E-zine (or EZine) is short for "electronic magazine." They're usually sent by e-mail to a list of opt-in subscribers. That pretty much explains why they make such a good advertising medium... people ask to receive them!

You can find an e-zine on just about any topic, from audio to zoology and everything in between. Again, that's great for you as as a business person. You can find e-zines that go to any market you wish to target, and advertise to exactly the people you want to reach.

E-zine advertising costs run from incredibly cheap to way up there! It really depends on the publisher, the audience, and the quality of the opt-in list. Our advice: beware of placing really cheap ads! Many times you get very poor response, and you just end up on someone else's mailing list.

Before you place your ad in an ezine, here's what we recommend:

• Subscribe to the ezine yourself
• Read a few issues
• Make sure it's targeting the right audience for your product
• Make sure you like the quality of the articles
• Check out the other ads!

First, do you see other ads for similar products to yours? Great! Don't worry about competition in this case, focus on proper targeting. If your ad is good, your audience is properly targeted, and your product lives up to your word, your competition is never a worry.

Next, do you see the same ads (or ads from the same businesses) in several issues in a row? Great! That means the ezine is getting a good response for the advertiser, and they're happy to come back for more. Be wary of placing an ad in any ezine that doesn't seem to get any repeat advertisers... it's probably not going to get you much of a response.

So now you've selected the ezine for your advertising. You have done the research, so you know your audience is right, and you know the ezine is doing well for other advertisers. Here are a few tips for how to proceed.

Make sure to test your results. If you advertise in more than one place at a time you must be able to sort out the good from the bad, so you can go back to the good places, and stop wasting time and money on the others. One way to do this is with a re-direct URL that has a click-through counter. You can get these for free from a number of sources.

Use an ezine-specific welcome page. Rather than send your prospects right to your business site, send them to a page that is very simple and consistent with your advertising copy. A great idea here is to start with a lead capture page so you can follow-up with them later. Once they have provided you with their contact info, send them through to your main marketing page to make the sale.

Link early, link often. Your ezine ad should have a clickable link as close to the top as possible. If you are running a long ad, include your link a few times throughout the ad, giving readers maximum opportunity to get to your web site. To make sure your link is clickable, start it with http:// and not just www.

Use an effective headline. First impressions are everything. If your audience doesn't like your headline, they won't read your ad, and you have wasted your money. You can download an outstanding guide to writing great headlines here. It's free, and just about the best reading you can do as a beginning advertiser.

Measure, refine, and repeat. As mentioned above, it is essential that you learn which ads, in which ezines, are giving you the best response. But if you don't get the response you're after, don't quit! Instead, tweak your headline or your ad copy a little bit, and try again. Keep tracking your results, and you'll find the headline and the ad that pulls in the most responses. You'll never learn anything with a one-shot ad, so be prepared to go at it a few times before you get it just right.