ANALYZING EZINESAfter having selected ezines to advertise your program in based on how
content of ezines relate to what you wish to advertise, there is still another process to choosing best ezines for your marketing dollars.
Analyzing ezines is a rather subjective process, however. There are no hard and fast rules to follow that give you a clear indication of whether or not an ezine is worth cost. However, there is an information gathering process that can help you to make better decisions.
AD FORMATTING
One important aspect is how ads are handled in ezine itself. Where are ads located in ezine? Are they made visible by being placed directly between or at start of articles, or are they pushed all to end of ezine or published separately in an ad sheet?
How many ads are run in each issue? Are headlines of ads offset to attract attention, are ads separated in some way from each other, or does entire ad section look like one big chunk of text?
Naturally, anything ezine publisher does to give visibility to ads is a plus for you as an advertiser.
SUBSCRIBERS: Who Are They and Where Did They Come From?
Don't be afraid to contact editor, publisher, or advertising agent of an ezine and ask them some questions. Find out not only how many subscribers they have, but get their opinion of what type of markets their subscribers are interested in, AND how they get their subscribers.
Some marketing practices, such as automatically subscribing people that post to an FFA or ad site, may pull a lot of subscribers for an ezine, but result in very little readers. Ads for subs programs also have mixed results. Some stick around and read ezine, but many don't. The best subscribers are those that are completely volunteer opt in readers.
However, many ezines use multiple means of gaining subscribers and while some use not so great methods, they may also clean their lists of non-responsive subscribers regularly. That's why it is best to ask and make a judgment based on answer you receive. This may take some practice and trial and error, but at least if you have information you are giving yourself something to learn from. So, ask where, how, and what type of subscribers ezine has. Ask how effectively they retain subscribers as well. That is a good indication of many subscribers are reading ezine and viewing it as worthwhile.
