Before I tell you why you should create your Ezine, I’ll tell you what an Ezine really is.

What’s an ezine?

You may already be subscribed to one, it seems that most people are. An ezine is really just a newsletter usually sent to you by email. Some people call it an online magazine, and that’s also what it is. It all depends on the content; the length of the content, and of course the quality of the content.

Some ezines are short, and sent out daily, or weekly. Some ezines are rather lenghty and sent out once a month. It’s fairly hard to distingush between an ezine and a short newsletter. I never use the term ezine for my newsletter, that’s because I send out a short message once a week, and that’s definitely not an online magazine.

I would say that an ezine is a rather long newsletter, which includes different topics in a specific niche. The reason why I’m not using online magazine and ezine interchangeably, is that an ezine is more than on online magazine.

Why should you create an ezine?

A lot of people are earning a lot of money from publishing ezines. Therefore, money is certainly one reason why you should consider creating one.

Another reason for creating an ezine is building trust. In order to build trust among your community and amoung your customers, you need to communicate with them. You can do that through a blog, and/or you can do it by publishing an ezine.

A third reason is learning. The main reason why I created my Protein High Foods blog, is because I want to learn more about food, health, and proteins. In order to publish new articles, I have to read and gain more knowledge on the subject. The same goes with ezines. You need to stay updated on the subject in order to keep your readers interested.

A fourth reason is traffic. With an ezine within your niche, you should drive targeted traffic to your products/services.

Three important things to remember

A lot of people are already subscribed to ezines, probably even within your niche as well. In order to gain new readers and keep your old readers from unsubscribing, you need to be creating quality.

It’s all about creativity, quality and the list.

If you aren’t producing quality content, then your subscribers, no matter what topic you are covering, are going to start unsubscribing in droves. But quality isn’t enough, it should also be content that they won’t be getting anywhere else. Be creative about it.

The list

It’s not only important to build a list in order to be successful, but it’s now more important than ever to start building a real relationship with that list, and nurturing it by offering serious value.

The people who grasp that concept are going to be the ones making a lot of money with email marketing in the future. So far, people have gotten away with low or no content, but that will surely change soon.

Put yourself in your subscribers’ shoes. Why would you stay subscribed if you just get bombarded with offer after offer and get no benefit?

You need to make your ezine a worthwhile read for people to want to read it! If you do that, the profits will follow.

The question

Before creating your ezine, you need to answer the following question:

Why do you want to create an ezine?

Have your goals ready, and be sure that the topic of your ezine is a topic that you are excited about. If not, you’ll most likely have a fairly hard time creating quality content and being creative enough to keep your subscribers happy, and keeping yourself happy.

Internal Tags:content,ezines,internet marketing,traffic

Many of the people I talk to have been thinking about learning more about copywriting, that’s because copywriting is a very important skill for online marketers. Many of the people I talk to say that they would like a career as a copywriter. But it’s not as easy as a lot of people think.

There are certain skills you need as a copywriter. Some of the skills can be taught, but I believe that you have to be born with some of the skills in order to become a great copywriter.

Let me give you a brief introduction to the 6 skills of great copywriters.

#1 Great communicator

A great copywriter has to be able to get the reader to want the product without losing their interest. This means the copy must be concise, but still descriptive and captivating. This takes someone who not only knows what people want and what draws them in, but also someone who can use that to their advantage.

#2 Persistence

A great copywriter won’t make tons of money right away. He has to work to establish himself. He’ll need to study copywriting/marketing to continue developing the skills.

#3 Discipline

Most copywriters are freelancers who work from home. While this is obviously sounds like an awesome thing to do, it can also be a huge, huge drawback. The copywriters will have flexible hours and the ability to do other things and spend more time with their families. They also have ten times the distractions and a lot more opportunity to slack off instead of getting their work done.

In addition to being in a distracting environment, copywriters are probably working on several projects at a time. A good copywriter can set priorities, goals, and a rigid schedule. And then (and here’s the hard part), sticking to them.

#4 Creative

Hundreds of new ads and sales letters are being written every day. Great copywriters will constantly come up with new original ideas to grab and keep their readers (and convince them to spend their money).

#5 Adaptability

What works today might not work tomorrow. Great copywriters have to keep studying the latest techniques and know what works and what doesn’t. This comes in part from experience and research, but at the same time, also comes from a basic sense of what appeals to people.

#6 Learn new things

A great copywriter not only has to be smart, they also have to be able to learn new things. They not only have to know how to attract and bring in readers, but they also have to be able to keep up with the hot products they’re promoting and the industries those products are in. This involves a lot of continued reading and research.

Internal Tags:Copywriting

There are two types of content for your blog or website, that’s evergreen content and content that rank high for a specific keyword or term.

Even though I state that the best content for your website is evergreen content, my best advice is to mix evergreen with keyword and term specific content.

Let me give you some pointers about evergreen content. This is the content that’ll drive traffic to your site for months or years to come. That’s why it’s called evergreen, it will (or I should probably say it might) send you traffic forever. Well, that’s if you do it right.

Evergreen content is not content related to a specific happening or a specific date. No matter how awesome your content is, if it’s related to a specific happening or a date, the content will grow old and people will lose interest. It’s just a matter of time. For instance, if you’ve written a truly interesting blog post about the death of Michael Jackson (that’s the biggest story at the moment), do you think it will be as interesting to people in a month or two? The death of Michael Jackson will probably be at the top of the news for a while, but only for so long. Other famous people will die, a lot of new stuff will happen, it will eventually be old news.

Now, if you’ve written a tutorial about the most effective way to kill mosquitoes or a tutorial about the 10 best flat belly diet tips, then you’ve got your evergreen content. This is content that will be interesting no matter what year we’re in, no matter when you wrote the content.

The only time it wouldn’t be interesting is if mosquitoes were distinct (or not annoying anywhere in the world) or nobody cared about their bellies anymore (and that will never happen).

Evergreen content will help you get visitor to your blog or website over and over again, it’s more or less timeless content.

Go evergreen.

Internal Tags:content,evergreen,internet marketing

The right headline is interested to all, even the most uninvolved reader, and if you can make it interesting, you’ll be able to attract them into read the rest of your story. The problem is that it works the same way with a bad headline, a bad one will turn off a reader who might actually be very interested in what you’re trying to sell.

As far as I can tell, there are no specific rules that every headline needs to follow. It all depends on what the topic is, what the goal of the writing is, and several other factors. On the other hand, I’ve discovered that there are some basic rules and guidelines that can help you get started. Here you’ll get 3 steps to writing good headlines.

Confess

If you have an interesting or desirable product that no one else has, telling people what you have or what your product can do may be all you need to get the reader to want to see more. The problem is, not all products are that unique or have proven results – but if they do, why waste your time trying to come up with something clever and eye-catching that may just confuse the reader rather than draw them in?

Mystery

A good headline should inform the reader what they’re going to be reading about, but keep them guessing in order to keep them reading. If the headline is totally ambiguous, people will just move on, but a little mystery will pique their interest.

Short

I’ve read many places about a rule that a good headline shouldn’t be longer than seven words long. You can have headlines that are longer, but the fewer words you can get your point across in, the better. You can always use your introductory paragraph to explain a catchy but short headline.

What matters is not what the headline says, but what it looks like. Changing the font or color can make the sales pitch more appealing, but if you go too far, it can just confuse the reader and be painful to the eye.

Most of the time, the headline is the only part the reader sees of your writing. If the headline is good, there’s a better chance they’ll read more. In fact, you should spend about as much time working on your headline as you do writing the rest of the story.

It’s important to remember that every good headline needs to have good material behind it.

The key to writing good headlines involves two things: study and practice. Take a look at sales letters, articles, and anything else with a headline and see what other people are doing.

Internal Tags:Copywriting,headlines,internet marketing

Marketing campaigns by huge companies never stops to amaze me. It seems that they do almost anything in order to earn money. I just don’t get why they have to be targeting kids with their marketing.

I sort of understand why people selling toys need to get the attention of kids, but why do people selling food need it? Well, of course except for selling more and earning more money.

Let me give you the latest example from Norway. It’s the Lazy Town Caviar.

It’s the perfect caviar for kids. How can we buy any other caviar? What do you think will happen when I bring my daughter to the store and she sees this caviar? Well, except that she hates caviar.

To me, it’s easy to target kids with marketing, it’s probably the easiest way of marketing.

Make a “new” product based upon a popular TV show, and that’s it. The kids love it.

The question is, why are the authorities allowing it?

Internal Tags:food,kids,marketing

I’ve just watched this video on YouTube from the Mentos Gum marketing campaign. It’s a great example of guerilla markeitng.

If you’re not sure what guerilla marketing is, I’ll provide you with a short definition. Guerilla marketing is unconventional marketing methods, and the goal is to get awesome results from minimal resources.

I’ve just sent a question to AWeber, asking them the following:

Is it possible to use AWeber to send an email to my list, and then, the next day or so, send an identical email, but with a different headline to only the people who didn’t open my first email?

Think about it.

If this is possible (and it probably is, I’ll update you with the answer), you can send 3-4 emails with identical content, the only difference is the headlines. All you need to do, is change the headline in order for more people to open your emails.

One headline might be really appealing to you, another headline might not be. I receive hundreds of emails a day, and I delete most of them just by looking at the headline.

Every person on my list will only open one email. If I send four emails, some will receive all four, but that will only happen if they didn’t open any of the previous emails.

I think that this is a really powerful feature. What do you think?

Update: Wow, the people at AWeber are quick. Every time I send them a question, less than 24 hours later, I have the answer.

This is what Chase Kramer (customer solutions specialist) wrote:

Yes this is possible.  First, you would create a list segment of people who didn’t open the first message.  Then, you would make of copy of the original broadcast, change the subject, and set it to send to the segment you created.  If there is anything else I can do for you, please let me know and I will be glad to help you.

Internal Tags:aweber,email,internet marketing

I think that a major problem for Internet marketers is communication, usually between you and your employees (if you have some), you or your boss (if you have a boss) or at least between you and your clients/prospects.

What I am going to say in this article is that your communication must be direct, explicative and most of all, people need to understood your messages.

Getting any business message across is vital to the success of not only the business, but the success of your employees and your clients/prospects. In fact, communication only works when both the sender and the receiver understand the same information as a result of the communication.

Remember, if your employees are not experiencing success, or your clients/prospects are not experiencing success, then you’re most likely not experiencing any success as well.

I have many examples of failure to communicate, just a few sentences in an email can lead to huge mistakes. Therefore, I’ve got some tips for you. Everyone involved has to have the same line of understanding, if they do, it will save you time through accurate and complete information.

Negative aspects

A rule of thumb is that any negative aspect should be dealt with in private. That’s because most employers are aware of the possible humiliation and resentment which could occur as a result of being reprimanded in public, such as the weekly staff meeting or conference call. The same goes for discussion forums, leave all negative thoughts away from the forums. Keep them between you and the person involved (the same goes for commenting on blogs, that’s a public thing).

Some employers believe that publically pointing out mistakes or problems will result not only in their personal appearance of power, but also that it will ensure the employee in question doesn’t make the same mistake again. The same goes for bloggers and Internet marketers. But I believe that this is not the case.

If there are any negativities needing to be addressed, the best way to handle this is either in private at a separate meeting, by email sent only to one employee and not the entire team, or by telephone if needed. This will avoid bad feelings and embarrassments on behalf of the employee.

Positive aspects

Another rule of thumb is that any positive aspect should be made public. That’s the opposite of the negative aspect. Your employees will go that extra mile if they see you giving praise or recognition for their achievements. Most people thrive on positive feedback such as making a comment or two complimenting them on how quickly they finished a project, or learned a new task enabling you to trust them with other assignments. The same goes for bloggers, or when it comes to discussion forums. Make positive aspects public everywhere.

Get to the point

If you are saying stuff like “do a better job” or “you’re making too many mistakes”, you should understand that this is often too vague for people to relate to. Vagueness leads to these statements being useless. Elaborate on what exactly it is that you are not pleased with. This permits the person involved to take note of the issue, thus making it easier to avoid in the future.

Poor grammar or spelling

If your issues of miscommunication involve messages sent via the internet, a whole new set of issues can arise. Such problems could include poor grammar or spelling. Not only do these situations shed a negative light on your performance abilities, but it also makes it difficult for the receiver to decipher what is asked of them. If you are aware you have issues in this regard, practise regularly the use of proper grammar, as well as spell-check when available.

Internal Tags:communication

Over the years I’ve heard a lot about hypnotic copywriting, and that people like Joe Vitale (one of the best copywriters) are turning words into hypnosis.

When I first heard about it, I thought of a man, much like Paul McKenna (a well-known hypnotists) standing in front of an audience. He puts a volunteer into a trance and has them clucking like a chicken or barking like a dog in front of about a hundred witnesses (I’m not saying Paul McKenna is doing this).

Forget about Paul McKenna, and let me explain what hypnotic copywriting is all about.

It’s a way to entice your readers to get lost in your words, sort of puts them in a trance. Sort of like they feel that they have to buy when they read your words. Remember what it feels like when you read a really good book, or when you watch an awesome movie. You can’t think about anything else, you just want more of the story, and you never want it to end.

Think about selling a product. You’re a business owner who wants to attract customers to your product. Most people sell through ads or by sending emails (remember I’m talking about Internet marketing).

The way that the ads are designed and laid out plays to certain techniques that will catch the readers eyes. For instance, using bold letters for statements that you want to stand out from the rest will draw attention.

But, you don’t just want to get the readers to look at your ad. That’s only the first step. After they’ve read it, you want them to continue and in the end, you want them to buy what you are offering to them. With hypnotic copywriting, you can accomplish two things through one advertisement.

People who read ads usually start at the top and rarely get to the bottom. Therefore, your hook needs to be in the first half of the ad. When it comes to the Internet, ads that are placed at the top of the page are more likely to be read than those found at the bottom where the reader has to scroll down to see them. It’s a matter of human nature that you can use to your advantage.

Another important thing to note is that most people read at an eighth-grade level. Using big words that require a dictionary is not going to keep the reader interested in your copy.

A copywriter using the hypnotic techniques uses easy-to-understand words that will entice the reader to do something at strategic places in the ad copy. Between those words, they are weaving a story to keep the reader glued to the page and open to suggestions from you.

To me, it’s seems that the most important part of hypnotic copywriting, is to be sure to state exactly what you want the customer to do.

Recommended reading:

Using hypnotic binds to engineer agreement

Read this before you buy any copywriting resource

Word Play With Words – is this hypnotic copywriting?

Don’t get robbed blind on the Intenet

Internal Tags:Copywriting,internet marketing,joe vitale,paul mckenna

I’ve owned and used a Mac for about 6 years, and yesterday was the first time something really unexpected happened. There have been no failure of any kind, no windows like problems at all. It’s been like living in computer heaven, well, until yesterday.

When I hit the power button, I just received a white screen. Nothing happened, OSX didn’t boot at all. I tried several times, nothing happened, except for the white screen.

Since I was sort of in a hurry, I just had to do a quick search on Google, and found out that what I experienced had an interesting and sort of disturbing name: White Screen of Death. I also discovered that it could be fairly serious damages to my iMac.

It could be everything from just hitting a few keys while booting, to having to change the harddrive, the Ram and so on. I was actually sort of petrified just by the thought of what I had to go through when I got home.

A few minutes later I was walking to visit a few of my friends, and since I just couldn’t get this white screen out of my head, I thought I’d send out a tweet. Just a few minutes later I received a possible and fairly easy solution (thanks Jeremiah Smith). He told me I should reset my memory by doing the following.

Resetting PRAM and NVRAM

1. Shut down the computer (by holding the power button).

2. Turn on the computer. Wait until I hear the boot sound.

3. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys (simultenously).

4. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.

5. Release the keys.

I did this, and it looked like it worked. Maybe it was because the computer actually restarted and I didn’t see a white screen at first. But then, seconds later, I was back to the white screen.

Now, I was more than frustrated. I started believing that I had to do some major upgrading on my iMac, and that it would not only be expensive, but take a lot of time (time I didn’t have). Luckily, I have several computers and Google. I did another search, and found another easy solution to the problem.

I read that I should try to reset the System Management Controller (SMC). I still don’t know what the SMC is, but I didn’t care. What I did was the following.

Reset the System Management Controller

1. Shut down the computer (well, it was already off)

2. Unplugged all cables from the computer, including the power cord and any display cables.

3. Waited at least fifteen seconds. I waited several minutes.

4. Plugged the power cord back in, making sure the power button was not being pressed at the time.

5. Reconnected my keyboard and mouse to the computer.

6. Pressed the power button to start up your computer.

… and then, guess what happened next?

Everything was back to normal. It was like I never had a problem in the first place. I’m not sure if resetting the memory had any impact or not, or if I could just have unplugged all the cables and removed the power cord?

My frustration is finally over. I’m back on track, and hopefully it’s the last time I’ve seen the White Screen of Death.

Internal Tags:mac,osx,white screen of death