Ezine Publishing: What Do You Do First
You will read a lot on the web about building your list. There are a million “list building” books and experts out there because the reality is that if you are building (any kind of business), then you need a list of people to market to. A business cannot support growth by only having new customers and clients. A business flourishes when it has repeat customers.
So that’s why businesses, especially on the web, rely on THE LIST. But once you have this list, what are you supposed to do with it? Well, think about who you purchase goods and services from. You purchase them from companies that you like and trust.
I prefer to do my Christmas shopping with Amazon because I trust that my items will be delivered either earlier than promised or on time. I tend to buy most of my computers and gadgets from Apple because I trust the quality of the products they build. I like to buy my kids winter coats from Lands End because they are durable, warm, and classic looking. The same could be said for certain coaches and marketers on the web. There are many that I have worked with or done joint ventures with because of my trust in their expertise.
I trust all these companies because of their products, but I also am encouraged to buy from them because I am on their “lists” and they send me regular emails a.k.a. ezines.
Sometimes the term “ezines” can be a little scary for people. I remember when I began writing my first one, it was absolutely a bit frightening. Heck, I didn’t know if people were going to be interested in reading it, but what I soon later discovered is that the people who did read it were the very same names I saw in my Paypal account. My regular ezine readers became my regular and routine buyers — and that’s no coincidence.
So What Do You Do First?
Well, first I want you to think about your favorite ezines or digital newsletters. What do you like about them? Which ones do you read every week or month?
For example, in one of the ezines that I read faithfully, the publisher includes an audio version of her articles. I love this because I can listen to her articles while I multitask. Not many publishers do this. In another ezine I read, I enjoy his writing voice. It’s very down to earth and conversational. No ones ezines ever sound like his!
Big Tip – The ones that you like are the ezines that you are going to model. You are going to take what you like from each of them and merge them into one unique ezine of your own.
Next Tip – Create a list from 1 to 5. List each part, section, or trait of your favorite ezines on this list. If you can’t think of five items, that’s fine. You can absolutely have a one page newsletter/ezine. So if you only like two things about your favorite ezines, then that’s all you need to include in your first ezine. It’s fine.
Last Tip – Consider your workload. Once you commit to an ezine, you need to be steadfast about it’s delivery time. Will it be every month? Bi-weekly? Weekly? Commit to the easiest publication schedule for you, but push yourself as far as you can go. Statistically you will convert more readers into customers or clients, the more often they read your ezine. So if you think you can publish bi-weekly instead of monthly. Go for bi-weekly.
Okay Seriously – Last Tip!
Think about your competition. (Eck! Them again) Do they publish an ezine? If so, how regularly? What do they get “right” in their ezine and what could you improve upon? This will help with your strategy in planning the content and character of your first ezine.
Next Up: Ebook Publishing: What Do I Do First?
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