HOW TO START YOUR OWN E-ZINE

We are frequently asked many questions pertaining to ezines, which include:
"What Is An EZINE?"
"How Do I Start ONE?"
"Why Should I Start An Ezine?"
Being that we have been publishing this ezine for a period of time, and that we receive favorable response from what we include in each "Online Exchange Ezine", We present these explanations and suggestions for you to review:
The Most Common Question that Home Business Entrepreneurs ask is,
"What is an E-Zine?"
You are very familiar with Email, which stands for Electronic Mail. So, an Ezine would thus be an Electronic Magazine. Many use the title "Ezine" and "Newsletter" interchangeably. Basically, ezines are a collection of articles and advertisements sent out in email form on a regular basis. If you are a subscriber to more then one ezine, you will notice a basic format. Most ezine publishers lay out their ezine similar to this one.
Each Ezine is based on one subject, so that you have a targeted market. This way, people will read your ezine and look forward to each one for information they will be able to utilize.
"How Do I Start An E-Zine?"
One important aspect I have found in creating an ezine, is Research. You need to Subscribe to various Ezines. Look at the formats of the different ezines and create your own format using others as a guideline.
1. Create a Name that is based on the subject of your E-Zine. This is an intrical part of your Ezine, so be decisive.
2. The Frequency of your Ezine:
Monthly
Bi-Weekly
Weekly
We do suggest you start out with a Bi-Weekly or monthly Ezine in the beginning, until you build your business to a desired stage.
3. Create the format:
hints:
*Start with the Name of the Ezine
*A Basic summary of what your Ezine is about
*Date of Publication
*A Personal Note From the Editor (include your goals and ambitions for the Ezine)
*An Index of each Ezine
Titles of Articles, Classified ADS, Advertising, etc...
*Body of your Ezine (The Contents)
*Removal Instructions (very important)
*A Disclaimer ( for legality purposes)
4. Research Various Articles on the Internet based on the Subject of your ezine. Save these articles, and out of courtesy to the people who write them, email them and ask permission to publish the article. 99% of the authors will say yes, as long as you include their name, email address and web address. In time
you should start writing your own articles. Now that you have a name for your Ezine, a format, and various articles that will be essential to each ezine. It is time to start your mailing list.
In order to build a Mailing List, you need to attract people. What we did, as well as many others do in the beginning, is Give away FREE Ad Space. This will generate many subscribers in a short amount of time and also advertise your Ezine at the same time. When your Ezine mailing list reaches the numbered goal you had in mind, you can start charging for ad space. Research various Ezines for the different AD packages that are available and use that to format your own.
After you start to build your ezine mailing list, you will need to spend a small amount of money on software for sending out your ezine. There is a large selection to choose from for sending out your ezine. Some more desirable then others.
You also need to talk with your internet provider to be sure that there are no restrictions etc. for sending out a large amount of emails on a regular basis.
In our next issue, we will discuss who, and where to go for your mailing list, the best place to locate reliable software, and the most effective ways to build you mailing list. There are also many places NOT to go for your email addresses. We will provide this information for you as well.
"Why should I start an Ezine?"
To be honest, I basically did not see the importance of an ezine in the beginning. My partner insisted that it was something we needed to have, so I said "Ok, you take care of that part." When we began to charge for ad placement in our ezine, I began to see what an asset this was to our business.
The fact is, it is THE most important part of our business! It provides our subscribers with the information that they need to improve their sales. It also serves as a supplement to the marketing manual that we provide many business.
I would still have to say that vast majority of our income each week comes from our ad sales alone, so we have something very substantial for a weekly income. And the rave response we get from our advertisers have made it all worth while. We are sincerely helping others in their business.
However, I could never handle this on my own. I recommend that anyone planning to start an ezine have a competent partner to help out. There is a lot of work involved in publishing an ezine, but it is well worth. With a reliable partner, you will be much more efficient in your efforts and outcome.
It is a wise, profitable and professional decision in starting an ezine.


Now that you know how to begin to go about creating and publishing an E-zine (electronic magazine), here are some helpful tips to insure that you acquire a professional and respected ezine.
**Where does one get reliable and responsive email addresses?**
Well, there is no easy or exact answer to this question. Many people have many different ways of doing it.
However, I have experienced something's that may prove to be a benefit to you if you are fighting to
reach a goal of subscribers for your advertisers benefit.
I was amazed to find out how some are able to go about getting email addresses. I think that everyone should know how they "happen" to receive an offer from someone they have never heard of before.
Consider this:
There are programs a person can buy that are designed to "strip" or "capture" email addresses off of a ISP server or chat/discussion group. So, it doesn't matter who you are, if you are online, receiving a message from someone who has obtained their addresses in this manner.
On top of this seemingly underhanded activity, programs also enable a person to disguise or cloak themselves as they send out bulk email to these addresses. This makes it impossible to know where spam came from so as to report them. Is it any wonder that we all react so badly to spam? This certainly throws a question on a person's intentions if they utilize such privacy-stripping programs to achieve online income.
Many companies sell these programs, then others use them to gain mailing lists and then sells them as Direct Mailing Lists. Many of these lists are genuine, but many are also from this horrible program that strips people of their privacy.
If you are establishing a real business, obviously you would not want to go about it with such questionable programs. But, you also need to realize that mailing lists that you may buy could also be gotten in this manner. If that is the case, when you send out to those addresses, you could be asking for big trouble. Not only could you get disconnected from your ISP, you could also be losing business because of being labeled as a spammer. If a tenth of the people respond to your mass mailings, is that effective? I would say no! If you market in a responsible and honest way, you will find that 99% of business person's you contact will
respond positively. It is easy to forget that on the other end of an email, there is a real live person. If you deal one-on-one with people as much as possible, your business will definitely be benefited.
The way to go about building an emailing list is by patience and perseverance. One way we have found effective is by researching classifieds in your targeted market and responding to people's ads. By telling them that we are looking for interesting online businesses to add to our ezine mailing list, we are able to add email addresses that will be interested in what we have to say each week. We also are able to respond to spam with our offer to add them to the list too. There is nothing wrong with that. But, be sure you wait for anyone's permission to add them. It is much better to only get 150 from a 500 mailing then having 490 unsubscribe.
This will take much longer, but in the long run, it proves to be 100% more effective and you will reap the benefits as your income increases list, you too will see that result.
Whichever way that you chose to promote your business in building your emailing list, please be responsible and find out what is legal and what will kill the business you have worked so hard to start.
**How do you Mail an enormous list of subscribers efficiently?**
There are a couple ways to do a mailing of your Ezine. There is the FREE way and the Low Cost Way.
Of course the Low Cost Way is much more reliable and effective. But I will discuss both of them for your benefit.
FREE Mailing List SoftwareBasically, this software is set up on many sites as part of an attraction when you join there community. Of course this is FREE, and one place I found that had this that was more reliable than most is atMy Free Office: http://www.myfreeoffice.com You sign on as a member. When you log on to your account, it is called the Power List. I was doing very well utilizing this list for some time. It is easy to use. HOWEVER,once my list increased quite a bit and my list was over 4,000, for some reason, during my mailings of my ezine, the list would stop sending at about 2,000. There is no way to do the rest of the list, so I was stuck.
This made me realize that for reliability purposes, I need to buy software for this.

LOW COST Mailing Software
This is the most reliable way to send your ezines, offers, etc... The average cost for software such as this is around $50. It is a much needed investment, and will assure you guaranteed mailings. The best way to research this type of software is to go to a major search engine, such as Alta Vista, key in Mailing List Software, and get rates on quite a few of the Sites. This will give you an idea of what is available. Personally, we use AySoft AyMail http://www.aysoft.com . It has been very beneficial for our business and has nevercaused us any problems.

I hope this gives you more insight of what is entailed in starting your own ezine or newsletter. Our goal is to assist you in any way possible to achieving success online. All the people who read this article have one Goal ~~ Success at Home. Starting an Ezine is the most beneficial way to increase your business potential. It is a proven method. I see so many people starting out in their own businesses and they have been told that they can have their own business and it will cost them nothing. You can go that avenue, but take it from experience, you need to invest something. I am showing you a low cost and effective way to enhance your business by starting an ezine. There are many low cost avenues of success. But the FREE ones are the Dead Ends.
Invest Time, Energy and just a few dollars in making a success of your business. Read the ezines that are sent you and learn from them. There are many resources available to you. That is why Ezines are the most effective way of advertising and gaining the proper knowledge of the internet.

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Author: Debbie Solomon
Debbie is the Founder and originator of The Profit Zone:
The source for FREE Marketing Tools.
She is also the Creator of The HomeSource Arena,
which is The Leading Source in Certified Home Employment,
and owner of The Online Exchange Ezine, a Top Rated,
world renowned Ezine. Please visit their site at:
http://www.marketingtrendz.com
mailto:mtrendz@cs.com

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