How to Make an eZine Work Hard for Your Company - 12 Top Tips!

At the end of the day, a successful ezine is one that your readers find useful, relevant, and an interesting read. As soon as you’ve mastered this, you’ll soon find that your ezine will:

• Help create a lengthy email list of interested prospects.
• Build more solid relationships with your prospects and clients.
• Increase your credibility and build your perceived expertise in the marketplace.
• Give you a good return on investment: email marketing is the easiest, fastest and lowest-cost way to stay in touch and generate new business through endorsement and referrals.

So, this in mind, consider the following before launching your ezine:

1. You must offer value, and usually this will take the form of information related to your area of business that your prospects and clients are going to genuinely find helpful. Remember: give, give, give.
2. In general, don’t use your ezine as a medium for selling or promoting your services. Quite simply, the moment you start using your ezine as another promotional channel, your readers will lose interest. The purpose of your ezine, don’t forget, is to keep readers engaged and to demonstrate that you’re experts in your field.
3. Keep an ezine short, or it won’t be read. Many successful ezines aren’t more than 500 words in total. (You can of course place a prominent link in your ezine back to a lengthier article on your website.)
4. Over time, write and then post on the Internet plenty of articles relevant to your area of business, with embedded links back to your company website. This will help build up your ezine subscription list at no cost.
5. Add an ezine opt-in (subscription) box to every page of your website to encourage your list to grow.
6. To ensure that your ezine gets delivered, be aware of spam trigger words and avoid them at all costs.
7. Your writing style should be personal, as if you’re addressing somebody sitting in front of you rather than an entire corporate audience.
8. Add references or links to other websites and articles on the Internet where appropriate, recommending that your readers make use of them. Remember: your aim is to be helpful, so sharing your knowledge and resources is key.
9. Make sure that the unsubscribe process is self-evident and accessible.
10. Deliver your ezine on a regular schedule. Typically every-other-week to once-a-month works best.
11. Be responsive. If one of your readers writes to you, make a point of replying.
12. Be prepared for the long-haul. Successful ezines are not usually born overnight.

David Crowther is the director of NerveCentral, whose mission is simple: to maximise its clients business and profit through the web. We have provided web solutions for many organisations and small companies, including well-known corporates such as Thomson Travel Group, Q8, Edding, GlaxoSmithKline, Galderma, and Hertz. Download our free report 5 (Often Missed) Usability Tips for your Website to Increase Profit now!

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