1. Plan
Before you start publishing your ezine, create a plan: Who
is your audience? Where can you find them? How will you
market to them? The more specific, the better.
Depending on the planned frequency of publishing (daily,
weekly, monthly), you should have between two and four
months
of newsletter material material written BEFORE you start
publishing. This gives you plenty of lead time to work on
other articles and prevents you from having to come up with
material at the last minute.
2. Content counts
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him read
a
dry, old newsletter. Quality *original* content is
important. It's fine to reprint an article from another
source, but the
bulk of each issue's material should be original. So, make
it your own, make it unique, but most of all, make it good.
3. Brevity!
Make your ezine only as long as it needs to be - and no
longer. People are inundated with ezines these days. The
more "to the point" your newsletter is, the more it'll be
read and appreciated.
4. Minimize marketing
If your subscribers feel like the newsletter is nothing
more than a big advertisement for you, you'll lose them
quickly.
Keep obvious hard-sell advertising to a minimum. Attract
people to your business with the quality of your ideas,
not with advertisement after advertisement.
Rather than a long list of classifieds at the beginning or
end of your ezine, try for fewer ads each issue but put them
in between individual articles.
5. Request referrals
Ask your subscribers to recommend your newsletter to their
friends and
family. Encourage them to forward your
newsletter
to people they know who might like it. A good number of
those who receive it *will* subscribe.
6. Cross-promote
Put notices about your newsletter on your web site,
business
cards, up in your office, on your invoices, everywhere.
7. Announce, Announce, Announce
There are many, many announcement lists that inform
readers
about new ezines each and every day. Routinely submit
your
newsletter info to as many of these lists as possible... and
do so at least once a month.
8. Ad-Swaps
Is there a ezine that you subscribe to that you like?
Contact the editor/publisher and see if they would be
willing to publish an ad for your ezine with one of theirs.
Chances are they're as eager to grow their ezine as you are
to grow yours.
9. Give Articles Away
Just like yours, there are a lot of other ezines out there
that need original, high-quality content. So help them (and
help yourself) by sending them some of your original
articles.
Most newsletters will give a short byline and include a link
to
your website or ezine subscription address.
10. Make it easy!
Above all, make it easy for people to subscribe. Include
subscribe instructions in each issue, on your website, in you
place of business, etc. The more difficult it is for them to
subscribe, the greater the chances are that they won't.
About the Author
Jim M. Allen, business coach, speaker, & publisher of a
popular bi-weekly ezine. Visit http://www.CoachJim.com or
subscribe by sending a blank email to:
mailto:Subscribe@CoachJim.com
Written by: Jim M. Allen
