Things Your Mother Never Told You About Ezine Publishing
Things Your Mother Never Told You About Ezine Publishing
Successful Ezine Publishing With Ten Things You Might Be Overlooking.
You might not think of it this way, but ezine publishing is a very highly specialized, and dare I say, complex and complicated form of doing business on the Internet.
With over 110,000 ezines being published on a regular basis, it's safe to say that people have accepted the idea that an ezine can make a huge difference in the income you earn from running an online business.
By compiling a list of subscribers and sending out a new issue on a regular basis, you keep people informed about your website and any new products or specials. You also have the unique opportunity to earn an income by publishing ads from other people who want to advertise to your list of subscribers.
The key to any successful publication is the subscribers. Everything that happens to an ezine revolves around the number of subscribers and how long you can keep them. You won't get any steady traffic from your ezine or make any income from ad revenue with a small list of subscribers.
Ezine publishers have been turning to programs that supply subscribers in exchange for ad space. Meaning, you get a free subscriber and all you have to do is run their ad for them.
This brings us to another key to a successful ezine. The quality of subscribers. In order to make a significant income from ads, you need to have subscribers that take the time to read your ezine and click on ads that interest them. If they are just skimming over your ezine and looking for their ad, and unsubscribing when you publish it, then you were better off without them. Or are you?
You can turn these "skimmers" into highly responsive and loyal readers. It isn't easy and it won't happen overnight. It takes time, dedication, and hard work to publish a quality ezine that will produce a long lasting income.
Certain qualities must be included or your ezine is just another one of the "cookie-cutter" ezines and building, and maintaining, a subscriber base of even 1,000 is impossible.
1. Develop your own style using your personality.
An ezine is an extension of yourself. Your own personality, style and grace should be clearly evident and branded into each issue.
Let your own creativity take over.
Let your subscribers get to know you. Open up and include your subscribers into your life.
Some of the ezines I look forward to reading don't have the best information, but I can't wait to see what's happening in the life of the editor or owner.
2. Originality Breeds A Faithful Following.
For a successful ezine you must have something that is yours. An article, tip, editorial comment, or even a story should be included with each and every issue. This is a great way to add your own style. People will come back for more if they know that the information you are providing is yours and not seen anywhere else.
Think about this for a minute. If you are using these subscriber for an ad programs, then you have the same subscribers as hundreds of other ezines. If you all go to the same places for your content, the subscribers are all reading the same thing. So, they set up dump email accounts and either never read your ezine, or just look for their ad.
Using original content keeps that subscriber reading yours and becoming a loyal reader.
3. Keep People Informed.
One of the reasons for publishing an ezine in the first place is to provide your customers, or potential customers, a means to quality information on whatever topic you are writing about.
In a way, you're taking on the task of being a mentor to your subscribers. They are reading your ezine for information to help them with whatever it is your ezine is about.
Let's use Internet Marketing as an example. Your subscribers want to know how to make money and build a successful online business. They are looking to you to teach and guide them.
Don't stray away from this very important ingredient to your ezine. By providing original AND quality information that people are looking for, you will have long time success with your ezine.
4. Cut Down on the ads!
One of the biggest mistakes I see most publishers make is that they are filling up their ezines with ads from these subscriber for ads programs. Placing up to 30 to 40 ads in your ezine will cause people to never, ever look at any ad, except theirs of course.
Special Ad Issues are an alternative to placing to many ads in your main ezine. People then have the choice of either reading it or deleting it.
Cutting down on the ads in your main issue
will help you in a few different ways.
A. Subscribers don't have to scroll through endless ads to read your quality information.
B. You can charge more for premium ad placement.
C. Advertisers get a higher response when there are only 4 or 5 ads in each issue, which benefits you with return customers.
5. Cut Down On The Frequency!
This is goes hand in hand with the above. One of the main reasons for publishing multiple issues each week is to accommodate the amount of ads. That's a poor reason.
Here's what's happening.
You are filling up people's email boxes with 4 or 5 issues each week. They don't have time to read each one, or don't want to because of the amount of ads, and they delete them. You just spent that time putting the ezine together for nothing.
I even think that an issue a week is on the edge of too much, but if you can produce the originality in your information that is needed for a successful ezine on a weekly basis, then you have no problem. But, some people have a hard time putting together an article so trying to adhere to a weekly deadline might be too much.
Publish on a timeline that you can handle and still put out quality information that your subscribers will read.
6. Take the time to do it right.
I have read too many editors write in their ezine that they are rushing to put together their ezine in a few hours to have it ready for publishing.
This is where the frequency can hurt you. If you are publishing two, three, or even five times a week, then of course you can't put in the time for originality and quality. You need to use the same content that thousands of other publishers are using to fill up space.
You should be taking at least a week to put together each issue. Re-writes, re-writes and more re-writes need to be done to make sure everything is perfect and you have produced something that your subscribers will look forward to read each week.
7. Find A Proofreader.
Before you send out the final copy of your ezine to your subscribers send it to someone to read it and check for errors. Spelling, grammar, and broken links should be looked at. Plus email has a strange way of messing up things so this is a great way to see if your issue will go through OK.
8. Ask for feedback.
The only way you will ever know if anyone is reading your ezine is to ask for feedback about each issue. What do they like, or dislike? What can you add that they want to read about? What should you take out?
If someone is reading your ezine and they halfway like it, they will let you know how to improve upon it or give you a pat on the back for the great job you've done.
Your subscribers are the lifeblood of your ezine. Giving them what they want keeps them around for awhile.
9. Take Risks.
You see it all the time in the offline magazines. New features and categories are added to test the waters on how well they are received. Always be thinking of new ways to improve your ezine and keep your content fresh.
Not everything you think of will work. You need to take the risk in order to see if a particular idea is going to work. Give it time and with the feedback you get from your subscribers, either improve upon, or scrap, that idea. But, either way, take the risk to do something different, new and original. Your subscribers will see you as someone who is actually taking the steps necessary to succeed and will want to follow your lead.
10. Find help if you need it.
Hey, ezine publishing isn't for everyone.
Delivering constant original information can play with your nerves until you're bouncing off the mattresses on your bedroom wall. It takes a lot of time and effort into producing a quality ezine to publish to your subscribers. With our hectic lives, a lot of people just don't have the time for it, hence the mad rush to put together a bunch of articles and forty ads.
No one ever said you had to do it all by yourself. Seek out ghost writers and editors. Ask authors if you can print their article first before any one else in exchange for a small monetary compensation or free ad space.
Follow the tips and you'll have a successful ezine in no time. Finding the subscribers is easy, it's keeping them that counts!
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Tim Bossie is a veteran copy writer and ezine publisher and his company, Glimmers Marketing Services, specializes providing Internet businesses with the materials and/or guidance they need to succeed! Check out how Tim can help you by going to http://www.glimmersmarketing.com
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