relies on recommendations from high-profile individuals - you may consider classifying your Affiliates by their profile. Your three types could be High-Profile, world-known names, Med-Profile, industry-known names and Low-Profile, average Joes!

STEP TWO: Determine the needs of each type.

Each of your Affiliate Types will have different needs -- some of their needs will overlap, but you should find a distinct difference in many of their needs. If you find that they all have the same needs, go back to step one and re-think your Types.

Here are some basic things to look for:

• Linking Methods: Different Types of Affiliates will need different linking methods. Let's use the example above where we had the Types: High Sales, Med Sales, Low/No Sales. Your Low/No Sales group may be satisfied with a banner or two to place on their site -- maybe in an extensive directory of "Online Resources". Your Med Sales Type may be interested in an article or two for added content on their site. Your High Sales Affiliates will probably pass up banners for articles, guestbooks, email ads and signature files.

• Visitors: Capturing visitors is what you want. In order to do so -- you have to know what they want. Visit your Affiliates' sites to see what visitors are looking at and looking for. Ask yourself, "How does my product relate to what I am seeing?"

• Commissions: Different Types of Affiliates may expect different commissions. You'll have some Affiliates that have joined your program "on the side" and others that plan on earning a substantial income from the program. Determine what effort they are putting into advertising, how much other programs in your industry are paying, the amount of time they devote to your program and so on.

• Affiliate Support: When dealing with a large number of Affiliates, you're going to run into some support issues. "How do I place a banner", "When are commissions paid", "Can you write me a different article" and so on. Take a look at your Affiliate Types, determine which Types will need the most support.

STEP THREE: Create and compile Linking Methods for each type.

Based on the needs you identified in Step Two, create and compile linking methods for each type. Here are a few linking methods to think about:

• Banners: Though they aren't as effective as other linking methods, banners are still widely used and expected. Make banners in a variety of sizes to fit tops of pages, bottoms, toolbars, sidebars and other miscellaneous areas.

• Articles: These are great for Affiliates that need content for their websites and newsletters. Be sure that your Articles are Articles and not ads!

• Email Ads: Your active Affiliates may be interested in placing ads in e-zines or their own newsletters. Try writing a few ads in different lengths.

• Signature Files: Dedicated Affiliates may even add your tag to their signature line. Give them a few witty lines to choose from.

• Guestbooks: Let your Affiliates help you build your Opt-In email lists with guestbooks. Offer them a commission for each email address they send you, or each resulting sale from the subscribers they send you.

• Product Images: Give your Affiliates images that show and link directly to specific products. They'll be able to choose an image specific to their site, or choose several images to display.

Review each Affiliate Type and match them up with your new linking methods. You may have some linking methods that overlap Types -- this is okay. Just be sure you are concentrating on the Affiliates' needs!

STEP FOUR: Decide on compensation for each type.

Your ideal: 0% commissions
Your Affiliate's ideal: 99.9% commissions

Since neither you or your Affiliates live in a perfect world, it's up to you to decide on a fair commission level. Your first decision will be to determine whether you want to pay a flat rate or percentage of each sale.

• Percentages: A percentage pay scale is easy for your Affiliates to digest -- the bigger the price tag, the more they make. This type of commission structure can work well for you if the same holds true for your company -- after the Cost of Goods Sold, the bigger the price tag, the more you make.

• Flat Rate: A flat rate commission will work well for you if your profit after Cost of Goods Sold is roughly the same across the board. In other words, if you aren't making considerable more by selling higher priced items - neither should your Affiliates.

Based on the needs you identified above for each of the Affiliate Types, decide on a commission amount for each Type. If you have a two-tier program, consider the possibility of different second tier rates as well.

STEP FIVE: Develop a plan for effective yet painless management.

This could be one of the most difficult parts of your categorization process. You have your Affiliate Types, the linking methods for each and a fair compensation plan for each. Now, how do you manage it all?

Most software programs aren't set up to handle Affiliate Categorization. So, you may have to develop a database or a spreadsheet to keep track of your Affiliates and their Types.

There is one Affiliate Program Solution on the market that handles Affiliate Categorization called MY Affiliate Program.

My Affiliate Program Software will allow you to manage an unlimited amount of Affiliate Categories. The software makes customizing commissions, click-through pages and linking methods fast and easy. You simply set up an Affiliate Type, name it and choose its characteristics like commission rate, linking methods and so on. Then, as new Affiliates sign up, tell the software which Type you'd like them included in -- that's it. The software handles the rest.

STEP SIX: Develop Promotions for your Affiliate Types.

Once you have your Affiliates properly categorized and your system under control, consider developing promotions for your Affiliate Types. Give them special incentives to sell more during a certain time frame, move seasonal products, or increase business during your slow months. Offer them additional commissions, or even bonuses for reaching a specific amount of sales.

Whether your Affiliate Categorization strategy is complex or simple -- just keep in mind that your Affiliates are not clones of one another. They have different visitors, different backgrounds and different needs.

For More information about MY Affiliate Program Software, please Click Here!

Out with the Banner Ad!
Banner ads are a thing of the past!

Affiliates today are sophisticated, driven and ready to sell! They need and want more than banner ads. As a merchant, you have to be ready to give them more! You have to be ready with an arsenal of linking methods like:

• Articles: Writing an insightful article about your industry and tying in your product is a great way to offer readers information they want while showing the benefits of your product. Let your Affiliates use any articles you write on their sites, email messages and newsletters. Your Affiliates can use the Article to add content to their site or newsletter and promote your products and services.

• Signature Files: Though they are quick, little blurbs - signature files can be difficult to write. Trying to fit all of the great features and benefits of your product into a few lines is harder than it looks. So, make it easy on your Affiliates and give them a few signature files to choose from.

• Guestbooks/Signup Forms: Do you have a Free newsletter, Free report or any other "emailable" free item? If not -- get one and start collecting email addresses -- and let your Affiliates collect email address for you as well. You can reward them for each email address, or reward them for each purchase made by the subscribers they send you.

• Email Advertisements: With the ever-growing number of topic-oriented newsletters emerging on the Internet every day, your Affiliates have (or will soon have) the opportunity to reach thousands of readers through email advertisements. Much like Signature Files, Email Advertisements can be difficult to write because of the size constraint. So, once again, try writing a few ads in a variety of sizes that your Affiliates can choose from.

• Product-Specific Images: If your site markets a wide variety of products for a wide variety of interests, you may want to narrow down a few key products for your Affiliates to market instead of your entire store. For example: If you have an online office supply store, you may consider creating an image to market general office supplies, one to promote electronics and another to promote office furniture. Your Affiliates can choose a banner for their site based on the interests of their visitors.

Instead of placing a banner on their site, your Affiliates should be able to choose from several linking methods. Along with giving them more flexibility in linking to your site, additional methods provide incentive to your Affiliates: By giving them an email advertisement you give them the idea to place an ad in their favorite email newsletter -- where they may have never thought to advertise before.

So, how do you manage all of these linking methods? Most Affiliate Program Solutions are set up to give Affiliates banners and simple URL links. Do you have to format each linking method? How do you get new linking methods to your Affiliates? Will you customize the links with their Affiliate ID Numbers, or try to explain to them how to do it? What a headache!

There is one application built to handle all of the linking methods you can dish out --
MY Affiliate Program Software.

The Affiliate Empowerment Pack that is built into the MY Affiliate Program Software allows merchants to easily create and distribute additional linking methods in one swift movement. Simply create your image, text ad or HTML ad and place it in the Empowerment Pack. The software will automatically customize the links for each Affiliate and make the new method available to them at their Administration Page.

Affiliates simply copy and paste the HTML or the text for the articles, signature files, images and guestbooks and place them on their sites or in email messages that they send.

Affiliates get what they need to effectively promote your products and services -- and you're saved from the headache of customizing and distributing new linking methods.

For more information about MY Affiliate Program Software and the Empowerment Pack, Click Here!
 

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