by Dr. Kevin Nunley 
Marketing Help for Biz 

If you're promoting your small business on the Internet, you  
aren't alone. The latest surveys show that small businesses  
outnumber larger firms on the Internet by a margin of four to  
one. Corporations are advertising on the Net just like they  
do with other media: contact an Internet ad agency, buy banner  
ads, and watch results come in. 

That works fine if you've got thousands of dollars to spend each  
month on advertising. But what if you're going it alone and your 
advertising allowance has to come out of the grocery money? 
E-zines are the answer. E-zines (short for email magazines or 
newsletters) are quick and cheap to produce and often go to huge 
numbers of eager subscribers. Publishers don't have to pay for 
postage or printing, and the savings are passed on to advertisers  
in the form of extremely low ad rates. 

For inexpensive Internet advertising, it's very hard to beat 
classified ads in e-zines. Here are just two examples to give  
you an idea. DEMC will include your ad in an issue to 300,000  
subscribes for about $35. Your ad includes a live link to your  
email and web site for some of the best response available  
anywhere (contact Gary Christensen at gapach97@aol.com).  
Kevin Needham's A.I.M. Newsletter goes to a rapidly expanding  
subscriber base of 33,000 and also gets excellent results at  
very low cost (see Kevin's site at http://www.inetexchange.com) 

There are literally thousands of e-zines, some specifically  
targeting your best customers. For a list of several hundred  
of the best, send email to the autoresponder at new@yoken.com  
(the list will be sent back to you via return e-mail). 

Maximizing Your E-zine Classified. 

As is the case everywhere on the Internet, your ad's first  
line is what makes or breaks it. Use the first line to announce  
your most important customer benefit. And don't forget the two  
most powerful words in advertising: "you" and "free." The  
sentence-- "You can get my FREE report"--always gets big response. 

Sometimes e-zine ads bring disappointing results. If at first  
your ad doesn't succeed, try and try again. There's an old  
saying in marketing that the first ad never works. Advertising  
brings home the bacon when you smartly repeat your ad week after  
week. It takes time (sometimes as many as seven times) before  
your ad gets the prospect's attention. 

Go One Better--Write For E-zines. 

The beauty of email publishing is that it works so quickly.  
I often write an article in the morning, send it to an e-zine  
in the afternoon, and see it published in a new issue by evening.  
Responses flood in by midnight. On the Internet, there's no  
wait-time while printing presses roll, trucks make their way  
through town, or mail waits to be sorted. 

If you need marketing results fast, write an article for  
e-zines. Keep your article short. One or two pages is fine.  
Tell readers how to do something that will interest many of  
them. Keep sentences short, informal, and talk directly to  
the reader. If you don't feel comfortable with your writing  
skills, have a local English teacher or journalism student  
look over your article for you. 

Also be sure to include four to six lines at the end promoting 
yourself, your business, your offer, and your contact  
information. Because you won't get paid for your article,  
publishers don't mind allowing you a personal plug at the end.  
The article makes you look like an expert in your field. Your  
contact info at the end urges thousands of impressed readers  
to contact the expert. 

Put Out Your Own E-zine. 

A lot has been written lately about the importance of networking  
to build your business. When marketing expert Leslie Speidel  
polled hundreds of successful entrepreneurs on what they  
attributed their growth to, most replied "networking!" 

Nothing helps you network like your own email newsletter.  
Your ideas and expertise along with product news and tips  
from customers go out to everyone you know and do business  
with. It's also OK to include some ads for yourself and  
associates. Readers don't seem to mind ads if they're  
packaged along with helpful articles. 

People on the Internet are usually in a hurry, so keep your  
e-zine short. One or two articles coupled with two or three  
short ads may be all your e-zine needs. Keep lines short  
enough to fit into an email browser and put a hard return  
at the end of each line (to keep them from breaking up when  
emailed). 

For starters, you can send your e-zine out with your favorite 
email program (a good free one is Eudora Lite-- 
http://www.eudora.com). Later, when your subscriber list grows,  
you may want to upgrade to a majordomo provided, most likely,  
by the same company that provides your web site space. 

Get subscribers by placing free ads on classified sites, ads  
in appropriate newsgroups, and announcing your new e-zine to  
firms that specialize in keeping track of various lists of  
subscribers. Start with liszt.com and The List of Lists  
(Listserv@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU). Send a description of your  
newsletter to gapach97@aol.com for inclusion on the "Yoken"  
list. Be sure to mention your new email newsletter in all  
your print and broadcast advertising and add a place for  
people to subscribe on your web site. Your subscriber list  
can easily grow to include a few thousand within a year.  
An audience that size will be a continuing source of sales,  
contacts, and insights. 

Consider how to incorporate e-zines into your on-line  
marketing. Start with consistent e-zine advertising, progress  
to writing articles (or having them written for you), and on  
to putting out your own newsletter. It's currently the best  
marketing tool available for small businesses. 

Kevin Nunley helps businesses with marketing advice, copy  
writing, Internet promotion, and web design. Reach Kevin  
at DrNunley@aol.com or (801)253-4536. Ask for his free report.  
See all his articles at http://www.DrNunley.com 
 
  

When we put you in touch with Dr. Kevin Nunley, he will 
write your one page press release for you to keep. 

We publish your release in one issue of the A.I.M. Ezine. 
Todays A.I.M. was read by over 33,000 readers. 

Jim Daniels of the Biz Web Gazette tried our service, 
he writes: 

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> Kevin Needham's A.I.M. Ezine produced a landslide of 
> subscribers (over 100!) with their new press release 
> feature. <http://www.inetexchange.com/inet-mailer.htm> 

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Find out more about how the A.I.M's Press Release 
service will drive traffic to your web site! 

http://www.inetexchange.com/press.htm 
  

Managed by: Kevin Needham 

Have a great week, and remember: 

Internet marketing is done daily! 

You are receiving this important announcement either because 
you placed a free ad at the popular Zap Internet Directory 
(http://www.thezap.com/directory/) or because you subscribed  
to the Active Internet Marketing (Previously: The Inet Mailer) 
Ezine (http://www.inetexchange.com/) 

The A.I.M. Ezine comes to you twice per week by subscription  
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