Dos and Don'ts, Ins and Outs of Creating a Successful E-Zine

Volume IV, Issue 5
ISSN: 1547-7754
October 2006
printable version

Chris King, Editor
By subscription only, this monthly e-newsletter is loaded with short, "down and dirty" tips to help you with solving the everchanging and growing puzzle of the Internet. This e-zine serves as a place to ask your questions and find the answers. So, send me your burning questions.

In this issue of the Internet Tips E-zine, as promised in the last issue, I will write about the dos and don'ts, and the ins and outs of producing an E-Zine that people look forward to and want to read. Do refer to the September 2006 Issue to read the top ten reasons to create and send your own regular e-zine.

Dos and Don’ts - many of these are a combination of my opinions and those of other senders of e-zines

 Do:  

• Sign up to receive others’ e-zines. Make notes about them on what works for you and what doesn’t.
• Decide how often you are going to send your e-zine. Recommended is at least once a month and not more than once a week. Yes, there are some that I receive daily, but usually this is too often, in my opinion.
• Commit to follow through with your frequency decision. Too many well-meaning publishers fall by the wayside. Not good for building credibility.
• Pick the format you feel will work best for your target audience and the number of people on your list. (note: HTML takes longer to send and a lot of e-mail programs don’t accept it)
• Create an incentive for the visitors to your website to sign up for your e-zine. Just because it is free is not enough. You need to give away an intriguing report or a group of tips to encourage people to sign up. You can do this using an autoresponder.
• Decide how you will handle your distribution list. There are many fine services available. I have developed a service that I handle myself, but most people prefer to use a company that not only takes care of subscriptions, but also the mailing (or broadcasting).
• Remember that good content is the most important reason for sending an e-zine. Write useful information in a conversational and personal style that readers will enjoy reading.
• Work from the beginning to build a relationship with your readers.

Don’t:

• Randomly send out your e-zine to clients, etc. unless you have asked their permission or they have signed up. This would be considered to be spam.
• Fill your e-zine with advertisements and items for sale. Balance some advertising with good content. I don’t use more than 15% to 20% of e-zine space for this.

Ins and Outs - includes the ins and outs of structure, what is needed and other suggestions for inclusion

• The header should include the name of the e-zine, the date, volume number and issue number.
• I also feel for credibility, you will want an ISSN (International Standard Serial Number). You will find out all about it at http://www.loc.gov/issn/.
• I also suggest including a short description of the e-zine.
• Include a table of contents to organize your information.
• Be relatively consistent with the structure and layout. Because of the variety of e-mail programs your readers use, control the width of your e-zine. If it is too wide, the lines will break in an irregular fashion. Also, readers hate having to scroll horizontally.
• Always include subscribe and unsubscribe options.
• It is also imperative (by law) that you include a legitimate mailing address. Of course, I include my phone number, e-mail address and website address.

There are many other details about e-zines, but I have included enough here to get you started. I do suggest that, if you are dedicated to starting your own e-zine, that you get a hold of Alexandria Brown’s Boost Business with Your Own E-zine. It was my guide when I was setting up my first e-zine.

Have a terrific and productive month!

Do send your comments and questions to me at chris@creativekeys.biz. I love to receive feedback and will answer your questions in future e-zines.

If you would like to subscribe to this e-zine and receive five free Internet tips, send an e-mail to subscribe@creativekeys.biz with subscribe in the subject line. If you ever wish to be removed from the mailing list, just send an e-mail to unsubscribe@creativekeys.biz with unsubscribe in the subject line.