What is an Ezine?

I have been on the Internet for 3 years and have been asked this
question numerous times. I also did not know what an ezine was
when I first came aboard. I will attempt with this article to
explain what an ezine is and why it is so important for your
online business.

First of all, an ezine is an electronic newsletter sent out by
email at intervals of your choice to a list of subscribers. The
ezine can deal with many subjects depending on what your
business deals with. There are ezines on how to publish an
ezine, how to run an online business, how to build websites,
decorating your home and so on.

Ezines can and should contain lots of helpful information and
resources for your subscribers. You also want to reserve room
for a few paid ads, but to no overdo with the ads. I would say
from three to five ads is plenty. There are also solo mailing
ads which are mailed out as a separate mailing. Usually one or
two of these a week is sufficient. These are the most popular of
ads amongst advertisers.

Ezines are very important to your business because they allow
you to keep in contact with your potential customers and
advertisers. Providing a good ezine with effective content can
also build your credibility and also your reputation. Along with
good content you can also promote your products and services. In
essence, the ezine is the lifeline between your prospects and
your business.

Publishing an ezine is not as hard as you might think. The first
thing you might want to do is design the template. Take a look
at this example:
http://www.websuccesscentral.com/ezinesuccess/part1.html

Always keep a template saved on disk and on your computer for
easy use. Each issue of your ezine can then be fitted into the
template saving you LOTS of time. Keep all general information
such as subscribe information, title and publisher, privacy
policy and so on in the template at all times to save more time.

When you first start your ezine you can choose to manage the
list yourself, use a free list manager such as Yahoogroups or
Topica, purchase list manager software or use a paid list
management service. I personally recommend starting out with a
free service such as Yahoogroups. I started with them when it
was still Onelist a few years ago and have never had any serious
problems. They inform you when a person subscribes or
unsubscribes, distribute your ezine to your entire list, send
out a welcome and goodbye message of your choice and more. If
you would like to have a look visit http://www.yahoogroups.com

Finding a list manager and designing your template are just the
beginning steps. In Part 2, I will explain ways of promoting
your ezine and how to get subscribers for FREE. I know when I
first started Web Success, I was on a zero budget and through
experience learned how to build my business for free. That is
one of the wonders of the Internet. You can start, build and run
your own business for very little capital.

What it does take is commitment, time, work and passion for what
you are doing. Although the road may be long, the journey is an
experience I would not want to miss!

Join me next week in Part 2 for promoting your ezine and
building your subscriber base.