PROMOTING YOUR EZINE - article index

• The 5-Point Checklist for Getting Advertisers to Your Ezine by Harmony Major
• 7 Unique Ways to Make CONSISTENT Profits from Your Ezine Harmony Major
• How to Add 1,000 Subscribers To Your Ezine Every Month By Terry Dean
• How to Double Your Subscription Rate in Less than a Day Harmony Major
• Seven Ways to Add 100 or More Subscribers To Your Ezine Daily By Terry Dean

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The 5-Point Checklist for Getting Advertisers to Your Ezine
© 2000, by Harmony Major

These points shouldn't even need to be discussed, but it never ceases to amaze me how many ezine publishers give no thought to the content of their advertising page. There are no "secrets" to be told here. Just good, old-fashioned common sense is all it takes to get more advertisers to your ezine on a regular basis.

It doesn't take much to make me give up my advertising dollars for a quality ezine, and I'm more than ready -- IF I can find one, that is. So, here are five easy steps for getting us advertising "tight wads" to spend our money on advertising in YOUR ezine:

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1. Tell us how many subscribers you have!
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Wouldn't you know I was out looking for ezines to advertise in recently, and only about 1 out of every 15 ezines had their current circulation listed on the site? Most times, even that one STILL didn't have it ON the actual advertising page, but buried somewhere else on the site.

I had to go hunting around on the home page, on the contact page, on the subscribe page ... and why? What the heck do potential subscribers care how many subscribers you ALREADY have to your ezine? DUH! But, surprisingly enough (sarcasm), these publishers were sure to have all the payment methods outlined nicely on the order page. So eager for our hard-earned advertising dollars, but not in the least bit interested in giving us the information we need to make an informed buying decision.

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2. Give us the option of paying for our ads NOW!
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Again, only about 3 out of every 15 publishers offered the option of paying for advertising by credit card or online check. Can you guess the most popular method of payment offered?? You got it -- U.S. SNAIL MAIL! Now I don't know about you, but when I'm ready to start making money, I'm ready to start making money! I don't want to have to go through the trouble of writing you out a check and wasting stamps to send you a check with my ad enclosed. 

Why don't these people have online payment options? I mean, Clickbank processes orders for advertising services, and even accommodates International clients. So what's the deal? Although they recently started charging a $40 set up fee, I think it's a smart investment to help you guilty publishers secure the other 85% of your sales that you're letting slip away by NOT accepting credit cards online.

I'm not even about to consider buying any ads that I can't pay for and submit online. One of the main benefits of ezine advertising is getting your ad run as soon as humanly possible. Why should I have to wait a week or more for you to get my money by postal mail, then *possibly* approve my ad? I wouldn't. And, neither would half of the other potential advertisers out there.

In short? You're definitely losing money. 

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3. Supply us with a recent issue of your ezine!
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"What's this now? A sample issue? My, you're demanding..."

Doggone right I am. Part of finding a profitable ezine to advertise in involves actually checking out a few issues of that ezine. Are there a lot of repeat advertisers? Are the ads placed in a visible spot? Are there tons of ads that mine will be forced to compete with? Is the sponsor ad spot buried below a mess of editor's notes, "welcome to this issue" verbiage, and other equally suffocating information?

These are all things that advertisers need to take into account when choosing ezines, which is why a sample issue is necessary. At least 75% of the sites I went to made me subscribe to get an issue. They could have put one on an autoresponder, in archives online, or something else immediate. But I suppose the concept of using autoresponders to supply immediate information is still too new (again, sarcasm).

Anyway, when I gave in and subscribed for the sample issue I was promised, I found out that it wasn't really a sample at all. I'd have to wait for the next issue to come before I could even hope to evaluate that ezine as an advertising choice. And by the time I get that first issue, I'll probably have forgotten that it's to be evaluated for advertising, not just to be read. 

In short? No good.

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4. Tell me when my ad is going to run!
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Okay. So after weeks of searching, I FINALLY found one or two quality ezines to advertise in, and I paid for my ads online ... and I waited. And waited some more. Then, after a few more days of waiting, I had to e-mail the publisher. 

"What's up with my ads," I ask? "When will they be run?"

I think that's a nice thing to know when you're supposed to be tracking your ads like effective marketers do, don't you? Even after we decide to spend our advertising dollars in their ezines, would you believe that we'll probably never hear from them again unless *we* email *them* for ad running dates?

We haven't heard from them before the transaction, unless we've contacted them for info, (or that elusive sample issue!), and we likely won't hear from them again UNLESS we contact them AGAIN. What's up with that?

I really couldn't care less if you don't write me to say "hi," but can't you at least tell me when the ads that I BOUGHT from you will run? Sheesh ... I know that's a lot to ask and all. 

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5. Create a prime ad spot for advertisers that actually care about quality results!
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Most ezines have classified ads thrown at the very bottom of the issue, branded with the dreaded word "Classifieds" in big, hairy, uninviting letters. I like to advertise in ezines that just kind of throw an ad or two at the reader unexpectedly, so they're "surprised" into reading the headline of the ad. So many ezines cast them all down at the very bottom without giving them a second thought. 

"Hey! Those are our advertising dollars you're shoving down there!"

Yep. And they just got thrown away.
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To sum it all up...
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So, you're still thinking of offering advertising in your ezine? Well beware, my friend. There are more potholes than you know. The very things that you might dismiss as unimportant are the same things that are driving potential advertisers away. So wise up and get YOUR ezine right so you can start pulling in some real money.
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NOTE: For more tips on creating an ezine that gets advertisers, AND finding the right ezines to advertise in, read the article here: mailto:FAT@homebasedheaven.com
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Harmony Major is the author of Yahoo! Secrets, where she reveals how YOU can drive HUNDREDS more visitors to your site each day, by getting a #1 listing on Yahoo. Don't just settle for "getting listed." Use her instantly-effective tactics to boost your site traffic with a TOP Yahoo listing! Visit: http://YahooSecrets.com

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7 Unique Ways to Make CONSISTENT Profits from Your Ezine
© 2000 Harmony Major

Ezine publishers today throw any old thing in their publication to make it attractive for readers. In doing so, they often forget why they started their ezine in the first place -- to make a profit. Use these 7 unique techniques to secure a CONSISTENT profit from YOUR ezine, and leave those other confused publishers in the dust:

Remember your goal with EVERY new change made to the ezine.

With EVERY change or new addition to your ezine, you MUST keep your focus in mind. That focus? To make a profit. I've made this mistake very, VERY often in the past with my own ezines. In the excitement of adding new sections, I'd often forget to ask myself, "How will adding this new section help ME?"

Ultimately, changing your ezine's format should offer YOU one or more of the benefits below in order to justify that change.
 

Increased credibility. For example, you could introduce an 'Ask the Expert' column in which readers could have questions answered (by you) on a regular basis, thus establishing you as an expert in your field. This will happen gradually, and your 'expert status' will come faster if you're sure to always give comprehensive, professional, and thorough answers to questions posed by your readers.

 

Enhanced understanding of your target market. For example, a poll can easly accomplish this. Polling your readers on issues relevant to your niche focus will give you first-hand insight on their likes, dislikes, wants, and needs. What a sneaky way to get the scoop on issues relevant to your target market!

 

Increased profit. For example, you can feature a links section in your ezine that features resources targeted to your niche. But that's not all. Let's say you also publish a paid Web magazine on several closely related topics targeted to your niche. You could then constantly update your links section with those links!

 

 
 
 

So, if the focus of your ezine and paid newsletter are both website promotion, you could extract a set of more specific resources (i.e. search engine positioning) from your paid newsletter, and turn those into a feature of your free ezine. At the bottom of that column in each issue, you'd let readers know that the info came from your paid newsletter, and include a link to ordering info for the product.

Voila -- instant sales!
 

Repeat visitors to your website. Using the 'links section' example above, you could also feature links to your main website. You can't have this section filled ONLY with your own resources, of course, unless you have a massive website. But, at the END (or beginning) of this links section, you could feature the five most popular pages at your site to remind past visitors, and encourage new visitors, to visit.

 

A constant, highly-responsive promotional tool -- your own ezine! Don't be afraid to use your newsletter to promote your products. In addition to regularly providing your readers with useful content, you should also use your ezine as a means of promoting YOUR goods.

 

 
 
 

But, this doesn't mean bombarding your readers with 'special' mailings twice a day. It's okay to send out occasional offers to your opt-in subscriber list. After all -- they signed up to recieve your ezine, and your special mailings ARE a part of that ezine. Also, along with the occasional solo mailing, you should also use 'left over' classified or sponsor ad space to promote your own products. Every once in awhile, reserve a top sponsor ad slot for YOU! You'll be amazed at the response.
 

A targeted list of pre-qualified buyers. What? Your readers aren't pre-qualified as your target market?? Well that was silly -- what'd you do THAT for? ;-)

 

 
 
 

Every subscriber to your ezine is automatically pre-qualified as a prospective customer, as long as your ezine is closely related to your niche market. So ...

Don't cry over unsubscribe requests -- cherish them! No, I'm not crazy. (Not very, anyway...) Just hear me out. Why do YOU unsubscribe to ezines? Most likely, it's because they don't fit your needs any more, or you fell out of love with the publisher's writing. In either case, losing this subscriber would be GOOD for you. Here's why...

They wouldn't have become a customer any way.

If your ezine isn't fitting their needs, (and your product fills the same needs as your niche-focused ezine), that subscriber is no longer pre-qualified as a potential buyer. If they don't like your writing and you created a product that involvee YOU writing for it, they won't like that product!

Do you see how that makes sense?

Remember -- your main goal is to make a profit from your ezine. Don't dilute your focus and hinder your success by forgetting that goal, or you'll be sorry you did! It takes a lot longer to fix up an ezine "gone bad" than it does to simply stay on target with a successful, targeted, goal-oriented publication.

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Harmony Major is the author of Yahoo! Secrets, where she reveals how YOU can drive HUNDREDS more visitors to your site each day, by getting a #1 listing on Yahoo. Don't just settle for "getting listed." Use her instantly-effective tactics to boost your site traffic with a TOP Yahoo listing! Visit: http://YahooSecrets.com

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How to Add 1,000 Subscribers To Your Ezine Every Month
By Terry Dean

I keep getting asked week after week from individuals online exactly what my key is to internet success. How can they duplicate my business in a few easy steps?

To their amazement, my answer is ALWAYS the same. If you want to follow my success and the success of many of Internet marketers, you absolutely must have your own ezine.

Whereas I used to suggest that you have an ezine...I now see a day coming where you will be absolutely creamed by your competition online if you don't publish one! It is a requirement to success online.

"What is an ezine?"

An ezine is simply a newsletter which you publish online and send out to your subscribers by email. Some are published monthly. Others are sent out weekly. A few committed souls publish their ezines every single day!

It can be about any type of industry, but it must focus on some aspect of your business. If you sell Web Hosting Services, you need to do one that has something to do with that aspect...maybe Web Design, Traffic Building Tools, etc. If you sell mailing lists, do a newsletter on how to choose effective mailing lists OR on how to prepare direct mail packages. Do one that focuses on your business.

In general, ezines are published with a main article (And sometimes a second article or section), classified ads, and then specials available only from you the publisher. The principle reason you must own your own ezine is the fact that if you are giving GOOD quality information every time your newsletter comes out, they will begin to get to know you and be willing to purchase products or services from you.

You might say, "But Terry, I can't write!"

This is NOT a good enough excuse to allow your online business to fail. Hundreds of writers on the internet are looking for people to publish their articles! All you have to do is find them...Let them do the writing and you take care of the publishing (simply sending an email to a listserver)!

It is Easy to Publish a Newsletter...

Publishing your newsletter/ezine is a piece of cake. All you do is set up a listserver. You can get a small one that only hold 1,000 names from Listbot at http://www.listbot.com for Free to start you off.

Once you have your listserver in place, all you do is send an email to the listserver address and it distributes your newsletter out to all of the subscribers. It also automatically stores your Opt-In mailing list and removes undeliverables for you without you even having to be involved.

How to Add 500 Subscribers to Your Ezine This Week...

Having your own ezine doesn't do you any good if you don't have subscribers. So, here is a quick formula to get you started off adding new subscribers quickly from day one.

1) Write a Good Description for Your Ezine

You will need a 15 word description, a paragraph description, and a full page description (This is use for NEW-LIST). Remember to use good ad copy techniques for writing these..."What's in it for Me?" are the 5 key words of advertising.

What will your subscribers get out of your ezine? Write good killer ad copy for this. Use bullets to describe the benefits people will be getting out of your newsletter. Don't just through together a quick ad to get one out there. Write Killer Ad Copy...

2) Place A Subscription Form on Every Page of Your Web Site.

Your subscribers should start here. Make sure that every page on your site gives them the opportunity to sign up on your newsletter. If you take a look at my site a http://www.bizpromo.com you will find that my Newsletter subscription form is the first thing you see on my site. You should do the same for maximum subscribers!

3) Use NEW-LIST to get your first base of subscribers...

Subscribe to it first at: http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/caservices/new-list/i

Then, read through their submission guidelines on that site.

NEW-LIST is a mailing list dedicated to showing all of the New ezines which come out. By writing a killer ad for it, you can receive anywhere from 50 - 500 subscribers within a week. It should always be on the starting points for any new ezine.

The reason I want you to subscribe to the list first is because you will begin to get a good idea of how to create your ad for it by watching and reading through all of the posts. DO NOT take this list lightly, because a good Killer Ad can produce amazing results for you for FREE.

4) Submit Your Ezine to all of the directories of ezines on the web...

Below is a small list of some of the directories which allow you to place your ezine listings. Make sure to list your newsletter in all of them using good descriptions full of benefits. This is by no means a complete list of every ezine directory on the web, but it is a good place to get you started.

http://www.newsletter-library.com/ven.htm
http://www.arl.org/scomm/edir/template.html
http://www.newsletteraccess.com/database/reg.html
http://gort.ucsd.edu/newjour/submit.html
http://www.yotta.com/magazine/addfree.htm
http://www.linkfinder.com/submit.html
http://www.etext.org/services.shtml
http://www.disobey.com/low/addere.shtml
http://inkpot.com/submit/
http://www.catalog.com/vivian/intsubform2.html
http://www.meer.net/~johnl/e-zine-list/submit.html
http://www.oblivion.net/zineworld/add.html
http://www.coalliance.org/
http://www.lifestylespub.com/
http://www.neosoft.com/internet/paml/answers.html#add
http://www.zinerack.com/search/enterurl.html
http://www.netspace.org/cgi-bin/lwgate/request-add.html

5) Trade Ads with Other Ezine Publishers

Many of us have learned that the easiest and cheapest way to build our subscriber base is by trading ads with other publishers. Be aggressive in this. Constantly email other publishers and offer to trade ads with them. You can get FREE advertising to hundreds of thousands of prospects by simply trading advertising space among one another!

Currently, we are preparing a list of publishers who would like to trade ads in other ezines...If you are interested in being a member of this list, please visit our ezine trade site at http://www.bizpromo.com/ezinetrades.htm

It Doesn't Have to Cost You A Lot Of Money to Build Your Business

None of the techniques above will cost you money to build your ezine list, but they will produce results. You can build your list, but it will take you doing the steps above, plus coming up with some of your own ideas.

Internet Marketing Success is not magic. It is simply finding out the information you need to succeed and then doing it one step at a time. Will you take that first step today?

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Terry Dean, a 27 Year  Old Indiana Farm Boy,  -Reveals His Secret Formula for Generating New Automatic Streams -of Internet Income For Any Business In 72 Hours Or Less...Free Report: mailto:formula@bizpromo.com
http://www.bizpromo.com

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How to Double Your Subscription Rate in Less than a Day
© 2000 Harmony Major

Do you run your own ezine, or are you thinking of starting one? If so, this little tip is going to prove to be VERY useful in getting new subscribers to your newsletter. Follow along, and pay attention. I'm going to give you an easy-to-follow, 3-step method to possibly double your daily subscription rate in less than 24 hours.

Do you have a website? No?? You should. You can have subscription requests flowing in easily and steadily each day, with almost NO work on your part. Don't believe me? Well, you should know by now that I always test what I teach, and this is EXACTLY what I've been doing.

Almost all of my subscribers come from my website, and I don't do anything out of the ordinary to promote the ezine except continue to build up traffic to my site. How do I do that? Well ... that's another article. :-)

Here's how to use your website to explode your subscription rate:

-> FIRST STEP Write a KILLER Description

Write a two to three line "ad" for your ezine, briefly summarizing your BEST benefit in the headline. You'll need a 5-6 word headline that will catch the reader's attention, AND cause them to read further. You only have a few seconds, so make it good.

If possible, put the word "free" in your headline, (for a free ezine), while also targeting the specific type of visitor that you want to read your ad and subscribe to your ezine.

The remainder of the description should list just a few key points that would interest the type of readers that you've already targeted in your headline. Don't make the mistake of trying to tell them EVERY reason why they should subscribe. The purpose of the description is to get them to visit your ezine's home page, OR to subscribe on the spot, out of curiosity.

So, have a method to subscribe RIGHT THERE on your short form, AND a link to the main site for more info. Not everyone will subscribe just from reading the description, so you need to give people that need more details that other option.
 

-> SECOND STEP Optimizing Your Website Pages

Put a subscribe form on EVERY page of your website, at the top or bottom of the page. (TIP Unless you have a more important offer that you want to get noticed, put your subscribe form at the TOP of each page.) You'll be surprised at the number of new subscribers you'll get each day that never even visit your ezine's home page, but will subscribe right from the form on the other pages of your site.
 

-> THIRD STEP Get Those First-Time Visitors!

Now, here's the clincher. Write out a more detailed "ad" for your ezine, and put this one at the very TOP of your website's HOME page. You'll need for this one to be as closely related to your website's theme as possible. The first reason is because you don't want to turn your visitors away by having them thinking they've come to the wrong site. The second reason is because you want it to appeal to the majority of your already targeted website visitors.

See exactly what I mean, and how I did this, at http://ExpertOnEbiz.com

NOTE: What? Your ezine DOESN'T relate to your website's main theme?? You're in trouble. What's the point of publishing it, then? I hope you have a VERY good reason, or you'll need to re-think your strategy A.S.A.P.
 

Putting a subscribe box on every page of my website immediately boosted my subscription rate by nearly 100%. Whereas I was only getting 6-8 subscribers a day, I started getting about 11-13 a day, just by using that one little technique. And, when I added the form to the top of my home page, it brought me to about 15-18 subscribers a day -- double what I was getting before, all with no on-going work on my part.

Every little bit helps. Now, I get about 30 subscribers a day from the site subscribe forms, my home page subscribe forms, and subscribe forms on my partner websites. What? I didn't tell you that part? Well, partnering with other publishers is one more EASY way to double your subscription rate AGAIN.

Want to find out how I went from 18 subscribers a day to 30? By actually swapping ezine sign-up forms with another website owner. One of my pages at HomeBasedHeaven.com got as much traffic as the home page at Fawkner.com. So, I swapped ezine signup forms with the Webmistress of that site. My form went on her home page, and her form went on one of my secondary pages. My subscription rate exploded!

Now ... got any bright ideas for promoting YOUR ezine?

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Harmony Major is the author of Yahoo! Secrets, where she reveals how YOU can drive HUNDREDS more visitors to your site each day, by getting a #1 listing on Yahoo. Don't just settle for "getting listed." Use her instantly-effective tactics to boost your site traffic with a TOP Yahoo listing! Visit: http://YahooSecrets.com

Seven Ways to Add 100 or More Subscribers To Your Ezine Daily
By Terry Dean

The best way to make money on the Internet is to build your own opt-in list. This way you can build a relationship with thousands of potential customers all over the world without spending more than a couple hundred dollars a year for the Internet access and the list management tools you use.

Once you have built a list, you can make money through it by selling advertising, doing Joint Venture deals, listing your affiliate programs, etc. There are dozens of ways to make money from your opt-in list, once you learn how to build it.

We have spent the years of our Internet life coming up with the best ways to build opt-in lists, and I am going to show you 7 ways to build your list quickly and easily.

1. Post It Prominently On Every Page Of Your Site.

This one should go without saying, but many opt-in list owners still aren't doing it. You need to give people the opportunity to subscribe to your list on every page of your site. The more people you expose to your message, the more that will respond.

2. Add an Ebook Bonus for Subscribing

We first tested this over a year ago and it doubled our daily subscribe rates from our site. It was proven years ago that your sales rates will increase if you add a bonus to a product or service you are selling.

Well, we have proven that more people will sign up for a free newsletter if you also include a free bonus with that as well. There are hundreds of free ebooks floating around the net which you can use for free bonuses. Find one that relates to your site and use it to increase to your number of subscribers.

3. Create a Signature File With Your Ezine

You should have your email software set to include a signature file on every email message you send out. Your signature file should include an ad for your opt-in list along with your free bonus ebook for subscribers.

You will find it is easier to use an ad to get people to subscribe to your ezine than it is to get them to purchase a product. Then, once they are on your list, you build a relationship with them and sell them your products.

4. Submit it to all of the Listings.

Continually find places to list your newsletter. For example, pick out some of the main subscribe pages of your competitors and find all of the sites linking to them. This can be done using the link finder at http://www.siteowner.com/

Then, go through and submit your site to the same directories. Marty Foley also has a listing of some of the best places to submit your ad at http://profitinfo.com/ezine-pr.htm

5. Trade Ads with other Newsletters.

Once you have built up a list of at least a few hundred subscribers, you can start trading ads with other publishers. Create a recommended ezine section (instead of classifieds) and start trading with ezine publishers in every single issue. You publish their ad in your ezine and they publish your ad in their ezine.

If you consistently do this with every issue, your newsletter is going to start growing exponentially. There are several lists of ezines willing to trade ads out there, and we have one you can use at http://www.bizpromo.com/ezinetrades.htm

6. Do a Newsletter Joint Venture.

Joint Ventures are one of the best ways to build an Internet business and opt-in list building is no exception. Find three to five other ezine publishers who would like to trade with you and do this.

After someone subscribes to your ezine, have another page there which asks them if they would like to subscribe to your partner's ezines (give the names and a short description of each). Then, have your JV partners follow the same strategy in return. If you were receiving 20 subscribers a day from your site, five publishers teamed up together could be doing 50 to 100 new subscribers a day.

7. Use a Pop-Up Ad for Collecting the List Members

I know a lot of people don't like popup boxes, but I have found they will triple your subscription rates. Basically you can pick up a Java script that will run a popup box on your site from the BigNoseBird site for free.

You can see it working at http://www.bizpromo.com

What, you don't see it? That's because you must have been to my site before. This script has a special advantage. It doesn't keep bothering your visitor. It only works and pops up to the visitor the first time they visit the site.

You can pick it up at:
http://bignosebird.com/js/h45.shtm

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Terry Dean, a 27 Year  Old Indiana Farm Boy, Reveals His Secret Formula for Generating New Automatic Streams of Internet Income For Any Business In 72 Hours Or Less...Free Report: mailto:formula@bizpromo.com
http://www.bizpromo.com