4 Steps to Ezine Success

Let me to walk you through the four steps you will need to take to start your own ezine. This might seem confusing at first but once you actually do each step you will understand it and you’ll realise how easy it really is.

Step #1 – COLLECTING ADDRESSES

You can begin by collecting the email addresses of all your customers. You can do this the hard way or the easy way. The hard way would be to call up every customer and ask them for their email address. The easy way is to figure out a way to make them sign up voluntarily.

• Run a promotion in your offline newsletter or through direct mail and have prospects respond by either going to your website and entering their email address or sending you an email. When they send you an email you have captured their email address.

• Put an ezine signup box on your website so that your visitors can sign up online. Better yet, offer them a freebie for signing up like a low cost premium or accessory, or a valuable free report. Don't worry about the cost of the premium or accessory. You ezine will save you a fortune compare to a printed, offline newsletter.

• Have people sign up for a contest or free giveaway when they walk in the store. Better yet, give them a reason to leave a business card. You could do something as simple as a dinner for two drawing. Use your imagination to get your customer’s email addresses. This list will eventually become the primary means of communication with your customer.

Step #2 – STRATEGIZING DISTRIBUTION

Before you begin to write your newsletter, you need to figure out how it will be distributed. One option is to sign up a list server. A list server allows you to manage your list and to send out newsletters.

When you start out, you will have a small list of customers and may choose to send out your first ezines from your own email address. To do that, you’ll need to purchase personal ezine software at a cost of about $400. (A good email software package is Mailoop, but there are others.)

You have three format choices when you send your ezine out.

• 1. An email messagen • 2. An email message with a link that goes to your site where your ezine is a web page
• 3. HTML format (which looks like a web page)

People respond better if they see graphics and pictures. So the major drawback about simple email newsletters ─ they're text-only and lack visual appeal. But if you develop your ezine as a page on your website and then give them a link to that page, your customers will go to the website.

The appeal is that they’ll be able to read a more attractively presented version of your newsletter and you will have driven them back to your website where you'll hopefully close a sale.

Step #3 –CREATING CONTENT

Remember, all the rules that applied to your offline magazine or newsletter still apply to your online communication...and are even more significant in cyberspace.

Consider sending your ezine out more frequently in a shorter format. With an ezine, it costs you nothing to contact your customers, so if you have something worthwhile to say, do it! Even just a couple paragraphs will do. Send at least 3-4 informational ezines before you send out a promotional ezine.

Warning! Warning! Warning!
Don't irritate your list with purely promotional ezines.

Step #4 – MAKE IT A KEEPER

A lot of effort goes into creating an ezine. So after you send it out ─ proofed and perfect ─ archive it. Make sure you keep a copy of it for your customers to review on your website. In future ezines, you can invite your customers to refer to your previous articles online, thus giving them an excuse to go back to the website…and you an opportunity to sell them something.

Email marketing is cost effective and very powerful. You can send out thousands of copies of your ezine for next to nothing. As more and more people go online, your readership will go up and it will be a super cost-effective marketing method for you to use.
Strategies like that can explode your small business quickly, that's why I'd suggest you go right now to www.freemarketingbook.org and request a copy of Jonathan Jay's new book "Marketing Secrets of a Multi-Millionaire Entrepreneur", a 72 page book with hundreds of practical ideas.
Copyright SuccessTrack 2009n