Strategic planning for your ezine will keep your subscribers coming back for more week after week. You know that you need to start your newsletter and you've been putting it off so long that days have turned into weeks, and weeks into months. Don't let that go on any longer. It's not necessary.
Whether you're just now breaking onto the publisher scene or you've got a subscriber list and you want to revamp your ezine, answer the following questions before taking any additional action.
Q1: What topic do you intend to cover in your newsletter?
- Pick a topic that you're extremely interested in. You don't need to be an expert. Become an expert. If your interest level is high enough, you'll naturally be driven to research and study your topic. Pick a topic for your ezine that you'd love to write about for 29 subscribers or 290,000 subscribers.
- Will you be a generalist or a specialist? There's a place for both.
- RE: The Generalist... Newsletters that cover a broad range of topics and treat them "superficially" tend to attract subscribers who are new to that topic. Your challenge as a generalist will be holding on to your subscriber's attention. You'll need a "hook" each week. This might include short powerful tips and tricks or perhaps you can feature a favorite free resource with each ezine issue.
- RE: The Specialist... Your target audience is smaller, but the chances of developing a very loyal following is better than if you choose the generalist path. Specialists have to dig deep and if you like to write and train on the nitty gritty "how-to's", then the specialist path could be your calling.
Q2: Where will you find material for your ezine?
- Is it all inside your head just waiting for an escape route? Great. Let it flow.
- Can you take advantage of articles with reprint rights?
- Will you need to do a lot of research every time your write your newsletter? If yes, that's OK. Just be prepared to set aside the time required so that you can consistently deliver your newsletter to meet your subscribers' expectations. Which leads to the next question...
Q3: How often will you send out your ezine?
- What's the right frequency? It varies. Monthly. Weekly. Twice per week. Daily. It all depends on your subscribership, how much time you can devote to writing your newsletter and the amount of content you plan to include with each issue.
- You'll want people to remember your name, and this is tough to accomplish when you're publishing your ezine monthly. I think weekly is good and when special occassions arise send out two issues in the same week. Surprise your readers every once in a while. Mix it up.
Q4: What format will you use for your ezine?
- Permission-based email publications are still the mainstream. However, ISP filters continually make it more and more difficult to deliver email newsletters.
- Consider a blog. Consider setting up an RSS feed. Give your subscribers options on how they'd like to hear from you.
- Do you want to write lengthy in-depth articles or short punchy tips and tricks?
- Will you podcast (audio) or publish streaming video?
Q5: What name will you choose for your publication?
- Does your ezine name communicate anything about the kind of content that people can expect to receive in your newsletter?
- Catchy is good. Topical is good. Short is good. Descriptive is good.
Finally, an exercise you can do that might be helpful is to make a list of the newsletters that you consider to be outstanding. These are the ones that you open and read 100% of the time they land in your inbox. Write down the title, author / editor's name, subject matter.
Next, make a list of the newsletters you receive that you could unsubscribe from and you'd never miss them.
What are your general observations about these? I'll make an educated guess that the "loosers"...
1) Never offer any substantial or useful advice. 2) They don't specifically focus on any particular topic that you're interested in. 3) You receive messages from them 3 or 4 times per week and 95% of the time it's an ad that's been "cut n' pasted" from the latest flavor-of-the-week affiliate program / hot opportunity.
Don't let this describe your ezine.
Strategically plan your ezine so that when it comes time to monetize it, your readers will appreciate knowing about the products and services that you're promoting. Deliver value up front and you will be rewarded in time.
-
- Related Videos
- Related Articles
- Ask / Related Q&A
- How to Publish your Own Online Newsletter?
- Starting An Online Newsletter In The Write Direction
- Article Writing Tips When Publishing Online
- Submitting Articles To RSS Feeds and Ezine Publishers
- The 5 Ws Of Newsletter Or Ezine Publishing
- "10 Powerful Reasons You Must Start Ezine Publishing Now!"
- Taking the Fear Out of Ezine Marketing
- Product Marketing for Home Based Online Businesses




New Membership Site offers $10,000 in Ads at 54¢ an Ad
By: Mark Atkinson | 02/01/2010There’s a brand new Membership site that has every place online and off where you can get $10,000 a day in ads – but for a whopping 95% OFF!
maintaining self esteem and personal improvement through unemployment
By: steve bensley | 02/01/2010It Is so easy to just "let yourself go" Through being made unemployed. Morale is low , Resistance is minimal... but wait.. could there be a light at the end of a very short tunnel?
Search Engine Placement
By: Tom Bates | 01/01/2010So you have built a great looking website and are ready for the customers to line up. Sorry your website is not the Ark so don't expect them to get in line unless they know your there.
Affordable Online Marketing
By: Tom Bates | 01/01/2010Affordable online marketing starts with your knowledge of an industry. If your good at what you do and have a full understanding of your industry, share your knowledge... You can do this in several ways.
How to Earn More Money with increased web site traffic
By: Anthony | 01/01/2010Linking building is one of the fastest ways that websites can get others to take notice of their site
Website Marketing Strategies for the Internet Entrepreneur
By: Ben Frank Jr. | 31/12/2009Internet entrepreneurs need to use websites, but websites only have any value or use if they have traffic flowing to them. A fancy website is worthless without traffic, and even the most simple site can make a fortune if it is flooded with visitors. Here are some simple, effective, free ways to generate more targeted website traffic to grow your business.
Internet Entrepreneurs Mailing List. Building a Million Dollar List
By: Ben Frank Jr. | 31/12/2009Experienced marketers, business owners, and entrepreneurs know that their mailing lists are among their most valuable assets. A list or targeted prospects is gold and can easily be transmuted into money through a simple email. Super internet marketers can generate hundreds of thousands of dollars with their mailings, and they can do so again and again from a single list. If you are serious about making money as an internet entrepreneur, you need to take your list building very seriously.
Making Cash from Blogging Online
By: G | 31/12/2009How make alot of money from you blog
How Non-technical Webmasters Are Harnessing the Power of RSS
By: Ron Hutton | 28/10/2005 | Online PromotionThe opportunity to quickly and easily implement and harness the power of RSS is quite real and new programs become available every week that allow non-technical marketers and webmasters to capitalize on the effective use of RSS.
How to Ethically Claim Ownership of Other People's Information
By: Ron Hutton | 22/10/2005 | Viral MarketingThis article explains how you can ethically steal other people's info to create your own ebook in about 90 minutes.
What was the name of your ezine again?
By: Ron Hutton | 14/10/2005 | Online PromotionFive questions you must answer for yourself before you ever publish ezine issue #1. These questions apply equally if you're already running an ezine and are considering it's future direction.
How Sneaky Links Increase Your Click-Throughs...
By: Ron Hutton | 13/09/2005 | ECommerceLinks suspicious to people? They're certainly not meant to be offensive. I believe that it's the same kind of thing that automatically activates your defenses when.