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Developing Your Own E-zine © 2002, Susan Sweeney / Connex Network Inc. This is the second installment of a two part discussion on e-zines and how they can be a very important part of your marketing strategy. In this issue we will focus on creating your own e-zine. In our previous issue we determined that E-zines or electronic magazines are the online version of magazines and contain articles regarding a certain topic sometimes advertising as well. Because they are among the most popular marketing tools on the Internet it might be worth considering creating your own e-zine. 1. Tips Reasons You Might Start Your Own E-zine Providing your readers with valuable articles relating to you area of expertise establishes you as a valued and trusted expert. By providing site visitors with free, valuable content over a period of time, you earn your visitors' trust and they are more likely to think of you when they are looking for the product or service you provide - people buy from people they know and trust. E-zines can generate significant traffic for your Web site so it is imperative that you include a reference or a hypertext link to your Web site. Make sure to include elements on the landing page to create stickiness so they explore at least a few pages within your site. When you are in front of your customers and potential customers on a regular basis it gives you the opportunity to keep them up to date on what's new with your company and your products and services or what's new in your area of expertise. 2. Tools - Promoting Your E-zine BestEzines http://www.bestezines.com/ezines/master.shtml Directory of e-zines organized by category. A great site to reach your target market. eZINE Search http://www.ezinesearch.com/search-it/ezine Billed as the world's ultimate e-magazine database. Searchable by category. Ezine-Universe http://ezine-universe.com Ezine-Universe is a great directory for e-mail based e-zines. List City's Book of E-zines http://www.list-city.com/ezines.htm A list of e-zines organized by category. 3. Techniques Developing Your Own E-Zine You should spend lots of time planning and testing your e-zine before publishing to ensure you do it right - you don't get a second chance to make a first impression. Provide great content to ensure your subscribers stay subscribed and that they feel the content is so valuable that they spread the word and encourage others to subscribe. If your e-zine is email based be aware that HTML emails have a higher readership and click through rate than text based emails. As a rough guide rich content should comprise 80 percent of the e-zine and no more than 20 percent should be devoted to promotion and ads. You want your e-zine to be read as soon as possible so length is an important issue to consider. An e-zine should be able to be read in less than 5 minutes. If your article cannot be condensed to keep to the 5 minute guideline then consider a synopsis in the e-zine with a hypertext link to the full article on your Web site. Provide a brief table of contents at the beginning of the e-zine. Keep copy short and to the point. Limit your content to four or five dynamite articles. To avoid word wrap issues limit line length to 60 characters. Encourage readers to forward the e-zine to a friend and provide subscribe instructions for those who may be receiving the e-zine as a forward from a friend. Equally as important is to provide clear opt out or unsubscribe instructions. Test your e-zine with different email clients to ensure it looks the way it was intended to look regardless of the email program the recipient uses. Keep subscriber email addresses private and always post your privacy policy. Provide an archive of past issues on your Web site so that visitors can see the great content they will be receiving before subscribing. Promote your e-zine through newsgroups and mail lists (providing advertising is permitted) as well as your Web site and your email signature file. 4. Resources - articles E-zine Hub - A great resource full of articles on E-zine creation and promotion! http://www.ezinehub.com/articles.html How to Publish an E-zine http://www.thewritemarket.com/ezine.shtml Having an E-zine - Advantages of Running Your Own http://www.akamarketing.com/your-own-ezine.html Ezine-Tips.com http://www.ezine-tips.com All About Creating and Publishing Your Own E-zine http://www.pcvoyager.com/dir/ezines.html Visit my Web site at http://www.susansweeney.com/

Developing Your Own E-zine
© 2002, Susan Sweeney / Connex Network Inc.

This is the second installment of a two part discussion on e-zines and how they can be a very important part of your marketing strategy. In this issue we will focus on creating your own e-zine.
In our previous issue we determined that E-zines or electronic magazines are the online version of magazines and contain articles regarding a certain topic sometimes advertising as well. Because they are among the most popular marketing tools on the Internet it might be worth considering creating your own e-zine.

1. Tips

Reasons You Might Start Your Own E-zine

Providing your readers with valuable articles relating to you area of expertise establishes you as a valued and trusted expert.

By providing site visitors with free, valuable content over a period of time, you earn your visitors' trust and they are more likely to think of you when they are looking for the product or service you provide - people buy from people they know and trust.

E-zines can generate significant traffic for your Web site so it is imperative that you include a reference or a hypertext link to your Web site. Make sure to include elements on the landing page to create stickiness so they explore at least a few pages within your site.

When you are in front of your customers and potential customers on a regular basis it gives you the opportunity to keep them up to date on what's new with your company and your products and services or what's new in your area of expertise.

2. Tools - Promoting Your E-zine

BestEzines
http://www.bestezines.com/ezines/master.shtml
Directory of e-zines organized by category. A great site to reach your target market.

eZINE Search
http://www.ezinesearch.com/search-it/ezine
Billed as the world's ultimate e-magazine database. Searchable by category.

Ezine-Universe
http://ezine-universe.com
Ezine-Universe is a great directory for e-mail based e-zines.

List City's Book of E-zines
http://www.list-city.com/ezines.htm
A list of e-zines organized by category.

3. Techniques

Developing Your Own E-Zine

You should spend lots of time planning and testing your e-zine before publishing to ensure you do it right - you don't get a second chance to make a first impression.

Provide great content to ensure your subscribers stay subscribed and that they feel the content is so valuable that they spread the word and encourage others to subscribe.

If your e-zine is email based be aware that HTML emails have a higher readership and click through rate than text based emails.

As a rough guide rich content should comprise 80 percent of the e-zine and no more than 20 percent should be devoted to promotion and ads.

You want your e-zine to be read as soon as possible so length is an important issue to consider. An e-zine should be able to be read in less than 5 minutes.

If your article cannot be condensed to keep to the 5 minute guideline then consider a synopsis in the e-zine with a hypertext link to the full article on your Web site.
Provide a brief table of contents at the beginning of the e-zine.
Keep copy short and to the point.
Limit your content to four or five dynamite articles.
To avoid word wrap issues limit line length to 60 characters.
Encourage readers to forward the e-zine to a friend and provide subscribe instructions for those who may be receiving the e-zine as a forward from a friend.
Equally as important is to provide clear opt out or unsubscribe instructions.
Test your e-zine with different email clients to ensure it looks the way it was intended to look regardless of the email program the recipient uses.
Keep subscriber email addresses private and always post your privacy policy.
Provide an archive of past issues on your Web site so that visitors can see the great content they will be receiving before subscribing.
Promote your e-zine through newsgroups and mail lists (providing advertising is permitted) as well as your Web site and your email signature file.

4. Resources - articles

E-zine Hub - A great resource full of articles on E-zine creation and promotion!
http://www.ezinehub.com/articles.html

How to Publish an E-zine
http://www.thewritemarket.com/ezine.shtml
Having an E-zine - Advantages of Running Your Own
http://www.akamarketing.com/your-own-ezine.html
Ezine-Tips.com
http://www.ezine-tips.com

All About Creating and Publishing Your Own E-zine
http://www.pcvoyager.com/dir/ezines.html

Visit my Web site at http://www.susansweeney.com/