Can anyone recommend a reasonable ezine service that has worked for them. Curently we only have a list of 100 people.

Thanks,

Doug

Expand on what you mean by "service?" Do you mean a way to increase your list? If so, you might want to invest in my friend Craig Perrine's List Profit Secrets, at http://listprofitsecrets.com/

I was really referring to a service like constant contact or Topica or Vertical Response. But I think we also need help with building our list. 'Only" 100 or so people have signed up for our site in about 7 weeks (www.golfdash.com) so I would be interested in hearing your ideas on attracting more subscribers. We just added a blog and will be starting an ezine soon.

Very best,

Doug

Doug,

One of the fastest ways to build your list (for a site like yours) is by offering a free mini-course. Simply create a series of 5 to 7 informative articles about your topic and offer this as a “Free Mini Course”.

Another similar tactic is offering a free downloadable report or PDF file. Although I have found that “mini courses” work better for B2C offerings and free reports or white papers work better for B2B offerings. So in your case I would test the mini course model first.

To employ such a strategy you will need more than just an “ezine service”, you will need a full-featured auto-responder. A good auto-responder can handle all of your “ezine” publishing needs, but also allows you to develop a sequence of pre-loaded messages (such as a mini course) that can go out on a set schedule after your visitor subscribes.

There are two ways to go in selecting an auto-responder solution.

You can use a third party service or you can buy the software and host your own auto-responder.

Personally for most of my businesses I have went with the second option, but that doesn’t mean that that’s the right solution for you. I host my own auto-responder because I like to have a bit more control over things.

For a “self-hosted” option I would recommend:
AutoResponse Plus (ARP) from: www.ecom24.com

That’s the software I (an many of my clients) use, and I have had good success with it over the years. Quite a few other top online marketers use ARP as well.

For a third party solution, I would recommend (in no particular order):
www.aweber.com
www.GetResponse.com (I think they are what Michel uses for his “Profit Pill” ezine.)
www.emailaces.com

They all have similar features and pricing. At one time or another, I have used all three with either my own sites or my clients sites and they all worked as advertised.

After looking over you site, I am also wondering what “subscribers” you are referring to when you say that you are interested in “attracting more subscribers”? The only type of opt-in option I see at you site is your “Member Registration” area.

Building an opt-in list and building up a membership base are two different things.

To most effectively build your opt-in list, you need to ask for minimal information. Usually just the name (for personalization reasons) and email address. Each extra piece of information you ask for will reduce your opt-in rate.

For your membership sign-up you are currently asking for quite a bit of information. And this is fine, if your objective is building a membership-based site. Like I said, a building a membership base is different than building a list of opt-in subscribers.

By building your opt-in list first, and then using the follow up communication to sell them on the benefits of membership, you will see you visitor to member conversion rates improve significantly.

And, after you develop a true opt-in offer, don’t stop there. Begin TESTING. Test your headline, wording of the subscription button, position on your page, pop-ups, font colors, font types, copy, TEST EVERYTHING!

Your opt-in rate is one of the fastest and easiest conversion actions that you can improve via split testing. Even with a relatively small amount of traffic you can get a statistically significant sample size in a matter of only a few days, then move on to testing another opt-in variable.

Hope this helps!

Eric

On the subject of free mini-courses, it might depend on who you're trying to attract. If I wrote a course on copywriting, it might attract other copywriters. It would probably attract people who think they can write copy. I can't see it attracting potential clients (ones who know they can't write and willingly leave the task to someone else).

I don't know because I haven't tried it. Any thoughts?

I don't know... It looks like Michel has done pretty good for himself by putting on the "copywriting mentor" hat.

As long as your free content focuses more on the "why" and less on the "how" (the useful but incomplete strategy) you should be able to see results.

I have found free local seminars to be great lead generators. Again, while you provide the audience with good, quality content, the main benefit to you is positioning yourself as an expert. Some who attend will just take what you told them an "do it themselves", but some will recognize that you will be able to do it better than them and hire you.

The same applies to min-courses.

But if you are still concerned, try a more targeted offering such as "7 things you must know before hiring a copywriter".

In the end test both and see which one brings in the most opt-in's and new clients.

Eric

If I understand it right, Michel Fortin is not accepting new clients...so his situation wouldn't even apply. But we could use that as an example. What does he do with this little network of copywriters? He doesn't write for us.