How NOT to Publish an Ezine

I have written several articles on how to publish an ezine, so this time I thought it might be interesting to write an article on how NOT to publish an ezine.

Sometimes it helps to learn things when you can look at both sides of the prices – the right way and the wrong way. So here goes – what NOT to do when publishing an ezine.

1. Leave out your name and contact info – Who would want to get in touch with you anyway. Your readers don’t care if there is a real live dependable person writing the ezine. NOT!

Your readers definitely want to know that there is a real person there that they can contact if they want or need to. This helps establish trust.

2. Put as many squiggles and decorations in your ezine as possible – So, your readers get a headache while trying to read your ezine, deal with it. NOT!

Squiggles may look cute, but they could make it hard for many people to read your ezine. Keep the design neat and clean for easy reading.

3. Load the ezine with ads – I mean after all, isn’t that why you are publishing your ezine. NOT!

No, you are not publishing an ezine to run tons of ads, you are publishing an ezine to build that important relationship of trust and respect with your readers. This helps build your business and your reputation.

4. Don’t bother sending it out regularly – After all, most people can’t read it every time anyway. NOT!

How can people trust and believe what you say when they can’t even depend on you to send your ezine on schedule.

5. Don’t add any original material – Just use all the same material other publishers are using. It works for them, why not for you. NOT!

Always have original material in your ezine, even if it is just an editorial or some tips.

6. Why bother with a disclaimer or privacy policy – Readers know their email is safe with you. They also figure if it is in your ezine, you recommend it. NOT!

Never assume anything. Your readers want to be assured that their email is not being handed out for profit or promotion. Also, you want your readers to know that they should check out all offers, opportunities and ads. Just because it is in your ezine, does not mean you are recommending it.

7. Content is content, right – As long as your ezine is full of “stuff”, it is helpful. NOT!

Try to give your readers basic, straightforward, helpful information that they can actually use to benefit them. Don’t use hyped up ads disguised as tips or articles. Quality content is key.

8. Don’t let your readers get to know you – They are interested in your ezine, not you. NOT!

Your readers need to know you so they can trust you and know that they can depend on you to publish a consistent, quality ezine.

9. Don’t bother formatting the ezine correctly – Who cares how many characters are in each line, it all reads the same. NOT!

Definitely format your ezine uniformly and evenly. You want to produce a clean, sharp, professional ezine.

10. Don’t waste time proofreading. Everybody makes mistakes, right? What is a mistake or two – nobody is perfect. NOT!

Take the time to make sure all spelling and grammar is correct in your ezine before you send it out. After all, you are a professional, right?

I hope these tips have given you a good idea on how NOT to publish an ezine and a fresh perspective on how to correctly publish an ezine. Producing a quality ezine that your readers can depend on will be a very big business booster!

An Email Campaign versus an Ezine: What’s the Difference?

A campaign of any type – a military offensive, a political race, or a young man’s romantic pursuit – is an activity conducted to achieve a goal. A military campaign is conducted out to capture a city. A political campaign is conducted to win a seat in government or to pass a law. A romance is conducted to win a girl’s hand.

An email campaign, then, is an email (or an email series) that is written and sent to achieve a particular goal. 

The goal differs according to the kind of campaign. The most common email goals are click-throughs, sales, donations, or opt-ins. Thanks to today’s email management services, you can measure how well you achieve your email’s goal. Most business email campaigns are automated through these services. (More tips about writing automated emails).

But the bottom line is this: “email campaign” is an umbrella term.  E-zines, online appeals, registration forms, event invitations – all of these are different types of email campaigns. 

Email Writing Tip

Know what you’re trying to accomplish with an email campaign so you can write the content to achieve that goal.

What’s an Ezine?

E-zines, short for “electronic magazines,” are online newsletters. They are sent, received, and read on the internet, versus being printed on paper and mailed through the postal service.

(Read more about how to format a publish an e-zine.)

Like print publications, online magazines contain images and text. But electronic newsletters also feature videos and links. Like print magazines, an ezine is comprised of different articles of different lengths. But while a print magazine includes the articles in full, an e-zine rarely does so. Instead, your e-zine becomes a portal that links readers to your website. Once there, they can read the full article and maybe look around a bit more.

That points to the most common goal for producing an e-zine: to give readers an opportunity to click through the email and get more information.

E-zine Writing Tip

Write article teasers with links to your website where the full articles live. This allows your online readers to skim headlines and leads and choose what articles to read in full. Your e-zine becomes a way to drive traffic to your website.

Email Campaign or Ezine – Which Is It?

An email campaign is a broad category and includes many different types of emails.

An e-zine is one type of email campaign.

The secret to eZine marketing Tips.

One of the common mistakes many new web site owners make when they start their online business is to think that scores of people are going to stream to their site. They spend the money for that professional look, add all the relevant information and now they sit back and wait for the visitors. The shock is quite traumatic when they find out that this is not the case. The logical question that’s asked when the customers don’t show is,” how do I get customers/visitors”.

Well the answer to this is, start a marketing campaign. There are several ways to go about this.

One of the options that creates quite a lot of attention are ezines. The problem the web site owner now face is how to find information on how, where and how much. Of course an important aspect of this ezine marketing technique is finding the highest targeted ezines or web sites to post your articles to. A pitfall to lookout for are the fly by night ones. They will take your money but you will wait in vain for the traffic.

There is of course always a tradeoff between money spent and money made from your investment, it is therefore always important to make sure you that you find an ezine that gives you a good return on your investment (ROI). So one more time, be careful because a vast majority of ezines are a waste of time and money.

The age old saying applies to ezine marketing as well “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”. Here are a few points to keep in mind.

1. You get what you pay for.
2. You must offer something that relates to the niche market.
3. Target your advertising to your audience.
4. The best things are not always free.

Where you must advertise or which newsletter is right for you depend on your product or service. The good thing about ezines is, these days you get newsletters on about anything.So as can be seen, do your homework before embarking on an ezine campaign and you will reap the rewards.

PS: I left the best secret for last, build your own list with subscribers. With this you will be assured your ezine is targeted to an audience who want to hear what you have to say, they want to hear about your product or service and it will cost you next to nothing to advertise to them.