Ezine advertising compared to many conventional offline/online forms is still one of the most inexpensive costs per word methods of reaching your desired audience. But is it as easy as it may meet the eye?

To the uninitiated, there are a lot of key trigger points to understand if one wants success with their campaigns as opposed to flushing money down the toilet. I have learned many of these the hard way while quite a few lessons were also spared me courtesy of some good hearted mentors and peers.

One great aspect of ezine advertising is that it is a proactive advertising medium which means you can go straight to your prospective customers whenever you wish to reach them. You don't have to depend on someone finding you as you do with search engines.

However, with spam on the increase-and the upsurge in spam filters to block them- ezines face an increasingly difficult challenge in getting their message through. Even though requested by the reader and featuring content that the reader wants, delivery rates are still a challenge.

With that being said, here are some very important factors to consider and master before one submits their ezine ad.

The subject line is so crucial. If it is not catchy,suggestive of spam and too hyped-you could have the greatest salescopy on earth inside-it still won't get opened. A couple of key suggestions: ask a question that can only be answered by clicking on your link and use dangling sentences.

Interview the publisher-preferably by phone but certainly by email-before you place your ad. There are essential pieces of info to know or you may be soon parted with your money.

I should point out, at this juncture, that there are basically 3 different types of ezine ads. The solo ad (feature ad) is a stand alone mailing that goes out usually 1-3 x a week. Sponsor ads,top or bottom, rank next then we finish off with small,regular classified ads which can number several per ezine issue.

Here goes our interview with the ezine publisher:

How many mailings a week? This is very important for fans of solo ads. The desired answer is no more than TWO otherwise the subscribers are getting bombarded and they will not even open it.

How many new subscribes do you get in a month? You want to know if this is a progressive ezine staying fresh and on the move up each month.

Does the owner have testimonials or references about their ad offers? This goes a long way in indicating whether others have had success, perhaps with similar content and/or product in reaching their targeted audience.

Do they have an archive of past issues? You want to see their content. Would you read it? If you wouldn't be caught dead reading it,then why would your customers?

How many ads in each ezine? This is especially key for those opting for the smallers ads then a solo. Fewer ads means more attention to yours.

How fast will the ad go out? Good ezines have a waiting list. This is always a big clue. A good timeline is 2 weeks to a month and a poor timeline is less than 5 days .

Make sure you subscribe to each ezine you advertise in so that you are guaranteed receiving a copy of your ad. Some will do this for you in advance but many don't.

Make sure you track your ads. Test! Test ! Test !

Do they provide personalization in the subject line and body? This can go a long way in translating to sales conversions.

Will you place my ad in HTML (clickable links) ? This can make a big difference in the attractiveness of the ad's look and result in a lot more views. Perhaps some of your content is only viewable in HTML. You need to know.

Keep in touch with the ezine owner. Many include a second run but if they don't; just be creative and ask for a free solo ad run. Tell them you will track it and if it does well-you and your people will be back. It costs them nothing to do this.

Get an endorsement whenever possible. You will only get if you ask! The publisher has established a bond of trust with his/her readers and their endorsement is like gold. If they are willing -you pay nothing upfront but agree on a split of the net sales profits- that come in off of that ad.This is the "JV" (Joint Venture) of ezines and it can realize extremely lucrative dividends.

Write a testimonial with a sig file or link and send it to the ezine owner. Sign your name with your domain. This is powerful and free advertising all rolled into one !

Remember, this mode of advertising can be a lot of fun and one of the least expensive ways to get your message out there but you still need to tread carefully or you will see very little fruit for your dollar and time invested.