A Guide To Complete Freedom
Vol. I Issue IV
Contents:
Mission
Tools To Help You Build Your New E-zine
How To Achieve Success With Your Own Money-Making Newsletter (part 2)
Ways To Earn Money With Your New E-Zine
Sponsors
Resources
Developing A Positive Attitude: Prioritizing Secrets
Subscribe/Unsubscribe Information
Contact Information
Mission: This e-zine is designed to help new web-entrepreneurs locate free and inexpensive resources to help them start their own home business. Our goal is to help everyone understand that freedom is earned, not made. This e-zine will hopefully guide those who wish to earn money do so. We cannot guarantee any of the information in these e-zines, and only offer them as a guide to help you gain success.
Tools To Help You Build Your E-zine
How's your e-zine coming along? Does it have everything in it you want? If not, that's okay. Because, now we are going to perfect our e-zine. (Remember, this is a journey. And perfection only comes with adding to our knowledge.)
There are literally dozens of sites on the WWW that deal with e-zine building. And we are going to cover some of what I believe are the better ones. We have already mentioned Greg Schliesmann's site, JVMARKETER. But, there are a couple more I'd like to mention now.
Merle's Mission Letter was one of the first to give me the courage to share my knowledge with you. You can subscribe to this excellent e-zine at
This e-zine provides so much information, you might end up eating up all your free time going over the sources provided. (Which is okay, just try to leave some time for the other things you like to do in life.)
The other e-zine, which also provides an excellent web-site of resources is Success Solutions Globalzine which is run by Evonne Llewelyn: Success Solutions Globalzine. Some of you might have subscribed to this last week. If you did, good. If you didn't, do so right now. Evonne is truly dedicated to helping each and every one of her subscribers. (In case you hadn't noticed, we've also become good friends and I had to give her a glowing report.) But, seriously, her web-site offers a lot of goodies you ought to take a look at and download. To subscribe, just send an e-mail to webmaster@successsolutions.com?subject=SUBSCRIBE plus you can go to her web-site at http://www.successsolutions.com and find all the goodies there. (No, I'm not going to walk you through it to find all the goodies. At least, not yet. Remember, there must be some effort to be successful.).
Now, if you are having way too much trouble putting together a coherent e-zine, there is even an e-zine builder that is free. You can find it at http://www.e-zinez.com. The only drawback is that it places other people's articles in it. Now, this, of course is a good way to lend credibility to your e-zine. However, hundreds of other people are using this same format, so you will end up having the exact same articles as hundreds of others. Now, this is not necessarily a bad thing, but remember this, you'll have to find a way to make yours stand out by your opening comments.
Let's continue the report we left off with last week.
(The following is just one report from Over 500 Reports that we offer at Complete Freedom Company. If you would like to order these reports, please contact me at completefreedom@netscape.net.)
(Please remember the following article is designed for off-line publishing. Adaptations will have to be made if you are planning on using the information to help build your e-zine.)
HOW TO ACHIEVE SUCCESS WITH
YOUR OWN MONEY - MAKING NEWSLETTER (part 2)
Now you're ready for the big move - the Advertising Campaign.
Start by placing a small classified ad in one of your local newspapers. You should place your ad in a weekend or Sunday paper that will reach as many people as possible, and of course, do everything you can to keep your costs as low as possible. However, do not skimp on your advertising budget. To be successful - to make as much money as possible with your idea - you'll need to reach as many people as you can afford, and as often as you can.
Over the years, we have launched several hundred advertising campaigns. We always ran new ads for a minimum of three issues and kept close tabs on the returns. So long as the returns kept coming in, we continued running that ad in that publication, while adding a new publication to test for results. To our way of thinking, this is the best way to go, regardless of the product, to successfully multiply your customer list.
Move slowly, start with a local, far-reaching and widely read paper, and with the prof its or returns from that ad, go to the regional magazines, or one of the smaller national magazines, and continue plowing your returns into more advertising in different publications. By taking your time, and building your acceptance in this manner, you won't lose too much if one of your ads should prove to be a dud. Stay with the advertising. Do not abandon it in favor of direct mail. We would not recommend direct mail until you are well established and your national classified advertising pro gram is bringing in a healthy profit for you.
Do not become overly ambitious and go out on a limb with expensive full-page advertising until you're very well established. When you do buy full page advertising, start with the smaller publications, and build from those results. Have patience; keep close tabs on your costs per subscriber, and build from the profits of your advertising. Always test the advertising medium you want to use with a classified ad, and if it pulls well for you, go on to a larger display type ad.
Classified advertising is the least expensive way to go, so long as you use the "inquiry method." You can easily and quickly build your subscriber list with this type of advertisement.
We would not recommend any attempts to sell subscriptions, or any product from classified ads, or even from small display ads. There just isn't enough space to describe the product adequately, and seeing the cost of your item, many possible subscribers will not bother to inquire for the full story.
When you do expand your efforts into direct mail, go straight to a national list broker. You can find their names and addresses in the yellow pages section of your local telephone directory. Show the list broker your product and your mailing piece, and explain what type people you want to reach, and allow them to help you.
Once you've decided on a list to use, go slowly. Start with a sampling of 5,000 names. If the returns are favorable, go for 10,000 names, and then 15,000 and so on through the entire list.
Never rent the entire list based upon the returns from your first couple of samplings. The variables are just too many, and too complicated, and too conducive to your losing your shirt when you "roll out an entire list" based upon returns from a controlled sampling.
There are a number of other methods for finding new subscribers, which we'll explore for you here, detailing the good and the bad as we have researched them.
One method is that of contracting with what is known as a "cash-field" agency. These are soliciting agencies who hire people to sell door-to-door and via the phone, almost always using a high pressure sales approach. The publisher usually makes only about 5% from each subscription sold by one of these agencies. That speaks for itself.
Then, there are several major catalog sales companies that sell subscriptions to school libraries, government agencies and large corporations. These people usually buy through these catalog sales companies rather than direct from the publisher. The publisher makes about 10% on each subscription sold for him by one of these agencies.
Co-op Mailings are generally piggy-back mailings of your subscription offer along with numerous other business offers in the same envelope. Smaller mail order entrepreneurs do this under the name of Big Mail Offers. Coming into vogue now are the Postcard Mailers. You submit your offer on a business reply postcard; the packager then prints and mails your postcard in a package with 40 or 50 similar postcards via third class mail to a mailing list that could number 100,000 or more. You pay a premium price for this type of mailing - usually $1000 to $1500 per mailing, but the returns are very good and you keep all the incoming money.
Another form of co-op mailing is where you supply a charge card company or department store with your subscription offer as a "statement mailing suffer." Your offer goes out with the monthly statements; new subscriptions are returned to the mailer and billed to the customer's charge card. The publisher usually makes about 50% on each subscription. This is one of the most lucrative, but expensive methods of bringing in new customers.
Direct mail agencies such as Publishers Clearing House can be a very lucrative source of new subscriptions, in that they mail out more than 60 million pieces of mail each year, all of which are built around an opportunity for the recipient to win a gigantic cash sweepstakes. The only problem with this type of subscription agency is the very low percentage of the total subscription price the publisher receives from these subscriptions, plus the fact that the publishers are required to charge a lower subscription rate than they normally charge.
There are also several agencies that offer Introductory, Sample Copy and Trial Subscription offers, such as Select Information Exchange and Publisher Exchange. With this kind of agency, details about your publication are listed along with similar publications, in full page ads inviting the readers to send $10 or $20 for trial subscription to those of his choice. The publishers received no money from these inquiries - only a list of names of people interested in receiving trial subscriptions. How the publisher follows up and is able to convert these into full term, and paying subscribers is entirely dependent upon his own efforts.
Most major newspapers will carry small, lightweight brochures or oversized reply cards as inserts in their Sunday papers. The publisher supplies the total number of inserts, pays the newspaper $20 per thousand for the number of newspapers he wants his order form carried in, and then retains all the money generated. But the high costs of printing the inserts, plus the $20 per thousand for distribution, make this an extremely costly method of obtaining new subscribers.
Schools, civic groups and other fund raising organizations work in about the same manner as the cash-field agencies. They supply the solicitor and the publisher gets 25% or less for each new subscription sold.
Attempting to sell subscriptions via radio or TV is very expensive and works better in generating sales at the newsstands than new subscriptions. PI (Per Inquiry) sales is a very popular way of getting radio or TV exposure and advertising for your newsletter or other publication, but again, the number of sales brought in by the broad cast media is very small when compared with the number of times the "invitation commercial" has to be "aired" to elicit a response.
A new idea beginning to surface on the cable TV scene is "Products Shows". This is the kind of show where the originator of the product or his representative appears on TV and gives a complete sales presentation lasting from five minutes to 15 minutes. Overall, these programs generally run between midnight and 2 AM, with the whole program a series of sales presentations for different products. They operate on the basis of the product owner paying a fee to appear and show his product, and also from an arrangement where the product owner pays a certain percentage from each sale generated from this exposure.
Newsletter publishers often run exchange publicity endorsement with non-competing publishers. Generally, these endorsements invite the reader of newsletter "A" to send for a sample copy of newsletter "B" for a look at what somebody else is going that might be of especial help, etc. This can be a very good source of new subscriptions, and certainly the least expensive.
Running ads in the Mail Order Ad Sheets is not very productive, either in terms of inquiries or sales. About the best thing that can be said of most of these ad sheets (and there seems to be a million of them with new ones cropping up faster than you can count them) is that your ad in several of them will let other people in on what you're doing. You will be able to keep track of a lot of the people trying to make a place for themselves in the mail order field.
Last, but not least, is the enlistment of your own subscribers to send you names of people they think might be interested in receiving a sample copy of your publication. Some publishers ask their readers to pass along these names out of loyalty, while others offer a monetary incentive or a special bonus for names of people sent in who be come subscribers.
By studying and understanding the information in this report, you should encounter fewer serious problems in launching your own successful specialized newsletter that will be the source of ongoing monetary rewards for you. However, there is an important point to remember about doing business by mail - particularly within the confines of selling information by mail - that is, Mail Order is ONLY another way of doing business. You have to learn all there is to know about this way o f doing business, and then keep on learning, changing, observing and adapting to stay on top.
The best way of learning about and keeping up with this field of endeavor is by buying and reading books by the people who have succeeded in making money via the mails; by subscribing to several of the better periodic journals and aids to people in mail order, and by joining some of the mail order trade associations for a free exchange of ideas, advice and help.
(For A Step-by Step Detailed Way To Create A Newsletter, I strongly suggest you check out Books, Kits, And Courses, and order E. J. Mall's "How To Become Wealthy Publishing A Newsletter")
Ways to Earn Money With Your New E-zine
There are a lot of things you can do with your e-zine to provide extra income.
Of course, the most obvious is to list the products and/or services you offer. This can include any affiliate or associate programs you are involved in. (You'd better make sure that your e-zine offers some good information, or they won't trust you to take advantage of your offers.)
If you have a large enough subscriber base, you could entice advertisers into a private mailing where only their ad is listed. (Although I'm not fond of these, due to the fact that I like to provide information each and every time I send something to you, I must admit it does seem to work.)
The second most obvious way, is to sell advertising in your e-zine. The tiny little classified ads syndrome has hit America thanks to some of the more infamous infomercials, and advertisers are willing to shell out bucks to place an ad in yours just to see if you provide the right audience for them.
You could rent out your mailing list, (although I personally wouldn't), to other marketers. (The reason I don't is because I'm not fond of the method. I hate spam so much that I don't want somebody spamming my subscribers. I figure if they want to reach my subscribers, they can do so through advertising in my e-zine.)
You could swap ads with other e-zine publishers. (This might not seem to earn money at first, but as your subscriber base grows, so does everything else.) This comes down to that reciprocity I told you about before. If you help them get what they want, you'll get what you want.
If your subscriber base is large enough and there is a product you want from someone else, you could barter your ad space with them. (Remember, all it costs you is time and effort. In return, you get the product you want.)
Next week, it's time to pick apart infomercials. And you won't have to pay $39.95 plus $9.95 shipping and handling. You're going to start getting the information -- for free. And only from A Guide To Complete Freedom.
Sponsors
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Resources
These are a review of some of the free resources we have covered so far, we will add to this as we continue our journey to complete freedom.
To get your own FFA Page Free Without Having To Use CGI go to FFA Net.
To get your own free Mailing List go to Listbot
To List Your E-zine go to New List
Towards Developing A Positive Attitude: Prioritizing Secrets
I promised to share some secrets about prioritizing this week. How would you like to be able to free up more time? Not fret about details? Accomplish more? Are you ready? (Make sure, you're seated because this is the biggest secret of all time when it comes to accomplishing more).
Do that which you hate or fear most- FIRST.
There it is. See, the problem is we as human beings tend to put off that which we hate or fear most until last. But, the problem is that by the time that we come to the monumental task, we have already expended our energy towards accomplishing everything else. Plus, by putting off that insufferable task until last, you are wasting tons of mental energy trying to solve the problem before you get to it. By the time that torturous project has to be done, you have become a physical and mental wreck. (Unless, you were the type that liked to party before you had to do that task, in which case you are a physical, mental, and harried wreck.)
But, if you get that task out of the way first, then everything else will breeze by.
Now, of course, there are other things you can do. You could make a list every night before you go to bed of what you have to do the next day. (That way, it won't weigh on your mind all night what you have to do.)
Unless you're a one person operation, you could learn to delegate responsibility. I know it seems hard to let someone else do it, but successful people know how to delegate. (Do you think Bill Gates made his billions of dollars by doing everything himself?)
But, the biggest key to prioritization, (yes, I'm repeating myself, just in case you didn't realize it that first time.) Do that which you hate or fear most- FIRST.
Remember, when I told you that you might have to work a little harder at first to gain everything you wanted. Well, this is the old story of which would you want first, $100 now or $10,000 a year from now. If you work first, you can always party later. And that's all that little secret is really saying.
P.S. I've decided I'm not helping enough people. So, here's what I'm going to do. You refer one or two people to this free e-zine, (yes, they too can have their own hosted FFA page)and I'm going to give you a link to 97 sources that either drop ship or have low prices on items you can use or re-sell for profit.
Nope. I'm not even going to make you prove you referred someone. The law of reciprocity will get you if you don't. But, go ahead, and take this list: 97 Opportunities I hope you make a ton of money with it.
Bye till next week!