For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, The initials FFA stand for "FREE For All" and my advice would be don't waste your time! FFA's DON'T WORK! FFA sites are directories where anyone can place their ad for free. And that's exactly what you get--a zillion people posting free ads. When you post your ad on an FFA directory or site, here's what will happen. You'll immediately get back in response to your ad a truckload of autoresponder e-mails from every Tom, Dick and Harriet soliciting you to join their programs. Hardly anyone ever actually reads your ad. FFA's will produce next to zero new subscribers to your newsletter. Here are some suggestions to help you build your newsletter subscriber list: 1. Put a subscriber box on your web site. People can easily enter their email address and send it to you. A percentage of people who visit your web site will sign up for your newsletter. Just don't scare them off by asking for a lot of personal information. Put their minds at ease by promising not to share their e-mail address with anyone else. 2. Announce your newsletter in the e-zine announcement directories. There are several sites with searchable catalogues of ezines. These sites get lots of visitors and are a surefire way to find hundreds of new subscribers. Here are a few to get you started: http://www.ezine-universe.com http://www.escribe.com http://www.ezine-marketing.com 3. Trade ads with other e-zines. Find newsletters that focus on topics similar to yours. They'll run your ad in exchange for you running theirs. 4. Consider emailing a press release to the media. Your release should announce your newsletter and explain what's interesting or helpful about your newsletter. There are a number of press release services that will email your release. Here are just a few: http://www.ereleases.com http://www.majon.com http://www.majornewswire.com http://submitexpress.com Whatever you do, DON'T add people to your newsletter list who haven't asked to be on it. The spam gods will come down on you like a ton of bricks! That's why many newsletter publishers insist on double opt-in. What's double opt-in? Double opt-in is your protection against the sending of unsolicited email. For example, after visitors register at your site, they will receive a confirmation email. By replying to the confirmation email, your visitors have "double opted-in" which means that: 1. They are the owners of their email addresses 2. The address is working 3. They indeed want to subscribe Usually the confirmation action is as simple as replying to the confirmation request or clicking on a link. |
