All About Ezines
Email newsletters, or ezines as their commonly referred to, has several advantages. The main advantage is that you can make money by utilizing them. The second main advantage is that they are incredibly simple and easy to use. You don’t need any special printing supplies, because your ezine is delivered electronically to your customer’s and potential customer’s email boxes.
The Ease of the Ezine
An ezine is something so simple and easy that you can publish them from the comfort of your own home. The most important thing that you need is an autoresponder that features broadcast capabilities. Autoresponders are available through companies such as GetResponse.com and aWeber.com. They are great when publishing your own ezines. When you compare the start-up costs of an ezine to that of a brick and mortar business, you will be extremely surprised at how affordable they are. You can also make that money back easily by selling advertising space and informative products through your ezine.
Ezine Drawbacks
Just like any other business, there are going to be a few drawbacks in this business as well. These drawbacks, however, can be easily tackled and should not be a reason for you to not decide to pursue having your own ezine. Ezines only really have one main drawback, but it has a simple and quick fix.
Problem
The main issue that ezine publishers deal with is the creation of the content for the newsletter. You can write your content, but if you’re not a writer by skill or heart, then this can be challenging.
Solution
A simple solution to this problem is to hire a ghostwriter. You own all of the copyrights to the work once you pay the writer for the articles they write for you. You can find writers in a variety of places including:
• Elance.com
• RentACoder.com
• GetAFreelancer.com
• IFreelance.com
• Guru.com
These sites are great because you can set up a project for free and the providers can bid on your project. They will give you their best price and you can browse their portfolios. If you find a writer that really stands out and is knowledgeable in your area, then you can select their bid. You can also conveniently pay through PayPal or their escrow services. This is also a great way to buy bulk articles and receive them all at the same time. Then all you have to do is set up the newsletter and autoresponder.
Additionally, you can find re-publishable articles on sites such as EzineArticles.com. These sites allow you to copy the article and use them in your ezine for free as long as you leave the author’s resource box intact.
What’s Your Ezine About?
The next step in publishing your own ezine is to determine what the topic is going to be. It is always ideal if you are able to publish something that covers an area you are knowledgeable about. You also need to determine what your goals are as well.
It is always best if you do not talk about subjects that are time sensitive. It is also a good idea to include short tips, interviews and other quick bits of information that people can quickly consume. This also enables you to create your content in advance and you do not have to worry about something being outdated.
For a topic, it’s great if you can cater to a starving market. You want there to be a demand for what you are writing about and offering information on. It is also best if you can provide information on topics that are hard to find. There are many topics that are easily researched on the Internet and not all of these make good topics for ezines. However, if you know a lot about a certain area, then you may know exactly where to find your niche and how to cater to them.
There are also niches that will always be popular such as food, dating, relationships, and even Internet Marketing. Internet Marketing is considered to be one of the hottest niches, because the Internet is on 24/7 and people are always looking for ways to make money online.
Why an Ezine?
The great thing about the Internet is that you don’t have to have a product to make money. An ezine allows you to do this and you can advertise other people’s products and make money off of those. Your ezine is sent out to your subscribers on a regular basis and it includes information on products that are useful and in demand. You can also set your ezines up where they are sent out automatically on a regular basis or you can do it manually on a regular basis.
As a publisher, you can take advantage of one of the easiest ways to deliver information to people. You can hit your target audience with ease because the people who have signed up are interested in whatever you are offering. Also, you can increase your profits and help your products reach your customers easily through your newsletter. You can also establish credibility through the information you provide. If it’s a good newsletter, people are bound to refer it onto their friends and family as well. You can also sell your space for advertising to earn additional profits or offer affiliate products for sale.
An entire ezine is often read more often than a website. If you can condense your information into your newsletter, then you are more than likely going to reach more people. There are not many people who spend an extended amount of time on one website, but if it comes direct to their email they are likely to read it or save it for later. You can also get your message across without people having to jump through hoops in your navigation system to find it.
The key to improving the number of subscribers you have is by providing quality content. People want information that they can use. The more credible your newsletter content is, the more likely they will visit your website or purchase your products.
Ezines are excellent marketing tools and they bring your products right to the inbox of your customer, but first you must determine your target audience. You will need to build a list of subscribers and then send your useful information to them. If they are all interested in dogs, for example, you can provide them with dog training tips, grooming tips, feeding tips and dog related products. The more information you can provide, the more credible your newsletter will be. It is also great if you have some sort of professional experience in your field and can provide good, solid credentials and experience as well. However, this is not a necessity and people will trust you as long as you work to keep that trust by providing good and useful information.
To ensure the success of your ezine, it’s always a great idea to seek out feedback. Use feedback forms to encourage people to give you their comments or allow them to respond to your newsletters. Feedback will help you to generate credibility amongst your subscribers. They begin to see you as a real person instead of some computer. They also have a feeling of security when they see that you are not every day run of the mill spam.
As your ezine gets larger and you receive more feedback, you will become well acquainted with the market and your consumer’s behavior. You can then learn more by introducing forums, feedback questionnaires and contests. People love this stuff and they will eat it up.
You can also gain insight on your audience because you will be collecting data about them overtime. You will see some people come and go and you will begin to understand what their needs are. At the same time, you need to use this information judicially. You do not want touse information in an unauthorized manner, as you could be prosecuted by law.
