Essential Considerations for Prospective Ezine Editors

Jan 2
04:55

2024

Angela Wu

Angela Wu

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As a novice in the online business world, you've likely heard that providing a free newsletter is an excellent strategy to grow your business and boost your profits. This article will delve into the key questions you should consider before launching your own ezine, including content creation, publishing frequency, and promotional strategies.

Deciding on the Nature of Your Newsletter

The content you choose to include in your newsletter can be as diverse as your creativity allows. Here are some content ideas you might consider:

  • Featured articles
  • Recommended websites
  • Reader Q&A
  • Letters to the editor
  • Surveys or polls
  • Product reviews
  • Tips and advice for subscriber websites or products
  • Daily tips
  • Inspirational quotes

Sourcing Your Content

Will you be the sole author of your content,Essential Considerations for Prospective Ezine Editors Articles or will you enlist the help of ghost-writers or repurpose articles from other authors? While fresh, original content is always preferred, seeing the same article in multiple newsletters can become monotonous. If you feel you can't handle writing all of your content, consider a mix of your own writing with occasional third-party articles.

Determining Your Publishing Frequency

One of the perks of offering a free ezine is the chance to build a relationship with your readers. However, a newsletter that's published too infrequently may be forgotten, while one that's published too often may irritate readers and lead to unsubscribes. Many successful ezines are published weekly or bi-weekly, which can serve as a guideline for your own publishing schedule.

Investing in a Professional List Manager

A list manager can automate the mundane task of managing subscriptions, handling subscribe and unsubscribe requests from your readers. While there are many free list managers available, professional ones often offer more features and allow you to send ad-free messages.

Deciding on Advertising

Many new editors offer free ads to new subscribers to grow their lists more quickly. However, this could lead to subscribers who only join for the free ad and don't engage with your newsletter. Most newsletters start charging for advertising when they reach around 1,000 subscribers.

Choosing Between an Email or Web-Based Newsletter

Both formats have their pros and cons. You could opt to send an email newsletter and archive each issue on the web, or publish on the web and send out an email notification with a brief summary of each article.

Planning Your Promotion Strategy

Promoting your ezine requires ongoing effort. Free promotional methods include ezine directories, message boards, article submissions to websites and other editors, ad swaps, signature files, and eBooks. If you lack the time or know-how to build your subscription base, you might consider using a 'pay-per-subscriber' service.

Assessing Your Time Commitment

The final consideration is how much time you can dedicate to producing a quality newsletter. Try writing a few sample issues to gauge the time commitment. You might need to adjust your plans, such as reducing the number of articles per issue but publishing more frequently.