Bright Ideas # 74 - Ten Tips for Creating Your Own E-zine

Lately it seems everyone is jumping on the e-zine bandwagon. And with good reason. E-zines, or e-newsletters, are one of the most effective and least expensive marketing tools you can use.

You can use them to promote your products and services. They are an easy way to offer helpful information, let people get to know you, and establish your expertise. They are also a fantastic way to stay in touch with prospects and clients.

Best of all, e-zines don’t have to be hard to put together. But if you want to enjoy all the benefits of producing an e-zine, you have to do it right. So I’ve included a short list of critical information to help you get started.

1. People come for the information initially, but they stick around because they like you. So don’t be afraid to put a little personal information in your e-zines. Talk about your hobbies, mention your kids, discuss the latest saga with your new pet. Some people even create a separate section in the newsletter just for this sort of info.
   
   
2. Entrepreneurs often ask me how often they should put out their e-zine. If you are going to commit to writing one, you need to send it out at least once a month. Any longer and you are no longer top-of-mind, which means it is probably a waste of time. On the other hand, as often as once a week is not too much. Just make sure you can commit and deliver.
   
   
3. Now that e-zines are getting so popular, many people won’t sign up unless there is something else in it for them. So consider creating some sort of free report or audio you can give away as a bonus to increase sign-ups.
   
   
4. How long should your newsletter be? That’s up to you. I’ve seen e-zines as short as 300 words, and as long as a few thousand. However, longer ones are usually made up of multiple articles, often by different authors. Around 500-700 words is generally long enough to pack in juicy info, but not so long that it is daunting to read (or write). The less often you put it out, the more info you should put in it.
   
   
5. Keep the tone light, conversational and easy to read. And don’t be afraid to use a little slang or colloquialisms—as long as they make sense. You want people to get a sense of you and your personality. And you want to make it highly readable so people look forward to it and dig in every time.
   
   
6. Another way to make your newsletter easy to read is by keeping sentences and paragraphs short. A good rule of thumb is to keep sentences under 22 words and paragraphs no more than 4 lines long. A one sentence paragraph is totally fair game.
   
   
7. E-newsletters can be sent in HTML (with graphics) or plain text format. For a long time, most Internet marketers used plain text because it didn’t get filtered by people’s email servers as often. However, more recent studies are showing that HTML emails get opened more often. If you’re just getting started, I recommend text to so you don’t have to spend time and money on a newsletter design. You can always add graphics later.
   
   
8. Give people information they can use on a regular basis, not just sales pitches. If most of your emails are devoted to selling, people will eventually unsubscribe because there isn’t enough information to keep them interested.
   
   
9. Make sure the majority of your content is related to what you do or sell. People who are likely to become customers or clients are interested in what you know. And you want them to think of you as an expert or valued resource in your field.
   
   
10. You don’t have to write your own content, though you get the best results when you do. If you’re not a writer you can use guest authors, reprint other people’s articles (with permission), buy prewritten newsletters, hire a copywriter to create custom articles for you, or get f*ree content from online article databases.

If you’ve been thinking about starting that e-zine, there’s no time like the present. And these ten tips should get you started on the right path. Once you’ve got your autoresponder in place, and a signup box on your site, then all you need to do is spread the word and get folks to sign up.

©2002-2006 Success Stream. All Rights Reserved. www.success-stream.com

Do you have a marketing, advertising or writing question you’d like to have answered? Email me and you might see the answer in a future edition of Bright Ideas.

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