Subscribe To Newsletters
The next step, and a very important one, is to go back to the above list and find all ezines with a target similar to yours. Subscribe to each, even if the number seems overwhelming. Hang in with each just as long as possible.
Prior to beginning "STAT News," I subscribed to over a hundred ezines. Trying to get through them nearly drove me crazy, but I learned a good deal. And one by one, I unsubscribed. Here's what you are looking for.
Ideas you can use in your own newsletter. More important, reading will trigger original ideas of your own. Maybe something new. Or a fresh view of something old.
Articles written by others that you like. Get permission from the author and reprint them in your newsletter. A good plan is to hold current articles for a couple of months to avoid the problem of the same article being printed several places at the same time.
A feel for the kinds of advertisers who may like what you offer. See how each ezine handles different types of ads and note those you feel are most effective. If advertising rates are not published, ask for them. You can learn what to charge your advertisers.
Neat tricks being used to bring in new subscribers. You will want to use every idea you can find and generate your own as well.
A feeling for the kind of material accepted by each ezine. While it is generally not practical to write for a single ezine, you can find common ground between several of them. As you write for your own ezine, keep in mind you will want to submit your work to others. A good resource box will draw a significant number of new subscribers.
Hard Work That Pays Off Double
Collect the URL for all competing ezines. Also collect the mailto subscription address. What you want to find is all links to either, and where they are listed. You can, of course, do this in various ways with the search engines. And Greg offers links to a couple of good online tools you may find helpful. But like Greg, I favor WebFerret for this and many other tasks. It will search many search engine databases all at the same time. And it's fast. On my system, it will produce a list of 1000 links in about ten minutes. But the best news is that it is free. Go to FerretSoft.Com and download a copy for yourself. It has become an absolutely indispensable tool for me. If you get tired of the ads, $25 will buy you a license to turn them off.
However you approach this task it is hard work and it takes time. When you find a competitor listed where you are not, go there and get listed. When you find a site that is linked to your competitor, go there and attempt to get a link to your site. In this later case, I go a step further. If the site would be of interest to my visitors, I first link to it. Then I send a note pointing out that I have done so, and invite a link back. I get one about 80% of the time. (For details, see, "Want A Million Targeted New Visitors?")
Leave No Stone Unturned
Let me wrap with a recommendation to work through the tutorial at eBoz. It's terrific, and includes whole bunches of good thinking not mentioned here. Also read Greg's article in full. Toward the end of it there are several excellent suggestions for building your subscriber list not included here.