I Want to Do an Ezine! Part 2 How Do I Start?

Copyright 2002 Terri Seymour

When starting your ezine, the first thing you want to ndo is name it. I would suggest keeping the name asnclose to your website/business name as possible. Ifnyou do not have a website or business yet, use a namenyou could name your business as well.

For example:
If you sell gifts/products for you & your home and nyour business name is Gifts Galore, you could then nname your ezine "Gifts Galore News" or
"Gifts Galore Ezine".

For content, you would include home decorating links,nbeauty tips and ideas, articles on frugal decorating nhome remedy recipes, camping tips and resources, nwhatever pertains to the gifts you are selling. This ntype of ezine would be great fun to publish!

Now to get started with the design and layout of you
ezine...the first thing you want to do is to find a good ntext editor such as Textpad. You can download the nfree version at http://www.textpad.com. This is what
I use and I love it. It is very easy and efficient.

A lot of people format their ezine to 60 or 65 ncharacters per line, but I prefer 55. That means nthat after every 55 letters/numbers/spaces typed, younwould press enter and start a new line. You can setnthe Textpad to do this automatically, but I find it nworks better to do it manually. Just watch the numbe
at the bottom right of the TextPad screen and hit ente
when you get to 55 or 60/65.

Create a template for your ezine so each week you cannjust open up this template and fill in the necessary nsections. This will save you lots of time.

At the top of the ezine, you want a centered heading nwith your title, and contact info.

It should look like this:nnn Gifts Galore Ezinen October 15, 2002 Issue No. 1n Jane Doe, Publisher/Edito
mailto:janedoe@giftsgalore.comn http://www.giftsgalore.comn (c) 2002 All Rights reserved

You should have all your contact info in your closing nat the bottom of your ezine as well.

If you are not sure how to do the layout of your ezine,nthere is a free template you can use or use as a guidenhere: http://www.myownezine.com/tutorial/page1.shtmlnJust read through the info and take a look at thentemplate.

Try a few different ideas, change things around a bitnuntil you find the layout you like and are comfortable nwith. You can make improvements/changes after younstart publishing as well.

One thing I suggest is not to have too many squigglesnand decorations. Some are ok, but keep it clean and nsharp looking. Too many decorations can make it hardnfor some people to read.

Some things that should always be included in your nezine are:

Your contact info - top and bottom of ezine
Subscribe and unsubscribe info
Privacy Policy - at or near the top
Disclaimer - towards the bottom
Table of Contents - at the top of the ezine
Editorial - chat a bit with your readers and discussnany current events or happenings at your site/business.
Start forming that all important bond with them!
Thank you to your subscribers - include this in the neditorial section.

Once you find the layout you are satisfied with, fill nin your standards like disclaimer, contact info and nanything else that will remain the same from week tonweek and save it in a folder on your desktop. Each nweek or however often you publish, just open thisntemplate and you are ready to get going.

In Part 3, I will be going over content. What to have nfor content and where to get it.

Ezine publishing is very important and you can do it!
DO NOT let your doubts stop you form this rewardingnand enjoyable experience! Please feel free to contactnme if you have any questions.