Ask successful ezine publishers what draws subscribers to their ezines, and you’ll be told one very important thing. Content, content, content. However, many would-be ezine publishers focus more on selling than they do on valuable information. They turn their attention toward making money instead of building relationships. If you follow suit, that practice will surely be death of your ezine, my friend.

“What? Ezines are supposed to be this wonderful marketing tool. They are supposed to help me get more sales. What do you mean that selling will be death of my ezine?”

Exactly what I said. Think of it this way. When you subscribe to a paper magazine, what are you paying your hard-earned money for? You don’t want to get a copy of “Forbes” or “Glamour” only to find 90% ads and only one article in entire issue, do you? Certainly not! Neither do your ezine subscribers… even if your ‘zine is free.

They subscribed to your ezine because they believed they would get a wealth of information. Instead, they’re likely to feel they’ve fallen into a sales trap.

Don’t get me wrong. Ezines are a wonderful sales tool. They can help to build your business. They do bring in more clients. But they only do this if presented in a professional manner that shows you care about providing a quality publication, and not just promoting products or services that will make you money.

A whole world of marketing exists around us trying to do that every minute of day. Do you even notice it anymore or, like your prospects, have you subconsciously set up a system of "radar defenses" against daily bombardment of marketing messages?

Take a minute and count up advertising methods which fight for your attention (and money) every day. Just basic list includes:

· Yellow page ads

· Newspaper and magazine ads

· Postcards, catalogs, and direct mail circulars in your "snail mail" box

· Radio pitches interrupting flow of your favorite songs

· TV ads - about 20 minutes worth per hour now

· Hundreds of storefronts, "mega" malls, and strip malls

· Highway billboards by thousands

· Circulars hung on your doorknob

· Illegal signs on stop signs and telephone poles

· Legitimate email messages

· Spam email or UCE (unsolicited commercial email)

Just these 11 sources can overwhelm your brain with marketing messages. Like trapped rats, people develop defenses against this never-ending onslaught. They throw up a wall or a "radar defense" that goes into action minute they smell a "pitch" or a sales job. Don't blame them. We all do it!

So how can you get around this psychological wall against constant sales and marketing messages? Well, answer does NOT lie in hitting people with more frequent and obnoxious advertising or sly, sneaky tactics. You might get them to trust you for a minute, but it will backfire in long run.

You must do two things instead:

1. First, you must establish credibility for yourself and your business as an expert.

2. Second, you must reduce their fears about doing business with you.

Doing these two things will get you past their defenses and allow you opportunity to persuade them to buy your product.

So how do you accomplish these two "simple" things? What will win someone's attention, raise your credibility, and lower their fear factor all at same time? The one-word answer really applies to most everyone.

Trust!

If a seller can get behind your defenses with information which makes you trust them, then that credibility will carry over into a sale much of time.

How can you get this credibility?