Question of the Month of September, 1999 - Michel Fortin
The following is Michel Fortin's brief answer to a question selected among hundreds if not thousands that he receives each week. For more information on critique consultations, see http://SuccessDoctor.com/booster.htm.
From the Internet Marketing Challenge Private Discussion Forums
"I understand that discussion boards are guaranteed advertising. If I should only submit one article per 'good' publisher, does this mean that I would have to WRITE and submit ten quality different articles a month to continue this on a monthly basis? I mean, publishers won't publish my article every time. What is the efficient way to do this? Thank you for you help."
I'm not going to tell you what to do; it's different for everyone. But let me share with you what works for me and what I do. For starters, let me clarify a few things...
Discussion Boards
When you say "discussion boards," you're talking about a threaded web-based forum (or an email discussion list) in which you participate in conversation. Publishing (or better said, posting) full-length articles on discussion boards or in discussion lists is tricky.
You have to monitor the board to see what kind of posts there are to ensure that your article is acceptable. Better yet, review the guidelines before you submit. Usually, there is a charter or a set of rules that the board will have published somewhere on the site (or in the forum itself). Read them first before you do anything. (If not, email the moderator.)
Often, discussion boards are conversational in tone and, as such, are not good places for posting articles. However, it is safe to say that some do accept them. But if you maintain an archive of articles -- articles that you've written -- on your web site, your posts can certainly include links to specific ones as to back up some of your arguments.
The obvious benefit of that is the fact that you get people to visit your site in the same breath. (At times, I've had more traffic from linkbacks than with, say, signature files.) Mind you, it is also important to state that signature files (the byline at the end of your posts, which describes the author) is also a great way to get board participants to visit your site.
Posts as Advertisements
Aside from linking to certain articles on your site in order to back up some of your arguments, you can also do so in order to expand on certain ideas or threads, or to give more information on a specific subject being discussed (most board moderators like that anyway since they don't like long posts -- essentially, a board is for discussions, not articles).
However, keep in mind that most moderators will not accept blatant advertisements -- your post should therefore not be too engrossed in your own company or product(s) or filled with links back to your site. This goes for your signature file at the end of your posts too; it should be no more than 7 lines long. The bottom-line is this: Check with the board's guidelines or, better yet, lurk for a while to get a flavor of what's being posted before you dive in.
Ezines and Publishers
Nevertheless, what I think you're implying with your question are ezines or electronic newsletters (specifically ezine publishers and editors). Like discussion boards, the same holds true. In other words, check with the publisher or the site on which the ezine appears for submission guidelines -- they will tell you what is acceptable or for what they are looking.
Most often, it is best to actually subscribe to the ezine directly, an ezine in which you have an interest, in order to get a flavor of what articles are being published before you do submit one of your own. This is also important especially to find out if the ezine and topic targets your specific market as well (you want your article to appear in front of qualified eyeballs).
By subscribing, you will also get, in most cases, the email address of the editor/publisher (and sometimes they appear only in the ezine issue) to whom you can send your article ideas or submissions. Most ezines even publish email addresses for that specific purpose, such as: "Send your article submissions to mailto:articles@yourdomain.com."
Submissions and Addresses
I have an address book, which consists of different ezine publishers. I use Microsoft's Outlook 2000 and I create several address books (or address groups) for different categories of publishers (this can be done with Netscape, Pegasus and I believe Eudora too).
What are my categories? I have an address book consisting of publishers who don't mind previously published articles. Then I have another group who specifically require fresh content -- they only want new, unpublished articles (I usually submit to these publishers first and, after they're published -- or rejected -- I then submit these articles to the first group).
The third category is a little more strict. It consists of publishers who are looking for exclusive content -- articles that can not be reprinted anywhere else. And finally, my fourth group consists publishers who don't like full article submissions -- they prefer query letters (article ideas or synopses only). Most publishers from that last group pay me to write for them.
(It is also important to note that, within each group, I subgroup some of these publishers into narrower categories, such as publishers who prefer, say, articles on specific topics only, articles of so many words, articles with a specific structure or flow, and so on.)
Article Distribution
Now, as far as sending these articles out here's what I do: I usually send articles to the first two groups in bulk, with publishers' email addresses in the BCC (i.e., blind carbon copy), so the list of email addresses is kept private -- please note that it is better to personalize each message (I'm currently learning the merge feature with Outlook so I'll keep you posted).
In fact, I know that Outlook 2000 as well as other email programs offer the ability to personalize email messages (they can include the recipient's name within the message), and carry a single email address in the "to:" field -- even when the message is sent to an entire mailing list, in bulk. This would be optimal for the two first groups mentioned above.
For the two other groups (and some publishers from the two first ones), I usually send individual messages to each publisher, one at a time. Why? There are two important reasons.
1) Keep in mind that some publishers filter their email so that incoming mail not addressed to them specifically in the "to:" field are instantly deleted -- your submission will thus go unnoticed. (Obviously, bulk mailings to the two latter groups are redundant since these publishers are looking for fresh, exclusive content anyway.) And 2), canned messages, even when personalized, are easy to recognize -- editors/publishers will likely delete them.
A quick yet important note: Never send your article as an attachment. Beyond the fact that it's annoying, most editors file their article submissions in a specific folder in their email programs. When they conduct a search among email messages in order to retrieve articles of a certain topic or theme for their next publication, attached articles will simply be overlooked -- email readers search body texts (i.e., messages), not attachments.
To answer a part of your question, I usually tell publishers two things (particularly those from the second and third groups): 1) That the article has not been submitted elsewhere (yet), and 2) that if I don't hear back from them within, say, 30 days (even if it's just to notify me of their intent to publish), I'll consider my article rejected and will then submit it elsewhere.
Of course, keep in mind that this approach is not appropriate in some cases, especially with large circulation publications -- editors in general don't like to be pushed. I should know, I am one :)
Nevertheless, I hope this helps!
Michel Fortin
The Success Doctor
P.S.: This question (and my answer) were originally posted in the Internet Marketing Challenge Private Discussion Boards, where members can ask questions from a panel of Internet marketers. For more info, please visit http://SuccessDoctor.com/IMC/.
About the Author
Michel Fortin is an author, speaker and Internet marketing consultant dedicated to turning businesses into powerful magnets. Visit http://SuccessDoctor.com. He is also the editor of the "Internet Marketing Chronicles" ezine delivered weekly to 100,000 subscribers -- subscribe free at http://SuccessDoctor.com/IMC/.
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