Why Blogs Are Beating Out Ezines ... And Matter So Much to Your PlatformWritten by Suzanne Falter-Barns
I was all set this morning to write about something totally different in this issue ... but thanks to power of blogs, I'm here to deliver a totally different message. Namely ascendance of blogs over ezines. First of all, you may notice that you're not getting a whole lot of issues of this ezine from me. Why? Because I've come to understand that blogging is faster. It's more immediate. It's got a wonderful airstream of energy that follows each post. And because it's less formal, it's less work -- but still communicates just as effectively as an ezine ... perhaps even more so. This point was made wonderfully clear for me just this morning by Stacy Brice, who runs noteworthy VA training program, AssistU. Stacy sent up a very thoughtful comment to my 'Painless Self Promo' blog, under header 'The Future of Ezine'. Which led to an email, which led to a lengthy phone call. Stacy and I had a real heart to heart about this ezine vs. blog thing ... and here's what I've decided is state of things at moment. 1. We're in a transitional shift from ezines to blogs. This has mostly to do with people being reluctant to give up old comfy ways for a few minutes of learning new technology, downloading RSS desktop applications, etc.. It was like this just before we traded in vinyl for CD's, telepathy for cell phones and to-do lists for Palm Pilots. And some of us have never moved forward. Those of us who did are pretty happy. 2. Blog technology has finally leapt up to plate. It's happening; it's here; it's on cover of Business Week. Blogs can no longer be dismissed as fringe techie territory. They've gotten so easy to use, and read, that there is simply no denying them. Blog creation software du jour is typepad and wordpress. Typepad blogs exist on their website for a small monthly fee. Wordpress blogs exist on your own site for free. Typepad's more elegant. Wordpress is more basic and functional. I'm running a test to see which will eventually work better for me. 3. It's no longer all about list. I am still an advocate of ezines, but I believe list/email connection is rapidly unraveling. My own lists have declined in size as have those of every Net marketer I know. Ezines have peaked and crested in their usefulness and appeal. Meanwhile, blogs are hot. AND you can capture names on them. (See my blog for details on how to do that.) 4. We're no longer happy with passive activities. Maybe as a culture we've grown completely sick of sitting around doing nothing ... all those hours of reality TV? We've now begun to expect to participate in our entertainment, even when it comes to reading websites. So blogs -- which allow comments from readers -- are perfect medium. (This is also why my current theater project, at serenityhawkfire.com, is an entirely interactive theater piece.)
| | List Building - What Is It?Written by Gina Marie Capatar
We all know what an email list can do to our business. If you know how to manage your email list right, it can be your ultimate opportunity to upsell something, make big sales, gain more traffic and boost your popularity among others. So what does it really take to grow your email list?Growing your email list is called list building. List building is not as easy as it sounds and it does not just happen overnight, you have to constantly work at it to be able to get number and quality of subscribers you want. Let us take a look on a few of foolproof ways on how to go about your list building. First, you have to consider that you have to determine and define your reasons for your email list. Is your list building to gain more traffic, to market a product, to share internet marketing ideas, important thing is that you define your goals to be able to structure your list building strategy based on your objective. After identifying your objective, next thing that you have to do is to identify which strategies will work for your list building quest. Just a side note, whatever you do and whatever you decide on, never never spam. It is an unethical and an unprofessional way to grow your email list. But wait a sec, you cannot just invite someone to be part of your list without first having something to offer to your list members. Before you work on your list building, make sure that you will make your member’s enrollment worthwhile. If you are a guru on something, your expertise on a certain subject is ample enough to offer to your members and if you are really really good at it, your subscribers will come anticipate everything that you have to say or to share to them. Having established something that you can offer to your list members, it is time
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