Readers of online newsletters are seeking information. There are thousands of people eager to soak up material on their favourite topic. If you have knowledge or expertise on a specific topic you should be publishing an e-newsletter of "ezine".

What is an ezine?
An ezine or e-newsletter is information sent out on a regular basis via email. The material you send in an ezine can be designed to look like a web page, or it can be straightforward text like a traditional email. There are many different kinds of ezines as there are varieties of printed publications.

First, choose your topic
A general ezine is unlikely to be successful. Focus on a specific topic, rather than seeing an ezine as a means of publicizing your business in general terms. In fact if you see the ezine merely as a promotional tool, you won't get many readers. Your e-newsletter needs to help your readers in a practical, problem solving sense. Find something they are interested in and write about that. If you don't know what to have as an ezine topic go to Wordtracker and check out what people are actually searching for. This should help stimulate your ideas.

Decide on a newsletter structure
Having settled on your topic you then need to work out a structure for your newsletter. What sections will you break it up into? Will you include news or will it just be opinion? Will you have "how to" articles? Case histories? Tips and hints section? You need to consider all the items and kinds of things you would like to include. You also need to make sure you are going to have enough supply of the kind of information you wish to include. For instance, don't include a tips section if you can only come up with a handful of such tips - your newsletter won't last long that way! Once you have decided what items to include, work out the order you think they should go in. You want to produce a "format" that your readers will easily identify. For instance newspapers often start with major news, then local news, then world news, then features, then the TV section, then business and then sport. It's a regular formula they use day in, day out, so that readers always know where they are. You need to produce a similar formula for your ezine so that your readers always know where they are in your newsletter.

Settle on a format
Now you have your outline plan for your newsletter sorted out, you need then to consider the format. Will it be like a web page (an HTML newsletter) or will you use a text-only format? Will you simply send out a short email with a link to a newsletter on a web page? Or will you make your newsletter available via a blog? You could also consider will the ezine be distributed as a PDF file, or will you also make it available in printed form? You need to consider all these aspects for your particular market. Only when you have decided the overall format should you continue with other aspects of ezine production. If, for instance, you decide to produce a text only newsletter, this won't look good if you later think you should distribute via the PDF route. That would mean a complete overhaul of your newsletter. To avoid that scenario, work out at the beginning what you would like the ezine to look like in overall terms. Only then should you proceed with any designs.

Design a template
After you have worked out your general format for the newsletter you need to produce a template. This will provide the look and feel of each issue. Even if you are only producing a text-only newsletter you will need a template that would include the way headings will look, the page footer and so on. For HTML newsletters or those in print your template should include graphics such as headers and picture positions, headline size and format as well as the basic text layout of each item of your ezine. If you want some inspiration you can get free newsletter templates from Templates Box. You can produce your template in a web design program, or a specific ezine production system such as Constant Contact.

Plan your first few issues
Now you have a good idea what your newsletter will look like so it is much easier to think about it as a "real thing". That's the point where you can start planning. Don't be tempted to rush into producing the first issue. The best publications are well planned in advance. Try to organise the list of articles you will write for the first six issues. Then each time you produce a newsletter plan the one six issues ahead. You will always have a rolling production line of ideas and material you can use in your newsletter. That way you will not run out of ideas at the time you need to publish. Ezine publishers are often frustrated by the fact they have little to write about just when they need to go "to press". However, with a six issue production plan, you will always be organised.

Work out the frequency of publication
With your ezine now well organised you can work out how often you can sustain the publication. How hard was it to come up with ideas for the newsletter? Could you do that every day, every week or each month? Also you will need to consider how frequently your readers will need your information. If, for instance, you are writing about investing in the stock market you will probably need a daily newsletter as stock and shares change each day. But if you are writing about painting and decorating you might only need a monthly newsletter. Consider, though, that anything less than monthly rarely gets reader loyalty because your ezine is too easily forgotten. Twice a month is good, weekly is excellent, but monthly will do if you simply cannot produce your newsletter easily.

Set up a production schedule
After you have done all the initial planning you need a schedule. You should insert dates, deadlines and timetabled working periods into your diary. Considerable numbers of ezines "bite the dust" because their owners fail to adequately allocate enough time for all the research and writing. It might only be an hour or two each week or month, but if you do not timetable it, there's a chance it won't get done. That means you will miss your production deadline and your readers will start to lose faith in your publication. The only way out of this is to set yourself deadlines for research and writing and then stick to them.

Get writing!
Now that all the planning has been done, you can get writing - or get a freelance writer to do the writing for you. Your planning will be helpful to a freelance writer and will also save you money as they won't have to do any organising for you. Stick to the outline of your newsletter, slot in the articles scheduled for your first issue and get it published! You are away - your first ezine is available and you can start benefiting from it.

Labels: marketing

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