3 Simple Must-Haves for a Status-Boosting Ezine	Visited: 2881 Not rated Rate: Select 1 - Terrible 2 - Poor 3 - Average 4 - Good 5 - Outstanding
by Harmony Major September 24, 2003

So! You've decided to keep or start your ezine in hopes that it'll eventually make you millions, eh? Good for you! Now let's give your ezine a jumpstart. Here are 3 quick tips to help you position yourself as an Internet marketing mega-force -- instead of just another Joe.

1. Create a website for your ezine ON ITS OWN DOMAIN.

Domains are as low as $8-9USD per year now anyway, so this shouldn't break you. Most ezines have a little rinky-dink e-mail subscribe link from Topica or whichever free host they're using, and not even ONE Web page solely and completely dedicated to the ezine. Tsk, tsk, tsk!

Show potential advertisers that your ezine IS important and is here to stay by giving it its own professionally designed, complete website. Here are some ideas for what to put on that site ... or at least a Web page:

¤ ADVERTISING INFORMATION

It's uncool to make potential advertisers e-mail you for pricing and availability info. They should be able to come to your site, find out what they need to know, and place their ad. It's easier for them, and creates faster, hassle-free profit for you.

For more help on exactly what to do in this area, see "The 5- Point Checklist for Getting Advertisers to Your Ezine," at: http://ExpertOnEbiz.com/articles/checklist.html

A nifty tool to have that I haven't seen one other publisher use beside myself is an up-to-date ad availability schedule. This is simply a chart detailing the next available dates for each type of ad you run in your ezine. Update it IMMEDIATELY after each and every ad order comes in to avoid disappointed advertisers buying already booked ad dates, and advertisers will love you for it!

Also, be sure to list the number of ads you run in each issue, how frequently solo ads are sent out if you offer those, a fairly recent *SAMPLE ISSUE*, and anything else you can think of to make your advertiser's buying experience hassle-free.

¤ ARCHIVES

If you publish a text-based ezine (as opposed to HTML) like most publishers, a text-to-HTML tool is really helpful, to convert it to HTML to publish in your site's archives. Here's one called TEXT2HTML available for free, that allows you to convert text to HTML with a couple clicks of a button: http://www.text2html.net

¤ READER TESTIMONIALS

You ARE saving these, aren't you? ;-) You can say what you want about your own ezine and it'll sound like the same hyped-up gab every OTHER publisher boasts about his or her pub. Instead, let your readers brag about your ezine FOR you to win over even the most skeptical potential subscriber.

TIP: Ask permission before using someone else's words, and never take a testimonial out of context.

¤ ARTICLE SUBMISSION INFORMATION

Again, people shouldn't need to wait to hear back from you for this info. Instead, post article submission guidelines on your ezine's website or Web page, or at the very least, make it easily and instantly accessible by autoresponder, making sure to keep your reader count up to date.

¤ SEPARATE SUBSCRIBE & UNSUBSCRIBE PAGES

These COULD be one and the same, but it's more effective to have a separate join page to grab indecisive potential subscribers.

Think of it like this:

Your ezine's site is the same as a SALES site -- you're "selling" people on your ezine. You wouldn't have an order form on the same
page as a refund request form, now would you? :-P

2. Publish ORIGINAL CONTENT -- with a twist.

You're using your ezine to establish credibility with your readers, to make them trust you, and to familiarize them with your style and quality of work so they'll eventually buy from you. So how can you do that most effectively if you're always running someone else's content? You'd be helping THAT publisher get established.

And with interest in ezines dwindling by the day, the type of ontent you publish is becoming ever more important. It's been quite a while since readers began to tire of recycled articles and demand original content. But now even this might soon cease to be enough.

As online users become more and more used to the same old marketing theories, readers are even going to be looking for unique and different *types* of content to hold their interest.

3. Maximize New Subscriber Signups With a UNIQUE TITLE.

I named my marketing ezine "Straight from the Horse's Mouth" because I was sick of the same old titles that other people are using to death. My ezine's goal is to help netrepreneurs convert their businesses to full-time or give current full-timers a marketing edge. My readers are taught "straight from the horse's mouth" from -- you guessed it -- a full time netrepreneur.

Unless you're Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, or Michael Jackson, don't EVER go with a bland title like "Sarah's Business Zine." People will be like, "who the heck is Sarah?" "Should I know you?"

It was suggested that I incorporate my name into my ezine title when I was renaming my 'zine, but I decided against it. Create a title that helps sell your EZINE, not one that flatters your ego.

IN CONCLUSION...

It's important to project the image that your ezine is worth something in order for it to be regarded that way by potential subscribers, reviewers, advertisers, and prospects. So for a truly successful ezine, don't just throw up a subscribe form in the corner of your home page the day after you start it!

Instead, take the time to thoroughly plan your launch just as if your ezine were its own product -- and honestly, it is. Treat it with the same seriousness, and it WILL thrive and prosper.

© Harmony Major