Finding Subscribers

You have just designed and published your first e-zine. You are so proud of it. It looks great and it has wonderful content. You know the information you have to share is of great value to many readers out there in cyber space. There is only one problem. You have all of one (1) subscriber, you! Ouch!

Now the real work begins. How in the world do you find the subscribers you need to fill your database? Here are a few of the ways that work for us.

1. Subscribe Form: A subscribe form should be on all pages of your website, or at least the most pertinent (most visited) pages of your site.

2. E-mail Invitation: Send a personal e-mail message to everyone you know and in your current database. Don't send a mass mail; you want to make this e-mail personal ("Hi Julie, we met last month at the chamber luncheon...," "Hi Sam, how are Nancy and the kids? How is business coming along? Speaking of business...") and let them know about your new e-zine. Have a place on your site that your friends and business associates can look at the first issue of your e-zine and a way to subscribe from the website.

3. Signature Block: Your e-mail signature block can be one of your most powerful marketing tools for your e-zine. Make sure to promote your e-zine and add a way to easily subscribe via e-mail from your signature block.

4. Seminars: If you hold seminars, have a signup sheet for individuals who would like to subscribe. Invite individuals to subscribe when they sign-in for the seminar by completing and signing your subscribe form. Try to have them subscribe before or during breaks. You won't get as many people signing up after the seminar because they are usually interested in beating the traffic getting out of the parking lot.

5. Submit Articles: Submit your articles to sites such as http://www.ezinearticles.com/ and others. This is an opportunity for other e-zine authors to use your articles. If their subscribers like the information you have provided, they will go to your site to subscribe to your e-zine. Remember to include an attribution block with all your articles (see our attribution block as an example). In addition, many article submission sites allow you to submit what they call a Resource box. A resource box is a couple of sentences you can use to entice people to your site, then to sign up. Use these to your advantage.

6. Networking events: If individuals say they would like to sign up for your e-zine, write it on the back of the business card, the event, the date, and verbal authorization given. You won't get as many people wanting to subscribe to your e-zine at the networking event because let's face it: everyone has a short amount of time to meet as many people as they can. So, don't worry as much if you don't have the opportunity to talk about your e-zine. Get the business cards and then send the individual that personal e-mail invitation from #2.

These are some of the main ways you can find subscribers for your e-zine. Remember, never spam anyone, or subscribe anyone that has not directly asked to be signed up. You should always have some hard copy method of proving how each of your subscribers joined your subscription database.

Are you not doing one of the above steps? Take one step today and incorporate it in your marketing system. You will begin to see your subscriber base grow at a great steady pace.